The Skittles combo explained

For starters, those unaware what is meant by Skittles… it’s the original nickname for Adombrali, the Unfathomable (TTW-037) 😉
Now that we have that part covered, I would like to show you two different deck ideas which both run the Skittles combo (we’re not covering the one with Deus Ex Machina, God From Future Dimension (GRL-078) // Order of the Future (GRL-078J), since it can be found in the latest team Seven Kings tier list we published a while back). Therefore in this article we will focus on:

• Aristella, Twin Prince (NWE-057)
• Asuka, Gravekeeper of Tsukuyomi (NWE-058)

But before we dive into these decks, let us have a look at the core of the combo and its key cards.

The idea behind the Skittles combo is to cast Painter Gears (TUS-097), targeting itself and giving it the darkness attribute. We then sacrifice it to pay for Adombrali, the Unfathomable (TTW-037)‘s incarnation cost (banishing any combination of two light, fire, water, wind or darkness resonators rather than paying for Skittles’ cost) and since we banished a darkness resonator, our opponent will lose 400 life. Of course we need to banish TWO resonators with an attribute, so we either play multiple Painter Gears (TUS-097), or use Melfee, Traveling Sorceress (ROL-017) together with Wind Servant of Ragnarok (EDL-076) which is also available when playing the Aristella, Twin Prince (NWE-057) version.

Since we want to keep repeating the life loss, we need a mechanic which allows us to do so. This is where Rezzard, Attoractia’s Leading Doctor (ROL-019) and Selective Decapitation (TST-060) come in. Rezzard makes sure that any other resonator we control which goes to the graveyard from the field is put back into our hand. With that, the only thing missing is a sac outlet and Selective Decapitation (TST-060) fills that role perfectly. We could theoretically also play Waterfront Demon (TUS-035), but keep in mind that it doesn’t let us foresee and draw into our combo pieces like Selective Decapitation (TST-060) does.

So let’s decap recap what we’ve learned so far. We make sure that both Rezzard, Attoractia’s Leading Doctor (ROL-019) and Selective Decapitation (TST-060) are on the field and that we have access to (in hand or on the field) to a combination of Painter Gears (TUS-097) and Prototype Magi Trooper (NWE-095), which allows us to draw our complete deck.

Let’s first have a look at the Asuka, Gravekeeper of Tsukuyomi (NWE-058) version. This is the “glass canon” version, since it doesn’t play and abuse Dexia’s Advice (TUS-026) like Aristella, Twin Prince (NWE-057) does. However, my personal feeling is that these last two cards will be combo-banned anyway when the new banlist is published and therefore I wanted to show alternative ways of running the Skittles combo.

	Asuka Skittles combo
Ruler: Asuka, Gravekeeper of Tsukuyomi (NWE-058) Child of the Light Moon (NWE-003) Child of the Water Moon (NWE-024) Paramita of the Dead (NWE-075)	Magic Stone Deck: (10) 4x Attoractia’s Memoria (SDAO1-033) 4x Darkness Moon Fragment (NWE-101) 2x Fire Moon Fragment (NWE-102)
Resonators: (22 of 40) 2x Dark Alice, Rabbit Princess (DBV-009) 4x Phantasmal Ascendant (GOG-026) 1x Adombrali, the Unfathomable (TTW-037) 4x Fiethsing, 100 Years of Wizardry (GOG-047) 3x Rezzard, Attoractia’s Leading Doctor (ROL-019) 3x Sealed One-Eyed Dragon (NWE-079) 2x Painter Gears (TUS-097) 3x Prototype Magi Trooper (NWE-095)	Chants: (14 of 40) 3x Angelic Battle Barrier (NWE-001) 4x Look of Corruption (NDR-093) 3x Lore of Tsukuyomi (NWE-055) 4x Night of the Legendary Vampire (NWE-072) // End of Night (NWE-072J) Additions: (4 of 40) 4x Selective Decapitation (TST-060)

The Asuka, Gravekeeper of Tsukuyomi (NWE-058) version is able to generate a lot of fun plays thanks to Phantasmal Ascendant (GOG-026). A nutty turn two play on the coin (before our Recovery phase) is playing Phantasmal Ascendant (GOG-026), netting us a 2nd stone and then using the available will to cast Angelic Battle Barrier (NWE-001), locking out your opponent’s plays for that turn (we need to watch out for cards with abilities though!) and then milling ourselves for two with Paramita of the Dead (NWE-075). During our Main phase we will then call a third stone, milling ourselves again with Paramita of the Dead (NWE-075), followed-up by playing Night of the Legendary Vampire (NWE-072), milling another 3 cards. Since we now have seven cards in our graveyard we are able to contract this card with Asuka, Gravekeeper of Tsukuyomi (NWE-058). Keep in mind that we will definitely banish our own Phantasmal Ascendant (GOG-026) in the process, since this will net us another stone when we play it from our graveyard from our End of Night (NWE-072J) J-Ruler trigger. We will also put Rezzard, Attoractia’s Leading Doctor (ROL-019) from our grave into the field, together will all Painter Gears (TUS-097) and/or Prototype Magi Trooper (NWE-095) we can find in there.

Since we still have two stones available (thanks to Phantasmal Ascendant (GOG-026)), we will use that will to cast Selective Decapitation (TST-060). If we don’t happen to have one in hand, but there is one available in our graveyard, then we also have the option to cast another Night of the Legendary Vampire (NWE-072), destroying our End of Night (NWE-072J) J-Ruler and then using Lore of Tsukuyomi (NWE-055) for free (since Asuka, Gravekeeper of Tsukuyomi (NWE-058) is available again) to get it to hand and cast it from there.

From that moment on we will be able to draw our complete deck if we have access to a combination of Painter Gears (TUS-097) and Prototype Magi Trooper (NWE-095). Once we have drawn into our Adombrali, the Unfathomable (TTW-037), we will be able to combo off. If we don’t have a Prototype Magi Trooper (NWE-095) and only one Painter Gears (TUS-097), then we will be able to draw into our missing cards eventually, thanks to Phantasmal Ascendant (GOG-026) which can be reused for free as long as we have stones available in our Magic Stone Deck.

There’s no need to worry about The Damascus Moon (TUS-101), since we can always shut it down by giving it an attribute with Painter Gears (TUS-097).

EDIT: So, after consulting one of our judges it seems The Damascus Moon (TUS-101) is unaffected by Painter Gears (TUS-097) . Therefore my suggestion would be to play at least some addition removal in the main deck (also in the Aristella, Twin Prince (NWE-057) version) like Alice’s Fantastic Trick (GRL-004).

The deck is really fun to play, but sometimes we just don’t seem to find the cards we need (looking at you Night of the Legendary Vampire (NWE-072) // End of Night (NWE-072J) !) and it’s really (REALLY!) susceptible to a wide range of cards, mostly ones which target our Rezzard, Attoractia’s Leading Doctor (ROL-019). I tried Planting Beans (LEL-031) with Scheherazade, Weaver of Fairy Tales (MSW-059) (grabbing Altesing’s Secret Hideout (EDL-059) if necessary), but the deck lost a bit too much of its explosiveness for my own personal taste. However, it might be a good starting point when the upcoming banlist does hit Dexia’s Advice (TUS-026) in one way or another …

… that brings me to our second deck (and one of the main reasons why I don’t expect Dexia’s Advice (TUS-026) to stay around much longer), which is the version based on Aristella, Twin Prince (NWE-057). This deck doesn’t use the graveyard for its engine as Asuka, Gravekeeper of Tsukuyomi (NWE-058) did, but it abuses the aforementioned card Dexia’s Advice (TUS-026). What makes Aristella, Twin Prince (NWE-057) so interesting, is that it absolutely breaks Dexia’s Advice (TUS-026) by casting the spell awakened, grabbing Kaguya’s Moonbeam Butterfly (LEL-068) and playing Selective Decapitation (TST-060) for free. This is currently the best possible way to play the Skittles combo.

	Aristella Skittles combo
Ruler: Aristella, Twin Prince (NWE-057) Child of the Light Moon (NWE-003) Child of the Darkness Moon (NWE-051) Eternal, Artificial Archipelago (NWE-064)	Magic Stone Deck: (10) 4x Attoractia’s Memoria (SDAO1-033) 2x Secret Stone of the Wanderer Moon (TUS-107) 4x Wind Moon Fragment (NWE-106)
Resonators: (24 of 40) 2x Adombrali, the Unfathomable (TTW-037) 4x Fiethsing, 100 Years of Wizardry (GOG-047) 4x Laurite, Seven Luminaries Astrologian (TSW-094) 4x Melfee, Traveling Sorceress (ROL-017) 2x Rezzard, Attoractia’s Leading Doctor (ROL-019) 1x Wind Servant of Ragnarok (EDL-076) 3x Sealed One-Eyed Dragon (NWE-079) 2x Painter Gears (TUS-097) 2x Prototype Magi Trooper (NWE-095)	Chants: (14 of 40) 1x A Duet of Light (MSW-001) 3x Angelic Battle Barrier (NWE-001) 4x Birth of the Twin Princes (HSD-001) 4x Dexia’s Advice (TUS-026) 1x Kaguya’s Moonbeam Butterfly (LEL-068) 1x Seal of Wind and Water (GOG-084) Additions: (2 of 40) 2x Selective Decapitation (TST-060)

This deck is a thing of beauty and capable of OTK’ing our opponent as early as turn two with help of the Eternal, Artificial Archipelago (NWE-064) cocoon. Since the deck is able to play a fewer amount of Selective Decapitation (TST-060) thanks to Kaguya’s Moonbeam Butterfly (LEL-068), we are able to play cards like A Duet of Light (MSW-001) and Seal of Wind and Water (GOG-084). I’m personally a big fan of saying “no” to an opponent and therefore tend to add cards like Fiethsing, 100 Years of Wizardry (GOG-047) and Laurite, Seven Luminaries Astrologian (TSW-094) to almost every deck I play which is able to splash wind.

There are so many ways to OTK your opponent with this deck that it’s difficult to explain them all in this article, but the two most common plays are (the cards showed are the ones we have in hand):

With both Dexia’s Advice (TUS-026) and Rezzard, Attoractia’s Leading Doctor (ROL-019) in hand, we can combo off by casting Dexia’s Advice (TUS-026) awakened and putting Melfee, Traveling Sorceress (ROL-017), Wind Servant of Ragnarok (EDL-076), Prototype Magi Trooper (NWE-095) and Painter Gears (TUS-097) into play. We play Kaguya’s Moonbeam Butterfly (LEL-068) as our free two-cost spell in order to get Selective Decapitation (TST-060) in the field. The way the awakening of Dexia’s Advice (TUS-026) works, is that the awakened part resolves before your resonators hit the field. With the three Will generated by Melfee, Traveling Sorceress (ROL-017) and Wind Servant of Ragnarok (EDL-076) we can now play Rezzard, Attoractia’s Leading Doctor (ROL-019) from hand, until we draw into one of our Adombrali, the Unfathomable (TTW-037).

If we only have Dexia’s Advice (TUS-026) in hand but no Rezzard, Attoractia’s Leading Doctor (ROL-019), then it all depends on the other cards we have available in either our hand or on the field. However the most common play is to grab Rezzard, Attoractia’s Leading Doctor (ROL-019) with Dexia’s Advice (TUS-026) and Selective Decapitation (TST-060) with Kaguya’s Moonbeam Butterfly (LEL-068). If we happen to have Kaguya’s Moonbeam Butterfly (LEL-068) in hand, then we are able to grab Seal of Wind and Water (GOG-084) instead, netting us two Will which we can then use to hardcast Kaguya’s Moonbeam Butterfly (LEL-068) from hand.

Technically we don’t even need Selective Decapitation (TST-060), since the combo can also be achieved with our two Adombrali, the Unfathomable (TTW-037). Therefore Rezzard, Attoractia’s Leading Doctor (ROL-019) is the only real target in the deck to stop our combo. Suppose our opponent is able to interact with our combo (with card abilities like Rusty’s Fox (TUS-009) or Rusty, Phantom Ninja Genius (TUS-080), which are able to slip through Angelic Battle Barrier (NWE-001) and Child of the Light Moon (NWE-003)), then we still have the option to either play Birth of the Twin Princes (HSD-001) for free when we are able to hardcast Selective Decapitation (TST-060) (since we need to rest Aristella, Twin Prince (NWE-057) in order to play Dexia’s Advice (TUS-026) awakened) or by paying one light Will to give barrier to Rezzard, Attoractia’s Leading Doctor (ROL-019). As an extra safety net we also play A Duet of Light (MSW-001), which helps us when we have drawn our complete deck and our opponent is able to destroy Rezzard, Attoractia’s Leading Doctor (ROL-019) in the process. We are then able to generate two Will with both of our Adombrali, the Unfathomable (TTW-037) (since each one is able to generate one Will when we sacrifice a wind resonator for its incarnation cost) and then casting A Duet of Light (MSW-001) to put Rezzard, Attoractia’s Leading Doctor (ROL-019) back from the graveyard into our field.

All in all, this is one of the most fun combo’s I played after I had to say goodbye to my old friend. I hope you enjoy both decks and don’t forget to keep an eye out on the upcoming banlist! 😉