Deck Profile: Herman Herrera’s Fortunate Simorgh
We’ve seen a lot of Decks here today featuring new themes from Stardust Overdrive, but Herman Herrera may be the only Duelist in the building running two of those new themes at the same time! The power of “Dark Simorgh” is well understood by most, but add a dash of Fortune Ladies and you’ve got a surprisingly fast, deadly Deck that nobody could have seen coming! Here’s what Herrera’s Deck looks like…
| Monsters | Spells | Traps |
| 3 Broww, Huntsman of Dark World 3 Dark Simorgh 3 Fortune Lady Wind 3 Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive 1 Morphing Jar 1 Night Assailant 1 Fortune Lady Dark |
2 Gold Sarcophagus 3 Upstart Goblin 2 Hand Destruction 3 Fortune’s Future 2 Allure of Darkness 1 Card Destruction 3 Dark World Dealings 1 Heavy Storm |
2 Anti-Spell Fragrance 2 Divine Wrath 2 Royal Oppression 1 Solemn Judgment 1 Bottomless Trap Hole |
The core of the Deck is its 3 copies of “Dark Simorgh.” “Dark Simorgh” has a very high 2700 ATK, an effect that keeps the opponent from Setting cards, and Herrera can Special Summon it from his hand by removing a DARK and a WIND monster from his Graveyard. It’s extremely fast, extremely deadly, and supported by… Fortune Ladies?
Yes, that’s right –Herrera needs to play WIND and DARK monsters in order to Special Summon his “Dark Simorghs,” so he’s playing 3 copies of “Fortune Lady Wind,” and one copy of “Fortune Lady Dark.” He’s playing a few more DARK monsters too (like “Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive” and “Night Assailant”), but the Fortune Ladies are perhaps the most intriguing part of this strategy. Their presence in the Deck shapes a lot of Herrera’s other choices. Not only can Herrera destroy cards with Wind’s effect (clearing away threats like “Bottomless Trap Hole” and “Torrential Tribute” that would cause trouble for “Dark Simorgh”), but the Ladies are still useful when they’re removed from the game. Herrera’s playing three copies of “Fortune’s Future,” which lets him draw 2 cards by sending a removed Fortune Lady back to his Graveyard. That means more draws and more WIND & DARK monsters back in the Graveyard to help Summon “Dark Simorgh.”
Herrera has several ways to search out his Fortune Ladies. “Gold Sarcophagus” can remove them from his Deck, and either come to his hand in a couple turns or be sent to the Graveyard with “Fortune’s Future.” He can also get Fortune Ladies to the Graveyard with “Hand Destruction” or “Dark World Dealings,” and since he needs more DARK monsters in the Graveyard for “Dark World Dealings,” he’s running 3 copies of “Broww, Huntsman of Dark World.”
The Deck is extremely flexible as a result, able to adapt to the opponent’s players and search for the cards it needs. And it also draws a LOT of cards, thinning the Deck while loading the Graveyard for “Dark Simorgh.” And since Herrera draws so many extra cards that he might not have an immediate use for, it becomes easy to Special Summon “Dark Simorgh” from the Graveyard by discarding cards from the hand.
All that drawing and Deck thinning helps Herrera get to some key cards that he can’t search for quite as easily: “Anti-Spell Fragrance” and “Royal Oppression.” With “Anti-Spell Fragrance” on the field, both players have to Set Spell Cards and wait to use them, but if “Dark Simorgh” is on the field as well then the opponent can’t Set in the first place. This great combo can be slow to going, but Herrera speeds through his Deck with his 14 card-drawing Spells, 3 Dekoichi, “Morphing Jar,” and 2 copies of “Gold Sarcophagus.”
“Royal Oppression” stops Special Summons, protecting his 2700 ATK “Dark Simorghs” from bigger monsters like “Colossal Fighter” and “Goyo Guardian.” Since “Anti-Spell Fragrance” and Simorgh’s own effect ward off Spells and Traps that would threaten “Dark Simorgh,” Oppression covers the only remaining concern: monsters.
Herman Herrera’s really broken the mold with this strategy, diving head-first into a new card pool to create something totally unique. Check out his Deck in action in his Round 3 feature match located here.
