Overview
The Aroma Archetype is a mostly plant-based Archetype (with the exception of one Rock-Type monster) in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise and has been a Card Trader only Archetype in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links for the majority of its existence. With the release of the new box Fortress of Gears, Aroma has received a lot of great support in the form of Loading... , Loading... and more.
Skills
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Balance
With Balance, you're guaranteed to open 1 Monster, 1 Spell and 1 Trap if you use the skill correctly. This normally prevents you from bricking and adds consistency to the deck. It’s rather a defensive and slower skill in this deck though.
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What Grows in the Graveyard
This skill lets you start the duel with a Loading... in your Graveyard. This allows you to summon a Loading... on your first turn via a Loading... . This really helps getting your Aroma engine going and speeds up the duel on your side.
Playstyle
The Aroma Archetype focuses around gaining LP while establishing a strong board. In Duel Links, the deck mainly focused around getting a Loading... out on their first turn alongside a Trap Card like Loading... to then negate a monster effect while also recycling Aromage monsters to gain more LP in the What Grows in the Graveyard Version. In the Balance version however, a setup with Loading... in combination with Loading... and Loading... and maybe even a Loading... is prefered.
Every Aroma monster, with the exception being Loading... has got at least two effects.
- Their continuous effect is active while your LP are higher than your opponent’s and you control the card, with the exceptions to that pattern being Loading... and Loading... .
- Normally, their other effect is being triggered by LP gain. The only exception, in this case, is Loading... , who can discard itself to gain LP. And then there are some more exceptions, that have more than these two effects such as e.g. Loading... or Loading... .
Core Cards
These are the cards that should be present in every competitive Aroma deck. Since Aroma Decks can be played competitively with two Skills, What Grows in the Graveyard and Balance , the amount of copies needed varies for the two versions, so they’re listed below each card for each version.
Main Deck
Aromage Jasmine (2-3x)
Jasmine is one of the most important cards in Aromage decks. On LP gain, Jasmine allows you to draw a card, which is an excellent start to your combos. If your LP are higher than your opponent’s then Jasmine allows you to perform an additional Normal Summon of a Plant-Type monster, which allows you to get a better setup for your board.
- Balance Version: 3x
- What Grows in the Graveyard Version: 2x
Aromage Rosemary (1-2x)
Rosemary is able to kind of stall out the duel due to its effect to change the battle position of a face-up monster on the field. Its other effect to prevent your opponent from activating monster effects until the End of the Damage Step on the attack of your Plant-Type monsters is also pretty useful against e.g. a face-down Loading... .
- Balance Version: 1-2x
- What Grows in the Graveyard Version: 1x
Aromaseraphy Angelica (1x)
Angelica’s first effect allows you to gain LP during either player’s turn if you have an Aromage in the Graveyard by discarding it. Its second effect to Special Summon itself from the Graveyard if your LP are higher than your opponent’s and you control an Aromage monster is also pretty good since it allows you to access some more Synchro plays.
- Balance Version: 1x
- What Grows in the Graveyard Version: 1x
Aroma Garden (3x)
Aroma Garden opens up a lot of plays with e.g. Loading... since it allows you to gain LP. Its second effect to let your face-up monsters gain 500 ATK if you control an Aromage monster is also pretty nice. Its third effect to let you gain 1000 LP if a face-up Aroma monster is destroyed by card effect or battle is also very useful to prevent yourself from losing too much LP and thus setup if an opponent’s attack should go through. The fact that this card is a Field Spell makes it very viable in comparison to Loading... in Duel Links since it doesn’t occupy a Spell/Trap card zone.
- Balance Version: 3x
- What Grows in the Graveyard Version: 3x
Aroma Gardening (0-3x)
Gardening’s effect to gain 1000 LP if you summon an Aromage monster is very useful for establishing a decent amount of LP. It combos pretty well with Loading... since it basically allows you to revive an Aroma monster for free. Its effect to Special Summon an Aromage monster from your deck on an attack of your opponent while your LP are lower than theirs can really help you to get back into the duel. There is a little problem with Gardening in Duel Links though. With Duel Links only having 3 Spell / Trap card zones, Gardening might take too much space that you’d rather use for one of your other Trap cards from time to time.
- Balance Version: 3x
- What Grows in the Graveyard Version: 0x
Humid Winds (2-3x)
Humid Winds is your main search card in this deck. It helps with boosting the deck's consistency a lot. Its second effect to gain 500 LP when your LP are lower than your opponent’s can also be very useful to either start some comeback plays or to just trigger the effects of your Aromage monsters.
- Balance Version: 2x
- What Grows in the Graveyard Version: 3x
Blessed Winds (2-3x)
Blessed Winds’ first two effects are mainly used to gain LP but can also be used to set your Graveyard up with an Loading... e.g.. Its third effect to revive an Aroma monster from your Graveyard by paying 1000 LP is very important to recycle your resources and to prevent you from running out of resources.
- Balance Version: 2x
- What Grows in the Graveyard Version: 2-3x
Aromage Cananga (0-1x)
Cananga is good for both reducing your opponent’s monster’s ATK but also for dealing with backrow cards. A turn 1 Cananga isn’t really bad, but you’d rather have other cards take that spot instead. This card also requires a bit of a setup to really work at its peak it’s not played in every deck but definitely a solid choice.
- Balance Version: 1x
- What Grows in the Graveyard Version: 0-1x
Aromage Bergamot (0-1x)
Bergamot is a card that can easily go up to 3900 ATK and more. The problem with this card is though that it can easily be a brick since it requires a tribute and also isn’t normally card that opens up many plays on the first turn.
- Balance Version: 0-1x
- What Grows in the Graveyard Version: 0x
Aromage Marjoram (1x)
Marjoram is really useful to get rid of annoying cards in your opponent’s Graveyard such as Loading... by banishing them. Its effect to Special Summon itself from the hand when a Plant-Type Monster is destroyed by battle and then gain 500 LP is also pretty useful. In addition to that, Marjoram also prevents you from taking battle damage from battles involving your Plant-Type Monsters if your LP are higher than your opponent’s.
- Balance Version: 1x
- What Grows in the Graveyard Version: 1x
Naturia Rosewhip (0-3x)
Rosewhip is mainly used in combination with What Grows in the Graveyard to turbo out an Loading... as fast as possible. Its effect to lock your opponent into one Spell/Trap card per turn is nice, but rarely used since Rosewhip doesn’t normally stay on the field that long. The fact that Rosewhip is a plant and thus also a target for your Loading... makes it even better.
- Balance Version: 0x
- What Grows in the Graveyard Version: 3x
Solemn Scolding
Scolding is a nice Counter Trap for Aroma decks that allows you to negate either a Spell/Trap Card, a monster effect or the summoning of a monster. It sees play in the Balance version since you play Loading... there. Scolding synergises well with Gardening and allows you to have a powerful setup.
- Balance Version: 2x
- What Grows in the Graveyard Version: 0x