Naturia

"Naturia" (ナチュル Nachuru), known as "Naturu" in the Japanese version, is an EARTH-Attribute archetype from Duel Terminal - Justice Strikes Back!!, Duel Terminal - Demon Roar God Revival!!, Duel Terminal - Champion of Chaos!! and Duel Terminal - Pulse of the Trishula. Their effects center around limiting, or gaining advantages from, the opponent's Spell, Trap, and Monster Cards when activated/Summoned. Despite their low ATK and DEF, "Naturia" monsters are surprisingly quick and can control the field easily.

Playing Style
"Naturia" monsters tend to be of various types, but all relate in some way to forest life, such as Plants, Insects, Rocks, a few Beasts, and even a Dragon, thus benefiting as a group from the "Forest" Field Spell Card. "Naturia" monsters also have their own Field Spell Card, "Naturia Forest". Most of them have low ATK and DEF, but can swarm the field rapidly as the opponent uses card effects, facilitating the Special Summon of a few powerful Synchro and Xyz Monsters. Since several of the monsters Summon themselves from the Hand or Deck during the opponent's turn, copies of "Urgent Tuning" come in very handy in a Deck dedicated to "Naturia" monsters.

Many "Naturia" monsters are able to prevent the opponent's actions, often by using other "Naturia" monsters as a cost. A well-constructed "Naturia" Deck can completely lock down an opponent, as there are "Naturia" monsters able to negate the effects of Spell Cards, Trap Cards, Normal Summons and Special Summons. This is balanced by many of them simply not having very high ATK or DEF, with the exception of "Naturia Leodrake", which has no effects.

When composed right, A "Naturia" Deck can be a solid and competitive Deck choice that can completely lock the opponent down. One of the main strategies of "Naturia" monsters is to get "Naturia Bamboo Shoot" out as quickly as possible (because its effect is extremely debilitating and, when combined with cards like "Naturia Mantis" and "Solemn Warning", can stop the opponent from doing much of anything) which is quite easy with some cards that thin the Deck such as "Naturia Cliff" and "Pot of Duality".

The most popular "Naturia" Decks focus on one of two things. The first is Synchro spamming (abusing the effects of various "Naturia" monsters to Special Summon and Synchro as fast as possible). This type of Deck focuses on deploying the "Naturia" Synchros because their lockdown effects will overwhelm your opponent, although you can also choose to Summon the staple Synchros. The other type of "Naturia" build is an "Exterio" build, which revolves around getting "Naturia Exterio" out on the field and abusing its effect. "Miracle Synchro Fusion" greatly assists this Deck.

Other ways to build a "Naturia" Deck are:


 * The "Naturia" EARTH variant. This variant takes support from the Naturias and other EARTH cards such as "Giant Rat", "Gigantes", and "Gaia Power". This variant also helps the "Naturia" Synchros since all of them require EARTH monsters as part of their material. "Giant Rat" helps keep monsters on the field which makes Synchro Summons and swarming easy.


 * The "Naturia" Plant variant. This type of "Naturia" build utilizes "Naturia" and other Plant-Types (hence the name) to beat the opponent down with "Tytannial, Princess of Camellias" and lock the opponent down with plant support as well as the "Naturia" support. This Deck type is effective because it limits your opponent's moves as well as toolboxing your Deck and Graveyard. "Naturia Pineapple" greatly helps "Naturia" Plants as it is basically a "Treeborn Frog" for this Deck type. Unfortunately it does not help the "Naturia" archetype as a whole.


 * The "Naturia" Insect variant. This variant isn't as well known as the above but it is a solid Deck choice. This Deck uses the Insects of the "Naturia" archetype plus the Insect support such as "Naturia Stag Beetle", "Naturia Mantis", "Verdant Sanctuary", "Doom Dozer" and more to quickly swarm the field. Usually some of the key "Naturia" cards are not played in this Deck because it hinders the Deck's consistency ("Naturia Bamboo Shoot", "Naturia Cliff", etc.)


 * The "Naturia" Stun variant. This is basically "Naturia Bamboo Shoot", some other Naturias, and the normal Stun cards ("Thunder King Rai-Oh", "Doomcaliber Knight", etc), which focuses on locking down your opponent's options, much like Anti-Meta Decks.


 * The next variant has come to be called Pineapple Cat/Beast. It's basically "Naturia Pineapple", "Naturia Bamboo Shoot", the good plant Naturias, Plant support, some Beast supporters (an ideal support for this build would be "Snyffus") and "Rescue Cat" (traditional format) + "Summoner Monk", "Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter" etc.


 * The Naturia Stall variant. The point of this Deck is to make your opponent unable to attack you, nor use Spell or Trap Cards by playing "Twilight Rose Knight", "Naturia Bamboo Shoot", and "Naturia Pineapple". Having Tytannial helps negate monster effects. The point is to keep your monsters safe until you can muster a knockout. Instead of "Pineapple", you may opt to use "DNA Surgery" to change all monsters to Plant-Type, then support them using Plant-related Traps like "Wall of Thorns" and "Pollinosis".


 * This variant is called Naturia Monarchs. It abuses "Naturia Cosmobeet" and "Naturia Cherries" to have them swarm the field and tribute for Monarchs like Caius and Mobius. "Dandylion" can be dumped to the graveyard with cards like "Foolish Burial" and "Koa'ki Meiru Gravirose". Other cards like "Double Summon" and "Naturia Pumpkin" can be used for a quick Monarch Summon. "Naturia Pineapple" shouldn't be used because of having Monarchs in the Graveyard, thus rendering Pineapple useless. This Deck, if played and built right, can be very strong.


 * The final variant that is used the least is the Naturia Reversal variant. This variant takes advantage of the toothless Naturia monsters, particularly "Naturia Beans", to force your opponent to harm themselves via the effect of "Naturia Mosquito", usually by launching hopeless attacks against stronger monsters. A Deck centered around it can be dangerously effective because most of the current meta Decks need to attack to win, and if their attacks backfire, they'll be at great disadvantage. If combined with "Naturia Bamboo Shoot" and (if possible) "Destiny HERO - Plasma", this Deck can be almost impossible to defeat.


 * A Naturia Junk Deck works quite well because a good part of Naturia monsters are Level 2 or lower which helps with Swarm and it can broaden your Synchro selection. Due to the fact that "Junk Synchron" is a Level 3 DARK monsters you can use it and another Level 3 Insect like "Naturia Fruitfly" to Synchro Summon cards such as "Underground Arachnid" and you could use "Junk Synchron" to Summon the Junk Synchro Monsters like "Junk Warrior", "Junk Archer", "Junk Destroyer", "Junk Gardna", and "Junk Berserker". However, the downside is "Junk Synchron" is a DARK monster so all the EARTH support has no effect on it


 * Naturias can function quite well in a pure variant, with a large amount of supporting cards. The benefits of a pure variant are that your "Naturia Bamboo Shoot" as well as your Mantis and Pumpkin are always usable no matter what monsters you have, aside from any non Naturia synchros you might pull out of your extra deck. A pure variant can also have equal focus on "Naturia Bamboo Shoot" as well as the Naturia synchros such as "Naturia Landoise". "Naturia Cherries" and "Naturia Cliff" can easily maintain field presence while thinning the deck, allowing you to get to your Bamboo Shoot faster. "Naturia Pumpkin" plus any of the Naturia Tuners can instantly make one of the Synchros, and "Miracle Synchro Fusion" can easily make a late game "Exterio" when your "Beast" and "Barkion" are already in the Graveyard. "Pot of Duality" is a must for this deck, because it allows you to get to your "Naturia Bamboo Shoot" within the top three cards of your deck, or it shuffles the deck if it isn't within those top three cards. The Special Summon restriction isn't so bad because "Bamboo Shoot" creates a powerful lock on your opponent and can be Normal Summoned. This variant can be quite powerful, and it's even possible to bring out "Bamboo Shoot" on the second turn if you go second and open with "Cosmobeet" and "Bamboo Shoot". The main problem with this variant is that it trades off swarming and power for control, and if your opponent gets set up quickly, there isn't much you can do, which is why protecting "Bamboo Shoot" with Spell and Trap cards is a priority, especially from debilitating monster effects and powerful monsters.

Weaknesses
"Naturias" have the potential to restrict a player in the Duel fast, however, if you have the right cards and act quickly, you can 1-up "Naturias" before they can compose locks. For instance, "Skill Drain" or "Angel O7", if used early in the Duel, can cripple this Deck, since most of the Naturia archetype is composed of Effect Monsters. "Skill Drain" is the most dangerous, because it also negates Continuous effects like those of "Naturia Mosquito" and "Naturia Bamboo Shoot", rendering them useless. Siding "Dust Tornado" and the like can help, but will be dead draws against "Bamboo Shoot"; follow it up with field-clearing effects to ensure that your attacks will go through.

Basic Naturias don't generally have much ATK or DEF. Strong monsters that can evade field control, such as "D.D. Assailant", "D.D. Warrior Lady" and "D.D. Warrior" can toss them out. To remedy this, run multiple "Wall of Thorns" to deny attacks on your "Bamboo Shoot", and don't attack face-down monsters without a contingency plan.

Cards like "Dimensional Fissure" cause this Deck's lockdown version to fail, as "Naturia Stinkbug" and "Naturia Mantis" will be unable to pay costs by sending cards to the Graveyard. Cards like "Imperial Iron Wall" are good Sides against a D.D. Deck.