Removing monsters from play is definitely in fashion right now. Chaos Sorcerer was quite popular at U.S. Nationals, and recent expansions keep giving us neat cards that interact with the remove-from-play mechanic. Duelists have started taking a careful look at anything that invokes this powerful concept, and the result has been a bunch of cool decks landing in my inbox!

Today’s subject is one of the more interesting ones, and I actually got to meet one of the gentlemen responsible for its construction while I was at SJC Charlotte. Here’s what he had to say about his deck, which is an interesting Strike Ninja variant.

Dear Jason,

I was wondering if you'd be able to help me out with this experimental deck I've been working on. The idea here is to flip most of the stuff on my opponent’s side of the field face down, bring out Byser Shock to return everything to their hand, and let Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi reduce him or her to topdecking. Strike Ninja creates an interesting loop with Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi, and Byser Shock has been widely used in Ninja decks. Everything works well together, but the deck seems to be missing something. It's very good in the mid- and late game, but it always has slow starts, and it takes three or four turns to really get rolling. If you have any comments or ideas, they'd be greatly appreciated.

Bart W and Evan G, KnoxvilleTN

For reference, I believe the “interesting loop” that Bart and Evan mentioned involves tributing away two D. D. Scout Plane for Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi, attacking with it, and then using Strike Ninja in the opponent’s end phase next turn to bring back the two Scout Planes. Once it gets going, it is indeed brutal. The Scout Planes are safely out of play at all times, Strike Ninja is darn hard to take out, and Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi hitting just once will strip away all potential answers. That’s only one of the tricks this deck has, so check out the decklist!

Poof! Now You Have Nothing!

40 Cards

Monsters: 18

1 Jinzo

3 Strike Ninja

3 D.D. Scout Plane

2 Mystic Tomato

2 Byser Shock

1 Sangan

1 Spirit Reaper

2 Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi

1 Tsukuyomi

1 Sinister Serpent

1 Magician of Faith

Spells: 19

2 Book of Moon

1 Swords of Concealing Light

1 Card Destruction

2 Last Will

1 Heavy Storm

1 Pot of Greed

1 Graceful Charity

1 Premature Burial

1 Scapegoats

2 Metamorphosis

1 Big Bang Shot

2 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Swords of Revealing Light

2 Giant Trunade

Traps: 3

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Return From the Different Dimension

The deck’s right at forty cards, and all the key pieces are here for a winning plan. I do see Bart and Evan’s point, though—the deck seems to be skewed towards defense and looks as if it just kind of hangs around and waits until it draws into Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi. I’m going to be making this deck a little bit faster, a little bit stronger in the opening game, and to do that, I’ll be removing some of the defensive cards.

I also think there are efforts being made towards running this deck as a pseudo-Thousand-Eyes Restrict-Lockdown build. It seems completely antithetical to what this deck is trying to achieve, and was probably motivated by defensive priorities. I’ll be removing those elements from the deck.

Now, it’s possible that Bart and Evan were looking to turn Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi into something cool with Metamorphosis, but if the game gets to that point, you probably don’t need to be doing anything else to win. The fact that the Fusion deck wasn’t submitted with their build doesn’t really influence this decision, as I can’t think of anything that could have been in it to lead me to believe otherwise.

This deck looks good, but it could benefit from some tweaks. Let’s drop some cards!

First off, Jinzo’s gone. This deck has enough spell and trap removal to be able to deal without it, and we need the two copies of Byser Shock and Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi. There’s no way I can keep this deck at five tribute monsters and sleep soundly tonight—it’s just bad math. In my mind, any more than two monsters that can’t be normal summoned for free is risky, so the fact that four are completely necessary in this deck makes me edgy enough. Sorry, Jinzo.

Tsukuyomi’s also going to get pulled. We’ve got a pair of Book of Moon, and that’s going to be enough face up-face down manipulation. While Tsukuyomi obviously works well with the deck’s single copy of Magician of Faith, it’s likely one of the reasons that this deck has performed so slowly in testing. I’m going to recommend bumping Tsukuyomi to the side deck only to be used for matchups against Thousand-Eyes Restrict Lockdown decks.

Spirit Reaper will be removed as well. If the problem is speed and offense, Spirit Reaper won’t help. It’s a great card, and it’s searchable with both Sangan and Mystic Tomato, but I have the feeling this is a case of “right card, wrong deck.” It just doesn’t fit the tempo that we’re trying to create.

Moving on to the spells, Swords of Concealing Light is gone. It’s more than gone, it’s . . . already gone. Long gone. Gone a long time ago. Fired. Swords of Concealing Light is fired from this deck.

Yes, that will suffice.

Swords of Concealing Light is a great card under the right circumstances, but here it’s just another unnecessarily defensive card that will trip up Hino-Kagu, unless you’re packing Big Bang Shot. With some tweaks, this deck will be able to stand on its own through a balance of offense and defense, instead of just turtling and being forced to take the beatings that slip through its shell.

Finally, as I alluded to earlier, I’m removing the two copies of Metamorphosis. Again, these are obviously one of the best spells in the game at the moment, but they just don’t fit into this deck. Whenever a new combo hits the environment, many duelists will often try to fit it into decks where it doesn’t really work. Give some thought before you throw Tsukuyomi, Thousand-Eyes Restrict, and Metamorphosis into whatever you’re playing.

We’re left with six open slots. This isn’t a drastic amount of room, but it’s going to make a huge difference. First up for the additions is a third copy of Mystic Tomato. With fewer defensive cards, it’s going to be a little more difficult to maintain the board presence needed for summoning Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi, so a third Tomato is going to make that easier. We’ll get stronger, faster openings, and we’ll also have better access to find D. D. Scout Plane.

Also, for the sake of the opening turn and increased offensive speed, I’ll be adding a single copy of Zombyra the Dark. Zombyra is a great card in the opening that is difficult to overcome in battle. It’s virtually worthless as a target for Snatch Steal and Brain Control, making it a safe opener. Zombyra can act as a wall or provide two turns’ worth of steady offense before becoming a sacrificial lamb, and it’s okay that it inevitably does: Hino-Kagu needs more burnt offerings anyways.

I’m adding in a single copy of Cannon Soldier. Working well with Scapegoat, Cannon Soldier also gives us something to do with D. D. Scout Plane when the opponent is playing defensively. It gets Dark monsters into the graveyard as needed, gives the deck an alternate win condition through direct burn, and can be utterly nasty when combined with Return from the Different Dimension.

Finally for the monsters, I think Asura Priest would make a great addition. Combined with Big Bang Shot, it’s often an automatic win against Scapegoat, and it’s a relatively strong attacker with lots of tricks. It can equalize the field quickly and it can really capitalize on a bump of all the opponent’s spells and traps. Since the deck is packing two copies each of Giant Trunade and Byser Shock that works out rather conveniently!

Here are the changes I made to the deck.

-1 Jinzo

-1 Tsukuyomi

-1 Spirit Reaper

-1 Swords of Concealing Light

-2 Metamorphosis

+1 Cannon Soldier

+1 Mystic Tomato

+1 Zombyra the Dark

+1 Asura Priest

+1 Snatch Steal

+1 Ring of Destruction

And here’s the deck itself!

Poof! Now You Have Nothing!

Jason’s Fix: 40 Cards

Monsters: 19

3 Strike Ninja

3 D.D. Scout Plane

3 Mystic Tomato

2 Byser Shock

1 Sangan

2 Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi

1 Zombyra the Dark

1 Sinister Serpent

1 Magician of Faith

1 Asura Priest

1 Cannon Soldier

Spells: 17

2 Book of Moon

1 Card Destruction

2 Last Will

1 Heavy Storm

1 Pot of Greed

1 Graceful Charity

1 Premature Burial

1 Scapegoat

1 Big Bang Shot

2 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Swords of Revealing Light

2 Giant Trunade

1 Snatch Steal

Traps: 4

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Return from the Different Dimension

1 Ring of Destruction

This deck looks to open with Mystic Tomato or Zombyra the Dark, and from there, it wants to whittle away the opponent while collecting pieces for its main combo (Hino-Kagu, D .D. Scout Plane, and Strike Ninja). This still isn’t an early-game deck, and it’s still a bit slower than others. That said, it’s faster than it was before, and it will do better when it’s played with sufficient aggression.

It wants to go off in the mid-game, making a big attack with Hino-Kagu when the opponent still has plenty of cards in hand. Last Will helps you stock up on board presence and also aids the alternate win condition of Cannon Soldier, and Book of Moon keeps the field locked down as normal. Big Bang Shot not only works as an integral accompaniment to Hino-Kagu and Asura Priest, but also works as an impromptu piece of monster removal when combined with Giant Trunade. Just be careful of using Return from the Different Dimension if you’ve removed big monsters on your opponent’s side of the field.

The deck can go off in the late game as well, but if it never truly secures its board presence, then the concept of direct burn becomes even more important. Use it to keep the pressure up on your opponent—in many cases, a single Scapegoat can give you enough tribute fodder to win.

For the side deck, I would suggest Ceasefire, so you can deal with troublesome flip effects as well as aid the deck’s win conditions. Damage is good, and Ceasefire is probably going to be considered tier one by the end of next month. It’s incredibly useful in the current conservative environment, and with Magician of Faith present in most metagames, it can be invaluable when your opponent looks to capitalize on his or her lead by reusing Pot of Greed or Delinquent Duo. I’d also suggest Chain Disappearance. Scapegoat can be annoying to this deck and Thousand-Eyes Restrict can shut it down entirely, but Chain Disappearance deals with both of those in one big explosion of sheep and eyes.

As a side note, this deck is yet another one that includes Byser Shock. Byser Shock may be gaining popularity, and it would certainly be justified given the slow state of play in most metagames. In the meantime, if you’re interested in a Strike Ninja variant that’s been custom-tweaked for the current environment, this is what you’re looking for!

Thanks for sending it in, guys! Hopefully the suggestions help.

—Jason Grabher-Meyer

Interested in seeing your deck fixed up and featured in The Apotheosis? Send it to me with your name, city and state of residence, and a bit of information describing the deck—it might be featured in a future article! You can get in touch with me at Jason@metagame.com.