The Troublemakers: A Rookie Rush Deck Review
29 October 2020 | Deck Review | Rina
Overview
Playing against Rookie Rush is like running a marathon, you will get shocked when your opponent is moving too fast, and if unprepared your game will end very quickly. A Rookie Rush deck uses a lot of low cost (LV3 and LV4) digimons to fill the board quickly and hit securities fast! They look weak alone, but together they hit hard!
Currently, most Rookie Rush decks play a blue as a base color (explained later) with green and sometimes purple mixed in. In this post I will share a competitive hybrid blue/purple/green Rookie Rush deck . You can check out this deck here.
Replenish your hand with <Draw+1>
Playing Rookie Rush requires playing LV3 digimons directly from your hand (without digivolving from your digitama). This will very quickly deplete your hand size (simply because you cannot replenish your hand by digivolving). The <Draw+1> effect becomes essential in this situation.
The digitama [BT1-003] Upamon grants <Draw+1> when you attack and your opponent has a digimon that does not have a digivolution source (a condition that is quite easily met). Meanwhile, the LV3 [BT1-029] Gabumon is a perfect candidate here, granting <Draw+1> when played.
Getting more memory
Memory management is as important as <Draw+1>. Rookie Rush decks benefit from large amounts of memory fast, while limiting your opponent's memory. The cheapest LV3 digimons such as [ST2-02] Gomamon costs 2 memory, while others should only cost 3. Having the winning-condition that relies on playing as many rookie digimons as possible per turn will require a large memory budget and efficient memory management.
The most convenient option is none other than [ST2-13] Vulcan's Hammer. Hard play for +1 memory, and much better if its hit from your security pile (potentially game-saving situation), played at full 4 copies in your deck. Other digimons provide memory are [BT1-030] Gomamon and [BT1-035] Leomon, very effective since you will be hitting your opponent's security stack with full kamikaze spirit!
Controlling the pace
Putting many rookies into battle is easy but sometimes it might be good idea to buff them up a notch. Protecting your pool of digimons (if they happen to survive a security check) for one more turn might be exactly what you need to win a game.
Blockers such as [ST2-07] Grizzlymon can be essential to protect your security against a similarly rush, or to protect a digimon you want to keep alive. For Rookie Rush, staying alive one more turn and having a healthy pool of digimons can often be what you need. Meanwhile, [BT1-032] Frigimon is guaranteed to survive a security check (as long as it is not a removal option).
Another important card here for pace control is the green digimon [BT2-049] Puppetmon. Use him to suspend an opponent's blocker or threat while you've built up a healthy pool of digimons ready to swarm the next turn.
Another very common card seen in Rookie Rush decks is none other than [BT2-077] Kimeramon. When played, he sacrifices one of your cheap rookie to destroy an opponent's LV5 (or less), offering great board control. Meanwhile, [BT2-079] Venommyotismon offers a viable digivolution route for Kimeramon, or when you have simply too much memory during your turn. His high DP and effects offer stability during times when rookie rushing is hindered. Play [ST2-15] Wolf Claw to play Kimeramon's effects again, and digivolve into another VenomMyotis if possible.
Weakness
A natural weakness in Rookie Rush decks is the digimon [BT2-018] Volcanicdramon which, when played destroys all your digimons with 4000DP or less. This deck balances this several LV4 digimons at higher DPs, as well as VenomMyotismon. You would also do well to consider playing LV3 rookies that goes beyond 4000DP, such as [BT2-022] Betamon.