Part 14: Blue Digimon Analysis
Next up is Jungle City's Extra Arena, hosted by Hawkmon. It's sure to be a real hoot. (Yeah yeah, Hawkmon's not an owl, whatever.) But first let's talk about the cards we'll be using in another
Competetive Analysis
Today we're looking at Blue cards, which lucky for us, doesn't include the "does literally anything and should honestly be an 'I win' button" Blue card from Digimon Tamers. In this game, Blue means ice, and ice means massive defensive powers: Blue not only has some of the highest HP values in the game, they've also got lots of counters and other ways they can turn the enemy's attacks against them. It's a good thing, too, because their damage output is lower than usual.
Something else I noticed while analyzing them is that a stunning number of non-Rookie Blue cards give 20 DP, while only a handful of Red non-Rookies gave 20 DP. Depending on your build, DP might be less of an issue in a Blue deck than in Red. Another thing I noticed is that there are fewer great support effects in Blue - not absolutely none, but not as many. But the stats and X effects are pretty good, so like with Red, it's very important to compliment your Blue cards with Options.
Blue Rookies
These three are the most basic of the Blue Rookies, with similar, passable stats and each of them has both an X effect and a support effect that reduces one of your enemy's three attacks to zero. Otamamon reduces O to zero, Gomamon reduces T to zero, and SnowAgumon reduces X to zero, and X is also SnowAgumon's strongest attack. Be sure to consider the other Rookies, but these ones are pretty solid.
Betamon has an interesting support: Your opponent's attack power becomes zero IF your HP is below 200 (NOT exactly 200, sorry ToyAgumon fans). If you find yourself in such a situation regularly, this can be a good card for decks of any color. Heck, you could use it after some other card effect drops your HP to 10, like WaruMonzaemon or Tankmon.
These two are your Anti-Red cards. However, don't write off Penguimon just yet; his X effect is O counter, and considering Blue is home to that Digimon having a counter on a Rookie is actually a point in Penguinmon's favor.
These two have no support effect, so I've rarely used them. SnowGoburimon has 770 HP and 230 in all three attacks, with no X effect, so he's at least kinda better than his non-snow cousin. This game really doesn't want you to make a Goburimon theme deck. As for Gabumon, I would just use Otamamon unless you're playing a theme deck, or you're SydMontague. (It's his favorite Digimon)
Blue Champions
"Opponent uses O." This card must be a gift from Homeostasis (look her up!) because there is no other combination of three words (or two and a letter?) that so elegantly fucks with your opponent than this. Needless to say, the utility of the support effect alone makes it a staple in any color of deck with a focus on counters, because your opponent is forced into using the attack you're countering! And there's more, even if you're not countering, you can at least force your opponent to use an attack other than the one they want to use, as long as that's not O, anyways. Stats are pretty good too, but come on, you're not gonna evolve into this, right? Well, you could, I guess.
Ahem. So, Gesomon is your basic, run-of-the-mill Blue Champion. He has no support effect but passable stats. Still, I think there are better Champions here.
Like this. Shellmon's support effect, however, is just baffling. "If opponent used O, change it to X" - I...I just...why the condition?! You didn't give Garurumon a condition! This kills a lot of potential the support effect had...but Shellmon herself is okay.
These two are also very basic Blue Champions, both with the same support: +200 HP. That is all. There are faster recovery cards, but the versatility is nice. Especially since Mojyamon trades some stats for giving 20 DP instead of 10.
A basic Blue Champion that gives 20 DP. The support effect changes your opponent's color to Blue, so an Anti-Blue deck might include this instead of, or even including, Ice Atlar.
The last 30 DP Champion gives 20 DP, has no support effect, but does come with the very interesting X counter effect. If you can make some kind of X counter deck with this, Shellmon, and Saberdramon (a Black card we'll see later) believe me, I will use it in an update.
Moving onto the 40 DP set, these two are both exclusively for Anti-Red decks. Use if you're playing a Fire Altar strategy of some kind. Ikkakumon also gives 20 DP.
Unfortunately, Gandalf the White doesn't have a lot going for him - low HP for a Blue Champion at only 900, albeit with a little bit higher attack power than normal, and his X effect is Jamming if you want to keep that in reserve. The support effect just changes your color to Blue.
Now this guy, I like! Hyogamon has 1200 HP and his O attack does 460 damage, and his X effect is O counter. That is actually a lot for a 40 DP Champion with no support effect, and while I value supports quite a lot, sometimes you have to cut your losses and include a pretty good card regardless.
Dolphmon has a weird support effect: "If own attack is not O, recover 300 HP." Uh, yeah, Frigimon and Mojyamon do that without the weird condition. Gives 20 DP.
Whamon's even worse. His support effect sets your HP to 700, whether it was higher or lower. I don't imagine 700 being a great number, since Blue Rookies have around 700 all the time, so unless you're recovering from Tankmon's support effect or something I wouldn't use this. Whamon does have 1,300 HP, the highest among Blue Champions, however. He gives 20 DP as well.
Okay, here we go. Seadramon has a really great support effect and not too shabby stats either. The effect simply halves your opponent's attack power for the turn. No condition or drawback of any kind! Certainly a card worth considering for your deck - it even gives 20 DP.
Blue Ultimates
And now we move on to Ult-- wait what? That's not an ultimate! That's Coelamon...why didn't I go over him before? I thought I went over all the 40 DP cards...
...Coelamon costs FIFTY DP?! Is that a typo? Because Coelamon seems to have Hyogamon's stats and Otamamon's support effect...50 really feels like too much to ever get to it anyways, unfortunately. Let's just move on.
NOW Blue Ultimates
BlueMeramon is weird. He feels like a Red Ultimate, with his high attack power and low HP, but he's a Blue Ultimate. Recommended if you'd like to buck the trend a little, but he's honestly not much compared to...
YES! One of my favorite Ultimates of all time, because for just 30 DP you get the SECOND HIGHEST HP in the entire color, at 2,300! (Omnimon 2 and Vikemon are tied for first) Attacks are only slightly less powerful than BlueMeramon, with a slightly more useful support effect (O to zero instead of X to zero) and he gives 20 DP. Want a sturdy, Blue Ultimate that gets the job done? Get Bracchiomon.
Another excellent Ultimate, Panjyamon comes with some great attack power, T counter for his X attack, and a support effect that...makes you counter T and T only. Hrm. I suppose it beats T to zero, there's literally no drawback if you use this effect. Panjyamon costs 30 DP and gives 20 DP. WereGarurumon is basically the same, but with a worse support effect: "Add number of DP Cards in DP Slot x100 to own HP." It would take many, many cards in the DP slot to make this effective.
When it comes to MarineAngemon, I have to ask many questions, such as, why put "Angemon" in his name? Why is he semi-transparent in the card image? And what was up with that annoying fetch quest in Next Order? No matter, his stats are...passable, HP's on the low end but the attacks are fine and the support effect is a flat +200 HP. Costs 30 DP, gives 20 DP. Very flexible card.
Now for the 40 DP cards. WaruSeadramon is notable for being the other Blue Digimon with Jamming as an X effect, and it's his support effect too. I can't really recommend him over MegaSeadramon, however, because though his HP and attacks are similar, MegaSeadramon has O counter, gives 20 DP and his support effect makes you counter O attacks and O attacks only. Neat card to include in counterattack decks.
Easily one of Blue's best Ultimates. Great attacks and HP, gives 20 DP, and the support effect is good: If your color is Blue, halve the opponent's attack power. The condition makes it less flexible than Seadramon, but it's a good effect to go with a good Digimon. And come on. It's freaking Zudomon. A walrus turtle viking with a hammer? You can't not put that in your deck. (If you're using Blue anyhow)
Now we get to the 50 DP cards. Zudomon, what happened, man?! Your Mega form is supposed to be even more awesome. Vikemon isn't that much of an upgrade compared to Zudomon, so the extra DP needed isn't usually worth it. And he doesn't have a support effect. The expensive cards really need to start putting out something more....worth the effort.
These metal-heads both cost 50 DP, give 20 DP, and have...exactly the same attack stats, X effect (x3 vs. Fire)...woah. Some Dark Master, can't do more damage than MetalGarurumon. Who, as it happens, has more HP between the two. MetalSeadramon's support is to negate Digimon support, but only if your color is Blue and why did you add the condition, WaruSeadramon didn't have one! But oh MetalGarurumon's is worse: "If own Cards in Hand 3 or more, opponent's Attack Power becomes 0." Which means your hand has to be full when you use it, unless you topdeck it. Whoops.
We close off with the other of the two Omnimons. Omnimon 2 is similar to the first, except with X counter, his strongest attack is his T, and the support effect is still not good at all. He's tied with Vikemon in HP and costs 60 DP. Not much else to say about him.
Recommended Option Cards
Dark Lord's Cape - If your HP is higher than your opponent's (and considering it's Blue that's a pretty often occurance) you get +400 attack power. The difference between this and Gotsumon is that Gotsumon just doubles your attack power. That typically doesn't mean much with Blue's low attack power, so consider Dark Lord's Cape as an extra option.
Medium Recovery Floppy - Halves your attack power in exchange for +500 HP. Since Blue's attacks are generally low, this card gives a nice health boost for what's not much of a drawback.
Devil Chip - Discard 1 card to raise BOTH players' attack power by 600. If that sounds dangerous, keep in mind you're using Blue, you can probably take the hit. And if you pull off a counterattack, that's even more damage you're doing!
Fire Altar - Yes! With all the anti-Red cards in the Blue category, at least including one of these isn't a horrible idea. I didn't recommend Ice Altar in Red decks because there were so many other options that did fine, but here in Blue, it's a welcome surprise tactic.
Here's the deck we'll be using. Due to card shortages it's a little sub-par, but you can also see that I've added Piddomon in order to try out his effects in a Blue deck, and we've also got Gotsumon for backup. Onto the arena!
Nothing but Green cards for most of this. Actually, Aquilamon's going to have Red, so that should be a bit more fun.
Aha. Aha. Get it? Quick draw? As in quick to draw cards?
If this were Deputymon's deck I'd be even more impressed.
Anyhow, you can already see Gotsumon's effect doing its job well. I'm shocked Hawkmon didn't use those Kunemon cards, they lower both players' power by 200. That would hurt him too, but at least he'd be alive!
Uh...why is this here? Hawkmon has hardly any anti-Black cards, that's Angemon's thing.
And here's Dark Lord's Cape scoring another KO. In this particular instance I was happy to be using an Option Card, because a Digimon card could potentially be hit by the Jamming effect.
Haha I'm such a bitch.
"Aquila" is Latin for "Eagle" if you're wondering. Eagles and hawks seem to have something between them, somehow.
This is the match where Piddomon really started to shine. 720 damage on turn 1 is amazing.
I also decided to mix it up a little and do something "not normal".
Aquilamon didn't even get the chance to evolve. Hawks aren't flightless birds, are they...?
Ah, and this support effect is as good as ever, as you can imagine.
Does Horus even have anything to do with Love?
I've
got no comment
You're using this
in a deck with an Armor and very few Ultimates
so invincible
Just to prove he's not invincible I'm going to use O here to make that card not worth it, spoiler alert, it worked
Oh no, not Elecmon
You didn't even maximize the damage output
Oh so that's how you get to Ultimate at all in this game
Haha I'm such a bitch. We collect a Green pack and we are on our way.
But wait, what have we here?
Like the Haunted Arena, we have another bonus arena with a new song. This one's themed around Beetle Land. Sort of.
Oh, and this is all Aquilamon says now. For some reason.
The letter E? Clearly this must mean something!
Round 1 is the very first Digimon the Chosen Children ever fought, so that's worth a few novelty points. Kuwagamon's card is also pretty tough if you end up fighting it. Thing is, insect Digimon tend to have very little in the way of support.
Piddomon's effect comes in handy once more. That must have been psychological hell for Kuwagamon, because his X can KO me in this situation, but he has no idea if I'm going to use my own X, which has the X to zero effect. But he does drop me to 100 HP in any case.
So I evolve to Hyogamon to get all that HP back.
Haha I'm such a bitch. Why even use the Devil Chip here? It's way too big a risk.
Wait what? What business would we conduct? Would we sell cards or something?
Round 2 is--
you've got to be kidding me. You're not even an insect! You didn't even change your deck! And I can prove it, too, his win record didn't change, therefore it's the same deck.
He at least provided the mild amusement of getting my HP so high.
Okay, final round...Black? What's he got Black cards for?
Guess I'll use a Black card myself.
Things got hairy in this fight. As you can see by those stats, Kuwagamon packs a punch. I'll be going over Green cards in the next update, and I'll be sure to take a look at this one. Also, I got to use Betamon at last.
Good thing that blasted Dokunemon can't hurt me this time! Winning this arena nets us another Green pack. Let's head to Igloo City.
Armadillomon's arena is up next. He says "Yo" quite a lot, which is because the translator tried to replicate his verbal tic of adding "-dagya" at the end of sentences in the Japanese version. This was not adapted at all in the show's English dub. Dodged a bullet there...
So, it's nothing but Yellow cards. You'd expect this to be in Junk City, but then who would ever want to open an arena there?
Yes I know Thundermon did, never mind that.
Oh I get it, this is a deck destruction build. It could do wonders if he manages to stay alive long enough.
He doesn't.
You know, before I started playing this again, I forgot Ankylomon even existed.
Oh boy, Defense Disks. Well, I guess we just pick whatever attack feels right.
Ugh he topdecked Psychemon
That's better
Oh...now THAT is interesting, Digitamamon's support effect is to swap colors with your opponent, potentially giving them the color your attack is strong against. That's one I should write down for later.
The "Drill of Power" has only 1 for Attack.
His deck destruction is even stronger than Armadillomon's, and the added threat of Digmon appearing is...something, I guess.
In all fairness, I was knocked down to just three cards, but, look at my hand, what do you think I'll do with this?
Bad time for Psychemon! He was also down to just three cards. So, for beating him we get a Yellow pack!
...why can't Extra Arenas be worth playing through at least?