Diving Deeper: An introduction to Plunder Patroll, Part 2

Before you read this article, please note that this is the second part of a two-part series. The first article covered the most important cards of the archetype and explained the deck's main strategy. In this article you can also find an example decklist for a going-second version of the deck. But make sure you've read the previous article so that you are familiar with the cards.

Going First or Going Second?

As mentioned in the first article, the deck can be played in a going-first and a going-second version. The going-first build is really straightforward: just play all the Plunder main-deck monsters and add some hand traps geared to the current format. It is hard to tell which version of the deck one should expect to perform better, at least nowadays. With the release of , the deck can now go first and try to put up a decent board. Before Blackeyes's release this was sometimes hard because you did not have a Plunder Patroll card left in your hand at the end of your turn to activate your ships' effects during the opponent's turn. Blackeyes fixed this problem.

However, I want to point out an enormous advantage of the going-second strategy. For , , or to board your ships, your opponent needs to have suitable attributes on their field or in their graveyard. Whitebeard and Redbeard can only board the ships during the opponent's turn anyway. Blackbeard on the other hand can already summon a ship during your first turn if there is a matching attribute.

However, when you go first your opponent will not have any monsters on the field! There might be a monster in their graveyard in case they hand trap you on your first turn. An opponent's could help you summon or a could pave the way/ocean for . Yet, this is very circumstantial and does not allow a consistent first-turn setup all the time.

The only way to get to your ships then might be via hard-making them, that is, performing a synchro or xyz summon to make Brann or Moerk. This possibility is often neglected by players when they first pick up the deck. Summoning the ships via Captain Blackbeard and friends creates a lot more card advantage than summoning the ships through their own channels. However, in many situations it can be advisable to do that nonetheless. For example, one should not underestimate Moerk's -like protection effect.

Going second gives you the following advantage: When you go second, your opponent will most likely already have monsters on their field and in their graveyard. This will make the setup for yourself much more uncomplicated. Also, at that point you know the deck that your opponent is on. This makes it easier to decide which ship you want to summon first. When you are up against a back-row deck, Brann might be the best pick. Against a monster-heavy strategy both Moerk and might do the trick.

One more, rather obvious, additional advantage is the sixth card you get to draw when you opt to go second all the time. However, going second also brings some disadvantages with it. When you let your opponent go first all the time, you will have to play through an already established board with possibly several negates and interruptions. With Moerk and Brann, the Plunder Patroll strategy has really nice ways of taking apart an opponent's board. Neverthless, it may be hard to get to the ships in the first place when your opponent has already set up their board and got their engine running.

Wipe Their Board

When you go second, you will have to run a lot of additional going-second cards that help you break boards. Some examples are , , , or . A neat going-second engine that works really well with Plunder Patroll are the Kaijus. can destroy all of the opponent's monsters at once. Moreover, it summons a Kaiju to both fields. Even though it sounds like a bad idea to give your opponent a 3,300 ATK beater in the form of this can actually help you advance your own plays.

With the Kaiju Slumber you can get rid of all your opponent's monsters and give them any attribute you like, which in turn allows you to summon your ships. This is especially important in matchups against decks such as that do not run the attributes you need at all. Running one copy each of Jizukiru, , , and allows you to seed your opponent's field with any attribute you need.

Moreover, Interrupted Kaiju Slumber lets you search out another Kaiju via its graveyard effect during the next turn. Even if you hard-draw the Kaijus they can be used as means to deal with problematic monsters. They make it easy for you to deal with cards such as or . When running the Kaijus, however, you have to keep in mind that most of the Plunder Patroll monsters such as Whitebeard or lock you into Plunder Patrolls for the remainder of the turn. Hence, you have to do all your Kaiju plays before you start your Plunder Patroll plays.

Honorable Mentions

Lastly, I want to mention several cards that work well with the Plunder Patroll archetype in general. The first card I want to mention here is , an easy +1 that recycles your resources. A neat extra deck monster is . It is relatively easy to make and will function as a spell/trap negate since you will always have a water monster in your graveyard. You have to keep in mind that you cannot summon it after you have locked yourself into Plunder Patrolls though.

You can add to the side deck if you're playing the going-second version. Oftentimes you will be forced to go first after siding. Summon Limit can then help slow down your opponent, while you usually do not need more than two summons to put some pressure onto your opponent yourself.

The final honorable mention can be quite fun in this deck: good old . Not only will it let you see which deck your opponent is on when you go first. It might also get some attributes into your opponent's graveyard to help you get to your ships. Moreover, you can actually profit from it in case you discard a from your hand, or it will help you set up your plays by getting Goldenhair into the graveyard. Yet, you should not put too much hope onto this card and refrain from building your entire strategy around it. It remains an unsearchable one-of that is easily countered by an Ash Blossom. Still, it can be a nice addition to the deck since few people expect it nowadays.

This concludes my second article on the Plunder Patroll. I hope it provides you with a decent overview about how you could play the deck in a going-second variant. If you have any experiences with the Plunder Patroll already, feel free to share them down in the comments!

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