Tutorial: Treasure Panda 101

INTRODUCTION

Greetings! If you are looking at this deck, it means you are a fellow Treasure Panda player. Perhaps, you are also looking for how to guide "Treasure Panda" decks? Whatever your reason is, I'm willing to help you, with in-depth analysis of key cards and whatnot.

BASICS

- Treasure Panda decks rely on banishing Spell/Trap cards from your GY to Special Summon Normal Monster, ranging from Level 1 to 3. It's mostly used in conjuction with Level 1 monsters, so that you can do the following:

1. Play "Upstart Goblin" or "Into the Void".
2. Special Summon Level 1 monster.
3. Target on that fella with "Wonder Wand" or any target spells to draw more cards.
4. When you are out of Level 1 monsters, play "Pot of Avarice" and/or "Pot of Acquisitiveness" to refill your Main Deck.
5. Repeat everything from the beginning.

- This is essential part of playing "Treasure Panda" decks. No matter what your plan is, you will repeat these steps above. However, there is still much to learn...

MAIN TOOLS

- Let's have a look at what we have. Then, we can check out alternative cards, whether it's due to crafting costs (SR/UR) or preferences...

• T.G. Hyper Librarian: Most valuable player, ditto. Besides Treasure Panda, everything is centered around Librarian. Reason is that each time you Synchro Summon, you draw a card, and Treasure Panda decks utilize Synchro Summoning mechanics a lot. You can check this Synchro Summon hierarchy to see what I mean...
  

  1. If you open up with Monk >>> Panda, this is how you can play with...

     • Assuming that you have always spells to draw, this is how: Monk + Tuner = Librarian >>> Tuner + Non-Tuner = Formula >>> Formula + Non-Tuner = Martial >>> Martial brings Formula >>> Formula + Non-Tuner = Integrator >>> Martial + Integrator = Stardust >>> Stardust (Tuner due to Martial) + Non-Tuner = Ancient >>> Ancient pulls Level 1 Tuner >>> Ancient + Tuner = Accel >>> Accel pulls Formula >>> Formula + Non-Tuner = Shamisen >>> Shamisen + Non-Tuner = Cthugua >>> Bring Shamisen back onto the battlefield and shuffle Formula >>> Shamisen + Non-Tuner = Cthugua >>> Cthugua + Cthugua = Number 60 >>> Draw four cards with Number 60! >>> Accel + Tuner = Ravenous >>> Saryuja

  2. If you start only with Panda, this is how you can play with:

     • Tuner + Non-Tuner = Formula >>> Formula + Non-Tuner = Martial >>> Martial brings Formula >>> Formula + Non-Tuner = Integrator >>> Martial + Integrator = Stardust >>> Stardust (Tuner due to Martial) + Non-Tuner = Ancient >>> Ancient pulls Monk/Panda >>> Monk/Panda + Tuner = Librarian >>> Ancient + Tuner = Accel >>> Accel pulls Formula >>> Formula + Non-Tuner = Shamisen >>> Shamisen + Non-Tuner = Cthugua >>> Bring Shamisen back onto the battlefield and shuffle Formula >>> Shamisen + Non-Tuner = Cthugua >>> Cthugua + Cthugua = Number 60 >>> Draw four cards with Number 60! >>> Accel + Tuner = Ravenous >>> Saryuja
• Ancient Fairy Dragon: As mentioned above, if you only begin with Panda, you can use Ancient to pull another Monk/Panda to form Librarian with Level 1 Tuner. Also, if your setup involves with Field Spells, you can destroy yours and/or your opponent's with Ancient to tutor any Field Spell other than destroyed one(s). Kind of Terraforming in a stick, wouldn't you say?
• Summoner Monk: If you don't open with Panda, you can play Monk to pull Panda from your Main Deck by discarding a spell.
• Upstart Goblin / Into the Void / Allure of Darkness: Your openers when Panda is present, so that you can start pulling out Level 1 dudes.
• Wonder Wand / Spellbook of Knowledge / White Elephant's Gift / Moray of Avarice: When you have pulled out Level 1 dude with Panda, you can use your target spells to draw 2 cards.
• Pot of Acquisitiveness: Since "Allure of Darkness" and "Moray of Avarice" draw cards while banishing, if you hit Level 1 dudes, you can recover them with this Pot card.
• Pot of Avarice: Whenever you are out of resources when it comes to Level 1 monsters, don't forget to play this Pot.
• Fire Recovery: Monster Reborn with Pot of Avarice/Acquisitiveness attached. 2 in 1, what more could you ask for? As of this writing, there are three different Level 1 Normal FIRE monsters, seen in Main Deck. Similar to Acquisitiveness, you can utilize shuffle ability once. Thus, one copy of Fire Recovery is all you need.
• Magical Mallet / Reload: If you brick, use these cards to find a way out.
• Formula / Integrator / Stardust / Ravenous: Your draw abilities as Synchros.
• Martial / Shamisen / Ancient / Accel: Your extenders as Synchros. It means they Special Summon extra bodies or themselves with their abilities. Feel free to check Synchro Summon hierarchy explained in Librarian part to see what I mean.
• Number 60: Your draw ability as XYZ. Thanks to 2 x Cthuguas present, you can overlay into Number 60 and draw up to 4 cards! Pretty cool, isn't it? Depending on your plan, feel free to use its Special Summon ability.
• Saryuja: Your draw ability as Link. Better used when you have 4 cards in Main Deck since Saryuja lets you draw 4 cards, if you use 4 materials for Saryuja. Even though you have to shuffle back three cards in the end, that concludes your drawing session. Depending on your plan, feel free to use its Special Summon ability.

SIDE TOOLS

- Here are your optional cards, where you can substitute them:

• Cup of Ace / Couple of Aces: "Pot of Greed" with a gamble. Either you or your opponent draws 2 cards. It's similar to "Allure of Darkness" but you can let your opponent draw cards with Ace(s). With Allure, you either draw or lose everything, without giving your opponent anything.
• Draw Muscle: Do you lack resources for Upstart Goblin (UR) or Into the Void (SR) while looking for a substitute which is cheap? "Draw Muscle" can gladly do the same but with some differences. You need to have a monster present with DEF positioned onboard and it should have <= 1000 DEF to target, in order to draw a card. Also, you can only activate 1 "Draw Muscle" per turn. So, only add 1 x Draw Muscle, not 3.
• Piercing the Darkness: You summon a dude with Panda, you draw a card. It happens only once, though. So, you can add one copy of this card.
• One Day of Peace / Dark World Dealings / Hand Destruction / Fortune Fairy Chee / Card of Fate: These cards allow both sides to draw.
• Fragrance Storm: A conditional "Wonder Wand", literally. You target a Level 1 Plant to destroy it and draw a card. However, if you want to draw 2, your first draw has to be a Plant. If you replace Level 1 Spellcasters (Exodias/Idol) with Level 1 Plant monsters, replace 3 x Wonder Wand + 1 x Spellbook of Knowledge with 3 x Fragrance Storm.
• Tri-Wight: If you have exactly 3 x Main Monster Zones, you can use Tri-Wight to revive 3 x Level 1 dudes. You can use them either for Synchro Summon or target with cards like Wonder Wand to draw more cards. Choice is yours. I think 1-2 copies shall suffice but feel free to test with your heart's content.
• Enchanting Fitting Room: This card has similar vibes of "Tri-Wight" but with slight differences. One, you need to excavate your Main Deck to hit Normal Monsters and Special Summon them. Two, you can play it whether your board is full or empty, not just three spaces. However, luck is an important factor to make it happen unless you play cards such as Card Advance.
• Moray of Greed: If you add this card, you need to replace Level 1 Spellcasters with Level 1 Water monsters. I think 8 x Level 1 Water monsters with 2 x Moray of Greed in mind is fair but proceed with caution.
• Fish Sonar: You can add one copy of this card to draw your WATER Normal monster. Then, shuffle it with Moray of Greed.
• Salvage + Dark Factory of Mass Production: If you have Normal WATER monsters in your GY, these cards can fetch two of them to add back into your hand. If shuffled back into your Main Deck with "Moray of Greed", you can pull them out with Panda and continue as usual.
• Where Arf Thou?: This helps you tutor Level 1 monsters, which can harmonize well with "Moray of Greed", if you choose that path. I guess 1-2 copies shall suffice but consider with caution.
• Spellbook of Secrets: You can tutor "Spellbook of Knowledge" with this card. 1 x Secrets is enough.
• Spellbook of the Master: If you haven't banished "Spellbook of Knowledge" with Panda but want to use Knowledge another time to draw 2 more cards, Master can help you out. 1 x Master is enough alongside 1 x Secrets + 2 x Knowledge, if you want to use Master.
• Advance Draw: Since Accel and Ravenous sit idle after they were used, you can Tribute them to draw 2 cards. Any Level 8+ present on the field shall do the trick and 1 x Advance Draw is enough.
• Hypernova Burst: You can simply target 2 x Extra Deck monsters to be banished face-down, in order to draw 2 cards. One copy is enough because you can only activate it once per turn. Besides of Extra Deck monsters, this card can target monsters from hand/field that can't be Normal Summoned.
• Celestial Observatory / Sacred Sword of Seven Stars / Trade-In / Kuji-Kiri Curse / Tokusano Shinkyojin: If your setup allows to, you can add these cards to to target Level 6-7-8-9-10 cards and draw accordingly. Just be mindful of hard/soft once per turn rulings and where those monsters are.
• Gold Moon Coin: To draw 2 cards, you have to give your opponent 2 cards of yours.
• Branded Regained: After you have played "Allure of Darkness", when this spell is present, you can shuffle that DARK monster on the bottom of your deck and draw a card. "Branded Regained" has similarities with "Pot of Acquisitiveness", to a degree, and one copy should be enough if you miss key cards.
• Monster Recovery + Link Bound: If you feel like crafting whole Extra Deck can break the bank, just craft Saryuja and add these two spells. Since the draw effect of Saryuja isn't hard once per turn, you can return Saryuja with these cards to Extra Deck and try again. Feel free to replace one copy of "Reload" with "Monster Recovery" and only add 1 x Link Bound, see how it goes.
• Link Spider: If your Extra Deck has only Saryuja, this spider can alleviate your overload by pulling out 1 x Normal Monster from your hand, which enables you to play target spells such as "Wonder Wand". 1 x Link Spider is enough because it's hard-once per turn.
• Anchamoufrite: If you have removed every card in Extra Deck but Saryuja, consider adding 1 x Anchamoufrite. When Saryuja is present, you can use its Pendulum ability to draw a card, since your Extra Deck has 0 cards anyways.
• Performapal Guitartle + Performapal Lizardraw: Alternative Pendulum duo, which draws cards like Anchamoufrite. First, activate Guitartle. Then, activate Lizardraw. Here, Guitartle draws a card and then, you can destroy Lizardraw to draw another card.
• Performapal Ladyange: Similar to Performapal duo (Guitartle + Lizardraw), you can use the ability of Ladyange to discard Ladyange + Performapal and draw 2 cards. Note that 2nd Performapal monster card has to be anything but Ladyange to make Ladyange work.
• Preparation of Rites: This card is best combined with "Illusion of Chaos", where you can tutor "Magicians' Souls". Afterwards, you can send "Illusion of Chaos" to GY with "Magicians' Souls" and Special Summon this little fella. Here, you can send 2 Spells/Traps from your field/hand at max to draw 2 cards.
• Cards of Consonance: "Flamvell Guard" is a Dragon Tuner with 100 ATK, which fits the criteria for "Cards of Consonance". If you don't want to craft "Moray of Avarice" since it's UR, consider replacing "Water Spirit" cards with "Flamvell Guard" and add 1-2 x Consonance.
• Oil: Copycat of "Salvage" but as FIRE monsters which may synergies well with "Cards of Consonance", if "Flamvell Guard" is picked. Note that you can only activate 1 x Oil and you have to pick two different FIRE monsters. They should be Level 1 thanks to Panda synergies.
• Sangen Kaimen: You can find "Flamvell Guard" with this card, no problem. Just add one copy because it's hard-once per turn, mind you.
• Salamangreat Charge: In a way, it's somewhat worse than "Fire Recovery" but a good card regardless.
• Soul/Spell Absorption + Ancient Leaf: This trio works well in harmony. Reason is that, as you banish/play spells with Panda, you will gain 500 LP for each. When you have 9000+ LP, you can pay 2000 LP to draw 2 cards. If your setup relies on gaining LP, this trio is amazing to have but only if you lack some cards.
• Tilted Try / Chicken Game: Field Spells which help you draw cards. If the setup you made doesn't require you to burn your opponent to death, 3 x Chicken Game is alright to have. As for "Tilted Try", it acts like this: Let's say you have drawn card(s) with "Into the Void" and/or "Wonder Wand" but you didn't like the results. Here, you can activate "Tilted Try" to shuffle one of drawn cards to bottom of your deck and then you draw a card. After it, "Tilted Try" will be detonated, which means a free resource for Panda and thinning your deck.
• Land Flipping: If you want to reset "Chicken Game", whether it's for draw reasons or destroying it, this card shall serve you well. 1 x Land Flipping is all you need because it's hard-once per turn.
• Multi-Universe: Little brother of Pseudo Space, in a way. Unlike Pseudo, this card is hard-once per turn but you can retrieve Chicken or Tilted from both GY and BZ of either players. However, you need to not control any face-up Field Spell, which can be solved with Land Flipping or Ancient/Ravenous. Then, you can use said Field Spell again with Multi-Universe. Since you can find from BZ, that means you can use Panda to banish Field Spells of yours no problem, which wouldn't be possible with Pseudo because it's either Pseudo or Panda to banish Chicken/Tilted. 
• Daigusto Emeral: A mini Pot of Avarice, alternative to Dugares.
• Centur-Ion Legatia: Acts like Formula, who helps you draw a card. It's Level 12, so I guess Ravenous + Shamisen can do the trick but consider only if you have to give up on Daigusto or Dugares.
• Mannadium Trisukta: Alternative to Accel, since Accel is UR to craft. What Accel did was to Special Summon Level 2 Tuner and Trisukta does no different. However, you have to replace it with "Stardust Charge Warrior".
• Coral Dragon: Alternative to "Stardust Charge Warrior", Coral does what Stardust do: Draw a card.
• On Your Mark, Get Set, Duel! + Synchro World: Since Treasure Panda decks utilize Synchro Summon a lot, why not include this duo to draw 2 cards? One copy of each is enough to make it work but only if you lack cards.
• Toon Table of Contents + Toon Bookmark: Tutor cards which fetch Toon cards from your deck to your hand. To thin your deck, here is an example of Toon package but feel free to refer this page to make a setup of your own: 3 x Toon Table of Contents >>> 1 x Toon Bookmark >>> 1 x Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon >>> 1 x Trade-In.
• Synchro Creed: You can add 1 x Synchro Creed to draw card(s), assuming you control Synchro monster(s). If you control 1 x Synchro, you draw 1 card. If you control 3+ Synchros, you can draw 2 cards.
• Performage Hat Tricker: If you consider Summoner Monk as expensive to craft (SR) but still want to bring forth Librarian easily, might I suggest Hat Tricker? You can Special Summon it as many times as you want, as long as there are 2+ monsters on the field. Also, since it's Spellcaster, you can target it with "Wonder Wand" and "Spellbook of Knowledge".
• Pot of Greed / Graceful Charity / Terraforming: These are banned cards, which help you draw cards. Yet, I just wanted to mention them.

• Pantheism of the Monarchs: Nothing special, really. Have this and another Monarch Spell/Trap, send them both to GY and draw 2, which fuels Panda at least. From its wording, it looks like draw effect isn't hard-once per turn but why bother when there are better cards, right?
• Seventh Tachyon: This card screams as "What if you want to stick with XYZ"... The moment you play, provided you have Number 104 and Number 106 in your Extra Deck, you can tutor Panda or Monk. Mind you, it's hard-once per turn, though...
  • Generation Force + Astraltopia: If you really want to stick with this plan, you should add these cards to tutor cards which works well with XYZ strategy. Generation can be played as many times as you want but Astraltopia is hard-once per turn. Now that you know how many copies you should add, let's check miscellaneous cards which help you along the way.
  • Xyz Force: It's just like Generation albeit hard-once per turn. Rather than sending to GY, adding to your hand would be suitable. If you XYZ Summon "Number 39: Utopia Roots" with 2 x Level 1 monsters and overlay into Number F0, you will meet requirements for adding it to your hand.
  • Xyz Gift + Xyz Change Tactics: In order to draw 2 cards with Gift, you need to control 2+ XYZ monsters and you should be able to detach 2 materials. It's almost a callback to "Synchro Creed" in a way. However, "Xyz Change Tactics" only works whenever you XYZ Summon "Utopia" monsters at the cost of 500 LP to draw 1. So, combine both for better results. These decks are two examples where Tactics shine the brightest but you need Level 4 monsters. Regardless, you can still do the same with 2 x "Number 39: Utopia Roots" and overlay into 2 x Number F0 to draw 2 with Tactics and 4 with 2 x Gift.
  • XYZ Reception: Whether you want to Special Summon Level 1 monsters from hand for Utopia Roots >>> F0 plan or Level 4 monsters from hand for Dugares/Daigusto besides "Number 39: Utopia >>> Number C39: Utopia Ray or Number S39: Utopia Prime >>> Number S39: Utopia the Lightning" plan to draw more cards with "XYZ Change Tactics", Reception is truly a blessing as it's not hard-once per turn.
  • Zexal Construction: Did you know Astraltopia can search more cards besides "XYZ" Spells? Well, Zexal Construction is one of them, as it lets you find out more outcomes. You can look for Rank-Up or Rank-Down Spells, as evidenced by these decks to utilize "Xyz Change Tactics" to the fullest.

CONCLUSION

So, that's all for this guide. Let me know what you think or how we can improve this guide. Any feedback/suggestion is greatly appreciated. I tried my best to cover everything but let me know if I have missed anything, be it for substitutes or whatever. Have fun in Master Duel!