A new introduction to the next set for the Yugioh TCG, Duelist’s Advance, means a brand-new TCG Exclusive, and while this one seems less immediately potent than Mitsurugi, I still think it has merit! R.B., or ‘Rebel Bots’ are a brave new Machine archetype exclusive to the West, with a Springans-style way to cheat out their boss monster, and a devastating lock to go along with their core gameplan. These come hot off the heels of perhaps the second or third best-ever TCG Exclusive, currently in debatably the best deck, and I want to dive into what they bring to the game. Unlike a lot of their contemporary Machines, these bots don’t really fit in ‘the pile’ of EARTH Machine, nor are they really a cohesive whole, so I’ve opted to blend them with Sky Striker for best results. Strap in, and get those boosters ready, because we’re debuting R.B.!
Talking about R.B. begins with talking about their current lineup of 2 total Spells, each absolutely fantastic in what they bring to the table. R.B. Funk Dock finds any of your R.B. cards and allows your important ones to float, and the card you’ll most often be getting is R.B. Stage Landing. Not unlike Mitsurugi Ritual before it, Stage Landing is a frankly absurd card that cheats out any R.B. from your Deck or Extra Deck, and protects it from the GY. The fact this can either get a play starter or associated Link-3 is already strong, but once we go in-depth as to what those accomplish, you’ll realize just how scary it can be.
There’s one problem though: That last line of text. “You cannot Special Summon from the Extra Deck the turn you activate this card, except Machine monsters with 1500 or less original ATK”. That’s a full-turn lock, and a strict one at that, but thankfully there’s an entire archetype whose identity hinges upon Machine Link monsters with (usually) 1500 ATK, being Sky Striker.
Before we explore those synergies, it’s worth noting that unlike Mitsurugi, this feels very much unfinished with its first wave only. Mitsurugi immediately got slotted into Ryzeal upon its debut, but here I don’t think R.B. follows that pedigree. Now then, because R.B. VALCan Booster requires any two machines, Sky Striker allows us to open with Engage into Sky Striker Mecha - Hornet Drones. That goes into Sky Striker Ace- Kagari, back into Drones, and both of those into Booster. We can then Special Summon our R.B.s again, and potentially also draw a card by way of Engage, if the GY is already loaded with Spells.
Part of the reason we can interweave the two is a card I imagine will be seeing a rise in price, Clockwork Knight. Our entire R.B. Main Deck can go into this guy, and he helps us make the Sky Striker pieces live, and trigger Funk Dock with his second effect.
But what are we actually building towards? In R.B., every combo is going to involve the Deck’s Link-2, VALCan Booster. Booster finds a Spell if you lacked it (meaning some greedier Funk Dock lines will search for a name, not Stage Landing) and also grabs one of your small bodies, putting each in the right Zone.
The right Zone for what? It’s the strategy’s boss monster, R.B. The Brute Blues. Blues for starters is another search, meaning you can really skimp on Main Deck names if you wanted to! I’ve played a heavier amount purely to show off the strategy, but frankly as more cards are revealed and the deck gets toyed with, I’m sure ratios will shrink. The fun part of Blues is in what he enables, becoming a not-quite-Towers with a reasonable ATK and the ability to swing twice, on top of turning on all of your R.B. Main Deck effects.
Yes, on top of being reasonable extenders, these monsters each also boast an interactive effect, kind of like Therion (Coincidentally, another engine that might fit here). Driller pops a monster, Cutter negates a Spell/Trap, and Rocket pops 2…at Spell Speed 1, ouch. These are fine, good even, but if an opponent truly has a must-resolve these pieces can just be attacked over in a pinch. Still, the fact you can float with Funk Dock does threaten new options, and it seems to me that the deck could use 1 or 2 new ones that serve as double-extenders, not just free bodies with interaction.
The deck’s core line is fairly simple. Starting with Stage Landing, you Summon VALCan Booster, Booster for Funk Dock, Dock for any name (let’s use Driller), then Special Driller for Clockwork Knight. VALCan Summon Driller back, move it to make room for another Knight in the Extra Monster Zone, Tribute the Main Monster Zone Knight for Driller once more, and Funk Dock to get Cutter from Deck. From there, you Link off VALCan Booster and the remaining Knight for Brute Blues linked to both a Cutter and Driller, searching for Rocket if you so desire.
It’s neat that every single card printed for this archetype thus far can be seen in the linear combo, but a lot of those pieces are just extension while in the Main. If you can consistently open Stage Landing (Not unlike Mitsurugi Ritual, as previously seen in the TCG) you’re feeling awesome, but if not, you’re playing some seriously mediocre cards. Could you pare down the R.B.s for other engines, playing a minimum package of 1:1:1 Main Deck Monsters, and 3 Spells apiece? Sure, but that’s still at minimum 5 Extra Deck slots, and 4 Zones on the field; it’s a hefty investment in terms of what you can end on, especially with Extra Deck monsters.
That being said, kind of like Tistina before it, this is a strategy that spits out a ton of bodies, limited only by its Extra Deck lock. If you resort to playing more of a Main Deck-centric secondary or even tertiary engine, such as Machina, Cyber Dragon, etc there’s serious merit here as a ~9-10 card package. Moreover, it’s possible you could run the triple Pot of Avarice that was seen in many EARTH Machine brews, given you go through at least 2 Clockwork Knight in your core combo, and otherwise cannot start again from 0 without one being shuffled back into Extra.
A lot of this strategy at the moment is “we could be playing X, but aren’t”, on the basis that the core line is solid but hard-locked and board-intensive. Given you get a 5, could weaving in Crystron pieces be the answer, given the lock is only on your turn? Orcust seems neat until you realize Galatea has 1800 ATK. Et cetera, and so forth—there’s an endless amount of possibilities cowed by the fact that you’re given too many bodies without things to do with them.
In terms of non-engine, the main piece of note is a decent chunk of protection for your opening play, including a Sky Striker Mecha - Eagle Booster which can come in clutch if targeted negation threatens your initial VALCan Booster. Aside from that, this list manages to fit 15-20 non-engine, depending how you count it, and if you went lower on your R.B. Ratios I bet you could fit even more. Machina Overdrive for Machina Citadel does interest me as a small package, given we already do a lot of destroying, and the shuffle certainly benefits our Knight line, but I decided against it—it’s likely too slow in the current metagame. Forbidden Droplet also saw consideration, but I doubt it’s good enough.
While we covered the core R.B. combo, the Sky Striker line to it is quite similar, going Engage into Drones, into Kagari into Drones, into VALCan Booster, which then continues as you normally would. Once Camellia and Amatsu come out, that will greatly improve this as a secondary line, given the fact you end up with a lot more material than you’d need by accessing Stage Landing later in the combo, rather than as a starter.
Aside from the much-mentioned Clockwork Knight and the Sky Striker pieces, there’s one other Link that falls into the purview of R.B.’s unfortunate lock: Barricadeborg Blocker. Blocker synergizes with the Field Spell, Funk Dock, but also has some potential cross-synergy with Clockwork Night, the card that Knight is meant to search (but isn’t played here). If there were a better reason to be on more Continuous Spells, we’d be able to go into Borg under our lock, discard Night, and then use Night to search for a relevant EARTH Machine, i.e. either of our two R.B. Ga10 monsters.
I’m puzzled by R.B., in all honesty. It’s better, certainly, than a great many TCG Exclusives, but it’s also rather boring to me as far as a first outing goes. Very linearized gameplan, an unexciting type with a backbreaking lock, and not enough gas in the tank to be its own Deck yet. Still, the theming of being an action figure with literal ‘accessories sold separately’ is adorable, and I do hope they continue to expand on its art design. If we get a R.B. commercial as the next Spell card, they’ll have me sold on it no matter what happens.
That’s the first wave of the next TCG Exclusive done and dusted! I’m not as impressed with R.B. as I was with Mitsurugi, but it still definitely has merit! How do you intend to play R.B.? Let me know in the comments below!
