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Doomkaiser Dragon
Card# CSOC-EN043
Doomkaiser Dragon's effect isn't just for Zombie World duelists: remember that its effect can swipe copies of Plaguespreader Zombie, too!
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The “level monsters” are one of the coolest concepts to hit Yu-Gi-Oh! in the past year or two. Some level monsters are relatively easy to use, while others are a bit trickier. They’re all unique, but essentially, the level mechanic is all about making long-term investments that lead to big payoffs. These investments can be difficult to set up, but once they go off, they’re usually worth it! Investments are always dangerous to make in Yu-Gi-Oh!, but one of the great things about the level monsters is that a lot of them can protect themselves from simple means of destruction, so they are relatively safe bets. One of the better examples of this is the Silent Swordsman line of monsters.
A previous contributor, Joe N. from Taylor, MI, sent in a deck based around Silent Swordsman LV7 and its accompanying lower levels. Here’s what he had to say about the deck he submitted.
Hey Jason,
I love your articles, and I never got a chance to thank you for fixing my Magnet Warrior deck, so kudos to you. As we were approaching the new format, I found myself changing decks every week. One week it would be Burn, and the next I’d be running an XYZ/Black Luster Soldier deck or a Warrior deck. But after getting my newest promo, I noticed Silent Swordsman LV7 and I was amazed by its effect. That led me to get into more creative ideas, so here's what I came up with.
Joe N.
Taylor, MI
Joe’s original build looked like this.
Joe’s Sound of Silence
43 cards
Monsters: 23
 3 Silent Swordsman LV3
3 Silent Swordsman LV5
2 Silent Swordsman LV7
2 Shining Angel
1 Cyber Jar
1 Morphing Jar
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
1 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
1 Spirit Reaper
1 Marauding Captain
1 Magician of Faith
1 Sangan
1 Jinzo
1 Don Zaloog
1 D. D. Warrior Lady
1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
Spells: 14
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Premature Burial
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Snatch Steal
1 Book of Moon
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Level Up!
1 Graceful Charity
1 Scapegoat
1 Pot of Greed
Traps: 6
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Threatening Roar
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Mirror Force
1 Call of the Haunted
 Joe’s deck has some good ideas in it, but I’ve got some concerns. First, it’s running a ton of monsters that can’t be normal summoned without a tribute. With only three good opening monsters (Shining Angel and Sangan) and seven monsters that are likely to be dead draws on turn 1, I don’t like this deck’s chances in the early game. Considering that Silent Swordsman LV3 needs to stay on the field in order to turn into its LV5 counterpart, and LV5 in turn needs to attack directly to turn into LV7, the deck needs a strong stable of monsters to control the field with.
In addition, if the point is to get out Silent Swordsman LV7, why are there so many spells in this deck? Silent Swordsman LV7 is an Imperial Order with legs, and once the Swordsman hits the field, fourteen of this deck’s cards will be rendered useless. Sure, that won’t be an issue if the deck never goes off, but we’d like it to work as planned. Despite the threat of Jinzo, we need to drop some of the spells and compensate with more traps.
Finally, the deck is a little fat for a combo-reliant build that’s mainly concerned with a few key synergies. I want to trim it down a bit.
First up, let’s drop some monsters. A third copy of Silent Swordsman LV5 isn’t needed, because we can search for the card with the LV3 version or Level Up!, and we don’t want to be drawing multiples of LV5. In addition, I think we can get rid of Jinzo. Like I said earlier, I’m not big on negating our own cards, and since we’re rotating in more traps, Jinzo might hurt the deck considerably.
Next, I want to remove both Jars. The deck doesn’t have enough monsters that can be summoned by the Jars to use them with any degree of reliability or safety, and we don’t need to stoop to using them for card advantage. While Morphing Jar is very good, I’m going to cut it because we need deck space. It doesn’t fit the tempo that this deck tries to establish, as the card doesn’t contribute to field control in the slightest. That’s a big concern for this deck. We need the monsters in this deck to be controlling the field with their raw stats and effects, because we won’t be able to use the roster of monster-removal spells that most decks run. Because of that, we need to keep the monsters tight and focused, so Morphing Jar needs to go.
Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer is a nice bit of tech, but it should stay in the side deck in this case. While it’s a very powerful card, it isn’t a must, and its stats aren’t able to overcome bigger level 4 or lower monsters. By the same token, Spirit Reaper is too defensive, Don Zaloog is too small, and Marauding Captain is soon to be roadkill that costs us card advantage and gives a burst of speed to a deck that can’t really use it. These are all great cards that can be incredibly effective, but they need to be played carefully. While they’re useful in a wide range of decks, they just aren’t prime choices here.
Finally, because of the monster balance we’ll be establishing, I’m going to remove the single copy of Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning. We’ll no longer have the balance of Dark monsters needed to support it, and we can’t afford drawing it on turn 1. Those lucky, turn-1 copies of Graceful Charity don’t pop up very often in conjunction with BLS, and if we’re stuck with it in the early game, we’re in trouble.
Next up, I’m going to remove Swords of Revealing Light, Premature Burial, and Scapegoat. These spell cards are easily disrupted by our own strategies, let alone by an opponent’s. In addition, they don’t contribute directly to offensive field control—in other words, none of them destroy anything. Again, we have three great cards, but we need to be using effects that are optimal for this deck, and that takes a lot of thought beyond what is generally considered to be good under normal circumstances.
Finally, I want to remove one copy each of Solemn Judgment and Threatening Roar. Solemn Judgment is great for field control, and by all rights, it could fit into this deck. It’s an excellent idea to side deck this trap, as well as two copies of Divine Wrath. However, Solemn Judgment isn’t necessary in most matchups, and there are superior alternatives that are easier to use in a variety of circumstances. As for Threatening Roar, like Swords of Revealing Light, it’s a defensive card that doesn’t translate into an offensive advantage. Does this deck need to keep its monsters alive? Definitely, and especially those copies of Silent Swordsman LV3. There’s an alternate trap card that, in most cases, does the job just as well as Threatening Roar while also giving us an offensive advantage.
 Moving on to additions, I’d first like to add some monsters that will give us greater field control. We have one copy of Reinforcement of the Army in the deck, so Exiled Force will fit in very well. Exiled Force will be one of the deck’s best answers to Jinzo, so be sure to manage it carefully—it’s a precious resource that shouldn’t be used hastily. I also want to add three copies of Zombyra the Dark, because it can be fetched with Reinforcement of the Army, and its massive initial ATK allows it to sweep out virtually anything other than Goblin Attack Force.
Next, I want to include Sinister Serpent. I intend to use discard effects to help this deck deal with tribute-packed draws, so including Sinister Serpent is a good idea. It combines nicely with Graceful Charity, feeds Tribe-Infecting Virus, and can probably wax floors and julienne a mean stack of fries if necessary. It’s an insanely high-utility card in virtually any part of a duel, and its flexibility makes it a prime choice for this deck.
Remember the replacement I mentioned for Threatening Roar? The card I was talking about is a highly underrated promo, Windstorm of Etaqua. Windstorm is great—not only does it prevent an opponent’s attack-position monsters from attacking (since it turns those monsters to defense position), but it also accomplishes two other things. First, it puts high-ATK monsters in a weaker position, because a monster with a strong ATK often has a poor DEF. At the same time, cards that have hideous stats but are there to generate effects (such as face-up copies of Magician of Faith) will get switched to attack position, becoming little gateways to your opponent’s life points. Windstorm works well against Scapegoat, and it does quite a number on Berserk Gorilla. After a little gust of wind, the powerful doom monkey becomes an exploding mass of fur and ape cranium.
Finally, I want to add some more field control in the form of two copies each of Sakuretsu Armor and Raigeki Break. Together, each card compensates for the weakness of the other. Raigeki Break has higher overall utility as long as you can pay its cost, and while Sakuretsu Armor’s effect is conditional, it’s free to activate. If possible, use those extra tribute monsters or dead spell cards (once Silent Swordsman LV7 hits the field) to pay for Raigeki Break. It’s a nice excuse to toss your dead cards, and it can be game-breaking.
Here are the final changes we made.
-1 Silent Swordsman LV5
-1 Jinzo
-1 Cyber Jar
-1 Morphing Jar
-1 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
-1 Spirit Reaper
-1 Don Zaloog
-1 Marauding Captain
-1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
-1 Swords of Revealing Light
-1 Premature Burial
-1 Scapegoat
-1 Solemn Judgment
-1 Threatening Roar
+1 Exiled Force
+3 Zombyra the Dark
+1 Sinister Serpent
+2 Windstorm of Etaqua
+2 Sakuretsu Armor
+2 Raigeki Break
We’re left with a tight 40-card build that looks like this.
Joe’s Sound of Silence: Jason’s Fix
40 cards
Monsters: 19
2 Silent Swordsman LV7
2 Silent Swordsman LV5
3 Silent Swordsman LV3
2 Shining Angel
3 Zombyra the Dark
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
1 Magician of Faith
1 Sangan
1 Exiled Force
1 D. D. Warrior Lady
1 Sinister Serpent
Spells: 11
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Snatch Steal
1 Book of Moon
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Level Up!
1 Graceful Charity
1 Pot of Greed
Traps: 10
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Mirror Force
1 Call of the Haunted
2 Windstorm of Etaqua
2 Sakuretsu Armor
2 Raigeki Break
 The deck still doesn’t have a lot of effect-based openings, but one of the three copies of Zombyra is surprisingly good to open with if you’re going first on turn 1. From there, the deck hits the ground running. It doesn’t have the raw speed of a Warrior deck, and it doesn’t use its speed in the opening and early game to attempt to claim a quick win. Instead, the deck seeks to overwhelm the opponent as early as possible, steadily and quickly building momentum so that it can get out and protect the full Silent Swordsman line of monsters. Pressure is the key to this deck. You should never let up on your opponent, and if you do, make sure it’s only to draw out key cards that you need or to make your opponent walk into Torrential Tribute, Mirror Force, or Sakuretsu Armor.
This deck can do well against most archetypes and is especially destructive against anything that’s spell-based. This is one of the few matchups where the recent limiting of Gravity Bind really hurts a Lockdown Burn deck, as LV7 will slice straight through Stumbling, Messenger of Peace, and Level Limit – Area B.
Other than the side-decking options I’ve talked about above, I’d suggest siding Delinquent Duo. Ideally, it would be main decked, but we’re so low on space that this superb and deadly card isn’t easily fitted in. You can run the deck yourself and decide which spell helps you the least, and then remove it in favor of Delinquent Duo. The card is virtually a must for any deck in this format, and this deck is certainly no exception. I haven’t main decked it here, because there are several other viable options. You should decide whether to run it based on your personal style, your taste, and the local metagame.
Once Silent Swordsman LV7 hits the field, you need to make sure it stays there. Your main threats are Sakuretsu Armor, Mirror Force, Ring of Destruction, and Tribe-Infecting Virus. Try to draw out these threats and wear down an opponent’s hand before summoning Silent Swordsman LV7, because you won’t be happy if you lose it. Once the Swordsman makes its presence felt, start supporting it with your traps. You’ll likely have far more options than your opponent will. When it comes to combat, LV7 is big enough to drop anything by itself other than Black Luster Soldier– Envoy of the Beginning. Make sure to keep an answer available for Black Luster Soldier.
Joe’s Sound of Silence deck is going to look to win in the mid- or late game, so don’t expect short duels when you’re playing it. To succeed, you’ll need a certain kind of aggressive patience and deadliness tempered by restraint. If you’re looking to play something original that will take other duelists by surprise, and you switch gears well from aggressive to passive and back again, this might be a great deck for you!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Are you interested in seeing your deck featured in this column? Send a decklist formatted like the one in this article, your name, and your hometown to Jason@metagame.com, and your deck might be used in a future Apotheosis article! |
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