From: Cindy Mathews [mailto:megin@cableone.net]
Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 9:30 PM

Subject: Taking Sides--by brad

Taking Sides

 

Hello, Pojo fans, one and all!  I’m back with a new article for you to feast on. 

 

From the title, you could take a guess on what this is about.  It is about side-decking, of course, not side orders of chicken wings, salads, or fries.  Side deck building is more than just nails and boards (tehe).  It is about looking at the glaring needs of your deck between duels.  Most of us know what a well-built side deck consists of, but then again, do we? 

 

For those younger readers out there who may not know what a side deck is or how to build one, a side deck is a pile of cards that are separate from your main deck.  You generally use them to address the weaknesses of your deck.  All decks have weaknesses, and you must test your deck well against others to discover what these weaknesses are. If you use a side deck, it must be exactly fifteen cards, and adhere to the banned/restricted list of the format you are playing under.

 

For those of us who are not so green around the edges, wet behind the ears, and a little bit better-seasoned (just not too much salt, okay?), there may be a different method.  Instead of trying to build your side deck to lessen your deck’s weaknesses, build it specifically to exploit your opponent’s deck’s weaknesses.

 

For example, if you know your opponent stalls a lot with Spirit Reaper in multiples, it is a good idea to use “Reaper hate” cards.  Monsters with piercing/trample ability, cards that target the Reapers with minimal drawback, etc.  Then again, it is always fun to spring a Level Limit-Area A on an unsuspecting opponent hiding behind a Reaper.  Yeah, he can’t be destroyed, but then you can attack the attack-position Reaper with two or three monsters in the same turn for huge amounts of damage. 

 

Every strategy has its inherent weaknesses.  For this article, I will attempt to construct a viable side-deck to exploit Soul Control’s weakness.  The new ban list has been fairly lenient on Soul Control.  Yeah, Treeborn is only at one, but then again, you really only need one.  What about Brain Control?  Soul Exchange?  Does the new list have any impact on them whatsoever?  No.  Look for Soul Control to be the next cookie-cutter.  It is certainly a problem in my meta, but lucky for me, I know how to handle it. 

 

Soul Control can be a challenge to side against, as opposed to burn.  For burn, you just toss some Dust Tornadoes, Giant Trunades, and Mobiuses (Mobii?) and you’re pretty much set. 

 

Here, I have constructed a rather simple side-deck built to withstand a Soul Control deck reliably.  Take note, you’ll still need your anti-burn stuff just in case. 

 

Here goes

 

Monsters x 4

Mataza the Zapper x2

Des Wombat x2

 

Spells x 3

Wave-Motion Cannon

Confiscation

Vengeful Bog Spirit

 

Traps x 9

Spell Shield-Type 8

Solemn Judgment x 2

Divine Wrath x2

Bottomless Trap Hole x2

Trap Hole

 

Monsters—Yeah, I know what many of you are thinking.  It may be difficult to see the beauty in Mataza the Zapper, though.  Mataza is perhaps the best double-attacker in the game.  He can kill a Treeborn Frog, then attack directly.  He fits under all three of the major stall cards that burn uses—Level Limit-Area B, Gravity Bind, and Messenger of Peace.  But the big one is, control of your Mataza cannot switch, meaning the only thing that Soul Control can do with it is sack it for the effect of Soul Exchange.  But then, your opponent cannot declare an attack this turn.  Mataza is one of my favorite monsters.  Sweetness.  Then, your Des Wombats will stop burn damage.  Since burn decks don’t do a lot of attacking in the first place and their monster removal is not as prevalent, Wombat will most likely stay around for a while.

 

Spells—Only three.  Let’s see what we have.  Vengeful Bog Spirit (if I am not mistaken—someone please correct me if I’m wrong) stops your opponent from attacking if they manage to keep the Monarchs on the field until the battle phase.  You’ve heard of fighting fire with fire before, right?  What better way to combat Wave-Motion Cannon than with one of your own?  One of Soul Control’s weaknesses is dead hands.  Drop a Confiscation on them to further the pain, or take out an important part of the puzzle. 

 

Traps—This might seem like a trap-heavy side deck, but it is for good reason.  Soul Control users often run very little continuous spells and traps outside of Snatch Steal.  Their little fallback plan, Treeborn, requires no backfield to utilize.  Leaving an empty backfield can be a very big mistake for Soul Control.  We’ll try out a single Spell Shield-Type 8.  This is good negation for Soul Control in particular.  Why?  Because Brain Control, Snatch Steal, and Soul Exchange all target.  This stops them cost free.  Solemn Judgment is like the trap version of the Swiss Army knife.  It can stop anything.  Period.  The Monarchs will not get their effects, because their summons were negated.  Not bad.  Timing is important, though, so you may want to be sure you can maintain some control during subsequent turns.  Divine Wrath stops the activation of the Monarchs’ effects and destroys them.  At the cost of a discard, this isn’t too bad when you’re in a pinch.  It is best to discard a monster for it though.  A little bit situational, but then again, we are talking about a deck that uses the same or similar strategies often.  Bottomless Trap Hole will not stop the effects of the Monarchs, but will remove them from play, which basically makes their Calls and Premature’s useless when they need a power attacker on the field.  Trap Hole has a simpler effect.  Simply destroy the monster that is normal summoned if its attack is higher than 999.  And, finally, since most decks use two Dust Tornadoes, a third or a Mobius would be a wise decision against burn.

 

So, there you have it.  The anti-cookie-cutter-soul-control-monarch side deck.  Now that’s a mouthful.  Please! Easy on the salt!!!

 

Ciao

 

Like my opinion?  Think I’m a pompous nOOb for suggesting such strategy?  Drop me a line, I like the feedback.  As always, I do not accept unsolicited hate mail.  brad@bradlandusa.com