As much as I may have made light of Paul Levitin’s performance with his Elemental Hero Beatdown deck at Shonen Jump Championship Philadelphia, I featured his deck for several reasons. First, I knew the theory driving the deck to be solid. Second, I’d been testing a similar strategy myself for weeks, and while Paul’s deck was different from mine, I felt like we each had pieces of the same potentially successful puzzle. I really wasn’t expecting him to lose.

Now, a week and a half later, I’ve got a chance to put together those pieces by way of a deck fix. Michael Sylvester-Wong has been featured in this column once before, but this week he’s back, with a deck he calls "Little City."

Hi Jason,

For quite some time, I have been running what I affectionately call "Little City." The original idea was to find a method to fully abuse Skyscraper as a counter-measure to Light and Darkness Dragon upon its initial release. Recently, my local tournament and I have altered the deck to include Honest and several Light-attribute Elemental Heroes. Needless to say, the deck got a fairly large boost due to Light of Destruction.  

The new idea is to use Elemental Hero Prisma to place Elemental Hero Sparkman or Neos into the graveyard, then follow up with a set Hero Blast to help recover it. At the same time, it could also destroy an opposing monster. Since all of my monsters, save one, are Light, the inclusion of three Honest cards just seems really fun. Not to mention the fact that it also makes it seem like you're using a true Jaden Yuki deck.

Any advice or comments from you or other staff members from Metagame.com would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

—Michael Sylvester-Wong ~ Ottawa, Canada

Michael’s got my piece of the puzzle that Paul didn’t employ: Hero Blast. It takes a bit of setup, but being able to destroy any monster with 2500 ATK or less and then return a card to your hand means that you don’t just make an even card trade, but you actually gain a card while taking out a big monster. Sure, an in-hand copy of Elemental Hero Neos might have limited uses, but blowing away Gladiator Beast Gyzarus is never bad, and you can discard Neos for a discard-costed effect and do the whole thing over again. Alternatively, if the target of Hero Blast is smaller, you can always retrieve Elemental Hero Neos Alius instead of Neos and summon Alius on the following turn.

Here’s what Michael’s deck looks like:

Spells: 13
3 E - Emergency Call
2 Reinforcement of the Army
2 Skyscraper
1 Brain Control
1 Heavy Storm
1 O - Oversoul
1 Monster Reborn
1 Premature Burial
1 Mystical Space Typhoon

It’s a solid build, but it’s missing what I consider to be the most important card in the deck: Skill Drain. It’s also missing Paul’s unique contribution, the now-ridiculously-amazing Royal Oppression. While Michael’s build runs one copy of O - Oversoul, my version ran two to really try and take advantage of Elemental Hero Neos. We’re going to have to change that approach if we want to run Oppression, but it’s going to be worth it.

My other concern for this deck is its inability to get Neos to the graveyard without the assistance of Elemental Hero Prisma. Neos is going to be a dead card once Hero Blast sends it back to Michael’s hand, and that’s wasting an opportunity. I’m going to add in some cards that will give Michael powerful effects, while reloading Neos for future copies of Hero Blast.

So, let’s start making some cuts! We’re going to be adding Skill Drain to the deck, but even with increased utility, I can’t see myself wanting to risk a full three copies of . I’ll drop one copy and keep the other two, just to keep our options open and make sure we aren’t stuck with dead copies of the Captain.

I’ll remove all three copies of Elemental Hero Sparkman as well. Skill Drain will mean fewer opportunities to activate Elemental Hero Prisma, and I’m not sure Sparkman was ever necessary anyway considering how much better Neos Alius can be. I’ll be adding some other monsters into these slots to give the deck more variety.

I’m going to ditch O - Oversoul, Premature Burial, and Monster Reborn. These are all great cards, but they conflict with Royal Oppression. Since this deck already runs the risk of having useless copies of Elemental Hero Neos or Skyscraper in hand, we really need to keep dead draws to a minimum. These are no-brainer drops if we want to focus on Oppression.

I’m going to remove one Reinforcement of the Army card instead of one E - Emergency Call card, simply because searching for Neos to pair him with a discard-costed effect early on can be so important. This deck is so much better with Neos in the graveyard, and since Reinforcement can’t search him directly, Emergency Call takes priority as I whittle away cards to make room. Brain Control and Mystical Space Typhoon will be removed for the same reason: I just need some space, and neither of these cards performs essential functions.

Finally, Trap Dustshoot, Mirror Force, and Torrential Tribute all get removed. My trap lineup is going to be pretty heavy, and I’ll be focused on maintaining field presence, so Torrential is out. Hero Blast and some of the other cards I’ll be adding can eliminate problematic monsters anyway, so Dustshoot isn’t that important. It also won’t be useful in the mid-game anyway, because this deck tends to simplify the duel very quickly. That leaves the opponent with fewer than four cards in hand, and makes Trap Dustshoot a risky choice. Removing Mirror Force is a difficult call to make, but with three copies of Honest and very high average ATK, I just don’t think it’s necessary.

So, we have thirteen card slots open, and I have a very specific idea of what I want to do with them. First, running three copies of Skill Drain and three copies of Royal Oppression will let me get to those integral trap cards as fast as possible, in as many games as I can. This deck’s win percentage rises astronomically if it can draw into either of those cards, because virtually every deck in the format right now needs monster effects and special summons to win.

Playing three copies of redundant cards is risky, but I’ll balance that out with the discard-costed effects that I want to be running anyway thanks to Neos’ affinity for the graveyard. Three copies of Hand Destruction will give me something to do with cards I don’t need, while getting Neos back into the graveyard and drawing me closer to Skill Drain, Oppression, and Hero Blast. Hand Destruction is flexible, chainable, and the best way for this deck to perform reliably.

Two copies of Phoenix Wing Wind Blast round out the spell and trap additions, giving me yet another chainable answer to threats like Gladiator Beast Gyzarus. It’s also a way to get Neos into the grave, something to do with duplicate copies of Skill Drain, and just an all-around flexible card. With five cards to discard Neos and just three copies of Hero Blast demanding his presence in the graveyard, I’m confident this deck will run like clockwork.

I have two more card slots and a paucity of monsters, so I’m going to add two copies of Exiled Force. While D. D. Assailant would have higher ATK, and D.D. Warrior Lady would work with Honest, neither functions in the shadow of Skill Drain. Exiled Force does, so should we find ourselves without an answer to Gladiator Beast Heraklinos (or something as simple as a face-down monster), Exiled Force will be a searchable answer to that threat.

Here are my changes to Michael’s build:

-1 Elemental Hero Captain Gold
-3 Elemental Hero Sparkman
-1 Brain Control
-1 Mystical Space Typhoon
-1 Reinforcement of the Army
-1 O - Oversoul
-1 Premature Burial
-1 Monster Reborn
-1 Torrential Tribute
-1 Mirror Force
-1 Trap Dustshoot

+3 Skill Drain
+3 Royal Oppression
+2 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
+3 Hand Destruction
+2 Exiled Force

The final decklist is as follows:

I’ve trimmed some of the fat, dropping redundant cards like Elemental Hero Sparkman and slowing down the pace of the game with Skill Drain and Royal Oppression. The Oppressions are key—if your opponent can only summon one monster per turn, then the ability to take that monster in battle or destroy it with Hero Blast is suddenly far more valuable. Being able to control the opponent’s field presence to that degree lets simple, big monsters like Neos Alius and Captain Gold wreck house. There’s just not much that can stop them, and the offensive power of the Stratos/Alius engine really can’t be overstated. If you’re like me, you’ve seen Japanese players running it but never actually tried it. It took me getting my skull knocked around by that engine on my last trip to Tokyo to really give it a shot, and I can definitely speak in favor of it.

There’s not much else to say: this deck is so simple. In the early game you want to take an aggressive stance while establishing your infrastructure. That means playing Skill Drain and Royal Oppression, arming yourself with Skyscraper (don’t play it until you need it), and loading Neos in the graveyard for Hero Blast. Aim to accomplish those four goals while attacking as much as possible. Do that and you can beat the top decks of this format.

From there, managing the deck is just a matter of learning when to pull the right trigger. Try to keep Honest for defensive plays unless it nets you a win—if possible, Skyscraper should be what you rely on for ATK boosts when you’re the aggressor, since it’s a renewable source of ATK bonuses (while Honest is a one-shot bonus). Don’t play Skyscraper until it gets you over something big—remember that opposing copies of Stratos and Prisma can use it to your opponent’s advantage. Only activate Hero Blast when necessary, too—unless it gets you a win or opens up a needed discard for Hand Destruction, save it for a big monster or a contact Fusion you can’t answer otherwise. Your opponent is going to have relatively few monsters capable of swinging over yours. You have a limited number of answers to the handful of problems your opponent can present—don’t waste them. If you can deal with that small number of threats, you usually win, and Hero Blast is one of the best ways to do so.

This deck is easy to play, and the only cards of notable expense are Honest and Prisma. You might already have those anyway, so if you want to play something different that can compete on the highest levels, give this deck a try. You’d be surprised what a bunch of Elemental Heroes can do.

—Jason Grabher-Meyer