The Supreme Deck of Champions

Steve’s Collectibles (Liberty Fair Mall)

Martinsville, Virginia

My Name: Jake

# of Duelists: 20

My Deck

Normal Monsters

Right Arm of the Forbidden One

Left Arm of the Forbidden One

Right Leg of the Forbidden One

Left Leg of the Forbidden One

Giant soldier of stone x2

Effect Monsters

Exodia the Forbidden One

Sangan x2

Witch of the Black Forrest

Magician of Faith x2

Mask of Darkness x2

Muka Muka

Cannon Soldier

Cyber Jar

Hayabusa Knight

Mystic Tomato

Tribute Monsters

0

Magic

Messenger of Peace x3

Change of Heart

Swords of Revealing Light

Monster Reborn

Pot of Greed

Dark Hole

Raigeki

Painful Choice

Traps

Gravity Bind x3

Backup Soldier x2

Magic Jammer

Seven Tools of the Bandit

Mirror Force

Horn of Heaven

Solemn Wishes

Ultimate Offering

Total # of Cards: 40

Now for the actual tournament

1^st place winner gets 1 box of pharoes servant

2^nd place winner gets $20 store credit

3^rd place winner gets $10 store credit

This particular tournament was a double elimination tournament with 5-8 rounds (sounds weird I know, but it varied according to different factors) Anyway you were also allowed up to five Japanese cards in your deck as long as they were already out in English. This tournament was held on February 15^th at Steve’s Collectibles in the Liberty Fair Mall in Martinsville, Virginia.

Round One

Jake Vs Jeremy

I’ve been coming to Steve’s Collectibles for quite some time so I knew some of the people there and their decks even though this was my first tournament with my new Exodia deck. This guy was cool and played with a typical beat down deck. With me coming out ahead in the coin toss I decided to go first. I had a Backup Solider, Gravity Bind, Sangan, Messenger of Peace, Giant Solider of Stone, and a Left Arm in my opening hand. I set Backup Solider and Gravity Bind and I also played Sangan in defense mode. He set 2 mt’s (magic/traps) and attacked with La Ginn first turn. I choose to get the head of Exodia and then it was my turn. I drew a Pot of Greed and played it. My next two cards were Solemn Wishes and Painful Choice. I played Painful Choice and sent 3 pieces of Exodia to the graveyard along with a Cyber Jar. (Jeremy chose Sangan to go into my hand) I then activated Backup Solider and won. He chose to go first in round two but it was a quick victory as well. I got Cannon Soldier, Witch of the Black Forrest, 2 Sangans, Monster Reborn, and Ultimate Offering in my opening hand. Using Ultimate Offering I put every monster I had onto the field, and using Cannon Soldier’s Effect I sent every Exodia Helper to the graveyard. Then I used Monster Reborn on Sangan, used the effect of Cannon Solider yet again, and ended up with 4 Exodia pieces on my first turn. Jeremy did some serious damage on his next turn but I survived and out of sheer dumb luck I drew the fifth Exodia piece for the win.

Round Two

Jake Vs Chris

This guy plays with a direct damage deck and is fairly good. Going up against him my Gravity Binds and Messenger of Peace’s were useless, but I still know how to win. He played with lots of little pests that attack life points directly, which was bad to start out with but it also meant he would not or could not kill my Exodia helpers. So I would have to kill them. First turn I pulled Swords of Revealing Light so by the time it was over I had a Witch and a Sangan on the field. Unfortunately he retaliated with a Swords so Chris had a Jinzo 7 and 2 Legels on the field as well. Luckily for me I drew my Solemn Wishes early on, so it nullified some of his direct damage attacks. So I played Dark Hole to kill his monsters and claim two pieces of Exodia. Then I played my Cyber Jar. Flipping it up next turn I special summoned 2 pieces of exodia a Sangan and a Magician of Faith onto the field. My fifth card was Backup Solider. I set it along with Horn of Heaven and ended my turn. He summoned another Jinzo 7 onto the field and I offered up Sangan when I activated Horn of Heaven to destroy it. I now had three pieces of Exodia in my hand. He attacked with his direct damage monsters and next turn I flipped Magician of Faith for my Dark Hole, played the Dark Hole, and activated Backup Soldier for the win. I won the second match as well, but not with some interesting super one turn combo, just by stalling and using my two Magicians of Faiths to play Pot of Greed as many times as possible.

Round 3

Jake Vs Daniel

This promised to be an interesting battle because Daniel played with a Gravity Bind deck as well (only this time he took out his Exodia for some reason). This was also the same person who beat me with Exodia back when I played with a different deck (revolving around Barrel Dragon) because I only owned 4 pieces of Exodia. We got our Gravity Binds out on the first turn, so it was a low level monster clash. Luckily I got to my Hayabusa Knight before he did, so I was able to deal constant damage while setting up for Exodia with cards like Sangan and Backup Soldier. So soon the battle was won in my favor by Exodia default. Now the second game got interesting because he was able to flip his Cyber Jar before I got the head of Exodia in my hand. So I had no choice but to send my Exodia Head to the field. As you can see I don’t have Hane Hane in my deck because the only possible thing you could use him for is in this situation. But since Backup Soldier does not bring back cards with effects, I would have to win this second match the old fashioned way. Luckily most of my monsters weren’t affected by his (or my) Gravity Bind so I could still do damage. This is where I used my Painful Choice and Backup Solider not on Exodia pieces but on Giant Solider of Stone. Clearing the field with my Dark Hole (and the again sometime later with my Raigeki) I caused some serious damage but time was short before I lost by decking. Daniel had 2900 life points left, I had six cards in my hand and five cards face down in my mt zone, and after attacking thought I won but he played that evil Mirror Force.

It was now his turn and he pulled a Hayabusa Knight, attacked twice after playing Giant Trunade (leaving me at 1000 life points even, I love my Solemn Wishes) and said I was my turn. Drawing what seemed to be like my fifth card from decking out, I started to celebrate my victory. It was Muka Muka, and after summoning it I had 11 cards in my hand. I attacked his Hayabusa Knight with an attack of 3900 and I won the game.

Round Four

Jake Vs Matthew

Nothing real especial here. This guy plays with a basic beatdown deck put with a few twists. Like the treaded Morphing Jar #2. He also has an Imperial Order, which can be a tough blow to a deck like mine, but only if I didn’t have three Gravity Binds. Unfortunately for him and luckily for me, his Morphing Jars hurt him by making him discard several cards before he drew a monster, and were great for me because (out of sheer dumb luck) they kept summoning Sangans and Witches, along with Mask of Darkness for me. Instead of Exodia pieces, which would have been a crippling blow. With this added "help" it was not fairly difficult win by Exodia twice.

Round Five

Jake Vs Ryan

From what I could tell, Ryan used a fairly normal deck filled with your basic ultra rare cards like Swords, Mirror Force, and Raigeki. Both rounds I was able to hold him of with either Gravity Bind or Messenger of Peace, and to make things better, Solemn Wishes was in my opening hand so I was gaining life points early on. He did like to use Heavy Storm and Giant Trunade to get in some damage, which was annoying, and he also loved getting to use them a second time which was even more annoying, but soon I pulled out the Mighty Exodia for the win. I accomplished this by Dark Holing two Sangans and using the famous Painful Choice combo, but I give Ryan credit, he did have a Magic Drain and a Magic Jammer waiting. But the again, I had seven tools face down and a spare Messenger of Peace in my hand. Ryan faired no better in round two, but I finally got to but both my Change of Heart and my Mask of Darkness into play before I once again, won by Exodia default.

Now since I was currently the only person who remained undefeated, I guess you could say I got a "bye" in rounds six and seven, while the losers bracket was trying to produce I champion to defeat me. So since each match could last forty minutes, I decided to go to Chick Fil A to get something to eat. (This was going on the fifth hour straight of Yu Gi Oh) Anyway, enough about that onto the final round.

Round "Eight"

Jake Vs Matthew

Yes, this was the final battle. Well, not really. It turns out that since I was undefeated and this was a double elimination tournament, Matthew would have to beat me in 2 different matches (that’s four games) in order to win the tournament. And yes by the way, this was the same Matthew I faced in round four. He was considerably better in that he decided to take out his Morphing jars and go with sure-fire methods of beating me. To be specific, his Cyber Jar and Nobleman of Crossout had me worried. Luckily I was able to stall and get most of my Exodia helpers on the field pretty early, so after I destroyed them and brought them back with Monster Reborn so that Matthew could destroy them as well, victory came pretty easily for me.

Tips

To me, an Exodia deck should be able to stand on it’s own two feet and be able o win if by some chance there is no hope of assembling Exodia himself. Don’t get me wrong, the deck should still evolve around getting Exodia as soon as possible, but you need to throw in a few twists and have a backup plan. That’s why there are so many Gravity Binds and Messenger of Peace’s in this deck. If you just took out Exodia and built a Gravity Bind deck (although I don’t recommend it) you should still be able to win quite a few battles. Other then being a Gravity Bind deck though, you could lean toward a little direct damage, which is why I love Cannon Solider. You can claim Exodia pieces as well as cause unavoidable damage to your opponent. Call of the Haunted and Giant Trunade will also work wonders in this deck. (Yes I know they weren’t in the deck when I won the tournament, but you can bet they are in there now) Giant Trunade can add up to 1500 extra attack points to the level two Muka Muka (you might consider putting more then one in your deck) and can clear the field of those stupid traps. Call of the Haunted is awesome for bringing back Exodia helpers when your opponent declares an attack, and if you tribute what you brought back to Cannon Soldiers effect and play Giant Trunade, you can do it all again. Some people might even consider putting in Relinquished or even Thousand Eyes Restrict. But you certainly don’t want more then 40 cards in your deck, so what are you to do? Simply build a good side deck. (Once again, I know I didn’t do this for the tournament, but now I never go anywhere without my side-deck.) Only one person I faced in the tournament used a side deck, and that was Matthew. You really have no idea how invaluable your side-deck can be. Here is what my side deck looks like now.

Black Illusion Ritual x2

Relinquished

Monster Recovery

Solemn Wishes

Michizure

Wall of Illusion

Card Destruction

Solemn Judgment

Hayabusa Knight

Mask of Darkness

Magician of Faith

Giant Trunade

Premature Burial

Call of the Haunted

One last thing, destroying your own monsters by means other then attacking can be good. Once again I love Dark Hole, Cannon Solider, and especially Horn of Heaven. Only attack the higher monster if you already have three or four pieces of Exodia in you hand. Finally (yes I know, I lied when I said I was almost done) no matter what, your deck can always be improved. Constantly look out for new ways to improve your deck and new combo possibilities (just look at me, I’ve already made a 15 card side deck) your deck is never good enough to the point where it can’t be better. If you need to talk about yu gi oh or if you just get bored you can e-mail me at the address below. Well, that’s all for me. See ya later.