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GeneralZorpa on Yugioh
XXX-Saber
August 31, 2009

Each Man Under my Command Owes Me One Hundred Nazi Scalps

If you don't believe the above statement, then I dare you to wear a Nazi uniform around me! Anyway, the deck that is making the buzz all over the country and the world except for Japan is probably going to be the X-Saber deck. I want to clear something up RIGHT NOW. The XX-Saber monsters are treated as X-Sabers, so you can do all sorts of crazy shenanigans with them that you otherwise would not have been able to do.

The deck revolves around the X-Saber monsters of course, with a few support cards thrown in for good measure. Though the deck that made them famous in Japan is dead (The first turn handless deck) due to the recent banlist, it is still easy to create massive amounts of advantage by using these cards. Faultroll, Fullhelmnight, Airbellum and Ragigura are the focus of the deck with Galahad and Gardestrike playing a more supporting role.

The best way to abuse X-Sabers is to get two of them to the field, that way you can Synch and Summon Faultroll. The deck is basically played as if you have a Faultroll in hand, otherwise you just do not have the power to bust through a really strong deck like Blackwing. Fortunately, Fullhelmknight has an innate ability to negate attacks and Gottoms Emergency Call is amazingly good at getting the required two monsters to the field.

I have seen several variants of the deck, and I do not like most of them. One used Charge of the Light Brigade and the one that I have been testing with for a while uses Card Trooper, not great additions to the deck. This is what I came up with while perusing the boards, picking strengths and weakness from each deck. See, it pays to look at the boards a lot!

So I give you my deck, Swap-Saber XXX Awesomeness!

And I Want My Scalps!

Monsters-20

3x XX-Saber Faultroll
2x XX-Saber Gardestrike

3x X-Saber Airbellum
3x XX-Saber Fullhelmknight
3x Giant Rat
2x XX-Saber Ragigura
1x Sangan
1x Rescue Cat
1x X-Saber Galahad
1x Neo Spacien Dark Panther

Spells-14

3x Book of Moon
2x Saber Slash
2x Creature Swap
1x My Body As A Shield
1x Mind Control
1x Swords of Revealing light
1x Brain Control
1x Heavy Storm
1x Giant Trunade
1x Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps-6

2x Gottoms Emergency Call
1x Solemn Judgment
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Call of the Haunted

Extra-15

3x XX-Saber Gottoms
1x Red Dragon Archfiend
1x Colossal Fighter
1x Thought Ruler Archfiend
1x Stardust Dragon
1x Black Rose Dragon
1x X-Saber Urbellum
1x Ancient Fairy Dragon
1x Arcanite Magician
1x Goyo Guardian
1x Gaia Knight, Force of the Earth
1x Magical Android
1x Armory Arm

My Business is Killin' Nazis...

The deck is actually very consistent. Giant Rat will fetch Ragigura, Fulhelmknight and Rescue Cat as well as stalling the Battle Phase. Fullhelmknight does much the same thing, and can combo very nicely with Gottoms Emergency Call to negate more attacks where your opponent was not expecting.

Faultroll forms the basis for the deck, getting back X-Sabers for Synchroing as well as getting that cool combo off. His 2400 ATK is nothing to laugh at either. I won a game by equipping Faultroll with Armory Arm. The beater of the deck is Gottoms, able to completely clear out your opponent's hand in certain situations as well as beat face. He is actually very easy to summon, as Faultroll, Goyo or Gaia Knight plus a level 3 Tuner makes him very easy to get out.

Ragigura gets X-Sabers from the graveyard (specifically Faultroll) as well as making a rather excellent Swap target due to his 100 ATK and need to be summoned to do anything. Airbellum picks up with Gottoms and Urbellem, able to pick apart an opponent's strategy before it starts as well as being a great target for Rescue Cat. Rescue Cat not only gets Airbelleum, but also Neo Spacien Dark Panther, who is good in his own right, able to copy amazing effects like Lyla and Judgment Dragon as well as enabling some good side options against Gladiator Beasts.

Galahad and Gardestrike are here as supplementary cards only. Galahad has a decent ATK of 2100 when attacking and is able to be a non-Tuner for your plethora of Tuner monsters. Gardestrike is easier to Summon than Cyber Dragon and is a level 5 so that he can be used easily with Airbellum or Fullhelmknight for a level 8 Synchro.

...And Business Is a Boomin'

The spell and trap card lineup is not specifically unique. Saber Slash is one of the best X-Saber cards, able to wipe out Spell Cards, Trap cards and Monster cards based on the amount of X-Sabers you have on the field. It is like Lightning Vortex, Smashing Ground and Twister all in one card! It is not playable at 3, just because you HAVE to kill cards equal to the X-Sabers, even your own...

Book of Moon is a great card, forcing monsters into their weakest position and saving your own monsters from Lightning Vortes, Smashing Ground and Brain Control. It also has synergy with Fullhelmknight, making it easy to get extra monsters from your graveyard. Creature Swap is a multipurpose card. It swaps your weak monsters for (hopefully) stronger monsters from your opponent. It works great with Rescue Cat (as you would lose the monsters anyway), Sangan, Ragigura and Giant Rat as well as a spent Fullhelmknight.

My Body As a Shield is a pseudo-replacement for Solemn Judgment, allowing you to keep your monsters safe at the expense of your opponents. Gyzarus, Judgment Dragon, Dark Armed Dragon, Murmillo and Arcanite Magician cringe when they see this card. You can even use it from your hand on your turn to stop a key Mirror force or Torrential Tribute for only 1500 lp.

Mind Control and Brain Control do what they do best. As you have 6 Tuners in the deck that are easily available and reusable, you need to find ways to abuse that. Taking their monsters for Synchroing is crazy, putting them behind and you ahead. Swords of Revealing Light stalls for a while, easily frustrating an opponent that does not want to waste a card to kill it.

Gottoms Emergency Call is the last non-staple in the deck. It gets back X-Sabers from EITHER graveyard if you control an X-Saber, so spent Airbellums from your opponent are great as well. It is best to use this card in your opponent's End Phase, but a clear backrow could be great things. You can get ANY X-Saber, which I believe includes Faultroll so long as you control 2 X-Sabers. An end phase Gottoms is a real shocker for your opponent.

I Think This Is My Masterpiece

Of course, no deck is ever "Completely" finished. I had to exclude some cards that I REALLY wanted to put in but found no room for. Her is a list of cards that I think could make the deck awesomer.

-My Body As A Shield
-Pot of Avarice
-Autonomous Action Unit
-The Warrior Returning Alive
-Rose-Warrior of Revenge
-Ryko-Lightsworn Hunter
-Bottomless Trap Hole

There are other cards that would go well in here as well, so don't hesitate to try them out. YOU might discover the cards that break the deck wide open!

Anyway, that is all for this article. You can email me questions, concerns, ideas and decks at raptor1k@hotmail.com but be sure to put YGO in the title so I don't throw it out. My next article will be on the Extra Deck as a toolbox instead of a win condition now that Dark Strike Fighter is banned.

Until next time!

Thanx for Reading
GZ