Mofox on
YUGIOH
May 16, 2008
I SUMMON A MONSTER… NO YOU DON’T
I DRAW A CARD…. NO YOU DON’T
I PLAY A SPELL CARD… NO YOU DON’T
“To Meltiel or not to Meltiel, that is the question”
Apologies for the incredibly cheesy intro, it was taken from the Dark Paladin encyclopaedia of “Cheesy Lines to put in a Pojo Article”!
Through my recent information gathering on Counter Fairies, I managed to stumble upon a thread in the Pojo Message Boards dedicated to the discussion of Counter Fairy decks. The thread was now in it’s 4th incarnation due to the other 3 threads reaching 500 posts each. While reading the most recent thread I came across an interesting debate involving some experienced Counter Fairy deck-builders/duellists including some featured writers from Metagame.com.
The debate centred on whether to use Meltiel in a Counter Fairy deck or not. I was curious, basically because my initial thoughts about Counter Fairies was that Meltiel was as good as a staple card in a Counter Fairy deck. The straight card advantage it could generate warranted it as an auto inclusion or so I thought.
On the ‘pro-Meltiel’ side people were understandably arguing that its gain in advantage should not be ignored coupled with its ability to destroy Royal Decree.
On the ‘anti-Meltiel’ side people were arguing that the current super-fast meta meant that setting up Meltiel properly (with Sanctuary in the Sky) meant it was too slow for the current environment and required dedicated deck space that was not really available.
[A quick diversion away from the main article subject to explain quickly why deck space is so important in a Counter Fairy build. Due to the fact that Bountiful Artemis is the decks draw engine coupled with the fact that the card is unsearchable by conventional methods means that to ensure you can consistently draw it early in the game (which is vital for a Counter Fairy deck) you need to have your deck count as close to 40 cards as possible.]
Both sides had valid arguments but the ‘anti-Meltiel’ side had an additional reason for explaining why the advantage gained by Meltiel was unnecessary, which means its time to introduce a card that single-handedly raised the competitiveness of a Counter Fairy deck through the roof:
· Van’dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord – Level 8 Dark Dragon 2800ATK 2500DEF
o After a Counter Trap Card you control negates the activation of an opponent's card(s) or effect(s), you can Special Summon this card from your hand. Then activate the appropriate effects, based on the type of cards negated:
§ Spell: Inflict 1500 damage to your opponent.
§ Trap: Select and destroy 1 card your opponent controls.
§ Effect Monster: Select 1 monster in your Graveyard and Special Summon it.
This card is an absolute beast in Counter Fairy decks. Vandy (as it is affectionately known in Counter Fairy circles) is a special summon monster with an ATK power great enough to trade with DaD and Dark Magician of Chaos.
The ‘anti-Meltiel’ side argued that getting this card out on the field as early as possible generally meant your opponent would be shaking your hand congratulating you very quickly. The Counter Fairy deck should therefore gear more towards getting this guy out as quickly as possible, due to the current speed of the current Meta we duel in. Imagine the below scenario:
Player A attempts to use Monster Reborn to bring back Disk Commander.
Player B negates Monster Reborn with Dark Bribe.
Player B then proceeds to special summon Vandy and then inflict 1500 points of damage
If Meltiel, Sanctuary and Artemis were on the field then the Player B would also gain 1000 life points, draw a card and then destroy another card on Player A’s side. This could potentially leave an empty field for Player A.
Next Turn Player B summons a monster (with a minimum of 500ATK) attacks directly with all 4 monsters for another 6500+ damage (depending on which monster was summoned). Including the 1500 before that means a total of 8000+, Player B wins the duel.
Even without Meltiel, Sanctuary and Artemis you could potentially (against a clear field) do 4300 damage over 50% of your opponents’ life points because of 1 card.
Both sides of the argument have valid points. Vandy is definitely one of Counter Fairies greatest weapons so arguably the deck should be dedicated to getting him on the field as quickly as possible. However you cannot ignore the advantage that Meltiel can provide.
The debate, for me, centres around which approach will give you more consistent victories. If you were to use part of your deck to create the setup needed for the Meltiel engine then you need to be able to stall out the game until you draw the necessary cards. Zeradias can give you quick access to Sanctuary but what about Meltiel? Its 1600ATK makes it difficult to search efficiently. Meaning that you are essentially waiting to draw him out of your deck. Bountiful Artemis will speed up this process but there will be times when you just will not draw him before your opponent can build their own win condition. DaD decks can do this consistently within the first 5 turns of a duel, not giving you much time. Your counter traps will only disrupt your opponents’ strategy for so long before they can get a DaD online or a Dark Magician or use a Return from the Different Dimension.
In addition even after you have a Meltiel & Sanctuary on the field what is your next move? Drawing and special summoning Vandy? Most probably. So all you are essentially doing is delaying an approach to winning that you are going to do anyway, so why not just try to get to that “win condition” as quickly as possible.
To summarise, Counter Fairies became more competitive due to Van’dalgyon’s ability to end the duel. The sooner you can get to this card and use it, the quicker you end the duel and hence the more consistently you will win.
I’m still open to both ideas and throughout my investigation into the Counter Fairy deck my views will probably swing between the 2 sides. Note that the current mid format ban-list changes have slowed DaD down a little bit, this naturally has an affect on all deck types so of course you must take this into consideration when looking at your Counter Fairy build.
Next time I want to look at some other cards that should be considered in Counter Fairy builds. If you had a 1-tribute card with 2200ATK that could negate all of your opponents spell cards would you include him in your deck? Most likely. Well Counter Fairies have exactly that read next week to find out more.
Anyone wishing to email me on the subject I actively encourage it, I’m currently on an information gathering mission of epic proportions to try and understand Counter Fairies and request that anyone with an opinion, thought, analysis, experience of this deck type to email me at Mofox_@hotmail.co.uk. Put “Counter Fairy” in the subject of your email otherwise I won’t read it.