A Mildly Spicy Shine || 7th Place Top Cut Regional
HOLY CRAP! That was a long day, but I clawed my way to 7th so now I can show off that there is indeed some brewing space left in ShineGreymon! I'm just going to say it, Hot Take, Agu X isn't that good!
I also ran this list at three Gen Con events, including that Bo1 in person event, the less said about that the better, and I took 35th in the July PPG regional with most of this list, there was no Rize X at the time and it hurt.
Full Deck list at
https://digimoncard.app/deckbuilder/user/7phaHEe84sYRF5RN9YTVZEokAzy1/deck/9c4a55c0-e7a0-47b6-9d47-16eb8bd5d484
With that out of the way, let’s get into my goofy card choices!
First up, obviously is Biyomon!
Personally, I really don’t get why Red Shine players have been sleeping on BT11 Biyomon. Her search is the same as BT13 Kudamon, save that she hits Red vaccine digimon, not Yellow. In my list this means she only bottom decks Option cards and Ruin Mode. Sure in Red we have BT9 Agumon X but his search bottom decks tamers, only has one potential hit instead of 2, no inheritable effect, and he can’t grab Rookies. I don’t think all those downsides are offset by the two advantages he brings to the table. Namely, that he can evolve on an existing Agumon to draw a card and get the search, and that he can go into any of the GeoGreymons for only 2 memory. Agu X literally needs you to have an Agumon in play in order to gain you card advantage, while Biyomon can go straight to the field, and still potentially net you two cards.
Additionally, evolving her into a GeoGreymon and netting yourself a Marcus, either from security or hand is arguably one of the best plays my version of Shine has when going first, especially in the mirror. You get to establish in raising, dig for pieces, even for rookies if you’re otherwise missing them, establish a tamer on board, and punish your opponent when they push out. See unlike Agu X Biyo get’s an inheritable and it’s DAMN GOOD, especially in the mirror match. None of Shine’s DP reduction effects are optional, so leaving a GeoGreymon up with a Biyomon in sources after playing out a free tamer almost guarantees her [On Deletion] will trigger, often stealing turn by gaining me a memory the opponent didn’t think about.
And as a parting shot, my fellow Red Shine players, I should make sure you realize something our Yellow counterparts already realized with Kudamon, BT12 Marcus doesn’t care if the Digimon whose evolving is on archetype, he only cares if it’s legal to evolve into a Yellow Greymon, so you can use him to get Biyo into Geo, and yes I love saying that phrase!
ShineGreymons
So my Shine ratio is a bit different, and this is partially for the mirror match, and partially because I find that Shine is weakest when it bursts off, but doesn’t win that turn. BT12 ShineGreymon is unquestionably the most aggressive Level 6 the deck can field and in many ways it’s best win condition. Burst Mode may finish games, but only because BT12 Shine softens security and let’s a Marcus clear 2 security in a swing. However, Shine doesn’t often do much early tick damage, so the Burst turn often leaves the opponent with no security, and us with a tapped out board, give or take a ShineGreymon since some players try to avoid swinging with Burst Mode for anything short of lethal.
BT13 Shine can help alleviate that, as we can either keep the Blocker Marcus up to provide a block, functionally a recovery effect, and throw around potentially -9k that can be split over two bodies. BT13 Shine also lets us use our knowledge of our own security to gamble on Final Shining Burst, Sunrise Buster, and BT13 Marcus to punish an opponent who swings without really thinking about how much DP reduction we can throw around if Security is in out favor. And besides that, in a pinch BT13 shine is another copy of BT13 Agumon, enabling us to turn BT13 Marcus into a body for lethal check, or even just memory recovery and board clearing.
I thought about BT2 Shine personally, but I don’t think he’s as useful in the red base. His effect is cute and because his effect suspends tamers and immediately starts throwing around DP reductions around as part of the same effect he creates some… fun corner cases. See, the tamer suspensions and DP reductions happen simultaneously. So all your Marcuses… Marci? trigger, but before any of them get a chance to activate game Rules check to see if any Digimon need to be removed from play for having 0 DP, which would trigger thier [On Deletion] effects, which are now the last effects into the stack, so they have to happen first. Meaning your opponent needs to resolve them, including effects that put new bodies into play, before you start dealing with all the Marcus triggers. See where I’m going? They have to commit thier bodies to the board, draw 1 trash 1 effects, all of that, THEN you get to give things -3k and gain a memory for those BT13 Marcuses, get any inheritables that triggered, and don’t forget free evolutions, and thier effects, off of BT12 Marcuses.
It’s brutal, but I tend to find it a bit win more as opposed to actively helpful. But it does make Ruin Mode a bit more consistent.
Which reminds me, Ruin Mode! Sure, my Red Memory Boosts! and Biyomon both bottom deck him, but there’s also a 1 in 45 chance he’s in security and I’ll never get any use out of him. But, when he matters, he matters a lot. Personally, I use him to shut down Belphemon, mirror match Marcuses, Bloom Hydra, and to ensure that I can finish the game. Generally, I try to avoid evoing into him and swinging with him in the same turn as most decks suffer more from two turns of -5k than one turn of -10k. Additionally it’s simpler to guarantee I can get the full benefit out of his [End of Attack] effect, namely the egg hatching, as I’d much prefer to hatch an egg and know that I have a rookie in hand so I know I’ll have a body to swing with next turn. Also, I swear folks just forget that the first part of his [End of Attack] effect is “Delete this Digimon AND 1 OF YOUR OPPONENT’S DIGIMON” because they’re always concerned about killing him and incurring the -10k.
While I often find myself wishing I had a 3rd Burst Mode, I have never wanted to lose my 1 Ruin Mode.
Options!
I did talk about this in the video a bit, but to flesh it out more, I don’t like Sunrise Buster. First of all because it’s restricted once your opponent has seen it, they now know it’s been removed as a going concern for this round. Best case it’s a pretty good removal card that will cost 4 and maybe pop a big threat and a small one if you played out BT13 Marcus. But out of security, it’s a gamble if it will be useful enough to save you, and honestly, the deck simply works the second it has one of each Marcus in play, more than that is great, but not necessary. I still think it’s better in a list where you’re running some other tamers, heck come BT14, assuming we don’t get beaten into the ground by the B&R tomorrow, I’ll probably be running Buster.
But until then, I am sticking with Options that I know will save me in security, because frankly, an option in security is almost always better than a big Digimon. Sure Ruin Mode in security kills almost anything, but it doesn’t stop thier next swing. But Final Shining Burst or Shining Blast both have the potential to clear multiple threats, or leave other so weakened swinging with them is a death sentence. Heck, Final Shining burst can accidentally kill a BloomLordmon by dropping -12k on it, and playing a Marcus who gives the suspended Rookie or Champ pushing BloomLord to 14k -3k causing both to pop. Sadly I couldn’t find space for a Shining Blast, but I’m still tweaking. Oh, and lest I forget the most important part of Final Shining Burst, the DP reduction lasts until the end of you Opponent’s turn, and it’s the only DP reduction effect in the deck that does.
Lastly, and certainly not least, Heaven’s Judgement. I simply do not understand NOT running this card. Out of security it’s a simple -12k which is good, but not amazing. However, when used directly, provided you have ANY Digimon on board, aside from Biyomon, Heaven’s Judgement gives -6k three times that can be dropped all together, spread out, what ever. Heck, if you have a rookie and Ruin Mode is 24K! Though that is a bit win more. However, like Final Shining Burst unless the opponent has seen my entire list, they have no real way of knowing if they’ve really seen all my copies.
“Sure she Final Shining Bursted away one big stack, but there could be another one in security”
Your opponent will never have that doubt if the only option you run is Sunrise Buster.
Conclusion
Yeah it’s an essay now bitch! (The secret is it always was)
While Shine is a well walked archetype, this deck has plenty of room to brew! Sure it’s a popular deck, at least partially because it can be built from only 2 sets, give or take some card choices and eggs if you’re going Red, but this is neither a Tier 0 deck, nor a Solved deck. Heck, the only time it hit the 60% of the topping decks threshold for a Tier 0 was the Online Regional at the end of August by LATAM Events, which had 57 players. But also you should check out some of those lists for ideas, LATAM as a region has issues both with card scarcity and monopolization without the region specific B&R list rules used in some of the regions that play Japanese cards but never had certain promos printed. Some LATAM players have standard Shine lists, but others have to come up with some very silly ideas to make Shine work.
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And of course, Thank you to the amazing support this month from April, Fragile Paper, Pimento, Pinball Witch, and Yalc!
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