Deck Profile: Alexander Thomas’ T.G. Deck
If you read our Round 2 Feature Match, you saw Alexander Thomas take an astounding 2-0 victory with his T.G. Deck. Thomas’ strategy is all about big defense: in a format where cards like Hand of the Six Samurai, Gemini Spark, and Gravekeeper’s Descendant often make for crushing second turns that immediately devastate the opponent, T.G. monsters are totally unique. There are four T.G. monsters that form the core of the T.G. Decks being played here this weekend, and each has a similar effect: when they’re destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, their controller gets to search another T.G. monster with a different name, adding it to their hand from the Deck. That makes it really hard to wear down a T.G. Duelist’s defenses: destroy an on-field monster and it just gets replaced. That effect lets a T.G. Duelist chump block attacks and build combos, exploding with Special Summon tricks that are unique to the T.G. theme.
Add some Spirit Reapers and a dash of Meklord Emperor Skiel, and you get Alexander Thomas’ T.G. Deck that we saw claim victory earlier today. Here’s what it looks like!
T.G. – 43 Cards
Monsters: 18
1 Meklord Emperor Skiel
3 T.G. Striker
3 T.G. Warwolf
3 T.G. Rush Rhino
3 T.G. Cyber Magician
2 Effect Veiler
2 Spirit Reaper
1 Sangan
Spells: 9
2 Pot of Duality
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Dark Hole
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Monster Reborn
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Book of Moon
Traps: 16
3 TG1- EM1
3 TGX3-DX2
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Solemn Warning
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
1 Dark Bribe
1 Mind Crush
1 Scrap-Iron Scarecrow
1 Torrential Tribute
Extra Deck: 15
3 T.G. Wonder Magician
2 T.G. Power Gladiator
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Armory Arm
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Gaia Knight, The Force of Earth
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
One of the best things about the T.G. theme is that it packs some incredible Spell and Trap support. TG1-EM1 lets Thomas trade any 1 of his face-up T.G.’s for any 1 of his opponent’s monsters: it’s like a Chainable Creature Swap, where you get to take your opponent’s best monster instead of their worst. Not only does TG1-EM1 let Thomas swap low ATK monsters in Attack Position for stuff like Scrap Dragons, Stardusts, and Thunder Kings, it also sets him up to make the most of his T.G. monster effects. T.G.’s don’t care what side of the field they’re on when they’re destroyed: as long as they go to their owner’s Graveyard, the owner of the T.G. monster still gets to search for another. One of the greatest moves Thomas can make is to bait out a big monster; steal it with TG1-EM1; and then run over his own T.G. to search out a combo piece and keep up the pressure. It’s devastating, and it happens as a matter of routine.
Almost as impressive is the other big T.G. Trap Card: TGX3-DX2. It shuffles back 3 T.G. monsters from the T.G. Duelist’s deck to let them draw 2 cards. That’s three monsters from the Graveyard (T G X 3), and 2 draws (D X 2), hence the name. It’s like Pot of Avarice, but it’s Chainable, and it’s way easier to activate since it requires just 3 monsters instead of 5. “As soon as I make a T.G. Synchro Monster and it goes to the Graveyard, that’s a TGX3,” commented Thomas. Since those monsters replace themselves with more if they’re destroyed, Thomas can just block attack after attack with defending monsters and gain cards while doing so.
If you’re not familiar with the T.G. monsters, they’re more than just self-replacing walls. T.G. Rush Rhino is a Level 4 Non-Tuner, and T.G. Cyber Magician is a Level 1 Tuner that can Tune with other T.G. monsters in your hand, as long as you’re Synchro Summoning a T.G. Synchro. With Cyber Magician on the field, you can Tune it to a Rush Rhino in your hand for T.G. Wonder Magician or T.G. Power Gladiator. Similar plays can be made with the pairing of T.G. Striker and T.G. Warwolf.
When your opponent controls a monster and you don’t, you can Special Summon Striker. When either Duelist Special Summons a Level 4 or lower monster, you can Special Summon Warwolf: that allows you to bring out both monsters in succession without ever using your Normal Summon, giving another easy path to Level 5 Synchros. Even on its own, the Warwolf is a standout. It combos with Glow-Up Bulb and Spore, and it can be used as an emergency defender when your opponent commits to a big push backed by one-shot cards like Giant Trunade.
If you’re reading this live on Saturday, you can’t see an interesting fact about Thomas’ strategy: he plays 43 cards in his Main Deck. Normally, Duelists try to keep their Decks as close to 40 cards as they can, helping them draw their best cards as frequently as possible. That was where Thomas started as he developed this Deck: “I started off with 40 cards, but with Pot of Avarice and TGX3 sending so many monsters back to my Deck, I found that as Duels wore on, I’d draw fewer and fewer Spell and Trap cards.” Faced with the decision of either running fewer monsters, or adding more Spells and Traps, Thomas made the unconventional choice to simply play more of the latter. It sounds suspect by today’s standards, but the same philosophy has worked for years in certain Gadget variants (which also feature a family of monsters that search each other out from the Deck as needed).
We’ve seen some impressive things from T.G. Duelists so far in Day 1: T.G. Decks aren’t common in today’s field, but the Duelists running them are making a definite impact. With incredible defense, as well as an explosive offense backed by deadly control tricks, T.G. strategies could become a big part of competitive Dueling this Summer.
T.G. – 43 Cards
Monsters: 18
1 Meklord Emperor Skiel
3 T.G. Striker
3 T.G. Warwolf
3 T.G. Rush Rhino
3 T.G. Cyber Magician
2 Effect Veiler
2 Spirit Reaper
1 Sangan
Spells: 9
2 Pot of Duality
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Dark Hole
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Monster Reborn
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Book of Moon
Traps: 16
3 TG1- EM1
3 TGX3-DX2
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Solemn Warning
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
1 Dark Bribe
1 Mind Crush
1 Scrap-Iron Scarecrow
1 Torrential Tribute
Extra Deck: 15
3 T.G. Wonder Magician
2 T.G. Power Gladiator
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Armory Arm
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Gaia Knight, The Force of Earth
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
