Subject: Strange Archetypes - Team Yuxi

Strange Archetypes - Team Yuxi

Have you ever noticed how everyone plays similar decks? Well, I'm one who loves to play with strange ideas. Everyone in my dueling area knows me, and everyone groans when they play "Team Yuxi." I started out with a burner after PSV came out (all American), and I brought some one who had a Japanese deck (Wave motion cannon, curse of anubis, etc) to 400 life. Since then, I've played clown control/warriors, wind, and machine decks recently. I've won 4 out of the last 5 tournaments I've attended, and here are some of my thoughts on somewhat unusal (well, except for the Control) decks. Oh yeah, this is kinda long, and the last part is just story-telling.

Burner: This is a deck I've played every once in a while, and they have incredible potential. Mine was based on fire princess, messenger of peace, solemn wishes, ceasefire, cure mermaids, and the random GAF as defense. And with the ruling on Gift of the Mystical Elf (life gains are counted separately), a full field (10 monsters) and one fire princess is 5000 damage. Sure, that's not going to happen very often, but a princess dealing 1000-2000 for being on the field is pretty good. Fast decks, especially clown controls, tear through this, but I've seen quite a few good burns. Once I played someone with a really good burn. They played fiber jar.... I think it ended with them at 20000+ lp? Enough said.

Clown Control/Warrior: Ah, my first competitive deck. I have to admit , I got the idea from Pojo, but I made my changes. Dream clowns, a single hayabusa knight, and the beatdown monsters. It surprises everyone when you have a gravity bind, then plop a GAF on the field. After LOD, Marauding Captains were the core of this deck. It eventually ended up as a warrior deck, and has worked incredibly well.

Wind: I don't see why people say this element is hard to play. My first tournament with this deck was a win. 3 Harpie's Brothers, 3 bladefly, 2 Rising Air Currents, troop dragons, 2 Garuda the Wind Spirit, and Winged Sage Falcos. I first tried this when I saw someone else playing it, and it does wonders. GAF, Injection Fairy Lily, and a lot of the "beatdown" monsters are earth elements. One Rising Air current and a Bladefly can protect the field pretty well. That's a Bladefly at 1600 atk, and reduces all earth monsters' attacks by 400. You need a 2000 Attack monster to kill a bladefly without equip cards. Harpie's Brother is at 2800. And there's lots of fun to be had. My personal favorite is to have a Rising Air Current on the field, and play a Winged Sage Falcos. If your opponent has a monster in attack mode (which is likely) that you can kill, kill it. Falcos's effect sends whatever face-up attack mode monster to the top of their deck. They'll keep on drawing the same card. People didn't like me much when I bounced their 1800 attackers over and over. The other fun thing to do is this: YOu know how people sometimes deck out when trying for a Yata lock? Well, Rising Air Current makes Yata 700 atk. So, so funny.

Machine: Had a great idea going into this: 3 Limiter Removal, 3 Gradius, 3 Options, 2 Barrel Dragon, Jinzo. Sounded awesome, but it was somewhat disappointing. I could deal out huge damage, sure, but more often than not I ended up taking out 7000, and without anything on the field. I've won some duels with this, but I don't think I'd stand a chance in my metagame. The reason? Well, simply put, Yata Garasu. It's not a bad deck type (had tons of fun killing my friend's "fast" Gravekeeper deck over and over), but I usually like some defense. Try it out, but I warn you: If you want an even breakdown of monsters and magic/traps, DO NOT count gradius's option as a monster. All I'm saying.

I've seen my share of beatdowns, but I don't think they're the best deck type anymore. None of them are exactly the same--I actually saw a realy interesting dragon deck, and am in the process of building my own--and some are just downright great decks. Maybe it's the way that I play, but I'd rather have fun messing with my opponent's head than trying to push damage through. In all my decks (except the machine deck), I run Messenger of Peace. Why? Simply because having just 1 MoP sometimes makes a great defense. I also run Kuriboh because, it might not last too long, but it's great watching people gawk when a 700 0 Valkyrion deals no damage. I'm not a rich kid, and I'm not on a terrible budget. Whenever a set comes out, I buy a box ($80), and I don't buy any more cards... the tournaments give me enough of those. The only single I ever bought was a Harpie's Feather Duster. I have a handful of Secret Rares (nothing from MRD, MRL, no Gemini, RoD, or Lava Golem), but by no means everything. What I'm trying to say is, you can make a good deck without all the expensive cards. If your cards aren't all shiny, what about putting in a Chain Energy? Most good decks I've seen need at least 3-5 cards to set up. Make them pay for it. Even playing a Heavy Storm/Harpie's Feather Duster/MST makes them lose life. Special Summon? Take 500. Set a trap? 500 damage. Or maybe it's just how I play the game. Just like in Magic (favorite deck is an oldschool--as in snow covered land and 3rd/4th edition-- blue counterspell and tim deck), I like playing with my opponents. I'd rather use strategy than the best cards to beat my opponents. And most of all, I have a great time playing YGO. I joke, laugh like a maniac when I see a fun combo, and take more pleasure than anyone I know finishing someone off with Kuriboh in attack mode. And no one that I remember has ever left a duel with me cursing. Why? Because I take time to explain what my cards do, I help people when they want, never offer tremenously unfair trades, and I give out gifts. This one kid came to a tournament once, and it was his birthday. He had gotten further than he ever had, and then he played me. He was cocky in his first two sets, but he never once said anything mean to me. Sure, I killed him horribly (heavy storm + change of heart + marauding captain
+ injection fairy lily + united we stand = funny), but afterwards I
gave him my spare Premature BUrial, an Ultra Rare. He left happy, and his dad came up and thanked me for giving him the card. Doesn't it make you feel all good inside when you kill someone in a turn, AND feel good about yourself because you just did something nice? Still don't get it? This is just a game. We were all newbies once, and there's no reason to bash anyone's deck. I remember buying super rares from my friends at $1 apiece, or $5 for a handful of fairly good cards. Now, whenever I get packs, if it's a common that I have 3 of, I just take the rest out and give them to whoever heads the tournament. And, instead of ranting at decks, I prefer playing them and testing them myself. The strategies of decks is slightly different in every deck, and everyone thinks differently. Personally, I am impressed with anyone who can build a unique deck. The latest one I've seen was an incredible fire deck. I've also recently seen a pair of pretty good be atdowns. One was fairly regular, I suppose, with spear dragons, Airknight Parshath, and the likes, but what surprised me was Robbin' Goblin and Reckless Greed. Almost no one runs a Robbin' Goblin anymore (I admit, mine are in my side deck), and I've seen just that one person play Reckless Greed outside an Exodia deck. The other beatdown had Offering to the Doomed! Great decks require thought, and no two brains think alike. If you want a good duel, and you're around Knoxville, Maryville, anywhere around East Tennessee really, you can us ually find me at Dragon's Lair in Maryville. There are some really good duelists there, and I'm there as many Sundays as I can. If you've read this far, then I must have written a decent first tip. For all of you, THE END! P.S. If you want me to evaluate any ideas you might have, my email is <mailto:Sammael@hotmail.com>Sammael@hotmail.com. Oh yeah, and Angie, if
you're reading this,
visit us at Dragon's Lair sometime Miss Season 3 Champ. And, uh, don't bring your best deck? =D ~Team Yuxi