Open 8 Guide CP02

Overview

Want to win the exclusive super rare Magical Dress token? Look no further than this drafting guide to make sure you get the best of your 8 packs every single time.

Once again, Bma here with card evaluations for every single card in the set. The Open 8 guide this time will be for $5 subs and above.

Note that we also have a version on the website that will be up between 0-2 days.

How to use this guide

In general, drafting in Open 8 will become very easy when using my guide. On average you will run into two situations after opening 8 packs:

1) You drafted too many good cards

This is a great problem to have. It means that even if you do make some slight mistakes with deckbuilding, you will still be able to win. Just cross-reference with my list and pick only the cards that I consider to be strong. Ideally, you want to reduce your deck size to 30.

2) You drafted too few good cards

This resource helps you pick the 25 or so good cards that you do have, so long as you can cross-reference or memorise the material below. You then find the 5 or so cards in your pool that are the "least bad" and boom, deck is done.

That's all there is to it. Most of the time, "synergy" is overrated, just pick good cards and it'll work itself out (outside of the specific synergies I mention within the article).

I drafted a good deck but I lost, why? 

Reason 1: The variance factor 

This is the nature of BO1 formats with high variance. Sometimes you can draft the best deck in the room but not win the event. For example, imagine if you pulled 2 Israfil in BP04 Open 8. This is an insane advantage over practically all of your opponents.

But the odds of not drawing a single one in your top 15 cards? 24%.

In 24% of your games, it doesn't even matter that you drafted the most broken card in the set!

Reason 2: The piloting factor

Drafting a good deck is not the only component to winning an event. Sometimes, an inferior draft can beat a better draft due to player skill. Suppose you make a subtle misplay that the opponent capitalises on. Sometimes, that's all it takes to lose the game.

CP02 general draft thoughts

First of all, I don’t see any downside to choosing an idolm@ster themed leader for the pre-release, as you gain 5 magical item tokens for free. These cards will typically be used for your Lesson (X) effects, but it's worth noting that you can also just hard cast it for 4 to heal 1 and draw 1, surprisingly relevant as it means you cannot run out of resources, and makes control decks more viable (Have too much pp and no followers? Just draw a card while you're waiting.)

Second, this format has a huge amount of powerful removal options and quicks. For example, there's a 5pp quick that just straight up destroys two followers. There's a 2pp quick that gives a follower +1/3. So in this format, you want to always keep an eye out for how much pp they have and not get hard punished by it.

Third, although aggro decks CAN be good, control decks are surprisingly viable and draftable too, and games can go very long.

Fourth, I also don't think the whole cute/cool/passion synergies matter that much overall. Occasionally, you'll get some cards that search out specific synergies or have bonus effects if you meet certain criteria - do not bait yourself with these. Take the small advantages if they're relatively easy to obtain, but don't ruin your deck quality in the process.

For the most part, I recommend being flexible with your draft, and being critical with what direction you want to go in (i.e. sometimes 1-drops are very good, sometimes, you should absolutely just skip them. It all depends on the card quality and pay-offs you have available).

Forest

Aiko Takamori

No point considering this card without the evolve. 3 cost 2/2 is understated for the cost and the fact that you can whiff makes it even worse. That said, if you have the evo, I think it makes sense to partially draft around it (that is, play more passion cards)

Miku Maekawa

Very strong. 3 play point 3 damage storm, not to mention it can also deal 2 damage to an enemy follower for free. Can trade into 5 def follower or clear 2 for 1 by using 1pp for rush.

Yuzu Kitami

Pointless without the evolve in my opinion. 1/1 ward isn’t very good in my opinion, and the lesson effect is generally pointless, even with Brand New Beat. Decent card with the evolve effect though, as it can get rid of opponent’s early tempo then force them to trade into a 2/2.

Anastasia

Very strong card. Although a 3pp 2/4 seems average on the surface, the card can remain standing after it is initially played, and then on following turns, if it was not cleared by the opponent, will give you 2pp a turn, and in many cases, can allow for 5 cards to be played, which then gives you a buff to the entire board and an unlosable game state (you will need a Spell to accomplish this due to board space though).

Brand New Beat

Exceptional card, after thinking about it. You can play this at any time you have free play points available (probably turn 1, but you’ll usually find some kind of timing). Then this card can literally just give any follower +1/1 for 1pp? This is kinda insane, no? For example, you can buff your follower then trade over opponent’s follower. Or you can just buff it and swing face, making it higher than their current turn’s threshold (forcing them to trade 2 followers in while they take face damage). Not to mention that you can time this with when you use your lesson effects so it draws a card too.

Shinobu Kudou

This is where it starts making sense to play cards like Yuzu Kitami (even without the evo) because this card is essentially 4pp for 4/4 in stats minimum + a free amulet, while thinning your deck by 3 cards. Of course, the pre requisite is that you are actually able to consistently tutor that many cards from deck.

Yumi Alba

Not sure how reliable the Fanfare is, but 3/3 stat line is fine for a 3-cost, and the evolve effect is excellent if you managed to pull it.

Goddess by the Morning Sea

Excellent with Anastasia in particular, otherwise it’s okay as a deck thinner. Still, you would generally choose not to run this without some form of combo synergy or Anastasia if you have better cards.

Honoka Ayase

2/1 is pretty good in general for a 1-cost and the fanfare is not bad (representing 1pp value from not needing to give follower rush). Synergises well with cards like Shinobu Kudou.

Azuki Momoi

Good card in my opinion. Leave a follower standing, then on your next turn, play 2 followers then this for 1pp, give this rush, trade into something (with this living on 1 or 2 hp), then you are in a super strong tempo position.

Kana Imai

Play it if you have the evolve. The evolve effect is obviously excellent.

Otoha Umeki

Delayed value card but I think it’s fairly strong, especially with a deck that can swarm the board. Basically Archer at home.

A Single Vessel

I think this card is worth playing simply as removal. The activate (2pp) effect is also fine, as it basically lets you trade any card in hand to be a 3-damage removal.

Swordcraft

Kyoko Igarashi

Playable even without the evolve. Heals for 3, draws 2, has huge stats and ward. In reality, you play this, give it rush and it wins you both tempo and card advantage. If you’re ahead, just leave it standing and you threaten lethal with it. No brainer to include with the evolve, broken boss monster at that point.

Nagi Hisakawa

If you draft a lot of 1-pp cards, Nagi Hisakawa is INSANE. 4/4 stats is solid, the ability to just straight up kill any follower is ridiculous in this format. The second choice doesn’t really matter (2 damage or draw 1 + discard 1 are both fine)

Rin Shibuya

4/4 ward is fine for 4-cost followers in general. Thus, the rest of its effects are essentially just bonuses. The best effect is definitely the combo play with Uzuki Shimamura, but it’s still possible to get value with it without the Evo version of Uzuki (simply becomes a 6pp play, which is still good). The Mio Honda combo is also kinda insane lol, 8 damage to leader is super XD.

Mio Honda

Playable even with no other synergies. 2/1 storm is always fine. Obviously, it works even better if you got Rin/Uzuki.

Uzuki Shimamura

This card is straight up good regardless of no other synergies and even without the evo. 3/3 is fine for 3-cost and it has random flexibility to heal for 1 (Could come in handy, you know). Obviously, the evolve effect is where the card is truly insane, as it represents a huge tempo swing against the opponent.

Anzu Futaba

It is a skip in a majority of situations. While it looks like it might be okay to push 3 damage in, it also effectively costs 3pp to do so, which is not very efficient and will prevent you from doing other plays. I can see it being playable in drafts that go wide very frequently, but otherwise, it is underwhelming (although it has interesting card design).

Karen Hojo

Only playable with the evolved version also drafted. In which case your ideal scenario is to play this with 2 existing followers to get 1/2, then when it evos, it becomes a 2/4 and lives as a 2/1 after pinging enemy follower.

Heart Pounding Impulse

For 1pp, it's okay as a tutor. If you're running a lot of "Cute" cards, I'd probably skip this, as missing means you're going -1 and that's just awful.

Nao Kamiya

Very good 2-drop. You can just slam it early game as 2/3 is already a good statline, but in the mid/late game, being able to ping followers for 2 is very great for tempo.

Mayu Sakuma

One of the best cards in the draft. Why does she randomly have Assail, Bane, and Drain lol? 3/4 stats, and it can be given rush as well which allows it to take full advantage of all three key words while potentially surviving.

Kirari Moroboshi

The way I see it - if your deck was going to play 1-costs anyway, then this card is fantastic. However, if you need to include 1-drops in order to include this card, it's probably a skip. The main thing is, there's a lot of removal in this set, so despite 9/9 stats, it will probably die. You definitely need to cast it for 6pp and not 9, so you also need to reliably have 1-costs on board or in hand to run it. Therefore, I think this card is good with the right cards around it, but skippable otherwise. I also wouldn't deliberately make my deck worse just to accommodate this card.

That said, this card's effect is very strong (although definitely a bit of a "win more" type of card). As far as I can tell, if your followers stick from the previous turn, you can attack with them, then play this to attack with them again...

Miho Kohinata

Obviously very strong with evolve, skip otherwise... I don't think you need to draft heavily into the cute pool either, 2 damage ping is more than sufficient.

Angelic Maid

Very strong card if you are drafting any type of follower-tempo deck. It will also randomly win you games if your opponent isn't familiar with the format. If your opponent swings into your follower when you have 2pp open and it results in their follower dying and yours living..... The game is over lol.

This is also commentary as to how you should avoid getting owned by this card when opponent leaves 2pp up. You might want to swing face, or just leave your follower standing.

There's also an angle where if you believe your opponent is good and you have no other plays, then sure, you can just play it during your turn instead. This is also potentially optimal if you are playing against specific forms of removal (for example, trying to avoid specific 3 damage pings etc).

Runecraft

Mizuki Kawashima

Decent boss monster, obviously you will never get the 7 damage effect off, but 3 aoe damage while forcing opponent to deal with a 7/7 isn't the worst. It's also... not that great either tbh. It's good when it's good, and horribly average when it's average.

Shiki Ichinose

Pretty good card even without the evolve, I think. Basically draws a card on fanfare, and then you can spend a card to clear a card on enemy board, while leaving behind a 2/5... Of course, if you have the evolve too, the card is insane, as most of the time, whatever life you end up paying, you should be able to get that returned from tempo.

Syuuko Shiomi

For 3pp, you discard three cards to draw 2, get a 3/3 on board and clear one of their followers. This is pretty good in my opinion. It's also possible to reach an end game state where you can just play this for 9pp (to not be forced to discard).

Kanade Hayami

3/3 is ok if you need that particular curve slot (but I think this is unlikely with this card pool). The Evolve is VERY strong though.

Center of the Street

Just a generically good removal spell, with potential upside of draw a card (perfectly playable even if you do not draw a card).

Hina Araki

With evolve, an autoinclude. I don't think you need to specifically get good value from the evolve effect, simply the fact that it can be evolved into a 3/3 can be sufficient.

Frederica Miyamoto

Worth playing if your deck has many 5-costs or higher and no better 2-costs. Card is underwhelming early game but gets progressively stronger and a magnet for enemy removal the longer the game goes. On turn 4 onwards, leave it standing going into the enemy turn and watch them panic...

Precocious Scamp

I think with how many great removal cards there are in this set, this card is not as good as it would usually be in Open 8. Still a good card, but might be a 1-2 of tops

Sarina Matsumoto

I don't think there are enough spells in the pool for it to get value, and 1/5 is not a particularly strong stat line.

Rika Jougasaki

Honestly, I think this card is a skip, even if you do have the evolve. It costs too many play points to effectively "draw 1 card," especially since it's only a 2/2.

Sae Kobayaka

Very good card! 1pp to buff something by +1/1 is usually very strong and can force breakpoints that opponent cannot easily clear. Also, if searched from deck, it still gets the fanfare, so keep that in mind.

Tomoe Murakami

This card is pretty great. It has very good stats (5/5) and can be cheated out for 4pp (if the game is very slow, you can try to play conservative and play for 6pp, but most of the time, you are slamming this turn 4). Then you search Full Bloom Panorama, swing 5 to the enemy leader, then clear their two followers and force them to deal with a 5/5.

Dragon

Akari Tsujino

Just a standard auto-include in your draft if you have it. Good stats, has ward, heals your leader, can ramp your leader and can even burn the enemy leader at 10pp onwards...

Yui Ohtsuki

Good card even without the evolve, can basically be viewed as "removal". With the evolve, being able to play certain spells/amulets for free is kinda insane.

Fumika Sagisawa

A PDK-esque effect that demands the opponent to answer it. If you have a deck with good 3-costs and 1-costs, probably an autoinclude. I do think it's skippable otherwise, it's one of those cards that is extremely good when it's good, but don't force yourself to play it.

Akira Sunazuka

Hooooly moly, good card. Basically, a majority of the time you're using only the discard cool card effect to improve your hand - but when you need healing/damage, you'll know, and you'll be glad the option is there. Also, if the game does go long, drawing two cards is... not negligible at all.

Tsukasa Kiryuu

It ramps!? Okay, in all honesty though, going from 6pp -> 8pp isn't necessarily game winning, but the stats are fine so you'll be pretty happy playing this from a neutral board state for sure. Obviously, with the evolve available, it's just broken and auto include. Depending on your deck, you might also consider evolving this card WITHOUT the lesson effect, as lesson (3) can be quite expensive if other cards are competing for the same resource.

Arisu Tachibana

The conditions for playing this card are:

1) You have decent 1-cost spells/amulets in deck

2) You have a 1-cost synergistic deck

Otherwise, it's honestly quite underwhelming

Yuka Nakano

Play if you have the evolve available, otherwise skip. Note that this card does not get +2/2 on evo despite costing 2 to evolve.

Explosive Emotion

LMFAO why does this card exist in Open 8? Broken reset card, basically Themis' decree but more flexible. Just note that its cost increases based on YOUR followers too.

Tokiko Zaizen

Very strong card! It's overstatted aggressively (4/3) and it does extra burn damage as a bonus, depending on how far ahead you are...

Noriko Shima

One of the best 2-costs. Good stats, can heal your leader, and even gives itself rush and +1 attack in the mid/late game.

Yukari Mizumoto

Great card from neutral game state. 4/4 and draw a card is great. This format also has a bunch of amulets that stay on the field and can get value by cracking them for pp later on, so you can also get value by killing enemy amulets.

Nao Takamine

Fantastic with the evolve, obviously, as it's essentially a 5 damage ping minimum on evolve.

Mode Estival

What does Pot of Estival do? In all seriousness, 4pp to draw 3 cards is kinda expensive, so I am not sure where I stand on this card! In a lot of situations, I'd unironically prefer Yukari Mizumoto over this. If you're playing this from Neutral, you're fine, but if you're playing it from behind, you just... die lol. So I think it's ok if you run a heap of removal spells and you are sure you have a better late game than the opponent, but uh... I think I would probably skip this rather frequently, as there are a lot of other cards that can generate resources for you.

Abyss

Ranko Kanzaki

Pretty good, even without the evolve. Decent stats when you consider that it can do 6 split damage to enemy followers while giving you a 3/3 body.

Sachiko Koshimizu

Frankly, I'd play this card even if it didn't have storm/bane when your Leader's defence is at 10 or less. So yeah, you play this card if you get it.

Takumi Mukai

I think 3/3 is a fairly underwhelming statline for this particular expansion, so realistically, autoinclude if you have the evo, otherwise this card most likely doesn't make the cut.

Chitose Kurosaki

Like, the card is obviously overpowered because of its activate (1pp) lesson (1) effect. A mild stat penalty (2/2) is completely fine when you consider the fact that it clears a lot of early board threats singlehandedly. The whole "doesn't take damage" effect is just a small bonus.

Whispering Dreams

Good early game but gets progressively worse over the course of the game. Maybe draft 1-2 copies max.

Chiyo Shirayuki

Err.... isn't this card just op? It's a 3/3 that draws you 2 cards for only 3 mana. Like sure, you take two damage, but who cares.

Aki Yamato

With evo, strong high-end boss monster in the late game. Holding this in hand will generally make you feel like you are in a very comfortable position, as even if the opponent does something totally outrageous, you can full clear it with the evo.

Without evo, still playable, but obviously not as good. 5/5 ping 5 is sort of average, it's ok if you need top end.

My life, my sounds

Pretty exceptional removal card. Kills anything for only 3pp, even does burn damage to enemy leader under sanguine (whatever, small bonus, cool).

Ryou Matsunaga

Overstatted follower with ward that is potentially a +1. Good card to include if you have spells in deck.

Mirei Hayasaka

Pretty easy to get the Rush effect, not to mention 4/3 is an aggressively overstatted follower that, when it has rush, can clear a lot of followers. Besides that, it also helps improve your draws in the following turns. Worth running, though skippable depending on competition in the 3pp slot.

Rina Fujimoto

This card is pretty ridiculous if you have a lot of cards that can activate Sanguine. Otherwise, a skip.

Syoko Hoshi

LMAO this card is such a skip without evo it's not even worth talking about. I don't even know if this card is particularly good even with the evo to be honest, but I guess it can potentially do like 5-6 damage to enemy leader if they have no removal? Like, because of the flexibility, we will run it if we have the evo... But yeah, it's kinda underwhelming, isn't it?

Last Daylight

Decent removal, but it is notably not a quick spell. It has good value if you have a lot of 1pp followers, though.

Haven

Kaede Takagaki

This card is sooooo good. Not much else to say about it, really, it's just great value and good at all points of the game.

Shin Sato

Even without the evo, it's a 3/3 3-cost that draws a card. That's totally fine to include in a lot of decks, nothing exceptional but definitely passable in most cases. The evolve though.... Damn, this card can create some really interesting game states. Even if you don't have the evo, your opponent has to respect the fact that the evolve exists. if you slam it on turn 5 and draw a card, they're going to feel obligated to remove it if you have a good threat in the cemetery...

Nana Abe

I don't like this card very much without evo. I don't think you should be drafting that many amulets outside of Psychic Maiden, so you're probably going to whiff the fanfare most of the time. With evo, it's a great card, you can even justify running more amulets than you normally would, cause this card is cheating tempo for you.

Akane Hino

The card's an auto-include in any draft. Ideally, you want to save it for the Storm effect on turn 7+ for 7 face damage, but it's totally fine to answer the opponent's board with rush & assail when you need it.

White Lily of the Classroom

Believe it or not, I don't really like this card much. I think it costs too much for what it does and represents a large minus in tempo, that is only really offset by cards like Akane Hino (so yeah, you can draft this card if you have the appropriate support, I guess).

Risa Matoba

I like this card in theory, but whether to include it depends on the density of 2-costs and lower within your deck. Can be essentially a 4/4 or 4/5 in stats for 3 mana. If your odds of hitting are low based on your deck's construction, then cut this card.

Haru Yuuki

Great card with evo, otherwise pretty underwhelming. Without evo, not sure I'd include it even if I had Risa Matoba in the deck, MAYBE if I had multiple.

Psychic Maiden

One of the best cards in the format. Removes practically everything early game, then sticks around for a hard removal option in the mid and late game. Would be very happy running multiples of these (3+).

Natalia

This card sucks. I wouldn't be convinced on it being good even if your deck mainly consisted of passion followers. 1/3 stats just sucks to much, and the fact that it doesn't count itself as a passion follower makes this card so bad.

Shizuku Oikawa

This card.... It's so close to being good, but it's just not. 2/5 stats are not good (sure it avoids psychic maiden hahahaha), 2 attack just doesn't pressure the opponent enough.

Layla

Pretty great card with evo, otherwise, I'm sure there are better 4-cost followers you can run.

Sanae Katagiri

Like the card is fine to run at the top end, but just be aware it's probably dead to hard removal the following turn.

Winter Night Prayer

4pp banish quick.... Yep, it's pretty great. The heal 3 effect with a cute follower is incidental, and probably hard to pull off in reality (nor would you really play around it unless you desperately needed healing).

Neutral

New Generations

Like honestly, if your deck is able to support it, I guess it's fine? But I think it comes down too late in most games, and even if it does, it's not like it instantly wins you the game or anything. Kinda skippable.

New Wave

Okay, now this card is very good. It's a little awkward because of the lesson (5) needing literally all of your magical items, but fully clearing enemy board while slamming a 7/7 is pretttty good. You can also just play it as a 7/7 tempo drop that can rush for 1 mana/evo point anyways.

Master Trainer 

I think this card is pointless most of the time as it's completely dead until you have 8pp - and in many cases, you simply will not use that many Magic Items in the first place. That said, this card specifically synergises with New Wave.

Veteran Trainer

Okay, this is probably the more viable magic item recovery option in general. 4/4 stats are fine for a 4-cost, and there is a world where your draft could be hungry enough to want 7 Magic Items over the course of the game.

Trainer

Busted 2-cost follower in this format. Bane and Drain are both very powerful key words, and the fact that this comes as a 2/3 just makes in an autoinclude.

Rookie Trainer

2/2 1-cost, enough said.... But it also has an upside as well that gives another follower +1 attack... Which you would only use if you played this card and it had summoning sickness... But yeah, you're ideally looking to just slam this turn 1 and build immediate tempo.