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Anteaus'
History of Yu-Gi-Oh!
Looking Under the Bed: Hand Control Revisited
Throughout my Yu-Gi-Oh career, there's one particular
strategy that I've loved more than any other – hand control.
To me, there is nothing cooler or more devastating than
losing your entire hand, because really, your hand is your
life – if you're topdecking, you're severely close to death,
while if you have a steady hand size you are much better
off. And, by reducing the number of cards in your
opponent's hand, you limit the number of potential
options that they have at their disposal, which in turn
limits how much situational advantage they have. Therefore,
it would make sense, by definition, to utilize as many hand
control cards as you can, thus maximizing the potential
damage dealt to your opponent.
Early on, before the first banlist hit, this was the status
quo; hand control was the deck to beat because
nothing out there could possibly beat it. However, after the
banlist, hand control had been severely compromised; this
was the first (but certainly not last) time that the
higher-ups would completely devastate a deck that was deemed
“too powerful.” But despite this setback, the hand control
ideology pressed forward, changing and adapting to a
diminished presence in the game. Through several banlists,
cards such as Don Zaloog, Graceful Charity and Delinquent
Duo were continually seen in tier-1 decks.
However, the game has slowly evolved to utilize more of the
entire play area; whereas early in the game the focus was on
the field, later on the focus shifted to the Graveyard pile;
therefore, more power was given to the Graveyard, which
would render hand control cards completely ineffective as it
would merely fuel the strategy of the Graveyard-based decks.
Therefore, hand control slowly fell by the wayside, and the
strategy was lost to time.
Today, however, the focus of the game has shifted once
again; whereas before it was primarily Graveyard-based, now
it is split; there are now new ways to approach a Duel, with
many more options available to duelists because of new and
innovative cards that challenge the aspects of the game. And
perhaps the best at disrupting the normal flow of the game
is Macro Cosmos.
If hand control's biggest enemy was the Graveyard-fueled
deck, what happens to hand control if its biggest enemy is
neutralized? If the Graveyard is no longer a threat, what is
there to stop the destructive force that is hand control?
The answer, in a nutshell, is nothing.
By utilizing the power of Macro Cosmos and its Spell Card
cousin, Dimensional Fissure, the Graveyard becomes a
non-threat almost from the get-go. Within the first few
turns, Macro Cosmos can completely lock down any potential
Graveyard-based strategies by completely removing the
Graveyard aspect from the game. With control of the game
established in such a way, more options are available to you
in terms of how to approach victory; this article will focus
on utilizing hand control to take overall control of the
game and thus fueling the win condition.
Monsters (24):
3x Caius the Shadow Monarch
2x Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
1x Dark Dust Spirit
2x Cyber Dragon
1x Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
2x Marauding Captain
3x Don Zaloog
3x D.D. Warrior Lady
3x D.D. Survivor
3x D.D. Scout Plane
1x Armageddon Knight
At first glance this deck resembles a very odd Macro Monarch
build; however, when you look at both Caius and Thestalos,
both create advantage – Caius is a near-staple in any Macro
deck, and Thestalos gives you that hand control aspect. With
that, three copies of Don Zaloog directly fuel your hand
control aspect, and this is furthered with the speed of
Marauding Captain and the overall addition of a Warrior
Toolbox, albeit without certain key cards. Your D.D.
Survivors have immediate synergy with Macro Cosmos, and D.D.
Scout Plane combos well with Armageddon Knight as well as
Marauding Captain. Overall, the speed given to the deck by
the Toolbox mechanic lends itself well to the overall
strategy of controlling the hand.
Cyber Dragon is your general beatstick/Monarch summoner, but
doesn't need to be run in threes in this deck as the focus
is on the Toolbox and hand control mechanics as opposed to
the Monarchs; Caius is simply there as field presence, with
his destruction effect merely an added bonus; Thestalos,
therefore, is there at two, because while he does what Caius
does in terms of field presence, he takes from the hand and
not the field; this can, in turn, lead to an overwhelming
swing in advantage, because the hand control aspect does
take some time to deal its damage; the deck must control the
game in a different manner during the early game so as to
not get overwhelmed. This is also why one copy of Armageddon
Knight is included because it goes to fuel your D.D. Macro
mechanic, removing D.D. Scout Plane by pitching it to the
Graveyard while Macro Cosmos or Dimensional Fissure is in
play, resulting in an immediate +1 to your numerical
advantage and an additional swing in situational advantage
as you get another monster onto the field because D.D. Scout
Plane is removed from play.
Spells (10):
3x Smashing Ground
2x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Dark Hole
1x Reinforcement of the Army
3x Dimensional Fissure
The Spell lineup here is incredibly simple, but it does what
it is designed to do: destroy your opponent's cards. With
your Monster lineup handling most of the hand control
duties, your spells have to pick up the slack in terms of
field control; some of your Monsters will inevitably
generate field control, as that is what they are generally
designed to do, but your Spell lineup will function as the
main destruction force in the deck. Therefore, three copies
of Smashing Ground are included in order to help clear the
field and maintain your presence to help your hand control
monsters (such as Don Zaloog) do their job; Mystical Space
Typhoon, too, helps destroy pesky Spell and Trap cards, and
Dark Hole is a staple in any format it is allowed in.
Reinforcement of the Army is obviously included to fuel the
Toolbox mechanic, and Dimensional Fissure the same for the
Macro mechanic.
Traps (6):
3x Macro Cosmos
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Return from the Different Dimension
Since the deck is based around Macro Cosmos, I hope I have
provided sufficient reason for its inclusion; Mirror Force
and Torrential Tribute are near-staple defensive cards, and
Return from the Different Dimension provides you with an
alternative win condition, should you fall on hard times (or
need to swing quickly to win the game). There are actually
several different routes one could take in terms of the Trap
lineup; I had debated several cards including Drop Off,
which would be an incredibly powerful card in this
particular build considering its known hand control aspects.
Dust Tornado could be another good inclusion in this build
as it would supplement the Spell lineup, adding more
destruction to the deck; I included Mirror Force and
Torrential Tribute in this particular build because I
personally believe it is the most reliable and safest course
of action, considering the fact that the current metagame is
so incredibly diverse – defensive Trap Cards are almost an
immediate conclusion because of this, in my opinion.
Obviously the deck relies heavily on the Toolbox mechanic;
without the inclusion of Giant Rat, however, the deck is
forced to find speed elsewhere, hence the Marauding
Captains. I chose to omit a card such as Solidarity, which
is considered a staple in most Toolbox variants, mainly
because of the Monarch mechanic that is also present. There
are instances where, if too many different mechanics are
present in a deck, the deck doesn't function as well as it
could if it were streamlined; however, the synergy that is
generated between the Macro mechanic, the Monarch mechanic,
the Toolbox mechanic, and the Destruction mechanic (with
Smashing Ground and Mystical Space Typhoon), and with all
mechanics including cards that can also be found in another
mechanic, the deck's synergy is virtually through the roof.
As with any deck, there will be players who want to tweak
the deck and put their own personal spin; some will enjoy
the deck as is, and others will find it abhorrent for
whatever reason. I work, at the moment, with a small card
pool, and my choices for cards are limited. I work with what
I know and what I have, and I present what I believe are the
best decks that I can make out of them. Some work, others
don't, but ultimately the game is about having fun and
trying new things. The more we experiment, the more we
learn, and the more we grow as players of the game.
As always, you can e-mail me at
anteaus44@hotmail.com
Thanks,
Anteaus
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