Yellow Eva

There's a reason why this deck makes up likely over 60% of the decks going to regionals. All of the cards do really good things, they all synergize with each other nicely, it takes very little thought, and it excels pretty well at both offense and defense. Before we get in to counter play let's look at all of that synergy.

- Both 0 drop Reis pair well with both Asuka's. Asuka Shikinami Langley and Asuka Shikinami Langley give you a lot of value if you sideline one of your own cards. Rei Ayanami will sideline itself at the end of the main phase for an energy while Rei Ayanami draws a card when it's sidelined. Both are great targets for Asuke to get additional value.

- Misato Katsuragi sidelines itself for an extra swing up front. Because the deck produces a lot of units quickly and only needs 4 energy, she can be gotten rid of around turn 2 or 3 for an extra swing. If that extra swing is a Mari Makinami Illustrious and you don't need to use all of your AP, 1 extra swing turns into 2.

- Misato Katsuragi is THE most important card of the deck. While only once per turn, it gives the yellow eva player an extra unit every turn (in theory). And not just any extra unit, it's usually their best units such as Mari Makinami Illustrious. Speaking of Mari Makinami Illustrious, she also synergizes with Misato while out as she allows both active and draw triggers to become get triggers, which allow Misato to play those cards as well.

- Now while Misato Katsuragi is the bread and butter for supporting the deck, in the front the main aggression comes from Mari Makinami Illustrious. The idea is that you have more ap then normal for filling your field since Misato is playing cards for free. With that AP Mari makes any of your units a double attack. Sometimes it is just an extra 4k attack but that's still annoying to deal with but othertimes it is a 5k with impact such as Asuka Shikinami Langley and a guaranteed 2 damage in the turn is rough although if you hit a special and kill the Mari they get shut down.

- Their primary defense is Rei Ayanami. This card is honestly a bit broken when used in combos. Kind of like Misato it saves them an additional AP when it dies by playing a free card. That free card is usually Rei Ayanami. Now not only does this card have nullify impact which could save them, but it also gives 1k to a unit, usually a 4k turning it to a 5k allowing for a free block. If this combo isn't available though they'll generally go with Rei Ayanami which if nothing else gets them a draw when it blocks and dies.

- When you save that much AP, 2 AP cards like Asuka Shikinami Langley become a lot easier to get out. She turns the kill spells in the deck from 4 to 8, although if played from life she only rests a unit (for defense). On top of getting a kill though, she is also the decks impact unit. There isn't a lot to say here, she can be restood by Mari Makinami Illustrious and comes out easily due to all of the decks free plays.

- Outside of their searcher you'll likely see Mari Makinami Illustrious. I don't think the card is particularily good but it can turn their 3ks into 4ks so it's something to keep in mind. The only other card you might see which is less likely but significant for you is Rei Ayanami. It can't be moved (although it can be bottom decked) so it can be mildly annoying for Kenshin, although it isn't that bad.

- The general strategy of the deck is to rush out Misato so they can start playing cards for free, after that, get Mari and Rei on board. Then slowly fill in the gaps with Asukas. It's decent as both a rush deck and a control deck and if you don't know how to play around it, it will generally win.

While not easy for most decks to do, it is most easily done with Red Kenshin.

- While they can still play their deck isn't actually able to play from life (and do everything they want to do) until Misato Katsuragi is on the board. Rush them before this point if possible. Every card out of life is a card not being played. Also keep in mind that Misato can only play a card once per turn so if you have strong aggressive turns where you can deal 4 damage, that's at least 3 damage that she can't make use of.

- Their main defensive piece is Rei Ayanami. When sidelined or removed from the field, and yes, this includes Ryuutsuisen, she plays another card set to active that buffs another card by 1k usually turning a 4k into a 5k making it a free block. Kenshin handles this very well because in general he does not kill but instead just pushes her back. Now it's not always going to be feasible to push her back but map it out for yourself before deciding to activate kill when she's on board because with her replacing herself and buffing a 4k to a 5k, she is essentially 2 free blocks by herself (but if it's all the same, at least killing her gets her off the board.

- When is a good time to kill? Well Kenshin Himura actually should come up quite a bit in the match up. Since they don't need more then 4 energy in the backrow and they want to use their AP either for Asuka Shikinami Langley or Mari Makinami Illustrious they will generally leave two spaces in their backline open. This means that more often then not they have 2 free blocks against Kenshin when they are pushing. Even more so on the off chance they are running Rei Ayanami which can't be pushed. In the case this Rei is on board kill Kenshin becomes almost mandatory, but you can always just use your Ryuutsuisen. That said, your special should almost always be used on Mari Makinami Illustrious if not Asuka Shikinami Langley.

- If you have to activate Kenshin Himura while Rei Ayanami is on the field and you unfortunately do not have a Kenshin Himura to push her back before the battle phase starts just remember that they will be playing a nullify impact unit off of her skill so it might be worthwhile swinging with the impact Kenshin first (although it is situational.)