July 2007

Brian “Ace”
FIEND / DARK NECROFEAR

This deck theme has seen little play over the years since Dark Necrofear’s release in LON. Since then, it has gained a surprising amount of support. PGD contained Newdoria and Dark Jeroid, which added more fiend monsters to be searched via Mystic Tomato. The other most common dark fiends to search out previously had been Giant Germ, which has a search effect of its own, and the classic, Sangan. In addition to the solid field control through searchers, fiends also contain an assortment of many aggressive/beatdown monsters including Giant Orc and Goblin Elite Attack Force. Both of which make great counters to the strong and heavily played Cyber Dragon. Another fat fiend would be the well-known Dark Ruler Ha Des.
The deck I have constructed is well balanced and combines a significant field presence with solid hand control. This is achieved from the vast amount of fiend monsters available to search out. A simple Tomato search for Newdoria preserves your monster presence and disturbs the opponent’s. Here is a deck list: I will further discuss the build after.

Monsters:20
1 Dark Ruler Ha Des
2 Dark Necrofear
3 Mystic Tomato
3 Giant Germ
2 Newdoria
2 Snipe Hunter
2 Goblin Elite Attack Force
2 Magical Merchant
1 Dark Jeroid
1 Sangan
1 Spirit Reaper

Spells: 13
2 Creature Swap
2 Smashing Ground
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Scapegoat
1 Book of Moon
1 Snatch Steal
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Confiscation
1 Premature Burial
1 Nobleman of Crossout

Traps: 9
2 Sakuretsu Armor
2 Drop Off
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Ring of Destruction


Monsters:
The Newdorias, Mystic Tomatoes, and Giant Germs are self-explanatory. Dark Jeroid, despite it often being the least desirable of the fiends for a search can be surprisingly helpful in key situations. Simply weaken a 2400 to a 1600 and hit it with one of the big hitters. However, there is only room for one. I decided to run two copies of Dark Necrofear. It seems to be the happy medium. Three is too much because it’s more susceptible to being a dead card in hand. Only running one makes it too hard to topdeck, and in addition, the deck makes it easy to play two. The Magical Merchants, although not a necessity, make the deck unique and gives it good synergy. Its ability to send fiends to the grave is great, plus the bonus of getting a helpful spell or trap. Along with Mystic Tomato and Giant Germ, this is also a good card to use creature swap on. Reasons for not playing this card could be the unfortunate occasion of sending a Necrofear off to the grave. But, hey! That’s what Pot of Avarice is for! This card has great synergy with Pot of Avarice, significantly dropping the chance of it being a dead draw/card in hand. The main problem with this card is the part where you have to show the card you got to the opponent. It spoils bluffs sometimes, and allows your opponent to work around a card and wait. But enough on this little bug—It’s not even a fiend for crying out loud and here I am giving a formidable card review on it! Moving on, I say! Snipe Hunter is a good fiend. The discard part isn’t so bad. In fact, it can be quite helpful. For obvious reasons, too. Fiend food for the Necrofear, of course! The other card that may need explaining is Goblin Elite. If you run down the list of monsters in this deck you may notice that there aren’t that many hard hitters. Gob Elite is great. It’s a nice little counter to Cyber Dragon, and it even may have just enough DEF to hold your opponent off for a of couple turns. Last and certainly not least is Dark Ruler Ha Des. Quite a scary monster. This card can completely shut your opponent down if they can’t draw a card to stop it. If you like it enough and can find room for two, go ahead. I wouldn’t play three, two the most.

Spells:
For the most part, the spells in this deck are standard in any deck. Book of Moon always is a versatile card. In rare situations, you may even play it to use the Magical Merchant’s nifty ability again. Creature Swap. It’s usually seen in decks like these. Great for giving a searcher to the opponent and hitting it to bop the opponent again with another monster. However, it can be useful in other situations, too. It can stop a rallie from the opposition. Say for instance, a Jinzo is played. Well, the bigger they are the harder the fall! How frustrating it would be to have your Jinzo swapped for the well-loved Magical Merchant. Just squash the little bug and you’d be well on your way to a victory. Scapegoat is a good stall. This card, as we all know, works scarily well with Creature Swap. Pot of Avarice is a must for this deck. The cards to be put back would be the searchers or maybe the Dark Ruler Ha Des or a used/unused Dark Necrofear. Try to keep a few fiends in though for the Necro. Confiscation. I felt that this deck has pretty solid field control. However, an aspect that it was originally lacking was hand control. Although not creating any advantage, it significantly disarms your opponent. The other plus is knowing what they had hidden from you. The rest of the cards are self-explanatory.

Traps:
This is where the deck becomes unique. And you don’t have to follow me here with this idea. However, I firmly believe it helps. As I have stated hand control is an important aspect that was originally lacking in this deck. Trap Dustshoot is a good card recently seeing more play. Drop Off, however, is a card that isn’t played as much as it used too. This deck though, really puts a ware on you and your opponent. There’s a lot of one-for-ones going on. Both players are reduced to only a few cards in hand and on field. I understand this card can be a bad topdeck. But when the deck makes an open and produces some advantage, a Drop Off can be a hard hit on the opponent. It’s a card that is great when you’re even with your opponent, to slightly ahead, and to well ahead. When you’re behind though, a Skull Servant could be a more desirable topdeck to stop the bleeding. If you, personally don’t like playing Drop Offs—don’t! That would slim the deck down to 40 exactly. I suggest you at least try them out. They can pin the opponent, and in a way difficult to counter. If you really like Drop Offs and have room for them, play three. They’re definitely best run in threes. Another solution to some hand control would be a Don Zaloog. After all, we got the three Tomatoes. But it’s not a fiend and a fiend would probably be of more use than a “random” warrior. The other flaw to this deck up to this point is not enough stall or block from the opponent. A couple copies of Sakuretsu Armor along with a Mirror Force and Ring of Destruction should be all the protection you’ll need.

What Just Missed the Cut:
Monsters:
Dark World--It wouldn’t be too difficult to change the deck build to have a bit of Dark World spin on it. After all, they are fiends. A Morphing Jar added in would help the Dark World Monsters and could be helpful in sending fiends off to the grave.

Don Zaloog--As I mentioned a solo copy of Don wouldn’t be the worst idea. But what about two copies? This deck could be easily morphed into a Tomato Control without many changes. However, it would be difficult to run a Necrofear/Tomato Control Deck. I don’t really see the need. The fiend deck I just explored with you is arguably a Tomato Control. If you think you can pull it off, write back to me. My email will be at the bottom of the page.
Night Assailant—This would be a solid card in this deck. It would be quite easy to use either of it’s abilities. A Snipe cost to retrieve a Merchant. Not bad. It is a fiend, too. I personally find it to be too slow a card. If you like it, go for it.

Card Trooper—This card simply isn’t needed in this deck. It’s best to use all these fiend’s nifty effects. The deck doesn’t really need any help in getting fiends to the grave quicker. In fact, it isn’t even an absolute necessity to get a Dark Necrofear to the field. The deck is quite capable of winning without it even being played. But if you must play your shiny, expensive cards, I can’t stop you. Or can I? No… I don’t think I can. Magical Merchant may be slower, but it only sends monsters and is overall more effective. N this deck, anyway.

Morphing Jar—This card can really help in a jam to gain some options. But if your opponent is already ahead, he’s going to stay ahead. It can help send fiends off as food for Necrofear. I just don’t find it needed. If you like it, play it.

“Staples”—Jinzo, D.D. Warrior Lady, Exiled Force, Cyber Dragon, Neo-Spacian Grand Mole, Tree-born Frog. These cards, in general aren’t needed in the deck. In addition, where are you going to put them? None of them are fiends and will end up being pesky cards in your grave. I would definitely sidedeck a Jinzo though. Cards like Exiled Force and D.D. Warrior Lady have their place taken by Newdoria. A step down, in ability, but definitely the better choice to put in this deck.

Spells:
Card Destruction—This card can be great when you have a few fiends in hand with no Dark Necrofear—especially if one of the cards you get is Dark Necrofear. Basically, this is a good card to dump off fiends to the grave for Dark Necrofear. However, it is a solid card without simply being a fiend dumper. If you’re in a tight spot and need to draw a key card, this card could help. It also can be a pain for the opponent. It’s great for killing the irritating Neo-Spacian Grand Mole. Okay, so all I mentioned was PROs. What about the CONs? Well, it’s not that there’s much wrong with this card. It’s simply not needed that much and isn’t great. I do suggest you try it out. If you feel you need more fiends in the grave, this would be a good card to help.

Lightning Vortex—Yet another card to produce some food for Dark Necrofear. This card can pack a big punch when timed right. This is another card that if you can find the room, and feel it would be a more a plus than a burden, try it out.

The Cheerful Coffin—This is a card that didn’t exactly just miss the cut. It is definitely not needed. It is just wasting cards and flushing your advantage down the drain. If you were thinking about playing this card…don’t!

Nobleman of Extermination--This is a good card that has seen little play. If you have the room, I would play it. Spell/Trap removal is good. And this deck doesn’t have very much of it. I would recommend side decking a pair or at least something similar to it, i.e. Dust Tornado.

Traps:
The Drop Off the only trap I had to think about. It just made the cut. It’s all in preference. In this deck though, it’s a good chance your opponent will only have three or four cards total on their field and in their hand. If you wish to make a build similar to the one I have constructed, I highly recommend giving it a shot.

The deck is on its way to being very competitive. And the best part is it’s fairly inexpensive to build. The core consists mainly of rares, save the Dark Ruler Ha Des and Dark Necrofear itself. Both of which were reprinted into more common of a card… and less expensive, too. If you have any thoughts, comments, suggestions, etc., please feel free to email me. I get hardly any mail and I promise to respond… eventually. This deck could be the next big build. Test play it as much as possible and help me work out the kinks. The deck has great synergy and is very fun to duel with. Again, any comments, etc email me at:

Liberate4692@aol.com