Images courtesy of Bandai
With Special Booster 2.5 on the horizon, it’s time to discuss the elephant in the room. BT20 introduces some absolute monster cards that have already had a dominating impact in the Japanese tournament scene. While the scariest deck to come out of BT20 is the newly rejuvenated Royal Knights deck from BT13, the newer decks introduced in this set have all had immense tournament success.
It’s a Royal Rumble!
The Royal Knights deck from BT13 has one game plan: stall for time, get Royal Knights under your King Drasil_7D6 for a reduced cost, and then play Omnimon BT13 to bring them all out and win in a single turn. Any Royal Knight with an [On Play] effect is something to pay attention to for this deck, and BT20 brings the heat with Omnimon (X-Antibody) and Alphamon Ouryuken ACE.
Both of these Digimon have powerful removal effects when played, either by sending a Digimon to the bottom of the deck, or giving it a nearly insurmountable -15000DP. Omnimon (X-Antibody) gives the deck some much needed aggression as well since it can give itself rush and attack at the end of the turn without suspending. The combination of raid and piercing allows it to punch through whatever Digimon is leftover from bottom decking the first target. It also has Blocker so you have nothing to worry about should they try to crack back on the following turn.
Alphamon Ouryuken ACE, by virtue of being an ACE card, has a low play cost right off the bat, so it can be played for cheap in the early game more easily than other options. ACE Digimon don’t trigger Overflow when tucked under King Drasil, so you don’t lose any memory when it leaves the field. This is a huge loophole that makes this card such a menace since you can delete a Digimon and disappear without any downside.
Finally, Alphamon Ouryuken ACE gains three memory when a security card is removed, so when you go for the Omnimon OTK, if you have both Alphamon Ouryuken ACE and Omnimon (X-Antibody), you can win even if you pass the turn to the opponent by having Alphamon attack with Omnimon X’s effect, gaining memory back and taking back the turn for the rest of the OTK.
The Royal Knight deck also gets incredible support cards in Cool Boy, Omekamon, and The Last Guardian. Cool Boy gives the deck some much needed card draw and lets you cheat in Omekamon when your Royal Knights leave play on the opponent’s turn. Replacing your Royal Knight with Omekamon, depending on the number of cards in your security, can turn that Omekamon into Omnimon (X-Antibody), and because Omekamon also counts as X-Antibody, it triggers Omnimon (X-Antibody)’s full digivolving effect to totally board wipe the opponent on their turn.
Further leaning into the Omnimon package is The Last Guardian. Digging three cards is great for the consistency of the deck, and the delay keeps your Omnimon cards in play if they were to leave for whatever reason. The security effect is also fantastic for recurring Omekamon or Cool Boy from your trash or just playing one from hand, thus maintaining your board presence and building up to your combo turn.
Brand New Archetypes to Explore
Gigaseadramon is sort of the spiritual successor to the Deep Savers/Ryugumon/Xiangpengmon decks that just build up a stack and spit out bodies from the stack for board presence and value. What makes Gigaseadramon such a menace is that, unlike those other decks, this one gets to make use of the X-Antibody mechanic to build the stack higher beyond the typical level 3 to 6. Not only does this give you more organic card draw than normal, it also gives you more options for the Digimon you can play from your stack. Gigaseadramon can also de-digivolve 2 when you play a Digimon from sources, so you also have a repeatable means of controlling your opponent’s threats.
Another powerful new deck introduced in BT20 is Necromon, a Ghost deck centered around the new Execute mechanic. With Execute your Digimon can attack at the end of turn with the caveat that it’s deleted at the end of attack. Fortunately, Necromon can play a level 5 Ghost from your trash on deletion, and thanks to the new tamer Violet Inboots, you can digivolve one of your Ghosts into a Ghost in your hand for a reduced cost. Couple this with Necromon’s [On Play] to delete the opponent’s lowest level Digimon and you have a neverending loop of value.
ACEs in the Hole
Imperialdramon Dragon Mode ACE and Imperialdramon Fighter Mode are powerful upgrades to the red/purple Imperialdramon deck from EX03. This top end not only includes an ACE card with built-in removal, if DNA digivolving you can go right into the Fighter Mode from your hand or trash for free.
Since the Red/Purple version is all about playing both Paildramon and Dinobeemon to set up the DNA digivolve, this is easily attainable on the opponent’s turn. As anyone who’s played against Return of the Primogenitor in blue/green Imperialdramon can tell you, getting hit with a surprise Fighter Mode on your turn is backbreaking.
Speaking of Blast DNA Digimon, the new Examon ACE deck takes the more controlling shell from EX03 and ramps up the aggression with all new inherited effects that trash security cards and give Examon ACE Security Attack +1 and DP boosts to survive those extra checks. The Examon ACE itself has a veritable smorgasbord of keyword abilities. Raid and Piercing is a classic combination that punches the biggest unsuspended Digimon on the opponent’s side so nothing is safe from this monster. With the inherited effect of Groundramon you get to trash even more security, and with Breakdramon you can turn deleting one Digimon in combat into deleting two Digimon.
The Slayerdramon side of the inherited effects plays into the Blocker and Evade keywords that Examon ACE has. Evade will protect Examon ACE if it would be deleted, and Slayerdramon’s inherited effect can prevent it from leaving other than by battle. Since Examon ACE can unsuspend itself once on each turn whenever a Digimon is suspended, when you use either Evade or Slayerdramon you can unsuspend Examon ACE so it can be protected using the other effect. This makes it a nightmare to get rid of outside of battle.
The Vortex deck has been steadily gaining more and more tools with each set, and Zephagamon ACE is the cherry on top of the proverbial Liberator sundae. With Vortex and Piercing, Zephagamon ACE is able to punch through an opposing Digimon at the end of turn even on the turn it’s played, and being a surprise 13000DP blocker is a huge body to eat an attacker. Much like Examon ACE, it can unsuspend itself when a Digimon is suspended even when Zephagamon ACE itself suspends to block, and the [On Play] [When Digivolving] effect is great for removing any threat on board. All in all, Zephagamon ACE is a well-rounded defensive and offensive presence that the Vortex deck has desperately needed.
The Invisible ‘Mon
Lastly, Invisimon and Altea form a unique value engine that not only provides a recurrable threat as well as providing information about your opponent’s security stack. Invisimon is one of those rare Digimon that can play itself when checked in security, but it has a delayed timing that plays it at the end of the opponent’s turn so it can’t be interacted with until it’s too late. You then get to de-digivolve 2 an opponent’s Digimon and delete anything with one or fewer sources.
Altea lets you flip the top of your opponent’s security face up by putting a Machine or Cyborg with a play cost of four or less under Invisimon. Then, when you check a face-up security card, you can put the top card of Invisimon’s stack into your security to use its security effect all over again. It’s important to note that you actually have to have a source under Invisimon to trigger this effect, but you can also Mind Link to it with Marvin Jackson to give it a source if you don’t have Altea in play.
Closing Remarks
The BT20 half of Special Booster 2.5 introduces some incredibly powerful cards to build new archetypes and breathe new life into former tournament contenders. These heavy hitters are poised to shake up the metagame with their unique playstyles and raw power. Only time will tell which decks will rise to the top in the English metagame; but if Japanese events are any indication, BT20 is going to have a major impact.
Head here to check out the first part of our review of Special Booster 2.5.
