Est (B15)

## Overview

Written by: Hong-Zhi

A solid flier MC, who can hit a gargantuan 90 + 30 statline if you can get her sisters into play. Against decks that lack good range, pull, or destruction effects, her statline alone can be gamewinning, helped by the fact that her 1-cost is an effective 40-base flier. Her second skill helps you keep her sisters alive by drawing you a card each time you evade with one of them assuming you have the free bonds. You typically want to splash Green, since you can use Sigrun’s first skill to instantly run out both of Est’s sisters and get her to 90-base, though other splashes can work.

## Gameplan

Like most flier decks, you’re going to want to beatdown your opponent fast. Run out aggressive 1 or 2 costs to hit into your opponent’s MC and get rid of their orbs as fast as possible. In most cases you’re not going to want to bridge since Est’s second skill can turn that evade into a flip-draw, but if your opponent bridges first, or you have no other turn 2 plays, you might not have a choice.

After you promote, your ultimate objective will be to get Palla and Catria into play in order for Est to hit that massive base 90 statline. You can even get this done as early as turn 4 by using B15 Palla 4’s second skill to deploy a Catria from hand, using B01 Catria 1 to deploy a low cost Palla from your deck, or, if you’re splashing Green, Class Changing a Sigrun 5 and using her to deploy a low cost Palla and Catria in the backline. Ideally, you’ll want your Catria to be B15 Catria 4 so that you can move Palla and Catria to the frontline during your turn to attack, then hide them in the back at end of turn. From there keep Palla and Catria alive as long as possible using your extra copies of them in hand to evade, and flip-draw.

If you managed to pressure your opponent successfully and reduce your opponent’s Orbs to 0, you can swap into B01 Est 3 and use Palla and Catria to perform an unavoidable attack against your opponent’s main character at a massive base 100. Otherwise, you’ll usually end up winning due to the rest of your deck pressuring hard enough.

## Strengths and Weaknesses

**Strengths:**

* Strong earlygame due to excellent 1-cost.
* Built in 1-for-1 card advantage, lets you draw into more cards you might need, including evades for her sisters.
* 90+30 walls out a lot of decks that don’t have the ability to deal with her or her sisters.

**Weaknesses:**

* Inherently limited in what she can play due to needing to run many copies of Palla and Catria.
* Highly vulnerable to getting stalled out since slower decks can afford to not attack Est and get rid of the easiest way for Est to generate her 1-for-1 card advantage.
* Very bond hungry, needing to spend bonds both to get her sisters into play and draw cards with her second skill.
* Can get out-advantaged if she can’t win fast enough.

## Key Cards

### Catria 4(3)

Assuming you can get Palla out, Catria is another extremely hard to clear 90 base with the powerful ability to keep herself and Palla safe in the back. This statline makes her best in the lategame where your opponent will have to hit into her herculean 90+30 on a ranged unit, and the fact that she can keep both Palla and herself safe while doing this is extremely powerful. Easily the best Catria card, which you’ll need at least one of in play to keep Est at 90 base.

### Palla 4

Another 90 base, assuming Catria is in play. This statline makes her best in the lategame where your opponent will have to hit into her herculean 90+30 on a ranged unit. You can use her second skill to deploy B15 Catria 4 from hand, however in most other cases you really don’t want to use that skill. Her high statline, and the fact that you need Palla copies, makes her worth playing regardless.

### Palla 2

Easily the best Palla you can play. Her base 60 statline and ability to hide herself in the backline makes her very relevant throughout the game, and she’s extremely easy to get into play thanks to cards like B01 Catria 1 and Sigrun. Being a 2-drop also means she can help pressure your opponent during the earlygame.

### Catria 1

The premier Catria 1-cost. While flip 2 to deploy Palla might not be the most efficient way to spend your bonds, the fact that it’s on a 1-cost gives you a lot more flexibility in how you spend your deploy for the turn, and makes her very easy to run out with cards like Sigrun.

### Sigrun 5(3)

For the Green splash, Sigrun is absolutely mandatory. Her first skill can run out Palla and Catria on its own instantly getting Est to her important 90 base statline. Even with Palla and Catria out, she can be used to run out other low-cost tech options like Plumeria or Haar. Her second skill also helps deal with a critical weakness of flier decks, lack of ranged options, allowing you to tap a lowcost flier to pull a dangerous backline threat to the front where it can be attacked.

## Sample Decks

Hong's Est
4 Est, Scarlet Dracoknight
4 Est, Junior Pegasus Sister
4 Est, Drifting Little Pegasus
4 Catria, Pegasus-Riding Knight
4 Catria, Blueflash Dracoknight
4 Palla, Greenwind Dracoknight
4 Palla, Elder Foreign Pegasus
4 Haar, Black Dracoknight
2 Plumeria, Desire-Gratifying Nightmare
4 Peony, Sweet Dream-Bringing Lass
4 Sigrun, Empire-Guarding Holy Wings
4 Sigrun, Pure White Pegasus Knight
3 Michalis, King of Macedon
MC:
1 Est, Little Macedonian Pegasus