Tenpai Dragon Combo Vol.2

Since their initial victory in OCG 2024.01 Week #6, Tenpai Dragon has been performing steadily in the metagame and is now a serious top contender. The Rokket variant has fallen off, but Ultimaya Tzolkin is still seeing play.

This article will cover Tenpai Dragon’s Ultimaya Tzolkin combo.

China City Tournament 2023 Shanghai Special
1200 participants

9 – 16th, 三流决斗者 [Tenpai Dragon]
Source: Colorless_

Round of 16: Snake-Eye X (淘汰赛16进8 蛇眼vs天杯)

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China City Tournament 2023 Shanghai Special
1200 participants

17 – 32nd, 单推小恩… [Tenpai Dragon]
Source: 宇宙耀变🐢

Swiss Round 1: Labrynth O
Swiss Round 2: Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Fire King X
Swiss Round 3: Salamangreat O
Swiss Round 4: Sky Striker O
Swiss Round 5: Performapal O
Swiss Round 6: Sky Striker O
Swiss Round 7: Snake-Eye X
Swiss Round 8: Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Fire King O
Swiss Round 9: Branded O
Swiss Round 10: Runick X
Swiss Round 11: Labrynth O
Swiss Round 12: Tenpai Dragon O
Round of 64: Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Fire King O
Round of 32: Snake-Eye X

For this combo, you would need to set up the following board consisting of Tenpai Dragon Paidra and Sangen Summoning on the field, with Tenpai Dragon Chundra and Tenpai Dragon Fadra in hand.

There are several opening combinations that could accomplish this:

Combo 7a: Tenpai Dragon Paidra + Tenpai Dragon Chundra + 1 card

1. Normal Summon Tenpai Dragon Paidra.
2. Tenpai Dragon Paidra ① effect, add Sangen Summoning from deck to hand.
3. Activate Sangen Summoning.
4. Sangen Summoning effect ② effect, add Tenpai Dragon Fadra from deck to hand, discard 1 card.

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Combo 7b: Tenpai Dragon Paidra + Tenpai Dragon Fadra + 1 card

1. Normal Summon Tenpai Dragon Paidra.
2. Tenpai Dragon Paidra ① effect, add Sangen Summoning from deck to hand.
3. Activate Sangen Summoning.
4. Sangen Summoning effect ② effect, add Tenpai Dragon Chundra from deck to hand, discard 1 card.

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Combo 7c: Tenpai Dragon Paidra + Sangen Summoning + 1 card

1. Activate Sangen Summoning.
2. Normal Summon Tenpai Dragon Paidra.
3. Tenpai Dragon Paidra ① effect, add Sangen Kaimen from deck to hand.
4. Sangen Summoning effect ② effect, add Tenpai Dragon Chundra from deck to hand, discard 1 card.
5. Activate Sangen Kaimen, add Tenpai Dragon Fadra from deck to hand.

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Combo 7d: Tenpai Dragon Paidra + Sangen Kaimen + 1 card

1. Normal Summon Tenpai Dragon Paidra.
2. Tenpai Dragon Paidra ① effect, add Sangen Summoning from deck to hand.
3. Activate Sangen Summoning.
4. Sangen Summoning effect ② effect, add Tenpai Dragon Chundra from deck to hand, discard 1 card.
5. Activate Sangen Kaimen, add Tenpai Dragon Fadra from deck to hand.

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Combo 7e: Tenpai Dragon Chundra + Sangen Summoning + 1 card

1. Activate Sangen Summoning.
2. Sangen Summoning effect ② effect, add Tenpai Dragon Paidra from deck to hand, discard 1 card.
3. Normal Summon Tenpai Dragon Paidra.
4. Tenpai Dragon Paidra ① effect, add Sangen Summoning from deck to hand.
5. Activate Sangen Kaimen, add Tenpai Dragon Fadra from deck to hand.

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Combo 7f: Tenpai Dragon Chundra + Sangen Kaimen + 1 card

1. Activate Sangen Kaimen, add Tenpai Dragon Paidra from deck to hand.
2. Normal Summon Tenpai Dragon Paidra.
3. Tenpai Dragon Paidra ① effect, add Sangen Summoning from deck to hand.
4. Activate Sangen Summoning.
5. Sangen Summoning effect ② effect, add Tenpai Dragon Fadra from deck to hand, discard 1 card.

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Combo 7g: Tenpai Dragon Fadra + Sangen Summoning + 1 card

1. Activate Sangen Summoning.
2. Sangen Summoning effect ② effect, add Tenpai Dragon Paidra from deck to hand, discard 1 card.
3. Normal Summon Tenpai Dragon Paidra.
4. Tenpai Dragon Paidra ① effect, add Sangen Summoning from deck to hand.
5. Activate Sangen Kaimen, add Tenpai Dragon Chundra from deck to hand.

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Combo 7h: Tenpai Dragon Fadra + Sangen Kaimen + 1 card

1. Activate Sangen Kaimen, add Tenpai Dragon Paidra from deck to hand.
2. Normal Summon Tenpai Dragon Paidra.
3. Tenpai Dragon Paidra ① effect, add Sangen Summoning from deck to hand.
4. Activate Sangen Summoning.
5. Sangen Summoning effect ② effect, add Tenpai Dragon Chundra from deck to hand, discard 1 card.

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Continuing from the above:

6. Tenpai Dragon Chundra ① effect, Special Summon itself from hand.
7. Tenpai Dragon Chundra + Tenpai Dragon Paidra → Ancient Fairy Dragon.
8. Ancient Fairy Dragon ① effect, Special Summon Tenpai Dragon Fadra from hand.
9. Tenpai Dragon Fadra ① effect, Special Summon Tenpai Dragon Chundra from graveyard.
10. Tenpai Dragon Chundra + Tenpai Dragon Fadra → Sangenpai Bident Dragion.
11. Sangenpai Bident Dragion ① effect, Special Summon Tenpai Dragon Chundra from graveyard.
12. Ancient Fairy Dragon ② effect, destroy Sangen Summoning, add Necrovalley from deck to hand.
13. Sangenpai Bident Dragion + Ancient Fairy Dragon → Ultimaya Tzolkin.
14. Set Necrovalley from hand to Field Zone.
15. Ultimaya Tzolkin ① effect, Special Summon Black-Winged Dragon from Extra Deck.
16. Black-Winged Dragon + Tenpai Dragon Chundra → Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres.
17. Banish Sangenpai Bident Dragion and Black-Winged Dragon from graveyard to Special Summon Black-Winged Assault Dragon.
18. Activate Necrovalley.

During opponent’s turn:

19. Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres ① effect, tribute itself as cost, return 1 card to hand.
20. Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres ② effect, Special Summon Tenpai Dragon Paidra from deck.
21. Tenpai Dragon Paidra ① effect, Set Sangen Kaimen from deck to Spell/Trap Zone.
22. Ultimaya Tzolkin ① effect, Special Summon Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon from Extra Deck.

Alternative for Step 22:

22. Ultimaya Tzolkin ① effect, Special Summon Shooting Riser Dragon from Extra Deck.
23. Shooting Riser Dragon ② effect, Shooting Riser Dragon + Tenpai Dragon Paidra → Baronne de Fleur.

The variety of combinations is a showcase of Tenpai Dragon’s consistency. Tenpai Dragon Paidra, Sangen Summoning and Sangen Kaimen are able to search for each other and in turn makes it easy to assemble Tenpai Dragon Chundra and Tenpai Dragon Fadra.

“Tenpai Dragon Chundra + Tenpai Dragon Fadra” and “Sangen Summoning + Sangen Kaimen” are the only combinations that does not work. “Tenpai Dragon Chundra + Tenpai Dragon Fadra” has no way to reach Tenpai Dragon Paidra without a Battle Phase. “Sangen Summoning + Sangen Kaimen” could fetch Tenpai Dragon Paidra, but since Sangen Summoning effect and Sangen Kaimen can only be used or activated once per turn, the second copy fetched by Tenpai Dragon Paidra could not be played.

This 3-card combo leads to a strong opening board. Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres could bounce 1 card. Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon could negate the activation of a Monster Effect, or Baronne de Fleur could negate the activation of a card or effect. Necrovalley would shutdown any graveyard plays. And finally Black-Winged Assault Dragon is the final resort that could destroy all cards on the field.

However, a 3-card combo carries a very heavy risk of being disrupted, especially when the current metagame is trending towards ‘hand trap’ heavy builds. Ancient Fairy Dragon is the weak point of the combo as it is not a FIRE Dragon and is not protected by Sangen Summoning from Effect Veiler or Infinite Impermanence.

Tenpai Dragon Ultimaya Tzolkin build started seeing play in OCG 2024.01 Week #7, but most players in Japan have dropped it by Week #8 in favor of the ‘hand trap’ build.

The recent “China City Tournament 2023 Shanghai Special” which had 1200 participants was held in Week #9 and saw two Tenpai Dragon decks making Top 16 and Top 32 with the Ultimaya Tzolkin build, showing that perhaps there is still some merit to the build. Both players have Necrovalley in the Side Deck, so it is likely that this combo is only played in Game 2 or 3, anticipating that the opponent would side out Effect Veiler and Infinite Impermanence since they are ineffective under Sangen Summoning.