YCS Pasadena has come to a close, and Dominic Couch took 4th place out of over 1500 Duelists! He piloted a Sky Striker Orcust Deck, the breakout Deck of the tournament. Here’s what he took to such an impressive finish!

Main Deck: 40

Monster Cards: 24
3 Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay
3 D.D. Crow
2 Skull Meister
2 Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring
1 Gizmek Orochi, the Serpentron Sky Slasher
3 Orcust Harp Horror
2 Orcust Cymbal Skeleton
2 Orcust Knightmare
3 Mathematician
1 Armageddon Knight
1 Dark Grepher
1 World Legacy – “World Wand”

Spell Cards: 16
3 Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage!
1 Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones
1 Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor
1 Sky Striker Mecha – Shark Cannon
1 Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners!
2 Orcustrated Return
1 Orcustrated Babel
3 Allure of Darkness
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Foolish Burial
1 Upstart Goblin

Trap Cards: 1
1 Orcust Crescendo

Side Deck: 15
3 Twin Twisters
3 Infinite Impermanence
2 Artifact Lancea
2 Nibiru, the Primal Being
3 Called by the Grave
2 Evenly Matched

Extra Deck: 15
2 Dingirsu, the Orcust of the Evening Star
3 Galatea, the Orcust Automaton
1 Longirsu, the Orcust Orchestrator
1 Sky Striker Ace – Kagari
1 Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku
1 Topologic Bomber Dragon
1 Topologic Trisbaena
1 Borrelsword Dragon
1 Barricadeborg Blocker
1 Knightmare Unicorn
1 Knightmare Phoenix
1 I:P Masquerena

Orcusts and Sky Strikers were both affected by the most recent Forbidden & Limited List changes. Rather than abandon them, it seems many Duelists have decided to combine them!

The Orcusts create the main muscle of the Deck, doing what Orcust do best. They’re seeking to use the effects of Orcust Harp Horror and Orcust Cymbal Skeleton to eventually lead to Galatea, the Orcust Automaton backed by Orcust Crescendo, and ideally Dingirsu, the Orcust of the Evening Star all on the field.

Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! gives a lot of advantage, searching out the key Spell Cards he needs while drawing extra cards. The other Sky Striker cards provide utility, helping to protect the Orcust setups or block an opposing combo. Widow Anchor and Shark Cannon are especially strong against other Orcust Decks, since he can steal Orcust monsters and use them to extend his own combos.

Couch’s build differs from Kobe Short’s winning build in several ways. He’s using Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners! in the Main Deck for extra monster removal, where Short doesn’t use it at all. On the other hand, Couch is playing much less Spell/Trap removal compared to Short. Couch also is using many more hand-based Effect Monsters like Skull Meister, D.D. Crow, and an extra Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay.

Congrats again to Dominic Couch for his impressive Top 4 finish!