From: GUYOBRAINS@aol.com [mailto:GUYOBRAINS@aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 2:24 PM

Subject: Searing Silence - Neo King of Games

Card advantage. It was, is, and always will be the big thing in this and probably every card game ever. And it's an important thing. You won't be winning too many duels without some form of advantage-producing cards.

But what if someone were to build a deck that beats the opponent by giving them card advantage? Well, I have good news. I have done it. I have built a deck that lets you win by giving the opponent major hand advantage! Imagine the look on your opponent's face when they're sitting with half their deck in their hand and no Life Points.

One thing I should mention is that this wasn't a deck theme sent in to me. This is my deck, the one I'll be using (for the most part) come the new ban list on April 1st. I'm using this as an example of how the decks will be presented.

First off, I'll go through each card, explaining the purpose of it in the deck. I'll do this first with monsters,  then spells, and finally traps. Then, I'll give a complete deck list for the deck. After that, I'll list the most notable combos in the deck, and finish with the strengths and weakness of the deck.

So, here it is, my deck for the next ban list, Searing Silence.

Monsters

Silent Magician LV4 & Silent Magician LV8

It's thanks to these cards that the deck was ever made. The Silent Magicians are probably my favorite monsters in the game, so I tried to find a deck they'd fit in and build that deck. At first I thought about a LV deck, since they'd obviously fit there. But then I thought "Well, I want to try something original, and a LV deck isn't particularly original." So, after looking over the effects, I decided to build a deck that forces the opponent to draw, giving SM LV4 more power. And here we are. This deck will have two copies of each Silent Magician.

Uria, Lord of Searing Flames

When first I heard of the Sacred Beast cards, I decided that if I ever got one, I'd hold on to it and trade it for something. But I came into possession of Uria recently, and found that I could never part with it. In fact, I wanted to use it in a duel. So, I looked at this deck and realized that I had a few continuous traps, so I decided to add a couple more and throw in Uria. We only need one of him.

Sasuke Samurai #3

Those of you who know this monster's effect know exactly why he's in here. For those of you who don't...it's because of his effect. He forces the opponent to draw until they have seven cards when he inflicts battle damage to the opponent. I have him in three's but it won't cause any trouble for the deck to trade one for something.

Chainsaw Insect

Chainsaw Insect is an amazing card for this deck. Originally, I was thinking about how it could be used to help power up SM LV4, and of course here it is in the deck now. Run in three's due to it's ability and power.

The Bistro Butcher

Another good card for this deck. Originally, people probably stayed away from this card, since it makes the opponent draw cards when it does damage. But here, it's run in three's, since it really helps the deck.

Hiro's Shadow Scout

Yet another good forced draw card. They draw three cards and may end up discarding all three. Or maybe none of the three. It's kind of a luck card in that aspect. Yet there are a few cards in here that help so that it doesn't matter if they discard. Two copies are in the current deck list, but this would be an excellent choice if you want to trade out a Sasuke Samurai #3.

Morphing Jar

Not much to say. This deck doesn't generally have large hands at any time, and it adds to the forced draw theme.

A Cat of Ill Omen

This deck is pretty trap heavy, having 15 traps. So, this adds to the availability of those more important traps.

Mask of Darkness

Again, this deck is trap heavy, so Mask is needed. Too bad they had to restrict it to one.

Sangan

A very good choice indeed. It can search out most of the monsters in the deck that you might want to worry about searching out.

Spells

Level Modulation

Some might have thought that Level Modulation had too great a cost to be used. But here, the cost is the best part. Perhaps Level Modulation was made for SM LV4. In any case, it's an excellent choice, and run in three's.

Giant Trunade

This is a better choice than Heavy Storm in this deck since you have enough traps to worry about losing too. Run in two's since three might be a little too much.

Traps

Greed

This is possibly the most important trap in the deck. It inflicts 500 points of damage per card drawn outside of the draw phase, and since this deck is all about that, Greed is an excellent choice. It's used in three's due to how much it helps the deck.

Null and Void

Another great choice. The opponent won't gain any advantage but they'll still take damage if Greed is out. Not really worth it if the opponent's only drawing one card, and hardly better if it's two, but with Sasuke Samurai in here, it could be devastating. Run in three's because of an awesome combo.

Magical Thorn

The opponent will usually be discarding a lot as well as drawing. Therefore, Magical Thorn is run in three's too.

Disturbance Strategy

A great card while Greed is out, even better if you have Null and Void as well. Run in three's for the previously mentioned awesome combo.

Curse of Darkness

Since there's only five spells in the deck, Curse of Darkness is an awesome choice. Plus, it's a continuous trap, meaning it can be offered for Uria.

Astral Barrier and Spirit Barrier

These are both continuous traps, so they can be offered for Uria. They're also good for defense.

So, those are the cards and their uses in the deck. Here's how the final deck list looks:

Searing Silence

Monsters

Silent Magician LV8 x2

Uria, Lord of Searing Flames

A Cat of Ill Omen

Chainsaw Insect x3

Hiro's Shadow Scout x2

Mask of Darkness

Morphing Jar

Sangan

Sasuke Samurai #3 x3

Silent Magician LV4 x2

The Bistro Butcher x3

Spells

Giant Trunade x2

Level Modulation x3

Traps

Astral Barrier

Curse of Darkness

Disturbance Strategy x3

Greed x3

Magical Thorn x3

Null and Void x3

Spirit Barrier

So there you have it. Searing Silence, named so because the strongest monsters in the deck are Silent Magician and Uria. But let's look at the noteworthy combos.

First off is the Disturbance Strategy/Null and Void combo. It's really simple and can have the opponent topdecking easily, especially since both cards are run in threes. First, during your opponent's turn, play Disturbance Strategy, best played when they have already drawn but haven't played any cards yet. They'll shuffle the cards and then draw from the deck. Once they draw all the cards, activate Null and Void. They'll have to discard all cards in their hand to the graveyard, having absolutely nothing. Hm...I wonder how many people have thought of this combo before...

The Astral Barrier/Spirit Barrier combo is kind of obvious. Have 'em both active to protect your monsters.

Those are the only combos that need specific cards. Still, they're very good.

Now, as for the strengths and weaknesses of this deck...this deck's main weakness is probably Dark World, seeing as this deck can tend to make the opponent discard. Or maybe some kind of deck using Watapon...you know that monster that can be special summoned when it's drawn due to a card effect. But then again, who's playing that, anyway?

As for strengths...this deck was greatly improved thanks to the return of Graceful Charity. Not because this deck uses it, but because most other decks will use it. Imagine you have Magical Thorn and Greed out when the opponent plays Graceful Charity. They take 1500 in the end phase because of Greed, and then Magical Thorn will deal 1000 when they discard the two, totaling 2500 points of damage for the opponent to gain one card! The best deck this deck will do against will probably be one that's at least mildly tribute heavy.

Anyway, that's the deck, and everything you need to know about it. Hopefully now you'll also understand how I'll set things up from now on. Remember that every deck I build will be based on the ban list going into effect April 1st.

Any questions, comments, suggestions, deck themes, and anything else can be sent to GUYOBRAINS@aol.com.