AUG '24 SPRIGHT LIVE-TWIN (COMBOS IN DESC)

***9/2 UPDATE*** since apollousa has just been banned, i have replaced her with knightmare gryphon in the extra deck. knightmare gryphon can be a great option to link climb into instead of unchained abomination if going first, as it locks your opponent from activating special summoned monsters' effects unless linked. i have also replaced the second carrot with meowmine bc that card is pretty fun and works well. keep in mind any secret passwords and 1x ki-sikil (if running 3x) can be replaced with any other cards, mainly a set of handtraps of your choice.

so im a huge fan of live-twins bc they are super kyute, chronically online little pixels on my screen, and really fun and simple to play (mainly bc they abuse generic links quite a lot). they are by no means meta ofc, BUT it is extremely consistent and has like half the deck open to any hand traps you want so lots of non-engine freedom even tho it runs two engines in the form of twin and spright. deck thrives on flooding your field with a trillion monsters and link climbing, so be very weary of nibiru if you dont open crossout. 

anyways, combos. SO, there are two main lines of combos that you can do--one for each engine, AND ideally, you'll be doing both in the opening turn.

LIVE-TWIN OPENING

twins have 4 starters in the form of secret password, sunny's snitch, pink, and blue. chances are your opening hand will have at least one of these. the spells search other starters and pink and blue special summon each other from deck on summon.

1.) play secret password to search for sunny's snitch even if you already have it in your hand. gives more draw power taking another copy and also baits ash blossom.

2.) play sunny's snitch and activate its trigger effect to search a live-twin. if you have ki-sikil in your hand already, search treat. if you have lil-la in your hand already, search frost. if you have neither in your hand, search lil-la if you don't already have frost in your hand. otherwise, search whatever starter.

3.) next, you'll want to normal summon whatever live-twin starter you have--either pink or blue. on summon, each can special summon the other from hand or deck (or their costumed versions, frost and treat).

4.) assuming you didn't get imperm'd, you should have two twins on field. ideally, you have either frost or treat in your hand, to which you can special summon them from hand as well. you then end with three monsters on field here.

there is more after this with extra deck but since this is a live-twin AND spright deck, before moving on, you wanna do your spright line.

SPRIGHT OPENING

sprights are practically mitosis simulators the way they can essentially special summon themselves for free and fill your board. and well that's exactly what we wanna do if we wanna get into the link climbing silliness. chances are you open with at least one spright card that can get you a body or two or three on field, and those would be spright blue, spright jet, and spright starter. be very careful if using spright starter tho as spright starter will lock you into only being able to summon level/rank/link-2s for the rest of the turn.

1.) this is assuming you already have your twins on the field, but if you don't, just do what you can to get bodies on field. since twins are level 2, any spright monster in your hand can be special summoned to the field for free. carrot and red work, but the ideal scenario is to special summon spright blue and activate its trigger effect to add jet--or carrot if you already have jet--to hand. 

2.) special summon jet to search spright starter or gamma burst. up to your discretion. if going second, gamma burst can set up an OTK with its ATK buffs. starter doesn't need to be played this turn or at least right now unless you really need another body to link climb.

3.) you CAN use starter LATER at the end of the turn or during your opponent's turn to get carrot or red on the field. carrot will be your friendly, neighborhood backrow negate and red is your monster negate. they both love staying on field if possible.

EXTRA DECK & LINK CLIMBING 

so i don't wanna make this too convoluted here, so i'm just showing visuals of what you want to end on before i explain how to get there with all the other million cards in case you already know what you're doing.

so this will be the best end board going first imo. depends on matchup, i suppose, but this is my go-to. this end board is assuming you are starting with FIVE BODIES on the field. WITH FOUR BODIES, AVOID LINKING INTO MUCKRAKER. just do your evil twins without her, then.

1.) first, you'll want to link two sprights into masquerena. also, just so you don't accidentally misplay, take note of where your links' arrows are pointing to and that you have an open space to summon another. idk how to give a visual with text here, but i believe in you with all my heart.

2.) then, link pink twin and something else (usually blue twin) into evil pink twin. use evil pink's effect to summon back blue twin. THIS WILL LOCK YOU INTO FIENDS FOR THE REST OF THE TURN. but do not fret. this is why we summoned masquerena first. 

3.) link evil pink and blue twin into evil blue. then, use evil blue and your last remaining body to make muckraker. activate muckraker to discard a card and summon back evil blue.

4.) using evil blue and masquerena, link summon unchained abomination. now, your end board should be abom up top with muckraker and evil pink under. on your opponent's turn, when they have at least two cards on field, activating evil pink to bring back evil blue will pop a card. then, abom will trigger and can pop another card. at the end phase, abom can also pop a third card. super annoying for your opponent bc you can stop a lot of combos and extra deck summons on their part with this. also, muckraker can tribute evil pink to negate anything that would destroy one of your monsters. evil blue can then respawn evil pink to get your body back and draw a card with evil pink.

TURN 2

unforunately, it is very difficult to have apollousa turn 1 due to how easy it is to get locked into either Link-2s and/or fiends on the opening combo. however, she is very accessible turn 2. keeping in mind the evil twins can respawn one another, we can get apollousa and trouble sunny, as well, on the field at the same time. 

1.) link evil blue and muckraker to summon apollousa. if you activated spright starter on your opponents turn before or are able to get two more bodies on the field before linking, you can keep muckraker and just use evil blue and the other two monsters you summoned for even more negates and higher ATK. then, use evil pink's effect to reborn evil blue, popping a card. this triggers abom to pop another card. by now, you've potentially popped five or so of your opponents cards, leaving their field pretty empty and them wide open for a brutal battle phase.

2.) using both evil twins, link into trouble sunny. trouble sunny is not only a 3300 beatstick, but it can split off back into the evil twins any time you want. and it just so happens that we can get two more attacks in during the battle phase if we activate trouble sunny after it attacks. 

3.) now, with abom, apollousa, trouble sunny, and potentially muckraker, we have anywhere from 10k-11k damage we can do in total during battle, and--although completely optional--spright gamma burst, if you have it, gives 1400 bonus ATK to all your level/rank/link-2 monsters. you would want to use gamma burst after your trouble sunny splits, so your evil twins can get the buff. now, if you haven't fallen victim to ash, nib, imperm, ogre, belle, veiler, droplet, tactics, called by, d shifter, super poly, or the wrath of god himself, this should be game. if not, good luck soldier. o7

COMBOING WITH FEWER CARDS

it is possible to get the same board as above with three bodies on the field instead of four or five. this works with a live-twin opening, but it's reliant on masquerena resolving on your opponent's turn which can be risky. this is the case bc sprights lock you into level 2's, and twins lock you into fiends. this usually means the most offensive action you can take this way on your turn is popping a card with evil blue. but i suppose if youre able to get carrot on the field before activating masquerena, getting her to resolve would be easier since carrot is an omni-negate.

1.) if possible, open with your live-twin combo until you end with three bodies. 

2.) xyz summon gigantic spright using two bodies. whatever your three bodies are during this combo, leaving one of the twins on field is mandatory.

3.) activate gigantic spright by removing the opposite twin as material. summon spright blue.

4.) activate spright blue's trigger effect to add spright jet to hand. special summon spright jet and activate its trigger effect to add spright starter to hand. 

5.) use spright starter to summon another spright, preferably carrot in case an emergency negate is needed. 

6.) use spright blue and spright jet to link into masquerena. then, use gigantic spright and your twin to link into the corresponding evil twin.

7.) activate your evil twin to reborn your opposite live-twin. then, link into the opposite evil twin. 

8.) don't activate your second evil twin's reborn effect just yet. use it and your last spright on the field to link into muckraker. then, use muckraker to reborn your second evil twin. NOW, you can activate it to reborn your first evil twin. your end board should be masquerena, muckraker, and both evil twins. on your opponent's turn, activate masquerena to link into unchained abomination with her and evil twin blue. then, reborn blue with pink and start popping cards.

if you are only able to open with two live-twins, link climb into the evil twins into trouble sunny. if you only open with sprights, xyz summon gigantic spright and summon whatever you can with blue, jet, and starter. then link into anything like s:p little knight or something.

GOING SECOND

going second with any deck really is more difficult than winning the lottery, and sadly, this deck is no different. however, there are some alternative combo lines we can do with limited cards on the field if need be. you can do your best to end on abom like the previous combo if you want, but since we already covered that, let's talk about this deck's other boss monsters: mekk-knight crusadia avramax and underworld goddess of the closed world. yeah, once again, this deck is great at abusing generic links.

i would just be repeating myself if i did a step-by-step on how to climb with this deck, so just know that, if possible, you'll want to use masquerena and another link-2 to summon avramax. this should be able to be done with four bodies. with masquerena, avramax will not only be immune to targeted effects but won't be destroyed by non-targeting destruction effects, as well. also, avramax's effect allows him to beat over any special summoned monster in the game that he's in battle with. the only way your opponent should be able to get rid of avramax is by tributing him with something like a kaiju or by using him as material for something like underworld goddess. 

moon and underworld goddess should be able to be climbed into with the three-body combo shown earlier. this is also something that would rely on masquerena resolving. however, with four bodies, this should be doable on your own turn. 

 as for keeping your own sanity long enough to actually resolve a combo going second, 3x triple tactics talent and 3x forbidden droplet are, in my opinion, a must. i have lost count how many times these cards have kept me able to play the game. after a negate that walls off a combo, using ttt to take control of an opponent's monster to use a material is incredibly useful. droplet also is really good at doing droplet things. 

 SIDE DECK AND TECH CARDS

so, there is a lot of room for variety here in the way one can build a live-twin deck. a lot of archetypal card choices are honestly up to personal preference. i'll try to explain what cards you should probably be subbing out when siding.

the evil twins effect monster is for when you need a giga-beatstick bc it comes out on the field with 4400 ATK. if running this card, i strongly recommend siding in a second trouble sunny, as well. this is bc to get the evil twins card on the field, you first banish trouble sunny to send it to the graveyard and pop a card. you can then use your individual evil twin links on the field that were left by trouble sunny splitting to summon the evil twins effect monster. it also has an effect where on summon, your opponent has to obliterate cards on their field until they only have three, but i rarely see that effect coming in clutch over an evenly matched instead. also, i would replace the second carrot for the effect monster and zeus or moon for the second trouble sunny.

transcode talker is for when you need target immunity on your cards, which is nice. what REALLY makes transcode talker nice, tho, is he can reborn masquerena 

knightmare gryphon is a really good stun for this deck bc it is a fiend monster, so when you are fiend-locked by evil twins or muckraker, gryphon is always an option. shutting down your opponent's special summoned monsters' effects is also wonderful, especially if you get gryphon out going first. 

once again, zeus or moon are good to sub out for these. subbing out apollousa for gryphon is also a fine choice since they both do effect negation.

meowmine and saambell are great cards to add to the deck if you want even more bodies and extenders.

meowmine also has a very nice effect of bouncing a card your opponent controls by banishing itself from either your hand OR graveyard. that means you can special summon her to extend your link climbing OR use her a handtrap.

saambell is also good if you are running 2 or 3 copies of frost and treat for whatever reason. maybe in a pure live-twin deck without the spright engine bc saambell at 3x would help prevent bricks. this is more of a fun one.

evil twin present is a free snatch steal in-archetype. the evil twins already respawn each other, so all you would need to do after swapping monsters is destroy your opponent's newly fashioned evil twin and reborn it with the one you still control. 

ghost ogre is also a nice hand trap to run at 3x if you like it bc of where it pops a card, it can trigger unchained abomination.

for either of these, i would suggest swapping out your 3x secret passwords for them. or 2x secret password and 1x live-twin ki-sikil. secret password is there for consistency, but at the end of the day, i would say it's the most replaceable playset in this deck.

something incredibly funny is running secret village at 3x and running any easy-to-summon spellcaster like dharc and locking out your opponent from using spell cards. getting dharc out instead of muckraker would be the way to do it. yeah, not much else to it. just a really funny floodgate. especially funny if your dharc gets deleted, and then YOU can't use spells anymore. ideally, you would have a card on the field that prevents him from being attacked like avramax and a card that prevents him from being targeted or destroyed like transcode talker or masquerena. this is WAYYY easier to do with spright elf, but sadly that card is forbidden.

there's also a burn variant that's playable. lil-la rap makes it so when you reborn anything from the grave (usually an evil twin summoning the other evil twin), your opponent takes 1000 damage. other typical burn cards like lava golem work well, too. lava golem specifically for board removal is nice. also, anything you special summon to their field can be beat over by avramax.

i know what you're thinking: what in the actual world is this random abyss actor card doing here. well, it works as pretty much the only card that can trigger yama in the grave to special summon and abominable unchained soul to summon itself from hand as well. for more information on how the unchained engine works in a live-twin deck, i strongly recommend checking out a master duel player named Saucy Senpai. they are consistently master rank with live-twin and have many live-twin decklists on masterduelmeta and several replays available in-game showing how they use it. they also reply to comments on their decklists often.

as for fiendsmith, although this is a TCG friendly decklist, i admittedly am a master duel slob, so i have no experience with this archetype at all. however, i strongly recommend BubblyBoii on youtube as they are a fellow live-twin lover who experiments with different engines in live-twin, including fiendsmith. i would say this is the go-to place to learn about that synergy.

anyways, thank you for checking out my decklist for live-twin ~!!! i know it's quite the odd flex, but this decklist is where i've landed myself after playing live-twin for several hundred hours, and the only complaint i have with it is the same complaint i have with any other deck: pleasegoddontmakemegoseconditisinsufferable teehee. <3 also, this deck is wayyyy better with spright elf as it deletes any need for transcodetalker and 2 copies of muckraker. muckraker is still good for getting back abom but MANNNNNNN i wish spright elf were legal >_< but whatever, i guess >_> not like i play this game anywhere else but master duel anyway, so i guess it doesn't matter (it matters just a little i really like spright elf :3) but yeah, thank you !!! i hope you like it !!! if you have anything to add, please comment !! i promise i'll read it <3 bye-bye ~~~!!!!