Rocky Seas, Cap’n! Deck Doctor 2.0!

November 8, 2012

by Dominique Roberts

Yes, this is another Deck Doctor contest submission! I'm Dominique Roberts, and I've chosen to spare you a lengthy introduction so that you won't tire yourself out before you even get to the second deck list!

We'll go ahead and take yet another look at Billy Brake's Rock Stun deck model:

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 Grand Mole

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 Gantetsu
1 Fairy King Albverdich
1 Gaia Knight, Force of Earth
1 Naturia Beast
1 Naturia Barkion
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Stardust Dragon

After reading and examining this decklist, my first instinct was to test, test, test!! I swiftly made my way to Dueling Network and took the decklist, and entered it card for card. I began weeding through options and scenarios in my head before I took to the mean Cyber-Streets of Yugioh. I saw that I had to make changes, and I had to make them before I even began. These were the initial changes I made to the deck.

-2 Maxx "C"
-2 Torrential Tribute
-1 Starlight Road

+1 Heavy Storm
+2 Mirror Force
+1 Koa'ki Meiru Boulder

Maxx "C" stuck out like a sore thumb to me! It doesn't provide me the slightest hint of protection against a good player who'd know I can't play Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness or Effect Veiler in this deck. It came out Immediately for a Koa'ki Meiru Boulder and a first-round draft pick to be decided later.
Torrential Tribute was just as out of place here, as NOBODY playing Rock Stun has time to wipe their own field! Mirror Force was my one stop shop here, on the basis that my opponent would want to get rid of a possible Koa'ki Meiru Guardian before unleashing their effects.
Starlight Road was a card that, in theory, was scary. Locking my Block Golem from the Underworld up and hoping that I get to play it before I play the Seal of Orichalcos(Which I appreciate the value of here!) or have a Fossil Dyna face up? I'll pass... I decided to include Heavy Storm here. Yes I DO play lots of backrow that is sometimes necessary for me to survive... But that doesn't change the fact that Heavy Storm is Heavy Storm. Maybe they won't expect it? Maybe they will. Either way, playing it intelligently is simple enough to include it here.

I made my changes and prepared to head into battle! None of my friends were online to test with, so I figured I'd go out on a limb and play a few randoms, just to get the feel of the hands.

My first 2 matches were against Chain Burn! It was absolutely crazy how well they were drawing! They were all like: "Reckless, Desserts, Trio, Fortune, 2 Chainnnzzz!!" I was doing my absolute best to get to my Koa'Ki Meiru Sandmen, and I succeeded! Only to be met by a timely Lava Golem, shortly followed by a "GG". Now, while there weren't many changes I could make to my 40 cards to combat the nuisance that is Chain Burn, I did remember seeing something at the Sneak Preview that immediately set of a spark in my head!

"What does that Giant Soldier of Steel guy do again?"

2 Level 3 Rock-Type monsters

This card is unaffected by other monsters effects. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; it gains 1000 DEF until the End Phase, and if it does, you take no effect damage from your opponent's card effect(s) this turn.

Are you kidding me?? I could definitely make that with the ever-so-dead Grand Mole, and I'll sacrifice one of my block golems to put this guy out all by his lonesome! I'll swing for 1300 over and over, and I'll save those Solemn Warnings for the Ojama Trio/Metaion! It was a ridiculously easy answer to a problem deck, and it came at the simple price of swapping out the Stardust Dragon, whose road had been paved over! I also noticed that Gagaga Cowboy was an EARTH-type Xyz monster with a useful effect. Sir, you have made the cut. Gachi Gachi Gantetsu, You're Fired!

After playing a few more matches, I came to a halt realizing that the deck was performing well and that I had three options for that first round draft pick I mentioned earlier. I could:

Add another Koa'ki Meiru Boulder, which wasn't absolutely amazing at 1, but DID provide some search power.
Add another Call of the Haunted, which performed well at 2, and wouldn't exactly be a nuisance at 3.
Add a Forbidden Lance, a card that I had grown quite fond of during testing. Or,
Keep the deck at 40 and leave it as it stood.

After considering and a few more games, I decided that Lance was going to get the job. There was never a time I was holding it and thought "I wish this was ____".

So, after a rocky start against Chain Burn, I finally ended up with this well oiled.. Err, dusted, machine.

Monsters: 18
3 Koa’ki Meiru Guardian
3 Koa’ki Meiru Sandman
3 Koa’ki Meiru Wall
3 Block Golem
2 Card Trooper
1 Koa'ki Meiru Boulder
2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole

Spells:12
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Soul Taker
2 Pot of Duality
1 Seal of Orichalcos
1 Monster Reborn
1 Heavy Storm
1 Forbidden Lance
1 Dark Hole

Traps: 11
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Solemn Warning
2 Call of the Haunted
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment

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 Gagaga Cowboy
1 Fairy King Albverdich
1 Gaia Knight, Force of Earth
1 Naturia Beast
1 Naturia Barkion
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Giant Soldier of Steel

I appreciated the spell lineup enough to leave it pretty much the same. It took care of nuisance monsters and cleared the way for all of my attacks to go through. Seeing as how I could only be holding one rock monster, thus not being able to summon a second Koa'ki Meiru monster, every attack I was going to make mattered and had to be successful. This lineup accomplished just what I needed.

The monsters and traps were pretty self explanatory here, as was the extra deck. So I'll go ahead and hit the Brake and stop here on this one...

Moving on to other endeavors, I glared at Joe Giorlando's Gishki Hero Turbo Deck with the playful malice of Captain Jack Sparrow. Why, you ask? Let us take a look!

Monsters: 20
3 Evigishki 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

I saw 3 Miracle Fusions, only to look at the Extra Deck and see not the first Elemental Hero fusion monster! Imagine my surprise, had I took the deck card for card and went directly into testing! Quite the embarrassment indeed. Alas, I did NOT! My first instinct was to dive into the Extra Deck, but my rash ways were soon halted by my ignorance of the deck. In this case, I threw in a few Absolute Zero's, and an Escuriado and marched into the battlefield. It soon became clear to me that this deck would not check-out the same way it had checked in. I immediately changed the numbers around for Gishki Shadow and Gishki Vision, realizing that they were definitely out of place. I took to the convenience of the Dueling Network search box to find out if there were more worth-while Gishki cards.. I stumbled upon Gishki Gustcraken, and noticed it was limited to one. Any card limited to one is worth looking at a second time, right? The effect was decent, and I had more ideas coming. But all that is limited is not great... Well at least not here anyways! Oft times I ended up looking at it wishing it was just a bit bigger or did something different. If I could spam them, It would have been great! But I cannot, so I pressed on with other attempts.

At some point during my testing I drew a Tour Guide from the Underworld and stared... I looked at her intently; reading the effect, looking at the stats and the stars. I then asked, "What in the bloody blazes are you doing in here?" Of course she's the most splashable engine this game has seen, but what purpose did she serve here besides making rank 3 Xyz that didn't further the concept of "Gishki Hero" anything? She came out for more Gishki cards and the ability to take advantage of all the plusses that could be obtained by this deck. After some extra deck changes and a few tweaks, paying close attention to individual card interaction, here is what I emerged with:

Monsters:
2 Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude

1 Destiny Hero - Dogma

2 Destiny Hero - Plasma

1 Elemental Hero - Stratos

2 Gishki Abyss

3 Gishki Shadow

2 Gishki Vision

1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

2 Tragoedia

1 Evigishki Levianima

2 Evigishki Soul Ogre

1 Evigishki Zeal Gigas

Spells: 20
3 Destiny Draw
3 Trade-In
2 Miracle Fusion
2 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Night Beam
2 Salvage
1 Gishki Aquamirror
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn
1 Pot of Avarice

Extra Deck: 15
2 Elemental Hero Absolute Zero

1 Abyss Dweller

1 Blade Armor Ninja

1 Evigishki Merrowgeist

1 Heroic Champion - Excalibur

1 Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis

1 Inzektor Exa-Beetle

1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn

1 Number 11: Big Eye

1 Number 25: Force Focus

1 Number 39: Utopia

1 Photon Papilloperative

1Photon Strike Bounzer

1Thunder End Dragon

The plan wasn't to make Xyz summons anymore. Especially using Ritual Monsters. Sure, they can be made in times of need, but I want the Ritual Monsters to do the work. And the ability to recycle them over and over until my opponent has absolutely nothing was just so fun to me.
I didn't like 3 Miracle Fusion here, as it was just too much. Although Absolute Zero is an amazing game ender, Miracle Fusion should only come when there are absolutely ZERO other options!
Gishki Abyss stuck out to me as a weak Stratos, but to me, a summon searcher is still a searcher! Seemed to further the deck much better than Tour Guide could.
I replaced one of the Destiny Hero - Plasmas with a Dogma because, essentially, it serves the exact same purpose. (I actually did end up dropping it once during a game with my opponent at 8000! How awesome is that!)
A MST was replaced with a Night Beam just because I kept hitting MST with Diamond Dude, whose effect I thoroughly enjoyed many-a-plus from.
Adding an Avarice seemed like an easy choice, seeing as how I dumped monsters so easily and oft had draw cards that required them to be recycled.
The extra deck changes were made to best complement the changes to the main deck as I saw fit. I wanted Xyz monsters to cover a wide array of situations in the case that they should arrive. Again, I did NOT want Xyz summoning to be my main focus, but I still wanted an out to anything.

I considered more draw/discard cards such as Card Destruction and Hand Destruction, but I didn't want Card Destruction to be met with Grapha's army on the first turn of the game, and I didn't appreciate the interaction that Hand Destruction had with my opponent, allowing them to recycle dead backrow removal for more useful cards. I also thought Scapegoat was cute.. But a bit slow, and I generally wasn't just holding on to a Plasma or a Dogma, they were being used to dig deeper! That was it! I was done here, and I was glad.

And that was all Yugi wrote! I'd also like to make the point that usually when someone has an idea, they'd like the concept of the deck to stay intact as much as possible, regardless of what others may think of it. I like the spirit of both of these decks and wanted to keep the general idea and focus the same. It's not the same if you take someone's personal creation that they're proud of and say: "-Everything and +Wind-Ups". These decks may not win a YCS, but they sure are more fun to play than you could imagine. The spirit of Yugioh is among us, ladies and gentlemen.

Until next time duelists...