Call me Wide Walrus. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no faith left in Konami, and nothing particular to interest me in the TCG format, I thought I would sail about a little and pilot plunder patroll in Trinity Format. Care to join me and my green pirate crew?


Pros:

Ability to play on opponent's turn

Access to ample disruption

Huge snowball potential

Can be combined with many archetypes


Cons:

Reliant on opponent attributes

Weak to early disruption

Forced to include subpar cards


Points: 4

Redbeard, the Plunder Patroll Matey: Extra Copy

Plunder Patroll Shipyarrrd: Extra Copy

Whitebeard, the Plunder Patroll Helm: 1 Point
Terraforming: 1/2 Point

Titanocider: 1/2 Point


General Strategy:
Ahoy ye landlubbers! Looks like you've stumbled upon Plunder Patroll, the deck that converts its cartoony trolls into formidable patroll ships—on its opponent's turn! In Trinity Format, Plunder Patroll can be combined with a whole host of other arrrchetypes (Dark World, Danger!, HERO, Orcust, Phantom Knight and Unchained, to name a few), and generally synergize well with anything that can mitigate the deck's required discards. For this list, I've chosen a straightforward HERO strategy with lots of cards that benefit from being discarded, rewarding the player with quick plus ones in card advantage. By generating advantage and patrolling the opponent's waters on their turn, Plunder Patroll seek to discard their cards, harvest advantage and send their opponent to the plank.


Plunder Patroll Shipyarrrd, the field spell that tutors all of the archetype's other members, is the premier source of these aforementioned discards. By using Shipyarrd to to keep up Plunder Patroll cards in hand, Plunder Patroll rely on their ships to repeatedly disrupt their opponent and continue searching, accruing massive advantage in the process. Couple these disruptions with the repeated revival of Plunder Patroll Booty, and you have a resilient, snowbally strategy that can fill your board—spell and trap zone and all—in no time flat.

Opening Plays:
Plunder Patroll's best opening options involve summoning a pirate and converting to a patroll ship, and it packs a variety of ways to do so. Most obviously, the deck can simply summon Whitebeard, the Plunder Patroll Helm, but best of all is to link summon Blackbeard, the Plunder Patroll Captain. If your opponent is foolish enough to be playing LIGHT monsters, Blackbeard can tag out (with a draw) into Plunder Patrollship Lys, which can in turn negate an opponent's monster effect, net you another search, and then special summon that (properly-summoned) Blackbeard back!

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Still, the deck gains opening options from more than just its pirates. Tour Guide From the Underworld, by special summoning Sangan, link summoning Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss and sending to the GY Fiendish Rhino Warrior into Wandering King Wildwind, is able to guarantee two monster searches by your next main phase. Similarly, don't forget that your Plunder Patrollships can be summoned the old-fashioned way if your opponent isn't playing along. Armageddon Knight sending a Phantom Knight and searching The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine is an easy way to make a quick Plunder Patrollship Moerk!

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The Win Condition:
Between Plunder Patrollship Lys, Moerk, and Brann's ability to disrupt and search on both player's turns, Plunder Patroll Booty's ability to introduce any missing attributes and revive on both player's turns, and Plunder Patroll Shipyarrrd's ability to massively boost your monster's attack stats (...on both players turns!), Plunder Patroll can coast to victory once their advantage engine sets sail. Indeed, once your opponent is staring down your armada, bolstered each by a 500 attack boost from Plunder Patrollship Brann and a 1,000+ boost from Plunder Patroll Shipyarrrd, their life points aren't long for this world. Still, once your engine starts to fire, be sure to think carefully about what you search; you don't want to find yourself forced to discard your lone Plunder Patroll Booty, and get that Shipshape Ships Shipping and second Shipyarrrd in the GY as soon as possible to enable the deck's most explosive lines!

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Closing Thoughts:

While converting your cutesy pirates into massive patrollships is a simple enough premise, don't be led astray; Plunder Patroll have a high skill ceiling, and the amount of options these searches afford can make for a bit of a learning curve. Whitebeard, the Plunder Patroll Helm and Goldenhair, the Newest Plunder Patroll are prone to locking you into exclusively Plunder Patroll monsters, and it's easy for a daydreaming pilot to find themselves in troubled waters quickly. Nevertheless, so long as you're thinking ahead and excited to learn from your mistakes, Plunder Patroll are a unique and joyful deck to pilot. If you're looking for a cute, competitive archetype with lots of options for creative hybrids, give Plunder Patroll a shot!

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Written by WideWalrus