Hey Duelists! I’m back with another Yu-Gi-Oh article that I hope will shed some light on the previous North American YCS in Atlanta. As most of you may know, Tech Genus pulled out the victory against a field full of what players are now referring to as the “Big 3”—Dino-Rabbit, Wind-ups, and Inzektors—which was a huge feat considering that the winner didn’t play a conventional build of an unconventional deck. In fact, he defied all the “rules” by main decking 0 copies of Maxx “C,” Effect Veiler, or Fiendish Chain; cards that were thought to define the format, and rightly so. I want to show you the winner’s decklist because I happened to play Tech Genus in Atlanta as well but my build was completely different. In hindsight, I wish I would’ve made some of the same choices as the winner, Marquis Henderson, only for the fact that his deck was what I would call a more devout version of T.G.
Marquis Henderson – 1st Place (T.G.)
Monsters: 15
2 T.G. Striker
3 T.G. Warwolf
3 T.G. Rush Rhino
3 Reborn Tengu
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Beast King Barbaros
Spells: 7
3 Pot of Duality
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
Traps: 18
3 Horn of the Phantom Beast
3 Skill Drain
2 TG1-EM1
1 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Starlight Road
I like to use the word ignorant to describe this deck and I don’t mean that in a negative way at all. My friends and I use words that are seemingly negative to add emphasis to something but in a positive way. When I say the word ignorant I am actually referring to the nature of this deck to do something that makes the opponent mad or annoyed when playing against it. Marquis played 2 Starlight Roads, 3 Skill Drains, 2 Bottomless Trap Hole, 2 Dimensional Prison, and Mirror Force. All of the aforementioned cards were thought to be either bad or just mediocre because of their matchup specific nature. Matchup specific nature means that a card may be absolutely broken against one deck like Dino-Rabbit, but then absolutely horrible against another deck like Inzektors. Mirror Force is an example because it is very good against Dino-Rabbit and almost useless against Inzektors. When you sit down in front of an opponent and play game 1 you should always be trying to figure out what cards they are maining so that you can better prepare yourself for the next 2 games. You also begin to make reads on what cards the player is using just based on his or her deck choice. Therefore, when you see Tech Genus you would automatically assume that it’s some kind of anti deck with a lot of traps but then you may doubt the use of certain cards because of how matchup specific they are. For instance, I wouldn’t think to get caught by a Bottomless Traphole in game 1 against any deck. This can outright win the game for the player using it because of the surprise/devastation factor of the card at the right time. Summoning Rescue Rabbit and catching a Bottomless is far worse than a Maxx “C.” If you were playing Dino-Rabbit you would immediately become annoyed by the fact that the card was even flipped on you and that is why I call it ignorant.
Another card that I love in these types of decks is none other than Starlight Road. It’s an obvious inclusion when you play so many backrows but most players don’t believe in running 2 copies of the card. At YCS Atlanta of 2010 I used 2 copies of that card because it allowed me to make greedy pushes with safety and it protected my backrows from XX-Saber Hyunlei which was basically a walking Harpies Feather Duster. Now that Heavy Storm is back the card has even more merit. It also promotes the idea of summoning every single monster you draw in hopes that the opponent has Torrential Tribute or Dark Hole. On a side note, I think that Starlight Road will be a great card next format with the addition of another copy of Torrential Tribute. It was perhaps the best thing to happen on the March 1st Banlist outside of the banning of Trap Dustshoot. Now back to Starlight Road, so far we know that it promotes heavy pushes into many backrows and enables you to set as many cards in the backrow as you please without fear of Heavy Storm ruining your day. The reason why it compliments Marquis’s deck so much is because of how quickly he could end duels with the absurd Skill Drain + Barbaros combo. If he played the way I hope he played then every monster he drew should’ve been summoned without question. I actually would go as far to say summon everything even if you don’t have Road set because the majority of your monsters are self replacing. Finally, and this is me speaking from experience, every time a player resolves Starlight Road he has an incredible chance of just outright winning the game. This is especially true right now when Stardust Dragon is such a huge body compared to the average attack of Xyz monsters. I haven’t lost any games where I resolved that card, nor have I watched anyone lose when they have successfully resolved it. It’s just too much of a swing in momentum and damage.
As always, I must mention how much I love Pot of Duality because of the great utility that it has in almost every deck. I’m a major fan of maxing out on the card especially when playing with decks that don’t really special summon. It can add key trap cards to your hand in decks like Tech Genus and you can do little psychology tricks with your opponent by using the revealed information against them. For example, if you were playing Marquis’s deck and you activated Duality, revealing Bottomless, T.G. Rush Rhino, and Starlight Road you could take the Bottomless Trap Hole which would make your opponent believe that you don’t have Starlight Road in your hand and then he could play into it. The result would most likely be a game win if he takes the bait because he would be under the assumption that you don’t play 2 of the card, which is plausible. Duality also helps to find a monster when your hand is all spells and traps. When that happens it makes for a rather broken set up. Summoning a Tengu and setting 5 backrows is like the worst thing to see when you’re going second (outside of losing your whole hand or seeing a Laggia and 5 backrows lol).
All in all, I can’t say I’m really surprised that a deck like T.G. won an event where the “Big 3” cannot deal with Skill Drain. On top of that is the high attack power that the monsters in T.G. decks can reach with the help of Horn of the Phantom Beast. I consider that to be the dirtiest trap in the game right now on a purely dirty level. It is just devastating. Horn can throw a duel so far out of control that your only legitimate option is to scoop. It leads to a crazy swing in card advantage and field presence at the same time which is something rarely seen in cards other than Torrential Tribute. Side those Royal Decrees because Tech Genus is sure to upset you if you don’t plan accordingly. The deck is not to be underestimated.
Remember, Play Hard or Go Home!
-Frazier Smith
-YCS Atlanta Champion
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