[Paulwayner2@aol.com]
Tips and underused decks v2 - Jek
Well I've been playing since March or so, and I've come across some good and some horrible combos.  I'll list the worthwhile ones below (minus one that's iffy, which is Protector of the Sanctuary/Disturbance Strategy).

Ojama Trio/Just Desserts
This is one of the crappier ones, but I'm sure it could be made useful.  Some random kid uses this in his burn deck, yet has no way of killing the tokens summoned from ojama trio most of the time.  It's noteworthy since they summon on your opponent's side and you can scapegoat on your side, plus they're stuck with 1000 atk's that won't get through Des Koala and Solar Flare Dragon anyway.

DNA Surgery/Prickle Fairy
I'm positive this one's been said before, as DNA surgery has amateurs going after monster specific stuff like crazy.  Anyway, instead of relying on Insect Barrier, you have a creature thats much less easy (though not hard) to get rid of.  Again, noteworthy because someone could find something to take advantage of it.

Aswan Apparition/Drop Off
Assuming you clear the board, this basically yata-locks them in a non-yata way.  My bro thinks its better than yata since he can still summon, but I prefer Yata vs 2 cards.  I guess it's a poor man's yata, or something.

Metalsilver Armor/Metalsilver Armor (Raregold works too)
Equip both to your creatures with the above and none of your creatures can be targets.  Works with Raregold armor too, but that stops attacks.  Both work on the basis that you must target the card with the armor, but since there's 2 you can't target any card.

And now for some deck types no one really uses and could probably win you tourneys if you built them right:

Beast - This is my favorite.  Its basically a trample deck, using Enraged Battle Ox to let Manticore, Mad Dog, Bazoo, and Berserk Gorillas to slip through your opponent's defense creatures.  The good part is your tramplers can handle their own as beatdown creatures, so you aren't faced with Drillago getting pummeled or other situations with tramplers.  Wild Nature's Release is crap, don't run it.  Use UWS if you're going to run equips at all.  Tsukuyomi seems to help, though you'd have to have fair control of the board to get it out and still have enough creatures to make use of it.  Book of Moon also works.  Since you're flipping them down, make sure to run Nobleman main deck.  I also use Nimbles to help against beatdowns and the like.  Also, only use 2 Oxs; 3 is overkill and it only increases your chances of getting it from 5% to 7.5%.  Lastly, use and abuse King Tiger Wanghu.

Dark - Theres alot of ways to do this, but my favorite is throwing 1 of each good Dark monster (Mataza, Breaker, Drillago, Dark Ruler, Don, Jinzo, Magical Scientist, The Fiend Megacyber) with 3 Giant Germ, 2 Tomatos, a Yata, and any others you see fit.  Mystic Plasma Zone helps alot, though the magic and traps are otherwise generic in nature.  Make sure you run Dark Flare Knights with the 4 staple scientist summons (Dark Balter, Thousand-eyes, Ryu Senshi, and Fiend Skull Dragon) so you can attack for 2700 with plasma zone out, which kills all of the 1 tributes your opponent could have out.

Zombie - I haven't seen any of these in places I've played, but their are alot of ways to special summon these guys.  Pyramid Turtle gets out tributes easily (most notably V Lord) while Book of Life can get rid of Sinister or chaos bait while getting back zombies on your field.  If your opponent should use Raigeki or mass removal, simply throw down a Call of the Mummy and you get a zombie back, plus it stays just in case they Magician the removal back.  Essentials are Despair from the Dark, 3 Pyramid Turtle, Ryu Kokki to get out with Turtle, Patrician of Darkness for Turtle, V Lord for obvious reasons, and Soul Absorbing Bone Tower in 3s so you can knock their deck down. Spirit Reapers marginally work but I suppose they couldn't hurt.  Personally I dont have room for them in my Zombie deck.  Lastly, throw in Tomato for Tower-getting action.

Amazoness - My first deck type, these can easily get their amazoness' above 3000 ATK.  I ran 2 Archers, 2 Fighters, 3 Paladins, 3 Swords woman, and 2 Tigers, along with Exiled, 2 Giant Rat, and Sangan and Witch for my creatures.  I also ran Fusion Swords as equips since they don't go away with m/t removal, and most opponents dont know that so they waste an MST or other removal the first time you play them.  Anyway Reinforcement of the Army marginally works since Giant Rat's just better, though run them if Rats aren't working for you.  Amazoness Archers are a necessity since you will have pumped creatures anyway and your opponents will lose their creatures when Archers is activated, taking the
damage right then and then again when you attack with their side clear.  Gaia Power, if you can fit it in, keeps your Amazoness' 500 ATK ahead, and 1000 ATK ahead if you use Archers. Dramatic Rescue is a Compulsery Evacuation Device that lets you summon something if you returned an Amazoness, which most of the time will be a Tiger, DDWL, or Exiled.  The A. Forces also worked for me, though they mostly take up space that can be used for UWS and Mage Power.  These'll be fun after the bans I'm sure, assuming Chaos somehow goes away (theres another Amazoness coming out that'll be fun; its steals an opponent's monster from their hand and puts it in yours for 1500 LP when it dies in battle!).

Earth - A new type I've come across, this uses Gaia Power to pump Gemini Elf and Berserk Gorilla, with maybe a Bazoo on the side for good measure, while getting out Exiled, Injection Fairy Lily, and maybe an Amazon Archer out with Giant Rat.  It's a pretty generic deck otherwise, though its one hell of a beatdown thanks to Rat speeding things up.

Fire - Inferno, Solar Flare Dragon, and Blazing Inpachi wrapped together with UWS, Mage Power, an Axe or two, Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu, Molten Destruction, and UFO Turtle.  Tyrant Dragon's Fire too :-D.

Thats it for me, expect another update soon since my friends and I have weekly discussions on this sort of thing.

Paul Reinhardt
Paulwayner2@aol.com