Notes & Combos

Trust the dolphins, they are only here to help, they aren't spies no siree....

Decided to try out this deck since Gorgon of Zilofthonia gives additional endboard options to go into off of I:P. In practice S:P still came up more often but the additional option was definitely nice.

Regardless I ended up sticking with the deck because it felt really really good into handtrap minigame. Annoyingly this was the first season in a while where I was repeatedly running into people playing board-breakers (besides the obv tenpai and sky striker players) which the deck really struggles into.

Engine Notes:

• Click & Echo are deceptively powerful. You don't have a high enough ceiling to just answer every card in your opponent's hand, so knowing what cards are must-answer and what isn't is extremely useful. I pretty much always tried to get to the CIA Dolphins even when it came at the cost of an additional point of potential interaction.
• Try to set up Spright Red for protection asap. There were several instances where my oponent got greedy with Maxx "C"/Fuwalos only to get flashbanged with a Red and then it was too late.
• I chose not to run smashers or double cross. This was possibly incorrect? But since starter is both an extender and also can be used on the opponent's turn to get a red or carrot for more interruption I decided the extra garnet was superfluous. Just another casualty of the current meta where any card that doesn't net you advantage or is a handtrap must be under intense scrutiny for cutting.
• Extradeck slots that came up the least: Mannequin Cat, Knightmare Phoenix, Haggard Lizardose.

Non-engine notes:

• Maxx "C", Ash, and Called By are self-evident.
• Droll is extremely strong in this deck because it does not care about droll at all, so its fine to droll yourself in response to roach or charmies.
• Impulse is, imo, the strongest one-for-one handtrap and also happens to synergize with the deck's natural attributes (it's also my excuse for not running fiendsmith). The three things it turns off, in order of least to most important: Mannequin Cat, Droll, and Ninja Shadow Mosquito.
• Okay to justify Purulia over Fuwa: this deck has literally no way to turn a Fuwa in hand going first into value. Not a single card (besides knightmare phoenix but that barely counts) that can use it as a discard. In comparison, using Purulia as a discard to summon swap frog comes up A LOT.