Hi all the name's Brian and it's deck doctor time. Ok that wasn't funny just my lame attempt at catching your attention and now that I've got it. Hi my name is Brian McNeese I am a 36 year old father of 5 future and current Yugioh players. I have been playing this game off and on since the beginning. Although I've only started playing more competitively this year and my what an exciting year it has been. I won my very own copy of the Blood Mefist prize card at YCS Dallas. I got my first invite to this past years nationals and I've already secured my invite to next years. Now I'll be the first to tell you that I'm not familiar with every Yugioh card out there. Hell I don't know anyone who is. So when the folks at Alter Reality decided to hold a contest in an attempt to find their next writer I was both excited and intimidated by the challenge that had been laid out before me.

The first deck we are taking a look at today is Rock Stun that was submitted by Mr. Billy Brake himself.

Spells:10
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Soul Taker
2 Pot of Duality
1 Seal of Orichalcos
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole

Traps: 12
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Solemn Warning
2 Call of the Haunted
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Torrential Tribute
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Starlight Road

Extra Deck: 15
2 Gem-Knight Pearl
2 Kochi Kochi Dragon
Soul of Silver Mountain
1 Temtempo the Percussion Djinn
1 Wind-Up Zenmaister
1 Gachi Gachi
1 Fairy King Albverdich
1 Gaia Knight, Force of Earth
1 Naturia Beast
1 Naturia Barkion
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Stardust Dragon

Rock Stun is a deck that I have had my eye on for a little while. I just love any deck that can play Fossil Dyna and manage to keep him on the field for more than a turn. On top of that this deck plays 3 1900 attack beaters that given the situation can negate spells, traps and monster effects causing your opponent to use up all of their resources. Then we have Block Golem who we can use to bring them back and put the pressure on all over again.

With that being said let's get right to it shall we.

After a few minutes of reading over the deck list I knew that wanted to trim the monster line up from 19 to 17 and add in a few tech choices of my own. So the first thing I did was cut both copies of Maxx C. Although this card should definitely have a couple spots reserved for it in the side. The next thing to go was both Card Troopers. In this type of deck I like to keep my spells and traps going were they need to go and that's to my hand. While this next card is a key part to the playability of the deck. I felt that running 3 copies of Block Golem could get a bit cloggy and lead to some dead draws. Bumping it down to 2 should hopefully take care of that.

Even after the cuts that had been made I still needed to lose 1 more monster out of the line up if I wanted to meet my goal and be able to add in all the cards I needed to. In the end I decided that it would be Koaki Meiru Wall. Mainly because I needed the space. Well that and personal preference.

Now that I was done cutting my monster line up back I was ready to add in my choices. The first card to go in Dust Knight at 1. This 4 star earth with a flip effect lets me dump any earth to the grave. This helps me to be able to dump my next card of choice and that's Revival Golem. When this guy is sent from the deck to the grave I can special summon him or add him to my hand. Not to mention he's a rock with 2100 defense. I'll be main decking 2 of him. The last card to be incorporated into this line up, 1 copy of Gaia Plate the Earth Giant. This 2800 beater than can be special summoned by removing 2 rocks from the grave. He also halves the attack and defense of any monster he does battle with. His only downfall is having to remove a rock during each of your standby phases but with a grave full of rocks hopefully this won't be to much of an issue.

I have to say that when I first got into the spells I smiled a little on the inside when I came across Billy’s 1 copy of the Seal of Orichalcos. I mean any card that is a pain on the brain to get rid of and boost just your monsters while protecting the weaker ones happens to be pretty damn good in my book. Who cares if you can't use the extra deck while it's face up on the field. Stun decks don't rely on the extra anyway. And so what if you can only activate 1 per duel. 1 is all you need once this card hits you should be in a position were you can take the match from there. This card alone could very well be in my opinion that extra push that stun decks needed to finally get them to top tier status.

Now that I'm done drooling on to the spells....

The only 2 cards that I ended up cutting from the spell line up were the 2 copies of Soul Taker. Which again should have 1 to 2 spots reserved in the side. I did however add in 5 cards 4 of which I felt that this deck greatly needed. The first of these being 2 copies of Forbidden Lance. This card is able to be played both defensively and offensively. It's almost a staple. The next card that I added to the line up is Foolish Burial. This let's me dump my Revival Golems to the grave. The last cards I added in was for 2 reasons. 1 being it stops attacks for 3 turns and 2 with all the back row hate running around it throws another target on the field that your opponent has to deal with. Those being Swords of Revealing Light.

Next we have the traps.....

As I made my way into the traps I knew right away that I wanted to cut 4 cards. Not because they weren't any good they were. I just felt that with the changes already in place that they no longer fit the flow of the deck. The 2 copies of Call of the Haunted were the first to go. After cutting Card Trooper it felt kind of pointless keeping this in. The last 2 cards on my chopping block went to Torrential Tribute. With monster presence so crucial in this deck Torrential hinders that. With the last of my cuts to the main it was time to add my last 3 choices for the deck. The first of those going to Mirror Force with the last 2 going to Safe Zone. My own personal tribute to Billy himself. This card is just awesome in stun. This card attached to a Fossil Dyna just laughs at your opponent.

Shoveling on to the extra....

The first card to go once I got to the extra was Gachi Gachi. Not playing any 2 stars there was really no point on keeping this guy in and with very little level 3 monsters in the main deck dropping Soul of Silver Mountain down to 1 seemed like the right choice here as well. The next 4 cards to go were Gaia Knight, Scrap Dragon, Naturia Beast and Barkion. Granted all of these cards fit perfectly into an all earth deck. The deck itself however doesn't play any tuners. Therefore had to go. So after I was done hacking away at the extra I found myself in need of 6 cards.

The first 2 spaces and the easiest I might say was to add an additional Fairy King Albverdich and a copy of Gagaga Cowboy. Who can boost his own attack by 1000 if he attacks while at the same time dropping your opponents monster by 500. Also if he's in defense position he can inflict 800 damage to your opponent. Now that I had only 4 spots left to fill I wanted to pick cards that could potentially given the right situation possibly help me to either turn the tide in my favor or keep me in a winning position. I knew that these cards would not be earth attribute but that was ok with Block Golem at 2 this shouldn't interfere that much. So with that being said I added Maestroke the Symphony Djinn. He can protect himself and is a book of moon. Steelswarm Roach who can stop a level 5 or higher monster from hitting the field. Photon Papilloperative who can turn any monster to attack position and have it lose 600 attack in the process. The last spot to be filled went to Shock Master. This guy under the right circumstances can shut your opponent out completely.

Well that’s it let’s check out my version of Billy's Rock Stun.

1 Gaia Plate the Earth Giant

Spells:13

1 Foolish Burial
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Swords of Revealing Light
2 Pot of Duality
1 Seal of Orichalcos
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole

Traps: 11
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Solemn Warning
2 Safe Zone
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Starlight Road

Extra Deck: 15
2 Gem-Knight Pearl
2 Kochi Kochi Dragon
1 Soul of Silver Mountain
1 Temtempo the Percussion Djinn
1 Wind-Up Zenmaister
1 Gagaga Cowboy
2 Fairy King Albverdich
1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn
1 Shock Master
1 Steel Swarm Roach
1 Photon Papilloperative
1 Stardust Dragon

All right now that Billy’s deck was under my belt it was time to take a look at the second deck to be presented to me. Some of you may have heard of this guy.

Joe Giorlando’s Gishki Hero Turbo Deck

Monsters:20

3 Gishki Soul Ogre
3 Gishki Vision
3 Destiny Hero Plasma
2 Destiny Hero Diamond Dude
2 Trageodia

2 Tour Guide from the Underworld
1 Sangan
1 Gishki Shadow
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
1 Dark Armed Dragon
1 Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness

Spells:20

3 Destiny Draw
3 Trade-In
3 Miracle Fusion
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Salvage
1 Gishki Aquamirror
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn

Extra Deck:15

1 Grenosaurus
1 Melomelody the Brass Djinn
1 Wind-Up Zenmaines
1 Leviair the Sea Dragon
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Number 30: Acid Golem of Destruction
1 Temtempo Percussion Djinn
1 Maestroke Symphony Djinn
1 Blade Armor Ninja
1 Heroic Champion Excalibur
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis
1 Number 11: Big Eye
1 Gaia Dragon, Thunder Charger
1 Black Rose Dragon

After reading up on the Gishki cards I decided that I would attempt to have a little bit more fun with this deck. In order to do that though I still had to try and maintain the overall integrity and synergy of the deck. So sit back relax and enjoy some big changes are about to be made.

First we will start with the small changes. I dropped 1 Soul Ogre and 1 Vision while picking up just 1 additional shadow. Over on the hero side I dropped all 3 Plasmas and added 1 D-Hero Doom Lord and 1 Elemental Hero Ocean(he can recycle hero’s). Now it was time for the big stuff.

I wanted to find a different engine than the tired old Tourguide into Sangan play. I also wanted to be able to add even more to it at the same time. So In order to succeed in my goal that meant I had to lose more cards. So I cut the rest of the dark monster line up. Doing this should hopefully allow me to do just what I wanted.

I added 3 Deep Sea Diva, 3 Atlantean Dragoons, 3 Atlantean Heavy Infantry and 2 copies of Atlantean Marksman. The Diva’s are there because she can bring out a 3 star or lower sea serpent and there are 7 not counting herself. I can bring out Gishki Vision and use it to bring out Gishki Soul Ogre or bring out Atlantean Heavy Infantry which can give me another normal summon. Those are just a couple of things that can be done in this deck with Diva. I added the Atlantean cards because I wanted this deck to have some sort of control factor to it . Dragoons can search out any sea serpent and add it to my hand when he’s sent to the grave by a water effect. It can get me either Vision or Shadow and depending on the situation can fetch me Aqua Mirror or Soul Ogre. Atlantean Marksman can get me a special summon from the deck should I do damage with him and when he’s sent to the grave by a water effect he can pop a set card on my opponents field. Atlantean Heavy Infantry allows me another normal summon and he can pop face up cards that my opponent has should he be sent to the grave by a water effect. After all that there was still 1 more monster that I wanted to add and with all of the new water attributes in the deck the choice soon became obvious as to what it should be. Moulinglacia the Elemental Lord. This 2800 beater with his delinquent duo like effect and all that I need is 5 waters in the grave. 1 copy of this guy is all I needed to round out the rest of my line up. Oh did I mention he’s a sea serpent.

As I dove into the spells….

I ended up cutting Miracle Fusion down to 2 and dropped the Trade Ins altogether. I felt that with only 4 targets for Trade In now that it would be dead in my hand more often than not. The same can be said for my reasoning behind dropping a copy of Miracle Fusion. I also ended up dropping Allure of Darkness as well due to the fact that I only have 3 dark targets in the deck for it now. Adding back into the deck I put 2 Pot of Duality’s and 1 Pot of Avarice. Duality let’s me dig into my deck to get my combo pieces and Avarice let’s me recycle my monsters back to my deck.

Moving right along to the extra deck….

I like everybody else noticed right away that there were no fusions in the extra deck. So the first thing that I did was drop Grenosaurus, Melomelody and Heliopolis. To make room for 2 E-Hero Absolute Zero’s and 1 E-hero Escuridao. I also in the end cut Zenmaines, Acid Golem, Blade Armor, Excalibur, Big Eye, Utopia and Gaia Dragon. I felt that with the new direction that the deck had taken these cards no longer fit. Dropping these cards allowed me plenty of room to add some stuff that could maybe benefit the deck a little more.

First I added 2 copies of Gungnir Dragon of the Ice Barrier with his ability to let me discard up to 2 cards to get rid of 2 of my opponents cards on the field. All of the Atlanteans benefit fit from this. Next I put in 1 Abyss Dweller. This card boost all water monsters on the field by 500 attack points including himself if just 1 of the materials used happens to be water and he can shut down your opponents graveyard effects. Adding in Daigusto Phoenix and Gachi Gachi allows me to either go for that extra push or defend myself for a turn. The final 2 spots in the extra went to Stardust Dragon and Ally of Justice Catastor. Stardust because even to this day is simply the best generic synchro monster to ever to be created that has not been hit by the band list. Catasor’s ability let’s me get rid of any non-dark problems that may be on the field.

With that I am finally done. So without further ado here is my take on Joe Giorlando’s Gishki Hero Turbo deck….

Monsters:23

2 Gishki Soul Ogre
2 Gishki Vision
3 Deep Sea Diva
2 Destiny Hero Diamond Dude
2 Atlantean Marksman

3 Atlantean Dragoons
3 Atlantean Heavy Infantry
2 Gishki Shadow
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
1 Destiny Hero Doom Lord
1 Elemental Hero Ocean

1 Moulinglacia the Elemental Lord

Spells:18

3 Destiny Draw
2 Pot of Duality
2 Miracle Fusion
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Salvage
1 Gishki Aquamirror
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn

Extra Deck:15

1 Elemental Hero Escuridao
2 Elemental Hero Absolute Zero
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Leviair the Sea Dragon
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Ally of justice Catastor
1 Temtempo Percussion Djinn
1 Maestroke Symphony Djinn
1 Gachi Gachi
1 Daigusto Phoenix
2 Gungnir Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Abyss Dweller
1 Black Rose Dragon

In closing I hope you guys enjoyed reading my thoughts and my take on these 2 decks that came from 2 of the best players in the game right now. This has been an amazing learning experience that I will use as a stepping stone to further better myself both as a writer and Yugioh player. Hopefully someone some where found something from this article that they can use to do the same thing.

Challenge Accepted…………….

Brian

McNeese