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GeneralZorpa on Yugioh
Code of Bushido
January 10, 2008

Respect and Honor
 
There is nothing I like to play more than a sword wielding warrior of honor on the path to put demons and bad guys alike out of their misery. Samurai were my favorite cards to play in Magic the Gathering, but after Kamigawa was rotated out, my friends wouldn't let me play them any more. Spoilsports. Imagine my absolute delight when they arrived in Yu-Gi-Oh! in the form of the Six Samurai. now that name is a little deceiving because there are actually 9 Samurai and two samurai centric support monsters. However I recently acquired copies of the Samurai and put them into a deck. Boy was it all or nothing. I tabled the cards, at least until Gladiator's Assault, when I had them dust off their armor. Surprisingly, there were fairly few changes from the original Reverse Toolbox build that was the highlight of the Samurai's power. A judge at the Sneak Peak gave me this idea after he saw me snag 3 copies of Enishi. Creature Swap is still a VERY powerful card, and the Samurai have their own search card, since they are all different attributes the standard recruiters are pointless, even though it only allows you to search for a level 3 or lower Samurai, it will often turn the tide in your favor.
 
Never Give Up, Never Surrender
 
Monsters-18
 
2x Great Shogun Shien
3x Grandmaster of the Six Samurai
1x Enishi, Shien's Councilor
 
3x The Six Samurai-Zanji
3x The Six Samurai-Yaichi
2x The Six Samurai-Irou
2x The Spirit of the Six Samurai
1x Shien's Footsoldier
1x Exiled Force
 
Spells-10
 
2x Reinforcements of the Army
2x Creature Swap
1x Brain Control
1x Heavy Storm
1x Premature Burial
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Cunning of the Six Samurai
1x The Warrior Returning Alive
 
Traps-12
 
3x Solemn Judgment
3x Dark Bribe
3x Forced Back
1x Mirror Force
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Torrential Tribute
 
The Way of the Warrior

The deck itself is pretty standard. Many Six Samurai monsters with a full complement of support monsters and spells as well as the requisite traps to counter threats to your sword wielders. What may seem like an odd addition is the use of The Spirit of the Six Samurai, which did not get rave reviews from my fellow CoTD reviewers. The reason that he is in here is because the deck does not have a good answer to the ATK points of Monarch monsters. An equipped Grandmaster has 2600 ATK, and Zanji gets 2300. This makes them rather large as well as giving them the protection of destruction in battle. In addition to the preceeding benefits, whenever the Eqiupped monsters destroys a monster in battle, you get to draw a card. This is great for the Samurai as they have no reliable way to get to draw cards other than the conventional ways, so they lose steam rather quickly. With the Spirit providing draw power, however, you can press the Attack with your Samurai.

Shien's Footsoldier is a bit of a gamble. You can get a massive play with Creature Swap or just use him to get Samurai to the field. In further testing he has not been a star player and may be replaced for a more reliable recruiter monster. However, Creature Swap is a beast in this deck. Swapping a Spirit or other small warrior is a good way to swing things in your favor, as a summoned Monarch will make short work of your brave warriors if he is not convinced of the error of his ways so that he can join your forces.

Courage Alone Cannot Save You!
 
Even the mighty Samurai can fall pretty easily, especially if you get overconfident and unload your Samurai too early. However, the multitude of counter trap cards in the deck allow you to attack pretty much without fear. Forced Back stops normal summons, especially Monarchs and Light and Darkness Dragon and Dark Bribe stops spell and trap cards. Then you have Solemn Judgment to deal with the gaps in your protective field. There are a few cards out there that really mess with Samurai, and here are a few. Phoenix Wing Wind Blast slows you down and is chainable, so it ends up being in their favor if you use Yaichi's effect or other s/t removal. Raiza the Storm Monarch is Big and does the same thing as the Wind Blast. Light and Darkness Dragon of course negates all those cool tricks and effects that you can play. The Nine counter traps of this deck stop them all, but make sure you have protection face down before unloading your brave warriors on your opponent.
 
The good thing about this deck is that it is faster than most of the decks out there. Many of it's pieces are searchable, and you only need to wait until you get Shien and Grandmaster to go off, and that is pretty easy to do.
 
Well that is it from me, don't forget I have a card contest going! See my Section for details. Contact me at raptor1k@hotmail.com for questions and the like.
 
Thanks for reading