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Leon’s South Wall Corner Club
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
October 4, 2005

Hello everyone and welcome back. It’s been a little while since I last wrote in for you but hopefully what I’ve got to say can make up for it nicely.

For the longest time I’ve wanted to do the series of articles I am about to introduce. As a matter of fact I vividly remember telling myself that if I ever became a featured writer for this site that I would do them. I’m not sure why I’ve forgotten them until now but perhaps it was for the best.

I apologize in advance for the other article ideas I said I would get to, but the sheer timing makes these five very important. The new list makes these funny little ideas of mine not only feasible, but practically successful. And since everyone is still struggling over what to run these should help cast some very educated decisions.

One of the important concepts of deck construction is maximizing synergy. By saying this I mean any one card in your deck can compliment and work well with a variety of cards in your deck – as opposed to only one or none. Another important concept is advantage. What I mean by this is you find ways to maintain more resources than your opponent, or remain roughly equivalent. Mastering these two concepts goes a long way to generating a successful deck and a matching playing style.

There is a series of cards that have gone obscenely overlooked for far too long. These cards do both of the things I mentioned while simultaneously thinning your deck and leaving you plenty of options for dealing with your opponent. These cards are called the elemental searchers. There is one for every attribute in the game, and they all share similarities. First, they are all level four with 1400 attack. This essentially means that any deck based around these cards could generally profit from a main decked Messenger of Peace. Second, all of their effects read as follows:

When this card is sent to the Graveyard as a result of battle, you may select 1 [___] monster with an ATK of 1500 or less from your Deck and Special Summon it to the field in face-up Attack Position (no Tribute is required for monsters of Level 5 or more). The Deck is then shuffled.

The blank area represents whatever attribute that card is linked too.

I’m going to be doing five articles starting with this one. In each of them I am going to attempt to turn each elemental searcher into a Swiss army knife. What I mean is I will be constructing a control deck centered around three main boarded copies of the searchers and show how each and every one (yes, even Shining Angel) can make a deadly effective deck build.

I thought I would start by addressing the easiest of the five. Mystic Tomato and the dark control build. What I’ll discuss and construct will be one of the purest forms of its unique control, but there are a variety of other derivatives for it as well. On to the various players shall we?

1. Newdoria – It looks to be time for this little guy to come out of retirement, and what better way to do it than in Tomato control. 1200 attack is not anything too impressive but we like it for the effect. It’s distinctly unique in its removal in that it can destroy any monster on the opponent’s side of the field, not just the one who attacked it. Not even D.D. Warrior Lady can do that. Often times one would actually leave the attacking monster be and option to kill the face down monster next to it instead. Why? A follow up Snatch Steal or Smashing Ground could answer that best. Its one of the most versatile one-for-ones around.

2. Spirit Reaper – In pure Tomato control I believe this card to out shine its over-hyped counterpart, Don Zaloog, due to its survival ability. However, it should be noted that if you are going for a Warrior theme along with the Tomato control the latter should be used over the former due to increased synergy with Reinforcements of the Army.

3. Swarm of Locusts – This card and the one below it both became viable options for the deck due to the new rulings on battle position changes. Upon attacking the Mystic Tomato one would simply search the card and place it in attack position. Then on their turn they can flip it down and back up all at once. As odd as it sounds I’ll use this card as a unique answer to any annoying backfield wearing you down. Teching one should do fine main board, but I would suggest a second sided in the event of facing stall.

4. Swarm of Scarabs – More tech removal? True. It is, however, a bit faster than Newdoria at getting the job done. Once again, only one main boarded.

5. Dark Mimic LV 1 & 3 – I know what you’re thinking. WTF? But we need some fun bit of draw power. Best way to use it would be to search level 1 out with Tomato. Then at your standby you can immediately sacrifice it to bring out level 3. Remember this is all taking place on the field without any cost to your hand size at all. Now you have a 1000 attacker who, if your opponent should be so inclined to destroy it, would allow you to draw two cards from your deck. Makes another great Swap target. Plus we will like Tsukuyomi with LV1. I’d suggest trying two copies of level one and only one copy of level 3.

The more time I take the more options I can think of. Dark just has that many good things going for it. In the interest of not running a 60 card deck we’ll just use those and get constructing. Here’s what I came up with:

3x Mystic Tomato
1x Sangan
2x Newdoria
2x Spirit Reaper
2x Dark Mimic LV 1
1x Dark Mimic LV 3
1x Swarm of Locusts
2x Swarm of Scarabs
1x Breaker the Magical Warrior
1x Tsukuyomi
1x Night Assailant

1x Dark Hole
1x Confiscation
2x Creature Swap
3x Messenger of Peace
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Heavy Storm
1x Premature Burial
2x Smashing Ground
1x Nobleman of Crossout
1x Book of Moon
1x Scapegoat

1x Call of the Haunted
1x Torrential Tribute
2x Solemn Judgment
2x Sakuretsu
2x Dust Tornado

Bear in mind as you read this I tried my hardest to keep the theme as singular as I could. What we have is a total weenie control based around unrestricted attacking under Messenger of Peace and massive removal. There were many, many options I chose not to use, but could make viable choices in other decks. Here’s a few: Cliff the Trap Remover, Don Zaloog, D.D. Scout Plane, Giant Germ, Cannon Soldier, Cyber Stein, and Stealth Bird. The central focus of this deck remains what I wanted it to be. Mystic Tomato, upon getting its effect, should be able to get you exactly what you need to maintain control without exhausting any of your resources to do it.

Instead of blindly copying the deck there is the general lesson I want to teach you. Look at the deck and think of the huge variety of options Tomato has for its searching. Then think about how each of those options can contribute differently to controlling your opponent. Many different decks can utilize these key concepts without sacrificing too much. Fiends, Warriors, and Strike Ninja decks in particular can easily splash this form of control. Even if you choose not to use it, one would be wise in learning exactly what this little card can do when one is facing it.

As always feel free to e-mail me with any questions, concerns, or comments.

Which card will I do next? Time will tell. Until next time…

Peace.