Bursting out of Storm of Ragnarok, the Six Samurai are one of the Decks poised to dominate the event this weekend. The release of the Legendary Six Samurai and their new cohorts has rocketed the Deck to the forefront of competitive Dueling. Legendary Six Samurai – Kizan and Legendary Six Samurai – Kageki make it easy to get 2 Samurai to the field at once. Kagemusha of the Six Samurai is the theme’s first Tuner. Shien’s Smoke Signal lets a Samurai Duelist get to the right monsters at the right time. And the mighty Synchro Monster Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En negates card after card to pin the opponent down.

But more than just those few cards are seeing play this weekend, and there are too many variations on the Samurai theme to keep track of. Two of the most popular are a minimalistic build with as few as 10 monsters, and a meatier build with closer to 15. Honorable Jonathan Moore is the only Duelist to ever win a Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship with a Six Samurai Deck, and he’s back again today playing a 14-monster version. He’s gunning for another Six Samurai Championship win with this Deck:

Monsters:

3 Legendary Six Samurai – Kageki

3 Kagemusha of the Six Samurai

3 Legendary Six Samurai – Kizan

3 Grandmaster of the Six Samurai

2 The Six Samurai – Zanji

Spells:

3 Gateway of the Six

3 Shien’s Smoke Signal

3 Six Samurai United

1 Reinforcement of the Army

1 Mind Control

1 Giant Trunade

1 Dark Hole

1 Monster Reborn

2 Book of Moon

2 Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps:

3 Solemn Warning

1 Solemn Judgment

1 Mirror Force

2 Trap Stun

1 Double Edged Sword Technique

In addition to newer monsters like Kageki, Kizan, and Kagemusha, Moore is also drawing on his old school roots by playing The Six Samurai – Zanji. By playing more monsters, plus multiple search cards to get them with (Reinforcement of the Army + Smoke Signal), Moore lowers the risk of drawing a monsterless hand. While Samurais can do amazing things with just 2 monsters and a single Gateway of the Six, Moore’s experienced enough to know that in a 10 or 11 round tournament, not running enough monsters can hurt you across the long term.

The key strength of Six Samurai right now is in their awe-inspiring Continuous Spells: Gateway of the Six and Six Samurai United. Both of these cards reward the Six Samurai Duelist with more draws and Deck searches. The more Samurai that you Summon, the more things these cards let you do. The problem in the past was that Grandmaster was the only “easy” Special Summon, so getting this strategy going was difficult.

But now, Samurai Duelists have Kizan and Kageki for simple Special Summons, plus a Samurai Synchro Monster. The doors are wide open for massive draws and huge hands!

Even without those Continous Spells, though, Samurai are a powerful force. Both Kizan and Kageki get big ATK when they’re accompanied by at least 1 other Samurai. Grandmaster has a natural 2100 Attack Points, and Zanji packs 1800. “Zanji also gets me through Gorz, which the deck can have trouble with,” Moore explained. “A lot of people forget that when Zanji would be destroyed, you can give up another Samurai instead.” That kind of experience is going to play in Moore’s favor this weekend, and the replacement effect when a Samurai would be destroyed isn’t the kind of thing that many Duelists seem to be thinking of. “It also really helps with Blackwings.” If Moore attacks a weaker Blackwing with Zanji, its effect will destroy that Blackwing – even if the Blackwing Duelist activates the effect of Blackwing – Kalut the Moonshadow. The Blackwing matchup is arguably the most difficult for the Samurai Duelist, so Main Deck answers are pure gold.

Another top choice is Double-Edged Sword Technique. This potent Trap Card allows a Samurai Duelist to Special Summon 2 Samurai from their Graveyard, but destroys them if they’re still on the field at the end of the turn. Then, the Six Samurai Duelist takes damage equal to the ATK of the destroyed monsters. In the past, that was a problem. The main way to play around it was to Tribute the Summoned monsters for Hand of the Six Samurai. But now the card’s changed entirely: bring back Kagemusha of the Six Samurai, and Double-Edged Sword Technique suddenly becomes any Level 5 or Level 6 Synchro Monster. Normally that means Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En, but it can also unleash Goyo Guardian, or Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.

Beyond those Samurai power-cards, Moore has built his Deck primarily to ensure a quick rush of attacks. “My games never really go past turn 5.” Triple Solemn Warning plus Solemn Judgment let him ensure that his path is cleared of monsters. Warning even shuts down Battle Fader, which is otherwise a great counter to swarm Decks like this. Though many Samurai Duelists are playing Upstart Goblin just to get to Gateway of the Six and Six Samurai United, Moore is playing a more balanced mix of control cards: he doesn’t want to give his opponents extra Life Points.

This is just the first of what’s likely to be several different versions of Six Samurai that we’ll see this weekend! Stick with us, as we explore the rebirth of this awesome Deck!