Exodia the Forbidden One:
You've asked for it, so here it is. My newest article is all on Exodia. Keep suggesting new
topics and your topic may be considered for my next article.
There are a few ways to play Exodia decks. This article will look at some of these methods,
while also looking considering what type of meta is the best for an Exodia deck and which
method works best in the current KCVDS meta (since I know most of you prefer KCVDS over
YVD and DMU, which have more cards and thus a different meta). The Exodia strategies to
be checked out in this guide are:
A. Stall Exodia
B. Vanilla Exodia
C. Revival Exodia
D. Standard Exodia
Before I get into each of the different strategies, however, there are some cards that are going
to be the same in every Exodia deck:
Monsters(9):
5x Pieces of Exodia
3x Emissary of the Afterlife
1x Sangan
Spells(3):
3x Upstart Goblin
Traps(3):
3x Reckless Greed
That's 15 cards, so that leaves 25 cards to play around with for each strategy.
A. Stall Exodia:
Stall Exodia deals with stopping your opponent from damaging you, and thus gives you the
time to search out the Exodia cards. This method uses cards like Level Limit Area B (LLAB),
Gravity Bind, Swords of Revealing Light (SoRL), Messenger of Peace and Nightmare's
Steelcage in order to stop your opponent's monsters from doing any damage to you. It also
uses monsters that cannot be destroyed by battle like Marshmallon, Spirit Reaper, and
Gellenduo to provide you with a solid wall of defense. The rest of deck is based on protecting
your stall cards with Counter Traps (Solemn Judgment and Dark Bribe) and using more cards
like Cyber Valley to both stall and give you draw power. Not including the 15 cards mentioned
above, here are the extra 25 cards for this deck:
Monsters(
:
1x Spirit Reaper
1x Marshmallon
3x Gellenduo
3x Cyber Valley
Spells(10):
1x LLAB
1x SoRL
3x Messenger of Peace
3x Nightmare's Steelcage
1x Monster Reborn
1x Monster Reincarnation (to retrieve a piece in case it is discarded from hand by opponent's effect)
Traps(7):
1x Gravity Bind
3x Solemn Judgment
3x Dark Bribe
B. Vanilla Exodia:
Vanilla Exodia utilizes Heart of the Underdog (HotU) along with Normal (Vanilla) monsters to
create a powerful draw engine, while also being able to have a chance at winning just via
beatdown instead of relying entirely on Exodia. Primarily, the deck focuses on Vanilla
monsters with 1900 or 2000 ATK. There are some noobs who will go about making a deck of
all Vanilla monsters Exodia pieces 2x HotU, but that method doesn't win because your
chances of getting HotU in you hand on turn 1 are slim. Better is to use it as a draw engine
rather than trying to OTK with it. Because so many Vanilla monsters are being used, you can
also include copies of Justi-Break to give you basically 4 copies of Mirror Force in your deck!
Here are the 25 additional cards for this deck:
Monsters(14):
3x Gene-Warped Warwolf
3x Luster Dragon (I think this goes by Sapphire Dragon on KCVDS)
3x Archfiend Soldier
3x Insect Knight
2x Vorse Raider
Spells(6):
3x HotU
1x Monster Reborn
1x Heavy Storm
1x Monster Reincarnation
Traps(5):
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
3x Justi-Break
C. Revival Exodia:
Revival Exodia gives the idea of dumping pieces into the graveyard and then using cards to
bring them directly back to the hand. Because of this, the deck can be sped up by cards like
Morphing Jar and Card Destruction. You can also use Foolish Burial in order to specifically
toss the Exodia pieces in the grave. Then use cards like Monster Reincarnation, Dark
Factory of Mass Production (DFoMP), and Backup Soldier to bring the cards back to your
hand. The deck uses a few stall cards, but not as many as in the stall build because there is
enough draw power to get the cards quickly. The build also does not typically bother
defending those stall cards because it slows down the strategy. Here's an example of the 25
additional cards for this build:
Monsters(:
2x Cyber Valley
1x Marshmallon
1x Spirit Reaper
1x Morphing Jar
3x Broww (works with Morphing Jar, Card Destruction, and Dark World Dealings to give you
even more draw power and to temper the many -1 effects in the deck)
Spells(12):
2x Foolish Burial
1x Card Destruction
2x Monster Reincarnation
2x DFoMP
1x Monster Reborn
1x LLAB
3x Dark World Dealings
Traps(5):
2x Backup Soldier
1x Gravity Bind
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
D. Standard Exodia:
The Standard Exodia build is all about speed. Fly through your deck as quickly as possible to
find the pieces of Exodia in as few turns as possible. Some stall cards must still be used, but
they are only there to protect you for a couple turns. For this build, I prefer using the Destiny
engine, because KCVDS ban list still have Destiny Draw (D Draw) at 3 and using Defender to
stall (and it works with Sangan to make 4 Crush Card Virus targets) and Diamond Dude for
continued milling is very good stuff. You can also set 2 or 3 copies of Good Goblin
Housekeeping (GGH) and a copy of Emergency Provisions for a fast draw. If Emergency
Provisions is the last card in the chain, all copies of GGH will be in the graveyard when they go
to resolve, allowing you to draw more cards. You can also replace this strategy with Dark
World Dealings and Broww if that is more to your taste. Here is my version of this build:
Monsters(9):
1x E Hero Stratos
3x D Hero Defender
3x D Hero Diamond Dude
1x Spirit Reaper
1x Marshmallon
Spells(9):
1x Monster Reborn
3x D Draw
1x RotA
1x Monster Reincarnation
1x LLAB
2x Emergency Provisions
Traps(6):
3x GGH
1x Gravity Bind
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
1x CCV
Ok, we've now taken a look at 4 of the most major Exodia builds. There are others, but these
are the ones that are usable on KCVDS. Manticore Loop is fun, but Manticore of Darkness is
not available on KCVDS. There are faster versions available, but KCVDS doesn't have cards
like Allure of Darkness. The slow meta on KCVDS means that the slower versions of the
Exodia deck are going to have difficulty due to all of the 1 for 1 destruction that is currently
being used, so I would place Stall Exodia as the worst one to use right now on KCVDS. Next
is to look at consistency. The Vanilla Exodia and Revival Exodia both have more chances for
dead draws versus the Standard Exodia. Therefore, Standard Exodia, with its speed and
consistency is probably going to get you the most wins on KCVDS. However, the Vanilla
Exodia does give you a secondary win condition, while the other decks rely solely on getting
the 5 pieces in order to win. In the end, it does come down to your own personal choices and
your preferred playing style. My pick is the Standard Exodia, but the other versions can win
you duels as well. Until next time, peace out!
Appendix of Terms:
Broww = Broww, Huntsman of Dark World
CCV = Crush Card Virus
DFoMP = Dark Factory of Mass Production
D Draw = Destiny Draw
D Hero = Destiny Hero
E Hero = Elemental Hero
GGH = Good Goblin Housekeeping
HotU = Heart of the Underdog
LLAB = Level Limit Area B
RotA = Reinforcement of the Army
SoRL = Swords of Revealing Light
these are common terms, learn them!
Last edited by nekofjung on Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:07 am; edited 1 time in total
You've asked for it, so here it is. My newest article is all on Exodia. Keep suggesting new
topics and your topic may be considered for my next article.
There are a few ways to play Exodia decks. This article will look at some of these methods,
while also looking considering what type of meta is the best for an Exodia deck and which
method works best in the current KCVDS meta (since I know most of you prefer KCVDS over
YVD and DMU, which have more cards and thus a different meta). The Exodia strategies to
be checked out in this guide are:
A. Stall Exodia
B. Vanilla Exodia
C. Revival Exodia
D. Standard Exodia
Before I get into each of the different strategies, however, there are some cards that are going
to be the same in every Exodia deck:
Monsters(9):
5x Pieces of Exodia
3x Emissary of the Afterlife
1x Sangan
Spells(3):
3x Upstart Goblin
Traps(3):
3x Reckless Greed
That's 15 cards, so that leaves 25 cards to play around with for each strategy.
A. Stall Exodia:
Stall Exodia deals with stopping your opponent from damaging you, and thus gives you the
time to search out the Exodia cards. This method uses cards like Level Limit Area B (LLAB),
Gravity Bind, Swords of Revealing Light (SoRL), Messenger of Peace and Nightmare's
Steelcage in order to stop your opponent's monsters from doing any damage to you. It also
uses monsters that cannot be destroyed by battle like Marshmallon, Spirit Reaper, and
Gellenduo to provide you with a solid wall of defense. The rest of deck is based on protecting
your stall cards with Counter Traps (Solemn Judgment and Dark Bribe) and using more cards
like Cyber Valley to both stall and give you draw power. Not including the 15 cards mentioned
above, here are the extra 25 cards for this deck:
Monsters(
:1x Spirit Reaper
1x Marshmallon
3x Gellenduo
3x Cyber Valley
Spells(10):
1x LLAB
1x SoRL
3x Messenger of Peace
3x Nightmare's Steelcage
1x Monster Reborn
1x Monster Reincarnation (to retrieve a piece in case it is discarded from hand by opponent's effect)
Traps(7):
1x Gravity Bind
3x Solemn Judgment
3x Dark Bribe
B. Vanilla Exodia:
Vanilla Exodia utilizes Heart of the Underdog (HotU) along with Normal (Vanilla) monsters to
create a powerful draw engine, while also being able to have a chance at winning just via
beatdown instead of relying entirely on Exodia. Primarily, the deck focuses on Vanilla
monsters with 1900 or 2000 ATK. There are some noobs who will go about making a deck of
all Vanilla monsters Exodia pieces 2x HotU, but that method doesn't win because your
chances of getting HotU in you hand on turn 1 are slim. Better is to use it as a draw engine
rather than trying to OTK with it. Because so many Vanilla monsters are being used, you can
also include copies of Justi-Break to give you basically 4 copies of Mirror Force in your deck!
Here are the 25 additional cards for this deck:
Monsters(14):
3x Gene-Warped Warwolf
3x Luster Dragon (I think this goes by Sapphire Dragon on KCVDS)
3x Archfiend Soldier
3x Insect Knight
2x Vorse Raider
Spells(6):
3x HotU
1x Monster Reborn
1x Heavy Storm
1x Monster Reincarnation
Traps(5):
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
3x Justi-Break
C. Revival Exodia:
Revival Exodia gives the idea of dumping pieces into the graveyard and then using cards to
bring them directly back to the hand. Because of this, the deck can be sped up by cards like
Morphing Jar and Card Destruction. You can also use Foolish Burial in order to specifically
toss the Exodia pieces in the grave. Then use cards like Monster Reincarnation, Dark
Factory of Mass Production (DFoMP), and Backup Soldier to bring the cards back to your
hand. The deck uses a few stall cards, but not as many as in the stall build because there is
enough draw power to get the cards quickly. The build also does not typically bother
defending those stall cards because it slows down the strategy. Here's an example of the 25
additional cards for this build:
Monsters(
:2x Cyber Valley
1x Marshmallon
1x Spirit Reaper
1x Morphing Jar
3x Broww (works with Morphing Jar, Card Destruction, and Dark World Dealings to give you
even more draw power and to temper the many -1 effects in the deck)
Spells(12):
2x Foolish Burial
1x Card Destruction
2x Monster Reincarnation
2x DFoMP
1x Monster Reborn
1x LLAB
3x Dark World Dealings
Traps(5):
2x Backup Soldier
1x Gravity Bind
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
D. Standard Exodia:
The Standard Exodia build is all about speed. Fly through your deck as quickly as possible to
find the pieces of Exodia in as few turns as possible. Some stall cards must still be used, but
they are only there to protect you for a couple turns. For this build, I prefer using the Destiny
engine, because KCVDS ban list still have Destiny Draw (D Draw) at 3 and using Defender to
stall (and it works with Sangan to make 4 Crush Card Virus targets) and Diamond Dude for
continued milling is very good stuff. You can also set 2 or 3 copies of Good Goblin
Housekeeping (GGH) and a copy of Emergency Provisions for a fast draw. If Emergency
Provisions is the last card in the chain, all copies of GGH will be in the graveyard when they go
to resolve, allowing you to draw more cards. You can also replace this strategy with Dark
World Dealings and Broww if that is more to your taste. Here is my version of this build:
Monsters(9):
1x E Hero Stratos
3x D Hero Defender
3x D Hero Diamond Dude
1x Spirit Reaper
1x Marshmallon
Spells(9):
1x Monster Reborn
3x D Draw
1x RotA
1x Monster Reincarnation
1x LLAB
2x Emergency Provisions
Traps(6):
3x GGH
1x Gravity Bind
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
1x CCV
Ok, we've now taken a look at 4 of the most major Exodia builds. There are others, but these
are the ones that are usable on KCVDS. Manticore Loop is fun, but Manticore of Darkness is
not available on KCVDS. There are faster versions available, but KCVDS doesn't have cards
like Allure of Darkness. The slow meta on KCVDS means that the slower versions of the
Exodia deck are going to have difficulty due to all of the 1 for 1 destruction that is currently
being used, so I would place Stall Exodia as the worst one to use right now on KCVDS. Next
is to look at consistency. The Vanilla Exodia and Revival Exodia both have more chances for
dead draws versus the Standard Exodia. Therefore, Standard Exodia, with its speed and
consistency is probably going to get you the most wins on KCVDS. However, the Vanilla
Exodia does give you a secondary win condition, while the other decks rely solely on getting
the 5 pieces in order to win. In the end, it does come down to your own personal choices and
your preferred playing style. My pick is the Standard Exodia, but the other versions can win
you duels as well. Until next time, peace out!
Appendix of Terms:
Broww = Broww, Huntsman of Dark World
CCV = Crush Card Virus
DFoMP = Dark Factory of Mass Production
D Draw = Destiny Draw
D Hero = Destiny Hero
E Hero = Elemental Hero
GGH = Good Goblin Housekeeping
HotU = Heart of the Underdog
LLAB = Level Limit Area B
RotA = Reinforcement of the Army
SoRL = Swords of Revealing Light
these are common terms, learn them!
Last edited by nekofjung on Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:07 am; edited 1 time in total