Attack from the Deep Review – Yu-Gi-Oh! Speed Dueling Expanded
Crunch$G
Feeling a little fishy? Hello Pojo Readers, Crunch$G back here with the next instalment of the Speed Dueling Expanded series as we discuss the next release for the format. This time around we focus on Mako, Kaiba, and Joey with the Attack from the Deep set. The main cards in here are for Mako’s water strategy, as he got three new Skills while Kaiba and Joey get one new Skill a piece. This set can help you build an Umi based strategy while also offering a few good generic cards, cards to boost other decks, and some counters to other deck strategies. Today I will see how good these cards can do in a Speed Dueling environment, similar to last time with Arena of Lost Souls, and see if this set is worth getting anything from, so let’s get started.
The World’s Greatest Fisherman
Mako’s first skill helps you trade your WATER monsters in order to get back different WATER monsters, as when you flip this card up to activate the Skill, and once per turn you pay 500 LP and discard a WATER monster to add from the graveyard to your hand a WATER monster with a different name and with a level no more than double of the discarded monster’s level, then you flip this Skill back over to use later on. So basically you can trade a Level 1 for up to a Level 2, a Level 2 for up to a Level 4, and so on. This is a decent balance so you can’t get back a bigger boss monster for one of your smaller WATER monsters. The skill is solid for some WATER decks, and it being a once per turn instead of once per duel makes it more playable, so having a recovery option for WATER decks is nice with the proper balance, I can see a few decks making use of this some day.
Mythic Depths
The next new Skill is another Field Spell related one. Mythic Depths is a Skill that at the start of the duel goes to the Field Spell Zone and is activated as a Field Spell. It boosts all Fish, Sea Serpent, Aqua, and Thunder monsters by 200 ATK and DEF while lowering all Pyro and Machines by 200 ATK and DEF, but this Skill also has the added benefit of being treated as Umi while on the field. The boost is something you can never complain about, but being treated as Umi has great future potential when we get more support for the Umi strategy, especially if Speed Dueling gets Sea Stealth Attack early on. Having Umi at the beginning of the duel will be great for decks that revolve around the card so you don’t have to draw it and this will only get better over time.
Catch of the Day
Mako’s last Skill revolves directly around The Legendary Fisherman. Catch of the Day is a Skill that if you control The Legendary Fisherman, then you can activate Umi directly from the deck. This part of the Skill is a once per duel and isn’t as good as Mythic Depths for your Umi needs considering we don’t have A Legendary Ocean in this format yet, meaning you have to Tribute Summon your Legendary Fisherman. The other effect of this Skill is a once per turn where if your Legendary Fisherman destroys a monster by battle or deals damage to the opponent, you can Special Summon any Level 4 or lower WATER monster from your deck in Defense Position. This is a nice benefit to playing The Legendary Fisherman as it can thin your deck and give you field presence at the same time, plus getting damage or destruction with The Legendary Fisherman is far from a hard thing to do. It’s a neat Skill for if you want to experiment with The Legendary Fisherman specifically, otherwise you’ll probably stick to Mythic Depths.
It’s My Lucky Day!
Joey’s solo Skill in this set is It’s My Lucky Day! This Skill lets you pay 1000 LP when you activate the effect of a card that would either flip a coin or roll a dice and instead of doing that, you can choose the result of one of the coin/dice instead, with this being a once per duel effect. It’s nice to be able to control what your coin-flip or die-rolling cards land on, makes these gambling strategies more viable. The best card I can think of right now for this Skill is Time Wizard to make it a guaranteed field wipe instead of a 50/50 chance. This Skill will also get better as we get more cards based on dice and coins into this format, but this is great to have early into the life cycle of this format.
Viral Infection
Kaiba’s lone Skill, and the last one in the set, is a play on the Virus cards that Kaiba played in the show. Viral Infection once per turn lets you discard any number of cards in your hand and then makes you declare Monster, Spell, or Trap to make your opponent send cards from the deck to the graveyard of the declared card type equal to the number of cards you discarded. An interesting card that can make deck out decks in this format viable in the future. The only thing missing in this format are cards that help deck the opponent out. There’s a card in here that would synergize well with this Skill, and seeing as this is a once per turn, the synergy is very good to have. Viral Infection seems like a Skill that begs for future abuse.
The Commons
Commons in Attack from the Deep: Mystical Elf, Magical Undertaker, Arcane Barrier, Dweller in the Depths, Axe Raider, Fusion Recovery, Great Phantom Thief, Djinn Disserere of Rituals, Fulfillment of the Contract, Amazoness Trainee, Robbin’ Zombie, Goblin Zombie, Sword of Dark Destruction, Pyramid of Wonders, Great White, High Tide Gyojin, The Legendary Fisherman, Lost Blue Breaker, Fishborg Planter, Imairuka, Slushy, Power of Kaishin, Umi, Big Wave Small Wave, Water Hazard, Moray of Greed, Warrior Dai Grepher, Sonic Duck, Sinister Serpent, Theban Nightmare, Infernity Beast, Warrior Elimination, Mask of the Accursed, and Ready for Intercepting.
Once again, we got vanillas for pack filler, but some of these honestly feel like decent bodies, especially with those Field Spell Skills that can boost their stats up. Magical Undertaker is a good revival option for Spellcaster decks, though easily power crept due to the slow nature of being a FLIP monster. Arcane Barrier is unreliable draw power for Spellcaster decks. Dweller in the Depths could be cute to build a deck around making this card have decent stats, as there are some good Continuous cards you can have, though not too reliable of a strategy. Fusion Recovery can be great for future Fusion based decks. Great Phantom Thief is not that good discard power unless you know what your opponent has. Djinn Disserere of Rituals and Fulfillment of the Contract can find a great home in a Relinquished based deck. Amazoness Trainee is another good body for the Amazoness deck to have. Robbin’ Zombie helps with deck out, though there will likely be better ways to do it. Goblin Zombie can deck out as well, but is amazing Zombie support for later down the line. Sword of Dark Destruction is a card that will be better early on in this format for DARK monsters, then will later never be seen again. Pyramid of Wonders is decent for Zombies. The Legendary Fisherman is fun to build a deck around, so I’m shocked it’s a common considering it’s Mako’s ace. Lost Blue Breaker is going to be good backrow removal in WATER decks. Fishborg Planter is good to keep reviving, especially if this format gets Citadel Whale. Imairuka is unreliable draw power for WATER decks, but better than Arcane Barrier is for Spellcasters. Slushy is great for reviving your bigger WATER monsters. Power of Kaishin is for Aquas as Sword of Dark Destruction is for DARKs, good early on, but will be forgotten about quickly. Umi is here just to have it until we get the Umi replacements. Big Wave Small Wave can get big WATER monsters out of your hand and on the field with ease. Water Hazard is solid when you don’t have field presence already. Moray of Greed is great draw power for WATER decks to have. Sinister Serpent goes amazingly well with Viral Infection, despite being the errata the TCG/OCG got. Theban Nightmare is unreliable, same goes for Infernity Beast. Warrior Elimination is great if Speed Dueling has matches that allow side decking or if there is a Warrior heavy meta. Mask of the Accursed is a great stall card. Finally, Ready for Intercepting is a solid counter to Warriors and Spellcasters, or can help you reuse FLIP effects.
The Super Rares
Super Rares in Attack from the Deep: Mythic Depths, Catch of the Day, It’s My Lucky Day!, Apprentice Magician, Zombina, Yomi Ship, Ryu Senshi, and Dust Tornado
I already went over the first three cards as they are Skills in this set. Apprentice Magician offers great floating into other copies of it as well as into some of the smaller FLIP effect Spellcasters the format has, which aren’t many, but will likely improve. Zombina is decent as it can swap itself for another Level 4 or lower monster once your opponent gets rid of it. Yomi Ship makes for great removal and will make attacking any set monster dangerous, as you’ll never know if it’ll be a Yomi Ship that can get revenge on whatever killed it. Ryu Senshi is decent for negating Normal Traps and has solid Spell protection, it’s just relying on getting Warrior Dai Grepher and Spirit Ryu isn’t that reliable as neither of those two synergize well together in a deck. Dust Tornado might be the best Super Rare as having Spell/Trap removal this early in the format’s life is amazing, despite being a Trap, plus the benefit of setting a Spell/Trap after it resolves might come up rarely.
The Ultra Rares
Ultra Rares in Attack from the Deep: The World’s Greatest Fisherman, Viral Infection, Magician of Faith, Blade Knight, Gilford the Lightning, Sonic Bird, Levia-Dragon – Daedalus, and The Forceful Checkpoint
As with the Super Rares, there’s no need to discuss the Ultra Rare Skills once again. Magician of Faith is a nice FLIP monster to get back any Spell you might need, and it’s nice they added it early in Speed Dueling’s life compared to how too late it came to Duel Links. Blade Knight is a nice piece for a handless based deck, and it’s effect to counter FLIP monsters might be nice when those are meta relevant and/or there’s Side Decking in this format for matches. Gilford the Lightning won’t resolve it’s 3 Tribute effect that often unless there’s a Skill that’ll put Tokens or other monsters on the field to meet the requirement of 3 Tributes. Sonic Bird is the last card needed to help make Relinquished decks viable, though having the other support in this set doesn’t hurt at all. Levia-Dragon – Daedalus will be a good boss once A Legendary Ocean hits the Speed Dueling format, otherwise it isn’t too reliable, but decent enough. Finally, The Forceful Checkpoint is a pretty great card for stalling, assuming your opponent has a monster in the hand, and that discard of a monster you force onto your opponent can really hurt them breaking your stall strategy.
In Conclusion
The biggest takeaway from this set is that WATER decks and Relinquished decks are far more viable now. There are some good staples and cards to boost other decks, but mostly Relinquished and WATER will come out better with this set being released for Speed Dueling. There’s also some future potential with the Skills and cards, especially as the card pool expands as we expect it to, but for now this set is most reliable for some staples and to make the two decks I mentioned.
