The BT7 format has been quite the arduous journey for me. I had some success with Titamon in the previously saturated GabuBond meta of BT6 and wanted to replicate those play patterns and results. I had fallen hard for the Ginkaku crew and was engrossed in the safety I felt sitting behind a Rebelli. All this talk about Eyesmon…this and Eyesmon…that, had me questioning everything I had held sacred for BT6. Granted, I may have been stubbornly clinging to an underdog because I tend to pride myself on trying to leverage play skill of the unknown over the sheer power of entire archetypes. I respect the power but absolutely hate playing the “best deck” in any TCG (It’s a player shortcoming and not a cute quirk). Titamon just wouldn’t efficiently work for me in a field of blue hybrid. Their efficiency is rivaled by many and matched by few to none. After multiple games where my Titamons sat stripped down to the bone and stunned into oblivion, I had to make the choice to give up on my purple champion. Power quietly began to beckon to me…
Attacking with ScatterModes are grossly intoxicating. I’m sure everyone has seen what happens when they die and just replicate onto the board by transforming into Eyesmons. Being on the receiving end is disheartening and if you’re on the aggressing side, it’s close to utopian but in a surprisingly devious way.
“It is not power that corrupts but fear.” Aung San Suu Kyi
The amount of pressure that this package can apply is absolutely devastating and blisteringly fast. This ultimate dies, and not only does it replace itself, it also enables a freakishly high level of card velocity. Most purple decks in the BT7 meta all look eerily familiar because they share the same core:
This core is all about abusing the discard effects on deletion to churn through the rest of the deck in order to find whatever pieces it may need for the current situation. This hinges on ScatterModes actually dying, so the core must include several ways to delete them if they don’t die of their own volition. Being able to morph the “drawback” of discarding into a benefit is a thing of beauty. The speed at which your Jack Raids become live is incredibly quick. The perfect stack will put 3 cards into the trash and at maximum an additional 4 (worst case scenario). Finding an Eyesmon or 2 along the way will lessen the number of cards in trash but increase the amount of pressure on board. For a meager investment of 2 memory, you will be able to take out a security AND have seen 8 cards (2 from evolution and 6 from deletion). This core allows the deck to have many cards that can surround it, but Eyesmon is always the focal point of the deck.
Let’s compare 2 decks that share this core and function similarly but are vastly different. Tyler Cyr was able to rush down a 7-2 record during CoreTCG’s Ultimate cup and I was able to rush down a 6-2 record (after surviving the TCG snap of 2022) in Carta. Both lists are excellent and will just come down to player preference in all honesty, but my list is more of an unseen build.
There are some massive differences between these lists. Tyler’s list stems from the more traditional builds of the rush down plan. I feel that his build has a higher power ceiling while all cylinders are firing but requires Cerberus to do so. There’s another package in his list that is completely exempt from mine:
I believe that lists that are including Analog Youth yet omitting both Cerberus are just incorrect. Analog’s true power comes from his ability to generate memory for “free” simply by using Werewolf Mode on a freshly evolved Cerberus. this memory is in addition to the filtering and likely playing of an Eyesmon and generating a rushing attacker. These Ultimates are incredibly powerful but require a hefty amount of dedication within the deck. Dead or Alive has the hidden text of just ending the opponent’s turn if it’s checked in security. Being able to bring back a werewolf and gain 9 (provided there’s ample fodder for him to eat) is incredibly backbreaking and will likely end the game the following turn. I cannot fault any player enthralled by this level of power.
“Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best.”
The next difference is the choice in Megas. Mastemon is great at ending games in tandem with Win Rate 60%. Being able to go into a Mastemon for 2 memory and discarding a Ginkaku Promote just to have it come back with the on Digivolve ability is quite scary. Being able to destroy 3 security for 2 memory is an absurd deal. The prerequisite for WinRate is already covered with the inclusion of the previous package, thus, the easy fit in this build.
My build is sacrificing some of the power of Tyler’s build, but that tradeoff gives it absolutely brutal efficiency. You will see all the pieces in your deck throughout the course of a game with the caveat being Anubismon. You also only need Anubis against Yellow Hybrid, and you will draw through your entire deck and set up a turn where you attack with multiple “promoted” Eyesmon. IF that does not do them in, going into Anubis, Labra, Eyesmon is another way to gain 3 checks (much like Mastemon into Promote). Against Blue Hybrid, Anubis is able to affect the field even while being striped and stunned with very little lines of interaction aside from just killing you…
You have 8 ways to get rid of your own ScatterModes if they decide to gain jamming while attacking. You can even use Calling From the Darkness, but will be forced to get back only the rookie (assuming this is the beginning of the game and trash is empty) if you want the ScatterMode to activate. RoboSushi gives an excellent explanation of bunch of purple interactions that happen while playing this deck. Check it out here:
There are also more ways to kill memory blockers and it is INDEED necessary. Nidhogg, Purple Boost, and Jack Raid do not like seeing those hateful rookies on the other side of the table. To force that issue, there’s 2 Kinkakumon alongside the full playset of Death Claws. Another bonus of enlisting Kinkaku to aide in your rookie assassinations, is that she is perfectly serviceable to just play if you are going second and do not have either ScatterMode or a boost to limit your opponent’s memory.
This build also enables you to aggressively discard Nidhoggs early and I have often times found myself actually using him as my mega on some boards to take out a hybrid or rookie as well as adding another Eyesmon to the field. Since there is no way to gain “unblockable” memory via tamers (we rely heavily on Purple Memory boost) we need to have more ways to interact with those which try to stop our fun. There is even the throwback of using LadyDevimon’s inheritable to snipe down rookies while she hides under a Nidhogg or Anubis.
Now we must discuss the true reason to play this version of the deck. A full set of Promotes is something I will never back down from. The card is just too good and allows you to kill your opponents from boards where you have any digimon that triggers a discard. Players will generally feel safe if they see 2 or 3 Promotes in trash only to have you sandbag the final copy and kill them from what they thought was a safe and stable position. Quadruple (4) Calling also helps facilitate having multiple rushers early and often, as well as more “copies” of Eyesmon than other purple decks have access to.
Both versions of Eyesmon Rush are incredibly powerful and do insanely unfair things. Tyler’s version has been tried and true and requires a smidge more finesse and precision to operate at peak efficiency. My version is more straightforward and eschews finesse and trickery for brute force. Either method will still yield great results once you are able to execute the fundamental play patterns the decks offer. While it deeply saddens me that upon BT8’s release, Eyesmon will not be a force to be fear, I do wholeheartedly understand and agree with the restriction. Being able to attack security without a care in the world and maintain your board position, sometimes grow, it is absolutely unfair. However, until the restriction is in place, I will continue to smash into security and so should you!
“Our real discoveries come from chaos, from going to the place that looks wrong and stupid and foolish.” Chuck Palahniuk
Dark Confidence: Competitive TCG Analysis 