[GB03] Crimenauts Biomutant Squad

News
September 15th's daily twitter reveal is the debut of the new Crimenauts Squad with 2 new Wonderverse units, the ★★★ Biomutant Squad Capo Coup'detator and the ★★ Biomutant Squad Bear'detator. This squad was first teased back in July with the art of the currently unrevealed Shark D'etat, and the "suddenly summon units" theme talked about then we now know to be utilizing the Concealment keyword introduced in GB02.

(Sources: 1, 2)

The English reveal for September 14th was a new Volnar ★★★★, Aras, Guardian of the Divine Winds. Since it was a new reveal, we covered it in more detail in its own article.

(Source)

Analysis

With another set comes another Crimenauts Squad! This time the focus is special summoning during the opponent's turn and silver bullet effects. The Capo for this squad, Biomutant Squad Capo Coup'detator, has a nice design that allows the theme to dip into Supernatural's pool of Concealment units that started last set. Of particular note currently are Karakasa of the Umbrella for being a useful attack negate and Rin-rin of the Awakened Scripture for its infinite reuse. Kyourinrin's previous position as a useful 1 of has only gotten better, as it now is searchable, and Karakasa plays very well with the Capo, since it won't be used on the turn the ability sets it and thus completely dodges its restriction.

While how much we can assess the Capo is limited until the remaining 2 members of his Squad are shown, Biomutant Squad Bear'detator can be talked about in full! Beyond its intended theme, Bear is sure to be a potent generic card. Similar in usage to Forbid, without eating slots if you don't need that ability, Bear lets you shut down level 0 events, which covers most of the most commonly played defensive sets such as Shields Up, Rite of Kami's Scorn, Just a Flesh Wound, and the upcoming Space Cave, while also special summoning it to make yet another swing or fill your defense zone!

Also worth noting that since its a special summon, Hand Rulers are unlikely to ever pay its 1 resource cost, which will probably make it stronger there than in Drive Rulers, which will have to pay its deckbuilding cost regardless. It probably won't matter too much though, as 1 level slot per copy of a card this strong is a very worthwhile investment, especially when you add on Apprentice's "set the top card of your deck" based advantage generation.

Due to how powerful this is against level 0 events, it could encourage Drive Rulers using level 1 defensive events like Rite of Redirection, Spider Web and Karakasa of the Umbrella more commonly than previously. This will probably be less viable for Hand Rulers, but since Hand Rulers have access to out of hand defense like Lucifer, the Lightbringer and Alice, Wonderland Avenger instead that is already appealing for its immunity to set destruction.

Also beyond its usefulness against defensive events, there's a small pool of more proactive events this will be valuable against. Of note are Rite of the Dragon God's Awakening (especially in Draconoid Dreadnaught "Fuse-ikazuchi" decks), Butterfly Effect, and Tractor Beam (particular in strategies like Endbringers which may use it to get back Noisemaker as a charge dumper). It also counters all 3 of the resource readying events, Win Win, Collateral Damage, and God's Invisible Hand.

Another counter effective against Bear will be the special summon floodgates, like Rey Gargora, Bane of Sorcerers and Zetsuya the Onmyoji. Currently this ability is only useful against specific archetypes that revolve around special summoning, like Abyssal Summoning, Genesis Summoning, and Crimenauts' Creepy Cuddlies, but with a generic card like this likely to see play in a wide variety of builds, those abilities become even more useful, especially given the safety it gives you as Bear cannot negate an event if he cannot be special summoned.

On one last note, as a nice little treat for the previous set's Crimenauts Squad, Bear is a 6 ATK unit for the turn whenever he's brought back from the graveyard, making him a better wall clearer than any of the previously existing Creepy Cuddlies revival targets.

Overall, both these cards are fantastic! Biomutant Squad Capo Coup'detator is a very promising start to the Squad as a theme and fantastic general support for Concealment, while Biomutant Squad Bear'detator is an extremely potent generic card sure to be loved by aggro decks.