Invited Author: Dr Zaius (Juan)
Country: Europe
Introduction
Thanks to DigimonMeta for inviting me to write the article. My name is Juan, better known as DrZaius and I´ve been consistently playing the european online events since I started playing back in BT5. I got some success, like tops in Regionals and Ultimate Cups, won a Digi-Fest and the previous European Online DC-1. This time I managed to win the latest European Ultimate Cup held by RaidNTrade with a deck I couldn't take to the big events: Yellow Hybrids.
A few weeks ago from the moment I write this, I won the DC-1 with the Xros Heart deck, which I took since the beginning of the BT10 format and I harvested a really big streak of wins in locals, also I considered myself one of the best Alphamon players in Europe, giving even ideas to players like Utsu from France about the deck who got success with it. I felt really sure about my skills with any of the two decks but then the banlist was announced and this Ultimate Cup had it applied, so I was running out of ideas.
With Alpha and Xros Heart gone, the format basically made MetalGarurumon X a nearly tier-0 strategy. Since I didn´t have the promo cards the deck runs, and I would only need them for one single tournament, I decided to return to control decks. As I expected about half of the tournament being Metal X, the best choice was to lock them from winning by controlling Venusmon.
My friends and me were discussing about Ophanimon Loop, but I also expected a big amount of Security Control decks, since this metacall was pretty obvious. Ophanimon Loop, as Mastemon does, die by deckout to SC, but hybrids don´t. SC is historically proven to be bad against hybrid decks. From my point of view, you play a bad deck with good removal when playing SC, but Yellow Hybrids is a good deck with worse removal. I had a previous version of the deck with 4 Sunrise Busters, so I only needed to make a few changes to the original version.
My only concerns were two things: Jesmon GX, which was the worst matchup to face by the deck, due to its floatability; and having some draws between rounds. I am the kind of player that likes the grind game and plays better under pression, but in an online event you need to play fast and wasting time when having a slow opponent can just cost you a whole round. I got pretty lucky of ending most rounds 2-0.
Decklist
The Digi-Eggs:
As this format is still pretty fast and aggressive, Upamon fits better to be at 4 copies. I left one Cupimon just in case I found a D-Reaper deck in any round. You go full-aggro with Rapidmon and need to get more cards in order to have a quick game, since it is unbeatable if it gathers Gatekeeper + 6 material Mother. Also having the fifth Digi-Egg makes you able to play longer against a control deck.
The Tamers:
This is the most important part of the deck. Back in time in BT7-BT8 formats, most tamers were not active during most part of the game, with the exception of BT1´s TK Takaishi. TK is still one of the best cards in the game because of the consistency it provides, the memory setting and the information you have about your security, which is really helpful when taking decisions. I run 4 copies because the event had mulligan, and its the card you always want to open with. Then 3 copies of Zoe Orimoto for extra consistency. In the previous versions, consistency was an issue and Zoe solved most games, since you had to waste TK searches in order to get the hybrids. Now you have multiple ways to increase your resources and get better cards in the security stack.
The rest of the tamers are easier to explain: 2 Cody, 2 TK & Kari and 3 copies of Tai & Kari. Cody and Tai & Kari have the main goal of making you have 4 memories. 4 is a very important number in this deck, since most of our powerplays cost 4 memories: Shakkoumon, Tamers, Venusmon, Rapidmon… It´s nearly impossible to play around Tai & Kari tamer because most decks cannot afford to wait for a turn to attack, due to the danger of cards like DeathXmon and Rapidmon. As we are not Security Control, we are more proactive, and leaving the opponent with 3 securities is also easy. The tamer was insane during the entire tournament.
About TK & Kari, it acts as Swords of Revealing Light, giving you extra turns since the opponent won´t attack you unless they feel like winning. In this extra time, you can easily win the game or set even more tamers, or just heal your securities. Just broken.
The Rapidmon and Rookies package:
This part is the most simple. Rapidmon is pretty broken. In BT8 I considered this the best card of the format. Can solve any board state on its own. Has pretty strong psinergy with your tamers, and is a level 4 than can kill any Digimon in the game. Running 4 copies of ST1 Patamon was mandatory if I was about to play Rapidmon, and two copies of Salamon which is a pretty solid card in order to have a total of six. Having 6 rookies give you high probabilities of starting with one of them during the first turns, which is something you really want.
Most players were asking me about why not running the red base with EX2 Gigimon and promo Guilmon… The answer is: Just read Rapidmon. The value you get from Rapidmon is just so high that the red base can´t compensate it with random draws.
The Hybrid package: We are a hybrid deck, so we run the full 9 copies package, with the limited JetSilphymon.
The spicy part: 3 copies of BT8 Shakkoumon. This card is basically a replacement for the copies of JetSilphymon we lost. It works as a basic lv5 with “When digivolving, recovery +1”. The thing is that having a cost of 4 makes it pretty psynergic with the deck. Before we were explaining why the number 4 was magic, and here is one of the reasons. Also I´m playing 1 copy of ST8 Coredramon, which is a good blue lv4 card, just in case we need to DNA digivolve. In the tournament, DNA digivolve into Shakkoumon was more frequent than evolving into Jet by 1. Also is a double color card with a good inherited effect.
Finally, the queen of control: 3 copies of BT10 Venusmon. What to say? The card just makes Metalgaruru X explode. Most players didn´t even know the card. The value it gives is just insane. It basically says “you win an extra turn”. And you can do a lot of things if you get a free turn, like winning the game. Also I run 1 copy of Susanoomon in case I faced a control deck to avoid deckout and a copy of DeathXmon, to have a good play against rogue aggro decks.
The options:
2 copies of Yellow Memory Boost for extra consistency, Reinforcing Memory Boost and Sunrise Busters as obvious choices in a yellow deck. The only spicy card here was Loekthe Adistako (or whatever the name is). I packed in 3 copies because the card is good against all decks and in any given position of the security stack. BT5 yellow players know how easy is to be at 3 memory in order to trigger the full effect of this card. In a vacuum, paying 8 for removing one thing does not sound good, but paying two to remove two threats is a different thing. Just insane. The last card is a copy of Wyvern´s Breath, just in case we needed to remove a thing like DeathXmon or a really big body.
Matchups
2-0 Vs. MetalGaruru X: Pretty standard game. This was the matchup that I tested the most and was fast and straightforward. Venusmon did her job.
2-0 Vs. MetalGaruru X: Again against this deck, this time against an Spanish player, Adrian Dueñas (shoutouts here to him!). This player from Madrid is also an ex-Yugioh player that plays really well. I just got really lucky. In a given moment, a Loekthe option card appeared in the 4th position of the security, killing two Weregarurumons in the process.
2-0 Vs. Jesmon GX: Here is when I though my tournament run was over. This matchup is the worst by far, since it can get protections from Gankoomon X, revive constantly the Sistermons, and has OTK potential. The point here is that I can´t kill both the Jesmon and the Sistermons in a single turn, so I depend highly of my options in security. This isnt even great because they still have access to A Delicate Plan or Gankoomon X… I just got very lucky to survive and win both games.
2-1 Vs. Jesmon GX: Again, I felt really unlucky since I didn´t expect to see another one. A misplay costed me game 1, but I was able to win the next games. This player ended up with 3rd place of the tournament and was playing a version based in Gankoomons, so it was a pain to deal with. Rapidmon suspended its board of blockers and I could attack for game with hybrids.
2-1 Vs. Beelstarmon: This was against Unluckyvann, which is one of my friends. We even tested together for this event and I shoutout here to him. It was by far the most intense round of the entire tournament. We reached the time-out and he couldn´t kill me in time, but I could kill him with hybrids. Ironically, this was the deck running Psychemons and was the first where I could resolve DeathXmon.
2-0 Vs. Blue Flare: I didn´t expect Blue Flare performing so well in the tournament. I did a misplay in game 1 by hardplaying Coredramon, being greedy to DNA digivolve later and return something to hand, but this didn´t work. I was able to grind that game and then the second game was faster. Blue flare has a strong grind game if you give them enough time.
2-0 Vs. ImperialDramon: Again, a spanish player, Zoriak (shoutouts). It was pretty funny because he didn´t know what Venusmon did. Actually he is one of the best spanish players, having topped all Ultimate Cups he participated in. He got the second place in the tournament. But our match was just fun to see. Venusmon did everything and he played into Venusmon with misplays. The funny part is that we were both in our Discord channel talking together during the entire tournament.
2-0 Vs. Blue Flare: Against Riku, another spanish player. If in round 6 I was not expecting Blue Flares… Just imagine in the final round. This time I was nervous because I know the grind game of Blue Flare and I need to remain with one single Digimon on the battle Area during all the time, making me unable to make a quick win. My best bet is to do some cheap damage and stall with Venusmon and heals, and then Hybrid rush him. This was the game plan and it worked out both games.
Summary
I´m really happy of the result with this deck. Back in time I couldn´t play it in BT8´s Ultimate Cup events because of the banlist hit to JetSilphymon, but this deck is one of my favorites from all times. Also it feels really well to get such a huge result with a deck that nobody was expecting to get success, not even myself!
I felt like I was done after winning the DC-1 event, but having another big win so soon has been awesome. The deck is still pretty good and I felt sure of every single decision I took in deckbuilding and playing. I´m also pretty happy of having 5 spanish players in the top 8, so congratulations to Zoriark, Asibaru, Foturan and specially Riku for getting into the final.
At last, I want to shoutout my friends Xuso, JC, Alberto, Miguel, Dai, Adrian, Iván and Daniel because of the support and the testing, as well as to the spanish community, which has proven to perform really well this tournament and I´m sure they will continue getting good results. Sorry about this article for being so long, if you have reached this sentence, thank you for reading this!