Most decks try to pick a specific focus and exploit it to its maximum, maybe tossing in some cards that shore up weaknesses. In the Jade Library, you will instead find a catalogue of toys for almost any situation right at your fingertips. By relying on the extreme speed and respectable draw in Jungle, this deck can load the trash with useful Digimon supports and load the active zone with a powerful ultimate in no time. This is a toolbox of the brute force variety and is incredibly dauntless—most of the deck’s effects revolve around preventing the opponent from affecting it.

For high skill players, this deck is packed with ways to take advantage of specific situations and force edge cases when brute force isn’t enough. Cherrymon, Knowledge Crest, and Super Evolve are built-in toolboxes. Much of the rest of the deck is dedicated to drawing cards, power gain, racking DP, or exploiting evo-bonuses multiple times. Bladekuwagamon, Vegiemon, Moxie, and Knowledge Crest are all valid attachments; so more experienced players should take note of when they might have to free up a future attachment slot to pivot their strategy.

Types

Primary type: (30)
Rare types: (2) | Lesser types: (1)
Entirely weak to Jungle x3 VS, with extremely rare other weaknesses.

Suggested pre-setup side choices:

Prioritize removing these particular cards in the pre-setup. Adjust to your matchup.

  • Behemoth
  • Silver ball
  • Mega Disk
  • Metal Parts
  • Vending Machine
  • Disrupt Ray

This pre-setup removal will prioritize saving blow-out cards for later game. A more offensively focused pre-setup might remove 3 Cherrymon’s Mist and keep Behemoth, Metal Parts, and Disrupt Ray instead. This could allow for some early KOs in critical matchups.

 

See visual list for specific card versions whenever ambiguous.

Jade Library

Level R: 11

4 Mushroomon – Great support which heals and racks DP. Used for many of the champion evo-bonuses.

4 Lalamon – Uniquely powerful support which may double high-damage attacks or Drain attacks for more defense. Has +30P and activates crucial evo-bonuses.

2 Palmon – Primarily used for a few evo-bonuses and as a backup +30P rack. Occasionally useful support when an opponent manages to get ahead.

1 Dokunemon Partner – This is our partner. The innate support can be used excellently with all the Drain in this deck as well as the Mega’s 1st Attack, plus it draws a card.

 

Level C: 12

3 Sunflowmon – Primary beater at this level. This deck mostly caters to diversity over consistency, so it’s important to note that this is used at 3 copies. It has incredible HP, nearly on par with Whamon. Its support has type-fixing and gives 1st Attack. Finally, Sunflowmon can give +30P rack, which is necessary.

2 Bladekuwagamon – The attachment is incredibly useful for stopping recursion decks (like this one). This also sports Jamming and +30P.

1 J-Mojyamon – One of a long line of evo-bonuses that draw cards. In this case, you get 1 from the top 3, which is very high quality; sometimes enough to stop you from wanting to mulligan. Its own support is incredibly useful since it  doubles Cross, which is often Drain.

1 Vegiemon – Primarily in the deck for its attachment since the body isn’t amazing nor is the Shatter. This is a great combo with all of the first waves of Digimon support effects before you attach a Knowledge Crest and begin re-using them.

1 Igamon – The evo-box gets any Digimon in the trash, allowing for premature re-use. In addition, it sports some of the deck’s rare 1st Attack. Generally, this deck’s HP will be higher due to the heavy amount of healing, so the support should give Jamming and rack DP very often. This effectively increases the deck’s void count by one.

1 Togemon – Extra strong cross with drain that can be used to make the opponent think we’re threatening their circle by signalling a triangle-to-zero (we can, Blossomon’s support) but we can also force the triangle with Disrupt Ray. 270 Drain while taking no damage and losing no cards is a solid play. Use the +30P and the support to use a powerful Drain on any attack.

1 Dokugumon – A very useful body for the active zone with power of Dragons, HP of some Marines, a deadly-attack protective cross ability, and an immense amount of disruption effects. Corrupt 1 is strong enough, but the evo-bonus adds trashing and static to its arsenal of BS. Since its circle is so high, an opponent has to add another layer of prediction onto whether it prefers to hit hard or dial back to triangle with corrupt 1 then trash 2 (a high-quality trash). If you do use the triangle, they suddenly have to ask themselves if you’d prefer to take the static 2 on cross anyway, regardless of the circle-to-zero, which could change their attack selection away from the heavily damaging circle. As a support, it’s a slightly weaker Lucky Mushroom which helps with adding even more heal to the deck.

1 Kabuterimon – Very good body but is primarily used for the Any Phase snipe ability to get a surprise KO. This is also usable with Knowledge Crest since the timing will apply to Support as well, therefore it’s possible to deal 100 damage from the hand, regain it using some other method (such as Igamon evo-bonus), deal another 100, then support with it from Knowledge Crest for a total of 300 damage before the battle phase. The potential of Kabuterimon in a deck with a lot of re-use is pretty heavy. Plus it has a big stompy body like Dokugumon.

 

Level U: 7

3 Cherrymon – Generally used for its support to grab a Champion or Ultimate from the deck which is necessary for the moment. It has a rather weak body but packs some type-hate and Jamming, which should free up your supports to do things other than void—which its support can also do. Its evo-bonus will screw anyone trying a similar strategy to yours, by stopping attach; and it also fuels your hand machine with take 1 in DP before it’s discarded to evolution.

2 Blossomon – Support has good protection or some power gain, which can be especially useful for all of the Drain in the deck. Its own body is respectable but with an incredibly high 300 Drain. Coupled with much of the power boosting (especially doubling) effects in this deck, that Drain should be able to negate ultimate-level deadly attacks at times.

2 Atlaskabuterimon – Primarily used for the void, cheap evolution cost, and name for Herc’s evo-bonus. Can be a good ultimate in a pinch. Atlas’ void is one of the most powerful Digimon sourced voids in the game, acting like a Firewall that merely makes your attack weaker for a turn.

 

Evolution: 5

2 Plug-In A – Since this deck often uses evo-bonuses but not always, and each bonus tends to be draw-related, it makes sense to include a way to activate all of them or even double-activate some. This is especially useful with Cherrymon, Igamon or J-Mojyamon. The added bonus of discarding an opponent’s DP when combined with the speed of this deck makes the opponent trip hard and can stick them on Champion for several turns while you ascend to Mega quickly.

2 Masquerade – Try to save this for Herculeskabuterimon’s draw 2 if possible by changing a non-Atlas to Atlas. If you’re dry on DP and have Atlas in hand, change their name to Ookuwamon and DNA to Hercules. The trash 2 effect is a minor bonus this deck doesn’t use much.

1 Super Evolve ACE Pick any ultimate from the deck for the current situation. Often used to get Blossomon in general. Atlaskabuterimon is worthwhile when you don’t have a Masquerade for Blossomon so it can activate Hercules’ evo-box. Cherrymon can be a useful option to jam each turn and stop attaches or when facing against Nightmare or Nature opponents.

 

Option: 11

3 Cherrymon’s Mist FIREWALL – Solid firewall that’s never bad. This gives the deck the maximum void-for-value and can protect from pesky cross abilities. Stay aware that it can be used for the end-turn of the game to guarantee a sure-KO.

1 Knowledge Crest – Used to re-support with all your existing Digimon that (hopefully) have already been used to their maximum potential, as well as catching the few that were used to rack DP. The power reduction acts as protection for that turn so you aren’t completely throwing the battle for a utility.

1 Moxie – This attachment should be placed early and often to make the most out of its evo-box granting powers. Especially devastating when combined with Plug-In A.

1 Mega Disk – Try to wait until either a Vending Machine is in hand or your active is Mega, so that Mega Disk has no cost. At that point, it can be re-used multiple times if properly set up.

1 Silver Ball – Nearly staple leveler of playing fields.

1 Behemoth – Behemoth is incredibly defensive when combining Shatter with Drain and the bonus power. Multiple Digimon in this deck can negate a whole attack from an ultimate-level base attack. With 1st Attack, it may be tough to get a KO due to the weaker bodies (until Mega) but still worth keeping as sleeper hit due to much of the power boosting effects that can be played in the turns before this. Especially useful with shatter for removing opposing Magic Word so your Digimon supports stop being voided.

1 Metal Parts – This is a devastating card. In a deck like this where the hand size is rarely below 4 before its played, Metal Parts should be giving quad or even quint damage in most cases. When combined with a lot of the healing, you should be free to play this on the opponent’s turn and draw 1. It’s possible to have 1200+ Drain with this card, allowing a one-shot of most Digimon and recovering so much health that it becomes daunting to attempt to KO. Given that this deck draws constantly, recovering that loss would be trivial.

1 Disrupt Ray – Very useful (if correctly predicted) for forcing the use of Cross to ensure the safety of your own Digimon, especially if combined with Drain or Jamming. This could effectively read “lose a turn” for opponents in some situations. At Mega level, it turns into a guard against opponents using Cross to stop Herc’s huge Circle or guarantees his 1st Attack final KO.

1 Vending Machine – This should be a given due to the mechanics of this deck. Vending Machine will recycle cards that hit the trash too early such as Knowledge Crest plus re-use killer cards like Mega Disk, Behemoth, Metal Parts, Firewalls, Super Evolve, and Digimon with key supports you don’t want to delete with the Crest. Try to avoid removing Moxie since it can come back on its own. Vending Machine has the double use of making your deck larger than the opponents for when Herc hits the active zone and needs his passive to be live.

Destiny Zone

Partner: Dokunemon

Herculeskabuterimon – This is an earth-shatteringly powerful Mega Digimon. Herc has incredibly high power, ridiculous HP, a draw 2 evo-bonus, and a passive that makes him a dauntless god much like his namesake. Normally, the 70 cost would be a problem but in this deck, that should be trivial with the extra racks, evolution cards, and +30P abounding. Once your deck is larger, try using Mega Disk since it will trash 0. At the point you reach Herc, have a plan to pump the 1st Attack if the math works out such that it could KO on your opponent’s turn. This will net you a bonus or potentially win the game. Since your hand, supports, and deck become sacred, Herc can power through late game like a blowtorch through butter.

Morishellmon – Almost always the primary partner evolution due to the Drain and draw.

Dokugumon – Very useful partner evolution for the superior body (in all regards).

Matrix Evolve Proxy – Since this is a proxy, you will always get the DP -20 discount, even when evolving to Mega. This essentially allows for picking any Digimon to evolve to from the top 7 in a deck with a plethora of singleton champions and several ultimate choices. If none are appealing, there’s a 90% chance that you can simply rack +30 P with it, stack with the -20DP discount, and therefore have 50DP covered to evolve from hand. As a bonus, Matrix sends the partner back to the deck for later use.

Possible Changes

No deck is perfect or unbeatable. Most probably have room for improvement even when not considering the meta. This will be no different. Here’s a list of stuff that just may not work as well as I think it does, that I can see coming:

Disrupt Ray – Mostly a meta-call. It can be useful in some matchups and fall flat in others, not to mention how it takes a lot of skill to use effectively. Suggested replacements: Incubator for attachment toolboxing, Plug-In Backup for more recycle, Burst Growth to exploit early draw, Mega Disk for a second chance with Herc’s trash cost reduction.

Bladekuwagamon – The static and attachment can fall flat in some matchups. Generally, it’s useful to stop the bulk of recursion decks out there but if you’re not sold, I suggest: Woodmon for a balanced support and type-hate, or Flymon for those that rely more heavily on Cross.

Dokugumon (Destiny Zone) – It seems like the best partner evolution until you’re actually playing and Morishellmon always looks more tantalizing due to the similar body but with drain. If you find Dokugumon lackluster or don’t get use out of its disruption, try Yanmamon. It’s a huge hit on power but you already have Morishellmon and Yanmamon can disrupt far more effectively by changing some opponent’s type to anything and then Jam them until you get to ultimate.

Palmon – In case you don’t value covering every single base on Sunflowmon as much as having a support that’s more live, try: Tentomon (DB-015) which has voiding, Fanbeemon which has good protection, or Alraumon if you want to stick with Drain but more consistently.

 

Destiny Zone

 

Key Points

Jade Library is heavily reliant on churning through the deck both to evolve quickly and set up the trash for future play. Keep the following in mind while playing:

  • Breakneck evo-speed. This deck has some of the fastest evolution without level-skip in the game, allowing you to make maximum use of HP to stall and get to Mega while dishing damage along the way.
  • Above-average endurance. Despite the low base-HP on many Digimon (except Mega), this deck contains a lot of Drain and Recovery. It’s possible the endurance is even higher, especially if prioritized when using search effects.
  • Wellspring of draw. Most evo-bonuses have draw and the deck quickly gets into situations where it can draw 1-2 extra per turn.
  • High level of void. The deck natively contains 9 cards that void but can search and re-use them ludicrously.
  • Great consistency. The re-use of Digimon supports plus recycling combined with the singleton nature of many of its cards allows the deck to wear many hats, often times at-will.
  • Below average power. Like with most Jungle decks, until Level M, the deck suffers tremendously on attack power. Its relative power is higher early due to the fast evolutions, but the equal-level power falls hard. This can be mitigated with much of the power-increasing support but the base damage is low enough and priority is typically on defense enough that it tends not to be effective until Ultimate or Mega.
  • Attachment hell. Unlike many decks with attachments, this one can be hell at times. If attachments are drawn in the wrong order (such as Knowledge Crest early or Vegiemon late), it can bring the efficacy of the whole deck down. Try to mitigate this with recycle when they hit the trash or simply take mulligans on the good faith that you’ll still get to evolve with any hand (which fuels Knowledge Crest anyway).
  • Vulnerable to Static. While not a terribly common effect, the deck does rely on trash placement enough that static can be a bummer to face.

 

This particular deck tested very well versus just about any matchup despite some of its weaknesses. The primary reason was due to its undaunted nature: you can void almost any problem support and prevent the brunt of devastating attacks while quickly trucking on to Mega level. In all of the time I’ve played this deck, Herculeskabuterimon has rarely been KO’d and even so, I tended to only need 1 more KO myself in a deck with a ton of defense and speed, so I could often grind the game down until I was at an advantage again. This is a tough deck to actually stop, even against something specifically packing DP-removal, anti-Level U/M cards to the brim, and copious static—all of which should be its bane. That said, it has a hard time making the hits up to mega count since they tend to be pretty weak. Decks with low endurance tend to survive and make it to Ultimate or Mega themselves, meaning Herc often has to contend with an opponent’s strongest Digimon. This tends to suit Jade Library just fine as it’s equipped with an incredible body at Mega and some nasty supports for dealing with opposing Megas, which therefore tend to be 2 easy KOs.

Watch out for the following Megas, which can actually rival Herc directly:

  • Boltmon: Jungle x3 VS = 1500 Triangle, huge HP
  • Moonmillenniumon: Huge HP and can stop all Herc’s best attacks, can’t be void, can search an Ace
  • Zeedmillenniumon: Huge HP, can’t be void, search any 2 cards to deal with you
  • Omegamon: Attachment and power superiority, nearly strictly better version of Herc’s passive
  • Examon (BR): High power, can charge up DP then DNA for an activate so powerful it one-shots
  • Millenniumon, Diablomon, Hi-Andromon: Each can Crash for a one-shot. Otherwise superior power and very high HP.

Despite the number of contenders at Mega, most of the rest have to work very hard and it’s peerless against Ultimates. If speed, a toolbox, consistency, high draw power, and a very powerful Mega sound appealing to you, give Jade Library a try.

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Alice White

Alice is the webmaster of VMundi, author, and editor. She has over 11 years of publishing experience writing articles for various self-run sites. Her interests include game design, writing romance fiction, economics, Game Theory, graphical design, and mathematics.

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