JAELOVE's Smooth Journey
Article 30: The Truth About Zombies 
February 28, 2005

We're at a standstill right now; I can't work on the new decks that were voted by the poll because the new bans will come out in a month (making my work useless). So while we sit here and wait for a month with a series of articles about deck construction and such, get all your buddies to vote in the polls! Thank you. It can be found under Article 29. 

There's a lot of hoopla, build-up, and anticipation over the king archetypes of the new metagame, and one that has already been anointed, Zombies, has been shown lots of love from the theorists. Essentially, the semi-restriction of Vampire Lord and the restriction of D.D Warrior Lady and Mirror Force *should* theoretically lift Zombies from the "tier two" (playable decks that have a shot at regionals) to "tier one" (decks that top eight at regionals).  

I find many flaws with this reasoning, but this article will attempt to flesh out the many theories regarding Zombies, express opinions from the point of view of one who has mastered them in the pre-April 1st ban format, and for the first time ever……. my Shonen Jump decklist will be posted.

I've received lots of e-mails regarding my Dustshoot/Mind Crush deck, and since The Forceful Sentry and Confiscation weaken the deck heavily, I figured I might as well post it to help show the strategies behind (what I feel) is one of the most original decks to ever qualify for nationals.  

I must really love the readers of pojo.com, because I'm now consecutively posting both of my top 8 regionals decks, Strike Ninja and Zombie Control, with full sidedecks and strategies. Great scott, what other website provides this sort of exclusive? Anyways, here it is. 

JAELOVE'S Idea of the Best Pre-Ban Zombie Deck Build:

Traps: 6

We're going to work our way down from Traps to Monsters, this time, because everything will have to fit the theme, which is sheer and utter hand control devastation.      

We begin with 3 copies of Trap Dustshoot, a card that works as The Forceful Sentry and Confiscation in the opening game. It is highly underrated. But note that this card prevents me from using other, standard hand disruption like Don Zaloog because I want them to have as many chances of having 4 cards in hand as possible. Therefore, I won't run Drop Off or Time Seal, either.

To augment this force, we're going to add two copies of Mind Crush, a card that works wickedly with either Trap Dustshoot or the two spell-prenegators to immediately get the jump on the opponent. Rarely, I might be able to drop 2 of their cards at the same time, but keep this in mind; if I successfully use either of these cards, I'm turning it into my 5 best cards into their 5 worst cards (weeding out their biggest threat), or even my best 4 cards into their 4 worst cards (weeding out their two biggest threats).

Finally, the deck includes a Call of the Haunted for saucily obvious reasons.

Traps that did not make the cut after heavy playtesting:

Ring of Destruction was removed, almost intuitively, because the life point payments from Confiscation and Injection Fairy Lily would be too much.

Ceasefire, a staple in almost all of my decks, was removed because I needed more defense.

Torrential Tribute and Sakuretsu Armor were not included because I did not want to destroy my own Reapers and prevent my Turtles from getting their effects.

So the deck did not run the two "best" traps, Ring of Destruction and Torrential Tribute (though I wanted to run Ring badly).

Spells: 17

The spells begin with the two hand disruptors, The Forceful Sentry and Confiscation. These, along with Trap Dustshoot, form the glue of the deck.

Next is Painful Choice and Pot of Greed, for obvious reasons. The first Painful drop would usually be 3 Dustshoot, Forceful, and Confiscation, leading to utter hand disruption. If I was lucky enough to have a Dustshoot, the drops would be Confiscation, 3 Mind Crush, and another Dustshoot. Instant hand disruption. In fact, an early Painful always won me the game, since it would thin out the other Dustshoots (which are bad draws later on in the duel).

Heavy playtesting yielded two Book of Lifes, which is far more stable than running 3. Almost every duelist who playtests Zombies in the new environment will realize that 2 Book of Life is optimal.

The obvious "staples" were Heavy Storm, Mystical Space Typhoon, Premature Burial, Change of Heart, and Snatch Steal.

After heavy playtesting, the Compulsory Evacuation Device I had main-decked gave way to two copies of Book of Moon, which protected both my Turtles and Spirit Reapers and provided defense and synergy with two Nobleman of Crossout, which were essential in clearing the field and removing threats.

Finally, the deck ran a copy of Mirage of Nightmare and Emergency Provisions, both of which guaranteed stability in the main-deck (when I wasn't sure who would go first). See the deck wins 100% of its duels if you elect to go first, but since the first game would always be a coin flip (to see who goes), the main deck was a bit more stable than the side-deck version.

Monsters: 17

The monsters begin with 3 Pyramid Turtle, which are essential, mixed with two Spirit Reapers. These, on their own, provided as much presence as one needed, and the two tribute monsters were Vampire Lord and Ryu Kokki. See, by Trap Dustshoot/Mind Crushing all that may threaten Vampire Lord, manipulating the opponent into summoning and killing Pyramid Turtle, they begin to run out of options. When Vampire Lord hits the field, immune to all monster, spell, and trap effects, the game is basically over.

The rest of the monsters had to be able to capitalize on the clear field that Dustshoot/Crush would leave me. The idea was that, by removing enough monsters from the opponent's deck, they would leave a clear field to attack. Hence the inclusion of two Airknight Parshath, which also handled Scapegoats (annoying stall).

Included as well were three Earth monsters with great mutual synergies in the deck, Giant Rat, Exiled Force, and Injection Fairy Lily. Lily, in particular, would spell doom for the opponent (two attacks and it would be game).

I threw in a Magician of Faith because her effect was basically guaranteed to go off (no Change of Heart through all the disruption).

Finally, I added in a Fiber Jar to help prevent bad draws and to clear fields for more pre-negation.

The monster "staples" were Breaker the Magical Warrior, Tribe-Infecting Virus, and Sinister Serpent.

Yes the deck did not run Black Luster Soldier, Magical Scientist, D.D Warrior Lady, or any other such "monster" staples.

Sidedeck: 15

I wanted to handle Burn so I added 2 Dust Tornado and 2 Swarm of Locusts.

If I won the first match (thus being guaranteed to go second in the next duel), I would side out the 3 Dustshoot/Crush for 3 Scapegoat, 2 Creature Swap, and Torrential Tribute.

To mix with these 5 cards, I would sub out the Airknight Parshath for 2 Mobius the Frost Monarch (which also helped against Burn).

The rest of the deck is what I call hardcore control augmenters. I would put all of these in when I was guaranteed to go first (if I lost the first, or second duel.)

Back to Square One, Mind Crush, Compulsory Evacuation Device.

These cards undermined the stability of my deck, but really augmented the control elements and almost guaranteed me a win if my deck went first.

JAELOVE's Zombie Control Decklist: 40 Cards

1. Vampire Lord
1. Ryu Kokki
2. Airknight Parshath
3. Pyramid Turtle
2. Spirit Reaper
1. Fiber Jar
1. Giant Rat
1. Exiled Force
1. Injection Fairy Lily
1. Sinister Serpent
1. Tribe-Infecting Virus
1. Breaker the Magical Warrior
1. Magician of Faith

1. Pot of Greed
1. Painful Choice
1. The Forceful Sentry
1. Confiscation
2. Book of Life
1. Premature Burial
1. Change of Heart
1. Snatch Steal
1. Heavy Storm
1. Mystical Space Typhoon
2. Nobleman of Crossout
2. Book of Moon
1. Mirage of Nightmare
1. Emergency Provisions

3. Trap Dustshoot
2. Mind Crush
1. Call of the Haunted

Side-Deck:

2. Mobius the Frost Monarch
2. Swarm of Locusts
2. Creature Swap
3. Scapegoat
1. Back to Square One
1. Mind Crush
2. Dust Tornado
1. Compulsory Evacuation Device
1. Torrential Tribute

There you go; the reason I was so secretive about this deck is that I wanted to tweak it for Nationals. Now, however, I might have to scrap the idea completely (though I'm working on it still). The ban of Change of Heart and the two pre-negators has made it hard to maintain Airknights and use the Dustshoot/Crush effectively.

Anyways, I hope you all have enjoyed this look at a Zombie deck that's qualified for Nationals and gone a combined 20-4 in two Shonen Jump Championships and a regionals (in Southern California and Las Vegas). To those who have asked for the decklist, here it is.

After the Struggle:

Now let's take a look at Zombies after the ban list. To both those with misconceptions and to those who want to take a try at Zombies, here is some advice preceded by a rant.

L33t User Pwnj0rZ McNaStY: Zombies have finally made the jump to tier one!

JAELOVE respond: Zombies were always one of the most competitive deck types in existence. Over my deck's entire dueling career, it lost twice to Earth beatdown, one on a scoop and one on time, and once to the "invincible "Warriors." In fact, there are plenty of themes out there like Zombies and Strike Ninja that could win regionals tournaments and have; you just need to know where to look.

(By the way, I have a penchant for making fun of that fangled "leet speak." I'm not actually being serious and I'm sure most of it is spelt incorrectly.)

See, Zombies have the best searcher in the game, their own Monster Reborn, and the ability to manipulate the graveyard in all sorts of ways. Vampire Lord itself is unquestionably the best themed tribute monster in existence, and the fact that it is semi-restricted does NOT magically make it a playable card; it was always great to begin with.

In fact (here begins the pro-Zombie rant), almost nothing has changed with the ban list. Sure there'll be a Mirror Force, less D.D Warrior Ladies, and no Magical Scientist. People are acting as if those changes alone suddenly "elevate" Zombies to equal footing with Warriors. But could it be that Zombies were already equal? And it simply took this ban list to make the unwashed masses sit and take heed? Let me continue.

Mirror Force will simply replace a Sakuretsu Armor. D.D Warrior Ladies will be replaced by D.D Assailants. And Magical Scientist hurts all themes equally. The removal of 2 or 3 cards that could legitimately destroy him doesn't suddenly transform Vampire Lord from a "decent" card to a godly presence. He always was.

Now that I'm done ranting about the disrespect that Zombies have gotten since the beginning of time, I'll say that I'm actually giving them up. I tend to shy away from those deck types that immediately become cookie-cutter, and Zombies will be no exception. So let me offer some tips to those who want to either counter them or play them.

TIPS FOR PLAYING A ZOMBIE DECK:

First of all, think of the synergies that you can promote in this deck. Pyramid Turtle is the key, but it's also directly linkable to Giant Rat, which is in turn linked to Exiled Force, Injection Fairy Lily, and others. So Monster Synergy is very important. I wouldn't necessarily suggest running Patrician of Darkness, but you'll definitely want 2 Vampire Lord and 1-2 Ryu Kokki. Any more tributes than that, without Change of Heart, is not recommended.

Also, make sure that your traps line up synergistically with one another. You're not going to want to Sakuretsu Armor that Berserk Gorilla when he's attacking Pyramid Turtle, right? You don't want to set Torrential when you have a Turtle and a Reaper set, so it's probably not the greatest of options. I feel that Zombies should focus on targeted removal, i.e Smashing Ground, Compulsory Evacuation Device, Ring of Destruction.

Finally, if you're going to run Scapegoats, add Creature Swaps, Metamorphosis, and Enemy Controllers. Don't go overboard on Spirit Reapers either, or you can clog up your whole field for ages. In fact, Metamorphosis is not recommended because you'll be giving up a Vampire Lord (which you never want to do really) for a Balter, or you'll be giving up a Ryu Senshi (which is very powerful) for a Ryu Senshi. Both are kind of questionable WITHOUT the additional cost of Metamorphosis thrown in, so yeah.

The typical monster lineup should be something like 3 Turtle, 2 Reaper, 2 Vampire Lord, and 2 Ryu Kokki. The rest of the Zombies are NOT playable, and even Regenerating Mummy isn't worth of the side-deck in my opinion. Because of that, you should run 2 Book of Life.

TIPS FOR PLAYING AGAINST A ZOMBIE DECK:

This will comprise the bulk of the article (I hate cookie cutter decks). Now personally, I consider my Zombie deck to almost never have been threatened, and no single card (including D.D Warrior Lady and Kycoo) ever hurt me.

People act like Kycoo is the end all and be all of graveyard related decks, but they've obviously done little to no playtesting. It does not stop either Strike Ninja or Zombies effectively, but there are effective counters indeed.

D.D Assailant is a prickly burr in the side of Zombie decks, mainly because it has to be killed with targeted removal and such. Kycoo might be decent, but if you're going to use it to kill a Vampire Lord……. You better target it and destroy it, then HOPE for a clear shot at their life points to remove it from game. Hardly likely.

You'll probably want to run 2000 attack monsters such as Berserk Gorilla, Zombrya the Dark, and Blade Knight. Of these three, Zombrya is the best cure, mainly because it won't lose itself in the attack.

Targetted removal in general is a good idea; obviously Vampire Lord is difficult to destroy, so the key is to try to get rid of the Pyramid Turtles and Reapers. Smashing Ground works wonders versus Pyramid Turtle, as does Nobleman of Crossout, Sakuretsu Armor, and others. You might want to try Swords+ Ceasefire, to flip those pesky face down monsters up, and avoid overextending until it happens.

Compulsory Evacuation Device, Enemy Controller, and Book of Moon work well versus Vampire Lord, and Enemy Controller is nice because it works versus Spirit Reaper as well. Even some tech Rush Recklessly or Mirror Wall can help.

The problem with countering Zombies, of course, is that the ones that counter Pyramid Turtle well are completely worthless against Vampire Lord. So even the best-prepared deck can get completely dominated regardless because most of its removal does not work whatsoever against Vampire Lord.

I used to manipulate people into attacking Pyramid Turtle (I would Trap Dustshoot, leave Breaker, then watch them summon it on my set Mind Crush). The same can be done by others, so you have to be careful not to trigger off the Vampire Lord bomb. I'll give you one hint: don't listen to the others. Bottomless Trap Hole is NOT the answer. It can't trigger in the damage step, so if they bring out a high level Zombie through Pyramid Turtle…….. good luck. It also won't stop 1200 Turtles, 300 Spirit Reapers, and so on.

In Summary:

Zombies were always at the top tier. Now that their originality and novelty will subside, I'll work hard on a new decktype that gets no respect but hopefully will dominate. Never let originality die fellow players, and good luck to all those who either play or face Zombie decks.

Reach me at JAELOVE@gmail.com, and if you like my work whatsoever, or if it has helped you, please support me and the website by voting in the poll and telling everyone you know to visit pojo.com!