Two new paths to victory: Ancestral Reserve and Banner of Ascension

ANCESTRAL RESERVE: THE BANK IS PART OF YOUR STRATEGY

In this deck, the Bank does more than meet requirements. It also powers abilities, holds characters that can return to your hand, and strengthens effects as your reserve grows.

The first important distinction is between Lock and Consume. Consuming an Essence removes that card from the match. Locking keeps the Essences in the Bank but reserves part of its capacity until your next turn. You lock a quantity, without choosing a specific card. This lets you act now without permanently shrinking the Bank, but requires planning how much will remain available for your next actions.

Dudurima, Reserve Watcher: channel and prepare the next step

When channeling, Dudurima can use Deposit 1: send a card from your hand to the Bank as an Essence, immediately available for use. The same play that advances your Faith also prepares resources. There is an important limit: only one Deposit per turn, shared across your cards.

Mili, Spark of the Bond: turn reserves into strength

With the Bank prepared, Mili offers a direct use for it. On entering, she can pay Lock 1 to use Inspire 2: an ally gains +2 Power for that turn. The choice is concrete: reserve some Bank capacity now to improve a battle, without consuming an Essence for this effect.

Gili, Reader of Traces: choose what stays in your hand and Bank

The card you need is not always in your hand. On entering, Gili can Exchange cards of the same stage: first bring an available Essence from the Bank to your hand, then send another card from your hand to the Bank. The card sent becomes available immediately. This is a swap, not an extra draw or an automatic increase in the Bank.

Gili also lets you immediately awaken the received card with its requirement reduced by 2, to a minimum of zero. This awakening uses one of your awakenings for the turn and still requires consumption and the previous stage, when applicable. The advantage is recovering the right piece and making it easier to play, not ignoring evolution rules.

Bastian, Contained Strength: grow with your reserve

Reserve 6 means having at least six Essences in the Bank. Bastian illustrates this condition simply: his continuous Power bonus is +2; with Reserve 6, it becomes +3 instead of +2. Saving resources does more than prepare a future play: it can strengthen the field you have already built.

Dudurima, Voice of the Reservoir: buy time in the Faith race

The stage II version of Dudurima turns that reserve into control. Activate her ability and pay Lock 2, and the rival's first channeling on their next turn grants no Faith. With Reserve 6, this affects the first two.

The rival still channels; only the Faith gain is denied. There is a trade-off: at the start of your turn, Dudurima loses 1 Power. The idea is not to stop the rival forever, but to open a window for your own strategy to advance.

Morteus, Guardian of the Reserves: make room to act again

The Hero connects these choices. After meeting his requirement of two evolutions, Reopen the Reserves unlocks 2 Essences locked by your abilities. With Reserve 6, it unlocks 4 instead of 2. It does not create new Essences or recover consumed ones: it frees capacity already in the Bank.

The deck's plan becomes clear: develop the Bank with Dudurima, use your reserves for effects like Mili's, recover pieces with Gili, and choose when to restrict the rival's Faith. Morteus helps release committed resources so you can keep playing. The order of those actions matters as much as the cards you choose.

BANNER OF ASCENSION: EVOLVE WITHOUT LEAVING YOUR LEGACY BEHIND

Banner of Ascension treats evolution as a process of building. The arriving character grows stronger, but some earlier cards keep contributing through Legacy + Attach. At the same time, the deck rewards keeping characters of different stages on the field.

Anastacia, Banner of Ascension: a different way to pay for evolutions

The Heroine's continuous ability, Chart the Succession, replaces your evolutions' consumption with locks: each point of consumption becomes Lock 2. An evolution that would consume 1 instead locks 2; one that would consume 2 locks 4.

This replacement is mandatory and applies to evolutions, not every character or every cost in the game. The requirement and previous stage are still needed. This payment does not shrink the Bank, but temporarily commits part of its capacity. Evolving remains a resource decision.

The Royal Guard: an example of Legacy across three stages

Royal Guard, Apprentice of the Banner, features Legacy + Attach. When replaced by an evolution, it remains attached to the evolved character rather than simply leaving play. That Attachment can be consumed to prevent one destruction of that character by combat or execution.

Next, Royal Guard, Shield of Ascension, also leaves a Legacy when replaced: it stays attached and grants +2 Power. If you keep the first bond and continue evolving into Royal Guard, Bastion of the Banner, the character can carry both the Apprentice's inherited protection and the Shield's bonus. An Attachment already consumed does not return.

The Bastion itself gains protection against one destruction by combat whenever it becomes vulnerable, until it becomes ready again. This sequence shows the deck's identity: the outcome depends not only on the final card, but on the effects preserved along the way.

Featured combo: Charles executes the rival while Legacy keeps him on the field

The Royal Guard's protective Legacy can also support an offensive play. The pieces are Royal Guard, Apprentice of the Banner, Charles, Formation Master, and Charles, Living Archive.

First, prepare the protection. On entering, Charles, Formation Master, can pay Lock 1 to take an available card with Legacy + Attach from your Bank and attach it to an ally. Choose the Apprentice of the Banner and attach it to Charles, Living Archive. The stage III Charles thus receives protection against destruction by combat or execution. This is the on-entry ability's cost; using the hand ability also requires its own costs.

Now, with Charles, Living Archive, ready and out of Preparation, channel to gain Faith. Upon becoming vulnerable, he can choose an ally — including himself — and a vulnerable enemy for his ability. Choose Charles himself as the ally.

Resolution executes the vulnerable enemy first, respecting its protections, then attempts to execute the chosen ally. This is where Legacy makes the difference: the Apprentice's Attachment is consumed to prevent Charles's execution. If the enemy does not prevent its execution, it goes to its owner's Bank; Charles remains on the field, vulnerable, and the Attachment card leaves the match.

The result combines Faith and enemy removal without losing Charles himself, using protection you prepared earlier. This is not permanent immunity and does not work with every Attachment: the protection must prevent execution, and is spent when saving the character. A shield that only protects against combat will not work for this play. To repeat it just as safely, you must prepare another valid protection.

Anastacia, Rising Banner: the field opens new possibilities

On entering, stage II Anastacia can awaken an available stage I card from your Bank without using an awakening for the turn. With Apogee — meaning a stage III character on your field — you may also choose a stage II or III card.

Apogee expands your options but does not remove the requirement, consumption, or previous stage. Having a stage III creates new possibilities; it does not let you freely skip to any evolution.

Leon, Voice of the Legacy: why keep different stages?

Apogee requires a stage III. Formation is a different condition: having stage I, II, and III characters on your field simultaneously. Having passed through those stages earlier in the match is not enough; all three must be present.

Leon, Voice of the Legacy, rewards this construction. After surviving an attack he makes, he can pay Lock 3 to use Reinvigorate 1, making another vulnerable ally ready again. With Formation, he uses Reinvigorate 2 on other allies instead of 1. Characters in Preparation cannot be chosen by this effect.

This creates an interesting decision: evolving every character as quickly as possible is not always the best way to use the deck. Keeping representatives of all three stages can unlock a stronger effect and give allies important actions back.

WHICH STRATEGY FITS YOU?

Ancestral Reserve invites you to manage the Bank, alternate available and locked resources, recover pieces, and influence the Faith race. Banner of Ascension values the evolution sequence, preserved Legacies, and field composition.

Both decks use locks, but in different ways. In Reserve, they fuel a network of abilities. In Ascension, they also change how evolutions are paid for and help build increasingly complete characters.

Check the lists in Ready-made decks and see which cards you need to build each strategy. Then tell the community: would you rather prepare a large reserve or build a Legacy that grows with each evolution?