Well, it's been awhile everyone since my last article so here is my newest article. In this article I'm going to be talking about how to construct an "anti-meta" deck and this includes taking a look at the current TCG meta and picking apart the biggest weaknesses in the decks you are most likely to see in a tournament.
Lightsworn (LS) and Gladiator Beasts (GB) showed up as the most popular decks at SJC Anaheim. Along with those decks which took up approximately 75% of the decks played there were also some other variety decks including multiple Skill Drain decks and some Counter Fairy (CF) decks along with 1 of the newer scary-fast deck-types - Blackwings (BW). Additionally, decks that weren't seen so much at SJC Anaheim but that could potentially still be runnable in tournaments include Monarchs and Gadgets. Now, let's dive right in and try to find some weaknesses to exploit!
1. Looking at GB, Gadgets, Monarchs and LS, you can notice that they depend very heavily on being able to use their monster's effects. If those effects can be shut down, you should be able to gain a huge advantage.
2. Looking at GB, LS, and BW, you can notice that these decks all do a large amount of special summoning. Additionally, most decks run synchros and those are all special summons as well. Therefore, stopping the special summons is of great importance.
3. CF and Skill Drain decks depend quite a lot on their Trap cards. Being able to shut down their traps could get you the game if you can manage it.
Now, we've looked at 3 weaknesses that have popped up in some of these deck-type that are likely to be seen. Let's start exploiting those weaknesses!
In order to shut down the effects of some of those biggest decks, I'm going to be maining Skill Drain. Now, to make sure that this card hurts my opponent more than it hurts me my monster lineup is going to be composed of several cards who are good without their effects as well some monsters with good effects, but who have good enough stats to be usable even if Skill Drain is on the field. Another nice thing about Skill Drain is that it has a continuous effect so it isn't going to be hurt Cold Wave. This also means that actually using Cold Wave in the deck (considering I'm going to be using several beatsticks) could be very advantageous. In case I end up seeing LS, I am also going to be siding Light-Imprisoning Mirror (LIM), which acts like extra and more powerful copies of Skill Drain when I'm playing against an LS deck.
Next up is stopping those Special Summons and Synchro Summons. I'm going to be using Royal Oppression to accomplish this goal. I may want to do some Special and Synchro Summoning myself, however, so I'm only going to include 2 copies in my main deck, and I'll just side the 3rd copy in case I come up against GB. I'll also be running 3 copies of Thunder King Rai-Oh who will help me to control those special summons and gives me an extra way to negate those Synchro Summons while also using a 1900 ATK beatstick who can negate Sangan and stop RotA and any other searcher.
Last up is trap control. Breaker the Magical Warrior, Mystical Space Typhoon (MST), and Heavy Storm are already easy shoe-ins. Solemn Judgment should be in 3's in almost any deck nowadays, so that can optionally also act as trap control. Next, I'll be maining 1 copy of Jinzo and 1 copy of Mobius the Frost Monarch just to give me more options on how to control my opponent's traps. They'll be my only tribute monsters and they can always be sided in the 2nd and 3rd duels of the match if they end up not being needed.
So far, the deck looks like this:
Monsters(6):
3x Thunder King Rai-Oh
1x Breaker the Magical Warrior
1x Jinzo
1x Mobius
Spells(4):
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Heavy Storm
2x Cold Wave
Traps(8):
3x Skill Drain
2x Royal Oppression
3x Solemn Judgment
With only about half of the deck filled, I now have all the cards I want in order to counter the major decks. Now let's find some cards that will have good synergy with the cards already in the deck as well as placing in some standard cards that should be almost everywhere and some extra cards to help control the duel.
With Skill Drain in the deck, Beastking Barbaros is a shoe-in. At worst he is a 1900 ATK beatstick or you can use 3 tributes to get an awesome effect, but at best he can get his ATK brought up to 3000 by Skill Drain without having to give him any tributes. With Thunder King Rai-Oh around, let's also add in 3 copies of Honest, who always has the potential to be the deciding factor in a duel while additionally both monsters can be fodder for Chaos Sorcerer who can also be added into the deck. Since we're adding in Chaos Sorcerer, let's also add Sangan to give him some more potential tributes and Sangan can additionally search out Honest or some of the other monsters I'll also be adding later.
Monster Reborn is a staple card for every deck in the game, so it needs to be here. Next, I'll add some tuners to the deck. Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind is 1 of the newest and best tuners in the game. When it uses its effect the targets attack is PERMANENTLY halved. It doesn't go back to normal at the end of the turn. This is huge. It is similar to summoning a 2600 ATK monster for no tributes and since it is a tuner it'll allow you to Synchro Summon! I'll also be including 1 copy of Emergency Teleport (E Tele) and 2 copies of Krebons to give myself additional Synchro options. Also, with all of these Dark monsters floating around it only seems right to add in a copy of Dark Armed Dragon (DAD) to the mix!
Next, in order to maintain a bit more control in the duel, I'll be adding in copies of Compulsory Evacuation Device (CED), Mind Crush, and Trap Dustshoot. CED is a nice card because it can take out a Synchro monster and doesn't set off Stardust Dragon. Also, it stops an array of other monsters that Bottomless Trap Hole can't deal with and to top it all off CED can also be used defensively to make effects like Smashing Ground, Lightning Vortex, and DAD fizzle. With Mind Crush now only semi-limited, I'll be adding 2 copies of it into the deck since it works well with CED and can shut down LS when they use Beckoning Light to bring multiple copies of Honest back into the hand. With Mind Crush being in-use, it only makes sense to also use Trap Dustshoot in order to have further control of my opponent's hand while also setting up for Mind Crush to combo.
After all of that, the deck now looks like this:
Monsters(20):
3x Thunder King Rai-Oh
1x Breaker the Magical Warrior
1x Jinzo
1x Mobius
3x Barbaros
3x Honest
1x Chaos Sorcerer
1x Sangan
3x Gale
2x Krebons
1x Dark Armed Dragon
Spells(6):
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Heavy Storm
2x Cold Wave
1x Monster Reborn
1x Emergency Teleport
Traps(14):
3x Skill Drain
2x Royal Oppression
3x Solemn Judgment
3x Compulsory Evacuation Device
2x Mind Crush
1x Trap Dustshoot
= 40 cards total
So, we now have all the cards for the main deck. Now we just need to construct the extra deck and the side deck. I am using both level 2 and 3 tuners and have level 3, 4, and 6 monsters. Therefore, I should probably have 1 copy of the level 5 Magical Android just in case, and then level 6, 7, and 8 tuners in larger numbers. Dark Strike Fighter works very well with DAD and Barbaros. Stardust Dragon and Colossal Fighter tend to be awesome monsters to summon, and you should typically carry 2-3 copies of Red Dragon Archfiend in case your opponent is setting a bunch of monsters. For a level 6 Synchro, Goyo Guardian is the obvious choice. Also, just in case I'm in an LP bind, having 2 copies of Thought Ruler Archfiend tends to be a good idea. This gives us this extra deck:
Extra Deck(15):
1x Magical Android
1x Goyo Guardian
3x Dark Strike Fighter
3x Stardust Dragon
3x Colossal Fighter
2x Red Dragon Archfiend
2x Thought Ruler Archfiend
Now for the side deck. I've already discussed that I'll be including Light-Imprisoning Mirror. I'll also include a couple copies of Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror in case I run into a Dark deck. In the case that I do end up using it I would probably side out some of my Dark monsters. I'll also be siding 3 copies of Threatening Roar in case I run into a GB deck or an LS deck that's using many copies of Cold Wave. The 3rd Oppression will also wind up in the side deck in case I have a need for it. I'll be adding 3 copies of Pulling the Rug to the side deck in case I find myself up against Monarchs or Gadgets. The last 3 spots get dedicated to Prohibition which can be used against any deck that revolves around 1 or 2 central cards.
Side Deck(15):
3x Light-Imprisoning Mirror
2x Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror
3x Threatening Roar
1x Royal Oppression
3x Pulling the Rug
3x Prohibition
The final deck in its glorious fullness is:
~Chaos Skill Drain~
Monsters(20):
3x Thunder King Rai-Oh
1x Breaker the Magical Warrior
1x Jinzo
1x Mobius
3x Barbaros
3x Honest
1x Chaos Sorcerer
1x Sangan
3x Gale
2x Krebons
1x Dark Armed Dragon
Spells(6):
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Heavy Storm
2x Cold Wave
1x Monster Reborn
1x Emergency Teleport
Traps(14):
3x Skill Drain
2x Royal Oppression
3x Solemn Judgment
3x Compulsory Evacuation Device
2x Mind Crush
1x Trap Dustshoot
Extra Deck(15):
1x Magical Android
1x Goyo Guardian
3x Dark Strike Fighter
3x Stardust Dragon
3x Colossal Fighter
2x Red Dragon Archfiend
2x Thought Ruler Archfiend
Side Deck(15):
3x Light-Imprisoning Mirror
2x Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror
3x Threatening Roar
1x Royal Oppression
3x Pulling the Rug
3x Prohibition
I hope you enjoyed this article and learned something about how to make an anti-meta deck, along with general deck building strategy and maybe you even learned some combos and synergies you didn't realize before. Peace out. Until next time. =)
Lightsworn (LS) and Gladiator Beasts (GB) showed up as the most popular decks at SJC Anaheim. Along with those decks which took up approximately 75% of the decks played there were also some other variety decks including multiple Skill Drain decks and some Counter Fairy (CF) decks along with 1 of the newer scary-fast deck-types - Blackwings (BW). Additionally, decks that weren't seen so much at SJC Anaheim but that could potentially still be runnable in tournaments include Monarchs and Gadgets. Now, let's dive right in and try to find some weaknesses to exploit!
1. Looking at GB, Gadgets, Monarchs and LS, you can notice that they depend very heavily on being able to use their monster's effects. If those effects can be shut down, you should be able to gain a huge advantage.
2. Looking at GB, LS, and BW, you can notice that these decks all do a large amount of special summoning. Additionally, most decks run synchros and those are all special summons as well. Therefore, stopping the special summons is of great importance.
3. CF and Skill Drain decks depend quite a lot on their Trap cards. Being able to shut down their traps could get you the game if you can manage it.
Now, we've looked at 3 weaknesses that have popped up in some of these deck-type that are likely to be seen. Let's start exploiting those weaknesses!
In order to shut down the effects of some of those biggest decks, I'm going to be maining Skill Drain. Now, to make sure that this card hurts my opponent more than it hurts me my monster lineup is going to be composed of several cards who are good without their effects as well some monsters with good effects, but who have good enough stats to be usable even if Skill Drain is on the field. Another nice thing about Skill Drain is that it has a continuous effect so it isn't going to be hurt Cold Wave. This also means that actually using Cold Wave in the deck (considering I'm going to be using several beatsticks) could be very advantageous. In case I end up seeing LS, I am also going to be siding Light-Imprisoning Mirror (LIM), which acts like extra and more powerful copies of Skill Drain when I'm playing against an LS deck.
Next up is stopping those Special Summons and Synchro Summons. I'm going to be using Royal Oppression to accomplish this goal. I may want to do some Special and Synchro Summoning myself, however, so I'm only going to include 2 copies in my main deck, and I'll just side the 3rd copy in case I come up against GB. I'll also be running 3 copies of Thunder King Rai-Oh who will help me to control those special summons and gives me an extra way to negate those Synchro Summons while also using a 1900 ATK beatstick who can negate Sangan and stop RotA and any other searcher.
Last up is trap control. Breaker the Magical Warrior, Mystical Space Typhoon (MST), and Heavy Storm are already easy shoe-ins. Solemn Judgment should be in 3's in almost any deck nowadays, so that can optionally also act as trap control. Next, I'll be maining 1 copy of Jinzo and 1 copy of Mobius the Frost Monarch just to give me more options on how to control my opponent's traps. They'll be my only tribute monsters and they can always be sided in the 2nd and 3rd duels of the match if they end up not being needed.
So far, the deck looks like this:
Monsters(6):
3x Thunder King Rai-Oh
1x Breaker the Magical Warrior
1x Jinzo
1x Mobius
Spells(4):
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Heavy Storm
2x Cold Wave
Traps(8):
3x Skill Drain
2x Royal Oppression
3x Solemn Judgment
With only about half of the deck filled, I now have all the cards I want in order to counter the major decks. Now let's find some cards that will have good synergy with the cards already in the deck as well as placing in some standard cards that should be almost everywhere and some extra cards to help control the duel.
With Skill Drain in the deck, Beastking Barbaros is a shoe-in. At worst he is a 1900 ATK beatstick or you can use 3 tributes to get an awesome effect, but at best he can get his ATK brought up to 3000 by Skill Drain without having to give him any tributes. With Thunder King Rai-Oh around, let's also add in 3 copies of Honest, who always has the potential to be the deciding factor in a duel while additionally both monsters can be fodder for Chaos Sorcerer who can also be added into the deck. Since we're adding in Chaos Sorcerer, let's also add Sangan to give him some more potential tributes and Sangan can additionally search out Honest or some of the other monsters I'll also be adding later.
Monster Reborn is a staple card for every deck in the game, so it needs to be here. Next, I'll add some tuners to the deck. Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind is 1 of the newest and best tuners in the game. When it uses its effect the targets attack is PERMANENTLY halved. It doesn't go back to normal at the end of the turn. This is huge. It is similar to summoning a 2600 ATK monster for no tributes and since it is a tuner it'll allow you to Synchro Summon! I'll also be including 1 copy of Emergency Teleport (E Tele) and 2 copies of Krebons to give myself additional Synchro options. Also, with all of these Dark monsters floating around it only seems right to add in a copy of Dark Armed Dragon (DAD) to the mix!
Next, in order to maintain a bit more control in the duel, I'll be adding in copies of Compulsory Evacuation Device (CED), Mind Crush, and Trap Dustshoot. CED is a nice card because it can take out a Synchro monster and doesn't set off Stardust Dragon. Also, it stops an array of other monsters that Bottomless Trap Hole can't deal with and to top it all off CED can also be used defensively to make effects like Smashing Ground, Lightning Vortex, and DAD fizzle. With Mind Crush now only semi-limited, I'll be adding 2 copies of it into the deck since it works well with CED and can shut down LS when they use Beckoning Light to bring multiple copies of Honest back into the hand. With Mind Crush being in-use, it only makes sense to also use Trap Dustshoot in order to have further control of my opponent's hand while also setting up for Mind Crush to combo.
After all of that, the deck now looks like this:
Monsters(20):
3x Thunder King Rai-Oh
1x Breaker the Magical Warrior
1x Jinzo
1x Mobius
3x Barbaros
3x Honest
1x Chaos Sorcerer
1x Sangan
3x Gale
2x Krebons
1x Dark Armed Dragon
Spells(6):
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Heavy Storm
2x Cold Wave
1x Monster Reborn
1x Emergency Teleport
Traps(14):
3x Skill Drain
2x Royal Oppression
3x Solemn Judgment
3x Compulsory Evacuation Device
2x Mind Crush
1x Trap Dustshoot
= 40 cards total
So, we now have all the cards for the main deck. Now we just need to construct the extra deck and the side deck. I am using both level 2 and 3 tuners and have level 3, 4, and 6 monsters. Therefore, I should probably have 1 copy of the level 5 Magical Android just in case, and then level 6, 7, and 8 tuners in larger numbers. Dark Strike Fighter works very well with DAD and Barbaros. Stardust Dragon and Colossal Fighter tend to be awesome monsters to summon, and you should typically carry 2-3 copies of Red Dragon Archfiend in case your opponent is setting a bunch of monsters. For a level 6 Synchro, Goyo Guardian is the obvious choice. Also, just in case I'm in an LP bind, having 2 copies of Thought Ruler Archfiend tends to be a good idea. This gives us this extra deck:
Extra Deck(15):
1x Magical Android
1x Goyo Guardian
3x Dark Strike Fighter
3x Stardust Dragon
3x Colossal Fighter
2x Red Dragon Archfiend
2x Thought Ruler Archfiend
Now for the side deck. I've already discussed that I'll be including Light-Imprisoning Mirror. I'll also include a couple copies of Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror in case I run into a Dark deck. In the case that I do end up using it I would probably side out some of my Dark monsters. I'll also be siding 3 copies of Threatening Roar in case I run into a GB deck or an LS deck that's using many copies of Cold Wave. The 3rd Oppression will also wind up in the side deck in case I have a need for it. I'll be adding 3 copies of Pulling the Rug to the side deck in case I find myself up against Monarchs or Gadgets. The last 3 spots get dedicated to Prohibition which can be used against any deck that revolves around 1 or 2 central cards.
Side Deck(15):
3x Light-Imprisoning Mirror
2x Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror
3x Threatening Roar
1x Royal Oppression
3x Pulling the Rug
3x Prohibition
The final deck in its glorious fullness is:
~Chaos Skill Drain~
Monsters(20):
3x Thunder King Rai-Oh
1x Breaker the Magical Warrior
1x Jinzo
1x Mobius
3x Barbaros
3x Honest
1x Chaos Sorcerer
1x Sangan
3x Gale
2x Krebons
1x Dark Armed Dragon
Spells(6):
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Heavy Storm
2x Cold Wave
1x Monster Reborn
1x Emergency Teleport
Traps(14):
3x Skill Drain
2x Royal Oppression
3x Solemn Judgment
3x Compulsory Evacuation Device
2x Mind Crush
1x Trap Dustshoot
Extra Deck(15):
1x Magical Android
1x Goyo Guardian
3x Dark Strike Fighter
3x Stardust Dragon
3x Colossal Fighter
2x Red Dragon Archfiend
2x Thought Ruler Archfiend
Side Deck(15):
3x Light-Imprisoning Mirror
2x Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror
3x Threatening Roar
1x Royal Oppression
3x Pulling the Rug
3x Prohibition
I hope you enjoyed this article and learned something about how to make an anti-meta deck, along with general deck building strategy and maybe you even learned some combos and synergies you didn't realize before. Peace out. Until next time. =)
10/10 