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Carrotizer on YuGiOh
Yu-Gi-Oh TCG – Tennis Chess Game: Aggro
January 3, 2007

           
I’m sure that everyone has ran into light-speed deck that even with your prepared sidedeck, opponent’s monsters came too quickly. For me, Skill Drain Beatdown just……v v h 0 0 p e d me. Constant 2300 ATK and occasional free 2400 ATK monsters were too powerful for Vampire Lord and even Ryu Kokki. Why is aggressive deck so good?

If you ask me, it is not GOOD. It is just that for other decks to function, there is time needed. In tennis, if your 2nd serve isn’t long enough, good opponent will rip it with approach shot followed by angled volleys. Usually, you require time to set this up, but for Monarchs, no matter which engine you prefer (Apprentice Magician, Gravekeeper’s Spy, Tomato/Rat and others), you need at least 1 turn or two to start rampaging with constant stream of Monarchs. Aggro just eliminates this. Their incoming assault starts right away, usually like gambit in chess. They can give up a piece or two to push their tempos to extreme limit.

The Skill Drain deck that I dueled had Tribute to the Doomed as an extra removal for face-downs. Though Sand Moth/Treeborn Frog/Sangan will mean basically –2 for them, is it worth 4000+ LP damage? For them, yes. 3 Cyber Dragons, maybe Jinzo, and possibly Goblin Elite Attack Force and its friends can easily drain your LP with Last Will and Cyber-Stein. If your opponent keeps hitting overhead smash when you are defensively lobbing the ball, you cannot keep up with them even if you may have more stamina (card advantage).

So, why isn’t this CC, instead of Monarchs? There are many factors. First of all, an off-beat of 1 turn or 2 can mean mass disadvantage. If they can’t draw Nobleman of Extermination/Heavy Storm to rid face-down Torrential/Mirror Force, Cyber Dragon and whatever they may drop are easily gone. Gravekeeper’s Spy and Apprentice Magician fairly block attacks well also, since they bring out more deadly monsters. Monarchs are more consistent. There is the punch line. Consistency.

Offensive, or aggro (I wonder who started saying aggro), decks are focused on reducing opponent’s LP to 0 ASAP. Sort of like Exodia in a sense because you want to draw Exodia before you lose. Smashing Grounds, maybe Lightning Vortex splashed in, will ensure that Tomato/Cyber Dragon won’t be blocking your attacks, thus increasing your damage by 2000 often. For burn decks, 1 card for 2000 is a really good deal, which is rare except for Ring of Destruction/Magic Cylinder/Ceasefire/Des Koala/Chain Strike/Just Desserts.

If you cannot match their tempo, you don’t have to. Lower their speed instead of trying to improve your alacrity. For example, they won’t usually use Dark World as tech (more like aggro Dark World, which would not be a tech =/) so you can safely use Drop Off, instead of them using it on you. Dropping Heavy Storm and other valuable removals from their hand is priceless, especially when you have mass destruction cards on the field.

Usually they will generate advantage through battles, while Monarchs go for 2 for 3 upon the summoning of Monarchs (usually killing Cyber Dragons or other monsters such as Don Zaloog). When everything fails, try simple cards such as Swords of Revealing Light, or Messenger of Peace. When Heavy Storm is gone, they might not have enough cards to get rid of that, and just wait until you draw into Monarchs.

Speed-wise, the fastest would be Cyber-Stein FTK/OTK. Simple 3 cards, Cyber-Stein, Megamorph/Limiter Removal/United We Stand (Cyber Twin Dragon when attacking directly), and MST/Heavy Storm/Giant Trunade, can win you game in turn 2. It’s not so hard to mill your deck through for those cards, since you can give up 3 cards from your starting 6 hands, only if you don’t have those required cards. Graceful Charity, Card Destruction, Magical Mallet and other cards tend to work exceptionally well.

Aggro Analysis:
Strength: Fast(est) tempo, conquering through battles with raw power (game mechanics), dominating against slow CC Monarchs, can give up a few card advantages.

Weakness: no alternate plans (raw power), usually no ways to generate advantage other than generic cards and battles. Sometimes, you are forced to give up several cards to stay in game if something goes slightly wrong. Easy to be sidedecked against (Waboku/Threatening Roar/Swords of Revealing Light/Messenger of Peace/Kuriboh and etc). Not consistent compared to Monarchs or other balanced decks, such as Warrior or Ratbox (Giant Rat Control).

Maybe I can’t think of anything else, but there seem to be more weaknesses compared to strong points. Could it be because it lacks “the Consistency?” If so, what is the most consistent deck type? Strike Ninja? Warrior? Machine? Any suggestions? =)

By Paul Yeem – Carrotizer @ paulyeem@gmail.com

P.S: I’ve picked out decks for the suggestions, and I’m working on them. I won’t probably accept more decks until I finish them, but I’ll gladly reply your e-mail with personal thoughts if you send your deck list and questions. Just thought you should know.

P.P.S: I’m doing these articles first because I would better be explaining the concepts first. If you disagree with any of these parts, again, I’ll have a discussion over the e-mail and I’m more than willing to do it. Just thought you should know. Again.

P.P.P.S: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!