Micaiah (B22)

## Overview

Written by: Basil

A basically free draw, and swings for big number. What’s not to love? Though she isn’t the most synergistic MC, she is incredibly flexible to build around and can therefore take advantage of green’s best cards, including Jill + Kurthnaga, B17 Soren, and Yune. These are usually staples, but whether you want to run some low costs to be a bit more aggressive, higher costs to play more for late game, or introduce some whacky bullshit with purple X supports, Micaiah has a variety of viable builds.

## Gameplan

Your main goal as Micaiah is to keep your hand size just right so you have options, but still get your free draw every turn. And early on, that means dodging or deploying 1 costs. Most Micaiah builds have around 16 copies of her + MC so you have lots of dodges, but can also run still like 1 cost Jill and Kurth for early pressure, or even 1 cost Sothe and Mist to buff her.

Still most Micaiah decks are midrange-y, so whether you deploy 1 costs or not, you probably want to hit the opponent’s MC early, or if they deploy stuff then swing at that. She doesn’t plan to do too much early though, just dodge so you have ~5 cards in hand going into turn 3, if you have more then it's not a big deal to miss the first draw though.

After you’ve promoted on turn 3, you have a few potential turn 4 options. Against slower decks, Soren can cripple them so hard he wins the matchup on his own, especially if he sticks around for a few turns. If you don’t have him or the opponent is faster, then Kurthnaga is better, since he’s ranged, swings for 70, and can fetch a turn 5 play or dodge from the retreat area.

If you’re running Jill 1 though and you’ve already milled a Kurthnaga 4, it's possible to class change Jill to get her out on 4 and deploy Kurth from the retreat a turn early. This is quite strong since if you went first or your opponent promotes on 4, it’ll be hard for them to clear both and you can be ahead on board for quite a while.

If you didn’t play Jill on 4, you probably want to do so on 5. It's just good- 2 80 beaters on the board, 1 with range and heals back another card. If you have less than 5 cards after growthing Micaiah once, you can also try to sneak in another growth with Jill skill 3, as Micaiah’s draw is not once per turn.

From there you mostly want to do a mix of clearing the board and generating value with Jill + Kurth, though if your opponent over-commits and clears your board, playing Yune on 6/7 can just close out the game. Making Micaiah 90 means she probably won’t be getting hit, and you can ignore their entire board and get a hit on their MC. If you can chain a couple Yune’s together in a row as they try to re-establish their board, you’ve probably won.

## Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths:

* Basically free card draw
* Hits 90 + support with range
* Vanilla enough to run the best green cards
* Lots of options for techs and building

Weaknesses:

* 60 on defense, even if you have a lot of dodges, can be dicey if you don’t draw them
* A bit reliant on Jill + Kurth to put on pressure
* Against aggro you can end up taking too many orbs and not getting to use your draw

## Key Cards

### Jill 5(3)

People call Micaiah a Jill + Kurth simulator, and it's not entirely wrong for good reason. Swinging for 80 on your turn is great, and flip 2 to deploy another 80 attack unit with range is also great, and she’s a 30 support. You can even use her skill 3 to growth Micaiah and get an extra draw if she hits something and you’ve got 4 or fewer cards in hand. Overall one of the best cards to play in the deck.

### Kurthnaga 4 B16

The other half of Jill, Kurth is also just solid on his own as a ranged 70+ attack unit thanks to his skill 2 and his utility of healing back whatever 5 cost you need (including Jill).

### Soren 4(3) B17

Soren is a hateful card. He can win games just on his own if the opponent is slow and can’t clear him immediately, his skill 2 is just that strong. His skill 1 is also useful if you want to remove something big or that can’t be destroyed by usual skills.

### Yune 6

Another card that can win you the game if used properly- buffing Micaiah and allowing her to ignore board can shut down opponents that have committed a lot to controlling the board. If they deploy more stuff, it will have a hard time hitting her 90 + support statline, and they are even more vulnerable to Yune dropping a second or third time.

## Sample Decks

Basil's Micaiah
4 Kurthnaga, The Coming Era's King of Dragons
2 Micaiah, Priestess of Dawn
4 Micaiah, Priestess of Hope
4 Micaiah, Maiden General of the Black Army
4 Micaiah, Priestess Shrouded in Dawn's Light
4 Soren, Silent Windstorm
3 Yune, Goddess of Freedom and Chaos
2 Tiki, Towards a Farflung Future
4 Jill, Mistress of Wyverns
3 Peony, Sweet Dream-Bringing Lass
3 Plumeria, Desire-Gratifying Nightmare
1 Stefan, Lion-Blooded
4 Kurthnaga, Prince of the Land of Dragons
3 Soren, Radiant Tactician
MC: