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Adamancipators have become one of the most popular deck archetypes inYu-Gi-Oh! Master Duelthanks to their fantastic abilities, allowing you to swarm your opponent with powerful Synchroand Link Monsters. The Adamancipators are an archetype built out of Rock-type monsters that revolve around two central mechanics: special summoning Tuners to make powerful Extra Deck monsters and excavating the top cards of your deck.
Related:Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel: Every Solo Mission Reward
Adamancipators may not be the most beginner-friendly archetype out there but for intermediate-to-expert-level players, Adamancipators present a powerful archetype that can easily overwhelm even the most potent decks throughout Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. you may excavate a Diamond rank in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel with them by your side.
What Are Adamancipators?
In the Yu-Gi-Oh! lore, Adamancipators are fearless cave explorers who excavate rare diamonds that turn into powerful monsters. Their in-game abilities reflect their lore capabilities, as they canexcavate the top cards of your deck and perform beneficial actions based on the cards that are revealed.
Adamancipators alsobenefit from using cards from other Rock cards, like those from the Koa’ki Meruarchetype, and even certain Prank-Kidscards can be woven into your Adimancipator deck for optimal success.
Adamancipators consist of Tuner Monsters, Effect Monsters, and Synchro Monsters. TheTuners can alsoSpecial Summon themselvesfrom your hand depending on the current field state.
Adamancipator Analyzer
Level 4/EARTH/Rock
Can Special Summon themselves from the hand ifonly your opponent controls a monster.
Adamancipator Researcher
Level 2/EARTH/Rock
Can Special Summon themselves from the hand if you control aRock-typemonster.
Adamancipator Seeker
Can Special Summon themselves from the hand if you control anotherAdamancipatormonster.
All three of these cards allow you toexcavate the top five cards of your deck, thenSpecial Summon a revealed level 4 or lower Rock-type monster. You shouldplay three copies of Researcher and Seeker,but Analyzer is limited to 2,so play two copies.
Your ideal play isnot to Normal Summon any of these monstersif you can help it but instead toutilize their Special Summon conditionsto get them onto the field.
Save your Normal Summons for cards that cannot or should not be Special Summoned, like Revival Golem or Doki Doki, two generic Rock-type monsters that synergize well with your Adamancipator deck.
Adamancipator Crystal Monsters
Along with the Adamancipator Tuner monsters are a set of “Crystal” monsters that were intended to be the targets for your Tuners' excavation skills. These three monstersall have effects that activate when they are Special Summoned by an Adamancipator monster’s effect.
While in the Graveyard, they can alsoreturn a Synchro Monster with the same Attribute as themselvesto the Extra Deck, then place themselves on top of your deck, which would then allow you to use their effects after you excavate them with your Adamancipator Tuner monsters.
Unfortunately, this concept does not work well in practice, andmost high-level Adamancipator decks generally do not use the Crystal Main Deck monsters.However, if you want to play pure Adamancipators without using any other Rock-type monsters, they are listed below, along with their effects:
Adamancipator Crystal - Raptite
Level 4/WIND/Rock
Place 1 Rock monster from your hand or GY on top of your Deckif Special Summoned by an Adamancipator monster’s effect.
Adamancipator Crystal - Leonite
Level 4/FIRE/Rock
Place an Adamancipator card from your hand or GY on top of your Deckwhen Special Summoned by an Adamancipator monster’s effect.
Level 4/WATER/Rock
Draw a cardwhen Special Summoned by an Adamancipator monster’s effect.
Adamancipator Risen Synchro Monsters
Lastly, you have access to three Adamancipator Risen Synchro Monsters. These are your boss monsters, and you should feel confident in summoning them in almost every Duel.
All three of these monsters share two similar effects. Like their Main Deck Tuner counterparts,you gain additional effects from excavating the top five cards of your Deck and uncovering Rock-type monsters.
Unique to the Extra Deck monsters, though, isan additional effect that will be available if you have a monster in your Graveyard with a matching Attribute.
Adamancipator Risen - Raptite
Level 6/WIND/Rock
Excavate the top 5 cards of your deck and Special Summon one of your excavated Rock-type monsters in Defense Position. While you have another WIND-Attribute monster in your Graveyard, you canQuick Effect banish an opponent’s card in their Graveyard.
Raptite has a powerful disruption Effect that can allow you toremove your opponent’s key combo piece from play during their turnorremove a card that could affect your plays during your turn.
Adamancipator Risen - Dragite
Level 8/WATER/Rock
Excavate the top 5 cards of your deck and return cards your opponent controls to their hand up to the number of excavated Rock monsters you uncover with its effect. While a WATER monster is in your Graveyard, you canQuick Effect negate an opponent’s Spell/Trap card or effect.
Dragite is an incredibly strong monster andshould be strongly considered when setting up your board in any situation against any other Deck.You could potentially returnfive cardsyour opponent controls to their hand, which can certainly put you in a prime position to win the game.
Adamancipator Risen - Leonite
Level 6/FIRE/Rock
Excavate the top 5 cards of your deck and add any excavated Adamancipator card to your hand(this includes monsters, Spells, and Traps.)While a FIRE monster is in your Graveyard, you can Quick Effect summon a Rock monster from your Graveyard.
While these effects can be helpful in certain situations,you will rarely see Leonite in many high-level Adamancipator decks because of its awkward and, quite frankly, weak effects compared to its counterparts.Plus, with easy access to powerful Synchro Monsters like Borreload Savage Dragon and Baronne de Fleur, the competition is simply too stiff for Leonite to exist in a competitive version of this Deck.
Lastly,Adamancipators cannot guarantee to put a FIRE-Attribute monster into the Graveyardin the same fashion they can put WIND or WATER-Attribute monsters there. The only FIRE-Attribute monster you will play is likely Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring,which is a generic tech option.
Other Core Main Deck Monsters For Adamancipator
Adamancipators mesh nicely with other Rock-type monsters, even those from other archetypes. You should consider playing at least one copy of many of the following cards:
Block Dragon
Level 8/EARTH/Rock
Summon itself from your Hand/Graveyard at the cost of banishing three EARTH-Attribute monsters from your GY; Adds up to 3 Rock monsters from your Deck to your hand when it hits the GY from the Field.
Block Dragon is supremely powerful in this Deck and should be played at 1. Depending on the other tech cards you have in your deck, you may even search for Block Dragon toguarantee you can utilize its exceptional power in every Duel.
Doki Doki
At the cost of discarding one Rock monster, you’re able to Special Summon another Rock monster that has the same original Attribute and Level as that monster, in either face-up Attack Position or face-down Defense Position.
Don’t worry — we’re not talking about anything related to Monika here. Doki Doki’s effect can be used to ensure you get a Tuner you need to execute your Extra Deck plays, and it will alsoget monsters into the Graveyard to activate their effectsandset up your Graveyard with the necessary Attributes to activate effects like Block Dragon’s.
Naturally, you’ll want to Special Summon said monster in Attack Position, so you may use it for Extra Deck summons.You cannot use face-down monsters as materials for Extra Deck monstersexcept for Fusion Monsters, but you likely won’t play Fusion Monsters in your Extra Deck here.
Gigantes
Must be Special Summoned from your hand by banishing one EARTH-Attribute monster from your Graveyard
Your main combo play with Gigantes is to Special Summon it, then Special Summon one of your Adamancipator Tunersto summon a Link or Synchro Monsterwithout using your Normal Summon.Depending on what your Graveyard looks like, you may even be able to extend your play using Block Dragon’s GY effect.
Revival Golem
Allows you to eitherSpecial Summon it from your Graveyardoradd it to your hand if it is sent from your Deck to the Graveyard.
Koa’ki Meiru Cards
Various
Many Koa’ki Meiru cards work well with Adamancipators because they interact with Rock-type monsters in a variety of ways. Koa’ki Meiru Suppliercan Special Summon itself from your hand if a face-up Rock monster you control is sent to the Graveyard. On its Special Summon, you can then add a Koa’ki Meiru monster to your hand.
Usually, you will addKoa’ki Meiru Guardian,which has a Quick Effect whereit can negate an activated Monster effect by Tributing itself. Both cards are Level 4, meaning you can easily make Level 6 or 8 Synchro Monsterswith them and a single Adamancipator Tuner. Due to their versatility, you should consider playingtwo or three copies of both of these cards.
Prank-Kid Rocksies
When used as materials for a Prank-Kids Link Summon, it lets you draw a card and Special Summon another “Prank-Kids” monster except for another copy of itself from your hand or Deckat the cost of banishing a card from your hand.
Adding Prank-Kids cards to your Deck allows you to utilize the powerful Prank-Kids Link Monsters, like Prank-Kids Dodo-Doodle-Doo and Prank-Kids Meow-Meow-Mu. The three cards mentioned also happen to synergize with the Adamancipator Deck, as they are all monsters with beneficial effects when used as Link Materials to summon the aforementioned Link Monsters.
Prank-Kid Fansies
Level 1/WIND/Thunder
When used as materials for a Prank-Kids Link Summon, it will let you send a Prank-Kids card from your Deck to the Graveyard; then Special Summon a Prank-Kids card from your hand or Deck except for another copy of itself.
Prank-Kids Dropsies
Level 2/WATER/Aqua
When used as materials for a Prank-Kids Link Summon, it lets youSpecial Summon a Prank-Kids monster from your hand or Deckandgain 1000 Life Points
Fansies and Dropsies bothsatisfy the activation requirements of Raptite and Dragite’s second abilities, respectively. If you plan on summoning either of your Adamancipator Extra Deck monsters,it may be wise to verify Fansies and Dropsies are in your GY to get the most out of your summons.
Rock Band Xenoguitar
Add a Rock monster in your Graveyard to your hand, then place a card from your hand on top of your Deck.On banish, Xenoguitar can send any Rock monster from your Deck to the Graveyard (even Block Dragon!)
As you can probably tell by now, both of these effects synergize very well with the entire deck, and it’s no surprise this card is played at multiple copiesto facilitate your strategies.
Fossil Cards
Fossils are another Rock-type archetype that synergizes nicely with Adamancipators, mainly because they like to be sent from the Deck to the Graveyard. Cards like Tackle Crusader are often included in 60-card variants to synergize with That Grass Looks Greener.
Other Core Extra Deck Monsters For Adamancipator
Outside of the archetype’s Synchro Monsters, other Extra Deck monsters synergize very well with Adamancipators and should be included in your Extra Deck. You willonly play one copy of each of these monsters.
There are Link Monsters that cannot be used as Link Materials under certain circumstances, so be sure to read your cards and know which ones to summon in a given situation.
There’s nothing worse than trying to Link climb and summoning a card you can’t use as a Link Material, thereby limiting your play and making a costly mistake.
Tech Cards For Adamancipator Decks
Adamancipators can benefit from common"tech cards," or cards that you include for their standalone value,and do not generally interact with the rest of the deck in any way. You should include three copies of both to disrupt your opponent’s plays and potentially give yourself some draw power.
you’re able to also include a copy to blow up your opponent’s board if they Special Summon too much. As a bonus, Nibiru is a Rock-type monster, which will allow you to search for it or activate your monsters' various effects.
While Adamancipators are mostly monster-effect based (like most decks in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel) there are a few Spells and Traps that can be of great help to you.You will likely have most of the cards on this list because they are staples for any deck,not just Adamancipators.
Maxx “C”
Level 2/EARTH/Insect
Use its effect when your opponent Special Summons a monster and either watch them pass their turn or take the “Maxx ‘C’” challenge. Either way, you gain an advantage if you get it off successfully.
Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring
Level 3/FIRE/Zombie/Tuner
Activate this card’s effect when your opponent searches for a key combo piece. Certain decks cannot play through a well-timed Ash Blossom, and others still hate to have their search effects negated. In absolutely dire straits, Ash Blossom serves as a Tuner monster that can be used for a game-ending Synchro play, but this should be saved for an absolute final trump card. Ash Blossom is much more powerful in your hand than on your field.
Nibiru, The Primal Being
Level 11/LIGHT/Rock
Use this effect carefully when your opponent Special Summons at least five times. If you know your opponent is inching towards an Extra Deck monster with a monster negate, consider “dropping the rock” early to keep them from getting their powerful Extra Deck monsters on the field. Nibiru also doubles as a Rock monster, allowing you to Special Summon Adamancipator Researcher on your turn.
Foolish Burial
Spell
Foolish Burial is a stalwart for decks that like to put monsters into the Graveyard, and Adamancipators are no different. Whileyou can only play one copy of Foolish in your deck, the ability to send any monster to your Graveyard can open up a new realm of possibilities for you during a game. In a pinch, you can even use Foolish Burial toeat up your opponent’s Ash Blossom, or other negatesbefore making plays with your monsters without being interrupted.
Small World
Small World is an exceptional card for Adamancipators since the monsters included in the deck all share an Attribute, Type, or Level. While Small World can be confusing at first,learning how to use it can make your deck much more powerful and consistent.If you’re having trouble using Small World,hit the Casual Duels and work on your Small World pathing before taking your talents to the ranked ladder.
Called By The Grave
Use Called By The Grave to disrupt your opponent’s plays or negate their Ash Blossom/Maxx “C” during your turn; it’s as simple as that.
Crossout Designator
Use Crossout Designator on your opponent’s hand traps or on their Called By The Grave to prevent them from interrupting your plays. In a mirror match,you can use even use Crossout Designator to negate a key combo piece.
That Grass Looks Greener
Every Lightsworn player’s favorite card makes an appearance in Adamancipators for a similar reason. That Grass Looks Greener sends cards from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard to make your Deck equal the number of cards in your opponent’s Deck.
For example, if you have 60 cards in your Deck while your opponent has 40, Grass will send 20 cards to your Graveyard, which can trigger a variety of Graveyard effects and allow you to trigger effects of cards like Revival Golem or Tackle Crusader. You shouldonly play Grass if you are building a 60-card deck,as this card is dead in a 40-card Deck.
Miracle Rupture
While normally used in Fossil Decks to retrieve Fossil Fusion, Miracle Rupture acts as a secondary Foolish Burial in Adamancipators. You can send a Level 4 or lower Rock-type monster to your Graveyard at no additional cost.
Infinite Impermanence
Trap
The most powerful and influential Trap card in the game. Infinite Impermanence can not only serve as a monster negate from your hand (if you control no cards) or field but can negate all Spells and Traps activated in the same column if it’s Set prior to its activation.
There are also a few archetype-specific Spells and Traps for Adamancipators, but they do not offer the power that existing staples do. The only exception to this rule isAdamancipator Signs,a normal Spell card allowing you to Special Summon a Rock-type monster in Defense Position.
Then, if that monster was an Adamancipator, you can place any Level 4 or lower Rock-type monster on top of your Deck. Try Signs for yourself and see if you can make it work in your Deck,but know that many high-level players do not include Signs in their deck,so don’t worry if you don’t like it.
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How to Play Adamancipators
Now that you’ve built your Deck, it’s time to play. Your ideal hand will beat least one Adamancipator Tuner monster, at least one Rock monster that you can Normal Summon, Block Dragon, and a hand trap.From here, your idealopening play is to get at least two Rock monsters on the field, whether through Special Summoning two of them, or Normal Summoning one then Special Summoning another.
If at least one of your monsters is an Adamancipator, you should use their excavation effect to potentially get more monsters onto the field. If you do not have an Adamancipator on the field,you should XYZ summon Gallant Granite to add Adamancipator Researcher to your hand. You can then Special Summon Researcher and start digging.
Your ideal “end board,“or the monsters you have on the Field when you pass your turnwhile going first, should bemultiple negates like Apollousa and Borreload Savage Dragon, thenBlock Dragon and one of your Adamancipator Synchro monsters.
If you’re going second, your best option is to deal with as many of your opponent’s negates as possible,then summon Dragite to send your opponent’s remaining cards back to their hand.From there, you can also summon powerful Link Monsters like Accesscode Talkerto destroy any cards you didn’t send back to the hand and potentially deal massive damage to your opponent.
As with all Decks, playtesting is crucial to give yourself a chance to feel out your Deck and understand what it does well and what it doesn’t.If you play multiple games and find that a card is not helpful, it may be time to remove it from your Deck, or even add cards like Twin Twistersor Lightning Stormto deal with pesky backrow-heavy Decks that give Adamancipators such grief.
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