A long time ago, in a game far far away from where we are now, there were these monsters... and they had to be destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard to Special Summon Monsters from decks. Crazy right? One of these was [ccProd]Apprentice Magician[/ccProd], one of my favorite Spellcaster-type Monsters to exist, and with it there used to be a deck called SCC... or Spellcaster Control. If you're a seasoned vet like myself, you might remember this deck, but more than likely you have no idea what I'm talking about. It consisted of things like [ccProd]Apprentice Magician[/ccProd], [ccProd]Old Vindictive Magician[/ccProd], [ccProd]Magician of Faith[/ccProd] and [ccProd]Hand of Nepyths[/ccProd] alongside Sacred Phoenix. It was a deck I enjoyed playing very much. The point of the deck was to simplify the gamestate as much as possible with, then controlling the game with Sacred Phoenix. Things like [ccProd]Dimensional Prison[/ccProd] didn't exist back then so Phoenix was quite the scary card at the time, as the only cards that could really deal with it efficiently were [ccProd]Bottomless Trap Hole[/ccProd] and Black Luster Soldier.
Now, even though we all know Prophecy is probably going to be the next big thing, they have been pretty mediocre in the competitive scene compared to things like Mermails and Fire Fist. They just can't out speed/out power the 2 decks. Getting to my point, I kept messing around with Prophecy and just realized "Man... I hate Temperance/Justice. Even though it reminds me of trying to Hand of Nepyths into Sacred Phoenix, I hate having to play these cards just for HER". That's when I remembered the old SCC deck even more, and thought to myself "Hm... maybe instead of trying to just advantage my way into a Preistess every game... I can just advantage away my opponents cards, and if I get to Priestess, cool, if not... then still cool". So I started messing with a deck that focused less on Priestess and more on stabilizing the field, with common cards seen in Prophecy like Breaker the Magical Warrior, and less common like [ccProd]Madolche Magiline[/ccProd] (also used by a Japanese player who recently top 32'ed YCS San Diego).
This weekend I have a regionals I will be attending in Chicago, and I'll probably be playing something similar to this
3 [ccProd]Breaker the Magical Warrior[/ccProd] 3 [ccProd]Effect Veiler[/ccProd] 2 [ccProd]High Priestess of Prophecy[/ccProd] 3 [ccProd]Madolche Magileine[/ccProd] 3 [ccProd]Spellbook Magician of Prophecy[/ccProd] 2 [ccProd]Tragoedia[/ccProd]
1 [ccProd]Dark Hole[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Heavy Storm[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Monster Reborn[/ccProd] 2 [ccProd]Spellbook of Eternity[/ccProd] 3 [ccProd]Spellbook of Fate[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Spellbook of Life[/ccProd] 2 [ccProd]Spellbook of Power[/ccProd] 3 [ccProd]Spellbook of Secrets[/ccProd] 2 [ccProd]Spellbook of the Master[/ccProd] 2 [ccProd]Spellbook of Wisdom[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]The Grand Spellbook Tower[/ccProd]
2 [ccProd]Fiendish Chain[/ccProd] 2 [ccProd]Torrential Tribute[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Solemn Warning[/ccProd]
1 [ccProd]Ally of Justice Catastor[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Arcanite Magician[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Black Rose Dragon[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Scrap Dragon[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]TG Hyper Librarian[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Tempest Magician[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Abyss Dweller[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Daigusto Phoenix[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Gachi Gachi[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Gagaga Cowboy[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Maestroke Djinn[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Number 11: Big Eye[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Number 39: Utopia[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Number 50: Blackship of Corn[/ccProd] 1 [ccProd]Shining Elf[/ccProd]
Without having to use cards like Justice or Temperance, I have room for some Trap cards, in which I've chosen [ccProd]Fiendish Chain[/ccProd], Torrential, and the single [ccProd]Solemn Warning[/ccProd]. I think [ccProd]Fiendish Chain[/ccProd] is better then Bottomless right now, by a lot, and Torrential is pretty important while trying to fend off Mermails while setting up. I also only use 2 High Priestess since 1) I don't use Temperance or Justice and 2) the deck is focusing more on controlling the field and not getting her out and protecting her.
Mainly, I use Breaker and Magileine as Spellcaster bodies to allow the specific Spellbooks to be activated, and then spam [ccProd]Spellbook of Fate[/ccProd] as much as possible to banish opponents cards or change their position, or Spellbook of Power to swing over what I can. By now, most people should know [ccProd]Spellbook of Fate[/ccProd] is extremely good against the Mermail deck (and good in general... as it basically does EVERYTHING) and it effectively makes Gaios a very bad card to go into. This is why I've chosen to run 3, as I would prefer to open with both some sort of Spellbook Magician/Secrets and a Fate.
The 3 Mageleine alongside the 3 Breakers helps with the Rank 4 Xyz area, making them very easy to go into compared to other Prophecy decks. Access to things like [ccProd]Abyss Dweller[/ccProd] or [ccProd]Gagaga Cowboy[/ccProd] can make and break games, so its very handy to have those options open.
Other then that, the rest of the Monster and Spell lineup is fairly standard. You see 3 [ccProd]Effect Veiler[/ccProd] to help fight off Mermails from OTK'ing you, and Fire Fist from just destroying all of your cards. Of course there is [ccProd]Tragoedia[/ccProd] which can help fend off attackers, as well as being larger then normal since Prophecy is having notorious for having large hands.
To be more specific, while Tower and Magileine give you advantage every turn, Breaker and Fate takes it away. Slowly, you grind out your opponents cards and resources until they are left with nothing and you have everything. It's quite a simple concept that's been working much better for me then other Prophecy builds.
Around my area, people play more Fire Fist then Mermail, which is funny because Mermail not only has taken up the last 2 YCS's, and also the majority of the top spots as well. I think this is because 1) Mermail is a pretty skill intensive deck. Even when you draw the nuts, I see people mess up. Mediocre players get mediocre results and turn away from the deck. 2) Fire Fist is cheaper. This is a big thing I think. Fire Fist is a deck that doesn't take a lot of interaction, yet gets decent results, and for a low price, financially. For these reasons I believe this weekend at regionals I will probably play against more Fire Fist variants then Mermail, so hopefully the 3 [ccProd]Effect Veiler[/ccProd] and Trap cards I'm using will work out into my favor... I will also probably be siding 3 [ccProd]Overworked[/ccProd]. Fire Fist is certainly the most difficult matchup for Prophecy right now, so maining and siding accordingly is very important.
Anyway, if I do well I'll do a tournament report next week, so hopefully I can get some neat results. Until next time duelist, play hard, or go home.
LMJeffJones
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