As I mentioned in last week’s article, Turbo Exodia was a threatening presence in the North American metagame at one point. Yu-Gi-Oh! is chock-full of alternate win conditions. For example, Destiny Board, Last Turn, and Final Countdown have all seen a fair amount of play at one time or another. But none of them have been so heavily used, or as successful, as Exodia!
Duelists have tried lots of different methods to draw their Exodia pieces. Everything from looping combos to hoping for nothing but pure luck has been attempted, but I think today’s submitter has created a truly unique build. Here’s what he had to say about it.
Jason,
Hello, my name is Michael W. I just wanted to let you know that every day after I get done with my college classes, I look forward to getting on the Internet so I can check out the new Yu-Gi-Oh! articles on Metagame.com.
I play both casually and in tournaments, and I’ve been in love with Exodia since I received a set from my friends way back in the day. It bothers the heck out of me how Exodia has completely left the tournament scene and sits in trade binders collecting dust, so I’m trying to come up with a way to make Exodia playable in tournaments. When Pot of Greed, Graceful Charity and Mirage of Nightmare were forbidden, I began to think that making a competitive Exodia deck was near impossible—but then it hit me that having draw power removed was to Exodia’s advantage, because then my opponent won’t be able to see as many cards per game.
I’ve created a deck that I'm very proud of, and I’ve put a lot of time and thought into constructing it. This Exodia deck definitely has its weaknesses and I understand that very well, but I believe the pros outweigh the cons. Unlike most decks that play a hefty amount of spells and traps, this deck runs almost entirely monster cards. Now I bet you’re asking why I’d limit myself to playing one card per turn. Because 38 of 40 cards in this deck are monsters, when a Magical Merchant is flipped, that means that I'm going to go through a whole lot of cards before I pick up a spell or trap card. Either of the two cards that I'm going to get is going to put me in a great position. If I go through fifteen monsters to get Exchange of the Spirit, and the Merchant was flipped early in the game, my opponent is going to get decked. If I draw Pot of Avarice, I can simply load the Exodia pieces that I discarded back into my deck.
My original build used Chaos Necromancer, but I figured that, with all of the Sakuretsu Armors and Widespread Ruins, there was no way that it was going to work. I moved to an all-out defensive structure. I put cards in that would bounce monsters off their field to buy me more time to get the key element of the deck, which is Magical Merchant. Without this, you are going to have to be pretty lucky with the draws and maybe even summon some Exodia pieces. After the first game, when my opponent sides outSakuretsu Armor and all of the defensive trap cards that were useless in the first game, I side those lovely attacking monsters back in with a Dark Hole instead of the spells and traps that I normally play with.
I think that Morphing Jar #2 is one of the best defensive cards that can be set. Think about it—with all the Monarchs and Cyber Dragons running around you have pretty good odds that when the card is flipped, your opponent’s going to lose some vital spells and traps.
I was wondering if you could think of some other monsters that might be better than some of the monsters in here. Obviously I can’t include any more spells and traps, and only being allowed one set per turn, I have to utilize every card I play to its fullest ability.
Advantages of this deck:
This deck essentially makes all spell/trap removal useless.
This deck makes defensive traps useless.
This deck makes Snatch Steal and Brain Control worthless.
Self-replacing monsters allow me to maintain field presence.
Disadvantages:
Mystic Swordsman LV2 can be a problem.
On most turns, I can only play one card.
Thanks again,
Michael W.
The deck that Michael sent me looks like this.
Monsters: 38
1 Exodia the Forbidden One
1 Left Arm of the Forbidden One
1 Right Arm of the Forbidden One
1 Left Leg of the Forbidden One
1 Right Leg of the Forbidden One
3 Magical Merchant
3 Morphing Jar #2
1 Cyber Jar
1 Morphing Jar #1
3 Legendary Jujitsu Master
3 Mystic Tomato
3 Apprentice Magician
3 Emissary of the Afterlife
3 Newdoria
1 Magician of Faith
1 Old Vindictive Magician
1 Sangan
3 Penguin Soldier
3 Spirit Reaper
1 Big Eye
Spells: 1
1 Pot of Avarice
Traps: 1
1 Exchange of the Spirit
This deck has some interesting concepts, some of which I think will work, and some that I’m wary of. On one hand, I like the challenge of a mostly-monster deck. I think it’s a fun concept, and while it doesn’t give any major strategic advantage, I think it is possible, so I want to work with that. I also like the idea of burning away cards and then replacing any discarded Exodia pieces with Pot of Avarice.
However, there are a few big problems I can see. Basically, this deck is trying to be two things: a Turbo Exodia deck and an Exchange of the Spirit deck. It’s possible that you could flip Merchant, discard a bunch of cards, draw into Exchange of the Spirit, and use it for an eventual win. However, there are a ton of things that could go wrong at any step in that process. The addition of Morphing Jar #2 is smart as a defensive form of support for the Exodia strategy. It shuts down battle and does some neat stuff to the decks of each player, all of which is in your favor. But at the same time, the moment that Morphing Jar #2 goes off successfully, you’ll probably load your opponent’s graveyard with enough spells to make Exchange of the Spirit completely useless. Smashing Ground, Dark Hole, and Nobleman of Crossout are poison when this deck tries to win through Exchange of the Spirit, and Morphing Jar #2 hands those cards to the opponent on a silver platter.
In short, Exchange of the Spirit seems dangerously inconsistent in this deck. There are several situations where it could perform well, but they all seem too complicated to be reliable. I’m going to remove Exchange of the Spirit from the equation, and that’s going to free us up to use a few more non-monster cards. Without the pressure of discarding so many cards, we can sneak in a few more possible interruptions for Magical Merchant’s effect.
Speaking of which, you need to be careful whenever you build a monster-heavy deck that intends to use Magical Merchant to discard a ton of cards. If you run out of spells and traps and Merchant is activated, its effect resolves meaninglessly and won’t discard anything. Magical Merchant isn’t very good without its effect, so adding a couple more spells or traps to this deck is probably a good idea for that reason alone.
Next, I need to clear out some room. Morphing Jar #1 isn’t a very good choice for this deck. Even though it can help us get through cards quickly, remember that this deck can’t use cards as fast as others. Normally it will only be able to summon one card per turn. That can lead to situations where Morphing Jar #1 gives two or three extra cards of advantage to the opponent. If he or she has fewer cards in hand than you do, but you’re each being reset to five cards, your opponent is getting a far more favorable result from the effect than you are. This might be forgivable, but you have to remember that we’re already giving the opponent card advantage on a regular basis. We’re going to be losing a lot of cards in battle, regardless of how well any duel is going.
Next, I want to remove Big Eye. Though it can speed up a game a little, I think the most important monsters for this deck to be using are the ones that can control the field. Big Eye doesn’t defend your field presence at all, so it’s an easy card to drop.
That said, Old Vindictive Magician and Penguin Soldier are both cards that do defend your board presence, but I’m still going to drop them. I think they’re the least effective cards of the bunch, and my removing them just comes down to a need for space. I’ll be replacing the one Magician and two of the three Penguins with a card that I think is far better at achieving the same goals.
Those are the drops, so I might as well tip my hand as to what my secret weapon is. It’s Ancient Lamp! The Lamp’s ability to block up to three attacks per turn is going to be invaluable to this deck, which will often only be able to play a single monster against an opponent with an established field presence. The Lamp will punish the opponent’s aggression, and believe me, anyone who plays against this deck will be looking to attack with multiple monsters. Not only will the impending threat of Exodia force them to play quickly, but your complete lack of imposing trap cards will make any opponent feel secure, since they’ll never have to worry about Torrential Tribute or Sakuretsu Armor.
That’s actually all I’m going to add to the monster lineup. I’ve got three slots left in the deck, and I want to dedicate them to a few more spells. My first and most obvious pick is a second Pot of Avarice. This deck will often need one copy of the Pot to win, and I don’t think it will ever regret seeing two in a single duel. I’m tempted to run three, since this deck has already resigned itself to playing very few cards on a per-turn basis. But for now, two will probably suffice.
Dark Hole is a must. You’ll only be playing one monster per turn, and even though you’ve got self-replacing monsters like Mystic Tomato and some monster deterrents like Newdoria, Legendary Jujitsu Master, and Ancient Lamp, this deck is going to take a beating. You’ll often be in a situation where your opponent controls multiple monsters while you have none, and Dark Hole is fantastic in that kind of scenario. In addition, Dark Hole is one of the few reliable answers I can give to Mystic Swordsman LV2. This deck does nothing but set cards most of the time, so all it can currently do against the Swordsman is summon Newdoria face up and hope that it doesn’t get hit with Snatch Steal or Smashing Ground. That’s pretty terrible. Even though this deck is running three copies of Newdoria, the average opponent is probably using one Mystic Swordsman LV2 and a pair of Reinforcement of the Army, so he or she has just as much of a chance of drawing that trump card as you have of drawing your potential answer. Dark Hole will give you a more firm response to the problem card at hand, and it will tip the odds into your favor, four cards to three.
Operating along the same lines, I want to add one copy of Book of Moon to the deck. If you’re being threatened by Mystic Swordsman, it can prevent a single attack. On the other hand, if you needlessly draw into it with Magical Merchant, you can just turn the Merchant face down again. While setting Book of Moon will leave you vulnerable to Dust Tornado or Mystical Space Typhoon, it’s a small risk that seems worthwhile—especially when most duelists will rotate those cards out of their decks for games two and three.
Here are the changes I made.
-1 Morphing Jar #1
-1 Big Eye
-1 Old Vindictive Magician
-2 Penguin Soldier
-1 Exchange of the Spirit
+3 Ancient Lamp
+1 Pot of Avarice
+1 Dark Hole
+1 Book of Moon
The final deck looks like this:
Monsters: 36
1 Exodia the Forbidden One
1 Left Arm of the Forbidden One
1 Right Arm of the Forbidden One
1 Left Leg of the Forbidden One
1 Right Leg of the Forbidden One
3 Magical Merchant
3 Morphing Jar #2
1 Cyber Jar
3 Legendary Jujitsu Master
3 Mystic Tomato
3 Apprentice Magician
3 Emissary of the Afterlife
3 Newdoria
1 Magician of Faith
1 Sangan
3 Spirit Reaper
1 Penguin Soldier
3 Ancient Lamp
Spells: 4
2 Pot of Avarice
1 Dark Hole
1 Book of Moon
This fixed version of the deck should be far more reliable. Instead of moving in two completely separate and often conflicting directions, it has more focus and a reduced chance of shooting itself in the foot.
Whether you’re in the early, mid-, or late game, your goal is to survive until you can draw into Exodia. Not much changes about how you play the deck, regardless of what’s happening on the opponent’s side of the table. The only real difference to how you might play the deck will be determined by the binary status of the opponent’s field. You’ll be asking yourself whether or not he or she has two potential attackers next turn. If so, your priority will be reducing the opponent’s board presence with cards like Newdoria and Ancient Lamp. If not, you’ll be more interested in maintaining your own board presence and thinning your deck, by using Mystic Tomato, Apprentice Magician, and Magical Merchant.
Your matchups will basically be dependent on the attitude of the duelist you’re playing against. Precise decks aren’t the concern so much as aggressive play styles. Flat out, any Soul Control, Warrior, or Chaos player who plays conservatively will be easier for you to deal with. At the same time, any of those three decks will have the potential to wreck you when it’s played aggressively.
The exceptions to this rule are Return and Flip-Flop Control, which are stunningly difficult and amazingly easy, respectively. A Return deck will create a tempo that your average opening hand probably won’t be able to deal with. In addition, they can activate Return from the Different Dimension with impunity since you’ll never be attacking, and the sudden burst of board presence will often be enough to cost you the game, due to your minimal board presence. Ancient Lamp is precious here, because it can and will block three attackers in most situations. Again, your main fear is Mystic Swordsman LV2. When I was doing this fix I was almost tempted to run Prohibition or something since that card is so powerful against this deck. Luckily, few Return players will remove Mystic Swordsman LV2 from play, preferring to go for a monster that can shunt out higher damage.
Flip-Flop Control is your one immensely strong matchup, simply because the deck is so amazingly slow. It doesn’t usually run Mystic Swordsman LV2, it doesn’t ever really over-commit to the field, and it isn’t equipped with many good attackers. Unfortunately, it also isn’t seeing a ton of play right now either. Still, it’s worthy of note as an important matchup to consider.
If you’re looking for a truly unique deck to play, and a perfect example of the power packed into Ancient Lamp, this weird little build might interest you. It might look like a terrible idea, but I’ve been testing it out myself and it’s surprisingly successful. Though the play decisions that the deck requires are relatively simple, competing effectively with it is all about head games. You need to keep your opponent guessing, and bluffing that one monster per turn and surprising your opposition is highly important. You can often overcome poor draws on your behalf simply by getting the opponent to play the wrong monsters: setting cards when they should be attacking, over-committing with Cyber Dragon when you’ve got Newdoria or Ancient Lamp, and so on.
With a bit of practice, this can be an awesomely fun deck for a competitive environment. If you’re a fan of Exodia, give it a shot!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Do you have an Advanced format deck you could use some help with, or that you just want to show off to the world? Do you want to see it appear in a future Apotheosis article? Send it to me at Jason(at)metagame(dot)com, with your name, location, and explanation of how the deck works—I might take a crack at it!