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Zombies vs. Chaos--- Chaosmech

From: "chaosmech@juno.com" <chaosmech@juno.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2005 18:49:47 GMT


Zombies vs. Chaos
Why Zombies are the (almost) perfect counter to Chaos.

Hey, everyone, Chaosmech back again. This time, I’ll be discussing Zombies, which incidentally, happen to perform quite well against the dominant deck type, Chaos.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of the Zombie deck.

Pros:
+ incredible speed (Pyramid Turtle, Call of the Mummy) decent attack
+ power (Ryu Kokki, Despair from the Dark, Regenerating Mummy) lots of
+ good support (Book of Life, Call of the Mummy) has Vampire Lord
Cons:
- relies heavily on support
- many tribute monsters
- not very powerful effects
- vulnerability to TIV
Now, for the Chaos deck:

Pros:
+ lots of good LIGHT and DARK monsters
+ has arguably the most powerful non-banned monster is relatively
+ flexible Chaos Sorcerer is a common ^_^
Cons:
-very slow
-virtually depends on BLS-EotB

Now, for the reasons Zombies are good at defeating Chaos.

First, the speed issue. Zombies are amazingly fast. I mean, you have a card that lets you bring out any zombie (except Dark Dust Spirit) from your hand if you have no zombies. Then, you can normal summon another. That’s major swarm ability right there. Chaos has to wait and wait until the LIGHT and DARK monsters are in the graveyard, then, if they’re lucky, they have BLS or Chaos Sorcerer to bring out.
Speed round: Zombies win

Second, power. Now, in one way, Zombies are good attackers. And in that sense, they have excellent power. Ryu Kokki, the general one-tribute Zombie, has 2400. it can be searched out with Pyramid Turtle, or special summoned with Call, making it almost like a four-star in ease of summoning. Plus, if it battles with BLS-EotB or Chaos Sorcerer, the other monster is destroyed no matter what (although a smart player would remove Ryu Kokki). Dark Dust Spirit has a nice effect, which is to Lightning Vortex as Dark Hole is to Raigeki. Clear all face-ups on the field except Spirit. Not bad. Then, we have the mother of all zombies, Despair from the Dark (now technically, Vampire Genesis is stronger, but it’s not commonly played because of its limited usefulness). With 2800 ATK and 3000 DEF, it can stand up to pretty much anything, except, ironically, BLS-EotB. But, on the other hand, because Chaos is not reliant on a single type, but rather, two Attributes, it has the potential to pack better effects. Effects like D. D. Warrior Lady, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, Jinzo, Dark Ruler Ha Des, Reflect Bounder, and the list goes on and on, culminating with Black Luster Soldier himself. Easily the best card in Advanced Format.
Attack Power: It’s a tie
Effect Power: Chaos wins, hands down.

Now, for support. Zombies have huge support, ranging from Pyramid Turtle for searching, Call of the Mummy for swarming, and Book of Life for revival. These three cards must be run in threes for a Zombie deck. It is absolutely imperative. For the following reasons especially. Call and Turtle lend the deck the speed it needs to beat Chaos out. And Book of Life, aside from reviving a Zombie from your grave, removes a monster in your opponent’s graveyard from play. Now if you don’t see the anti-Chaos implications, then either you’re not paying attention, or you need a brain. Get you Zombies back, plus making their BLS harder to summon? Put that on my list any day.
Chaos, on the other hand, with Painful Choice and Mirage of Nightmare gone, is woefully short on support. However, Graceful Charity is still there to save the day. Draw 3, dump a LIGHT and DARK, summon BLS, gg, man. Other than that, there’s not much support specifically for the removal, but instead, the monsters themselves are the tech support. As I pointed out earlier, the ability to use LIGHT and DARK, both of which are generally good attributes, leads to wide flexibility.
Support: Zombies win.

Round four is flexibility. Zombies, by their very nature, are limited to about sixty cards to choose from. Only about ten of them are any good. Very limited flexibility, which usually leads the zombie player to run cards in threes to make up for lack of variety. All good zombie decks are 90% the same.
Chaos decks, on the other hand, while tending to be very similar, have, at the same time, the potential for enormous flexibility. For instance, one can go the Warrior-Chaos route, another could try for Chaos-Control, the third could go for Chaos-Beatdown, while yet another could try Speed-Chaos (if you don’t know what that is, go check out my article on it). While it’s true that most Chaos decks are quite similar, that is due to a realization of what works and what doesn’t, not because of limited variety. And here, I also have to mention that Zombie decks, due to their inherent rigidity, are extremely vulnerable to Tribe-Infecting Virus (TIV). It’s like a Raigeki against a Zombie deck. So…
Flexibility: Chaos wins.

Well, now. It appears that it’s Chaos: 2, and Zombies: 2. So, I will now break the tie. By flipping a coin… it’s heads, Chaos wins. Best 2 out of 3. Tails, Zombies win. And… ok, I made that all up. In terms of all-around power, Chaos sweeps the series, but Zombies are almost specifically designed to counter Chaos. So, if it’s Chaos vs. Zombies, I’ll have to place my bets on Zombies, much as I might not want to.
If you have any questions, comments, concerns, deck fixes, etc, I am available at either chaosmech@juno.com, or chaosmech@hotmail.com. They are both mine, and I will attempt to answer any emails I receive.

Until next time, happy dueling, and fear the Chaos!