Sylvans Guide

Introduction

Hey everyone, some of you may already know me but I'd like to introduce myself. I’ve been playing Duel Links for almost a year now, I joined last year right after the Pegasus event (God I used to hate Relinquished!).

Crazy thing about me is I have zero TCG experience in Yu-Gi-Oh! but I played Magic for almost 5 years and Pokémon prior. Yet, I’ve reached King of Games pretty much every season since the second month of playing but I didn’t start entering tournaments until recently, maybe 2 or 3 months ago.

I’ve seen a really high success rate with Sylvans coming in 2nd place in Duel Links Pro Tournament 15 losing to a mirror, 2nd in Duel Links Mini Open, 2nd in Duel Links Challenger Series #11 losing to mirror, winning two of Tekumse’s tournaments and placing Top 8 in multiple Duel Links Meta's Meta Weekly.

Overview

Not too long ago they called us a meme Deck, but before you know it we started kicking ass, tournament after tournament! This guide is for anyone new to Sylvans as well as those who use them but don’t maximize their combo potential simply thinking that milling Loading... or Loading... wins you games.

Skills

• Grit : the new #1 skill when it comes to Sylvans! The activation requirement of this skill still remains a mystery, but it allows you to hang on with 1 LP which buys you a turn to recover and setup an OTK if you have Loading... or Loading... in the Graveyard.
• Restart : the #1 skill when it comes to Sylvans. Your main goal is to open with at least a Loading... (first), Loading... (second), or Loading... (third) all three are vital in an opening hand.
• Heavy Starter : it guarantees that you open with a Loading... , Loading... , or Loading... under the one condition that you have at least one copy of all three in your Deck.
• Beatdown : for those who trust that their opening hand will be good enough to win.

Who Are They?

Each Sylvan Monster has an effect to excavate cards in the deck as well as a Graveyard effect when they're excavated themselves.

Core Cards

Each Sylvan Monster has unique effects to excavate the Deck as well as Graveyard effects that activate when they’re excavated themselves.

• 3 × Loading... (Shroom):
  Shroom is primarily used to excavate 5 cards into the Graveyard to setup OTKs or just board wipes giving the user a greater advantage over their opponent. When it's excavated, its effect allows you to destroy one Spell/Trap on the Field (yours or your opponents), allowing you to remove troublesome cards like Loading... , Loading... or Loading... . You normally want to set Shroom with some form of backrow protection, mainly effect negating cards like Loading... or Loading... to deal with Loading... , Geargias, Cyber Angels, Archfiends or anything else that can destroy or send it back to your hand.

• 3 × Loading... (Marsh):
  Aka the “Smaller Bigger Beater”. You want this guy in your Deck rather than in your hand. When milled he can destroy one Monster on the Field which opens up OTKs or at least weakens your opponent’s defenses. If you find yourself with a Marsh in hand don’t worry, he can still excavate two cards off the top of the Deck and with luck mill another Marsh or Shroom to pop something on the Field.

• 2/3 x Loading... (Oak):
  Probably the most important Sylvan in the Deck, Oak is a 2400 ATK beater which can get you over many Monsters. His effect allows you to mill between 1 and 3 cards which like previously stated you’d aim for Loading... or Loading... to pop cards on the opponents side of the Field. When Oak is sent to the Graveyard he allows you to put any Plant-Type Monster on the top of your Deck which is great if he’s already on the Field and you have another card to setup a combo play.

• 2/3 × Loading... (Hermit):
  The Sylvan boss with 2700 ATK allows you to swing over most Deck's bosses. When he gets milled he allows you to look at the top three cards of your Deck and reorder them in any order you want which is great because then you can setup a combo play.

• 2/3 × Loading... (ECon):
  Adding an ECon or two is good for any Deck that has offensive or defensive versatility. For us it’s primarily used for ECon tribute-take plays. Let’s say you flip up a Shroom and don’t mill a Marsh, you can ECon a face-up Monster to tribute for Loading... or Loading... . You can Summon a Loading... , then ECon tribute-take your Carrot for your opponent's Monster, then use Carrot's effect to discard Loading... and Special Summon itself and finally use Roses' effect to Special Summon a third Monster all in one turn!

• 3 × Loading... (Rose):
  The most important non-Sylvan card in the Deck. Since Sylvans entire Monster line up is Plant-Types a Rose in the Graveyard can Special Summon any Monster from your hand whilst also also making it immune to Trap card effects that turn! Rose can combo in multiple ways from being set, used as tribute fodder then using her effect to Special Summon a Monster then ECon tribute-take or discarding her with a card effect then activating her effect. This is hands down the first card you want to add.

• 1/2 x Loading... (Carrot):
  Like Loading... , Carrot is used to ECon tribute-take, fuel for a Spells/Traps that require a discard or even as a decoy set Monster for Turn 1. You want him in the Graveyard to initiate the combos of getting 3 Monsters on the Field in a single turn. The basic combo is Special Summon him from the Graveyard by discarding Rose, then use Rose to Special Summon a Level 5 or higher Monster then Normal Summon the third Monster. Alternatively, you can Normal Summon Carrot and then ECon tribute-take and do the same process too!

• 2/3 x Loading... :
  Primarily to protect your Shroom from cards like Loading... , Loading... , Loading... , or any other Monster with an effect to send back to hand or destroy your Monster. Your primary discards are Loading... and Loading... but if push comes to shove you can discard anything in order to save your Monster as well as destroying your opponent’s.

• 2/3 x Loading... :
  Pretty much the same as Loading... with the added utily of being able to negate Spells or Traps.

Important note: you don’t need both Loading... and Loading... in the core cards, two copies of either in total is sufficient.

Tech Cards

These cards are interchangeable and vary each Deck.