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October 4, 2011
Categories: Featured YuGiOh! Articles, Free Articles, Jeff Jones
by LMJeffJones
Hello again my friends! With YCS Ohio just around the corner, and the dawn of an revived and improved archetype, many players scramble to adjust their decks and side decks accordingly in order to face one of the most frightening decks to come around in a very long time.
Dark World is something many people are familiar with as its been around many years. But now that it joins the top ranks of Plant Synchro variants and Agents, how do you make a deck that can be up to par with all three decks, without choosing cards that falter in certain matchups? Lets take a look at some of the most popular Tech Cards prior to Dark World taking the stage.
  • Effect Veiler
This card was mained in most decks in twos. Able to halt any on-field effect is quite powerful, stoping things like Earth, Venus, Hyperion, Tour Guide, Lonefire Blossom combos and many more. The thing is with all the Dark World hype, how should this card be ran now, if at all? It shines against the other 2 matchups, but against Dark World, all of their effects bar a select few are all Graveyard based. The only cards Effect Veiler hinders are Tour Guide, and Fabled Raven. In my opinion, Veiler is still an extremely good and versatile card. If the number of total Plant and Agent decks exceeds the amount of total Dark World decks played (which I absolutely believe) then Veiler is still a good choice to pick as a Main Deck option. Just make sure to more often then not Side Deck them out accordingly when playing against Dark World.
  • Maxx C
This card is basically in the same boat as Veiler. Its extremely good vs Plant variants and Agents, but is again lackluster when it comes to Dark World. Since most of what I said about Veiler also applies to Maxx C, I won't say much more other then the fact that it's even more awful vs Dark World then Veiler. If maining any, I would stick to 1 and Side Deck the others.
  • Thunder King Rai-Oh
This card was MVP for many of my matches as well as many other players at YCS Toronto. The most popular deck, Agents can sometimes lose the entire game to a turn 1 Thunder King backed with a Veiler/Maxx C/Warning. Stopping Pot of Duality, Xyz Summons, Synchro Summons, Boss Monsters, and that ever annoying Sangan, this card put in loads of work. Thunder King unlike the previous cards is not dreadful in the Dark World match. It stops them from tutoring with Snow and Terraforming, and again crushes their Sangan. Its weakness though is Dark World's Boss Monster, Grapha. By discarding it they can just choose to destroy your Thunder King easily, or force you to negate Grapha's return to the field for a -1.
  • Debunk
This is personally my favorite card! In my opinion this could be the NEW Effect Veiler.
Debunk was never really a Main Decked card, although many of considered it and tried it, but now more then ever this card is extremely important. In the Plant matchup, this card shines, stopping Effect Veilers, Gorz, Sangan, Maxx C, and Dandylion and banishing them from further use. Against Agents though, its not so great. Not DEAD but still not great. It hits the standard cards like Gorz and Sangan, and depdning on the variant also negates either Effect Veiler and Maxx C, or Herald of Orange Light. Its especially effective against Orange Light giving you a +1. Since most people will commonly go to the most recent version of a deck that did the best, the 2nd Place deck at YCS Toronto was an Agent deck with Tragoedia's as well. This means Debunk will also work here. Most importantly though, against Dark World it stops ALL their monster's effect. Grapha, Snow, Beiige, Broww, Sangan, and any other Dark World monster. What especially needs to be noted is that Debunk will negate the card AND remove it from play. This means that Grapha gets Banished, unable to Special Summon itself to the field for its effect, and also the monster will not be able to be removed later for Gates of Dark World.

Lastly, I'd like to talk about some Side Deck options for  Dark World. First off I didnt really know where to go with siding against them, so I looked to Japan to see what they side versus Dark World to keep them at bay, and keep Agents the best deck there.

  • Gemini Imps

At first I really didnt like this card. I thought it was too reactionary to actually be good. But then I tested it and realized how wrong I was. Dark World uses cards like Dragged Down the Grave, and Mind Crush to limit your options early on, while applying pressure with Beiige, Grapha, and Tour Guide's. If you can stop them from peeking at your hand, as well as stopping them from discarding their own cards you will usually be in good shape. Some people I've spoken too say to me "Well what if they aren't playing those cards and you have a dead card in hand?" Well then thats just dandy! In my experience versus Dark World, if they aren't ripping apart my in hand combos then I'm perfectly fine with most of their plays.

  • Shadow Imprisoning Mirror

This was another card I wasn't so sure about until play testing, but then I realized that unless Dark World has Typhoon or Heavy Storm, they lose. They need an immediate out to this card or every single play they have is neutered. Some decks won't be able to Side Deck this because they are Dark heavy in the monster department, which is fine as you can still side in Debunks in their place.

  • Bottomless Trap Hole

This card was once played in every deck in threes, but has fallen out of use in most decks up until recently. It's extremely powerful to have versus Agents, as you can Banish their Venus preventing Gachi Gachi or Birdman plays (as well as Summoning Condition for Hyperion), permanently getting rid of that cun... I mean lovely Kristya, and Hyperion. Versus Dark World though, it serves very similar purposes. Bottomless Trap Holing Beiige can be great early game, preventing it being used as fuel for Grapha's return, or Gates of Dark World, as well as again getting rid of Grapha itself when it returns to the field. Although it can be risky as when they discard Grapha to begin with, can possibly destroy your unchainable Bottomless. Dark Highlander is a card that not many decks could use prior to Dark World, but its EXTREMELY powerful against Synchro heavy decks like Plants. Its so hard to get rid of this guy once he hits the field if you're playing Plants, so having an out like Bottomless is a blessing.

Wrapping this up I'd like to leave everyone a question that I'd like you to answer in the comments! Also post any other questions down below as well!

At YCS Ohio, what do you think the most popular deck will be of Agents, Plants, and Dark World? And what deck do you think will take it all?

Well ladies, gentlemen, and queens, thats all for this time, and dont forget, play hard or go home!

LMJeffJones

LMJeffJones

LMJeffJones

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