I apologize to everyone who reads my stuff that sometimes I really lag when it comes to articles. This only happens so often, so don't worry there will be more from me soon. If you missed out Shonen Jump Championship Seattle, here is the featured match I had: http://metagame.com/yugioh.aspx?tabid=33&ArticleId=10204. Yes that is right, Bianca is my fiancé and I love her.

    There have been so many changes in the current metagame. With so many new cards at the doorstep of premier level play, even anti-meta decks have to make a shift as well. With so many cards peaking and so many more on the rise there has to be sacrifices on some techy cards, additions of new better and trendy cards as well. I told myself that I wanted to make a new deck, a new idea, something that can stand up to every deck out there. At first glance, it was the Teleport Dark Armed Dragon deck that really would be my focal point, then everything else after. King Tiger Wanghu in my mind would be the best tech against Teleport Dark Armed Dragon decks, but it was finding more cards that would help the deck survive in the competitive field that I was searching for, and I found Burden of the Mighty. This combo would become the cornerstone of the whole deck and the foundation I was looking for to make such a deck. I told myself before the regionals that I ended up getting second at, that I would take this deck to Shonen Jump Championship Seattle if it was everything I expected it to be. It was, and even more, dominating every major deck of the format. Here is the decklist that I used at that regional and Shonen Jump Championship Seattle:

Monsters: 17
3 King Tiger Wanghu
3 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2 Banisher of the Radiance
2 Elemental Hero Neos Alius
2 Elemental Hero Wildheart
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 D.D. Warrior Lady
1 Ehren, Lightsworn Monk
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
1 Morphing Jar

Spells: 11
3 Burden of the Mighty
3 Reinforcement of the Army
3 Shrink
2 Book of Moon

Traps: 14
3 Compulsory Evacuation Device
3 Dark Bribe
3 Royal Oppression
3 Solemn Judgment
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute

So many monsters, so many things they do to control every matchup. First off King Tiger Wanghu can’t be stressed enough for this deck. The ability to shut down Krebons, Psychic Commander, Destiny Hero Diamond Dude and especially Destiny Hero Malicious made this a huge card to be used against Teleport Dark Armed Dragon decks. Combining the power of King Tiger Wanghu and Burden of the Mighty would be able to shut down everything. Against Teleport Dark Armed Dragon, Elemental Hero Stratos and Dark Grepher become worthless as they get destroyed on being summoned. Same with all Lightsworn Monsters that aren’t Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior, Wulf, Lightsworn Beast and Celestia, Lightsworn Angel. All Gladiator Beast Monsters are also gone with this combo, which will cause them to set everything, and with Gladiator’s low defense, it won’t be too big of a hassle to get around them.

Secondly we find all the support we need to combat all the major matchups. With King Tiger Wanghu being the MVP of the deck, we had to have the best supporting card, which was to me, hands down, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer. Amazing can’t even describe the power he brings to the table. The continuous effect is what drew me the Kycoo, besides the 1800 attack it was packing as well. This was a picture perfect card to use against Teleport Dark Armed Dragon, Lightsworn and Gladiator Beast decks. Kycoo’s brute 1800 attack is already a big hurdle for Dark Armed Dragon decks with Elemental Hero Stratos being the only easily accessible monster that isn’t a Goyo Guardian with the help of Krebons. With Kycoo on the field alone, you have just taken away a big engine of the deck. Malicious is no longer a threat or problem card, and many are even hesitant to discard it with Destiny Draw because of the other effect of when Kycoo does battle damage you can remove up to 2 monsters in your opponent’s graveyard. This works well against Lightsworn decks as well, the fact of the matter is, people would play 2 copies of Jain, Lightsworn Paladin and or Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior, the rest would be easy to counteract, plus any other monster would require the use of an Honest in the early game to get rid of just a Kycoo, the Ghost Destroyer. The big factor was being able to shut down Lumina if they had no honest and also my opponents inability to negate my attacks with Necro Gardna being worthless. This helped for big swings on my side of the field with huge monsters to take control of the matchup. Gladiator Beasts was another big reason behind the use of Kycoo the Ghost Destoryer, the 1800 attack would only see a problem with Elemental Hero Stratos and the usually played in 2s Gladiator Beast Laquari. Removing monsters as well would help with the scare factor of a big Gladiator Beast Heraklinos.

Banisher of the Radiance was more of a card to be centered around Lightsworn, though it is also an amazing card against Teleport Dark Armed Dragon decks. I initially used Elemental Hero Ocean on my first ever list of this deck, with the help of Austin Kulman and others, they found Banisher of the Radiance to be that card that will help stun the other major matchups. Also, Elemental Hero Ocean being a turn slow didn’t help my cause either because not only do I have to wait until the next turn, my opponent would finall have a use for D.D. Crow, and you want your opponents to have as many dead cards as possible to keep total control of the duel. Lightsworn’s inability to use Honest and Celestia, Lightsworn Angel, most of my cards would be safe from harm, especially with Burden of the Mighty, Banisher just gets that much better. The use of different Elemental Heroes is a support for the deck, being able to search out cards easily with Elemental Hero Stratos, with 1800 attack, it’s nothing to scoff at. Elemental Hero Neos Alius, the effect really isn’t key, it’s the 1900 attack that makes it even better against a deck like Gladiator Beasts because they would have to use multiple cards to just get rid of it, and the more cards they use, the better off you are in the long run. The card also held in my picture was Elemental Hero Wildheart. This was the key card for my featured match, and I liked it for two reasons. First, Bottomless Trap Hole was a problem for me, and being able to make another card dead in many decks just helped out the cause of my deck. Second, the rise in Phoenix Wing Wind Blast caused me to use it as well. It was always an easy 1500 attack and cause wrong reads from opponents, from reading Skill Drains to even Gravity Binds, it gave a false message to my opponents, making them believe I was using a Big City variant.

D.D. Warrior Lady, my searchable get rid of anything in my way card. Anything that would cause me a problem I could handle with D.D. Warrior Lady. Mainly cards like Thought Ruler Archfiend and Colossal Fighter. Being able to say goodbye to Colossal Fighter is key because even with Burden of the Mighty and Shrinks, it just keeps coming back, over and over again. Thought Ruler Archfield also made my Compulsory Evacuation Devices dead and even added as a card that would still be 1900 with Burden of the Mighty on the field, so only my Elemental Hero Neos Alius could come to the rescue. People always wondered about Ehren, Lightsworn Monk, and the answer is simple, once my opponent knows he can’t summon monsters with King Tiger Wanghu and Burden of the Mighty face up, they could only set monsters. King Tiger Wanghu also doesn’t stop flip-summons, so Ehren was able to make sure they didn’t even get a chance to do so. Lastly, Morphing Jar, an overlooked card in the game. This card can help me play out of bad hands. Also, the little jar helps me regain cards after using so much to get my combos afloat. People argue it can give your opponent outs, but then again you usually are going to use him when you have nothing left or just digging for more control over the match.

With the release of Thunder King Rai-Oh, all anti-meta decks can flourish even more than before. Thunder King people say can conflict with Elemental Hero Stratos and Reinforcement of the Army, but a 1900 attacker with the ability to negate any special summon seems to me, a worth price when it comes down to it. Your opponent no longer has Charge of the Light Brigade or Reinforcement of the Army as well. If they are playing Lightsworn they better hope they open with Jain, and Teleport Dark Armed Dragon decks really have to have awesome hands to play around this guy first couple of turns. Not to mention Gladiator Beasts, getting over Thunder King Rai-Oh can be a pain, but the new builds out there with Smashing Ground and Hammer Shot have an easy out, if they are to draw it in time, because those builds are packing Gladiator Proving Ground as well.

Now the monster line-up has changed to:

Monsters: 18
3 King Tiger Wanghu
3 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
3 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Banisher of the Radiance
2 Elemental Hero Neos Alius
1 Elemental Hero Wildheart
1 D.D. Warrior Lady
1 Ehren, Lightsworn Monk
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
1 Morphing Jar

Spells don’t have to change too much, though with the end of the Gladiator Beast era in the game, Book of Moon is no longer as needed as it used to be. So a drop of Book of Moon is in order, to make room for Smashing Ground. Smashing Ground’s ability to not target is able to help combat that pesky Thought Ruler Archfiend and take down cards like Red Dragon Archfiend and Colossal Fighter, the big guns that get in the way of yours. Many players shy away from using Stardust Dragon as it falls to a dismal 1700 attack with Burden of the Mighty. Burden of the Mighty, makes every monster card in the deck unbelievably great. All your monsters will have a serious power boost over everything, and with 2 Burden of the Mighty and that one King Tiger Wanghu, I don’t see your opponent playing a monster face-up at all.

Three Reinforcement of the Army and Three Shrink is being able to max out on cards that will be able to keep consistency of the deck. Shrink is the best card to grace this deck spells wise when it comes to combating Crush Card Virus. This deck at times can be susceptible to a game ending Crush Card Virus, but people think with all the hate against it, being Solemn Judgment and Dark Bribe it wouldn’t be a problem, but many times it will come up and it’s an answer to keep control still. Reinforcement of the Army is the consistency card. Being able to search out eight of the eighteen monsters, you can pretty much guarantee a monster you need for all situations.

No Heavy Storm, no Mystical Space Typhoon, no problem! A big thing this deck lacks is Spell and Trap control. I made it this way because the monsters are more important to control because overall they make biggest difference. Lightsworn doesn’t play too many traps, 2-3 Beckoning Light, Crush Card Virus and maybe some other teched traps. Teleport Dark Armed Dragon decks biggest key against Middle City is Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, and they’re going to chain it anyways when you are to play a spell or trap removal card. Don’t fret though knowing they just used 2 cards to get rid of your one. The last card many people notice that is left out is Monster Reborn. I tried to really work hard to get all the dead draws out of the deck, and with Royal Oppression as a deck fuel, it really becomes that. You want overall control throughout the match, and with so many combos going on, Monster Reborn can just become a dead card when you have control of the field and have your Dark Bribes or Solemn Judgments waiting for anything out there.

The spell line up looks like this:

Spells: 10
3 Burden of the Mighty
3 Reinforcement of the Army
3 Shrink
1 Smashing Ground

Traps have seen only one major change as well, from Compulsory Evacuation Device to Bottomless Trap Hole. This is a really debatable card to change, but the biggest problem with Compulsory Evacuation Device is that your opponent will just play the card again next turn, and you just wasted a card unless you win with it. Also with many players bringing out Thought Ruler Archfiend and not Stardust Dragon against you when you play this deck, Compulsory Evacuation Device gets completely shutdown and you have to find a new way to get rid of it which can be a problem. Bottomless Trap Hole’s ability to not target makes it the perfect counter to Thought Ruler Archfiend and even Colossal Fighter. Also, it becomes an easy way to get rid of a Dark Armed Dragon, Judgment Dragon, and anything else that gets in the way. The other big reason is because of Breaker the Magical Warrior and Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress. The ability to get them away for good is better than putting them back into your opponent’s hand to deal with again next turn.

Royal Oppression is the MVP of the traps, being the other big support to take control of every major match up out there. Dark Armed Dragon, Judgment Dragon, any tag out effect of a Gladiator Beast, Test Tiger and even Monster Reborn all hit the dust with Royal Oppression in control. Every major deck takes a huge hit, not to mention saying goodbye to Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, and to stop Special Summons across the board. Three Solemn Judgment and three Dark Bribe are key to keep all your combos in tact. To be able to stop anything with Solemn Judgment and to stop all spells and traps with Dark Bribe make your back row almost invincible. Just one of these can thwart any comeback your opponent has in mind. Giving your opponent one card to stop that potentially game-ending Heavy Storm or Monster Reborn isn’t too bad either. Also, it can be the last card you need to make that last aggressive push to win.

Mirror Force and Torrential Tribute round out the traps. Mirror Force will be the anti-swarm card for you, as well to getting rid of monsters when your opponent is too aggressive, it puts you into the driver seat when mounting your comeback. Torrential Tribute is a great card in here as well, many people were wondering why I played it. This is one of the changes Team Fusion helped me make, which was to include this card, sometimes you just don’t get the combos off and you need to just control the field, and your opponent sometimes can just go crazy and you have no other way to make sure you’re safe from harm and you and your opponent can start over. This is the perfect card for it. Also, the synergy with Elemental Hero Wildheart makes it just that much better, with Elemental Hero Wildheart on the field, only your opponent will feel the wrath of Torrential Tribute, and you will have your extra monster ready for even more damage.

The final trap line-up:

Traps: 14
3 Bottomless Trap Hole
3 Dark Bribe
3 Royal Oppression
3 Solemn Judgment
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute

The game is always changing, and that’s something you have to keep in mind when you make changes to decks like this. You have to find out the new trends, the normal plays and what you can do to disrupt as many decks as you possibly can. Control is something that is hard to come by for many decks because decks are too fast now. With so many OTK oriented decks lurking the only thing you can do is find a way to slow them down, and to use everything in your arsenal to do so. Many cards have been over looked and underrated because they don’t fit into the mold of the meta now.

Explore something new, pick up a pile of cards and see what you can combine it with to make the next big combo because there is always a new deck ready to be made, you just have to find the right cards for it. Who knows, you could end up making the deck that defines the format. Everything takes time, it won’t just shape up in a few minutes. Do all the research into cards you can to make all your card combos work well. The thing that really makes this deck work is synergy. There is a lot of it because so many cards are combined to have the same task. Keep that in mind when making your next deck.

That’s the great thing about card games; the ability to make something new with just a few cards. Something no one has seen, and something new that works. I will stress one thing to anyone playing this deck and to everyone in the format. Especially for this deck, the side deck is a really important factor to how you do against the various match ups games two and three. Take a lot of thought and do a lot of testing. Every little bit can go a long way.

You can email me at theone162120@yahoo.com or PM me on the forums, I'm THe ONe PG 16 on the message boards, if you have any questions.