It’s time to gut your decks and come up with something new! The latest Advanced format list will cost everyone some cards—even cards that have been in the game forever. You need a new deck or two, you need them in a hurry, and you’d like to not have to spend a fortune on these new cards. After all, there are Shonen Jump Championships and Regionals to be won! You probably want to try out a few different ideas, which is a good idea. You won’t know what’s going to work for you until you try it.
The main difficulty in building multiple decks is getting enough copies of the better cards. The playable card pool has definitely spread out from the “super-rares on up” that was the standard in the past. Even common cards have proved their place in the game. However, when lots of players want the same cards, the secondary market prices for those cards tend to go up. You have to go through a lot of booster packs to randomly pull everything you need, and trading isn’t always going to work out, especially if there aren’t a lot of players in your area. We can also expect a lot of players to return to the game now that some of the more aggravating cards are gone, and this will further thin the secondary market and trading pool. What can you do?
Head over to your local card shop and pick up a Structure deck or two! Have you seen the decklists for the four that are out now? Holy smokes, there are some good cards in there. I know I paid a lot more than ten dollars when I bought some of those cards as foils. If you’re willing to give up the shine, you can get a good stock of staples for a bargain price. And this is me talking—yes, I’ve been known to use 20-carat cubic zirconias for game tokens, and I’m currently working on a holo playmat—if I can live without the shine, so can you.
You can even live without the work! Look what I’ve got here: a deconstructed list of all four decks with all the good stuff highlighted for you. These are all cards that can earn their place in the brave new world of the current Advanced format. I left out a lot of the more “techy” cards for now, but we’ve still got more than enough to work with. Let’s take a look, one deck at a time.
Dragon’s Roar
Top Picks:
2 Luster Dragon
1 Twin-Headed Behemoth
3 Masked Dragon
1 Snatch Steal
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Premature Burial
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Heavy Storm
2 Creature Swap
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Ceasefire
This is the level 4 Luster Dragon, the funny-looking blue one. Do you remember when everyone scrambled after the 1850 ATK Mechanicalchaser? Then it was Gemini Elf. If you had a couple of those, you were the man—or the woman. Anyway, anyone can have a good, dependable 1900 ATK beatstick these days. Luster Dragon can take out a solid percentage of the monsters that are out there, and while there are monsters with higher ATK values, like Goblin Elite Attack Force and Berserk Gorilla, this one has no drawbacks attached to it. It’s also got 1600 DEF, which enables it to survive attacks from a variety of Warrior monsters. Luster Dragon is pretty worthwhile in what is sure to be a Warrior-heavy format.
Twin-Headed Behemoth and Masked Dragon can both help fend off the aggressive decks that are likely to overrun the format. Both cards help you maintain field presence, and while Masked Dragon is most useful in Dragon decks, you shouldn’t underestimate Twin-Headed Behemoth as tech within the format. For decks that don’t work well with monsters like Mystic Tomato or Shining Angel, this could be a strong side deck pick for Rush matchups.
Look at all those spell cards! Snatch Steal, Mystical Space Typhoon, Nobleman of Crossout, Heavy Storm, and Swords of Revealing Light are worthwhile choices for any strategy that aims to win through battle. Each of these is a reprint of a foil card, so if you haven’t gotten all you need by now, here they are in one convenient package. Premature Burial is a standby for most duelists, and Creature Swap will come in handy in an environment that will probably be packed with copies of Cyber Dragon.
There are great trap cards in here, too. Is anyone not running Call of the Haunted? Everyone likes Call of the Haunted! Ceasefire has been popular since we all started playing ten to fifteen effect monsters, and the increasingly aggressive fields that we’ll be seeing will make it even better. Three of the Structure decks have Call of the Haunted, but only this one has Ceasefire.
Zombie Madness
Top Picks:
1 Vampire Lord
3 Pyramid Turtle
1 Spirit Reaper
2 Ryu Kokki
1 Snatch Steal
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Giant Trunade
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Heavy Storm
2 Creature Swap
2 Book of Life
1 Dust Tornado
1 Torrential Tribute
3 Compulsory Evacuation Device
Zombies make me nervous, but lots of players adore them. Zombie decks have a lot going for them, and now that Tribe-Infecting Virus is gone, theme decks are going to pick up. Drooling hordes of the undead will shamble across the playing field for the rest of this year (and well into 2006) for several good reasons.
Zombies deal well with Rush strategies, and Vampire Lord dodges Smashing Ground and Sakuretsu Armor like . . . like an immortal, deathless horror. Okay, so Cyber Dragon can stake it through the heart, but the “back from the grave after destruction by card effects” is still a solid ability. This Structure deck gives you most of what you need to build a solid Zombie strategy. Three Pyramid Turtle, as well as one copy each of Vampire Lord, Spirit Reaper, and Ryu Kokki, will put you on your way to a winning deck.
Lots of spells from Dragon’s Roar are in this deck as well. It’s also got Giant Trunade, one of the most popular side deck picks, and Book of Life, an obvious staple for fans of the undead.
Zombie Madness is one of three Structure decks to offer Dust Tornado, and one of two that will net you Torrential Tribute, which are two cards that no player’s collection should be without. It’s also the only Structure deck to yield Compulsory Evacuation Device, an underrated piece of monster removal. While Trap Hole, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Sakuretsu Armor destroy monsters (and in Bottomless Trap Hole’s case, remove them from play entirely), the cool thing about Compulsory Evacuation Device is that it can target virtually anything. Is there a small monster that would get under the Holes? It’s gone. Is a monster just sitting on the field without attacking? Sakuretsu Armor won’t fix the problem, but Compulsory Evacuation Device will. Maybe you need to fetch back one of your own monsters to keep it out of the graveyard? Compulsory Evacuation Device can do that too! It can even get face-down monsters, which might be an issue now that you only get one Nobleman of Crossout.
Blaze of Destruction
Top Picks
3 UFO Turtle
1 Little Chimera
2 Solar Flare Dragon
2 Ultimate Baseball Kid
1 Raging Flame Sprite
1 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
1 Snatch Steal
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Premature Burial
1 Tribute to The Doomed
1 Heavy Storm
2 Level Limit – Area B
2 Dust Tornado
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Spell Shield Type-8
Like Dragon’s Roar, Blaze of Destruction makes some older themed cards available to newer duelists. UFO Turtle and Little Chimera can both be integral to the success of a Fire deck. Solar Flare Dragon can fuel a Lockdown Burn deck, Ultimate Baseball Kid and Raging Flame Sprite are good choices for Fire Beatdown, and Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch is an all-around nice tribute monster. A must-play for the Soul Control deck, Thestalos can quickly turn the tide of a duel with its discard effect and strong ATK value. It has yet to be seen whether or not Fire decks will finally rise to a state of viability in serious competition, but if it were to ever happen, now is definitely the time. Cards like Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys have renewed many players’ interests in this underplayed type.
Look everybody—it’s more Snatch Steal, Mystical Space Typhoon, Nobleman, Premature Burial, and Heavy Storm! You also get Tribute to The Doomed. If you’re pining for that second Nobleman of Crossout, you might find some measure of solace here. What else is there? Well, there’s a pair of Level Limit – Area B, and you’ll want those if you’re building a Lockdown engine. If you didn’t stock up on Ancient Sanctuary, this is a great chance to get one of the few mainstream standouts from the set.
There’s also a brace of Dust Tornado! This is the only Structure deck that includes two, so if you need multiple copies of the card for a three-Tornado trap engine, this is an economical way to do it. Call of the Haunted and Spell Shield Type-8 round out the deck’s trap lineup.
Fury from the Deep
Top Picks:
3 Mother Grizzly
1 Star Boy
2 Fenrir
1 Mermaid Knight
1 Mobius the Frost Monarch
1 Snatch Steal
1 Mystic Space Typhoon
1 Premature Burial
1 Heavy Storm
3 A Legendary Ocean
1 Creature Swap
2 Salvage
1 Hammer Shot
1 Dust Tornado
1 Call of the Haunted
2 Gravity Bind
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Spell Shield Type-8
I remember these cards: more old favorites abound for new players! Water decks need Mother Grizzly, and this Structure deck has three. Star Boy also makes an appearance as a single copy, much like Little Chimera in Blaze of Destruction. Fenrir is an obscure, but highly viable, special-summon Water monster. It can lend speed and card advantage to a Water deck, as well as provide fodder for Spiritual Water Art – Aoi. Mermaid Knight works wonders in Lockdown Legendary Ocean strategies, and Mobius the Frost Monarch has seen plenty of face time, both in main and side decks. Now it’s coming to you in a new, more affordable edition!
Many of the “standard” powerful spells in the other Structure decks are also available here, but you also get three copies of A Legendary Ocean and two Salvage, which are top picks for a water deck. This Structure deck includes a Hammer Shot, which is bound to see its play value spike now that Book of Moon has been limited. Now that you have a lower chance of hitting yourself with Hammer Shot, it’s a strong pick in contention with Smashing Ground.
A lot of the desirable traps I’ve already mentioned are included, along with a pair of Gravity Bind. This card has been around for years, and it can be surprisingly hard to find in good condition. Unless you’ve got a card shop that meticulously organizes its normal rares, you might have some trouble getting hold of these. Lots of stores don’t even stock them any more, due to their age, but Gravity Bind is still a contender after all this time.
Releasing cards like these in Structure decks and making them available to a much wider range of players than they were in their previous, rarer incarnations is an absolute boon to players. Proxies can work for playtesting, but we need the real thing to take to an event! Sure, I wish my brand new Mobiuses and Vampire Lords were a little more sparkly, but the important thing is that I have them and I can play with them. With a format change, new expansions, and the impending influx of new and returning players, players will be looking for new strategies and new decks. Don’t overlook Structure decks as a source for the cards you need to develop these new strategies.
Questions? Comments? Have a topic you think would make a good column? Maybe you want to know where to get cubic zirconia game tokens or a holo playmat? Well, now you don’t need to wait to see me at an event—you can reach me 24/7 at MetagameJulia@gmail.com! Send me some email!