Of all the strategies that get new cards in Primal Origin, Sylvan may get the biggest push!  In Legacy of the Valiant it was Sylvan Hermitree that ruled the Main Deck at Level 8, but Primal Origin debuts a new Level 7 that’s easier to use, and might be even more powerful.  Meet Sylvan Sagequoia!

Whenever a Sylvan monster’s sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon Sylvan Sagequioa from your hand.  As a Level 7 monster it can instantly help you make Synchro Summons and Xyz Summons.  That’s awesome, because you can use it as one half of the Xyz Materials for Orea, the Sylvan High Arbiter.  Another new card from Primal Origin, Orea’s the latest Xyz Monster in the Sylvan forces; we’ll talk about it in its own article later.

Since Sylvan Sagequoia’s got a stellar 2600 ATK it can run over all sorts of popular attackers, and you can Special Summon Sylvan Sagequoia when a Sylvan hits the yard, except during the Damage Step, so it’s not just limited to excavations.  Any cards like these will let you Special Summon it:

If your opponent destroys one of your Sylvans with an effect, you can Special Summon Sylvan Sagequoia.  Load a Sylvan with Foolish Burial or one of the many Sylvan excavation abilities and that works too.  Previous heavy-hitters like Sylvan Hermitree and Sylvan Guardioak could clog your hand, but Sagequoia’s really easy to play.

Once it’s on the field, Sylvan Sagequoia has a once per turn effect that lets you excavate the top card of your Deck and send it to the Graveyard if it’s a Plant – the typical Sylvan excavation ability, which helps you trigger all sorts of useful effects.  If Sagequoia itself is excavated and sent to the Graveyard, you can target a “Sylvan” Spell or Trap Card in your Graveyard and add it to your hand.

That last part is a really big deal: when you excavate Sagequoia and send it to the Graveyard, you get to take back some of your Deck’s most powerful cards with no costs and no delays.  You can hold onto them or play them immediately, and since you choose the card you can grab whatever’s going to hurt your opponent the most.

We talked about Sylvan Charity before, highlighting how it makes Sylvans more consistent; how it helps you trigger your best effects; and that it even sets up huge off-theme plays with cards like Rank-Up-Magic – The Seventh One.  What we didn’t really touch on is how good it is with Sylvan Sagequoia.  Play your cards right and you can play Sylvan Charity over and over, every turn.  On the flipside, you can use it to set up Sagequoia on the top of your Deck, too, creating long play sequences that roll together for maximum impact.

Mount Sylvania’s still an important part of the Sylvan strategy, and Sagequoia can get it back for free when your opponent spends a card to destroy it.  Sylvan Blessing’s a powerful Trap Card, reviving a Sylvan from your Graveyard and making it immune to effects, all while loading the top of your Deck.  When you play it, you need to give up a card from your hand plus Blessing itself, just to Special Summon one monster, albeit one immune to effects.  That’s two cards for one – not a great deal.  But its way more approachable if you got Sylvan Blessing for free in the first place, and Sylvan Sagequoia makes that happen.

With an easy Special Summon effect and a strong excavation trick, Sylvan Sagequoia’s the most reliable and powerful of the high-Level Sylvans.  But more than that, its recycling power lets you abuse some of the best cards in the Deck, and makes Sylvan Charity even better.  With 2600 ATK Sagequoia’s a really powerful attacker, and played as a Rank 7 Xyz Material it unleashes even bigger threats!  Stay tuned, because next we’re going to show you how it works with the new Rank 7 showstopper, Primal Origin’s Orea, the Sylvan High Arbiter.