Mario Matheu piloted his Machina Salvo Deck to a 9-1 record by the end of the Swiss rounds in the tournament, then a victory in the Top 32 to get him to the Top 16. His Deck is full of explosive plays that can end a Duel or let him catch up from behind. He can swarm the field with huge monsters, clear the field with Black Rose Dragon, or make simple card trades that push him ahead of his opponent. Read more…
Darryl Huang got to the Top 16 of this tournament with his daring and innovative Scrap Deck. Earlier this morning we saw Huang Summon Scrap Dragon 7 times in just 2 Duels, finishing the first Duel of that Feature Match with a field of 3 Scrap Dragons. Here’s what his Deck looks like: Read more…
Jonny Nagel’s Super Solar Naturia Deck uses the Continuous Spell Card, Super Solar Nutrient, to trade his weakest Plant-Type monsters for stronger ones. Nagel can use Super Solar Nutrient to Tribute Naturia Pineapple, Fluff Tokens, Naturia Vein, or Spore and Special Summon Lonefire Blossom from his Deck. Then he can Tribute Lonefire Blossom to grab whichever Plant-Type monster he needs, including Naturia Pineapple and Tytannial, Princess of Camellias. Ultimately, Nagel aims to win by Tributing his Pineapple to Summon Naturia Bamboo Shoot and lock down his opponent’s plays, while he protects his Bamboo Shoot with an abundance of his own Trap Cards. You can read about Nagel’s Deck in action in the Round 1 Feature Match. Read more…
In a slower field the fastest Duelist is often king, and today that might be Jesse Contreras! The Six Samurai have slowly but surely grown a following over the past few weeks, since they get a lot of consistency from Pot of Duality. With so many Duelists Setting and using multiple cards in the same turn, Great Shogun Shien’s ability to limit the opponent to just 1 Spell or Trap Card every turn is a big advantage. Read more…
The new format has sent alot of Duelists back to the drawing board, and the strength of Decks like X-Sabers and Gladiator Beasts has Skill Drain a top choice for some. Earlier, we showed you Chris Bowling’s Eatos Beatdown Deck with Skill Drain. That Deck stops Gladiators and X-Sabers with Skill Drain, and then hammers through for victory with big attackers like Thunder King Rai-Oh and Beast King Barbaros. Fourteen year-old Yuki Zainovich is taking the same basic concept in a totally different direction, looking to dominate the field not with simple 1900 ATK monsters, but with the 2200 ATK Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis. Read more…
Fusion Monsters made a big comeback in Duelist Revolution. Ultimate Axon Kicker and Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste have both breathed new life into Decks, and Miracle Synchro Fusion is a powerful new alternative to Polymerization. Like the new Fusion Monsters, it fills a really specific role and does it really well. Paradox Fusion might be the best new card of the bunch: a Counter Trap that you activate by removing one of your face-up Fusion Monsters from the game. It negates a Spell, Trap, or even a Special Summon. The Fusion Monster you removed is then returned to the field 2 End Phases later. Read more…
Three weeks ago at YCS Toronto, Gladiator Beasts and X-Sabers were the 2 most-played Decks in the field. Those Decks will probably be popular again this weekend, but some Duelists are breaking from the herd to try and beat them, and 2008 U.S. National Champion Chris Bowling is one of those Duelists.
X-Sabers and Gladiator Beasts rely on monster effects for almost all of their big plays, and both Decks make heavy use of their Graveyard, usually for important Special Summons. Without those key effects and Graveyard tricks, both Decks have trouble dealing with big monsters. Bowling knows that, and has built his Deck to disrupt his opponent’s strategy and then use his own easy-to-Summon attackers. Read more…
A Chaos Deck is a Deck that combines LIGHT monsters with DARK monsters. It gets this name because of monsters like Chaos Sorcerer, which require you to have LIGHT & DARK monsters to Summon it. Chaos Decks have been popular at tournaments for years, and are still popular today, especially since Chaos Sorcerer went from Limited (only 1 copy per Deck) to Semi-Limited (you can have 2 copies) starting on September 1.
Lance Leonhardt’s Eradicator Chaos Deck puts a new spin on Chaos. At first glance, it may look like it runs your standard assortment of DARK and LIGHT monsters, but if you look closer, you’ll see that it runs a bunch of unordinary monster choices, including Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast and Giant Kozaky. “Is Leonhardt mad?”, as Kozaky might ask. No. He just plans to unleash an eradicating virus against all of his opponents. Read more…
