With the release of Flames of Destruction, Dark Saviors and a new Forbidden and Limited List update, players are looking for ways to surprise the competition with old cards they won’t be expecting. Let’s take a look at some of the tech picks for YCS Secaucus!

Shared Ride

With Gouki coming to the forefront of competition to fill the void left by Pendulum Magicians and True Draco, players have already started to look for counter-picks to the strategy. One of these picks is Shared Ride which saw play in 2015 when Nekroz was the Deck to beat. Shared Ride acts a lot like the Forbidden Maxx “C” by setting up a condition where you can draw a lot of cards if the opponent performs a specific type of action. For Maxx “C”, it’s Special Summoning, but for Shared Ride, you draw a card every time the opponent adds a card from the Deck or Graveyard to their hand. Activating Shared Ride will usually force your opponent to stop adding cards from their Deck to their hand. Otherwise, your opponent will let you draw cards. But savvy players can leverage Shared Ride to give them 2 or 3 cards depending on how it’s used.

A power play with Shared Ride against Gouki involves letting your opponent use 2 Gouki monsters to Link Summon Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights. Each of the Gouki monsters have activated effects that add a Gouki with a different name from the Deck to the hand, while Isolde adds any Warrior-Type monster from the Deck to the hand when it’s Link Summoned. If the Gouki player activates all 3 effects, you can Chain Shared Ride to draw 3 cards on the resolution of this Chain alone. You can draw even more cards if the opponent continues to use more Gouki effects!

Divine Sword – Phoenix Blade

This old-school Equip Spell last saw widespread play during the days of Diamond Dude Turbo in 2007, but in 2018, the sword is back and Gouki Decks can use it to great effect. Gouki is one of the strategies that can use the Knightmare Link monsters, and each of them has an effect that discards a card when they’re Link Summoned. Discarding a Phoenix Blade makes all of these effects essentially free, and if the Knightmares are co-Linked when their effects activate, the effect becomes a net positive!

Trickstar Narkissus

Of the core Trickstar monsters, Trickstar Narkissus is often left out. However, against Decks that activate a ton of monster effects in the hand and Graveyard, Narkissus is the perfect answer. Trickstar Narkissus can be Special Summoned from the hand when the opponent takes effect damage, and Narkissus burns the opponent for 200 LP whenever a monster effect activates in their hand or Graveyard. Monster effects that activate in the hand include the incredibly popular Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring and Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit and newcomer Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion. However, monster effects that activate in the Graveyard include all of the Main Deck Gouki monsters, and they’re all over the place today. Narkissus puts the Gouki player on a much shorter clock and may force them to deal with the Narkissus before they can continue their combo plays.

Stay tuned for more coverage from YCS Secaucus!