Subject: Let's have a little fun - Turel Darcloak


One thing that I've noticed while wandering through the wonderful CCG Tips 
area provided by Pojo is a whole lot of people complaining about 'overused' 
deck types, such as Beatdown and Clown Control, but none of them are 
willing to get up and...yaknow...come up with a few ideas and give them out 
to back up their complaints.  Well, I just had to do something about that.

First off, I just feel it necessary to clarify the state of what is called 
"Beatdown".  Such a deck can be pulled into two categories: 'Real' Beatdown 
and the 4-Star Rush Beatdown, which I think is the one that is most 
complained about.  4-Star Rush is exactly what it sounds like, playing 
strong Level 4 Monsters and using them, alone with powerups, to win quickly 
and easily.  'Real' Beatdown is using strong monsters of various Levels to 
get the win out, and even a bunch of powerups to make them even more 
unbeatable.  So that's two.

Next, we have another well-known deck: Exodia!  And I know that nowadays, 
what with the Magic and Trap and - to an extent - Effect Monster arsenal 
that's available, Exodia decks are few and far between, but I've seen some 
powerful Exodia decks in the past that work out very well.  Exodia Decks 
are pulled into two different categories, just like Beatdown.  There are 
Offensive and Defensive methods.  Defensive, obviously, is one hell of a 
lot like the "Rare Hunter" character from the anime, who played Monsters 
with a heavy DEF rating and utilized Magic cards that allowed him to draw 
more cards as his turn went on.  Offensive is a bit of a trick, 
however.  You play attacking cards to distract your opponent whilst you 
quietly assemble Exodia as a 'backup plan'.  Offensive is a dream of mine, 
and my favorite of the two.

One of my favorites, the Monster-Focus deck.  You pick one Monster card 
(maybe your favorite?) and plan your deck around supporting Monster, Magic 
and Trap cards to bring said Monster out faster as your main-hitter.  Take 
everybody's favorite Yugi Muto into account for this one: his deck has a 
bunch of cards fueled to help his Dark Magician, and once it gets on the 
field he has a bunch of support magic to keep it ready to go.

There are Discard Decks, easily known as "Hand or Deck Destruction" 
Decks.  Utilize plenty of cards that will lower your opponents options and 
force him or her to deck out.  Always fun, right?

Another favorite of mine: the Counterstrike.  Simply enough, set up 
strategic attacks.  The simplest way to make a Counterstrike is to play 
Monsters with a strong DEF rating and when the time is right, play Shield 
and Sword and blow your opponent away.  Of course, this is only the 
simplest and most low-tech way to do it, as with every deck there are 
multiple ways of doing it.  Counterstrike is a lot more focused and 
high-tech than Beatdowns and uses small, concentrated strikes.

Next type: The lovely Special Summon deck, which focuses around Fusion and 
Ritual cards that usually have a lot of power.  Because Fusion and Ritual 
Monsters are Special Summons, a duelist may conduct as many as his or her 
hand/field will allow per turn.

Monster Removal: like the Hand or Deck Destruction Deck that I mentioned 
earlier, this deck prefers to limit options and totally clear a path that 
opens the way for a direct assault.

Character Decks: I'm going to make this one as simple as possible: Pick 
your favorite character from the anime/manga series.  Build your deck to 
reflect on what cards that character would like/might play/does play.

That, unfortunately, is pretty much all that I can come up with right 
now.  Maybe now, what with all the ideas set forward, we can usher in a new 
age of Theme Decks in which everyone has a strategy and methods of playing 
for fun.  Or maybe people will stop complaining.  Either works with me.



-Turel Darcloak

"Around 7 billion years ago, the universe was created.  This made a lot of 
people very angry and was considered by many to be a bad move."