Expert: Michael Lucas (Yu-Gi-Oh Category Guru) - 6/20/2007

Question
Deck(x40)
Monsters(x21)
cyber dragon(x3)
hydrogeddon(x3)
mobius the frost monarch(x2)
exiled force(x2)
jinzo
amazoness swords woman
d.d. assailant
d.d. warrior lady
don zaloog
kuriboh
asura priest
sasuke priest
treeborn frog
sangan
breaker the magical warrior
Spells(x12)
smasing ground(x2)
premature burial
book of moon
mystical space typhoon
enemy controller
reinforcements of the army
confiscation
pot of avarice
graceful charity
nobleman of crossout
heavy storm
traps(x7)
sakuretsu armor(x2)
mirror force
ring of destruction
torrential tribute
bottomless traphole
call of the haunted

Side deck(x15)
Monsters(x7)
old vindictivemagician(x2)
apprentice magician(x2)
cybernetic magician
white-horned dragon
thestalos the firestorm monarch
Spells(x5)
scapegoat
enemy controller
shrink
brain control
reinforcement of the army
traps(x3)
sakuretsu armor
magic cylinder
divine wrath


    its been a while and i just wanted to get back up to speed so i would appreciate it if you could tell me if these cards will fair well against all the new cards their coming out with.  I havent got any new cards in a while and dont plan on it if this deck can stand a chance so i would really appreciate it if you would let me know what cards I should take out and put in.if the cards you think i should put in are in a new or fairly new pack could you please let me know what pack they come in.

thanks  

Answer
Okay...first thing's first:

Breaker and Graceful are banned now.  They need to go.


Traps are pretty much fine as is.

Spells, once you remove Graceful...add Snatch Steal, since it's not banned anymore.

Monsters are where I have the most issues.

You mean Sasuke Samurai, not Sasuke Priest, right?  Sasuke Samurai #4 is worth playing.  The others aren't.

That random Kuriboh won't defend against much.  Stein's banned, sadly, so you don't have to worry about it coming in one shot.  You actually have to worry about a different OTK deck, and the side deck should take care of it.

Asura Priest is iffy to the point that I wouldn't include it.  Hydrogeddon isn't as hot to the point where you need to ram through their face-downs and deplete their searchers like that.  Actually running your own Hydros should punish any face-down shenanigans.

Finally, that Amazoness Swords Woman just doesn't sit well with me.  I know WHY it's there, but usually a good opponent will take between 100 - 1,000 damage (usually 600-900) to take a card off of your field.  I'd put a Spirit Reaper in its place, honestly.


Side deck...
You NEED Pulling the Rug.  3 of it.  It basically negates Monarchs for free, and that's huge.
Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell, Waboku, and Threatening Roar are all viable choices against the new one turn kill deck, Demise, King of Armageddon.  Just do a Google search for "Demise OTK" for all you need to know on how it works and what cards it uses.  For more anti-Demise, try Neko Mane King (it ends their turn when they blow up with Demise if you have it face-down) or Winged Kuriboh (they can't do damage after they blow up.)

Finally, Banisher of the Radiances or D. D. Crows are big for stopping graveyard-oriented effects.  Decks involving Destiny Heroes -- mainly combining Destiny Draw with D-Hero Dasher, D-Hero Malicious, D-Hero Disk Commander, and their various effects/potential to draw/summon extra stuff, have been utterly dominating tournaments as of late.  If you can afford to have some of your own stuff removed, run Banishers.  If you can't, D. D. Crow can still remove a critical Malicious or Disk Commander so they can't use its effect, and still let you run your own Graveyard-oriented stuff.


Otherwise, check Metagame.com's coverage of major events and look at what cards are in the top decklists for anything new you need to know.