Deep Dive: Trigun Stampede and Cowboy Bebop

Vash the Stampede and Spike Spiegel may not be the most recent releases in our Challenger Series, but they still have a name to make for themselves. Both of these decks offer unique playstyles with ever-popular anime characters. Who doesn’t love the age-old question, “Who would win in a fight? Godzilla or Vash the Stampede?” Or how about “Spike Spiegel vs. Nott the Brave—who is victorious?” Well, our brand-new Challenger Series format gives you the best chance to answer those very questions.

Vash the Stampede comes side by side with Nicholas D. Wolfwood in this explosive Challenger Series deck. This deck offers a unique gameplay experience, as you try to manipulate the top card of your discard pile throughout the game. One of the best cards to find is Seen It All, as this foundation can give you free stats on every attack if you get the correct card on top of your discard pile throughout the turn. Fear not—if the top card isn’t what you want, there are several ways to help change it at a moment's notice. Pitching In literally moves a card to the top of the discard pile for our deck, while attacks like Fan the Hammer and Merciful Volley help mill multiple cards from the top of our deck. When we mill more than one card off the top, we get to choose the order in which they go into the discard pile, ensuring the perfect card is on top each time. Using these tools is not only the heart of the deck, but it also brings uniqueness to each time you pick up the deck. Games become exciting when you mill four cards with Fan the Hammer and get your opponent with the classic "gotcha," milling four attacks for +8 damage.

Ultimately, the choice between Vash and Wolfwood comes down to whether you want to be aggressive or not. In typical pacifist fashion, Vash trades attacks in hand for more cards overall, and his mill ability provides an extra burst of speed on all the attacks we keep. Wolfwood, on the other hand, is far more aggressive in nature, and it reflects in his character. Utilizing momentum for card draw and milling for damage leads to a faster game, should you choose to play that way.

If Trigun Stampede isn’t quite your speed and you want to take your play to the stars, then Cowboy Bebop might be for you instead. Spike Spiegel and Faye Valentine headline this Challenger Series, and their game is all about flipping foundations.

This deck wants to get its board flipped for a high variety of abilities that both characters utilize. Whether we're pumping speed with Fallen Angel's Revenge or reaching ten flipped foundations to make our attacks unblockable with Welcome to Space Land, we are making sure our board is turning face down. This deck doesn't just push offense, though—cards like Fast Friendship help give us a benefit for having so many face-down foundations in our staging area. The end outcome of this deck may often be the same, with a board full of face-down foundations, but getting there is the fun and exciting part of the gameplay. You, as the player, get to choose how and when to use these powerful abilities, and sometimes, you even get to double up on them. Falling Heel Strike does a great job of letting us flip a foundation like Leaving the Bebop for its ability, then unflip it with Heel Strike. Because of the way our game works, this interaction lets us use Leaving the Bebop again if we have enough momentum. Sometimes, this alone can generate enough card advantage to take the game.

If you're trying to decide which character to choose to pilot this deck, it has similarities to our previous deck. Spike Spiegel is a more traditional six-hand-size aggressive character. He wants to have a large board all flipped face down so he can pump huge stats. Cards like Light It Up go a long way in providing consistent damage across multiple attacks. Faye Valentine, on the other hand, provides consistent damage for each flip, while also reducing damage if she decides that's the better move. Our larger seven-hand-size means we have more options, but also that we need to be mindful of our lower life total.

To close, here are some thoughts on these decks as you head into this format. This next statement holds true across any Challenger Deck you play in this format, and that is ratios. Under normal circumstances, you would have four copies of a key card in your deck to really play on your strategy. With these pre-constructed Challenger Series decks, remember that these powerful cards, like Fallen Angel's Revenge and Punisher Beam, are only included twice in the deck. This means you have to plan carefully when to play these impactful moves to maximize their value. Both of these decks are powerful in their own right, and both characters provide different playstyles to suit your needs. So go out there, take off, and take aim at first place in your next Challenger Series format.

For a limited time, when you buy one Challenger Series, you can grab another one at 50% off! When you buy one Challenger Series, use code CHALLENGER50 to get 50% off your second deck of either Cowboy Bebop, Trigun Stampede, Vox Machina, or Mighty Nein Challenger Series. Don’t miss out!