Lightning Overdrive (LIOV) is right around the corner and it will bring us some much-awaited cards such as Diviner of the Heralds, Scrap Raptor, and Mu-Beta. However, it also comes with really interesting cards for the @Ignister deck. With a couple of cards that bring consistency and compactness to make room for more tech cards, let's find out if they can make some noise in the TCG scene. Let's take a tour through Ai's Cyberse World!
OG @Ignister Crew
The Three-Ofs
There are two great main deck @Ignister monsters. Pikari is one of them. Being able to add an A.I. spell/trap makes this card really important for the strategy. Usually this will fetch the field spell Ignister A.I.Land, but there will be better options soon. This will become magnified when we get to the new spell that the deck gets in LIOV! Don't sleep on Pikari's level change ability, either!
Achichi comes in as our second card - at par with Pikari. They are interchangeable. This fiery one will fetch you any level 4 or lower @Ignister monster from the deck to hand. Whichever one you're missing, you can just get it with this guy. Usually what you fetch will be Pikari, since this deck has a ton of 1-card combos. If you have enough already, then you can just fetch your follow up!
The One-Ofs
While the 2 guys above are definite three-ofs, Doyon can pass as a one-of. Being able to add both a monster and a spell/trap from the grave back to hand (albeit in two scenarios) is extremely useful. Those are definitely two pretty neat effects. However, you do NOT want to see this card in your opening hand with nothing else to play with. You'd much rather have Pikari and Achichi.
Bururu is an important piece of the puzzle for the @Ignister strategy. Being a tuner AND able to send any @Ignister monster from the deck to grave is really useful! This is akin to its cyberse brothers, Salamangreats. It also has some similarity with Fansies, which also happens to be a wind monster!
All that aside, Bururu can dump a combo piece to the grave. You can just revive THAT with your handy-dandy Splash Mage! Granted, Splash Mage will leave that monster's effects negated, but there's a workaround! Bururu has a second effect when used for a synchro summon, where you basically get to summon the other material back from the grave! The game-changer here, is the fact that Bururu doesn't negate that monster! Let's say you dump Doyon, revive it with Splash, synch with Bururu, then summon it back with Bururu and there you have it! You can now use Doyon's effect.
Situationals
Hiyari and Doshin are more of a situational pick. They are free bodies, but require somewhat of a setup. Both don't do anything on their own and feel like win-more cards. They will, however, help you push through if you get interrupted!
Gatchiri is one of your "protection cards". You can send this to the grave to protect your The Arrival Cyberse @Ignister or Firewall Dragon Darkfluid. This pretty much makes sure that they survive a turn and help you set up your OTK the next turn!
The New Fuel
This card is revolutionary for this deck. Dark Infant @Ignister functions similarly to Balelynx and Striker Dragon in that it's a link-1 that searches a field spell. The difference is, the @Ignister field spell does a heck of a lot of things, due to it being not once per turn!
When A.I. First Met You is the other new card that will come out in LIOV. This is a ROTA-like spell for the @Ignister strategy that just requires you to reveal a Cyberse monster with 2300 attack from the hand/extra deck. That gets you a monster of the same attribute! Pikari will be able to grab this instead of the field spell, since that will be searched by Infant now! That means more free extension and more explosive combos!
Danmari is the other "protection card" for the @Ignister strategy. It has a quick-effect in the graveyard where it can banish itself to negate a face-up card the opponent controls. This is really good! It feels like Tri-brigade Oath or Magician Navigation - only in monster form.
While this is already a very versatile card, it gains even more value if you get to set up your The Arrival Cyberse! This link-6 beast of a monster is unaffected by card effects. It effectively only has 2 weaknesses - destruction by battle or getting tributed for cost. That being said, when Arrival is summoned with 4 or 5 monsters, in the current meta, the only outs will be monsters with naturally high attack or those that GAIN attack. Accesscode Talker and Borrelsword come to mind. Danmari will deal with both of these - something that most people would not even see coming!
@Ignister's Stromberg - but better
Ignister A.I.Land has been out for quite a while already, and it's an amazing card. @Ignister strategies have more often than not plugged 3 of these and 1 Terraforming to their decks. However, with the release of Infant, you can cut this down to 1 to make your deck more compact! You can opt for 2 for follow-up, or some niche scenarios, but you get the point! Being able to search this card is amazing for the deck, as it allows Pikari to grab a different spell. Being able to special summon monsters from the hand that only has a "once-per-attribute" restriction is absurd, but an absurdity that is much needed for a deck such as this.
The @Ignister Set-up
The Arrival Cyberse @Ignister
The Arrival Cyberse is the ONLY link-6 monster in the game as of writing. Most decks will have trouble even comprehending the thought of trying to go for a link-6 monster. The @Ignister deck, however, has no problem getting to it. A singular Pikari / Achichi / Cynet Mining / When A.I. First Met You will get you to this (plus Danmari in the grave) and you would've broken no sweat in doing so. Having a 4-5 thousand attack monster that is unaffected by card effects, with one protection to back it up - Arrival is surviving 90% of the time. This will allow you to use its secondary effect to destroy a monster and summon a token to its zone! You almost always end with follow-up, too, so in turn 3 you're more than likely winning by delivering the killing blow with ease.
Firewall Dragon Darkfluid
Firewall Dragon Darkfluid is another route that can be taken by the @Ignister strategy. Having 2 monster negates (and protection from either of the previously mentioned choices) is already going to be a pain for most decks. In addition to that, a combo line utilizes Mathmech Alembertian. This allows you to search a level 4 monster from deck to hand - which could be a hand trap. You could get Retaliating "C" to combat Shaddolls. Skull Meister to help stop the opponent. OR you could get Gravekeeper's Commandant to then search Necrovalley. And we know that stops a myriad of combo decks right on their tracks!
Topologic Bomber Dragon
A literal blast from the past - Topologic Bomber Dragon makes a comeback with @Ignisters. With the combination of the quick-play A.I.dle Reborn to trigger Bomber and the Dingirsu-like protection from Light Dragon @Ignister, Bomber can nuke the board while saving yours. Light Dragon's protection isn't once per turn either! This means that if you get to leave Infant on the board while having Linguriboh in the graveyard, you can have two Raigeki's! This is already at par with what Prank-kids usually end on, interaction-wise! And don't sleep on the follow-up of the deck, either. It IS a Cyberse deck, after all!
Things to Note
The @Ignister strategy does not come without restrictions. Transcode Talker is used in most, if not all, of the combo lines. This card, while amazing in what it does, has a caveat. It has a restriction to only special summoning Cyberse monsters during the ENTIRE turn. A surprisingly large amount of people miss this, and it's worthy to mention here.
When A.I. First Met You is a ridiculously good card for the @Ignister strategy. It does, however, also contain a restriction. You're going to be locked to Cyberse monster effects for the duration of the turn AFTER you've resolved it. In addition to that, you also get burned for 2300 damage if you didn't summon the monster you revealed. It would be wise to keep this in mind, especially for tournaments with strict time rules!
Ah, yes - the big rocky boy. Nibiru is the bane of a lot of decks, and @Ignister is not an exception. The universal counter - Crossout Designator, still isn't here in the TCG. It's dangerous out there, be wary of the falling meteors!
Tech Options
I've already mentioned Necrovalley above, and I think most of us know how powerfully oppressive this card is. But you must proceed with caution if you want to run the Commandant-Necrovally package. Remember that several cards lock you out from activating non-cyberse monster effects for the rest of the turn. To aid this, you can play some Mathmech monsters that summon themselves for free (such as Mathmech Addition).
Nibiru is the biggest problem for the deck, and we have very limited answers. Exchange is a pretty neat way to deal with that! If you play a trap-heavy version, you can just set most and leave one card you don't mind being transferred to your opponent. Normal summon a monster and proceed to activate this card! (This would work best when normal summoning Pikari and setting the When A.I. First Met You). Other options: Triple Tactics Talent / Prohibition.
Firewall Dragon is another option! Having recently been unbanned, we have this new toy added to our arsenal. Errata'd and all, this card is still a banger. A free summon and a quick-effect bounce is nothing to scoff at!
Conclusion
Any deck that hard loses to Nibiru feels like a Rogue deck. That's the category that this deck will likely fall under. It might be too early to say, since the deck will have 16+ spots to fill with hand traps or real traps. It could very easily contend - especially if we get Heatsoul.
Having Infant makes the deck consistent and compact. Adding in When A.I. Met You is the icing on the cake.. Using a 1-card combo to end on two semi-raigeki's, 4 cards in hand, and follow-ups is really good! Whether or not that's enough to stomp meta decks, I guess we'll have to wait to find out. But after LIOV, this deck will definitely become 1000x more fun to play!
