SiphonX

Power of the Dragons
1.14.05

Mythological creatures of yore have been present in nearly every Trading Card Game in the world, and Yu-Gi-Oh! is no exception. In the golden age of Yu-Gi-Oh!, one of the most prominent decks was based around this mythological creature, and it showed no mercy. Since then, it lost its luster, but a revival is occurring. A great image of power once emanated from every aspect of the dragon, and it is of the Dragon-type deck that I wish to elaborate.

When many people think of the Dragon deck, they think of the archaic Monsters apparent in Seto Kaiba’s old deck: Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Lord of Dragons, and the like. This is not of the theme which I wish to be covering. I am attempting to create a playable, control-based, and most importantly, powerful Dragon deck using naught but the most amusing and omnipotent cards. These cards vary in strength but are most centrally located in the Armed Dragon family, which is the pinnacle of the deck’s supreme strength.

Dragons have steadily been gaining powerful, but not powerful enough to be used as a Regional contender. The expansion of Soul of the Duelist changed all that. Additions to the family include two LV series cards as well as an elemental Dragon and a searcher. With additions to a Dragon deck like Armed Dragon LV3, the Dragon deck gained a card that was able to easily transform into a much more powerful card – a 2400 attacker by turn two. Add to that the fact it is searchable by Masked Dragon – the new searcher – and the deck expands exponentially.

The reasoning for this deck’s potential lies in the hybridization existing between speed and power – both of which occur easily, but combined, they are almost impossible to find together. This deck exhibits both of these aspects completely and allows the duelist to incorporate some favorable combos into an already fun deck. Allow me to display an example deck:

17 Monsters:
1 Armed Dragon LV7
2 Armed Dragon LV5
2 Armed Dragon LV3
2 Luster Dragon
1 Twin-Headed Behemoth
2 Element Dragon
3 Masked Dragon
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
1 Sinister Serpent
1 Fiber Jar
1 Morphing Jar

17 Spells:
1 Pot of Greed
1 Painful Choice
1 Book of Moon
2 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Stamping Destruction
1 Premature Burial
1 Change of Heart
1 Snatch Steal
2 Creature Swap
1 Swords of Revealing Light
2 Scapegoat

6 Traps:
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Torrential Tribute
3 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Ring of Destruction

The Monster selection of this deck seems to be aggressive at the least. As you can see, this deck does have some aspects of generic Beatdown, but it is mostly focused on the amazing potential of the Armed Dragon family. I decided to use Twin-Headed Behemoth for its overall playability and its extreme coherence to the theme. Element Dragon provides an enhanced technical ability to control the field, and I decided to add Fiber Jar, Morphing Jar, and Sinister Serpent to boost hand advantage resistance.
Tribe-Infecting Virus is used for general field maintenance and mass removal.

The Spell selection of this deck seemed obvious to me. It consists of mostly cards that excel at speeding my deck through, to get my Armed Dragons faster, and more importantly, to support them in their assaults. Painful Choice is a near-necessity, and the lone Book of Moon I use for versatile field control. Mass Spell and Trap removal is present, with Stamping Destructions used to remove opponent’s threats. Creature Swap aids in keeping my Dragons on the field so as to eliminate opposing Monsters, and the bit of stall I do use doesn’t interfere with the summons I intend to make.

The Trap selection is almost standard, except for a few changes. Call of the Haunted, Torrential Tribute, and Ring of Destruction are commonplace, but three Bottomless Trap Hole may seem like a stretch. It is true, the opponent isn’t required to summon, and Monsters can attack me with under 1500 attack points, but the fact that this card not only destroys but removes, and it battles destruction en-summon, whereas cards like Sakuretsu Armor can only be activated during the Battle Phase. This means that it is immune to cards like Breaker the Magical Warrior and Mobius the Frost Monarch, both of which are often played.

As you can see, this deck attempts to improve field presence and speed while trying to curb the impending attack of hand disadvantage. It works in many situations, against many decks, and creates an almost impenetrable assault, even by just the second turn. Its Spells and Traps provide a steady stream of supporting abilities as the user engulfs his enemy. The Dragon deck is a very powerful deck to contend with, even if it isn’t what it used to be.

Until next time, duel hard, play well, and most importantly, have fun.
~SiphonX~