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GeneralZorpa on Yugioh
Dark Storm Rising
February 5, 2009

It Is Your Destiny!
 
It seems my destiny to always not have the cards that I need to make the decks that I want to. The only deck that I actually had a complete competitive version of was Prisma Galdiators from the Gladiator Format. This format, it's Tele-DAD. At each deck costing close to $1500, I just cannot afford it. So, I have to do with some of the cheaper stuff, which is not so bad, as I get to hang around my mass commons and rares for a while. The plus is that you start to see combos that you never saw before. That must be what Vincent Tundo has been doing all his career, taking out almost useless cards and then seeing which ones go together.
 
Well, I have been doing some, ahh, research into what it would take to successfully counter any move that Tele-DAD and Lightsworn would make. As the two decks win in very similar ways, it should be easy to counter them both. In my testing at 1 am and just general experience with the game, there are 3 things that shut the opponent down. High ATK monsters, no Special Summons and no effects.
 
Luckily, we see that there are two cards that do that, Royal Oppression and Skill Drain. It is so hard to get both of these Continuous Trap cards to the field at the same time, that pulling off this combo seems almost impossible. The answer is to use all of the effects and abilities that Tele-DAD and Lightsworn have been abusing, and throw them back at them with some icing on top. Rather than bore you with all of the reasons that I came up with these assertions (it would take something like 15 hours and more typing than anyone would read) I think it will simply be best to give you guys a working decklist.
 
Evil City
 
Monsters-18
 
3x Imprisoned Queen Archfiend
2x Dark Necrofear
1x Dark Nepthys
 
3x Shadowknight Archfiend
3x Archfiend General
3x Archfiend Soldier
2x Dark Grepher
1x Armageddon Knight
 
Spells-13
 
 
3x Allure of Darkness
2x Trade-In
2x Reinforcement of the Army
2x Pandemonium
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Giant Trunade
1x Brain Control
1x Monster Reborn
 
Traps-9
 
3x Skill Drain
3x Royal Oppression
3x Solemn Judgment
 
It's Good to Be the Queen
 
Well, at least in the Archfiend world it is. Imprisoned Queen Archfiend is almost as good as Honest for a Fiend deck. You lose the element of surprise, but definitely gain some power. The effects of Imprisoned Queen can STACK. Meaning that if you have all 3 in the graveyard and Pandemonium on the field, your Archfiend General is at 5100 ATK! Now tell me that is not impressive!
 
Add to the fact that your opponent will likely not have any answers to it other than Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, and you have a pretty sweet setup. The deck is basically meant to filter a little bit while dumping Imprisoned Queen to the graveyard. This allows you easier access to your negating traps. It will not guarantee that you have them in your hand at the start of the game, but you will likely have at least one after a few draw spell activations.
 
Once you have either one of them, it is time to get to work. Archfiend General will provide ATK power as well as searching for the key Pandemonium. In fact, the 5 tutors in the deck will also thin the deck. Archfiends have naturally high ATK power, but often debilitating effects. Paying lifepoints is something that nobody likes, so, we have Skill Drain to negate those effects, leaving just the overpowered ATK. There are 9 monsters in the deck to abuse with Imprisoned Queen, and they already can get over most of the monsters you will be facing.
 
Dark Grepher and Armageddon Knight are your friends, as they will help you to get your Queens out of your hand and deck and into the graveyard. The Queen also has a naturally high 2600 ATK, so you can even summon her if you are in a pinch, and Pandemonium and Skill Drain will negate her debilitating effects. As her graveyard effect activates in the graveyard, Skill Drain will not negate it, so you can activate it to your heart's content.
 
Dark Necrofear and Dark Nepthys are there mostly as fodder for Grepher, Armageddon and Trade-In but can actually help you out in a lot of situations. Dark Nepthys is again a graveyard effect, so Skill Drain will not negate her summon. Dark Necrofear is also a graveyard effect, acting as a Snatch Steal on an opposing monster like Colossal Fighter that you cannot kill. Her 2200 ATK is also nothing to scoff at either, as your opponent will likely not be able to deal with it without effects and Special Summons.
 
Shadowknight Archfiend, Archfiend General and Archfiend Soldier are all there to beat your opponent down. They are all level 4 Fiends, so the Queen's effect will still work, bringing them up to 5100, 5000 and 4900 respectively with 3 Queens in the graveyard. It will not take long for your opponent to begin slipping in terms of lifepoints and card presence when they are Wind Blasting and using Solemn Judgment on your level 4 Fiends just to stay alive.
 
The Dark Knights
 
As sure as this deck is really great against Tele-DAD, there are always certain cards that will tear you to pieces. Heavy Storm is the most pressing one, as you will on average have a Pandemonium and at least one negation trap on the field. The -2 from this will likely not only leave you behind on card presence, but leave you incredibly vulnerable to attack as well. In fact, the reason that Solemn Judgment made it in here instead of Phoenix Wing Wind Blast was because of Heavy Storm.
 
Honest is the next card that just ruins your day. Even though your opponent's Lightsworn monsters will be negated, Honest is an in-hand effect, meaning that Skill Drain will not negate it. The best thing to do in my book against this threat is to act as if your opponent does not have Honest in hand. Your opponent will still have Honest in hand even if you do not attack, so getting rid of it is actually better for you, especially if you are only attacking a card like Lumina.
 
If you cannot get the correct traps to the field quickly enough, you are going to be in a rough spot. Your opponent will Synchro and Special Summon like no tomorrow, and you will be facing down a ton of big guys on your turn. The good thing is that you will likely deplete their hand, so if you do manage to get rid of their guys due to IQA, you will likely win the game.
 
The worst part about the deck is getting a ton of monsters without Spell and Trap support. They rarely do anything on their own, and a hand of Shadowknight Archfiend, Archfiend Soldier and Dark Nepthys will not really do anything for you in the short term. I hope that I have included enough Spells that will mitigate these bad hands and allow you to struggle through.
 
To the Bat Morph Robin!
 
There is nothing cooler than building a deck and realizing that there is so much more that can improve it. With this deck it was especially true, as there were literally 20 cards that I wanted to run here. However, I have narrowed those 20 down to the ones that I think would be most effective in future test runs of the deck. I do not have all of the cards, so I was forced to proxy them, and it actually does pretty well without these cards. But as always, the more that people test the deck, the better results we will have.
 
D.D. Designator
Penalty Game!
Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
Archfiend's Roar
Infernalqueen Archfiend
Falling Down
Cold Wave
Trap Dustshoot
Compulsory Evacuation Device
Zombyra the Dark
Fusilier Dragon, the Dual Mode Beast
 
I personally think that most of these cards should at least be teched into the build. D.D. Designator is especially good for the side deck, as you can get rid of Honest in the Lightsworn matchup as well as see your opponent's hand. This is also good if they have searched for a card with Charge of the Light Brigade and Reinforcement of the Army, so you know what is in their hand.
 
I do not see why Penalty Game! has not seen more play. It is a one-sided Cold Wave and Time Seal all in one card. All it needs is your opponent to have 4 or more cards in their hand. Thanks to Royal Oppression and Skill Drain, your opponent's hand will likely be very large due to the cards that they cannot play. If you are sure that they cannot play anything, use the Time Seal effect to keep it that way while beating down with your Archfiends. If it is the start of the game, spring Cold Wave on them without debilitating yourself as well. And it is CHAINABLE!!!!
 
Fusilier Dragon is one of my favorite cards, and with Skill Drain on the field, he is a 2800 beater for just a Normal Summon. He got the axe only because he is level 7, and cannot be used with Trade-In like Dark Necrofear and Dark Nepthys. However, you may find that teching a copy can be exceedingly good against some opponents.
 
All of the rest of these cards are great as well, but I just could not find the room to stick them in. Please, test out this build or one similar like it to see how it does in as many situations as possible. The more testing it gets, the more that we can find out how it works and what works well.
 
That is the end of the article for today, but you can always reach me at raptor1k@hotmail.com for advice, deck checks, ideas and pretty much whatever you want. My next article is going to be on how good Penalty Game! and Judgment of the Pharaoh are right now, so if you want to see how they can be used to completely frustrate your opponents, you will not want to miss it!
 
Thanx for Reading!
GZ