Hey all, and welcome to another edition of “Looking Under The Bed!” Today we’re taking a slight break from the “Looking Into the Past” series with a look at a recently submitted deck. Unfortunately, this duelist did not submit a name, so we’ll just have to call him John for all intents and purposes. I’ll let John explain his deck to you:

I have been playing Yu-Gi-Oh! for a while now. I am looking for something new these days and finally got an idea of building up a force of Union monsters. Though it’s not popular, I like their way of protecting each other and I did test them out in some duel and got few losses and some wins, though most of them were close ones as I pull up XYZ Dragon Cannon or Jinzo in time for the game. But I need a more consistent and competitive play in my deck so as to make a comeback for the Union monsters.

I like how I can merge Heavy Mech Support Platform with Jinzo so as to protect it from spells like Fissure and other destruction cards; during my deck-testing, however, I often get waylaid by Synchron or face an opponent who uses return to deck/hand cards (such as Gladiator Beasts). I also realize once I gain field control with my Union monsters I would most likely be victorious but when I don't, I find it difficult to get back up and turn the tide.

-John

Alright, this was a bit edited from the original e-mail, but the message is the same: “I like Union monsters and I want them to waste.” Fair enough. Here’s the decklist that John submitted:

Monsters: 20

3x Jinzo

2x Jinzo – Returner

1x Spell Canceller

3x Heavy Mech Support Platform

1x Marshmallon

3x Cyber Valley

2x Z-Metal Tank

2x Y-Dragon Head

2x X-Head Cannon

1x Sangan

Spells: 13

1x Brain Control

1x Combination Attack

1x Lightning Vortex

1x Mage Power

1x Mystical Space Typhoon

1x Monster Reborn

1x Machine Duplication

1x Foolish Burial

1x Frontline Base

1x Limiter Removal

1x Burden of the Mighty

2x Book of Moon

Traps: 7

1x Formation Union

2x Roll Out

1x Return from the Different Dimension

1x Scrap-Iron Scarecrow

1x Torrential Tribute

1x Mirror Force

Fusions: 18

3x XY-Dragon Cannon

3x XZ-Tank Cannon

3x YZ-Tank Dragon

3x XYZ-Dragon Cannon

3x VW-Tiger Catapult

3x VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon

Well…this is definitely an interesting decklist, to say the least. John has a lot of solid ideas on how to make his deck run, but he’s a bit haphazard in the delivery. This deck is brimming with potential, and I think that I can make it work for him. The first thing we’re going to do is work on the Monster lineup:

-1 Marshmallon

-1 Jinzo

-2 Jinzo – Returner

-1 Cyber Valley

-1 Spell Canceller

-1 Heavy Mech Support Platform

-2 Cyber Valley

+3 Shining Angel

+1 Cyber Dragon

+3 Cyber Phoenix

+3 Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive

+1 D.D. Warrior Lady

+1 X-Head Cannon

Two copies of Heavy Mech Support Platform will run much better than three, because what we’ve essentially done is turned this deck into an XYZ build, thus eliminating the randomness of the Union element, and with the added power of Cyber Phoenix, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and Shining Angel, we now have the ability to not only get the XYZ pieces onto the field, but protect them via Cyber Phoenix and we have more draw power thanks to Dekoichi. I had to drop a copy of Jinzo, because unless you’re running a tribute-based deck (such as the one I’m running currently) or a straight-up Machine build, three copies is going to hinder you. Jinzo – Returner was pretty much just taking up space in here, and I can see why John would wish to include it, but in the build I’m making it has no room. We’re turning this into a powerful XYZ Dragon Cannon deck, and it will be fast and furious when my deck fix is done.

Now, onto the Spell lineup:

-1 Mage Power

-1 Lightning Vortex

-1 Machine Duplication

-1 Foolish Burial

-1 Frontline Base

-1 Burden of the Mighty

-1 Combination Attack

+3 Shrink

+3 Enemy Controller

+1 Heavy Storm

The Spells are a bit tricky this time around. Because we’ve eliminated the Union aspect of the deck (you can certainly use it, of course, but now this deck is utilizing XYZ, a much more stable win condition), we need to eliminate the Spells that would help the Union aspect. Mage Power is a waste of a card in the current format, and Lightning Vortex has become more of a side-deck card than anything. Without Cyber Valley, Machine Duplication is pointless, and Foolish Burial is putting cards in exactly the wrong spot. Frontline Base is interesting, but in the build we have now it’s useless, and Burden of the Mighty doesn’t fit in either a Union or an XYZ build. However, by adding three copies of Shrink, we’re allowing your monsters to be able to ransack your opponent and bringing your opponent’s monsters down to your level. Many of your monsters have low ATK, meaning that you need to boost them up before they can do damage. With Shrink, you have that opportunity. Also, Enemy Controller will act as a good stall mechanism while you’re waiting for your pieces to fall into place, and Heavy Storm can take care of anything pesky that might be thrown your way.

As for Traps, let’s see what we’re looking at:

-1 Formation Union

-2 Roll Out!

+3 Solemn Judgment

The Trap lineup was actually not half bad. I like the Scrap-Iron Scarecrow as a one-of tech idea, but we still needed to make the deck more stable. That’s why I dropped the two Union-based ideas: Formation Union and Roll Out! This freed up three slots, which I immediately filled up with the all-powerful Solemn Judgment. It may not sound great right now, but once you’ve seen three Solemn Judgments in action, you’ll appreciate it even more.

I know that the Union aspect has been trashed, but don’t forget that you still have six monsters that can Unionize with other monsters, and the deck is much more consistent now without them. That’s the problem with the Unions: they’re too unstable to support effectively. With XYZ, you’re now running a deck that has a lot of power, and by switching it to a Machine-based deck, you’re looking at one powerful deck. Just to recap, let’s see what changes I made:

-1 Marshmallon

-1 Jinzo

-2 Jinzo – Returner

-1 Cyber Valley

-1 Spell Canceller

-1 Heavy Mech Support Platform

-2 Cyber Valley

-1 Mage Power

-1 Lightning Vortex

-1 Machine Duplication

-1 Foolish Burial

-1 Frontline Base

-1 Burden of the Mighty

-1 Combination Attack

-1 Formation Union

-2 Roll Out!

+3 Shining Angel

+1 Cyber Dragon

+3 Cyber Phoenix

+3 Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive

+1 D.D. Warrior Lady

+1 X-Head Cannon

+3 Shrink

+3 Enemy Controller

+1 Heavy Storm

+3 Solemn Judgment

And now, here’s the full decklist:

Monsters (23):

2x Jinzo

2x Heavy Mech Support Platform

2x Z-Metal Tank

2x Y-Dragon Head

3x X-Head Cannon

1x Sangan

3x Shining Angel

3x Cyber Phoenix

3x Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive

1x Cyber Dragon

1x D.D. Warrior Lady

Spells (13):

1x Brain Control

1x Mystical Space Typhoon

1x Monster Reborn

1x Limiter Removal

2x Book of Moon

3x Shrink

3x Enemy Controller

1x Heavy Storm

Traps (7):

1x Return from the Different Dimension

1x Scrap-Iron Scarecrow

1x Torrential Tribute

1x Mirror Force

3x Solemn Judgment

Total: 43

The deck is three cards over the 40-card minimum, but the extra fat is necessary in a deck like this. The 23-count monster lineup will allow you to make a lot of maneuvers in the mid-to-late game that your opponent won’t expect, and it allows you to be ready for anything. Your Spell lineup is chock-full of cards that can help you in a variety of ways, mainly by setting your Quick-Play spells and watching your opponent run smack into them. The stall that you have in this deck will be more than enough to hinder your opponent while you build up for your XYZ Dragon Cannon to hit the field, and Return from the Different Dimension will help you to bring out multiple fusions.

This deck is ready for tournament play – it’s still important, however, that you practice with it until you perfect it.

As always, if you want me to fix up your deck, feel free to drop me a line at anteaus44@hotmail.com.

Thanks,

Anteaus