Subject: The Monster Removal Deck...and more - by Last Will The "Beatdown Deck" is popular nowadays(I put it in quotes, because all beatdown decks are different...the term is too vague). However, I believe that the way to go is monster removal and monster addition. Allow me to explain... The basic (beatdown) deck relies on high attack monsters(La Jinn, Fish, Skull), flip effect monsters such as Magician of Faith(just about every deck runs 2-3 of these), Big Eye(not as common, but still popular), etc. So, generally, you'll be faced with 1800/2500 attack monsters face up, or set monsters face down, waiting to unleash their nasty effect on you. Face up monsters are generally easy to deal with...Trap holes, fissures, your own attack monsters can take these out before they can do much damage. However, the key to winning in this game lies in 2 main, very basic facets: Removing opponents monsters, and getting more of your own monsters out onto the field, or put simply...monster advantage. This leads to direct damage which leads to victory more often than not. Let's start with monster removal. As I said before, Fissures and Trap Holes can be found in the most basic monster removal deck(and most decks, anyway), but this strategy goes beyond that. There are 2 parts to monster removal...attack monster destruction, and flip effect negation. The former has been talked to death, so I'll explain the latter. That face-down MoF/MeB/Big Eye/Cyber Jar have you worried? Perhaps it should, the best decks all pack these flip effect monsters for good reason. They can't be trap holed, and attacking them often times plays directly into your opponent's hands. So, what to do? Man-eater Bug can destroy a flip effect monster before it has a chance to use its effect. Tribute to the Doomed destroys any opponent's monster, and unlike MeB, doesn't require you to waste a precious monster summon to do it. Share the Pain can destroy a set monster easily if it is the only monster your opponent has on the field, meanwhile you can tribute a used up effect monster or a Witch of the Black Forest. Advantage, you. Solemn Judgement can negate a flip effect, magic card, trap card, or a even special summon...for half your life points. Used wisely, this card can be a life-saver, literally. FInally, Horn of Heaven is the trap version of share the pain, except it works like a trap hole. Use it to destroy a recently special summoned or flip summoned monster, and destroy your used up effect monster. Monster removal paves the way for direct damage, but to fully take advantage of this, it helps to get extra monsters on the field and in your hand. Sangan and Witch of the Black Forest can do 1000 and 1100 direct damage respectively, and then, when it dies(by your choice, preferably :)), you can pull pretty much any monster from your deck into your hand(in the case of the witch) or at least any effect monster(in sangan's case). That's pretty basic, and this strategy goes beyond that. A card that is surprisingly low rated on this site is waboku. Not only does it save you from life point damage(albeit for 1 turn), but more importantly, it saves your monsters! They have 2 La Jinns and attack your face down MeB, it flips destroying one, you waboku and keep it alive. Next turn, you can share the pain and then lay down your own La Jinn and do 1800 direct damage. Or, tribute it for a summoned skull. The more monsters you have, the more options you have, and more damage you can do. Finally, comes the coup de grace of this strategy. The single most overlooked card in the entire game...Last Will! When I first looked at this card, it seemed useless. I thought A) When would you lose a monster on your own turn and B) Why would you want to special summon a monster with less than 1500 attack? It sat in my binder for the first month I had it and then I got to thinking... Hmm, any card that can put an extra monster on the field has got to be good. The problem was finding useful 1500- cards to special summon and finding useful ways to lose a monster on my own turn(attacking a monster and losing life points seems wasteful heh). Slowly, it all fell into place. 2 Witches, 2 Sangans, 2 Share the Pains, 3 Last Wills. Not just a way of getting more monsters, but a way of GREATLY reducing "luck of the draw". You need to draw a weather report to counter the swords that just went up? No Problem. Waiting to draw that Magician of Faith to get back that raigeki? Piece of cake. Opponent overwhelming you with 1700/1800 monsters and need a wall of illusions to stall? Works for any card...let me explain. Sangan/Witch let you take pretty much any card you want into hand, and they are impossible to counter once on the field(unlike flip effect monsters). Share the Pain lets you tribute these guys to take out a key monster, plus getting a card in your hand. Combine Share the Pain with a Last Will to summon yet another Sangan/Witch to the field, meaning you get an extra monster to the field AND an extra monster to your hand when it dies. This allows you to run a deck with a lower composition of monsters than most. The ability to get so many monsters out so quickly is that you don't need to rely on luck to draw them. So, feel free to put that extra Magic Jammer or Tribute to the Doomed in your deck. Now, for some combos... At least once per tournament, the following happens. I start off and set WotBF face down, and perhaps a couple face down m/t's to discourage an attack. Generally, the opponent's response to this is to set a MeB face down(or a Big Eye). On my turn, I play share the pain(or even Dark Hole), along with Last Will. Destroy his monster, leaving him open for attack. Take a Summoned Skull into hand, special summon Sangan/Witch to the field. Then tribute it for the summoned skull I just took, and then take another monster into hand(La Jinn, Magician of Faith, Cyber Pod...whatever suits your fancy). Attack for 2500, and you have any monster you choose in your hand to play next turn...happens amazingly frequently. Any flip effect monster + waboku set(or bluff them into not attacking...works either way) + share the pain(get your monsters effect, then use it to destroy a monster on your turn, paving the way for direct damage. Add Last Will to speed things up :)) Flip your man-eater bug, kill their monster...play a sangan/witch, attack for direct damage(only 1500, but that's quite significant). They nautrally follow up with a La Jinn(hell, maybe even a Monster Reborn on a Summoned Skull) to punish your MeB, and surprise! Horn of Heaven allows you to get rid of your now useless MeB and take down his La Jinn(or Special Summoned Skull!) and do direct damage again next turn. The possibilities are endless, the deck speed is incredible, and there's an added bonus. Generally, you want to play a 40 card deck, because the less cards you have, the sooner you are able to draw that game-turning Monster Reborn, Change of heart, Raigeki or Swords. Well, this strategy effectively shrinks your deck size to about 30-35 because of all the monster cards you can remove from your deck aside from your draw phase. So, instead of a 5% chance to draw that Swords that could save your bacon, you could have a 10% chance, maybe more. Sorry for the length of the post, but I thought I needed to address an aspect of the game that is far too often overlooked. Send any comments or insights to fastat3m@hotmail.com. Thanks for your time :) - Last Will PS - editor at Pojo(wartortle?), if this is too long, let me know and I can condense it into parts for you. Sorry for the inconvenience :)