I always thought Ludwig was the kind of guy who worked alone, but he is an excellent team player in this card game…which is not to say he can't fend for himself as well.  Let's take a look at this rather impressive card.

Before I outright discuss Ludwig, I want to say that he can be a good choice to use because his unevolved forms are not too shabby themselves.  I have already done an article on the uses of Super Koopa, though of course you would be trying to evolve him if you had Ludwig in your deck.  I have never written about Lightning Koopa, but I did write an article about Unchained Chomp.  Read that article, because it's largely the same deal.

A quick look at Ludwig might result in disappointment.  Only one of his attacks causes damage, and then only about half the time.  Not so good for an evolved form, and I suppose I might agree with you if you have a coin with two tails on it.  But now take another look.  Bad Music, an appropriately-named attack for Ludwig, discards an evolution card from a Minion in an adjacent land.  Do you have any idea how good a move that is?!  Most decks use, in fact rely on, evolved Minions, and Ludwig can instantly take out that dangerous Zombone or that scary Roy…gone!  The card doesn't even go back to the opponent's deck, it goes to the discard, so your opponent could be in real trouble if they only have one.  And if they did have more, just play more Bad Music.

Bad Music never causes damage, but in some cases it can result in an instant knockout.  If you are battling a Snowman with 40 damage on him, when you use Bad Music the Flurry under Snowman will be left with that 40 damage.  Flurry only has 40 HP, so he will be instantly knocked out.  Because Ludwig can knock out unevolved Minions in this way, he is even more effective than he already is when there is a large HP gap between the basic and evolved Minions, such as with Cheep Cheep and Big Bertha.

Let's say that Bad Music doesn't kill the basic or stage one Minion. (BTW, if it is left as a Stage 1, you could use Bad Music again next turn.) You are still ahead because you are up against a much weaker foe, and the evolution card is, basically, in the garbage.  Now you can use another of your Minions to polish off the unevolved form, or you could leave it alone and take care of someone else.

What's that?  Ludwig is the only Minion you have?  No problem, because he can kill those unevolved Minions himself.  Ludwig's second attack, New Invention, only works half the time, but it causes 80 damage if it does work.  On average it will work once every two turns, and since no Basic Minion has more than 80 HP, Ludwig can quickly kill any Minion he has used Bad Music on.

In many cases it might be faster and more convenient to use New Invention without using Bad Music, since many evolved forms will also be killed by it.  Just make sure that that evolved form can't dish out too much damage, since you could get a bunch of tails at any time.  When considering whether to use Bad Music or not, compare the attacks of the evolved form to the unevolved form, and see how much stronger, if any, the attacks of the latter is, and if you can take them.  Also, if the evolved Minion does have more than 80 HP, I'd use Bad Music rather than wait an average of three or four turns to kill it.

Of course, if you have another Minion around that can kill the enemy without having to flip a coin, by all means do that.  As long as you have more than one Minion in play, you never have to rely on just one.  Ludwig's HP is really impressive, and the bonus that goes along with it is that the hits he takes will be relatively weak since he will be up against only unevolved Minions.  If you protect Super Koopa and Lightning Koopa (don't forget his Unchained Chomp-like move) as they evolve, and have Mushroom or, even better, Parapet in your deck, you could keep Ludwig alive and healthy for a long time.  And oh-how-annoyed your opponent will be when their evolution cards are in the trash.

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