Evolution of a Deck

The game we play lacks a ton of creativity-- at least at a competitive level. Sure, you might think you're brilliant with your Future Visions + Vengeful Bog Spirit + Golem Sentry + Final Countdown deck-- and maybe you are-- but you're not going to win YCS Columbus with it. It's the sad truth that unfortunately many decks, no matter how fun, won't win in a major event.

I do not believe, however, this should discourage you from experimenting. It takes a lot of guts to try to pilot a new deck idea. It's a lot easier to go online and find someone who wins a major event and copy their deck card for card. While it's perfectly healthy to look at a champions deck to get ideas and try to learn from their experience, especially as a new player, it's more important to understand the why of card choices, not the what.

When I returned to the game, I brought two of my friends with me. One of them was a casual player for years and quit due to lack of interest or decent opponents, the other had never played a TCG before. In preparing them for Yu-gi-oh as a whole, they both presented their own challenges, which is actually one reason I started this blog. The first had the experience and know how to simply need a few pointers here and there to help improve his deck, but lacked the financial backing to support an all out deck. The latter had the financial backing and willingness to learn, but a complete lack of competitive card games and what they entailed. Recognizing these challenges it was a matter of working with each of them individually to get them up to snuff.

No matter what your situation is in this game, before you start any project you need to look at it and understand what your goal is. This can be as simple as "I want to build a deck based on Reptile monsters" or "I want to build an X-Saber deck" but I find it much more valuable to take a step back even further and look at the broader goals in your deck. The less experienced of my two friends having just gotten into the game bought the Dawn of the XYZ starter deck. I, just having returned to the game, the same day purchased Lost Sanctuary. It was not really a fair fight for him, he was getting pummeled but not discouraged, and after playing several matches, he decided he wanted to build a warrior XYZ deck with similar strategies to the starter, but expanded.

Warriors always having been near and dear to my heart, I was more than willing to help him with this goal. A second starter deck purchase later and some added cards from my huge box of out dated commons, we made a new deck that was still lacking. Some time passed, and my friend decided he was willing to invest in the game, and bought a box of Generation Force. With the purchase of the box, he received a Steelswarm Roach and Tiras, Keeper of Genesis. This is when he broadened his idea a bit. "I want to build a deck that can summon Tiras."

Using his now expanded card pool, we brainstormed. Gagaga Magician, Wind-Up Soldier, and Master of the Flaming Dragon Sword became quick favorites of his, but despite his larger investment in the game (booster box + 2 Starter Decks + Dragunity Legion structure deck) he was having a difficult time competing with the early stages of my agent deck (constructed from three copies of the Lost Sanctuary structure deck and two copies of the Dawn of the XYZ starter deck.)

We decided while the concept was good, the deck needed an engine, and after much trial and error, we settled on a pure Wind-up deck. With cards like Wind-up Factory and Wind-Up Magician he was able to swam the field as well as draw a ton of cards to his hand. While his inexperience was coming through in many of our matches, his deck felt stronger, and he was learning the game through his new deck, which was awesome to see.

That being said, the deck did need more work and on one fateful day the course of the deck changed forever, and for the better. We each invested in a Gold Series 4 pack-- and he pulled the Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning. Originally, he wanted to give the card to me, but I do not believe he fully understood the meaning of that. With easily one of the most over-powered and hyped cards in the Meta under his belt, the real game started.

Several trips to eBay, dozens of deck rewrites by me, and hours of play testing, the deck morphed. Wind-ups, while an interesting engine, involved too many cards that sat dead in your hand as they only played useful as the second card played in a combo (IE you need to play Magician after Dog or Soldier is already in play, Gagaga is useless by itself, etc.) All the while, the deck's design stayed true to its original concept. But as the card game gods blessed my friend's fate, the deck evolved, and so did the mission statement. "I want to build a deck that can XYZ regularly and summon Tiras consistently. Oh, and BLS. He's awesome."

Finally, we've come together and created a deck we can be proud of, that I feel keeps a lot of the original concepts from day one, combined with his experience.

Without much further ado, the most recent incarnation my friends deck.

Mosters 22
1 Black Luster Soldier- Envoy of the Beginning
1 Gorz, Emissary of Darkness
2 Cyber Dragon
2 Thunder King Rai-oh
3 Wind-Up Soldier
3 Reborn Tengu
2 Gagaga Magician
1 Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
1 Genex Ally Birdman
2 Wind-Up Dog
1 Sangan
3 Effect Veiler

Spells 12
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Book of Moon
1 Mind Control
1 Pot of Duality
2 Forbidden Lance
2 Instant Fusion
2 Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps 6
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Solemn Judgement
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Call of the Haunted

Extra 15
1 Darkfire Dragon
1 Flame Swordsman (no, seriously)
1 Giltia D. Knight
2 Tiras, Keeper of Genesis
1 Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon
2 Number 39: Utopia
1 Ally of Justice: Catastor
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Gaia Knight, Force of Earth
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier


Having been playing agents since my return (most financially savvy investment for my current situation) his deck is the first deck I've been able to really build from scratch, and I'm pretty proud of it. I don't think of it as a tier 1 deck. I don't think he's going to win a YCS event with it-- but maybe, just maybe, with time, practices, and determination, we'll make a splash at a regional event.

Thank you all for your time reading my post, I'd appreciate any comments about this deck below, and any thoughts or comments for a future blog post. Your continued support is appreciated!