Whats going on everyone? YCS Austin is less then a week away! Are you ready? I hope to see everyone there! From this point forward, the beginning of the week right before a YCS in the U.S occurs, I would be doing a "looking back" article going into some details on a deck that topped the previous event, some minor changes I would make if I were to play the deck, and give some insight on how I think the deck can do at the upcoming YCS. I think it is important to show different decks other then the normal Mermails, Fire Fists, etc. With Cordero getting all the decklists from Regionals and YCS', there are a vast difference in deck types and card choices. The game is suppose to be creative and original. Take Jeff Jones for the biggest example, creating and developing more innovative and creative decks to the game of Yugioh then anyone else out there. The surprise factor is a very strong element to a tournament like I have mentioned before and gives you the slight advantage over your opponent. Remember Gravekeepers? How about Psychics? What about this deck that took YCS Miami by surprise... Karakuris.
When I saw Karakuris at top tables during the event, I was surprised but yet I was not at the same time. Surprised I saw the deck doing so well but not surprised because the deck is extremly powerful. Back to YCS Toronto when Billy won, Karakuris just got put onto the dueling map when Anthony Alvarado and Dale Bellido reached top cut with it. Then at Columbus when Jeff reached top 16 then at Kansas City when Derek Rouse got top 4. The deck is explosive, puts pressure on your opponent and can force them to make awkward plays. The deck creates early and late game momentum and gains easy advantage through every card in the deck essentially. Every monster benefits one another and every spell benefits the deck also. Making the deck explosive mainly comes from the spells of the deck. Just like what Desomond Johnson said in his deck profiles all over Youtube, Solar Wind Jammer added the first turn pressure on your opponet. Summoning him turn one, followed with some Emergency Teleports/Instant Fusions/De-Synchros and then maybe still normal summoning more Karakuri monsters just adds to the pure explosiveness of the deck. From YCS Miami, Desmond Johnson piloted this build of Karakuris:
Monsters: 18
3x Karakuri Merchant mdl 117 "Inashichi"
3x Karakuri Komachi mdl 224 "Ninishi"
3x Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 "Nishipachi"
2x Karakuri Soldier mdl 236 "Nisamu"
1x Karakuri Ninja mdl 919 "Kuick"
3x Solar Wind Jammer
3x Psychic Commander
Spells: 17
3x Emergency Teleport
3x De-Synchro
3x Instant Fusion
2x Karakuri Anatomy
1x Karakuri Cash Cache
1x Monster Reborn
2x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Heavy Storm
1x Pot of Avarice
Traps: 5
2x Solemn Warning
1x Solemn Judgment
2x Royal Decree
Extra Deck: 15
3x Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"
3x Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei"
1x Black Rose Dragon
1x Stardust Dragon
1x Scrap Dragon
1x Naturia Beast
1x Naturia Ladnoise
1x Ally of Justice Catastor
2x Cyber Saurus
1x Wind-Up Zenmaines
Johnson's list is his own playstyle. Setting the Royal Decree, going off with massive monsters, making the Ladnoise and swinging for game. That is what the deck is designed to really do. After seeing his list for the first time, I made my own minor changes to the deck because of the new ban list coming into effect. With my own playstyle, this deck seemed really fun to play with but not that fun to play against. At one of my locals when I got back home from Miami I had to face this exact deck. And lets just say, my Mermail deck got out rushed very quickly. Spamming the board with 2800 atk point monsters consistently and drawing loads of cards of their effects is nothing to take lightly. The deck is very good and very powerful. I began to tinker around with the deck, ajust it to my own playstyle, throw some tech stuff in there and began trying to run the machine empire. For anyone who wants to try out my own decklist, go right ahead!
Monsters: 19
2x Karakuri Merchant mdl 117 "Inashichi"
3x Karakuri Komachi mdl 224 "Ninishi"
3x Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 "Nishipachi"
2x Karakuri Soldier mdl 236 "Nisamu"
2x Karakuri Ninja mdl 919 "Kuick"
3x Solar Wind Jammer
3x Psychic Commander
1x Karakuri Ninja mdl 7749 "Nanashick"
Spells: 17
3x Emergency Teleport
3x De-Synchro
3x Instant Fusion
2x Karakuri Anatomy
1x Monster Reborn
3x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Heavy Storm
1x Pot of Avarice
Traps: 4
1x Solemn Judgment
1x Solemn Warning
1x Trap Stun
1x Starlight Road
Extra Deck: 15
3x Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"
3x Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei"
1x T.G Hyper Librarian
1x Stardust Dragon
1x Scrap Dragon
1x Naturia Beast
1x Naturia Ladnoise
1x Ally of Justice Catastor
2x Cyber Saurus
1x Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
The noticable changes I made from Johnson's build were: -1 Karakuri Cash Cache + 1 Mystical Space Typhoon. -1 Merchant + 1 Kuick. -2 Royal Decree + 1 Trap Stun + 1 Starlight Road. -1 Solemn Warning + Ninja Nanashick. -1 Black Rose Dragon + T.G Hyper Librarian. -1 Zenmaines + 1 Leviathan Dragon.
These minor changes only fit to my playstyle more. The Cash Cache combo never really worked for me during my time using the deck so I felt the 3rd copy of MST to be better to hit some back rows. The 3rd copy of Merchant became to cloggy in my hands and couldnt really alow me to make a late game push if it came own to it which is why I added the 2nd copy of Kuick to the deck. The both copies of Royal Decree came out because im not a fan of my opponent knowing I have decree up and knowing that I dont have "real traps" in my deck essentially. It lets them just make a push right back since I have the face up decree, they can have no fear. I understand how good the Royal Decree is dont get me wrong, freezing all the backrows and just going in for the game shot, but its my own style so the decree's did not work for me. While Trap Stun and Starlight Road benefit the same usage of the Royal Decree's because they both allow me to go off when I need to, set up big boards and make the push. But the Starlight Road protects from the times where I dont have the game shot and have to leave myself up for the Dark Hole by my opponent. The loss of the 2nd Solemn Warning did not really affect this deck alot, but I decided to add another Karakuri Monster to the mix. Ninja Nanashick is another key component to my version of the deck because its a level 5 karakuri summonable from the deck when I combo off from Bureido and have Emergency Teleport in hand to allow the combos to keep coming. The addition of T.G Hyper Librarian is my own preference. Going Ninishi, into Merchant, into Librarian with Insant Fusion/Teleport in hand and having the possibility of drawing into more combo pieces or even your Solemn Judgment/Starlight Road is pretty cool in my eyes. I never found myself wanting to Black Rose my opponent since I usually had a big board presence and never wanted to blow it up! And lastly, taking out Zenmaines for Leviathan was easy because I did not want to play passive with the deck and sit with a Zenmaines on board. The Leviathan gave me the easy acces to 2500 more attack points on the field. Also detaching a material and having Reborn to get back the Tuner you detached and combo-ing off from their is also good. Many times I had to use Leviathan to bait out Bottomless or something like that before I combo'd off so it does have its purpose.
Will we be seeing Karakuri's at top tables at YCS Austin this coming week? or was the deck a one-hit wonder and had its surprise factor? Good luck to everyone attending the event and I will see you all there. Until next time, Play Hard or Go Home!
Latest posts by Joe Bogli (see all)
- Joe Bogli: Testing Side Deck Cards - May 28, 2013
- Joe Bogli: Playing for the Future - May 14, 2013
- The Dragons before Elementals - May 7, 2013
Get
Connected