Salamangreat
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"Salamangreat" (サラマングレイト Saramangureito) is an archetype of FIRE Cyberse monsters used by Theodore Hamilton/Soulburner in the Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS anime.
Design[edit]
Appearance[edit]
"Salamangreat" appear to have a general fire theme, resembling animals with flaming armor. Additionally, the animals they resemble are largely carnivores.
Etymology[edit]
The name of this archetype is a portmanteau of "salamander" (サラマンダー Saramandā) and "great" (グレート Gurēto). The kanji (転生炎獣) literally translate to "reincarnation flame beast", referencing Theodore's use of Reincarnation Link Summon. The archetype is also loosely inspired by alchemy, with Emerald Eagle being named after the "Emerald Tablet" and Violet Chimera serving as the representation of a chimaera.
Playing style[edit]
The "Salamangreat" archetype focuses around swarming the field with monsters to set up for Link Summons, and setting up their Graveyard with a large amount of easily recoverable resources for an OTK push on later turns. The Deck's Link Monsters have effects that they can only use when Link Summoned using a monster with the same name as Link Material (known as a Reincarnation Link Summon in the anime); the effect of the Field Spell "Salamangreat Sanctuary" allows "Salamangreat" Link Monsters to be Link Summoned using another copy of itself as the entire material, making it much easier to satisfy this requirement. The deck is typically played as a control-midrange deck, focusing on setting up a resource loop backed up with Traps or hand traps. Most "Salamangreat" Main Deck monsters have effects to Special Summon themselves from the hand and/or GY, and individual beneficial effects. The key "Salamangreat" Main Deck monsters are:
- "Gazelle", who can search a "Salamangreat" card when it's summoned by sending it to GY (which the deck can then easily retrieve)
- "Spinny", who can revive itself from GY at no cost
- "Foxy", who excavates for a search on summon, and can revive itself and pop a face-up Spell/Trap at the cost of a card
- "Jack Jaguar", who can recycle a "Salamangreat" Extra Deck monster from GY (which the Deck quickly runs through) to revive itself
- "Fowl" and "Falco", who provide additional easily accessible swarming and utility
"Salamangreat" Extra Decks focus on a few key monsters to engage and supply its resource loop:
- "Balelynx" is a Link 1 that searches the Field Spell "Salamangreat Sanctuary"
- "Sunlight Wolf" (Link 2) can add back "Salamangreat" Spell/Traps and monsters from GY, making it key to the archetype's recursion
- "Miragestallio" (Rank 3 Xyz) can Special Summon any "Salamangreat" monster from Deck by detaching 1 material, making an enormous consistency boost
The archetype features many other Spell/Trap support, with the most notable ones being "Will of the Salamangreat", who can revive multiple "Salamangreat" monsters, and "Circle", a searcher for all "Salamangreat" monsters. While the Deck's setup boards are often unassuming, its plethora of GY recycling effects gives it an incredible level of resilience and OTK potential, and the combination of "Miragestallio", "Gazelle", "Circle", and generic Cyberse support makes its standard combo incredibly consistent to pull off. On the setup, the archetype typically aims to gain access to its trap cards, "Roar" (an omni-negate) or "Rage" (a Spell Speed 2 card destruction), to provide disruption on the opponent's turn (typically by sending them to GY with "Gazelle", then recovering them with "Sunlight Wolf"). In the player's next turn, the Deck can easily push for an OTK by swarming "Salamangreat" monsters from both hand and GY to make link boss monsters like "Accesscode Talker" boosted with "Update Jammer". The archetype features four non-Link Extra Deck or Ritual Monsters with effects that emulate Reincarnation Link Summon (as well as some support for Fusion and Ritual summoning), namely the Fusion "Salamangreat Violet Chimera", the Ritual "Salamangreat Emerald Eagle", the Synchro "Salamangreat Burst Gryphon", and the Xyz "Salamangreat Blaze Dragon". Of these four, "Violet Chimera" is a relatively simple and effective beatstick, but "Emerald Eagle", "Burst Gryphon", and "Blaze Dragon" have effects that require too much setup and/or provide little payoff for the investment.
Recommended cards[edit]
Weaknesses[edit]
- As this Deck often relies on Special Summoning multiple monsters in a single turn, it is vulnerable to cards like "Archlord Kristya" and "Nibiru, the Primal Being".
- As the key "Salamangreat" Link monsters requires the summoning using another copy of itself to make use of its full effects, this results into the Deck having constrained Extra Deck space, thus limiting other utlilty options.
- Because "Sunlight Wolf" is integral for this Deck's grind game, removing it from the field makes this Deck more manageable, especially considering that its ATK is not the highest and it lacks self-protection.
