Billy Brake's 60-card Deck - by Baneful
October 10, 2014

Below is the deck list of YCS Dallas winner, Billy Brake.  It is a 60 card deck, deviating from the 99% of 40-card decks that have won major tournaments:

 

Monsters: 33

3x Effect Veiler

3x Artifact Moralltach

3x Tour Guide From the Underworld

3x Kuribandit

3x Mathematician

3x Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss

3x Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss

1x Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss

2x Shaddoll Beast

2x Shaddoll Squamata

2x Shaddoll Dragon

2x Shaddoll Hedgehog

2x Shaddoll Falco

1x Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning

 

Spells: 9

3x The Beginning of the End

3x Shaddoll Fusion

1x Foolish Burial

1x Allure of Darkness

1x Super Polymerization

 

Traps: 18

3x Trap Stun

3x Vanity's Emptiness

3x Phoenix Wing Wind Blast

3x Sinister Shadow Games

3x Artifact Sanctum

2x Breakthrough Skill

1x Karma Cut

 

YGO 101 theory usually suggests that players run 40 cards because even 41 is too many.  The idea is that you draw into your most powerful cards faster.  While I doubt this means most players will stop using their standard 40 card deck, Billy Brake, did prove that you didn't NEED 40 cards to make a powerful deck. 

 

The times have changed.  Back in 2005, there weren't a lot of searchers.  Also, there were really powerful cards restricted to 1.  Why did you only have 40 cards?  Because you wanted to draw into Delinquent Duo before your opponent did.  Nowadays, with so much searching available, you can precisely bring your cards into play without relying on chance to draw into them.

 

Of course, most people still should stick to the 40 card deck rule, unless their deck is a special case.  In many ways, Brake's decks was in the perfect storm.  He's a skilled player who decided to try something new that people weren't expecting.  Also, it's just around the time when a lot of searchers came out.  The artifact engine, the Shaddolls and Burning Abyss all existed at the same time.  Though people, with the conventional 40 card logic, decided to run just a hybrid of two of those rather than all three.

 

From a probability standpoint.  Running more cards decreases clumping and bricking of the cards you don't want to draw while you have searchers like Artifact Sanctum to bring out the cards you need to.  Central to the core design of this deck is a consistent opening hand, which is why power cards are generally cut to a minimum.  BLS isn't accompanied by Chaos Sorcerers and there's only 1 Cir.  3 The Beginning of the End tends to go against that trend, but late-game a +2 can be really deadly, especially with all the milling power this deck has.

 

In the end, Brake's success was not just a novelty act.  It raises serious questions about probability theory, and dogmatic 40-card-ists should go back to the drawing board.  Still, the call of action here is in understanding WHY it works rather than trying to just emulate it.