Remember when Premium Pack 2 came out? Everybody wanted Mezuki, but there were some other cards that a lot of people were pretty hyped about too. When I cracked my first box I cheerily sifted out cards like Athena, Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen, and Elemental Hero Woodsman, and the prize of the bunch (aside from everybody’s favorite undead horse) was Elemental Hero Voltic. Here was a card that promised the constant reuse of Elemental Hero Stratos, returning Heroes to the short-lived days where they could easily claim Stratos’s effects every turn!
But then nobody played it. It really wasn’t a surprise: at the time of Premium Pack 2’s debut, the only decks that could remove Stratos from play each turn (the only ones that could make Voltic proactive) just weren’t good. Voltic’s low ATK didn’t exactly cover it in glory either, and the card quickly fell by the wayside.
But times have changed, and thanks to the shape of current competitive metagames there’s definitely room for Elemental Hero Voltic to take some flashy wins at a local tournament near you! Today’s contributor is Lucas: he sent me his Voltic build, and here’s what he had to say about it . . .
My deck is based around special summoning via Elemental Hero Voltic. It applies similar ideas used in Little City, using big Heroes that are Light alongside Honest. I've added Rivalry of Warlords to help combat Gladiators, Synchros, and Lightsworn. The deck works by using Foolish Burial to get Heroes into the grave. I then use Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade’s effect to remove Heroes from play, ready to use with Voltic. Then I special summon powerful Heroes like Neos to deal even more damage.
Could you help me to refine this idea into something that can compete? Many thanks,
Lucas T. Devon, England
Here’s the deck Lucas sent me:
Voltic City
: 40 Cards
Monsters: 18
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
2 D.D. Crow
2 Elemental Hero Captain Gold
3 Elemental Hero Neos
3 Elemental Hero Neos Alius
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
3 Elemental Hero Voltic
3 Honest
Elemental Hero Voltic can bring back a lot of cool monsters, but honestly, you’ll almost always want to special summon Elemental Hero Stratos if he’s available. In order to keep up with the popular decks of today we need to be able to remove our own monsters quickly and frequently, because if we don’t, decks like TeleDAD will blow this strategy out of the water before its infrastructure is in place.
With that said, I have two big concerns with Lucas’s deck. First, there isn’t a lot of speed here in setting up that Voltic Combo. Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade is creative, but slow and Lucas isn’t playing anything to search it out. This deck’s entire strategy is dependent on two copies of Divine Sword—without it, we might as well be playing Little City without Skill Drain or Royal Oppression. And that would be pretty poor.
That plays into my second concern, which is the number of cards that suffer from the deck’s lack of speed. Elemental Hero Neos is useless here unless Voltic is special summoning him. Lucas isn’t playing O - Oversoul, nor is he running Hero Blast to take advantage of Neos’ high ATK. Combined with the fact that Lucas will usually want to special summon Stratos anyway, one has to question whether or not Neos belongs here. Band-Aid answers like Foolish Burial (so that you hopefully never draw Neos) and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast in a deck that can’t really afford the discard aren’t helping.
The solution? A complete deck overhaul. Lucas has a great idea here playing Voltic and trying to metagame against popular decks, but he’s got the wrong support engines. What we need to do is convert this deck into a Macro Cosmos build and work from there. Macro Cosmos and Dimensional Fissure will provide us with a reliable means of removing Stratos (and other Heroes) from play, and it works really well against TeleDAD. We can also incorporate a lot of cards that normally complement a Cosmos strategy, making this deck more than just a one-trick pony.
It pains me to do it, but we need to make some serious cuts if this is going to work. I’ll be cutting 30 of the 40 cards in Lucas’s deck, leaving only Voltic, Stratos, Solemn Judgment, Torrential Tribute, and Reinforcement of the Army.
From there we want to lay down our most important support cards: three copies of Dimensional Fissure and two copies of Macro Cosmos. They will remove Stratos and other Heroes from play so Voltic can bring them back, while also stymieing opposing copies of Destiny Hero - Malicious, Stardust Dragon, and Colossal Fighter. We’ve got three copies of Solemn Judgment to protect these cards, but we’ll also add three copies of Dark Bribe for the same purpose.
Now that we’ve got a standard Cosmos engine, three copies of D.D. Survivor are a must. We’re already running Reinforcement of the Army and the Survivors are pretty big attackers, so including them is a no-brainer. We’ll add a third Reinforcement of the Army to search them out when needed. It’ll naturally get other Heroes too.
Speaking of which, let’s add three copies of Elemental Hero Wildheart to the deck. Phoenix Wing Wind Blast and Compulsory Evacuation Device are both popular cards at the moment, and Mirror Force continues to regain its former popularity. We won’t be running Neos Alius in this build, but if you decide that’s a good call for your metagame you can always drop one Wildheart to slip in an Alius.
We’ll have a lot of free monsters kicking around the field thanks to D.D. Survivor and Elemental Hero Voltic, so having something to do with them is a good idea. Monarchs have always been a classic pairing with D.D. Survivor in a Macro Cosmos strategy, and since we have so many ways to get extra monsters on the field, they’re a no-brainer here. Three copies of Caius the Shadow Monarch will help the deck plow through big monsters, helping you win and (perhaps more importantly) clearing the field for Elemental Hero Voltic. We won’t be playing Honest in this deck, so clearing a path for Voltic is a top priority.
Synchro summons are another great outlet for your extra monsters, so I’m going to splash in three copies of Emergency Teleport and three Krebons cards. Remember, you can still Synchro summon even with Dimensional Fissure and Macro Cosmos on the field. Bringing out Goyo Guardian by giving up Krebons and D.D. Survivor is pretty sweet. Just remember that if you play Caius to Synchro summon Stardust Dragon, your own effects might get in the way of Stardust’s recursive ability. Your top level-8 picks are likely to be Thought Ruler Archfiend and Red Dragon Archfiend because of that.
Moving onto more spells, one more Reinforcement of the Army card is integral to this deck’s success. It doesn’t just search out Stratos and D.D. Survivor in the early game: it also thins your deck to help you draw into your important cards. Three copies of Enemy Controller give you another way to soften up a big monster and you can use its second effect to just take anything that’s in your way. Again, with D.D. Survivor and Voltic giving you so much tribute fodder, the tribute for Controller isn’t all that costly. One Shrink gives Voltic another way to deal battle damage, too.
Finally, I’m going to add two copies of Compulsory Evacuation Device to the deck as well, to help address those Synchros you can’t preempt. Evacuation Device is an incredibly simple answer to comparatively invested plays your average opponent will make to Synchro summon, so packing two here is irresistible. The card is exceptionally fast, and even if you’re just sending a monster back to your opponent’s hand with its effect, this deck can capitalize on that thanks to an attacking Voltic. As long as a Voltic shot follows up any non-Synchro Evacuation Device plays you’re forced to make, you haven’t lost any card presence.
+ An Extra Deck
The final build looks like this . . .
Voltic City—Jason’s Fix: 40 Cards
Monsters: 16
3 D.D. Survivor
3 Caius the Shadow Monarch
3 Elemental Hero Voltic
3 Elemental Hero Wildheart
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
3 Krebons
Veterans of this type of deck might scold me for playing a full three copies of Voltic when I could drop to two copies and fit Neos Alius. But frankly, if I’m going to be playing a deck like this I want it to be both reliable and flashy. Oddly enough, playing a third copy of Voltic will let me make more than just one Voltic play each game, while also creating a situation where I can potentially attack with one Voltic, special summon another, attack, special summon a third, and finally attack to bring out a fourth Elemental Hero. Practical? No. Fun? Definitely, and the cost of opening up this possibility is pretty negligible. Purists, however, are welcome to drop a Wildheart and a Voltic for two copies of Alius.
Your first and immediate goal when playing this deck is infrastructure: laying down that Dimensional Fissure or Macro Cosmos, then getting to Stratos and D.D. Survivor. Reinforcement of the Army is integral in doing this because you don’t have Destiny Draw or Allure of Darkness on your side: you’ll need to play aggressively while making careful use of your defensive cards. Run through them too quickly and you may find that you don’t have anything left to stave off attacks before your grand plan comes together. Be too stingy with them, and a single big Synchro or Gladiator Beast push could take you out. Mastering Enemy Controller, Shrink, and Compulsory Evacuation Device is the key to winning with this deck, especially when your draws are below average.
Once things start coming together you need to capitalize quickly. That means Synchro summons, Caius tributes, and attacks with Voltic. However, remember to hold back at least one answer when the game isn’t simplified. It could be as easy as holding onto a single copy of Caius or Shrink, and it can make the difference between being crushed by a big hand or surviving and fighting back. With average draws this deck can slow the fast-paced early game some of today’s top decks rely on, and when it works properly it’s got an exceedingly strong mid-game.
Ironically the deck’s toughest matchup is actually Little City. Oppression can be devastating and Neos Alius can press over most of the monsters this deck plays, so be sure to commit your negation cards to the field as early as possible—you must negate Oppression at all costs. If you can’t negate it, do what you can to try and press through a copy of Caius the Shadow Monarch and remove Oppression from the field. Krebons is the only monster that will naturally maintain its field presence, and even that wilts in the face of Skill Drain. You may need to switch gears and play very defensively, so don’t be afraid to reallocate your Controllers, Shrink, and Evacuation Devices.
Caius is also your number-one answer to Thought Ruler Archfiend. All of your defenses are targeting cards, so Caius and Goyo Guardian are the two cards you need to rely on to take it down. Remember that D.D. Survivor can soak up a lot of damage in a pinch, too. If you find you need to do it, you can always sideout copies of Shrink and Controller for non-targeting cards like Mirror Force and Windstorm of Etaqua. Windstorm can be particularly entertaining given this deck's proclivity towards Red Dragon Archfiend.
A deck like this one could compete at the regional level, but if you’re looking for something different and very entertaining to play at a local, this exact build will do just fine. It’s got enough defense and tricks to give the top decks a run for their money in any setting, and it can do some entertaining stuff you won’t see anywhere else. Give it a shot, tweak it for your metagame, and see how far you can get with it!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Want to see your deck featured in the Apotheosis? Send your decklist, formatted like the one in this article, along with your name, location, and a short description of how the deck works, to metagamedeckfixes@gmail.com.