February 2007

Hello to all Pojoers big and small.
 
I have returned with my second article. This one is hopefully a little less dry than the last one. This is a basic deck analysis of the top few decks that have graced the Yu-Gi-Oh! scene recently.
 
Note: these decks are all seen to have potential by me and all interpretations and such are my opinions. If you disagree, email me and I will gladly talk you through my reasoning.
 
1. Chimeratech OTK
 
This deck was the dark horse at SJC Orlando. Especially Paul Lynn's winning Rusty Bucket of Bolts deck. It uses the milling and drawing capabilities of spell and trap cards (Morphing Jar, Graceful Charity, Card Destruction) to land huge numbers of machines in the graveyard for a massive Overload Fusion into Chimeratech Overdragon. The deck is powerful and fast, but is very vulnerable to spell and trap cards, hence the use of Giant Trunade as well as Heavy Storm. However, the Chimera user will usually have to search through his/her deck in order to find all the combo pieces, as unlike Cyber Stein it requires specific cards in order to reach maximum effectiveness. I have only played the Rampage variant, so I have no idea how the SJC Orlando's champion will perform.
Key Cards
Overload Fusion, Future Fusion, Giant Trunade, Chimeratech Overdragon, Giant Trunade
Weaknesses
The user usually has to set up a bit in order to get the combo off, this gives you a chance to remove their small defenses with spell and trap removal and then a quick beatdown. System Down works very well here.
 
 
2. Monarchs
The Champion of this format, monarchs have changed since I started using them last format. They are still a dominant force, but the control type decks are starting to be a liability. Gadgets, Chimera and Chain Burn all fair pretty well against this deck now. Of course the 4 monarchs (plus one more in Force of Breaker) are insanely powerful. The ability to pay for a cards summon is generally what seperates cards from being good and excellent. The fact that they must be tributed is a small liability, as searchers, treeborn, and a host of spells make them easy to summon. My personal favorite is Nimble Momonga, but Apprentice Magician, Hydrogeddon, and Gravekeeper's Spy all are fairly popular as tribute fodder as they bring another copy of themselves to the field or ar able to search for other useful monsters.
Key Cards
Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, Mobius the Frost Monarch, Treeborn Frog, Soul Exchange, Brain Control
Weaknesses
Breaking through their defenses early puts them at a disadvantage. Controlling hand size is important (Don Zaloog, Spirit Reaper, Confiscation) and Deck Devastation Virus brings the deck to it's knees. 
 
 
3. Gadgets
So many people have done things on the gadgets that I feel like I'm beating a dead horse. They generate advantage from being summoned, like monarchs, but fetch more monsters from the deck instead of evening the playing field. The gadget deck uses spell and trap cards to control the field while the little guys poke away at the opponent's lifepoints. They also use SNipe Hunter and Chiron the mage to discard useless spells and gadgets to clear a road for eventual victory.They are a very solid type of deck and are very consistent with the way that they operate. This makes them a very difficult deck to beat.
Key Cards
Red Gadget, Yellow Gadget, Green Gadget, Sakuretsu Armor, Smashing Ground, Snipe Hunter, Widespread Ruin
Weaknesses
They are prone to bad hands with multiple gadgets making an appearance. They rely heavily on spell and trap removal, so Horus, Silent Swordsman and Jinzo make gadgets cry. I have found an effective counter to be System Down.
 
 
4. Zombie/Zombie Phoenix
This is an extremely powerful deck using some of my favorite monsters. Vampire Lord makes his return as we discover the uses of Rush Recklessly and the upcoming Shrink. His effect is very powerful, but make sure to discard trap cards. The opponent will usually not be running Mask of Darkness, and of course discarding monsters is just plain stupid, as the graveyard is no longer a discard pile, it is a resource, just like the hand. The Phoenix comes in because of it's recursion effect, which is admittedly very zombie like. Both of these cards are reborn very easily through spell and trap cards as well as their own effects, making them a force to be reckoned with while on the field.
Key Cards
Vampire Lord, Sacred Phoenix of Nepthys, Hand of Nepthys, Pyramid Turtle, Treeborn Frog
Weaknesses
DD monsters wreak havoc on this deck. They remove from play the recursion monsters, causing them to be useless. High power monsters also blast this deck as monarchs and cyber dragon love taking Vampire Lord and Sacred Phoenix off of the field.
 
5. Dark World
This is a very cool decktype. Leave it to UDE/Konami to create a generally bad thing into a good thing. Dark World Monsters have their effects activated when they are sent from the hand to the graveyard. Usually special summoning and/or field control. This allows for massive swarming with Morphing Jar and Card Destruction. It is very hard to deal with 3 2300 ATK monsters all at once. Note: They will NOT trigger as a result of a cost. (rule of thumb, discarding before the effect comes is a cost, afterward is an effect). Along with the swarming ability, they are a bunch of over 2000 ATK dark monsters that allow the player to use Deck Devastation Virus. The Dark World theme will get an enourmous boost from teh upcoming Strike of Neos set, so watch out for this decktype to become more dominant in the next format.
Key Cards
Silvaa, Warlord of Dark World, Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, Card Desreuction, Morphing Jar, Dark World Lightning
 
 
Well there you are, the top 5 decks of the format. There are a few decks that earn an honorable mention of course. Water Control, Fiend, Stall Burn, Horus, Armed Dragon and Dinosaurs all can be a pain to work against and are fairly powerful in their own respects.
 
Until next time,
GeneralZorpa
 
Email me at raptor1k@hotmail.com if you want to talk strategy, tell me how stupid I am, or even complain.