Hello everyone, my name is Paulo Silva. I’m from Portugal and I entered this competition so I could share with you my knowledge about this game we all know and love – Yu-Gi-Oh!

First, I would like to congratulate Alter Reality Games for creating this contest so that people like me could share their input on a wider scale.

On to the challenge - I’ll start with Billy Brake’s Deck first:

Billy’s Rock Stun Deck – Before:

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 Traphole

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

Rock Stun is a very interesting deck; the ability to summon big 1900ATK monsters that can stop your opponent’s spell/traps/monster effects consistently is incredible. Like all Stun based deck in Yu-Gi-Oh! it suffers from the lack of explosive plays.  In Return of the Duelist, Block Golem came to be, and it provided that explosive power to the Rock Stun player. The capability of siding in cards like Macro Cosmos or even Gozen Match makes this a deck to look out for.

I have been experimenting with this deck for a while and I must say, although it may not be a Tier 1 deck, it’s not very far from it, if more support came out we might be looking at a very strong contender. Now, on to the changes I would make:

1 Core Monsters:

3 Koa’ki Meiru Guardian

3 Koa’ki Meiru Sandman

3 Koa’ki Meiru Wall

That seems pretty standard and consistent for any Rock Stun Deck. We’ll keep it the way it is.

2 Support Monsters:

3 Block Golem

2 Card Trooper

2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo

Yes, I choose to include Block Golem in this category instead of the previous one because I do not believe Block Golem to be essential to the deck, it’s a great card but the deck can run without it.

The key to success of Stun decks is consistency and I think Card Trooper goes a bit against that line of thought. It’s a good idea – milling your monsters to make the Block Golem more live - but because of the luck based mechanic of the milling I do not believe it to be optimal since you run a lot of traps to protect your monsters and stop you opponent, and milling the traps(or even Block Golem) it’s not that good.  So:

-2 Card Trooper

Without Card Trooper your graveyard it’s not as likely to be ready when you draw Block Golem. So to avoid drawing dead Golems:

-1 Block Golem

Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo has always been a great stun card in the game, combining that with the fact he’s a Rock/EARTH monster and you don’t Special Summon a lot(except with Block Golem plays) makes him a very good support monster in this deck. Running 3 copies is excessive, we’ll keep it the way it is.

Stun decks can be very slow, and your opponent will eventually out resource you. To combat this I added some Cardcar D’s

+2 Cardcar D

It takes your normal summon, but it’s an instant +1, and you run a bunch of traps to keep your opponent from going off. Being an EARTH monster it’s also a good thing.

3 Tech Monsters:

1 Neo-Spacian Grandmole

Grandmole is a great card on its own, and it’s already used by a wide number of players since it’s a great answer to the most difficult monsters to deal with. Being a Rock/EARTH monster it’s just an added plus in this deck. We’ll keep it.

4 Boss Monsters:

Originally this deck had no Boss Monsters, but in my opinion I think that extra added power can be clutch in close games. Hero Decks have The Shining, Agents have Master Hyperion, even Inzektors have Dark Armed Dragon and we all know the power it gives them. Looking at the monsters we have so far these are the boss monster we’ll be taking a look:

Gaia Plate the Earth Giant:  http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gaia_Plate_the_Earth_Giant

Grandsoil the Elemental Lord: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Grandsoil_the_Elemental_Lord

Grandsoil the Elemental Lord v Gaia Plate the Earth Giant

Both have 2800ATK.

Both are EARTH.

Type:

Grandsoil is a Beast-Warrior.

Gaia Plate is Rock-Type.

The maintenance costs of the Koa’ki Meiru are one of this deck’s biggest weaknesses. Having that extra Rock-type monster may come in handy.

Advantage: Gaia Plate

Effect:

When it is Special Summoned Grandsoil effect mimics that of Monster Reborn, one of the most powerful cards in the game.

Gaia Plate halves the ATK and DEF of the monster he’s battling with, making him able to beat over just about everything.

They both have good effects, but the ability to summon a big beatstick and then reborn a Sandman(negates Traps) or a Block Golem to then bring 2 Koa’ki Meiru to the field gives Grandsoil the edge on this category.

Advantage: Grandsoil

Effect Downsides:

Grandsoil makes you skip your next Battle Phase when it leaves the field.

Gaia Plate like the Koa’ki Meiru has a maintenance cost – removing one Rock-Type from the grave during each of your Standby Phases.

Removing Rock-Types from the graveyard can mess you Block Golem plays so Grandsoil takes this one also.

Grandsoil seems to be in the lead, but the most important category is still to come…

Summoning Condition:

Grandsoil requires exactly 5 EARTH monsters in the grave to be Special Summon and Cannot be Summoned by other ways.

You can Special Summon Gaia Plate by removing from play any 2 Rock-Type monsters in your Graveyard. This card can be Normal Summoned and Special Summoned with Monster Reborn or Call of the Haunted.

As you’ve already seen we’ve taken out the Card Troopers so meeting the requirements to Special Summon Grandsoil can be difficult and having dead copies of it in hand (either by lack or excess of EARTH monsters in the graveyard) is very frustrating. On the other hand, having two Rock-Types in the grave it’s much easier, the problem with Gaia Plate is whether you want to remove those monsters and compromise your Block Golem plays.  The fact that you can bring him back from the grave it’s not to be overlooked. As you’ll see we run multiples copies of Call of the Haunted and, more often than not, bringing him back can be devastating to your opponent.  I believe that if you’re a good player you will know how and when to make your push with Gaia Plate bypassing the downside of its Summoning Condition.

Advantage: Gaia Plate

Choosing between those may be difficult, and most of the times it will be the result of player preference and for me the winner of this bout is…

+2 Gaia Plate the Earth Giant

(You can also try: +1 Grandsoil the Elemental Lord instead)

5 Hand Traps:

2 Maxx “C”

This format is one of the most diverse so far, and I feel like Maxx C may not be good against most of the decks we have been seeing (Wind-ups being the obvious exception), also we are not running Gorz/Tragoedia so if your opponent decides to go on, you have nothing more to stop them. To maintain deck consistency I recommend taking them out. This deck runs a heavy Trap line-up so you I’ll never feel insecure by not having main decked hand traps. I recommend siding them.

-2 Maxx “C”

You can’t run Effect Veiler because it’s a LIGHT monster and it would conflict with Block Golem, if you’d like you can side them in, just don’t forget to take the Block Golems out.

6 Spells:

3 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Soul Taker

2 Pot of Duality

1 Seal of Orichalcos

1 Monster Reborn

1 Dark Hole

I’m not really a fan of the Seal of Orichalcos, the attack boost isn’t that big of a deal since most of your monsters are already pretty big, and althought you don’t use much of your extra deck, this Field Spell kills XYZ plays with Block Golem. Running more than 1 is pointless, running 1 just seems random to me.

-1 Seal of Orichalcos

Soul Taker is an overall pretty solid one for one removal spell, but in some matchups you’ll feel like you could have put something better in its place. I recommend taking these out to free space for extra Trap Cards, which do pretty much the same.

-2 Soul Taker

The next thing I want to talk about its Mystical Space Typhoon. As you know MST is a great card, it simplifies the game state and paves the way to your plays, but I’m not a big fan of it in this deck. I just feel like Forbidden Lance does a better job. Forbidden Lance can catch your opponent off guard and it helps keeping your Koa’ki Meiru on the field.

+2 Forbidden Lance

-2 Mystical Space Typhoon

I left a single copy of MST in deck for those random continuous spells and traps you might encounter.

The rest of the Spell line-up looks standard in a deck like this one.

I notice Billy was not running Heavy Storm. But it comes in handy quite often, clearing your opponent’s backfield so you can safely make your push for game. Drawing it first turn when you’re going second is also quite good, destroying 2 S/T from your opponent and proceeding to set your own.

+1 Heavy Storm

7 Traps:

2 Dimensional Prison

2 Solemn Warning

2 Call of the Haunted

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

2 Torrential Tribute

1 Solemn Judgment

1 Starlight Road

This Trap line-up looks pretty solid, but since we have some extra space let’s add a few more:

+1 Compulsory Evacuation Device

+1 Fiendish Chain

Now, I wanna talk about Starlight Road. Starlight Road is a card that lets you overextend and set multiple cards to you backrow without fear. And most of the times you resolve this card you will win, because you just got a huge plus in the form of Stardust Dragon. In this deck you can’t have non-EARTH monsters in the graveyard for you Block Golem plays, and Stardust is a WIND monster. I know you don’t have to bring him when this card resolves but if you’re not going to, there are some better options. I was considering The Huge Revolution is Over but opted for the more versatile Dark Bribe.

-1 Starlight Road

+1 Dark Bribe

I know giving you opponent an extra card for free may be painful, but you also have to be wise when using it. Unlike Starlight Road it cannot be Solemn Warning’d or stopped by monster effects such as those of Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En, Naturia Barkion or Evolzar Laggia.

Billy’s Rock Stun Deck - After:

Monsters: 18

3 Koa’ki Meiru Guardian

3 Koa’ki Meiru Sandman

3 Koa’ki Meiru Wall

2 Block Golem

2 Cardcar D

2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo

1 Neo-Spacian Grandmole

2 Gaia Plate The Earth Giant

Spells:8

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Forbidden Lance

2 Pot of Duality

1 Heavy Storm

1 Monster Reborn

1 Dark Hole

Traps: 14

2 Dimensional Prison

1 Fiendish Chain

2 Solemn Warning

2 Call of the Haunted

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

2 Torrential Tribute

1 Compulsory Evacuation Device

1 Solemn Judgment

1 Dark Bribe

New Extra Deck:

1 Fairy King Albverdich

1 Gem-Knight Pearl
1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn
1 Steelswarm Roach

1 Photon Papilloperative
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Number C39: Utopia Ray

1 Evigishki Merrowgeist
1 Abyss Dweller
1 Number 16 : Shock Master
1 Gagaga Cowboy
1 Wind-Up Zenmaister

1 Kachi Kochi Dragon

1 Soul of Silvermountain

1 Wind-Up Zenmaines

I’m not going to talk too much about the extra deck since you don’t make much use of it. The only thing I did was fill it with a variety of generic rank 4 XYZ’s and a couple of rank 3 XYZ’ since you can make them if you really need it with Block Golems and Grandmole. I took out the Synchro Monsters because they don’t make sense when you don’t run any tuners.

The Deck is testing pretty well against almost every deck. Very consistent opening hands and a very good grind game.

I hope you are as satisfied as I am with the final product.

Joe Giorlando’s  Gishki Hero Turbo Deck – Before:

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

At first glance you may not understand this deck - I know I didn’t - but after some playtesting a picture started to form and I figure out what I have to do you make this a better deck.

I know there are better Gishki based decks, but I will try to fix it without changing its essence, meaning I will not convert it into Hieratic Gishki nor run the level 6 Gishki ritual monsters, since that would defeat the purpose of a Deck Doctor.

(I apologize for not going as in-depth as I did with Billy’s Deck but I do not have as much experience with this deck.)

Understanding the Deck:

Unlike the Rock Stun Deck, this is a fast paced deck and relies on draw power to get you your power cards and then proceed to destroy your opponent with a swarm of big monsters.

How to Fix?

While testing with the original deck build I realized that while I was drawing a lot, sometimes the Ritual Engine could be improved so you had more monsters to Special Summon when you were going for game. Instead of looking to the Ritual part of the deck as another draw engine I will change its focus and improve it so you can use it as a more efficient weapon.

This time I’ll present the final decklist first and explain my choices after:

Joe Giorlando’s  Gishki Hero Turbo Deck – Before:

Monsters: 19

3 Evigishki Soul Ogre

3 Gishki Vision

3 Gishki Shadow

1 Elemental Hero Stratos

3 Destiny Hero Plasma

2 Destiny Hero Diamond Dude

2 Trageodia

1 Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness

1 Dark Armed Dragon

Spells:21

3 Destiny Draw

3 Trade-In

3 Miracle Fusion

3 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Salvage

2 Gishki Aquamirror

1 Reinforcement of the Army

1 Allure of Darkness

1 Dark Hole

1 Heavy Storm

1 Monster Reborn

Extra deck:15

3 Elemental Hero Absolute Zero

2 Elemental Hero Escuridao

1 Maestroke Symphony Djinn

1 Number 39: Utopia

1 Number C39: Utopia Ray

1 Photon Papilloperative

1 Heroic Champion Excalibur

1 Blade Armor Ninja

1 Gagaga Cowboy

3 Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis

The first thing I did take out the Tour Guide Engine – as I feel it is to slow for a deck like this, and most of the times I would draw both Tour Guides.

I kept the Gorz and the Tragoedia because they proved to be great when you have nothing going, holding off your opponent’s attacks until you are ready to go off.

There are a lot of DARK monsters in this deck, so Dark Armed Dragon works pretty well giving a easy to summon monster that clears your way to victory.

The HERO engine was working pretty well, some I kept it the way it was. There’s 16 spells for Diamon Dude’s effect, but I don’t like running 3 copies – it stays at 2.

The biggest change I made was to the Gishki engine. I maxed out on both Gishki Vision and Gishki Shadow. Like I said before, I feel this part of the deck was being underused so it received the most attention from me. Gishki Shadow and Gishki Vision search for the ritual spell and the ritual monster respectively, thinning the amount of cards left in your deck, increasing the probability of you drawing what you want. They both serve as full tribute cost for the ritual summon of Evigishki Soul Ogre, not to mention they are targets for Salvage for crazy amounts of searching and deck thinning.  You can use Gishki Vision to get Soul Ogre and use Trade-In discarding it to draw two cards, virtually giving you 9 targets for Trade-In! You can get Soul Ogre back from the grave with Gishki Aquamirror Effect after you use it to Ritual Summon. To ensure I drew the ritual spell and not have dead Gishki Shadow’s in hand I added another copy of Gishki Aquamirror to go with the 3 copies of its searcher. Soul Ogre is spectacular it clears the field of annoying Zenmaines, Maestroke and you will have some to discard if you use Aquamirror’s effect to get a Gishki to your hand.

Miracle Fusion is amazing in this deck, dropping Absolute Zeros that go to 3000ATK (if you have the Soul Ogre on the field). Just be careful when removing monsters, it may harm your Salvage and Aquamirror’s effect…

With this being an explosive deck you definitely need 3 MST + Heavy Strom to ensure you don’t get stopped.

The Extra deck was a mess so I started from scratch:

3 Elemental Hero Absolute Zero are absolutely necessary – one of my favorite plays is using an Absolute Zero on the field to bring another cleaning your opponent’s field of monsters.

You also have a bunch of DARK monsters so Elemental Hero Escuridao fits in quite nicely.

Since you swarm the field with level 8 monsters I added extra copies of Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis.

The remainder of the Extra Deck consists of generic and Warrior based rank 4’s. Since it as a lot of free space you can tailor it to your liking…

This deck is clearly not a Top Tier deck but it’s a lot of fun to play with and I would encourage everyone to try out.

I hope that you enjoyed reading this article!

If you have any questions or you would like to share your opinion, you’re welcome to do so in the comment section below.

Paulo Silva - Portugal

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