September 2008

 

Looking Under The Bed - Amazoness

 

Hello, and welcome again to "Looking Under The Bed," the series of articles that takes a look at some of the forgotten deck ideas and builds them back up. Today we're going to be talking about those sultry vixens, the Amazonesses. Here is an archetype that has been underexploited since their debut, finding their niche in hobby stores and bored player's deckboxes. But today, we're going to be taking a look at the finer points of the Amazoness deck and really build one that could possibly be top-tier. As always, we'll start off with the monster lineup:
 

Monsters (22):

 

1x Amazoness Chain Master

2x Amazoness Fighter

3x Amazoness Paladin

3x Amazoness Swords Woman

3x Amazoness Tiger

2x Exiled Force

3x Giant Rat

1x Warrior Lady of the Wasteland

2x Marauding Captain

1x Sangan

1x Spirit Reaper

 
Notice how many Amazonesses there are in here? Only half of the monsters here are Amazonesses, but the lineup will run better without the inclusion of monsters like Amazoness Blowpiper. Just because something is themed doesn't mean that you always have to use all cards of that theme, and this is where a lot of people tend to get lost in their deckbuilding. They try to stick to one theme (in this case, Amazonesses), but in the end their theme's cards are full of nonsense choices and cards that are situational at best and lame at worst. So you see, when you're building on a theme, don't be afraid to venture out a bit if it'll help your deck. Now, looking at the monster lineup, we begin to see some of the synergy that makes the Warrior archetype so great. With all the Amazonesses, plus Amazoness Tiger, you have a wide array of different effects (theft from Chain Master, pump with Paladin, damage with Swords Woman) that will help you in your quest for victory. Since they're all EARTH monsters, three copies of Giant Rat will fetch almost all of them, including some other, non-Amazoness choices. Exiled and Captain form the rest of the squad of Warriors, and Warrior Lady of the Wasteland and Sangan are two great recruiters in this deck. WLotW will help search out those Amazonesses that come in handy in a tight pinch (Swords Woman, Exiled Force), and Sangan can also bring to your hand just about anything in the deck.
 

Spells (13):

 

3x Shrink

1x Mystical Space Typhoon

1x Monster Reborn

1x Heavy Storm

1x Smashing Ground

2x Nobleman of Crossout

2x Reinforcement of the Army

2x Enemy Controller

 
The Spell lineup is...interesting, to say the least. Sine your monsters aren't going to be running over DAD or Gladiator beasts anytime soon, you need something to bring them down to your level: Shrink! Shrink is the most underrated card today, because its power has a devastating effect on your opponent. You can drop their largest monster down to an ATK level that Amazoness Paladin can beat, and that's something that can hurt in the long run. Everything else here is just about standard, save for Nobleman of Crossout and Enemy Controller, which we'll explain in a second. Since this is a Warrior deck at heart, you can't go wrong with a couple copies of Reinforcement of the Army, and Smashing Ground is always a good choice. Nobleman of Crossout will help you get rid of any Apprentice Magician cycles or face-down monstrosities that you can't bear to witness, and Enemy Controller will save your butt more than once, I guarantee it. E-con is a great card because it changes the pace of the game, much like Shrink. Because it's a Quick-Play, it has that much more power in your deck, giving you more opportunities in the long run to deal with different threats.
 

Traps (5):

 

3x Amazoness Archers

1x Mirror Force

1x Torrential Tribute

 
The lineup here is simple: Amazoness Archers is a true trap, able to swing the advantage to your favor because it puts every monster your opponent has in Attack position and forces them to attack. If they're swinging at you with a Thestalos, and have two or three smaller monsters, you can flip this and completely change the course of the battle - and the duel. Mirror Force and Torrential are staples, pretty much, so they're no brainers, but Amazoness Archers will definitely be one of the best cards in this deck, guaranteed.
 
The Amazoness Archetype is one without a whole lot of support, but one that can work incredibly well given the right circumstances. If you're going to build this deck, make sure you playtest extensively. There are a lot of different methods for building an Amazoness deck, and many different ways you can go about making it work. This is just one, but you need to know what you're doing before playing. This is one of the more advanced decks that I've posted in my "Looking Under the Bed" series, and I know it's misleading but this deck takes some talent to play. Run the gauntlet a couple of times, make the necessary changes, and once your done you should be winning 80-90% of the time.
 
The sidedeck, however, is a different story. This deck is weak to Royal Oppression decks (due to the recruiting), Gladiator Beasts, DAD, Burn...this deck has a lot of weaknesses, but that's its inherent strength too. Not a lot of people will be looking for a straight-up Amazoness deck, but it can work. When you sidedeck, make sure you put in a lot of Gladiator and burn Hate - this deck could run well against DAD, but you'll have to side in specialty cards that will have an effect on it. Make sure you always know what you're doing with the sidedeck and you always have an option. Make sure that the card you replace in your maindeck needs to be replaced, and the card replacing it is overall a better option for the matchup you're in.
 
Other than those words of advice, have fun and enjoy it!
 
-Anteaus