Seikens

Legend of Mana Card Duel - Deckbuilding - Red Sample Deck

聖剣伝説 レジェンド オブ マナ カードデュエル 紅色 サンプル デッキ
An example decklist and rule reference for Legend of Mana Card Duel.

Page Navigation:
Red Deck
Deck Strategy
 Mana Curve
 STR Information
 DEF Information
 Monster and Land Interactions
Card Text Reference

Red Deck

One of the only publications about Legend of Mana Card Duel appears in the last 10 pages of the Making of Mana “mook” (a magazine style book) published by Famitsu Bros. on July 29, 1999 (ISBN4-7561-3148-4). The following decklist was presented without commentary on page 123. I named this the Red deck since it uses Fire element cards, but also gave it a 90s style deck box with the name “Firestorm” that emphasizes its playstyle and abundance of both Fire and Wind element cards.

Artifact/Land x18

Card #   Card Name Card Name (Japanese) Element Rarity Quantity
001 Mailbox/ Home ポスト / マイホーム C x2
002 Junkyard / Broken Doll 壊れた人形 / ゴミ山  Fire U x1
003 Flame / Gato Grottoes 炎 / 断崖の町ガト  Fire C x2
004 Tome of Magic / Geo 魔導書 / 魔法都市ジオ Fire U x2
014 Wheel / Luon Highway 車輪 / リュオン街道 Wind C x2
015 Sand Rose / Duma Desert 砂バラ / デュマ砂漠 Wind C x2
016 Moon’s Mirror / Tower of Leires 月読の鏡 / レイリスの塔 Wind U x2
017 Frozen Heart / Fieg Snowfields とけない心 / フィーグ雪原 Wind U x1
018 Firefly Lamp / Lumina 蛍袋のランプ / 月夜の町ロア Light C x2
019 Stone Eye / Lake Kilma 石の目玉 / キルマ湖 Light C x2

Monster x16

Card #   Card Name Card Name (Japanese) Element Rarity Quantity
030 Beholder ボルダー Fire C x2
032 Tomato Man ダークプリースト Fire C x4
033 Kid Dragon プチドラゴン Fire C x2
042 Sky Dragon スカイドラゴン Wind U x2
044 Basilisk バジリスク Wind C x2
045 Teedie ティディ Wind C x2
055 Mad Mallard ダック Light C x2

Support x10

Card #   Card Name Card Name (Japanese) Element Rarity Quantity
069 Professor Kathinja’s Rage カシンジャ先生大激怒 Fire U x2
071 Magnolia’s Fire Stone マグノリアの火石 Fire U x2
084 Inspector Boyd’s Investigation ボイド警部の取り調べ Wind C x2
085 Windcaller’s Anger 風読み士の怒り Wind C x2
094 Miss Yuka’s Retort ユカちゃんのツッコミ Light C x2

Item x6

Card #   Card Name Card Name (Japanese) Element Rarity Quantity
132 Laurent Knife ミスリルダガー C x2
134 Jacobini Axe ジャコビニハチェット C x2
137 Bone Hammer ボーンハンマー C x2

Character x8

Card #   Card Name Card Name (Japanese) Synchro Rarity Quantity
108 Hero 主人公(男) H x1
110 Niccolo ニキータ C x1
112 Daena ダナエ C x1
113 Larc ラルク U x1
115 Princess Pearl 真珠姫 C x1
119 Bud バド U x1
120 Lisa コロナ U x1
123 Rabite ラビ C x1

Deck Strategy

The Red deck needs to take an aggressive approach using Monsters and Support cards to defeat your opponent’s Characters and lock down their Available Mana. To keep ahead of the game, you will need to bluff and bait your opponent into favorable encounters, exert pressure on their Character Party, and trash as many of their cards as you can.

Use Monsters Effectively

The Monsters in this deck lend themselves to interesting mix-ups, as long as you remain on the offensive.

Offense: Beholders pack a punch no matter where you put them at 4 STR, but do even better on enemy Lands. Both Beholders and Teedies want to move, and in doing so threaten the safety of any blockers. Just make sure your opponent does not have DEF buffing options available. A Teedie on the move stands at an impressive 4 STR 4 which will typically take multiple Characters to take down. Unfortunately, Teedie’s lose their bite on a successful move but can still run some decent interference.

Offense

Defense: The most abundant Monster in this deck functions mainly as a defender due to its 0 STR. With a high 4 DEF, that gets even higher on Fire Lands, it is possible that your opponent will need to use Items or multiple Characters to take a Tomato Man down. You can capitalize on this with the Trap Monsters discussed next. Remember that defenders do not just have to defend your Lands, a Tomato Man stationed on your opponent’s Land causes some serious problems. The Offensive Monsters allow you to bluff Tomato Men into that position.

Defense

Trap: Sky Dragons, and Kid Dragons to a less effective extent, benefit from facing multiple Characters in battle, which your Tomato Men and Teedies on the move require. The Sky Dragon especially is a huge threat, as its Gliding Attack could potentially wipe three Characters at once.

Mad Mallards may not win every battle, but their strength comes in taking out pesky Items. This allows your other Monsters to more safely engage your opponent. However, their Helmet only works when attacked by Characters so keep them on defense or only move them when they can safely invade.

Trap

Technical: Basilisks require planning to effectively use, but when utilized correctly their effect can devastate the enemy party or leech valuable Mana from your opponent. Attacking the opponent’s Party with an Open Basilisk taps all of their Characters once the battle resolves. This allows the rest of your Open Monsters to freely attack the opposing Party, as tapped Characters have 0 STR, cannot use Items, and ignore all Special Skills and Synchro effects. A well timed Petrifying Evil Eye can wipe multiple Characters or gain a considerable amount of Mana if your opponent declares “Through”.

Of course, your Basilisk must survive one round before they can start attacking the opponent’s Party; make sure it remains Face Down until you decide to use it! Stationing Basilisks on Wind Lands may deter attacks from your opponent, due to the high threat Sky Dragons pose.

When it comes to attacking, your opponent can choose to just let the Basilisk’s attack “Through”, but that still offers up a nice reward. Since you can just swing in with the Basilisk again the next turn, you know your opponent will likely come after it. Buff it with Magnolia as a parting shot.

Technical

Trash Opponent Cards

Keep yourself ahead of your opponent by denying them a chance to play their cards and aggressively taking out the cards they do get into play.

Trash Lands: Taking out your opponent’s Lands will keep them from generating enough Mana to keep up with you. Only use Larc to attack Monsters on your opponent’s Lands, as he destroys the Land combat takes place on when the Monster is trashed in battle. Larc’s high 4 STR allows him to win many battles, but be wary of his low 2 DEF. The Jacobini Axe and Bone Hammer can both spot him 2 extra DEF provided you have the Mana, and Daena and the Laurent Knife offer 1 extra DEF.

Trash Lands

Trash Monsters: Taking out your opponent’s Monsters enables you to keep your Mana and also invade more of their Lands to deny them of Mana. While the Tome of Magic and Inspector Boyd do not directly state to trash your opponent’s Monsters, players must trash Monsters upon Opening if they cannot pay the Mana cost. Watch your opponent’s Available Mana closely, and Open as many Monsters as you can when their reserves are low. The Windcaller can clean up any Open Monsters your opponent has in play.

Trash Monsters

Trash Items: Items lend reliable buffs to Characters, so removing them from the equation makes the outcomes of battles easier to predict. The Flame wipes all Items off the field, including your own, so make sure you are coming out on top when using it. The Wheel only targets Items on one Character, but in the case of a Machine Golem it may end up destroying a hefty number of Items. The Mad Mallard only destroys an Item with its Helmet Special Skill when Opened by a Character attack, so either have it play defense on your own Lands or move it onto your opponent’s Lands when they cannot block its movement.

Trash Items

Trash Characters: Seize victory by knocking out all eight of your opponent’s Characters. The Broken Doll hits 19 out of 24 Characters, making it an effective but limited (with only one in the deck) kill spell. The Sand Rose only hits 10 out of 24, but do not underestimate it. Many of those 10 Characters have beneficial Special Skills so your opponent may otherwise keep them out of combat, making a kill spell your best option. Kathinja rounds everything out by taking out any Character you please. Pair these spells with strategic attacks on your opponent’s Party to whittle their Character deck down to zero.

Trash Characters

Trash Anything: Trashing a Tomato Man causes your opponent to discard a card. Force their hand by stationing Tomato Men on key Lands that disrupt their Land Making. With 0 STR Tomato Men offer little threat to the opposing Party, but 4 DEF requires some effort to overcome. A well timed Magnolia can catch an underprepared Character off guard.

Trash Anything

Building Tempo

The Red deck mostly relies on keeping your opponent down to keep pace, but a few cards in the deck can also help you keep moving along.

Card Draw: Four cards in the deck facilitate card draw. Like other artifacts, the Mailbox is a bit expensive, but resetting your main deck to its original state and drawing four cards offers quite a lot of benefit. Since the deck plays aggressively, many of your useful monsters will likely end up in the discard pile. The Frozen Heart can generate a great deal of draw, provided your timing is right. It counts up Character and Monster deaths on your turn and your opponent’s turn, so when it looks like a battle is brewing you can use it to make bank or stave off an attack if your opponent does not feel like feeding you cards. Miss Yuka not only draws a card, but could also give you the intel you need to clear out opposing threats. Finally, Niccolo’s Business Unusual means you can draw cards as long as he can safely attack.

Card Draw

Character Combo: The Making of Mana mook pointed this combo out. If you have Niccolo and a Rabite together in a Party, you can attack a safe target with Niccolo to draw a card using Business Unusual then untap him with the Rabite’s Baby-Doll Eyes to do it over again. With 4 DEF Niccolo can safely target a number of Monsters, and nothing in the rules says he can’t just attack the same one twice! It’s no Pot of Greed, but drawing two cards is always good.

Niccolo can also make use of the Jacobini Axe’s Special Technique, Deep Slice, to achieve the same effect. Using both the Rabite and the Axe would allow you to draw three cards per turn. It’s no Ancestral Recall, but drawing three cards is always good.

Character Combo

Mana Curve

This section lists the Mana costs of Artifacts, Monsters, Support cards, and Items in the deck. It also lists the activation costs for Special Techniques of Items.

Artifacts, Monsters, Support, and Item Costs

The Mana curve for this deck is bimodal, with late-game Artifact costs centered around 5.5 Mana on average and the remaining cards centered around 1.75 Mana. Keeping at least 3 Available Mana during your opponent’s turn may be advised to assist in bluffing about Opening costs or having Magnolia in hand.

Both Kathinja and the Windcaller require two of their respective element to be played. Make sure you either have two Lands of their element in play or have Bud in your party to play them.

Cost Cards
X
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Special Technique Costs

The cost of using Items in battle is relatively high at around 2.5 Mana. Keeping around 3 Available Mana may be beneficial to dissuade Party attacks.

Cost Special Techniques
1
2
3

STR Information

This section lists the base STR of Monsters and Characters in the deck. It also lists the available STR boosts and associated costs of Special Techniques.

STR Curve

Tomato Men drag the average STR of the deck down to around 1.75 STR, but the more offensive Monsters average to around 2.5 STR. Teedies gain an extra 2 STR in moving battles, and Beholders gain 1 STR on your opponent’s Lands. The average STR of a Party of Characters will be around 2.5 STR. Additional STR bonuses are available to Niccolo, Lisa, and the Rabite through Synchro effects.

STR Monsters Characters
0
1
2
3
4
† Kid Dragon STR is equal to the number of Characters facing it in battle.
‡ Sky Dragons technically have STR ✱, but due to its Gliding Attack effectively does 3 STR of damage to all defending Characters.

Special Technique STR Buff

On average, you can expect to gain about 2 STR through Special Technique usage. Keep in mind that Pearl cannot equip the Hammer, and Bud, Lisa, and the Rabite cannot equip the Items in the deck.

Cost STR +✱ STR +1 STR +2 STR +3
1
2
3
† Only against Monsters on your own Lands.
‡ STR gain based on Monster’s Open cost.

DEF Information

This section lists the base DEF of Monsters and Characters in the deck. It also lists the available DEF boosts and associated costs of Special Techniques.

DEF Curve

Tomato Men boost the average DEF of the deck up to around 2.67 DEF, but the less defensive Monsters average to around 2 DEF. Teedies gain an extra 2 DEF in moving battles, and Beholders gain 1 DEF on your opponent’s Lands. The average DEF of a Party of Characters will be around 2.5 DEF. Additional DEF bonuses are available to Bud and The Rabite through Synchro effects. Daena also boosts the DEF of Characters participating in battle with her.

DEF Monsters Characters
1
2
3
4

Special Technique DEF Buffs

On average, you can expect to gain about 1.67 DEF through Special Technique usage. Keep in mind that Pearl cannot equip the Hammer, and Bud, Lisa, and the Rabite cannot equip the Items in the deck.

Cost DEF +1 DEF +2
1
2
3

Monster and Land Interactions

This section notes the STR and DEF of Monsters on each Land in the deck.

Monster Default
4/2 4/2 5/3 5/3 5/3 4/2 4/2 4/2 4/2 4/2 4/2
0/4 0/4 1/5 1/5 1/5 0/4 0/4 0/4 0/4 0/4 0/4
✱/1 ✱/1 ✱+1/2 ✱+1/2 ✱+1/2 ✱/1 ✱/1 ✱/1 ✱/1 ✱/1 ✱/1
✱/3 ✱/3 ✱/3 ✱/3 ✱/3 ✱/4 ✱/4 ✱/4 ✱/4 ✱/3 ✱/3
2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 3/3 3/3 3/3 3/3 2/2 2/2
2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 3/3 3/3 3/3 3/3 2/2 2/2
2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 3/3 3/3

Card Text Reference

Card #   Text Interactions
001 Land: Your opponent’s Monsters may not move onto this Land.
Artifact: Return all cards from your hand and discard pile, excluding character cards, to your main deck and shuffle it. Draw 4 cards.
 
002 Land: You may only play this card as a Land if you have 5 or more cards in your discard piles (including Characters).
Artifact: Select one of your opponent’s Characters with DEF 3 or less and trash them (ignoring synchro effects).
 
003 Land: During battle, Earth element Monsters on this Land lose [STR-2].
Artifact: Trash all Items (including your own).
Earth
004 Artifact: Open all Monsters (including your own). Whoever used this card chooses the order of Opening.  
014 Land: During battle, Water element Monsters on this Land lose [STR-2].
Artifact: Trash all Item cards on 1 of your opponent’s Characters.
Water
015 Artifact: Select one of your opponent’s Characters with DEF 2 or less and trash them (ignoring synchro effects).  
016 Artifact: Until the end of next turn, Characters cannot block Monster movement (including your own).  
017 Artifact: Until the end of next turn, each time one of your Characters or Monsters is trashed, draw 1 card from your main deck.  
018 Land: During battle, Dark element Monsters on this Land lose [STR-2].
Artifact: Select 1 Artifact card from your main deck and add it to your hand. Shuffle the deck afterwards.
Dark
019 Artifact: Until the end of next turn, your Monster’s Open costs become 0.  
030 Glare: On opponent’s Lands, gain [STR+1 DEF+1].  
032 Curse of Fire: When Tomato Man is trashed, your opponent must select 1 card from their hand and discard it.  
033 Petite Breath: STR is the number of Characters in battle with it.  
042 Gliding Attack: Inflicts 3 damage to all Characters participating in battle.  
044 Evil Eye of Petrification: When Basilisk attacks a party, all of your opponent’s Characters are tapped at the end of battle (including Characters that did not participate in battle).  
045 Floating: In a moving battle gain [STR+2 DEF+2].  
055 Helmet: When Opened by a Character attack, select one Item from the Characters participating in battle and trash it (Monster side selects which one). The effects of the trashed Item are negated.  
069 Main Phase: Select one of your opponent’s Characters and trash them.  
071 In Battle: A Character or Monster participating in battle gains [STR+3].  
084 Main Phase: You may Open X of your opponent’s Monsters. X is the cost paid. The user of this card selects the Opening order.  
085 Main Phase: Trash one of your opponent’s Open Monsters.  
094 Main Phase: Have your opponent reveal the STR and DEF of one Face Down Monster. In addition, draw 1 card from your main deck.  
132 1 – Admonition: STR+1
2 – Sonic Wave: Against Monsters on your own Land gain STR+3
3 – Crescent Moon: STR+2 DEF+1
 
134 3 – Deep Slice: Untap at the end of battle.
3 – Electronic Yo-Yo: STR+1 DEF+2
3 – Retribution: Gain STR equal to the Monster’s cost.
 
137 2 – Super Slugger: STR+2
2 – Blast Radius: DEF+2
3 – Blammo: STR+3
 
108 Character Replenishment – Fateful EncounterTap: Select 1 Character from your Character deck and exchange it for one untapped Character on your field. Add the exchanged Character to the deck and shuffle it.  
110 End of Battle – Business Unusual: After participating and not being trashed in a battle that requires tapping, draw 1 card from your main deck.
Synchro: STR+1 when the Hero or Heroine are in play
Equips: Cannot equip Magic Instruments.
112 In Battle – Shield of Kindness: Characters participating in battle at the same time as Daena gain [DEF+1].
Synchro: STR+1 when Escad is in play
113 End of Battle – Abyss: When you trash a Monster on a Land, trash that Land at the end of battle (including your Lands).  
115 In Battle – Like a Rock: Disable Monster Special Skills.
Synchro: DEF+1 when the Hero is in play
Equips: Cannot equip 2H Swords, 2H Axes, or Hammers.
119 Always – Mom’s Frying Pan: When determining element condition of a card, treat Bud as any of [Fire, Earth, Wind, Water].
Synchro: DEF+1 when Lisa is in play
Equips: Can only equip Magic Instruments.
Fire,Water,Earth,Wind
120 Always – Daddy’s Broom: When determining element condition of a card, treat Lisa as any of [Light, Dark, Wood, Gold].
Synchro: STR+1 when Bud is in play
Equips: Can only equip Magic Instruments.
Light,Dark,Wood,Gold
123 Main Phase- Baby-Doll EyesTap: Untap 1 of your Characters.
Synchro: STR+1 DEF+1 when the Hero or Heroine are in play
Equips: Cannot use Items.