Exodia “Oh my God, they killed Emissary!” Deck

Tournament Report

June 4^th, 2005

About 35 participants, observing ban list, $2 admission

By Creon316

First off, here’s the rundown.

Deck size: 40 plus 3 Fusions and Side Deck

Normal Monsters: (6)

(4) Exodia arms/legs

Labyrinth Wall

Giant Soldier of Stone

Effect Monsters: (12)

Cyber Jar (I questioned this at first b/c it might summon parts to the field, but it has proven invaluable and there are ways around that)

(3) Emissary of the Afterlife (the workhorse of this deck--searches an arm/leg and doesn‘t need to die in battle)

Sprit Reaper

Exodia The Forbidden One

Magician of Faith

Apprentice Magician (lets me search an arm/leg or MoF in a tight spot)

Mystic Tomato

Penguin Soldier

Sangan (Oh my God, they killed Sangan!)

Cannon Soldier (for when your opponent isn’t destroying your monsters fast enough)

Spells: (12)

(2) Level Limit Area B

(2) Messenger of Peace

Pot of Greed

Premature Burial

Card Destruction (this has proven helpful despite sometimes discarding body parts)

Dark Factory of Mass Production (better than Backup Soldier, fetches all but the head..only catch is you HAVE to retrieve two)

Giant Trunade

Metamorphosis

Monster Reincarnation (HERE’S how you retrieve the head from graveyard)

Graceful Charity

Trap: (10)

Backup Soldier

Torrential Tribute

Gravity Bind

(2) Solemn Judgment

(3) Jar of Greed

Call of the Haunted

Compulsory Evacuation Device

Fusion Deck:
(3) Thousand Eyes Restrict (Summon via an Exodia part or Magician of Faith with Metamorphosis--for those really tight spots.)

Side Deck: (15)

Soul Release

Miracle Dig --these two are in case someone gets smart and starts removing parts from my graveyard--with SR you can get the requisite 5 monsters in the graveyard so that Miracle Dig can be activated

The Eye of Truth

Infinite Dismissal

Collected Power

Reverse Trap

Exchange

Obnoxious Celtic Guard

Dark Core

Eternal Rest

Robbin’ Goblin

Ekibyo Drakmord

Prohibition

Nobleman of Crossout

Ceasefire

Hey all,

I’m back with another overwritten, detailed tournament report. I finally decided to put the Fire Princess deck on the shelf, despite having given that a major overhaul. When the Blaze of Destruction deck came out, I upgraded my burn deck. The most sweeping of which was removing all LP gainers and Fire Princess herself, meaning I can’t even call it that anymore. But that’s a story for another report.

Nope, this time out I’m trying a deck type that is not new, but all-new for me. About a month or two ago I purchased an Exodia head on a whim, and of course followed suit by searching all over town for the rest of the parts so I could try this deck type. I’ve spent countless hours refining it in solitary play versus my weak Dark Magician deck and the old Fire Princess burn. The last card I got to complete the deck was the Right Arm--I was using substitutes for missing cards so I could get my strategy in line.

My version of Exodia is a defensive speed-drawing deck. The strategy I decided to go for was SEARCH power rather than DRAW power. I made sure that my first prototype deck was exactly 40 cards. That’s a no-brainer for Exodia. At first, I loaded it up with cards that let me draw 1 card through their various effects. I found that even that wasn’t quick enough. Especially when you have 1 monster on the field that lets you draw 1 card when destroyed--that’s fine by itself, but when your opponent has 3 monsters on the field already, that 1 defeat/draw isn’t going to help unless you’re in the cartoon. I always play with the assumption that all 5 Exodia parts are at the bottom of the deck, and I have to get to them. When I manually draw one, it’s always a surprise.

So, I ended up axing many cards that let you draw 1 card in favor of ones that let me search out specific cards, and then amplifying them with ways to recycle them. For example, I made space for Giant Trunade specifically so I could revive a Sangan or Emissary with Premature/Call, then use Trunade to kill them again and get a search, then allowing me to re-use whatever M/T I revived them with to revive them AGAIN. The constant suicide/revival moves to get multiple searches are what reminded me of Oh my God, they killed Kenny!

As for defensive capabilities, my deck was like the Death Star--designed to protect against a large-scale assault, but a small one-man fighter could still penetrate. In this case, Spirit Reapers and other level 1-3 monsters messed me up.

I’ve found with this deck that the Graveyard is almost as important, if not more so, than the actual Deck.

Before we get to the report, a moment of silence for cards that I originally tried in test games but ended up cutting.

-Once again, I found that drawing 1 card was less efficient than searching, so that meant removal of: Reckless Greed, Good Goblin Housekeeping, Dark Mimic Lv3, Upstart Goblin (this was RESTRICTED?), Royal Magical Library.

-Exodia Necross/Contract--I tried. I really did. I always ended up discarding these cards or using them as decoys. I managed to summon it once, but by then it was late game and thanks to my so-helpful Level Limit, it was a quick ride to deck-out.

-Pyro Clock of Destiny--thought it might get me a quick Draw Phase, or end opponent’s battle phase…too confusing though.

-Swords--figured I had the defense motif covered.

-Giant Rat--to search Labyrinth Walls, deck size minus 1 plus defense

-Nimble Momongas--Deck size minus 2 and LP gain, but too clunky

-Triangle Power--to allow Exodia parts to attack and then dump in graveyard

-Lava Golem--nice trump card, but had to go in favor of deck size

-Musician King and Bickuribox--It took me a while to get the left/right arms, so I used these for proxies in practice games.

This was the most people this tournament has seen in a long time. We’re in for quite a day.

First match: Me vs. guy with beat down

Sorry, I didn’t notice what kind of deck this guy had. I was only looking at level stars and attack power. I threw an Emissary out right away, and when he happily obliged to kill it, I drew a Leg and thus gave away my strategy. He had a host of monsters and M/T’s on field, but apparently his deck was set up to repel a large-scale assault as well. Easy prey for this deck. He thought he duped me in round 2 by opening with Card Destruction, Magician of Faith, another Destruction, but he was only speeding it up. I got all the parts either in hand or in graveyard, with retrieval cards in hand. I won 2-0. For most of the game he was simply sitting there looking annoyed and listening to me explain what parts I was searching.

Man my deck seems evil. I put out these defenses, preventing your monsters from attacking, and when you Dust/Storm them and attack, you’re only helping me search faster.

Second match: Me vs. kid with Beatdown/Exodia deck (?!)

First duel: Pretty happy with my new deck, I sat across from a happy, younger kid. The first duel was over quickly, no Exodia required. He didn’t draw any monsters he could summon, and didn‘t use any traps. I summoned two Emissarys from my hand and attacked him directly for 3 rounds, good game.

Second duel: This time he got some attackers up and I had to get some defense into play. I let him bump off an Emissary and explained it’s effect. When I pulled my Right Leg, he told me he was using the effect and pulled…Right Leg. Okay, that came out of nowhere. He also used a Dust Tornado that opened up my field for attack. A Torrential fixed that, and I bumped off my Sangan and another Emissary while at it. I figured speed was still on my side and didn’t flinch when he searched an arm after that. I continued my existing strategy, but 3 turns later on his draw phase he dumps his hand on the table and won via Exodia. He had those cheap Dark Beginning ones, at least mine were all holo.

Third duel: Ok, wasn’t counting on that. Time to go easy on those Emissarys. Most people don’t even HAVE level 1-3 normal monsters in their deck and it’s effect won’t help them. Fortunately I didn’t draw any. I got the head and an arm right away, along with Sangan and Premature. Gotta love it. I drew another body part while setting up “Oh my God, they killed Sangan!”, and even got Cannon Soldier to speed it up. He looked extremely pleased with himself when a Cyber Jar summoned one of my Legs and he attacked it, informing me that my strategy was defeated. Not a problem, I summoned an Arm, cannon soldier on it, Dark Factory of Mass Production, good game.

Third match: Me vs…nice guy with decent beat down--he’s there every week and I didn’t catch his name. This guy knows of my passion for quirky decks, and wondered what I was pulling this time.

First duel: I didn’t really notice what kind of deck he had, just that he adapted quickly by playing only level 1-3 monsters that are usually a problem, worst of all Spirit Reaper. However, thanks to Sangan, Emissary, Torrential Tribute, Call of the Haunted, and Backup Soldier I was able to summon Exodia nonetheless. One of my late-game moves had to get a judge ruling. I tributed Sangan for Labyrinth Walls, searched…activated Call on it, then used Giant Trunade to return Call to my hand and bump off Sangan again. He had a problem with that, but if you read Call’s card text, it’s perfectly legal…plus I put Trunade in here specifically for that….I got another search and then used Call AGAIN, summoning Cannon Soldier and firing Sangan for the win.

Second Duel: He side decks. Big trouble. Since he went liberal on Spirit Reaper and such, I traded a Jar of Greed for my Infinite Dismissal, wishing I owned a King Tiger Wanghu. Here come the D.D. Warrior Lady and Assailant. He didn’t snag a body part, but he did manage to remove my Cyber Jar, which got me at a top decking standstill. He eventually won by chewing through my life points as I was out of options.

Third duel: I side decked in myself…since he was using removal now, I got rid of my remaining 2 Jars for Soul Release and Miracle Dig. About an hour later, I found a card called Dimension Fusion in the rares binder of the store and wished I’d known about it…it’s much more efficient. Anyway, I got Soul Release on the first draw. I set it and played Card Destruction, then got greedy and simply used Soul Release on 5 monsters in his graveyard, instead of saving it to use with Miracle Dig like explained above. His very next turn, he manages to remove an Arm from play. Figuring I was screwed, I kept on with my strategy and just figured I’d see where it went. He also removed my Sangan. Then 2 Spirit Reapers are out and my field is clear. I was just holding the Head, 1 Arm, and Backup Soldier. I covered my deck and conceded. Lost cause.

So, even Exodia isn’t unstoppable. Can’t be right ALL the time.

Fourth Match: Me vs. happy, hyper kid with mild beat down

This kid seemed overjoyed to be playing Duel Monsters. I didn’t really see anything special in his deck, just beat down fare, with Snatch Steal, Dust Tornado, Heavy Storm…he almost got a few whammy’s in there but my Solemn Judgment and Torrential fixed that. I won 2-0 thanks to my usual kamikaze/search/quick-draw/retrieval strategies. I had to whip out Thousand-Eyes Restrict at some point to keep stalling.

Fifth Match: Me vs. Ojama Trio burn deck

Wow, I’m still going. Not THIS guy!! I don’t remember his name, but he makes some of the best decks I’ve seen and always takes me to school.

First Duel: His use of Relinquished to clear the field and Wave-Motion Cannon vs. my ingenious use of Solemn Judgment to help him wear down my points cost me here. My points were demolished.

Second Duel: He side decks anyway. He also asked me why I was putting Emissary into faceup attack mode instead of defending. I told him that I was wary of Noblemans, and I’d still rather take some overflow damage from an attack and get the effect than to get nothing at all. Since he was using a weenie-rush prototype, I again wished I had a King Tiger Wanghu and decked in Infinite Dismissal, and just for fun, The Eye of Truth. I got Eye on the first hand and activated it right away. I bet none of you reading this have ever played Eye of Truth. I don’t care about LP with this deck, and I tell you, it was fun! His hand was visible for the whole game, and there were no surprises with facedown cards because I saw which ones left his hand. Didn’t mean I BEAT him. Oh no. He kept Black Illusion Ritual in his hand to chalk up LP, even though he knew I wasn’t aiming for points. He used Ojama Trio on me, killed one, then used another Trio so I had 5 on field and was locked out. I was holding Metamorphosis and thought I could stall with 1000-eyes, but those darn Ojama tokens are 2 stars. When he summoned on his next turn, I used Torrential which cleared my field and did 2000 damage. Then he used Wave Motion Cannon again. A couple turns later I knew it was a lost cause and again used Solemn Judgment, after which he immediately fired off Cannon for the game. One thing I found in play testing is that Exodia decks do poorly against dedicated burners.

However, he had to leave about this time and told the judge that I’d won so I could advance. Sporting of him.

Sixth Match: Me vs. Earth/Beast deck (and the longest I’ve ever lasted in a tournament)

Scary stuff. This guy had an Earth theme and knew how to get beasts to play friendly, even using Marauding Captain and supporting cards. He was using Gaia Power which was ugly. I won the first round with Exodia, but he won the second two. Lily wiped me out once. He actually side-decked in Exchange and used it in both rounds to take my Head. In round 3 I got it back in my graveyard via Card Destruction, and back to my hand with Reincarnation. So there!! I actually could have won the third one, but I got Backup Soldier in the opening hand, and when I played Graceful, something had to go. Somebody please remind me what a game-breaking card for Exodia decks is!!! Like an idiot, I lost with the head and one arm in my hand, and the other 3 parts in the graveyard. Gee, is there a card that can fix that? I wish I knew. I’d already used my Compulsory and Penguin Soldier, so I was screwed, but still made him earn the victory and destroy my points. He was impressed that I thought to use Metamorphosis on Exodia parts to get 1000-eyes. He foiled it anyway with a Book of Moon and attack.

Seventh Match: Me vs. Horus deck

Now I’m treading on thin ice, it’s do or die.

First duel: I won in two turns. I drew two limbs straight away, along with Emissary, Sangan, and Premature. Do the math. I summoned Emissary, he got Horus out straightway and killed it, I got a limb. Next turn, I summoned Sangan, revived Emissary, suicided them both into Horus, good game. He complained about how “I got this far, I can’t lost to Exodia now!” and that Exodia players are cheaters. The judge was watching this duel and was really impressed.

Second Duel: Well, I pulled a neat trick with using Compulsory Evacuation on his Horus so he had to re-do the summon, and chewed through my deck quickly, but had no more support cards to get the Head into my hand. Thanks to Horus spell-negating effect, I was a sitting duck and lost with 4 limbs in my hand.

Third Duel: Well, I was getting tired by this point and it was about time to get ready to go out to dinner--my mom and girlfriend were meeting for the first time and I didn’t want to be late for that. However, I wasn’t giving up yet. Umm…I got no search cards, and what I did try to activate, he negated. He bowled over me in a couple turns, I had no Exodia parts in hand. These benches are uncomfortable anyway, I’d been there 4 ½ hours now and it’s time to go home.

Final record, 4 wins-3 losses. This is the best I’ve ever done in a tourney--out of 35 people, I finished 5^th. I was in the top 8 for the duration of the tournament. Judge Greg congratulated me on my excellent performance today.

Props:

-To that one guy that handed me a victory b/c he had to leave.

-Some good trades--I obtained a Dark Jeroid, Kaibaman, Burst Stream of Destruction, Neo-Daedalus, Mask of Restrict, and Hammer Shot. Some kid was trying to trade me a stack of commons but goodies for some good rares, and after looking closer I realized I could get them all myself if I just buy an Ocean structure deck. I turned him down. You know, I made an Ocean deck way back in the day before it was cool, you young whippersnappers. It got dominated because Warrior decks were in fashion then.

Slops:
-Everyone using profanity! There are kids around! I was going to complain to the judge but he was doing it too.

-Discarding Backup Soldier just because…game-losing move.

-The ATTITUDES I’m picking up on around tournaments. You younglings seem to think that because you have better cards and better dueling skills, that that alone makes you better than somebody else. I’m seeing other kids get ridiculed because of a certain deck type they play with. That’s not what life is about, my young friends. But if you feel better about yourself because of a card game, well, more power to you I guess. Someday you’ll get it.

I’d like to try this deck in tournament play again soon, maybe you’ll hear about it right here. Till then, I remain