July 2006

From: Aaron Brown [mailto:jeenleen@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, June 23, 2006 10:04 AM
To: yugiohcrew@pojo.com
Subject: Counter-attacking - JenouncesLeen

Maybe this will be helpful for somebody. If not, I hope it doesn't waste too much time.

I recently read some articles on how most competitive decks work by gaining early advantage, pushing it, and then coming out victorious; however, they sometimes leave themselves at a disadvantage if they lose momentum.
I have found my deck would primarily on opposite grounds. I start out slow and defensive, trying to not lose advantage but neither gain it (primarily by Spirit Reaper or Mystic Tomato). However, when an opening appears, I can usually, by the monster and spell destruction I've gathered, clear the enemy's field and attack their hand with Reaper or Don Zaloog.
Once I gain hand advantage in this fashion, I can usually hold enough field presence to keep up an attack or shift back to defense until I can again break through the enemy lines. My monsters are weak, so I often take a few thousand damage in the first few turns, but the loss of cards to my opponent makes it so that, in the end, I often win.

Deck-42 cards
Monsters (19)
Mobius the Frost Monarch
Jinzo
Mystic Tomatox2
Spirit Reaperx3
Don Zaloogx2
Breaker the Magical Warrior
Sangan
Tsukiyomi
Treeborn Frog
DD Assailant
DD Warrior Lady
Magician of Faith
Mystic Swordsman Lv2
Exiled Force
Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive

Spells (16)
Smashing Groundx3
Nobleman of Crossoutx2
Mystical Space Typhoon
Heavy Storm
Graceful Charity
Pot of Avarice
Swords of Revealing Light
Scapegoat
Book of Moon
Snatch Steal
Premature Burial
Last Will
Reinforcement of the Army

Traps (7)
Mirror Force
Sakaretsu Armorx2
Torrential Tribute
Call of the Haunted
Dust Tornadox2

Side Deck (15)
Mobius the Frost Monarch
Des Wombatx3
Messenger of Peacex2
Wave-Motion Cannonx2
Royal Decreex2
Bottomless Trap Holex2
Royal Command
Solemn Judgmentx2

The primary theme of the deck is hand-control through Don and Reaper and defenses through Reaper, with searching for both with Mystic Tomato. (Tomato also offsets the high Monster/SpellTrap ratio, as does Reinforcement and Last Will.) Mobius and Jinzo, along with Dust Tornados, MST, Heavy, and Breaker, make up my spell/trap destruction. The traps, Smashing Ground, and Nobleman help clear the field, with the Warrior Toolbox to get a removal monster or Don.
Magician of Faith, Dekoichi, and Avarice help me regain hand if I lose it, while Treeborn, Tomato, and Last Will aid the field.

The weak points are Trample due to my heavy use of Reaper and low attack monsters, and Deck Devastation Virus, since all but 4 of my monsters are 1500 or lower. I've never played against a good Dark World deck, but I see a great weakness to them as well.
The Side Deck is oriented to defend against Burn (second Mobius, Wombat, Royal Decree, Wave-Motion), Trample or Aggro (Wave-Motion, Messenger of Peace), Horus/Pheniox (Bottomless), OTK (Solemn Judgement), Deck Out (Royal Command), and Deck Devastation Virus (Royal Decree).

I acknowledge that my deck is quite Cookie Cutter, but it seems to hold its own against more aggressive CCs, and it allows me to flucuate as needed between fast to slow tempo games. The versatility it offers me lets me come ahead or stay even with most I've played.
Any comments, e-mail me if you wish, but I can't promise when I'll be able to reply: "Jenounces Leen" brownar7@mailbox.sc.edu