Current and Future Metagame: Monster Removal In this article, I would like to describe the current metagame with the base set. In every card game, one of the most effective strategies is MONSTER REMOVAL. This is also true in Duel Masters; every effective deck will include some form of monster removal. Now I will examine, in my opinion, one of the most devastating decks in the current environment; Water/Nature. Water/Nature manipulates the mass "bouncing" removal, card drawing, and search ability of water with Nature's mana acceleration and monster removal. Here's a sample offensive Water/Nature deck: Water/Nature Deck (40 Card deck) 26 Monsters 4 Bronze-Arm Tribe (Nature) 4 Storm Shell (Nature) 2 Deathblade Beetle (Nature) 3 Mighty Shouter (Nature) 4 Unicorn Fish (Water) 2 Aqua Sniper (Water) 4 Aqua Hulcus (Water) 3 King Deathcom (Water) 14 Spells 4 Natural Snare (Nature) 4 Spiral Gate (Water) 3 Crystal Memory (Water) 3 Teleportation (Water) Okay, you might think its crazy not to have blockers, but if you think about this deck has 4 spiral gates, 3 teleportations, 4 natural snares, 4 unicorn fishes, 4 storm shell, and 2 aqua snipers; a total of 21 cards that have some form of monster removal. Just keep on bouncing monsters that can attack and you'll be alright. That's more than half of the deck!!! Another thing that may be of a concern is the small size of the deck; maybe causing you to deck out, but in reality the deck is very fast and fast enough to take out your opponent before you even deck out. How would you ask??? Deathblade Beetle and King Deathcom will end the game FAST because of Nature's mana acceleration and Water's card searching ability, you can summon these monsters fast! Plus, the small size of the deck almost gaurantees you to draw all the right cards. Now a quick overview of this deck. The whole purpose is "bounce" or remove all of you opponent's monsters on the field and pluck away his shields when the field is clear. In early game, summon Deathblade Beetle and put your opponent on the defense and then in mid-late game, send one of those big boy Deathcoms and finish up your opponent. With 17 Nature cards and 23 Water cards, you should be able to get the mana needed to use the deck effectively. Also, the deck has 11 shield trigger spells, this can help in a tight spot. Spiral Gate, Unicorn Fish, Aqua Sniper, and Teleportation: Spiral Gates are used to prevent rushes since there are no blockers in the deck. Also, good for late game to "bounce" big monsters and make your opponent waste mana to summon their monster again; also wastes a turn because they have to wait for summoning sickness again. Unicorn fishes provide a monster and does a bouncing effect all in one card... Good for mid-game. Teleportation and Aqua Smiper adds more bounce in late-game; sometimes using Aqua Sniper's effect returning one of your opponent's monster and returning your own aqua sniper can add more bouncing ability to the deck. Crystal Memory: The best card searching card in the game!!! Allows you to search for that King Deathcom needed to finish up the game. Natural Snare and Storm Shell: Any form of monster removal is good, even if it sends your opponent's monster into the mana zone. Think about it though, by the time you get to use natural snare, your opponent probably has enough mana needed to summon everything anyways; so one more mana wouldn't hurt. Besides, I'd rather give your opponent one extra mana then face a Deathlinger on the field anyday. Storm shell is the same thing as natural snare but this card is a monster with a natural snare effect. Great against Aqua Knights!!! Mighty Shouter and Bronze-Arm Tribe: MANA ACCELERATION... These two guys can provide mana like crazy. I prefer Bronze-Arm Tribe because it is faster and can allow you to summon your Deathblade Beetle on the 4th turn, which can be really devastating. Aqua Hulcus: A great monster that provides an additional card; allows you to have more options. King Deathcom: The great GAME BREAKING LEVIATHIAN. This card can single-handly kill your opponent if summoned early. Using nature's mana acceleration and water's card search ability, it's easy to summon these bad boys fast. Now with the new set of the Evolution Expansion Set coming out soon, I will take a look into this set before it comes out... Here are some of the most anticipated cards for the new set (for water/nature) CRYSTAL PALADIN Evolution Creature / Liquid People / Water / 4 / 5000 / 1 - Evolution - Place on top of 1 of your Liquid People. - When this Creature is played to the Battle Zone, return all Creatures with [Blocker] to their owner's hands. S2/S5 (Super Rare) Remember Scarlet Skyterror??? Well, this is the water version of the game breaking Scarlet Skyterror. Yep, thats right Heres the cheaper water version of Scarlet Skyterror that can totally ruin a Light deck or any deck that runs a bunch of blockers. This is a good card to disrupt an opponents field and strategy while gaining an advantage to attack a field without blockers. Although this Evolution probably wont see as much play as Crystal Lancer, it will certainly change the metagame. This card makes water decks a whole lot stronger and there will be more emphasize on mono water decks. Pros: 1. 4 mana!!! CHEAP version of Scarlet Skyterror. 2. Returns all Blockers to their owners hands. Cons: 1. Return only Blockers; sometimes too situational due to the fact most players use aggressive control decks. 2. Super Rare makes it hard to get. CRYSTAL LANCER Evolution Creature / Liquid People / Water / 6 / 8000 / 1 - Evolution - Place on top of 1 of your Liquid People. - Double Breaker (When this Creature attacks a Shield, it Breaks 2 Shields.) - This Creature can't be blocked. 24/55 (Uncommon) This card is just awesome!!! Remember the hard to get King Deathcom, well heres King Deathcoms replacement, Crystal Lancer. First off, this monster is an evolution of Liquid People, which is good since there are a lot of good Liquid People cards already; Aqua Hulcus, Aqua Sniper, and Aqua Bouncer (coming out in Set 2). Another thing that makes this card a highly anticipated card is that its an Uncommmon card. OMG! 8000 Double Breaker with Unblockable a Uncommon?!?! What is Wizards of the Coast thinking? This card will be easy to get. Thus, a lot of play and abuse of this card will be seen. Pros: 1. Double Breaker 2. Unblockable 3. Uncommon 4. 8000 power is just solid. Cons: 1. 6 mana is kind of costly. THE GREAT HERO DUEL FANG Evolution Creature / Beastfolk / Nature / 6 / 8000 / 1 - Evolution - Place on top of 1 of your Beastfolk. - When this Creature is played to the Battle Zone, turn the top 2 cards of your deck face-up and place them in your Mana Zone. - Double Breaker (When this Creature attacks a Shield, it breaks 2 Shields.) S5/S5 (Super Rare Meet Bronze-Arm Tribes older brother, The Great Hero Duel Fang. Look at its stats. 8000 power is just solid. Another great thing about this card is that it only costs 3 mana!!! This card also has a double breaker and will eventually replace Deathblad Beetle. Now if you examine a nature deck, one of natures best attributes is its mana acceleration. Heres the Father of all mana acceleration; gives 2 extra mana when you play him. Thus, you are really paying just one mana to get him out!!! Most nature decks already run Bronze-Arm Tribe and Mighty Shouter and thus, this card will see a lot of play. Now people are able to play higher mana costing monsters faster Pros: 1. 8000 power is solid 2. Gives you an additional 2 mana for that turn 4. Double breaker Cons: 1. Super Rare will make it hard to get. As you can see, these new set of cards are stressing a Nature/Water deck. Other CIVs are getting stronger as well, but these 3 cards really boost a Nature/Water deck. Heres a sample of a future evolution aggresive Nature/Water Control deck: 25 Monsters (13 Water) 4 Aqua Hulcus (3 mana) 3 Aqua Bouncer (6 mana) 3 Aqua Sniper (8 mana) 2 Crystal Lancer (6 mana) 1 Crystal Paladin (4 mana) (13 Nature) 4 Bronze-Arm Tribe (3 mana) 4 Storm Shell (7 mana) 3 Mighty Shouter (3 mana) 2 The Great Hero Duel Fang (3 mana) 15 Spells (11 Water) 4 Spiral Gates (2 mana) 4 Teleportation (5 mana) 3 Crystal Memory (4 mana) (4 Nature) 4 Natural Snare (7 mana) Thanks for reading my article. I hope everyone enjoyed it.