Welcome back to the North School, kids. Well, I survived my first year of law school, although I’m not entirely sure that I made it out with all of my limbs intact. But, before I begin work at my summer job, I have made sure to get in as much yugimon time as I can.

           

            Before I get into today’s article, I want to speak briefly on the SJC in Columbus last weekend.  Since it’s only a 2 hour drive from Toledo, I had certainly planned on going. However, circumstances beyond my control arose, and I sadly had to skip. Looking at the event’s coverage, though, I became quite pleased, for it looks like I had accurately predicted what the top-level decks would look like.

 

This is what I planned on running:

 

20 Monsters

 

3- Chaos Sorcerer

2- Cyber Dragon

1- Zaborg the Thunder Monarch

1- Jinzo

1- Breaker

1- Sangan

1- Treeborn Frog

2- Magician of Faith

3- Spirit Reaper

1- Night Assailant

1- Skelengle

1- Tsukuyomi

1- DD Warrior Lady

1- Magical Merchant

 

 12 Spells

 

2- Smashing Ground

1- Heavy Storm

1- MST

1- Premature Burial

1- Snatch Steal

1- Graceful Charity

2- Nobleman of Crossout

1- Scapegoat

1- Morph

1- Swords of Revealing Light

 

8 Traps

 

1- Call of the Haunted

1- Mirror Force

1- Torrential Tribute

2- Bottomless Trap Hole

2- Sakuretsu Armor

1- Return from the Different Dimension

 

So ya, it appears that Trip Sorcerer ruled the day down in Columbus, and that full blown Return decks and tech-d Returns were all over the place. Everyone, including myself, thought it was wise to emulate Shane Scurry and his deck that won the last SJC.

 

I’m not exactly sure what to think of the event in Columbus. There was certainly some diversity, which everyone always loves b/c it makes things exciting. And, Cyber Stein decks will certainly become popular after Igor’s amazing performance across the seas. As always, I’ll be excited to see what happens in Chicago, and, if I find it within me to make the 4-5 hour drive, maybe I’ll have a chance to see first hand.

 

Anyway- onto the real point of today’s article…

 

Dark World. Everyone has been talking about it since the birth of this new format. Some heralded it as the next Top Tier deck type while others said it will never be consistent enough to win at high levels. There have been a number of versions: some people tech a copy or two of Goldd, some prefer to run a “pure” Dark World deck (swarming with Goldd’s, Sillva’s, Beige, and Card of Safe Return, some control with Dark Deal’s and Forces of Darkness, and others try something else. I, for the last week or two, have fallen into that “something else” category.

 

First and foremost, I must give credit where it’s due. I am sure that others have had this idea, and indeed it is a popular deck in Asia, but it was Kill_Switch, and active member on a number of boards, who introduced me to this deck type. Dark World Chaos seemed an obvious deck to run, and Jae Kim, in an earlier Pojo article, allude to as much. I am a bit ashamed I never tried to combine the two. I have tried a number of Thunder Dragon decks (since T.Drag is one of my favorite cards of all time), with flips, Night Assailant, Pot of Avarice…and basically all of the pieces needed to run this deck. However, I never stumbled upon it myself.

 

In generally growing bored with the Trip Sorc build, which I’ve been playing since Scurry won, I looked for something new.

 

So, with that little bit of history stated- here’s a basic decklist, and more likely than not, what I will run for the next few weeks.

 

|020|

|001| Chaos Sorcerer
|003| Goldd, Wu-Lord
|002| Sillva, Warlord
|003| Thunder Dragon
|003| Spirit Reaper
|001| Breaker Mage Warrior
|001| Sangan
|002| Magician of Faith
|001| Treeborn Frog
|001| Tsukuyomi
|001| Morphing Jar
|001| Night Assailant

|015|

|001| Graceful Charity
|001| MST
|001| Heavy Storm
|001| Premature Burial
|001| Snatch Steal
|002| Nobleman of Crossout
|002| Dark World Lightning
|001| Card Destruction
|001| Confiscation
|002| Smashing Ground
|001| Pot of Avarice
|001| Scapegoat

|005|

|001| Call of the Haunted
|001| Torrential Tribute
|001| Mirror Force
|002| Deck Devastation Virus

 

            This deck is a modified version of those I had originally seen, modified slightly to better fit my playstyle. What I love most about this deck isn’t it’s supreme ability to swarm the field (although, as I mentioned in my last article, spamming wins games). Instead, I am enamored with the amount of resource manipulation this deck allows.

 

            In short, this deck seems to aim to generate 141’s until you can draw into one of the 4-6 resource manipulation cards (Graceful, Card Destruction, Morphing Jar, Pot of Avarice, and the 2 DWL’s). Then, you use those cards to generate more advantage than would a normal player playing them. For example, most everyone uses Graceful the same way, and unless they are running Goldd’s, only generate partial advantage by discarding a Treeborn Frog or a Night Assailant. Here, you have the choice of discarding 2 Thunder Dragons, and keeping 2 cards, discarding Dark World monsters, to not only keep the cards you draw, but play monsters, and then traditionally discarding NA + Treeborn.

 

            The deck is, as I mentioned, designed to hold out, and then generate large advantage swings with a few card combinations. This theory, actually, is quite alike the Bazoo Return decks made popular a few months ago. They aimed to whittle an opponents resources, until they were topdecking or near to it, then hitting the opponent hard with Return. Unlike Bazoo Return decks, however, the meta will not allow such rapid generation of 141’s, but when the massive advantage swings are created, they last for more than a single turn. Also nice about this deck, is that 3 of the cards, Morphing Jar, Card Destruction, and Deck Devastation Virus, really throw off whatever plan your opponent was cooking up.

 

141’s:

 

-         Smashing Ground, obviously, generates the type of quick leveling of the playing field we need, and they also serve to ward of Chaos Sorcerer’s, which can disrupt things a bit.

-         Spirit Reaper bides time until you can draw into some of the cards to generate advantage, and almost always is a 141 if not more.

-         Scapegoat, while typically a –1 advantage card, bides time like reaper, and is important for back row support, especially since this deck runs 5 traps.

-         Confiscation, while also being a 141, gives you a leg up on your opponent, and works nicely with DDV.

 

Advantage Engines:

 

-         Graceful + Dark World: clearly, a heralded combination

-         Graceful + T. Drag: Allows you to thin your deck via Dragon’s effect and keep 3 cards

-         Graceful + Treeborn or Night Assailant: You may as well give yourself as many chances to manipulate your resources as possible

 

-         Morphing Jar + Dark World: obviously, another staple in a deck with Dark World monsters. It also serves to upset your opponents resource base.

-         Morphing Jar + Night Assailant or Treeborn: Like the aforementioned trick with Graceful, you can continue to push advantage in your direction

-         Morphing Jar + DDV: This has by far been my favorite way to create massive +1’s. After DDV has been activated, destroy their hand and field, extend yours, then flip jar, to continue the destruction while refilling your hand.

 

 

-         DDV: Dastardly turns their Smashing Ground into a potential Raigeki + Delinquent Duo. Also gives you another answer to Spirit Reaper, so that you can attack for the win.

 

-         Pot of Avarice + T.Drag: For whatever reason, this is my favorite combination in the world. Dump 2 Dragons, keep one in hand, play Avarice, draw two (hopefully neither is a dragon), then discard the dragon in your hand to add the others. This basically turns PoA back into Pot of Greed. Its happy time

 

 

So, in short, that’s the deck. There are numerous routes you can take with it. I prefer this one. Just make sure that you have a sexy side deck ready. This is the most fun I have had playing any single deck in a long time.

 

As always- email me at xxbenthegreatxx@yahoo.com