Rikka/Aroma Plant Control (Trinity Format: November 2021)

Why play plants?

Pros:

• Extremely versatile answers


• Generates massive amounts of card advantage


• Great stalling potential


• Powerful game ending disruption cards


• Strong Mid-Late Game.

Cons:

• Difficult to pilot effectively


• Weak to disruption


• Sometimes bricky


• Difficult to close games out with


• Slow early game


• long games (if you don't like that sort of thing)

Why are we playing these engine's?

Rikka: Your main advantage engine comes from Rikka Petal, when activated it searches you any "Rikka" monster and during our opponent's End Phase it summons itself back. Our choice of main deck monsters are Snowdrop the Rikka Fairy which is our XYZ/Synchro enabler, Mudan the Rikka Fairy who searches Rikka Sheet to disrupt our opponents or Rikka Tranquility that lets us stall or setup and Extra Deck play, Primula the Rikka Fairy who is a free body and helps us make our Rank 4 and 6 and lastly Erica the Rikka Fairy who lets us beat over big boss monsters and can revive itself from grave.

Next is the Extra Deck Rikka's, First is Rikka Queen Strenna which is how we recycle our Rikka S/T and when tributed can "rank-up" into the other 2 if needed, Then we have Kanzashi the Rikka Queen that protects our monsters by tributing a plant monster in hand or field if they would be destroyed and can also act as Monster Reborn when a card has been tributed, Lastly is Teardrop the Rikka Queen who is our main boss monster and 1 of our main disruption tools, her first effect lets us Tribute our opponents monsters at SS2 and the second effect booster her by 200atk every time a card(s) is tributed.

Aroma: Aroma since November 2021 had one of its main build arounds Aromaseraphy Sweet Marjoram banned but the deck still has a strong toolbox and drident-like removal with Teardrop the Rikka Queen. To replace her we've opted to play Aroma Gardening, Dried winds and 1 extra copy of Blessed Winds. This should make the Aroma engine still powerful just less consistent than previous builds where the goal was to turbo Sweet as fast as possible.

Predaplant: This give us more disruption with predaplanning, strong fusion boss monsters and access to Super Polymerization one of the strongest board breaking cards in the game. This engine really helps solidify our mid game and keep our opponent off of big boss monsters.

Traps: Our trap line-up is simple, Disrupt as much as possible. The rest are pure advantage cards that further push our greedy mid-late game.

 

Openers

Our deck isn't that dependent on getting a starter but knowing what your options are is important. Here are the most common openers for the deck.

Petal into Mardel: Summon Rikka Petal and activate its effect to search Mudan the Rikka Fairy, summon Mudan by tributing Petal and Activate Mudan to search Either Rikka Sheet for disruption or Rikka Tranquility for value. This is our standard opener and what we will typically do against most decks.

Jasmine/Mardel: Summon Mathematician in the Centre Column and send Dandylion to summon 2 Tokens, Link both Tokens into Aromaseraphy Jasmine and activate its effect tributing Mathematician to summon Mardel, Generaider Boss of Light and search either Petal to get the Rikka engine started or Rose Girl if your engine is already going.

Set 4 Pass: This is probably the 2nd most common opener in this deck but not necessarily a brick, as long as we can continually disrupt the opponent they will eventually have the same ceiling for power that we currently do, which is exactly what we want because we have inevitability in that once we draw our engine cards we can easily start out advantaging our opponent and win from there.

 

Midgame

 

Midgame is tricky because its extremely dependent on what your opponent is doing and what you have access to but generally at this point you should be deciding how many turns you can realistically close the game out in and how you are going to accomplish it. Here are some things to look out for in the midgame.

Abusing Blessed Winds: Blessed Winds is one of your key cards in the mid game. Making sure you are using each effect to its fullest potential is important.

Keeping your engine's going with the first of effect is crucial to get into a winning position, shuffling back your Rikka cards ensures you have the fuel to keep grinding out your opponent. Dodging removal with the 2nd effect is probably the single most important thing to keep in mind at all times, remember we only have 1 Rikka Petal and no way to recover it, if it's banished we are suddenly cut off from one of our main engines. The 3rd effect is a great value tool that lets us keep a strong board presence and re-use strong effects like Aromage Marjoram or Aromaseraphy Jasmine.

Predaplant's: Midgame is where predaplants start becoming more relevant, Predaplanning can keep our opponent off of XYZ's and Synchro's while Predaplant Sarraceniant and Predaplant Drosophyllum Hydra can act as unconventional removal. Predaplant Verte Anaconda also spikes in the midgame turning any 2 monsters into Super Polymerization which can be game winning on it's own.

Establishing Bosses: In the midgame we really want to summon our boss monsters like Teardrop the Rikka Queen or Benghalancer the Resurgent. While summoning Benghalancer can be difficult it can easily be game winning in the right board state so always look for for opportunity's to summon it.

The Advantage Trinity: This is the point in the game where your secondary advantage engines start kicking in, Card of Safe Return, Dark Factory Of More Production and Supply Squad, These cards give us immense card draw and let us draw into our powerful trap cards in order to keep disrupting our opponent.

Making the most of our traps: Traps are our main way of controlling the pace of the game and defending ourselves from big pushes from the opponent, knowing when and how to use your traps is matchup dependent but there are some fundamental's you can apply to any matchup.

• Always keep your opponent's summon limit in mind when choosing when to use your disruption.


• Is the card worth removing? If the card is easily removed in battle refrain from using your removal too early and save it for a bigger threat.


• Am I on a clock? A clock refers to the amount of turns your opponent can lethal you from, if you feel like your opponent is trying to race you down then you can be more loose with your removal cards.


• How much has my opponent committed to a play? The more value you can get from each of your removal cards the better, shotguning your Ring of Destruction too early might leave you with less value than if you had waited.

 

Late Game

Ending the game: By this point we should have enough board presence to close the game out with our boss monsters, always keep cards like Super Team Buddy Force Unite! and Erica the Rikka Fairy in mind when trying to close out games.

Don't get too greedy: Ensure your plays are all trying to close out the game, don't keep playing for value as you may get punished by a top-deck from your opponent.

 

Closing Thoughts

 

Plants are an extremely fun and rewarding deck to learn and has a ton of deckbuilding options beyond just this list. Its grind game potential and flexible toolbox make it great into any meta with the right tech-cards and solid fundamentals.