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FanatikMonk on Yu-Gi-Oh!
A Devastating Deck Indeed
August 24, 2006 

            Hey everyone!  I’ve gotten some e-mails on my take on this new ban and how I’m using it and, more importantly, how I’m abusing it.  I thought it’d be nice to give some insight on that right now and the things I’m doing to prepare for this change in the meta.

            Research was the first thing I did.  Pojo’s boards are a great place to study on what people are running and what people think of that.  I find that the best decks aren’t the highest rated ones, but the ones people would have the greatest difficulty over coming.  Those two things aren’t necessarily the same thing and in understanding that an example should be given.  Concepts that we don’t immediately understand we tend to have difficulty with analyzing and critiquing.  That absence of opinion often translates to an absence of problems with the deck.  These high scores affect what many people think are the norm and what many people decide to run and run against.  Basically a long winded way of saying, if you want to see what to expect go into an advanced search, click advanced deck discussions and type in “CC”, “Meta”, “Anti-CC” or “Anti-Meta” and you’ll pull up a good hundred decks with high scores.  For example this deck:

Monsters (22)

Mobius the Frost Monarch x 1

Zaborg the Thunder Monarch x 2

Treeborn Frog x 1

Sangan x 1

Breaker the Magical Warrior x 1

Mystic Swordsman Lv2 x 1

Exiled Force x 2

D.D. Warrior Lady x 1

D. D. Assailant x 1

Don Zaloog x 2

Night Assailant x 1

Mystic Tomato x 2

Spirit Reaper x 1

Cyber-Stein x 1

Magician of Faith x 1

Nimble Momonga x 3

Spells (12)

Graceful Charity x 1

Nobleman of Crossout x 1

Premature Burial x 1

Mystical Space Typhoon x 1

Heavy Storm x 1

Last Will x 1

Enemy Controller x 2

Reinforcement of the Army x 2

Book of Moon x 1

Confiscation x 1

Traps (6)

Ring of Destruction x 1

Mirror Force x 1

Call of the Haunted x 1

Torrential Tribute x 1

Bottomless Trap Hole x 2

            Yea that looks just like what a lot of people are thinking.  Some are going the twin-headed/drillroid/Airknight route, but save for small differences, this is the expected meta.  Now what I did is thought how to shut this down.  How do I rob this deck of options quickly and easily?  Well Royal Decree wouldn’t do too much, because traps are only a small threat in this deck.  Stopping the spells would go but so far to destroying the deck.  What would really pull this string from string is destroying the monster lineup.  Deck Devastation Virus could do that and allow me to see their hand, destroying most combo potential. 

            Now 2 DDVs may seem effective in neutralizing your opponent’s strategy but they can’t be all you have.  I combined this with a dark world theme that focused on destroying f/d cards.  3 Dark world Lightning’s + 2 Deck Devastation Viruses = 1  Frozen Deck/ 1 sad opponent.  To further illustrate this point, we’re going to take a second look at this deck and take out the cards that are neutralized by the strategy.

Monsters (6)

Mobius the Frost Monarch x 1

Zaborg the Thunder Monarch x 2

Treeborn Frog x 1                          ß  It’ll come back so it doesn’t count.

Breaker the Magical Warrior x 1

D. D. Assailant x 1

Spells (9)

Graceful Charity x 1

Nobleman of Crossout x 1

Premature Burial x 1

Mystical Space Typhoon x 1

Heavy Storm x 1

Last Will x 1

Reinforcement of the Army x 2

Confiscation x 1

Traps (1)

Ring of Destruction x 1

            Nice right.  Well now that I have my goals, I needed to figure out a way to piece it all together.  Take a look at the deck, marvel at it’s beauty and then we’ll talk a little about the strength behind it.

Monsters (21)

Goldd x 2

Silva x 2

Dark Scorpion- Meanae the Thorn x 3

Mystic Tomato x 3

Exiled Force x 2

D.D. Warrior Lady x 1

Strike Ninja x 1

Spirit Reaper x 1

Treeborn Frog x 1

Morphing Jar x 1

Sangan x 1

Breaker the Magical Warrior x 1

Magician of Faith x 1

Night Assailant x 1

Spells (13)

Graceful Charity x 1

Premature Burial x 1

Nobleman of Crossout x 1

Mystical Space Typhoon x 1

Heavy Storm x 1

Book of Moon x1

Dark World Lightning x 3

Rush Recklessly x 2

Reinforcement of the Army x 2

Traps(6)
Mirror Force x 1

Torrential Tribute x 1

Mirror Force x 1

Call of The Haunted x 1

Deck Devastation Virus x 2

            Now this deck definitely accomplishes the two goals I wanted.  It provides a strong base for the virus and enough monsters that qualify for its cost (remember rush recklessly + anything 1300 or more = DDV).  Some interesting choices that I found work very well in this deck:

Meanae- Allows me to keep a full hand with enough defensive monsters to be a threat to my opponent.  I can let them ram a meanae, grab another and cycle them until I’m in a situation to create a large combo.  They also serve as great discards for Dark World Lightning later on in the game.  Usually I’ll only have one on the field, and hopefully I’ll have 2 in my hand.

Mystic Tomato- Having this card in 3’s seems a little iffy because I don’t have a zaloog/reaper anywhere.  I justify this by the strength it adds to the strike ninja aspet of the deck and the versatility it provides, being able to grab a nice floater (Sangan, Meanae) is always fun.  The tomato also ensures that I’ll always have a monster on my field to pump and tribute for DDV.

Rush Recklessly- This card is what this new ban is about.  There is room now to run 2 (maybe 3) of this fantastic card and combo ridiculously with it.

3 Dark World Lightning- A lot of people argue that this is overkill and that anything more than 2 ( or even 1 if you’re running NoC) is excessive.  I come back with the fact that mid-late game, I’ll usually have 2 Meanae (or at least 1) floating around in my hand and at that point this card becomes a 1 for 1 for face down monsters with no drawback.  It’s essential for maintaining fluidity in the deck and merging themes.

            So, the way this deck runs is in stages.  My opening move is usually a f/d tomato or Meanae and the moves that ensue pull cards out of the deck fast.  My initial goal is to slim the deck to a size that makes drawing a Dark World friendly hand a quick and easy possibility.  With 3 tomatoes, 3 meanae, morphing jar and graceful I can usually slim off ten cards within a few turns.  Slimming during a duel is an under appreciated concept, but it is incredibly important.  Digging to that treeborn Frog and eventually establishing a steady stream of Dark World cards and staples increases my chances of putting my opponent against the wall.  Deck Devastation Virus is an unrelenting force in this deck and is used immediately.  Some players argue that the Virus should be saved for when you know it’ll be needed.  I argue that the first opportunity that presents itself to use it is usually the best.  I tend to play it when a monster is targeted or at the end of a turn to see a set card and, potentially, eliminate it.  Deck Devastation Virus can usually cover its cost with the added benefit of knowing your opponent’s hand for the next 3 turns.

            Well this is my example of how I’m using this new format to get ahead.  You can test his deck if you’d like or e-mail me about changes and ideas you have for it.  Regardless, I hope this helped and Happy Dueling!

FanatikMonk

Clayton_Nelson@Brown.edu