In Round 5, we saw Daniel Joy take on Flamvells with his GiganteScraps Deck, capturing a 2-1 victory to clinch an undefeated 5-0 record.  Over the past few weeks we’ve seen Tricky Scraps, Gravekeeper Scraps, pure Scraps, and other Scrap Decks in competition – but we haven’t seen a Scrap Deck quite like this!  Here’s what Joy’s Deck looks like:

Check back after the event is over for the full Deck List.

Daniel Joy’s GiganteScraps – 40 Cards

Monsters: 20

2 Dark Desertapir

3 Scrap Beast

2 Battle Fader

3 Scrap Goblin

3 The Tricky

3 Scrap Chimera

1 Scrap Golem

2 Gigantes

1 Card Trooper

Spells: 11

2 Scrapyard

2 Scrapstorm

2 Book of Moon

1 Giant Trunade

1 Monster Reborn

1 Gold Sarcophagus

1 Dark Hole

1 Pot of Duality

Traps: 9

2 Ultimate Offering

2 Threatening Roar

2 Solemn Warning

2 Trap Stun

1 Solemn Judgment

By now, you’re hopefully familiar with the basic Scrap Deck’s combos and strategy.  And 2 weeks ago in YCS San Jose, Top 16 finisher Darryl Huang showed us the power of The Tricky in combination with the Scrap lineup. Scrap Decks often fall into a pattern of Summoning just a single monster each turn – that’s a problem, because it can make the Deck predictable and easy to defend against.  But The Tricky is a solid attacker; loads the Graveyard with Scrap Goblin and Scrap Beast at unexpected times; and acts as a Level 5 Synchro Material to easily make the Level 8 Scrap Dragon when it’s paired with Goblin.  The Tricky lets a Scrap Duelist break away from the opponent’s expectations and find openings that would normally be impossible.  Joy took that lesson to heart after seeing Darryl Huang do so well with it at San Jose: he’s playing 3 copies of The Tricky, but he’s taken Huang’s strategy of speed and explosiveness a few steps further.  The result is a Scrap Deck that can be even faster and deadlier than Huang’s.

The secret ingredients?  Joy puts together more Synchro Summons than opponents can anticipate with the easy-to-Special-Summon Gigantes, as well as 1 of the least talked-about World Premier cards from Duelist Revolution: Dark Desertapir!  Gigantes can be Special Summoned by removing almost any of Joy’s monsters from his Graveyard: its 1900 ATK makes it a powerful attacker when Scrap Dragon’s cleared the field, and since it’s Level 4, it Tunes to Scrap Beast for an easy Level 8 Synchro Monster, such as Scrap Dragon.  Dark Desertapir is really cool, too: when it’s removed from play, it has an optional effect that can let Joy Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Beast-Type from his Graveyard.  That means that if he has a non-Tuner Synchro Material on the field (like Gigantes), he can Special Summon Scrap Beast for a Synchro Summon.  If he’s already got Scrap Beast or Scrap Goblin face-up, he can Special Summon Scrap Chimera instead and make a Scrap Archfiend or Scrap Dragon.

Dark Desertapir’s effect misses the timing and can’t be activated when it’s removed for the Special Summon of Gigantes – in that case, the last thing to happen is Gigantes‘ Special Summon, not Dark Desertapir being removed.  But Joy can remove it straight from his Deck with Gold Sarcophagus: he’ll immediately Special Summon Chimera or Beast with Dark Desertapir’s effect, and 2 turns later he’ll add Dark Desertapir to his hand.  “If I get Dark Desertapir by drawing it, or taking it with Sarcophagus’ effect, I can discard it for The Tricky or Set it and destroy it with Scrap Dragon.”  It’s also 1 of the few Level 2 monsters that are compatible with the Scrap strategy, so it opens up Level 5 and Level 6 Synchro Summon possibilities with Scrap Goblin and Scrap Beast respectively.  While Dark Desertapir isn’t a great draw on its own, there are plenty of ways to put it to work outside of the Gold Sarcophagus combo.

The last fresh tech choice speeding up Joy’s Deck is a pair of Ultimate Offering.  Darryl Huang played a single copy of Offering in his original Tricky Scraps build, but Joy’s found that it’s useful enough to play 2 of.  Again, it’s all about opportunity: if Joy’s opponent passes with a weak or empty field, Ultimate Offering can let him make big, unexpected pushes with multiple Normal Summons.  Those Normal Summons get rolled straight into Synchro Summons, and additional Special Summons courtesy of Scrap Chimera.  Often, the Synchro Materials amassed and Tuned together with Ultimate Offering become the monsters to be removed for Gigantes, or Special Summoned back with Scrap Chimera, all in a single turn.  Since Ultimate Offering’s effect also allows Duelists to Special Summon during the opponent’s Battle Phase, it can even be used as a strong defensive trick when combined with Scrap Goblin.

Daniel Joy’s GiganteScrap Deck seems like a logical progression from the groundwork Darryl Huang established at YCS San Jose.  Gigantes definitely has a role in the future of Scraps, and Joy may cement that with a Top 32 finish this weekend.