In a slower field the fastest Duelist is often king, and today that might be Jesse Contreras! The Six Samurai have slowly but surely grown a following over the past few weeks, since they get a lot of consistency from Pot of Duality. With so many Duelists Setting and using multiple cards in the same turn, Great Shogun Shien’s ability to limit the opponent to just 1 Spell or Trap Card every turn is a big advantage.

Here’s a look at Contreras’ build, which has been doing well here today:

Jesse Contreras’ Six Samurai Deck

Monsters:

2 Great Shogun Shien

3 Grandmaster of the Six Samurai

3 Hand of the Six Samurai

3 The Six Samurai – Zanji

2 The Six Samurai – Irou

2 The Six Samurai – Yaichi

1 Spirit of the Six Samurai

1 Effect Veiler

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Spells:

3 Book of Moon

1 Dark Hole

3 Gateway of the Six

1 Giant Trunade

1 Monster Reborn

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Pot of Duality

1 Reinforcement of the Army

3 Six Samurai United

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Traps:

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Mirror Force

1 Solemn Judgment

2 Solemn Warning

2 Threatening Roar

Contreras’ Deck is all about speed. With 3 Gateways of the Six, 3 Six Samurai United, and 2 Pots of Duality to draw and search cards, Contreras can seek out his key monsters to flood the field with Samurai. The lack of Heavy Storm has made Gateway of the Six much more powerful than it was before. It stays around longer, which means more turns to gather Bushido Counters. The 4-Counter effect is the main reason most Six Samurai Duelists run Gateway. By Summoning 2 “Six Samurai” monsters, a Samurai Duelist can place a total of 4 Bushido Counters on Gateway, then remove all 4 to get a Samurai from their Deck or Graveyard. In the past this was largely just a way to get to Grandmaster of the Six Samurai. Now, a single Gateway can search 2 or 3 cards over the course of a Duel, building up a force of Samurai strong enough to overpower an opponent’s defensive cards.

Grandmaster’s effect, which lets you send a Samurai from your Graveyard back to your hand when Grandmaster is destroyed by an opposing card effect, also helps Duelists like Contreras force their way through defensive cards like Mirror Force.

But with Gateway being so good, and sticking around for so long, it’s seeing plenty of other uses as well. “Boosting a monster’s ATK by 500 is actually really useful,” explained Contreras. By removing 2 Bushido Counters, Contreras can send out his Grandmaster to attack and destroy a monster like Stardust Dragon, or destroy a Defense Position Herald of Perfection with Great Shogun Shien. “The Herald can’t negate the effects of Gateway of the Six. That’s something some people don’t realize.”

In order to win with a Deck that doesn’t Synchro Summon and that needs to play its monsters in pairs, Contreras runs a ton of defense cards. He plays 2 copies each of Bottomless Trap Hole, Solemn Warning, and Threatening Roar. Roar lets him play a lot of monsters without worrying about an opponent’s counter-attack. He also plays triple Book of Moon, an extremely popular choice in today’s field largely due to the popularity of Trap Stun. Contreras doesn’t play Trap Stun himself. Most of his Spell and Trap Cards are focused on putting together his combos, or keeping the field clear. These are the two things he needs to do to steal wins as early as possible.

With enhanced speed, The Six Samurai are like an entirely different deck. Gone are the days when the Deck’s powerful Continuous Traps were constantly blown away by Heavy Storm. Six Samurai have a whole new lease on life, and we could see them in Day 2 action tomorrow!