June 2008

Crystal Beast Turbo to counter metagame - Whyareall

Cards: 40

Monsters: 18

2x Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth
2x Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise
3x Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle
3x Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus
3x Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger
3x Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude
1x Maharaghi
1x Marshmallon

Spells: 19
3x Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins
3x Crystal Abundance
3x Crystal Beacon
2x Crystal Blessing
2x Crystal Promise
1x Crystal Tree
1x Hand Destruction
1x Monster Reborn
1x Rare Value
1x Reload
1x Special Hurricane

Traps: 3
2x Needle Ceiling
1x Torrential Tribute

Side Deck: 15
1x Big Eye
3x Appropriate
2x Miracle Dig
1x Needle Ceiling
3x Pineapple Blast
2x Special Hurricane
3x Triggered Summon

I read an article today about how and why the top decks in the metagame succeed, those mainly being being: the ability to fill the hand as soon as it empties, swarming of the field with monsters, and removal of YOUR monsters to attack for game. I have been playing Crystal Beasts for 8 solid months now, and have designed a deck specifically to counter these aspects, or turn them to your advantage, as well as using some itself.

For a starters, the monsters. 3 copies of Sapphire Pegasus, which are like a faster equivalent of Gadgets, limited by only being allowed to have 3. Each time you summon a Pegasus, pull another from your deck. If you have Crystal Promise, the more the merrier. Even better than Gadgets in the fact that when the 1st is destroyed, you can use Crystal Beacon to summon a Ruby Carbuncle from your deck and pull two more Crystals out. It has not been uncommon for me to have 7 monsters/crystals on the field in my 1st turn, which is amazing speed compared to most decks.

Diamond Dude was an obvious choice for me, as it lets Crystal Abundance and Rare Value to be used almost any time you get it. To boost Diamond Dude's power, add a Big Eye to your deck to put that spell on top for DD to discard. Also, even when it doesn't get a Spell, it speeds up the deck. This is also why I put Maharaghi and Reload in, as when you need it, the drawing power of the deck will give you the cards you need.

On to the spells. Three copies of Abundance, Beacon and Rainbow Ruins. I'll start with Rainbow Ruins. You will never find another field card with the effect "Once per turn, during your Main Phase, Draw a card. This card cannot be destroyed by card effects." This gives you massive hand advantage when your opponent is crushing your Beasts and you need it most. And the ability to halve battle damage offsets your suicude attacks for Crystal Beacon or Rare Value, or playing Maharaghi instead of Emerald Tortoise. The ability to negate Spells and Traps at the cost of a monster never hurt anyone either, especially when you can bring the monster straight back.

Crystal Abundance. In my opinion the most overpowered card in the game. Dark Hole, Heavy Storm, and an equivalent of Return from the Different Dimension all rolled into a single card. And that card is common, for crying out loud. 'Nuff said.

Many people may see Crystal Beacon as a 1-for-1 card, but if you use the above example, becomes 4-for-1. This card is an extremely easy way to Special Summon Ruby Carbuncle, which will defend you many times over, if you use Rainbow Ruins' 5th effect multiple times (after exploiting effect 4 first, of course).

Hand Destruction, Rare Value, and Reload. All for drawing power.

Special Hurricane, the prelude to a nice Crystal Abundance. Not only does it crystallize your Ruby'd Crystal Beasts, it will more often than not, clear at least some of the opponent's field. This field clearing is a major part of my deck, and all the traps are specifically for it. Torrential Tribute and Needle Ceiling are easy to play, and will help you out more than you know.

The side deck is mostly self explanatory. Miracle Dig to counter Macro Cosmos and similar cards, extra explosive cards to clear the field, and Big Eye to help Diamond Dude. The best one, in my opinion, is Appropriate. In the metagame, your opponent is going to be drawing 2 cards with each effect, so why don't you? Even better, most 2-draw cards cost 2 cards, (ie Allure and a Dark monster, Destiny Draw and a Destiny Hero) so their hand will stay at 6 cards. Appropriate costs you nothing, so you will keep drawing until you are well past the 7 card limit. And all this is on their turn!

Ok, I'm done.

Adrian Cooper, whyareall2@hotmail.com