BP07 Release Event - Natura Crossover

In just a few weeks time, the BP07 Release Events will kick off. Only cards from BP07 can be used, but it is a Crosscraft format. Today's article will discuss one of the optimal Natura Builds for this event, Sword/Dragon Hybrid.

It should come as no surprise that the two brothers, Valdain and Bayleon actually work exceptionally well together. The decklist is as below:

Reasoning behind card choices

First of all, it seems immediately obvious to me that Natura should be built with the Sword and Dragon package together. These two packages don't require particularly dedicated builds to function as they rely upon heavily overstatted effects and followers. While Natura Dragon loses access to finishers such as Forte and Oguri Cap, does it really matter if they have access to Mistolina!?

Natura Sword has one of the strongest board control tools available in the format. Slotting in Sword ensures dominance in the early game, as well as access to early removal via Princess Strike/King's Might. Bayleon himself is basically an Alice for the Natura Archetype, which is obviously great.

One of the biggest reasons to use the Dragon package is access to Pteradon and Valdain. Pteradon is broken in all formats, curving something like Confectioner > Pathfinder > Pteradon may as well be an instantaneous concede from the opponent. Valdain is similarly broken, as it searches you cards, clears boards, sets up permanent burn, and requires the opponent to answer it. If you manage to ramp with Pteradon, you have access to turn 5 Mistolina lmfao. How to lose!?

In this format, we have many options when it comes to archetype specific aethers and 2-costs. We've opted for the Sword Aether as this is the least conditional ability and a card we'd like to cast on turn 1 when we don't open Colorful Cook. Lupine is obviously the best 2-cost as well. It summons us a tree and helps us contest the board at all stages of the game. I think the Forest 2-cost is also okay, as burst heal 3 is usually pretty good, but space is tight, and the Sword follower saves us more hp on average due to controlling the board.

Aside from these choices, the rest are no brainers. Viridia Magna and Tyrannosaur both fit very well into our overall strategy and help us control the board. The longer we stay alive, the better it is for us, as we are spamming Corrosion and Mistolinas to face.

Game plan

Take first. Evo points aren't very useful for our list since Bayleon is the only card that benefits from them. In addition, we want access to the broken curve of any 1-cost > Any 2-cost natura > Pteradon.

Hard mulligan for Pteradon!

Your early game will focus on playing on curve (1-cost, 2-cost, Pteradon [!!] ). Control the board early as we should win the mid-late game naturally once our Valdain/Mistolina Combos go online.

In addition, this will help us mitigate the impact of tempo evolves from the opponent (such as from Blossom Spirit or Displacer Bot). Our tempo evos tend to come later in the game, in the form of Valdain. Until this point, it is not easy to deal with the aftermath of giving the opponent highly favourable trades. Try to set up at least two trees on the board going into the mid game, as most of your Sword cards will require this to function well.

Once you reach 6pp, I think it's totally fine to just start slamming Mistolina if your opponent has a weak board or you have princess strike in cemetary. It's not easy for them to clear it, not to mention it's just straight up 7 damage to the face.

Find opportunities to set up Valdain as well. Since every single card in our deck is Natura, it should not be hard to get to 10 cards in cemetery, meaning 2 damage per turn. Most of the time, Valdain is going to take a huge amount of their resources to deal with, and you can just chain Valdains and once you have 2 corrosions, it's sort of just over. Sword has so many removal options, not to mention Mistolina to close the game out.

Conclusion

From what I can see, the deck should be practically unbeatable if you open with the 1-2-Pteradon curve, making it a very strong pick for the release event. I think there's no point considering Ladica, since Mistolina does the same thing for far less work, and doesn't require you to build a deck around it. I think this should be the best Natura deck of the format.... But what about the best Machina deck?

Well, let's see if I can become a colorful cook for Machina too (laughs).