Hey guys, I am back with another article. This is one is special though, as the article will be in 2 parts. Today I am presenting the finishing touches on the deck I am using in Columbus. As I said in previous articles, the key to doing well in any tournament (let alone an SJC) is the consistency of your deck. Whether or not you believe in the "heart of the cards" is up to you, but most duelists base there deck decisions upon probability, percentage, and predicting.

 

            To make a deck decision upon probability means what are your chances of drawing and playing out your concept (this is also used to create synergy). For example, my deck (which you can scroll down to the bottom to see) has the Destiny Hero concept. I use 3 of Malicious, 2 Destiny Draw, Dasher and Elemental Hero Stratos. The probability of me using this concept towards my win condition every game is almost 100%. With a thin deck of 40 cards including Dekoichi's, Sangan, and of course, Stratos, I can guarantee Malicious will come to my hand consistently, if not in my opening 6 cards. With this, I can play out all sorts of options.

 

            Based on the percentage of the deck, I have 6 cards I would love to discard to break even or even +1. In case you can't see them clearly, they are 3 Malicious, Treeborn Frog, Night Assailant and Dasher. All with graveyard effects, each are different but all lean towards the same goal; to abuse Snipe Hunter while applying pressure with monarchs and Metamorphosis. Malicious can turn into both Ryu Senshi and Dark Blade the Dragon Knight for annoying cards like Torrential Tribute for Ryu Senshi, or Treeborn Frog for Dark Blade. Snipe Hunter can safely destroy a monster with priority, because once I discard 1 of the 6 cards, I can gain back the advantage, even if I miss the roll. That is why I like this concept, because next turn I can easily bring out Ryu Senshi, then "over-extend" with Zaborg or Thestalos.

 

            The decks percentage of monsters and spell/traps is generally half in half, which is bad. I would love to have 23 monsters, equaling less spells/traps, but extra defense like Shrink is needed to protect my Metamorphosis. Book of Moon is needed to take down opposing cards like Ring of Destruction and Snatch Steal, while defending my life points. Premature Burial has great synergy with both Metamorphosis and Stratos. There are so many needed cards to fend off my opponents outs to my Metamorphosis that I need card space to do so. Therefore, less monsters.

 

            If I were to add in another card (as the 41st), it would most likely be Snipe Hunter or Widespread Ruin. Both help towards protecting or enforcing Metamorphosis. But for every defensive card I add, I have to even out the percentage of monsters, to make sure the consistency of the deck stands still.

 

            The deck doesn't look too great against gadgets. Now that Shrink is released, I feel a lot of players will now play gadgets, unlike the low outcome of SJC Houston. But more players will once again strive to build there decks against gadgets when they shouldn't. I'm not just talking 3 Gravekeeper's Spy's and 3 Jujitsu's, but they go to the extreme and tech Don Zaloog's and side 3 System Down's. It isn't necessary to build half your deck against gadgets, because the odds are, you will lose to monarchs instead. Siding for both monarchs and gadgets while maining something like 3 Gravkeeper's Spy's is the smart idea. I know there will be 3 Pulling the Rug's in my side deck, for sure.

 

Until next time, thanks for reading.

 

Watch for my next article, which will be in Tourny-Report form, and I will analyse why I did so well, or how I lost so terribly. Analysing my deck and its faults will help me build other decks in preparation of SJC Montreal.

 

Ryan Peddle

 

MSN/E-mail me at: imagination436@hotmail.com AIM me at: imageNation436

 

Deck: x40

 

Monsters: x21

 

x1 Treeborn Frog

x1 Night Assailant

x3 Destiny Hero - Malicious

x1 Sangan

x3 Dekoichi the Battlechanted

x1 Destiny Hero - Dasher

x2 Snipe Hunter

x1 Elemental Hero - Stratos

x3 Cyber Dragon

x2 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch

x3 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch

 

Spells: x13

 

x1 Shrink

x1 Book of Moon

x1 Premature Burial

x1 Snatch Steal

x1 Mystical Space Typhoon

x1 Heavy Storm

x1 Pot of Avarice

x1 Soul Exchange

x1 Brain Control

x2 Destiny Draw

x2 Metamorphosis

 

Traps: x6

 

x1 Mirror Force

x1 Torrential Tribute

x1 Ring of Destruction

x3 Sakuretsu Armor