Hey everyone! My name is Dylan Stewart and I've been waiting to write an article for a long time. To tell you a little about myself I am a second year History Student at the University of Guelph in Guelph Ontario Canada I've played the Yu-Gi-Oh for a few years. Now I'm not a national champion nor have I topped numerous events but I am a KDE judge and feel that I have some good input when it comes to the game. Over this past weekend at YCS Seattle-Tacoma we witnessed the rise of Dino Rabbit once again! To some this might be a seemingly dire situation as many remember last format's “Laggia set 4 pass”, though this format the situation rarely happens. I've been playing the deck since the beginning of the format and can say Dino Rabbit has clearly evolved from its roots of “Laggia set 4 pass”.
Last format Dino Rabbit was one of the most expensive decks around, the cute little bunny itself reaching upwards of $100.00 a piece. Although not as outrageous as lets say Tele DaD format's $300.00 per Dark Armed Dragon but still quite a pricey deck, not to mention the need to get upwards of 3 ultra/ultimate Evolzar Laggia, two secret rare Evolzar Dolka and upwards of two Leviair the sea dragon. Overall the deck was probably the most expensive deck of the format. With all of that in consideration Dino Rabbit players created a stigma for older players who saw the deck as completely unbalanced as well as a fear for the newer players who saw the deck as too powerful to combat with regular decks. For the most part these ideas were correct with boss monsters that are literally Solemn Judgement and Divine Wrath on legs how else would someone describe it?
The little bunny and it's friend Tour Guide both got hit to two on the most recent banlist and to many players this was a sign of “oh the deck is dead!”. As we now know after this past weekend players like Joe Giorlando decided with the shift in the meta, introduction of Mermails, that the deck had potential. One of the little rabbits old friend made a triumphant return this weekend as well, Jurrac Guiba. A third set of dinos in the deck allows for hard summans of Evolzars as well as puts pressure on players to get rid of the Guiba. Joe himself got to the top 32 but 2 other Dino Rabbit players made it to top 16. The main factor that I could see as to why Dino Rabbit did so well in Seattle was not only the well known Macro Cosmos but also the mental mind game played with cards like Jurrac Guiba and other bait cards. With a fear of constant negation and seemingly one card power plays players tend to try to out control the Dino Rabbit deck, this is where bait cards come in.
What is a “bait” card? Well a bait card is exactly what it sounds like, a card or play that baits the opponent to use resources instead of using them on more key cards or plays. Below i will provide my deck lsit for Dino Rabbit and explain more about bait cards.
Monsters(19)
2x Rescue Rabbit
2x Tour Guide From the Underworld
3x Sabersaurus
3x Kabazuls
3x Jurrac Guiba
2x Thunder King Rai-oh
1x Doomcaliber Knight
1x Sangan
1x Night Assailant
1x Spirit Reaper
Spells(10)
2x Mystical Space Typhoon
2x Dimensional Fissure
2x Forbidden Lance
1x Monster Reborn
1x Dark Hole
1x Mind Control
1x Heavy Storm
Traps(12)
2x Solemn Warning
2x Torrential Tribute
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
2x Mirror Force
2x Compulsory Evacuation Device
1x Solemn Judgment
1x Starlight Road
Total (41)
Now as you can see a card light “Doomcaliber Knight” isn't usually played in a conventional Dino Rabbit deck. It's soul purpose in this deck is to bait out bad plays or to force removal. Jurrac Guiba poses a large treat and possible XYZ summan of a Evolzar or other rank 4 and thus puts pressure on the opponent to deal with the card. The same could be said about Thunder King as it is not a “win more card” rather its a “stop me from losing card”. I chose D Fissure over Macro due to the fact it is essential that i get my power plays off, macro takes a turn to set up while I can play D Fissure first turn and avoid Maxx C and Effect Veiler entirely. I did not add a side or extra due to the fact I feel both of those are determined by the meta of your area.
Overall Dino Rabbit has remained a control based deck and even with the loss of a Rabbit and Tour Guide the eck has evolved to cope with the meta. I predict within later YCS and regional events we will se a continued growth of the deck and possibly a win. It's initial negation control holds up well against the new decks and every once and awhile you do see the all powerful “Laggia set 4 pass”.
Thank you for reading my first article and if people enjoyed it I hope to write more and continue with the evolution of Dino Rabbit.
Latest posts by Dylan Stewart (see all)
- Bounce back to the top! The return of Dino Rabbit! - November 27, 2012
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