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FanatikMonk on Yu-Gi-Oh!

Breaking The Meta:

Crippling Key Decks

FanatikMonk
November 10, 2006

            For those of you that have been out of the loop, our Meta has been overrun by monarchs.  A new monarch build featuring multiple Thestalos has hijacked the current environment.  A nice expansion of soul control, it brings the theme back to its original level of aggression, often supported by monsters that can pull additional copies of themselves out of the deck (Hydrogeddon, Nimble Momonga, Apprentice Magician).  The deck is good.  It’s well built, effective, fast and consistent, but that doesn’t mean our Meta should be on its knees right now.  Let’s break this deck down and really exploit its weaknesses.  I owe you guys a new article on deck building so you’re going to get it.

Ryan Spicer’s Masterpiece

Monsters (23)

Thestalos x 3

Zaborg x 3

Cyber Dragon x 3

Dekoichi x 3

Apprentice Magician x 2      (I’ve also seen this build with nimble or hydro- here)

Old Vindictive Magician x 2

Magician of Faith x 1

Mystic Tomato x 2

Spirit Reaper x 1

Treeborn Frog x 1

Sangan x 1

Breaker the Magical Warrior x 1

Spells (10)

Heavy Storm x 1

Mystical Space Typhoon x 1

Graceful Charity x 1

Nobleman of Crossout x 1

Confiscation x 1

Scapegoat x 1

Pot of Avarice x 1

Brain Control x 2

Soul Exchange x 1

Traps (7)

Mirror Force x 1

Torrential Tribute x 1

Ring of Destruction x 1

Sakuretsu Armor x 3

Bottomless Trap Hole x 1

            So, what do you notice about this deck:

1. Heavy Monarch lineup provides consistency and a constant stream of advantage.
2. No Premature Burial, but 2 copies of Brain Control and Soul Exchange ensure that your monsters are always in danger
3. No Smashing Ground or Exiled Force.  Quick 1-for-1 field exchanges are not favorable in this deck.
4. Mystic Tomato, Apprentice Magician and Dekoichi create a blur of uncertainty when attacking a face-down monster.
5. Defensive traps ensure that they can protect what they need to when they need to.  Falling to just one may create a downward spiral.  If you fail to defeat their Dekoichi, they will tribute it and punish you for it.
6. The deck feeds off of a slow tempo.  It needs it!

So, let’s deconstruct this deck even further into 3 key threats. 

The first are Monarchs.  Alone they provide no threat.  They’ll clog your hand, be dead draws at crucial times and may be immediately defeated by a bottomless trap hole, enemy controller or a book of moon.  Alone, monarchs are useless.  They provide no immediate use unless they are well prepared for and that requires some good combos. 

Facedown monsters are deadly here.  Knowing when to attack and when to pass is impossible and the mindset is exactly where your opponent wants you.  This is how they control the tempo of the entire duel.  Mystic Tomato->Sangan-> Treeborn frog.  Apprentice Magician-> Old Vindictive Magician.  These moves are crippling and allow them to build resources in their hand while keeping you on your toes.  The monarchs are just the icing on the cake that finishes this deal.

Defensive traps are pivotal.  It seems silly to value a Dekoichi so much but most players will not waste a resource on a flipped Dekoichi and insist on defeating it in battle.  This leads to an easy way to draw aggression from your opponent and then shutting it down.  It’s frustrating beyond anything. 

So, what is the big issue here?  TEMPO!  If they can’t control the pace of the duel they’re done.  If they’re on their heels the entire time, then they are helpless; eventually, they’re bound to draw the right monarch at the wrong time and give you a big opening.  There are a few ways to break this and a few ideas that I’ve been kicking around.  I ultimately decided on this deck and I hope you can see why.

Monsters (21)

Cyber Dragon x 3

Blowback Dragon x 2

Dark Magician of Chaos x 1

Thunder Dragon x 3

Dark Scorpion- Meanae the Thorn x 3

Breaker the Magical Warrior x 1

Sangan x 1

D.D. Warrior Lady x 1

Magician of Faith x 1

Morphing Jar x 1

Treeborn Frog x 1

Exiled Force x 2

Night Assailant x 1

Spells(12)

Graceful Charity x 1

Nobleman of Crossout x 1

Mystical Space Typhoon x 1

Heavy Storm x 1

Premature Burial x 1

Confiscation x 1

Book of Moon x 1

Card Destruction x 1

Pot of Avarice x 1

Reinforcement of the Army x 1

Brain Control x 2

Traps(7)

Mirror Force x 1

Torrential Tribute x 1

Ring of Destruction x 1

Deck Devastation Virus x 1

Call of the Haunted x 1

Bottomless Trap Hole x 2

Side Deck (15)

Zombyra the Dark x 3

Mystic Swordsman Lv 2 x 1

Blowback Dragon x 1

My Body as a Shield x 2

Soul Exchange x 1

Reinforcement of the Army x 1

Waboku x 2

Dust Tornado x 3

Deck Devastation Virus x 1

            First off, your hand is nearly invincible.  Night Assailant, Thunder Dragon and Meanae work to solidify it and thin your deck.  Thinning your deck quickly allows you to run into your higher tribute monsters and pivotal cards more quickly and effectively.  Pivotal cards in this deck include Brain Control, Reinforcement of the Army/Exiled Force and Deck Devastation Virus and it abuses them often.  Morphing Jar and Card Destruction also work to take power away from recruiter and reoccurring monsters as well as fuel your own Avarice.  

Meanae also works as a great bluff.  Chances are your opponent doesn’t have very many no-tribute monsters (outside of Cyber Dragon) that can get through Meane’s def.  Card Destruction is great tech that works to abuse your hand size without hurting you at all.  I’ve been running this deck for a few days now and it works well against Monarch builds like Spicer’s.

            If you do decide to take this deck and run with it, you may also want to think about teching in a Strike Ninja or two as well as a mystic Tomato and Newdoria.  I often enjoy having a third blowback dragon and a soul exchange main decked from my side deck.  This deck can generate constant advantage as well as disturb your opponent’s strategy.

            Like always, I hope this helped!  Send all questions, comments and criticism to my e-mail and Happy Dueling!

-FanatikMonk

Clayton_Nelson@Brown.edu