Introduction
You like chibis? You like Bob Ross? Well, the Weather Painters got you covered! This archetype has pleasing artwork, a unique playstyle and some strong control aspects.
Each “Weather Painter” monster we have is a different attribute, and they banish themselves for cost to activate effects given to them by “The Weather” Spell/Traps, Special Summoning themselves back in the next Standby Phase. (Most of these effects are Quick Effects.)
Because of that, this deck is mostly indifferent to Counter Traps, Battle Traps, Loading... /Loading... , and more! You can also use certain “The Weather” Spell/Trap effects more than once per turn, even on the opponent's turn! Another crazy thing is that if you have already activated your monster effect that a “The Weather” Spell/Trap has given it, your opponent cannot Loading... or otherwise negate the Spell/Trap’s face-up effects to stop the effect from resolving.
As a result, this deck has strong matchups against decks with heavy backrow, like Shiranui and Shadow Game decks, but it can struggle against decks that could swarm the field quickly, like Blackwings and Dark Magician.
Some fair upcoming support could include Loading... for bouncing backrow, Loading... for recovering Canvases or granting destruction and targeting protection onto them, OR Loading... (summon from Deck if opponent controls a monster (but not both Aurora and Rainbowed).
Example Gameplay
Nov 2020 KC Cup Stage 2 with Weather Painters, PART 1!
Nov 2020 KC Cup Stage 2 with Weather Painters, PART 2!
The Monsters
An important feature of these monsters in Duel Links is that after they have been banished for cost, they return to the field in a certain order, which will dictate their column placement for that turn. So, first off, how does this column mechanic work in Duel Links specifically? You can’t directly choose your zones, so you can instead work around it by understanding how the automatic column placement works. This is nothing new, just something you should have known before that you should now re-examine more closely.
Cards are placed on your field into the middle zone, then righthand zone, then lefthand zone, in that order, wherever there is space. Whenever the monsters return to the field from being banished, they will also return in that zone order (you can Toggle On to chain intelligently, to swap up the monster’s columns in the Standby Phase if you wish).
Second of all, when returning to the field, the monsters come back in order of increasing ATK: Snow (0), Rain (1200), Cloud (1500), Sun (1600), Thunder (1700). This is just pre-programmed, although in TCG you would be able to choose the order.
The Weather Painter Snow (3x):
Snow is the deck’s best searcher for our “The Weather” Spells/Traps. When Normal Summoned, she places 1 “The Weather” Spell/Trap directly to the field face-up. She will allow us to search for missing pieces to our opening combos or to immediately activate our “The Weather” Trap Cards without waiting a turn, and she acts as a 1-card comeback to a board wipe. She is a valuable card to have at 3.
The Weather Painter Thunder (2-3x):
Thunder is our highest-ATK Painter that can replace any face-up Continuous Spell/Trap with a “The Weather” Spell/Trap. As such, he can act as a secondary searcher, and should be run at 2-3 copies. If you don’t own any Snow, definitely run 3 Thunder to compensate as the next best option. Also, because he sends the face-up Spell/Trap as cost, you can use cards like Loading... and Loading... and send them away at any time to clear up your backrow.
The Weather Painter Cloud (1-2x):
Cloud is an excellent F2P Weather Painter option. On the next Chain Link after a face-up “The Weather” Spell/Trap is sent to the GY (either by backrow removal, by Painter Thunder’s effect, etc), Cloud can place up to 2 “The Weather” Spells/Traps back onto the field from the GY, replenishing your resources. Depending on your build’s playstyle, you may like to run Cloud for insurance, but he is not a crucial component of this decktype. As a note, the Spells/Traps come back in the order that you select them; they are recovered into the middle, then right, then left zone, so take that time to rearrange your backrow if your column placements were awkward before.
The Weather Painter Rain (0-1x):
Not the best Weather Painter, but a rather conditional one. The only in-archetype way to special summon Rain is to play Loading... (not a great card), OR via her own effect that Special Summons her back to the field (which is a bit slow), and the benefit of just playing a Spell/Trap from the hand 1 turn later isn’t nearly as great as Snow’s effect to place from the Deck. She may find more use in a meta with heavy backrow removal, as she does bring in a Canvas before your Standby Phase ends.
The Weather Painter Sun (0-1x):
Sun is a decent recovery option; if he is in the GY, you can send 1 face-up Continuous Spell/Trap to the GY (as cost) to Special Summon him in Defense, provided you already have a “The Weather” Spell/Trap in your hand to activate. While that doesn’t speed up this deck’s ability to go for lethal, he could return to the field to stall for 1 turn if you topdecked a “The Weather” Spell/Trap and also have one face-up already.