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Analyzing & Creating a Deck to Counter the Meta
11.07.05

Blade Knight, D.D. Warrior Lady, Don Zaloog, D.D. Survivor, D.D. Assailant, and Exiled Force all help Warrior Toolbox create its versatility. All of these monsters are targeted by Reinforcement of the Army, which means whenever you’re in need of a particular need; Reinforcement can get it for you. Blade Knight is a great beatstick, light, and is good late game when you have 0 or 1 cards in your hand. Don Zaloog is great when there is an open field and can instantaneously net you a +1 advantage. Exiled Force is a great opening play along with Cyber Dragon and rids you of unknown monsters.
It also lets you get rid of bigger monsters like Mobius, Jinzo, and Cyber Dragon. D.D. Survivor is run because of the heavy play of D.D. Assailant along with D.D. Warrior Lady. Also, some duelists prefer to play Bottomless Trap Hole to Sakuretsu Armor which puts the opponent in a tough spot. If they play Bottomless because they are at a low LP count, you will gain a +1 advantage over the opponent.

Chaos Sorcerer makes us realize that Chaos is not a dead deck. Even though the big brothers, Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning and Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the Beginning, were banned, Chaos sorcerer is a great form of removal and has a very respectable attack. Late game, it can remove many threats and can finish up an opponent. Even if your opponent has
1 face down monster early game with no spells or traps, you can OTK your opponent. Imagine special summoning Cyber Dragon, normal summoning Exiled Force, and special summoning Chaos Sorcerer!

Magical Merchant and Magician of Faith are both light monsters with a devastating flip effect. Merchant allows you to quickly run through your deck, dumping unneeded monsters and getting the necessary lights and darks in the graveyard for Chaos Sorcerer. Magician of Faith allows you to bring back big spell cards like Heavy Storm, Nobleman of Crossout, and Snatch Steal. Although both these cards have a low attack and defense, their impact on a duel could tip the favor on your side.

Injection Fairy Lily is the final choice of the cookie cutter deck. It has a great effect, killing any monster that is commonly played today. The effect of Injection only takes place in the damage step, which means that if your opponent plays Magic Cylinder, you only take 400 LP! Although the price is quite costly, the benefits of ending a game after 2 direct attacks are appealing.


14 Spells:
[3] Smashing Ground
[2] Reinforcement of the Army
[1] Nobleman of Crossout
[1] Dark Hole
[1] Premature Burial
[1] Snatch Steal
[1] Heavy Storm
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon
[1] Book of Moon
[1] Swords of Revealing Light
[1] Brain Control

The two copies of Reinforcement of the Army stabilize the deck. They also add speed, allowing me to search out 7 out of my 18 monsters. People love searching out anything they need whenever they need it. Guess what?
Reinforcement does this, so people just love running 2 of these.

Smashing Ground, Nobleman of Crossout and Dark Hole serve as the core removal for the deck. The deck runs 3 Smashing because it handles heavy beatdown decks, spirit reapers, and Mystic Tomatoes well. Nobleman gets rid of such cards as spirit reaper and D.D. Assailant, and catches a defensive opponent off-guard. Dark Hole is one of the cards that can 2 for 1 in this format. Getting rid of two monsters early game can usually make your opponent play much more conservative and wait to 2 for 1. If any of these are followed up by a Spirit Reaper or Don Zaloog, it puts the opponent at a large disadvantage.

Premature Burial and Snatch Steal, the two equip magic cards, are two cards most decks feature. The ability to special summon a dead tribute can change the game, and the idea of taking your opponent’s strongest monster makes Snatch Steal another card that can 2 for 1. By taking your opponent’s D.D.
Assailant for example, you can attack into a stronger monster and remove them both from the game.

Heavy Storm and Mystical Space Typhoon are the two forms of magic and trap destruction besides Dust Tornado, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and Mobius the Frost Monarch that a typical cookie cutter deck runs. Heavy Storm can 2 for 1 the opponent, clearing the backfield for a direct attack, and Mystical Space Typhoon can be set and activated in the end phase to nullify traps and quick play spells.

Book of Moon is defensive quick play spell. It negates the effect of Jinzo by turning it face down. It is also chainable, putting larger monsters in their usual smaller defense mode. It is good when followed up by a larger monster like D.D. Assailant so you can capitalize on your opponent having a little defense mode monster on the field. Brain Control is personal preference but can be replaced by many cards such as Confiscation and Creature Swap. Brain Control is being ran a lot these days because it can end games when topdecked late game and also lets me sacrifice their monster in order to summon Cyber Dragon or Mobius the Frost Monarch. It is also good for taking D.D. Assailants or D.D. Warrior Ladies and ramming them into the opponent’s own monster effectively creating a 2 for 1.

Traps:
[3] Sakuretsu Armor
[1] Widespread Ruin
[2] Dust Tornado
[1] Torrential Tribute
[1] Call of the Haunted

Sakuretsu Armor and Widespread Ruin are great choices for an aggro deck.
Although they are not chainable, they are still great pieces of removal.
Killing any attacking monster, it is also a great top deck. Although getting heavy stormed or Mobius’d hurts, they are both still great.

Dust Tornado is another field clearer and is usually chained at the end phase of the opponent’s turn when they set a spell or trap face down. They cannot activate it and are usually left helpless. A great opening move is setting Sakuretsu armor and Dust Tornado removing possibly 2 of your opponent’s cards and leaving you with a clear field.

Call of the Haunted and Torrential Tribute are two traps that are priceless to most decks, Torrential Tribute allows you to 2 for 1. Call of the Haunted is Chainable, and if Heavy Stormed, can turn up a Sangan, so you won’t lose advantage. Call can also be chained in the battle phase, which can make or break a game.




Well folks, that’s the average cookie cutter deck, relying on heavy removal and 1 for 1s to win games. The ban-list has forced us to degenerate to this because many of the skill cards have been banned. How do we counter a primitive meta where 1 for 1s reign supreme? We try to null those 1 for 1s as much as possible, and gain advantage off of the cards the standard opponent will use.

18 Monsters:
[1] Cyber Dragon
[1] Airknight Parshath
[2] Mobius the Frost Monarch
[2] Gravekeeper’s Spy
[2] Spirit Reaper
[2] D.D. Assailant
[2] Drillroid
[1] Goblin Elite Attack Force
[1] Twin – Headed Behemoth
[1] Kinetic Soldier
[1] D.D. Warrior Lady
[1] Sangan
[1] Breaker the Magical Warrior

Notice how this deck is only running 1 Cyber Dragon? It is not needed at all in this deck. The deck runs well without doubles of Cyber Dragon and benefits from the Airknight Parshath and Mobius creating advantage.
Airknight is still very good in this format, although it lost its favorite attack targets, scapegoats. They now have Spirit Reapers, Mystic Tomatoes, and Sangans to attack though, so losing scapegoat isn’t that large of a factor. If you sacrifice 1 Gravekeeper’s Spy that you special summoned, you don’t lose advantage, and if it successfully attacks and kills a monster you gain 2 advantage due to drawing a card and killing a monster. And what do you call that? That’s a 2 for 1. If Airknight is successful in attacking more than once, you create a large gap for your opponent to come back from.

Gravekeeper’s Spy is added because of it has versatility. It can be set first turn and have your opponents attack into it. You can attack with it after it is flipped and can also be tributed for one of the four tributes in the deck. If it isn’t NoC’d, I usually am able to gain+1 advantage from being attacked. It is also a wall, only beat by Cyber Dragon and Mobius the Frost Monarch. This will make the opponent have to waste their monster destruction on it.

Spirit Reaper and D.D. Assailant are self-explanatory. They are too good to pass up and can create a lot of advantage. D.D. Assailant also provides extra removal. Drillroid is a respectable 1600 attacker and can kill anything in defense mode. Much like Mystic Swordsman LV2, he is great for removing threats when your opponent is on the defensive. However, this deck does not run any Reinforcement of the Army’s leading Drillroid to be chosen.
Although it doesn’t negate flip effect, most people only play 2-3 at most in their decks.

Goblin Elite Attack Force is a super rare from TLM. Overlooked at first because it was known as just an updated version of Giant Orc, this card has seen recent play. It effectively kills Cyber Dragon and can hold its own against Don Zaloog, D.D. Warrior Lady, and Mystic Tomato. Twin – Headed Behemoth is one of the best opening moves besides Sangan if you want to go on the offensive. If your opponent plays Sakuretsu Armor on it you will gain advantage and if it attacks successfully your opponent loses 1500 LPs. A couple hits and your opponent will have to Sakuretsu Armor or play a bigger monster and try to attack. Kinetic Soldier is the final anti-meta monster this deck is running. Most cookie cutter decks run 7-10 warriors and gaining 2000 attack against half of your opponents can switch your opponent from playing aggressively to having to play conservatively in order to protect their life points.

12 Spells:
[3] Smashing Ground
[1] Brain Control
[1] Dark Hole
[1] Premature Burial
[1] Snatch Steal
[1] Heavy Storm
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon
[1] Book of Moon
[1] Nobleman of Crossout
[1] Swords of Revealing Light

The spell lineup is nothing spectacular. It is actually pretty standard for this list. I decided to go with the 3 Smashing Grounds and Brain Control. The deck isn’t running Scapegoat because Scapegoat isn’t anything more than a -1 most of the time. My deck doesn’t combo with it so it isn’t needed. I would rather run a 1 for 1 removal card to benefit the deck.

11 Traps:
[3] Solemn Judgment
[3] Sakuretsu Armor
[3] Widespread Ruin
[1] Call of the Haunted
[1] Torrential Tribute

With this list, negating anything is nothing to scoff at. You summon
Injection to clinch game? I play Solemn Judgment. You play Mobius the Frost
Monarch? I play Solemn Judgment and have just made you lose 1 advantage. You
sacrificed a monster which leads to -1, gained field presence +1, and lost
hand presence -1. And if you remember, if you get down in advantage, it is
hard to come back from. Solemn also lets you play more aggressively and lets
you go in for the game much quicker. Solemn Judgment also has a sense of
surprise with it. Your opponent usually doesn’t expect Solemn Judgment to be
played when the summon a game clinching monster.

The Sakuretsu Armors and Widespread Ruins allow me to protect my Airknight,
Gravekeeper’s Spy, Kinetic Soldier, and defensive position Goblin Elite
Attack Force. It allows me to set up clear fields for me to attack with. The
only problem is that they are unchainable, but Solemn Judgments are in the
deck to offset this problem.

The Meta is ready to be exploited. It is up to you to go out, find a card
that can counter the meta, go out and play it, and do well. This deck is one
of many counters to the meta. Such cards as Purity of the Light, Mother
Grizzly, and Giant Rat are all great cards that can be central parts of
decks. I encourage you all to go out and playtest. I hope you enjoyed my
first article and I will be writing frequently.

I can be reached at PojoGiel@yahoo.com for any questions, comments, or
complaints. I’d love to hear your feedback.