Notes & Combos

This is a going-first Mikanko deck focused on trying to make a Level 9 synchro in tandem with Mikanko disruption. Diviner is the typical Tuner for this, becoming Level 6 while searching Ohime, which then makes the level 9 synchro with any level 3 monster. The less typical option is Horse of the Floral Knights. It searches Noble Knight's Spearholder, then fuses into Centaur Mina with it. While Mina has the worst negate you've ever read, it can also revive a low-level monster from the GY, the Spearholder in this case. It then turns Mina into a Tuner, and can tribute itself to search any equip. Essentially, Horse of the Floral Knights turns into a Level 6 Tuner that searches an equip.

Horse also enables a moderately effective Level 3 engine, good for rank 3s and completing the Level 9 synchros. Noble Knight's Shield-Bearer, besides basically being another 4 copies of Horse (3+ROTA), searches Baku the Beast Ninja, making it a level 3 extender. Baku is a garnet and not strictly necessary, but I think it's worth it. Besides the usual rank 3 monsters, the large amount of wind monsters (Horse, Baku, Hu-Li) gives access to Totem Bird, an occasionally crucial ST negate for dealing with backrow that Mikanko struggles with. Originally, I had the Armor Xyz trap, but didn't find that this deck Xyz summoned enough to justify the garnet. Interestingly though, Mikanko can actually trigger Full Armored Lancer's effect even without its corresponding cards, and access it by going Cicada King->Digital Bug Corebage->Lancer.

Combo lines for this deck are not very linear, so just some notes to go over:

1. Charles is generally preferred over Braver when you can make the Link 1. The ST negate and pop are more disruptions, and also more useful than Braver's monster negate for Mikanko specifically. Remember Ohime can get the necessary equip to upgrade Charles.
2. You can use Hu-Li to complete a synchro, then get Mayo with Braver or search it with Spearholder to equip to Charles, then use Mayo to revive the Hu-Li.
3. Rivalry is better than Spiritwalk, mainly because of its flexibility and also because when you use Axe of Fools, if they remove the equipped monster Ohime can then act as a negate too with Axe in the GY. But sometimes you do need the second trap for longer games, or as a Thrust target.
4. Spearholder usually wants to tribute itself, but if you already have Water Arabesque it is just another body on board to bounce back.