Taking Stock January 26th - February 1st, 2026

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Tournament Report: Melanie Lynette Top 8 JP NA WGP 25/26

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This will be in a slightly different format because, as your blog writer, I actually saw some success at this year's Japanese WGP! So this will be a bit more of a straight article instead. I have linked articles to the interviews of a few of my fellow Top 16 opponents so you can get the full perspective where relevant.

I began playing Weiss Schwarz in 2014, discovering the game when I saw a Sword Art Online Trial Deck for sale when I was looking for Magic: The Gathering singles. I realized that some of my favorite animes like Angel Beats, Clannad, and Nisekoi were in the game, and quickly got into both the English and Japanese sides. My first notable top was a 4th Place at the 2014 JP NA WGP with NIsekoi. Since then, while I haven’t had anything super big top wise (beyond a very small Origins Top 4 when Bushiroad held events there and some larger locals events), but I’ve qualified for JP Nationals multiple times and had a lot of fun at English Regionals.I am very passionate about teaching the game, deckbuilding, and helping to grow local communities. I love being a Tournament Organizer and running positive events for the community to have fun with! Always feel free to reach out if you have questions or would like help with something! (I will do a full game history biography in an article at some point in the future. But at least this gives a quick synopsis!)

Winning Decklist:

BushiNavi Code: 16D2M

https://decklog-en.bushiroad.com/ja/view/16D2M

I would consider my Oshi no Ko list to be a very standard build for the series at this point. The only thing I feel the need to point out is that I made an executive call the week before the event to let go a lot of the strategies to deny Idolm@ster Gakuen (Gakum@s) / Idolm@ster Shiny Colors reverses. I found I was spending too much stock (Memory Bounce Back to Hand Aqua) or taking too much damage from open lanes (Sacrifice Lane to Run to Backrow Kana) in attempting to do this and was only hurting my own game, because if the Kana brainstormer's check missed it still left an on reverse target. This was usually enough for most of my opponent's on the series in playtesting to still get off their entire game. In the end, it wasn't worth sacrificing tech space in my own build for. I noted throughout the event that I had far better resource management in my games due to this as well. A controversial call to be sure, but at least for my day this time it paid off.

Round 1: Win against Date-A-Live: 8 Book (Nia)

I had a really great start to the day with a talented and amazing opponent. He was on the new 8 Book Date-A-Live Nia build, which I only had about a game or two of playtesting against. We had a fairly evenly matched game until he went to Level 2. Sadly, he was short resources to play out more than one of the 3/2 Nia, and then proceeded to trigger several climaxes that he couldn’t pay out. I sent him to Level 3 since I hit the damage pocket. While he was able to swing me back to 3 with not too much of a finisher turn, Akane was able to pull out a win.

Round 2: Win against Kaiju No. 8: 8 Comeback (Door).

I had a solid game against another wonderful opponent. While I had some locals to playtest this match up, my opponent’s build was a bit more unique in that he was running the yellow event and a bit more yellow in his list than what I had seen previously. We had a very close game early with me taking some early damage, but my opponent was unlucky in his cancels in the mid-game. I was able to close out the game with Akane in the end.

Round 3: Win against Yuru Camp: 6 Gold Bar / 2 Gate (Pants) (4 Chiaki / 2 Aoi / 2 Rin)

My opponent was a professional pilot on this list and we had an extremely close game that just barely avoided in going over time. Both of us hit ideal deck states and the cancels were just flying back and forth. Neither of us had issues building resources either. He went to Level 3 first, and I somehow survived  his finisher turn to answer back with Akane for the win. It was a very well-played and close game!

Round 4: Win against Love Live! Hasunosora: 8 Standby

I know from locals this match up can be very close and hard for Oshi no Ko to deal with if they got things going at Level 1 and 2. I genuinely felt horrible for my opponent this round because his deck just said “No.” the entire game. He was out out 4 to 5 climaxes between his opening hand, mulligan, and discarded due to effects by the end of his first turn. And it felt like every time he was getting close to stabilizing he’d trigger climaxes in spots that were difficult to pay out and for limited value. In the end, he pushed for game in the best way possible to at least send me to Level 3, but then the burns from an Akane finished it. I very much wish his deck had behaved as he was a very strong player who powered through the tough scenarios thrown at him.

Round 5: Win against Quintessential Quintuplets: 8 Goldbar

I was surprised and excited to sit down against a Yotsuba focused deck. While I have had games against several of the other girls in the series, this game was probably only the 3rd time I’ve played against Yotsuba. My opponent was somewhat familiar with my deck, but we had a wonderful match as we both asked questions and clarified each other’s card effects. He unfortunately couldn’t seem to get his climax combo for his Level 1 game, so he had trouble doing what he wanted alongside eating some pockets of unexpected damage. My opponent tried to push for game, but he was too far behind in damage to close it out. Despite this my opponent and I still had a very nice game!

After the nerve-wracking deck checks, we're off to Top 16 Cut.

Top 16: Win against Gakuen Idolm@ster: 4 Comeback (Door) / 4 Gate (Pants)

This was an unfortunate pairing against a local teammate that I often playtest (and lose!) games against regularly in our local online server tournaments. Early game he definitely had the advantage as my brainstormer Kana’s top check at 0/6 whiffed and left him 3 easy on reverse targets for the 1/0 Saki. I watched him, as I have before in playtesting, brainstorm and helmet to get his Level 1s in hand, and, suddenly, we both realize he’s down to 4 cards in hand and can only attack twice with two 1/0 Sakis. Worse, one of them whiffs and triggers a climax on the stock check ability. From there, on my Level 1 turns, Kana’s top checks to rearrange kept revealing climaxes, so I left them there and ended up canceling a lot. My opponent was pushed to Level 3 first, but was short the resources to push for game. In theory, he should have been able to stall out with me at Level 2 being I was only 2/0 and compressed. He moved the one Temari that he played to heal off a damage to the back row, and my contemplation of how I needed to dig for Aqua Riki’s to send myself to Level 3 turned into a “well, I don’t need that” as I ate 7 straight (deserved at this point!) to Level 3. Akane closed out the game from there.

Top 8: Loss against Quintessential Quintuplets: 8 Goldbar (Rematch!)

Round 5 of Swiss rematch! This time my opponent’s deck ran incredibly well, with multiple chances to resolve his Level 1 combo and was able to build resources. Unfortunately, despite having a good game resource wise, I just kept eating pockets of damage in a compressed deck at both Level 1 and Level 2 without canceling as expected. On the turn my opponent sent me to Level 3, he did an incredibly wise thing to preserve hand: he just moved up his Level 0 backrow to crash, and dropped a  Level 0 in the slot where the 2/1 Taiki had been returned to hand off of Kana’s top check. Damage stuck, sending me to Level 3, but my opponent was very compressed and Akane was swinging into 2 open slots as well as a Level 0. With no targets to side for pinpoint, as well as multiple of Akane’s burns unluckily failing to hit Level 0’s or climaxes, my opponent was able to swing back for game after using an icy tail finisher to get damage off my last two cancels in deck and force a refresh into a decompressed, post-finisher deck. Still a great game!

Final Reflections:

Every round of this tournament I had great games against very talented players so it was incredibly enjoyable event. I think that’s one of the best parts of Weiss Schwarz, honestly, is that even at the highest competitive level we have an amazing community to play and interact with.

It would have been awesome to go a bit further and go past my 4th place at JP WGP Nationals in 2014, but I’m still very happy with how I performed at the event and will always keep working hard to keep achieving.

In the long run, results like this are only possible with a strong community that helps with the constant play testing, feedback, and camaraderie. Thank you so much to everyone who has helped me playtest at Paul’s Gamerzone, The Warp Gate, and in online matches. A special thanks to Jason, Dale, Evan C., Will A., and Aubrey P. for their continual playtesting arrangements beforehand!

As always, thank you to the community for your support of this Blog and Channel! Looking forward to putting out a lot of cool content going forward!

Interested in more Tournament Reports or you would like to submit your own Top 16 interview from the JP NA WGP 2025? Check out more reports or submit a form at https://level4weissschwarz.wixsite.com/lvl4ws/tournament-reports !

Nina (or Momoka) sharing the stage with Hina!?!? (Budget Remix Girls Band Cry Series: 4)

Girls Band Cry is a very powerful Premium Booster and TD+ release that has an amazingly deep combination of experimental and powerful card effects. If sticking to non-foil cards, the entire set becomes very affordable, even to upgrade. (As of the writing of this article in January 2026, there is only one card in the Japanese main set and TD+ over 1000 yen, and it’s the 0/0 Nina due to her widespread use in decks.) While the English version of the set may have a slightly different price point due to print run size, I still feel like this set will be very easy for players to upgrade outside of some PRs that we’re not sure how they’ll be released yet exactly as of the timing of this article.

Let’s finish out the series with a look at 4 Comeback (Door) and 4 Gate (Pants) deck variant. Nina is the overwhelming finisher of choice for the set if we leave out Rupa x Tomo and the TD+ combo, but if we start mixing in the Diamond Dust cards we can create a deck that uses Togenashi Togeari’s early game play and larger Level 0 utility pool to set up into the the solid Level 3 Hina end game from Diamond Dust.

Deck 1 Code: 46LUB

https://decklog-en.bushiroad.com/view/46LUB 

Quick Pilot Guide Deck 1:

This budget deck combines the Comeback (Door) Level 2 early play Nina with the Gate (Pants) Level 3 Hina finisher combo for a solid budget deck. While forsaking some powerful utility in the 8 Comeback (Door) deck versions, such as the 0/0 Subaru Brainstormer, this deck runs a much more straight forward top end finisher in Hina. Some players will also like the Gate (Pants) trigger in helping with climax combo recursion.

Throughout piloting the deck, remember that the Level 3 Hina needs Experience Level 6 to use her full abilities. I recommend Level a 3/2 Ai for blue and a 3/2 Nina for Red at 1 and 2 respectively so you can meet Experience 6 by Level 2. Use the Level 0 utility to set up for Level 1. At Level 1, your ideal front row will be two of the 1/0 Tomo and 1 of the 2/1 early play Nina. Note: You CAN NOT use Nina’s combo if your board has any Diamond Dust members in play. You also can’t grab Diamond Dust members for the combo. Prepare to use other tools in the deck to filter for them and keep them in hand for your end game. Since you have to send the climax in your climax zone to the waiting room as part of Nina’s cost, playing multiple of her isn’t the best use of resources in the early game. The 1/0 Tomo hits decent power levels and gives you a way to filter away any extra climaxes obtained by the Gate (Pants) triggers in the deck. 

At Level 2 you can use the 2/1 Tomo’s ability and power, relight the 2/1 Nina combo, and even early play the Ai, if able. Note: If you early play an Ai to heal, keep in mind you will not be able to use Nina’s climax combo as she is NOT a Togenashi Togeari band member! At Level 3 the focus will be mostly on the 3/2 Hina, but if you find yourself slightly short on resources you can use the Nana 3/2 to save some stock and spam out a Level 3 game and still have a chance at some finisher power. If getting the climax combo isn’t possible, you can use Nana into the Nina 3/2 to try to close out the game.

Deck 2 Code: 49RUP

https://decklog-en.bushiroad.com/view/49RUP

Quick Pilot Guide Deck 2:

If you’re a newer player, this build of the deck, which is technically Momoka passing to Hina, is a lot easier to pilot. As of the writing of this around the release date in January of 2026, I actually think the 1/0 Momoka combo may be less expensive than the 2/1 Nina combo.

While the Level 3 game plan hasn’t changed (Nana into Hina or triple into Hina - so you still need Experience Level 6), Level 1 is a lot easier to pilot with the hand filter/salvage 1/0 Momoka. You don’t need to be so concerned about leaving a Diamond Dust member on stage, as Momoka checks for Music trait, which everyone in the set has. Downside? Her combo hand filters but doesn’t really help you mill through your first deck. While I’ve paired her with the 1/0 Subaru from the TD+ to attempt to help generate additional stock, I feel like you could also pair her with other off combo 1/0 options dependent on your playstyle.

Budget Swap-Ins for both decks:

Tomo is a repeatable brainstormer that can hand filter on climax hit of her ability to check the top 3 cards of your deck for anything. She also can help with an extra bit of mill on play to get you closer to potentially hitting a climax for her brainstorm effect. She is a valuable tech one card that can also attack, if necessary.

This Tomo is a strong hand filter and draw tool for this and many decks. May be worth considering as a 1 or a 2 of in some lists since she doesn’t cost stock.

This Momoka is an exact clone to an Akane Oshi no Ko set 1 card. She is continuously at 3500 power if you have 5 or more cards in hand, and, so long as you have 4 or less stock, she can send reversed battle opponents to the bottom of your opponent’s deck. This can help put more damage back in your opponent’s deck, deny on reverse effects on your turn, and/or deny some on stage to waiting room effects your opponent may wish to use.

This Subaru can help power up a Music character and can pay a stock/hand filter to search your deck for a Music character to further your game.

This Rupa can bounce an opponent’s Level 0 character back to hand (useful for denying on reverse or on stage to waiting room effects), as well as pay a stock and discard a card either on play or on stage to waiting room to salvage a character. This means, if you’re short stock, you can use her to attack with and then still get her salvage filter ability when she goes to waiting room.

This Rupa global +500 Assist on climax placement can give a character on attack, look at up to 2 cards, choose 1, leave it on top, and discard the rest to the waiting room. This set up can be helpful for attempting to trigger (or not trigger!) Comeback (Door) triggers.

This Nina is a very strong going first, first turn, attacker that has great defensive power and a level if you have 1 or less other characters. If you feel like you need a powerhouse at Level 0 this maybe it!

This 1/0 Subaru has a very interesting ability. She allows you, for discarding a card from hand and having a full field, manipulate your opponent’s stage. She also is a  Level Reverser, so even if her first ability is unnecessary, the second may prove helpful.

These two come as a packaged pair, but this Tomo and Rupa bond team are a great alternative to the 1/0 Tomo to help get out a pair of utility attackers to fulfill Nina’s 4 or more on board requirement.

This 1/0 Rupa is a great answer if you have a lot of standby in decks you keep encountering. The 11500 power against a Level 2 may be enough to get around or challenge some early play or standby targets.

This 1/1 Nina enjoyed some popularity in deck variants over in Japan as a tech card that can possibly recoup its stock cost and challenge the power levels of cost 2 cards. Downside is she’s pretty weak on defense, so unlikely to stick around an additional turn to recoup an additional stock.

Momoka is a solid set staple: a 3000 power back-up that can give the defending character in battle the option to send a reversed battle opponent to memory.

Subaru is an atypical early play anti-change counter. For a bit less cost (1 additional stock and a card from hand), she bounces an early-play battle opponent back to hand.

Momoka can level down one of your opponent’s characters for playing this and a card in hand, as well as double as an early play level reverser that doesn’t zone change. Worth adding in as a one of in some instances to get rid of anti-burn lanes for your Level 3 game.

Tomo is a 13000 power attacker that, when she reverses her battle opponent, you can choose a Music character to get bounce back to hand when front attacked. Note: This Tomo doesn’t have a soul trigger.

Subaru is a powerful 12500 attacker that, for an additional stock on play, can send all of your opponent’s stock to the waiting room and put the same number of cards from the top of their deck into stock. This is a good solution in niche gameplay scenarios to deal with stacked or super compressed deck states your opponent may present.

This free fresh Nana counter may be a good fit for some builds, especially if you’re running the 2/1 Nina combo since you may have extra stock and may need to pay out climax triggers. Though her ability is quite pricey, it may be a good fit in the deck for some. Note: If mixing in Deck Version 3, be sure she isn’t on the stage if you want to early play or use the Nina 2/1’s climax combo. Also remember the Nina can’t grab her on salvage or stock charge because Nana’s is a Diamond Dust member.

I’ll put these two Ai’s up as a pair, since the 0/0 can change into the 2/1, but it’s possible to just simply run the 2/1 Ai assist as is without the change. Ai can be another Level assist option for Deck Version 2 that doesn’t run the Nina combo. While the Subaru can help out with getting on reverse targets for Nana, this gives a more consistent power buff to Hina to help her survive cross turn in a deck where the 1/1 Tomo assist doesn’t feel like a good fit due to losing a Comeback (Door) trigger. Note: This is a poor choice for Deck Version 1, because Ai will shut off Nina’s combo. Stick with the Subaru for that build!

This Rin may fit the playstyle needs of some players. She creates a scenario, on reverse, for a pitched card from hand, that gives character across from this minus 2 soul. If you’re looking for a bit more experience or a different Blue strategy in the deck, a split between her and Ai may fit your playstyle better. Note: If mixing in Deck Version 1, be sure she isn’t on the stage if you want to use the Nina 2/1’s climax combo. Also remember that Nina can’t grab her on salvage or stock charge because Nana’s is a Diamond Dust member.

This Subaru is a powerful Level 0 attacker during your turn that can help payout climax triggers from stock in the early game to prevent them from getting stuck there. While less of a concern after Level 1 in this deck with Nana’s climax combo, if you don’t have the combo in hand this is a decent attacker to help with that potential problem.

Tomo is a powerful 2/1 attacker that, if you play her and have 4 or more other Music characters, you can choose a Music character in the waiting room and send it to stock. She can help clear out climax triggers for a clean stock to be used later while hitting decent power levels.

The set doesn’t have many off finishers, and while Nana is probably just the go to here, if you’re splashing enough red, then you could run 1 or 2 of this Rupa. She can help dig for a climax combo or another attacker, and her on attack ability can mill your own deck for a chance to deal some extra damage to your opponent.

If you find yourself struggling to get your climax combo in hand, this event may be worth it as a 1 or a 2 of. While the deck doesn’t give you any way to get this consistently in hand other than drawing and hanging on to it, it can help out in niche situations from Level 1 onwards to guarantee a climax combo for the turn.

Upgrades for when there’s some extra change in the wallet after payday:

This series may be very affordable for some players to upgrade due to its premium booster format so long as you aren’t chasing foil versions of cards. You will likely be able to find even popular cards at a lower price nearer to the release period due to this. Here are some of the pricier upgrades you may consider incorporating when it makes financial sense. On top of that, because the Blue cards and Diamond Dust is a very small section of the main set with no PR support, all of the cards you need to build with are in the budget category for the most part. It’s only when you lean into the Red card color splash for better consistency and utility that you need to start saving.

Note: I’m also avoiding any PR cards in his section for now, even though there are some very powerful ones that have seen a lot of play in Japanese competitive lists (The "Avoid Note" PRs, for example). As of the publication date of this article around release week in January of 2026 we don’t know when or how they’ll be released. Depending on how the PRs are released for this set, they could be easy or difficult to obtain for players.

This 0/0 Nina on your turn is a 3500 power attacker that gives you a choice of abilities when she reverses a battle opponent. She can either rest a character in your front row and move it to an empty backrow slot -OR- you can pay a stock and put the top card of your deck into your clock to salvage a character. She’s a very versatile card that allows you to either attack with your backrow cards if you’re not using their abilities or, if she’s in your opening hand you can discard things that you would typically hold onto with the intent of salvaging them back.

If you are running 8 Comeback (Door), then this Subaru 0/0 Brainstormer is a powerful addition to the deck. She has a filter ability that pays out triggered Comeback (Door) climaxes and mills your deck a bit to add a card to hand and one to stock. She loses her secondary ability in a Diamond Dust deck, but if you still want a salvage over a search brainstormer she might fit your deck building needs.

This 0/0 Tomo can on play power up a Momoko or a Nina, then be played over for her hand filter and dig for a Music trait character when she goes from stage to the waiting room (or when she goes there on your opponent’s turn after losing a battle!). A very versatile way to mill and filter through your deck to hand sculpt. 

This 3/2 early play healer Rupa has a much more consistent early play condition than Diamond Dust’s Ai does above. She also can free up a slot on stage when played for a chance to salvage a different card in the waiting room. 

This is another, possibly not too expensive, Level 1 combo for this deck build and its variants. It does provide the deck with its missing 1st deck mill as well as a way to pay out triggered climaxes. When paired with the 1/0 Rupa counter, if you meet the Experience 2 requirement, she can be an 8500 on defense with a full board.

Be sure to check out this and other Budget Remix Series possibilities at: https://level4weissschwarz.wixsite.com/lvl4ws