Tag: #rookie

BT5 New Meta: Blue Ancient Rookie

Introduction

With the new 1st year anniversary cards and the ST8 Blue UlforceVeedramon theme deck, digimon tamer Shigure from Japan created a new rookie deck profile, Ancientgaruru Rookie Rush.

https://twitter.com/arashi_osaka06/status/1385958825522438150

There is not much to say about rookie rush, it is to use many rookie digimon in the deck and rush to check security in the game. Compared to other rookie decks, this deck is more expensive because AncientGaruru is Secret rare in BT4 Great Legend, the card is also not cheap and not easy to find.

This Rookie Rush deck using some very common and popular green digimon card that we always seen in almost all the mix color Rookie deck: the LV3 rookie [BT4-050]Liollmon and [BT3-044] Aruraumon, the LV3 digimon with 5000DP and Puppetmon, the digimon to make opponent's digimon sleep.

In this deck review, I will not discuss detail about strategy since we have many Rookie Rush deck profile before. I will just talk about the core combo, what is new and different compared to other deck.

The Core Combo: Lobomon and Ancient Garurumon

The Lobomon combo and AncientGaruru is a new wind for blue color, it helps blue to come back from forgotten memory since BT4 meta.  

At 3 cost to digivolve from a LV3 into Lobomon and then to the LV6 AncientGarurumon, it costs the same amount of memory to field 1 rookie into battle. But instead of being only able to target security (due to rookies having low DP), AncientGarurumon can target an opponent's Digimon or overcome an opponent's blocker. On top of that, AncientGarurumon can by-default perform a minimum of 2 checks (by unsuspending itself). In addition, the player can summon for free a LV4 hybrid digimon to replace the deleted AncientGarurumon at the end of the turn. 

To take advantage of this combo, hybrid digimons are used extensively in this deck. We all know that hybrid digimon can evolve from Tamer, we can evolve them to BT4 Lobomon and attack security before evolving LV3 digimon to promo Lobomon (as long as the tamer is not play in the same turn)

With the introduction of the Memory Boost card, and if we have Davis Motomiya tamer on play in the battle, in the situation you need to use the memory boost card to add +2 memory in your side, you have at least 5 memories to use. It is enough to evolve to AncientGarurumon from a LV3 that is moved out from raising area (total 3 cost) and evolve from blue tamer to LV4 BT4 Lobomon (2 cost).

Because the AncientGaruru can unsuspend 2 digimon with "garurumon" in its name or [hybrid] form, so we will take advantage of that effect. But with only 5000DP, it is lucky if Lobomon can survive after 1st security check, then we can take the effect of Ancientgaruru "when digivolving" effect to unsuspend LV4 Lobomon and do another attack.

Potential new combo: ST8 Blue Ulforce

This combo is considered as "megazoo" rush as we can evolve a LV3 [St8-04] Veemon into [ST8-10] UlforceVeedramon from new starter deck, to able to trigger this, your opponent has a LV6 or higher digimon

I am not surprised when this deck uses only 1 copies of UlforceVeedramon since this combo is not able to use in early time of the game. But compared to AncientGarurumon that takes 3 costs to evolve from LV3 to LV6, UlforceVeedramon only take 4 costs to evolve from LV3 to LV6, it is not deleted at the end of the turn and can be unsuspended (once per turn) when this digimon attacking. This combo has high potential to use in rookie deck if the deck has gaining-memory solution. 

This deck will have good draw power if the first hand is not stuck with many green cards. 

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Dealing With Rookies

Dealing With Rookies

6 Dec 2020 | Thoughts | Rononrun

Rookie Rushing is still a thing!

December 6, 2 weeks to a new BT-04 meta, and apparently Rookie Rushing is still a thing! The current (almost previous) BT-03 set made decks a lot faster. Omega Red is now more robust thanks to BlitzGreymon and Alter-S, Blue Ulforce is suddenly too slow and fell behind its Imperialdramon counterpart. Yellow ShineGrey is now slightly more efficient thanks to Turuiemon and Antylamon. Green is now top-tier. Black is now richer with blockers. Purple became an option card toolbox. Despite all these meta-buffs, they still seemingly failed to deal with the quite standard and uncreative Rookie Rush deck.

Bandai knew about rookie rushing long before BT-03, and unless they plan to endorse it, rookie rushing is not natural to this game's design. Therefore, there is little satisfaction playing against rookies, and many players do not particularly enjoy losing to such a deck.

Just how fast are rookies?

Let's assume a standard Omega Red play-style against Rookie Rush. Under the premise that the Omega Red doesn't draw into a blocker in his starting hand, but instead has a "rookie-rush solution" Alter-S. From the movesheet below we observed that even with Alter-S board cleaning, there is still a plenty wide gap between standard digivolution routine and rookie rushing.

 

An example movesheet for a standard play between Omega Red and Rookie Rush.

The standard way

Rookie rushes are like timers: each LV3 digimon has a 2-cost to play, and 6 is needed for the win. Every 2 turns a LV3 can be digivolved and subsequently played from nursery hence has 0-cost. Usually, it will take 8 memory cost within 4 turns to secure the game, therefore you will need to outplay that timer!

There are several well-known cards or methods that prevent rookie rushes. These include [BT2-018] Volcanicdramon and [BT3-112] Omegamon Alter-S. Blocker digimons are also a well-known solution. However, we've seen from the movesheet above that playing them in an incorrect order will still cost you the game, even if you are playing without hand bricks. Furthermore, we had not yet considered the particular tricks of rookie rushers (such as hitting Hammer Sparks).

 

Play your blockers and memory-reset tamers early

Blockers are the most natural solution to rookie rushes. The strongest LV3 rookies at 5000 DP cannot surpass a standard LV4 blocker with 6000 DP. Playing blockers early will usually cause rookies to prioritise on building up numbers instead of rushing head-on (to prevent unnecessary losses), which could buy you precious time to build your solution.

Memory-reset (4-cost) tamers can also be essential against rookie rushes, to counter the constant 1-memory control. The constant 3 starting memory will be essential to fuel your moves against a tight, timer-like game.

Hand Starvation

By deliberately overloading the memory gauge to the rookie rusher, he/she will not be able to maintain a consistent hand size and outflow of LV3 digimons and this will likely break their momentum. Beware though that you will need to a mass removal solution once you have decided to lay this trap: Volcanicdramon and Alter-S are both great candidates. 

By deliberately giving the rookie rusher too much memory (overloading), they will not be able to maintain their hand size to continue playing LV3 digimons, hence starvation. It will be difficult for the rookie rusher to continue with the game.

A black army of blockers

A mass-blockers black deck is a natural disaster for rookie rushers. You will have little to worry as you continuously unleash a large number of blockers. Again, prioritise hard-playing those big cost blocker digimons such as [BT2-058] Guadromon and [BT2-061] Andromon to overload and starve your opponent. Fight numbers with numbers!

Ceresmon is fast too ...

At the cheapest route, it cost just 3 memory and 2 turns to digivolve from digitama into [BT3-056] Ceresmon (and an additional 2 cost for a hard-play LV3 candidate for Ceresmon's <Digisorption-3>), in which after will allow you to have full control over a rookie rush board. Under most circumstances, a Ceresmon deck should not have too much trouble against rookies. 

... but Blue Imperialdramon is not as fast as we thought

Playing the recently meta Blue Imperialdramon against rookies will not net you an easy win if you casually try to outpace the rookies using <Jamming>. In the movesheet below we see that during turn-3, the LV3 non-Veemon did not make a security check (due to fear of being destroyed) and instead digivolved into ExVeemon, a misplay that allowed the rookies to outpace. This happened again in turn-5 when the LV4 ExVeemon chose not to perform a security attack. 

Memory-reset (4-cost) tamers are important for Blue Imperial rigs. Play them early to gain the needed momentum to move into Imperialdramon without memory switching to your opponent. [BT3-040] Shakkoumon is also a natural solution to rookie rushes, but not often played for lack of synergy with the deck.

Playing blue imperialdramon casually will not necessarily outpace rookie rush, unless you can draw into 2 Veemons in your starting hand.

Yellow is still slower in this meta

A standard ShineGreymon deck is usually too slow against rushes: digivolving into ShineGreymon cheaply (through Turuiemon and RizeGreymon for the free tamer play) would still require a hefty 8-cost (with a free kill from ShineGreymon's effect, considering you have only 1 fielded tamer). If you are lucky to play a few tamers from security then a board wipe could net you a marginal victory. Consider playing a few copies of [BT1-061] Mistymon or [BT2-097] Lightning Paw for added robustness against rushes, or using LV5 [BT3-040] Shakkoumon: all opponent's digimon without digivolution source get <SecurityAttack-1> for opponent turn, it can slow down the speed of Rookie Rush. Recovery digimons such as [BT2-034] Salamon and [BT2-039] Magnadramon are also great additions! Momentum is key: time your moves to starve your opponent's hand while staying alive!  

And purple is too technical

Purple is a very technical deck, with many factors that boil down to what is on your starting hand and trash. Without adequate time, it is difficult to robustly fill your hand or trash with the correct cards consistently across all your games. A good scenario though would have you marginally flipping the situation around, such as the purple Metalgarurumon play below. 

Purple Metalgarurumon may be able to turn the situation around with Nail Bone and the correct combination of cards.

More digimon to deal with Rookie-Rush from BT04 (updated on 23th Dec)

These LV6 digimon, 2 of green and 1 of yellow, that are able to make the Rookie-Rush deck scares. The [BT4-049] Varodurumon, by trashing 3 cards of this digimon digivolution source, all of opponent’s digimon get -4000DP. The Rookie-Rush digimon is normaly LV3 low cost digimon, their DP are just around 2000 or 3000. So using this digimon to reduce DP to zero will be super effective way to swipe out the rookie. The second digimon, [BT4-060] Lotosmon, at all turn – if opponent’s plays a LV4 or lower digimon, suspend that digimon. This card help to suspend them so it can be destroyed in your turn. But if you are not able to destroy them, those digimon will be active in their next turn. The other green LV6 digimon, [BT4-062] Nidhoggmon, when digivolving: by trashing 4 cards in digivolution source if this digimon, you can suspend all of opponent digimon with 5000DP or less. Then, place all opponent’s suspended digimon at the bottom of their decks in any order.

The Troublemakers: A Rookie Rush Deck Review

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.

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