About Damien Carey Expertise I can answer questions about rulings and I will do deck fixes in the Advanced format. However any question concerning deck fixes must include the deck's strategy, or the goal you are ultimately trying to achieve. Sure i could just churn out cloned decks simply because they bear a resemblance to the deck you are trying to produce, but where is the fun in that? My specific areas of expertise centre around Dark World, Gadgets, Monarchs, Chimeratech, Cyberdarks, Warriors and Crystal Beasts.
I am a moderator on the new site www.freewebs.com/icaruswing under the name Pinion (pegasus-pinion) and if i am maxed out here then you can try me there.
Experience I'm a Level One Judge and I have been playing Yugioh since 2000. However i took an extended leave of absence in 2004 and only returned to the game in July 2006.
Publications I post my own articles on my bebo site, which are available for anybody to view.
Education/Credentials I have been out of University where I studied Computer Game Design, for the last three years.
Awards and Honors Since returning to the game i have attended every tournament possible. I am averaging between 4th and 8th place but i seem to be improving. I recently came 25/164 in the Irish Nationals. and 1 took 2nd Place at the Force of Breaker Sneak Preview
Question Hi,
I made a gadget deck and I was wondering if it were possible to help me fix it up. It looks good on paper but when I use it, it doesnt work as well as I thought it would. It is supposed to be monster removal (I always have a monster and u dont) with basically a warrior tooltip as my side deck.
Monsters: (21)
3 cyber dragon
3 red gadget
3 yellow gadget
3 green gadget
3 wildheart (it doesnt seem to work but in truth, my deck has been a lot smoother after i put them in...)
3 sniper hunter
1 sangan
1 mole
1 dd warrior lady
Spells: (18)
1 swords
1 mst
1 heavy
1 limiter
1 nobleman of cross
3 smashing
3 fissure
2 hammer shot
1 pot of avarice
1 book of moon
3 shrink
Traps: (6)
1 mirror
1 ring
1 torrential
3 decree
Side Deck: (warrior tooltip)
2 marauding
2 dd assaliant
2 exiled force
1 ocean
1 mystic swordsman level 4
1 reinforcement of the army
1 warrior returning alive
1 mobius
2 des wombat (anti-burn)
either 2 bottomless, 2 solemn, or 1 and 1...
Please help with my deck and side deck. Thanks.
Answer Oh dear. you asked me a GADGET question. Uh oh. I just finished rewriting an article on the gadgets which i posted on bebo a while ago. If this doesnt help you nothing i could ever say or any deck fix i could do will.
(P.s. Your deck would run smoother wil either mystic tomato or Giant rat engines. One of the gadget decks in this list are called searcher gadgets, i think that may be the one for you.)
Here it is. I hope you like to read because here for you is no less than EVERY gadget deck i have ever played:
How to Solve a Problem like the Gadgets?
The Gadgets. Small, Annoying, Unrelenting, Stampeding Gadgets! Like insects they are everywhere, and while easy to kill there are always more of the pesky things running about clogging up your field. You are definitely aware of their current presence in the game because as soon as you turn up at a tournament hall you are either playing with them, playing against them, watching them being played or listening to someone yell out for the umpteenth time “Aww No! Not Gadgets! I hate Gadgets!”
Since their release in our Meta, the Gadgets have shown up repeatedly in Regionals and Tournaments across the Country. Often making the top eight in
such, competitions and we are not even halfway through the year yet. In addition, with The Nationals coming up it is time to consider whether you are taking the little mechanical miscreants to the tournament or not. And if you do opt for Gadgets then which way will you play them.
Already there are an alarming number of gadget deck types out there with more on the way all the time. Fifth Gadget, Trader Gadget, Searcher Gadget, Oppression Gadget, Monarch gadget, Chimera Gadget, and Different Dimension Gadget are only a few of the many types on the horizon. We will look at some examples of these here. The decks listed are basic for their types and subject to much improvement and personal styling. They only represent an idea of gadget decks out there.
First the Gadget Basics.
While there are indeed, many gadget deck types out there most of them are styled around or tweaked forms of the Fifth Gadget format. A mathematical style of play developed in Japan when the only Gadgets round here were in Yugi vs. Atemu’s climactic battle. Who would have thought that it would be little Yugi’s monsters causing such a stir over here and not the Pharaohs.
To get the most from your Gadget monsters you are going to need to run a full compliment of them in your deck. That is nine valuable monster spaces in your deck taken up by three different little machines whose attack and defense do not exceed more than 1400 and 1500 respectively. Already we feel punished as we realize how many of our favorite monsters we need to cut in order to make this deck work.
Keeping in mind the low atk/def values of the gadgets we also realize that we are not going to be able to kill very many of our opponent’s monsters through battle alone. The solution is to pack our deck with as many one for one killing spell and traps tradeoffs as we can. For example; Sakuretsu Armor, Widespread Ruin, Smashing Ground, Fissure etc. Again, we realize that we must sacrifice many spell and trap spaces to accommodate this large amount with solid kill cards.
In addition, it gets worse. In a 40 card deck with nine Gadgets, the odds of drawing two in your opening hand of six cards is 41%. That means that in almost half of your games, you will begin the duel with a dead draw. Now you never EVER want two gadgets in your hand as that would rather defeat the whole purpose of the gadgets.
There is hope however and that is where the idea of the Fifth Gadget deck comes in. The deck runs nine Gadget monsters, but it runs them in a 45-card deck instead of a 40-card deck, reducing the chance of opening with a pair of Gadgets to 31%. That substantial mathematical advantage ensures better opening hands.
Ok. That is the deck number sorted. So what to include in your deck? Nearly all good gadget decks include the following cards.
Monsters
3 Green Gadget, 3 Red Gadget, 3 Yellow Gadget, 3 Cyber Dragon
Spells
3 Smashing Ground, 3 Fissure, 3 Shrink, Mystical Space Typhoon, Heavy Storm, Limiter Removal, Pot of Avarice, Confiscation, Nobleman Of Crossout, Snatch Steal
Traps
3 Sakuretsu Armor, 3 Widespread Ruin, 1 Mirror Force, 1 Ring of Destruction
The Monsters:
Now we know why we have the Gadgets in here and the Cyber Dragons are self-explanatory but what do we add next.
There is much debate about whether to include Chiron the Mage or Snipe Hunter. No matter which one you play there will always be someone out there telling you that you have picked the wrong one. Let us look at them.
Chiron is from the Flaming Eternity booster and is a less powerful version of Breaker who never really caught on. Until now. Chiron the Mage allows you to turn all those spells you are drawing into spell and trap removal. Is the opponent setting monsters or relying on set cards in order to try to make your Fissures and Smashing Grounds into dead draws? Or have you drawn that pot of avarice far too early? Chiron allows you to turn any spell you desire into a mystical space typhoon until the end of the turn. You can only use this effect once per turn. Not only that but with an attack of 1800 he is not a bad attacker. Why waste that fissure on wildheart and risk attacking when you could discard it too remove that pesky Sakuretsu armor then attack with Chiron and wipe that wildheart off the field.
Alternatively, we have the Snipe Hunter from Cyberdark impact. Snipe is a 1500 searchable dark fiend and by discarding any card from your hand, you can destroy any card on the field. However, there is a catch. For his effect to succeed you must roll a dice. If the result is 2,3,4,5, you win and destroy the target. If it is 1, or 6 then you lose. You must discard for the cost but get no effect. Mathematically 2 out of 3 times is not bad. Especially if you have a hand full of gadgets. Remember that if snipe targets a face up spirit reaper, the dice roll is redundant as the reaper will die regardless
Chiron or Snipe. Stability versus versatility. Strength versus searchability. You choose. Personally, I still have trouble deciding.
Next. Now if we are constructing a fairly standard Fifth Gadget deck we will add two to three Cyber Phoenix from Enemy of Justice. What a fantastic monster. While in face up attack position, it negates spells and traps that target 1 machine on your side of the field including itself. This makes Sakuretsu armor, enemy controller, snatch steal, ring of destruction etc a bit of a joke instead of something to be feared. Remember that if someone equips snatch steal to cyber phoenix they do not get your monster but you still get the 1000 life points each turn as that affects you and not the monster. In addition, while the card is face up in either position and destroyed through battle you get to draw a card. Its attack is 1200 but its defense is a lovely 1600. Do not underestimate this card. It can make your army of gadgets immune to many spells and traps leaving you only to fear mirror force and smashing grounds etc, as they do not target.
I will leave my personal preferences aside and we will add some exiled forces next. A good card in many decks but superb in this deck. It takes care of most face down and face up threats and works well with the fifth gadget philosophy of one for card trade offs. Or instead add two to three Deikoichi the Battlechanted Locomotives to increase your draw power and coupled with the phoenix and the gadgets you’ll have more cards in your hand than you’ll know what to do with.
Last but not least the wild card. Most of your monster bases are covered so you can feel free to add an old favorite. Maybe Spirit reaper or D.D. Warrior Lady. Possibly Night assailant if you are playing Deikoichi and snipe hunters. On the field, night assailant takes out an opponent’s monster when flipped. When discarded for Snipe’s effect get a Deikoichi back to your hand from the grave. Nice. Alternatively, try the ever more popular Neo-spacian Grand Mole.
The Spells:
Well I can hardly picture a deck without Mystical Space Typhoon, Heavy Storm, Pot of Avarice, Confiscation, Nobleman of Crossout, or Snatch Steal in it. Limiter removal is an absolute must for any deck playing this many machines and every gadget deck is playing 12 machines minimum. Heavy Storm and MST are just card classics. Pot of Avarice lets you keep your Gadget chain going another five turns and gives you two free cards to boot. Confiscation gets rid of Jinzo or those pesky Monarchs before they hit the field which could spell the end for you. Nobleman of Crossout is standard removal and Snatch Steal just makes good sense. Why be afraid of Jinzo when you can just Snatch him. Note: Do not Snatch Steal any machine monsters if you have Cyber Phoenix on the Field, as it will initiate an endless loop.
Smashing Ground and Fissure take care of the opponent's face up monsters, and if you are playing Chiron they make great ST removal fodder.
Shrink is a Gadget Deck must. Since Shrink hit the scene, everyone has been playing it but that will not last long. If your deck is already full of high attack monsters than shrinking your opponents weaker monsters will not mean much and if they get rid of your monster than you would be better off packing Sakuretsu’s in your corner as you are still going to take damage otherwise. Gadgets however love shrink. Gadgets are so weak they need shrink to be able to compete with the stronger monsters but if your opponent plays shrink on your gadgets….well that wouldn’t really make them all that much weaker or protect them from your wall of traps would it? Shrink is so versatile it can be set like a trap or chained during damage calculation when your gadget attacks a monarch when it is too late to activate Sakuretsu armor. You can even stop Bottomless Trap Hole when it's activated in response to your summon of Chiron, or Cyber Dragon, chaining Shrink to bring your monster below 1500 ATTACK.
Traps:
A Regular Fifth Gadget deck would not survive very long without a vast array of traps. There are a few quick play heavy deck types that do but mostly gadgets are trap decks. This is why so many of them do not play Jinzo and fear that Megalomaniac Machine so much.
You MUST play 3 Sakuretsu, 3 Widespread Ruin, Mirror Force, and Ring of Destruction. Widespread ruin is a rarer form of Sakuretsu armor but Ruin destroys the monster with the highest attack on your opponent’s field. This allows you to play around with Ruin, destroying even face up defense position monsters with the highest attack. This will see more play as the satellite cannon becomes more popular. In addition, its effect does not target so it can activated against cyber phoenix. Good to know. Alternately, try Solemn Judgment or Bottomless trap hole if you do not have Ruin.
The last two traps I will mention are equally questionable in this deck.
Torrential tribute. A firm favorite of anyone with a deck, but in this deck more often than not you will be crushing more of your monsters than of theirs. However, who can resist such a tempting destructive effect.
On the polar opposite side of the field, we have Ultimate Offering. A trap that lets you pay 500 life points to summon another monster. You can do this for as long as you have monsters, life points and the space. Of course, while it does not say it clearly on the card, your opponent can do this too.
Torrential destruction or Ultimate creation you decide.
So what would this deck look like then?
Fifth Gadget 45
Monsters: 20
3 Green Gadget
3 Red Gadget
3 Yellow Gadget
3 Cyber Dragon
3 Cyber Phoenix
2 Snipe Hunter/ Chiron the Mage
2 Exiled Force/ Deikoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive
1 Spirit Reaper/ Night Assailant / D.D. Warrior Lady/ Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
Spells: 16
3 Smashing Ground
3 Fissure
3 Shrink
1 Confiscation
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Limiter Removal
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Snatch Steal
1 Pot of Avarice
Traps: 9
3 Sakuretsu Armor
3 Widespread Ruin / Solemn Judgment/ Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Torrential Tribute / Ultimate Offering
1 Mirror Force
1 Ring of Destruction
However, that is just one look at a basic deck. Here is a glimpse at some others. Again, bear in mind that these are merely rough examples.
Trader Gadget 45
A new concept that came into being when card trader was released. Card trader like many cards is only good in a dedicated deck. In this variant of Fifth, less monsters are played and three copies of card trader and hydrogeddon are added instead. Hydrogeddon like the gadgets is a fantastic search card but like the gadgets, it SUCKS to have two of them in your hand. Card trader solves both of these problems. A continuous spell card it allows you to add one card to your deck during standby phase, shuffle and redraw another one. Chiron is favored in this deck as it plays 19 spells and the gadgets are often reshuffled back into the deck so snipe hunter has no cards to discard. Chiron can turn second or third card traders into removal if you already have one on the field.
Monsters: 17
3 Green Gadget
3 Red Gadget
3 Yellow Gadget
3 Cyber Dragon
3 Hydrogeddon
2 Chiron the Mage
Spells: 19
3 Shrink
3 Smashing Ground
3 Fissure
3 Card Trader
1 Limiter removal
1 Confiscation
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Snatch Steal
Traps: 9
3 Sakuretsu Armor
3 Widespread Ruin / Solemn Judgment/ Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute / Ultimate Offering
1 Ring of Destruction
Searcher Gadget 45
The Searcher Gadget deck is highly favored by many duelists as the gadgets are so easily killed that sometimes it is nice o have a secondary line of searcher monsters for defensive purposes. This deck type can be played in three ways. Giant Rat, UFO Turtle, and Mystic Tomato decks are the three most common form of this deck type. Giant Rat focuses on searching out Exiled Force, Neo-spacian Grand Mole and other gadgets. This style is aggressive and removal based. UFO Turtle’s only option is Cyber Phoenix but admittedly, the phoenix is an admirable monster to have on the field. In addition, the UFO Turtle itself is in fact a machine as well which means it also benefits from Cyber Phoenix and Limiter removal. This style of play is more negation based. The final type is Mystic Tomato. Not without merit, the tomato searcher pulls out spirit reaper, snipe hunter, and newdoria. This style of play is more defensive in nature.
Monsters: 20
3 Green Gadget
3 Red Gadget
3 Yellow Gadget
3 Cyber Dragon
2 Snipe Hunter/ Chiron the Mage
3 Shrink
3 Smashing Ground
3 Fissure
1 Limiter removal
1 Confiscation
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Snatch Steal
Traps: 9
3 Sakuretsu Armor
3 Widespread Ruin / Solemn Judgment/ Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute / Ultimate Offering
1 Ring of Destruction
Chimera Gadget 42
This deck would appear to come together rather efficiently; however, it is a mass of contradictions. Jinzo and Spell Canceller while both fantastic cards negate the very spells and traps that Gadget decks rely on. A Chimeratech Deck demands 40 cards while gadget demands 45. This deck settles at 42. The whole goal of this deck is to get overload fusion to your hand to summon Chimeratech and Dimension Fusion or Return from the Different Dimension to bring back Jinzo, Spell Canceller and two Cyber Dragons for a devastating One Turn Kill. An extremely difficult deck to play.
Monsters: 20
3 Green Gadget
3 Red Gadget
3 Yellow Gadget
3 Cyber Dragon
3 Cyber Phoenix
3 Deikoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive
1 Spell Canceller
1 Jinzo
Traps: 7
3 Sakuretsu Armor
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Return from the Different Dimension/ Ultimate Offering
Monarch Gadget 42
With both Monarch and Gadget builds battling for the top spot it was only a matter of time before someone tried to bring the two together. However like with most things sometimes the best of both worlds does nothing accept dilute the overall effects of both. Of all the Monarch Gadget builds out there however, this one used in a recent American Regionals is by far the best.
Monsters: 22
3 Cyber Dragon
2 Red Gadget
2 Green Gadget
2 Yellow Gadget
2 Gravekeeper’s Spy
2 Legendary Jujitsu Master
1 Treeborn Frog
1 Sangan
3 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
2 Mobius the Frost Monarch
2 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch
Spells: 10
2 Smashing Ground
3 Brain Control
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Snatch Steal
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Shrink
Traps: 10
3 Sakuretsu Armor
2 Widespread Ruin
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
Different Dimension Gadget 45
The natural enemies of the Gadget monsters are the Monarchs, Elemental Searchers, Vampire Lord, Sacred Phoenix, and Dark World decks. This deck type utilizes dimensional fissure and Banisher of the Radiance removes destroyed monsters from play weakening their deck types. The inclusion of the D.D survivors allows a new version of field swarming. The fissures are removed from the deck as the Survivors and the Banishers have decent enough attacks for their levels. Either Chiron or Snipe is fine in this deck.
Monsters: 20
3 Green Gadget
3 Red Gadget
3 Yellow Gadget
3 Cyber Dragon
3 D.D. Survivors
3 Banishers of the Radiance
2 Chiron the Mage/ Snipe Hunter
Traps: 9
3 Sakuretsu Armor
3 Widespread Ruin / Solemn Judgment/ Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute /Ultimate Offering/ Return from the Different Dimension
1 Ring of Destruction
Exodia Gadget 45
The release of the gadgets has breathed a new lease of life into the long loved Exodia Deck. Using the gadgets to thin the deck can be an excellent way to get the pieces to your hand. Combined with the card trader and pot of avarice and you'll have all five pieces in your hand in know time. Here you make a personal call. Either choose Future fusion/ Cyber Dragon/ And Cyber Phoenix for a more aggressive style of play and the ultimate deck thinning play. Or play more stabe with card trooper/ deikocihi and limter removal.
Monsters: 21
3 Green Gadget
3 Red Gadget
3 Yellow Gadget
5 (The five Exodia Pieces)
3 Card Trooper/ Cyber Dragon
3 Deikoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive/ Cyber Phoenix
1 Sangan
Spells: 16
3 Shrink
3 Smashing Ground
3 Fissure
3 Card Trader
1 Limiter Removal/ Future Fusion
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Pot of Avarice
Traps: 8
3 Sakuretsu Armor
2 Widespread Ruin
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
1 Ring of Destruction
Oppression Gadget 45
This is a rough outline of oppression gadget. It runs three royal oppressions which if you are not familiar with the card i have added its's effect below.
Pay 800 Life Points. Negate the Special Summon of a monster(s), and the effect that Special Summoned the monster(s), and destroy both. Both you and your opponent can use this effect.
Mostly used in japan to prevent recruiters, searchers and cyber dragons. Makes many spell and trap cards redundant and stops dark world dead. utilises monster cards that help you draw faster to take advantage of the fact that your opponent can't swarm by special summoning.
Monsters: 20
3 Green Gadget
3 Red Gadget
3 Yellow Gadget
3 Cyber Phoenix
3 Snipe Hunter/ Chiron the Mage
3 Deikoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive
1 Sangan
1 Spirit Reaper/ Night Assailant / D.D. Warrior Lady/ Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
Spells: 16
3 Smashing Ground
3 Fissure
3 Shrink
1 Confiscation
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Limiter Removal
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Snatch Steal
1 Pot of Avarice
Traps: 9
3 Sakuretsu Armor
3 Royal Oppression
1 Torrential Tribute / Ultimate Offering
1 Mirror Force
1 Ring of Destruction
There are many more Gadget decks out there and many more appearing all the time. I hope these few examples can help you to get some of idea of where to start but which direction you go from there is up to you.
