Deck Doctor – Justin Duren | Alter Reality Games

November 15, 2012

by Justin Duren

Hello ARG fans! I’d like to start with an introduction before I present my shot at the Alter Reality Games Deck Doctor Contest. My name is Justin Duren and I’ve been playing this game for a little over 5 years, I top most regionals I attend, went to nationals the last two years, bubbled out of nationals this year and got 3^rd at YCS Dallas this year in April with Heroes. Before I start I would also like to thank Alter Reality for this opportunity and hope my article is up to their standards as well as good enough to obtain a permanent writing position. So without further adieu, here’s Billy Brake’s Rock Stun deck:

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

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
2 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

We’ll start with the monster line up. From what I could gather the deck was designed to be like a normal rock stun deck, using Block Golem late game to gain advantage, which is fueled by Card Troopers and the Koa’ki Meiru monsters tributing themselves. I personally believe that Block Golem and Card Trooper don’t have a place in decks like this because they’re counter productive to the underlying strategy of the deck. The whole concept of stun decks like this is to control the tempo of the game and to keep pressure on your opponent. While trooper does contribute to keeping the pressure on your opponent, it uses up your crucial normal summon that you need to start the game off on the right foot. For example, if you’re going first and you open a hand with a Koa’ki Meiru, Trooper, and another rock like Fossil Dyna, you would be conflicted on which one to start with. If you start with trooper it’ll replace itself and fuel the grave for the eventual block golem, but the most advantageous way to use trooper is for it to destroy one of your opponent’s monster, and then let your opponent destroy it. Then you have the problems with starting with the Koa’ki Meiru. For example, what would you do with the trooper after you summoned the Koa’ki Meiru? Whether you summoned the trooper the next turn or you held it until the Koa’ki Meiru was destroyed, the situation still isn’t ideal. The only thing that trooper contributes to is the late game block golem concept. Even though trooper doesn’t have a lot going for it I still needed some kind of extra floater and more monsters, so I went ahead and kept trooper along with its partner in crime Block Golem. Another reason I didn’t cut Block Golem or Trooper is that I didn’t want to change the over all theme of the deck, taking out Block golem and Trooper would turn the deck into an entirely new deck and that isn’t what I was asked to do. This variant of the deck has the advantage of having plenty of monsters at all times so it may be the better version as well. So the only change that I will make to that engine is dropping a Block Golem. Next we move on to Maxx “C”. The only reason that this card would be included is for Wind-Ups, it is subpar against other decks, but it’s so strong against Wind Ups that its inclusion could be considered in other decks. In this deck though, and every other anti-meta deck for that matter, Maxx “C” is terrible and counter productive. Once again, the concept of decks like this is to control the tempo of the game and keep pressure your opponent. Well if you’re doing this properly and playing the deck the way it should be played then you shouldn’t need Maxx “C”, this card is perfect for preventing rushes, but that shouldn’t be a problem in decks like this. Your Koa’ki Meiru monsters and massive amount of traps should be handling that just fine. I also really like Fossil Dyna in this deck. It’s a rock that can be used to keep the Koa’ki Meiru monsters on the field and it helps with the tempo controlling aspect of this deck. If things aren’t going to well and your opponent played some kind of power card, Fossil Dyna is perfect for putting you back in the game and regaining a foothold on the field. So the changes are as follows:

-2 Maxx “C”

-1 Block Golem

+1 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo

Next we move on to the spells. This format Mystical Space Typhoon seems to be extremely underwhelming in any deck that isn’t combo oriented. Not to mention the fact that about half the agent decks that your going to see don’t play back row and no chaos dragon deck plays back row. However, I do think that some kind of spell and trap protection is necessary, and in a deck like this Forbidden Lance is perfect. Lance helps you protect your Koa’ki Meiru monsters and maintain field presence and in the match up that Mystical Space Typhoon is the worst in, Chaos Dragons. Lance has some uses such as helping your Koa’ki Meiru monsters get over their bigger bosses. I like soul taker in this deck also but I think that it’s somewhat counter productive. The obvious purpose of it this format is to get over bigger monsters that you couldn’t normally get over, and for The Shining and Light Pulsar Dragon to miss timing. I think that it’s a solid card this format but not in this deck because you would have to play it after the bigger monster has already ran over yours and that’s not what your shooting for, that’s the purpose of your traps, to protect your monster rather than get rid of their monster after its already destroyed yours. The Seal of Orichalachos seems like a very underwhelming card and I am not a fan of it at all, it’s a subpar card and there just isn’t room. So the changes for the spells are:

-1 Seal of Orichalachos

- 1 Soul Taker

-1 Mystical Space Typhoon

+2 Forbidden Lance

Now for the core of the deck, the trap cards. I believe that traps shine the most in decks like this and that should definitely be taken advantage of. Everything looks great except for the double Torrential Tribute. I love this card, but in decks like this that focus on maintaining field presence and keeping your monsters on the field Torrential isn’t too good. I also think that Fiendish Chain is great this format. It helps significantly with the Wind-up and Geargia match up and isn’t bad against other decks this format. I also think Mirror Force is good in heavy trap decks like this, not enough for 2 but I think 1 is good for extra removal power.

-1 Torrential Tribute

+2 Fiendish Chain

+1 Mirror Force

The extra deck is next, and it needs a lot of help. Cards like Gachi Gachi Gantestu, Scrap Dragon, Naturia Beast, and Naturia Barkion aren’t even playable in this deck. Things like two Kochi Kochi Dragon and two Gem Knight Pearls are also unnecessary. The main focus of the extra deck needs to rank 4 xyzs. Then Chimeratech Fortress Dragon should also be included incase there’s a player that main decks Cyber Dragon, or a strange similar situation comes up. So the changes to the extra are:

-1 Scrap Dragon

-1 Gachi Gachi Gantestu

-1 Naturia Barkion

-1 Naturia Beast

-1 Gem Knight Pearl

-1 Kochi Kochi Dragon

-1 Soul of Silver Mountain

+1 Number 39: Utopia

+1 Photon Papilloperative

+1 Maestroke, the Symphony Djinn

+1 Wind-up Zenmaines

+1 Steelswarm Roach

+1 Number 17: Leviathian Dragon

+1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

That means that the final list after changes is as follows:

Monsters: 17
3 Koa’ki Meiru Guardian
3 Koa’ki Meiru Sandman 3 Koa’ki Meiru Wall
2 Block Golem
2 Card Trooper
3 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
1 Neo-Spacian Grandmole

Spells: 9
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Soul Taker
2 Pot of Duality
2 Forbidden Lance
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole

Traps: 14
2 Fiendish Chain 2 Dimensional Prison
2 Solemn Warning
2 Call of the Haunted
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Starlight Road 1 Mirror Force

Extra Deck: 15
1 Gem-Knight Pearl
1 Kochi Kochi Dragon
1 Soul of Silver Mountain
1 Temtempo the Percussion Djinn
1 Wind-Up Zenmaines
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
1 Fairy King Albverdich
1 Gaia Knight, Force of Earth
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn
1 Photon Papilloperative
1 Stardust Dragon 1 Steelswarm Roach 1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon 1 Leviair The Sea Dragon

Next up we have 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: 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

Decks like this are very hard to modify because if you change one or two cards then you’ve thrown off the synergy and flow of the deck. In my opinion the only real room for improvement here is changing the amount of certain cards. The deck is centered around draw power, Destiny Hero Diamond Dude and multiple normal spells to support it. Since Diamond Dude is one of the few monsters you can normal summon, I decided to increase this card to 3. To make room for this change I cut Destiny Hero Plasma to 2 since plasma’s sole purpose is Destiny Draw and Trade In fodder. The addition of another Diamond Dude made up for the Destiny Draw numbers and I think the Trade In fodder is taken care of with the ability to search Plasma through Elemental Hero Stratos, and Gishki Soul Ogre is another searchable level 8 for Trade In. So the changes for the monster line up are:

-1 Destiny Hero Plasma

+1 Destiny Hero Diamond Dude

For the spells it was near impossible to change anything, due to the fact that most of the cards need to be played in 3 to increase the chance of drawing it and hitting it with Diamond Dude. One change I did make was dropping a salvage; I found that card unnecessary when testing hands on Dueling Network. So the only change for spells was:

-1 Salvage

With the extra space from dropping a salvage I decided to include a Treacherous Trap Hole. I like that card in trap-less decks like this. It doesn’t have a place in every trap-less deck but, I think its appropriate here.

+1 Treacherous Trap Hole

The extra deck changes were obvious because of miracle fusion, they are as follows:

-1 Melomelody the Brass Djin

-1 Grenosaruous

-1 Number 11: Big Eye

-1 Gaia Dragon, Thunder Charger

-1 Black Rose Dragon

+3 Elemental Hero Absolute Zero

+1 Elemental Hero Escuridao

+1 Photon Papilloperative

Monsters: 20

3 Gishki Soul Ogre
3 Gishki Vision
2 Destiny Hero Plasma
3 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: 19

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

Traps: 1

1 Treacherous Trap Hole

Extra: 15

Joe Giorlando’s deck was the hardest to change due to how easy it was to mess up the synergy. I still feel like I made them both the best that they could be regardless of how few changes I made to the Gishki Hero Turbo deck. I hope to be seeing you all again in my hopeful next article. I would love to hear back from everyone so be sure to comment. Thank you for reading, and remember Play Hard or Go Home!