To kick off our coverage of the newly re-named Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series, we’re going to begin by talking about an old card. In fact, it’s an old god.

A very old god.

An Egyptian god.

Three weeks ago, we saw Quickdraw Dandywarrior dominate at the SHONEN JUMP Championship in Edison, New Jersey. This weekend, with Infernities and X-Sabers threatening to steal the spotlight, Quickdraw Duelists are finding new ways to adapt their strategy and try to keep up. Cards like Thunder King Rai-Oh, Pollinosis, and Mind Crush are all seeing play to stop Infernities, but Jake Wakid’s Deck is a real standout. He’s removed Quickdraw Synchron altogether in favor of a new secret weapon: Obelisk the Tormentor.

Wakid is running Obelisk the Tormentor with Hardened Armed Dragon, and when the two are combined it’s virtually impossible for the most popular Decks in this tournament to beat that combo. “Decks like Infernities and X-Sabers literally cannot get over Obelisk,” explained Wakid. “It’s impossible to get rid of it with those Decks.” Obelisk’s effects protect it from: Cards that would negate its summon, like Solemn Judgment; cards that would be activated in response to the summon, like Bottomless Trap Hole or Torrential Tribute; and cards that would target it at any time, like Book of Moon or an Infernity Deck’s Mist Wurm.

When Obelisk is Normal Summoned there are very few cards that can get it off the field. It either has to be destroyed by battle (and Obelisk has 4000 ATK) or destroyed with non-targeting effects like Mirror Force or Smashing Ground. With Hardened Armed Dragon’s protection, those last 2 cards can’t even destroy Obelisk. It’s almost impossible to get rid of without Honest or 2 copies of Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow.

Wakid’s Deck is very similar to a Quickdraw Dandywarrior build, but he’s traded Caius the Shadow Monarch and Quickdraw Synchron for Obelisk and Hardened Armed Dragon. Here’s what it looks like:

Monsters: 21

3x Obelisk the Tormentor

2x Light and Darkness Dragon

1x Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

3x Gravekeeper’s Spy

2x Super-Nimble Mega Hamster

3x Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter

2x Dandelion

2x Debris Dragon

1x Treeborn Frog

2x Hardened Armed Dragon

Spells: 8

2x Pot of Avarice

1x Heavy Storm

1x Mystical Space Typhoon

1x Brain Control

2x Soul Exchange

1x Foolish Burial

1x My Body as a Shield

Traps: 11

2x Bottomless Trap Hole

1x Dust Tornado

1x Phoenix Wing Wind Blast

1x Trap Dustshoot

1x Mirror Force

1x Torrential Tribute

1x Solemn Judgment

1x Starlight Road

1x Call of the Haunted

“I noticed when playing Quickdraw that the majority of the time you win without even bringing out Drill Warrior. The deck synergizes well on its own.”  Wakid’s three lines of offense are Obelisk the Tormentor, Light and Darkness Dragon, and Dragon Synchros he makes with Debris Dragon. His favorite opening move shows off his Deck’s gameplan. “Imagine this: First turn, you use Foolish Burial to send Dandylion to the Graveyard and summon 2 Fluff Tokens. Then, Summon Debris Dragon, get Dandylion, and Synchro Summon Stardust Dragon, giving you a total of 3 Tokens and Stardust.”

If Wakid’s opponent plays defensively next turn, he can Tribute all 3 of his Fluff Tokens for Obelisk on Turn 2, and he’ll have 6500 ATK between his 2 monsters. That’s enough attack points to take the Duel by Wakid’s third turn, and an opening like that immediately sends the opponent scrabbling for answers instead of advancing their own plans. “All it takes is 2 hits and you win!” If Wakid’s opponent activates Solemn Judgment at any point in the Duel, just one attack from Obelisk will end it.

The Deck has a lot of combo potential, and it all rests on Dandylion. “The Tokens are great for using Obelisk’s second effect to destroy all of the opponent’s monsters.” If Wakid draws multiple copies of Light and Darkness Dragon and Obelisk, he can discard one of them to Special Summon Hardened Armed Dragon and set up a Tribute Summon for a monster that will then benefit from Hardened Armed Dragon’s protection. This Deck takes a lot of the best moves from Quickdraw variants, and takes them in a whole new direction.

It’s important to note that both Light and Darkness Dragon and Obelisk are great monsters to Summon against Infernities. Obelisk is extremely difficult for the Infernity Deck to get past, and Light and Darkness Dragon negates all their key effects. The few cards he runs that aren’t so great against Infernities, like Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, still help him establish and protect his best moves.

In a tournament that promises to be faster than the one before it, playing 2-Tribute and 3-Tribute monsters might be a risk. But Jake Wakid makes up for that with a ton of effects hand-picked to take out the Decks he (and others) believe will be popular here this weekend. We’ll follow Wakid through the weekend, and hopefully we’ll get to see his Deck in action later on.