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TIPS 07
Battle Coverage [2] VS. Three Musketeers

The battle this time is between Arisa Kinosaki's aggro Puppets and Violet Inboots’ Three Musketeers.

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Will Arisa's pint-sized Digimon dash to victory with their combo attacks and DP-reducing abilities?

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Or will they get blown into oblivion by the high-level Three Musketeers and their Digimon-deleting Option cards?

Let's see how the showdown between these contrasting decks went down.
This is Arisa's starting hand.

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And here is Violet's.

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Arisa goes first.
She digivolves the Kyaromon in her breeding area into Junkmon, and then Tobucatmon, ending her turn with the memory gauge at 2. It's a modest beginning, as first turns tend to be.

Violet's first turn starts, with the memory gauge at 2.
She hatches Kapurimon and digivolves it into ToyAgumon. Then, she pays a cost of 5 to play Deputymon from her hand.
[On Play] Reveal the top 4 cards of your deck.
The cards revealed are ToyAgumon, Megadramon, MagnaKidmon, and Hurricane Screw Shot.

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Violet couldn't have hoped for more; not only does she get to add one of the Three Musketeers to her hand, she also gets to trash an Option card.

With this, it's Arisa's turn again, with the memory gauge at 3.
Scurrying out of the breeding area, her Tobucatmon charges at Violet's security.
It faces Megadramon in a security battle, and, despite having inferior DP, it is unfazed thanks to its <Jamming>.
Arisa keeps up the pressure, digivolving Tobucatmon into Pandamon and then ShinMonzaemon.
Having no cards in the Trash, she can't utilize the <Recovery +1 (Deck)> effect triggered [When Digivolving]. But even still, she has succeeded in bringing out a Digimon with both <Armor Purge> and <Barrier>, thereby nullifying the threat from MagnaKidmon and Hurricane Screw Shot.

Arisa's battle area at the end of her 2nd turn

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...At least, that was her hope. As it turns out, the ammunition of the Three Musketeers is highly varied.

It's Violet's turn again, with the memory gauge at 4.
Her ToyAgumon emerges from the breeding area, and digivolves into Tankmon.
With its [When Digivolving] effect, she places 3 cards from her hand on the top of her deck to De-Digivolve ShinMonzaemon. With <Armor Purge> gone, her biggest headache is taken care of.
She then pays a cost of 6 to digivolve Deputymon, bringing one of the Three Musketeers into the fray. The trigger-happy MagnaKidmon arrives, decked out all in red.
With his [When Digivolving] effect, Violet uses Chaos Triangular from her hand without paying the cost, and deletes Pandamon. To top it off, she gets to reload her hand of 3 cards back up to 6.

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Arisa reels from the one-two punch of De-Digivolution and deletion via the red-and-black card combo.

With her next turn about to arrive, she does at least get to use Pandamon's [On Deletion] effect to play the level 3 Puppet Shoemon from her hand. However...
Being an outlaw, MagnaKidmon isn't about to play things by the book.

By trashing the Chaos Triangular used earlier as a digivolution card, he gains an [End of Your Turn] <Security A. +1>, and delivers a follow-up blast.
Violet at last ends her turn, having taken down 2 of her opponent's security cards.

Not only is Arisa down 2 security cards, her level 6 Digimon is gone as well.
She's experiencing first-hand what makes the Three Musketeers so scary: their lethal ability to delete Digimon with cost-free Option cards.

Violet's battle area at the end of her 2nd turn

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Arisa's third turn begins, with the memory gauge at 4.
She hatches Kyaromon from the breeding area, then pays a cost of 1 to digivolve the Shoemon she just played to her battle area into ShoeShoemon. With its [When Digivolving] effect, she gets to play her Arisa Kinosaki Tamer card for no cost. This card's effect is a formidable one, giving <Rush> to Puppet Digimon and Tokens played through effects.

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Following this up, she digivolves the Kyaromon in her breeding area into Shoemon, and the ShoeShoemon in her battle area into Chaperomon, whose [When Digivolving] effect also brings forth PawnChessmon.
This PawnChessmon gains <Rush> through the Tamer card effect, putting another attacker at her disposal.
Having started the turn with a single level 3 Digimon, she now has 2 attack-ready Digimon and a Tamer card, all for the cost of just 4 memory.
It's a rapid turnaround, characteristic of a Puppet deck. Not letting up, Arisa attacks Violet's security.

Chaperomon is first to strike, and when the security card shatters, a Deputymon emerges, and so the security is successfully cleared.
PawnChessmon follows up, and is met with the Option card Der Blitz, whose [Security] effect causes it to be deleted. Had Arisa attacked in the opposite order, she could have found her playing field empty.
As often happens in the Digimon Card Game, a single Option card's [Security] effect can instantly turn the tables. Random elements like these can make players nervous, but they're also a big part of the fun.

At this point, Violet has 2 security cards remaining. Finishing up her turn, Arisa plays a Pandamon that has an [On Deletion] effect, shifting the memory gauge to 6.
She opted against indiscriminately playing a level 3 for further cost, instead choosing to give Chaperomon protection from the Three Musketeers through Pandamon, with its [On Deletion] effect and <Blocker>.

Arisa's battle area at the end of her 3rd turn

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However, given that she's facing the Three Musketeers and that Violet's hand has been reloaded by MagnaKidmon, things won't likely be straightforward.
Especially since Violet Inboots isn't the sort of player to allow mistakes to go unpunished.

Violet's third turn starts, with the memory gauge at 6.
First up, she digivolves a breeding area Digimon to level 3, before digivolving Tankmon into Megadramon, and then Gundramon. This puts her in a position to protect her Three Musketeers, since Hurricane Screw Shot was placed as a digivolution card through Megadramon's [When Digivolving] effect.
She's one Musketeer away from having the full set.

With Gundramon's [When Digivolving] effect, she gets to reveal the top 6 cards of her deck, and, without paying the cost, use an Option card—in this case Der Blitz, which promptly obliterates Pandamon. After use, Der Blitz is placed as one of MagnaKidmon's digivolution cards.
And, just like last turn, he stands ready to fire off his Outlaw Attack.

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Pandamon's deletion calls forth another PawnChessmon, but different to the last, so it doesn't have <Blocker>.

Gundramon then blasts away Chaperomon with a <Piercing> salvo that also takes down one of Arisa's security cards.
Next to appear is Gigadramon, played for a cost of 7 memory. Its [On Play] effect gets rid of PawnChessmon, by placing a revealed [Three Musketeers] option card as its bottom digivolution card, leaving Arisa with no Digimon in her battle area.
MagnaKidmon piles on the pain, using its ammo from the [End of Your Turn] effect to gain <Security A. +1>, and immediately take advantage.

Violet's battle area at the end of her 3rd turn

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A lot has happened, so let's review the situation.

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Violet has 2 security cards left, plus 3 Digimon of level 5 or higher on her playing field, and ToyAgumon in the breeding area.

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Arisa has 2 security cards left, both hanging by a thread. Her only Digimon is Shoemon in the breeding area. Besides this, she has her Tamer card, which can bestow <Rush>.
She has 7 memory, but on top of needing to destroy 2 security cards, she'll have to deal with the formidable Blocker Gundramon, which will <Reboot> during her turn.

The odds look impossible, but there's a twinkle of hope in Arisa's eyes.

Back to the action.
The 2 security cards revealed by MagnaKidmon's assault are PawnChessmon plus... Wonder Stomp!

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Its [Security] effect gives Arisa both a draw as well as the chance to play Junkmon from her hand.

And now, she faces her final turn, with 7 memory.
Out of the breeding area comes Shoemon, digivolving into ShoeShoemon and then Chaperomon. Unlike her earlier Chaperomon, which called upon reinforcements, this one is able to decrease DP. With its [When Digivolving] effect, it debuffs Gigadramon way down to 1000 DP.
Junkmon then attacks the security, but is countered by Violet, who uses <Blast Digivolve> on Gigadramon, bringing forth BeelStarmon ACE, who lets fly a Hurricane Screw Shot at Junkmon and Chaperomon, before placing the option card underneath Gundramon.

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Victory appeared certain to Violet, but she had overlooked something: Junkmon's <Decoy ([Puppet] trait)>, an ability that deploys a stand-in to avoid deletion.
Kept safe, Chaperomon can battle on. She digivolves, transforming into a princess who is equal parts radical and radiant. Descending amid gunpowder smoke into a ballroom of bullets, Cendrillmon takes her place on center stage.

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Familiars appear through her [When Digivolving] effect, and another of her abilities—an [End of Your Turn] effect—activates upon the memory passing to 1 on Violet's side.

<Overclock ([Puppet] trait)>.
By deleting an ally Puppet Digimon or Token, this effect gives this Cinderella of the Digital World license to carry on rampaging, even past midnight.

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With the deletion of a Familiar Token, Gundramon's DP is decreased by 3000, giving it less DP than Cendrillmon. Cendrillmon then smashes BeelStarmon ACE (who digivolved from a Gigadramon which had already lost DP) with its [When Attacking] effect, taking away another 6000 DP.
According to the rules, this leads to BeelStarmon ACE's deletion, since she ends up with negative DP. Therefore Gundramon is still ultimately powerless to prevent her deletion even if it attempts to use its own effect to do so. Additionally, an Overflow occurs, shifting the memory gauge to 3 on Arisa's side and allowing her to continue her turn.
Coming under attack, Violet commands Gundramon to block. It loses the battle, but evades deletion by trashing its digivolution card, Hurricane Screw Shot. Arisa now has 2 memory due to Hurricane Screw Shot's effect.

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For her and Cendrillmon, there is no question of holding back, since with <Overclock>, they can attack without suspending!

Paying 2 memory, Arisa uses Wonder Stomp from her hand. PawnChessmon appears, and, gaining <Rush> from Arisa's Tamer card, charges at Violet's security.
There is still the possibility that Arisa's turn will be stopped by an Option card. But for better or for worse, this will be her final roll of the dice.

An all-or-nothing offensive is the only option.

MagnaKidmon stands in the way and PawnChessmon is deleted, leaving Violet with 1 security card still.

Following up, Cendrillmon takes on the security, using her [When Attacking] effect to lower MagnaKidmon's DP by 6000.
The security check occurs, and it's Gigadramon! Cendrillmon will remain on the battlefield!

Playing Junkmon shifts the memory gauge to 3 on Violet's side.
However, she has no security cards left, and Cendrillmon is still going!

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With <Overclock> there is no [Once Per Turn] or other unsightly limitation to be found on the untouchable princess's card.

And so, Arisa claims victory over Violet.

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As we've seen, both players utilized their hands and security to the fullest, resulting in a classic showcase of the Digimon Card Game.

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