Hello campers, sorry I've been away for a while, but with all the excitement of Marvel, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and all the programs we're working on for those games, my column was forsaken. Well, no more! My column shall return in full force, with all of the random glory that has been associated with it!! *Ian removes typing monkey from the keyboard.* Sorry about that folks, my helper monkey snuck up to the keyboard and went to work. He's such a hard-working monkey, and it's hard to keep him away at times. Anyways, it's time to get back to the regular weekly column about pretty much anything and everything in the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe. However, with Marvel out now, I may also delve into the realm of Vs. System on occasion.


Type A Positive

A few weeks back, I had issued a challenge to all the readers out there. My challenge was to come up with the best Yu-Gi-Oh! Type A deck. For those of you that don't have that article burned into your long-term memory (shame on you), Type A was my proposed Yu-Gi-Oh! format that eliminated the first four sets and all Starter Deck cards. That means no Jinzo, no Raigeki, no Call of the Haunted, and no Mystical Space Typhoon. I have been testing variations on this theme for quite some time, so I know the challenges that are inherent in building decks of this type. Let's see how some of you intrepid readers fared, shall we?


Diggin' the Grave (Your Opponent's, That Is)

The first deck list that really stuck out was a deck that I love to play in Constructed tournaments right now: Gravekeeper. I still think that given the proper build and a skilled player, this deck archetype could Top 4 at most Regional events. Let's take a look at the Type A build suggested by Kristoffer Deluna called Illusionary Gravekeeper's (I like the title).

Illusionary Gravekeeper's

Monsters
2 A Cat of Ill Omen
2 Charm of Shabti
3 Gravekeeper's Assailant
3 Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier
3 Gravekeeper's Spy
2 Gravekeeper's Guard

Spells
2 Autonomous Action Unit
2 Banner of Courage
2 Book of Moon
2 Book of Taiyou
3 Necrovalley
3 Terraforming

Traps
2 Adhesion Trap Hole
2 Hidden Book of Spell
3 Rite of Spirit
2 Sakuretsu Armor


Now, other than the obvious oversight of only having 38 cards in the deck, I really like this idea. While I would be happy to suggest deck fixes for this deck, that's not my department. That is more than capably handled by the trenchcoat-wearing Canadian, Jason Grabher-Meyer. But let's take a look of the basic idea and see what Kristoffer is trying to do with this deck.

Gravekeeper decks typically revolve around getting Necrovalley in play and having some fatty level 4 monsters to drop out there. Gravekeeper's Spy and Guard are 2500 and 2400 DEF respectively, and there aren't too many monsters in the metagame now that can handle those kinds of numbers. In addition to having huge rear ends, those two also have nice effects. The Spy can search for another Gravekeeper with 1500 ATK or less and special summons it to the field, and the Guard can bounce any monster on your opponent's side of the field to its owner's hand.

But there are two monsters that are seeing a ton of play right now (and will be in Type A) that can get through those rock-solid behinds, and they are annoyance #1 and annoyance #2, otherwise known as Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End and Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning. These two behemoths are ruling over the tournament scene right now, and with good reason—they're insanely powerful. But, the Gravekeeper's deck has one little trick that completely wrecks Chaos decks, and that is Necrovalley. With Necrovalley just chillin' on the field, you can forget about your opponent special summoning guys by removing monsters from play. We can officially change Necrovalley from "As long as this card remains face-up on the field, all effects of Spell, Trap and/or Effect Monster Cards that involve Graveyards are negated and neither player can remove cards in the Graveyards from play. In addition, increase the ATK and DEF of all monsters that include "Gravekeeper's" in their card name by 500 points," to "WRECK A CHAOS DECK . . . and do all that other stuff." Ah, the simple joys of finding ways to wreak havoc on the current metagame. What makes me even happier is that the metagame-wrecker is a Type A card!

I really like the three Terraformings to search out Necrovalley, and I love Book of Moon in just about any deck. Sakuretsu Armor will be a devastating card in Type A and will make many people think twice before launching an attack with their Chaos monsters (or any other monster, for that matter). Rite of Spirit allows Kristoffer to get those fallen Gravekeeper's monsters back into play. While this card doesn't allow you to steal one of your opponent's monsters (that would be graverobbing, not gravekeeping), you can use it on your opponent's turn. That, coupled with the fact that you can have three of them, and you can use them when Necrovalley is on the field, gives Gravekeeper decks a tremendous recursion advantage over most decks. The only other theme deck that can recur like Gravekeeper are the Zombie decks, but Book of Life can only be activated on your turn, and you can't activate it when Necrovalley is active. I personally think that Gravekeeper is one of the most underutilized deck types out there right now, and would be one of the best tier one decks in the Type A format.

Maybe the crazy Canadian can take a look at this at some point and offer his expert advice on how to make this into a top-notch Type A deck.


Fairy?! Who You Callin' Fairy, Bub?!?!

Another deck that I have seen used to great success at tournaments is one whose core comes from Type A. Fairy decks have typically been full of monsters that have great defensive stats, but not much way to attack anyone. Well, that all changed with the release of Mudora in Dark Crisis, and now the Fairies have one guy who can get charged up to obscene levels in a relatively short amount of time. While most standard Fairy decks make liberal use of Painful Choice, Graceful Charity, and Shining Angel to thin the deck and get Fairies into the graveyard, in Type A it's not so easy to load that graveyard up . . . or is it? Let's take a look at a pretty solid build that came in from Xstreamzero (and yes folks, that is his real name).

Faries
40 Cards

Monsters
3 Airknight Parshath
1 Exiled Force
1 Fiber Jar
3 Hysteric Fairy
3 Kelbek
3 Mudora
1 Sinister Serpent
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
3 Zolga

Spells
2 Bait Doll
3 Book of Moon
3 Cestus of Dagla
2 Offerings to the Doomed
2 Reasoning

Traps
3 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Magic Cylinder
1 Reckless Greed
1 Ring of Destruction
3 Sakuretsu Armor


There is a very strong beatdown theme running through this deck, and that is the goal of most Fairy decks. It can get that Mudora pumped up anywhere from 1500–4300 ATK, and I don't know of any monster that can take a shot from a 4000+ ATK monster and survive. Cestus of Dagla is a nice way to get most of this deck pumped up to over 2000 ATK and to gain a little bit of life at the same time. The Cestus works especially well with Airknight Parshath and can allow Xstream to gain some serious life, while drawing cards at the same time.

I really like how he compensates for lack of the overall field control of Raigeki and Dark Hole and goes for more specific monster control/destruction with Ring of Destruction, Offerings to the Doomed, Sakuretsu Armor, Exiled Force, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Book of Moon. Tribe-Infecting Virus is there for additional monster control, and also allows him to toss Fairies into the graveyard to pump up Mudora even further. Robert Smith built a deck focused almost entirely on monster destruction, and it is currently devastating most Constructed decks, including those pesky Chaos decks. If you look at this decklist again, you will see that there are fourteen pieces of monster control/destruction. That gives him roughly a 35 percent chance of drawing monster removal, and that will tend to leave your opponent very open to attacks.

While Reasoning is a card that I personally dislike, here is Xstream's reasoning for putting it in: "Reasoning is there for a few reasons, 1) try to get a free Airknight Parshath to the field 2) get a Fairy into the Graveyard and 3) just cause I like the card." It does fit the theme of being able to boost Mudora, and it does give him that chance of pulling Airknight. Reasoning is a much less risky card in Type A than it is in standard Constructed, as you won't lose game-breaking cards like Raigeki and Dark Hole. Reasoning might be a card that ends up seeing a ton of play in Type A and B as it offers free deck thinning and a chance to pull that one monster that will win you the game. I would like to see Jason's thoughts on this deck, and besides, he can always use fodder for another column.

 
Well folks, that's going to about wrap things up for this week. I really liked both of the deck submissions for Type A, as they showcased two very solid deck themes, and I think they would rank among the elite deck types of this format. Type A will focus much more on specific monster destruction as opposed to the global effects that are present in standard Constructed games right now. Type A will also see deck thinners like Reasoning, Reinforcement of the Army, Jar of Greed, and Reckless Greed gaining popularity because they allow people to speed through their decks. Cards like Sasuke Samurai will become in vogue since many people will be running more cards face down, and that cute little munchkin will take care of any of them. There are so many overlooked cards that would start to be played, it would force people to completely rethink how they play this game, and that is the point of varying the formats.

The challenge for this week is simple: If the banned list that is currently in place in Japan ever does come to the States, what card from that list will you miss the most? Just in case you missed the list, here it is one more time:

Injection Fairy Lily
Yata-Garasu
Cyber Jar
Fiber Jar
Delinquent Duo
Painful Choice
Raigeki
Change of Heart
Harpie's Feather Duster
Imperial Order

You can email your responses and any feedback/questions to challenge@metagame.com. I'll post the results of the poll in next week's column. I am very interested to see where the public lies on this issue of which broken card they will miss the most. I know which card I am going to miss the most, and I think that it will surprise a few of you.

Until next time . . .