Koa'ki Meiru
| Koa'ki Meiru | |||
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| Japanese |
コアキメイル | ||
| Japanese (romanized) |
Koakimeiru | ||
| Japanese (translated) |
Koaki Meiru | ||
| English |
Koa'ki Meiru | ||
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Koa'ki Meiru, sometimes romanized as Core Chimail (a combination of the words "Core", "Chimera", and "Mail", a synonym for armour) is a theme from Raging Battle, Ancient Prophecy, Stardust Overdrive, Absolute Powerforce, and The Shining Darkness. However the support card "Koa'ki Ring" and other anti-meta cards appear in Starstrike Blast.
The majority of their effects center around manipulating the Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru or revealing one in hand to activate an effect. The strongest of the monsters require a maintenance cost in the form of sending an Iron Core to the grave or revealing a monster of the same type. There are exceptions such as that of Koa'ki Meiru Powerhand, where you must reveal a Normal Trap Card.
Koa'ki Meirus are all EARTH, WIND, WATER or FIRE attributes, rendering them immune to their own control based effects which often affect LIGHT and DARK monsters. All of the "Koa'ki Meiru" have the same mark (3 dragons) on some part of their body or on a weapon they have. Also, many Koa'ki Meiru and related cards' artwork uses yellow, orange, and red, except Koa'ki Meiru Ghoulungulate.
Playing Style
The theme was initially designed to bring down the dominating decks of over 2 banlists therefore centering around heavy control elements. Seeing as the meta was completely dominated by LIGHT and DARK decks, effects specifically targeted both Attributes therefore bringing about a specific Meta, Anti Meta theme. Because of their high ATK, 11 lvl 4 monsters from 1900 ATK, topping out at 3000 (Koa'ki Meiru Valafar), and the nature of the new support, the theme has taken a more aggressive approach with powerful beatdown elements, namely Koa'ki Meiru Rooklord and Koa'ki Meiru Urnight.
Generally speaking, there are two ways to use Koa'ki Meiru cards. The most obvious is to simply use a dedicated deck; the other being to use individual Koa'ki Meiru monsters as a supplement to Type specific decks of their type, giving an Anti-Meta, controlling aspect to it as well asbeing able to maintain it through the alternative maintenance cost; for example, using Koa'ki Meiru Drago in a Dragon type deck as seen in Disaster Dragon builds.
In order to run a Koa'ki Meiru deck, no matter the style, you'll need multiple ways to retrieve the Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru from your deck and graveyard such as Koa'ki Meiru Boulder, Koa'ki Meiru Crusader, and Core Transport Unit. Iron Core Immediate Disposal is also nice mid game, after building up resources in hand. You must also be wary of keeping more on field than you can maintain. Your field should max out at 2 Koa'Ki Meiru's requiring maintenance with multiple Cores in play as well as an alternative cost ready in hand.
Beatdown uses a different lineup, using a minimum of control but only the best in the form of Rooklord and Drago. The main attackers being Koa'ki Meiru Bergzak,Koa'ki Meiru Powerhand and Koa'ki Meiru Rooklord. With the addition of Koa'ki Meiru Urnight from Absolute Powerforce, you gain a swarm/toolbox element. Koa'ki Meiru Ghoulungulate is nice protection but your tribute fodder is best used on Rooklord. S/t protection is a better option.
You can also play a RFG Koa'ki Meiru deck. Ghoulungulate can protect your monsters while setting you up for Return from the Different Dimension. Milling elements are recommended to load your grave. The set up takes time so you can use Royal Oppression as you aren't in any rush. Cyber Valley is also a great asset to the deck.
In an ever evolving meta, we are straying away from old habits. As we speak, Lightsworn have fallen to tier 2, Infernity are losing ground because of inexperience, Herald decks are seeing less and less play for God knows why, Gladiator Beasts have taken the place of Frognarchs and X-Sabers reign supreme. Koa'ki Meiru's have lost their place in the Anti Meta and stand to survive as a Beatdown deck with favorable matchups to the occasional Herald deck and the more common Infernity player.
Weaknesses
Because Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru may often be in the graveyard, it is vulnerable to cards that can remove it from play, such as Gladiator Beast Retiari, and Macro Cosmos. Also, having multiple Koa'ki Meiru monsters on the field at once can be extremely dangerous, as each one would require you to reveal or discard a card from your hand at the End Phase; leaving hand and field advantage very hard to maintain, unless multiple copies are used (for example, 3 Koa'ki Meiru Powerhands only require 1 Normal Trap Card revealed). Koa'ki Meirus are very reliant on the hand and so cards like Card Destruction, Mind Crush or D.D. Designator can completely disrupt the player's strategy, and cards like Trap Dustshoot or even Des Koala deal serious damage.
Amazingly, one way to beat the Koa'ki Meiru format is to have the opponent permanently reveal their hand to you on their turns in order to make them either discard an Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru or destroy the card, since they cannot "reveal" the card to you. Such cards include Respect Play and Ceremonial Bell. Remove from play Decks can remove "Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru" and so you have to rely on your revealing effect. It is best a good idea to have Necrovalley and a Burial from a Different Dimension in your Side Deck.
Hand Control decks present the biggest threat by being able to specifically remove assests essential to the deck.
==Playing Tips==This deck revolves around Anti-Meta. Obviously, the most important card needed in the deck is "Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru", so having three in your deck is a must. Most of the monsters are used against Effect Monsters, mostly DARK and LIGHT monsters, since they are the commonly used decks (Infernities, Lightsworns, Blackwings etc...). It is best to also have three of "Koa'ki Meiru Boulder" and "Koa'ki Meiru Crusader" in your Deck. "Koa'ki Meiru Boulder" can search for "Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru" or a needed Koa'ki Meiru monster. "Koa'ki Meiru Crusader" can add "Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru" from your Graveyard, so you do not have to add it to your hand during the Draw Phase. "Koa'ki Meiru Speeder" has a high Defense and if you draw "Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru" you can draw another card. While usually this proves itself quite situational, you can abuse the effects of "Koa'ki Meiru Hydro Barrier" and "[[Koa'ki Meiru To
