The promo cards given out to reward duelists for attending Sneak Preview events are just getting better and better. By far, the most playable promotional release card for these tournaments is the upcoming card Exchange of the Spirit, a long-awaited trap that’s proven to be worthy of tournament play in Japan.
Launching alongside Elemental Energy, Exchange of the Spirit is so good that many duelists threw the bolts on their doors and emerged from their rooms, labs, and dark caverns of deck-building mystery with full decklists just days after the first scan of the card was posted on the official Sneak Preview site.
Mathew S. was one such duelist, and the first few lines of his letter demonstrate the excitement that this hot promo card has generated.
In a month, one of the coolest cards ever to be printed will be coming out as the promo for theElemental Energy Sneak Preview events. The card is Exchange of the Spirit. I, as well as millions of others, have been waiting for this card to be released, and we’ve been thinking about its potential in future decks. Even though it’s a little early, I’ve created this deck that’s based on decking your opponent out by the second or third turn. The new format limited Book of Moon and Book of Taiyou to one copy per deck, so I had to resort to a more original way to speed up the pace.
See what you think about this deck,
—Mathew S.
Here’s the decklist that Mathew sent to me.
Exchange of the Spirit
40 Cards
Monsters: 8
3 Thunder Dragon
1 Morphing Jar
1 Cyber Jar
2 Morphing Jar #2
1A Cat of Ill Omen
Spells: 22
3 Toon Table of Contents
3 Soul Release
2 Upstart Goblin
1 Card Destruction
3 Reasoning
2 Spell Reproduction
3 Reload
1 Book of Taiyou
1 Book of Moon
3 A Feather of the Phoenix
Traps: 10
1 Exchange of the Spirit
3 Desert Sunlight
2 Magical Hats
3 Jar of Greed
1 Reckless Greed
The deck seeks to win in three steps. First, it must get at least fifteen cards into its graveyard, as this is the necessary condition under which Exchange of the Spirit can be activated. Then, it must activate Exchange of the Spirit. Doing so will force each player to swap their decks with their graveyards, and vice versa. If all goes according to plan and these first two steps are executed relatively early in the game, the opponent will then have very few cards in his or her deck. Step three is more flexible. You can stall out your opponent, or play Card Destruction or a similar effect. Regardless of what you choose, the goal is the same: eliminate the opponent’s now-tiny deck and claim the win.
Thunder Dragon, Toon Table of Contents, Reckless Greed, Upstart Goblin, the Jars, and Reasoning all achieve the first goal by filling your graveyard with cards. Some cards, like Thunder Dragon and Toon Table of Contents, do nothing beyond thinning the deck and giving you discard fodder, as they perform no other function of notable use. On the other hand, Reasoning, Upstart Goblin, and Jar of Greed all get more cards into your hand or onto the field while they discard.
For instance, the Jars all help you achieve step two, which is actually finding that one lone copy of Exchange of the Spirit. This is important, since we can’t just add more—it’s a limited card, so digging for it may sometimes be necessary. Reload and A Cat of Ill Omen can help accelerate towards our target trap, and in a pinch, remember that Reload can effectively discard itself as well. It’s good for those times when you need to go from fourteen cards in your graveyard to fifteen. It’s also important to note that A Feather of the Phoenix can be used to retrieve Exchange of the Spirit from your graveyard. That’s good to know, in case you have to discard it for Card Destruction or Morphing Jar or if it’s ever smoked by Confiscation.
As for grinding out the opponent’s remaining cards after you successfully resolve Exchange of the Spirit’s effect, Morphing Jar, Cyber Jar, and Card Destruction are ideal. Remember that because your graveyard becomes your deck once you resolve Exchange of the Spirit, you can use these cards in the early game to find Exchange of the Spirit and fill your graveyard, then use them again once you draw them a second time. If stalling becomes necessary, Magical Hats can be used to provide an impromptu defense.
Card Destruction needs some additional discussion, because it’s the most important card in the deck beyond Exchange of the Spirit itself. Think about the three steps: Card Destruction fills the graveyard in step one, searches out Exchange of the Spirit in step two, and then decks the opponent in step three. It’s really an all-in-one solution for the challenges that this deck faces. As such, remember that it can be reused through A Feather of the Phoenix and Spell Reproduction. Just be careful not to give the opponent too many cards for the graveyard before you activate Exchange of the Spirit.
In general, I like how this deck gets its business done. As you can see, it has many ways of meeting each of its goals. However, I am a bit concerned about some of its possible dead ends, and I especially fear coming up against Royal Decree. Royal Decree was played by many duelists at Shonen Jump Atlanta, and it’s only going to get more popular, due to its imminent reprinting in the upcoming Warrior Structure Deck.
To bolster our defenses, the first cut I want to make is Reckless Greed. While this deck can often win with the additional two cards that Reckless Greed gives a duelist, if it stalls on those two turns without draws, it’s out of luck. While two cards can be a big benefit, I don’t feel it’s needed here, and the risk that it presents seems unnecessary when compared to the possible payoff. We also need space for answers to Royal Decree, so cuts have to be made somewhere—and I feel that the Decree-hosers need to be in the main deck and not relegated to the side deck.
I’m also going to ditch the two copies of Upstart Goblin. Again, I’m mostly just making room for other cards. I’ll always start that process by removing the single-card cycling effects that can’t be set and chained to draw out spell and trap removal.
Finally, I’m cutting one Desert Sunlight. With only one Nobleman of Crossout permitted in the Advanced format we’ll be safe running just two copies of Desert Sunlight. However I do want to side deck the copy I’m cutting, so that when you’re up against Warrior Toolbox and you need to fend off Exiled Force and Mystic Swordsman LV2, you’ll be able to do so.
Now for the additions! As counterintuitive as it might be, this deck needs and Heavy Storm to have a fighting chance against anything that’s running two or more copies of Royal Decree. There’s just no getting around it. Dust Tornado is obviously a trap, so even though it can be chained to Royal Decree’s activation, it becomes a dead draw if it isn’t present on the field before Royal Decree. That makes it a non-option for our purposes. This deck can’t maintain field presence very well, so Mobius the Frost Monarch is far from a reliable solution. That leaves Heavy Storm and Mystical Space Typhoon, so I’ll add both and hope that matching the average pair of Royal Decrees one-for-one on a card-by-card basis will be enough.
Next, I’m adding one more copy of A Cat of Ill Omen in order to make the deck a bit more reliable. In a pinch, the Cat can be used to seek out Magical Hats for defense, so it doesn’t just become a dead card once you get your paws on Exchange of the Spirit. I’ll add a third to the side deck for the relatively safe Lockdown Burn matchup. As long as you can speed along fast enough, Burn can’t touch you, and a third Cat will see to that.
Finally, I really don’t like the idea of being stuck with a third Toon Table of Contents that does nothing but discard itself. I also don’t like the idea of Cyber Dragon eating my face. I’m going to add one copy of Toon Goblin Attack Force to act as a searchable wall. In the side deck, I’ll include one copy of Toon Cannon Soldier. This is for matchups where you don’t face Cyber Dragon—rotate in Toon Cannon Soldier instead, and it can become an instant addition to your graveyard through its own effect on any turn in which you do not need to summon.
That’s all I’m going to do to Mathew’s deck. Here’s a recap of the changes I made.
-1 Reckless Greed
-2 Upstart Goblin
-1 Desert Sunlight
+1 A Cat of Ill Omen
+1 Toon Goblin Attack Force
+1 Heavy Storm
+1 Mystical Space Typhoon
Here’s the final deck!
Exchange of the Spirit: Jason’s Fix
40 Cards
Monsters: 10
3 Thunder Dragon
1 Morphing Jar
1 Cyber Jar
2 Morphing Jar #2
2 A Cat of Ill Omen
1 Toon Goblin Attack Force
Spells: 22
3 Toon Table of Contents
3 Soul Release
1 Card Destruction
3 Reasoning
2 Spell Reproduction
3 Reload
1 Book of Taiyou
1 Book of Moon
3 A Feather of the Phoenix
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
Traps: 8
1 Exchange of the Spirit
2 Desert Sunlight
2 Magical Hats
3 Jar of Greed
Side Deck:
2 Mobius the Frost Monarch
1 A Cat of Ill Omen
1 Toon Cannon Soldier
1 Desert Sunlight
You’ll notice that the recommended side deck has only five cards. Feel free to fill in the other ten yourself—these are just the five cards that I feel are important. The two copies of Mobius the Frost Monarch are there for the dual-Decree matchup. While they aren’t necessary, they’re definitely something to think about in the second game of any match against a player running two copies of Royal Decree. They also rotate very easily—when you’re faced with a dual-Decree engine, just remove the three Thunder Dragon and add in the pair of Mobius plus the third A Cat of Ill Omen.
The deck plays in essentially the same way as it did before, even though it lacks a bit of its capability to cycle through cards in a single turn due to the removal of Upstart Goblin. The difference I’ve made is that it’s now better equipped to deal with specific decks and pieces of tech. This deck used to be an auto-loss against Royal Decree, but its odds have been greatly improved. At the same time, it can now adapt to Warrior and Cyber Dragon matchups with a bit more resiliency.
Thanks for sending it in, Mathew! Hopefully the fix helps, and if you’ve been looking for a way to use Exchange of the Spirit, maybe this deck will give you some ideas. Try it out! It’s a really fun card, and your opponents won’t be ready for a strategy like this one.
—Jason Grabher-Meyer