“Every day’s great at your Junes!” – Persona 4.
What is Junes, you may ask? Well Junes, pronounced as Jyu-ne-su, is the greatest entity known to humankind. Though locally regarded as a department store in the world of Persona 4, Junes is the birthplace of commercialism. Virtually anything and everything can be found at Junes. Junes is the place where dreams are fulfilled and paradise itself flourishes. As stated in their commercial liner:
“At Junes, everyday is Customer Appreciation Day. Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products! Every day’s great at your Junes!“
Headed by Yosuke Nakamura’s father and proudly sponsored by Nanako and her family, Junes is an unstoppable monster that looks to nothing more than dominating the world of household products and other miscellaneous goods.
Look before the glorious Prince of Disappointment, Yusuke Hanamura himself. Yusuke doesn’t possess much finishing power, but if you spin your cards correctly with his on attack effects, you’ll get his plethora of wonderful abilities that grow your advantage. Since his abilities directly check for Junes (ジュネス), it is ideal for the deck to be full of as many Junes characters as possible.
What Junes makes up for in power and field presence is more than covered by its ability to pump soul indefinitely into your opponent’s clock. Junes always represents a threat to your opponent’s life total as turn after turn of large soul bursts are launched at them. Since Junes doesn’t have a direct finisher, Yu above is the a great option for the deck, considering his lack of any trait requirements and simple effect.
PQ/SE21-02R “月高組”Ｐ３主人公 (center)
PQ/SE21-08C 謎に挑む者たち (right)
As for our other means here in the early game, the Yu above can already begin to gather extra field as early as the first turn. Yu’s check is rather random, but with certain deck manipulations and a bit of odd luck, Yu can be used to push for early field advantage without much hand commitment. His second ability is also great as a soul pushing focused deck, letting you potentially draw extra advantage off his damage cancels.
Since our P3 Protagonist also uses the same climax, he’s a great addition to the team that also carries healing and a cancel finish ability to further push towards victory.
P3/S01-057U 荒垣 真次郎 (center)
P5/S45-054SR 怪盗団の先導役 モルガナ / MONA (right)
Since Yu’s conditions only spawn cost 0 characters, the deck should be mainly filled with free cards for his effect to carry through. Cards like the above are great options for garnering field advantage and other effects. Yukiko is essential to the deck, considering that her brainstorm ability lets you grab any character regardless of trait. Shinjiro is a generic level 0 reverser with a side benefit of eliminating pesky events from your opponent’s waiting room. Morgana is a free runner which is just a general good card to try and preserve hand.
P5/S45-043C 決められた人生 春 (center)
P4/S08-040C 浴衣の千枝 (right)
Yu may be able to spawn any costless character including cards at level 1, however, many of the cards at 0 should also contribute to either making further advantage for the player or providing extra utility. The other cards shown above here are great examples. The Haru to the left is a large beater if she is alone on stage or has only a single friend. She can mill the top card of your deck to spawn another character on stage if you fulfill her written conditions. The center Haru flies to stock whenever her damage is cancelled. When considering the nature of a soul rush deck, this can be seen as potential free stock. Lastly, Chie to the right is a beater that has a nice check mill ability which can bolster her own power and make your opponent’s swing-in rather miserable.
P4/SE12-01R 最初の仲間 陽介 (center)
PQ/SE21-04C “朝の時間”菜々子 (right)
There are many options for Yu to spawn, but more importantly, to help fulfill Yusuke’s level 3 conditions, there has to be a good number of Junes characters within the deck itself. Some of the best options are shown above. Nanako is an utmost requirement for the deck, bolstering and supplying a great amount of power on field. The center Yusuke has a demerit that can be seen as a boon, potentially supplying more stock or giving you a large 3500 powered beater early.
P4/S08-008U ガッカリ王子 陽介ちゃん (center)
P4/S08-021U ジュネス (right)
Some other Junes suggestions are provided above. Nanako reading with big brother is a large two soul beater with built in encore for sustaining field. The great disappointment, Yusuke, in the center, has a mill condition ability that can be great for potentially pushing for extra soul. Lastly, the Junes event grabs any Junes or character with Protagonist <主人公> in their name from your deck to hand.
The last card to gain a mention is that of the Morgana bus shown above. By tucking all these high school kids and others into its vehicular steel, Morgana takes everyone on a ride to safety during your opponent’s main phase as it travels to your backrow, safe from harm. Keep in mind that Morgana is a bit of a risky card here since it holds all your characters as markers underneath. If any card were to disrupt the bus, as in reversing, bouncing or flickering it, all characters are lost and sent directly to the waiting room. Keep this in mind and plan accordingly.
As for backups, there is no need since most of the time, your cards will be utility beaters or no field will be present if the bus is used. Make sure that you do have a healthy amount of Junes characters remaining in your deck if you wish to make full use of Yosuke’s level 3 abilities. Remember that the level 0 Yu’s combo spawns directly from the top of your deck, ignoring any and all hand conditions to the stage. There are tons of duplicate effects in the series as well, so do take some time to check them out and attune the deck to your liking.