Purple in Set 1: Call of the Core
Purple was a dominant force in Set 1; claiming a win at the biggest tournament of the year, Nationals 2009. It definitely deserved to win, when you consider that Purple was the most consistent deck out of the bunch. The deck focused heavily on rush and control. Set 2: Rise of Angels gave Purple the necessary cards to convert from a rush-style to a full-on control deck. This change did slow purple down, but it also created a strong deck in the right hands.

Useful Potshot Cards
Set one gave Purple The PhantomDragon Sheyron, who had the useful ability of getting a free hit on your opponents life on the turn he is summoned. Rise of Angels has given Purple three more cards to add to their life damaging arsenal. Top Supra and Bottom Desupra both have obvious uses. They are both at their best when the field is clear. Good thing that Purple is good at clearing the field.

Purple also received an X-Rare, The SevenShogun Deslord, which didn't receive much love from players when it was first released (myself included). However, I have come around, and now see the error of my ways. Deslord is an amazing card that takes a bit of psychological warfare to be used to its full potential. The second effect is nice, but it won't happen with any regularity. Deslord's first effect is what makes him a big hitter. The ability to exhaust every level two spirit when this spirit is summoned is very potent. Especially when you consider that your opponent will be placing a lot of cores on their spirits in order to avoid Mind Control and potshots from Bottom Desuper and Top Supra. It doesn't hurt to have the ability to exhaust half to three-quarters of your opponents field on any given turn. If you haven't given Deslord a try in your purple deck, give him a shot. I guarantee you won't be disappointed with the results.
New Keyword: Curse
Curse is the keyword that was bestowed on Purple in Set 2: Rise of Angels; reading "When this spirit is blocked, destroy the spirit that blocked this spirit at the end of the battle step." This keyword has many uses, the obvious one is to destroy a spirit that wouldn't normally get destroyed. A great way to do this is by forcing the issue by not giving your opponent the choice of blocking your spirit with curse. This can be done by combining Purple with Red and making use of the second effect of the nexus, "Burning Battlefield".

Unfortunately for Purple, there are only two spirits who have this keyword, Lady Frankelly and HumpDump. The only one worth consideration is Lady Frankelly due to her level three effect; allowing you to place her back into your hand when she is destroyed. It's not often that we see a card that combos with itself. Lady Frankelly can be destroyed via battle, kill the opposing creature via curse, and then come back to your hand to do it all over again on your next turn. Not too shabby if you have the extra cores to place her at level three.

Insane Core Removal Anyone who has played against Purple in the Set 2 format knows how potent the new core removal is. SkullKnight Zo-Goin, Mummela, Bat-Bat, and Mind Control are all extremely useful cards to Purple's core removal cause. They let players wipe the field clean, get rid of a pesky spirit, and deal damage all in one fell swoop. What really intrigues me about these new cards is that they made the card, Cobraiga, much better than it was in Set 1. Cobraiga was not very useful in Set 1, as there wasn't any use for a card that lowered the cores on an opponent's spirit to one. However, with the addition of all these cards that remove one core from the opponents spirit, Cobraiga has solidified its place as a useful card in a Purple control deck.

The Skull Knight Zo-Goin is a headliner for all Purple control decks. He has the ability to become very strong for minimal cores, has a reasonable reduction, and most importantly, removes a core from an opponent's spirit every time he attacks. You may be thinking to yourself that all you have to do to defend against him is place multiple cores on your spirits. While that is true, Cobraiga puts a huge dent into your opponent's plans and after a couple turns of depleting their spirits, you have them wondering why Bandai printed this card.

Mind Control
Without a doubt, the best card Purple got out of Set 2 was the spell Mind Control. A lot of older cards that were already good are much more useful when used with this card. For instance, Bi-Python used to have a hard time getting free attacks. However, with this card, you can clear the field, play Bi-Python, and get your free attack and draw. Many Purple spirits have good effects but are very weak. Mind Control solves this problem in the same way it helps Bi-Python, by clearing the field. With no opposing spirits, it doesn't matter if your attack is 1000 or 10,000 battle points.

Mind Control also works as a way to limit the cores on your opponents side of the field in order to maximize the use of core removal effects. Cards such as Mummela, Poison Shoot, and SkullKnight Zo-Goin benefit greatly from this. In fact, with all the core removal available, Poison Shoot is a much more viable option in a Purple deck than it was when it was first released.

Much Better Off
With all the new core removal, Purple is much better off than it was in Set 1. That says a lot considering Purple was tier 1 in the previous format. Cards like Mummela, Bat-Bat, SkullKnight Zo-Goin, and Mind Control have introduced a full-on control aspect to Purple, that many people are enjoying. Older cards such as Poison Shoot and Bi-Python have increased their potential when used with these new cards. I'm sure that Curse will become better and better as future sets are released. Purple has definitely improved with the addition Set 2 to the card pool!