With tournaments beginning to pop up and official tourneys just around the corner (in fact, rumor has it the first official tourney will be at Origins in July), we need to decide what type of deck we are going to use.  Unlike LoBEWD, where we only had one dominant archetype (Lord of D. wasn't that strong), Metal Raiders gives us a new variety.  Let's take a look:

 

 

F/S Beatdown: Wow, what a surprise =/  We get more fun attacking cards in Metal Raiders, including 7 Colored Fish, The Bistro Butcher, and Dark Elf.  Combined with what we have from LoBEWD, and new nasty cards like Heavy Storm, Tribute to the Doomed, Mirror Force, and Magic Jammer, we have ourselves yet another powerful deck.

 

Exodia: We can now play Exodia thanks to Cannon Soldier, Sangan, and Witch of the Black Forest.  Combo these with stalling cards like The Unhappy Maiden, Man-Eater Bug, Wall of Illusion, Mirror Force, and Paralyzing Potion, we have ourselves a deck.  Just be careful, as Metal Raiders has a few potent discard cards that will ruin your day.

 

Direct Damage: This deck uses a variety of direct damage cards (Tremendous Fire, Ookazi, Just Desserts, Princess of Tsurugi etc.) in combination with the Catapult Turtle and possibly Shield & Sword (depending on whether you go offensive or defensive).  Uses a number of combos to get multiple monsters on the field to give Catapult Turtle more ammunition.  Performed correctly, this deck can be a quick kill to your oppoennt.

 

Barrel Dragon: Today's Card of the Day also gets his own archetype!  This deck is based around monster removal and card disruption.  We keep the opponent's monsters off of the field, then use a variety of discard cards to prevent them from getting any more on the field.  With this accomplished, we can go on a direct damage assault.  Common cards here include Barrel Dragon, Man-Eater Bug, Wall of Illusion, Tribute to the Doomed, Card Destruction, Robbin' Goblin, Trap Hole, etc.

 

 

Fusion: With Metal Raiders, we get two useful fusion cards, Black Skull Dragon (REBD/Summoned Skull) and Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon (Thunder Dragon/Thunder Dragon).  Thunder Dragon also has a nifty effect that can get you THTD first turn!  If you discard it from your hand, you can search your deck for 2 other Thunder Dragons.  So if you get Thunder Dragon and Polymerization first turn, you can search for your other 2 Thunder Dragons, and get it out first turn!  Problem is, you are stuck with high-level monsters with low attack powers if you can't complete the combo.  If you can streamline the deck to run quickly, by all means run Fusion.  It's just not THAT good until we get Devil Franken (e. Cyber-Stein), BEUD, and Giant Growth (e. Megamorph), i.e. the one turn kill combo.

 

 

Gate Guardian: He may look big and powerful, but he's probably the hardest monster in the ENTIRE game to get out.  All 3 parts must be on the field, and they are all Level 7.  That translates to a LONG time to get them all out.  You CAN run a lot of combos to get monsters out quickly (Harpie Lady, Ultimate Offering, Last Will, Soul Exchange, etc.), but it's just not worth it.

 

Well, this is a quick look at tournament-worthy decks.  If you have any comments or concerns, send a line my way.  As always, the contact is NickWhiz1@buckeye-express.com.

 

As for anyone expecting to see me at Origins (since I do live in Toledo, Ohio, just 2 1/2 hours from Columbus), I'm going to be in New Orleans from the 5th to the 12th, so I can't attend.  Maybe next time.