BT9_Greymon House Party

⚫?? Dab on 'em Gaiomon ???

Performance

- Store Championship, Silk Road Gaming, 8/13/22: 3-1, 2nd place.

Build Theory

Like most Gaiomon builds, this deck aims to take advantage of great top-end digivolution effects from MetalGreymon (BT8-067), BlackWarGreymon (BT8-070), and Gaiomon (BT9-068) to control the board, force inefficient plays, and ultimately out-value the opponent. Most Gaiomon lists you'll see include a few cards in identical counts:

- 4x Agumon (P-009)

- 4x Agumon (X Antibody) (BT9-008)

- 4x Greymon (X Antibody) (BT9-012)

- 3x BlackWarGreymon (BT8-070)

- 3x Gaiomon (BT9-068)

The remaining 32 slots tend to feature the same sets of cards in various counts, depending on playstyle, resulting in shades or variants. The variant being proposed here is "Gaiomon go brrr," mainly emphasized through:

- 4x Greymon (BT5-010)

- 3x Cool Boy (BT9-092)

- 2x Nokia Shiramine (BT5-092)

- 2x Marcus Damon (BT4-092).

While BT5 Greymon, Cool Boy, and Nokia are generally considered staples of the deck, the counts here are higher than most you'll come upon, in particular the 4-count of Greymon BT5-010. The thinking here is that we can:

~ capture efficiency by playing out in raising (1-cost digivolution)

~ choke our opponent off of 3-cost Nokia or Red Memory Boost plays

~ buff MetalGreymon X to at least 13k (usually higher) for early-game checks

~ consistently provide the DP buff Gaiomon needs to hit 15k for comfortable swings

~ and, most interestingly, take advantage of a meta that wants to hide in raising.

This last point is a fun one to experience, as the likes of Alphamon, GrandisKuwagamon, and WarGreymon X want to build in raising until they're ready to swing. For us, that's great! A free field without threats means we can go up the ladder quickly to get to BlackWarGreymon and delete a tamer (or two). It also baits the opponent to come out of raising early and make their stack vulnerable or risk watching us get to Level 6 without a clear line of response. The metagame is full of decks that aren't running significant counts of removal, don't have a wealth of blockers, and don't interact much in the early game aside from swinging with a level 3 or 4 for chip damage...aka it's safe!

* Cool Boy is bonkers and probably needs to be limited across all formats to two. Until that happens, let it ride! The turbo boost from even one on the board is valuable while netting multiple Cool Boy activations over several turns is back-breaking. Cool Boy, alongside Agumon X, essentially lets us be a little looser in our plays and digivolve choices as we'll have plenty of opportunities to find the cards we need to stay on schedule.

* Marcus Damon can feel like a weird choice here when compared with Tai Kamiya (BT1-085) for the one-turn kill (OTK) potential and Hiro Amanokawa (BT8-086) for safe checks into security. I think all three tamers can work here depending on playstyle and approach (particularly Greymon counts). For me, the extra memory gained from one Marcus Damon activation adds flexibility in being able to extend turns and have fun with memory numbers. I'd rather have more memory to make another play or two and respond to the board state than check extra security or gain 2k for the turn. It might not be right, but I'm having fun with it so far! Again, I don't think there's a wrong choice, I just lean towards the memory-setting tamer that helps us continue to build upwards as quickly as possible.

* Nokia Shiramine is bae. Any Greymon or Garurumon tribal player can attest to how easily Nokia can return value by getting an extra body on board and reducing your digivolution costs by one. Seeing her in security is great; even playing her without an Agumon still enables immediate tempo gain. 

Questions to Consider

Where's your Omnimon X Anti-body (BT5-111)?!

Similar to BlackWarGreymon builds from the BT8 and EX2 formats, this deck doesn't necessarily need to go any taller to maintain control, especially since the [Dragonkin] typing of BlackWarGreymon and Gaiomon allows to attack over unsuspended Digimon (both Omnimon lose that). While Omnimon X Anti-body presents ways to setup lethal and control the opponent, I think Gaia Force ZERO (BT9-095) does many of the same things and more in this build - its security effect will enable comebacks (Alpha, Grandis, MetalGaruru X), while its main effect not only lets us maintain board control but it also enables our stack to either sneak in an extra check or two, attack a second Digimon, or swing for lethal. It's a souped-up "panic button" that leaves Gaia Force and Dark Gaia Force in the dust while not being reliant on a Level 6 being in play to be viable.

Why are you only playing two memory tamers?

Cool Boy and Nokia at higher counts can be more valuable over a game - since this is a mid-range build, we're most likely to net value from cheaper-costed tamers that are easier to activate multiple times. Especially with the 10 level 3-5 X Antibody Digimon, 4 1-cost Greymon (usually), plus MetalGreymon: Alterous Mode, we're getting built up quickly, and Cool Boy and Nokia can aid that a bit quicker than a memory tamer can.

What are the tough matchups or weaknesses?

- High tamer counts or security-focused decks (Blue Hybrid, Security Control, Yellow Hybrid): can keep pace for the most part due to gained efficiency from security (we don't normally OTK).

- Late-game strategies (Beelzmon, Machinedramon): We naturally advance their game state.

- WarGreymon X: It can potentially remove our stack and leave us without a counterattack, depending on how much we've invested in our second stack in raising.

Matchup Notes (ongoing) 

Alphamon: Tricky like it is for everyone. Removing Yuji (4) plus Cool Boy (2) effectively keeps us in the game long enough to potentially navigate any OTK potential.

D-Reaper: Still a free matchup - get your stack above 15k and you're clear.

Gallantmon X: Gaiomon at 13k evades most of their deck's deletion effects. Remove Tai (4) and Cool Boy (2) to remove their tempo, and avoid the OTK with early game pressure.

GrandisKuwagamon: Uhh...get your stack faster than your opponent? This comes down to having a specific stack: BT8 Greymon (Blocker), MetalGrey X post-digivolve (+3k), and Gaiomon. Anything less than 16k is 100% getting mowed down.

Machinedramon: Bad matchup. If we champion rush, their level 5's get us. If we build the stack, Machinedramon can handle it. We need two swings just to have a chance at clearing Machinedramon, only for them to play down another on the next turn. I have no idea how to win this one.

Magnamon X / Armor Rush: Mostly a free matchup - BT8 MetalGreymon di-digivolves an Armor Form (Flamedramon, Managamon, etc.) and deletes the Veemon underneath. Having a level 5 or level 6 with [Blocker] is a challenge for our opponent, with [Blocker] and Greymon X Antibody's inheritable online it's almost impossible for them to overcome.

MetalGarurumon X ("Melga"): For the love of God only pass them one memory. Draw and filter as much as possible to find the blocker inheritable and get it online - this will keep them from multiple level 5 or lower security checks.