There are lots of different ways to build Wind-Up Decks. For example, some Wind-Up Decks Xyz Summon big monsters, and others flood the field with Wind-Ups. But the Wind-Up Deck that seems to be gaining the most popularity is the one that takes advantage of the Wind-Up Hunter combo.

The combo involving Wind-Up Hunter is simple. There’s a few different ways to do it, but they all boil down to the same motions: use Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity to Special Summon Wind-Up Rat from your Deck, use Wind-Up Rat to Special Summon Wind-Up Hunter from your Graveyard, use Wind-Up Hunter to Tribute Zenmaity and knock a card out of your opponent’s hand, and then overlay Wind-Up Rat with Wind-Up Hunter to Xyz Summon Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity and repeat the steps above. Here’s a breakdown to make it easier to see:

1.)    Summon Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity with Wind-Up Hunter in your Graveyard, or overlay Wind-Up Hunter with another Level 3 monster to Xyz Summon Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity.

Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity is a Rank 3 monster that can detach an Xyz Material from itself to Special Summon a Wind-Up monster from your hand or Deck. The goal of the combo is to use Zenmaity’s effect to create a loop that keeps bringing back Wind-Up Hunter, so you’ll need a Wind-Up Hunter in your Graveyard to pull off the combo. If you have a Wind-Up Hunter on the field instead, you can use it in an Xyz Summon when you create Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity, and then detach it from Zenmaity when you use Zenmaity’s effect. That’ll put the Hunter into the Graveyard, where you can revive it with Wind-Up Rat later in the combo.

To Counter This Step: Stop the Summon of Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity by using a Trap Card like Solemn Warning or Black Horn of Heaven.

2.)    Activate Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity’s effect to Special Summon Wind-Up Rat from your hand or Deck in Attack Position.

Now that you have Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity on your field and Wind-Up Hunter in your Graveyard, you’re ready to perform the next step of the combo. Detach an Xyz Material from Zenmaity and Special Summon Wind-Up Rat from your hand or Deck. (If Wind-Up Hunter isn’t in your Graveyard, but it’s attached to your Zenmaity, detach the Hunter when performing this step of the combo.)

To Counter This Step: Stop the Summon of Wind-Up Rat with Chain Disappearance or a similarly disruptive card. Disappearance also strips all copies of Rat from their hand and Deck as well so they can’t try again later.

3.)    Activate the effect of Wind-Up Rat to Special Summon Wind-Up Hunter from your Graveyard.

Wind-Up Rat Special Summons any Wind-Up monster from the Graveyard with its effect, just by switching itself to Defense Position. For this next step of the combo, use Wind-Up Rat’s effect to Special Summon Wind-Up Hunter from your Graveyard.

To Counter This Step: Use D.D. Crow or a similar card to banish Wind-Up Hunter from your opponent’s Graveyard when Wind-Up Rat tries to revive it, or negate Rat’s effect.

4.)    Activate the effect of Wind-Up Hunter by Tributing Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity.

Wind-Up Hunter lets you Tribute a Wind-Up monster to force your opponent to send a random card from his hand to his Graveyard. Tribute Zenmaity, and your opponent will lose a card from his hand.

To Counter This Step: If you Set your hand to your Spell and Trap Card Zone, your opponent’s Wind-Up Hunter will lose its power. You’ll have no cards in your hand for it to send to the Graveyard.

Note that Wind-Up Hunter SENDS cards from an opponent’s hand to the Graveyard and DOESN’T DISCARD THEM! You CAN’T use Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World and his mighty minions as a counter to Wind-Up Hunter, since the effects of Dark World monsters only activate when they’re discarded to the Graveyard.

5.)    Overlay Wind-Up Hunter with Wind-Up Rat to Xyz Summon another Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity.

After Step 4, you should be left with a Wind-Up Hunter and Wind-Up Rat on the field. Since both of these monsters are Level 3, you can overlay them to Xyz Summon another Rank 3 Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity. This step of the combo is essentially the same as Step 1, Summoning Zenmaity to the field.

At this point, you can repeat the loop. Summon Zenmaity (Step 1), detach Wind-Up Hunter from Zenmaity to Special Summon Wind-Up Rat (Step 2), use Rat to Special Summon Hunter again (Step 3), activate the Hunter’s effect to knock an opponent’s card out of his hand (Step 4), and overlay Wind-Up Hunter with Wind-Up Rat to Xyz Summon Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity (Step 1).

You can keep doing the combo until you run out of Zenmaitys or Rats. If you use Tour Bus From the Underworld, The Transmigration Prophecy, or Pot of Avarice to send Zenmaitys or Rats from your Graveyard to your Deck, you’ll be able to extend the combo to knock some extra cards out of your opponent’s hand.

When you’re defending against an opponent’s Wind-Up Hunter loop, keep in mind that Effect Veiler and Maxx “C” will usually stop the combo in its tracks. If you negate the effect of Wind-Up Rat or Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity with Effect Veiler, it’ll be tough for your opponent to proceed with the loop. If you use Maxx “C” at any point, your opponent will stop the combo, since Maxx “C” would otherwise draw you more cards than your opponent can send to the Graveyard with Wind-Up Hunter.

The Wind-Up Hunter loop is powerful against a Duelist with cards in his hand, but if you know how to defend against it, you can mitigate the damage it causes. Make sure you understand how the loop works, because even if you’re not using it yourself, you may go up against it in a tournament.