Article on sidedeck building - Mig29 (tip) Subject : Customize your sidedeck Hello fellow Yugioh fan! So you’ve built that deck of your dreams huh ? It’s original, full of combos, packed with your favorite cards, fun to play, etc. However you're disillusioned by it’s ineffectiveness in tournaments. You just can’t beat those hand destruction/control, beatdown, chaos and lava golem burner decks. But you don’t want to concede that your deck is "inferior" to those classic decks yet. If you are in this situation, well then it's time to stop the deck building process and catch up on sidedeck strengh. The sidedeck is a great tool, too often neglected even by a lot of tournament players. It’s the place you put all those "good but too situational to play" cards (commons most of the time). The sidedeck is not just a place for additional copies of the cards already in your deck. Each threatening deck style in your environnement must be accounted for in your sidedeck. I will guide you in the styles I mentionned earlier and give exemples or cards you could sidedeck against those and how to use them strategically. NOTE : My lists will not include cards like Mirror Force or Magic Cylinder and other rare and often used cards which are so powerful that they are usually maindeck material. (I include waboku since it is very common and is great in both main and side decks) HAND DESTRUCTION/CONTROL Those decks rely on cards like Mystic tomato, Don Zaloog, Spirit reaper, Delinquent Duo, Forceful Sentry and Yata-Garasu. They deprive you of your good cards and your options until they can « lock » you in a powerless position. Sidedeck solutions : Forced Requisition Fear/Despair from the dark Electric snake These cards make discarding effects dangerous for those who use it. It will deny them the card advantage and allow you to smash their weaker monsters. Waboku Kuriboh Vengeful bog spirit Cards that deny battle damage often deny the effects of their monsters. Vengeful bog spirit can make Yata-Garasu useless and powers down Don Zaloog/Reaper since they can no longer benefit from a field cleaner card effect (Raigeki, Dark hole) to attack directly. BEATDOWN Those decks pack big attack monsters, strong equip spells, but few tribute monsters. Their tactic is to overwhelm you with a lot of monsters in attack position. The classic beatdown cards are : Berserk gorilla, Goblin attack force, Archfiend Soldier/Mad dog of darkness/Gemini elf/etc., Spear dragon, Vampire lord, Jinzo, Injection fairy Lily, United we stand, Mage Power. Sidedeck solutions : Gora turtle Waboku Messenger of peace Scapegoat Fairy box Ordeal of a traveler Cards that completely stop or deny the attacks are very useful until you can bring out your combos or get a solid 2500+ attacker on the field to overpower your opponent's monsters. Tailor of the fickle Book of moon These overlooked cards are very strategical. Tailor of the fickle will break the powerful Snatch Steal/United we stand + massive attack combos that can end a game easily. Beatdown monsters usually have very low defense, so book of moon can negate an attack and allow you to easily beat the monster on your next turn. CHAOS The new and revolutionary chaos decks are based on summoning and reborning the powerful Black Luster Soldier-Envoy of the beginning and Chaos Emperor Dragon. They need to get light and dark monsters in the graveyard rapidly to be efficient. Common cards in those decks (besides the two forementionned chaos monsters) : Magician of faith, Reflect bounder, Thunder Nyan Nyan, D.D. Warrior lady, Painful choice, Archfiend soldier, Cyber jar, Card destruction. Sidedeck solutions : Kycoo the ghost destroyer Big burn Soul release Necrovalley All cards that jam of destroy your opponent's graveyard will ruin his/her summoning strategy. Respect play/Eye of truth + Great phantom thief Dark designator + D.D. designator/Card destruction Confiscation Pidgeonholing book of spells + drop off These more complex ways of countering chaos decks rely on getting the chaos monsters in the graveyard from your opponant's hand before they can be successfully summoned, therefore forbidding your opponent to revive them. Non Agression area Solemn Judgment Horn of Heaven Bottomless trap hole These can cancel/forbid summons, thus making the summon of chaos monsters unsuccessful. Bottomless cannot deny Chaos Emperor Dragon’s effect, though, but it still removes it from play. Barrel behind the door Finally, this card can reflect all damage done by Chaos Emperor Dragon’s effect, resulting in usually 2000 Damage + the 1000 LP payment. Futhermore, it leaves your opponen'ts field empty, allowing a direct attack if you're lucky enough to draw a monster. Not bad ! LAVA GOLEM BURNER These decks laughs at your ridiculous attempts to attack, while they tribute your monsters for lava golems and inflict direct damage on your LifePoints until you die from the burn. Usual cards include : Messenger of Peace, Scapegoat, Gravity bind, Lava Golem, Magic Cylinder, Nightmare wheel, Stealth bird and Canon soldier. Sidedeck solutions : Cliff the trap remover Magic and trap removal cards (Mystical Space typhoon, Dust tornado, Breaker the magical warrior, etc.) This obvious sidedeck choice focusses on destroying the barrier that prevents you from attacking. Usually, Jinzo is not enough. Mefis the infernal general Airknight parshath Spear dragon Fairy meteor crush/Big bang shot These cards are good if you concentrate on detroying only the messengers and the gravity binds. They will ignore scapegoats and will allow you some well earned damage. Stealth bird Princess of Tsurugi Barrel behind the door Why not fight fire with fire ? Just try to stick with one monster on the field to prevent Lava golems until it’s time to strike. The princess is nice because those decks usually have 4 spell/traps on the field most of the time. I have often seen a lava golem player win by using ring of destruction on a golem as a finishing blow. Have a barrel ready and bounce that blast back for 6000 total damage. This can easily be a game ender. Altar for tribute Token thanksgiving Solemn wishes Trap of board eraser These cards will ruin your opponent’s tactic of destroying your lifepoint at distance. You just need to put Pot of greed and Graceful charity in your sidedeck and sit back, never attacking unless you can wipe the field clean of spells and traps. Usually a player activates Scapegoat in chain to a card that destroys it. Activate Token Thanksgiving then to gain 4200 LifePoints. When you get a lava golem, tribute it with the Altar trap to gain 3000 LifePoints. That should upset your opponent very much. Then just wait until he decks himself out. A very funny and annoying way to beat an annoying deck. My own tournament environnement has good Lava golem burners, Chaos and Beatdown decks. Here is what my side deck usually looks like : Altar for tribute Token thanksgiving Barrel behind the door Waboku Seven tools of the bandit Breaker the magical warrior Mefist the infernal general Bottomless trap hole Kycoo the ghost destroyer Gora turtle Soul release Confiscation Dark core (to get definitively rid of Vampire lord and chaos monsters) Great phantom thief Prohibition (I just like the versatility of this card) Conclusion : Analyse the decks of your most talented rivals and build your sidedeck accordingly. Look in the shoebox where you put all your "weak" cards and you might find great things there for your sidedeck. If you try my suggestions, please tell me of your experiences and impressions. Mig29, miguel_brillant@hotmail.com