Deck Profile: James Ribis’ Big Fairy Deck
James Ribis has made waves here the past few days, dominating opponents with his Level 8 Fairy Deck. Building around the powerful draw effect of Tethys, Goddess of Light, Ribis aims to Special Summon a swarm of high-powered Fairy-Type monsters with tremendous effects! Take a peek:
Check back after the event for the full Deck list!
Hecatrice lets him search his Deck for Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen, one of the most important cards for his strategy. It lets him Special Summon a big Fairy like Darklord Zerato or Dark Voltanis from his hand when he doesn’t control a monster. It’s also his number one way to unleash Tethys, Goddess of Light, which is his core card.
Tethys lets Ribis draw a card every time he draws a Fairy, and since he runs 21 Fairy-Type monsters, any draw will give him about a fifty/fifty chance of getting an extra card. That draw then triggers Tethys’ effect again, and he’ll keep drawing cards until he fails to draw a Fairy. All those extra cards give him more options for what to Summon, and more cards to discard for effects like Herald of Orange Light.
The challenge in playing Tethys is that the moment she hits the field she attracts a lot of attention. Duelists know how powerful Tethys can be if she stays on the field, and they’ll do anything to get rid of her. The best way to use her effect is to try and activate it as soon as possible once she hits the field. Ribis is playing 3 Trade-Ins and 3 Hand Destructions. These cards let him draw 2 cards when played, and only 1 of the draws needs to be a Fairy to get Ribis an extra draw. With all these Fairies getting sent to his Graveyard, he can also use Pot of Avarice to draw even more cards. It will also adjust his Graveyard size so he can have exactly 4 Fairies in the Graveyard, and Special Summon Archlord Kristya.
Ribis’ general strategy is “Big Fairies! Lots of draws!” Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen can bring out a huge monster even on turn 1, and getting Kristya out that early can devastate X-Sabers, Infernities, and Frogs, which all rely on Special Summoning. Darklord Zerato lets Ribis destroy all of his opponent’s monsters by discarding 1 DARK monster, which is easier since he’s drawing so many cards.
James Ribis definitely has 1 of the most unique Decks of this tournament, but will his strategy pay off? We’ll find out today, as we get ready to begin Round 1 here this morning! The pressure’s on: Ribis’ Deck choice got him a place as 1 of today’s Bounty Duelists, so each of his opponent’s will be Dueling their hardest.
