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Rj's Deck Garage
Deck Analysis #1: Rhymus Lizos 2005 National Tournament Deck

By: RJ
February 6, 2006

 
Hi guys whats up? I promised you guys a new set of articles, the concept was Deck Analysis, and today I'm here to deliver!

I wanted to start off with something that was original, like, you wouldn't have guessed that I would review it. So I chose the deck that Rhymus Lizo used for the 2005 National Tournament.

Rhymus Lizo is one cool dude. I'm serious. This guy is easily one of the coolest people I've met through Yu-Gi-Oh!, and it was a pleasure talking to him and playing him at Nationals. The main reason I wanted to review his deck for that tournament was because of how...well, take a look at the list.

Rhymus Lizo's 2005 National Tournament.dek

Monsters: 16

1 Jinzo
1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
1 Morphing Jar
1 Sinister Serpent
1 Asura Priest
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
1 Airknight Parshath
1 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
1 D. D. Assailant
1 D. D. Warrior Lady
1 Sangan
1 Cannon Soldier
1 Enraged Battle Ox
2 Magician of Faith

Spells: 18

1 Smashing Ground
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Giant Trunade
1 Premature Burial
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Brain Control
1 Pot of Greed
1 Delinquent Duo
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Snatch Steal
1 Graceful Charity
2 Book of Moon
2 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Scapegoat

Traps: 6

1 Ring of Destruction
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Ceasefire
1 Mirror Force

Side Deck:

1 Metamorphosis
1 D. D. Assailant
1 Cyber Jar
1 Spell Cancellor
1 Mobius the Frost Monarch
1 Mystic Swordsman LV2
1 Tsukuyomi
1 Dust Tornado
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Waboku
1 Mind Crush
1 Chain Disappearance
2 Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell
1 D. D. Survivor
 
Pretty nice deck, right? It looks really nice on paper, and as the results show, it works nicely :p.

The deck is good for a number of reasons, it is pretty much a CC fine tuned with some very innovative tech, that is trademark Rhymus Lizo. Cards like Cannon Soldier, Giant Trunade, and Enraged Battle Ox made this deck list and all three are cards that are not really the "Norm" for the meta that this deck played in.

I witnessed firsthand how good these cards worked with Rhymus, hes pretty good with the giant trunade ;[.

Looking at the monsters, I will address each one, one at a time.

Monsters: 16

Jinzo

Jinzo was a popular choice last format, and in the national tournament, all of the Top 8 participants had one Jinzo in their main deck. There is not much else to say on Jinzo, if you want to learn more on this card, visit Pojo.coms Card Of The Day page, use your Ctrl + F to find "Jinzo".

Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning

Ahh. BLSEOTB*. The "omfg most broken card in the format please ban it lozl" of last format. Its inclusion is pretty much a no brainer, as Rhymus has 5 dark monsters, and 5 light monsters in this deck, it fits right in without really being forced in. You can also find a detailed review of this card on pojo.coms CoTD page.

Morphing Jar

Morphing jar was ALSO a popular card in all the top 8 decks at this tournament, with yet again, all 8 top 8 players having one in their main deck. It was one of the best cards to use to fight back against the dreaded "God Hand" of that format, and if pulled off right can win you the game just by sheer card advantage. It also helps dump darks and lights for BLS, the ultimate pwnmachine.

Sinister Serpent

Sinister Serpent. The returning menace! Considered by many top players to be the best card ever printed, it was also a "staple" of all the top 8 decks in this tournament, and pretty much ANY competitive deck.

Asura Priest

Asura Priest is a very neat card. Definitely a comeback card if played right, and there are too many combos with this card to count. Its a spirit with an effect that lets it either attack all monsters on your opponents side of the field, or you can just attack with it normally. Its light attribute also helps bring out BLS.

Breaker the Magical Warrior

Breaker is, yet again, a staple. Or damn near close. If any deck has a win condition that involves depleting your opponents life to zero through battle, Breaker needs to be in your deck, now*. Dark attribute = BLS food like lol.

Tribe-Infecting Virus

Tribe! I love tribe. They shouldn't have banned it, its balanced in this format without sinister, and the night assailant combo doesn't happen enough to warrant the banning of this card, depending on what the next list brings, get this card back.

Anyways, Tribe is removal. Straight up. Whether your dropping a tribute for later on recursion, or a sinister for a free cards worth of advantage, this card is amazing. That is of course not considering that this card has a decent 1600 attack, which in that format allowed it to take down Tsukuyomi, Faceup flip monsters such as Morphing Jar, and Magician Of Faith. And even ram into a used breaker, or D.D. Warrior Lady. This card is great, and its inclusion is again, a no brainer.

Airknight Parshath

5 stars. 1900 attack. 1400 defense. Trample. Draw power. Light. Fairy? All of those are great, except maybe the last one, unless your Evan Vargas :p. One of the all stars of the format, this card introduced advanced concepts of Card Advantage upon its release, and has just been one of those cards that just shape the game.

Its so good, they made a deck around it. But that's for another article, sorry f00b :p.

Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer

One kycoo in this deck as a sort of "Tech" seems very nice. This card rofflestomps almost anything that gets in its way under 5 stars, and removes precious Chaos food and Sinister Serpents, making that Tribe the opponent used last turn into -1 (The opponent loses their tribe in battle against this, their sinister is removed and doesn't come back, and all you lost was a monster from when they used tribes effect last turn.). I didn't run this card in most of my decks last format, but that doesn't take anything away from kycoo, its a damn good card and it works.

D. D. Assailant

D.D. Assailant is a great card, more popular in our current format then in the format this deck was from, though. Rhymus only ran one Smashing Ground in this deck, so I suppose he turned to monster based monster removal, like D.D. Assailant. A very solid card.

D. D. Warrior Lady

Chaos food. Nice attack. Better defense. Optional Removal. Has a pretty sexy picture (If you're into that kind of thing, which I'm not.). DDWL has it all, thus it was included in Rhymus' deck :p.

Seriously though, this card is great, and if its stats of Light/Warrior/1500atk1600def were any better, this card would be banned. Definitely a top notch card that is included in almost every competitive deck in the last three formats, including this one.

Sangan

SANGAN. I love sangan, its such a cool card. Its one of those guys who don't fear the back row, and 1000 attack isn't terrible for a three star with such an amazing effect. 1337/10.

Cannon Soldier

FINALLY. Something that isn't ran in most decks! I live for this, folks.

Dark/1400atk1300def is not bad at all, its used for its hot effect though. Tributing one monster (Or more, whatever you want) on your side of the field to inflict 500 damage to your opponent.

If you look at the big picture, this card (Like Rhymus' playstyle) is all about mind games. When you Snatch/Brain Control your opponents Tribe, Used breaker or whatever, they have to ask themselves.

"Can I afford to take this attack? Of course hes going to launch afterwards so that's alot of damage. CAN I SURVIVE?!!?".

Haha :p. This card is...so amazing with Snatch or Brain Control though, Either way you're doing good. You summon this, snatch, attack. Either you force a 2-1 and they saku it, or you break through for a bit of damage, and then launch the monster in main phase two, turning your Snatch into a 1-1 monster removal card, ala smashing ground, and taking away a lot more damage.

Rhymus said that his favorite card was cannon soldier, but he clearly uses it for more reasons then that. This card is hot. Like, Eva Longoria hot.

Enraged Battle Ox

EBO is a neat card, and Rhymus uses just one as tech in this deck. Its got the trample thing going on, and has a nice 1700 attack.

EBO is definitely a nice call, considering the meta.

2 Magician of Faith

Ah, the last of the monsters. Magician Of Faith was one of the best choices in a format that had cards like Pot of Greed, Delinquent Duo, and Graceful Charity. Using one of these pieces of the trinity twice in a two turn period can spell game, if the opponent doesn't have an answer to it.

Overall, the monster selection fits Rhymus well, and running just 16 is a perfect number for the format. It has just enough Attack, and just enough defense. Lets move on to the magics.

Spells: 18

Smashing Ground

Smashing ground is one of the best monster removal choices we have today, and it wasn't too shabby in the format this deck played in, either :p.

One of the best removal choices, blah blah blah. Nothing new.

Lightning Vortex

Smashing grounds big brother. Definitely a good choice in this format, having Sinister Serpent, Night Assailants, and chaos being so good, you would want to get rid of Chaos Food too.

Giant Trunade

Trunade is a very nice choice for Rhymus' playstyle. Combos include Morphing jar, and you can always pull a Rhymus Lizo.

What IS a Rhymus Lizo you say? Its where you save your resources and plan one badass OTK on your opponent.

Sigh, he thought he had a chance ;[. OTK'd!

Premature Burial

Burial. Staple. Run it.

Swords of Revealing Light

Again, this deck has alot of options for Offense, and Defense, this is perfect here. Rhymus is a good deckbuilder, obviously.

Brain Control

Brain control practically SCREAMS to be in this deck, with options like Cannon soldier, and the OTK possibilities in BLS, Asura, Trunade, and again, Cannon Soldier, this card is needed.

Of course there is also that 'It can win the game for you' thing, so yeah, its nice in here.

Pot of Greed

...Run it.

Delinquent Duo

...Run it.

Heavy Storm

OoOoooo.

Giant Trunades big brother? Possibly. Giant Trunade can be better at times, but this card is a staple in offensive decks and needs to be included here.

Mystical Space Typhoon

RUN IT. Very good card.

Snatch Steal

Read above.

Graceful Charity

LOL RUN IT.

One of the coolest cards in a deck like this, besides the obvious reasons, this lets you draw more, while discarding. Letting you not only bring out BLS, but also use recursion like Premature and Call.

2 Book of Moon

Definitely needed, with the whole crazy TER thing going on, remember?

Its also cool with Asura, turn that one big monster they have facedown, and promptly Raigeki their field with Asura. Combo possibilities are endless with this card.

2 Nobleman of Crossout

Facedown Removal is definitely needed in any format where defense is used(Every format ;x), and NoC gets the job done like no other. OTK'd!

2 Scapegoat

Goats! So good. 2 is the perfect number for this deck, you want to run multiples because of a few reasons, Cannon soldier, and..well, its goats! Its one of the most versatile cards in the game! Gogo gadget defense!

Whew! That took a bit to type up! Onto the trapzorz.

Traps: 6

Ring of Destruction

Ring is here for a good reason, the OTK potential, blow up a fattie after a huge attack to finish the opponent off, fizzle things like Snatch and Smashing ground, and take out TER before it rapes your field. A++

Call of the Haunted

oOo

Recursion is good, combos with Jinzo are a plus, too. OTK'd!

Bottomless Trap Hole

Saku is good, but BTH is a bit better in some aspects, definitely in a format that gets by on people ripping BLS, this helps even things out. This + Kycoo = Hard for your opponent to get BLS out, if they dont play right. Good stuff.

Torrential Tribute

Torrential is a good card, definitely. Is the field clogged? Flip a MoF, Put its effect on the chain, and activate torrential. 1-x (x = however many monsters they had, and the 1 depends on if you ONLY had MoF, of course.), its a great card, and is sorta a comeback card, too.

Ceasefire

Ceasefire in this deck is good. REALLY GOOD. It also gives off that vibe, the vibe that tells you "Rhymus Lizo likes taking you down to zero in one turn". ;p. Very solid card, adds to the burn the deck already has.

Mirror Force

Mirror force is amazing. Easily one of my favorite card, and not because its "Broken". Actually, its only broken if they play stupid, like rushing you with 2/3 monsters without a good read.

Mirror force almost always 1-1's against good players, and that's a fact. Or 2-1 if they thought they had a good read, rofl.

The deck is great, and its easily one of my favorites because it has a ton of win conditions, with the slow burn with Trample and Cannon soldier, and this deck has so many OTK possibilties, its not even sane.

Moving on to the last part of the deck, the Side Deck.

Side Deck: 15

1 Metamorphosis

This is probably a given, if it isnt in the main its most likely in the side. A great card that personally, I would have mained. But I'm not top 8'ing nats so ;p.

1 D. D. Assailant

With only one in the main, another in the side works great if the player feels that he needs more removal. Great choice.

1 Cyber Jar

Wow -_-. Rhymus with that decklist up there, and a cyber jar scares the crap out of me. Definitely a must in the side, flipping Cyber jar with this deck is insane, with all the OTK'ing this deck can do. If you did get a successful Cyber flip with this deck, I'd bet 9 out of 10 times, You'd win the game.

1 Spell Cancellor

Spell cancellor's a nice choice for a lot of reasons, definitely a nice side deck choice.

1 Mobius the Frost Monarch

Mobius is like, a side deck staple. It not only works for the whole burn matchup, but just if you feel like your opponent is siding into the whole MoP thing which was VERY common at nats, side this in. Good choice.

1 Mystic Swordsman LV2

Definitely a wise choice, Mystic Swordsman LV2 is great against Burn, and some OTK matchups.

1 Tsukuyomi

Tsukuyomi is a great card for that format, and its no wonder its here in the side. A great choice.

1 Dust Tornado

</3 burn. This does even more, too.

1 Bottomless Trap Hole

More tech against CC!

1 Waboku

Waboku is an old favorite, very good card. I wonder if he used it like Jerry Wang...mMm.

1 Mind Crush

Again, nice tech against ben Kei and more.

1 Chain Disappearance

I LOVE THIS CARD. Its so friggin cool. Removes all copies! I side decked two ;p.

2 Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell

Cursed seal is great against Ben Kei. One of the best choices, Sealing that Giant Trunade is great. Trust me ;p.

This also works for other stuff, too ;/.

1 D. D. Survivor

D.D. Survivor is a great choice and techs the hardcore DD decks like whoa, nice choice here.

The side deck is pretty straight forward.

Overall, the deck is very good, and it looks great.

You can easily see how Rhymus did so well with it, it clearly suits his playstyle, right down to the side deck. The deck seems perfect almost, with just the right Offense and Defense, a good amount of tech, but not too much, just enough. With such a good deck, and a great player behind it, again, no wonder he did so good at this tournament.

Well guys, I have to go now, this article took a bit longer to write then I expected, and its time for bed.

I hope you enjoyed it, send all comments on these articles to the same email, RjAkaPeanut4u@Gmail.com. The subject should be the same as the title for these articles, Deck Analysis.

Keep the Decks, Comments, and flames coming!

-RJ
 



 


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