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GeneralZorpa on Yugioh
Protect the Deko!
October 17, 2009

Protect It At All Costs!

One of the most successful decks of all time was the Chaos Return deck. The deck used crazy awesome cards like Chaos Sorcerer and Zaborg the Thunder Monarch backed by Return From the Different Dimension, Dekoichi and Treeborn Frog and centering on Don Zaloog, D.D. Assailant and Cyber Dragon. The result was a fast and deadly efficient deck that could win out of nowhere as well as force a response or gain advantage with every card it played.

Now, what has changed between now and then? A TON is what has changed. We have Synchro monsters and even more crazy broken cards that would have been banned should they have been created just 2 months earlier. But, slower decks are doing fairly well this format as they are able to keep up with opposing Gladiator and Blackwing strategies without fear of cards like Solemn Judgment blocking their every action.

I have been playing around the strategy of "Protect the Deko" for a while. The idea is to set Dekoichi the Battle-Chanted Locomotive, and then set up protection behind it to keep it from dying. Then you flip the Deko and tribute it for a Monarch. Luckily, we have the Synchro mechanic , so it doesn't HAVE to be a Monarch, although they are certainly very powerful and useful cards.

The result was this deck, which actually managed to blow apart a Lightsworn deck rather easily. I call it Soul Train Monarchs!

You're One Ugly Mother-

Monsters-21

3x Caius the Shadow Monarch
3x Raiza the Storm Monarch
2x Prime Material Dragon
1x Chaos Sorcerer
1x Cyber Dragon

3x Thunderking Rai-Oh
3x Dekoichi the Battle-Chanted Locomotive
2x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2x Krebons
1x Plaguspreader Zombie

Spells-11

3x Soul Exchange
2x Allure of Darkness
1x Brain Control
1x Heavy Storm
1x Giant Trunade
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Smashing Ground
1x Emergency Teleport

Traps-8

2x Bottomless Trap Hole
2x Trap Hole
1x Dimensional Prison
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Call of the Haunted

D For Dekoichi
 
This deck is actually one fo the most flexible decks out there. It is able to adapt to almost any situation with impunity and able to power through some otherwise impossible situations.
 
The ideal opening play is definitely going to be set Dekoichi and set a Bottomless or regular Trap Hole. Actually, Trap Hole is better in this case. This opening hoses Lightsworn, Gladiators AND Blackwings, as they are unable to get a monster on the field in order to get their ridiculous comboes going. You then flip Deko, draw a card and then tribute for a Monarch or follow up with Kycoo or Rai-Oh.
 
Later in the game, the deck keeps on going solid. Soul Exchange and Brain Control allow for some massive swings in tempo and advantage when combined with a Monarch. The Monarchs themselves either disrupting field presence or your opponent's draw as well as ridding the field of a threat and then getting in there for 2400 damage.
 
Thunderking and Kycoo allow you to restrict your opponent's best plays as well as boasting fairly high ATK. In fact, the second best opening the deck has is Rai-Oh plus a Trap Hole, as then your opponent has almost no choice but to take 1900 in the face next turn or they can waste a removal card that would have been better saved for later.
 
Prime Material Dragon is the real star of the deck. Even though only 2 copies are run, his ability forces an opponent to play around him, and with the decent amount of defense the deck runs, can actually stick around for a while. Even against a rogue burn deck, PMD can turn calamity into victory.
 
The deck actually has a surprisingly strong matchup against Lightsworn. Rai-Oh and Kycoo force out Honest early, while Raiza messes with their draws, Caius removes their precious monsters and Prime Material Dragon blocks Celestia and Judgment Dragon. The one card that really, really screws the deck up is Aurkus though. So many of the cards inthis deck target that you really don't have an answer to it beyond Smashing Ground and running it over. If you do try to run it over, it is likely that Honestor Necro Gardna will stop you.
 
The deck also does VERY well against Blackwings. They need to establish a presence on the field in order to swarm with Black Whirlwind. The Trap Holes stop that and even if they manage to fight back, Soul Exchange plus a Monarch usually means bad things for them. Kycoo works wonders here, stopping Vayu and removing Blackwings so Blizzard cries himself to sleep.
 
The deck does alright versus Gladiators. Rai-Oh an dKycoo really mess with that deck, and the decent amount of removal makes them sad while Prime Material Dragon just ruins the deck unless War Chariot is out. War Chariot is your biggest enemy here, negating your key Rai-Oh and MOnarch plays. That is why it is key to side in Book of Moon and Fissure, which allows you to stop those kind of shenanigans before they start.
 
The deck's worst matchup is itself. It is sort of a slow rolling deck for while, so if your opponent gets the required setup first, then you are uinlikely to win. The deck also has a bad habit of drawing many Monarchs together and without tribute fodder or tribute cheating, so it can go a very long time without making a solid play. Lots of shuffling can take care of this problem, but it is bound to happen at some point with an 8-Guage Monarch deck.
 
Choices Choices and MORE Choices
 
The deck is actually very compatible with many different strategies. I fyou like more disruption, copies of Royal Oppression can be put in in place of Trap Hole. If you like combo more, Book of Moon can take the same slot. Here is a listof cards that I feel would make fine additions to the deck, but ran out of room for them  or I felt that they were not aggressive enough for me.
 
My Body As A Shield
Solemn Judgment
Gravekeeper's Spy
Gravekeeper's Guard
Fissure
Book of Moon
Royal Oppression
Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
Zaborg the Thunder Monarch
Mobius the Frost Monarch
Dark Armed Dragon
 
Many of these cards like Mobius, Book of Moon and Fissure are great side deck cards thatyou can use against decks like Gladiators and Synchro Heavy decks like some of the Summoner Monk variants.
 
That is all for this article, I really am pretty tired. If you need to reach me for ideas, deck builds or fixes or pretty much anything yugioh related, you can email me at raptor1k@hotmail.com or you can come in to see me at Bizarro World in Davis, CA on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12-7. Please put YGO in the subject of any email you sne me so that I don't throw it away as junk.
 
Thanx for Reading!
GZ