What do you do when you never have enough IKZ?
Lower your curve. Everyone gets exactly one IKZ a turn, up to 10, so you cannot draw too few the way you can in Magic. Never having enough means your hand costs more than the turn you are on: cut expensive cards for ones you can play on turns 1 to 3, and count your leader’s ability as part of each turn’s cost.
You get one IKZ a turn. Staring at it really hard doesn’t make more. Trust me, I tried. A lot.
How to tell
- You pass early turns without playing anything.
- On turn 3 most of your hand costs 4 or more.
- Most turns you can pay for your leader’s ability or a card, not both.
Example: A Shao hand on turn 3
Going first, you have 1 IKZ on turn 1, 2 on turn 2 and 3 on turn 3. The second player gets the same, plus a token worth 1 IKZ, once.
| Turn | Going first | Going second |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 + token |
| 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 10 | 10 | 10 |
On turn 3 this hand holds Kaiya Mizumi (6), Mizuki (5), Mo (6), Benzai the Merchant (2) and Lotus of Paradise (1). You can play Benzai the Merchant and nothing else that matters, and three cards will wait until turns 5 and 6. Cut two of the 6-cost cards for 1- and 2-cost entities, and the same turn plays two cards.
How to fix it
- Count the cards you can play on turns 1 and 2. If it is under about a third of the deck, your opening hands will often have nothing to do.
- Cut the most expensive cards first, keeping the few your deck is built to finish with.
- If your leader’s ability costs IKZ every turn, like Raizan’s or Goro Graveloth’s, plan your curve one IKZ lower.
- Need expensive cards anyway? Add extra IKZ: Earth has Warding Totem, Koyama Farm Caretaker and Sprout of Fortune; Water has Hydromancy Gate and Lotus of Paradise.
