Card Talk : The Early Game

[jasta85]

with lawatia there are numerous setups.

the first 3 creatures that i think are useful for openings are: shade, leonardo, skeletal warrior.
shade and leonardo are both throwaway units. leonardo destroys the first unit the opponent puts out (unless it's blitz) and then usually dies pretty fast, which is ok because you have a hand SS card effect and his 2SP back. if he lives long enough to make it to turn 4 then you can use his 50 damage again. either way you benefit.
shade is used exactly like mentioned in the beginning, to get an early SS activated, either to give yourself SP or lawatia levels or to destroy any enemies you encounter.
skeletal warriors is the equivalent of haste soldier and has his pros and cons. his biggest downside is that he can be killed multiple times in the same turn so you could lose all 3 of his cards very quickly. the upside is when he closes he automatically comes back with whatever buffs he had on him previously. magic weapon, SS buffs, anything like that he keeps. This can be huge and i've had some very nice combos working off him, although now i dont tend to play him first anymore.

But openings really depend on the kind of deck you are playing, what your goal is, there are some basic moves like the ones above that are good for beginners and maybe even for veterens, but in the end you have to think of what you want your deck to do and then create your opening moves based on that.

[chiyeung]

1. wizard + SC dragon rider
2. udine
3. haste soldier
4. scythe

[Romdeau]

1. wizard + SC dragon rider

It'd be helpful if you took your opening beyond a simple list.

[Felixman]

I'm still a rookie, but plotting ones opening gambit has already become a fun passtime. I only play Gowen so far, so let me speak from what limited experience I have.

Thanks to a random card pickup, I find myself likeing to open with 'Highland-Born Warrior' in the first, or second, turn, making sure I have the 5 Gowen needed to turn him from 'Okay' into a pretty solid tank. I've noticed that neither Kurima, nor Combat Monk have the HP to really last in One-on-one fights, so the sturdy, but fairly quick HBW is a happy compromise to hold the line for the first turn or two before I can call on my faster units. I also prefer to put Kurina in the second row... who cares if she can't fight, as long as that Attack bonus keeps comeing? She hits, pun not intended, like a girl anyway.

HBW on turn one, with Rougeerst chiming in during turn two has similarly beneficial results if you, like me at the moment, only have one of the spear-toting butt-kickers to call upon.

Turn three is about gaining the feild and, if applicable, letting your first Soul Card unleash hell. If you already have HBW and Monk/Kurina in the first row, toss a Salamander or Lightning Archer farther back to spread your forces while giving you enough monsters to meet your enemies inevitible charge. Since I do not have any Panther Soul cards, I have to get my Gowen level to 9 before unleashing Brave Warrior... of course, it also makes your Flame Arrow and Fire Tornado spells SO STRONG. Why shortcut?

[Romdeau]

If your putting 9 into Gowen just for the sake of a ranked up Brave Soldier, I'd say your SP is being wasted. I know there are other Gowen units that benefit from the sphere level being that high, but if you have multiple different units that require a high sphere level for rank up-I'd consider using one of your SC as +3 to Gowen.