With just four days left between now and the American National Championships, deciding what card to discuss this week wasn’t easy. I want to look at something relevant to the weekend that some players may not have thought about and it took me a little while to settle on a subject. There just really wasn’t a choice, as hard as I looked for a second candidate. The potential explosiveness of this card is unparalleled as we head into a three-week period of American Nats, Canadian Nats, and Shonen Jump Championship Philadelphia. A recent ruling has made this dusty old trap card a real potential hit, and if you’re not ready for it this weekend, it may take you by surprise.
Granted, if you are ready for it, I’m not sure that there’s anything you can do to stop it. Let’s look at what I mean.
The Ruling Unheard ‘Round the World
The reversal in question is as follows:
If you Set "Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast" without Tribute, it has 2800 ATK and 1400 DEF while face down and can be Tributed to activate "Deck Devastation Virus", etc. It has 1400 ATK and 1000 DEF when flipped face up.
You can find the ruling here in its original context. It’s a reversal of a previous ruling that stated Fusilier Dragon would not have its printed stats while it was set face down.
Doesn’t seem too significant, does it? Since an attack would flip Fusilier face up, the ruling clearly states it would have only 1400 ATK and 1000 DEF if it were to be attacked. If you were to flip summon it sometime after setting it, or flip it over with a card like Ceasefire, it would still have its stats halved. The only way in which this new ruling could be significant would be to do something with Fusilier Dragon without actually flipping it over. Not many paid attention.
Those who did noticed that the reversal made two cards exceedingly easy to activate. Deck Devastation Virus was the first—a card that had always been viable but that never saw tremendous play due to its awkward activation cost and not-always-useful effect. The other was Eradicator Epidemic Virus, a card with a huge effect, but one that had never seen play due to its high activation cost. Monsters with 2500 ATK don’t just grow on trees, and the Dark attribute restriction made Eradicator Epidemic Virus even tougher to play.
But that’s not the case anymore. Now, instead of giving up Dark Magician of Chaos, Destiny Hero - Plasma, or Dark Armed Dragon, all you need to do is set Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast, set Eradicator Epidemic Virus, and pass. Next turn, you’ll have everything you need to unleash the Virus.
And That’s Where The Fun Starts
The earlier you can do that, the better. The ruling reversal on Fusilier Dragon didn’t just make it easier to play Eradicator Epidemic Virus, it also made it infinitely faster. Previously, nothing short of a first-turn Dark Magician of Chaos was going to set you up for a first-turn Eradicator, but now, you can play multiple copies of Fusilier and Eradicator to ensure that you activate it as early as possible. While running a full three copies of Fusilier and three copies of Eradicator may not be optimal in the minds of many, doing so would give you a 14% chance of starting with the combo on turn 1. From there, each extra card you see raises your chances by almost 5%: an extremely significant number when you start tossing around Allure of Darkness, Destiny Draw, and whatever other draw cards you may be packing. Resolve just one such card, and you’ll have a one-in-four chance of opening with an Eradicator combo in every game.
That’s a one-in-four chance of stealing every spell from your opponent’s hand on his or her first turn, as well as the two turns after it. No draw cards, no Reinforcement of the Army, no Gladiator Proving Ground, Cold Wave, Heavy Storm, Soul Exchange, Brain Control, or any other number of cards that are integral to today’s top decks. The only strategy that can survive that is Counter Fairies (against which you call "traps" anyway) and perhaps Gladiator Beasts, which can cling to some semblance of life if they have the right monster cards. Don’t worry though—they’ll get theirs.
Because Naturally, Any Deck Running This Combo . . .
Go look at Steven Harris’ deck that won Shonen Jump Championship Saint Louis {insert link http://metagame.com/yugioh.aspx?tabid=61&EventId=198}—flip Deck Devastation Virus, and only six of the deck’s 21 monsters survive. On the Eradicator side of things, one could call spells or traps depending on the situation. A call of spells with Epidemic early on would rob the deck of its search cards and resiliency mainstays like Monster Reborn, Swords of Revealing Light, and Premature Burial. Call traps, and the deck loses its copies of Solemn Judgment, Waboku, and basically everything that makes it so tricky to play against. Both are fine calls math-wise, with the deck clocking nine spells and ten traps.
In fact, it’s interesting to note that Eradicator Epidemic Virus actually does a wonderful job eliminating Crush Card Virus before it can be played. Flip Eradicator, call traps, and unless your opponent can respond by chaining Crush Card, he or she is not going to be playing it for at least three turns. That actually turns into four turns of freedom from Crush Card if you flip Eradicator on your turn, turns in which you can go hog-wild knowing you’re safe from arguably the most powerful card in the game (not to mention Mirror Force and Torrential Tribute, too).
Yes, We’re Talking About Virus Control
And manipulate you will! The combination of intelligence and carpet-bombing removal of entire types of cards from your opponent’s game plan will leave you with the precise knowledge and opportunity needed to take your opponent apart. Anyone who’s flipped Crush Card Virus against an opponent of equal skill knows that the information one gains from doing so can easily lead to a game win. With Eradicator Epidemic Virus now a competitive possibility, that type of intelligence is going to be gathered a lot faster and a lot more frequently, meaning that you’ll know exactly what to destroy when Dark Armed Dragon hits the field. It’s Dark Armed Dragon control strategy taken to a whole new level.
If we don’t see Virus Control decks taking top tables at American Nationals this weekend, I’m sure it will happen eventually—the deck is capable of crushing matchups against Gladiator Beasts, Lightsworn, and old-school Dark Armed Dragon decks in particular. Approaching any other deck is just a matter of getting to the right Virus fast enough and knowing what choice to make with Eradicator. The choices aren’t even difficult.
When you face Dark Armed Dragon, you virtually always call "spells," with the notable exception of when you’re about to make a big attack. Against Gladiator Beasts, you probably call "spells" on a turn 1 play before your opponent can use his or her search cards or pin you down with Cold Wave. Any point after that, you probably call "traps" to stop Solemn Judgment and Waboku. Against Monarchs you call spells to shut down their tribute stealers, and even if your opponent is playing Beckoning Light over Monster Reincarnation in Lightsworn, you still probably call spells because depriving your opponent of Foolish Burial and Solar Recharge slows him or her down and robs Beckoning of its power anyway. These are not difficult decisions to plan for, and it’s not hard to see when to change those plans on the fly, either.
Eradicator Epidemic Virus never took off when it was released seven months ago, but get ready, because it’s a whole new ballgame now. Virus Control may play a big role in tournaments this summer, and Eradicator is going to be at the center of that maelstrom.
—Jason Grabher-Meyer