Apex Predator Plants (Predaplant Pure Base)

Apex Predator Plants - a Predaplant Pure Build

By MewlistOfTheRoses

Ever since their inception in the 2016 set Invasion: Vengeance, Predaplants have slowly faded into obscurity with time. However, the new support granted to them in 2022's Dimension Force finally provided an opportunity for these mighty plants to return! Of course, speculative competitive duelists then tried to zombify the deck using Branded/Albaz as a puppeteer rather than trying to optimize pure. This resulted in a failed attempt at bringing them into the mainstream format of the day. I was furious about this as Predaplants had been one of the decks that brought me back into the game after a long hiatus, and seeing them be represented only as a wilted husk was insulting. With a YCS coming up, I decided to try to make Predaplants the best they could be while leveling up my deckbuilding skills. This list is the result of a weeklong bootcamp on deckbuilding philosophy and plenty of tests; with this new knowledge I plan on continuing to iterate upon it as time passes! This deck is not intended to be a final and static product - focusing on different aspects of it such as editing it to be more of an OTK variant comes to mind - but as it is I think this is a solid base to build from.

In terms of its capabilities and style, this deck is a fusion-based combo-oriented midrange deck which uses many different fusion methods to put together a fairly balanced board with light monster control and a few surprise disruptions as well as the occasional omni-negate. It can break boards fairly easily and is fine going either first or second due to its consistency and abundance of options in either case, expanded upon even further by the Side Deck past round 1. With my playstyle I tend to prefer going second, but going first has never seemed to give me any trouble with this list. Predaplant pure can grind a decent amount but this particular build is not made for longer games, though variant builds could likely go on for longer at the cost of having a lower ceiling and less explosive combos. As it is, the deck is also perfectly capable of OTKs with its average to good endboards and can go over the top on its stronger endboards. If tweaked, the deck can combo into an OTK very easily and has enough disruption and floodgate potential to also orient itself more toward control instead if desired.

This deck also tends to be nonlinear in its combo strings to the point where even if you mess up a combo you can still salvage it into a good enough state if you play your cards right and think creatively. If you check the "Sample Combos and Gameplay" section you'll see what I mean. My version of Predaplant pure uses Predator Counters as a supplement to the main combo-focused strategy rather than the focus, but they do play a key role in the control options and endboards this deck has. Speaking of which, average endboards are not usually the most unbreakable out there when playing this deck, but as a midrange deck you can't exactly expect such things. It still functions well enough to take games and the better endboards are plenty strong, but the rather fair power level of the average board is a clear limitation that prevents the deck from being strong enough to break the rogue ceiling and contend with more powerful ones. In any case, I find that this deck is a fun and rewarding one to play while having an aesthetic and style I enjoy very much. Hopefully through this deck overview others can come to appreciate the Predaplants for more than just being a decent Polymerization/Fusion spell search engine or an Arc-V anime feature.

Glossary

• "CbtG" .......................................................... "Called by the Grave"
• "DRNM" ...................................................... "Dark Ruler No More"
• "KoDM" .............................................. "Keeper of Dragon Magic"
• "Predap." ................................................ Shorthand, "Predaplant"
• "SVFD" ....................................."Starving Venom Fusion Dragon"

All card names will be written in full when they are first mentioned in a section, then afterward shortened to either the names above or their archetype name (if applicable) and the first few letters of their names, i.e. "Predaplant Dragostapelia" becomes "Predap. Drago." or "Super Polymerization" becomes "Super Poly."

Key Cards

Now that you know what you're getting into, I present to you the Predaplants and their food-bringing friends. These boys are hungry for information and I'm sure you are too, so let's get into this!

• Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio (35272499)

Probably the most important monster card in the Main Deck, "Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio" is able to pull out any Predaplant monster from the Main Deck while also setting up Chain blocks when sending the correct monster for cost. Getting this monster out as soon as you can is generally a priority, though with sufficiently lucky hands you may not need to do so until later into the combo if at all. While the next card on this list is the most frequent target for "Predap. Ophrys." as a Main Deck summon, sometimes you may find yourself instead bringing out a "Predaplant Sarraceniant" or a "Predaplant Chlamydosundew" for extension.

• Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra (61677004)

This monster is typically the first monster you want to Special Summon from "Predap. Ophrys." during a duel. "Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra" is a soft Garnet, as while you don't want to draw into this card due to the limitations Predaplants have on summoning Main Deck monsters, you may still use this monster for discards as well as in hand or on the field for Fusion Summons. I have included two copies of this card despite the effect being once per duel for the edge cases where you draw into a copy before being able to summon "Predap. Darling." from the Main Deck.

• Predaplant Byblisp (44932065)

"Predaplant Byblisp" is a flexible card used most often as the deck's most beneficial discard option, but can also be placed on the field in a pinch (or by their own effect). This card is both useful to be drawn into in your opening hand and to be searched by other means, but in either case I would advise against immediately summoning "Predap. Byb." if you have other options. The single copy of "Linkuriboh" in the Extra Deck can be used to turn an on-field "Predap. Byb." (not summoned by their own effect) into a free Predaplant monster search and try to undo a brick. If you discard this card for the cost of "Predap. Ophrys." and summon "Predap. Darling." you can use the generally less useful "Predap. Byb." search to Chain block the once-per-duel search of "Predap. Darling." to more safely reach your key Polymerization/Fusion cards.

• Predaplant Ambulomelides (66309175)

"Predaplant Ambulomelides" brings this deck together in such a clean way that I sometimes forget "Predaplant Verte Anaconda" was ever even in the game (but still, R.I.P. sweet prince, all they had to do was add the word 'Predaplant' into your summoning requirements... not that you do a whole ton for the deck now anyhow. I just like snakes.). Easily the most important single card to get out turn 1/2 from the Extra Deck, "Predap. Ambulo." provides not only a generic Predaplant search from the Main Deck, GY, or face-up Extra Deck, but also allows you to Tribute a monster to extend your combo with a freshly summoned Predaplant monster from your Deck (giving further searches if you Tribute "Predap. Byb." or "Predap. Sarr."), including "Predap. Darling."! On top of all that, "Predap. Ambulo." is a Fusion monster which is uniquely helpful for summoning the strongest Predaplant monsters from the Extra Deck. This monster is the "Instant Fusion" target if ever there was one. With a lovely design and many functions, this is easily one of my favorite new additions to the archetype from Dimension Force. I still have to get myself the rarity-upgraded reprint...

• Predaplant Triphyoverutum (79864860)

Being the main boss monster of this deck, "Predaplant Triphyoverutum" is no pushover and has both recurrence and raw strength, not to mention a hunger for Predator Counters and a potent anti-Extra Deck summon negation. If combined with cards such as "Predaplant Chimerafflesia", "Predaplant Dragostapelia", or "Starving Venom Fusion Dragon" after using the effect of "Predaplant Triantis" you are able to get exact lethal damage, if not even more than lethal, in even just a lower-tier endboard. You can often make use of cards such as "Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju" and "Super Polymerization" or "Predap. Trian." and "Predap. Chlamydo." to use your opponent's own monsters to summon this card, too, which helps clear the board further for an OTK or heavy damage! The artwork on this card is one of my favorites here as well so I always love getting at least one of these onto my board if I can. While the more powerful "Starving Venom Predapower Fusion Dragon" is available in this deck as well, I find that that card is both a bit more situationally summonable than this one and comes up less often due to requiring a far more powerful board in the first place, thus being more of an 'overboss' than a 'main boss' if you will.

• Predaplant Bufolicula (70427670)

"Predaplant Bufolicula" takes up the rear in this section but is still plenty important to the deck's overall strategy. Searchable in many ways and usable without needing to summon, "Predap. Bufo." can Fusion Summon (only) DARK monsters just like good ol' "Polymerization" in a deck that already generally summons DARK monsters anyway. If brought into the Extra Deck as a Fusion Material, "Predap. Bufo." can also recur the second Pendulum monster the deck uses, "Predap. Trian.", which is typically sent into the Extra Deck with "Predap. Bufo." to allow for a surprise Chain block typically used after an equally surprising combo. "Predap. Trian." allows you to place Predator Counters onto monsters on either field equal to the number of monsters you control if "Predap. Trian." is used as Fusion Material; those Predator Counters can then be used for further fusions or other effects your Predaplant Extra Deck monsters have.

Miscellaneous Cards

Other notable cards in this deck include Keeper of Dragon Magic (48048590), Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju (28674152), Predapractice (31643613), Predaplant Chlamydosundew (89181134), Predaplant Chimerafflesia (25586143), Predaplant Dragostapelia (69946549), and Garura, Wings of Resonant Life (11765832), and Predaplant Sarraceniant (53819028), though this deck is designed so just about any card is used to help create a consistent and powerful strategy.

To briefly go over these other cards, "Keeper of Dragon Magic" is used as an alternative to "Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra" in hands where you open with either both cards or just the former, allowing you to search for "Instant Fusion" to summon "Predaplant Ambulomelides" and proceed into a combo.

"Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju" is a Kaiju that's here to do for you what Kaiju always do, but there's more! "Radian" has a built-in couple synergies with this deck in particular. The ATK stat on this card is just 2800 compared to "Predaplant Triphyoverutum" having 3000, not to mention "Predaplant Chimerafflesia" being able to either banish or punch over "Radian" with ease. Further, "Super Polymerization" and "Predaprime Fusion" are both very much able to take advantage of the DARK attribute "Radian" has in order to summon a variety of Extra Deck monsters. "Radian" also happens to be Level 7, meaning a "Predap. Chimera." can natively banish "Radian" from your opponent's field after use in case you do not have Predator Counters ready to place. Another more obscure synergy is that since this deck's Pendulum Scales happen to be 0 and 8, on rare occasions you can Pendulum Summon "Radian" for a surprisingly powerful force!

"Predapractice" is one of the deck's main Main Deck extenders in that the spell allows you to push out a card like "Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio" or "Predaplant Sarraceniant" while simultaneously adding a new Predaplant monster to your hand. "Predap. Ophrys." can take advantage of this by immediately sending the searched monster to the GY in case you didn't already have options or in case said options are suboptimal, such as another "Predap. Ophrys." or a "Predaplant Bufolicula".

"Predaplant Chlamydosundew" is a unique case as one of the deck's miscellaneous fusion options, but this card's abilities should not be taken likely. A decently reliable card, this can help you break yourself out of bricks or even clear parts of your opponent's board depending on how well you play. Being able to fuse monsters on either side of the field with Predator Counters is helpful when you are lacking or otherwise wanting to save a copy of "Super Poly." or want to simply extend your plays further during a turn. While you will usually make use of cards such as "Ultra Polymerization" and "Predap. Bufo." to perfrorm the main fusions on your turn, this card can push you over the top in situations where you may need one last fusion to turn things around. "Predap. Chlamydo." is not usually my first choice for fusion during a turn, but certainly one I always take into consideration as a Special Summon from deck or hand, or even as a Normal Summon if the board calls for such a play.

"Predap. Chimera." is a decent mid-boss monster who can punch over a surprisingly high amount of monsters while also boasting a stealthy yet useful banishment effect that can hit most anything with a level if you're smart about keeping track of your Predator Counters. Moreover, "Predap. Chimera." can be used to fuse into stronger monsters while also giving you a free Polymerization/Fusion spell card search during the next Standby Phase or can do so after being sent to the GY by conventional means, which can sometimes save you from a loss and turn a game around.

"Predaplant Dragostapelia" is notable as a stronger mid-boss monster and control option whose effect negates the activated effects of opposing monsters who have Predator Counters. The Quick Effect ability to place a Predator Counter onto one of your opponent's monsters is helpful to carefully time pinpoint negations, but do take note that you can also take advantage of the effect of "Predaplant Triantis" to spread Predator Counters around the board without needing to use "Predap. Drago." at all, causing a blanket negation which you can still exploit with the remaining Quick Effect if your opponent has a way to place or replace a monster on their board with a new one. From there, you can use "Predap. Chimera." if available to banish away any problem monsters on your opponent's field, or use "Predap. Chlamydo." to fuse them away. Also of note is that this monster's Predator Counters also make afflicted monsters Level 1, meaning you can occasionally catch an opponent by surprise and interrupt their setup by locking them out of a variety of Extra Deck (or Ritual) Summons! While not the strongest monster of the bunch at 2700 ATK, "Predap. Drago." can still prove to be a thorn in your opponent's side and summoning more than one of them onto the same board can cause even more trouble as the Quick Effect is only a soft once-per-turn.

"Garura, Wings of Resonant Life" is the deck's main "Super Poly." target when going up against non-DARK decks. While "Mudragon of the Swamp" is useful as well, I find that the card is a bit more niche in usage compared to the more prolific "Garura", whose summoning requirement is just 2 monsters with the same Type and Attribute, but different names. Either way, these cards allow you to use some amazingly powerful removal that often has no way to be avoided while simultaneously granting you the advantage of a potential draw or decent DEF (for "Garura") or decent protection that can also act as disruption (for "Mudragon"). Note that you can use "Garura" as a DARK Fusion monster to go into stronger Extra Deck monsters while giving yourself that easy draw, not unlike "Predap. Ambulo." and "Mudragon" can self-modulate to DARK as needed to do the same, albeit without a subsequent card draw.

"Predap. Sarrac." is a helpful and quietly powerful card with a fully featured Predaplant card search not only including the monsters, but the spells and traps (latter not included in this build) too! You can creatively get this card onto the board to use the search effect for extension the deck might otherwise feel it lacks. This card also has an edge case-usable battle effect, occasionally providing a surprise opportunity to surivive an otherwise lethal blow, then make a comeback with the subsequent search. While in theory "Predap. Sarrac." feels like a slightly more situational "Predaplant Byblisp" during combos due to being rather unfit as a discard option, in reality their uses are slightly different and add texture to the deck's already robust nonlinear combo options. Don't underestimate this card!

The fusion-related spells, those being Instant Fusion (1845204), Ultra Polymerization (76647978), Predaprime Fusion (8148322), and Super Polymerization (48130397), are all useful in their own ways which will become self-evident in the "Sample Combos and Gameplay" section below. Board-breakers and floodgates such as Dark Ruler No More (54693926) and Gozen Match (53334471) are self-evident in their uses as well, though I would like to note that the latter can be used to corral a multi-Attribute deck-using opponent into focusing on just one Attribute, thus making it easier for you to summon "Garura" or "Mudragon" with just their monsters.

Sample Combos and Gameplay

If you're going second and opened with a board-breaker like "Dark Ruler No More" or you're going first and opened with a floodgate like "Gozen Match" you should probably use them when appropriate. Use whatever elements of these sample combos you find useful. You'll likely find many more not listed here as this is not meant to be exhaustive. The longer and less linear combos are written with letters such as (A), (B), and (C), each of which is intended to be a different line depending on what you have in your hand or on the field. They are not meant to be run through sequentially, but some do have substeps written with (i)-(iii) within their parent combo line. Substeps are treated the same as their parent lines, as in they're separate options depending on your choices and are not to be done sequentially. If a line or substep is indicated as the next step after an arrow, such as → (A), that just means to proceed to the line or substep it is directing you to. Do your best to memorize these combos through practice and find your own unique spins on them as you get to know the deck better. If you put the effort in, you'll be reaping what you sow in no time.

• The Unbrick (Keeper of Dragon Magic (48048590) + anything OR Predapractice (31643613) + any Predaplant monster)

This combo is simple because it's not particularly common. If you have a hand that sucks (as in, just 1 monster) but you have a copy of "Keeper of Dragon Magic" and anything OR "Predapractice" and any Predaplant monster, just... well, use them. If you have a hand with zero monsters and none of your cards in hand are "Instant Fusion", just set what Quick-Play and Trap cards you have and hope for the best as any deck would. Still, in this combo chances are you drew into "Called by the Grave" and at least one "DRNM" since they're some of the few cards that don't directly push the strategy forward; the former of those two cards can at least be used to ensure your unbrick sticks even if the opponent attempts to use "Ash Blossom and Joyous Spring" to stop you.

"KoDM" has some obvious best targets and many suboptimal ones. "Predaplant Byblisp" is a great one, though at that point I wouldn't even call the hand a brick, and any spare copies of Spells or Traps are welcome options. "Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra" or "Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju" are fine choices as well since they do little to nothing on their own. "Predaprac.", "Inst. Fusion", or "CbtG" would be terrible options and I'd also not at all consider this hand a brick if you have them. "Predaplant Bufolicula" or "Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio" or "Predaplant Sarraceniant" would likewise be bad ideas. Most other Predaplant monsters are fine to use, and out of all the fusion spells you can throw away, "Predaprime Fusion" is probably the best candidate if necessary. When you use "KoDM" in this sort of case, your most frequent search target is "Inst. Fusion", or if not that then "Ultra Polymerization". "Inst. Fusion" can then be used to go into "Predaplant Ambulomelides" as usual and from there you're basically unbricked since you now have a search as well as the option to turn "KoDM" into any Predaplant monster in the Main Deck.

"Predapractice" summoning any Predaplant monster from your hand pretty much immediately undoes your brick. Even if the Predaplant you're summoning from hand is "Predap. Bufo." or "Predaplant Triantis" or "Predap. Darling.", you can still add a "Predaplant Chlamydosundew", "Predaplant Byblisp", or "Predap. Bufo." to hand (or others depending on what else you have in hand or on board) to Normal Summon or activate as a Pendulum Scale to combo into "Predap. Ambulo." and proceed as usual. What is 'as usual'? You're about to find out.

• Mourning Sun (Instant Fusion (1845204) OR Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio (35272499) + one (preferably good-to-discard) monster OR Keeper of Dragon Magic (48048590) + one aforementioned good discard option OR Predaplant Bufolicula (70427670) + two Predaplant monsters OR Predaplant Chlamydosundew (89181134) + one Predaplant monster)

Probably the most well-worn all-purpose honest-to-goodness opening combo this deck has. It's what you need to learn the basics of in order to play this deck to any effectiveness. Besides (A), these all assume you don't already have "Inst. Fusion" in hand. Most combos thus result in acquiring and using a copy of "Inst. Fusion".

(A) Activate "Inst. Fusion" → Summon "Predap. Ambulo."

(B) Activate "Predaprac." → Special Summon "Predap. Ophrys." if possible →

     (i) "Predaprac.": Search "Predap. Byb." if you Special Summoned "Predap. Ophrys." → "Predap. Ophrys.": Discard "Predap. Byb." for cost → Special Summon "Predap. Darling." → Activate "Predap. Darling." CL1 and "Predap. Byb." CL2 → "Predap. Byb.": search "Predap. Bufo." → "Predap. Darling.": search "Inst. Fusion" → (A)

     (ii) "Predaprac.":Search "Predap. Byb." if you Special Summoned "Predap. Chlamydo." → Activate "Predap. Chlamydo." → send "Predap. Chlamydo." and "Predap. Byb." to Fusion Summon "Predap. Ambulo."

     (iii) "Predaprac.":Search "Predap. Chlamydo." if you Special Summoned any other Predaplant → Normal Summon "Predap. Chlamydo". → Activate "Predap. Chlamydo." → send "Predap. Chlamydo." and the other Predaplant to Fusion Summon "Predap. Ambulo." 

(C) Normal Summon "Predap. Ophrys." → "Predap. Ophrys.": Discard monster for cost → Special Summon "Predap. Darling." → "Predap. Darling.": search "Inst. Fusion" → (A)

      (i) If sent "Predap. Byb.": Activate "Predap. Darling." CL1 and "Predap. Byb." CL2 → "Predap. Byb.": search "Predap. Bufo." → "Predap. Darling.": search "Inst. Fusion" → (A)

(D) Normal Summon "KoDM." → Discard best option for cost → search "Inst. Fusion" → (A)

      (i) If sent "Predap. Byb.": search "Predap. Bufo." (or "Predap. Trian." if you already have the former, or "Predap. Ophrys." if you took this route despite having "Predaprac." in hand)

(E) Activate "Predap. Bufo." as a Pendulum Scale. → Activate "Predap. Bufo." → send the two other Predaplants to Fusion Summon "Predap. Ambulo." →

     (i) If sent "Predap. Byb.": search "Predap. Ophrys." or "Predap. Trian." or "Predap. Sarrac."

     (ii) If your opening hand wasn't particularly good, consider picking up "Predapruning" later.

(F) Normal Summon "Predap. Chlamydo". → Activate "Predap. Chlamydo." → send "Predap. Chlamydo." and the other Predaplant to Fusion Summon "Predap. Ambulo." →

     (i) If sent "Predap. Byb.": search "Predap. Bufo." or "Predap. Ophrys."

Next, (A) or (B) or (E) or (F) → "Predap. Ambulo.": search for "Predap. Bufo." OR "Predaprac." OR "Predap. Sarrac" OR "Predap. Byb." OR "Predap. Ophrys." OR "Predap. Chlamydo." depending on your hand contents.

From here you have many options. If you're needing a fusion ASAP and have not used your Normal Summon, pick "Predap. Chlamydo." or "Predap. Bufo." or "Predap. Ophrys." or "Predap. Sarrac." (I recommend the latter two only if you did not Special Summon them somehow already). If you have used your Normal Summon, pick "Predaprac." or "Predap. Byb." or "Predap. Bufo."

If you opened with a godly hand with both "Predaprac." and "Inst. Fusion" and have a monster, pick "Predap. Ophrys." and use "Predaprac." like in (B), though this time you can afford to pick "Super Poly." or "Ultra Poly." from the "Predap. Darling." you subsequently summon; I suggest "Ultra Poly" for further combo going second, while "Super Poly." may be a better option going first.

• Tending the Garden (Followup from "Mourning Sun")

This set of combos is just a generic way of building a simple midboard or endboard and so I intentionally leave suggestions vague and inconclusive. The options you can take in these combos differ depending on what you had done up until now, so keep your resources committed to memory as these Predaplants come into bloom. Be mindful of your hard once-per-turns, your once-per-duel, the number of fusions you can do now, and how many cards you can afford to discard.

If you have not yet used your Normal Summon: Activate "Predap. Bufo." as Pendulum Scale if possible →

(A) Normal Summon "Predap. Ophrys." → "Predap. Ophrys.": Discard monster for cost →

     (i) Special Summon "Predap. Darling." → search "Super Poly." OR "Ultra Poly." OR "Inst. Fusion" → (D) → (E)

     (ii) Special Summon "Predap. Sarrac." → Activate "Predap. Ambulo." → "Predap. Ambulo.": Tribute "Predap. Sarrac." → end of (B)

(B) Normal Summon "Predap. Sarrac." → Activate "Predap. Ambulo." → "Predap. Ambulo.": Tribute "Predap. Sarrac." →

     (i) "Predap. Ambulo.": Special Summon "Predap. Chlamydo." → (iii)

     (ii) "Predap. Ambulo.": Special Summon "Predap. Ophrys." → (iii)

     (iii) "Predap. Sarrac.": search "Predap. Byb." or "Predaprun." or "Predap. Fusion" or "Predaprac." → (E)

(C) Normal Summon "Predap. Chlamydo." → (E)

(D) If sent "Predap. Byb.": Activate "Predap. Darling." CL1 and "Predap. Byb." CL2 → "Predap. Byb.": search "Predap. Bufo." (or "Predap. Trian." if you already have the former) → "Predap. Darling.": search "Super Poly." OR "Ultra Poly." OR "Inst. Fusion" → end of (A)

(E) Time to fuse! Activate "Predap. Bufo." or "Ultra Poly." or "Predap. Fusion" or "Predap. Chlamydo." → Send appropriate materials (barring "Predap. Ambulo." if you have enough resources for a second fusion) to Fusion Summon "Predaplant Chimerafflesia" → Send appropriate materials to Fusion Summon "Predaplant Dragostapelia" or "Starving Venom Fusion Dragon".

If you have used your Normal Summon: Activate "Predap. Bufo." as Pendulum Scale if possible → Activate "Predap. Ambulo." → "Predap. Ambulo.": Tribute any suitable target (preferably besides self) → Special Summon "Predap. Sarrac." or "Predap. Chlamydo." or "Predap. Darling." ("Predap. Ophrys." is a decent option too, but if you're using that monster to Special Summon "Predap. Darling." you might as well cut out the middleman at this point to save resources for your Fusion Summons).

Time to fuse! Activate "Predap. Bufo." or "Ultra Poly." or "Predap. Fusion" or "Predap. Chlamydo." → Send appropriate materials (barring "Predap. Ambulo." if you have enough resources for a second fusion) to Fusion Summon "Predaplant Chimerafflesia" → Send appropriate materials to Fusion Summon "Predaplant Dragostapelia" or "Starving Venom Fusion Dragon". If you sent "Predap. Sarrac." as part of a fusion: "Predap. Sarrac.": search "Predap. Byb." or "Predaprun." or "Predap. Fusion" or "Predaprac." depending on what you have done earlier in the turn.

Now that you have a nice little board going, you can continue to fuse if you still have any resources to do so. A copy of "Predaplant Triphyoverutum" wouldn't hurt, but usually you'll want to save the last of your fusion resources for the opponent's turn unless you're going for an OTK. If you've at any point added "Predap. Trian." to your hand, activate "Predap. Trian." as a Pendulum Scale. This card can give you something of a surprise attack for use during your opponent's turn, or otherwise bolster your ATK to a point of allowing for OTKs: Predaplant Triantis (17825378) allows you to use your Pendulum Scales as Fusion Materials, meaning even if your monsters are cleared by an opponent's "Raigeki" and the like, you can still use a set "Super Poly." or "Predap. Fusion" to surprise your opponent with a copy of "SVFD", "Predap. Chimera.", or sometimes even "Predap. Triphyo." or "Predap. Drago.", after which you can set Predator Counters carefully on the field to give your opponent some trouble when your can take advantage of them either on a future turn with "Predap. Chimera.", "Predap. Triphyo.", and "Predap. Byb." or immediately with "Predap. Triphyo." or "Predap. Drago." On top of all this, "Predap. Trian." is usually returned to your hand thanks to "Predap. Bufo." What a synergistic pair! If you want to be extra bold and happen to have a lot of resources still available, you may even try summoning "Starving Venom Predapower Fusion Dragon" for a much more potent lock on the board than the simple monster and Extra Deck negation "Predap. Drago." and "Predap. Triphyo." respectively provide. Just be aware of your resources and don't overextend unless you're particularly confident!

• Some additional tips for combos

Going first: Following either combo string, if you have a copy of "Super Poly." or "Gozen" in hand, be sure to set them before you end your turn, though in the case of the former you should keep at least one card in hand to discard for cost later (especially if that card is "Predap. Byb."!), though if you fused away "Predap. Chimera." at some point in the turn you can afford to use your whole hand since you'll search a Polymerization/Fusion card via "Predap. Chimera." in the next Standby Phase to then use. It carries the slight risk of the search being negated or punished somehow, but it is an option. From there, be prepared to hit your opponent where it hurts and use "Super Poly." with precision and prevent them from building a good board!

Going second: Following or during either combo string, if you have a copy of "Super Poly." in hand, feel free to use it on your opponent's monsters to summon "Garura, Wings of Resonant Life" or "Mudragon of the Swamp" or "SVFD" or "Predap. Triphyo." or even "Predap. Drago." -- whatever you can afford, really. Don't be shy to use your own monsters as materials or summon "Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju" to facilitate easier Fusion Summons. Furthermore, if you instead have a copy of "Predap. Fusion" you can still potentially use it if your opponent has an appropriate material you can use as a material for "Predap. Triphyo.". If you can place Predator Counters and have both "Predap. Triphyo." and a Fusion monster with at least 2500 ATK on board, you can place a Predator Counter on the other Fusion monster to give "Predap. Triphyo." enough for an OTK provided you managed to clear your opponent's board. Even if you didn't do so, you can still accumulate lots of damage this way and break their board further through battle.

• A note of confidence

As I've said previously, there are plenty of options and mixups and combos I haven't listed here at all. Consider, for example, Special Summoning "Predap. Sarrac." from "Predap. Ophrys." on a board which already has "Predap. Ambulo.", then use "Predap. Ambulo." to Tribute "Predap. Sarrac." to Special Summon "Predap. Darling." and pick up a Polymerization/Fusion card of your choice, which creates its own Chain block using "Predap. Sarrac." instead of the usual "Predap. Byb." This also works quite cleanly if you happened to have "Predap. Byb." in hand already and used that card as your discard for "Predap. Ophrys." to Special Summon "Predap. Sarrac." as described above. Your options are limited only by your creativity, experimentation, and understanding of this deck's many card combinations. The ones I have listed are just some of the most fundamental combo concepts to understand for this deck before you work on more complicated, lengthy, tricky, or surprising ones on your own. I wish you luck, reader! Love your Plant (and Dragon and Winged Beast and Wyrm and Fiend and Cyberse) friends, and they'll love you back tenfold!

About the Side Deck

I've intentionally left the Side Deck incomplete in this upload so you, the reader, can come up with ideas that suit your personal dueling environment. "Gadarla, the Mystery Dust Kaiju" is useful as a replacement for "Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju" and a "Gozen Match" or something when going up against Floowandereeze, "Infinite Impermanence" is an easy replacement for "Gozen" in terms of trading Trap for Trap when you're facing someone who already only uses one Attribute, plus "Inf. Imp." is just really good in general. "Dark Hole" is a nice helpful board-breaking option when you know you're going second, especially if you happen to go up against someone running a card like "Toadally Awesome", deterring them from using the card themself if they choose to negate it with that card. If they don't negate it, it still has incidental synergy with this deck via the deck's numerous postmortem searches as well as the fact that your Pendulum Scales can still be used to go into a fusion on the subsequently empty board.

The rest of this Side Deck, however, I leave for you to build for yourself.

Discussion and Techs/Alterations

To list out a bunch of experiments I tried while building this deck, I've already attempted to run some cute or expected tech cards like "Millennium-Eyes Restrict" or "Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon", for example. Unfortunately, in testing "M.-E. Restrict" was inconsistent to bring out due to the deck's reliance on "Instant Fusion" while the latter monster was rarely summoned and did little to help boards that the other Fusion Monsters could do better. In earlier builds I also ran "Relinquished Anima" instead of "Linkuriboh" because I prefer the former's design as a fan of "Relinquished", but in practice it seemed that "Linkur." just tended to be more effective as a resource due to opponents playing around the Anima column in general, not to mention the fact that "Linkur." could recur themself for further use off of monsters with Predator Counters if needed. However, I could see "Relin. Anima" to be more worth it if you personally tend to play in a place where people do not frequently play with the Anima column in mind, or if you find that you tend to draw into Kaiju monsters frequently as you can place them in the column for a quick switcheroo. I also just really really like the card. It's just helpful having some kind of option to turn your "Predaplant Byblisp" or a monster with a Predator Counter into a tangible resource beyond just being potential Fusion Materials. It may be worth investigating Extra Deck ratios in general to see if it's feasible to fit more Link Monsters into it for further use.

"Cross-Sheep" is a card I recently considered trying as a tech to see if I could push the deck's nonlinear combo limits even further, though the decklist is tight enough that it's a bit hard to decide what to drop in favor of that card and the use of "Gozen Match" may make the card harder to work with unless I invest in an additional DARK Link Monster of some kind to combo into. If I figure that all out and the changes are good, I'll be sure to update this list and description to account for the new card(s). I'm pretty happy with the lack of generic Extra Deck bosses, so cards like "Knightmare Unicorn" would not be preferred for the sake of keeping the currently unique image this deck has.

I've also considered adding in "Destrudo the Lost Dragon's Frisson" as a DARK monster for fusion with an easy summoning condition whose level is in between the deck's Pendulum Scales. Furthermore, the card would be an easy discard option not only for "Super Polymerization" but also for "Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio" on top of being usable for Fusion Summons from the hand while still retaining value in the GY. This card is somewhat unexplored for this deck but could likely fit in quite well in place of something like the one-of "Predapruning", though my problem is that the deck already tends to spend 1000 to 3000 LP on a turn as-is, meaning one would want to use "Destr. the Lost Drago. Fris." either immediately in their turn before even activating "Inst. Fusion" or after having already used "Inst. Fusion" as well as "Ultra Polymerization" as otherwise one's LP count would be dangerously low at 500. Doing one of these other sequences would at least bring LP down to 1000 or 2500, but such a limitation makes it tough to recommend "Destr. the Lost Drago. Fris." outside of OTK builds of this deck.

At one point early on I tried having "Lonefire Blossom" in the deck as generic Plant support for a level of consistency I assumed the deck did not have. I found that in testing the card did far more harm than good due not only to the card needing to use up my Normal Summon to limit my combo options, but also because as a FIRE monster "Lone. Blossom" did not even have synergy with the Extra Deck as a Fusion Material. While I do understand why many people would make Predaplant lists that included that card (as I had seen a number of people who did while iterating upon my '1.0' list), it seems to be a misguided answer to a problem the deck does not even have in the first place. The card also provides a choke point for the deck where you may be left with a completely empty board if you use your Normal Summon, which I find particularly dangerous. Speaking of people's preferences, I can in earnest see a case for increasing "Predaplant Bufolicula" to 3 copies and lowering "Predaplant Chlamydosundew" to 2 instead of my current reversed ratio. "Predap. Chlamydo." can be used as a Fusion Material alongside other Fusion Materials unlike "Predap. Bufolicula", which I think makes it easier to fix bricky hands. I prefer the ratios this way as in testing they just felt snappier to me, but if you feel otherwise then I don't blame you.

I also once flip-flopped between running 2 "Predaplant Dragostapelia" and 1 "Starving Venom Predapower Fusion Dragon" and just running 3 "Predap. Drago.". I find that the more powerful of the two feels almost winmore sometimes and requires far more of an overextension to get on board while also reducing your mixup options in favor of a much more traditional omni-negate. While the deck does at least have ways to recur or semi-frequently place Predator Counters on either board, doing so after fusing away two Fusion Monsters is not nearly as easy since you will have had to use so many more resources to reach that point. You can also easily OTK with this deck without needing the overwhelming power of the overboss monster. Still, I rarely get out 3 "Predap. Drago." in one duel so I see no problem with the current ratio. 1 or 2 usually get the job done, especially since "Predaplant Ambulomelides" can bring even the Predaplant Fusion Monsters back from the GY and "Predapruning" can Special Summon them back if needed. is also usually a monster summoned when made to go first, so there is little reason to even summon more than a couple in the first place. "Predaprun." is a card that I have not experimented with enough in general in comparison to most of the rest of the deck, so sometimes I wonder if upping it to 2 would be beneficial, and if so, what I would want to reduce in return. Increasing the number of fusion spells the deck has is also something I have considered but I believe the current ratio tends to work well, though running only a core suite of five plus another five monster-based fusion cards likely reduces the deck's grind game.

I am aware that it is possible for this deck to run "Rivalry of Warlords" instead of "Gozen" as the former tends to be a wee bit more powerful as a floodgate and does not hinder the deck's Main Deck play much at all. However, one must note that there are limitations: "Garura, Wings of Resonant Life", "Mudragon of the Swamp", and the two Fusion Dragons become impossible to summon when choosing "Rivalry" over "Gozen" (with even "Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju" sometimes becoming unusable as well). With that glaring issue in play, "Super Poly." would be made far weaker of a removal card in such a build, not to mention the ceiling of the deck being lowered with its overboss being impossible to bring out. Perhaps a version of this deck built upon more conventional removal that avoids the use of any Kaiju or "Super Poly." could afford that as I would imagine it would use far more Plant-based Extra Deck monsters and more grindy Main Deck fusion or GY recursion cards. It's my opinion that at that point the flavor of the deck would, in part, be lost. Don't let that stop you if you want to take it in that direction, though. I'm sure there are good options if you do!

Also consider the possibility of mixing up this base decklist to make a more going-first or going-second oriented version of the deck for potentially higher ceilings. As it is, the untouched Main Deck and Extra Deck are meant to work for either scenario in a midrange style and thus have a mix of cards for either option, but if you wish to have an explosive going-second version or a control-oriented going-first one you do have options.

When making a going-second build "Lightning Storm" replacing "Gozen" is the obvious one, as is putting in some hand traps to keep your opponent's board and GY broken. Feel free to play further with your options by adding in the aforementioned "Relin. Anima" in place of "Linkur." and perhaps a "M.-E. Restrict" or "Guardian Chimera" in place of a "Predap. Drago." Also consider adding a second copy of "Starving Venom Fusion Dragon" to replace the third "Predap. Ambulo." as that card is unlikely to be summoned more than twice when you can OTK easily with this deck. Removing one copy of "Predaplant Triantis" probably wouldn't hurt either, freeing up at least one space for a nice one-of like "Dinowrestler Pankratops". Also take note of the possibility of replacing "Predapru." with "Destr. the Lost Drago. Fris." as described above. Finally, adding in another board breaker in place of "Dark Ruler No More" would probably be helpful since the card prevents you from OTKing at all.

The going-first variety of this deck could likely slot in a small "PSY-Frame Gamma" and "PSY-Frame Driver" package in place of "DRNM", with "PSY-Frame Omega" taking the spot of one of the "Predaplant Triphyoverutum" cards in the Extra Deck. Otherwise three copies of "Inf. Imp." can be flexible in the face of being made to go second or for further disruption on your going-first board. Obviously you can also feel free to put in more floodgates and negations if desired, such as "Rivalry" or "Summon Limit" as you won't be summoning very much after your initial combo string and can get around the limitation by summoning during your opponent's turn using "Super Poly." or "Predaprime Fusion". "Sales Ban" and "Triple Tactics Talent" could also be some nice and spicy additions if you feel they would work particularly well in your personal dueling environment.

When it comes to more generic cards and staples, I don't think this deck generates enough expendable resources to reliably be able to use something like "Forbidden Droplet", hence my inclusion of the more proletarian "DRNM". Still, I could see a case for the former as you at least have "Predap. Byb." as a prime target from the hand. If you're not a fan of "DRNM" being in the Main Deck, though, there's likely some nice generic options to replace it with like "Twin Twisters" or "Triple Tac. Tal.", or even your hand trap of choice. The first of those two cards is particularly helpful for covering the deck's general lack of backrow removal, while I think the second of them is pretty nice as a surprise mixup card to add to the deck's spicy already baked-in mixup options. "Cosmic Cyclone" may also be an option for virtue of "Predap. Byb." remaining the deck's sole direct advantage-generating discard and thus a precious resource, but I hesitate to recommend the card as "Ultra Poly." and "Inst. Fusion" already take so many LP to use. On the topic of advantage, I don't believe there is a Pot card that this deck can run without major drawbacks and so I do not use any of those in this list. At most "Pot of Desires" may be usable in OTK builds but this deck searches so much that it may either be a liability or a waste in comparison to more immediately useful going-second cards. Still, the card may be helpful as negation bait if nothing else.

As for hand traps, I've thought about maybe including a DARK one like "D.D. Crow" for the ability to potentially use them as Fusion Materials too or, in the case of "Crow", an incidental synergy with "Linkur.", but I haven't committed to doing so yet. In regards to other hand traps I personally dislike the monster designs of common ones such as "Ash Blossom and Joyous Spring" or "Chaos Hunter" or "Skull Meister" (note the latter two are DARK), so I refrain from using them myself. "Dark Honest" is another tantalizing possibility to help with OTKs for those who like the design. Still, assuming you don't have the... aesthetic limitations I do (note the lack of any humans; even "Keeper of Dragon Magic" is, in my mind, a fur or an avatar of me as a duelist), then you'll likely have a lot more options you can throw into this deck. "Aromaseraphy Jasmine" and "Sylvan Dancepione" come to mind as examples of such cards (but I digress - they aren't hand traps).

With all that said, if you want to deviate from the pure build and add more things in too, I think that would be awesome. As much as I do like the idea of being one of only a few Predaplant duelists around, I think I'm happier spreading their potential around for others to work with and make their own just as I've made this personal dueling deck myself. Of course I'm not really sure what would synergize with this deck without also taking over it like Branded, but that means I'm sure there's lots of room for testing on that front for those who wish to. Personally I'm satisfied with Predaplants alone, so I'll be sticking with this until something comes along that I somehow feel the need to mix with them.

In Master Duel

Unfortunately, this deck is pretty scuffed in Master Duel even though they finally added the 2022 support. "Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio" is Semi-Limited, "Super Polymerization" is Semi-Limited as well (as is "Gozen Match"), and "Predaplant Verte Anaconda" is temptingly still allowed at Limited. "Garura, Wings of Resonant Life" is a recent TCG-exclusive card and thus has almost no chance of making it into Master Duel any time soon.

My Master Duel version of the deck is meant for OTKs and is thus heavily weighted toward going second. This version of the deck has "Relinquished Anima" instead of "Linkuriboh" in the Extra Deck just in case, as well as a second copy of "Starving Venom Fusion Dragon" to replace one missing "Garura". I may switch "SVFD" to another "Mudragon of the Swamp" instead, but I'm unsure right now. I opted to let the second "CbtG" replace the missing third copy of "Super Poly." To help with breaking boards I have two copies of "Lightning Storm"; I went with that instead of three as "Harpie's Feather Duster" takes care of the third backrow wipe and I still want to be using "Super Poly." removal where/when I can. I reduced the number of "Predaplant Ambulomelides" to 2 in favor of a copy of "Supreme King Dragon Starving Venom" for the sometimes useful piercing effect. I also reduced "Predaplant Dragostapelia" to 1 and added in a "Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon", then put in "Predaplant Ver. Anac." in place of the second missing "Garura" case I need the card in a pinch to go over the top. "Predapruning" and one copy of "Predaplant Triantis" are gone and in their stead I put in the Semi-Limited "Dinowrestler Pankratops" as another useful removal card, a beatstick, or Link Material for "Predap. Ver. Anac." to offset the relative downside of being an non-DARK monster in this deck. I also increased "Predaplant Bufolicula" to 3 to try making up for the missing "Predap. Ophrys." and I added in three copies of "Infinite Impermanence" in place of "Dark Ruler No More" to provide decent negation without also preventing me from accomplishing an OTK in the first place.

I also obviously removed "Gozen Match" as it is not particularly helpful going second and is Semi-Limited in Master Duel, and I added two copies of "Destrudo the Lost Dragon's Frisson" in its place. At one point I had "D.D. Crow" as a generic Level 1 DARK hand trap I enjoy the design of and could use for disruption despite the card being less useful than "Skull Meister" or "Chaos Hunter" in the format (not to mention the obvious "Maxx "C"" which I do not wish to use). In the future I may replace the card with something like "Triple Tactics Talent" but I don't have any copies of it yet, or maybe "Pot of Desires" for consistency and negation bait. I also plan to try introducing "Millennium-Eyes Restrict" when I have the opportunity to craft one. Only having "Ultra Polymerization" and two "Super Poly." feels a little risky compared to the "Predaprime Fusion" and the extra "Super Poly." in this deck, but I find that in an OTK variant you can usually afford to run fewer fusion spells anyway. In Master Duel it's also still possible to run "Predap. Ver. Anac." for an extra fusion if needed, too.

Otherwise, the main Predaplant engine in the deck is nearly identical to this non-Master Duel edition. It seems to work pretty well for the most part, but it definitely feels kneecapped in comparison to the original. I may upload my Master Duel version of this deck here someday if I feel like it, though if I do I'll likely just link it to this one since the combos are mostly the same. I'm hoping "Predap. Ophrys." will be brought to 3 one day. I also hope for many other things I dislike about Master Duel and its banlists, but I digress.

Conclusion

Meow, meow, and another meow. I've reached the description size limit so I think it's a good time to wrap things up. Predaplants mean a lot to me and I'm happy I made what feels like an optimized and consistent deck I can be proud of. If I can update it some more in the future I know I will. Maybe I can upload my Master Duel list as well. I'm hoping the banlist will one day set "Predap. Ophrys." free. Maybe in the TCG "Predaplant Verte Anaconda" will receive an erratum to become less generic and thus able to be removed from the banlist, too, even if that won't do much of note for my build.

That's about it from me, though. Mrrow, now I have to go and feed these Predaplants! They keep telling me "Feed me, Duelist!" even though I've been giving them plenty. Especially the bigger ones. I wonder why they're saying these things...