Hello duelists. This is my 25th article, and may I just say that it has been a pleasure sharing my ideas with the community here for just over a year now. Tyler and I were recruited to doctor decks last January. Tyler is a creative thinker with a good grasp of fundamentals which show in each and every article he posts. Those who have followed him on forums can attest that he is especially an expert at crafting alternate win condition strategies. At this time, Tyler has stepped down from writing and is discontinuing his work on the deck doctor series. I write this little intro to thank him for his contributions and hard work. I hope this isn’t the last we hear from you, Tyler.
A happy belated birthday goes out to ARG’s President as well, without whom we would not have the articles or Circuit Series. Thanks Jim!
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Craig Henderson’s Mist Valley Ninjas
Main Deck: 42
Monsters: 19
3 Mist Valley Apex Avian
2 Mist Valley Thunderbird
2 Mist Valley Falcon
2 Mist Valley Soldier
3 Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo
2 Masked Ninja Ebisu
2 Upstart Golden Ninja
3 Kagetokage
Spells: 9
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Divine Wind of Mist Valley
1 Pot of Duality
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Dark Hole
1 Terraforming
1 Double Summon
1 Reinforcement of the Army
Traps: 14
3 Ninjitsu Art of Transformation
2 Reckless Greed
2 Threatening Roar
2 Fiendish Chain
2 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
2 Mirror Force
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device
Discussion
There are currently two field spells on the forbidden/limited list. One is [ccProd]Dragon Ravine[/ccProd], and the other is [ccProd]Divine Wind of Mist Valley[/ccProd]. Divine Wind was primarily limited to prevent degenerate abuse of the card in the “Fan OTK”. With only 1 copy of their field spell, Mist fans have little to work with. Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo supplements what is in itself an underdeveloped archetype by searching Ninjitsu Art of Transformation, which in turn summons Mist Valley Apex Avian. Avian will then act as a giant [ccProd]Evolzar Laggia[/ccProd]/[ccProd]Evolzar Dolkka[/ccProd] with feathers, and maybe, just maybe, you can gain advantage if you have the field spell active. The strategy is a house of cards that gets knocked down by MST. If you happen to open Hanzo, I recommend saving the Transformation until the end phase, giving your opponent the opportunity to set MST or activate it on something else before you go all-in.
Mist Valley Falcon and Upstart Golden Ninja both happen to benefit from having lots of traps, and that’s the theme I primarily would build towards. We can give Zephyros a try, too, as it draws additional value out of continuous cards. Cards like Kagetokage, Ebisu, and MV Soldier can be cut.
-1 Mist Valley Apex Avian (it is searchable)
-2 Mist Valley Soldier
-2 Masked Ninja Ebisu
-3 Kagetokage
-1 Swords of Revealing Light
-1 Double Summon
-2 Reckless Greed
-2 Threatening Roar
-2 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
+1 Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite
+1 Upstart Golden Ninja
+3 Upstart Golbin (hurray! 6 “Upstarts” in one deck)
+1 Mystical Space Typhoon
+2 Pot of Duality
+1 Fiendish Chain
+2 Call of the Haunted
+1 Bottomless Trap Hole
+1 Solemn Warning
+1 Torrential Tribute
Final List
Main Deck: 40
Monsters: 13
2 Mist Valley Apex Avian
2 Mist Valley Thunderbird
2 Mist Valley Falcon
3 Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo
3 Upstart Golden Ninja
1 Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite
Spells: 13
3 Upstart Goblin
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
3 Pot of Duality
1 Divine Wind of Mist Valley
1 Dark Hole
1 Terraforming
1 Reinforcement of the Army
Traps: 14
3 Ninjitsu Art of Transformation
3 Fiendish Chain
2 Call of the Haunted
2 Mirror Force
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Solemn Warning
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device
Juan Fierro’s Fire Kings
Main Deck: 40
Monsters: 16
2 Fire King High Avatar Garunix
2 Fire King Avatar Yaksha
1 Fire King Avatar Barong
1 Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos
1 Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Dragon
3 Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Leopard
2 Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear
1 Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Gorilla
1 Coach Soldier Wolfbark
2 Maxx "C"
Spells: 17
3 Fire Formation - Tenki
1 Fire Formation - Tensu
2 Fire Formation - Gyokkou
2 MST
2 Pot of Duality
1 Dark Hole
1 Book of Moon
3 Onslaught of the Fire Kings
2 Circle of the Fire Kings
Traps: 7
2 Fire Formation - Tensen
2 Call of the Haunted
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device
Discussion
Fire Kings is pretty popular right now. Diverse formats tend to unearth favorite non-meta picks. However, I think a lot of players go about Fire Kings the wrong way. You’re probably familiar with the standard build that incorporates some number of Wolfbark. The problem with any form of Wolfbark or Fire Fist variant of Fire Kings is that it plays into the meta. What this means is that the cards being used to counter the existing meta will be used against you, as well. By playing Fire Fist Fire Kings, you add inconsistency to the Fire Fist deck. It’s better to play around the meta. I love Skill Drain Fire Kings for this reason. The biggest advantage you can give yourself as a Fire King player is going into game 1 knowing that as many as 8 cards in your opponent’s deck do little to nothing against you. [ccProd]Effect Veiler[/ccProd], [ccProd]Skill Drain[/ccProd], Torrential Tribute, Dark Hole, Warning…you can neutralize all of these cards simply by playing a deck that doesn’t care about them. In Yugioh, we call that ignorant (the good connotation, not the bad one). Avoid losing to antimeta cards by being antimeta yourself. Give your opponent dead hands simply by not running the cards he intended to counter.
Rekindling is the most unfair card to never appear on the F/L list. It ducks Veiler and is practically made for Fire Kings. I highly recommend enjoying it before it gets touched. We’re going to maximize the combo pieces and minimize the meta engine so that Torrential, Veiler, and such don’t threaten us. It seems counterintuitive to not favor a stand-alone card as strong as Wolfbark, but Rekindling is giving us the same function and has stronger potential (fewer outs, more monsters, etc.). Another neat thing about Rekindling without the 3-Axis engine or multiple Wolfbark here is that the deck isn’t actually vulnerable to Maxx "C". Since your objective is not to special summon turn 1, or even turn 5, Maxx "C" is too volatile and reasonable players will side it out (or not bring it in) against you.
Juan has refrained from sharing his extra deck. The most important things I would highlight here are to run staple rank 4s, including the ones you see in +1 Fire (like [ccProd]Bujintei Kagutsuchi[/ccProd]), and also [ccProd]Number 85 Crazy Box[/ccProd] to accommodate Skill Drain. This may be one exceptional deck where multiple [ccProd]Diamond Dire Wolf[/ccProd] is also good, since it can milk extreme value out of a face-up Barong or Yaksha, and easily makes a Rekindling-for-3 no longer redundant compared to a Rekindling-for-2. FK fans may question why I exclude Ccarayhua. While it is a viable option, it adds additional combos (read: inconsistencies) to a theme that already has more combo dependency than one would care for. It takes specific conditions that you can’t guarantee to resolve it in a useful manner, and I suppose similar things could be said about [ccProd]Generation Shift[/ccProd]. These cards are cool when they hit, but more often miss.
When it comes to siding, players will opt for cards like [ccProd]Dimensional Fissure[/ccProd], [ccProd]D.D. Crow[/ccProd], [ccProd]Dimensional Prison[/ccProd], and [ccProd]Debunk[/ccProd] against you. Notice what these cards all do? Banish. [ccProd]Imperial Iron Wall[/ccProd] is worth a consideration here. Most important is the spell/trap removal. Side the MSTs you don’t main, and even [ccProd]Royal Decree[/ccProd] helps, considering the primary threats to the deck are backrow and not monsters. Ferret is also viable in both the main or side. It doesn’t perform in the aggressive way I would personally like a destruction card to, but you can test it for yourself and decide.
-3 Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Leopard
-2 Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear
-1 Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Gorilla
-2 Maxx "C"
-1 Fire Formation - Tensu
-2 Fire Formation - Gyokkou
-2 Pot of Duality
-2 Fire Formation - Tensen
-1 Compulsory Evacuation Device
+1 Fire King High Avatar Garunix
+1 Fire King Avatar Yaksha
+2 Fire King Avatar Barong
+2 Effect Veiler
+1 Circle of the Fire Kings
+2 Forbidden Lance
+3 Rekindling
+1 Solemn Warning
+2 Mirror Force
+2 Skill Drain
Final List
Monsters: 13
3 Fire King High Avatar Garunix
3 Fire King Avatar Yaksha
3 Fire King Avatar Barong
1 Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos
1 Coach Soldier Wolfbark
2 Effect Veiler
Spells: 18
3 Fire Formation - Tenki
2 MST
1 Dark Hole
1 Book of Moon
3 Onslaught of the Fire Kings
3 Circle of the Fire Kings
3 Rekindling
2 Forbidden Lance
Traps: 9
2 Call of the Haunted
2 Mirror Force
2 Skill Drain
1 Solemn Warning
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
Thanks for your submissions. Keep sending us decks, and you can be featured next!
Don't forget that the ARG Circuit stops for a 1K in 1Day in wonderful Akron, Ohio on February 22nd!
Until next time,
Play Hard or Go Home.
Sincerely,
Johnny
Johnny Li
Latest posts by Johnny Li (see all)
- 100 Prisoners - February 23, 2015
- Excuses - February 19, 2015
- Learning Efficiently for the Returning Player - February 16, 2015
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