A Chaos Deck is a Deck that combines LIGHT monsters with DARK monsters. It gets this name because of monsters like Chaos Sorcerer, which require you to have LIGHT & DARK monsters to Summon it. Chaos Decks have been popular at tournaments for years, and are still popular today, especially since Chaos Sorcerer went from Limited (only 1 copy per Deck) to Semi-Limited (you can have 2 copies) starting on September 1.

Lance Leonhardt’s Eradicator Chaos Deck puts a new spin on Chaos. At first glance, it may look like it runs your standard assortment of DARK and LIGHT monsters, but if you look closer, you’ll see that it runs a bunch of unordinary monster choices, including Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast and Giant Kozaky. “Is Leonhardt mad?”, as Kozaky might ask. No. He just plans to unleash an eradicating virus against all of his opponents.

Lance Leonhardt’s Eradication Deck

Monsters:

1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

2 Chaos Sorcerer

3 Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast

1 Giant Kozaky

3 Cyber Dragon

3 Thunder King Rai-Oh

2 Doomcaliber Knight

2 Effect Veiler

1 Spirit Reaper

1 Sangan

1 Morphing Jar

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Spells:

3 Pot of Duality

1 Dark Hole

1 Monster Reborn

3 Book of Moon

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Traps:

3 Eradicator Epidemic Virus

1 Deck Devastation Virus

1 Mirror Force

1 Torrential Tribute

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Solemn Judgment

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Mind Crush

1 Trap Dustshoot

Leonhardt’s Deck is focused around activating Eradicator Epidemic Virus to get rid of his opponent’s Trap Cards. (Eradicator Epidemic Virus is a Trap Card that lets a Duelist Tribute a DARK monster with 2500 or more ATK, to destroy all of his opponent’s Spell or Trap Cards, including the ones in his hand and every Spell/Trap he draws for the next 3 turns!) With Trap Cards seeing a rise in play, now’s the perfect time for Leonhardt to take advantage of his Eradicator Virus. Solemn Warning, Starlight Road, Dimensional Prison, and other Trap Cards that sit in the opponent’s back row until they’re triggered are rapidly gaining popularity. Eradicator Epidemic Virus takes them all out at once, and even hits the Traps his opponent draws over the next few turns!

Leonhardt uses plenty of monsters that he can Tribute to activate his Eradicator Epidemic Virus. Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, Fusilier Dragon – the Dual-Mode Beast, and Giant Kozaky are all in his Deck and can all be Tributed to activate it. (Fusilier Dragon can be Tributed to activate Eradicator Epidemic Virus if it’s Set face-down without a Tribute.) Leonhardt also uses 2 copies of Effect Veiler – a new Level 1 Tuner from Duelist Revolution that he can Tune with his Level 7 Fusilier Dragon to Synchro Summon a Level 8 Synchro Monster. Synchro Summoning a powerful DARK monster like Colossal Fighter or Red Dragon Archfiend gives Leonhardt another monster to Tribute when he wants to activate his Eradicator Epidemic Virus. All of these monsters, plus Chaos Sorcerer, can also be Tributed as a cost for Leonhardt to activate his other Trap: Deck Devastation Virus, which wipes out all of his opponent’s low-ATK monsters for 3 turns.

When Leonhart pulls off his Eradicator Epidemic Virus and destroys all of his opponent’s Trap Cards, his opponent is left defenseless while Leonhart Summons his biggest monsters to the field. Cyber Dragon, Doomcaliber Knight, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Chaos Sorcerer, and more, will overwhelm his opponent. When Leonhardt can’t pull off his Eradicator Virus, he uses Cyber Dragon to bait out his opponent’s Trap Cards, like Bottomless Trap Hole and Solemn Warning, so that he can keep other monsters, like Thunder King Rai-Oh, on the field.

Leonhardt’s strongest opening play uses a first turn Virus. This move gives his opponent a crippling start, and makes it tough for the opponent to recover. Leonhardt uses 3 copies of Pot of Duality to help him pull off his play as quickly as possible. “The Deck is almost impossible to beat once it goes off,” Leonhardt says. With the potential to pull off his strongest play as soon as the Duel begins, Leonhardt can secure victory before his opponent even gets to draw his first card.

If Leonhardt doesn’t start off with a Virus, he can usually Summon Thunder King Rai-Oh or Doomcaliber Knight instead. They let him immediately establish control in the Duel without using a Virus.

Morphing Jar and Mind Crush are particularly powerful cards in Leonhardt’s Deck. After he flips Morphing Jar to refill both players’ hands, he can use a Virus to get rid off the cards his opponent drew. Better yet, if his opponent attacks a face-down Morphing Jar while infected with a Virus, he’ll lose some of his cards as soon as he draws them. Since each Virus used in Leonhardt’s Deck lets him see his opponent’s hand, Leonhardt will frequently know which cards his opponent is holding, and be able to discard the strongest one with Mind Crush.

Leonhardt’s Deck is powerful, but Leonhardt will have to overcome the rising popularity of Trap Stun if he wants to succeed in the tournament today. Trap Stun can negate his key cards, including the Viruses. “There has to be a lot of careful plays, trying to bait out Trap Stun if the opponent was lucky enough to draw one,” Leonhardt explained. It can be tough, but Leonhardt’s Eradicator Virus can also destroy Trap Stun if he manages to activate the Virus before his opponent can Set it, or if the opponent draws it while infected by the Virus.

Will all this strategy be enough for him to make it to the Top 32 this weekend? We’re going to find out!