Hi Khai here from Brunei. I Have been a fan of RP imperial for a long while since EX3 release. During the time deck is a powerful deck in terms of aggression but It has always been lacking a sense of control and comeback. This deck focuses on deleting your opponent's Digimon and utilizing powerful combos to control the game. With the ongoing support in bt16 Dinobeemon and wormon as well the promo shadramon, it was getting there and added more aggression as well, but the old EX3 Fighter Mode did not felt like it matches up with the other cards and even got replaced by the BG fightermodes.
Now with the new BT20 supports especially with the new strong fighter mode the deck has now found its way around to control even further!
Deck Build
Before the BT20 support decklist:
And now with the introduction of BT20 my list has evolved.
I have been consistent with RP imperial in the local scene in Brunei with the below lists:
Here's a guide on how to build and play this deck effectively:
Deck Composition
I will only mention the cards that are essential for the deck to have:
- Digimon Cards:
- Imperialdramon (Dragon Mode) EX3: The core of your deck. Aim for a ratio of 4 Dragon Mode or 3 depending on how you want to build it. The DNA evolution of this card is powerful as it can clean up the board by just leaving the opponent with just one Digimon unless they have protection. As well it has blitz to have its end of turn attack, and its when attacking to evolve into Fighter mode further destroying the opponents field.
- Imperialdramon (Dragon Mode) Bt20: an ace card that is somehow shown that it can have its worth, it can destroy a medieval who is trying to control you out from trying to play your level 3s, but I also use it because of the free evo to Fightermode from hand as well from trash. I would recommend having 1 or 2 in the deck. Overflow will hurt you so you need to be careful when using this card.
- Imperialdramon (Fighter Mode) BT20: the card that has changed this whole deck and gave a new meaning. You would play 3-4 of this card. This card is definitely the game changer with its trash security as well stunning opponents from playing any Digimon or tamers by effect, which is practically anything in the environment now. The All Turns effect is especially powerful, able to delete a Digimon when an opponents security is removed, this also works against those decks with TK or barrier shenanigans.
- Support Cards: Include cards like Veemon, Wormon, Shadramon, Flamedramon, and Paildramon from the EX3 set to enhance your combos.
- Promo Shadramon: the essential of the deck that allows you do combos with BT16 Wormon and Bt16 dinobeemon
- BT-16 Dinobeemon: one of the deck's core strategy. A must play 4. The Raid and aggression when reviving a body is strong. As well with the addition of partition.
- bt20 paildramon is nice to +4K and piercing to your dinobee when you revive him out. It also has a jogress enabler if any of your level 5s were to be deleted, this warns opponents to be careful when to not delete.
- . Bt20 dinobee is nice at 1, but if you wanna go a more midrange route you can go for more, the fact it can return any free type or imperial piece from your trash to your hand to help fix how you want to combo, and the ess to not allow options to trigger when check security is strong.
- Filling Tamer Cards:
- Analog Youth: lets you filter 3 cards from your deck as well fills your trash to find the combo pieces.
- BT16 Daiken: you don’t really need this card in the deck, I’m only mentioning this card because there are some who insist to put it in, late game it feels dead in your hand, early game you would rather not give too much memory and would rather dig through your deck and fill trash.
- BT20 NPC: honestly this card feels like a 50-50, it resets you to 3, draws you a card once, enables you to ready a level 3 for combos when you are behind.
- Memory Boost:
- Mist Memory Boost: A good option to increase your memory and draw more cards.
- Purple memory boost: an option to have but not a must.
Strategy
- Early Game: Start by setting up your board with mill/draw support cards. Use your rookies to draw and discard cards to fill your hand and trash.
- Mid Game: Focus on building your combos with your level 5 cards. Don’t try to unnecessarily dig and build level 5s if you cannot guarantee an imperialdramon evo, save your pieces.
- Late Game: Execute your combos to wipe out your opponent's board and secure victory. Not allowing opponent to rebuild board is a key strategy. From there keep the aggression.
- Promo Shadramon and BT-16 Wormmon Combo:
- Promo Shadramon: why its useful is cause it lets you do so many things with the veemons and wormons
1) call out ex3 worm or vee to search out pieces and fill in trash
2) call out bt16 worm and continue doing so to keep drawing the card you need before you combo off
3) the ess is also viable to start comboing off again or recover for next turn so you can build up one more time Honestly the mvp of the deck]
5. Remember the one rule for this deck: You cannot declare an attack during an attack process
Two situations this can happen:
1) When BT20 Paildramon and bt16 Dinobeemon are on the field, you choose to use Dinobeemon’s effect to may attack then it gets deleted mid attack and you choose to trigger the bt20 paildramon to force jogress to ex3 dragon mode, you will not be able to blitz as you are still in the middle of attacking process.
2) same situation above but you choose to trigger shadramon promo ess to play bt16 wormon and continue to combo to another bt16 dinobee to may attack. You cannot do so as well as the attacking process is still on going
Summary
The current game plan is to jogress up to dinobee SR Possibly poke damage if you are confident or just jogress to imperial DM and board wipe Then to FM to finish up the last digimon and lock them from playing tamers or digimon by effects
With a good start and good mill you can actually empty their security turn 2 and finish them off turn 3
Without promo shadra You can still do the basic ex3 route with the flamedra and shadra ofcourse But its best to aim for the promo’s ess so you can recover next turn If i already have my pieces, i would just let them partition If i dont have my pieces then i would the Promo Shadra/bt16 worm combo to draw the cards i need
Tips
- High Roll Nature: The deck is considered a "high roll" deck, meaning it can be very inconsistent. It relies heavily on drawing the right combination of cards to execute its combos, which can be frustrating if you don't get the cards you need.
- Setup Time: The deck requires a significant amount of setup to get its combos going. This can leave you vulnerable in the early game, as you might not have enough resources or cards to defend yourself effectively.
- Lack of Defensive Options: The deck focuses on deleting your opponent's Digimon and doesn't have many defensive options. This can be a problem if your opponent manages to survive your initial attacks and starts to build a board presence.
- : Cards that prevent deletion, like Magnamon, can stop your Piercing attacks from going through and disrupt your combos. Floodgates that prevent playing Digimon, like Pomumon, can also stop your strategy cold2.
- Memory Management: Managing your memory effectively is crucial, as running out of memory can leave you unable to play your key cards. Opponents who can control the memory game can disrupt your strategy.
- Matchup Variability: The deck can struggle against certain matchups, especially those that can outpace it or have strong blockers. Decks like BWGX, Tyrant, and armor can be particularly challenging if they can get to higher levels faster.
Despite these weaknesses, the Red/Purple Imperialdramon deck can be a lot of fun to play when it goes off, and with the right strategy, you can overcome many of these challenges
You can follow my X page (formerly known as Twitter) its_rully for any updates and my journey in Digimon TCG trying to get my country Brunei recognized by Bandai. You can DM me for any questions as well.