Bandai Namco’s Zenonzard: Artificial Card Intelligence continues to grow in popularity, reaching top spots of the card category on the Google Play Store in several countries, and likewise maintaining largely positive user review ratings on both mobile platforms. The initial experience can be overwhelming given the volume of information you need to learn but with your buddy AI and a bit of time and patience, even total beginners in the genre can quickly enjoy and get hooked on this card battler game.
Your buddy AI can help you build your initial decks to use in battle and the quick tutorial essentially helps you build your own with ease as well. Though it will take you a lot of time to collect each and every card, the amount of cards you have in your library that keeps on growing can make it a challenge to build yourself a deck. Of course, the top decks are available for you to view but chances are that you will have to spend a lot more time to be able to duplicate them exactly. While waiting to do so, the best course to take is to identify the best cards in the game that serves as your “base card” from which you will build your deck around.
If you have just started playing the game or still at the stage of downloading it, you should read our Zenonzard beginner’s guide as it discusses all the basic features and mechanics and contains a bunch of simple tips and strategies to help you at the start of your adventure. For this guide we will be exclusively presenting the best legend-rarity cards in our opinion so if you happen to have them in your collection or would be rerolling on your account, you should consider building around them.
For our tier list, we considered overall impact along with ease of utilizing and cost. There are a lot of powerful cards in Zenonzard, even across various grades. While some may be a bit dependent on particular themes or other deck components, some can be very useful and effective on your own. Again, we would like to stress that this tier list, like any other, is highly opinionated.
Likewise, if you have played other popular CCGs like Magic: The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh!, some cards that grow too powerful can be restricted or even banned. Given that Zenonzard has just got released and more cards are definitely on the way, some of the cards we will present here may vary in usefulness and potential based on the impact of new cards.
Zenonzard S-Class Cards
Lachesis – Decider of Fate [Neutral – Cost 9N – BP: 500 – DP: 1]
Zenonzard card battles are typically a race to bring the opponent’s life points to zero. While players can also lose due to library death, or running out of cards to draw, reducing life points is the general way to go. Regardless of how the battle is going, if you are able to switch one of your Force’s points with the opponent’s life points, then the battle will instantly be in your favor for the most part.
Lachesis is a little challenging to summon with 9 neutral mana as a requirement but still doable regardless of your deck’s color. In a green deck that generates mana fast or a white deck that can fairly protect your Force until you are ready to summon her, Lachesis can be your key to an easy victory.
Muo – The Sword of Kanatana [Yellow – Cost: 2Y 3N – BP: 500 – DP: 2]
For a summoning cost of only 5 mana, Muo’s BP and DP are actually irrelevant. Muo’s ability alone to disable all minion abilities, unless they are yellow, is the absolute deal-breaker. A lot of the minion’s values are actually based on their abilities instead of BP and DP and shutting them down with Muo can critically ruin any deck’s strategy.
Wallace – The Courageous [Neutral – Cost: 6N – BP: 600 – DP: 2]
A Wild Land card that costs only 6 neutral mana to boost all other minions’ BP by 100 and DP by 1 is already great enough on any of the regions. There are no conditions to satisfy as well for his boosts to activate. This card’s value simply explodes considering you can lodge it on any deck utilizing any color and still make even a hardly-themed concise build threatening.
Zenonzard A-Class Cards
Acemy – Conjurer of the Shining Wing [Yellow – Cost: 0 – BP: 100 – DP: 0]
With each color in Zenonzard sporting a unique evoker that calls forth a powerful, evolving minion, Kanatana does not lag behind in terms of the summoned arcana’s abilities. Ruler of the Azure – Of Acemy can be put into your hand from the library once Acemy is placed on your base. By default, Ruler of the Azure can return an enemy minion with 400 BP or less to the owner’s hand whenever he attacks.
He can be evolved whenever you summon an avian minion and at level 2, the returned minion goes to the bottom of the deck instead of the opponent’s hand. Once Ruler of the Azure evolves to level 3, he will return to active state whenever an avian minion attacks your opponent’s life.
Alezan – King of the Deep [Blue – Cost: 3B 5N – BP: 800 – DP: 2]
The cost of 8 mana, with 3 blue mana, can be quite overwhelming to even think about when considering cards to build around on, his raw power in combination with his control skills can really turn the tide of battle. Alezan can move up to 3 minions from your base to the field in active state after being summoned, and he can have any of the opposing minions retreat to base whenever he attacks.
Baldrod – The Blazing Demon [Neutral – Cost: 7N – BP: 700 – DP: 2]
Being able to instantly destroy an opposing minion with 1200 BP or lower at the cost of having each of your Forces to take a damage is a fair enough deal however you look at it. Baldrod being a neutral minion makes this card valuable as you can squeeze him on any deck. Preferably, though, utilizing him strategically especially in the late game can be more advantageous. If you have only 1 or no Force left, then there will be no drawback for summoning him.
Belphegor – King of Sorrow [Purple – Cost: 3P 5N – BP: 800 – DP: 2]
Speed is a factor to consider in every match. While cards that have high costs can put you at risk of them not even making it to the battlefield, carefully strategizing around survival until they do can lead to an easy road to victory once you succeed in summoning them. Belphegor’s cost of 8, with 3 purple mana, can make him seem overwhelming to work around with but his abilities just cannot come with a lower cost.
Once he is summoned, opponents have to pay an extra cost of 1 to summon field minions. Even more terrifying is that whenever Belphegor attacks, you get to revive any field minion card from your trash back into the field. The revived minion’s summon effects will not trigger but the only other limitation is that you cannot revive another Belphegor card.
Emeli – Conjurer of the Burning Embers [Red – Cost: 0 – BP: 100 – DP: 0]
Aguma’s top evoker, Emeli can pick up Inferno Ring – Of Emeli from your deck and into your hand. Infrerno Ring costs 2R 3N, has 500 BP and 2 DP, that can instantly deal 200 BP to 2 opposing minions. You can evolve both the evoker and the arcana whenever you summon a dwarf minion, one of Aguma’s main classes. Inferno Ring gives Dwarves the Charge ability at level 2, and will only allow your red minions to be blocked by enemy minions with at least the same amount of BP at level 3.
Flare Zaura – The Superior [Red – Cost: 1R 6N – BP: 700 – DP: 2]
Flare Zaura is actually mediocre by default with only a triggered effect of reducing an enemy minion’s BP by 500 for the turn he is summoned. Once active and boosted with 1 red mana, he transforms into Flare Zaura – The Ignited Emperor, with 1000 BP, charge, will reduce all opposing minions’ BP by 300, and lets you draw a card when he attacks the opponent’s life. Considering everything, the card draw ability is what makes him tick.
Jade Karajan – The Maestro [Blue – Cost: 2B 3N – BP: 500 – DP: 2]
Token decks come in various forms in many CCGs. Though there are many decks you can create with tokens in Zenonzard, Jade’s appeal comes from the relative low cost of 5 and the condition that you get to have a token whenever you play a spell. Blue is home to a lot of powerful spells anyway and 200BP, 1DP merman are not that bad, especially if you have Wallace around.
Lahrs – The Master Conjurer [Neutral – Cost: 0 – BP: 100 – DP: 0]
As an evoker, Lahrs can obtain powerful minions from your library and into your hand fast. Because of neutral color, you can also squeeze him into any deck. Samurai Spirit – Of Lars, Ryu Jin Terra – Of Lars, and Shin Ryu Aether – Of Lars are neutral minions each powerful in their own right. Samurai Spirt works best in decks that have more evokers.
Millie – Celestial Tree Guard [Green – Cost: 2G 2N – BP: 600 – DP: 1]
While Demete region is home to a lot of powerful minions with huge BPs and also huge costs, a lot of the minions with lower costs also excel. Millie’s cost of 4 for a BP of 600 is awesome enough but what makes her stand out is the ability to put an extra enemy minion to rest whenever you target one minion to retreat as well. Forcing enemy minions into a rest state is among Green’s specialty, so you will never have scarcity of cards to maximize Millie’s special ability.
Orka – The Turbulent [Blue – Cost: 1B 6N – BP: 700 – DP: 2]
With library control being among Blue’s specialties, Having several cards with those abilities can help you get the cards you need faster than other colors. Orka lets you choose 1 from 3 cards at the top of your library to add to your hand after revealing it to the opponent, leaving the rest at the bottom of the library. His strength comes from being in active state and boosted with 1 blue mana.
Once he transforms into Orka – The Tempestuous King, he gains Charge, blue minions gain Infiltrate until end of turn, and your blue mana becomes active if he deals damage. 7 mana may be a little challenging for a blue deck to muster, but once you summon and transform him, he can be your prime finisher.
Sylvie – The Windrider [Green – Cost: 2G 4N – BP: 600 – DP: 2]
Using a green deck gives you a lot of decent Nymphs to choose from and with Sylvie summoned, Nymphs currently in your base will be shifted to active status, enabling more mana availability and boosting summoning capability. When a boosted minion attacks as well, you can put an enemy minion in rest state.
Rita – The Flawless [Neutral – Cost: 7N – BP: 700 – DP: 2]
Just like Baldrod, Rita can eliminate an enemy whenever she is summoned. The same goes for when you summon a minion belonging to the Sable Knight class. While there are no minimum BP conditions, she can only eliminate neutral-colored minions. Although you may eventually duel with an opponent who has no neutral minions in his or her deck, Rita will still prove her worth as a damage of 1 against the enemy’s life points are inflicted when there are no legal targets in play. Note that there are numerous Sable Knights under the Aguma (red), Demete (green), and Wild Land (neutral) regions.
Schniden – Cyborg Samurai of Machinas [White – Cost: 2W 3N – BP: 600 – DP: 2]
Most decks in Zenonzard rely on magic cards not just to support the player and the minions, but also to have something up your sleeve during the flash phase. With Kanatana (yellow) being the only color that specializes in summonging during the flash phase, all other colors can be easily crippled if you take their ability to use magic cards away.
Schniden can disable an opponent’s ability to activate magic cards provided that your minion belonging to the android or arcana class attacks during the turn. There is on shortage of either class in Machinas, so it is fairly easy to work around Schniden’s ability.
Serah – Conjurer of the Metallic Steed [White – Cost: 0 – BP: 100 – DP: 0]
Machinas’ evoker, Serah, calls forth Chrome Charger from your library to your hand. Though the cost of Chrome Charger is 2W 5N and only has 600 BP and 2 DP, its ability to reduce enemy minions’ BP by 100 for every point your Force with highest value has, can give a huge advantage. Summoning and android class minion can evolve both the evoker and the arcana to the next level.
When you have an android minion in play and Chrome Charger is at level 2, Chrome Charger cannot be targeted by the opponents effects and magic. Chrome Charger at level 3 is at a completely different level as minions from the android class will always win in battle against the opponent’s minions regardless of BP.
Twin-Horned Treewalker – The Impaler [Green – Cost: 3G 7N – BP: 1500 – DP: 0]
A massive chunk of raw power, Twin-Horned Treewalker will hardly have anyone to match its BP when it comes into play especially since mana production is one of Demete’s special traits. The summoning cost of 10, with 3 green mana, is fairly easy for green decks to build up. At the very least, there are less threats for such an expensive minion since he cannot be targeted by the opponent’s effects. He also earns 1 DP for every green mana in your base so at the very least, his DP should be 3.
Vicerave – The King [White – Cost: 3W 5N – BP: 1000 – DP: 2]
A total summoning cost of 8 can be intimidating but Vicerave is certainly worth it. Each of the opponent’s minions are forced to block an attack from your minions once Vicerave is in play. With a BP of 1000, Vicerave can certainly eliminate the opposing minions one by one and whenever Vicerave or any of your minions win a battle, you deal 1 damage to your opponent’s life and each of his or her Forces.
Yahmy – Conjurer of Everlasting Night [Purple – Cost: 0 – BP: 100 – DP: 0]
Each color in Zenonzard has an evoker that can summon powerful minions and both evoker and summoner can evolve. Yahmy is Thanatos Region’s prime evoker who can Andoros – Of Yahmy from your library to your hand. With 2P 3N, you can summon Andoros, who has 500 BP and 1 DP, and destroy an enemy minion with a cost of 4 or lower. Summoning a skeleton minion evolves both Yahmy and Andoros, making Andoros even more powerful.
Ziren – Binder of Souls [Yellow – Cost: 2Y 4N – BP: 500 – DP: 2]
There are a lot of minions with more raw power at the cost of 6 mana but Ziren’s ability to disable absolutely any minion for a full turn makes him a valuable yellow minion in our book. Once he comes into play, you get to choose an opposing minion and that minion will not be able to attack, block, or move until the end of the opponent’s next turn.
Zenonzard B-Class Cards
Amelia – The Drifter [Yellow – Cost 1Y 4N – BP: 500 – DP: 1]
To start off, Amelia has Swoop, which means you can summon her during the Flash Phase. If an opponent’s minion has been returned to their hand, Amelia’s summoning cost becomes 0. At the start of your turn or whenever you summon a Sovereign Blade minion, she can restore a life point if you have less than 4 and gains 300 BP if you have 4 or more life points.
Amelia – The Swift Dragon Rider [Red – Cost: 2R 4N – BP: 500 – DP: 2]
As a staple requirement for Sable Knight / Swift decks, Amelia can quickly replenish deployed minions with her special ability. Whenever Amelia or any other Sable Knight is summoned, opposing minions lose 200 BP and your Sable Knight or Swift class minions gain 200 BP. After she attacks, the cost of the next Sable Knight you summon is reduced to 0.
Frieren – Lord of Dreadfrosts [White – Cost: 3W 6N – BP: 1000 – DP: 3]
The cost of 9 mana with 3 white mana can take a while to hoard but Frieren is one end game minion you would want to clear up the opposing field. With 1000 BP, attacking and dealing damage enables him to banish the opponent’s lowest-costing minions. This means that he can eliminate more than 1 minion if they share the same cost. As an added perk, Frieren can only be blocked by Dragons and Dragonewts.
Griphone – Machine of the Arctic [White – Cost: 1W 6N – BP: 700 – DP: 2]
Griphone’s effect of letting you draw 2 cards and discarding 2 after is actually a decent ability if used strategically to help you have better cards at your disposal. Griphone, though, shines after getting boosted as Griphone – Droid of the Tundra has Charge, gives all your minions 100 BP and Resurge, and returns to active state after winning a battle with another minion.
Helix – The Tri Lance [Blue – Cost: 2B 4N – BP: 600 – DP: 1]
Helix can move 1 of your minions from base to the field in active state when he attacks and receives 100 BP and 1 DP whenever any minion moves from base to the field. Definitely stronger if more are in play.
Magma Fang – Lord of Blazefires [Red – Cost: 3R 6N – BP: 900 – DP: 3]
Magma Fang is certainly a challenge to summon into the field but once you do, he is a force to be reckoned with. Once he attacks, you can immediately destroy an enemy minion with 500 BP or lower leaving less hassles to block his 3 DP. Beyond the instant kill, he can summon a dragon into play whenever he instantly destroys an enemy minion and the dragon has a BP of 500 and DP of 2. As a bonus, only dragons and dragonewts can block Magma Fang whenever he attacks.
Marya – Knight of Poseido [Blue – Cost: 2B 4N – BP: 500 – DP: 2]
With a mere 500 BP, Marya should not be as confident to attack the enemy but with infiltrate, or the ability to be only blocked by minions with the same cost, you can have her attack more often. You would want to attack with Marya as often as you can because whenever she does, you get to reclaim one magic card up to a cost of 5 from your trash back into your hand.
Solo – Lit Dragon Blade [Red – Cost 1R 6N – BP: 600 – DP – 2]
Solo can increase your movement by 1 if you have no minions in play when you summon him and for the turn, will have your mana with a boost effect continue its effect even while in rest state. Solo may not be impressive at all prior to being boosted but once he transforms into Solo – Relentless Dragon Blade, he will have charge and return to active state, giving another opportunity to attack. When he transforms as well, your opponent’s neutral mana enters the rest state, leaving a lot less surprises you need to worry about.
Solrakia – Lord of Sunflares [Green – Cost: 3G 6N – BP: 1000 – DP: 3]
A total summoning cost of 9 will be challenging for every other color but green is, of course, home to fast mana generation. On top of the 1000 BP and 3 DP, what makes Solrakia valuable is the ability to have minions summoned during the opponent’s turn come into play in rest state, slowing down the opponent’s pace. Solrakia also can only be blocked by dragons and dragonewts, making his 3 DP a headache for unfortunate opponents.
Vahn Jean – Bearer of Fruition [Green – Cost: 2G 3N – BP: 500 – DP: 2]
Demete Region is certainly known for generating mana quickly but Vahn Jean definitely takes it up a notch. She enters rest state when moved to base but as far as paying costs of green cards, she serves 3 green mana to ensure that you can have all your big baddies out in no time.
Victoria – The Gilded Knight [Green – Cost: 3G 3N – BP: 800 – DP: 2]
The 800 BP for 6 mana is actually already a treat and the biggest downside is the 3G in the cost. In any case, if you are using a green deck, then chances are that you will have a lot of green mana. Victoria gains 1 DP, Charge, and Resurge when you have at least 7 life points. This means she can immediately attack the turn she is summoned and will also return to active state at the end of your turn. These conditional abilities will almost always be active since Victoria restores 1 life point whenever an opponent’s minion enters the rest state.
Zenonzard C-Class Cards
Aegis – Origins 2 [Red – Cost: 2R 5N – BP: 700 – DP: 2]
Golem Decks are perhaps the best when it comes to token utilizations And Aegis destroys all your tokens when he comes into play, replacing them with a Token Golem M for each one. Chances are that what you will have are the lower versions of Golems so having stronger ones can definitely turn the tide. Aegis also comes with charge, which means he can attack the same turn he is summoned in the field.
Broona – Conjurer of the Magus [Blue – Cost: 0 – BP: 100 – DP: 0]
Every legend-rarity evoker is valuable in our book although Broona slips a little behind the others. Juy – Of Broona, which is the arcana that Broona fetches from your library into your hand, can move an opponent’s minion with a cost of 5 or lower into their base an in rest state. At level 2, using a magic card with a cost of 3 or more returns the arcana to its active state. At level 3, magic cards in your hand cost 1 less to play for each Merfolk in play.
Cedar Treewalker – The Chilliad [Green – Cost: 3G 6N – BP: 1300 – DP: 4]
Yet another embodiment of Brute Force, Cedar Treewalker is a bargain for 9 mana because he is green and with 1300 BP and 4 DP, along with pierce and a reduction of 1 from damage that can be dealt to your life during the opponent’s turn, he is as strong for defense as he is for offense.
Eleksai – Lord of Thunderstrikes [Yellow – Cost: 3Y 6N – BP: 900 – DP: 3]
Like all other big boys and girls in our list, Eleksai will take a while before he can get to join the game. The cost of 9 mana is actually strategically sound as you would want your opponent to summon his big bad minion the turn before you summon Eleksai. Once Eleksai is summoned, you get to return any of your opponent’s minion back to the top of his or her library. Eleksai can only be blocked by Dragons and Dragonewts.
Hardin – The Soaring Beast [Yellow – Cost: 1Y 6N – BP: 700 – DP: 2]
When Hardin is summoned, he can be accompanied with another minion that costs 4 or less. While his basic effect is already good to have, Hardin becomes even better when boosted as he gains Charge, give all your other minions 200 BP and 1 DP until the end of the turn, and when he attacks, prevents any opposing minion with a cost of 6 or less from attacking, blocking, or moving until the opponent’s next turn.
Khan – The Three-Headed Monkey King [Yellow – Cost: 2Y 6N – BP: 800 – DP: 3]
Khan is a very valuable component of any Chimera Deck and can instantly reduce an enemy minion’s BP by 300 whenever you summon another chimera. At the end of your turn, all yellow mana returns to active state and you get to draw a card.
Lucia – The Thunderstrikes Rider [Yellow – Cost: 1Y 3N – BP: 400 – DP: 1]
For 4 mana, Lucia has the potential to be as strong as any of your dragon class yellow minions in the field. Returning a yellow dragon to your hand is a relatively low price to pay considering Lucia gets to inherit their BP and DP. There is hardly any use for her without as many dragon minions in your deck, though.
Ove – Conjurer of the Forest Abyss [Green – Cost: 0 – BP: 100 – DP: 0]
Demete’s evoker, Ove is best used for Elf Decks but can still be useful for other green decks. Her Arcana, Lunar Monarch, can place any of the opponent’s minion in the rest state until the opponent’s next standby phase after Lunar Monarch gets summoned. At level 2, Lunar Monarch grants all Elf class minions 100 BP and 1 DP. At level 3, she can destroy all of the opponent’s minions that are in the rest state sharing the lowest cost.
Rekindled – The Shadow [Purple – Cost: 1P 6N – BP: 700 – DP: 2]
Rekindled is only average at first considering his cost in relation to both BP and DP. His only effect is that he deals 2 damage to an opponent’s force when he comes into play. His value grows several folds after he gets boosted as Rekindled – The Darkened Demon is strong not just with decks that focus on destroying Force, but also those that have weenies, or low-cost minions.
Once transformed, Rekindled instantly destroys all other dragons in play. Whenever he attacks, he can fetch up to 2 minions form your trash that are cost 3 or less, based on the number of your opponent’s Forces that have been destroyed.
Rory – Brute of the Forest [Green – Cost: 1G 6N – BP: 700 – DP: 2]
Rory’s regular version may not be that appealing as he will only place a green mana in base once he is summoned. Knowing that he can be boosted, and with the green mana that comes with him, will make him more attractive. Rory – Barbarian of the Earth has Charge, banishes all neutral minions when he transforms, and puts an opposing minion into rest state whenever he attacks.
Saishi – Priest of Thanatos [Purple – Cost: 2P 4N – BP: 100 – DP: 3]
Saishi actually does not do much on his own but can be very convenient to have in certain situations, especially towards the latter stages of the match. His special ability is that once he is destroyed, you can pick any field minion card from your opponent’s trash and make a copy of it to summon in the field under your control.
Shatterbourne – Lord of Annihilators [Purple – Cost: 3P 6N – BP: 800 – DP – 3]
Shatterbourne’s summoning cost may be tough but instantly being able to destroy any minion when he comes into play is a powerful ability. Another concern for beginners is the added cost of having to discard from you’re the top of library into the trash pile, which generally sounds like a threat. With purple minions like Rekindled who utilizes your trash and Saishi, who can clone any minion on the opposing trash, Shatterbourne can be easily considered for just about any purple deck.
There are still a lot of Legend-rarity cards we did not include and for now, we will consider them at least at a tier level lower than the ones we listed. Again, just because a lot of those cards are not here does not necessarily mean that they are useless but rather, they may be have more restrictions and higher difficulty of working around with to be effective.
If you have played Zenonzard extensively enough or have at least read through a lot of the cards, you may feel very differently about some of our picks and that is something we accept and hope to be enlightened about. If you have your own picks you would like to share with us or feel differently about some of the cards here, do not hesitate to share your views with us through the comment section!