Macross Frontier: Wings of Goodbye is a fantastic movie that marks a perfect capstone to the Macross Frontier series. The movie, recently being rereleased in 4D in Tokyo, is remembered fondly eight years after release. The same cannot be said of the Weiss set. Even upon its heavily marketed release in 2011, fast food chain Lotteria handed out promos with meals, the set was considered average. Macross was unable to deal with existing threats and other sets that came out that year. However, that’s not to say Macross Frontier didn’t have some good tools or see any success. Players were able to build successful decks based around idols Sheryl and Ranka, and even the SMS brigade had some fun tricks.
Unifying Concepts: Change and Experience
Sets are generally designed to play through a few unifying concepts. Macross Frontier has two that match the underlying movies well: the Change and Experience mechanics. The set’s main level threes, Singing is Life Sheryl and Songs are Magical Ranka, can be played by Changing from a lower level card during Encore step. Music is Magical Ranka chains from level one and has other cards to help it along. Sheryl, on the other hand only has the 2/2, which is very stable on her own.
Macross Frontier leans as heavily on the Experience mechanic. On top of colour requirement, some cards will need a specific sum of character levels in the level zone to use all of their effects. Most cards that are involved with Change chains or climax combos have some form of experience requirement. For instance, the level one Ranka that starts a Change chain to the Songs are Magical Ranka gains 1000 power when you have two or more experience. Experience is also seen Sheryl’s change chain and in the less common builds for the SMS Brigade. Anyone looking to play this set will need to build around these mechanics.
source: trade cards online
How does Macross Frontier Win?
When you build a Macross Frontier deck, you are trying to get the level three Ranka and Sheryl out as fast as possible. You support them with the back row and oppress the opponent. Heal and salvage as necessary while maintaining your wall.
The level three Ranka has a beautiful climax combo that allows you to play one Love character, your main trait, to stage. For one stock. Regardless of level. Given that this is part of a fairly stable level 1-2-3 change chain, this allows Ranka players to build oppressive walls of level threes at level one or two. Did I mention this climax combo is on a climax with a gold bar trigger?
You then bring in Sheryl on the cheap with Ranka or her Change effect. Aside: So much Flavour. She was usually in front of either level support or a +1000 assist. You ran several backups. If they did manage to swing over her, Sheryl can still stay on field! When Sheryl is reversed in Battle you may put a Northern Cross climax in your hand into stock. If you do, you may rest Sheryl and search for a Music or Pilot character. This is a beautiful card in an era where clock kicking wasn’t yet garden variety. In the event that they breach your wall, just stock the climax and all the resources they expended would be for naught. Further, you have either more heals or another back-up! Together, Sheryl and Ranka build some nasty walls together.
Short comings
source: trade cards online
Macross Frontier had very bad matchups against some of the best decks at the time of its release, Haruhi and Railgun/Index. Macross builds rely on back rows either to boost power or prevent use of backups of their walls. Haruhi’s Aliens build allows the opposing player to re-arrange your board when they play a specific level three. They would move your backrow cards to the front row and destroy them. Railgun/Index, on the other hand, had several ways to remove your back row. Then they would easily defeat what was left. Further, Macross’ stock hungriness made lost fields hard to restore.
In a more modern context, Macross lacks finish. The SMS build has an under supported climax combo that does damage base on the cost of a reversed opponent, and Ranka can flood a field for a final assault of attackers without additional effects. That’s it. The Macross player has to be content with grinding out a finish.
Conclusion
During its time, Macross was a set of average quality. It didn’t match up well against some of the best sets, but it had enough going for it that it wasn’t left in the dust. Unfortunately, Macross cannot be played in sanctioned events outside of Japan due to licensing issues. Thus, it is hard for English players to correctly assess how effective this set is. Macross did see some play at sanctioned events in Japan, but never took home a national level tournament.
In the modern meta-game, Macross is woefully underpowered and inconsistent. It cannot compete with modern decks. They can easily hit over the walls that Sheryl and Ranka erect, quickly dispacthing Macross decks. Despite this, Macross Frontier has enough unique cards and passable tools to be fun to play at a weekly tournament. On top of that, it is full of flavor. Weiss players looking for something off the beaten path and Macross fans playing waifu will find Macross Frontier fun to play.
The next post on Macross Frontier will go through the weird and wonderful cards in this set in more detail. Make sure to check it out!
Wild Wild Weiss 
I want more Macross sets.
Maybe we get Macross Plus someday
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A Macross Plus set would be cool, although its not as popular in Japan as 7, F, or Delta. Heck, Plus got its first song in Uta Macross just this week.
We’re more likely to get Delta. This is especially true now that the other game Macross has been in, Crusade, has died.
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