JUNE 2008

 

Deck Fix: Where'd My Hand Go? - Master of Shadows

Hello, people. Master of Shadows with yet another deck fix. Two days, and business is booming. Either people really need help, they want to see what I can do, or I'm just that good. Hopefully, it's all three. Anyways, on to the message:

Hello Master of Shadows, my names Izzy and the
deck I've sent you is based around hand control. As
you will see I have insereted Thestalos the Firestorm
Monarch, and Don Zaloog as well as Drop Off for hand
control. I have also made roughly half the deck with
earth monsters and made some of them searchable with
Giant Rat. The purpose of Giant Rat is to bring out
the Exiled Forces and the purpose of the
Reinforcements of the Army is mostly to obtain the Don
Zaloog. I'd like to make this deck competitive and any
suggestions would gladly be appreciated. Here is the
deck:

Deck Title : Where'd My Hand Go?

Monsters : 20
3 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
3 Don Zaloog
1 Treeborn Frog
1 Spirit Reaper
2 Giant Rat
3 Exiled Force
2 Gigantes
1 Morphing Jar
1 Silent Swordsman LV2
3 Goblin Attack Force

Spells : 12
1 Fissure
2 Hammer Shot
1 Smashing Ground
1 Shield Crush
1 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Monster Reborn
1 Premature Burial
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Card Destruction

Traps : 8
1 Torrential Tribute
3 Waboku
1 Trap Dustshoot
3 Drop Off

Total : 40 Cards

        I'm not too satisfied with the deck as I would
like to have more draw power. The purpose of the deck
is to gain control early in the game or use the
monster removal cards to start gaining control. I've
already considered the fact that this deck will not do
well against a Dark World deck, so for that case I
decided a good side deck option would be just desserts
since Dark World Decks like to swarm. I know I lack in
Spell and Trap removal, so maybe you could find a way
to incorporate that into the deck. I also would like
your opinion on my choices to have Treeborn Frog and
Gigantes as means to summon my Thestalos the Fire
Storm Monarch. Thanks for time. Take Care. Peace.

- Izzy

Well, interesting. You don't see too many Hand Control decks these days. The first thing I noticed when looking at this deck is that there's a lot going on here. This deck upon first glance struck me as a sort of Warrior Toolbox / Rat Toolbox kind of deck with numerous pieces missing from both. Oh well.

First, I'm going to cut a few things, as usual:

- 2 Giant Rat

- 1 Exiled Force

- 2 Gigantes

- 1 Morphing Jar

- 1 Mystic Swordsman LV2

- 3 Goblin Attack Force

- 1 Fissure

- 2 Hammer Shot

- 1 Smashing Ground

- 1 Swords of Revealing Light

Wow. 15 cards. I can't remember the last time I made a cut to anyone's deck that big (except my own - my decks' cuts tend to be upwards of 30 cards with the only cards not being cut being the "staples"). Sometimes, that's a good thing meaning I have more room to work with. Sometimes, it's just the opposite, meaning I don't know what to do. I took out Giant Rat because, while it searches out a good piece of monster removal, it does very little for our Hand Control strategy. Gigantes left because many of the Earth monsters will be leaving. Mystic Swordsman LV2 because it's easily taken care of and you have Nobleman of Crossout and Shield Crush for that. Goblin Attack Force because, while its attack is high, it's one of those one-shot kind of things, and we need something a bit better. Morphing Jar because we don't want to give our opponents fresh hands that we might not be able to take care of, especially if they can use it before we can drop it. All the removal (Fissure, etc.) will be handled by something else. Swords will prove to be a bit hindering to what I'm going to do with this.

Now to add things:

+ 3 Mystic Tomato

+ 1 Snipe Hunter

+ 1 Sangan

+ 1 Raiza the Storm Monarch

+ 2 Enemy Controller

+ 2 Lightning Vortex

+ 2 Shrink

+ 2 Hand Destruction / Allure of Darkness (if you can get them)

+ 2 Solemn Judgment / Dark Bribe / Divine Wrath / Magic Drain / Seven Tools of the Bandit

I added in 16. That brings you up to 41. Oh well. 41 still works. The Mystic Tomato will give us better access to Don Zaloog and also provide Tribute bait for Thestalos. Snipe Hunter will replace a lot of the cards you had in here (a Exiled Force, Goblin Attack Force, those Hammer Shots) and become a spot of reusable removal for you, provided you're lucky with dice rolls. Sangan will search out whatever you may need (usually Don Zaloog, Tribute bait, or Exiled Force). Raiza will aid in clearing a path for Don Zaloog as well as helping to lock down your opponent's draw by somewhat setting them back a turn. Enemy Controller and Shrink will help Don Zaloog get its effect off by letting it run over monsters or moving them out of the way. Lightning Vortex will replace your Smashing Ground and Fissure. Hand Destruction to get to what you need faster.

The Counter Traps will serve as protection to your cards. Solemn Judgment is the all-purpose negator at the cost of half your Life Points. That's no big deal since you're protecting them anyway. Dark Bribe will stop Spells and Traps at the cost of giving your opponent a card (something you could discard later). Divine Wrath will stop any monster effects trying to ruin your game. Magic Drain will either give you a free negation or make Spell cards more costly to play by forcing your opponent to discard a Spell to push it through, an added Hand Control element. Seven Tools of the Bandit will serve to stop opposing Traps, namely the aforementioned Solemn Judgment and Dark Bribe (which are also stopped by Counter Counter, but that's just Counters Counter Counter counters) and any other pesky Traps. Your choice.

Now for a few more notes. The Wabokus should be replaced with Threatening Roars, which will help ward off Gladiator Beasts and prevent cards like The Six Samurai - Irou and Zanji from destroying your monsters by their effects that go off when they attack. The Drop Offs should be replaced with Drastic Drop Offs, a better version of Drop Off that'll drop any card they add to their hand, including drawing. Drastic Drop Off is a Counter Trap, too, so if they drew a Quick-Play Spell, they can't chain it like they can with regular Drop Off.

Well, that's all I have. Good luck with it. If things still aren't going your way, try changing your playing style a bit. That usually helps. Have fun.

Questions, comments, suggestions, deck fixes, etc. can be sent to darkdestructionv30@yahoo.com

Until next time....