August 2008

 

Looking Under The Bed - Hand Control

Hey all,
 
It's Anteaus again, and it's been quite some time since I've sent anything to Pojo.com (over 4 years!) In the past four years, I've played many a game of Yu-Gi-Oh!, got married, had a daughter, quit the game, picked up Magic: The Gathering, quit that too, graduated High School, dropped out of college, got a job, played some more Yu-Gi-Oh!, quit that again, picked up Magic: The Gathering again, picked up Halo 3, then picked up Yu-Gi-Oh! again...sheesh, that's a lot of stuff out of my personal life. I've seen featured writers come and go, banlists shake the Advanced format, seen Yu-Gi-Oh! GX tear apart the old-school decks...I've seen a lot in the four years since I last played actively.
 
It's hard to drop a game so suddenly, then try to pick up the pieces four years later. When I last played, Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning was still legal in the Advanced format. That's how long it's been since I've actively played (and I know a lot of you are asking yourselves, "what's Black Luster Soldier?"). But the truth of the matter is that once you start playing Yu-Gi-Oh!, you can never really quit; it's always with you, no matter where you go in life. You'll be looking back twenty years from when you quit and think to yourself, "man, I wonder if that game is still around?" And it will be. And you'll probably pick up a deck and start playing.
 
Because Yu-Gi-Oh! won't die until the fans have given up. And it's good to see that they haven't yet.
 
Anyway, I'm trying to break back into the scene, but I've noticed that most of the Tier-1 decks are based around Gladiator Beasts...which is odd, considering that when I left there was only one top deck then. I was told that the banlist would make the Advanced format much more...interesting, but I guess I was quite mistaken. This new column that I'm going to be posting is called "Looking Under The Bed," and it's based around decks and cards that can be Tier-1 decks if given a little time and attention. And the first one I'm going to look at is called simply..."hand control."
 
Hand Control, the most elegant and beautiful deck to ever grace this game. It's ritual was simple, it's dance divine: destroy your opponent's hand while coveting your own, forcing them to top-deck their cards, while you sit comfortably with your 3,-4,-5-card hand and pound your opponent into dust. It is this eloquence that drew me to Yu-Gi-Oh! oh so long ago - the dance that one played with the opponent, toying with them like a cat with oh-so-many mice, teasing them, letting them think that they can escape, when wham! you drop the Yata-Garasu for the win. Nothing feels better than that Yata-lock, but, since the advent of the Advanced Format, we will never see him again (which is why he's in my wallet and not my trade binder - sentimentality for the win).
 
Hand Control is the easiest deck to define, and yet one of the hardest to play. All you do is make sure that you control what your opponent can play, and when they can play them. This is mainly accomplished by controlling  your opponent's hand, and now with Destiny Hero decks gone, it's that much easier. The metagame now is defined by cycling your monsters in and out of your deck, which always gives you a fresh option (I am, of course, refering to the Gladiator Beasts) when dealing with any type of deck. However, when you're controlling everything that your opponent does, it makes it somewhat difficult to cycle their monsters, doesn't it?
 
Hand Control is actually somewhat of a misnomer - you're controlling what is in your opponent's hand so you can, in turn, control what hits the field. It's an aspect of overall control of the hand, field, deck and graveyard - while the deck is nigh impossible to truly control (really, there are few cards that can synergistically work to control the deck), and graveyard field is obsolete - it makes sense to focus your control on the hand and field, because that is where all of your opponent's damage will come from. But this kind of control is easier said than done. You need the right creature base, the right spell base, and of course, the right trap base to make this thing work on a synergetical level - all of your cards need to work in tandem to control your opponent. Now, I'll be listing off a load of cards that we'll fit into a deck (starting with monsters):
 
3x Don Zaloog
3x Mysic Tomato
2x Apprentice Magician
2x Old Vindictive Magician
3x Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
3x Marauding Captain
3x Exiled Force
1x Sangan
1x Spirit Reaper
 
This is a rather simple monster lineup, but take a look at what it can accomplish:
 
-Mystic Tomato can fetch Don Zaloog, Apprentice Magician, Sangan and Spirit Reaper, not to mention another Tomato;
-Maruading Captain can summon any monster here (save for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch) using its special summon ability;
-Apprentice Magician (summonable by Mystic Tomato, no less) searches out your Old Vindictive Magcian, giving you immediate field control;
-Sangan gets any monster here (except Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch);
-Spirit Reaper helps control both hand and field using its discard ability and its unable to be destroyed by battle;
-Exiled Force is a Warrior, able to be protected by Marauding Captain, and helps with field control.
 
This monster lineup is solid when you think about it. Don Zaloog, Spirit Reaper and Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch all help to control the hand by providing with immediate discard advantage, ultimately putting Don Zaloog at a +1 (when he attacks), Spirit Reaper at a +1 (when he attacks), and Thestalos is a straight-up trade (until he drops your opponent down to 0 with his whopping 2400 attack). Mystic Tomato provides a simple search mechanic, allowing you to pull almost any DARK monster from your deck and bashing your opponent in with them.
 
Now then, onto the spell aspect:
 
3x Messenger of Peace
2x Reinforcement of the Army
2x Book of Moon
1x Monster Reborn
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Heavy Storm
 
You're probably asking me: why are there three Messenger of Peace in this deck? Well, it's simple, and you'll understand once you see the trap lineup, but notice the monsters that are in this deck: everything but Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch are under 1500 ATK. This means that, while your opponent's Gladiator Beast's are sitting there looking dumb and acting stupid, you're sitting pretty behind your wall of monsters with low ATK, waiting for your Exiled Force, Old Vindictive Magician or Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch to finish them off, while using your Don Zaloog and your various traps (coming up next) to control the hand.
 
Now then, onto traps:
 
3x Drop Off
3x Drastic Drop Off
2x Dust Tornado
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Mirror Force
 
not your typical trap lineup, eh? Well, this deck works on the principle of hand control, not beatdown, so it's best to include a lot of hand control cards, no? A playset of both Drop Off and Drastic Drop off allows you to begin controlling the hand quite early, and with playsets of Don Zaloog and Mystic Tomato, you're almost always guaranteed to get a Don out by turn two or three, while you're up 2-3 cards by turn four...that's a lot of advantage. Your Torrential and Mirror Force are simply there for protection, and Dust Tornado are there to counter any destruction or Macro Cosmos decks you may run into (something of mine you'll be seeing very soon).
 
So, when all is said and done, you should see something like this:
 
Monsters (21):
3x Don Zaloog
3x Mysic Tomato
2x Apprentice Magician
2x Old Vindictive Magician
3x Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
3x Marauding Captain
3x Exiled Force
1x Sangan
1x Spirit Reaper
 
Spells (10):
3x Messenger of Peace
2x Reinforcement of the Army
2x Book of Moon
1x Monster Reborn
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Heavy Storm
 
Traps (10):
3x Drop Off
3x Drastic Drop Off
2x Dust Tornado
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Mirror Force
 
The sidedeck can be run a multitude of ways. I personally side in The Transmigration Prophecy, Sakuretsu Armor, Compulsory Evacuation Device (a great maindeck card, to be sure), The Warrior Returning Alive...the list goes on. The sidedeck should contain counters to your local metagame, but make sure that you keep the spirit of the deck at heart at all times. With a little tweaking and some playtesting to work out the kinks, this deck can easily be maneuvered to a win at any local tournament...hell, I'm confident that this deck could win a Jump Championship, if in the right hands.
 
As always, if you have any comments or questions, feel free to e-mail me at anteaus44@hotmail.com
 
Make sure in the subject line that you put the name of my article, so I don't delete your e-mail :)