Hana

## Overview

Written by: Basil

Though fliers have a hard time in the meta due to getting absolutely dumpstered by Oboro, Hana is one of the few who can actually survive the bow onslaught thanks to her bulky supports. She’s often called a numbers check MC, as her second skill makes all 60 base fliers defend for 60 + 40 including herself, but her simplicity allows her to be built in a number of ways. Though purple and red are the more common versions, she can really work with any fliers package.

## Gameplan

Hana usually plays a bit more on the aggressive side of midrange, so playing 1 costs early and attacking the opponent’s MC is ideal. The nice thing about her 1 costs like Reina, Est, Juno etc is that they attack and defend for 70, meaning the opponent may not even be able to clear them even though they’re in the frontline.

After she promotes on turn 3, you’re either going to want to deploy B07 Hinoka to get a 3 cost flier, or deploy whichever 4 cost tempo flier is in your splash color (Florina, Caeda, Erinys, etc). Flier decks thrive on tempo, since they can deploy other fliers for relatively low costs and try to swarm the opponent before they can get set up. Hana makes this even better by making all her allies harder to kill, so if her board can stick for a turn, the opponent will have to deal with a lot of swings later on.

Turn 5, if you didn’t play B07 Hinoka or they already killed her, you’ll want to play B15 Hinoka, or Queenoka. She can deploy whichever 4 cost tempo flier you’re splashing from your Retreat, which can then allow you to use their tempo skill to get out yet another flier and you can see where this is going.

She’ll mostly win by simply beating the opponent down with her board, killing any major threats they try to play. Sometimes you can spit out a ridiculous board in one turn with Queenoka to finish it as well.

All this time, you want to be using Hana’s first skill to reshuffle fliers back into your deck. You don’t always need to shuffle 3 or 4 since oftentimes a self support will miss whether Hana is 60 or 80, but you should always take advantage of it. You typically shuffle cards you want to draw back into you deck like Hinokas and your 4 cost tempo fliers, unless they are self supports (though you can just attack with other units first before shuffling to swing with Hana). You’ll very rarely shuffle Hanas back into your deck since they are self supports and also not fliers you can deploy on your next turn should you draw them, but sometimes you may just need the dodge. You can also shuffle 1 cost fliers into your deck if you need movement in a pinch.

## Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths:

* She and her board are almost always attacking and defending for 100
* Her reshuffle skill allows her deck to become extremely consistent as the game goes on
* A variety of build options
* White fliers (Hinoka) are an excellent package to base off

Weaknesses:

* Oboro is still a scary matchup
* Lacks ways to hit backline
* Does nothing on promo turn

## Key Cards

### Hinoka 4(3) B07

A solid card as there are a number of good 3 cost fliers worth playing. Because she deploys from the deck, Hana can basically deploy whatever she wants as she can reshuffle what she wants to deploy in her retreat back to her deck before using Hinoka’s Warp. You can even run off color 3 cost tech cards just to deploy with her. Her giving destruction immunity to your whole board is also relevant in some matchups, but make sure you have some face-down orbs to flip up to pay for skill 1.

### Hinoka 5(4) B15

A solid deployment skill that will let you play whatever flier you want in your retreat, you just need to make sure you didn’t reshuffle them all. Her range is also crucial as many flier decks have a hard time dealing with backline, and her second skill letting her rearrange the board is also very nice if you happen to have a cheap flier like Peony, Plumeria, or Mirabilis in your deck.

### Reina 1

Reina is the perfect 1 cost for a flier deck- which is why it's great there’s multiple of her in different colors. Since she gets the flier buff on both turns, she can both hit well and be hard to clear, which is all you really need.

### Emma 3(2) B02

Though not as crucial as the Hinokas or Reina, Emma is still very common in Hana. Her skill 1 means she’s basically a 50 base, which with hana buff means she’ll hit for 50 + 40. Having an in-color 3 cost is also good since you need to have a good color balance with the bonds you want to be flipping with Hinoka. Lastly, she is ranged, which can help if there’s an enemy you really need to clear as Hana can struggle to hit the back line.

## Sample Decks

Red Hana
4 Hana, Flawless Cherry Blossom Warrior Maiden
4 Hana, Soaring Swordswoman
4 Palla, Elder Foreign Pegasus
4 Caeda, The Hero-King's Wings
4 Est, Little Macedonian Pegasus
4 Reina, Lady of the Palace Guard
4 Maria, Wyvern-Riding Mage Princess
4 Hinoka, Courageous Crimson Wings
4 Hinoka, Heavenly Queen of the Shining Sun
3 Peony, Sweet Dream-Bringing Lass
4 Emma, Kinshi Knight Fledgling
3 Plumeria, Desire-Gratifying Nightmare
1 Hana, Cheerful Swordswoman
2 Sumia, Sweet Blossom of the Skies
MC:
1 Hana, Cheerful Swordswoman

Purple Hana
4 Hana, Flawless Cherry Blossom Warrior Maiden
4 Hinoka, Heavenly Queen of the Shining Sun
4 Hinoka, Courageous Crimson Wings
3 Peony, Sweet Dream-Bringing Lass
4 Reina, Lady of the Palace Guard
4 Juno, Legendary Flier
4 Fiora, Commander of the 5th Wing (P)
4 Florina, Aiming to be a Fine Flier
3 Galle, Patriotic Black Wyvern Knight
2 Sumia, Sweet Blossom of the Skies
2  ???, Mightiest Pawn of the Leal
2 Plumeria, Desire-Gratifying Nightmare
4 Hana, Soaring Swordswoman
1 Veronica, Spring Princess
2 Emma, Kinshi Knight Fledgling
2 Pamela, Dread Soaring Knight
MC:
1 Hana, Cheerful Swordswoman