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A Deck Worthy of Higher Expectations
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As of lately the latest craze in the current meta-game has been anti meta. For those of you oblivious to the little guy or the game entirely, anti-meta (as I like to think of it) is the concept of (if you don’t already know what anti or meta means) trying to beat the current meta-game without the use of said tier 1 decks. Decks include DAD, Six Samurai and the SJ winning Gladiator Beast build. I’m also expecting to see Judgment Dragon builds on the current tier 1 list as well. To go further in depth with this current craze I’d like to break down the concept of anti-meta.
Anti Meta
1. The First concept of anti-meta as I’d like to think of it (and possibly the most popular) is Budget Decks. This is the concept of trying to defeat and compete with the tier 1 decks we have in the current meta. Now while there have been popular budget decks (like Gadgets for instance) this is a very open concept. It is vast and can mean basically any deck under the cost of the tier 1 deck average price.
2. The second concept of anti meta (while sometimes related to Budget Decks) is the ability to come up with a cheap and/or original deck. That while sometimes may be pricey, has not yet seen too much play in big tournaments. Decks that used to be on this list for example where Six Samurai and Gladiator Beasts.
1. What is expected?
I’m here to show a deck that upholds the theme of the first concept, and shape it into the theme of the second. Meaning that I will show you my current, more inexpensive build, and transform it into the deck I’d like to have. A new anti-meta deck worthy of a top spot in a major tournament.
The Current Build
The deck I’ve ran for the past 2 months has been the best deck I’ve made in this current meta. Now while it’s close to tier 1, it lacks that certain tier 1 synergy. Being able to compete with DAD and having no issues with Six Samurai’s, this deck has proven to be a budget deck with some major control. Now I’d like to not leave you in the dark about the deck so here I have my current Plasma Control build.
Monsters 18
3 Destiny Hero – Plasma
1 Dark Magician of Chaos
2 Grinder Golem
2 Cyber Dragon
1 Jinzo
3 Cyber Valley
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
1 Marauding Captain
1 Phantom Skyblaster
1 D.D. Crow
1 Snipe Hunter
1 Sangan
Spells 17
3 Trade In
2 Reinforcement of the Army
2 Machine Duplication
2 Fires of Doomsday
1 Enemy Controller
1 Brain Control
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Monster Reborn
1 Premature Burial
1 Scapegoat
1 Lightning Vortex
Traps 5
2 Destruction Jammer
1 Threatening Roar
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Trap Dustshoot
I made this build strictly around the support of Destiny Hero - Plasma. The deck concept revolves around the control of your opponents monsters, while protecting yours and hitting for what you can.
2. Cookie Cutter?
No. When I built this deck I wanted it to be original. The concept of Plasma Control already existed, but it was a mere attempt at an anti meta deck, which basically was nothing more then DAD variant build. It composed the same build as DAD but with Destiny Hero - Plasma in it’s place allowing a more affordable deck similar to The Dark Creator build.
3. How can we improve this build?
Let’s just say I decided to splurge my cash into making this deck what I want it to be? What would it look like? And most importantly. How will it perform? This is the build I would like to achieve. Now while slightly more cookie cutter, it stands above the rest as original as well as playable due to the fact that is not a DAD variant, but an original concept all on it’s own.
The Deck-Plasma Control Tier 1
Monsters 18
3 Destiny Hero - Plasma
2 Destiny Hero - Malicious
1 Dark Magician of Chaos
1 Grinder Golem
1 Cyber Dragon
1 Jinzo
2 Phantom Skyblaster
1 Cyber Valley
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
1 Destiny Hero - Disk Commander
1 Marauding Captain
1 D.D. Crow
1 Snipe Hunter
1 Sangan
Spells 17
3 Destiny Draw
2 Allure of Darkness
2 Fires of Doomsday
1 My Body As A Shield
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Enemy Controller
1 Brain Control
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Monster Reborn
1 Premature Burial
1 Scapegoat
1 Lightning Vortex
Traps 5
1 Destruction Jammer
1 Crush Card Virus
1 Threatening Roar
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Trap Dustshoot
4. The Concept of Deck Building
As a duelist who has been playing since the game came out. I’d like to express how important it is to adapt to each meta and learn from your own mistakes. Building your deck and changing it to adapt to how it plays overall. It must never be stoic, but must constantly be flexible. I’ll explain the deck in a minute but first I must say that from experience I have learned something important in this current meta game. And that is… NON CHAINABLE CARDS WILL BE DESTROYED! I will go into this concept while I explain the deck and move into the topic of the trap cards. So let’s start explaining how this deck works.
The Monsters
First off let’s take a look at the star of the show, Destiny Hero - Plasma. He can negate the effects of all monsters on the opponents side field and suck up a monster to gain half their attack points. And while he requires 3 tributes, he’s special summoned and can sacrifice tokens as well. Seeing as how tokens can’t be used for a normal summon tribute only. I don’t have to stress how good he is but I will show how well he is supported. His synergy is amazing. First off he is searchable by Elemental Hero Stratos and can support his second effect to destroy a back row card. He can used with Destiny Draw, Allure of Darkness and is level 8 and can be used with Trade-In as well. In this lineup you’ll notice a card that many have long since forgotten. After the death of toolbox swarm this card has seen little if not any play, but in this deck I will explain why Marauding Captain is staple for me. First things first let’s just say he’s searchable by Reinforcement of the Army and Sangan. However it’s his support to Destiny Hero - Plasma that makes him so playable. First off when he is normal summoned successfully the player has the option to special summon another level 4 or lower monster from their hand. Broken? I think so. Let’s see why and explore the combos he can abuse. Marauding Captain first and foremost allows you to get an extra monster on the field to tribute summon for Destiny Hero - Plasma. Of course in this deck this is a big deal seeing as how Destiny Hero - Plasma needs 3 monsters to be summoned. He can be dropped with Cyber Valley to draw 2 cards and can also be dropped with Elemental Hero Stratos. This allows you to search out Destiny Hero - Plasma and have extra tribute fodder on the field. If he is summoned after Cyber Dragon you already have 3 monsters on the field and plenty of options. His second effect can come in handy as where if he’s on the field, no other warrior type monsters can be attacked but him. Meaning he can protect a low attack powered Destiny Hero - Plasma and keep your other warrior support monsters safe until you are ready to use them. To be honest he wont stay on the field long with a low 1200 attack, but even if he stalls for one turn. It can make all the difference. The only thing I regret is he can’t be used with Phantom Skyblaster, who needs to be normal summoned for his effect to activate. Phantom Skyblaster is another great support card in this deck. Originally meant to be used for Raviel, Lord of The Phantasms, this card can also work very well in this deck and is a well known staple for it. When he is summoned the player can special summon skyblaster tokens but not more the amount of monsters you currently have on the field. So if he’s summoned by himself. You get one token. If there is another monster on the field previous to his summon, you get two. He also has a secondary effect to burn for 300 during the standby phase for every Skyblaster monster you control including the tokens. He is also removable for Allure of Darkness and is searchable by Sangan. Grinder Golem is a card that people read and look at it like, “just why?” He can only be special summoned on the opponents side of the field. When you do this you summon 2 Grinder tokens to your side of the field in attack position, each with 0 attack. Also you cannot normal summon this turn. Now this card as I’ve seen only goes in two decks. Dark Gaia OTK and Plasma Control. The reason he works well in this deck is because 1) he summons 2 tokens to your side of the field 2) he allows to suck up a 3000 attack monster, giving Destiny Hero - Plasma 3400 attack 3) the opponent doesn‘t always have a monster to suck up. He can be used with Trade-In (as seen in the former build not in this one) and Allure of Darkness. The use of one Cyber Valley in this deck may seem strange. But let me explain the value of this. First of all when ran in 3’s the player usually (like in my former build) must run Machine Duplication in multiples. Where as the chance of getting all three of them to the field is higher if so. But once it is used. The second Machine Duplication is a dead draw. Also, once you summon all three it usually results in the removal of two of them, which wastes one of their effects to support another Cyber Valley. With one I have the freedom to use his effect to my full advantage without worrying about the consequences. He’s there and he used, then that’s it. A good card completed his purpose. Not to mention the combos that go along with this card such as sacrificing you opponents monsters to draw 2 and using him on tokens. Where in this deck can be done very often. Destiny Hero - Malicious was a card I had to choose over running Treeborn Frog. Not only is he usable by Allure of Darkness and Destiny Draw, but his ability to be special summoned as well as thin out the deck was something too hard to pass up, and overall was the better choice. He can also be used with Crush Card Virus.
The Spells
For those of you paying attention my the last build you’ll see a noticeable difference in the synergy of the spell lineup. The Machine Duplication’s ran in 2’s no longer have to be worried about being a dead draw. And the inconsistency of Trade-In is replaced by a more synergic Destiny/Allure engine. Already these changes allow the deck to be faster and work much better with the overall flow. To keep the deck at 40 I had to also think about using 1 or 2 Reinforcements of the Army. With only 2 targets the risk of a dead draw was too great, and with the added speed it just wasn’t necessary. The use of Fires of Doomsday and Scapegoat is a must in this deck. The cards are chainable and the Fires of Doomsday tokens can be sacrificed for Dark Magician of Chaos as well as Jinzo. And more importantly, these tokens can be used as tributes to summon Destiny Hero - Plasma and go well with other support combos abused by Enemy Controller. The tokens serve very well as not to burn your hand by summoning to many monsters only to have them sacrificed. I would like to explain the addition of My Body As a Shield in the trap section.
The Traps
Now some of you might be looking at the lineup and saying to yourself, “NO MIRROR FORCE?!” And you would be right to say so… not really. If you’ve been reading this you would have seen my earlier and at the time unexplained point about non chainable trap cards and how they will most likely be destroyed. But this is something I can’t stress enough. I do not feel that Mirror Force is right for this current format. If you look at my Quick Play Spell and Trap lineup, everything with the exception of Destruction Jammer and Torrential Tribute is chainable. I will go on to explain why I run Threatening Roar over Mirror Force. The first point is that Mirror Force fails to most of the meta-game’s most used cards. Dark Armed Dragon, Mobius the Frost Monarch, Judgment Dragon, The Six Samurai Yaichi, Snipe Hunter and Gladiator Beast Bestiari just to name a few. Not to mention all the Spells and Traps that destroy back row cards. If someone drops any of these cards on you and targets a Threatening Roar, you can chain it and they not only waste their priority, but they have no choice but to concede their strategy or even their turn. When playing against Gladiator Beasts or OTK’s, you already have a slight chance to stop them for a turn without the use of a side deck. Not to mention, in this deck, it would be better to stop the opponents monster from attack rather then destroying it. This way there is a monster that be sucked up by Destiny Hero - Plasma. If the monster is destroyed with Mirror Force, you face the risk of dropping a low attack Destiny Hero - Plasma or waiting a turn for another monster. You’ll notice the deduction of one Destruction Jammer for the addition of one My Body As a Shield. For those who are unfamiliar with Destruction Jammer it basically works just like My Body As a Shield except with a discard cost. Not 1500 life points. I added in My Body As a Shield as opposed to 2 Destruction Jammers because it’s faster. This is another prime example of learning and adapting. Destruction Jammer usually stalled me from summoning Destiny Hero - Plasma for a turn due to the fact that 1) I did not set it the previous turn for fear it would be destroyed 2) I have to wait to summon Destiny Hero - Plasma for fear that he will be destroyed without protection. Either that or summon and not attack. With My Body As a Shield I can summon him with no worry about him being stopped.
Why not Solemn?
This is something I’d like to go over. While Solemn Judgment is a great card and can stop just about anything. It has a great cost and one that should only be used when played by someone who knows the overall outcome of it’s use. Why don’t I main deck Solemn Judgment to protect Destiny Hero - Plasma? It’s simple. Usually people use Solemn Judgment on what? Mirror Force, Crush Card Virus, the summoning of monsters with destruction effects like Dark Armed Dragon, Judgment Dragon, etc. There’s no use in stopping a Grandmaster of the Six Samurai if he’ll just smack you for the same amount of life points. Destruction Jammer and My Body As a Shield get rid of the cards most people with would pay half their life points to stop. Only with less of a cost. But that doesn’t mean I don’t run Solemn Judgment. See the side deck list coming up.
5. No Deck is Perfect
This stands to be very true as to where no deck can go around beating everything always without the use of a side deck. Certain decks need them. This one for example can greatly boost it’s chance of winning with the use of a side deck.
1 Twister (For stall decks and Marco)
1 Destruction Jammer (If extra protection is needed)
1 Dust Tornado (Also for stall and Macro)
1 Threatening Roar (Also for extra protection and against Gladiator Beasts)
1 D.D. Crow (Against OTK decks that abuse graveyard effects, also increases his efficiency in multiples)
1 Silva, Warlord of Dark World (Against FTK’s and Dark World)
2 Pulling The Rug (Against Monarchs)
2 Neko Mane King (Just in case the FTK does not use Dark World Dealings)
2 Solemn Judgment (Against Gladiator beasts and Six Samurai’s. Because we all know the only thing that can stop a Solemn Judgment is a Solemn Judgment)
3 Puppet Plant (Against Six Samurai’s)
Conclusion
I would hope to believe this deck is tier 1. While I do not possess the ability to spend the money on this deck at the moment, I know it’s power due to the fact that my current build can stand against tier 1 decks even at it’s capacity. That makes the potential of this deck unlimited and hopefully will see major play. It’s best to look at your play style and know your deck and how it works. The outcome can be something original that you can pride yourself on. Not only for it being different. But worthy.
Tags: Yugioh Deck Metagame Format DAD Affordable Pike16
Related to:
Yu-Gi-Oh!
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Two, I posted my
So for the people who can make this build it goes