May 2008

The Next Generation of Deck Building - Hino RFG - Ice-eyes

 

I recently bought the dark emperor structure deck, and for the first time found a way (I hope) to make my all time favourite monster – Hino-Kago-Tsuchi – viable thanks to the decks regenerating tribute fodder, soon after I made this deck, I was wondering if you could help either the speed at which I bring out the big monsters, or add some good M/T destruction so that I have a better chance of getting that hand discarded.

 

Jon’s Hino RFG – 42 Cards

 

Monsters: 23

2 Caius the Shadow Monarch

2 D.D. Scout Plane

2 Cyber Dragon

2 Hino-Kago-Tsuchi

1 Jinzo (don't know if he fits here as he hurts cosmos, but i don't know what else to use)

3 D.D. Survivor

1 Horus lv 6

1 Horus lv 8

1 Reflect Bounder

1 D.D. Warrior Lady

1 D.D. Assailant

1 Exiled Force

1 Banisher of the Radiance

1 Golden Homunculus

1 White Magical Hat

1 Don Zaloog

1 Injection Fairy Lily

 

Spells: 13

1 Magic Reflector

3 Shrink

1 MST

1 Heavy Storm

1 Brain Control

1 Monster Reborn

1 D.D.R. 

1 Reinforcement of the Army

2 Dimensional Fissure

1 Lightning Vortex

 

Traps: 6

2 Macro Cosmos

1 Royal Decree

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Return from the Different Dimension

1 Ultimate Offering

 

The strategy is to clear the way with Hours or decree a turn before i bring out hino to force my opponent into topdecking, and against the wall of survivors they really don't have a chance at that point. I like fissure more than Cosmos because it allows Jinzo and Decree to not work against me, and the seldom used magic reflector helps quite a bit with those pesky monarchs. The main problem i am having with this deck is either not being able to get past the back row with a hino attack, or being able to draw him, the fodder work great. also if you could make your suggestions with cards that aren't secret rare or super expensive, as i can't really afford to put a months rent down on one card.

 

Thanks.

 

Well, Jon, I can see what you’ve wanted the deck to do. However, the focus has become slightly skewed. As a former Macro player myself, I have seen that there are two kinds of Cosmos build – a Warrior Aggro that uses its Survivors as invincible beatsticks with lots of removal and a type of deck that uses Survivors and Planes differently, tributing for Monarchs or other tribute monsters. Your deck has elements of both, plus some Horus Lockdown strategy and some random cards that don’t fit at all. You seem to have specified the second type of Cosmos as the one you want - I’m going to run with that and try to make the deck more consistent, focused and powerful. Though the loss of power cards like Cyber Valley and Allure of Darkness to your fiscal constraints is annoying, this is surprisingly easy and you’ll find small changes making a big difference.

I’m going to be looking at the monster line-up first. It seems heavy, especially considering that you’re going to be re-using many of your monsters and keeping a continued field presence. This constant supply of monsters doesn’t gel with the Cyber Dragons at all. The Jinzo needs to go – he’ll be replaced with more suitable monsters later. I’ll also remove the Horus duo, Reflect Bounder, White Magical Hat, Don Zaloog and Injection Fairy Lily. Most of these cards do not fit the theme and others need dedicated space we just don’t have. I’m also removing Golden Homunculus – I believe it’s too slow in this format.

The spells need fewer cuts; they’re pretty stable as it is, with a few exceptions. The Magic Reflector seems pointless – running a third copy of Dimensional Fissure is superior. Three Shrink is asking for trouble – with plenty of monster removal in the form of Exiled, D.D. Warrior Lady, D.D. Assailant and more spell-based cards I’m adding, they’re simply not required.

At the moment, the traps are basically no-brainers and random cards that don’t fit. The Horus lock has been removed – now Decree is more obstructive than useful. Ultimate Offering must also go; it may look attractive but it can bog down your back row or be yet another dead draw in a deck renowned for them.

This leaves the total cuts as follows:

Cuts: 16

-2 Cyber Dragon

-1 Jinzo

-1 Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV 6

-1 Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV 8

-1 Reflect Bounder

-1 White Magical Hat

-1 Don Zaloog

-1 Injection Fairy Lily

-1 Golden Homunculus

 

-1 Magic Reflector

-3 Shrink

 

-1 Royal Decree

-1 Ultimate Offering

 

That gives as 14 adds if we’re to keep this build at 40 cards – a must for the consistency I’m aiming for. I’m going to add a third Scout Plane as more tribute fodder, and this will work nicely with a third copy of Caius, one Raiza and two Thestalos. A Snipe Hunter will flesh out the rest of our line-up, helping you to easily bring Planes online as well as ditching that second, third or even fourth (it has been known to happen) copy of Macro or Fissure.

Speaking of Fissure, I think it wise to add an extra copy of that and also a second Reinforcement of the Army. The deck hinges on getting the Fissure/Survivor engine online, and you’re not going to have an easy time if you are unable to do so. Two Hand Destruction will ditch dead cards and Planes while digging you closer to combo pieces, outs or that Hino-Kago-Tsuchi you really, really need.

The traps are going to be geared towards getting an RFP agent faster and keeping it there; I’m adding a third Cosmos and three Solemn Judgement.

Adds: 14

+1 D.D. Scout Plane

+1 Caius the Shadow Monarch

+1 Raiza the Storm Monarch

+2 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch

+1 Snipe Hunter

 

+1 Dimensional Fissure

+1 Reinforcement of the Army

+2 Hand Destruction

 

+1 Macro Cosmos

+3 Solemn Judgement

 

That leaves the final build thus:

Nuevo Hino RFG – 40 cards

 

Monsters: 19

3 Caius the Shadow Monarch

1 Raiza the Storm Monarch

2 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch

3 D.D. Scout Plane

2 Hino-Kago-Tsuchi

3 D.D. Survivor

1 D.D. Warrior Lady

1 D.D. Assailant

1 Exiled Force

1 Banisher of the Radiance

1 Snipe Hunter

 

Spells: 13

2 Hand Destruction

1 MST

1 Heavy Storm

1 Brain Control

1 Monster Reborn

1 D.D.R. – Different Dimension Reincarnation

2 Reinforcement of the Army

3 Dimensional Fissure

1 Lightning Vortex

 

Traps: 8

3 Macro Cosmos

3 Solemn Judgement

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Return from the Different Dimension

 

I hope you like what I’ve done with the deck – feel free to mail back with comments. To all of you reading this article who would like your deck reviewed, e-mail me at ice-eyes@live.com. More details can be found here.