Subject: The 12 Main Deck Archetypes - DarkMarth Hey, my name's DarkMarth, and I'm an experienced hometown deck mechanic. I thought I'd help a few beginners choose what deck they should make by posting what I see as the 12 decks used (or in one deck's case, should be used) in most tournaments. Well, here goes! 1. Beatdown · Basic Idea: As the name suggests, this deck beats your opponent down with strong level 4's and 6's. A popular variant of this deck is Fiend/Spellcaster Beatdown. · Strengths: This deck can kill off Exodia decks before they can assemble the Forbidden One, and on a good day beat down other defense decks before they can achieve their goal, such as Stall or possibly High Defense Direct Damage. · Weaknesses: If no good monsters are drawn, then this deck will have a problem recovering. Also, Shield & Sword decks can destroy this deck, because most of its monsters have a low defense. · Popular Cards: When facing an F/S Beatdown deck, you'll most likely see cards like Summoned Skull, Neo the Magic Swordsman, and La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp. · Cards to Use: If you have it side or main decked, use Shield & Sword to combat this deck. Block Attack works well, too. · Overall rating: I give this deck a 4.3. It is often devastating, and many good players use it. 2. Zombie Blitz · Basic Idea: This deck uses high power zombies combined with boost cards such as Castle of Dark Illusions and Violet Crystal to beat its opponent down. Note that this can be considered a form of beatdown. · Strengths: Like beatdown, Zombie Blitz can possibly kill off Exodia decks before Exodia can be assembled. But this deck isn't as fast working as beatdown, because its main boost card, Castle of Dark Illusions, takes 4 turns to power the zombies up. With the amount of monster removal in the game, I'd surprised if castle of Dark Illusions stayed on the field for 4 turns. · Weaknesses: As I said, it's like a form of beatdown, but it's not as fast acting. Therein lies a problem. Turbo Exodia might be able to assemble the forbidden one if it gets a good hand. Also, Direct Damage would be able to take on this deck easily. · Popular Cards: You'll definitely see Castle of Dark Illusions, Pumpking the King of Ghosts, and Wall Shadow in this deck. You might see Violet Crystal in there as well. · Cards to Use: As you would against beatdown, use Shield & Sword. This KILLS zombie decks! All zombies have 0 defense, with the exception of a few, so you'll do some serious life point damage with Shield & Sword. · Overall rating: I give this deck a 3.1. There aren't enough good zombies for this deck to be playable. 3. Direct Damage (Burner) · Basic Idea: My favorite deck, this deck's point is to run you out of life points with cards like Ookazi and Cannon Soldier. · The Two Types: Defensive Burner and Turbo Burner. · Strengths: This deck has many strengths. One of them is that it can be so versatile. Depending on your starting hand, you can go Turbo Burner or Defensive Burner. It depends on the "heart of the cards" (laughs) to choose what type of burner you'll play that duel. I use this type of deck, and it works very well for me. · Weaknesses: Beatdown decks are pretty much the only decks that have a chance against burner, but even then only if the person using the Burner ends up going defensive. Either way, this deck is near impossible to beat if played correctly. · Popular Cards: You'll definitely see Cannon Soldier, Tremendous Fire, Ookazi, and possibly, with the addition of Magic Ruler, Black Pendant in this deck. · Cards to Use: The thing about this deck is that there's no one card that this deck has a weakness to. Magic Jammer certainly slows it down, but that doesn't stop it entirely. To beat this deck, you'll just have to pray for a good starting hand. · Overall Rating: I give this deck a 4.9. In my mind, this is the best deck out right now, and it deserves that rating. 4. Exodia · Basic Idea: This deck's game plan is to get Exodia out (duh.) · The Two Types: Defensive and Turbo. · Strengths: If you play Turbo Exodia, you'll see that one of its strengths is getting Exodia before any beatdown deck can set up an offense. I like Turbo better than defensive, because when you use defensive, it lets the opponent set up a plan of attack. Even so, with the addition of Labyrinth Wall, defensive Exodia (and Burner, by the way) will be formidable opponents. · Weaknesses: With this much hand/field control in the game, it's hard to summon Exodia. Both defensive and Turbo Exodia decks are weak to Card Destruction, Robbin' Goblin, White Magical Hat, Confiscation, Delinquent Duo AND The Forceful Sentry. That's 17 cards (remembering that Card Destruction's semi-limited) that you can stock your deck/side deck with to stop Exodia. Combine any of the above cards with Soul Release/Gravedigger Ghoul and you've just sealed Exodia's fate. · Popular Cards: Besides Exodia, you'll see Witch of the Black Forest, Sangan, Last Will, and possibly Cannon Soldier (if it's Turbo Exodia.) Who knows, we might be seeing Mystic Tomato from Magic Ruler in this deck. · Cards to Use: Any of the cards that I listed in the weakness section together with Soul Release will beat Exodia. I say Soul Release this time because I find Gravedigger Ghoul obsolete now. · Overall rating: I give this deck a 3.8. It's good, especially if it's Turbo Exodia, but can be stopped entirely with an easy Card Destruction + Soul Release. 5. Toon Terror · Basic Idea: This deck is one of the most fearful. Its basic idea is to get out Toon World to summon a lot of toons and then attack your life points directly with them. · Strengths: This deck can be the most devastating when played correctly. It can also be mixed with a burner deck, because technically toons eat your opponent's life points away. This deck, while somewhat hard to pull off, is the most lethal deck in the current metagame when played right. · Weaknesses: Unfortunately for Toon Terror decks, burner can actually stop a Toon deck in its tracks. You have to pay a LOT of life points in total to be able to play a Toon deck. To start with, you have to pay 1000 life points to play Toon World in the first place. What happens if you have less than 1000 LP? If burner can be pulled off fast, Toon decks won't stand a chance. Also, more generally, De-Spell and the new Mystic Space Typhoon can kill Toon World, in result killing all toons on the field. · Author's Note: Even though I wrote a bigger weakness section than strengths section, I think Toon Terror is one of the best decks, so don't say that I don't like 'em. · Popular Cards: It's pretty easy to figure out what would be in a Toon deck: Toon World, Toon Summoned Skull, Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon, etc. But also there would be Dian Keto the Cure Master and Mysterious Puppeteer to heal from all the LP you have to pay for Toon World, and Magician of Faith, to take back all those Toon World cards. · Cards to Use: Again, it's obvious what to use against Toon Terror: Waboku, De-Spell, Heavy Storm, and Mystic Space Typhoon. · Overall Rating; I give this deck a 4.6. This is the second best deck out right now, next to Burner, and can finish off an opponent in 3 turns. (Really, there is a combo that can finish the game in 3 turns with a Toon deck.) 6. Dragons Deck · Basic Idea: This deck resembles beatdown, but is harder to pull off. Its point is to beat its opponent down with dragons. · Strengths: This deck is awesome if pulled off quickly, but it's really hard to get all the cards needed on the first few draws. This deck could definitely take down an F/S Beatdown or Zombie Blitz deck if it drew good cards. Its main combo is Lord of D. + Flute of Summoning Dragon + x2 Blue-Eyes White Dragons to beat the crap out of the other player. · Weaknesses: If you don't draw Lord of D. or the Flute, all of the 4 star and below dragons in this deck stink. Also, any deck with a Dragon Capture Jar in it owns this deck. · Popular Cards: You'll definitely see Lord of D, Flute of Summoning Dragon, Blue-Eyes, Tri-Horned Dragon, and Remove Trap in this deck. Remove Trap is just for those pesky Dragon Capture Jars. · Cards to Use: There aren't many things to use against this deck, but the things that you can use are crippling to it. Try using Dragon Capture Jar, and a lot of monster removal. · Overall Rating: I give this deck a 4.0. It's great, but a simple Dragon Capture Jar can slow it down severely. 7. Fusion · Basic Idea: This deck takes advantage of the fact that fusions are special summons and fuses as many monsters as possible to wipe the floor. Many people use a sub-type of this deck, called Fusion Dragons, with B. Skull Dragon, Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon, and Gaia the Dragon Champion. · Strengths: A lot of special summons in the late game can be devastating, especially if they include B. Skull Dragon. If played right, Fusion could beat down a dragon deck or beatdown deck with ease. · Weaknesses: One of the more obvious lacking points in this deck is the fact that you can only have 3 Polymerizations in your deck. Sure, you can use Magician of Faith to get them back, but what if you haven't drawn any Polymerizations at all? Then where are you? Plus, the fusion can be stopped by Horn of Heaven, Magic Jammer, and/or Solemn Judgement. · Popular Cards: The cards in this deck include Polymerization (no, really?), Magician of Faith, B. Skull Dragon, and, once it comes out, Fusion Gate, which allows you to make fusions without Polymerization. · Overall Rating: I give this deck a 3.6. This deck is good, but can be stopped by so many things. 8. Gate Guardian · Basic Idea: This deck's sole intent is to get out Gate Guardian and crush its opponent. · Strengths: Pretty much the only strengths of this deck are the pieces of the Gate Guardian. I happen to use the strongest piece (Sanga of the Thunder) in my burner deck because of its effect. · Weaknesses: Well, there are definitely a lot of these. For one, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO GET GATE GUARDIAN OUT!!!! Think about it! You need 2 tributes to play each of the pieces, then you need to tribute them all for the Guardian. 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 = 9 tributes! Without Ultimate Offering, it takes 10 turns minimum to get out Gate Guardian. Factoring in the amount of monster removal we have in the game, it leaves you with virtually no chance of getting out the Guardian. · Popular Cards: Besides the pieces and the Guardian themselves, Gate Guardian decks tend to use the Cheerful Coffin (discard the pieces of the GG), Monster Reborn (get a piece back without tributing), Magician of Faith (get back Monster Reborn), and Harpie Lady/Harpie Lady Sisters (easy tribute for the pieces.) · Cards to Use: My suggestion is to use pretty much anything against this deck, as you'll beat it up before the Guardian is unleashed. · Overall Rating: I give this deck a 1.1, because it sucks. The only reason for the .1 is because Gate Guardian is the most powerful monster in the game. 9. Mahar Vailo Mania · Basic Idea: All this deck needs to do is get out Mahar Vailo with a bunch of equip cards on it to wipe out the monsters on the field. · Strengths: Although I've never actually seen or heard of this deck being played, I'm sure it will come into the metagame soon. This deck is my favorite kind of beatdown (yes, it is related to the beatdown family.) Axe of Despair on a Mahar Vailo can beat a Blue-Eyes. Pretty good for a 4 star monster. · Weaknesses: As I see it, pretty much the only thing that could take this deck down is a bunch of monster/equip removal. With this and Toon World, I think De-Spell will be seen much more often. · Popular Cards: I think that Mahar Vailo decks might use Malevolent Nuzzler, Axe of Despair, and maybe even Horn of the Unicorn. They'll also use Witch of the Black Forest to search for a Mahar Vailo in their deck · Cards to Use: I think that pretty much the only thing you can use against this deck is a few De-Spells, Mystic Space Typhoons, and monster removal cards. · Overall Rating: I give this deck a 4.5. I think that it will be played often, and if it won't, it should be. 10. Ritual Madness · Basic Idea: Like fusion, this deck takes advantage of Ritual Monsters as special summons, and stalls with 2000 DEF monsters until it can beat its opponent up with ritual monsters. · Strengths: Probably the biggest strength in this deck is Relinquished. It can "absorb" one of your opponent's monsters, and its stats become Relinquished's stats. Also, if Relinquished is killed as a result of battle, the battle damage is also applied to your opponent, making it also a potential monster for burner decks. Unfortunately, Relinquished is the only good ritual monster in current circulation. Just wait till we get Black Luster Soldier and Magician of Black Chaos… · Weaknesses: There are 2 main weaknesses to this deck. Number one: There are no good ritual monsters aside from Relinquished. Number two: You need two cards to play any good monster in the deck. This could definitely create a problem. · Popular Cards: Ritual decks will use Relinquished & Black Illusion Ritual, Trap Hole (just in case any big, fat monsters can get out before Relinquished), Witch of the Black Forest (search for basically anything in the deck), and Seven Tools of the Bandit (to get rid of those Magic Jammers.) · Cards to Use: Use Magic Jammer against this deck. That's it. It'll stop this deck cold. If you don't have one of those, Horn of Heaven works almost as well. · Overall Rating: I give this deck a 2.0. If Relinquished weren't out right now, it wouldn't be a deck at all, and decks that only have one good monster without a separate theme (such as Exodia) usually get hammered. 11. Disruption · Basic Idea: What this deck does is it tries to control the opponent's field and hand until it runs the opponent out of options, then it pours on the assault. · Strengths: This deck can be absolutely brutal when used well. Most of the time the other player is left dumbfounded and unable to do anything while the person with the disruption deck slashes their life points down to 0. Also, this deck ruins Exodia. · Weaknesses: There aren't many weaknesses to this deck. A strong offense combined with a bad hand and/or a few Magic Jammers can stop this deck, but most of the time that won't happen. Overall, this deck's tough to the core. · Popular Cards: Disruption decks usually use Seven Tools of the Bandit (for Magic Jammers), Card Destruction, Trap Hole, Delinquent Duo, etc. · Cards to Use: Magic Jammers work fairly well against this deck. You might also consider using Seven Tools of the Bandit to counter their Seven Tools of the Bandit. · Overall Rating: I give this deck a 4.4. While not the best at running your opponent out of life points, this deck is almost impossible to stop, much like burner. I would be happy if I saw more people using this deck. 12. Defense Stall · Basic Idea: This is probably the weirdest deck type of all. This deck focuses on one thing: running its opponent out of cards. · Strengths: If a good defense is set up, this deck could shut down many of the forms of beatdown, with the possible exception of Mahar Vailo Mania, and even then that's only because of Mahar Vailo + Axe of Despair. At the current moment, this deck could possibly but not probably hold its own. · Weaknesses: The thing about this deck is, it plays right into a burner deck's hands. A lot of defense = less attacking = more time to buy for using burn cards like Ookazi. It would play into an Exodia deck's hands if it didn't use Card Destruction. A strong Zombie Blitz could possibly beat this deck down, only because Stall leaves Zombie Blitz time to set up Pumpking and Castle of Dark Illusions. · Popular Cards: This uses 200 DEF monsters (Giant Soldier of Stone, Mystical Elf…), the new Labyrinth Wall, card Destruction, and possibly some monster removal, particularly Mirror Force. · Cards to Use: I'd say use monster removal and heavy attack monsters, combined with Magic Jammers and Solemn Judgments. Stall is the one deck where you have nothing to lose with Solemn Judgement, because Stall doesn't try to run you out of life points. · Overall Rating: I give this deck a 2.6. It works sometimes, but if you read tournament reports, you'll see that about 99 in every 100 people who use Stall decks in tournaments lose pretty early. Well, those are the 12 main deck types. If you have any questions or rants, email me at Icewalker89@aol.com. Make the title of the email short with the words "Yu-gi-oh" and "DarkMarth" in it, as I get a LOT of junk mail, and I just delete most of the stuff with long titles. Until next time, ciao! -DarkMarth, SSB Melee and Yugioh Extraordinaire