Battle Spirits Sagais a reboot of the 2008 Japanese trading card game Battle Spirits, reintroducing its concepts to audiences new and old. Out of the gate, the game has already received four starter decks, a booster set, and a core set, alongside an expansion set slated for June 2023.
Related:Video Games That Would Be Great Card Games
Out of the three possible card types, magic can have some of the most profound effects on the battlefield, being used once rather than persisting like spirit or nexus cards. Though you’re not likely to get anywhere without Spirit cards, the best magic cards can take your play to a brand-new level.
10Starblessed Draw
Card advantage is a concept in nearly every single competitive card game, as cards are a resource: having more than your opponent means having more options at every level of play. Therefore, cards like Starblessed Draw which allow you to get more cards are some of the most useful when building a deck.
The main effect of allowing you to draw two cards is already good, but the burst that reacts to your opponent’s summoned spirits allows you to draw two more on top of it. Four cards are a staggering bounty, especially in the face of a newly summoned Goliath.
9Absolute Ice Shield
One-card shutdowns are not something you may often perform in card games, as the ability to completely nullify an opponent’s attack with a few resources makes such cards a must-have no matter the deck. Absolute Ice Shield proves this concept fairly well, becoming a necessity if you value your deck’s longevity.
With a burst that lets you immediately replace a removed life core, the main effect of the card then ends your opponent’s attack step. In the early game, this is negligible, but this card can mean everything against a set-up deck when you’re in the final turns of a game – you can essentially just say no to game-finishing maneuvers if you have the resources.
8Deadly Balance
In the early meta of Battle Spirits Saga, Deadly Balance is another one of those cards that become necessary in any deck you play, as theability to remove a creature from battlecan completely nullify the work of many set-up decks
Related:The Best Online CCGs, Ranked
Eventually, cards will be added to make the penalty of this effect far less severe without ruining it, but in the current game, it’s too effective to pass up. Set-up decks will have to get craftier with how they get powerful spirits onto the field, as revealing your biggest player can leave you grasping at air as your opponent punishes your eagerness.
7Dream Bomb
Dream Bomb isn’t over the top, but it can be pretty good at denying your opponent’s game plan for a measure. Unlike the harsher denial tools from this early meta, Dream Bomb only returns a nexus and a spirit back to your opponent’s hand, meaning they can play them to the field when they have the resources.
Nonetheless, this tactic still hurts the overall efficacy of a set-up deck, forcing them to spend resources and a few more turns rebuilding their spirits to be formidable once again.
6Big Bang Energy
Finally betraying the strange hatred Battle Spirits Saga seems to have for set-up decks, Big Bang Energy is actually quite a nice card when trying to build up when on the back foot. The effect makes Star Dragon spirit cards in your hand cost the same as your life, meaning that they only cost one when you have a single core in your life area.
This can be fantastic as a last-ditch attempt when pushed beyond the brink, but it can actually do even better if you use this effect to set up game-ending plays. For how strong the best of the Star Dragon archetype can be, getting one onto the field without needing to save up can finish a game early.
5Drowsy Fumes
If you’re planning on fighting your opponents in combat rather than through card effects, Drowsy Fumes is the magic card for you – able to knock an opponent’s spirit down by 2,000 BP, it’s a great way to pick up the slack so that your weaker spirits can capitalize.
Since this is both a main and flash effect, the utility covers both attacking and defending, meaning you’ll always have something watching your back if you’ve been pushed into a corner. If you’re already winning, then Drowsy Fumes can help you further snowball and avoid spirit destruction.
4Core Drain
Core drain is fairly unassuming, giving you the option of either buffing one of your spirits by 2,000 BP, or taking up to three cores from an opponent’s spirit to level them down.But this is actually more powerful than you might have thought– if a card does not meet the core requirement for its level one, then it is destroyed.
Related:Relatable Things We All Do With A Trading Card Game
This is a balanced way of giving decks field control: even if this card can’t outright destroy many of the game-enders in one turn, it has enough going for it that it can be used in most situations effectively. Further, smart use of its many effects will surely win you a game.
3Poison Shot
Poison Shot is another card that can be used for a number of situations, depriving any spirit on the field of a core with its primary effect and allowing you to draw a card with its burst effect. This isn’t a game-changer by any means, but every good deck needs a few cards that do a bit of legwork.
Drawing a card is a decent enough trade if you can’t help but lose a spirit, and the potential to level down an opponent’s spirit thereafter is pretty sweet in its own right. The only downside is that you’re probably not going to be destroying any cards through a one-core removal.
2Charged Draw
It’s no big surprise tosee another draw cardamong the current best, but it’s undeniable that being able to pay out resources for card advantage is pretty often a good trade (especially when an Absolute Ice Shield or Core Drain may be waiting around the corner).
Further, the 2,000 BP boost that this card can push out makes sure that it won’t ever be deadweight in your hand – if you’re getting attacked by a spirit that you need to take down, a nice little bump might be exactly what you need to take it to the trash.
1Royal Potion
As is the case in most card games centered around monster-summoning, being able to untap a creature is a valuable ability that can allow you to use effects and attack a second time without consequence.
Though spirits that cost two aren’t always the most powerful contenders on the field, it’s undeniable that a good aggro deck can only benefit from more opportunities to badger an enemy’s spirits as they try to get ahold of their most important cards. This will always be relevant, especially as new effects arrive that are conditioned around the exhausted status of your spirits.
