Adamancipators 2022

Updated for the October Banlist! The only affected cards here were Crystron Halqifibrax and Red Reboot so hopefully i caught every mention of them out of this write-up. :)  

Adamanacipators are in a pristine spot to really take the metagame by storm. They have access to beefy combo lines that can opt out of fearing handtraps to extend to higher limits, aren't hurt by cards such as Droll & Lock Bird or Dimension Shifter, can natively utilize cards like Nibiru for reason beyond just the handtrap utility, have access to crow-on-legs in the form of Raptite, a pseudo-board wipe that steps around both Elf and Tearlament effects in Dragite, and the single best Mystic Mine answer in the format (with added utility in spades to boot) in Gate Blocker. 

The three Adamancipator monsters in addition to Small World (utilizing Nibiru to bridge into any rock monster in the deck) as well as Doki Doki acting as a 1.5 card Adamancipator itself translates to somewhere in the neighborhood of 90% reliability at finding an Adamancipator name to start off combos with. Excavates are comparably reliable at putting additional monsters on the board, including insulating forces such as Koa'ki Meiru Guardian and Gate Blocker as well as extenders like Crystal Dragite, Doki Doki, and Cartorhyn. Let's briefly discuss each inclusion: 

Adamancipators: 
Adamancipator Analyzer : Commonly your normal summon going first or second as well as the primary way into Baronne de Fleur via Adamancipator Risen - Raptite. All Adams share the effect to excavate 5 and summon a level 4 or lower non-tuner Rock monster, of which there are 17 targets in the deck. In a worst case of drawing one tuner and four rocks in your opener, this translates to roughly 95% to find a legal target to summon by this effect. 
Adamancipator Researcher : An easy-enough extender in tandem with any other normal summon of the deck (they're all rock monsters). All of the math for Analyzer applies here as well. 
Adamancipator Seeker : The most nuanced of the main deck Adamancipator names, but a valuable extender nontheless as your combo will invariably send you through Raptite (who all but guarantees an additional body anyway). Maxing out on these names is simply mandatory, and the deck has other tricks for ensuring all 3 are found through the combo regardless.

Extenders: 
Doki Doki : This guy along with any other rock monster (besides Nibiru, including Analyzer or Seeker) equates to an adamancipator name, making it an essential fourth name. Normal Doki Doki send Analyzer search Analyzer is totally reasonable to do, as is send Seeker search Seeker as a way of thinning the deck of a tuner which the main deck Adams cannot summon. 
Cartorhyn the Hidden Gem of the Seafront : The deck's newest inclusion and potentially the most flexible: its hand effect affords you an extra normal summon of any of your rock monsters and its GY effect can come up somewhere in your combo a fair amount of the time. Either way, Cartorhyn is very often providing you at least one free body you wouldn't otherwise have. It being water attribute itself also aids in Small World bridges without Nibiru in order to access any level 4 rock (usually Analyzer). 
Adamancipator Crystal - Dragite : The weakest of the rock extenders, but still valuable for both enabling Seeker as well as being serendipitously useful with Signs (that discussion yet to come). It also finds value in being a Water level 4, meaning it can serve as a clutch Small World bridge in lieu of Nibiru to get to one of the two level 2 Adam names. Draw 1 is also a nice bonus. 
Koa'ki Meiru Supplier : This similarly plays nicely with a lot of the cards in the list, being a free body to summon if any rock monster goes from field to GY as well as a search of Guardian if you so please. Usually this is best utilized on a Raptite summon to thin out the non-tuners from the deck, but that search can also maximize value off of Doki Doki as well as it gives you access to Analyzer off of the Guardian. 
Parallel eXceed : Considerably important card for the deck, honestly, as it provides much-needed extra bodies to achieve the 6-8 bodies needed to attain the endboard. Parallel eXceed also represents a 1.5-card Gallant Granite which itself represents extension into another Adam name. Morever, its wind attribute gives value to Raptite's DD Crow effect as a way of disrupting Tearlament cards playing on your turn—something the deck would only natively obtain from the even less impressive Crystal - Raptite otherwise. You won't always find it, but the one-in-three times you do it'll help. 

The Protection:
Koa'ki Meiru Guardian : while handtraps are mostly gone from the format, extremely powerful threats such as PSY-Framegear Gamma, Nibiru, the Primal Being, Tearlaments Havnis, and the like still threaten this deck, and this similarly can serve as an additional form of interruption on your endboards in a pinch. If not for the advent of spell speed 4 power spells, something like Koa'ki Meiru Wall could be useful—although Runick nonetheless gives us pause—and Koa'ki Meiru Overload may have value as an anti-spright measure as well. Heck, Koa'ki Meiru Sandman could have a place in the sideboard as a way to circumvent the likes of Summon Limit, Summon Limit, or Infinite Impermanence . Guardian just is the most generically applicable as nearly every deck has a monster effect to negate. This spot is more flexible than ever. 
Gate Blocker : This card is nuts. Targeting protection, negation of field spells (the single best option for outing Mystic Mine), and a standalone-answer to Predaplant Dragostapelia all on one card? sign me up. Between a 5 card opener and 20 total excavates (assuming no shuffling is done) there is a 95% chance to see Gate Blocker. Assuming shuffling exactly once, it's still over 90% to find it—and it's not like Mystic Mine is the only vital field spell of the format, either: Runick Fountain, Primeval Planet Perlereino, Boot Sector Launch, and the like all have targets on their backs too. 

The Rest: 
Artifact Scythe : Because no deck in this format isn't doing something unfair, we're Scythe locking people. This shuts down the vast majority of strategies in the format, with only decks like Floo, Eldlich, and Drytron even having a shot at contesting it. Dagda can search it, but also it's accessible off of Small World via Nibiru, the Primal Being as they're both light attribute. So in a pinch, you have that to still ensure it hits the field. 
Nibiru, the Primal Being : As previously discussed, Nibiru forms a Small World bridge that connects with every other monster in the deck save Parallel eXceed. But beyond that, this can still succeed in capping off sloppy Spright boards that didn't respect it as well as the occasional tear board if you've picked up on them burning through most of their tear names. Further, decks such as this one that're taking advantage of its absence won't be fully prepared to handle it either, and those that are may still run into Imperm+Nib devastation. 
Adamancipator Signs : Signs can combo off with any unused Adam name to put exactly the card you want at the moment on the field while also acting as an additional body. Only find this and Adamancipator Crystal - Dragite? Normal Dragite, link into Salamangreat Almiraj, revive Dragite with Signs, stacking Adamancipator Seeker to the top of the deck to then draw off of Dragite's effect. You now have Seeker in hand to special summon. Similar things happen if you say, Doki Doki sending Adamancipator Researcher to summon Seeker: revive the Researcher and then stack your deck to summon exactly the monster you want off the Researcher. Heck, this can be held through your entire combo to then put Gate Blocker or Guardian back on the field freely as well. Also it's not OPT. Heavily considering trimming any of Crystal Dragite, Gate Blocker, Nibiru, or Parallel eXceed to allow for a third copy but as it stands, 2 seems fine. 
Small World : This is perhaps the most flexible spot of the entire deck, really, which is a good thing to see because this card is still nuts. In tandem with Nibiru, you have immediate access to every single rock monster in the deck and Scythe. As previously discussed as well, Cartoryhn and Crystal Dragite also access you to any level 4 or level 2 earth rock monster respectively. 
Infinite Impermanence : Really the only handtrap that still matters. Choosing between this and Dark Ruler No More really just comes down to what you're more fearful of in the meta. The added flexibility of Imperm to answer unfair things happening on your opponent's turn (think the myriad of FTKs enabled by mega tin cards) or in your own standby phase beats outing an entire board in a format where the decks oftentimes just need one card to completely regenerate what was lost to me, especially considering so many are building boards resilient to Dark Ruler exactly. 

The Extra Deck
This certainly has the most variance possible of any of the deck, save possibly the sideboard. We'll start with the most important aspects and trickle down to the flex spots afterward: 
Baronne de Fleur : Simply one of the greatest synchro monsters ever printed. The main crux of the scythe lock employed here as well as a great option for aiding in breaking the board going second via destruction and negation on a single body. Don't think i really need to explain this. 
Adamancipator Risen - Dragite : Another house of a synchro monster that's made all the better in that it can non-target bounce an obscene number of cards off of its excavate effect. Cartorhyn and Crystal Dragite also allow its spell/trap negate to be live, meaning it represents up to 6 cards off your opponent's field per turn. 
Adamancipator Risen - Raptite : A combo lynchpin as it accesses any rock monster in the deck—most importantly Analyzer exactly. Analyzer + Raptite is the most retentive way of making Baronne in the deck—the next best option is having a non-tuner 2 on the field and using one of the other Adam names with this instead. 
Herald of the Arc Light : Access to this in the end board is so much more reliable with Elf and Cartorhyn in the combo tree. Herald not only outs standby Phase Droplet, it also absolutely ruins the tear strategy even if Scythe somehow doesn't go off, so the deck has to address Herald before anything else if they want to make plays. Theoretically, you could put this card down early enough that Havnis doesn't do much against you and any send-from-hand-to-GY handtraps (like Effect Veiler and D.D. Crow) cannot activate, but most often it's the very last thing you do before popping Scythe with Baronne. Consider playing two. 
Gallant Granite : Parallel eXceed and any normal summon that Almiraj can link off of gets you into this, which generally will get you to the end board on its own. Never need more than one, but pulling Researcher off of this is fantastic.
Artifact Dagda : You gotta get to Scythe somehow, and this is the way to do it. Adam cards have enough activations to trigger this comfortably then link them off for Elf. 
Spright Elf : Profoundly unfair card. Discussion around Knightmare Goblin came up and when you look at it and look at Spright Elf, the differences become rather slight rather quickly. Inevitably, it's a link 2 that replenishes one of its materials, meaning you can easily convert a spent scythe or whatever else into a body that also gives generic targeting protection (thus stopping 1 imperm from ruining your scythe lock). No u-link shenanigans but it's real close otherwise. Two of these exist to all but ensure you can get two Adam excavates off on turn 3 as it's incredibly easy to put this on the board.
Salamangreat Almiraj : Your way of easily accessing Parallel eXceed, Koa'ki Meiru Supplier, or Adamancipator Signs lines. It's a stepping stone more than anything, but what else is new for this lil guy. 
Adamancipator Risen - Leonite : Not 100% on this slot yet, but Leonite is neat as a soft-second Raptite activation that can also pick up Signs. Seems pretty weak overall. 
I:P Masquerena : Nearly a staple card already, it's a great piece of the endboard with a lot of distinct payoffs available to it. Here i'm using the Unicorn+Accesscode line and backing it up with Underworld Goddess of the Closed World as a Towers out (looking at The Arrival Cyberse @Ignister exactly), but that Goddess could just as easily be an Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax or even a Borrelsword Dragon to do the same thing. 
Abyss Dweller : Generally you don't need this on your endboard since you have Herald, but with Tear being the deck to beat at this point, it can't hurt to include this, and you have the sideboard space for it. 
Knightmare Unicorn : Non-destruction removal is great, and it's a solid way of climbing up into Accesscode to remove the problem card before the big boy hits the board. Also handy to out exactly mine assuming your opponent has a single monster on board.
Accesscode Talker : Might feel superfluous with Dragite, but sometimes you genuinely can't find a way into Dragite and doming your opponent for 5300 and change is good enough. It also just OTKs alongside Dragite if that's your fancy. The combo line provides Fire, Dark, Light, and Water link fodder for Accesscode which means you're outing most everything the opponent has. 
Underworld Goddess of the Closed World : Sleeper threat when you consider Spright Elf can just make her untargetable and therefore unaffected by any activated effect. She works as a towers out as well as a way of stopping a handful of key GY special summons (like Spright Elf) from taking place. Skill draining the whole board on summon is neat as well. She's contesting with Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax for this slot but for now I'm giving her a go. 

The End Goal of all of this being a Spright Elf pointing at Baronne de Fleur and either Gate Blocker or I:P Masquerena with Herald of the Arc Light on field and Artifact Scythe in the GY. This all but ensures a Scythe lock as Elf prevents Baronne from being targeted (and Gate Blocker protects from all targeting while Elf points to it), Baronne activating in Standby Phase dodges Dark Ruler No More and Ultimate Slayer as outs, and Herald removes the possibility of Forbidden Droplet outing the Scythe lock as well. Any other corner cases should be covered by the dual omni negates provided by Baronne and Herald. Types and attributes also line up such that Super Polymerization with no monsters on your opponent's field has no legal summon target, meaning the combo is nearly unstoppable. 

The Side Deck

This will always be a matter of preparing for what's most common in the room, but here I'm opting for as many strong options for going second as i can manage and that means highly impactful handtraps like Droll & Lock Bird and Dimension Shifter. Shifter genuinely is not much of an issue for your deck and Droll only minimally hurts you should you use it on your own turn (only really stopping Supplier and Small World) and Shifter would only really step on Signs, Elf, and Cartorhyn's reborns. Your opponent is going to be far more hurt by those cards. Beyond that, you've got 3 more Dark Rulers (or Imperms) for the monster-heavy matchups and 3 Cosmic Cyclone for the trap-heavy matchups (since gate blocker will all but shut down Runick Fountain and Mystic Mine decks. 3 Evenly Matched rounds out the sideboard, and it's a strong card vs. practically anything so long as you can blank any potential omnis.