(Hypothetical) Strategy Question: How many copies of a leader should go in the deck?

[astrophys]

I'll ask a question that I first posted in GameFAQs:

I don't actually play the game, but out of curiosity in the event that Cipher ever gets localized:

What are your opinions on the appropriate number of copies of cards corresponding to your leader's character that you should include in the deck?

I understand that like in many other card games, like Magic the Gathering, you're limited to having only 4 cards with the same full name in the deck, although you're allowed to have further sets of 4 of differently named cards depicting the same character.

So, for example, I could run 4 copies of Young Prodigy, Cordelia, 4 Copies of Pegasus Knight Paragon, Cordelia, etc.

I understand that you can only have 1 card with the same character out on the battlefield at a time, and that cards depicting the same character cannot provide support bonuses, so the more copies of your leader card you include the more likely you are to get a failed support when you attack with them. On the other hand, the more copies you include ALSO increases the odds that you'll have copies in your hand to perform Critical Hits or Godspeed Evasions with, as you need to discard extra copies of the card to do that. And you're also more likely to draw the promoted version for class changing.

But would the balance be? For characters who have 2 versions, would you run all 8 copies (4x2) for Crits/Evasions and drawing your promotion? What if you leader is a character with three or more versions, like Cordelia? Would you [assuming you actually had the cards] run 12 Cordelias [4 x Young Prodigy, Cordelia; 4 x Platonic Pegasus Knight Cordelia; 4 x Pegasus Knight Paragon Cordelia] so that you can get a bunch of critical hits that can push her attack up to at least 100 [more if she gets a good support]. Or does the concern of getting a failed support become more important here?

How would you approach this?

Again, this is hypothetical, as I don't yet have the game; I'm just trying to figure out what the strategy would be for deck building.

[DonDon]

Ive seen anywhere from 5-10 copies of your MC in a deck.

1 MC as the starter
Usually 4 of the promoted version you want to be sitting on majority of duels.
x amount of copies of 1 drop for evade/crit.

x amount of higher promotion such as 5 drop marth/corrin etc.

It really depends on the character. Most currently only have 2 versions meaning a total of 8.
Some characters require discarding a card of the same name so having more copies is beneficial.

i personally like having 6-8 depending on the MC.
People weigh the cost of failed supports and likelihood of crit/evade differently so its really up to which one you prefer.
If you have time check out the tournament deck list post by Tuvillo. There are alot of decks you can learn about if you want to build your own deck.

Edited November 2, 2015 by DonDon

[Tuvillo]

Always max out on your intended promotion. (The one you will be playing for the majority of the game) And optionally play 1 or 2 conditional higher levels of Marth, Chrom, Corrin, etc that you want to tech.

As for the level 1 version, this has undergone major inflation over time. Set 1 metagame was 100% 2/4 for Marth and Inigo decks with 6 total, but this has increased to 8 (9~10 when possible) of the main character in pretty much every deck.

For characters like Tharja who have two unpromoted and one promoted version, you max out on the level 1 before the level 2. (Because the level 1 and 2 both have no function, but one has a support skill)

To get a rough overview, you can check the Tournament Decklist topic.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Tuvillo