Cards to Pick Up for Rise of the Duelist

Rise of the Duelist is just around the corner, and with it we will see a shift in the metagame as new strategies are introduced to the environment. Let us explore some of the cards that we can already pick up now, before the new format kicks in later this week, to prepare for what's to come.

Let's check out some cards from the Rise Of The Duelists Singles!

#1 – Fire Flint Lady

Fire Flint Lady is an extender for warrior decks, specifically for decks that use Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights. The upcoming Infernoble Knight deck does: either to make Isolde by special summoning itself when you control a warrior monster on the field; or by summoning then tributing itself to summon a level four or lower warrior monster from hand. As an added bonus, that monster cannot be targeted by card effects that turn. "Infernoble Arms - Durendal" can also search for the card and they can even be used together outside Inferoble Knight decks.

Any deck with Isolde and warrior decks in general can play this card. Even HEROs benefit from its inclusion as it gives players a way to have two HERO monsters on the field at the same time. For example, if you normal summon Elemental HERO Stratos while having Fire Flint Lady in your hand, you could add Elemental HERO Shadow Mist to your hand. Then, you can activate Flint's effect to summon itself to the field before tributing it off to summon the Shadow Mist, triggering its effect to add Mask Change to hand. From there you can either continue with standard HERO plays, or you can go the Isolde route to end up on some Crystron Halqifibrax plays as another option.

Fire Flint Lady is a very good card that will see a lot of play this upcoming format. Be sure to pick up the rest of the Infernoble Knight cards from Toon Chaos too!

#2 – Smoke Grenade of the Thief

While still on the topic of Infernoble Knights, Smoke Grenade of the Thief is a card you might want to include. Since the deck heavily relies on equip spell cards, it is a perfect addition. You can load this card into your graveyard via Isolde for example before climbing your way into Infernoble Knight Emperor Charles, which can equip Smoke Grenade from your hand or graveyard to itself during the end phase, triggering its other effect to destroy one card on the field. Once Smoke Grenade is destroyed, you get to look at your opponent's hand and send any card you choose to the graveyard.

So, not only does your opponent lose a card, but you gain knowledge into what other cards remain in their hand. Since you know all the remaining cards, you can predict their next plays and counter them accordingly.

#3 – Fluffal Cards

Going first was something that Fluffals have always struggled with. Rise of the Duelist is introducing a new wave of support for Fluffals that finally allows the deck to go first! One of the new cards is Frightfur Cruel Whale, the new fusion monster that so happens to be a level nine. Summon two of these during your first turn and overlay them into True King of All Calamities to control your opponent's next turn. Pick up Calamities if you do not have it already.

I will go into details about the new Fluffal deck in an upcoming article. However, for the moment, make sure that you have your Fluffal core ready. The deck's most expensive card Frightfur Sabre-Tooth just received a reprint in Toon Chaos. Meanwhile, all the new support is affordable because they are all low-rarity cards. If you want a fun deck that can also win games, this one is for you.

#4 – Cards for and Against Dogmatika

Dogmatika is one of the new themes debuting in Rise of the Duelist. The two most popular versions of the deck are Dogmatika Invoked Shaddoll and Dogmatika Nekroz. In my next article I want to talk about the Dogmatika cards in detail. One card in particular, Dogmatika Maximus will change the way Extra Decks are built. Maximus has a very simple yet powerful effect: both players send two cards from their Extra Deck to the graveyard. The player who uses this effect does it to gain advantage either by sending cards that can search other cards, such as Herald of the Arc Light, El Shaddoll Apkallone, or Titaniklad the Ash Dragon.

If you are playing Dogmatika Nekroz, you'd better have your playset of Herald ready along with Elder Entity N'tss and a Nekroz deck. However, if you are planning to play Dogmatika Invoked Shaddoll, you will need Apkallone, El Shaddoll Winda, and El Shaddoll Construct in addition to the new trap card Shaddoll Schism.

If you think you will need to prepare against Dogmatika Maximus's effect, you can add N'tss and Cyber Dragon Nova to your Extra Deck. N'tss will either force a negation or destroy a monster on the field while Nova triggers when sent to the graveyard, allowing you to summon a machine fusion monster from your Extra Deck. You can either opt for Invoked Mechaba as a decent body with a built-in negation, or you can try a niche pick like Barbaroid, the Ultimate Battle Machine which Dogmatka has some difficulty attacking over, but can still destroy it eventually. One more option is Predaplant Chimerafflesia, which when sent to the graveyard, triggers to add a Polymerization spell card or a Fusion spell card, including one great board-breaking card: Super Polymerization.

#5 – Obedience Schooled

Melffy is one of the cutest themes ever made and it debuts in Rise of the Duelist. The deck revolves around level two beast monsters that trigger their effects when an opponent either normal or special summons a monster, or declares an attack on a Melffy monster. Obedience Schooled gives the deck a big boost by swarming the field with cute little monsters that are then used as materials for the Xyz summon of Melffy of the Forest and Melffy Mommy to give the deck a fighting chance against the other not-so-cute decks. Other complementary cards that would make the deck tick are Rescue Rabbit to start your plays if you do not open Obedience Schooled, and Number 64: Ronin Raccoon Sandayu to act as the deck's beatstick since it lacks on-theme monsters with strong attack.

#6 – Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit

While not really related to the release of Rise of the Duelist, if you do not already have a playset of Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit, you'd better pick it up. The card will see a lot more play this format because of the existence of Numerons. The best play is to activate it once your opponent activates the effect of Numeron Network in order to destroy it and stop the Numeron Xyz monsters from being summoned. Ghost Ogre is also very decent in other matchups, just make sure that you use it in the right moment for maximum effect.

What other cards do you think are important to pick up from other sets? Leave a comment below and tell us what cards you are planning to get or already got in preparation for Rise of the Duelist!

Want to see more cards from the set, check out our ROTD collection!

Source: cardmarket