We Can Rebuild It – A Deck Doctor Piece

November 6, 2012

by Michael Boire

Hey guys! This is Michael Boire coming at you fellow duelists for my inaugural Deck Doctor article series. In today's edition, we're going to look at a deck from back-to-back championship winner Billy Brake as well as one from too-many-YCS tops-to-count-on-one-hand Joe Giorlando! I'm really excited to be taking a peek into the work of such high caliber duelists, and really excited to tear their lists a part! Without further ado, lets get right into it.

Instead of posting the entire list and going through each section individually, I'm going to show the different sections of the author's original build, and then follow through with my analysis and changes. Let us start with Billy.

Here is Billy's original monster list:
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 Grandmole

Things are about to get Rocky
Immediately we can see that Billy has a rounded monster list that highlights the exact theme of what he wants his deck to do. He wants to make sure YOU can't do ANYTHING. We have the Koa'Ki Meiru trinity in place. Guardian tributes to stop effects, Sandman tributes to stop traps, and Wall tributes to stop spells. They each clock in at a solid 1900 body. They are the back bone of this deck, so they will remain unchanged.

Triple Block Golem and double Card Trooper help are also very integral to this strategy which is why I think they should stay. Card Trooper can help load your grave with the right tools for Block Golem to pull right back. It works almost like a reverse tool box, where Golem can help bring back his boulder buddies to help you advance your gamestate. Fighting through a huge back row? Double Sandman! Dealing with a bevy of effect monsters? Guardian's your guy! Or even a mixture of both, depending on the situation. Trooper and Golem help the pilot move forward by pulling the right pieces to the board at the right time.

Next in line is Maxx "C". While I'm not quite sure where I stand with our billion bug friends at the current moment in the format, I wouldn't make an argument against him. In the worst cast scenario, he acts as an Upstart against a Hero or a Dark World player going Tour Guide or Miracle Fusion. His utility clearly shines in the Wind-Up match-up, with a few nods against Geargia. I'm not going to go over Maxx "C" in every single match-up, but I'd say he's about 50/50 going into 10 Rounds of Swiss. I would like to elect these out for Effect Veiler but given the circumstances of Golem's activation cost we need to keep the androgynous Spellcaster out. Until we get a firm grasp of the format, I would recommend keeping him in.

Didn't Billy have a Fuzzy Friend?
Moving down the list, we find the only change I would like to make to Billy's monster list. And this change comes in the form of Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo. Do not get me wrong, Dyna is a great card and I can see its place in the grand scheme of things in this deck. It sits on the field and prevents the opponent from Special Summoning while you sit back and launch your rocks at your opponents life, stripping away their resources. It's also a Rock that you can reveal for the Trinity. The problem is that Dyna wholeheartedly interferes with your Golem engine. And when your engine can't run, well it creates a lot of problems. One could argue that Dyna also wastes your opponents resources and when they are finally rid of him, that's when Golem and pals can strike. While I do agree with this statement, Dyna is a card I'd rather see sided. It has a great game 1 surprise factor, but then people attempt to play around it by siding in stuff like Nobleman of Crossout. Keeping it hidden from your opponent until Game 2 can seal their fate.

In his absence I argue that we should throw in BIlly's old Fuzzy Friend, GIant Rat! Rat is fantastic in this deck. He can fetch you a Trooper to set up your combos, a Golem to get your engine rolling, and even fetch that little Mole that Billy is teching. While he has the same downfalls as the Crossout argument listed earlier, you can still set him to bait out opposing Crossouts, then safely set your Dyna after a big opposing push.

In the end, Rat has so much more synergy with the deck, and allows you to weed out the most needed combo pieces in order to further the game in your favor.

The Fix So Far
Looking at Billy's monster list, so far we've only changed two cards. And these changes are as follows:
-2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
+2 Giant Rat

Let's move onto the Spells now!
Spells:10
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Soul Taker
2 Pot of Duality
1 Seal of Orichalcos
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole

Stealing Souls
Hands down, my favorite tech choice in this line-up has to be the Seal of Orichalcos. Making all of your negators pack a 2400 body is quite the feat. They can take down Thunder King, plow over Snowman Eater, and even dismantle Geargiarmor. While 1900 is the magic number in this format, Orichalcos helps up the ante in your favor. Furthermore, a well timed seal helps your Grand Mole and Card Troopers avoid getting attacked. Letting you continue to mill and/or bounce your opponents cards away at your leisure. I love it so very much.

On the topic of Taking Souls, that means we need to make a few cuts. Although I am a strong advocate of Soul Taker, I do not believe it will benefit this deck much, especially Game 1. While many decks can rely on Soul Taker to take out an opposing T-King to help advance their combos, for example, all this deck wants to do is move threats out of the way in order to push through to your opponents life. Since you have so many negation options piled into this behemoth, I do not believe that Soul Taker warrants any play. Furthermore, you already play a substantial amount of Traps in order to move threats out of the way, so why draw more dead cards? I believe Soul Taker should be relegated to the side for this deck, just to throw in against monsters who will miss timing.

In Soul Taker's place, I wanted to elect to play a second Orichalcos and one Terraforming. However, one Orichalcos will always be dead and if they are drawn in succession before Terraforming then we're seeing some red. It has great synergy with allowing us to get to our Orichalcos faster, but when we need to advance our combos and we draw dead options it is not much fun. Instead I'm going to suggest that we throw in one Book of Moon and one more The Huge Revolution is Over (One MORE you say? Keep reading my friends). With the new Fast Effect Timing rules, I believe Book can shine when your just not in a spot to negate or hold off a threat. Opponent has Rescue Rabbit? Flip it down! A wild Gigant appears? Turn his gears into defense mode! The same can be said about many decks that are about to go off. Shark + Magician? Let the Made do some light reading. The list goes on. It can also help stop clutch attacks that help save your Koa'Ki Meiru Army.

The Fix So Far
This is where my fix is at the current moments
-2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
-2 Soul Taker
+2 Giant Rat
+1 Book of Moon
+1 The Huge Revolution is Over

Finally, the Traps!
Traps: 12
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Solemn Warning
2 Call of the Haunted
2 Bottomless Traphole
2 Torrential Tribute
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Starlight Road

A Fiendish Revolution is Afoot!
Billy's traps are very strong choices. He has a pair of everything to fit the situation. If he hadn't already included it, I would have suggested putting in Call of the Haunted. It's great with Block Golem, or for just getting back anything that you need for any given situation. Maybe even a fallen Grand Mole. I was going to up it to 3 myself by just didn't have the space.
So now you're probably asking "HEY! Where is that other The Huge Revolution is Over?!" Well, I'm going to argue that we replace Starlight Road with one copy, rounding off into two copies with the change mentioned above. Starlight Road is good, but Stardust Dragon has no place in our deck. He's not an EARTH, so Golem starts to cry. Sure you don't NEED to summon the Stardust, but I digress. I believe The huge Revolution is Over is a far superior card because of the breadth of what it can hit. Not only can it stop the main offenders of Torrential, Dark Hole, Heavy Storm and the like that Starlight Road can also prevent, but it can also stop stuff like Scrap Dragon (remember, it can negate anything that only destroys 2 cards, not just two cards you control). Huge Revo is also a Counter Trap, so outside of Solemn Judgment, it is going to resolve. Your opponent can't chain Trap Stun, or Solemn Warning. We're playing A LOT of Trap cards here, and we want to protect our monsters as much as possible. Huge Revo lets us move those threats out of the way without the fear of being countered and banishes them for good!

The final change we are going to make comes in the form of Fiendish Chain. Because this deck cannot play Effect Veiler, I believe it is important to have cards that will be able to stop the Opponent on their turn. Similar to Book of Moon, Chain helps us take full advantage of Fast Effect Timing as well as stop monsters in their tracks. It is also good MST bait. If your opponent Typhoon's a chain, they won't have a Typhoon for your Prison/Bottomless/Warning etc. In order for us to make the space I'm going to make the controversial decision of cutting the two Torrential Tributes.

...

WAIT! HEAR ME OUT! In a deck like this, Torrential does the exact opposite of what we need. We're playing a control deck, and we need to keep as much field presence as possible. We want to keep our monsters on the field to do their job, then get Golem to bring them back. Not have them die on our own accord to have Golem bring them back. Even if we don't play Torrential, our opponent will likely think we have Torrential and respect the possibility of it, therefore never really playing into it in the first place. By replacing these with Fiendish Chain, we can prevent the opponent from potentially going into such a field that we would want to Torrential anyway.

The Fix So Far
Now that we've covered the three main components. Let's take a look at what we've modified so far:
-2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
-2 Soul Taker
-2 Torrential Tribute
-1 Starlight Road
+2 Giant Rat
+2 Fiendish Chain
+2 The Huge Revolution is Over
+1 Book of Moon

Now that the main deck is done, let's take a look at the Extra Deck:
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
1 Fairy King Albverdich
1 Gaia Knight, Force of Earth
1 Naturia Beast
1 Naturia Barkion
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Stardust Dragon

Earthly Temptations
I'm going to be honest, I do not believe the Extra Deck is ever going to be used with this deck. And if so, very rarely. With that in mind, I appreciate what Billy has done and has simply filled this baby to the brim chock full of EARTH monsters. That's all Golem can have, and that is what we're gonna give him. There is only one change that we really need to do here and that is Stardust Dragon. Without Starlight Road, why are we gonna play him? In his space I think we should add some new flair to this and throw in the soon-to-be-legal Gagaga Cowboy. He is a generic Rank 4 who is EARTH and he can end games if you just missed out on hitting your opponent for enough. I'm not going to scold Billy on his Synchro choices. Sure he doesn't play Tuners, but his options are extremely limited in terms of a solid EARTH Tuner to tech in. So I understand his reasoning in leaving them out. Instead, if he plays the odd Samurai match-up, Monster Reborn can net him a Kagemusha and he can go from there.

We Have Rebuilt It - Billy Brake's Rock Stun
So here is your new and improved list:
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 Giant Rat
1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole

Spells: 9
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Pot of Duality
1 Seal of Orichalcos
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole
1 Book of Moon

Traps: 12
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Solemn Warning
2 Call of the Haunted
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Fiendish Chain
1 Solemn Judgment
2 The Huge Revolution is Over

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

Now it is time to give Joe's deck a glance. Let's start with his monster list:
3 Gishki 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

Well, a first glace this is really something new and unique. It is also something I've never really seen and/or worked on before. But let's crack the knuckles and take a stab at it.

The Depths Will Tear You Apart
This is where you will see me make the biggest slashes in my ever so brief Deck Doctor career. I will rip this list apart before performing my surgery.

In this monster list (and upcoming Spell list) there are many anomalies that we must account for. The first is the fact that there are only 5 Destiny Hero targets with three Destiny Draw, while three of those targets are also going to be used as half of the 6 for Trade-In (the other three being Soul Ogre). Soul Ogre is likely going to be summoned during these games and not just pitched, so we have a dilemma. We have six draw spells that share the same three monsters. Three draw spells that now potentially only have 2 targets, and three draw spells that now potentially have no targets. Joe doesn't even have any ways to rectify this with cards that put cards back in the deck like Pot of Avarice, which further complicates things. With this in mind, instead of solving the problem I'm going to get rid of it altogether. Soul Ogre is going to bite the dust completely along with two copies of Plasma. I'm also going to skip ahead and remove the three Trade-In's. On the whole, this gives us eight slots to fill. Six of which will be dedicated to the monster line up.

To the Sixth Power
Instead of going the Level 8 Route with Soul Ogre, I argue we make this down a notch. Two notches to be specific. And play the Level 6 Gishiki Ritual monsters. Our first new recruit is Evigishiki Gustkraken. There was a reason she was limited this past September. Her ability to knock a card out of your opponents hand while simultaneously giving you knowledge of another is huge. We will play the allowed copy. To fill in for the abandoned Soul Ogre's I will replace them with two copies of Evighiski Mind Augus. When Augus is summoned, she allows us to shuffle 5 cards from either players Graveyard's back into the deck. Not only does this allow us to recycle past Gustkraken's and fellow Gishiki foot soldiers, but also allows us to mess with our opponents. Do they have three DARKs lined up for the Dark Armed Dragon play? Not Anymore. It can also mess up Inzektor's, Dark World, and other Hero players by restricting their Miracle Fusion plays. It is also a big damper on Chaos Dragon duelists. Speaking of Dark Armed Dragon, she helps us relegate our DARK count as well. Combined with a 2500 body, she is a big deal.

So that is three slots full. The next two slots are going to be filled up by Plasma's Level 6 cousin, Destiny Hero Malicious. In this deck, Malicious serves three purposes. He will be a target for Trade-In, a target for Miracle Fusion, as well as a way to churn out another Level 6 for a Rank 6 summon. Wouldn't it be cool to rip a card out with Gustkraken then get a Malicious into play for free and Overlay into a Strike Bounzer? It puts a lot of pressure on the opponent as they have just -1'd and now they have to deal with something that will negate effects. You can also mitigate Malicious and another Level 6 into Inzektor Exa-Beetle. Combined with Gustkraken that could be a nasty +2. He can also be fetched by Sangan and Stratos, leaving our Destiny Draws always locked and loaded.

Even without a Evishiki on board, Trag can also help us facilitate Rank 6 summons as well.
The Depths of Doom

We're going to round out the last two remaining slots with an extra Gishiki Shadow and a Destiny Hero - Doom Lord. Shadow is searchable by Sangan and helps us get to our Mirror faster. I'm also going to be adding a second Mirror later on. With the ability to constantly recycle Gustkraken, we need just one more copy.

As far as Doom Lord is concerned, he acts as a sixth and final Destiny Draw target while also being a good out to stuff like Zenmaines, Maestroke, Tiras, Utopia, or any other monster in the way that's keeping you down.

The Fix So Far
-3 Trade-In
-2 Destiny Hero - Plasma
-3 Evigishiki Soul Ogre
+2 Destiny Hero - Malicious
+2 Evigishiki Mind Augus
+1 Evigishiki Gustkraken
+1 Gishiki Aquamirror
+1 Destiny Hero - Doom Lord
+1 Gishki Shadow

Onto the spells:
3 Destiny Draw
3 Miracle Fusion
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Salvage
2 Gishki Aquamirror
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn

I took the liberty here of adjusting the spell line-up to my fixes already. On top of that, I don't believe we're gonna have a problem. Everything else is nice and tight.

Finally, the Extra Deck:
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

What a Mess!
Joe's now introduced a second dilemma. If we're playing triple Miracle Fusion, where are all of our targets!? Well let's take an axe to these trees and clear up some space. Immediately we can cut Heliopolis, Big Eye, and Grenosaurus. The first two are mostly because we don't have the levels to make it work anymore. And Grenosaurus is just a lackluster Rank 3 when we have so much better options available. These guys are gonna be cut for 2 Elemental Hero - Absolute Zero and 1 Elemental Hero Escuriado.

Now its time to make room for our Rank 6 options. For this, I'd like to throw in Inzektor Exa-Beetle, Photon Strike Bounzer and Number 25: Force Focus. Joe already graciously put Gaia Dragon in his Extra Deck for me to throw on top of Beetle after a successful effect so we don't need to worry about that. I'm a strong advocate of Force Focus because it shines in the Geargia match, stopping their swarm as well as packing a big body. It can also negate opposing Tragoedia's, Scrap Dragon's, Chaos Sorcerer's and even the odd Wind-Up Shark that wanted to be a Level 5 monster. Much of what you see in the meta nowadays doesn't really have a Level but we're gonna make the Extra Deck space just in case. To make room for these bad boys we're going to be removing Melomelody (her only targets are herself and Maestroke, both with only 1800 and 1400 ATK respectively. You're not gonna get much down when you can attack twice against a monster bigger then you), a Black Rose Dragon (the time you will Reborn the right Level Tuner is extremely rare), and Blade Armor Ninja. As much as I am sad to see Ninja go, I believe if you ever have two Warriors on the board, Excalibur will be a much better choice, as it can effectively out-muscle anything over 2300 and stays at 400 for your opponent to deal with. The rest of the extra deck is good, giving us ample Tour Guide-into-Tour Guide-or-Sangan plays paired with other Level 3's such as Doom Lord or through Tragoedia's effect.

The Fix So Far
-3 Trade-In
-2 Destiny Hero - Plasma
-3 Evigishiki Soul Ogre
-1 Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis
-1 Number 11: Big Eye
-1 Blade Armor Ninja
-1 Melomelody the Brass Djinn
-1 Grenosaurus
-1 Black Rose Dragon
+2 Destiny Hero - Malicious
+2 Evigishiki Mind Augus
+1 Evigishiki Gustkraken
+1 Gishiki Aquamirror
+1 Destiny Hero - Doom Lord
+1 Gishki Shadow
+2 Elemental Hero - Absolute Zero
+1 Elemental Hero - Escuriado
+1 Photon Strike Bounzer
+1 Inzektor Exa-Beetle
+1 Number 25: Force Focus

With these changes, I hope I can keep the spirit of the "Turbo" alive in Joe's deck. There is still an insane amount of speed and draw power that helps devastating combos connect much quicker now. The ability to recycle said combos is further a testament to this decks power - with the ability to cycle all through it again!

Without further ado, here is the modified decklist:

We Have Rebuilt It - Joe Giorlando's Gishiki Hero Turbo
2 Evighiki Mind Augus
1 Evigishiki Gustkraken
3 Gishki Vision
1 Destiny Hero - Plasma
2 Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude
2 Destiny Hero - Malicious
1 Destiny Hero - Doom Lord
2 Trageodia
2 Tour Guide from the Underworld
1 Sangan
2 Gishki Shadow
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
1 Dark Armed Dragon
1 Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness

3 Destiny Draw
3 Miracle Fusion
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Salvage
2 Gishki Aquamirror
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn

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 Heroic Champion Excalibur
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Gaia Dragon, Thunder Charger
1 Photon Strike Bounzer
1 Inzektor Exa-Beetle
1 Number 25: Force Focus
1 Elemental Hero - Escuriado
2 Elemental Hero - Absolute Zero

That concludes my first edition of Deck Doctor. If you guys have any comments about the choices I made, please feel free to leave them below. Thanks for reading and until next time:

Play Hard or Go Home!

Michael Boire
DN: Synaku