MapleStory iTCG card Preview - Soul Teddy

Soul Teddy
Thieves are the masters of discard effects. By forcing your opponent to play cards quickly or to lose them, Thieves bring the action to the front of the game. By forcing your opponent’s cards onto the table or into the discard pile, you can see everything and react to it. Forcing your opponent to discard is not enough to win, however. Today’s preview is an example of a card that helps your strategy both early and late in the game.

Soul Teddy’s level-up ability is Loot, forcing a discard when you use it if your opponent has three or more cards in their hand. Loot can be devastating if used during the first three turns, because your opponent has not had enough time to level up and play the cards from their hand.

As a high-level monster, Soul Teddy is among the best in the game. Among the monsters that you want to play with a Spawn 70 ability, he has solid attack and hit points. You probably won’t play him for his statistics – you’ll play him for his two monster abilities. Soul Teddy is Tough, shutting down ability damage. He also has Startle, which can completely lock up a game.

I’ve had many games come down to waiting for your last few levels and then playing your big monster or tactic. Soul Teddy beats the waiting game. When Soul Teddy attacks a character, that player must discard a card. Unlike Loot, Startle doesn’t care how many cards they have. It is one of the only ways in the game to make your opponent discard their last card, and it can be devastating when it happens. I’ve had a game where my opponent Spawned a turn six Soul Teddy from Dark Shadow’s level-up ability. I had one card in my hand, and my opponent took it away. I spent the rest of the game playing from level 50, being unable to keep a card in my hand to level up on the next turn. In this way, Startle can lock up the game.

How do you combat this? Well, I got out of this lock with a low-level tactic that destroyed the monster. Double Strike (a Thief tactic) did the trick that day, but you could use Energy Bolt (Magician) as well. Warrior could exploit Soul Teddy’s 40 HP and attack with a Block Golem or a Jr. Yeti (making use of his Fierce ability).

There are three cards in the first set with Loot as a level-up. While Propelly and Pink Teddy certainly help with the early-game discard strategy, neither of them are late-game powerhouses. A dedicated discard strategy should probably run all three in the deck, but you’ll be happiest to see Soul Teddy at the end of the game.

Article by: Andrea Jennifer Shubert
http://ww2.wizards.com/maplestory/news.aspx?doc=news_soulteddy