Greetings my fellow ARG readers and writers!  My name is Robert Fillis and I am here to submit an article to become the next deck doctor writer for Alter Reality Games.  I guess that about 90% of you all have no clue who I am so let me tell you all a little about myself before I get started.  I started playing Yu-Gi-Oh ever since the first days of the game back when Cyber Stein was legal…that shows you how old I am.  I took a break from the game back in 2007 and I came back right when I started college in need of a hobby to keep myself occupied.  And I have not stopped playing since and I am now a junior in college.  For those of you who do recognize me, then it was either from my YouTube channel (TheChaosman4740) or on various Facebook groups such as The Elite, DRT, or Duelist GX.  If so, then I thank you for recognizing me and taking the time to read this article.  Now enough about me; let’s get on to why we are all here today: to read about Yu-Gi-Oh!

So the task at hand is to take a look at two specific decks that were built by Billy Brake (Rock Stun) and Joe Giorlando (Gishki Hero Turbo).  It is a privilege to doctor these two decks since they are two of my favorite players right now in the game.  To begin, I have a specific mindset going in when helping people fix their decks: I do not knock on ANY idea until I have tried it myself.  I am always curious about new theories and I want to test out any possibility available at my disposal.  Also, I seek out the opinions of my “inner circle” from my local shop so some of what I say may be coming from them (I will not take credit for an idea that I did not originally come up with).  No deck is perfect!  Everything always needs some work and there is always room for improvement.  Finally, I want to give a quick shoutout to my mentor Adam Hamre for aiding me with a skeleton for one of the decks that I used for this article.  Go check out his channel which will be placed at the end of the article.  With that being said, I will start off with Billy Brake’s decklist and it will be provided down below.

3 Koa’ki Meiru Guardian

3 Koa’ki Meiru Sandman

3 Koa’ki Meiru Wall

3 Block Golem

2 Card Trooper

2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo

2 Maxx “C”

1 Neo Spacian Grand Mole

3 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Soul Taker

2 Pot of Duality

1 Seal of Orichalcos

1 Monster Reborn

1 Dark Hole

2 Dimensional Prison

2 Solemn Warning

2 Torrential Tribute

2 Call of the Haunted

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Solemn Judgment

1 Starlight Road

2 Gem Knight Pearl

2 Kachi Kochi Dragon

2 Soul of Silvermountain

1 Temtempo the Percussion Djinn

1 Wind-Up Zenmaister

1 Gachi Gachi Gantetsu

1 Fairy King Albverdich

1 Gaia Knight the Force of Earth

1 Naturia Beast

1 Naturia Barkion

1 Scrap Dragon

1 Stardust Dragon

My Analysis:

I am widely familiar with the basic concepts of Rock Stun and I even tested it to kick off the new format in September.  I also acknowledge that it is indeed a viable deck and with the right person piloting it, this can top a big scale tournament.  I would like to push a concept that is close to topping over the edge to where it can start topping events everywhere starting now.  I had to dig through my archives of decklists in order to find my Rock Stun list just to see how close Billy and I were to being alike.  After finding the decklist, testing with people, and playing “matchmaker,” here is what I found after testing.

1.)    Extra deck needs tons of work

2.)    Main-board support needs fine-tuning

3.)    Maxx “C” is not as good as you think it is. *gasp*

4.)    Seal of Orichalcos in Rock Stun….genius! I will get to this later.

5.)    To his credit, he IS Billy Brake so he knows what he is doing.

Monsters:

He did a fantastic job with the basic monster line-up.  However, no deck is perfect as I stated before.  While no drastic changes were needed, I did make a few changes for better “meta calls.”

-1 Block Golem

-2 Maxx “C”

Why did I pick these three?  Well, let’s start with Maxx “C,” the card that everybody should have at least two of, now that it got a reprint.  I really do not like Maxx “C” this format (outside of the Wind-Up and Mermail matchups) because people can push through Maxx “C” and still OTK or get the Shocklock on you turn one.  At least last format, Maxx “C” could stop the dreadful hand loop.  Nowadays, players can still push through Maxx “C,” get the Shocklock and leave the opponent in a bad position, even though you managed to draw a lot of cards from it.  So, I moved Maxx “C” to the side deck.  I also cut a Block Golem from the deck.  I am pretty sure that other people have stated this but you need a grave in order to make Block Golem efficient.  I often found myself dead-drawing it and not having two Rocks to summon off him.  So what did I replace these with?

+ 2 Effect Veiler

Good ol’ Effect Veiler! To me, this is a far better meta call besides Maxx “C.”  This stops the Shocklock in its tracks if Veiler is used at the right time. If you put the Effect Veiler on the first turn Magician’s effect from the Shark, then they have to go into a rank 4 and sit behind it until they can go off again.  Or you can do this by putting down the Veiler on the Shock Master and then follow up with Dark Hole (which is just funny).  Also, Veiler is far superior to Maxx “C” against many different matchups like Rabbit, Geargia, Agents, Mermails, etc.

Spells:

I will not spend a whole lot of time on this subject because there is really only one thing I want to discuss.

-2 Soul Taker

+1 Heavy Storm

+1 Mind Control / Book of Moon (Player preference)

I moved Soul Taker to the side deck because I feel that there is not enough Heroes or Chaos Dragons out there to justify main decking two of these.  It is still a good card but I cannot justify dedicating two spots to a card that is meant for two matchups that are hardly seen right now so I replaced them with two staple power cards.

Now onto the Seal of Orichalcos.  Do not knock on it if you have not tried it! It is a genius move on Billy’s part.  I was skeptical at first but I tested it.  I kept the Seal in there because I like the fact that you can pump out a 2400 Rock monster that can negate effects, spells, or trap at will and you can still beat face with Rock monsters to put pressure on your opponent to stop you.  Well done Billy!! Now moving on…

Traps:

I am going to make this section quick as well.  I only made a couple changes to this section.

-1 Torrential Tribute

+2 Compulsory Evacuation Device

Remember the missing Block Golem?  This is where Compulsory finds room in the deck.  I love Compulsory this format as a way to put one-for-one removal on your opponent while still beating down with 1900-2400 Rock monsters.  It is also a one card out to Synchros, XYZs, Fusions, Rituals and makes your opponent have to go out of his/her way even more to get around your defense.  And a Torrential came out because I wanted to maintain field presence and  keep my monsters on board to control the game.  It is just some simple things that needed to be covered.  Now let’s take a look at the Extra Deck.

Extra Deck:

This needs the most work, in my eyes.  I have a simple philosophy about the extra deck: Make it as generic as possible in order to have it flexible for any matchup.  This did not work out so well for Billy so what I did first was cut the unnecessary stuff and then replace it with generic things.

-2 Kachi Kochi Dragon

-1 Soul of Silvermountain

-1 Gachi Gachi (Maxx “C” was cut so why not Gachi?)

-1 Gaia Knight

-1 Naturia Beast

-1 Naturia Barkion

-1 Scrap Dragon

I did not see any tuners so I went ahead and cut all the synchros and then, I put in more generic rank 4s and 3s to be flexible with anything.

+1 Evigishki Merowgeist

+1 Number 39: Utopia

+1 Number C39 Utopia Ray

+1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn

+1 Gagaga Cowboy

+1 Wind-Up Zenmaines

+1 Leviair the Sea Dragon

+1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon

I mostly made these changes just for if the situation calls for it to happen.  There is really not a whole lot of explaining to do.  As I said before, I did not think the synchros were necessary because I saw no tuners (except for Effect Veiler) so I replaced them with more flexibility like Merrowgeist (stops recruiters), Utopia (stops attacks), Utopia Ray (going for game), Maestroke (Gachi + Book of Moon), Gagaga Cowboy, and some rank 3s if the situation calls for it.

So with all of that, here is my final draft.

3 Koa’ki Meiru Guardian

3 Koa’ki Meiru Sandman

3 Koa’ki Meiru Wall

2 Block Golem

2 Fossil Dyna Pacycephalo

2 Card Trooper

2 Effect Veiler

1 Neo Spacian Grand “Troll” Mole

3 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Pot of Duality

1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole

1 Monster Reborn

1 Mind Control OR Book of Moon

1 Seal of Orichalcos

2 Call of the Haunted

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

2 Compulsory Evacuation Device

2 Dimensional Prison

2 Solemn Warning

1 Solemn Judgment

1 Starlight Road

1 Torrential Tribute

2 Gem Knight Pearl

1 Stardust Dragon

1 Soul of Silvermountain

1 Temtempo the Percussion Djinn

1 Wind-Up Zenmaister

1 Wind-Up Zenmaines

1 Fairy King Albverdich

1 Evigishki Merrowgeist

1 Gagaga Cowboy
1 Number 39: Utopia

1 Number 39: Utopia Ray

1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon

1 Leviair the Sea Dragon

1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn

Now then, to take a coffee break before the next deck because this next one is a doozy!

Part 2: Joe Giorlando’s Gishki Hero “Turbo” Deck

In the great words of George Takei: “Oh my!!” What a mess we have here! This is actually what inspired me to do this article.  Gishkis are in my area of expertise so I feel like I know what I am talking about.  I will not waste any time making this deck so let’s get on with it.

3 Evigishki Soul Ogre

3 Gishki Vision

1 Gishki Shadow

1 E-Hero Stratos

3 D-Hero Plasma

2 D-Hero Diamond Dude

2 Tour Guide

1 Sangan

1 Dark Armed Dragon

1 Gorz

2 Tragoedia

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

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 the Percussion Djinn

1 Maestroke the 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

Oh my! Where do I start with this?  Let’s eat this piece by piece.  First off, I want to applaud Joe for seeing the potential in Gishkis like I did a while back.  I also like how he combines them with Destiny Heroes…that’s all the nice things I will say about this deck.  He plays Miracle Fusion without Absolute Zero of Escuridao. Big no-no Joe! While he tried, he made a key mistake in building it: He sacrificed all the consistency of the deck.  There are too many engines to determine a critical goal for this deck.  I got a headache while working on this.  But, I still tested this and I will talk about my process of editing it.  First off, I cut everything only to start over with his concept.  I did not feel that utilizing Soul Ogre was the best way to go since we do not have Evigishki Levianima.  She comes out in Hidden Arsenal 7 so just wait for her before you try anything like that.  So, I took it to a level 6 build but there was only one issue with that; the best level 6 ritual, Gustkraken, just got conveniently limited which made it hard to pull this off.  Sure I could have used Mind Augus or Tetreogre but how I see it, I would rather pluck the hand then control the graveyard.  Frustrated, I threw the deck aside thinking of a way to do Gishki Hero.  Then I remembered testing with my friend Adam Hamre one night and he was playing a Gishki Hero variant.  So I got in touch with him asking about it and he sent me the decklist for it.  And, with his permission, I took the decklist, edited it, and have it ready to present to my readers as to how I doctored Joe’s deck.  So Adam, thank you very much for helping me with this!  All of the credit for this list goes to my mentor!

But before I go into the decklist, here is what I did to Joe’s list.

I threw it in the trash and did something new with it.

I honestly could not find anything that could fix it and bring back the consistency.  So here is what Adam and I did with it.

1 E-Hero Stratos

3 D-Hero Diamond Dude

2 D-Hero Malicious

3 Deep Sea Diva

3 Gishki Diviner

1 Atlantean Attack Squad

2 Psi-Blocker

1 Caius the Shadow Monarch

3 Convulsion of Nature

2 Archfiend’s Oath

3 Destiny Draw

2 Pot of Duality

2 Miracle Fusion

2 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Dark Hole

1 Heavy Storm

1 Monster Reborn

1 Solemn Judgment

2 Solemn Warning

1 Torrential Tribute

2 Mind Crush

2 Spiritual Water Art-Aoi

2 Absolute Zero

1 Gachi Gachi

1 Daigusto Phoenix

1 Blade Armor Ninja

1 Heroic Champion Excalibur

1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn

1 Number 39: Utopia

1 Photon Strike Bounzer

1 Armory Arm

1 Ally of Justice Catastor

1 Black Rose Dragon

1 Stardust Dragon

1 Scrap Dragon

1 Mist Wurm

Woah! What just happened here?  Well, for starters, I eliminated the entire ritual mechanic from the deck.  I did not find myself wanting to go into rituals where I had Heroes.  And plus, they got cluttered so I just cut it all together.  A lot of you are probably thinking right now “Is this kid mad?”  Yes I am!!! But allow me to explain myself.  Here are several of the cards in the deck that make it go.

Convulsion of Nature:

As long as this card remains face-up on the field, both players must turn their respective Decks upside down and proceed with the current Duel.

Allow me to introduce you to the most broken card in Yu-Gi-Oh that people do not even want to play with.  This card has so much going for it in this deck…in fact, this deck revolves around this card!  You gain free knowledge on what you will draw next and what your opponent will draw next which makes Mind Crush, Water Art Aoi, Gishki Diviner, Archfiend’s Oath and Diamond Dude all viable options in the deck.  Plus, I hear free knowledge is good and whatever knowledge you have is essential to your battle strategy which is good.  Also, with Gishki Diviner and Archifiend’s Oath, you gain plusses every turn since you get to see what you draw so you have a 100% chance of getting your call right…as long as Convulsion of Nature is on the field.  Also, there is Psi-Blocker…

Psi-Blocker:

Once per turn: You can declare 1 card name; cards with that name, and their effects, cannot be used until the End of your opponent's next turn.

This card and Convulsion of Nature were made for each other.  As long as you get to see what your opponent gets to draw, you can keep calling what they draw so that they are locked down from doing anything to stop your advantage as you keep beating them down with weak monsters.  Do not even get me started on Diamond Dude and milling Dualities, Miracle Fusions, and Destiny Draws.  That is ridiculous!  After numerous hours of testing, I feel that this is the way to go for Gishki Heroes because it is fast, consistent, and controls the field and hand with ease.  I believe that this is a deck that has incredible potential that can annoy and opponent, steal games, and even top a big scale tournament.  I encourage Joe to play Gishki Heroes like this in the future until Hidden Arsenal 7 comes out.

Once again, I want to thank everybody for reading my first ARG article (and hopefully the first of many more to come).  I hoped that everybody learned something from this.  Also, come subscribe to my YouTube channel and Adam’s YouTube channel which I will provide at the end of the article.  Come say “Hi!” to me on the Yu-Gi-Oh Facebook groups that I am a part of and I hope that you all vote for me as the next deck doctor!  Leave a comment down below too and let me know what you think.  I always appreciate any kind of feedback whether good or bad.  It makes me a better person.  And as everybody on here says; “Play hard or go home!”  Have a wonderful day!

-Robert Fillis

Adams’ Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/MarylandYugioh

My Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheChaosman4740

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