Ever since Roy St. Clair took 3^rd place at SHONEN JUMP Championship Nashville with his X-Saber Deck, Duelists have been experimenting with X-Sabers and trying their hardest to bring them to the top. Chris Csikortos is one of those Duelists. Csikortos is using Gravekeeper’s Spy in his X-Saber Deck, because it gives him easy access to Arcanite Magician with all of his Level 3 X-Saber Tuners. His friend Jessy Samek is using an identical X-Saber Deck in today’s tournament. Csikortos is currently 3-0 in the tournament, giving X-Saber Duelists everywhere high hopes for their success. Take a look at Csikortos’s Decklist before The Shining Darkness revolutionizes the way X-Sabers are played.

Monsters:
1x Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
3x XX-Saber Faultroll
3x X-Saber Airbellum
2x Cyber Dragon
3x XX-Saber Emmersblade
2x XX-Saber Fulhelmknight
1x Summoner monk 
1x Rescue Cat 
3x Gravekeeper’s Spy
1x Sangan

Spells:
1x Pot of Avarice
1x Brain Control
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
2x Book of Moon
1x Cold Wave
1x Giant Trunade
1x Mind Control
1x Heavy Storm
 
Traps:
1x Torrential Tribute
2x Threatening Roar
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Mirror Force
1x Trap Dustshoot
2x Gottoms’ Emergency Call
2x Saber Hole
 
Extra Deck:
2x Arcanite Magician
1x Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1x Goyo Guardian
2x XX-Saber Gottoms
1x Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
2x XX-Saber Hyunlei
1x Colossal Fighter
1x Ally of Justice Catastor
1x X-Saber Urbellum
1x Black Rose Dragon
2x Stardust Dragon

Csikortos’s Deck is stacked with the best X-Sabers currently available, and there are many he decided not to play. He uses 3 copies each of X-Saber Airbellum, XX-Saber Faultroll, and XX-Saber Emmersblade, as well as 2 copies of XX-Saber Fulhelmknight. But Csikortos’s Deck isn’t totally devoted to his X-Sabers. He cut X-Sabers like XX-Saber Ragigura in favor of some tech choices that lie outside of the theme. He’s playing 1 copy of Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter to help him get his X-Sabers into the Graveyard, where he can revive them with Gottoms’ Emergency Call and XX-Saber Faultroll, as well as 2 copies of Cyber Dragon to enable easier Level 8 Synchro Summons and the Fusion Summon of Chimeratech Fortress Dragon. He’s also using Rescue Cat in his Deck, as well as Summoner Monk to fetch it. With Rescue Cat, Csikortos can Special Summon 2 copies of X-Saber Airbellum or an Airbellum with a Ryko from his Deck, enabling a strong Synchro Summon or sheer aggression. By Special Summoning 2 copies of X-Saber Airbellum with Rescue Cat, Csikortos can quickly Special Summon XX-Saber Faultroll from his hand, and use it to swarm the field by Special Summoning another monster from his Graveyard. This type of aggression can be tough to play against!

If Csikortos uses Summoner Monk to grab Rescue Cat from his Deck, he can Tune the Airbellum his Cat Special Summons from his Deck, along with his Summoner Monk, to Synchro Summon Arcanite Magician. Arcanite Magician is a popular card today because of its destructive capabilities.

Csikortos is also using 3 copies of Gravekeeper’s Spy in his Deck to make Arcanite Magician even easier to Summon. Once one of his Spies is flipped, any of his remaining 5 Level 3 Tuner Monsters can be Tuned to each Spy to Synchro Summon Arcanite Magician.

By excluding X-Sabers like Ragigura from his Deck, Csikortos really limited the amount of dead draws his Deck can give him. This low X-Saber monster count also caused him to play only 2 copies of Saber Hole and 2 copies of Gottoms’ Emergency Call instead of the typical 3 of each used in more dedicated Saber Decks. But with only 2 of each in his Deck, he’s also less likely to draw each of them without an X-Saber, when he can’t activate them. This added consistency may be just what Csikortos needs to make it to the Top 32 of this event.

With his strong X-Saber line-up, Csikortos still has access to some of X-Sabers’ best cards and plays, even after making exclusions of cards like Ragigura. “I like to activate Cold Wave and then Synchro Summon XX-Saber Hyunlei to blow away my opponents’ face-down cards,” Csikortos told me. “I also like to follow up Cold Wave with a play involving XX-Saber Faultroll.” With Cold Wave active, Csikortos can fearlessly swarm the field to make huge attacks or Summon big monsters. Since Csikortos Synchro Summons a lot of monsters, he also gets his monsters into the Graveyard quickly. That’s why he uses Pot of Avarice to recycle his X-Sabers and draw extra cards. Csikortos’s Deck is also playing Mind Control and Brain Control to take control of his opponents’ monsters and Tune them to one of his 5 Tuners.

Csikortos had a new take on X-Sabers when he constructed his Deck, and so far it’s working well for him. But with The Shining Darkness soon to be released and XX-Saber Palomuro and XX-Saber Boggart Knight joining the X-Saber team, competitive X-Saber Decks are about to change forever.