Joanna Foss entered the SHONEN JUMP Championship with her Earthbound Immortal Deck, showing off a whopping 7 Earthbound Immortal monsters in her Main Deck! Carly’s and Greiger’s Earthbound Immortals are both played in threes in Foss’s Deck! How does Foss’s Deck support so many monsters that require 2 Tributes to Summon? Take a look and see!

Foss’s Deck is all about quickly bringing an Earthbound Immortal onto the field and protecting it the best she can. To speed up her Tribute Summons, she runs 1 copy of “Battle Fader” and 2 copies of “Fires of Doomsday,” along with 2 copies of “Soul Exchange.” Since all of the Earthbound Immortals are DARK monsters, Foss can Tribute “Doomsday Tokens” to Summon an Earthbound Immortal. As you saw in the Round 2 Feature Match, Foss was able to Summon an Earthbound Immortal by Tributing 2 “Doomsday Tokens” on her second turn!

Foss also uses 3 copies of “Mausoleum of the Emperor” and 2 copies of “Terraforming” to search them out. “Mausoleum of the Emperor” is essential to the Deck. Not only does it let Foss Summon any Earthbound Immortal in her hand without Tribute by paying 2000 Life Points, it also counts as the Field Spell Card needed to prevent Foss’s Earthbound Immortals from destroying themselves.

Once Foss gets an Earthbound Immortal on the field along with “Mausoleum of the Emperor,” she can protect her cards with “Dark Illusion” and “Earthbound Wave.” “Dark Illusion” will negate and destroy anything that targets her Earthbound Immortal, while “Earthbound Wave” will negate and destroy any Spell or Trap Card her opponent plays. This includes anything that threatens her Field Spell Card.

But Foss’s Deck can function even without a Field Spell Card in play. Foss plays 3 copies of “Hardened Armed Dragon” and 3 copies of “Masked Dragon” to bring them onto the field. If “Hardened Armed Dragon” is Tributed to Summon an Earthbound Immortal, nothing can destroy that Immortal – not even its own effect! Against pure Lightsworn Decks, Tributing a “Hardened Armed Dragon” for an Earthbound Immortal will usually win Foss the game. Since Earthbound Immortals can’t be attacked (and Foss can’t be attacked if she has an Earthbound Immortal and no other monsters on the field), Duelists can’t use “Honest” to attack over it. Since the Earthbound Immortal can’t be destroyed (thanks to the effect of “Hardened Armed Dragon,”) a Lightsworn Duelist would usually need to Synchro Summon “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier” to return the Earthbound Immortal to Foss’s hand.

Many Decks, including Blackwing and Gladiator Beast Decks, have trouble getting rid of huge monsters that can’t be destroyed, and “Dark Illusion” and “Earthbound Roar” only make it harder.

Foss told me she wasn’t able to get all of the cards from Absolute Powerforce that she wanted to add to her Deck, including “Earthbound Linewalker,” but in spite of that, she had the courage to enter the SHONEN JUMP Championship with her Earthbound Immortal Deck unlike any other competitor. Maybe by seeing her Deck, some Duelists will see the untapped potential Earthbound Immortals possess and take it upon themselves to build the best Earthbound Immortal Deck they can.