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GeneralZorpa on Yugioh
Beating the Dragon
February 25, 2008

Oh, My Kingdom For a Dragon
 
As you already know, the most expensive card in Yu-Gi-Oh! is definitely Dark Armed Dragon. UDE made a smart move by Making this card a Secret. People (including me) bought boxes of Phantom Darkness just for a crack at getting the Dragon, or as I like to call him Papa Dragon. I managed to get my hands on a copy, but there are many more players that don't have it. Thus these masses of people are seriously looking for a way to bring Papa Dragon down. Well here it is, an article devoted to ways to take down, or substitute for, Dark Armed Dragon.
 
Apples and Oranges
 
Nothing can truly replace Dark Armed Dragon, but there are many cards that are more common and can substitute for him while you search high and low to find a Papa Dragon. There are also cards that will help you use your copies more effectively for those lucky enough to have grabbed them. 
 
1. Dark Nepthys-She is often lumped into the same category as Darknight Parshath and Dark Horus. The unplayable category. This is simply not true. First off, she is a Special Summon, Like the Dark Creator and Papa Dragon. However she is much easier to summon, because she only requires 3 or MORE DARK monsters in your graveyard to discard her for her effect. DAD needs EXACTLY 3 while the Creator needs 5 or more. Also, her effect of destroying a Spell or Trap card activates WHENEVER she is Special Summoned, not just by her own effect. She also removes from play 2 DARK monsters in your graveyard in order to Special Summon herself, enabling you to control our graveyard as well as setting up for Return from the Different Dimension, Dimension Fusion, or Escape from the Dark Dimension. This attached to a 2400 ATK frame makes her certainly a viable substitute for a DAD in tournaments.
 
2. Phantom of Chaos-Every deck in Japan uses this card. The ability to become ANY effect monster is just incredible. It is also a DARK, acting as fuel for the DARK theme monsters during the inevitable next turn that he is destroyed. Since I have very few copies of the DARK monsters, I have to use them effectively, even when they hit the graveyard. I often find that I remove Dark Creator and Dark Armed Dragon for his effect in order to get their effects, if even only for a turn. Since they do not require the specific number of DARK monsters in the graveyard to activate their effects, only to be summoned, this does not cause a conflict of rules. This card is one of the cards that I think that many of the players in SJC Houston left out, where this card topdecked could have removed a DAD and wiped the field clean. He does not inflict any damage to the opponent, though, so he cannot be a game ender. However, you often do not want your prize SCR card removed from the game, so there are plenty of other monsters to copy, like DMoC or a Monarch. He is easily one of the most versatile cards in the game.
 
3. Monster Reincarnation- This came out in Rise of Destiny and has only really seen play in combo decks or Exodia to get back our last piece. However, if your mind has already skipped ahead, this is one card you don't want to miss. You discard a card in order to get a monster from your graveyard back to your hand. This is not a Special Summon, so you can use it on a DARK monster. The discard is also not that big of a problem, as you can discard a DARK monster in order to adjust the number needed for that particular DARK monster. There is the danger of DD Crow, but very few of the decks at Houston ran that card, making your recovery slightly more likely to go through.
 
Aim for the Nose!
 
Props to those of you who correctly recognized that line from a rather obscure episode of South Park involving Barbara Streisand, Mothra and Archaeology. Anyway, every card and deck type has a weakness, and Dark Armed Dragon is no exception. Here is a list of ways to beat them, or at least to contain the damage.
 
1. Be Quick-The best way to beat the dragon is to simply be faster than it. DDT, Magical Explosion and some other decks are very good at that. DARK need some time to get DARK monsters into the graveyard, especially if they don't have a way to discard them or Armageddon Knight. Samurai do especially well here, as they can swarm the field as well as having large monsters on par with most of those played in a DARK deck. Their substitution effect can also play havoc with DAD, making him waste removal on your lesser Samurai and Leaving Shien intact.
 
2. Deny Them Their Cards-Dark Decks require a certain number of DARK attribute monsters in the graveyard. Cards that interrupt that devastate the DARK strategy. Soul Release, D.D. Crow, Dimensional Fissure, Macro Cosmos and Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer all do this. Kycoo is especially good as he stops your opponent from removing cards for effects like that of Dark Armed Dragon or Destiny Hero Malicious. He also removes cards from play when he deals damage, which can be good, but also backfire. Dimension Fusion and Escape from the Dark Dimension can ruin your day. Kycoo is also a DARK monster and has 1800 ATK, making him ideal for even other DARK decks to make use of him. D.D. Crow is the next best, allowing for surprise as well as adding another DARK to the grave for your own DARK monsters.
 
3. Deny Them Their Effects-There are many cards out there that would make short work of the DARK monsters, as they need their effects in order to be good. Shadow Imprisoning Mirror, Skill Drain, Destiny Hero Plasma, Dark Illusion and Divine Wrath all work well. Many people are thinking of using Shadow Imprisoning Mirror as a counter to DARK decks. This doesn't work well for your own DARK deck and the same with Skill Drain. That Leaves us with Divine Wrath, Plasma and Dark Illusion. Divine wrath is way too situational and rather costly. Plasma is an efficient option, as he negates effects while stealing an opponent's monster to boost his own ATK. Illusion is in my opinion the best counter, as DAD, Monarchs, and a myriad of spell and trap cards target. Plasma is good, just difficult to get out efficiently. Illusion is often a dead card though, so be careful when playing it.
 
The Build
 
Judging from the DARK deck builds from Houston, people are not that interested in creating a dedicated DARK build. They are going to play Stratos, Card Trooper and Morphing Jar. These cards are certainly great, however they do not enable you to decide what cards go to the graveyard with any certainty. Card Trooper will often send cards that would help you as well and the same with Morphing Jar. Stratos is just awesome, but he will search Destiny Hero cards, which just hate to get removed. I figure that Allure is just better than D-Draw for the deck to function well.
 
A dedicated DARK deck has, I believe, more of a chance to do well than one playing Destiny Heroes. While you will not get the +1's of the Destiny Hero cards and Card Trooper, your deck will be able to flow better, while you don't have to wait for a Hero to dump with your D-Draw. I think that people were more willing to go with what they knew they could play for Houston than what they think would work best. PTDN has not been out long enough for us to make assumptions about what people are playing, but I think that we will see more innovation as the format goes on.
 
If you want to contact me raptor1k@hotmail.com is where I'll be. Don't forget that my Create-A-Card contest will be over soon, so enter if you haven't already!
 
Thanx for reading!
 
GZ