vinhcbt@yahoo.com Mono-Colored Darkness Deck: Chaotic Parasites Today, I just tested mono-colored darkness deck at my local card shop and it works wonders! Darkness decks really control the game (especially late game). Although my mana curve may be high, darkness decks have enought monster removal cards and a few decent blockers to prolong the game into mid-late game play where darkness decks will own!!! But enough said heres the run down on the deck. Darknesss Metagame: Chaotic Parasites (40 Card deck) 24 Monsters 4 Horrid Worms 4 Chaos Worms 2 Ultracide Worms 2 Vampire Silphy 2 Gray Balloon, Shadow of Greed 4 Poison Worms 4 Swamp Worm 4 Bloody Squito 14 Spells 4 Terror Pits 4 Death Smokes 4 Critical Blade 2 Lost Soul Quick Overview: This mono-colored darkness deck is a control deck (field and hand control). What darkness specializes in is destruction (of both monster destruction and hand destruction). This mono-darkness deck is designed to have mostly monsters with the power of 4000 or higher (except for Horrid Worms). Playing with these type of monsters really places big threats on the field early (even if the monsters have really bad drawbacks). Having these overpowered monsters would not only allow Poison Worms to be summoned without its effect being carried out, but Vampire Silphys effect will also have less effect on your side of the field as compared to your opponent when Vampire Silphy is summoned. The playability of darkness decks rely heavily on decisions. Thus, this deck makes the user think about what cards to play during a certain situation and what cards to save for a future situation. Now lets look at the deck from top to bottom Horrid Worm: This card is really useful since it is a cheap parasite worm which can evolve into either a Chaos Worm or an Ultracide Worm. Not only that, but Horrid worm is a 2-in-1 card that has a Ghost Touch effect whenever it attacks. Although, this card would usually dies after it attacks, Bloody Squitos would protect it from dying. Other than that, this card is usually played to be evolved into one the bigger worms. Chaos Worm: This 5 mana evolution card is probably the best parasite worm in the metagame right now. Once this card comes into play, it has a terror pit effect; you get to choose and destroy one of your opponents monster. And if youre already playing with 4 Terror Pits, playing with 4 of these guys is like playing with another 4 terror pits for a total of 8 Terror Pits in a deck. Cant have enough of Terror Pits. Ultracide Worm: For 6 mana, this is just a BIG WORM that can attack at the moment it is summoned. Having a double breaker ability and being the BIGGEST monster in the metagame right now makes this worm a force to be reckoned with. This monster will pretty much run over any monster and become a big threat to your opponent as soon as it reaches the field. Gray Balloon, Shadow of Greed: 3 Mana for a 3000 Blocker is decent, but what makes this good is that it can attack monsters. This card is good for early game rushes and it helps prolong the game into late-game where mono-darkness decks rule!!!! Vampire Silphy: Being kind of costly for 8 mana, this card has a devastating effect. It destroys all monsters on the battle zone with the power of 3000 or less. This works on your favor since most of your monsters have power 4000 +. This would really decimate the rest of your opponents forces or usually whats left of it. After playing this card, the game is probably about to end in your favor. Poison Worms: A lot of people dislike this card, but I love it. Its 4 mana for a 4000 monster, but being a parasite worm is what makes it good. Not only that, if you dont have a monster with a power of 3000 or less on the battle zone, you do not have to destroy Poison Worm. Heres the official rulings of Poison Worm from Duelmasters.com website (Click on rules/strategy and then rulebook. Now click on Evo-Curshinators F.A.Q. and scroll down until you see Poison Worm.) Poison Worm says, "When you put this creature into the battle zone, destroy one of your creatures that has power 3000 or less." Q: What if I don't have any creatures in the battle zone that have power 3000 or less? A: Then you don't have to do anything. Poison Worm stays in the battle zone. Swamp Worm: This card is 7 mana for 2000 Power, but its effect is what makes up for the mana cost. When it comes into play, it automatically destroys one of your opponents monster. Any card that has a come into play ability and can get rid of your opponents monsters or cards in his/her hand is a card worth having in a deck. Bloody Squito: This blocker is good for early game rushes and mid game attackers. Bloody Squito will die after it wins a battle, but this blocker will usually take the monster attacking down with it. As said, paying 2 mana for a blocker who can take down an attacking monster that costs at least 3 or more mana seems pretty good to me; this is being efficient while making your opponent using more resources and cards to get to your shields. Terror Pits, Death Smokes, and Critical Blades: Now this is pure destruction. Darknesss spells are the best around. Terror pits is probably the king of spells. This card destroys any one of the your opponents monster and is a shield trigger. Terror pits younger brother, Death Smoke, will destroy any untapped monster your opponent has summoned. Then theres Critical Blade, also a shield trigger, which destroys any blockers that are in your way. Now thats field control. Lost Soul: The king of all hand depletion cards. Once you play this card, it usually gives you total control of the game. Although very situational, I still find it useful; especially against Light, Blue, Control, or Stall decks due to their large hand sizes. This card is also good against other control decks, because most control decks tend to have a lot of hand advantage during late game. And that about wraps up my article. Next time, I will be reviewing another mono-colored archetype. Hope everyone enjoyed reading my article.