Deck Doctor Contest Article

November 12, 2012

by Chen Yefet

Hello duelists. I’m Chen Yefet, hopefully upcoming writer for Alter Reality Games, and today I’ll be showing you my deck fixes on the deck provided by Billy Brake in the Deck Doctor Contest. I will do my best to provide you with the thought processes concerning my choices of what cards to take in and what to take out, as well as my considerations of cards which I have left out but which weren’t in the original build. I will also shed light on some moves which would usually be played suboptimally by the average player, and provide general rulings where I think it would be beneficial. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at Billy’s Rock Stun build and see where my considerations take me:

Billy Brake’s Rock Stun Deck

Monsters: 19
3 Block Golem
2 Card Trooper
2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
3 Koa’ki Meiru Guardian
3 Koa’ki Meiru Sandman
3 Koa’ki Meiru Wall
2 Maxx “C”
1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole

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

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

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

Monsters

First up, Billy’s deck has 41 cards, granting us the ability to take out 1 more card than we put in. His 19 monsters comprise of 17 monsters with on-field utility, and the two remaining Maxx “C”. Straight away, my mind separates the slew of rock monsters from the 4 non-rock monsters – Card Trooper and Maxx “C” – since it is relevant in this particular deck type to consider the interactions between them and your other cards (considering the maintenance costs of your Koa’ki Meiru monsters).

I should mention here that my game plan – the way I build this deck so that I believe it can compete successfully with every other deck – is to apply constant pressure on the opponent with effect negating beatsticks as consistently as possible without giving your opponent a chance to overwhelm you.

Therefore, it is natural for me to first consider my options of taking out both Troopers and Maxx “C”s due to a lack of utility, since on face value there is more chance they should not be included due to seemingly not fitting in with your monster line-up. However, closer analysis is needed to fully comprehend their pros and cons.

Not only is Trooper a great answer to any 1900 ATK or lower beater (including the ever-so-important and popular Thunder King), its milling effect can complement both Call and Block Golem, and it not only forces out your opponent’s back row, but it also ensures your maintenance costs for your Koa’ki Meiru monsters can be paid next turn (by replacing itself once destroyed).

The obvious down sides of using Trooper are that it uses up your normal summon which may otherwise have been used to lock down your opponent, and it can’t be used for the Koa’ki Meiru monsters’ maintenance costs. That’s usually where the consideration for its down sides end, and where a duelist would decide, based on the pros and cons I have mentioned so far, that Trooper is probably worth main decking.

However, there is another reason to exclude it, one which I found easier to explain after testing: It requires your opponent to have a 1900 or less ATK beatstick (or a 1899 or less DEF defender) in order for it to be consistently useful. I have highlighted this last con because it is the one that is least likely to be considered by the average player, and it is what separates Trooper’s utility in this deck from its utility in other decks like Chaos Dragons and Agents, where inherent special summons are also part of your game plan. Did your opponent open Shi En? Did your opponent open with a set Geargiarmor? Did your opponent open with a Wind-Up Rabbit? In all these not-so-uncommon situations, Trooper is, simply put, not as good as various alternatives, be it in spell, trap or monster form.

I initially thought that Trooper was the sort of card that turns a relatively bad hand into a good one, similar to the roles of Thunder King and Snowman Eater in Wind-Up decks. While this may be true to some extent if the rest of Billy’s deck were to say the same, the changes I will make to his deck – changes which will further my aim – will warrant my decision to play without Troopers.

I am also going to cut both Fossil Dyna Pachycephalos, since it is much less useful now than it once was, due to your opponent being able to first plus with their monsters’ ignition effects such as that of Gear Gigant X before attacking it, and it’s an easy target for Atlantean Marksman which is going to be run in the upcoming deck-to-beat. The card overall is subpar, and you may not even get the chance to use its effect if you set it due to, for example, your opponent having a face down Compulsory which they have before now had no reason to activate.

I will briefly touch on Block Golem: I understand that many duelists will feel the need to cut one in their builds because it can be useless if there are no Koa’ki Meiru monsters in the graveyard, and drawing multiples without any Koa’ki Meiru monsters can lose you the game. However, I am going to build the deck in such a way that supports the full playset of Block Golem because I see the most potential in the achievement of this goal in which I believe I can succeed. One manoeuvre concerning Block Golem you should note is that if you read a Bottomless while you have a Grand Mole in the grave and a Block Golem play, you can revive the Grand Mole as one of the targets instead of a second Koa’ki Meiru monster in order to ensure you plus off of Block Golem.

So, with 13 monsters with on-field utility, you would probably expect me to add in several more monsters. I ended up deciding to add in a full playset of Cardcar D because it complements our game plan if we can last the turn, which your trap cards should ensure, it doesn’t conflict with Block Golem, and it mitigates any plus your opponent would get out of Heavy Storm.

I have also included Morphing Jar because of its high utility in many stages of the game. In the early game, you can set it with multiple set back rows in order to plus majorly out of it, since your opponent won’t know what it is, or you can use it to fulfil the maintenance costs of your Koa’ki Meiru monsters. However, it is a card that will benefit the better players more consistently due to making the best choices of what to keep in your hand and what to set, or whether to activate Call of the Haunted on a Wall or wait for a Block Golem to enter the yard, due to the threat of Heavy Storm both before and after the Jar resolves. The beginner may consider it an ‘all-or-nothing’ card, but when played optimally, it is consistently a very useful card to have in the deck.

As for Maxx “C”, while it is an Earth monster and so does not conflict with Block Golem, while it is not susceptible to back row destruction, and while it can be used on the first turn, it is unable to fulfil the maintenance costs of your Koa’ki Meiru monsters. Combine that with being very dependent on when you draw it (thus having low utility), this deck being able to take care of itself with all its other cards, and your opponent’s ability to push through it, keeping in mind they may deduce that there is a very low chance of you being able to stop it with in-card hands due to Block Golem’s restrictions, my build would perhaps relegate the card to the side deck, but certainly forgo it in the main deck.

Thus, our monster line up following the above changes looks like this:

Monsters: 17
3 Block Golem
3 Cardcar D
3 Koa’ki Meiru Guardian
3 Koa’ki Meiru Sandman
3 Koa’ki Meiru Wall
1 Morphing Jar
1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole

I will briefly go over some other monsters I have considered which didn’t make the cut:

Giant Rat is an Earth attribute monster able to search Block Golem and Grand Mole, and could have been used to search Trooper or Legendary Jujitsu Master, but since it requires your opponent to attack it (or you to attack your opponent) in order to be useful and is not a rock type monster, I wouldn’t run it. This is especially problematic when your opponent is playing a deck with explosive combos, such as against Wind-Ups or Karakuri Geargias, since they may simply wait for their combo pieces to arrive without attacking and then explode, or in the case of Geargias, flip up Geargiarmor every turn until they go off. For this reason, Koa’ki Meiru Boulder is also impractical. Notice that this decision reflects my aim of applying pressure as consistently as possible, since it does not require your opponent to be effective.

Gigantes is a rock type monster that has the advantage of being a special summon, the ability to clear all spell and trap cards on the field, and is a beater with 1900 ATK. Despite being able to fulfil the maintenance costs of your Koa’ki Meiru monsters, it conflicts with Block Golem and Call of the Haunted, is not an effect negating beatstick, and it does not prevent your opponent from overwhelming you, so I have decided not to include it.

Gaia Plate the Earth Giant is another rock type monster that deserves special consideration. Its utility in the early game does not extend beyond being able to fulfil the maintenance costs of your Koa’ki Meiru monsters. While his summoning requirement conflicts with Block Golem and Call of the Haunted, my main problem is his maintenance cost, which not only conflicts with your Blocks and Calls, but with itself. Unless you have many rock monsters in your grave, his time on the board is limited, so I will not even include one.

Grandsoil the Elemental Lord is another boss monster that is not consistently summonable in this build, and it is not a rock type monster. I believe that some version of Rock Stun can be constructed to incorporate Grandsoil, such as one with Catapult Zone, but in this build, it lacks utility due to its very specific special summon requirement.

Now for the spells:

I immediately notice the lack of Heavy Storm, which I think should be included for obvious reasons – the same reasons Joe Giorlando included Heavy Storm in his Long Beach Hero deck with Skill Drain mained – it is a power card, not only allowing you to gain advantage on its own, but also by what it allows you to do on the field, such as summon Block Golem, since your opponent has no protection. While some opponents may play differently due to a notion they may have that this deck wouldn’t play Heavy Storm, I don’t consider this factor as important when deciding whether to play the Storm or not. Rather, the ability to clear an opponent’s back row at any time, usually gaining at least a plus one when using it, is reason enough, assuming your ability to play it optimally (for example when you read a Starlight Road or Solemn Judgment, when to set it as a bluff, when to hold on to it until you draw a certain card, etc). Furthermore, if you read a Starlight Road, you can try to put yourself in the position in which you have Sandman on the field so that a Heavy Storm play is successful (although if not and your opponent does have the Starlight, you can simply not trigger it).

I am going to take out all three MSTs despite the importance of getting rid of cards which provide your opponent with continuous advantage, such as Wind-Up Factory and The Gates of Dark World, or the newly released Madolche Ticket and The Grand Spellbook Tower. In my opinion, such cards should be forbidden, not limited or semi-limited, due to their ability to turn the game into ‘whoever abuses such a card as much as possible wins’, although I’ll leave that to another article if I am able to. The reason I am taking out all the MSTs is that the deck as I am building it, with the multitude of Block Golems and Call of the Haunteds you may be drawing, may put you in the situation in which drawing too many or too few monsters would make MST detrimental to staying alive in the duel. There are also trapless decks running around against which drawing MST could lose you the duel. I would definitely side a full playset of MSTs along with some Twisters to deal with both Royal Decree and cards which provide continuous advantage, but I am not main decking them. However, you could take advantage of all aspects of your game without MST, such as the fact that you can repeatedly use Wall (along with Call of the Haunted) to threaten the negation of spells, or that negating a Wind-Up monster’s effect with Guardian prevents them from activating Factory’s effect since Guardian negates the effect’s activation as well as the actual effect, just like Herald of Orange Light.

The Soul Takers seem random to me. While it can destroy a face up monster of your choice and make certain optional effects miss the timing (those of the form ‘When … you can’), it cannot protect your face up Koa’ki Meiru monster from an opponent’s monster on their turn, but rather has to be used before or after. Being able to stop your opponent’s plays on their turn with cards like Dimensional Prison or Book of Moon will allow you to keep your effect negating beatstick on board at more stages of the game, so I am taking the Soul Takers out.

Speaking of the Book, Book of Moon is going to take one slot since it can be good in many situations, such as preventing the Magician-Shark combo, preventing your monster being banished by Bottomless or Dimensional Prison, and in general being able to prevent your opponent activating their monster’s ignition effect for that turn while allowing you to run over it next turn. It can also, when the occasion calls, combo with Morphing Jar or prevent Effect Veiler from negating it.

Forbidden Lance has been included in several other rock stun builds in the past, but I am not going to include it here due to alternatives which better allow you to control the field without being so dependent on having a monster available to you, such as Dimensional Prison. Remember, I am looking for cards which advance my aim as consistently as possible, and with three Calls and Block Golems, you already have several cards which are dependent on having monsters to be useful.

For a long time during my play testing, I liked the inclusion of a single Seal. It is a better version of Solidarity since it has in-built protection (as well as allows you to play monsters of different types such as Card Trooper). It is also noteworthy that it protects your weakest monster(s) from being attacked – something which can easily be forgotten but may be slightly useful if your opponent Veilered your Cardcar. However, it wasn’t an automatic inclusion. Its inclusion depended on whether it would further my aim, which initially I had concluded it does because it is likely to give you pluses through the battle phase over the course of the duel, and its down side of not being able to use the extra deck is more than compensated for by the trap line up I have set up. However, this may not consistently be the case. Upon losing because it could have been a better card, I have realised that whether or not it furthers my game plan depends on whether or not you can keep a monster on board as well as your opponent having monsters you could not have destroyed by battle beforehand, and since there may be games in which the Seal is sitting useless in your hand, and since I am going for as much consistency as possible, my final decision is to forgo it.

One of the more controversial decisions I have made is to exclude Dark Hole, since it requires you to have an empty field to be most useful, similar to Torrential, and it can be useless in the late game if your life points are low. The way I am building the deck, you should always have options to actively prevent your opponent carry out their plans on their turn; if you don’t use all your spare options for that purpose, such as if you keep Dark Hole in in favour of more proactive cards, you may end up losing an effect negating beatstick due to not being able to take down your opponent’s monster on their turn.

I am reducing the deck size to 37 cards by adding in 3 Upstart Goblin, because the sooner you draw into your rock monsters, the more options you have with cards like Block Golem and Call of the Haunted, the less you have to hold off your opponent’s pushes until then, and the more consistent the deck becomes, not to mention the fact that it increases the chance of you drawing any other card in your deck.

Catapult Zone would perhaps be included if its effect prevented destruction by card effects as well as by battle, but it doesn’t, and so it is not worth a spot in this deck. I believe there are other decks which could accommodate it, such as those using Revival Golem and Dust Knight, but it would get in the way of our game plan.

Thus, my Spell line up looks like this:

Spells: 8
1 Book of Moon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn
2 Pot of Duality
3 Upstart Goblin

Traps

Now, onto the trap line-up. The first thing I will touch on is Starlight Road, since I believe that there are different considerations to be made in this deck than in most other decks concerning the card. Starlight Road, like the Koa’ki Meiru monsters, is a card which negates a handful of other cards, but whose consideration deserves special attention because the Koa’ki Meiru monsters have far more flexibility. In many cases in which it would be useful, you can use a Sandman or Wall instead. While running one ensures you will not draw another one once it is drawn, it does not directly further the game plan I am implementing, which is to maximise your options at every stage of the game while applying constant pressure with your 1900 ATK negating beatsticks. Since I am going for consistency, I believe forgoing it in this deck is the optimal way to build it, despite it having higher utility in this format than in previous formats due to more mass destruction cards available. Another noteworthy factor to consider is that the Stardust Dragon you may bring out from Starlight would conflict with your Block Golems once it hits the grave, although keep in mind that you don’t have to special summon Stardust upon its resolution.

Call of the Haunted, on the other hand, is one of the best cards in the deck – good enough to alter the deck significantly to incorporate it. Not only does it not take up your normal summon, it can bring back Block Golem to further bring back two monsters. While it requires you to have a suitable monster in your graveyard, your other cards should be able to fend off your opponent’s pushes at least until Call is live. This deck, in my opinion, should be built assuming Call will always be able to be activated at some point during the game. In other words, Call should not lack too much utility – enough utility to lose you the game. If this assumption cannot be successfully met with 3 Calls in the main deck, I believe we are not using all the potential this deck has to offer.

One of the plays that is noteworthy about Call, one which an average player would usually not consider, is that you can use Call to outplay your opponent’s Torrential Tribute/ Bottomless Trap Hole. If you think your opponent has one of those cards, all you have to do is activate Call as chain link 2 or higher. Your opponent activates Dark Hole or Monster Reborn to get rid of your Wall? You have the option of chaining Wall and then Call to target the same Wall that was tributed, sometimes prompting an unwitting opponent to reveal their set Bottomless/ Torrential. You or your opponent activates Dimensional Prison or Compulsory Evacuation Device? You can chain Call to revive your monster at a higher chain link, similarly dodging your opponent’s cards. Such considerations will benefit you in the long term, allowing you to make the optimal play at all times.

Now, I shall talk about the rest of the trap line up and how they help further my game plan. Let’s take another look at my game plan: Apply constant pressure on the opponent with effect negating beatsticks as consistently as possible without giving your opponent a chance to overwhelm you. I initially started play testing with Troopers, and so Torrential was left in. However, when I got to the point where I realised that Troopers should be excluded, I chose to test the deck without Torrentials, instead using other cards like Mirror Force and Compulsory Evacuation Device, to formulate my opinion on its inclusion. I have since returned both Torrentials to the main deck because while Torrential also destroys your side of the field, a situation in which you successfully activated Torrential at its optimal time would usually not be worse than a one-for-one, since your opponent will usually need multiple cards to get over your set-up, and in conjunction with all your other cards, it achieves the last part of my game plan (giving your opponent no chance to overwhelm you) like no other, with the benefits of being able to activate upon a successful summon (and so preventing ignition effects or destroying all monsters regardless of whether it was targeted for destruction/ banishment). Our monsters do not need to stay on board as long as there will be more monsters coming to keep the pressure on your opponent.

I am also running the full playset of both Dimensional Prison and Mirror Force, whose lack of ability to activate in response to summons is compensated for by their general utility and ability to gain card advantage.

I tested a lot with Compulsory Evacuation Device, sometimes with one in deck, sometimes two or three, and the card deserves special consideration. Despite it being very versatile, being useful in either bouncing your opponent’s xyz/ synchro/ fusion monster away, bouncing your own monster back to your hand in response to an opponent’s effect that would destroy or banish your monster, which I stress is not something that should be overlooked, or bouncing your or your opponent’s monster away in response to a Heavy Storm/ MST, I chose to exclude it because it may require you to have a monster on board in order for it to be effective, since you can’t consistently rely on your opponent to have an extra deck monster. Also, while a lot of the monsters with which your opponent will try to run over your beatsticks will be from the extra deck, in some decks like Chaos Dragons, inherent summons will be the main form of your opponent’s push, and Compulsory does not permanently get rid of their monster, so I have excluded it from my build. However, due to its effectiveness against many decks, it could be very effective as a side deck card.

I also considered running Skill Drain, but since it prevents you from using the effects of Grand Mole and Jar, the former of which is a useful target to go into with Block Golem (or Call) since it dodges Bottomless, and it doesn’t get rid of your opponent’s monster, I would relegate it to the side deck. Safe Zone or Fiendish Chain similarly don’t get rid of your opponent’s monsters and Sandman can be used in most situations where Safe Zone shines, so I have not included them. With regards to Skill Drain, it is noteworthy that it does not provide the benefit of not having to reveal a rock type monster in the end phase, since the revealing of such a monster is considered a cost as opposed to an effect.

I also considered running Dark Bribe or The Huge Revolution is Over, or even just to keep Starlight in with the choice of whether or not to special summon Stardust upon its resolution, but with the spell-negating abilities of Wall and the card advantage of Cardcar, as well as the fact they do not directly further our game plan, I think the deck would be more consistent without them.

Thus, my trap line up looks like this:

Traps: 15
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
3 Call of the Haunted
3 Dimensional Prison
2 Mirror Force
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck

I have excluded:

Gachi Gachi Gantetsu because you’ll probably never have two Veilered Cardcars on the field at the same time;

Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth because you are very unlikely to be in the position where going into it with Monster Reborn would be your best viable option;

one Gem-Knight Pearl due to both not being necessary;

both Kachi Kochi Dragons because the chances of you wanting to go into it instead of its alternatives is very unlikely (despite its Earth attribute);

Naturia Barkion because it will hardly ever be the optimal play with Monster Reborn against any of the match-ups against which you can use it, i.e. Six Samurai, X-Sabers or Psychics;

Naturia Beast because Glow-Up Bulb doesn’t exist and all level 1 Earth tuners are hardly ever played;

one Soul of Silvermountain because you are probably never going to go into a rank 3;

both Stardust Dragon and Scrap Dragon due to level 4 tuners also virtually never being played;

Temtempo because you are more likely to want to go into Zenmaines which I am going to include;

and Wind-Up Zenmaister due to its alternatives always being much better.

In the place of these 11 cards, I have included:

Ally of Justice Catastor due to the popularity of Effect Veiler;

the new Gagaga Cowboy which is a useful Earth attribute to have;

one Maestroke since it has in-built protection and a useful effect;

Number 16: Shock Master due to your ability to make it and its game-ending ability;

Number 30: Acid Golem because of its game-ending stats and its effectiveness against Skill Drain;

both Utopias due to having useful/ game-ending effects;

two Photon Papilloperatives mainly because you may need it when facing a Chain Burn deck with Marshmallon or against Frogs with their impenetrable Gachis;

Steelswarm Roach to deal with inherent special summons if necessary;

Wind-Up Zenmaines because it is the go-to rank 3 Xyz, useful in most situations in which you have access to a rank 3;

and Vylon Disigma as a possible game-ender.

On a side note, I would have liked to include Leviair the Sea Dragon and Giant Soldier of Steel, the latter particularly as an option to use against Chain Burn, however I have deemed all the monsters in my final extra deck as more important to have as options.

Thus, my extra deck looks like this:

Extra Deck: 15
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Fairy King Albverdich
1 Gagaga Cowboy
1 Gem-Knight Pearl
1 Maestroke, the Symphony Djinn
1 Number 16: Shock Master
1 Number 30: Acid Golem
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Number C39: Utopia Ray
2 Photon Papilloperative
1 Soul of Silvermountain
1 Steelswarm Roach
1 Vylon Disigma
1 Wind-Up Zenmaines

Overall, my final decklist is this:

Chen Yefet’s Rock Stun Deck:

Monsters: 17
3 Block Golem
3 Cardcar D
3 Koa’ki Meiru Guardian
3 Koa’ki Meiru Sandman
3 Koa’ki Meiru Wall
1 Morphing Jar
1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole

Spells: 8
1 Book of Moon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn
2 Pot of Duality
3 Upstart Goblin

Traps: 15
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
3 Call of the Haunted
3 Dimensional Prison
2 Mirror Force
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Torrential Tribute

That’s it guys! I hope that this article showed that successful deck building is about having a plan that can take down other decks and then building your deck to achieve that plan, as opposed to filling your deck with cards that ‘fit’ in it for reasons which have not been explained (due to not having been fully considered). If you have any questions, criticisms, love, hate, etc, feel free to post in the Comments section below and I’ll answer as soon as I see it.

Until next time, if there is one, I’ll leave you with a bit of advice: try to be considerate about everything and don’t disregard strange ideas too easily. One example that encapsulates both sentiments to an extent is the idea not to use Heavy Storm straight away as a one-for-one but to set several traps and keep Heavy Storm in hand or on field to activate later in the game. For example, if your opponent opens with Beast King Barbaros and a set card, and you open Heavy Storm, Dimensional Prison, Mirror Force, Block Golem, Sandman and Call of the Haunted, you have many options, such as to ram your Sandman through his back row or to eliminate his back row with Heavy Storm and then ram. While the latter is what the beginner would unthinkingly do, the former is, in my opinion, the better option, if not because that set back row may be Skill Drain (which if chained would leave Barbaros as a 3000 ATK beatstick), because decks which feature Barbaros tend to also be trap heavy, so you will most likely be able to find an opportunity to plus off of that Heavy Storm during the duel while controlling the field with your traps until then. However, the optimal play would be to summon Sandman and set Prison and Call without attacking, since you are not forced to negate Skill Drain yet you have a follow up play to Heavy Storm since you have left Mirror Force in hand.