Table of Contents
1. Overview
- Introduction
- Strengths and Weaknesses
Hello and welcome to the new and improved Rikka guide! Previously only known as part of several Plant decks, with the new wave of support they are finally allowed to fully bloom into a pure deck. The beginning of this guide will first focus on this version, with card ratios in those sections being based on it as well. Though of course this doesn't mean that they cannot still support multiple other Plant archetypes, some old, some new. If there are cards that serve different purposes or utilize more of their effects by playing other engines, they will get that additional information in the later sections with updated ratios. Since this support will be completely new for both the OCG and MD, take everything in this guide with a grain of salt. Ultimately it will be a collection of theorycrafting and testing by Plant players like LMT , bedorocksf , Moelancholy , wonilcho and lllkirinolll , and otherwise known players such as neZu .
I also made a small playlist with music that you can listen to while reading this guide, feel free to recommend songs that fit the vibe! Rikka Songs
Rikka is an Xyz archetype that revolves all around Tributing, either to summon their monsters, grant additional effects to their Spells and Traps or to interrupt their opponent. For a short summary of the deck through the competitive lens, check the "Strengths and Weaknesses" tab above. Thematically each of their Xyz Monsters has a pair of corresponding Main Deck monsters (which are also displayed in their Spells and Traps), with the new support giving several of their monsters a glow-up.
Strengths
- Various tools against monsters (Negates, Tributes, Mind Control)
- Layered endboards (e.g. Teardrop/Hyperyton + Konkon/Sheet on field, Princess in GY, Primrose in hand)
- Good follow-up and recursion (i.e. Petal/Princess/Konkon triangle, Queen Strenna adding from GY, Sacred Queen Strenna resetting Sheet)
- Low count deck with high non-engine quality (e.g. Dominus Impulse)
- High redundancy gives good consistency, and gives you decent average hands against lingering HTs
Weaknesses
- Weak against backrow board breakers (only Hyperyton can negate Spells)
- High redundancy means low flexibility with devastating chokepoints
- Older cards are not up to par with the current game, and do not trade favorably into boards going 2nd
- Combos are still weak to lingering HTs and often require you to draw specific engine cards for decent half boards
2. The Garden's New Arrivals
Let's start off with the new Rikka cards, to contextualize the older cards beyond their function in previous decks. The recommended ratios listed here will be for Pure Rikka and might differ from other versions.
Loading...
The floral glue that holds the deck together, less so because of her inherent strength, but because it enables all other cards to be that much stronger. She can Special Summon herself from both the hand and the GY (banishing herself upon leaving the field), and can Special Summon another Rikka monster from the Deck by Tributing a Plant monster from either the hand or field. This makes her a fantastic starter and extender, though as a true 1c combo she cannot reach the standard endboard (unless you play extra bricks) and requires at minimum 1 other Plant monster in hand for her full potential.
Be aware that her own Special Summon might have antisynergy:
- You cannot Special Summon her via her own effect while controlling a non-Plant monster (e.g. Loading... , Loading... , Loading... , Loading... , or even a facedown monster). This can be alleviated by simply Tribute Summoning Black Princess or linking off non-Plants into Loading... , but neither option would be optimal to play through boards efficiently. You can also try summoning her with Loading... or Loading... .
- You are locked into Plants for the rest of the turn (i.e. Loading... , Loading... , Loading... cannot be summoned afterwards). Only relevant for Plant Link, and can be played around (e.g. equipping Loading... with Regulus or Normal Summoning Beetle).
Loading...
Another very powerful extender. With the simple condition of any monster being Tributed, they can Special Summon themselves from the hand and another Rikka monster from the Deck in Defense Position, Plant locking you. Importantly, this effect, just like with Loading... , can immediately activate even after they are searched via cards like Loading... and Loading... that were activated with a Tribute.
This in conjunction with their 3rd effect being able to Quick Xyz leads some to believe that they are a viable Turn 0 play with certain hand traps (e.g. Loading... , Loading... , Loading... ), but a singular Tribute for Effect is not strong enough and should be seen as bonus for running these hand traps in specific metas rather than something to build around. The strongest application would be in combination with Nibiru, because an additional interruption might be enough to prevent any other push by the opponent. Usually this Quick Xyz will be used on an already summoned Loading... to summon Loading... .
Their 2nd effect can target and change the Level of a Plant monster you control by 2 permanently, including herself, setting up very easy Xyz Summons for any of their Xyz Monsters.
Loading...
The strongest card of the deck. Unsurprisingly, a card that both searches a monster and sends another one to the GY is very powerful, even if it locks Summons from the Extra Deck to Plant Xyz Monsters. It single-handedly makes it viable to play Rikka monsters that were never even considered for competitive play due to its ability to directly send them to the GY to utilize their advantage-based effects. In fact, contrary to initial belief due to its restrictive lock, you would play this at 3 copies even in other versions of the deck because this card can setup the entire Rikka combo on its own. Just use everything else first, bait interrupts, and then the Xyz Plant lock won't affect you that much anymore. For certain engines like Therions or Mitsurugi the lock does not actually matter all that much, because like Loading... it only locks Extra Deck Summons.
With a Tribute on activation it also makes your Rikka monsters untargetable, both giving insulation from weaker hand traps but also to break boards going 2nd.
The usual combinations for this effect in order of importance/viability will be (left to hand, right to GY):
Loading...
The center piece that enables Pure Rikka to become "midrange", and every version to be able to weave Loading... setting Loading... or Loading... into their combos while retaining Loading... access.
By detaching 2 materials you can Special Summon any Plant Xyz Monster from your Extra Deck in Defense Position, and if it is a Rikka monster can attach a Rikka monster from your Deck to it. The most common target would be Loading... with an attached Loading... . But you can also summon Loading... and use its own effect to attach a material to it.
Her 2nd effect sets a Rikka Trap from your Deck or GY when a monster is Tributed, with the Trap usually being Loading... . This effect can occur during the opponent's turn as well, so as long as she is on the board you could trap your opponent under a Loading... every turn.
This adds another layer of follow-up to the floral assembly of Loading... , Loading... and Loading... . With the addition of Loading... you could summon Sacred Queen Strenna very easily every turn as well, giving you both access to additional copies of Queen Strenna and keeping the Loading... recursion going.
Loading...
The full awakening of the most beautiful queen in the game who sadly never really fulfilled the fantasy of a boss monster. With her newest upgrade you can detach up to 6(!) materials to send that many Spells/Traps from the field to the GY, mitigating previous issues that Plants faced with backrow, and then Tribute 1 monster, all without targeting! This can be used to remove continuous Spells/Traps or Field Spells (potentially also making certain effects resolve without effects), but also to remove Set Spells/Traps during the End Phase or bait them while breaking boards.
Importantly, since she needs to send the exact amount of cards to the GY as were detached, it is possible for your opponent to "dodge" the effect similarly to Loading... , granted you can and will have to send your own cards to the GY instead. Also, to get the Tribute effect, she needs to send at least 1 Spell/Trap to the GY specifically, meaning Pendulum Spells being sent to the Extra Deck or cards being banished under Macrocosmos-like effects disable this secondary effect.
To really solidify her position as a boss monster she also poses a continuous threat with her 2nd effect, which let's her attach any card from the opponent's GY to any Plant Xyz Monster you control each time a monster is Tributed, continuously removing resources from your opponent. This even includes the opponent Tributing monsters like Loading... , Loading... or Mitsurugi monsters. You will most likely attach materials to Teardrop herself to fuel her 1st effect, but you can also attach additional materials to Loading... or a Loading... with no materials.
While it is not impossible to get 2 Level 10 Plant monsters on the field, most of time you will Xyz Summon her using Loading... and occasionally with either Strenna.
3. The Seasoned Snowflowers
- The Merry Fairies
- The Noble Queens
- Their Cheerful Florescence
Loading...
The Normal Summon of the Deck. Petal was mostly used as a simple recurring searcher to either setup the very basic Loading... + Loading... board, or was used to search missing combo pieces. With the addition of Loading... she becomes a complete starter that leads to the standard endboard, and can even play around Droll by sending Loading... to the GY instead of adding her to hand.
Her search effect does lock you into Plant monsters, so be careful when using her with engines like Ragnaraika and Therions. Her resummon from the GY can also, just like Loading... , only activate if you either control no monsters or only Plant monsters, so even a facedown monster might block you from summoning her back.
Loading...
One half of the well known POTE support. As a free Level 4 Special Summon that locks you into Plant monsters while face-up, Princess enabled easy Loading... summons, especially in combination with Loading... . But her real strength of course lies in her monster negate while you control a Rikka monster. Because the cost of this effect is shuffling her back into the Deck from hand or GY, she created an important resource loop alongside Loading... and Loading... . The new support can use her very effectively as further insulation while setting up endboards.
Loading...
The first of the "Brikkas". Her 1st effect allows her to be Special Summoned in Defense Position upon Tributing, which initially led to her being played as an easy way to make Loading... , usually by activating Loading... with a Tribute and searching for her and Loading... , triggering the Special Summmon instantly. But she was already cut from Plant Link decks in 2024 because using Loading... for Level 4's was usually not strong enough. Now with Loading... she can be used as the search target to send Loading... to the GY and setup a monster negate. Often times the Level 6 and 8 pair will be more important though.
She can also increase the Levels of 2 Plant monsters by 2 temporarily, which was not relevant before due to the lack of Rank 6 Plant Xyz Monsters. Keep in mind that Primulas Special Summon effect only works if one of your monsters is Tributed, so she does not work with Loading... .
Loading...
Has never seen play in any Plant deck and probably never will. Basically completely replaced by Loading... . At least Cyclamen herself can be seen in Loading... .
Loading...
One of the most important cards due to her effect of searching any Rikka Spell/Trap on Summon, most of the time Loading... specifically. Usually this effect will occur via her 1st effect that Special Summons her by Tributing a Plant monster.
Due to her connection to Loading... , Mudan was and can still end up being a massive chokepoint, though Pure Rikka can somewhat alleviate this issue by simply having a higher chance to draw Loading... . Other versions might struggle in this regard though.
Before the new support, Mudan was the only reliable Spell/Trap searcher of the deck, which occasionally led to a decision between setting Loading... or Loading... with Loading... , sacrificing endboard strength either way. With Loading... you do not have to make that decision anymore.
One oddity with her search effect is that it only activates on Normal Summon or Special Summon by a Plant monsters effect, meaning she does not activate when Special Summoned by cards like Loading... or Loading... .
Loading...
The 2nd "Brikka". She has previously seen no play because neither her temporary ATK boost nor her Special Summon from GY in Defense Position upon Tributing were ever worth the deck slot. Now there's 2 reasons to play her due to the current environment of the game:
- The ATK boost might matter against Towers like Loading... or Loading... . It can also help in protecting Loading... from being attacked over.
- She is a reoccurring Level 6 Plant monster that simplifies summoning additional Loading... 's a lot, thus removing the reliance on having Loading... being available (for her Level modulation).
Just like with Loading... this GY effect only triggers when one of your monsters is Tributed, so it will not work with Loading... .
Loading...
Another "Brikka" that was actually a mainstay for the majority of Plant Link decks. Firstly, she was used as extender by Special Summoning herself and one other Plant monster in your hand by Tributing 1 Plant monster, locking yourself into Plants, which mitigated issues of drawing too many Normal Summons. Secondly, she is able to change the Levels of all your Plant monsters to the Level of any Plant you control temporarily. Be careful when using this effect in case you do need different Levels of monsters deeper into a combo.
Both of these effects are still somewhat relevant for any Plant Link deck (less now than before), but for Pure Rikka this usefulness would only come up in specific scenarios (e.g. against Loading... ) or if you are trying to end on a stronger board (which would then require even more bricks). Generally speaking, she mostly sees play as another Level 8 monster for Loading... , Loading... and Loading... if Loading... is already in rotation.
Loading...
The last Rikka Main Deck monster, and another entry into the "Brikka" category. While she has only ever seen very niche play, with the new support she might blossom into the better Level 8 used alongside Loading... for Loading... . With her 1st effect she can protect monsters you control from other monsters targeting them while you control a Rikka monster, giving you insulation from hand traps such as Loading... or Loading... , but also in-archetype effects like Loading... and Loading... .
The 2nd effect is the more interesting for general application though: Just like Loading... , she can summon herself from the GY in Defense Position as reoccuring threat, but rather than being a Trigger effect upon Tributing, it is an Ignition effect. This might seem like a disadvantage at first, but in the worst case she would simply replace a monster with an unusable level like Loading... , and in the better cases either Tribute Loading... and trigger cards like Loading... /Loading... , or even Tribute opponent's monsters with Loading... .
Loading...
Strenna has always been a crucial piece for previous Rikka decks because she could provide additional combo potential or follow-up by adding back any Plant monster or Rikka card from the GY like Loading... , Loading... or Loading... .
Her 2nd effect allows her to Rank Up into a Rank 5 or higher Plant Xyz Monster from your Extra Deck or GY and attach herself as material upon being Tributed with Xyz Material, with the primary target being Loading... . This effect can also create very simple OTK lines with Loading... Tributing her and ranking up into a high ATK monster like Loading... .
She will often be summoned via the effect of Loading... , but can still be properly summoned with 2 Loading... or a level modulation on Loading... with Loading... . In the former case you would end up with only 1 material, and therefore cannot utilize both of her effects, but in the grind game you could attach additional materials to her with Loading... .
Just like with old Plant Link combos, there is merit to ending with her on the board and Tributing her with Loading... or Loading... during your opponent's turn instead of ranking her up immediately during your own turn, so that you can play around certain board breakers like Kaijus or Loading... .
Loading...
The original OTK enabler. Upon Tributing you can detach a material to Special Summon a monster in either GY with its effects permanently negated and it becoming a Plant monster. This was used in combination with a Loading... Tributing herself for 8000 damage (2800x2 + 2400), but can also be used as an interrupt. Additionally she can protect Plant monsters from destruction once per turn by Tributing another Plant from your hand or field.
Kanzashi has always been in a weird spot for Plant lists, because she was never really bad per se, but just suffered from opportunity costs because you would rather summon Loading... or Loading... with your limited resources, and also from being overshadowed by Loading... in later builds.
With easier access to Level 6 monsters and therefore Rank 6 Xyz Monsters, she actually creates viable variations to several combos where you utilize her GY Special Summon to summon a Loading... and then use another Princess or Level modulated Level 6 monster to properly Xyz Summon Loading... . Being summoned by Loading... in these lines, she would end with 0 materials, but you can remedy that by attaching 1 material to her with Loading... .
Keep in mind that monsters marked for destruction cannot be used as substitution for said destruction, i.e. if your entire board would get destroyed by for example Loading... or a simple Loading... , only a Tribute from hand would be able to protect your board.
Loading...
The most elegant and graceful flower of the deck. As a very simple boss monster, she can detach a material to target and Tribute any monster, and gains 200 ATK temporarily every time a monster is Tributed. While this ATK boost seems small, it can quickly add up and help with attacking over medium-sized Towers.
With older setups where you used 2 Loading... during a combo, you would Tribute the 2nd one during your opponent's turn to summon Teardrop, but nowadays you would properly Xyz Summon her no matter what version you are playing. If you don't have access to the Quick Xyz from Loading... anymore, consider ranking her up into her new version Loading... immediately.
Loading...
The versatile consistency booster. Glamour without Tribute is a simple searcher for any Rikka monster, and Tributing adds another search for any Plant monster of the same level but different name as the added Rikka monster. It has always been a very good extender for Plant Link decks, but as actual starter it could only really give you Loading... + Loading... .
With Loading... both her and Loading... make Glamour end on an actual proper endboard now, and thus it becomes a very versatile card. And if unused throughout the combo, you can even search Loading... for an improved endboard!
Loading...
The other half of the POTE support, arguably the card Rikka is most known for. Despite its strength, Konkon was usually played as a 1-of because it's not an independent starter: The effect to Set a Rikka Spell/Trap can only be activated if you already control a Rikka monster, and there weren't many in pre-support lists. This effect would also lock you into Plants, creating issues with other engines due to the shortcomings of Rikka as starter pre-support. With Pure Rikka being viable, this isn't that much of an issue anymore.
But what is best known about Konkon is its 2nd effect which let's you substitute the cost of a Rikka card with one of your opponent's face-up monsters. This effect is not hard once-per-turn either, so drawing, searching and recycling multiple Konkon can help with board breaking.
Be aware that Konkon gets around the protection of certain monsters like Loading... , Loading... and Loading... ("unaffected by activated effects"), but not Loading... or Loading... (also unaffected by continuous effects). Since the substitution still counts as cost, it would not trigger effects like Loading... ("sent to the GY by card effect"), but it would Loading... and Loading... (leaves the field by an opponent's card).
Loading...
The classic 1-of Trap. Without Tributing, Sheet simply targets and prevents both players from activating the chosen monster's effects on the field. Overall, this is a very weak interrupt because it doesn't actually negate the effects, therefore your opponent can either summon another copy, or remove the chosen monster from the field and resummon it. It does have a strong niche usage though: Since it affects both players, it can actually bypass the protection of unaffected monsters.
With a Tribute, Sheet can Mind Control the chosen monster, which then also becomes a Plant monster. This is why it prevents both players from activating the monster's effects. By turning it into a Plant monster, it is now eligible to be Tributed for any Rikka card as well. Often times Sheet is used with the substitution granted by Loading... to hit two birds with one stone and dismantle the attempt to build a board completely.
Because the first part of the effect can only be used on monsters that actually have an effect, you can never Mind Control a Normal Monster (unless it is a Gemini monster).
Loading...
While Flurries might seem helpful at first glance as continuous additional removal by making the opponent Tribute one of their monsters when a Rikka monster is Tributed (which could even remove Towers), giving an opponent the choice of Tribute rarely ends up being that helpful.
Loading...
A somewhat controversial card. Tranquility is a simple Special Summon in Defense Position from GY for any Rikka monster without Tribute, and gains one from the GY for any Plant monster with. This makes it a decently flexible card, being able to revive a boss monster like Loading... , but also utility monsters like Loading... for the Quick Xyz or Loading... for targeting protection. It can also provide follow-up by setting up an easy Xyz via the Special Summon of 2 monsters with the same level, or can use the non-Rikka revive on monsters like Loading... . It can also help layer your board further against several board breakers like Loading... or Loading... .
Before, because of the chokepoint on Loading... being the only Spell/Trap searcher, Tranquility never saw play because you would much rather search any of the other options. Now, with combos potentially not needing to search the Rikka Spells, some players have opted to play a 2nd Trap for higher ceiling. Of course, as with most bricks, they have to be really good to be worth it, and Tranquility does not fully fit the bill. It doesn't represent any actual interruption on its own, and it also does not act as an extender/combo requirement.
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4. Symbiotic Relationships
Loading...
Let's first address the elephant in the room, or rather the Cactus in the lists. Sadly, as a Special Summon Floodgate, it is genuinely just a good card. There are enough starters that don't require your Normal Summon, and a reliable way to search him with Loading... , so there are enough opportunities to summon him. The main reason why he is a very decent brick to play though is because rather than bolstering an already strong full combo board, he actually helps with strengthening half boards or against lingering hand traps like Loading... or Loading... .
Loading...
The sole protector against backrow. The main monster you summoned with Loading... , and most likely still will, since it is one of the very few ways that Plants have to deal with backrow. When you activate a card or effect during your own turn, you can attach 1 card from your GY with the same card type as material. Then, when a card or effect is activated during your opponent's turn, you can detach one material with the same card type to negate its activation and destroy it. Detaching is part of the effect, rather than cost, so similarly to Loading... and Loading... merely removing them with Loading... or other removal is sufficient to null their effects.
Attaching a Spell was fairly trivial with other engines before because you could attach their archetypal Spells at the end of the combo when using Rikka Spells, but now, unless you open one, you will never activate another Spell after summoning Hyperyton. This is why some combos prefer summoning Loading... with Loading... and triggering a 2nd one during the opponent's turn to summon Hyperyton then.
You can also feed it materials with Loading... , but this would be reliant on your opponent giving you appropriate cards to attach.
Loading... & Loading...
The Sylvan boss monsters are additional options for removal. While Orea can only be reasonably summoned with Loading... , Alsei can also just be properly Xyz Summoned.
Orea's 1st effect let's you rearrange the top cards of your Deck based on the Level of the Plant monster you sent from your hand or field to the GY to activate it, which sets up the 2nd effect to excavate the top 1-3 cards of your Deck and non-target bounce back cards up to the number of Plant monsters excavated (that are then also sent to the GY). As mentioned, Orea can be summoned via Loading... when going 2nd to properly setup an OTK, since summoning Loading... wouldn't help that much. Be aware that a Loading... or Loading... summoned with their own effect cannot be used as cost for the 1st effect (because they get banished), but simply adding one with Loading... or Loading... does work.
With Alsei you declare a card name and excavate the top card of your Deck, and either add it to your hand if called correctly, or send it to the GY. The latter would trigger his 2nd effect, which let's you target any card on the field and place it on the top or bottom of the Deck. This is a slightly more permanent solution to certain cards than Orea's effect.
Loading...
A surprisingly decent card in dire situations. When Link Summoned, you can excavate the top 1-3 cards of your Deck and Special Summon up to 2 excavated Plant monsters that permanently cannot be used as Link Material. This can give you another push in problematic situations where multiple of your monsters were negated. This in combination with her 2nd effect, where monsters she points to become the same Level as a Plant monster in your GY temporarily, can potentially cheat out either of the Strennas and let you combo further. Importantly the monsters under her arrows do not have to be Plants themselves (though Loading... still requires Plant monsters as materials).
While she is technically not needed for any combos, it is still recommended to play her in all variants due to her inherent synergy with Xyz Monsters and being a Hail Mary.
Loading...
The cornerstone of Plant Link. In Plant Link, she was the bridge that perfectly synergized with Sunavalon, bridging to every other engine and enabling the otherwise weak Rikka engine to simply focus on building the endboard.
For Pure Rikka the only effect that matters is the 2nd one, which let's her Tribute a monster under her arrows to summon a Plant monster from your Deck in Defense Position. But situations where this would come up are very few and far between: You first would need a reason to go for Jasmine, e.g. all your monsters at the start of a combo were negated. Then you would need 2 Plant monster to summon her and then another monster to Tribute, and then the summoned monster actually has to be able to continue your combo. Often times Loading... would just be better.
Loading... & Loading...
Without actually playing Sunavalons, Dryas & Thrasher can still provide small value when crashing Dryas into a Defense Position monster, and in turn summoning Thrasher to both attack over a small monster and go for either Link-2 monster. Since the Extra Deck space is fairly flexible, rather than adding 3rd copies of either Strenna, this small package can add additional utility going 2nd.
Loading... & Loading...
The supporting cast for the Link-2 Monsters, a small engine that can add an extra push for Pure Rikka. Glow-Up Bulb can simply revive itself by milling a card from your Deck (with Loading... being an extremely lucky hit). Dracaena has several applications through sending a Level 4 Plant monster or lower from your Deck to the GY as cost: send Glow-Up Bulb for a free Link-2, send Loading... for potential insulation or you can even send Loading... and add him back with Loading... later! Both of them also give you secondary targets for Loading... with Tribute when searching Loading... . Dracaena's GY effect to Special Summon a Dragon monster from hand or GY by banishing herself and a Plant monster from the GY will only come up in this specific version if you play Loading... with Dragon targets (this effect is for example relevant for Predarikka).
Loading... & Loading...
And if you play the Tuners mentioned above, then these Level 7 Synchros might also be worth looking at. Since Periallis can Special Summon a Level 5 or higher Plant monster from your hand or GY in Defense Position every turn, she can easily become another part of your grind game, constantly reviving monsters like Loading... (important if you are only running 1 of her} or Loading... for level modulation.
Circle of the Fairies on the other hand is used for consistent Loading... summons, especially in Predarikka or lists with an Aroma engine.
Loading...
Another way to search Loading... to alleviate the chokepoint on Loading... . Since you need to Special Summon Cattycorn in order to get its effect, you would need to play either Loading... or Loading... . It can also be helpful in creating combos where Loading... ends on his Spell negate since 1c combos starting with monsters would not get there otherwise. Cattycorn in combination with Loading... and Loading... can also improve the 1c Loading... combo to end on the standard endboard.
Loading...
A bit of a wild card that may come in clutch. The special part about Skeletal Soldier are its summoning requirements: All the other Link Monsters require Plant monsters for their summon, Skeletal Soldier only needs 1 Plant and can use any other monster as 2nd material. Because Loading... can only Special Summon herself on an empty board or when you only control Plant monsters, clearing a board containing Loading... (or its token) or board breakers like Loading... and Kaijus can be essential. On top of that, his 2nd effect can target and shuffle monsters you control back to the Deck to refuel cards like Loading... when he is in the GY, Special Summoning him in the process. Beware that you have to spin back Loading... and Loading... only if they were revived by Loading... or Loading... ! If they were Special Summoned by their own effect, they would banish themselves instead of shuffling back into the Deck, also losing his Special Summon from GY.
Loading...
SCP-058
Revised Containment Procedures: SCP-058 can alternatively be fed 2 Rikka monsters every week.
Revised Description: Feeding SCP-058 with Snow Fairies has shown an extended dormancy period. During this period, it will create a smaller version of itself, hereby referred to as SCP-058-A. SCP-058-A do not possess the same hostility or speaking capabilites as SCP-058, and for those reasons were extensively studied. This resulted in finding synergy with 5un4v4l0n - an old steam engine that requires specific material as fuel. Only certain parts of 5un4v4l0n are actually useful for the Foundation, such as the dry45 and h34l3r components. Currently, this additional power is not needed for a pure approach to energy creation, but might become relevant in other variants.
5. Deck Core for Pure Rikka
Fill out the deck with a total of ~15 non-engine first (~8 more), if you want to you can add 1-2 "Brikkas" (Primula, Erica, Snowdrop, Tranquility), then you can add more consistency by adding starters or increasing ratios (e.g. Mudan, Primrose, Konkon). If you want to play more bricks, just be careful that you don't end up like Doro. For the Extra Deck, pick from the "Symbiotic Relationships" section above.
6. Neighboring Biomes
Loading...
For every Rikka variant mentioned here, Jasmine is imperative for actual bridging, otherwise you are just playing 2 separate archetypes together and hope to draw both engines. Overall, the Tribute effect to Special Summon any Plant from Deck is way more important since it is hard-once-per-turn and can facilitate the full Rikka endboard on its own. Therefore, her search when gaining LP can bait out interrupts or give further resiliency to your combos, forcing your opponent to spend resources on non-Rikka cards. It can also help with searching otherwise unsearchable Plant monsters like Loading... or Loading... .
- Predaplants
- Sunavalon
- Aroma
- Raika
- Mitsurugi
Loading...
One of the most insane Plant cards ever created, basically another Loading... . Sending a "Predap" card to the GY as cost, and adding any "Polymerization" Spell or "Fusion" Spell means you either gain massive advantage, or force multiple interrupts all in 1 card! You will send Loading... to the GY most of the time, and you will usually add Loading... . Byblisp would then add another Predaplant monster, and this nets you 2 additional pushes that can easily bait interrupts for your actual Rikka cards. A secondary search target with Primitive can also be Loading... to break boards, but keep in mind that it locks you into Dragons and Plants after use.
The GY effect of Primitive can be used with Loading... , destroying it when your opponent Special Summons and triggering its effect to destroy all your opponent's Special Summononed monsters. It can also help blowing up non-Plant Loading... targets to Special Summon Loading... with her own effect.
Loading... makes another appearance here with an actual good target being Byblisp. This again gives you the "Predap" combo, but with an extra Level 1 Tuner. While Dracaena is heralded as "Plant Circular", this setup will still require your Normal Summon, and she also retroactively locks you into Dragons and Plants when you activate either of her effects. Specifically for this variant, her GY effect actually comes up quite a bit, banishing herself and a Plant monster from GY to Special Summon any Dragon monster from hand or GY.
Loading... & Loading... & Loading...
Longinephila is your main target for the search of Loading... . On Normal or Special Summon it adds any "Predap" card from your Deck to your hand, which can either be the aforementioned Loading... if unused, or Lilizard if you already used Loading... . Longinephila can also banish itself from the GY to place a Predator Counter on any face-up monster which in turn let's you use the 2nd effect of Loading... , Special Summoning it from the GY. Keep in mind that you cannot put counters on unaffected monsters.
When in hand, Lilizard can Special Summon itself if you control a "Predaplant" or "Starving Venom" monster, and in conjunction with Longinephila can Synchro Summon into Bal Teah. Lilizard's on-field effect targets and turns any monster into DARK temporarily, helping with Loading... setups or to get around the Loading... restriction. Its last effect grants you a draw upon being Special Summoned from the GY, usually through Bal Teah's on-summon effect. Lilizard and Bal Teah then give you several potential Synchro setups that we will discuss momentarily. Bal Teah's GY effect will not see any usage in Rikka variants since we usually will not use "Polymerization" in our lists (technically you can run Loading... like standard lists and play a bigger Predaplant engine).
Loading...
Ambulomelides can search any "Predap" card on Fusion Summon: If you started with Loading... , search Loading... , otherwise you can add e.g. a 2nd Loading... or Loading... . The 2nd effect allows you to target and Tribute one of your monsters or an opponent's monster with a Predator Counter as effect to summon a Predaplant monster from your Deck. An Loading... starter can therefore summon Loading... and create the entire "Predap" combo without using your Normal Summon. With a different starter you would usually already have Loading... in the GY and can use its effect to place a Predator Counter on any monster, making Ambulomelides an option for removal that can also trigger Loading... .
Predapruning is not necessary for the basic "Predap" core, but as a Special Summon from GY for any Predaplant monster it can give you more Synchro lines and resiliency, though at the cost of being another brick. There are also rare instances where it not being once-per-turn gives you a 2nd usage because Ambulomelides can also add back from the GY.
Predaplant Fusions
Additional general use Predaplant monsters. Daredevil can act as removal with Loading... due to its summoning method of Tributing 1 Predaplant monster you control and any other monster with a Predator Counter. This summon can even trigger Loading... . It then doubles up as a Level 6 Plant body for Loading... . Be careful to first summon Loading... before removing the only Predator Counter you can place (unless you also already summoned Dragostapelia).
Dragostapelia is your other way of targeting and placing a Predator Counters on an opponent's face-up monster with its Quick Effect. It then separately from that effect negates any activated effect of opponent's monsters with Predator Counters as continuous effect. Since we usually do not run "Polymeriation" or Loading... and the materials are slightly stricter than the Starving Venom Dragons, it generally does not see play.
Both Starving Venom Dragons act as general Loading... targets, but are also ways for the Predaplant engine to simply search Loading... with Loading... and either use Loading... and Loading... as additional baits and board breakers, or as low to the ground option if you are under Loading... . For board breaking purposes, the original Starving Venom can gain ATK equal to an opponent's Special Summoned monster's ATK on Fusion Summon temporarily and also target and copy the name and effect of an opponent's Level 5 or higher monster until the End Phase, whereas Four Heavenly Dragons can target and set any other face-up monster's ATK to 0, negate its effects and make it DARK, all permanently, on being Special Summoned, while also acting as another Loading... when your opponent activates any card or effect to summon DARK Fusion monster using it and any other DARK monsters on the field. As mentioned above, original Starving Venom's GY effect can be manually triggered with Loading... .
Synchro Package
The aforementioned Synchro setups with Loading... and Loading... . Just with Black Rose Dragon can the Predaplant engine threaten a powerful board breaker, destroying all cards on the field (or at least bait an interrupt) to open the way for your Rikka cards, as well as opening up OTK lines with its ability to change an opponent's Defense Position monster into Attack Position and set its ATK to 0. It can be paired up with Bramble Rose Dragon, which can act as endboard piece or "low to the ground" play under Loading... with its effect to tag out into Black Rose Dragon. Remember that Loading... can protect your Plant monsters in this case, but only if you still have another Plant monster in hand. As a combo extender it simply revives 1 Level 4 or lower Plant Tuner from your GY by banishing itself from the GY. It can also revive a Loading... in the grind game for a 2nd Loading... .
If you want to further insulate combo lines or build stronger endboards, both Crystal Wing and Zalen are easily accessible monsters that can also be revived with Loading... . Crystal Wing can negate a monster effect and destroy that monster, and can by itself insulate from monster hand traps against Loading... or Rikka cards, while in combination with Loading... can fully protect against Loading... . When battling an opponent's Level 5 or higher monster, it can also gain ATK equal to that opponent's monster for that battle, being another potential out to Towers. Zalen on the other hand has higher coverage on countering hand traps (e.g. Loading... and Loading... ) by being able to potentially negate any card or effect on a chain, but is slightly more awkward to use as endboard piece because there aren't many ways for us to manually create favorable chains. Coral Dragon acts as bridge to Zalen, potentially targeting and destroying an opponent's card by discarding 1 card while Synchro climbing and netting another draw when being sent from field to the GY. The main way to summon Zalen is by using Coral Dragon and a Loading... with a Predator Counter (making it Level 1).
Loading...
You love him or you hate him, the main reason why modern Plant decks even worked in the 1st place. Summon Loci, link into Dryas, activate Sowing, summon Twin, summon Thrasher, summon Loci back, and if you use a way to Special Summon Loci from Deck like with Dai and Roar (and in the future Loading... ), you get 4 bodies with your Normal Summon potentially still intact,
Sunavalon Links
Link into Loading... with the 2 Link Monsters, use Twin for Dryas, use Loci for Healer, gain 300 LP, add any Plant monster from the Deck to your hand, and Tribute one of the Link Monsters for yet another Plant monster of your choice. This bridges into anything you could ever want, able to be splashed into any combination with other Plant engines. The biggest issue, and why you won't find this engine in anything other than Plant Link, is its extreme weakness to Loading... and the necessary ED space. It also lacks the flexibility that Predaplants have, and so ultimately they are very good at setting up big combos, but not much else.
One slight payoff that running Sunavalons gives you by default is Benghalancer, who can target an opponent's Effect Monster with more than 0 ATK, take damage equal to its ATK and then return it to hand. This has always been Plant Link's way of dealing with floating monsters, or monsters that have devastating GY effects (like Loading... ). He can also Special Summon himself from the GY by banishing Link Monsters from the GY whose Link Rating equals 4, but then banished himself when leaving the field, usually resulting in only being able to use this effect once. His usefulness is further restricted by only being able to use 1 of these effects per turn, so you can never revive and bounce in the same turn.
One notable way to utilize the Sunavalons is their OTK potential with either the very simple double-attacking 3200 ATK Thrasher + Benghalancer setup, or Loading... increasing the ATK of all your monsters by whatever Dryas crashes into (rivaling and even exceeding Tenpai Dragons damage output).
Therions
The main reason to play Sunavalons. Because Loading... only locks your Extra Deck, Therions become a decent Main Deck addition to the endboard by granting an omni-negate by sending a Therion Monster Card from your hand or face-up field to the GY. Most people understand this engine as Lily being an extender and initial searcher for Discolosseum, and Discolosseum adding Regulus who then provides the omni-negate. But due to how Therions work, and what became somewhat standard is actually discarding Regulus with Loading... and equipping Lily with him, granting her the omni-negate instead. In the past, this fully protected against Loading... while also granting Lily both beneficial effets of Loading... .
In certain game states (like if you cannot get to Loading... , the other effects of Discolosseum might also be relevant. First up, it can grant battle protection once per turn by sending a Therion card from the Deck to the GY. This can help with protecting monsters like Loading... , but actually more importantly can help with crashing Loading... into Attack Position monsters to trigger its healing effect. Secondly, if a monster is destroyed by battle, you can target and add 1 Therion monster from your GY to your hand. In simplified game states this can give you reoccuring beatsticks and omni-negates.
Loading... & Loading...
A small package that empowers the usage of Jasmine in any list. On Normal or Special Summon, Rosalina can summon another non-Tuner Aroma monster from your Deck, which is going to be Laurel most of the time. Both of these can then link into Jasmine, and with Laurel's effect of gaining 500 LP when sent to the GY, you can add any Plant from your Deck to the hand, preferably a monster that can Special Summon itself like Loading... or Loading... to also make use of Jasmine's Tribute effect to summon another Plant for more bridging. But you can also bridge into Aroma instead, using the Tribute effect for Rosalina + Laurel, and linking them into a 2nd Jasmine, replacing the Special Summon to field with a search to hand.
If you play Laurel and Jasmine with engines that have a lot of life gain (like this one) you might even get the free Special Summon from hand for Laurel, and the battle protection for Jasmine and monsters she points to, which can become quite useful with monsters like Loading... .
Loading...
If you play a bigger Aroma package, these cards are the ones to think on. While they can be somewhat bricky in combination with Loading... , they also provide good value for being combo extenders and enabling several more Loading... searches. By discarding a card, Aroma Blend can place any "Winds" Trap face-up to your field, enabling instant usage of their effects. The most common one to place is "Humid Winds", which can both search 1 Aroma monster by paying 1000 LP or, if you have lower LP than your opponent, gain you 500 LP. "Blessed Winds", more commonly searched with Loading... , can give you infinite grind game even when only playing 1 copy of each Rikka Xyz. It has 3 effects: You can gain 500 LP either by sending a Plant monster from your hand or face-up field to the GY, or shuffle back one from GY to Deck. The former was usually only used to remove a Loading... from your own field, with the latter being your recursion for any Plant monster. The last effect can Special Summon an Aroma monster from your GY by paying 1000 LP, mostly getting back your Aroma Boss monsters below.
Extra Deck Aromas
The payoffs for playing the Aroma engine. Rosemary is a combo tool that can add any Aroma card from your Deck to the hand which can either be Rosalina if you have your Normal Summon still available, or Loading... to further combo with "Winds" Traps. In the latter case, both Loading... and Loading... can increase your LP to trigger her 2nd effect, which can summon up to 3 Aroma monsters below her arrows. The most common chain of events will be using Loading... to search Loading... , gaining 500 LP and then summon Loading... with Loading... in tow. Lastly, by Tributing a monster she points to, she can target and banish any card on the field, gaining you 1000 LP which can further trigger other Aroma monster effects.
Magnolia and Marjoram are powerful defensive tools, protecting your Plant monsters from destruction and targeting respectively. Additionally, Marjoram can search a "Winds" Trap on Synchro Summon, whereas you can pay 2000 LP with Magnolia to non-target banish cards equal to the number of "Winds" Traps you control. Once per turn, if you gain LP, Magnolia can increase the ATK of all Plant monsters by that amount, while Marjoram mandatorily targets and destroys one of your opponent's cards.
Loading... & Loading...
Some extra options if you wanna play even more Aroma monsters. Angelica is a decent extender, but does require you to already play and either control an Aroma monster, or have one in the GY. As a Quick Effect she can discard herself to gain LP equal to the ATK of a targeted Aroma monster in the GY, being an alternative way to trigger the effects of your Aroma Extra Deck Monsters. Then, when in the GY and you control an Aroma monster with more LP than your opponent, you can Special Summon her (with her being banish upon leaving the field).
Her being a Level 1 Tuner then makes it even easier to summon Loading... with the Main Deck Marjoram who represents another piece of interruption by mandatorily targeting and banishing cards from your opponent's GY up to the number of Aroma monsters you control if you gain LP. Her continuous effect prevents battle damage involving Plant monsters while you are at higher LP, and she can Special Summon herself from the hand when another Plant monster is destroyed by battle, gaining 500 LP as well.
Loading...
RIP = Reptile, Insect, Plant
A compact engine that can generate a good amount of bodies. Evil Seed is both a decent starter and extender, being able to add up to 2 different Raika cards from your Deck or banishment to the hand, then banishing any card from your hand and locking you into RIPs. The targets are usually going to be Samurai Beetle and Bloom, banishing Samurai Beetle in the process. Evil Seed can also Special Summon itself from hand by discarding a RIP.
Bloom can either search a Raika monster and then discard 1 card, or summon Samurai Beetle (or any other Main Deck Ragnaraika monster in Defense Position from hand, GY or banishment), with the latter being what you usually want to do with the small Raika Package. It also gives all RIPs a 300 ATK/DEF boost, while lowering other types by the same amount. You can also Special Summon Samurai Beetle with its own effect by placing another RIP on to the bottom of your Main Deck. This can often occur by banishing a brick or Garnet with Evil Seed, which actually gives it extra utility, but it might also just be necessary to banish an important RIP if you had to add Evil Seed with Bloom (without playing extra Bricks).
If Samurai Beetle is sent to GY as Ragnaraika Link Monster material, you can target a Level 4 or lower RIP monster in your GY and Special Summon it in Defense Position, which will be Evil Seed most of the time if that was your starter. But this can also revive Lonefire if you bridged into Raika instead of starting it, which essentially gives you all the advantages of the Raika engine for free.
Loading...
While mentioned before basically just for his summon requirements, played with his actual archetype he both enables Loading... to actually get its GY effect and can Special Summon a Raika monster from the GY in Defense Position, while also making his recycling effect more accessible. One issue that might occur is that both his effects retroactively lock you into RIPs, potentially locking you out of potentially directly summoning Loading... or Loading... targets.
Loading... & Loading...
Potential extra bricks to ease the use of the Raika engine. Butterfly is mainly played as tertiary target to banish for Loading... , in case you had to use Loading... to search it and don't want to potentially have to give up another important RIP, or even lose access to the engine altogether if you didn't draw another RIP in the first place. Banishing her from hand or GY then gives you draws equal to how many different types of RIP you control during the End Phase (usually 1). If she is already in your hand, you can instead discard her to Special Summon a RIP from your hand.
Hunting Dance is the opposite: If you are willing to banish another RIP in hand with Loading... (or can setup a RIP in banishment some other way), Hunting Dance can become the secondary target alongside Loading... . On activation it can target opponent's cards equal to how many different types of RIP you control and destroy them, and, except during the turn it was sent to GY, if a face-up RIP you control is destroyed, you can banish it from the GY to target and destroy an opponent's monster, giving you more layering and an option for destroying backrow (specifically Floodgates).
Extra Deck Raikas
Usually very low on the priority list since Raika is often used as an auxiliary engine for other engines. All of them have the same recursion effect as Loading... , and also have their own unique effect: Mantis Monk can banish 2 RIPs from your GY to search a Raika Trap, Selene Snapper can banish up to 2 monsters from your GY to target and destroy that many of your opponent's Spells/Traps, Chain Coils can disable hand effects of monsters when your opponent activates any monster effect, and finally Stag Sovereign can destroy exactly 2 monsters when your opponent Special Summons from Deck or Extra Deck.
Loading...
Do I actually have to explain these cards? There is no real bridge from Rikka to Mitsurugi, and the only thing you can really do is giving up some of the Rikka endboard for Loading... who can summon Loading... to search Habakiri for follow-up, but the real point of Mitsurugi is of course gaining a powerful engine both for going 1st and 2nd that instead can bridge into anything you desire (albeit it is a bit bricky).
With this, let's take a look at those bridges:
Bridges
The very basic bridge that was already used in old Mitsu Plants. Simply put, use your 2 Level 4's to summon Pinguicula and search Arachnocampa, who can then Special Summon herself. Link both of them into Jasmine and Tribute a Mitsurugi Ritual Monster for Rikka starter. If you want to extend your Mitsurugi plays for all their setup, your summoned Rikka starter has to be Loading... since you cannot summon her with her own effect otherwise anymore.
Now the spicy one, but honestly probably much worse. By using your entire Mitsurugi engine, you can Xyz Summon into Loading... and Fantasix Machinix, who searches Astral Force, while retaining 1 extra body. Since Astral Force has to target your Xyz Monster with the highest Rank, you have to first link Fantasix Machinix with the remaining body into either Skeletal Soldier or Verte Anaconda, then Astral Force Rank Up Loading... into Loading... and use her effect to summon another Loading... (detaching the 1st Loading... ) with Loading... attached. You can then detach Loading... from the 2nd Loading... to add back the 1st, and can then Special Summon Loading... from the GY to the field.
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7. Deck Cores for other versions
- Predarikka
- PredAroma
- Raika Aroma
- MitsuRikka
- 60c Plant Link
What we assumed the best Rikka variant to be when the support got announced, and what seems to be the case even now. Predaplants add more pushes and more flexibility to your combos and board breaking potential through playing Predaprimitive and having multiple options for the Extra Deck.
Fill out the deck with a total of ~15 non-engine first (~7 more), then you can add more consistency by adding starters or increasing ratios (e.g. Longinephila, Dracaena, Mudan). For the Extra Deck there are many options: Predaplant Fusions, Super Polymerization targets, bigger Synchro package, extra Rikka Xyz, utility Link Monsters.
To the right is LMT 's M1 list that Teremiare also worked on as further example. Keep in mind that the deck is flexible, so you don't have to copy their list fully. As long as you adjust it reasonably, you are fine.
A more Aroma focused list, ending on the combination of Magnolia and Sweet Marjoram, and utilizes the Predaplants as combo enabler for these boards rather than toolbox.
Fill out the deck with a total of ~15 non-engine first (~8 more), then you can add more consistency by adding starters or increasing ratios. Loading... and Loading... can be played as well. This version is very particular about its combos, so there isn't much flexibility in deck building. The "best" addition you can make is Loading... with Loading... .
Combines 2 small engines for more flexibility, but doesn't quite have the some power as Predaplants. This is more akin to older Plant piles, dropping Sunavalons since Rikka is less reliant on Jasmine searches. It does have the major disadvantage of not being able to play Super Polymerization or Dominus Impulse.
Fill out the deck with a total of ~17 non-engine first (~13 more), then you can add more consistency by adding starters or increasing ratios (e.g. Mudan, Primrose).
All roads lead to and from Habakiri. The synergy between Mitsurugi and Rikka is to give all your Plant Xyz monsters infinite material with Loading... , completing emptying your opponent's GY.
All you have to really do is filling out the deck with a total of ~15 non-engine first (~8 more), but you can bump the deck to a slightly higher deck count to prevent drawing like Doro, since Mitsurugi is inherently somewhat bricky. For the Extra Deck pick at least 1 bridge from the "Neighboring Biomes" section above. You can add multipe bridges as well or add an extra utility card from "Symbiotic Relationships".
The variant for people that just want to combo and push as much as possible into non-engine and boards. Just as with any Sunavalon variant, you do lose really hard into Maxx C and Fuwalos, but Sunavalons actually have decent half boards into Droll. Some bricks are also, while not Garnets, very bad to draw because you can't even use them as extenders or costs sometimes.
Fill out the deck with a total of ~20 non-engine (~16 more). You can switch ratios or cards around as you wish.
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8. Combos
You can check MasterDuelMeta for my spreadsheet (which may or may not still be a work in progress). But I will add 1 combo each for 3 variants mentioned here as an appetizer.
- Pure
- Predaplant Rikka
- 60c Plant Link
True 1c June Moon
- June Moon to add Mudan and dump Black Princess.
- Summon Black Princess from the GY.
- Black Princess' effect, banishing herself to Summon Petal.
- Petal adds Primrose.
- Special Summon Mudan by Tributing Petal.
- CL1 Mudan CL2 Primrose: Summon Primrose and Hellebore, add Konkon.
- Konkon sets Glamour.
- Primrose reduces Hellebore's Level by 2.
- Overlay Mudan and Hellebore into Strenna6.
- Strenna6 Special Summons Strenna4 with Princess attached.
- Hellebore's GY effect to Tribute Strenna4.
- Both Strennas trigger: Set Sheet and Summon Hyperyton.
- Activate Glamour with no Tribute and chain Hyperyton: Attach June Moon and add a 2nd Primrose.
- Overlay Primrose and Hellebore into Teardrop8.
1c Predaprimitive
- Predaprimitive to send Byblisp and add Super Polymerization.
- Byblisp adds Longinephila.
- Summon Longinephila and add Lilizard.
- Special Summon Lilizard.
- Synchro Summon into Bal Teah.
- Bal Teah revives Lilizard, draw 1 card.
- Link into Jasmine.
- Longinephila places a Predator Counter on Jasmine.
- Special Summon Byblisp under Jasmine's arrow.
- Jasmine Tributes Byblisp to Summon Petal.
- Petal searches Black Princess.
- Special Summon Black Princess.
- Black Princess Tributes Petal for Mudan, add Konkon.
- Konkon sets June Moon.
- June Moon to add Primrose and dump Hellebore.
- Overlay Mudan and Black Princess into Strenna6.
- Strenna6 Special Summons Strenna4 with Princess attached.
- Hellebore's GY effect to Tribute Strenna4.
- Both Strennas trigger, activate Primrose: Summon Primrose and Black Princess, Set Sheet and Summon Kanzashi.
- Primrose increases the Level of Black Princess by 2.
- Overlay Black Princess and Hellebore into Teardrop8.
True 1c Loci
- Summon Loci, link into Dryas, add Sowing.
- Sowing for Twin (do not Summon under Dryas!)
- CL1 Twin CL2 Dryas: Summon Thrasher, Summon Loci.
- Link Dryas and Thrasher into Jasmine.
- Link Twin into Dryas and Loci into Healer to gain 300 LP.
- Jasmine adds Primrose.
- Jasmine Tributes for Lonefire, which Tributes itself for Evil Seed.
- Evil Seed adds Samurai Beetle and Bloom, banishing Samurai Beetle.
- Bloom Special Summons Beetle.
- Link both Raikas into Skeletal Soldier.
- Samurai Beetle revives Lonefire.
- Skeletal Soldier and Link-1 into Jasmine.
- Skeletal Soldier's GY effect bounces back the Jasmine in the EMZ to Special Summon himself.
- Skeletal Soldier revives Evil Seed.
- Link both Raikas into Rosemary, adding Aroma Blend.
- Lonefire Tributes itself for Lily.
- Activate Primrose to Summon herself and Petal.
- Petal adds Black Princess.
- Lily sends Black Princess to the GY to add Discolosseum, which adds Regulus.
- Link Lily and Petal into Jasmine.
- Aroma Blend discards Regulus to place Humid Winds.
- Activate both of Humid Wind's effects and add Rosalina.
- Both Jasmines and Rosemary activate: Summon Rosalina, add Lily and Mudan.
- Rosalina Summons Laurel.
- Link both Jasmine into Benghalancer.
- Twin banishes Rosemary to revive Jasmine.
- Special Summon Mudan by Tributing Laurel.
- Mudan and Laurel activate: Gain 500 LP, add Konkon.
- Jasmine adds Lily.
- Aroma Blend banishes Jasmine from the field and Thrasher from the GY to Summon Magnolia into the EMZ.
- Summon Black Princess from the GY.
- Black Princess Tributes Rosalina for Hellebore.
- Overlay Black Princess and Mudan into Strenna6.
- Strenna6 Special Summons Strenna4 with Princess attached.
- Overlay Magnolia and Hellebore into Teardrop8.
- Teardrop8 detaches Hellebore to Tribute Strenna4.
- Both Strennas activate: Set Sheet, Summon Hyperyton.
- Activate Konkon and chain Hyperyton to attach Discolosseum.
- Konkon sets Glamour, which adds Primrose.
- Summon Lily by targeting Regulus.
9. FAQ
How strong is this deck in the current meta?
General sentiment is that Predarikka is the strongest version of the deck and situated in Tier 2. Pure Rikka is a step below that, so roughly Tier 3. I personally believe both versions to be 1 Tier lower each.
How difficult is this deck?
The general difficulty increases with more engines included, meaning Pure is the easiest version, and 60c Plant Link is the hardest just because of the options available at any given time and proper sequencing. Do keep in mind that even smaller hybrid builds do have several locks and sequencing restrictions. It is easier to win with bigger endboards of course, but I would wager that this is not the point of the question.
Is this deck expensive?
You can check the ratios given for Pure Rikka throughout this guide, and can also see rarities for all variants in the Deck Cores. If you wanna go a bit more budget, then replacing some of the utility URs with SRs is completely fine. Ultimately you should notice yourself if a certain card is actually necessary or not.
15 non-engine for lower count decks seems low, should I add more?
You certainly can, but those dedicated 15 non-engine slots are already filled with the highest quality non-engine. While going above might slightly increase the potential of stopping an opponent enough, it will also cause more bricking, especially if you are on multiple Brikkas, and the actual increase in stopping potential by adding mediocre non-engine might not be worth it. But as per usual, you can adjust Deck Cores however you like it.
I cannot deckbuild and therefore the Deck Cores are useless, I need actual deck lists!
There are no perfect lists. The Deck Cores even give suggestions on what to add. If you are simply looking for any list to copy, simply search for Rikka under "Top Decks" and copy anything from players mentioned at the start of the guide.
Any notable match-ups?
Mitsurugi is a very weird match-up. Loading... wiping your monsters can be beaten with Kanzashi, but only if you have another Plant monster in hand. Turn player priority matters a lot, because it can determine if you can either attach their monsters with Loading... or not.
Dracotail can be somewhat difficult because so many cards in Rikka are Ignition effects. They also get very good value out of Loading... by banishing your potentially only Loading... , but can also simply chain it to Loading... in general.
How does the grind game of this deck look like?
Pure has the best grind game, since they are running at least 2 copies of most Rikka Xyz Monsters by default, and can even play Brikkas to facilitate Summons of those monsters. Overall you would end up with the classic Triangle of Petal, Princess and Konkon, which every variant has access to, and now Pure also obtains a 2nd wave of Rikka Xyz Monsters with consistent acesss to Sheet.
Low count hybrids can dedicate flex spots in the Extra Deck for grind game, but generally prefer to lean more into flexbility.
High count hybrids have very rigid Extra Decks with little wiggle room. You would have to specifically cut an endboard piece or utility monsters to add slight grind game, though the question remains if that type of variant doesn't just want to win with all the interruptions they can get anyways.
Why can I not activate the effects of my "insert LIGHT, WIND, EARTH monster here"?
Probably Loading... .
But my monster has a different Attribute, so it can't be Loading... !
If it is about Loading... or Loading... , be aware that you need to either control no monsters, or only Plant monsters, so Tokens and facedown monsters can block their Special Summon. Loading... also applies a retroactive lock, so if you summoned a monster that is not a Dragon or Plant that turn (for example with Loading... ), then you cannot use either of her effects.
If it is about neither of these, just search for the card in this guide and check for particularities with their effects.
10. Closing Thoughts
And that is all from me. Writing this guide, creating the combo spreadsheet, helping people in the Rikka channel and watching content creators playing with the new support has taken up quite a lot of time from me over the last 3 weeks to the point where I couldn't even properly test the new support in MD myself yet. But it was well worth it.
Basically being the only actual theorycrafter and Plant player left in the Rikka channel or even Jess' server for the last 1.5 years, it definitely got lonely creating all kinds of random Plant lists with the at that time newer support such as Dracaena, Predaplants (and coining the term Predarikka!) and Rose Dragons.
And seeing so many familiar faces come back and new florists join the garden with the latest support was definitely quite the nice return to the Plant Link days.
Never stop huffing that Copium, your deck might win a poll and get support next :)
And may you never brick as much as Doro.
