With .hack//ENEMY out for only a few weeks so far, there hasn't been any word on degenerate decks yet, but a few basic theories have developed. Here's what I've figured out so far.

It's all about the destiny, baby: I can't emphasize this part enough - destiny is King in .hack//ENEMY. The destiny draw can easily exceed your PC's base strength even after armor and weapon bonuses. This makes destiny key in winning fights, for both your monsters and PCs. The trick, of course, is getting those high-destiny cards into your deck. Often, this means being creative in card selection, perhaps even going off-theme a bit to stack a few extra 5s.

If you're playing something like Heavy Axemen or Lightning Warriors (two groups that are plagued by horrible destiny), you'll need to explore other ways to get a good destiny draw. Natsume and Mistral are the obvious ones (which one depending on how your deck is working.) Subaru gives you a free heads-up on whether a fight is winnable, and Alpha lets you follow-through with his ability.

Monsters can compensate for low destiny by swarming (if you're winning by enough, destiny won't matter). PCs are hurting a bit more - lots of tolerance is recommended. (Playing fewer PCs can help, by limiting the possible scores per turn, as mentioned below).

Give peace a chance (until you've reloaded, that is): While letting your PCs fight any and all monsters, there are really only three times you want your PC to fight -
1. When the PC is going to win.
2. When there are multiple monsters, and you'll soak less points by fighting than by avoiding.
3. When there's a compelling reason to fight.

(1) is obvious - if you can win the fight (and thus deny the opponent reward and score), do it. But in single-monster combat, avoiding is just like losing, except without the nasty wound. (2) is straightforward as well - your opponent can only score as many monsters as you have PCs. Sometimes a single PC is the way to go - no matter how lop-sided the odds, they can only score once.

(3) is a bit trickier. Mimiru is the obvious example - if you don't want an opponent getting a particular reward, it might be worth taking the wound to prevent it.

Sometimes, there are some neat tricks to be had by not fighting - Mistral can use her wound-to-rig effect and still avoid, putting a needed card on top of the deck to be drawn on your turn. Sometimes you want to see a card in the score pile - a needed element or monster species for your own deck, for instance.

Sometimes, the best defense is a good offense.: The rulebook strongly suggests playing a PC as soon as possible, discarding your opening hand if needed. While it's a good idea, it's not always the best idea. Early game, a lot of the cheap monsters are bigger than you, and you're not set up to defend. So that PC is likely to get stomped without some backup in the Item and Action department. Meanwhile, your opponent is in the same position. If you have a strong attacking hand (lots of ready-to-play monsters), it can be worthwhile to lay some early beat-down before your opponent is set-up. Scoring some early plants or lightning elements can make your life a lot easier down the road.

My rule of thumb is, I want three cards in my opening hand that I can play "as-is" (PCs, monsters with no requirements, actions, and cards that I hold the play requirements in hand as well). If I can't do that, then it's time to think about dropping. It's no good to have that opening PC if you'll be dropping hidden cards for the next three turns.

Timing is everything: You get one play a turn. Your opponent gets one play a turn. Thus, it's pretty easy to see whether a swarm is building, or the PCs are rapidly approaching tank status. Adjust your play accordingly. If they're building swarm, hold off on playing a PC - instead get some quick beats in. (If you have card effects to destroy or force-sacrifice, here's a good time to use them). If the PCs are aced, start stockpiling. If the swarm is ready, get the items down.

Card drawing is still good: Yes, you get to even up each turn, and hand size is locked to five, so card drawing isn't king. But it's still in the royal court. Drawing cards gives you choices, for one. You almost never need all five cards in your hand, and getting useless cards out of hand is good. Plus, you can set up future card plays by putting cards in discard (Goblins, the Heavy Blade Earth/Wood weapons, to name two).

An aside to this are the discard-to-play monsters (the Phoenix Queen being the big bad in this category). Discarding PCs from hand may sound nasty, but some decks have PCs that will stagnate and clog your hand. Piros is a great example - with two tolerance built in, it's quite rare that he takes wounds. While having multiples of him in the deck is good (to draw him early), there's not much call for the other copies once he's down. Discarding to fuel Birds gets them out of hand (which promptly recycles). Any deck with Elk (and his double-heal text) is also a candidate for this sort of trick.

And when all is said and done... It's still a matter of luck. In tournaments, don't be afraid to forfeit a losing match. Sometimes you'll luck out. Sometimes you won't. You can tweak your deck to perfection, and you'll still get stomped every so often. Such is (ahem) destiny.

Next month we'll look into some PC tricks to help keep you from becoming Monster Chow.

Allen Gould, proud owner of The Tribblenomicon