Textbook. That’s the only way to describe Dominic Couch’s Sky Striker build that won him 3^rd Place here at YCS Niagara Falls. The Sky Striker theme arrived almost a year and a half ago in Dark Saviors and ever since players have worked to hone and perfect the consensus build, overcoming knocks from the F&L List to create the quintessential consistency build we now know.

Monsters: 8

3 Sky Striker Ace – Raye
3 Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring
2 Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion

Spells: 26

3 Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage!
3 Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor
3 Sky Striker Airspace – Area Zero
2 Sky Striker Mecha – Shark Cannon
1 Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones
1 Sky Striker Mecharmory – Hercules Base
1 Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners!
1 Sky Striker Maneuver – Jamming Waves!
1 Sky Striker Mecha Modules – Multirole
1 Upstart Goblin
1 Reinforcement of the Army
2 Pot of Desires
2 Foolish Burial Goods
2 Cosmic Cyclone
1 Metalfoes Fusion
1 Terraforming

Trap Cards: 6
3 Solemn Strike
3 Infinite Impermanence

Side Deck: 15
3 Shared Ride
3 Summon Limit
3 Super Polymerization
1 Starving Venom Fusion Dragon
2 Mind Control
3 Typhoon

Extra Deck: 15
3 Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku
2 Sky Striker Ace – Hayate
1 Sky Striker Ace – Kagari
1 Sky Striker Ace – Kaina
1 Barricadeborg Blocker
1 Knightmare Phoenix
1 Borrelsword Dragon
1 Topologic Bomber Dragon
1 Dingirsu, the Orcust of the Evening Star
1 Ningirsu the World Chalice Warrior
1 Hiita the Fire Charmer, Ablaze
1 Chimeratech Megafleet Dragon

There is absolutely nothing fancy going on here, with Couch foregoing Mystic Mine to focus entirely on Sky Striker fundamentals.  Couch knows this Deck inside out having topped with Sky Strikers before at events like YCS Columbus last year and the UDS Invitational in Las Vegas back in March, and he’s distilled the strategy down to its essence here.

A few decisions stand out like the use double Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion, but the main point of interest is probably the Extra Deck: the trending Chimeratech Megafleet Dragon makes an appearance; Barricadeborg Blocker showed up in recent Regionals, is bound to see more play; and Dingirsu could combo with his sided Mind Controls. But nothing’s really out of left field.

With a 3^rd Place finish Dominic Couch captures a Prize Card and ensures that the Sky Striker threat won’t be fading over the coming weeks.  As always, Sky Strikers remain one of the format’s biggest decks-to-beat.