The Rainforest Brigade is joined by carnivorous plants!
Replays:
Strategic Summary:
Welcome back to today’s CDP on new card reveals, this time featuring the Raika archetype. This multi-Attribute theme of Plants, Insects, and Reptiles aims to Link Summon all the way up to LINK-5, offering you the opportunity to Special Summon any back from the GY at the small cost of returning a face-up monster you control back to the bottom of the Deck. As an example of some of the Links in their toolkit, Raika no Oogaminushi (YGOrg Translation) is the Insect LINK-3 that gets to tutor a Raika Trap. On the other hand, Raika no Kusarigami (YGOrg Translation) is the Reptile LINK-4 that prevents further monster effects activating in the hand, after your opponent activates a monster effect. To access this Link ladder, the theme has great consistency in Raika no Marikoube (YGOrg Translation), a Level 1 Plant that tutors 2 Raika cards on summon, and Raika Ryouran Kuruisaki (YGOrg Translation), a Continuous Spell that can tutor a Raika monster or recover a Raika monster that is banished or in your GY. With such a limited line-up, this theme has great flexibility to pair with other archetypes of its consistent Types, so today, I’m focusing on the Plant angle!
The Predaplant archetype is the second major theme in play today, and this DARK Plant theme lives to Fusion Summon. Whether it is their in-theme access to Fusion cards, such as Super Polymerization or Instant Fusion with the effects of Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra or Predaplant Chimerafflesia, or simply disrupting the opponent’s monster effects by spreading Predator Counters while Predaplant Dragostapelia is on the board, this archetype carries a ton of budding potential that just needs a strong partner archetype to help it thrive. You see, Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio, their primary combo starter, is extremely susceptible to disruption, while the Raika side of today’s deck is not. Simply use your Raika effects to force a response from the opponent, then your Predaplants will be left clear to combo away to their heart’s content. Since they’re all Plants, there’s also no conflict with the summoning restrictions placed upon you by the Raika, so feel free to leverage the full extent of the Predaplant army, from Predaplant Ambulomelides to Predaplant Triphyoverutum.
To close the loop on this hybrid strategy, let me take a moment to cover the overall gameplan: your goal is to throw up as much disruption as possible on the first turn, then leverage the recovery effects of your Link monsters to sweep the opponent off their feet while they’re still reeling. As you’ll see in some of the videos, an opening hand can field a Predaplant Dragostapelia, to negate a monster’s effects, a set Predaplanning, to negate the effects of all your opponent’s monsters at once, Raika Dairin Kubikarimai (YGOrg Translation), to destroy cards your opponent controls, and a Raika no Daiouga (YGOrg Translation), to destroy even more monsters on the field. This combo also nets you a Super Polymerization for your follow-up turn, which is a nice cherry on top. Witness the newest brigade in action, with the brand-new Raika theme!
Provided Decklist:
Monsters: 24
|| Predaplant Triantis
| Predaplant Drosophyllum Hydra
| Raika no Yoroi Tokage
|| Raika no Yahazu Kamikiri
||| Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio
| Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra
||| Lonefire Blossom
| Predaplant Squid Drosera
|| Predaplant Chlamydosundew
|| Predaplant Sarraceniant
| Predaplant Byblisp
|| Predaplant Bufolicula
||| Raika no MarikoubeSpells: 12
| Instant Fusion
| One for One
| Ultra Polymerization
||| Super Polymerization
||| Predaponics
||| Raika Ryouran KuruisakiTraps: 4
||| Predaplanning
| Raika Dairin KubikarimaiExtra Deck:
| Starving Venom Predapower Fusion Dragon
| Predaplant Triphyoverutum
| Predaplant Dragostapelia
| Predaplant Chimerafflesia
| Garura, Wings of Resonant Life
|| Predaplant Ambulomelides
| Mudragon of the Swamp
|| Raika no Daiouga
| Raika no Kusarigami
|| Raika no Oogaminushi
|| Raika no Musha Dokuro
Note: This is continuing the style of Creative Deck Profile articles, designed to showcase a build through replays and an attached summary. If you wish to see a CDP for an archetype, theme, or strategy you love, feel free to private message me on the YGOrg Discord server, the comments section of any of my YouTube videos, or just post a comment in response to this article on our Facebook page or through the site with your ideas for me to keep under consideration! On most YGO-related communities my username is Quincymccoy, so feel free to reach out. Current pending requested profiles include: Fluffal, Aroma, Dinomorphia, BLS, Traptrix, Lightsworn, Wight, Vaalmonica, Valkyrie
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