Greetings, ARG readers! I’m taking a break from writing about Battle Pack this week to talk about a very important issue every duelist is facing leading up to the 2012 WCQ: combating the Chaos Dragon deck. Coming fresh off a win at YCS Philadelphia, Chaos Dragons are certainly going to be a popular deck at this year’s World Championship Qualifier in Ohio. I have been theorizing about several different side deck cards (that aren’t already heavily played) that I want to share with you with the hope that these choices will make your battle against the dragons a little bit easier. Without further ado, I present to you my list of dragon slaying side deck cards!
Light-Imprisoning Mirror
This card saw a huge amount of play in August and September when the Agent deck was running rampant. I think it may be time for it to reemerge as a side deck staple. At first, I thought LIM was only ok against Chaos Dragons, but it is actually more crippling than it seems. Not only will the mirror stop Lyla and Ryko from destroying your sided in Macro Cosmos or Dimensional Fissure, it will also stop Light Pulsar Dragon from reviving a dragon when it is sent to the graveyard (if D-Fissure or Macro Cosmos aren’t face up). Pair these uses with the secondary benefits of LIM against BLS, Eclipse Wyvern, and Photon Strike Bounzer, and you have a card that will surely impact the side decks at the WCQ in a month.
Grave of the Super Ancient Organism
“All face-up Level 6 or higher Special Summoned monsters on the field cannot declare an attack or activate their effects.” (Continuous Trap)
This card is still in the testing phase for me, but, on the surface, it seems like a very solid side deck choice. GotSAG stops Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, Dark Armed Dragon, Chaos Sorcerer, and BLS from attacking or using their effects. The Chaos Dragon deck is very little when it is stripped of its biggest beaters. However, this card is a prime target for opposing Lylas, Rykos, and MSTs.
Necrovalley
To me, Necrovalley has always been a very splashable side deck card. Any deck that interacts minimally with the grave should consider side decking Necrovalley. Often times, opposing players do not expect to see it pop up in games two and three. DinoRabbits and TGs can easily side deck Necrovalley, as well as many other Stun variants. The strength of this field spell comes in its second effect: “Cards in either player’s graveyard cannot be removed from play.” This effect will prevent the Chaos Dragon player from banshing light and dark monsters for their various Chaos monsters, which may stall them enough for you to deal decisive battle damage. Necrovalley will also stop REDMD from reviving a dragon from grave (although they can still special summon from hand) and will prevent Light Pulsar Dragon from bringing back the REDMD as part of the soft lock. Necrovalley also reminds me of another card you should consider, but one that I won’t go into too much detail on: Chaos Hunter. I have been side decking Chaos Hunter in my Inzektor deck because he not only prevents Inzektor Hornet from falling victim to D.D. Crow, but also stops Chaos monsters from hitting the field and REDMD from special summoning itself through its condition of banishing an on-field dragon.
Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
Of the cards mentioned so far, Fossil Dyna is by far my favorite. It can be sided against both Chaos Dragons and DinoRabbit. With the proper protection, such as Dimensional Prison and Bottomless Trap Hole, Fossil Dyna can buy you a ton of time against the most popular decks. A Fossil Dyna backed with Light-Imprisoning Mirror and a defensive trap can lock the Chaos Dragon player out of the game completely, barring the two or three MSTs they may side. My favorite part about Fossil Dyna is that it is not a victim to timing. Consider a card like Bottomless Trap Hole (BTH). BTH is only good if you have it when your opponent special summons a monster; if you draw it after your opponent has stuck their monster to the field, BTH is effectively a dead draw. Fossil Dyna is not as fragile because it can act as both a proactive and a reactive draw. Having this fossilized dinosaur on the field before your opponent has special summoned can prevent them from making plays (proactive). If your opponent has already gone off and special summoned many monsters by the time you draw it, you can simply set him and let your opponent attack into it, triggering its effect to destroy all special summoned monsters on the field (reactive). Barring an Evolzar Dolkka or Forbidden Chalice, a set Fossil Dyna can get you back into a game that you had no business being in in the first place.
Summoning Curse
This is probably the least effective, but funniest, cards to side deck against Chaos Dragons. For those of you that are unaware, here is the text: “When a monster is Special Summoned, the controller of that monster chooses 1 card in their hand and removes it from play. During each of your End Phases, pay 500 Life Points or destroy this card.” When staring down a Summoning Curse, a typical player will simply set all their cards before special summoning in order to get around removing their hand from play, but Chaos Dragons do not play many spells, and usually no traps. This means that every special summon costs the Chaos Dragon player an extra card. Multi-Special summoning combo cards such as Tour Guide (and Rescue Rabbit) are prime prey for Summoning Curse as well. However, I admit this card is very gimmicky. It will likely be quickly destroyed by Lyla, MST, or Heavy Storm before the opponent tries to push through any special summons.
There are several other cards that I think are worth considering when you build your side deck, but I do not want this article to become too long, so I will simply list them here with no explanation: Leeching the Light, Chaos Trap Hole, Chaos Hunter (already mentioned), Black Horn of Heavan, Imperial Iron Wall, and The Transmigration Prophecy.
As the WCQ gets closer and closer, I am sure many of the talented ARG writers will be chiming in on how to prepare for the event, but I hope this served as a nice warm-up for you all. If you have any secret tech side deck cards you don’t mind sharing, drop a comment below!
Next week sometime I hope to write up a Battle Pack tournament report for your entertainment.
Until next time,
Play Hard or Go Home!
Tej Trivedi
Latest posts by Tej Trivedi (see all)
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