[Guide] Menelker, Deathstrike Dragon
Oct 3, 2016 18:42:00 GMT 1
mysticjuicer, Attilian, and 1 more like this
Post by flagrantangles on Oct 3, 2016 18:42:00 GMT 1
This guide was written by Tipzntrix, not me. I saved it from the end of the FantasyStrike.com website and have edited it for some minor spelling mistakes and stylistic consistency. If you are the author and would prefer that I take this down, please let me know. Otherwise, partake of Menelker's taboo tactics.
Character Overview
Menelker is a fragile character with extremely powerful black face cards and aces that can turn the tide when landed successfully. His black face cards activate his character's innate ability, Bleeding Wounds, which allows him to draw a card when the black face cards hit and also force the opponent to discard a card. He is tied for the fewest hit points of any character in the game, but has the highest damaging throw as well. He is a versatile character, able to threaten high damage off attacks, throws, and dodges, but also needs to build a hand to get there. He can power up for black face cards, allowing him to pick the proper tool for the situation. He can banish opponents' cards, removing their best cards forever (including jokers) as well as remove cards from opponents' hands to mitigate the damage being dealt to him. His queen, king, and powerup versatility ensure that any card you happen to draw can be converted into damage.
Innate: Bleeding Wounds
Whenever you hit the opponent with a black face card attack (even multiple times in a combo), draw a card and they discard a card.
You may power up for black face cards during the powerup phase.
Gameplay
There is a glossary at the end of this post explaining all of the commonly used acronyms and terms.
While gameplay varies based on your opponent, it also varies a lot based on your starting hand. Menelker has two basic gameplans: rushdown with black face cards and throws in order to keep your opponent's hand size low while dealing damage or play defensively and safely, building a large hand in order to threaten a strong late game where you have removed your opponent's best options (including jokers) and where your options can do gigantic damage in a single combat.
I compare each plan to Menelker's human and dragon sides. His human side does anything to win, using his Bleeding Wounds innate profusely to remove cards from his opponent while drawing cards for himself to continue the onslaught, while his dragon side relies on brute strength and overwhelming force, but takes massive amounts of energy (in other words, cards) to function properly. I say "or" because it is extremely ineffective to be trying to perform both of these tactics at the same time, though you can go from one to the other mid-game.
The Human Side
Menelker has many cards that remove cards from his opponents' hand and can power up for more. By hitting the opponent with these cards time after time, they will be forced to play with a small, non-threatening hand, so Menelker will have the advantage.
The plan here is to keep up the offense. Attacks will lead into black face card hits, 7* throws can allow you to remove your opponents' best cards from their hands and lead into black face card hits, and dodges can be followed up with 7* throws or black face cards for a safe way to remove your opponents' cards. Hands with many throws, especially 7s with their Bonecracker ability, and hands with many black face cards lend themselves very well to this kind of playstyle.
Powering up for black face cards is not efficient when it comes to keeping the opponent's hand size small because your hand size will dwindle faster than theirs, so you cannot force a hand with no throws and black face cards to do this. However, if you have many more cards than your opponent, you can afford to trade some cards for some ammo that will keep your opponent's hand small. After all, Menelker's innate Bleeding Wounds allows him to draw a card every time he hits with a black face card, so as long as he is successful in winning combat, he will be able to replace the cards he uses while still dealing some damage.
How to:
• Attack, throw, and dodge. Blocking will allow your opponent to get cards back. Look for a way to hit your opponent with a black face card or a 7* throw.
• Try to attack with red kings or normal attacks and then combo into black face cards. That way, if you lose combat, you will still have the black face cards in your hand. Don't be afraid to play black face cards in combat if you have no way to combo into them or if you suspect you will need their speed to beat opponents' attacks though.
• Don't pump queens or kings with other cards unless your opponent is nearly dead. You never know when you will draw a pair or a three of a kind of that can make even the least useful card useful for powering up to get another black face card to keep the opponent's hand small.
• When you are out of black face cards and 7* throws, look to power up for other black face cards to maintain card efficiency while having a scary combat option.
• Use Into Oblivion (T*, sometimes notated 10*) on cards that you know will be removed from the opponent's hand because you saw them through Bonecracker (7*). You can also use it on jokers, but in general you might want to save this card because this strategy keeps your hand size small and you need all the cards you can get.
• Take knockdown off of throws if you have a normal attack straight in hand or you do not have black face cards to follow up with. On the next turn, you can try for a mixup normal, black Queen, another throw, or a dodge, but this gives you a better opportunity to land a straight and makes it harder for the opponent to block and build their hand size. Powering up for free black face cards through straight combos is great for keeping hand advantage.
When to:
• When you have many more cards than your opponent in hand, for example, after they combo you.
• When your hand has many throws and black face cards.
• When you have faster attack and/or throw speeds than your opponent.
When to stop:
• When you have fewer cards than your opponent in hand.
• When you run out of 7s, black face cards, and reasonable ways to power up for them.
• When your opponent is one big combo from death and doesn't have jokers in hand.
• When you have drawn 2+ aces.
What to watch out for:
• Losing combat to normal attacks or blocks. If you lose too many combats to these, the hand advantage you have will diminish. There's no foolproof way to play around this, but you can notice when you've lost your card advantage and stop.
• Your own hand size dwindling. If you pump too many queens and kings, your hand will get smaller and smaller because you are spending lots of cards. If this happens, you won't be able to power up when you need more black face cards.
• Opponent blue bursts (AKA combo escapes). When you are rushing down, you often don't have enough cards to be removing the opponents' jokers, so you are going to have to deal with facedown cards more and more. Passing often is a good idea when you're trying to keep the opponent's hand size small, as even if it is a bluff, they have lost another card.
• Powering up for aces. Those aces might look like some huge damage, but powering up for them when you could be getting a black face card removes your ability to hold your opponent's hand size down.
The Dragon Side
Menelker's aces do extremely high amounts of damage. The attack side does 11 damage per ace and can do 22 damage for 2 aces in the space of two combo points. This means combos like K++6A+ will do 44, J++A+ will do 49, and Throw into A+ will do 28. Throwing your opponent with 7* to look for jokers before following up with A+ guaranteed is great, but the best part hasn't even been mentioned. Menelker's AAAA throw, Deathstrike Dragon, deals 55 damage (13.75 damage per ace), is speed 4.6 (to beat most non-grappler throws), and can be used after dodge, though it will be vulnerable to jokers that way. If you can't control your opponent's hand, you can crush them with the overwhelming strength of the Deathstrike Dragon. Of course, this strength comes at a price. Very few hands start with more than one ace, and most start with zero aces. You are going to have to work your way up.
How to:
• Play safely. Try to minimize damage as much as possible. Don't take huge risks like slow throws and attacks unless you have no better options.
• A counterpoint to the first point of playing safely: Players who throw a ton will eventually run you out of queens. You may have to use slow normal attacks to punish throws while still gaining cards. Only do it if you are forced to, but don't shy away from it if you have to play it. Otherwise, you will lose all your blocks to throws.
• Make your hand grow. Blocking is the best way to do this, but black queens are a good way to stop throws and other attacks while keeping your hand size going up. If you are very far away from four aces, you might even power up for a black queen to scare your opponent away from doing damage to you through attacks and throws while your hand grows. It's important not to get impatient with this black queen. The less you have to play it, the more time you can spend making your hand grow.
• Sneak in surprise 7* throws in order to see the opponent's hand and plot your safest course, remove their jokers in preparation for your large combos later, and lower their possible damage in general.
• Use Into Oblivion on jokers and aces in preparation for advantageous combat in the late game, unjokerable combos, and so your opponent cannot power up. You can also use it on cards you know that will be discarded from your opponents' hand if they are important.
• Power up for aces and kings. Aces are how your combos will do amazing damage. Kings allow you to do a lot of damage on an attack. You usually want to power up directly for four aces, but on grapplers and other characters with moves that can beat both dodge and Deathstrike Dragon as a combat option, you can opt to try for a K++6A+ combo instead, which still does 44 damage. Menelker's normal throws are by comparison not very strong, which is why getting Deathstrike Dragon is generally preferred to a king, because it is a huge throw threat. Of course, after getting four aces, you can get a king as well.
• In times of desperation, use a Gold Burst. Getting two aces will give you the fuel to need to do tons of damage to come back.
• If the opponent does not facedown, don't be afraid to pump kings with spare cards even if your hand is not large yet.
When to:
• Both players have a lot of cards in hand.
• You have 2+ aces in hand.
• You have 2+ tens in hand.
• Your opponent is playing faster attacks and/or throws than you can match.
• Your opponent's jokers are banished.
When to stop:
• When the opponent has 16 or less HP, try for a black queen powerup instead.
• Your opponent is playing very risky options like slow throws and attacks.
• Your opponent just played a huge combo and has a small hand, and you have black face cards.
What to watch out for:
• Playing safe does not mean blocking 100% of the time. A lot of characters can do tons of damage throwing you. You want to use your black queens to scare the opponent's offense away and your 7* throws to remove jokers so that you can freely play for big damage in a single combat.
• Characters that are extremely good at punishing blocks and that force you to spend cards to attack or dodge like Gwen, Geiger, and many more.
• Very strong rushdown characters will often kill you before you can get the chance to build up enough power. In that case...I have developed a makeshift plan. Read on for more.
PANIC!!! side
Sometimes, Menelker can't handle everything on his own. He tried to fight a huge Dreadlands boar, and as a result, half of his body was turned pallid grey, the color of death. Even Menelker learned that sometimes, he had to be saved. On the brink of death, sometimes you just have to do whatever you can to survive.
Your opponent is too fast and generates too much damage too quickly. Their offence is extremely damaging and you probably won't last 5 more turns trying to hold out. You can't rush them back down; their throw and attack speed prevents you from landing any combos. You have a silver bullet, however.
The black queen.
Some opposing characters have very little hit points, but an extraordinarily great rushdown game that you cannot turtle effectively against and cannot outmatch in speed. What are you going to do? Use your 0.0 speed attack and sting them every time they come at you until they learn their lesson. Note that these characters can all block and dodge themselves, so it's not foolproof, but certain players will not stop coming at you. Note that this does not work exceptionally well on characters with a lot of hit points. The black queen is not equipped with enough damage to last that long.
How to:
• Power up for black queen and use it in combat. Then do it again. And again.
• Mix in some blocks to bide time for more cards to power up.
• Start pumping your black queens when the opponent is under 32 HP or you have over 10 cards somehow.
When to:
• The opponent keeps attacking and throwing you as you try to build a hand.
When to stop:
• The opponent starts blocking or dodging. Basically, they finally give you room to grow a hand.
What to watch out for:
• Blocks.
General Tips and Tricks (Tipzntrix)
I feel like I committed a grave disservice by not including these tidbits of wisdom that are my namesake. Without further ado, here are assorted tips and tricks that may help your Menelker game.
Important Life Totals
• 55: This is when DSD is lethal. However, your opponent will know it, and you will know it.
• 49: This is when J++A+ is lethal. Opponents usually aren't looking out for this because it is so slow, but if the cards align in your hand, especially against grapplers, you can shoot Nether Orb J out and try for this combo.
• 44: This is when K++6A+ is lethal. The 6 is actually the hardest part of this combo to get, so be wary about powering up 6s. This is where your opponent must be scared if you have a large hand.
• 32: You can put a K++ and a Q++ together, or two K++s in a combo with 4 of any card from your hand to deal 32 damage. You can also kill someone with two Q++s on two separate turns.
• 28: This is when throw > A+ is lethal. This is a pretty key junction, because without DSD, your throws cannot threaten to deal lethal damage until now. In addition, you need two aces for this.
• 22: Throw > K++ is lethal. Only requiring a single powerup for a king, this is much easier to achieve than two aces, and at least procs Bleeding Wounds if the opponent jokers your combo.
• 16: Q++ is lethal. At 0.0 speed, this can easily scare your opponent off of their offense.
• 11: A is lethal. This is a strong combat option that cannot be jokered at 11 life and is fairly safe.
• 8: Q is lethal and cannot be jokered. This is like A, but even faster and safer.
• 6: Throw and J on block are lethal. If you have a huge lead, powering up for a J to force your opponent to stop blocking can be good to scare them from getting cards for a potential comeback. Then, dodging is a good way to exhaust them of their cards, as they are often too scared to block and at worst will throw you, which for most characters does not net them any cards.
Other Tips and Tricks
• K can be used as a combat card early to set up a 3-card straight that fetches you a black card or an ace.
• Bonecracker can be used to set up KD situations where your opponent will have to topdeck the right card or lose to an even or odd attack, or sometimes a Q if they have fast attacks but no blocks at all. After all, the 7 throw does knock down.
• If you powerup for a Q, you obviously know that you can throw to beat their dodges and blocks. However, many players will use VERY slow attacks when they think that you are tricking them so that you can throw them. Instead of trying to use Q/throw, think about using K/throw or even normal/throw as your mixup to preserve the Q and open up larger combos. Players will be scared to use fast attacks because they will still lose to your Q.
• After Bonecracker, you can use your knowledge of your opponent's hand to determine if your opponent will be forced to discard cards from hand instead of the deck when you use Into Oblivion. In general, this is something you should use Into Oblivion on if ever given the opportunity.
Glossary
+: A + after any rank of card indicates pumping that card with other cards. For example, Menelker's king is a 6+5+5 (+2 Any) card, so the notation K++ means that Menelker has played his king and discarded 2 more cards to add 5 damage each.
*: A * after any rank of card denotes an ability on that card.
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, T, J, Q, K, A: Ranks of cards, from lowest to highest. Sometimes card suit is important as well. It is notated C, D, H, S. For example, TH refers to the Ten of Hearts.
7*: See Bonecracker. Bonecracker is on Menelker's 7 card, so this is another name for it.
7 throw: See Bonecracker.
bJ: Black jack. See Black face cards.
bK: Black king. See Black face cards.
bQ: Black queen. See Black face cards.
Black face cards: The club and spade suits of Menelker's face cards (not including aces). These cards activate Menelker's innate ability, Bleeding Wounds, when they hit the opponent.
Bleeding Wounds: Menelker's innate ability that forces the opponent to discard a card and him to draw a card when he hits an opponent with Black face cards.
Bonecracker: The ability on Menelker's 7 card that allows him to see the opponent's hand and discard a card from it of his choice when he hits with the 7 throw.
Deathstrike Dragon: Menelker's AAAA throw.
DSD: See Deathstrike Dragon.
Into Oblivion: Menelker's ability on his ten card. When he discards it during the draw phase, he can banish a card from the opponent's discard pile, and the opponent must banish a card of the same rank from his or her hand or deck. The card in the discard pile is Menelker's choice, but the card in the hand or deck is up to the opponent.
T*: See Into Oblivion.
Matchups
Grave
This is an interesting and very grindy matchup. Grave's speeds generally match yours, so expect a lot of clashing. However, he has a faster single ace attack than you. Grave does not have the huge combo potential that you do, but he has more efficiency with his cards and a better early game between his Lightning Trap (J*) and his innate, Knowing The Opponent, that allows him to get even more cards than usual when he blocks. He can also counter your Bonecracker and Into Oblivion abilities. In general, as long as you have more than 30 HP, you should use Into Oblivion on his ace as soon as possible. Getting the second ace banish is also very rewarding as well, but the first ace banish prevents him from using his main form of damage, True Power of Storms, since it removes two aces. It's okay if he counters, because it costs him two cards. Early game combat generally comes down to beating Grave's J with Q or K or dodging it, but trying not to run into his blocks. Using your 7 throw early is advisable, as Grave will surely have counters as your hands grow. It will also beat his very strong blocks and give you opportunities to put an ace in the discard which you can banish. You should take your time and build a hand, as Grave's throws are not very strong themselves, and Grave's innate combined with Lightning Trap and Martial Mastery (7*) makes it very hard to keep his hand size down.
Jaina
Jaina is generally a rushdown character, which means you will have to rely on stopping her offense to win. She can buy back her attacks at the cost of her health, making it hard to keep her hand size low. You can stop her offense through lots of blocking and attacking with queen and king, which outspeed her options. If she decides to throw you more, she cannot buy back attacks that she uses to combo after a throw, so pay attention to her hand size. You might be able to control it by hitting her with black face cards. If she decides to block more, be wary of sticking in your own throws, because she can punish them for huge damage. It may be best to block more yourself and assemble Deathstrike Dragon. In the late game, when she goes under 35 HP, she will often play a Red Dragon/dodge/throw mixup game, as she can now buy back her aces if she plays them as an attack in combat. Hopefully you have some jokers, because two Red Dragons fully pumped will kill you. You can avoid this situation altogether by using Deathstrike Dragon to kill her from 55 HP.
Setsuki
Setsuki will just keep coming at you with her superior speed in throws and attacks until you die, but she has to respect your queen which beats all of her attack and throw options. If she can activate Speed of the Fox, she will be able to dodge your queen and still hit you with a combo, so the queen is not always safe. She only has 70 HP like you, but she has a few abilities that make her especially equipped to beat Menelker. Her Smoke Bomb T* allows her to counter your abilities while discarding cards towards more Speed of the Fox turns, and Speed of the Fox itself allows her to come back to 6 cards from 1, making Bleeding Wounds mostly for you drawing rather than Setsuki discarding. Queen is generally your safest combat option, but don't be afraid to use ace attack in combat either. You will have to do a lot of hard guessing to win, like using slow normal attacks when you expect throw, or slow throws when you expect dodges and blocks because Setsuki is faster than you.
Midori
This character probably has the best-suited endgame to counter yours. Attacks that cannot be dodged and faster throws mean you have a very hard time landing Deathstrike Dragon. However, your early game of card removal is very good against Midori. Since he has no K throw that beats normal attacks, you can often use a normal attack to start off before comboing into black face cards. You have to throw a blocking Midori to keep his hand size down, but you also have to block or black queen sometimes as a pressured Midori will use his own fast Q combined with Glimpse of the Dragon (T*) to stop your offense. If players get large hands, and they often will, K++6A+ is often scarier to Midori than Deathstrike Dragon, so try to have a king in hand. If you have no throws to threaten him with, you might prefer to power up for Deathstrike Dragon, however. When he activates Dragon Form, it is a good time to use Into Oblivion on any queens in his discard, because if he blocks successfully, he will be able to retrieve them.
Rook
Your black Q, which you use to attack while maintaining hand size, is not an ace and can be Rock Armored through, so it is not reliable to stop Rook's offence if his hand grows too large. If you try to build a hand with blocking or normals, you often get scooped up by Rook's K throw. Remember that your 5 attack and 6 attack do beat Rook's K throw and still draw a card on hit. Aside from black face cards, they are your best answer to a throw-heavy Rook, but this makes it much harder to land straights for free cards in the powerup phase because they must start with 2-4. It takes an awful lot to get through Rook's 100 HP, and he has answers to dodge/DSD while still being able to stop your K attack with his J. Your best game plan is to remove his aces and jokers with Into Oblivion, and power up for aces or black kings instead of queens if Rook's hand gets too large.
Degrey
It doesn't take much for DeGrey to kill you if you lose even a few combats, and Bleeding Wounds often just allows DeGrey to improve his Moral High Ground damage. His 7 is also brutal, both early game when your own 7* is trying to remove his damage threats, and late game if you have DSD. However, DeGrey is pretty vulnerable to your K attack if you can remove his Aces and your 7* if you can hit him with it. The more Jokers you draw, the better.
Valerie
Black queen is the biggest threat you use to scare Val in this matchup, but 80 HP is a lot to kill with only that move. Your normals do not force Valerie to burn a Burst of Speed to speed past them, your Ace cannot stop her like Grave's can, your throws are weaker, and if she saves 2 Bursts of Speed, her 7 and 8 throws can beat your DSD/Dodge mixup. Even worse, most other characters who can handle DSD/Dodge are scared of Menelker's K, but Val can handle that very well too. Besides that, even getting there is a pain when she has K attacks that can be sped up and can cut through your blocks as well as very fast throws and a good rushdown game to kill your low 70 HP. You have to be willing to attack with high normals if she is throwing a lot, power up for black queen to stop her offense, and be willing to dodge into black face cards or 7* throw. Banishing her aces really hurts her as she relies on getting them for free when she hits normal straights.
Geiger
Black face cards and 7* are great in this matchup, but even as you are keeping Geiger's hand small, you have to worry about your own hand as well. You have to get rid of 90 HP and Geiger only has to get rid of 70. A decent early game of spiral pokes, Flash Gear, and blocking can leave you nearly dead before Geiger even powers up for a single Ace or starts Temporal Distortion. However, your face cards can defend decently and leave Geiger with a minuscule hand if he loses combat a lot in the early game, and he has no good defense against DSD should the fight go into the late game. Banishing his aces early really hurts him as well.
Lum
By removing even a single ace from the game, you can ruin Lum's easy 4-of-a-kind Poker Flourish setups that he performs by powering up for aces. This should be done as soon as possible, as he has no defense for it. Saving 7* throws until you have a T* in hand to pick out an ace with Bonecracker and then banish it with Into Oblivion is a good idea. However, Lum can power up for the ace in between this combo if he wants to protect it. You may have to use ace attack, black queen, and dodge more in the early game if Lum is spamming his jack attack, and you don't necessarily have to worry about Lum's late game like other characters, because you can make Poker Flourish less effective.
Argagarg
With a counter that makes you draw a card and faster normals than you, Argagarg can really protect his hand, his aces, and his jokers. This matchup is about hitting 7* throws at times when Argagarg can't counter them (even off of a dodge), using your king to outspeed Argagarg's attacks, and getting the scary Deathstrike Dragon throw to get much of Argagarg's health. In general, you should always power up for aces in this matchup. The threatening throw/dodge mixup is very important for avoiding Bubble Shield. However, expect Argagarg to have jokers, as it is very hard to banish both due to his counter. Normal attacks are not very good, and sometimes you will have to throw with T.
Quince
7* and T* are Menelker's shining stars in this matchup. Menelker can throw with 7*, making him much less of a sitting duck to K Positive Spin from Quince. If you have a 7 in your opening hand, try to land it immediately on turn 1. This is the best chance to remove a 2 from Quince's hand and stop that wretched ability. You do not have to play the 7 as the combat card; you can try a dodge and follow it up with the 7, but dodge or 7 throw if you have it. However, using 7* too aggressively when K is not in Positive Spin can still leave Menelker drawing dead to it, but Quince can also recur his 7 throw, so Menelker must still do it to beat Quince's 7 throw. Giving Quince cards is quite scary, so it's not great to run cards into his block, but Menelker can normal attack, at least with 2, instead of risking his K directly. When Quince gets advantage time with Patriot Mirror or Positive Spin, Menelker doesn't take long to get killed. Using your jokers as combo escapes is vital to surviving, so try not to Gold Burst with them unless you really need the aces to come back. Menelker's main game plan in this matchup is holding Quince's hand size down, but Quince's 2* also can foil Menelker's hand control fairly well just by being drawn. Don't block for too long in this matchup.
Onimaru
Onimaru has great tools for preventing Menelker from building a hand, but Menelker also has great tools for preventing Onimaru from building a hand. Onimaru's Guard Crush normals make it really hard to block as Menelker, and Onimaru's faster throws make it hard to defend against throws by throwing back, regardless of the fact that Onimaru is probably going to be using Guard Crushing normals anyway. Using attacks in order to outspeed Onimaru's Guard Crushing normals is generally better than dodging them. If Onimaru is willing to play his 5* attack (General's Armor) a lot, don't be afraid to go into combat with face cards. If he is not, don't be afraid to use your normal attacks, especially 2, as Onimaru does not have a 2 attack. Black queens are good early, but not so much later when Onimaru has Final Authority. Killing Onimaru with Deathstrike Dragon after banishing his jokers is generally the easiest way to finish him off. This often involves Gold Bursting.
Troq
It is extremely difficult for Troq to get cards due to the way his block innate works, as well as the fact that his normal attacks are fairly bad. He has 95 HP, which is still a huge obstacle for Menelker to overcome, but Menelker can really leave Troq hurting for cards with a few good guesses and a good black face draw. Troq has answers to DSD easily available and solid reversals to stop K attack, but his reversals don't hurt that much except his AA. Black queen is what Menelker uses to outspeed Troq's reversals while staying safe from big damage throws. Troq's cards are very efficient, so while Menelker can keep his hand size down, even the topdeck mixup of Troq can be scary.
Bal-Bas-Beta
Bal-Bas-Beta (BBB) has fairly slow attacks outside of his aces. These matches will go on for a very long time, so any opportunity you get to banish his aces, do so. Keeping BBB's hand size down does not do much for you. He has so many blocks and can prevent you from throwing if he reaches Long Range, so your best bet is to bide your time, banish BBB's aces, and prepare the Deathstrike Dragon. If you know that you can remove BBB's queens or kings from his hand, definitely do so. This will make BBB's range game much less scary. When at long range, try to have a queen or joker in hand to use in combat. A successful Gold Burst will bring you back to short range AND give you two aces towards Deathstrike Dragon. When at short range, attacking with any attack below speed 2.8 will prevent BBB from getting range unless BBB has used Overdrive (9*) that turn. Using 7 throw will beat BBB's blocks and dodges if he is doing that a lot, while also beating any surprise attempts at his king throw, Extensor Grab, which forces combat to Long Range. Don't get too predictable, though.
Menelker
Assembling Deathstrike Dragon in the face of your own hand destruction is often asking to get your aces removed. However, if you are far behind, you can make a desperate attempt at it if you can get it, as it will do 55 of Menelker's 70 HP. It's a huge risk to take, however. In the early game, 7 throw is a very scary weapon that can destroy your hand. You can stop this with normal attacks, but face cards are much safer to play in combat, as if the opponent attacks you with a face card, you'll lose by playing normal attacks. The game doesn't evolve into a different stage much. Hand sizes generally stay low, Menelker dies quickly, and the black face cards cannot all be banished. Banishing jokers is really the only important thing unless you are in danger of being hit by Deathstrike Dragon. In that case, banishing aces is fine as well.
Persephone
Persephone can ruin your Deathstrike Dragon setups with Mistress' Command, and force you to use your slower attacks or throws with low payoff by filtering the cards that get into your hand with Bare Your Soul (T*). She can also counter your abilities if you don't spend 10 HP with her Do As Told (9*). If you are knocked down, she will often be looking for a second knockdown to return 4 cards from her discard pile to her hand. However, you can cut down her hand with your black face cards. In general when attacking, you should probably lead with your face cards. Her normals are faster than yours and she often has access to her best cards, so you will need to rely on your best cards, which outspeed hers. Your 7 throw is also the fastest throw in this matchup, tied with her 7 throw. It's good to use it early before she starts recurring her 7 throw, and to banish good cards in the discard pile with Into Oblivion, as Persephone will be able to recover them if she knocks you down. She only has 75 health, so killing her quickly with your faster face cards is a good idea. Banishing her aces is great to remove her only knockdown ender, and banishing her 7 throw to making your 7 throw win all throw vs throw combats is good.
Gloria
Blocks and queens are Menelker's best options against Gloria's gigantic arsenal of reversals (J, Q, K, AAA) that all prevent Menelker's K or throws from winning combat for combos. However, Menelker can definitely force Gloria to throw him because in the late game, he can hit a 7* and T* to remove Jokers and threaten DSD. If Gloria is spamming fast attacks, block them for hand advantage, use a dodge into 7* throw to remove jokers, and go for Deathstrike Dragon mixups. Menelker's T* is a great tool for destroying recurring hearts, but there are just too many reversals to possibly banish (J, Q, K) that he is usually limited to using them for Aces and Jokers. Getting her ten of hearts banished (TH) is also very important to stop her healing sphere engine, especially if you are planning to play for the late game.
Gwen
While Menelker can slowly get ground down and take a life loss to try for DSD if Gwen relentlessly attacks, Gwen's dwindling life total means he can also try to simply use queens to win combat while using 7* to stop throws and occasional T* blocks and dodges that Gwen might use. Successful 7* throws allow you to combo for mediocre damage and remove threats and Jokers from Gwen's hand. It's tough to beat Gwen in combat and tough to get cards as she uses Relentless Strikes, but Gwen loses 2 HP per turn, so Menelker doesn't actually have to do that much damage.
Vendetta
Vendetta is the most frustrating character to play against. You can't stop him from building a hand, you have to be patient trying to open him up with K, you have to dodge or get lucky to land your 7* throw without Acrobatics (8*) in hand, and you can't DSD/Dodge mixup against him either until you banish Acrobatics AND Jokers. Even then, Vendetta can STILL bluff you as you try to remove his escape options. The black queen is one of the few cards that you can stop Vendetta's 2 spam with as well as the biggest threat to Vendetta when he knocks you down. Dodging more than usual just to get rid of Vendetta's good normals is a viable option. Trading your K with his 2 is not bad either, as you can recur your K.
Zane
Zane's amazing throw/dodge game gives him a huge early game advantage over you. You can try to use normal attacks to beat the throws without losing your face cards if Zane dodges them, but Zane can use his 2.3 speed 2 attack to beat your normal attacks, forcing you to use K as a more risky combat card sometimes. Zane has two throws that are faster than your 7* throw, so it might be best to use it as a dodge followup. You will have to attack a lot if Zane is trying to abuse his throws. If Zane is blocking a lot, trying to get Maximum Anarchy, banishing a single ace is useful to prevent this. Other than that, banishing his jacks and kings if you can remove some from his hand is a good idea to avoid knockdown. When you do get knocked down, having a queen in hand is great to scare Zane off. Zane's dodge followups are not great on their own unless he has aces; it's the knockdown and the threat next turn that is scary. Zane can do huge damage from turn 1 and you only have 70 HP, so try to use your superior attack speed and stop his offense right off the bat.
Character Overview
Menelker is a fragile character with extremely powerful black face cards and aces that can turn the tide when landed successfully. His black face cards activate his character's innate ability, Bleeding Wounds, which allows him to draw a card when the black face cards hit and also force the opponent to discard a card. He is tied for the fewest hit points of any character in the game, but has the highest damaging throw as well. He is a versatile character, able to threaten high damage off attacks, throws, and dodges, but also needs to build a hand to get there. He can power up for black face cards, allowing him to pick the proper tool for the situation. He can banish opponents' cards, removing their best cards forever (including jokers) as well as remove cards from opponents' hands to mitigate the damage being dealt to him. His queen, king, and powerup versatility ensure that any card you happen to draw can be converted into damage.
Innate: Bleeding Wounds
Whenever you hit the opponent with a black face card attack (even multiple times in a combo), draw a card and they discard a card.
You may power up for black face cards during the powerup phase.
Gameplay
There is a glossary at the end of this post explaining all of the commonly used acronyms and terms.
While gameplay varies based on your opponent, it also varies a lot based on your starting hand. Menelker has two basic gameplans: rushdown with black face cards and throws in order to keep your opponent's hand size low while dealing damage or play defensively and safely, building a large hand in order to threaten a strong late game where you have removed your opponent's best options (including jokers) and where your options can do gigantic damage in a single combat.
I compare each plan to Menelker's human and dragon sides. His human side does anything to win, using his Bleeding Wounds innate profusely to remove cards from his opponent while drawing cards for himself to continue the onslaught, while his dragon side relies on brute strength and overwhelming force, but takes massive amounts of energy (in other words, cards) to function properly. I say "or" because it is extremely ineffective to be trying to perform both of these tactics at the same time, though you can go from one to the other mid-game.
The Human Side
Menelker has many cards that remove cards from his opponents' hand and can power up for more. By hitting the opponent with these cards time after time, they will be forced to play with a small, non-threatening hand, so Menelker will have the advantage.
The plan here is to keep up the offense. Attacks will lead into black face card hits, 7* throws can allow you to remove your opponents' best cards from their hands and lead into black face card hits, and dodges can be followed up with 7* throws or black face cards for a safe way to remove your opponents' cards. Hands with many throws, especially 7s with their Bonecracker ability, and hands with many black face cards lend themselves very well to this kind of playstyle.
Powering up for black face cards is not efficient when it comes to keeping the opponent's hand size small because your hand size will dwindle faster than theirs, so you cannot force a hand with no throws and black face cards to do this. However, if you have many more cards than your opponent, you can afford to trade some cards for some ammo that will keep your opponent's hand small. After all, Menelker's innate Bleeding Wounds allows him to draw a card every time he hits with a black face card, so as long as he is successful in winning combat, he will be able to replace the cards he uses while still dealing some damage.
How to:
• Attack, throw, and dodge. Blocking will allow your opponent to get cards back. Look for a way to hit your opponent with a black face card or a 7* throw.
• Try to attack with red kings or normal attacks and then combo into black face cards. That way, if you lose combat, you will still have the black face cards in your hand. Don't be afraid to play black face cards in combat if you have no way to combo into them or if you suspect you will need their speed to beat opponents' attacks though.
• Don't pump queens or kings with other cards unless your opponent is nearly dead. You never know when you will draw a pair or a three of a kind of that can make even the least useful card useful for powering up to get another black face card to keep the opponent's hand small.
• When you are out of black face cards and 7* throws, look to power up for other black face cards to maintain card efficiency while having a scary combat option.
• Use Into Oblivion (T*, sometimes notated 10*) on cards that you know will be removed from the opponent's hand because you saw them through Bonecracker (7*). You can also use it on jokers, but in general you might want to save this card because this strategy keeps your hand size small and you need all the cards you can get.
• Take knockdown off of throws if you have a normal attack straight in hand or you do not have black face cards to follow up with. On the next turn, you can try for a mixup normal, black Queen, another throw, or a dodge, but this gives you a better opportunity to land a straight and makes it harder for the opponent to block and build their hand size. Powering up for free black face cards through straight combos is great for keeping hand advantage.
When to:
• When you have many more cards than your opponent in hand, for example, after they combo you.
• When your hand has many throws and black face cards.
• When you have faster attack and/or throw speeds than your opponent.
When to stop:
• When you have fewer cards than your opponent in hand.
• When you run out of 7s, black face cards, and reasonable ways to power up for them.
• When your opponent is one big combo from death and doesn't have jokers in hand.
• When you have drawn 2+ aces.
What to watch out for:
• Losing combat to normal attacks or blocks. If you lose too many combats to these, the hand advantage you have will diminish. There's no foolproof way to play around this, but you can notice when you've lost your card advantage and stop.
• Your own hand size dwindling. If you pump too many queens and kings, your hand will get smaller and smaller because you are spending lots of cards. If this happens, you won't be able to power up when you need more black face cards.
• Opponent blue bursts (AKA combo escapes). When you are rushing down, you often don't have enough cards to be removing the opponents' jokers, so you are going to have to deal with facedown cards more and more. Passing often is a good idea when you're trying to keep the opponent's hand size small, as even if it is a bluff, they have lost another card.
• Powering up for aces. Those aces might look like some huge damage, but powering up for them when you could be getting a black face card removes your ability to hold your opponent's hand size down.
The Dragon Side
Menelker's aces do extremely high amounts of damage. The attack side does 11 damage per ace and can do 22 damage for 2 aces in the space of two combo points. This means combos like K++6A+ will do 44, J++A+ will do 49, and Throw into A+ will do 28. Throwing your opponent with 7* to look for jokers before following up with A+ guaranteed is great, but the best part hasn't even been mentioned. Menelker's AAAA throw, Deathstrike Dragon, deals 55 damage (13.75 damage per ace), is speed 4.6 (to beat most non-grappler throws), and can be used after dodge, though it will be vulnerable to jokers that way. If you can't control your opponent's hand, you can crush them with the overwhelming strength of the Deathstrike Dragon. Of course, this strength comes at a price. Very few hands start with more than one ace, and most start with zero aces. You are going to have to work your way up.
How to:
• Play safely. Try to minimize damage as much as possible. Don't take huge risks like slow throws and attacks unless you have no better options.
• A counterpoint to the first point of playing safely: Players who throw a ton will eventually run you out of queens. You may have to use slow normal attacks to punish throws while still gaining cards. Only do it if you are forced to, but don't shy away from it if you have to play it. Otherwise, you will lose all your blocks to throws.
• Make your hand grow. Blocking is the best way to do this, but black queens are a good way to stop throws and other attacks while keeping your hand size going up. If you are very far away from four aces, you might even power up for a black queen to scare your opponent away from doing damage to you through attacks and throws while your hand grows. It's important not to get impatient with this black queen. The less you have to play it, the more time you can spend making your hand grow.
• Sneak in surprise 7* throws in order to see the opponent's hand and plot your safest course, remove their jokers in preparation for your large combos later, and lower their possible damage in general.
• Use Into Oblivion on jokers and aces in preparation for advantageous combat in the late game, unjokerable combos, and so your opponent cannot power up. You can also use it on cards you know that will be discarded from your opponents' hand if they are important.
• Power up for aces and kings. Aces are how your combos will do amazing damage. Kings allow you to do a lot of damage on an attack. You usually want to power up directly for four aces, but on grapplers and other characters with moves that can beat both dodge and Deathstrike Dragon as a combat option, you can opt to try for a K++6A+ combo instead, which still does 44 damage. Menelker's normal throws are by comparison not very strong, which is why getting Deathstrike Dragon is generally preferred to a king, because it is a huge throw threat. Of course, after getting four aces, you can get a king as well.
• In times of desperation, use a Gold Burst. Getting two aces will give you the fuel to need to do tons of damage to come back.
• If the opponent does not facedown, don't be afraid to pump kings with spare cards even if your hand is not large yet.
When to:
• Both players have a lot of cards in hand.
• You have 2+ aces in hand.
• You have 2+ tens in hand.
• Your opponent is playing faster attacks and/or throws than you can match.
• Your opponent's jokers are banished.
When to stop:
• When the opponent has 16 or less HP, try for a black queen powerup instead.
• Your opponent is playing very risky options like slow throws and attacks.
• Your opponent just played a huge combo and has a small hand, and you have black face cards.
What to watch out for:
• Playing safe does not mean blocking 100% of the time. A lot of characters can do tons of damage throwing you. You want to use your black queens to scare the opponent's offense away and your 7* throws to remove jokers so that you can freely play for big damage in a single combat.
• Characters that are extremely good at punishing blocks and that force you to spend cards to attack or dodge like Gwen, Geiger, and many more.
• Very strong rushdown characters will often kill you before you can get the chance to build up enough power. In that case...I have developed a makeshift plan. Read on for more.
PANIC!!! side
Sometimes, Menelker can't handle everything on his own. He tried to fight a huge Dreadlands boar, and as a result, half of his body was turned pallid grey, the color of death. Even Menelker learned that sometimes, he had to be saved. On the brink of death, sometimes you just have to do whatever you can to survive.
Your opponent is too fast and generates too much damage too quickly. Their offence is extremely damaging and you probably won't last 5 more turns trying to hold out. You can't rush them back down; their throw and attack speed prevents you from landing any combos. You have a silver bullet, however.
The black queen.
Some opposing characters have very little hit points, but an extraordinarily great rushdown game that you cannot turtle effectively against and cannot outmatch in speed. What are you going to do? Use your 0.0 speed attack and sting them every time they come at you until they learn their lesson. Note that these characters can all block and dodge themselves, so it's not foolproof, but certain players will not stop coming at you. Note that this does not work exceptionally well on characters with a lot of hit points. The black queen is not equipped with enough damage to last that long.
How to:
• Power up for black queen and use it in combat. Then do it again. And again.
• Mix in some blocks to bide time for more cards to power up.
• Start pumping your black queens when the opponent is under 32 HP or you have over 10 cards somehow.
When to:
• The opponent keeps attacking and throwing you as you try to build a hand.
When to stop:
• The opponent starts blocking or dodging. Basically, they finally give you room to grow a hand.
What to watch out for:
• Blocks.
General Tips and Tricks (Tipzntrix)
I feel like I committed a grave disservice by not including these tidbits of wisdom that are my namesake. Without further ado, here are assorted tips and tricks that may help your Menelker game.
Important Life Totals
• 55: This is when DSD is lethal. However, your opponent will know it, and you will know it.
• 49: This is when J++A+ is lethal. Opponents usually aren't looking out for this because it is so slow, but if the cards align in your hand, especially against grapplers, you can shoot Nether Orb J out and try for this combo.
• 44: This is when K++6A+ is lethal. The 6 is actually the hardest part of this combo to get, so be wary about powering up 6s. This is where your opponent must be scared if you have a large hand.
• 32: You can put a K++ and a Q++ together, or two K++s in a combo with 4 of any card from your hand to deal 32 damage. You can also kill someone with two Q++s on two separate turns.
• 28: This is when throw > A+ is lethal. This is a pretty key junction, because without DSD, your throws cannot threaten to deal lethal damage until now. In addition, you need two aces for this.
• 22: Throw > K++ is lethal. Only requiring a single powerup for a king, this is much easier to achieve than two aces, and at least procs Bleeding Wounds if the opponent jokers your combo.
• 16: Q++ is lethal. At 0.0 speed, this can easily scare your opponent off of their offense.
• 11: A is lethal. This is a strong combat option that cannot be jokered at 11 life and is fairly safe.
• 8: Q is lethal and cannot be jokered. This is like A, but even faster and safer.
• 6: Throw and J on block are lethal. If you have a huge lead, powering up for a J to force your opponent to stop blocking can be good to scare them from getting cards for a potential comeback. Then, dodging is a good way to exhaust them of their cards, as they are often too scared to block and at worst will throw you, which for most characters does not net them any cards.
Other Tips and Tricks
• K can be used as a combat card early to set up a 3-card straight that fetches you a black card or an ace.
• Bonecracker can be used to set up KD situations where your opponent will have to topdeck the right card or lose to an even or odd attack, or sometimes a Q if they have fast attacks but no blocks at all. After all, the 7 throw does knock down.
• If you powerup for a Q, you obviously know that you can throw to beat their dodges and blocks. However, many players will use VERY slow attacks when they think that you are tricking them so that you can throw them. Instead of trying to use Q/throw, think about using K/throw or even normal/throw as your mixup to preserve the Q and open up larger combos. Players will be scared to use fast attacks because they will still lose to your Q.
• After Bonecracker, you can use your knowledge of your opponent's hand to determine if your opponent will be forced to discard cards from hand instead of the deck when you use Into Oblivion. In general, this is something you should use Into Oblivion on if ever given the opportunity.
Glossary
+: A + after any rank of card indicates pumping that card with other cards. For example, Menelker's king is a 6+5+5 (+2 Any) card, so the notation K++ means that Menelker has played his king and discarded 2 more cards to add 5 damage each.
*: A * after any rank of card denotes an ability on that card.
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, T, J, Q, K, A: Ranks of cards, from lowest to highest. Sometimes card suit is important as well. It is notated C, D, H, S. For example, TH refers to the Ten of Hearts.
7*: See Bonecracker. Bonecracker is on Menelker's 7 card, so this is another name for it.
7 throw: See Bonecracker.
bJ: Black jack. See Black face cards.
bK: Black king. See Black face cards.
bQ: Black queen. See Black face cards.
Black face cards: The club and spade suits of Menelker's face cards (not including aces). These cards activate Menelker's innate ability, Bleeding Wounds, when they hit the opponent.
Bleeding Wounds: Menelker's innate ability that forces the opponent to discard a card and him to draw a card when he hits an opponent with Black face cards.
Bonecracker: The ability on Menelker's 7 card that allows him to see the opponent's hand and discard a card from it of his choice when he hits with the 7 throw.
Deathstrike Dragon: Menelker's AAAA throw.
DSD: See Deathstrike Dragon.
Into Oblivion: Menelker's ability on his ten card. When he discards it during the draw phase, he can banish a card from the opponent's discard pile, and the opponent must banish a card of the same rank from his or her hand or deck. The card in the discard pile is Menelker's choice, but the card in the hand or deck is up to the opponent.
T*: See Into Oblivion.
Matchups
Grave
This is an interesting and very grindy matchup. Grave's speeds generally match yours, so expect a lot of clashing. However, he has a faster single ace attack than you. Grave does not have the huge combo potential that you do, but he has more efficiency with his cards and a better early game between his Lightning Trap (J*) and his innate, Knowing The Opponent, that allows him to get even more cards than usual when he blocks. He can also counter your Bonecracker and Into Oblivion abilities. In general, as long as you have more than 30 HP, you should use Into Oblivion on his ace as soon as possible. Getting the second ace banish is also very rewarding as well, but the first ace banish prevents him from using his main form of damage, True Power of Storms, since it removes two aces. It's okay if he counters, because it costs him two cards. Early game combat generally comes down to beating Grave's J with Q or K or dodging it, but trying not to run into his blocks. Using your 7 throw early is advisable, as Grave will surely have counters as your hands grow. It will also beat his very strong blocks and give you opportunities to put an ace in the discard which you can banish. You should take your time and build a hand, as Grave's throws are not very strong themselves, and Grave's innate combined with Lightning Trap and Martial Mastery (7*) makes it very hard to keep his hand size down.
Jaina
Jaina is generally a rushdown character, which means you will have to rely on stopping her offense to win. She can buy back her attacks at the cost of her health, making it hard to keep her hand size low. You can stop her offense through lots of blocking and attacking with queen and king, which outspeed her options. If she decides to throw you more, she cannot buy back attacks that she uses to combo after a throw, so pay attention to her hand size. You might be able to control it by hitting her with black face cards. If she decides to block more, be wary of sticking in your own throws, because she can punish them for huge damage. It may be best to block more yourself and assemble Deathstrike Dragon. In the late game, when she goes under 35 HP, she will often play a Red Dragon/dodge/throw mixup game, as she can now buy back her aces if she plays them as an attack in combat. Hopefully you have some jokers, because two Red Dragons fully pumped will kill you. You can avoid this situation altogether by using Deathstrike Dragon to kill her from 55 HP.
Setsuki
Setsuki will just keep coming at you with her superior speed in throws and attacks until you die, but she has to respect your queen which beats all of her attack and throw options. If she can activate Speed of the Fox, she will be able to dodge your queen and still hit you with a combo, so the queen is not always safe. She only has 70 HP like you, but she has a few abilities that make her especially equipped to beat Menelker. Her Smoke Bomb T* allows her to counter your abilities while discarding cards towards more Speed of the Fox turns, and Speed of the Fox itself allows her to come back to 6 cards from 1, making Bleeding Wounds mostly for you drawing rather than Setsuki discarding. Queen is generally your safest combat option, but don't be afraid to use ace attack in combat either. You will have to do a lot of hard guessing to win, like using slow normal attacks when you expect throw, or slow throws when you expect dodges and blocks because Setsuki is faster than you.
Midori
This character probably has the best-suited endgame to counter yours. Attacks that cannot be dodged and faster throws mean you have a very hard time landing Deathstrike Dragon. However, your early game of card removal is very good against Midori. Since he has no K throw that beats normal attacks, you can often use a normal attack to start off before comboing into black face cards. You have to throw a blocking Midori to keep his hand size down, but you also have to block or black queen sometimes as a pressured Midori will use his own fast Q combined with Glimpse of the Dragon (T*) to stop your offense. If players get large hands, and they often will, K++6A+ is often scarier to Midori than Deathstrike Dragon, so try to have a king in hand. If you have no throws to threaten him with, you might prefer to power up for Deathstrike Dragon, however. When he activates Dragon Form, it is a good time to use Into Oblivion on any queens in his discard, because if he blocks successfully, he will be able to retrieve them.
Rook
Your black Q, which you use to attack while maintaining hand size, is not an ace and can be Rock Armored through, so it is not reliable to stop Rook's offence if his hand grows too large. If you try to build a hand with blocking or normals, you often get scooped up by Rook's K throw. Remember that your 5 attack and 6 attack do beat Rook's K throw and still draw a card on hit. Aside from black face cards, they are your best answer to a throw-heavy Rook, but this makes it much harder to land straights for free cards in the powerup phase because they must start with 2-4. It takes an awful lot to get through Rook's 100 HP, and he has answers to dodge/DSD while still being able to stop your K attack with his J. Your best game plan is to remove his aces and jokers with Into Oblivion, and power up for aces or black kings instead of queens if Rook's hand gets too large.
Degrey
It doesn't take much for DeGrey to kill you if you lose even a few combats, and Bleeding Wounds often just allows DeGrey to improve his Moral High Ground damage. His 7 is also brutal, both early game when your own 7* is trying to remove his damage threats, and late game if you have DSD. However, DeGrey is pretty vulnerable to your K attack if you can remove his Aces and your 7* if you can hit him with it. The more Jokers you draw, the better.
Valerie
Black queen is the biggest threat you use to scare Val in this matchup, but 80 HP is a lot to kill with only that move. Your normals do not force Valerie to burn a Burst of Speed to speed past them, your Ace cannot stop her like Grave's can, your throws are weaker, and if she saves 2 Bursts of Speed, her 7 and 8 throws can beat your DSD/Dodge mixup. Even worse, most other characters who can handle DSD/Dodge are scared of Menelker's K, but Val can handle that very well too. Besides that, even getting there is a pain when she has K attacks that can be sped up and can cut through your blocks as well as very fast throws and a good rushdown game to kill your low 70 HP. You have to be willing to attack with high normals if she is throwing a lot, power up for black queen to stop her offense, and be willing to dodge into black face cards or 7* throw. Banishing her aces really hurts her as she relies on getting them for free when she hits normal straights.
Geiger
Black face cards and 7* are great in this matchup, but even as you are keeping Geiger's hand small, you have to worry about your own hand as well. You have to get rid of 90 HP and Geiger only has to get rid of 70. A decent early game of spiral pokes, Flash Gear, and blocking can leave you nearly dead before Geiger even powers up for a single Ace or starts Temporal Distortion. However, your face cards can defend decently and leave Geiger with a minuscule hand if he loses combat a lot in the early game, and he has no good defense against DSD should the fight go into the late game. Banishing his aces early really hurts him as well.
Lum
By removing even a single ace from the game, you can ruin Lum's easy 4-of-a-kind Poker Flourish setups that he performs by powering up for aces. This should be done as soon as possible, as he has no defense for it. Saving 7* throws until you have a T* in hand to pick out an ace with Bonecracker and then banish it with Into Oblivion is a good idea. However, Lum can power up for the ace in between this combo if he wants to protect it. You may have to use ace attack, black queen, and dodge more in the early game if Lum is spamming his jack attack, and you don't necessarily have to worry about Lum's late game like other characters, because you can make Poker Flourish less effective.
Argagarg
With a counter that makes you draw a card and faster normals than you, Argagarg can really protect his hand, his aces, and his jokers. This matchup is about hitting 7* throws at times when Argagarg can't counter them (even off of a dodge), using your king to outspeed Argagarg's attacks, and getting the scary Deathstrike Dragon throw to get much of Argagarg's health. In general, you should always power up for aces in this matchup. The threatening throw/dodge mixup is very important for avoiding Bubble Shield. However, expect Argagarg to have jokers, as it is very hard to banish both due to his counter. Normal attacks are not very good, and sometimes you will have to throw with T.
Quince
7* and T* are Menelker's shining stars in this matchup. Menelker can throw with 7*, making him much less of a sitting duck to K Positive Spin from Quince. If you have a 7 in your opening hand, try to land it immediately on turn 1. This is the best chance to remove a 2 from Quince's hand and stop that wretched ability. You do not have to play the 7 as the combat card; you can try a dodge and follow it up with the 7, but dodge or 7 throw if you have it. However, using 7* too aggressively when K is not in Positive Spin can still leave Menelker drawing dead to it, but Quince can also recur his 7 throw, so Menelker must still do it to beat Quince's 7 throw. Giving Quince cards is quite scary, so it's not great to run cards into his block, but Menelker can normal attack, at least with 2, instead of risking his K directly. When Quince gets advantage time with Patriot Mirror or Positive Spin, Menelker doesn't take long to get killed. Using your jokers as combo escapes is vital to surviving, so try not to Gold Burst with them unless you really need the aces to come back. Menelker's main game plan in this matchup is holding Quince's hand size down, but Quince's 2* also can foil Menelker's hand control fairly well just by being drawn. Don't block for too long in this matchup.
Onimaru
Onimaru has great tools for preventing Menelker from building a hand, but Menelker also has great tools for preventing Onimaru from building a hand. Onimaru's Guard Crush normals make it really hard to block as Menelker, and Onimaru's faster throws make it hard to defend against throws by throwing back, regardless of the fact that Onimaru is probably going to be using Guard Crushing normals anyway. Using attacks in order to outspeed Onimaru's Guard Crushing normals is generally better than dodging them. If Onimaru is willing to play his 5* attack (General's Armor) a lot, don't be afraid to go into combat with face cards. If he is not, don't be afraid to use your normal attacks, especially 2, as Onimaru does not have a 2 attack. Black queens are good early, but not so much later when Onimaru has Final Authority. Killing Onimaru with Deathstrike Dragon after banishing his jokers is generally the easiest way to finish him off. This often involves Gold Bursting.
Troq
It is extremely difficult for Troq to get cards due to the way his block innate works, as well as the fact that his normal attacks are fairly bad. He has 95 HP, which is still a huge obstacle for Menelker to overcome, but Menelker can really leave Troq hurting for cards with a few good guesses and a good black face draw. Troq has answers to DSD easily available and solid reversals to stop K attack, but his reversals don't hurt that much except his AA. Black queen is what Menelker uses to outspeed Troq's reversals while staying safe from big damage throws. Troq's cards are very efficient, so while Menelker can keep his hand size down, even the topdeck mixup of Troq can be scary.
Bal-Bas-Beta
Bal-Bas-Beta (BBB) has fairly slow attacks outside of his aces. These matches will go on for a very long time, so any opportunity you get to banish his aces, do so. Keeping BBB's hand size down does not do much for you. He has so many blocks and can prevent you from throwing if he reaches Long Range, so your best bet is to bide your time, banish BBB's aces, and prepare the Deathstrike Dragon. If you know that you can remove BBB's queens or kings from his hand, definitely do so. This will make BBB's range game much less scary. When at long range, try to have a queen or joker in hand to use in combat. A successful Gold Burst will bring you back to short range AND give you two aces towards Deathstrike Dragon. When at short range, attacking with any attack below speed 2.8 will prevent BBB from getting range unless BBB has used Overdrive (9*) that turn. Using 7 throw will beat BBB's blocks and dodges if he is doing that a lot, while also beating any surprise attempts at his king throw, Extensor Grab, which forces combat to Long Range. Don't get too predictable, though.
Menelker
Assembling Deathstrike Dragon in the face of your own hand destruction is often asking to get your aces removed. However, if you are far behind, you can make a desperate attempt at it if you can get it, as it will do 55 of Menelker's 70 HP. It's a huge risk to take, however. In the early game, 7 throw is a very scary weapon that can destroy your hand. You can stop this with normal attacks, but face cards are much safer to play in combat, as if the opponent attacks you with a face card, you'll lose by playing normal attacks. The game doesn't evolve into a different stage much. Hand sizes generally stay low, Menelker dies quickly, and the black face cards cannot all be banished. Banishing jokers is really the only important thing unless you are in danger of being hit by Deathstrike Dragon. In that case, banishing aces is fine as well.
Persephone
Persephone can ruin your Deathstrike Dragon setups with Mistress' Command, and force you to use your slower attacks or throws with low payoff by filtering the cards that get into your hand with Bare Your Soul (T*). She can also counter your abilities if you don't spend 10 HP with her Do As Told (9*). If you are knocked down, she will often be looking for a second knockdown to return 4 cards from her discard pile to her hand. However, you can cut down her hand with your black face cards. In general when attacking, you should probably lead with your face cards. Her normals are faster than yours and she often has access to her best cards, so you will need to rely on your best cards, which outspeed hers. Your 7 throw is also the fastest throw in this matchup, tied with her 7 throw. It's good to use it early before she starts recurring her 7 throw, and to banish good cards in the discard pile with Into Oblivion, as Persephone will be able to recover them if she knocks you down. She only has 75 health, so killing her quickly with your faster face cards is a good idea. Banishing her aces is great to remove her only knockdown ender, and banishing her 7 throw to making your 7 throw win all throw vs throw combats is good.
Gloria
Blocks and queens are Menelker's best options against Gloria's gigantic arsenal of reversals (J, Q, K, AAA) that all prevent Menelker's K or throws from winning combat for combos. However, Menelker can definitely force Gloria to throw him because in the late game, he can hit a 7* and T* to remove Jokers and threaten DSD. If Gloria is spamming fast attacks, block them for hand advantage, use a dodge into 7* throw to remove jokers, and go for Deathstrike Dragon mixups. Menelker's T* is a great tool for destroying recurring hearts, but there are just too many reversals to possibly banish (J, Q, K) that he is usually limited to using them for Aces and Jokers. Getting her ten of hearts banished (TH) is also very important to stop her healing sphere engine, especially if you are planning to play for the late game.
Gwen
While Menelker can slowly get ground down and take a life loss to try for DSD if Gwen relentlessly attacks, Gwen's dwindling life total means he can also try to simply use queens to win combat while using 7* to stop throws and occasional T* blocks and dodges that Gwen might use. Successful 7* throws allow you to combo for mediocre damage and remove threats and Jokers from Gwen's hand. It's tough to beat Gwen in combat and tough to get cards as she uses Relentless Strikes, but Gwen loses 2 HP per turn, so Menelker doesn't actually have to do that much damage.
Vendetta
Vendetta is the most frustrating character to play against. You can't stop him from building a hand, you have to be patient trying to open him up with K, you have to dodge or get lucky to land your 7* throw without Acrobatics (8*) in hand, and you can't DSD/Dodge mixup against him either until you banish Acrobatics AND Jokers. Even then, Vendetta can STILL bluff you as you try to remove his escape options. The black queen is one of the few cards that you can stop Vendetta's 2 spam with as well as the biggest threat to Vendetta when he knocks you down. Dodging more than usual just to get rid of Vendetta's good normals is a viable option. Trading your K with his 2 is not bad either, as you can recur your K.
Zane
Zane's amazing throw/dodge game gives him a huge early game advantage over you. You can try to use normal attacks to beat the throws without losing your face cards if Zane dodges them, but Zane can use his 2.3 speed 2 attack to beat your normal attacks, forcing you to use K as a more risky combat card sometimes. Zane has two throws that are faster than your 7* throw, so it might be best to use it as a dodge followup. You will have to attack a lot if Zane is trying to abuse his throws. If Zane is blocking a lot, trying to get Maximum Anarchy, banishing a single ace is useful to prevent this. Other than that, banishing his jacks and kings if you can remove some from his hand is a good idea to avoid knockdown. When you do get knocked down, having a queen in hand is great to scare Zane off. Zane's dodge followups are not great on their own unless he has aces; it's the knockdown and the threat next turn that is scary. Zane can do huge damage from turn 1 and you only have 70 HP, so try to use your superior attack speed and stop his offense right off the bat.