Hello again to Pojo and Yugioh fans one and all! I have decided to come today and construct a Dark Paladin deck for the current format? could this deck hold its own in the current format? Arguably.

This will primarily be a Spellcaster deck, but it will also focus on ways to summon Dark Paladin as well as keeping him on the field.

Obviously, the main strength of the deck is the ability to negate your opponent's Magic cards.

The other main focus of the deck is keeping Dark Paladin on the field.
Since he can ONLY be summoned by Fusion Summon, once he hits the Graveyard, he isn't coming back folks.

Monsters

Fusion x3

Dark Paladin x3

Tribute Monsters x4

Dark Magician of Chaos
Dark Magician
Buster Blader x2

Non-tribute monsters x16

King of the Swamp x3
Skilled Dark Magician x3
Gravekeeper's Spy x3
Injection Fairy Lily
DD Survivor
Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
Neo Spacian Grand Mole
Morphing Jar
Sangan
Treeborn Frog

Magic Cards x18

Polymerization x3
Fusion Gate x2
Magical Dimension x2
Card Destruction
Future Fusion
Confiscation
Mystical Space Typhoon
Heavy Storm
Snatch Steal
Brain Control
Card Trader
Premature Burial
Enemy Controller
Shrink

Trap Cards x7

Solemn Judgement x3
Interdimensional Matter Transporter
Mirror Force
Ring of Destruction
Waboku

All right, that puts the deck at 45 cards, a bit bigger than standard, but I believe it was necessary in order to make this deck playable.

Notes: I have purposely left out the Monarchs, notably Mobius, as I didn't want that cluttering up the deck. The point here is to stay away from cards you are going to see in nearly every other deck you face.

I also left out the Gadgets, who oddly enough, might actually help speed up the deck a little, but I think the deck can function well enough on its own without them.

Now, let's explain this a little. The tribute monsters are straight forward. Dark Magician of Chaos is a solid choice here, Buster Blader will be powerful enough on his own, and you of course must use the Dark Magician. (I know both aren't necessary with 3x King of the Swamp.)

The non-tribute monsters are also pretty straight forward. Skilled Dark Magician and Injection Fairy Lily are for Beatdown and a little Control. Treeborn Frog and Gravekeeper's Spy and for tribute bait while DD Survivor can help counter DD Warrior Lady and DD Assailant.
Sangan is to help searchability and Neo Spacian Grand Mole is for a little control. Kycoo is also powerful, and can add a little removal while Morphing Jar helps add a little resource replenishment.

The Magic cards are also pretty solid. Polymerization, Fusion Gate, and Future Fusion allows you three separate ways to summon Dark Paladin. You could add a Dimension Fusion in hopes of a swarm involving Paladin, Dark Magician, and Buster Blader for some extra damage. Confiscation and MST are obvious, while Snatch Steal and Brain Control are to help tribute. Enemy Controller and Shrink add a little defense, while Card Trader adds some draw power Premature Burial adds some revival.

The Trap line up is also quite handy. Solemn Judgement x3 is to help you take care of anything that Dark Paladin can't handle or any other problems you may run into. Interdimensional Matter Transporter can help protect Dark Paladin from other things, like Demise or Ring of Destruction. The use of Mirror Force is obvious and Waboku adds a little protection.

I've been play testing this deck for about a month at my local shop, and it does pretty well. I actually took first two weeks ago against two Gadget decks, two Monarch builds, an E-Hero build, a Diamond Dude Turbo, and a Chimera deck. This deck can hold its own, you just have to be intelligent while playing. One mistake and you can lose everything.

Well, that does it for today, and I hope you enjoyed it. I'm going to try to construct more decks in the future, and that brings me to my final point. If you would like to see a certain deck constructed, let me know. I'm always up for a challenge. I actually believe I'm going to construct a Blue Eyes deck next. I'd also like to construct a Normal Monster deck based around some of those new cards, like Ancient Rule. Please feel free to contact me with anything @ tsearcy@lssu.edu

You stay classy, Planet Earth :)

~Dark Paladin~