Icejade Basics and Introductions
What are the Icejades?
Icejades are a series of WATER monsters that all want other monsters to be destroyed while being in the graveyard. The Icejade monsters are divided into 2 groups, the Creations and the Small Icejades. The Creations want to equip themselves for different effects/buffs to your Icejade monsters, while the Small Icejades send themselves and/or other WATER monsters to the graveyard for their effects, loading your graveyard with different Small Icejade monsters to float when a WATER monster is destroyed on your field.
What is their gameplan?
The good thing about the Icejade monsters, is that they don't lock you into anything, so you can play them with generic WATER extenders for a diverse line of play, like the Marincess links, Loading... for Loading... , Synchros like Loading... and Loading... , or you can play them as a stun strategy with Loading... itself going Second.
Going second allows to slowly break your opponent's board with Kosmochlor as a floodgate + Loading... bouncing your opponent's monster to hand (also decreasing your opponent's board ATK for 3500 with Loading... + Kosmochlor damage step effect), while also setting up either Loading... for interruption and recursion.
Icejade Monsters
- Small icejades
- Creations
- Kosmochlor
Icejade Acti:
Discard 1 WATER monster to draw 1 card, it's a decent way to get a name in rotation, however, it's not something that you want to spend your Normal Summon for, if you can Summon it from graveyard or by other means, and you have no use for the remaining waters in your hand, it's totally fine to use it. (0-1)
Icejade Tinola:
Discard 1 card from your hand, target 1 WATER monster in your graveyard, send this card to the GY and Special Summon the targeted monster. Better target to summon over Acti, since Tinola doesn't only get 2 floaters in rotation, it also works as a Monster Reborn for ANY water in your graveyard, however, her best use for now would be as graveyard fodder.
Icejade Tremora:
Discards herself to Special Summon a WATER monster from your hand. Tremora is a really good extender and starter if you don't want to waste your Normal Summon for Aegirine while also getting another floater in rotation. You really want to open this card, however, unless you open 2-3 Cradle, you don't want to search it.
Icejade Aegirine:
On Normal or Special Summon, you can search any Icejade Spell or Trap. The best Normal Summon or Special Summon using Tremora, she's not only a really good way to access your Field Spell or your main searcher she's also a really good extender. If she gets targeted by either card effect or for attack, she cannot get destroyed once, and she also Special Summon any WATER monster from your hand or graveyard.
Icejade Creation Kingfisher:
Can target 1 WATER monster you control, equip this card to it. If this card is equipped to an Icejade monster, it allows it to attack in DEF position. You can also target 1 monster your opponent controls with lower attack than the equipped monster's DEF, Special Summon Kingfisher and bounce the targeted monster to the hand. On a 2500 body, summoning Kingfisher is not only a really good bounce, it's also a really huge stat decrease if you have Cenote Enion Cradle on the board.
Icejade Kosmochlor:
Currently the deck's Boss monster. Very different of the Small Icejades and the Creations, Kosmochlor Special Summons itself if a Field Spell is face-up on the field, if Cenote Enion Cradle is face-up with Kosmochlor on the field, your opponent can only use the effect of monsters the turn they're summoned, so this is a really powerful way to go blind 2nd on a monster heavy board, and if it's equipped with Kingfisher, you can attack in DEF position with a 3k DEF stat.
Icejade Spells:
Icejade Cenote Enion Cradle:
The main Field Spell, you always want to have it face up on your field, not only to enable Kosmochlor's floodgate effect, to also reset any Icejade water from graveyard or banished to your hand. Also if a monster is Summoned to either side of the field, you can target any WATER you control to decrease it's attack to 0, and decrease all monsters your opponent controls by the attack of the targeted monster. (2-3)
Icejade Cradle:
Add 1 Icejade monster from deck to hand with different name from the ones in your graveyard. Not once per turn monster searcher is incredibly powerful to bait Ash Blossom while not losing advantage.
Icejade Traps:
Icejade Erosion:
Target 1 face-up card your opponent controls, negate the effect of that card's name until the end of the turn, and if you do, destroy 1 Icejade monster you control. Not only amazing to negate any blow-out card your opponent uses like Branded Fusion until next turn, you also destroy 1 Icejade monster you control, allowing all the Icejades in graveyard to trigger. If a face-up WATER monster you control leaves the field by an opponent's card, except destroyed, add 1 Icejade monster to your hand or Special summon it from your Deck. (3)
Non-Icejade Main Deck Core:
Fishborg Launcher:
Level 1 Tuner that can transform a 2nd Kingfisher on board into a Chengying or a Baronne, and you can also resummon it back, but banish it when it leaves the field. You only want to use this card if you're playing the Synchro variant.
Crystal Girl:
On Normal or Special, on your End Phase, lets you add a Level 5 or more WATER monster from your deck to your hand, and if she's in the graveyard and you control a Level 5 or higher WATER, you can Special Summon it, but like Launcher, banish it when it leaves the field. Currently, the best target to find is either Kosmochlor with an Aegirine on field or Kingfisher for a big stat reduction, however, later on, this card will see more play to search Aegirocassis.
One for One:
Not only lets you add an Icejade name in rotation, it also allows you an easy way to find Fishborg Launcher or Crystal Girl.
Silent Sea Nettle:
If all monsters you control are WATER, Special Summon it, but you can only activate this effect if you only Special Summoned WATER monsters this turn. This card is your main extender to get a way to Summon Loading... for Loading... . (2)
Tenyi Spirit - Shthana:
Amazingly good starter if you found another Level 4 in hand to go into Loading... .
Ice Barrier:
Not only a decent Battle Phase trap, also a really good extender while it's in the graveyard, it lets you send a Level 5 or higher WATER from your deck to the graveyard, then, add any Level 5 WATER monster from graveyard to your hand, so you can count it as an another Cradle for Creations, Kosmochlor or Tremora.
Foolish Burial Goods:
Just a way to get Loading... in rotation. (2)
Lose 1 Turn:
Without Curse, this is the only card that can acomplish the same result, but not as good since you need no Special Summoned monsters to activate it, so your best option would be having a Normal Summoned Aegirine, and have it getting targeted to Summon Kosmochlor from Hand or graveyard. (Do NOT use this card with Synchro Icejades, just wait for Curse on that build).
Non-Icejade Extra Deck Core:
While Icejade has no current Extra Deck monsters, here's a list of some generic Extra Deck monsters that you want to keep around:
Marincess Coral Anemone:
Good generic WATER Link 2 that not only gives you a line of play to play around Ash on Aegirine, it also has really good recovery from graveyard.
Marincess Great Bubble Reef:
Draw 1 every Standby Phase on a generic WATER link 4 is really good for heavy control variants, while also having a huge body that boost itself constantly.
Mistar Boy:
Yes, the absolute chad works really good here. Not only lets you boost all your WATER monsters, it also gives you a search on destruction, while triggering your Icejades in graveyard.
Bahamut Shark and Toadally Awesome:
The Bahamut Shark package is a must for every deck that has easy access to 2 Level 4 WATER monsters. Ending on a really powerful Omni-negate + steal is something that you want to commit for. Toadally Awesome has an interesting interaction with Loading... , if Aegirine gets targeted for something, she'll trigger her effect to protect herself from destruction, while also summoning any WATER monster from hand or graveyard, including Toadally Awesome for a second negate.
Number 4: Stealth Kragen:
This one is specifically good for the Control variant, a second floodgate monster that also transforms all monster's attributes to WATER, while letting you pop one of them for free per turn.
Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying:
Using Kingfisher + Fishborg Launcher, you can end on a really hard to out boss monster that banishes 2 cards from your opponent's side (1 from field and 1 from graveyard without targetting). Unlike Swordsoul, we banish Icejade to float as cost, and we banish WATER monsters with Bubble Reef to draw, so we have multiple ways to trigger Chengying.
Egyptian God Slime:
Funny enough, this guy has insane synergy with the deck, not only being a 3k beatstick that protects all your other monsters, also as a huge stat decrease with Loading... , really easy to make using Cenote Enion Cradle on Loading... .
Other Extra deck options:
While they're not bad cards at all, they're here because many of your combo extenders locks you into WATER monsters, so it will be a bit more difficult to access if you don't know what cards lock you
Baronne de Fleur, Borreload Savage Dragon, Adamancipator Risen: Dragite
Really generic negates that you can access, however, for now, the only way we have to access a Level 8 Synchro is by Normal Summoning Ash Blossom, or using Emergency Teleport for Ghost Ogre. Baronne has some really interesting synergies, using her destruction effect on your own icejades to force your graveyard to trigger is a good way to plus yourself.
Builds and Variants:
Dogmatika Icejade:
More focused on disruption with good board breaking capabilities and interruption, while threating an OTK line with the Dogmatika monsters.
Synchro Icejade:
More focused on combo lines and a diverse endboard, this variant got really hit by the ban of Loading... , so we need more tech options to make it work.
Stun Icejade:
Prevent your opponent from playing the game while protecting your floodgates with Erosion. (Extra deck besides Kragen is mostly irrelevant, however having more utility for different gamestates is always good for a comeback)
Does Icejade have any combo lines?
Nope, not currently.
Turn 1 boards are very hand dependant and will depend also what's your playstyle and your build, usually Cenote Enion Cradle with Kosmochlor and Aegirine + Erosion is what you want to aim for on a basic level.
That's why we don't run Pure Icejade just YET, later support makes the deck capable of surviving by itself, however, we still run good WATER extenders to make an even better board.
What's on the future for Icejades?
With various waves of support missing, this deck will slowly gain more power, however, it won't be something meta relevant for the time being.
With the release of new sets, we can adapt to the meta pretty easy, with Therion Icejades for example. Current TCG builds are using Tearlament Icejades for huge advantages and Graveyard setups, so expect this build to gain popularity when their time comes.