Reject Humanity, Embrace Furry
Introduction
The Dogmatika lore continues with a new archetype, the Tri-Brigade. A convention of tribes Konami has often grouped together, these members preach their creed as a Combo engine. As players are beginning to finalize their approach to the archetype, I would like to sum up their findings to you!
So without any further delays, I will break down this new crew of bandits, what they do, and what they are capable of.
The Tri-Brigade Tribe
All the main members of the Tri-Brigade has a common effect of cheating out a Link Monster. Otherwise, their secondary effects contribute towards fueling the GY for their primary effects. As such, each individual member could easily overturn the game state with an instant Link Monster.
- Ferrijit The Barren Blossom (summons from hand)
- Rugal the Silver Sheller (quick summon from GY during opponent's turn)
- Shuraig the Ominous Omen (spot removal upon summons)
These are the "boss" monsters of the brigade, and Shuraig is the ideal end-goal monster to summon. Shuraig can banish cards upon one of your triad summons. Rugal can support this effect with his effect as well.
All three members trigger when sent to the GY, easily profiting from an opposing Dogmatika Maximus. Ferrijit can also swap dead draws after touching the GY.
The Tri-Brigade Techniques
- Airborne Assault (Summon from Deck)
- Rendezvous (Power Boost + Protection)
- Revolt (Instant Link Summon!)
Tri-Brigade has no way of directly tutoring their Spell/Trap support within the archetype. As a result, you can expect a higher quality of cards.
Tri-Brigade has other Spells/Traps, but they are quite underwhelming so I chose to avoid discussing them from this article.
Airborne Assault is a simple Emergency Teleport-like card that should always be played. However, restriction of Link Summoning might hurt several variants so you should plan before using it.
Rendezvous is a fantastic way to push for huge damage quickly along with your easy board swarms. It also has a protection effect which is very relevant in a combo discussed later. Your Kit will normally mill this spell if not Nervall.
Revolt is one of Tri-Brigade's strongest card, where you take a cluster of monsters from your GY/Banish to Link Summon! Normally you summon Shuraig to banish one card, but the strength comes from letting your materials re-touch the GY. Kit can Mill another Rendezvous and Nervall can tutor another Tri-Brigade for the following turn!
The Trinary Teammates
Even though cheating out strong Links easily could be exploitable, the current card pool of Beast, Beast-Warriors and Winged Beasts Link Monsters are not very impressive. Aside from the three Leaders, these monsters should be considered.
- Ancient Warrior Oaths - Double Dragon Lords
Double Dragon Lords serves as a quick interruption for this deck, and can also trigger Nervall. They are also a good target to summon under Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds. - Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty
A strong boss monster that fields itself and fellow avian from targeting, Simorgh has solidified itself as a central piece to a Tri-Brigade strategy. Simorgh can tutor Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds, and Nervall while protecting them from possible targeting negations. - Hraesvelgr, the Desperate Doom Eagle
A strong monster with a D.D. Crow effect. This card is essential for Tri-Brigadiers to close up games with its potential 4800 ATK, or just serve as another form of interruption.
Decklists
I will answer your most important question about the archetype: is it splashable?
The answer is yes!
This archetype can be played pure, and along with other Beast archetypes, Winged-Beast archetypes and even Beast-Warrior archetypes!
Pure Tri-Brigade
The pure variant relies on two tricks for their winning condition. Pick and banish threats with summoning Shuraig, or establish the Simorgh + Barrier Statue lock. Have I mentioned how the Barrier Lock works? It only needs one card!
Simorgh + Barrier Statue Lock Combo
To begin this combo, you should have Fraktall or Fire Formation - Tenki in hand. You can also establish this combo with other Tri-Brigade extenders, so determine the right path you take when doing this combo.
- Discard Fraktall to send Nervall to the GY.
- Activate Nervall to add Kit from Deck to Hand.
- Normal Summon Kit.
- Activate Kit's first effect by banishing Fraktall+Nervall, to summon Harpie Conductor. (or any other Link 2 Winged Beast)
- Use Kit and Harpie Conductor to Link Summon Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty. (make sure to summon it to the EMZ!)
- Activate Kit's second effect to send Rendezvous from the deck to the GY.
- During the End Phase, Simorgh will summon Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds to one of Simorgh's arrows.
This Combo will lock the opponent out from Special Summoning any monster that is not WIND. Simorgh grants Barrier anti-targeting protection, and Rendezvous in GY will protect Barrier from destruction once.
This will deny your opponent any strong monsters at least one turn, before you close up the game on your next turn. And the whole combo works without fear of Nibiru!
This combo is easy to perform with a single Fraktall, and every other Tri-Brigade can do so too! Simorgh itself can be cheated out with Tri-Brigade effects, but you should consider sending Rendezvous into the GY somehow too.
Fraktall into Shuraig (or any Link 4) Combo
This combo also starts with a single Fraktall. Isn't he amazing? It is unlikely to perform this combo, but it can come up after your Simorgh Lock has been broken, or the game has slowed to a simplified state.
- Discard Fraktall to send Kit to the GY.
- Activate Kit to send Nervall.
- Activate Nervall to add any Tri-Brigade (we will use Kerass) from Deck to Hand.
- Normal Summon Kerass.
- Activate Kerass's first effect by banishing Fraktall+Kit+Nervall, to summon Rugal. (or any other Link 3)
- Use Kerass and Rugal to Link Summon Shuraig! or Accesscode Talker if you like.
The ability to constantly cheat out strong links allow Tri-Brigades to shine in a simplified game state.
But sometimes even that just isn't enough! Other variants seek to compliment this playstyle and improve it.
Lyrilusc Tri-Brigade
The Tri-Brigade cannot summon quickly enough. Therefore, the board swarming Lyrilusc is here to provide an extra boost to the deck! In addition to the Simorgh Lock, they can provide extra fuel to summon an additional Ancient Warrior Oaths - Double Dragon Lords, or even, a possible Infinite Negation Loop.
Simorgh Infinite Negation Loop Combo
This combo begins with Fraktall and Turquoise Warbler. And the prayer that none of the combo pieces are in your hands.
- Discard Fraktall to send Cobalt Sparrow to the GY
- Special Summon Turquoise Warbler from your hand.
- Activate Turquoise Warbler to Special summon Cobalt Sparrow from the GY.
- Activate Cobalt Sparrow's effect to add Sapphire Swallow from your Deck to Hand.
- Overlay Turquoise Warbler and Cobalt Sparrow to Xyz Summon Recital Starling.
- Activate Recital Starling to detach and add Nervall from Deck to Hand.
- Activate Sapphire Swallow from hand to summon itself and Nervall to the field.
- You should have 2 monsters in GY (Fraktall and Turquoise Warbler), so use Nervall's first effect to summon Ferrijit.
- Using Recital Starling and Sapphire Swallow, Link Summon Union Carrier.
- Using Ferrijit and Nervall, Link Summon Simorgh.
- Activate Nervall to add Kit from Deck to Hand.
- Activate Union Carrier to select and attach Simorgh with Mist Valley Thunderbird.
During the End Phase, Simorgh will summon Mist Valley Apex Avian. Afterwards, Apex Avian will negate a card by bouncing Mist Valley Thunderbird, who will summon itself back onto the field right after. Specifically, Apex Avian will negate every thing you will it to! For even more protection, let's carry on from this combo.
- Normal Summon the Kit you added.
- Using Kit's first effect, banish 2 monsters to summon Ancient Warrior Oaths - Double Dragon Lords.
- Using Kit, Link summon Salamangreat Almiraj.
- Activate Kit's second effect to send Rendezvous from the deck to the GY.
This extended part will protect your field even more through Almiraj and Rendezvous! and Double Dragon Lords for even more interruption!
This combo is more exposed to a possible Nibiru, but you should be able to divert into the normal Simorgh Lock combo after Nibiru crash lands on your board.
This is a video link detailing the possibilities of what Lyrilusc Tri-Brigade can do! I believe this variant will perform the best in TCG due to its resilience.
Zoodiac Tri-Brigade
Ah, Zoodiac again.
The Zoodiac portion will serve to summon Utopic Future Dragon, whereas the Tri-Brigade will deliver its now-signature Simorgh Lock. Due to Zoodiac's stacking tendencies, it is easier to activate Tri-Brigade Revolt now. Zoodiacs can also easy summon a 4-material AA-Zeus if all else fails, making this variant a better choice going second.
Players should remember that after the activation of Airborne Assault, you can no longer Xyz Summon, so do so beforehand!
Zoodiac Utopic Future Combo
This combo starts with Zoodiac Ratpier, or Zoodiac Ramram in GY, but ideally Ratpier. This combo works best if you can establish an additional Simorgh Lock on top!
- Normal Summon Ratpier, and activate Ratpier to send Ramram from deck to GY.
- Using Ratpier, Xyz Summon Chakanine.
- Activate Chakanine to Summon Ramram from the GY.
- Using Chakanine, Xyz Summon Drident.
- Activate Drident (detaching Chakanine) by targeting your own Ramram.
This will activate Ramram to Summon Chakanine from your GY. - Using Drident, Xyz Summon Tigermortar.
- Activate Tigermortar to give your new Chakanine one Xyz material.
- Activate this Chakanine to summon Ramram from your GY.
- Overlay Chakanine and Tigermortar to Utopic Future.
- Overlay Utopic Future to Utopic Future Dragon.
Your end board should be Utopic Future Dragon and one Ramram. Afterwards, you can to extend with either Kerass or Airborne Assault targeting Ramram to perform the Simorgh Lock!
There is both a detailed article and a video concerning the workings of this variant for your viewing pleasure too.
To the Tri-Brigade Turnabouts
As a combo deck, Tri-Brigade suffers from a surprising variety of consistency. As such, focus on stopping their combos at their weakest, especially the conclusion of the Simorgh Lock. Use Ash Blossom on Simorgh, or Infinite Impermance on a Tri-Brigade's summon effect. A well-timed Nibiru can also erase a possible interruption from the opponent!
Against an established Simorgh Lock, do not panic, and just attack the Barrier Statue to remove Rendezvous. On the other hand, you can try Lightning Storm or Evenly Matched to remove layers of protection. Otherwise, just weather out the layers of protection and you can go for a potential kill!
Otherwise, to shut the deck down completely, you can incorporate anti-banish like Imperial Iron Wall/Artifact Lancea, or Skill Drain. Or even Torrential Tribute.
My Treble and Conclusion
I feel like I took three times the effort to write this! That is how much potential I believe the deck to have. With the inclusion of Kit and Rendezvous, this deck has suddenly rocketed into potential usage with a variety of combos. As a result, I can foresee other usage utilizing this archetype alone, and even further support in the nearing future. Melffy Tri-Brigade, anyone?
It is hard to accurately describe the type of archetype it is, but at least it has one consistent lock as a win condition. Currently, I can conclude this is a fun deck to play! I hope to you reading my article, to find solace in the trinity of tribes towards success. And no, the author is not a furry.
