May 2007

New Edge Beatdown - combobreaker

With the oncoming of the new meta, the old meta almost completely disappeared. Beatdowns filled with Goblins and Spear Dragons and Jinzo are a thing of the past. However, with the power of an old card, one that may be found in your dusty boxes in the back of your closet, you may not have to trade for all of the new cards, and can simply add 2-3 copies of this to modify your deck. What card am I talking about? I am talking about the aggressive play of the beatdown. I am talking about attacking. I am talking about "Final Attack Orders."

Now what makes this card so great, I mean, its a common for goodness sake. No one plays it, heck, I'll bet you 9 out of 10 people don't even remember this card. So why is it so good. Here's why:

The Card:
Final Attack Orders
Continuous Trap
Effect: As long as this card remains on the field, all face-up monsters on the field are changed to Attack Position and their battle positions cannot be changed.

So what, right? Why would I want to use this card if my monsters don't change positions? Well what if I told you about some that did. Remember that Goblin Attack Force in your binder that you wish you could use again because it used to smash down your opponents Gemini, but then the next turn they would come back at you with Spear Dragon and eat 1900 of your life points right in front of you even though you had a defender. Well this card not only keeps your defense switching monsters in attack mode, they force face-up monsters into attack mode as well. AND as an added bonus, they also force monsters in face-down defense to switch to attack right before battle, so it creates its own trampling effect.

How do I know this? Well Upperdeck's OFFICIAL rulings (from yugioh-card.com/ upperdeckentertainment.com) state that:

While "Final Attack Orders" is active, if you attack a face-down Defense Position monster, the monster is changed to Attack Position, then damage calculation is applied with the monster in Attack Position.

While "Final Attack Orders" is active, you can change monsters like "Guardian Sphinx" to face-down Defense Position, and while they are face-down, "Final Attack Orders" has no effect on them.

While "Final Attack Orders" is active, you can change the Battle Positions of monsters with "Curse of Fiend" or "Little-Winguard", but the Battle Positions are immediately changed back to Attack Position by "Final Attack Orders".

While "Final Attack Orders" is active, effects of "Goblin Attack Force", "Giant Orc", and "Dark Zebra" are resolved, but they are immediately changed back to Attack Position.

While "Final Attack Orders" and "Light of Intervention" are active, you can Special Summon a monster in face-up Defense Position, but it is immediately changed to Attack Position.

The effect of "Final Attack Orders" cannot be chained to.


And guess what, with the arrival of the Dark Beginnings and Dark Revelations booster packs, this deck-type is even cheaper to make - especially also with Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei & Giant Orc coming in common form and the price drop of Goblin Attack Force. And since you had probably reverted to the meta of the old before monarchs and dark worlds and gadgets ruled all, you probably should have a decent collection anyways. Well I hope so. If not then it shouldn't be hard to make anyways.

So should I build it? You can build a "Final Attack Orders" deck any way you want, but here's my suggestions. Final Attack Orders doesn't have much room for wimpy attackers like Spirit Reaper or Treeborn Frog because if your opponent attacks your monsters with Final Attack Orders face-up on the field, you are bound to lose a hefty sum of life points. Another thing is protecting your Final Attack Orders. Royal Decrees are pretty common nowadays so I suggest using Twister to counter them. I love that card. However, although it is the basis of your deck, it isn't entirely important to keep always keep it on your field (sometimes other cards may be of more importance).

So, to the deck finally!

Monsters: 21
Goblin Attack Force x3
Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei x3
Goblin Elite Attack Force x3
Giant Orc x2
Injection Fairy Lily x2
D.D. Warrior Lady
Exiled Force x2
Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
Mobius The Frost Monarch x2
Giant Rat
Amazoness Swords Woman

Spells: 12
Book of Moon
Heavy Storm
Mystical Space Typhoon
Twister
Nobleman of Crossout
Nobleman of Extermination
Enemy Controller
Shrink x2
Premature Burial
Snatch Steal
Swords of Revealing Light

Traps: 7
Final Attack Orders x3
Mirror Force
Ring of Destruction
Waboku x2

Deck: 40

This deck is on the Spell/Trap destruction heavy-side, because for the most part you know you can attack and destroy your opponent's monsters with your monsters, so you need help by destroying their monsters so that they cannot destroy your monsters with face-down Spell/Trap cards.

Well try it out, mix it up, and have fun! I've also thought about using Fake Trap, strategies and preference are entirely up to you though. Equip cards like Axe of Despair, United We Stand and Mage Power could also see a return, but I just threw in a few Shrinks.

Final Attack Orders is a great card and is a hidden gem among commons. If you're sick of the meta nowadays, you should surprise your opponents by countering with it. I know I have. It's a great card especially if you love to attack. I know I do.

Well Good Luck! And I hope you try it out!

chakong aka combobreaker
Questions and comments should be addressed to cls31s@yahoo.com