Plants Gone Wild

Plants are one of the most interesting Types to base a deck around because there are so many variants you can choose from. I still remember back when the only plants I used to run were Gigaplant and Lonefire Blossom, both in triplicate. Of course this was two years ago, back when the only competitive Plant-type monster was Lord Poison (which I didn't own at the time). I don't remember the entire build I used but I remember using a lot of Insects to fill in the blanks. I believe it was something like:

3x Doom Dozer.
3x Gigaplant
2x Grasschoper
3x Insect Knight
3x Blazewing Butterfly
3x UFO Turtle
3x Lonefire Blossom

Those where simpler times, months before Synchros and TeleDAD emerged and rocked the meta. Nowadays when you say that you want to run a "Plant Deck" you need to be much more specific. There are a number of methods currently available: 

Debris-Hime: A variant previously considered "dead" when Lonefire Blossom became semi-limited and Black Rose Dragon's limited in September 2009. Now that BRD is off the the list again and with the extra copy of Dandylion available, expect to see the the return of these builds. The deck focuses on clearing the field when necessary and recycling BRD to carry out the job. With your opponent's defenses down, you can control the game with Tytannial's ability to negate most 1-for-1 cards.
Key Cards: 
-Tytannial, Princess of Camellias (run 1)
-Lonefire Blossom (run 2)
-Dandylion (run 2)
-Debris Dragon (run 2-3)
-Black Rose Dragon (run 2-3)

Quick Draw Plants: Considered by many to be the successor to Debris-Hime, this variant takes advantage of the synergy between Dandylion and Quick Draw Synchron to summon Synchron-based Synchro Monsters, most of which were not considered competitive before the deck debuted in March 2010. Be wary, however, you have to devote a good portion of Extra Deck space to monster you can only summon through Quick Draw Synchron.
Key Cards:  
-Dandylion (run 2)
-Quick Draw Synchron (run 2-3)
-Lonefire Blossom (run 2)
-Tytannial, Princess of Camellias (run 1)
-Drill Warrior (run 2-3)
-Nitro Warrior (run 1-2)
-Junk Archer (run 1)
-Junk Destroyer (run 1-2)
-Chevalier de Fleur (run 1-2)

Cherry DAD: More of a DAD variant than a plant deck per se, but an effective one at that. These builds use Cherry Inmato's recruiting power to set up a Dark Armed Dragon play as quickly as possible. Optimally you have a DAD and Ally of Justice Catastor on the field by your second turn, which is an impressive, no doubt. It is prone to dead hands, however, as Inmato itself is pretty useless and drawing multiple copies of "Inmato" Monsters can ruin your combos.
Key Cards: 
-Cherry Inmato (run 2-3)
-Inmato (run 0-2)
-Dark Armed Dragon (run 1)
-Tytannial, Princess of Camellias (run 1-2)
-Dandylion (run 2)
-Lonefire Blossom (run 2)
-Mystic Tomato (run 2)
-Card Trooper (run 1)
-Allure of Darkness (run 1)

Naturias: One the archetype first introduced in the Duel Terminal series, the Naturias are all about control. Plant-based Naturia decks are usually focused on using Naturia Bamboo Shoot to control your opponent. While the TCG exclusive Naturia Pineapple does offer a solid method of getting out BS, at the same time you deprive yourself of the Rock and Insect-type Naturia due to the limitations set on it. Furthermore, BS's ATK stat is quite low for its level and can easily be run over by something as simple as a Cyber Dragon. it is still a viable deck, but you'll need appropriate defensive support.
Key Cards:
-Naturia Bamboo Shoot (run 3)
-Naturia Pineapple (run 2-3)
-Naturia Cherry (run 3)
-Snyffus (run 1)
-Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter (run 2-3)
-Lonefire Blossom (run 2)
-Dandylion (run 2)
-Tytannial, Princess of Camellias (run 1)

GigaVise: One of the few Plant Decks capable of OTKing, its consistently has fluctuated over the past few formats. The focus of this deck is to use a Gigaplant equipped with Supervise to Synchro Summon Power Tool Dragon. If your fortunate enough to pull another Supervise with Power Tool's effect and have a Lonefire Blossom in your hand/Graveyard, you can swarm the field with multiple Synchro Monster including more copies of Power Tool. There's a level of lucky involved if you choose to go the Power Tool Dragon route, but there are alternative Synchros you can use as well, including Black Brutdrago.
Key Cards:
-Gigaplant (run 2-3)
-Lonefire Blossom (run 2)
-Tytannial, Princess of Camellias (run 1)
-Spore (run 1)
-Naturia Cosmobeet (run 1-2)
-Supervise (run 3)
-Mark of the Rose (run 2-3)
-D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation (run 1-2)
-Power Tool Dragon (run 2-3)
-Black Brutdrago (run 1-2)


Black Garden Control: While this decktype is not my specialty, I do know it takes advantage of the weakened monsters summoned while Black Garden is active. Simply Normal Summoning Cactus Bouncer followed playing Black Garden can put pressure on your opponent. With double MST's floating around this format, you could be leaving yourself vulnerable, however.
Key Cards:
-Black Garden (run 3)
-Cactus Bouncer (run 2-3)
-Lonefire Blossom (run 2)
-Tytannial, Princess of Camellias (run 1)
-Terraforming (run 0-2)

While the number of choices available can be overwhelming, the format is still young. Since much of the support is cross-compatible its possible to hybridize current builds together, such as Debris-Hime and Quick Draw Plants, but that's a matter of personal preference.

Remember players, the game ends with you.

Card Trivia: Did you know that Gigaplant has its art based on a Godzilla series villain, Biollante?

Pineapple Express

Of all the Duel Terminal/Hidden Arsenal archetypes, the Naturias have been gathering a significant amount of hype. Between Naturia Beast, Naturia Barkion, Naturia Exterio, and Naturia Landoise, the group possessed numerous means of card negation at relatively low cost.

Naturia Beast (Beast-Type/EARTH/Level 5/ATK 2200/DEF 1700)

1 EARTH Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner EARTH monsters.

While this card is face-up on the field, you can send the top 2 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard to negate the activation of a Spell Card and destroy it.

Naturia Barkion (Dragon-Type/EARTH/Level 6/ATK 2500/DEF 1800)

1 EARTH Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner EARTH monsters.

You can remove from play 2 cards from your Graveyard to negate the activation of a Trap Card, and destroy it.

Naturia Exterio (Beast-Type/EARTH/Level 10/ATK 2800/DEF 2400)

"Naturia Beast" + "Naturia Barkion"

A Fusion Summon of this card can only be conducted with the above Fusion Material Monsters. You can remove from play 1 card from your Graveyard and send the top card of your Deck to the Graveyard to negate the activation of a Spell or Trap Card, and destroy it.

Naturia Landoise (Rock-Type/EARTH/Level 7/ATK 2350/DEF 1600)

1 EARTH Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner EARTH monsters.

 You can send 1 Spell Card from your hand to the Graveyard to negate the activation of an Effect Monster's effect, and destroy that Effect Monster.

Unfortunately Beast, Barkion, and Landoise are Synchro Monsters, with Exterio being a fusion of Beast and Barkion, meaning summoning enough of them to generate the lock would be difficult. When it was announced that Naturia Bamboochute would be released in Duelist Revolution, the competitive applications of the deck began to be reevaluated.

Naturia Bamboocute (Plant-Type/EARTH/Level 5/ATK 2000/DEF 2000)

If you Tribute Summon this card successfully using a "Naturia" monster as a Tribute, your opponent cannot activate Spell or Trap Cards while this card is face-up on the field.

With either Naturia Bamboocute or Naturia Exterio and Naturia Landoise on the field, a player would have a near complete lockdown over his/her opponent. Throw in a Royal Oppression and you might as well say "good game".

Some of you might be a bit apprehensive at the notion of getting Exterio to the field, and I can understand that. After all, it is a Fusion between Synchros and doesn't allow you to use Fusion Substitutes. However, there is simple way of getting it into play. 

Remember The Earth - Hex-Sealed Fusion? By Tributing itself and sending the other appropriate Fusion Material Monsters to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon an Earth-Attribute Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck. By getting either Balkion or Beast and then using the Hex-Sealed Fusion's effect, you can easily set-up half the lock.

What about Naturia Bamboochute though? It requires you to tribute a Naturia, most of which have lackluster stats. If you opponent knows what your trying to pull off, you may have trouble keeping your Monsters alive. 

Fear not, the geniuses at Konami's R&D department foresaw these problems and created a TCG exclusive to remedy the problem:

I know what you're thinking, and you are correct. Yup, Konami actually went out and made Plants their own Treeborn Frog. And it's even compatible with Snyffus too.

The combo isn't perfect I'm afraid as having anything other than a Beast or Plant in the Graveyard would allow you to Special Summon Pineapple. However, that can be alleviated by getting the Bamboochute lock set up first before bringing out Landoise. You may even want to forgo the Synchros and focus on using Bamboochute and Pineapple in a Plant-based Naturia deck. It really comes down to preference.

Remember players, the game ends with you.