There’s something to be said for having the biggest, meanest monster on the field. The last two formats have generally been won by whoever can keep the baddest beatstick the longest, because when you do that, you dictate all the surrounding elements of gameplay. Momentum, damage, and card presence all tend to fall into your favor, and wins come quickly thereafter.
With Tactical Evolution now released, there’s no bigger, badder beastie than Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes. Difficult to summon, but almost a guaranteed win when she hits the field, Vennominaga is the latest and greatest face-thrasher of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. She’s nigh-impossible to destroy or remove from play, she grows to mammoth sizes, and if you can’t win through sheer damage (which you will), she has a wacky alternate win condition too. Never has a monster asked so much, and given so much back in return.
Sounds fun, huh?
Reader Nick, from Clayton, New Jersey certainly thought so—enough to make a deck the first moment he could at his Sneak Preview. Here’s what he had to say about it:
Hey there!
In this deck I use a few cards that some people might not immediately understand. First off, the first monster I use is A Cat of Ill Omen, due to its ability to search out helpful traps such as Rise of the Snake Deity and Damage = Reptile. Using that helps me get the traps I need at a faster pace. Another card used in this deck is Hammer Shot, which I use so that I can destroy my own Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes while Rise of the Snake Deity is set. That helps me get out Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes a lot faster.
Another trap I use similar to Damage = Reptile is Damage Condenser. Even though this card requires you to discard a card from your hand, I could discard a Reptile type monster, then special summon Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes from my deck and give him an extra 500 ATK points. I am hoping that this deck could become competitive since I plan on using it a lot. Any edits and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I think this deck needs your super special awesome touch to make it better than ever.
Thanks for all your help!
—Nick H.
Clayton, NJ
Here’s the decklist Nick sent me:
Chomp Chomp—45 Cards
Monsters: 20
3 Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes
3 Venom Snake
3 Razor Lizard
3 Venom Serpent
3 Venom Cobra
2 Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes
2 A Cat of Ill Omen
1 Morphing Jar
Spells: 13
3 Snake Rain
3 Venom Swamp
2 Hammer Shot
1 Snatch Steal
1 Premature Burial
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Swords of Revealing Light
Traps: 12
2 Damage = Reptile
2 Rise of the Snake Deity
2 Ambush Fangs
2 Damage Condenser
1 Mirror Force
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mask of Restrict
Whoa Nelly, that is a big deck! Nick’s enthusiasm is clearly demonstrated by the sheer volume of new cards he’s playing, leaving his build not only heavy on differing Venom strategies, but unfortunately unwieldy due to its size. Search cards like Damage = Reptile combine with Snake Rain to create a ton of card thinning, but for all its complexities, this is basically a combo deck. We should be using that card thinning to make it easier to draw into key cards, not to compensate for the deck’s ginormous size. We’re going to need to trim some fat, and that means more focus.
In addition, Nick has essentially built two different decks. On the one hand, he’s using Vennominon and Vennominaga, and trying to do so at a very quick pace. On the other, he’s also using Venom Swamp and smaller Venom monsters. The latter strategy needs a lot of on-field defense and spell disruption to work properly, or else you’ll never last long enough to draw into Venom Swamp and stack piles of Venom Counters. Since Nick has all the infrastructure he needs for Vennominon and Vennominaga, but really none of what he needs for Venom Swamp, I’m going to cut the Swamp side of the deck in favor of a refined strategy.
So the first thing on my agenda is to drop some Reptiles. The Venom monsters can be useful, but they need Venom Swamp to be played effectively. In the absence of that card (I’ll be cutting all three copies), there are better Reptiles to feed the stats of our bigger monsters. I’ll drop Venom Snake, Venom Serpent, and Venom Cobra. I’ll also drop Razor Lizard, since it’s a slightly slower card better suited to a Venom Swamp deck that can adequately defend it. And yes, it does indeed tear me up inside to drop such an adorable monster. This might be the cutest card since Rescue Cat. Go ahead—take a moment out of your busy day to gaze into those caffeinated little eyes, and wave Razor Lizard a fond farewell.
The last monsters I want to drop are the two copies of A Cat of Ill Omen. While Nick’s idea of using the Cat for important trap cards was a good one, I think the impact of cutting this deck down to 40 cards will more than make up for the loss. Every Reptile counts, so I’d like to stick with Reptile-types as much as possible.
Moving on to spells, a single Snake Rain can work wonders for thinning the deck and building up the strength of Vennominon and Vennominaga. However, two copies of Snake Rain drawn over the course of a single game usually spell certain doom. The card’s discard cost is hefty and activating more than one in any duel is probably going to skew your draws badly: you just won’t have any monsters left. For that reason, I’ll drop two of the three copies of Snake Rain. If you draw the one remaining copy, awesome. If not, the deck can win without it.
A lack of Venom monsters means I’ll be removing Ambush Fangs, and while I like Damage Condenser, I think there are better options for what we’re trying to achieve. Removing Damage Condenser will also allow me to run other cards that require discard costs . . . without making the deck too hard to run. Finally, I’ll remove the one copy of Mask of Restrict. We need to make space, and Mask of Restrict is going to be more effective in multiples in the side deck.
That leaves us with a whopping nineteen card slots to fill, and adding those cards will still keep the deck at a slim count of 40. First up, we need more Reptiles!
The new Alien Shocktrooper from Tactical Evolution is a must-play addition. At 1900 ATK it’ll fill our Reptilian needs, and it has a huge frame that will dwarf most other monsters. Gagagigo is almost as powerful, so I’ll run three copies of each.
Next I’ll add three copies of Balloon Lizard, creating an interesting dynamic. With its high DEF, the Lizard will repel most monsters that attack it, and its effect will deter your opponents from destroying it. That means they either have to spin it away with Raiza, or wait to get a Brain Control or Snatch Steal to let them tribute it. It’ll be a rare occasion that you’ll actually get to use the Lizard’s effect, but it buys you time, and that’s exactly what a combo deck needs.
Lastly, losing both copies of Vennominaga to the graveyard does happen, and in that case you can wind up with a lot of dead cards. Rise of the Snake Deity becomes useless, and Vennominon suddenly needs to fight on his own. This situation could be repaired with Pot of Avarice, but shuffling back too many Reptiles from your graveyard would leave Vennominon and Vennominaga weakened in the long run. Luckily, Reptiles are well-equipped to deal with this problem. An older monster, Des Feral Imp, has a flip effect that lets you shuffle a card in your graveyard back into your deck. It’s a Reptile, and it has admirable stats: 1600 ATK and 1800 DEF. We’ll run two copies as an insurance policy.
Finally, the last monster addition will be two copies of Snipe Hunter. Snipe will fulfill all of its normal functions here: clearing the path for attacks, blowing away big threats, and juicing functionality out of combo cards we can’t currently use. It will also let us send more Reptiles to the graveyard to fuel Vennominon and Vennominaga, and Snipe Hunter’s effect can destroy Vennominon to let you trigger Rise of the Snake Deity.
Another Hammer Shot seems like a good idea, clearing away Monarchs as needed and destroying Vennominon just as Nick noted. Since this deck will now play more aggressively, three Brain Control cards also seem like a good idea. It’ll let us attack directly more often, and it’ll even allow for the tribute summoning of Vennominon in a pinch. Brain Control wins games in this format, and there’s no reason we can’t take advantage of that. Call of the Haunted makes for an awesome combo with Snake Rain, so let’s add Call as well. Finally, a third copy of Damage = Reptile is ideal. This card is phenomenal for what it is, and three copies are an absolute must. Extras that you draw can be pitched for Snipe Hunter or Snake Rain.
Let’s look at the changes I made to Nick’s deck!
-3 Venom Snake
-3 Venom Serpent
-3 Venom Cobra
-3 Razor Lizard
-2 A Cat of Ill Omen
-3 Venom Swamp
-2 Snake Rain
-2 Ambush Fangs
-2 Damage Condenser
-1 Mask of Restrict
+3 Alien Shocktrooper
+3 Gagagigo
+2 Des Feral Imp
+3 Balloon Lizard
+2 Snipe Hunter
+1 Hammer Shot
+3 Brain Control
+1 Damage = Reptile
+1 Call of the Haunted
Here’s the final decklist:
Chomp Chomp—Jason’s Fix—40 Cards
Monsters: 19
3 Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes
2 Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes
3 Alien Shocktrooper
3 Gagagigo
2 Des Feral Imp
3 Balloon Lizard
2 Snipe Hunter
1 Morphing Jar
Spells: 12
1 Snake Rain
3 Hammer Shot
3 Brain Control
1 Snatch Steal
1 Premature Burial
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Swords of Revealing Light
Traps: 9
3 Damage = Reptile
2 Rise of the Snake Deity
1 Mirror Force
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Call of the Haunted
Nick’s deck now has a strong balance of defensive monsters and attackers, augmented by seven pieces of spell-based monster removal as well as Ring of Destruction, Mirror Force, and Torrential Tribute. It is, for many purposes, a moderate beatdown strategy. In return for relinquishing the Cyber Dragon cards that would normally distinguish a beatdown, we’ve got really big snakes.
This deck wants to be played with a heady dose of aggression, making spell-for-monster exchanges whenever possible to keep a lead in field presence. When stuff doesn’t go your way, Damage = Reptile will bail you out. Make sure to flip it before you immediately wish to use it. Responding to the declaration of an attack by flipping Damage = Reptile face up is fine, but don’t try to use it in the damage step—that won’t work since it’s impossible to flip at that time. Just a single point of damage is enough to let you special summon Vennominon, turning the tables on your opponent.
Remember that you can use the trap’s effect when you take battle damage as a result of your own attack. Gravekeeper’s Spy is your best friend: ram into her, take a little damage, and pull Vennominon. In fact, go ahead and attack the Spy as many times as you can. If damage equals Reptile, then multiple copies of Vennominon equal winning.
When Vennominon hits the field, it’s important to back him up with the proper mind games. Your opponent will look to destroy Vennominon with effects instead of attacks, since the King can recover when he’s destroyed in battle. You need to discourage your opponent from playing stuff like Smashing Ground or Zaborg the Thunder Monarch when you don’t have Rise of the Snake Deity set. The trick is to play like you have Rise of the Snake Deity more or less constantly. No matter what’s going on, you always want to have a card set in your back row if Vennominon is on the field. That way, your opponent will have to destroy that face down, or wonder if his or her Ring of Destruction is just going to result in Vennominaga hitting the table.
This deck can be a lot of fun, especially for casual or League competition. If you’re looking for something that wins in grand style and plays very differently from other decks out there, this deck is perfect.
Thanks for sending it in, Nick!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Got a cool deck that you think could benefit from some advice? Send me a decklist in the format shown in this article, along with your name, location, and a couple of paragraphs describing how the deck works. You can reach me at jdgmetagame@gmail.com.