Notes & Combos

Tinkered with this list a lot before getting it to feel right.

First it was deciding how much engine to run. Specifically the number of Zoroa, Irene, and Small World. Zoroa is very much still worth running even without Magistus available. Unlike Irene, it pairs with every Exosister as a 2-card starter, and where it really shines is in turn 2/3 where it gives you utility playing into a board and acting as a 1-card rank 4. One thing that felt awkward was not being able to play with the specific combination of Zoroa + Small World, so I went through the options and the best bridges were probably Droll, Skull Meister and Mothman. Mothman in particular was intriguing to me because it’s a level 4 extender, and it’s also an insect which can serve as a bridge to Maxx C. However, it’s not a perfect fit because it does clash with Martha, and the fact that it’s not a guarantee that it summons itself just didn’t feel worth it. So in the end I went with just 1 Small World and no bridge between Zoroa and Martha.

Once the engine slots were settled, I had to decide what non-engine cards to run. It was a decision between running a large handtrap lineup or running a mixture of handtraps and boardwipes. This deck can struggle playing into an established board, because basically all you get are two opportunities to go into your rank 4s, one through your normal summon and one through Martha. In particular, this deck has a very time with a 4+ mat Zeus, and the standard Branded Bystial setup of Mirrorjade + Lubellion + Branded Beast. DRNM didn’t feel great because it doesn’t deal with the aforementioned Branded setup at all, the Branded Beast would still be live and the Mirrorjade would still be able to dump either Rindbrumm or Sprind. Raigeki is theoretically a bit better, but you’d really be hoping that your opponent didn’t discard Branded Opening off his Lubellion (although Opening is at 1 in this event). One card that I did consider was Ultimate Slayer packaged with N’tss and Mereologic Aggregator. It deals with the Branded Setup and also Zeus. However, one problem that you’d run into could be ED space if you were to use more than 1 copy, but I do think it’s worth experimenting with at least in the D.D. Crow spot if you have it. Ultimately I just went with all handtraps.

Btw I know some would be curious but I don’t think you need to run more than 1 of each of Arment and Vadis. I don’t think either are cards that you really want to hard draw. Going first, you want to see your starters, and going second, you want to see handtraps. Arment and Vadis are not cards that contribute to either situations, you just want to search for them off Mikailis. Also Vadis just isn’t as good without being paired with Returnia.