Roots

Hey man, society is just so uncool! It's Babylon here. But, the Roots, right, they got it, they knew things couldn't keep goin' on that way; we have to make it real again. So, you know what the Roots did? They went to Babylon to tell the government that everything wasn't gonna be alright, man. But no one would listen to ‘em and that really messed with their minds!

Trivia

Along with the Uppers (until Zatman's Cr announcement, where Zlatar was confirmed to be their leader), the Roots have never been given an official leader. They do not have a leader because they are mainly made up of hippies and anarchists, who are against leadership or organization of any kind, which explains the clan's philosophy and their hatred for the government.
- Despite that, in the webcomic, Kiki was implied to be the leader of the clan as he got kidnapped together with the leaders of the other clans. However, he was said to be more of a "symbol of hope" rather than a leader.
The clan name could possibly come from the hip-hop group of the same name, who have worked with PETA to promote animal compassion and the vegetarian lifestyle, two qualities that define the clan's lifestyle. The name could also describe the roots of plants.
The Roots' finishing animation has a series of plants, fungi, and wood gathering around the opponent's card. The opponent's card is then turned into wood, before it then erodes.
The Roots are one of the four clans who are publicly against the government. The other three are the Bangers, the Junkz, and the Huracan.
The clan symbol has the same colors as of the Rasta flag. The yellow symbolizes the gold (or the wealth) that was stolen from them, the green symbolizes their land that was taken, and the red symbolizes the bloodshed from the oppressed people.
They are one of three clans whose motive is to conserve the environment (land). The other two clans are the Ulu Watu (ocean), and the Frozn (tundra).
According to Melody's profile, it says the clan was founded at least in 1970, when the Rootstock concert first came out.
- Rootstock is a parody of the Woodstock festival, which was also found in the early '70s.
The clan's desire to protect the environment might be based off of the nowadays enormously waste of food or destroying the environment with carbon dioxide produced by cars and factories.
The place of their HQ (which shows nearby forests, grass, and oceans) shows that the clan prefers to live far away (but relatively close) to the city.
The clan's secondary bio reads as "Relax, man… In the face of capitalism, you’ve got to stand up for yourself and keep things simple. You see, our stats are average and we struggle to win rounds, but it’s abilities that count. When you take back lives and stop your opponent’s ability, you can sleep easy… Peace."
In Fungus's bio, it is said that with the arrival of the Komboka, the Roots had realized they had temporarily forgotten about their crusade concerning the environment, which resulted in the joining of nature beings as second wind for their environmental goal.
- As such there might be a possible alliance between the two clans.

Release Date

September 16th, 2006

Bonus

Stop Opp. Ability - The opponent’s Ability is canceled if they have one.

Advantages & Disadvantages

Advantages:

Their bonus cancels out opposing cards' abilities, which makes fights with them a lot easier.
Many of the cards have very good stats.
Unlike GHEIST, they do not rely on their abilities a whole lot.
Several of the cards' abilities revolve around getting life back or taking them away from your opponent.
Some of the cards also have good abilities that take something away from your opponent.
They also have cards with abilities that boost their power or attack, which helps them in low-pillz fights.
They are a relatively cheap clan to collect.

Disadvantages:

Their bonus doesn't work against Nightmare or Piranas, since they cancel out their bonus.
Their bonus is also ineffective against Skeelz, since their bonus protects their abilities.
Their bonus doesn't help them when they are facing cards with the Stop abilities.
Their bonus cancels out the Backlash abilities, which actually helps them instead of weakening them.
Some of the cards have no ability to assist them in fights.
Many of the cards are often banned from ELO, due to their abilities and stats. They are not a particularly good clan to use there, either.