There are a lot of new ideas and tech we’re seeing this weekend, and Beast Decks are no exception! Josh Thomas has made some clever new additions to the Beast archetype, and the result is a Deck that’s big on defense, makes big plays with “Creature Swap,” and keeps Summoning “King of the Beasts” over and over. The secret ingredient? “Kinka-byo”!

If you’ve never seen a Raging Battle Beast Deck in action before, the strategy is to use “Moja” and “Beast Striker” to get “King of the Beasts” onto the field. When “King of the Beasts” is destroyed, “Beast Striker” can turn any in-hard card into another “Moja,” so “Moja” can be Tributed to bring back the King. “Beast Striker’s” effect fills the Graveyard for “Pot of Avarice,” Avarice draws cards and reloads those “Mojas,” and the King keeps swinging away until the opponent goes down.

The central combo is really sound, but it’s not enough to carry an entire Deck on its own. That’s why past efforts at Beast Decks just didn’t quite cut it in really competitive tournaments. But Thomas has pulled out all the stops, and though he’s still packing two copies of “Pot of Avarice” to keep his Deck loaded with “Mojas” (and his field loaded with 1 copy of “King of the Beasts”), he’s got alternate ways to support his three Central Beast cards.

“Kinka-byo” is a Spirit monster that lets Thomas Special Summon a Level 1 monster from his Graveyard each time “Kinka-byo” is Summoned. “Moja” happens to be Level 1, so “Kinka-byo” can bring it back from the Graveyard. The monster that “Kinka-byo” Summons gets removed from the game when “Kinka-byo” leaves the field (usually in the End Phase when “Kinka-byo’s” Spirit text returns it to its controller’s hand), but Thomas can put his “Moja” to work long before “Kinka-byo” would remove it.

Thomas can Tribute the “Kinka-byo” as soon as it hits the field to Special Summon “King of the Beasts.” That means he can keep bringing back the King without having to have the “Pot of Avarice” combo.

If Thomas already controls one copy of “King of the Beasts” he can’t Summon another, but he can use that “Moja” for something else: “Creature Swap.” Using “Creature Swap” to send “Moja” to the opponent’s side of the field in Attack Position accomplishes a number of goals. First, it eliminates a big monster if “King of the Beasts” couldn’t attack over it – and gives control of that card to Thomas. Two, it sticks the opponent with an Attack Position monster that only has 100 ATK. Three, when “Moja” gets run over, the opponent won’t just take a whack of damage – “Moja’s” effect will also trigger, getting Thomas a Beast monster back from his Graveyard. Since he Special Summoned “Moja” for free with “Kinka-byo,” Thomas is effectively just trading his “Creature Swap” for his opponent’s monster and a Beast from his Graveyard. Ouch.

Since Thomas is running three copies of “Creature Swap,” he’s also playing two copies of “Giant Rat” – more “Creature Swap” combos abound! “Giant Rat” lets him get to “Moja” when he doesn’t have “Beast Striker” around, and it can even search out “Rescue Cat.” “Rescue Cat” is especially good here, because Thomas can use it over and over again in a single Duel, courtesy of “Moja’s” ‘destroyed in battle’ effect. He’s of course running 3 “X-Saber Airbellums” too, giving him some heavy direct attack options as well as access to Tuners.

With Yellow Baboon in Stardust Overdrive, and new innovations like these, Beasts may coming back on the competitive map. And if they aren’t now, they’ll get another boost from a yet-to-be-revealed card when Absolute Powerforce comes out in February 2010!