If you read our Round 5 Feature Match coverage, you’ve already seen Lane Woodall’s deadly Six Samurai Deck in action!  Once upon a time (oh, say six or seven weeks ago?) Six Samurai were all about one thing: unleashing Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En for a back-breaking first turn, scoring free cards along the way with Six Samurai United and Gateway of the Six.  The Deck specialized in unleashing Shi En on turn 1 a whopping more than half of the time, thanks to powerful search cards and the deck-thinning Upstart Goblin.

Now, the goal is the same, but the consistency and the explosive potential of the modern Six Samurai Deck has gone through the roof!  Shien’s Dojo and Asceticism of the Six Samurai have turned that “more than half” chance at a Shi En into something even more consistent – and far more frightening – and now Shi En is just the beginning.  With easy access to EARTH Synchro Materials, the Deck now kicks out Naturia Beast and even Naturia Landoise whenever it needs them, and as you saw in Round 5, that often means a cavalcade of Synchro Monsters locking down your opponent’s Spells and Traps!  Here’s what Lane Woodall is piloting this weekend:

Dojo Six Samurai – 40 Cards

Monsters: 14

3 Legendary Six Samurai Kageki

3 Kagemusha of the Six Samurai

3 Legendary Six Samurai Kizan

2 Grandmaster of the Six Samurai

1 Hand of the Six Samurai

1 Spirit of the Six Samurai

1 Shein’s Squire

Spells: 16

3 Shein’s Smoke Signal

3 Six Samurai United

2 Shien’s Dojo

2 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Reinforcement of the Army

1 Gateway of the Six

1 Dark Hole

1 Giant Trunade

1 Monster Reborn

1 Book of Moon

Traps: 10

2 Solemn Warning

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Double-Edged Sword Technique

1 Musakani Magatama

1 Solemn Judgement

1 Seven Tools of the Bandit

1 Mirror Force

1 Dimensional Prison

For most Samurai Duelists here at the WCQ, Upstart Goblin is a thing of the past: why thin your Deck by just a single card, when you can use Asceticism or Shien’s Dojo to just search out whatever you need right then and there instead?  The Asceticism version of the Deck uses Elder of the Six Samurai and Asceticism to Special Summon Kagemusha of the Six Samurai, while Dojo builds like Woodall’s play a single Shien’s Squire.  Asceticism doesn’t require you to run an extra monster like Squire, but it also doesn’t offer such a wide range of options.  The Squire’s effect can come in handy to protect a Samurai monster from destruction, but its status as a Level 1 EARTH Warrior-Type Tuner is really its main strength.  It can be Special Summoned from the Deck with a single Bushido Counter on Shien’s Dojo, so unleashing Shi En or Naturia Beast is as easy as activating Dojo; Summoning Legendary Six Samurai – Kizan; and fetching Squire.  Since the Squire is a “Shien” Effect Monster, you really only need one; it can be Special Summoned back from the Graveyard with the 6-Bushido effect of Gateway of the Six, a trick we saw Woodall do in his Feature Match.  As you may remember, the result was an opening turn with 2 Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En and a Naturia Beast, followed by a turn 1 concession moments later.

Woodall’s build of Samurai is keyed heavily towards the early game: while many Six Samurai Decks over the past many months have played the maximum 3 copies of Double-Edged Sword Technique allowed, Woodall plays just 1, since it’s a dead card on the first turn of any Duel.  With the opportunity to make huge early game set-ups, he does play quite a bit more defense than the Samurai Decks that won recent YCS tournaments.  Previous Samurai builds often ran Solemn Warnings as their only defensive traps, but Woodall is packing Dimensional Prison and Bottomless Trap Hole, the latter newly re-popularized thanks in part to the rise of T.G. Hyper Librarian.  That defense helps ensure that when Woodall makes a big first turn, he doesn’t get picked apart monster by monster.  In a pinch, it can even help him protect a weak opening by buying him time to make a Synchro Summon.

Another noteworthy ability of the modern Samurai Deck – especially Dojo builds like this one – are their easy access to Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.  Ever since Samurai Decks were reborn with the advent of the Legendary Six Samurai in Storm of Ragnarok, they’ve been really good at getting pairs of monsters to the field in a single turn.  Legendary Six Samurai – Kageki; Legendary Six Samurai – Kizan; and the age-old Grandmaster of the Six Samurai all allow a Samurai Duelist to easily throw 2 Samurai to the field.  But Dojo brings a new dimension to the strategy, giving an easy way to get a third monster into the mix.  And since Dojo’s effect can be used to bring out a precise Level of monster from the Deck to the field, it can easily bring out exactly what the Samurai Duelist needs to unleash Trishula.  If a Tuner’s required, the Dojo Duelists can bring out a Level 1 Shien’s Squire or Level 2 Kagemusha.  If a Tuner is already on the field, then Level 3 or Level 4 filler is almost as easy to Special Summon.  We saw this exact tactic come into play in the Dragon Duel Feature Match, when Vinne Silvermane broke through Jonathan Isaac Martin’s Shi En opening with Trishula’s banishing effect.

The Six Samurai have come a long, long way in just five months: Storm of Ragnarok was a huge turning point for the Deck, and new cards from Extreme Victory took it to a whole new level.  The latest Six Samurai Decks are even faster; more consistent; and offer a wider range of Synchro summons.  That dependability and flexibility under pressure has made them one of the top Decks here in Day 1.