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Leon’s South Wall Corner Club
Realm of Darkness
Feb. 6, 2006

Today I have chosen to discuss a deck. The idea first came to me through a friend of a friend, but continued testing has given me more than enough to maintain my interest. I want to discuss not only how it works, but why, and try to explain why the deck’s untapped power has severe potential.

If you are reading this and are like most players out there you, no doubt, became excited over the prospect of the new Dark World monsters released in the Elemental Energy booster set. After a bit of time with its release did you find yourself altogether disappointed? I did. The swarm seemed to cut too deeply with my resources and made unstable combinations.

But a light came at the end of the tunnel, and that light could only come through thinking things through differently.

One of the most attractive aspects about these new monsters was the potential they had for countering hand disruption, which was (and still is) a major part of what we see played. Most people began taking these cards and putting them together with this being the predominant theme in their mind.

But my friend has taught me a different approach. Any deck designed solely as a “counter” (meaning it only waits with a response to the predictable motions of standard decks) will be ultimately doomed to failure. Decks need to be self sustaining. You can consider the unique meta-game counters to be a nice bonus, but construct the deck in such a way that its synergy and effectiveness can survive regardless.

In the case of Dark World the theme should be the same. Construct the deck such that you will expect your opponent to never be able to discard any of your cards through his effects. Make the deck reliant only unto itself. You provide all the necessary discarding and apply the advantage gaining combos. Granted a hit on Goldd or Sillva by your opponent is an advantage gaining combo in and of itself, but that cannot be the focus since its occurrence is unsure.

Without further explanation I will reveal the deck list and continue discussion from there. Presenting my current take on Glenn Schumann’s Dark World/ Card of Safe Return deck!

[3] Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World
[3] Sillva, Warlord of Dark World
[1] Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World
[2] Brron, Mad King of Dark World
[2] Spirit Reaper
[1] Cyber Jar
[1] Morphing Jar
[1] Sangan
[1] Breaker the Magical Warrior
[2] Magical Merchant
[2] Mystic Tomato

[2] Card of Safe Return
[3] Dark World Lightning
[2] Gateway to Dark World
[1] Card Destruction
[1] Pot of Avarice
[1] Snatch Steal
[2] Smashing Ground
[1] Dark Hole
[1] Heavy Storm
[1] Scapegoat
[1] Nobleman of Crossout
[1] Premature Burial
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon

[1] Call of the Haunted
[1] Torrential Tribute
[2] Sakuretsu Armor

I have a couple of things to address first. First and foremost, if any of the Dark World monsters are discarded through an opponent’s effect their second effects will activate upon special summoning, thereby missing the timing of Card of Safe Return. But this deck is about self sustaining (as we’ve already addressed) so you will only count on the discards being through your own effect.

Second, you will notice the distinct absence of Broww, Huntsman of Dark World. His effect (considering only your own discarding) is only an even exchange. You discard it to draw a single card. In other words, you break even or cycle. I have decided to designate discarding only to field swarm and allow Card of Safe Return better synergy with the deck.

How it works.

This deck is about giving six tribute monsters the support they need to put the pressure on the opponent and win. It tends to require the skewed ratio you see above. Even the most pure Soul Control builds only dared five tributes.

The discarding methods are designed to be used in different situations. Dark World Lightning works most effectively against face down monsters, which in turn really puts the pressure on FFC and other combo builds. Occasionally you may also find it necessary to target S/Ts with its effect. This is more risky since, if they chain, you do not get to discard. It works towards effective clearing of threats and providing better field presence.

Brron, Mad King of Dark World provides intense offense on a cleared field. The stats are quite excellent for the effect and he is a necessary addition to supporting the six big guys.

Card Destruction and Morphing Jar are used as game-enders. Six tributes can clog and make quite a bad hand until you drop one of these. Then it shifts into an OTK and possibly doubling your hand size when used with this next card.

Card of Safe Return is the tech that provides the speed. It keeps your hand up while you increase the swarm. Its effect stacks upon multiple copies of itself and it seems to be a card your opponent never really feels worth using S/T removal on.

Why it Works.

This one seems less clear. Using tributes in threes and Dark World Lightning in threes screams instability. But this deck became unique in that way. Dark World does not work as a splash – since utilizing their effects becomes more situational. The synergy of the entire deck is actually increased by using these ratios.

It starts to work for you when you begin to test. The combos seem to open themselves up to you more. Dropping the Card of Safe Return allows a brilliant counter balance to swarm by keeping your resources in hand. Your opponent has many methods of monster removal, but only so much of that appears in the opening hand. The rest relies on the luck of the draw. The constant stream of heavy hitters will more than likely prove too much for the opponent’s average hand (not godly hand) to keep up with.

It lacks defense in the traditional form of traps but makes up for it through just bigger field presence. Gateway to the Dark World is not unlike Rite of Spirit in that it is fully chainable, no cost, theme recursion. Glenn’s original build utilized Royal Decree for good reasons but I felt the minor amount of defense to fit my style more.

Its Weaknesses

A big glaring lack of S/T removal can be seen even at a first glance. More specifically this deck has a hard time of dealing with face up presence. Wave-Motion and Level Limit Area-B can slow me down to a crawl. Face up defense Spirit Reapers can stall me for a bit longer then is standard.

Also the deck is still somewhat combo dependant. Which means a simple beat down versus my bad starting hand could be enough to put the deck down.

All and all my final word is that this is an excellent concept. If we consider nothing else it comes off as a breath of fresh original air capable of some severe damage. If you choose this route feel free to change it to your liking. Just remember the concept. Keep in mind what the deck is supposed to do and just have fun.

That’s all for me today. Until next time.

Peace.