Invited Author: Santiago Matos
Place: 1st place at Latam Regionals – Latin America (28 Nov 2021)
Why did I choose this deck?
I opted for Agumon Bond of Bravery even though this deck is not as popular as Gabubond but it does have favourable matchups where Gabubond does not (like Security Control & Green Control).
My Stories!!
Agubond is a deck that I have been eyeing on the Japan meta since it was revealed during our BT5 format. What I usually do when cards are revealed and they seem interesting to me then I will proxy them and play test the future meta. Agubond was the first deck that I tried with Ancient Greymon but the results were very poor and not so consistent, so I switched to a more rookie rush style deck with Promo Greymon and Agunimon.
Our local meta was full of Gabubond that is much more popular and having consistent wins overall. But a pretty undesirable matchup against Security Control which is pretty dominant in LATAM. Agubond had a better matchup to Security Control and also a 50/50 against Gabubond, making it a good option as counter-meta deck for the tournament.
The Deck Info
To begin with, both Agumon and Gabumon Bonds decks try to do the same thing, wear down the opponent’s security until a safe win condition is met, working with either the Bonds itself or the Hybrid Digimon’s. Blue has the capacity to spam many attacks consistently while red tries to clear all security in 1 hit and then hit for lethal.
After some theoretical crafting, I concluded on this list. I opted out from “consistency techs” such as Red Memory Boost or “support role” like Magnadramon and then finally I felt that the deck actually wants to be doing something else, which is speeding on the “Security Race”. You want to be slamming Augmon’s on play every single turn, unless you have tamers in hand or need to remove threats.
–Digitamas:
4x Demimeramon: the +1000 DP boost is actually pretty strong with the other Agumon that boosts DP for Promo Greymon, making it an 8k DP lv4 allowing it to succeed in checking twice.
1x Koromon BT5: a draw Digitama, not so strong as the +1K DP but still pretty useful.
-Agumon’s:
19x Augmon’s, each of them plays an important role in the deck.
4x “Bond Buffers” BT6 Agumon that makes allows our Agubond to hit with "security +1" while removing a body and trashing one security.
7x “DP Buffers” (ST7 Agumon and Promo Agumon), 4x of which are exclusively for Greymon (up to 7k or 8k with Demimeramon) and 3x generics to allow Agubond to hit with potentially 16k DP and reducing the chances of being destroyed by security.
4x “Tamer Searchers” BT1 Agumon to not whiff the important TAI. I did not play any Flamemon like Gabubond does with Strabimon because I hate to send key cards to the back of my deck and the fact that we do not play as many hybrids as Gabubond does.
2x “Resources”, called Agumon Experts, that allows us to keep on recycling vital Agumon’s including an Agubond that gets hit during security checks.
2x “Vanillas” which I honestly do not love, but the 2 cost to slam on the table is always good, and also for memory control. Also, it allows us to do Agubond on the next level on this Agumon without needing to come out of hatching.
-Greymon’s:
4x Promo Greymon: By far the best card for the early game and the second boss monster on the deck, it acts as a fast damage dealer which will place our opponent in a “check mate” status if I play the Agubond putting too much pressure swiftly.
4x Geogreymon: The best answer to today’s basic meta play which is to hard slam a 3-cost rookie that trigger a search on the first cards of the deck or a draw. Also, especially against Gabubond, where his removal options put cards back to hand giving us another go at this card. The 6 cost in the late game is not so much if we have many Tai in play to start with plenty of memory. Its security effect is also amazing being able to remove (if lucky) 2 bodies from table and placing himself on the battlefield and becoming a guaranteed attack on the next turn.
3x Agunimon: Even though it is the sweeper of the deck and the card to finish games, red does not thing like Hammer Spark as blue does, making it way harder to spam Hybrid attacks. You always want to have 1 of it in your hand and that will be enough, that’s the reason to not running 4 copies.
2x Coredramon: I almost never used the blocker, but I would not remove it since it can be super useful to stop the opponent from winning and revenge killing on next turn with Agubond or Agunimon. Not much more to say honestly, it’s a blocker that can also end a game whereas Mekanorimon cannot.
-Removal Options:
I played 7 removal options that made my security a “threat” but also good cards to have in hand to keep up with the opponent if I had a slow start or he had a strong one.
4x Atomic Blaster: Can stop your opponent from hitting lethal but also is a pretty decent card to have in hand since its not so expensive to play, stopping your opponent from early rushing you.
3x Gaia Force: We all know how strong Gaia Force in your security is, but in hand: not so much, it can be helpful removing a big pile with sources or an annoying threat such as Zwart Defeat. But the card itself is a bit expensive to play.
-Tamers:
Not much to explain, a tamer that puts you to 3 and another that gives us "draw +" for free and allowing us to warp evolution to Agubond consistently. Tai is ideal to be played on your turn 1, while Marcus is good turn 2 or 3.
Any cuts?
Personally, I feel the list is super solid and I wouldn’t change a single card. Other than that, what I could try is to reduce the removal options (especially Gaia Force) to add some Lightning Joust.
General Gameplay
Your ideal Turn-1 is to evolve into DP boosting Agumon and end your turn by placing a Tai so that in turn 2 you have guaranteed access to Promo Greymon, so even if your opponent is memory controlling you, it won’t stop you from going to 2 memory.
After that you usually want to wait a couple turns before using Agubond and doing an OTK.
Almost every time you have to make the decision of either dropping another Agumon or another Tai. GO FOR TAI without any concern of leaving your opponent at 3, since you will get your value back every single turn you move the Digimon out from your hatching zone.
Geogreymon and Atomic Blaster are cards you definitely want to come out from security, but you also want to see them on the early game, (that’s why we play 4x) allowing you to buy time and setup your gameplan.
Something I really enjoy the deck when the opponent bricks and has to hard slam a Digimon in play, it’s almost impossible that you would lose that match since you will be able to remove that Digimon and keep on putting pressure.
Another thing I want to be completely clear: EVERYTIME you think you can go for Agubond and clear 3 securities on the early game, even if you do not have the ideal setup to hit for lethal, GO FOR IT, as Agubond will trash 1 of your opponent’s security but also clear a big body leaving your opponent with no way of killing your Digimon.
Match-ups
R1: Sec Control 2-0
Pretty easy matchup, your biggest concern is being played too many Zwart Defeat which you cannot easily remove without losing your board. Other than that, you just need to keep chipping out his security without overextending too much, especially with Greymon’s "Security +1" and trying to keep his side of the board clean with Geogreymon and Atomic Blaster. Just save your Gaia’s for Zwart Defeat. As expected, your endgame cards are Agubond and Agunimon.
R2: Titamon 2-1
His win condition is usually to spam the board with usually Rookies or Champions with only one boss monster in play, allowing us to remove more than one body with Atomic Blaster and the aggro removal from Agubond.
Watch out from him going into Omnimon Zwart and still having 2 o 3 securities, if he manages to do that, you have lost your game. But don’t worry it won’t happen unless you hard brick or he starts gas. Our deck is more consistent and faster than theirs!
R3: Gabubond 2-1
Toss a coin and find out who will deal the last hit first. Agubond has more benefits with Promo Greymon and Geogreymon so you can actually out speed him. But if Gabubond starts with his ideal hand and deals damage first, you are probably done for it.
R4: Gabubond 2-0
Easier than R3 since he played a more defensive list of Gabubond with Mekanorimon and Coelamon, which allowed me to out speed easily.
R5: Jesmon 2-0
It’s virtually impossible to stop his OTK, especially if he uses Delicate Plan. It’s a really hard matchup that you can actually only win by out speeding. Here the MVPs are the removal cards that keep cleaning Sistermons or any LV.5 to stop his Jesmon. Other than that, it’s pretty similar to Gabubond, the one who hits faster will probably win.
R6: Security Control 2-1
Harder than I expected, he played Chikurimons which where an excellent tech to stop Promo Greymon or Agubond, but still not enough to make it an unfavourable matchup. It does affect Gabubond much more since he cannot trash security!
R7: Three Musketeers 2-1
His ideal play is to drop the Deputymon which is an amazing turn for us to drop our Geogreymon.
R8: Jesmon 2-1
Basically, the same as R5.
Other Metagame Matchups:
-Azulongmon/Hexeblaumon:
DO NOT SPAM ROOKIES. It will make your match a lot harder. Play calm, try to chip his security by moving away from hatching, winning memory and cards, evolving into Promo Greymon and trying to check x2. If he does, that’s great! If not, he will be removed from the table and that is also great, he won’t be able to gain any value from either Azulongmon or Sora & Joe.
-Lordknightmon:
Here it's important to time your removal options and have a great game awareness on when to use Agubond to clear the board, pro tip: Go for it when he has nothing in rising.
Green Control:
Easy matchup, he can’t aggro you, his defense consists in having actual bodies on the field which you can easily remove with your options and Agubond.
Lilith Loop:
Definitely harder than Titamon since you now need to put him in check mate status as soon as possible before he reaches his combo state (the loop), else you won’t be able to stop it.
Final Notes
If you are a red player and want to give this deck a try, do not hesitate! It has really nothing to envy from Gabubond. Yes, Gabubond is probably easier to pilot, but the fact that you beat what Gabubond usually fails to beat and that you have a 50-50 with him can put you on the Top Cut from a tournament if played correctly.
Also, I did not have as much time as I desired to test other techs on the deck, but now that North America is getting BT6 I can’t wait to see what other techs they bring to the deck like Lightning Joust or Tai’s Growing Up!
Bonus track:
I’m posting my current list below to test out for the next event so you either grab my winning list or pick up where I left from testing!
