I’d like to welcome everyone to my new weekly column here on Metagame. I think you’ll find this column unlike anything you’ve seen here on the site. While everyone else is doing his or her best to keep you updated on the current metagame, I’m going to be dealing with the metagame of the past. I hope these trips through the history of the game give you a better understanding of where we came from and where we’re going.

I firmly believe that the Internet was and still is a key factor in Yu-Gi-Oh!’s success and popularity. Players can go online, read articles, talk with other duelists, and share their decks with the world. This freedom to share information has led to the rise of what we call “netdecking.” The idea behind netdecking is simple. Go online, find a deck that won a tournament, copy it, and use it as your own. There are many reasons behind it, ranging from playtesting purposes to a drive to win at any cost. Today, I want to share with you the deck that many consider to be the first netdeck: Suicide Beatdown.

Someone who used the handle “aer0blade” on the Yu-Gi-Oh! forums was the first player to make the Suicide Beatdown deck popular. The deck’s purpose was simple—smash the opponent as fast and as hard as you possibly can without regard for your own life points. It was brutally effective. The main combo in the deck was to play Jirai Gumo or Dark Elf with a Megamorph attached. That way, when the player’s life points were deducted due to the effects of those monsters, Megamorph would activate, making their monster even larger. Let’s take a look at a Pharaoh’s Servant-era Suicide Beatdown deck.

3 Jirai Gumo
3 Dark Elf
1 Witch of the Black Forest

1 Jinzo
3 Man-Eater Bug
3 Wall of Illusion
1 Cyber Jar

1 Pot of Greed
1 Raigeki
1 Dark Hole
1 Change of Heart
1 Snatch Steal
1 Monster Reborn
2 Heavy Storm
2 Nobleman of Crossout
3 Cold Wave
3 Megamorph

1 Mirror Force
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Imperial Order
3 Solemn Judgement
3 Waboku

First, a quick bit of background on the environment in which this deck was played. Three copies of Trap Hole were in almost every deck. Witch of the Black Forest had just been reduced from two copies per deck to one copy per deck in response to the release of Jinzo. This was also around the latter parts of Season 1 of the Duelist King Tournaments, meaning that TP1 had just been released and Mechanicalchaser with it. Control decks had not yet come into power, so Delinquent Duo, The Forceful Sentry, and Confiscation weren’t a factor. Players hadn’t realized the true usefulness of Mystical Space Typhoon, and they frequently played equip spells in place of it.

We already know that the main combo of the deck is Jirai Gumo or Dark Elf with a Megamorph, but we also know that getting this combo down on the first turn almost never happens. In order for the deck to work, it must first clear the opponent’s field. This is accomplished through the use of Man-Eater Bug, Wall of Illusion, and Nobleman of Crossout. Obviously Raigeki and its crew helped out as well, but the star player on the field clearing front is definitely Snatch Steal. In addition to the lack of Mystical Space Typhoon in the environment, Snatch Steal was widely ignored due to its effect of giving the opponent more life points every turn. However, Suicide Beatdown didn’t care, as it was just going to smash the opponent again for 4400 damage or more on the next turn. In fact, the lifegain sometimes helped to reactivate the positive effects of Megamorph!

The other main concern, aside from opposing monsters, was opposing traps. There were two main methods of getting around the opponent’s Mirror Force and Trap Hole. First was Cold Wave. The Suicide Beatdown player would play it at the start of his or her first main phase and wouldn’t have to worry about the opponent using any traps against a summon or attack. Even without a Cold Wave, the three copies of Solemn Judgement are frequently enough to stop the opponent dead in his or her tracks and get the Suicide Beatdown player’s life points low enough to use Megamorph.

Despite the deck’s ability to do huge amounts of damage in a single turn, it was always haunted by one slight problem—the last 1000 or so life points that it couldn’t take away. Suicide Beatdown was almost never a one-turn-kill, and that was one of the main reasons it faded into obscurity after the release of Legacy of Darkness. Leaving an opponent with any life points whatsoever after you play out your combo was asking for trouble, and if you didn’t have a Cold Wave active that turn or a set Imperial Order, you were dead. Every time I saw the deck lose, it was always to the same thing: Raigeki, Monster Reborn, normal summon Yata-Garasu, and you’re dead.

Things only became worse for the deck with the release of Legacy of Darkness. Warriors began to take over as the speediest Beatdown deck out there, and Yata-Garasu finally reared its ugly head in the American metagame. These two decks were the antithesis to Suicide Beatdown. Warriors were faster, more reliable, and maintained better field presence while the so-called “Yata-decks” removed the key combo pieces before they could be played. By this time, Mystical Space Typhoon was played in threes, and Scapegoat was beginning to appear in decks. The environment had become everything that Suicide Beatdown couldn’t deal with, and it faded from the tournament scene.

Fast-forward to today. Yata-Garasu is gone, as are Raigeki, Dark Hole, and Monster Reborn. Could this be the time for the Suicide Beatdown deck to emerge again? Sadly, I feel that the answer is no. Warriors are more dominant than ever and Scapegoat is everywhere. Newer cards, such as Enemy Controller and D. D. Warrior Lady, would cause the deck to lose huge amounts of life points for no real gain. In short, the original Suicide Beatdown concept is incompatible with the current metagame.

However, a part of the deck still lingers on today. The spell Cold Wave has become the focus of a new type of Beatdown deck that seeks to remove the opponent’s monsters with D. D. Warrior Lady and D. D. Assailant, and then follows it up with smashing from Berserk Gorilla and Enraged Battle Ox.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s look into the history of Yu-Gi-Oh! Join me again next week, when I’ll be talking about the “deck seen ‘round the world.” Until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly—have fun!

Jerome McHale
jcmchale@andrew.cmu.edu