Invited Author: Ami
Country: Brunei
Introduction
Hello everyone!! Ami here and this is my article regarding new Shoutmon x7 from the BT11 set.
Im a big fan of Digimon Xros War ever since I was a kid here I am on 2022 able to the play deck. I have been using Xros Heart deck since BT10 came out, its actually a fun and straight forward deck. At first it was a struggle to play since its a new mechanic. I actually did a lot of misplays back then but after alot of trials & errors, I manage to improve my playstyle slowly after participating in our weekly shop tournaments.
19.10.2022 – I participated in Brunei's Gamer's Tavern Digimon Tamer Battle Tournament and decided to play new Xros Shoutmon x7 deck from new set/support BT11. Before the tourney started, I saw some players were also using new decks from BT11 which were BWG-X, Galactic & Ulforce. It was a bad match for Xros but I just trusted the process and focus on the games(Gonna explain the reason why later after decklist review & match up,so stay tune!!).
Deck Profile
Core cards
The standard cards that nearly all Xros Heart decks will include are the DigiXros materials [BT10-008] Shoutmon, [BT10-049] Ballistamon, [BT10-029] Starmons, [BT10-034] Dorulumon, and [BT10-060] Sparrowmon; the DigiXros digimon [BT10-009] Shoutmon X4; the Xros Heart tamers [BT10-087] Mikey Kudo, [BT10-089] Angie Hinomoto and [BT10-089] Jeremy Tsurgi.These are the most memory efficient Xros Heart cards that allow you to set up your board and wear your opponent’s security down quickly. As for new support from BT11 I include for the DigiXros materials are [BT11-015] Omnishoutmon, [BT11-031] ZeigGreymon; the DigiXros digimons [BT11-009] Shoutmon + Star Sword, [BT11-012] Shoutmon x3 and [BT11-019] Shoutmon x7; the new Trio tamer [BT11-095] Taiki & Kiriha & Nene.
Optimising my Xros Heart Shoutmon x7 deck:
Across on my daily practice and tournaments I participated in, I have made adjustments to my build to deal with tougher match-ups:
•3 [BT11-019] Shoutmon x7 – Playing 3x copies instead of 4x because it felt more balance. Shoutmon x7 is just a replacement for option card honestly but better,it can destroy 1 opponent digimon equal or less to its DP, if you have Omnishoutmon & ZeigGreymon in source it can deal 2 security checks & become a blocker!
•2 [BT11-012] Shoutmon x3 – This card really help on searching Xros materials especially ZeigGreymon and also can be good a finisher since its only need 3x materials to digixros for 1 cost. You also can play 3x or 4x copies,for me I just play 2x because of the 'start of turn effect' and I more focus on shoutmon x4.
•2 [BT11-009] Shoutmon + Star Sword – This card is also good because it treated as shoutmon & starmon for digixros. I mostly used this card to digivolve on shoutmon for free cost and get to draw. You can also play 2x Dexmon instead of this card if you want more on field control.
•3 [BT11-095] Taiki & Kiriha & Nene – Decided to put 3x copies in deck instead of 2x then I cut Jeremy and angie down to 3 copies as it are already so memory and draw efficient thanks to new trio tamer. The only disadvantaged of this card is that it only must be placed under this to activate the effect.
In Matchups
The toughest matchups I faced were against Dukemon X OTK and Blackwargreymon-X.
My 1st first match was against Yellow/Purple SecCon, I always meet/been paired with this guy everytime tourney so I know what his playstyle. I prioritised on playing red and white tamer so I could collect more digixros materials, gain memory and draw. I don't really want to make my field too much digimons and tamers because it give my opponent advantage to play Dexmon, I just rush to check my opponent's security using Shoutmon x4 and rookies. After I managed to reduce my opponent security to 2, I decided to play Shoutmon x7 to destroy 1 of his digimon and swing for 2 checks then end the game with shoutmon x3. His deck usually very annoying due to his continuously "recovery" skill but unfortunately this time he accidentally forgot to put some cards back to his deck after deck testing but still big respect towards him because he is of best SecCon player at our card shop.
My 2nd match is against Red Dukemon X OTK. I also always meet/been paired with him and his OTK is really next level, he can OTK players at his 2nd or 3rd turn! Since I know his playstyle I decide to memory choke him but unfortunately he play back to 3 tamer during his turn. So I change my plan and play yellow to summon dorulumon so I can draw and rush him next turn, I also play white tamer to gain more memory and draw. His next turn is terrifying because he managed to reduce my security from 5 to 0 with his dukemon but luckily for me he doesn't have omni blitz at his hand. My next turn I managed to end the game with 2 shoutmon x4, 1 shoutmon x7 to destroy his dukemon and deal 2 check thanks to omnishoutmon then last swing with sparrowmon.
My 3rd game is against Blackwargreymon-X. I was afraid to against this deck the most since it can destroy tamer with the 7 cost option card Hades force. For this match I decided to save my tamer and just play 1 – 2 tamer first. During my first turn I decide to play green tamer Jeremy to play balllistamon for free and try to memory choke my opponent. My opponent also memory choke me during his next turn then pass the turn with just leaving me 1 memory, Im just start rush my opponent and reduce his security to 3 then play another green tamer to play more balllistamon and leave him with just 1 memory. During his next turn he digivolve his metalgreymon to metalgreymon X-antibody for 1 cost which destroy my balllistamon and left me with no blocker. That moment I panic a bit because if he digivolved into blackwargreymon, my tamers with source under it gonna be bye-bye since blackwargreymon ability can destroy tamer/digimon up to 6 cost. Luckily that time he doesn't have the card in hand and just swing at my security but before he swing he put x antibody option card under metalgreymon souce so he can digivolve into BWG-X. He reduce my security to 4 then thanks to BWG-X ability he can trash 1 more my security which is my white tamer end up being trash. After a few setup on the next turn,I manage to win the game with Shoutmon x7 and rookies during my 4th turn .
My 4th match is against is against Bagra Army's but I was just lucky because my opponent brick that time. Even though he bricked during our match, I respect him because he was the only person who brings Bagra Army's deck on tournament and manage get 3 clean wins on his previous match up.
Conclusion
Even tho Xros is currently a meta deck, It's still fragile against decks that can destroy tamers or against cards that can't reduce play cost such as Solarmon.
From my opinion, I thought Xros Heart won't have anymore chance/hope after the new BT11 BWGX support came out. I did some proxy deck test with my friends and I was heartbroken because unable to do anything once my digimons and tamers been wipe at field. I did give up Xros at first but after more practice and practice with the Xros deck I eventually find a new ways to pilot the deck and managed to get top 3 and clean wins in my recent tournaments that I join!
My only advice if you playing Xros Heart Deck is:
1) Always double check your digixros cards in hand and tamer.
2) Save at least 1 each of the digixros materials at your hand so can just play from hand in case you don't have unsuspend digixros tamers to tap.
3) Play/practice more often with the deck during casual, so you can play the deck more calmly and smoothly during tournament.
Xros Heart is a fun deck to play and give the deck a try as I highly recommend it!
Also don't ever give up. If you feel down or lose against other meta decks. Losing don't mean it overs, instead of feeling down, RISE!! learn from the mistakes and improve from it. There's always another day.