Lockdown Burn decks have made a huge impact in many metagames over the past few months. It’s a deck that brutally slows down its opposition, most of which are centered around attempting to win faster than the next-fastest guy in line. The decks go totally against the grain—instead of aiming to win the race, they aim to stop it altogether.

Gary Miotke was the only Burn player sitting at a top table during round 5. Attending the event with his kids, Miotke plays with a focused intensity that is tempered with a relaxed maturity. The deck he ran fit his play style perfectly. It’s highly focused and yet displays an amazing level of patience.

Gary Miotke’s Lockdown Burn

Monsters
2 Dark Mimic LV1
1 Sinister Serpent
3 Lava Golem
2 Cannon Soldier
3 Solar Flare Dragon
2 Spirit Reaper
2 Magician of Faith
1 Magical Scientist

Spells
2 Messenger of Peace
2 Magic Reflector
3 Metamorphosis
3 Scapegoat
1 The Forceful Sentry
3 Level Limit – Area B
3 Wave-Motion Cannon
1 Dark Core
1 Creature Swap
1 Pot of Greed

Traps
1 Interdimensional Matter Transporter
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Horn of Heaven
1 Divine Wrath
1 Ceasefire

Side Deck
1 Fiber Jar
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Giant Trunade
1 Dust Tornado
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mobius the Frost Monarch
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Jinzo
1 Royal Decree
1 Spirit Reaper
2 Gravity Bind
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Creature Swap

Fusion Deck
3 Ojama King
3 Ryu Senshi
3 Dark Balter the Terrible
2 Fiend Skull Dragon
3 Thousand-Eyes Restrict
2 Dark Flare Knight
1 Dragoness the Wicked Knight
3 Dark Blade the Dragon Knight
3 Reaper on the Nightmare
1 Metal Dragon
2 St. Joan
1 Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon
2 The Last Warrior from Another Planet
2 B. Skull Dragon
1 Cyber Saurus
1 Flame Ghost

The first thing you should notice about the deck is that it represents the shift and evolution of the traditional Lockdown engine. Gone are the days of “five pieces of lock and three pieces of protection.” Lockdown engines nowadays are running three to five pieces of lock, and no longer prioritize the protection. The downfall of Imperial Order and the format change rotating away standard spell and trap removal has allowed for the metagame shift, so it’s not a surprise that this has occurred. The important thing to note is that when building a Lockdown Burn deck this is the new standard—the protection portion of the engine isn’t necessary. When I talked to Miotke, he said that he felt Magic Reflector was far easier to use than negation-based protection. I wondered if Giant Trunade would hurt him, but he plays the deck very closely to his side deck, and when he knows the Trunades are coming he rotates cards out to make them useless and instead makes the deck battle-oriented.

Miotke went with the most effective sources of damage available. He didn’t mess around with alternatives like Balloon Lizard or Atomic Firefly when building the deck. Lava Golem, Cannon Soldier, and Solar Flare Dragon provide the heart of the deck’s offense. Each monster has its niche and it fills it. That’s it. Simplicity makes this deck beautiful.

Dark Mimic LV1 takes advantage of the lockdown engine. If you’ve got that kind of security, you might as well use it to your advantage to get some cards in your hand. Sinister Serpent is just plain good, maintaining hand presence, acting as a renewable defender against decks that can get under the lock, and providing a target for Metamorphosis. Magical Scientist serves as a toolbox, and Magician of Faith can help regain a lock that was broken. It’s a very straightforward mix that works brutally well.

Messenger of Peace and Level Limit – Area B form the deck’s “active locking ingredients”, if you will. The engine is completely spell-based. Instead of using Gravity Bind Miotke has opted to go with all spells. “Everybody still plays Jinzo, and with them all being spells I can always get them back with Magician of Faith.” Scapegoat gives more random defense, The Forceful Sentry picks apart an opponent’s plans, Dark Core nukes problem-monsters, and Creature Swap is a great answer to Mobius the Frost Monarch. Wave-Motion Cannon is great, and is essential in any direct damage deck for the current environment.

Ring of Destruction and Ceasefire provide disruption and more damage, especially in a mirror match, while Horn of Heaven, Divine Wrath and Interdimensional Matter Transporter are all different forms of monster removal with their own unique strengths. Horn of Heaven and Divine Wrath can both negate certain effects (Mobius and others can give this deck some trouble if not contained) and Interdimensional Matter Transporter can be used on your own monsters to prevent them from being nailed by nasty effects.

The deck is more consistent and easier to control than other builds of its archetype because it’s so focused. It’s a word I keep coming back to, but it’s worth harping on. Miotke told me he’s been playing versions of this deck on and off for the past year, and practice is always better when it’s mixed with consistent experience. A deck like this can sometimes have difficult opening and early games, but the best way to get around that is to play the deck very well. That’s exactly what Miotke has afforded himself through his own raw talent and his structured deck.

One of the most important parts of playing this deck is side decking. Decks like this can get destroyed by having opponents side-deck hard against it, and it was with utter glee that Miotke described to me how he counters side decks, removing the disruption-weak elements of the deck in favor of things like Creature Swap when he sees his opponent deciding to use his or her side deck. There aren’t really any enforced rules about who declares whether they want to side deck first in Yu-Gi-Oh!, so Miotke takes clever advantage of that and it seems to work in his favor. It’s a great idea for any Lockdown player, and on top of some awesome skill and a great deck, it really creates a winning mix.