In a metagame dominated by decks built to spam monsters, lock your opponent out of plays, and swing for big, flashy finishes, what room is there for the rogue deck? With Plant Synchro, Hyperion/T.G. Agents, and Dino Rabbit running the show, with Karakuri, Twilight/Chaos, and Dark Worlds as the supporting cast, there just isn’t a real chance for an upstart deck to take its place in the big leagues. However, fresh ideas are a must to have any sort of fun in this game, and that’s why we play, right? As such, I present unto you three lists sure to give you some fun plays!
List 1: Sacred Beasts
Monsters (16):
3x Broww, Huntsman of Dark World
2x Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World
2x Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder
3x Phantom Skyblaster
2x Raviel, Lord of Phantasms
2x Sillva, Warlord of Dark World
3x Uria, Lord of Searing Flames
Spells (16):
3x Burden of the Mighty
1x Card Destruction
3x Card Trader
3x Dangerous Machine Type 6
3x Dark World Dealings
3x Fires of Doomsday
Traps (9):
3x Tiki Curse
3x Tiki Soul
3x Zoma the Spirit
Just as a reminder, the point of these decks is to have fun. We’re trying to have a different experience with the game, not reinvent the wheel (or in this case, a Synchro/XYZ spam deck). The obvious point of this deck is to bust out the Sacred Beast cards and swing in for massive, using the effects of the monsters to keep your opponent on the ropes. The rest of the deck is simply to make pulling these guys out as painless as possible. Now, obviously any deck built around all three beasts isn’t going to be the most consistent, but it does allow for you to try some interesting play styles and see what you like. Let’s break down the deck, piece by piece, shall we?
Engine: This deck uses Broww and DW Dealings to guarantee draws (although DMT6 has a chance to do so as well), but the real star is Card Trader. It allows you to essentially recycle your hand every turn without giving away card advantage. This is a very important thing. Also, this serves a double purpose, as it is also fodder for Hamon.
Combos: This deck really doesn’t have any mind-blowing, heart-stopping “Oh sweet Jesus” combo to speak of; instead it’s more about the little plays. One cool thing to mention, though, is that DMT6 can set off your Dark Worlds!
Kill Condition: This is fairly straightforward: beat down, either with the Sacred Beasts, or failing that, the Dark Worlds. With Burden of the Mighty in the lineup, keeping your opponent from going aggro on you is fairly simple, and can be a great card to wall with. If you're feeling frisky, you could always toss a copy of Armityle the Chaos Phantom in your extra deck, and watch the look on your opponent's face as big-shagnasty hits the field.
Overall Price: With the release of Structure Deck: Gates of the Underworld, and Legendary Collection 2: The Academy Years, most of these cards are fairly easy to get ahold of. Everything else is fairly cheap, and can probably be found in your local shop in the “junk box”.
Now, with such a list, keeping consistency is a bit of an issue. So, for our next list, something built ENTIRELY on consistency.
List 2: Retro Fun
Monsters (22):
3x Amazoness Swordswoman
3x D.D. Assailant
3x D.D. Warrior Lady
3x Des Koala
3x Man-Eater Bug
1x Morphing Jar
3x Nimble Momonga
3x Reflect Bounder
Spells (7):
1x Dark Hole
1x Heavy Storm
1x Monster Reborn
2x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Pot of Avarice
1x Scapegoat
Traps (11):
1x Ceasefire
3x Dark Bribe
2x Magic Cylinder
1x Mirror Force
3x Solemn Wishes
1x Torrential Tribute
Ah, the good ol’ days. When Yu-gi-oh was little more than card for card until someone had a clear advantage as the winner. This deck is a great example of that. Here’s the breakdown.
Engine: No real draw/search engine, although Momonga does hit the field pretty quickly. With Solemn Wishes to back it up in the LP gain department, and Pot of Avarice to recycle it, running through all your life points may prove troublesome.
Combos: Again, none to really speak of. Everything is one-shot plays that either pan out, or fall flat. Each card has an objective, and those objectives really aren’t that hard to understand.
Kill Condition: Surprisingly enough, this deck wins more on effect damage than battle damage. With so many ways to turn damage back to your opponent (Reflect Bounder, Magic Cylinder, Des Koala, Amazoness Swordswoman), your opponent will find their Life Points dwindling very quickly. Once this happens, a well-timed Ceasefire can easily finish them off.
Overall Price: Most of these cards go for anywhere from 25 to 50 cents in my local shop, and I’m sure yours will have them priced similarly. As such, this is an EXTREMELY cheap deck to build.
Well, now that we’ve had our fill of nostalgia, let’s take one of the ideas from it further in our final list: Let’s make our opponents squirm as their plays hurt them as much as they do us.
List 3: Lockout
Monsters (14):
3x Battle Fader
3x Des Koala
1x Marshmallon
1x Morphing Jar
3x Solar Flare Dragon
3x Swift Scarecrow
Spells (10):
3x Chain Energy
3x Dark Room of Nightmare
2x Nightmare’s Steelcage
2x Swords of Revealing Light
Traps (16):
1x Ceasefire
3x Chain Burst
3x Curse of Darkness
3x Just Desserts
3x Secret Barrel
3x Zoma the Spirit
This starts out as your standard burn deck, with Des Koala, Just Desserts, and Secret Barrel. However, it applies more pressure to your opponent with Chain Energy, Chain Burst, and Curse of Darkness. These three beauties make your opponent lose life with every play they make. Of course, this affects you too, but with the ability to plan ahead, and potentially kill by activating a single trap card, this deck becomes all the more strategic. It will require you to plan your moves ahead and wait for the perfect time to swoop in for the game. A note of caution: Make sure you have a side deck. If you end up running into a Gallis deck, Curse and Burst are going to be about as useful as Reaper of the Cards, so be prepared to side them out. Perhaps Magic Cylinder, Poison of the Old Man, and of course, Chain Strike as options?
Well, there you have it: three perfectly serviceable lists for those trying to find something new to try their hand at (although, truth be told, these cards have been out for a long while). I in no way make any guarantee as to the actual ability of these decks to net you any tops at your locals, and I definitely don’t want to even think about what would happen at a regional or YCS. But go ahead, give one of them a try, mess with it a bit, and make it your own. You never know, you might actually find yourself smiling a bit while you’re playing!
New Albany, Indiana
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Latest posts by Michael Hartsfield (see all)
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