Piko Surge Forgemaster
A lot of Piko of Thousand Blades lists run Stormchain Gate, but Surge Gate goes way harder here. Crate Rat Kurobo and Black Jade Pawnbroker dump daggers into my discard pile, Surge Gate equips one for 0 IKZ every turn, and my Leader pays 3 IKZ to slap +3 more attack onto Stalking Assassin or Indra! +1000 aura.
Deck
Game plan
Early turns
Drop Crate Rat Kurobo first on turn 1 before any weapon hits the discard pile so it mills 5! Black Jade Recruit and Pawnbroker keep blades flowing while Elder Hoshin grabs Stalking Assassin or Indra.
Middle turns
Stick Stalking Assassin and Silver Current, Haruhi, then portal a Gate Power 1 guy through Surge Gate to replay a free dagger out of the pile every turn.
Closing
Indra and Mo enter with Charge: arm one via Surge Gate or a 1-cost blade, pay 3 IKZ with Piko of Thousand Blades for +3 attack, and finish with Tenshin and Lightning Orb.
Mulligan
I keep Crate Rat Kurobo or Black Jade Recruit with a 1-cost blade and a 2-drop. Throw back hands with zero 1-cost bodies.
Key cards
3 IKZ gives an equipped Garden entity +1 attack per weapon in my discard pile, capped at +3.
Replays a weapon costing up to the portaled entity's Gate Power from my discard pile for free, turning my Leader's ability on without spending a card.
Mills 5 cards AND hands me back one of the weapons it milled.
Only attacks leaders, so every blade and +3 boost goes at their face, unless a Defender takes the hit or a tapped Taunt entity blocks it.
5-cost Charge finisher with Gate Power 3 — arm him and fire Piko of Thousand Blades for a massive swing out of nowhere.
Tips
- Always play Kurobo BEFORE discarding a weapon to Black Jade Recruit on turn 1, or Kurobo only mills 3 instead of 5.
- Stalking Assassin has Gate Power 2, so portaling it through Surge Gate brings back Tenshin!
- Leave 1 IKZ open with Hidden Dagger or Lightning Orb to snipe greedy attackers on their turn.
