Darling in the Franxx – Dinosaur Love (R/Y) [06/16/2024]

There’s this infamous scene from possibly a movie that I can never really recall. So the father and his son go to a diner. There’s this kid’s menu alright. Now, the kid starts browsing through the menu. The father notices that there are some chicken nuggies. So, he orders one for the kid and another for himself. The waitress comes by and tells him that he can’t order chicken nuggies for himself because he’s not a child. So, he tells the waitress that the kid will order two and then he’ll purchase a coffee for himself. The waitress groans and goes away. Why am I telling you this? I don’t really have a clue.

Beginning with Strelizia, the combined unit of both the pistil and the stamen, Zero Two and Hiro, the mecha unit is jam packed with power to decimate its opponents. Whenever Strelizia attacks, you may marker the top card of your deck underneath itself and give it additional power. This power persists and grows for each marker it gains, hinting for you to keep it alive as long as possible. Its combo ability with the climax deals a burst of damage to your opponent while giving it a large swing of power as well.

Zero Two’s child form is the main early game engine for the deck. She gains burst power based upon the number of characters on your stage including herself on play. This is important based on the synergy of another card that will be posted after this. Regardless of which, Zero Two gains a double bounce-back ability upon reversing her opponent with her climax in play. When she is fronted, you must choose another character on your field and herself and bounce both to hand. It is important to note that her ability to bounce back is tied to that of both herself and a friend if you can do so. That means that if she is fronted, and you wish to use her bounce-back ability, you must grab a friend to send back to your hand too, whether that be a back-row card or another front-row card. As such, it is highly recommended to only field two of these copies at most.

Now you may be asking what that secret card that carries much synergy with Zero Two is. That would be her partner, Hiro, of course. Hiro has a very unique ability that gives him peak survivor power during the turn that he’s played. Hiro is essentially invincible as he can return himself to the field for free rested once per turn when he’s sent to the waiting room during the turn that he’s played. Why does this matter for Zero Two? Zero Two can reset his ability by bouncing him back to hand along with herself. In that sense, you can continually replay Hiro without a worry in the world outside of certain types of removal (clock, stock, etc.). You get a free swinger whose life you don’t have to worry about since he resets himself before your opponent’s turn, giving you a shield to prevent direct attacks while also crashing for free damage.

One other key synergy that can be run alongside the deck features the Hiro and Zero Two pairing above. Hiro is a spawner profile on attack if you have one or less other characters on stage, perfect for going first and if you do manage to mill a level zero or lower character when he attacks. His other ability bonds to the mirror event on the right from your deck when he’s played on stage. Before explaining the mirror event, there’s another synergy using that card with Zero Two in the center. Zero Two is a level zero stock reverser, but she has another ability to discard a mirror event from hand to lower the power of one of your opponent’s front row character’s power by a large amount (4000), helping with securing reversals for your characters. The mirror event itself is a Cigarettes event that requires two or more characters on stage to be played.

Now another key synergy we can use is through the use of the two clean cut profiles on the left and center. Both Zero Two and Hiro accomplish the same exact deal with the same demerit coincidentally. What makes them especially strong is through the use of Zero Two on the far right. Zero Two consumes a character on your stage when she swings, allowing you to reveal the top card of your deck and add it to hand if is a character.

This has many applications. Firstly, you can sacrifice a card to gain hand cheaply, sacrificing an already reversed character. Alternatively, you may also sacrifice a back row slot to open up a row for your clean cut’s abilities. Lastly, remember the 0/0 Hiro from before? His wording states that during the turn he’s played, when he’s sent to waiting room, he revives himself once per turn. Given that Zero Two immediately puts him into waiting room, he immediately returns regardless, giving you the ability to sacrifice him for free without demerit and potentially gain hand while still retaining board. You can even do this up to twice a turn (if you really need hand) since the second time you do it, Hiro loses the played from hand clause and will no longer return. Zero Two has a plethora of uses so make sure to adapt her to your situation and needs.

Keep in mind that you do brick on Zero Two’s hand adding effect if you reveal a mirror event or a climax. However, remember that you can also use Hiro’s bonder to drag the event out of your deck to minimize your fail chances.

Returning to our end-game, our Romeo and Juliet pairing needs to combine just like the pistil and stamen of flowers together. Zero Two initiates the combination as you may tuck two copies of Strezlia from your waiting room underneath your deck. Then you may palce her and the Hiro from above underneath each other in any order you’d like while searching your deck for a copy of Strezlia from your deck and place both her and Hiro underneath it open faced as pilots for the machine.

Zero Two is all you need. Zero Two is perfection. Look at that design. Zero Two is your eternal waifu. And to prove this, Zero Two carries her anti-change backup above, perfect for getting rid of anything that would dare to touch perfection.

Zero Two reaching towards you is a large oversized beater that has field encore and prevents you from using backups or events. Zero Two in her cockpit is a climax discard salvager. Zero Two dazzling others in her swimsuit grants a character protection from auto reversal abilities on the turn she’s played from hand and is a salvage brainstorm. Smug looking Zero Two heals to stock on-play and can pay a hefty cost as a secondary finisher to burn large amounts of damage upon reversing her opponent. Lastly, Zero Two underneath the cherry blossoms is an anti-level three beater that also gains power once per turn equal to the number of other characters on your stage when you use an ACT ability.

Crash Hiro in and make use of his “free” encore ability. Despite Zero Two’s aggressive and all-devouring gameplay, she makes sure to take great care of her dear Hiro. Like two peas in a pod, the two are inseparable, and rumour has it that their love transcends even the stars themselves.