Notes & Combos

This is my current iteration of Striker—Breaker Maliss, which I believe is well-positioned in a post-Ryzeal world. With the other Maliss variants like Speedroid + Millennium going extinct, and with the increasing viability of boardbreakers, spell-heavy Maliss plays on a unique axis that arguably rivals the power of standard HT Maliss, while distinctly improving its matchup spread in other cases.

Despite the emphasis on breakers, the gameplan of this deck is still to go first and perform the classic Maliss-style FTKs that everyone dearly loves at this point. Inclusions like Engage + Allure actually add to turn 1 consistency compared to the handtrap build. Even if you do lose the coinflip, this version has plenty of gas to push into boards and eat through interruptions so that your Maliss cards resolve easier.

Notes on tech options + spell suite:

• I wanted as much diversity as possible for the Ryzeal matchup, so I ended on a mix of Talents + Metaltronus + Droplet, which all performed well in practice. A special note on Metaltronus: its main use case is against Ryzeal, but there are so many underrated applications in the Maliss mirror. For example, you can cheat out a Crytper super easily and still have its effect online if it points to anything. Droplet might be the most replaceable, but it becomes signifcantly stronger when paired with other spells into many matchups.
• I'm only playing 2x Engage, which might seem crazy at first. But since we're only playing 2 search targets, the chances of the 3rd Engage being dead is relatively high. This is especially true if you're opening with Engage as your starter, and I don't think it's worth it to play an additional Afterburners or 2nd Widow Anchor.
• I'm still maining 3x Impulse as the only other handtrap with Maxx C. The main reason for keeping Impulse in this list is to improve odds vs the mirror, and I will always try to save it to lock Ransom in banishment. Since this version plays so many Apollousa outs, the main lose condition in the mirror is Chessy + Binder deep drawing into non-engine like Ash + Impulse. That being said, I think this is also the flex spot — I've also experimented with cards like Eclipse, Thrust, and Imperm, which are all worth considering.

While Striker Maliss is not likely to be the meta frontrunner in the long-run, its aggressive ability to churn out advantage and solid matchup into Ryzeal keeps it a fun, viable option for all keen Maliss enjoyers.