Hey everyone, at the time of this writing we are nearly halfway (2 months) through the September 2013 banlist.  This season has been a rather different one, as the schedule for the list has changed from the usual 6 months to a now reduced 4 months.  Fun fact: this isn’t the first time the schedule for list updates has changed, though it is the first time in a good while.  It isn’t difficult to see how a shorter term can benefit both Konami as a business trying to move its product as well as the playerbase, who, in general terms, prefer dynamic over static metagames.

I have something super exciting coming up: a minibook that will be released in a series of articles that covers fundamentals of competitive philosophy.  It is an amalgamation of ideas I’ve been refining both in my head and in conversations over the course of years, even before I was a competitor in Yugioh.  It’s going to be an excellent resource, and I visualize it comprising approximately 20 distinct chapters to cover various aspects of competitive play.  Stay on the lookout!  It will be right here on the ARG articles site.

As always, send your deck ideas to the Deck Doctor fan page:

https://www.facebook.com/ArgDeckDoctor

Please write your decklist out fully.  Use the deck lists in this article as an example.  Thanks!

 

Joe Oliva’s Counter Fairies

[ccDeck="Main Deck"]3 Bountiful Artemis:3 Zeradias, Herald of Heaven:2 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer:2 Summoner Monk:1 Honest:1 Thunder King Rai-Oh:1 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo:1 Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite:3 Pot of Duality:3 Upstart Goblin:2 The Sanctuary In The Sky:1 Book of Moon:1 Dark Hole:1 Mystical Space Typhoon:3 Divine Wrath:3 Divine Punishment:2 Debunk:1 Dark Bribe:1 Solemn Warning:1 Drastic Drop-Off:2 Pinpoint Guard:1 Safe Zone:1 Compulsory Evacuation Device[/ccDeck] [ccDeck="Extra Deck"]2 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon:2 Gagaga Cowboy:1 Gem-Knight Pearl:1 Constellar Omega:1 Starliege Paladynamo:1 Number 66 Master Key Beetle:1 Number 39 Utopia:1 Number 104 Masquerade:1 Fairy Cheer Girl:1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn:1 Photon Papilloperative:1 Leviair the Sea Dragon:1 Wind-Up Zenmaines[/ccDeck] [ccDeck="Side Deck"]3 Cyber Dragon:1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole:1 Injection Fairy Lily:2 Maxx "C":2 Mystical Space Typhoon:2 Summon Limit:1 Soul Drain:1 Macro Cosmos:1 Dimensional Fissure:1 The Huge Revolution is Over[/ccDeck]

Discussion

Does the name Maurice Brantley ring a bell with any readers?  The name carries a particular dose of nostalgia for me because his was one of the first feature matches I read when I made a return to competitive play in 2009.  Counterfairy was an underdog deck then (and always has been), but Brantley was able to top SJC Anaheim in April of that year with the deck.  His build utilized 3 Thunder King, 3 Van’Dalgyon, and 3 Honest.  While that is neither possible nor plausible in our current meta, I have the say the deck was very fun to pilot with max copies of those cards.

Harvest Angel of Wisdom is a monster whose inherent design fits snugly with Counterfairies.  It is both a beatstick as well as a floater, and of course, a fairy.  I’ve never been very partial toward it because of normal summon clutter - an ever-present issue for this deck.  However, Thunder King at 1 limits our LIGHT attribute options, making room for Harvest Angel.

It is important to remember that while Counterfairies is a subset of antimeta, it is a theme in itself and cannot splash in antimeta cards in a way that a generic antimeta deck should (and ought to).  Cards like Kycoo and Dyna will have to go (or at least move to the side), even though they work well in generic antimeta.  However, Zephyros and Monk are combo cards and outside the antimeta realm entirely, and are not suitable even for generic builds.

One tech fairy that can come in handy is [ccProd]Arcana Force 0 - The Fool[/ccProd], whose stall abilities can help stabilize a gamestate for you.  Harvest is decent, but not a good opener, and thus not good enough to max out.  Zeradias, too, is decent, but has no real synergy with the Counterfairy archetype outside of being a fairy.  While it does search out [ccProd]The Sanctuary in the Sky[/ccProd], one must take note that Sanctuary doesn’t actually do anything.  Games are fought by card advantage, which Sanctuary cannot generate.

Naturally, Divine Punishment is ousted along with the field spell.  It’s bad enough that countertraps don’t really pay for themselves without the assistance of Artemis or Van’Dalgyon.  It’s even worse when we have one that requires you to stick a field spell just to activate it.  Grand Mole and [ccProd]D.D. Warrior Lady[/ccProd] will help combat established boards.  Safe Zone is a neat tech idea since Artemis can be quiet fragile.  Debunk, on the other hand, is better allocated to the sideboard since it will not be effective against every deck.  Instead, the main deck trap lineup will consist of cards that are centered around doing something against everyone while supporting Artemis and Van’Dalgyon.  Lastly, while 3 Upstart is by no means a bad idea, the vast dependence on field spells and continuous spell/traps in the current meta make 3 maindecked MSTs seem quite favorable.  The extra can be pretty much anything, as long as the one essential (Cowboy) is in there.

-3 Zeradias, Herald of Heaven
-2 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
-2 Summoner Monk
-1 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
-1 Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite
-3 Upstart Goblin
-2 The Sanctuary In The Sky
-3 Divine Punishment
-2 Debunk
-2 Pinpoint Guard
-1 Divine Wrath
+2 Harvest Angel of Wisdom
+1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
+2 D.D. Warrior Lady
+1 Van’Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord
+1 Arcana Force 0 - The Fool
+2 MST
+1 Bottomless Trap Hole
+2 Mirror Force
+2 Dark Bribe
+1 Magic Drain
+1 Seven Tools
+3 Fiendish Chain
+1 Drastic Drop Off
+2 Dimensional Prison

 

Final List

[ccDeck="Main Deck"]3 Bountiful Artemis:2 Harvest Angel of Wisdom:2 D.D. Warrior Lady:1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole:1 Van’Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord:1 Arcana Force 0 - The Fool:1 Honest:1 Thunder King Rai-Oh:3 Pot of Duality:3 Mystical Space Typhoon:1 Book of Moon:1 Dark Hole:3 Dark Bribe:3 Fiendish Chain:2 Divine Wrath:2 Drastic Drop-Off:2 Mirror Force:2 Dimensional Prison:1 Bottomless Trap Hole:1 Solemn Warning:1 Safe Zone:1 Compulsory Evacuation Device:1 Magic Drain:1 Seven Tools of the Bandit[/ccDeck] [ccDeck="Extra Deck"]2 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon:2 Gagaga Cowboy:1 Gem-Knight Pearl:1 Constellar Omega:1 Starliege Paladynamo:1 Number 66 Master Key Beetle:1 Number 39 Utopia:1 Number 104 Masquerade:1 Fairy Cheer Girl:1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn:1 Photon Papilloperative:1 Leviair the Sea Dragon:1 Wind-Up Zenmaines[/ccDeck]

My thoughts on the side are to remove Cyber Dragon and Injection Lily in favor of narrow anti-engine cards, such as Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror, or even neat counter traps like Vanity’s Call (for burn), Counter Counter (for Infernity), and Pulling the Rug/Swallow Flip (for various decks).  Plus the third Divine Wrath for Spellbooks.

 

Charles Yovish’s Mecha Phantom Beast

[ccDeck="Main Deck"]2 Tempest, Dragon Ruler of Storms:3 Mecha Phantom Beast Megaraptor:3 Mecha Phantom Beast Tetherwolf:3 Mecha Phantom Beast Blackfalcon:2 Mecha Phantom Beast Hamstrat:2 Mecha Phantom Beast Harrliard:1 Mecha Phantom Beast Coltwing:1 Dark Hole:3 Mystical Space Typhoon:3 Scapegoat:2 Enemy Controller:2 Shard of Greed:2 Mirror Force:1 Torrential Tribute:1 Call of the Haunted:3 Waboku:1 Bottomless Trap Hole:1 Compulsory Evacuation Device:2 Horn of Heaven:2 Do a Barrel Roll[/ccDeck] [ccDeck="Extra Deck"]1 Kachi Kochi Dragon:1 Lightning Chidori:1 Number 50 Blackship of Corn:1 Photon Papilloperative:1 Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack:1 Number 7 Lucky Straight:1 Number 11 Big Eye:2 Number 74 Master of Blades:1 Skypalace Gangaridai:2 Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max[/ccDeck]

Discussion

Mecha Phantom Beasts have been released throughout this year.  Their design is based on warplanes, and at the time of this writing, they are an all-machine archetype.  They remind me a little of some older cards whose designs were based on spacecrafts (such as the B.E.S. monsters), except this new archetype is much more formidable - a reflection of Konami giving more intentional support to their newer archetype releases in recent years and not just half-finishing the job.  MPB was not a commonly played deck when it was first released because its key extra deck monster, Dracossack, was quite expensive.  Thus, if you owned Dracossacks, you were likely playing Dragon Ruler.  My friend Dan, an avid collector, actually did put the deck together during the LTGY format.  We used to joke how he had the most expensive tier 3 deck the game has ever seen.

When Charles posted this list, he commented that he felt the deck needed more speed.  That sounded strange to me because MPB is a deck that can snowball up a variety of plays rather quickly.  I scanned the deck list and found the problem: no [ccProd]Aerial Recharge[/ccProd]!  This missing piece of the puzzle will really get things going for the deck.  Recharge isn’t just a steady supply of tokens - it also works both offensively and defensively.  When tokens are up, MPBs can’t be destroyed.  When opponents push in the battle phase, a sneaky Recharge flip will completely neutralize their turn.  This is especially effective with Megaraptor, the MPB that summons an additional token when a token is summoned to your side of the field.  Thus, Recharge is much more preferable to cards like Barrel Roll and Waboku, which are more defensive and don’t share the versatility of being able to build upon the win condition you’re constructing with your monsters.

The other important thing to look at when it comes to speed and consistency is the draw engine.  Shard of Greed is very slow and doesn’t dig into answers to boards you need to answer immediately, nor does it help shape opening hands turn 1.  Pot of Duality is an excellent replacement because while the deck special summons, it does not need to special every turn and walls up great with the MPB effects in tandem with Scapegoat, Recharge, and the like.  [ccProd]Sacred Sword of Seven Stars[/ccProd] is even more important, since it can banish Tempest to search Tempest and gain a +1, or banish a level 7 from MPB from your field, which there should often be plenty of access to.  Thanks to the level-increasing effects of MPBs, MPB is essentially the only deck that can run max Sacred Sword while not having to run very many level 7s at all - just 3 Tempest!

For some other minor changes, we want to max out on Hamstrat, since its effect is dependable in far more situations than cards like Coltwing or Harrliard.  Econ is great, but doesn’t need to be at 2 since the deck is already plenty defensive and that space can go toward draw power.  The trap lineup needs standard sets like Warning and Fiendish, which will work in significantly more situations than extremely narrow cards like Horn, which, by the way, cannot respond to ANY of the big Dragon Ruler summons effects.

As you can imagine, a deck that is as token-centered as MPB can support all kinds of synchro plays.  Since Charles is focusing on an XYZ build, we will stick to that.  However, readers who are looking to play the deck are welcome to consider options such as tuners (Scapegoat means the extra can support any level of synchro plays) or even [ccProd]Destiny Hero - Plasma[/ccProd].

-1 Mecha Phantom Beast Harrliard
-1 Mecha Phantom Beast Coltwing
-2 Shard of Greed
-1 Enemy Controller
-1 Mystical Space Typhoon
-3 Waboku
-2 Horn of Heaven
-2 Do a Barrel Roll
-1 Kachi Kochi
-1 Number 50 Blackship of Corn
-1 Photon Papilloperative
-1 Number 7 Lucky Straight
-1 Number 74 Master of Blades
+1 Tempest, Dragon Ruler of Storms
+1 Mecha Phantom Beast Hamstrat
+3 Sacred Sword of Seven Stars
+2 Pot of Duality
+2 Aerial Recharge
+3 Fiendish Chain
+1 Solemn Warning
+1 Skypalace Gangaridai
+2 Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack
+1 Number 11 Big Eye
+1 Gauntlet Launcher
+1 Photon Strike Bounzer
+1 Gear Gigant X
+1 Wind-Up Zenmaines

Final List

[ccDeck="Main Deck"]3 Tempest, Dragon Ruler of Storms:3 Mecha Phantom Beast Megaraptor:3 Mecha Phantom Beast Tetherwolf:3 Mecha Phantom Beast Blackfalcon:3 Mecha Phantom Beast Hamstrat:1 Mecha Phantom Beast Harrliard:3 Sacred Sword of Seven Stars:3 Scapegoat:2 Mystical Space Typhoon:2 Pot of Duality:1 Enemy Controller:1 Dark Hole:3 Fiendish Chain:2 Aerial Recharge:2 Mirror Force:1 Solemn Warning:1 Torrential Tribute:1 Call of the Haunted:1 Bottomless Trap Hole:1 Compulsory Evacuation Device[/ccDeck] [ccDeck="Extra Deck"]1 Wind-Up Zenmaines:1 Lightning Chidori:1 Gear Gigant X:1 Gauntlet Launcher:1 Photon Strike Bounzer:3 Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack:2 Number 11 Big Eye:1 Number 74 Master of Blades:2 Skypalace Gangaridai:2 Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max[/ccDeck]

Thanks for your submissions.  Keep sending us decks, and you can be featured in the next Deck Doctor! Be sure to check out the Circuit Series in Worcester, MA on November 16-17!

Until next time,

Play Hard or Go Home.

 

Sincerely,

Johnny

Discussion

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