Invited Author: Jason Daryl Consunto
Country: Philippines
Introduction
Similar to a mechanic that the Mother D. Reaper had with her ADR-02 = Searchers which allowed decks to have up to 50 copies of the said card, BT-11 introduced Ragnamon and the Vemmon hoard. But as compared to the D Reapers that use its digivolution cards offensively, Ragnamon instead utilizes its own to stay in play as long as it can. Considering the new trend of the latest booster set of trashing the opponent’s security, Ragnamon stands strong as your final wall which can crucially turn the tide of battle if left ignored.
In contrast to its Secret Rare waifu counterpart, Shinomiya Rina, Ragnamon was put into shadows and barely seen in tamer battles and tournaments. Perhaps one of the reasons it is considered an underdog in the competitive scene is its slow build-up for combos or straightforward playstyle. These circumstances pose a tough challenge especially when you are matched up with one of the current meta, particularly Blackwargreymon X Antibody.
Build and Play This Deck
Although Ragnamon deck plays could easily be predicted, you could use this to your advantage to adjust your playstyle and need. A simple card such as a suspended [BT11-061] Vemmon could pose a dilemma to your opponent, whether to attack it instead of your security. Such is said because Vemmon plays a great role in pulling out other Vemmons from the deck and allows you to draw out its digivolution line ( [BT11-065] Snatchmon, [BT11-070] Destromon, or [BT11-111] Ragnamon) or the option card, [BT11-105] Fusionize. Letting Vemmons be deleted or trashed gives you an advantage later on as digivolving into Snatchmon and/or Ragnamon allows you to absorb Vemmons from the trash and use it as your digimon’s pseudo “security”.
Aside from the core cards mentioned above, the following are cards that helped me optimize my deck:
- 4x [BT7-105] Pride Memory Boost: This card helps a lot in not only giving you additional memory for later turns, but also allowing you to play a Vemmon for free. Its condition of trashing the other revealed cards poses little to no disadvantage if any Vemmon or it’s digivolution line (except Snatchmon) are trashed as you can still utilize them through the use Fusionize, giving you the ability of not only adding a trashed Vemmon to your digivolution cards, but also granting digivolution from the trash.
- 2x [BT2-089] Tai Kamiya: As simple as this card’s effect has, it serves as your basic memory setter because having at least 3 starting memory allows you to digivolve from Vemmon to Ragnamon in 1 turn with the help of Vemmon’s inherited effect. It is also your DP booster to your Ragnamon, allowing it block higher DP digimons.
- 2x [BT4-096] Izzy Izumi: Another memory setter and allows you to check your top cards and set it beforehand to give you more control of what you reveal using Vemmon’s search effect.
- 2x [BT6-090] Izzy Izumi and Joe Kido: Anticipating that your opponent would attempt to have multiple attackers dish out your Vemmons and security pile at the same time, this tamer serves a great purpose of helping you gain additional memory and allow the possibility to jogress into [ST13-06] Ragnaloardmon. It also has drawing power especially when your suspended Vemmons are targeted for deletion.
- 2x [BT3-016] Durandamon and 2x [ST13-06] Ragnaloardmon: They serve as the hardest punishment you could give to your opponent if Ragnamon survives long enough and has a lot of memory to spare. With 6 memory and a spare Vemmon, you could digivolve it up to Durandamon, following the same pattern you use to digivolve to Destromon. If executed successfully, you might even trash all 5 securities and finish the game with Ragnaloardmon’s blitz ability in 1 turn!
Other optional cards to consider:
- 2x [BT6-104] Parabolic Junk: This option card helps you gain additional memory when you decide to kamikaze your Stacked Vemmons for a security attack.
- 2x [EX2-064] Alice McCoy and 2x [BT9-107] Metal Impulse: With the use of Alice, you will be able to sacrifice your extra Vemmons in play to further reduce the digivolution cost from Destromon to Ragnamon. Now with a purple tamer in play, using Metal Impulse will allow you to trash your Vemmons in your hand more easily.
- 2x [EX1-066] Analog Boy: Your go-to searcher and easy deck and trash filter.
In Matchups
Although the plays that Ragnamon decks are considered straightforward, the pacing and timing of whether to digivolve your Vemmon should depend on what playstyle your opponent’s deck has.
The most challenging matchups I faced are those who have the ability to de-digivolve opponents’ Digimon as when Ragnamon is de-digivolved, Destromon would basically be a sitting duck until your next turn, also considering that your opponent would probably start their turn with your Digimon suspended due to using Vemmon’s skill.
But when there is no Digimon present in your opponent’s battle area, I tend to stop digivolving with Destromon and target their tamers. This tactic has been proven effective with Xros Heart decks and other tamer-dependent decks. This also gives you the ability to use Vemmon’s inherited skill on your next turn and ideally digivolve into Ragnamon for free.
With the popular meta like BlackWargreymon X Antibody, I typically don’t mind my security stack being trashed as it would most likely be a Vemmon, giving move materials for Ragnamon later. To counter BWGX’s skill, I make sure to have at least 2 other Vemmons in play to save Ragnamon for potential deletion. I also leave a Digimon in my breeding area whenever I do not have the pieces to digivolve until Ragnaloardmon or if my Ragnamon in play could still last another turn for insurance, especially if the opponent’s BWGX is not a blocker.