JAELOVE's Smooth Journey

Article 13: Constructing the Dragon Deck

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             9.07.04  Well with all of the Chaos deconstruction out of our way, I’m going to return to the construction of themed decks.

             This week brings us my favorite monsters, the Dragons. A Dragon deck has numerous cards in its arsenal that afford it advantages unique and powerful. We’ll analyze the construction of a standard Dragon deck that can succeed in today’s Chaos/Control dominated environment.

 PURPOSES OF A DRAGON DECK:

The purpose is clear: sheer, compelling, brute beatdown force. Your opponent won’t have a chance to breath; your entire arsenal is dedicated towards hammering down field control and then maintaining it through support.

STRENGTHS:

The Dragon deck packs some of the heaviest hitters in the game. Between Spear Dragon and Luster Dragon, you have 6 1900 monsters that dominate the field. Blue Eyes White Dragon is still the strongest normal summoned monster in the game, and support cards will bring such behemoths out quickly. What’s not to love?

WEAKNESSES:

The abundance of tribute monsters in the decks’ arsenal, along with the tendency for players to “overextend” and put too many monsters on the field can cause a collapse of resources. It becomes very important to watch resources carefully and save up for the coup de grace efficiently.

NOTABLE MONSTERS:

As usual, here are a list of notable monsters, spells, and traps.

Spear Dragon
Dragon/Wind/Effect/4/1900/0
If this card attacks with an ATK that is higher than the DEF of your opponent's Defense Position monster, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points. When this card attacks, it is changed to Defense Position at the end of the Damage Step.

Spear Dragon is on the short list of best trample monsters in the game. Before Enraged Battle Ox arrived, this card was the unquestioned champion of trample overflow. He will defend your deck against scapegoats, defense position monsters, and other such defensive measures by breaking through the lines. A true powerhouse.

Luster Dragon
Dragon/Wind/Normal/4/1900/1600

Don’t hate him because he’s beautiful; just a regular, basic, solid 1900 dragon monster. Of course, he has the added bonus of coming out through Lord of D.’s effect.

Lord of D.

Spellcaster/Dark/Effect/4 stars/ATK 1200/DEF 1100

All Dragon-Type monsters are not affected by Magic Cards, Trap Cards, or other effects while this card is face-up on the field.

This is a card that badly needs to be re-made ala Celtic Guardian. While his effect still remains potent (especially with the advent of the new ban list), he can often be a liability on the field. Therefore, it becomes prudent to save his effect (and the flute) until you can finish your opponent off quickly.

Blue Eyes White Dragon

Dragon/Light/Normal/8/ATK 3000/DEF 2500

Still the studliest monster in the game, in my opinion. A two-tribute status is not very great, but 3000 attack and his special White Lightning Attack, coupled with the downright frighteningly cool Paladin of White Dragon makes him a stud. Of course, we can only run two, since he will frequently lead to bad hands and such.

Twin-Headed Behemoth 
Dragon/Wind/Effect/3/1500/1200
If this monster is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, this monster is Special Summoned with an ATK and DEF of 1000 during the End Phase of the turn. This effect can be used only once during the current Duel.

This is yet another great card for maintaining field presence. He can serve a number of versatile uses, including as a tribute summon, bait for monster removal, or even 1500 attack powerhouse. Great card.

Kaiser Glider DCR Ultra Rare

Tyrant Dragon LOD Ultra Rare

Cave Dragon LOD Common

Rare Metal Dragon Movie Pack Promo

These next four dragons are cards you might wish to mix and match depending on whether you like them or not.

NOTABLE SPELL/TRAPS:

The best dragon-tech support card is Stamping Destruction, a nifty common from Legacy of Darkness. Especially post-ban (when Mystical Space Typhoon and Harpie’s Feather Duster) will be banned, this card will definitely help. As is, it also adds a superior 500 life points of damage.

The other Dragon cards from Legacy of Darkness, including Dragon’s Rage which is the best of the lot, shouldn’t really be used. I feel that Spear Dragon in 3’s is more than enough trample.

A few Flute of Summoning Dragon are necessary to couple with your Lord of D’s.

The deck needs to minimize the potential of bad hands; I suggest running Card Destruction, Painful Choice, and all methods of recursion to bring out to dump the powerhouses that clog the hand and revive them.

Traps are a standard lot. Consider using either Solemn Judgment or Magic Drain. Also, Ring of Destruction is a must because it can often finish your opponent off.

A Sample Dragon Deck: 40 Cards

Monsters: 17

2x Blue Eyes White Dragon
1x Kaiser Glider
1x Jinzo
1x Witch of the Black Forest
2x Lord of D.
1x Twin-Headed Behemoth
2x Mystic Tomato
1x Magical Scientist
3x Spear Dragon
3x Luster Dragon

Spells: 16

1 Raigeki
1 Dark Hole
1 Change of Heart
1 Monster Reborn
1 Pot of Greed
1 Graceful Charity
1 Harpie's Feather Duster
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Mirage of Nightmare
1 Heavy Storm
1 Painful Choice
2 Stamping Destruction
1 Snatch Steal
1 Card Destruction

Traps: 7

1 Imperial Order
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Ring of Destruction
2 Waboku
1 Mirror Force
1 Magic Drain

ATTENTION: My E-Mail Address was erased. My new

e-mail address is JAELOVEJOURNEY@hotmail.com.

YAHOO has erased my e-mail account, it is no longer pojojaelove@yahoo.com. All my unanswered e-mails were erased, resend them to JAELOVEJOURNEY@hotmail.com.

*There is no bad system score this week; the e-mails requesting certain cards to be reviewed went unlooked at and erased.

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