Today, I have the privilege of writing my column about a true champion. Dario Longo is one of the most accomplished duelists in the world—his bid for top honors is contested only by Theeresak Poonsombat. Dario has won multiple Italian National tournaments, placed in the Top 4 of the European Championships in 2006, and won the World Championship that same year. This year, he made the Top 8 of yet another World Championship, and was ranked first after Day 1 to boot.

The Italian star of Team Overdose placed in the Top 8 with a Gadget build this year. In a format where many had written off Gadgets as unplayable due to the availability of stronger and more explosive decks, Dario made the conservative and consistent choice. Overdose has seen a lot of success with Gadgets. Adam Corn and Paul Levitin both placed in the Top 16 of Shonen Jump Championship Houston using two different variants of a Gadget deck, and Paul has had regional success with his same “Ratty Gadget” deck.

World Championships are unique tournaments. Not only do players have to compete against national champions from around the world, but they also have only five rounds of Swiss and a Top 8 playoff in which to do so. This means that a 3-2 record is enough to land a Top 8 spot as long as your previous opponents also see success. Fewer rounds means that competitors don’t need the perfect blend of luck and consistency it takes to make the Top 16 of a Shonen Jump. That’s why so many “safe” decks that usually only take up one spot in the Top 8 of a Shonen Jump are so abundant at Worlds competitions. The possibility of drawing extremely powerful hands is toned down for extra consistency. After all, who wants to draw a bad hand against a national champion?

Dario Longo’s Gadget build is extremely consistent. Combine that with his abilities, and you get a two-time Worlds Top 8 competitor. Let’s take a look at what he ran:

Monsters: 17

2 Red Gadget

2 Green Gadget

2 Yellow Gadget

3 Cyber Phoenix

3 Cyber Dragon

2 D. D. Assailant

2 Exiled Force

1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole

Spells: 16

3 Smashing Ground

2 Reinforcement of the Army

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Shrink

1 Pot of Avarice

2 Enemy Controller

1 Confiscation

1 Snatch Steal

1 Heavy Storm

1 Lightning Vortex

1 Limiter Removal

Traps: 10

1 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Ring of Destruction

3 Trap Dustshoot

1 Mind Crush

1 Widespread Ruin

1 Spell Shield Type-8

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Mirror Force

Like most Gadget decks, this one passes the 40-card minimum by a few cards. Most Gadget decks that feature a playset of each Gadget clock in at 45 cards to maximize the chance of drawing one Gadget per opening draw. Dario plays 43 cards total, which he can get away with because he only runs two copies of each Gadget. What sets this deck apart from most Gadget builds is that it can function perfectly well until it draws the Gadget monsters.

Cyber Phoenix and D. D. Assailant are played for this exact reason. Gadget decks are all about pressure, and these two monsters can supply that perfectly without taking away from the deck. While Card Trooper and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive are also excellent monsters to attack with, they don’t interact with the deck well enough to merit inclusion.

Card Trooper can send Gadget cards to the graveyard, unfortunately handicapping the flow of monsters the deck can produce. In addition, it’s easily destroyed on the following turn, eliminating the threat of further attacks while doing nothing to the monster that destroyed it (thus minimizing the chances of making direct attacks next turn). Dekoichi, on the other hand, is just too slow. Having to set a monster relieves the opponent of the stream of attacks that Gadget decks love to pour on. The same problem of not affecting opposing cards exists, and your opponents won’t find themselves in as many lose-lose situations.

Cyber Phoenix makes a great attacker while severely limiting your opponent’s options on his or her turn. It protects all Machine-type monsters from targeting spell and trap cards, giving Dario the ability to summon a monster every turn that can’t be taken with Brain Control or Snatch Steal, or destroyed by Sakuretsu Armor or Ring of Destruction. Its graveyard-activated ability to draw a card when it’s destroyed is just icing on the cake. Cyber Phoenix is sure to frighten opponents just as much as a Gadget will.

D. D. Assailant was an excellent metagame call for Worlds. Knowing that many players would be playing Gadgets or Machines, many competitors showed up with Hydrogeddon in their main or side decks. One step ahead of the competition, Dario played D. D. Assailant to fend them off. Not only does the 1600 DEF mean that Hydrogeddon goes face first into a brick wall, but that wall also attacks back next turn with 1700 ATK. Assailant also gives other Gadget decks a lot of trouble, since their copies of Shrink and Enemy Controller don’t save their own monsters. Finally, Machine decks don’t have multiple copies of Brain Control to get around D. D. Assailant’s effect.

Dario played much fewer monster removal cards than most Gadget decks normally run. He only uses two copies of Shrink and Enemy Controller, no copies of Hammer Shot or Fissure, one Lightning Vortex, and a pair of defensive traps in Bottomless Trap Hole and Widespread Ruin. His monster lineup is one reason for this. D. D. Assailant and Exiled Force can handle anything that Gadgets can’t destroy in battle, and Neo-Spacian Grand Mole is an ongoing monster removal engine for an opponent who hasn’t drawn monsters to attack with.

Pre-negating cards are another reason for the odd deck choices. Between Confiscation, Trap Dustshoot, and Mind Crush, Dario should be able to eliminate monsters before they even reach the field. Doing so is even more painful for the opponent because monsters usually search out other monsters or speed the deck up by drawing cards, thus increasing the chances that Dario’s opponents will draw into monsters. Removing the monsters from his opponent’s hand aids Dario tremendously, since the pressure Gadgets can apply is multiplied when the opponent can’t play any monsters.

Finally, Dario made another excellent metagame call by choosing less monster removal. Many players that day chose to play Machine-based decks, counting on cards like Card Trooper, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and Cyber Phoenix to stay on the field when aided by Trap Dustshoot. Dario ruined those plans by playing Gadgets backed up with Reinforcement of the Army. Gadgets and D. D. Assailant can destroy any of the aforementioned monsters in battle, and Reinforcement of the Army gets around the effects of Trap Dustshoot.

Two cards that are sure to draw a lot of attention are Lightning Vortex and Spell Shield Type-8. Vortex is a brilliant way to remove Gravekeeper’s Spy or clusters of Machines from the field in one swift movement. The discard is well worth breaking the field wide open, especially if you pitch an extra Gadget monster. Spell Shield is a tech card that many players have been considering to break apart Monarchs, but few people realize how game-breaking it can be. Saving oneself from Machine Duplication or Snatch Steal is vital, and blocking cards like Brain Control can save games while putting the opponent into an exposed position. Dropping a useless spell card to block an opponent’s Pot of Avarice or Limiter Removal can also save an otherwise lost game.

Dario’s deck is sure to make a splash in the current metagame. The innovative take on Gadgets shows that these monsters can be used outside of simple mass-removal decks. Will the Shonen Jump circuit reveal just how strong this theory is? Shonen Jump Indy is just around the corner, and at that tournament, we’re sure to find out.