Have you ever thought that Amazoness Swordswoman's damage reflection was a cool gimmick? Now what if she was an entire archetype and strategy? That's basically what Mikanko is!
Not only are these ladies beautiful, they're terrifyingly potent and they interact with opponent's boards in ways that most decks aren't ready for!
These shrine maidens have finally been released in Masterduel, ready to take advantage of the all too common gigantic multi-negate boards and to abuse the best-of-one format to become an actual meta contender! With Spright, Tearlaments, Runick and Branded effectively castrated with the Masterduel banlist, Kashtira not yet at full power and Purrely summoning their extremely annoying towers monster running rampant in ladder - it is time for Mikanko to shine!
Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
ARCHETYPES, ENGINES AND DECKBUILDING
My version of Mikanko involves 3 supporting engines (Dogmatika, Kaiju, Armory) and of course, the main archetype Mikanko.
Since Nadir Servant was recently brought to 3 and it's ability to search out any ritual card from deck, the DOGMATIKA engine was included in this deck. It is a minimal 6 cards, but is very effective at baiting out interruption and breaking boards. While the multiple N'Tss dumps and Fleurdelis' monster negate clears boards, the Herald of Arclight dumps search for your key Mikanko card, Ohime. By extension, the Extra deck is full of cards that benefit from being sent to the GY (N'Tss -> target destroy, Herald -> searches ritual, Garura -> draw 1, Ferrijit -> Draw 1 shuffle back, Wind Pegasus -> target shuffle, Aggregator -> target negate). Also, Almiraj + Secure Gardna is there to summon from a normal summon, turning on your Dogmatika monster's summoning cost/conditions.
The KAIJU cards benefit the Mikanko strategy greatly, since their gigantic bodies allow for the maximum damage reflection to be inflicted on your opponent! Their "unfair" ability to remove problematic monsters on the opponent's field is also particularly potent, especially against decks like Purrely! 5 cards make up this tiny engine (3 Kaijus + 2 Lava Golem).
The ARMORY engine isn't really an archetype. The 3 "Hidden Armory" cards search out every equip spell in the deck and by extension, most Mikanko cards (through the equip Arabesque). It also searches out Doubled-Edged Sword, arguably the deck's strongest equip spell since it essentially doubles battle damage taken by your opponent.
The MIKANKO cards naturally make up the majority of this deck. All these ladies centre around Ohime, which searches every card in the archetype for a discard. The equip spells are a toolbox of various effects which help enable your OTK. Ha-Re searches out Mikanko spells, Hu-Li searches out Mikanko traps and Ni-Ni serves as interruption during your opponent's turn.
Less answers to Maxx "C" (Ash has been brought to 1 just as a target for Crossout) have been included in this deck since it doesn't really matter how much cards your opponent draws - you're gonna OTK your opponent in one turn anyways.
42 cards are used in this strategy so that bricks/garnets are drawn less. If any bricks/garnets are drawn, it can be discarded to the GY with Ohime or it can be shuffled back with Ferrijit's effect.
Other cards to think about for this deck is Pot of Extravagance for hand advantage (at the risk of banishing important Extra Deck cards) and Small World (You can search for Ohime or a Kaiju).
COMBOS AND GAMEPLAN
Mikanko doesn't really "combo." This deck is basically Numeron hiding under the guise of a combo as you search out specific OTK tools.
Mikanko is what I'd like to term a "toolbox" deck - a strategy where the pilot reaches into their "toolbox" for the appropriate response to the situation. Similar strategies are Sky Strikers (Link-1 Striker toolbox coupled with maindeck spell toolbox) and rank 4 decks (rank 4 XYZ toolbox).
Mikanko gameplay involves blinding second -> clearing opponent's board and baiting interruption -> searching appropriate OTK tools -> Mikanko girls OTK.
There are no clear-cut combos, but here are the deck's basic combos if you have certain cards:
Nadir Servant = Draw 1-2 (Or Destroy 1-2), Search Ohime.
- Activate Nadir Servant sending Garura (Or N'tss if you want to destroy something on-field) to search for Maximus (Search for Ecclessia if you already have Maximus).
- Draw 1 with Garura (Or target destroy 1 if you sent N'tss).
- Special summon Maximus by banishing Garura in the GY.
- Activate Maximus' effect by sending Herald of Arc Light and Ferrijit to the GY (Or N'tss if you want to destroy another card).
- CL1 Herald to search Ohime, CL2 Ferrijit to Draw 1 shuffle back 1.
Ohime + Hidden Armory + Level 3 Mikanko = Ohime + Level 3 Mikanko with Mayowashidori's target bounce + OTK for 8000+ DMG.
- Activate Hidden Armory to search for Double-Edged Sword.
- Activate Ohime to search for Mikanko Ceremony and discard your Level 3 Mikanko.
- Activate Mikanko Ceremony to summon Ohime from hand.
- Banish Mikanko Ceremony from the GY to send Mikaniko Dance - Mayowashidori to the GY.
- Activate Mayowashidori in the GY to summon your Level 3 Mikanko in the GY.
- Equip Double-Edged Sword to your opponent's biggest monster.
- Attack with Ohime and Level 3 Mikanko for 8000+ reflection damage! If your opponent survives, Mayowashidori returns a card to hand.
Most of the time, whether you win or lose the coinflip, you'll be blinding second and OTKing.
If for some weird reason your opponent forces you to go first, your end board would be to have Ni-Ni for her quick effect steal effect and a set Mikanko Rivalry for it's steal effect as well (equip your opponent's monster with Reflection Rondo). If you have Hu-Li on board while every Mikanko is equipped with cards, you your Mikanko cards are untargetable, indestructible, and immune to battle destruction. During battle, they reflect damage, forcing your opponent to not attack them. Usually, this end board allows the Mikanko pilot to survive to turn 3 for an OTK crackback.
GENERAL TIPS
- While this deck is very strong against monster-based strategies, decks that rely on Spells/Traps or have multi-layered interruption in the GY, Hand and Banished Pile are difficult to deal with using Mikanko. Nadir Servant with multiple N'tss activations to destroy problematic spells/traps coupled with Dogmatika monsters are usually enough to plow through backrow decks.
- Mikanko can take the "Maxx C challenge" very comfortably. It doesn't matter how much your opponent draws since you're going to OTK them in one turn anyways!
- Let your opponent full combo when you have the appropriate kaijus and blind second cards in-hand. The more they invest in making their crazy board, the more they lose once you smash through it!
- You can bounce your kaiju back to your hand with Mikanko Water Arabesque.
- If you hard-draw into a garnet (like Reflection Rondo, the target for Mikanko Rivalry), you can shuffle it back in the deck with Ferrijit!
- Don't worry if you don't OTK your opponent immediately - in a simplified gamestate (which is often the case because this deck smashes boards) the interruptions of Ni-Ni's steal, Mikanko Rivalry's steal and the towers-like immunity of the Mikanko ladies can still win you the game!
Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
CONCLUDING COMMENTARY
As an aggro player, I'm delighted everytime a OTK-style deck is meta. Not only that, the cards are beautiful, and I loooove waifu archetypes! Not only that, my favourite cards like the Dogmatika Engine and Kaiju monsters are ideal to use in the deck. With those factors, I haaaaad to pull these ladies from the latest Masterduel pack.
In Masterduel's best-of-1 format, OTK decks have a distinct advantage compared to TCG's best-of-3 format since players cannot side in hard counters and change their playstyle. This means that you can CHEESE out wins consistently towards opponents who are consistently not ready to face kaijus, boardbreakers and untargetable, indestructible, battle-immune shrine maidens!
With Tearlaments, Spright, Runick and Branded weakened, Kashtira not at full power and Purrely common on ladder, it is time for Mikanko to shine on Masterduel Ladder!
GLHF Duelists!
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