Shane Scurry’s recovery from that first loss in game 1 of his feature match may have seemed pretty close to miraculous; the beating he suffered in that first game was nothing sort of brutal. Phong Nguyen knew his stuff, and was armed with an absolutely spectacular opening hand to boot. But Scurry’s eventual victory was not a matter of luck — he’s playing a deck that’s a great choice in today’s metagame, and his build is highly dedicated and focused. You may see a lot of people playing remove-from-play decks, but most don’t dare to run Dimensional Fissure and Macro Cosmos. Scurry? He runs a whopping three. Check out the list:

If you’re reading this coverage live you can’t see Scurry’s decklist yet, but I will tell you something interesting; he’s running more traps than he is monsters. Very few duelists are running Jinzo nowadays despite the option of running two now that everyone’s favorite android is only Semi-Limited. Even fewer players are running Royal Decree, so Scurry’s gambit is a safe one.

Of the relatively low number of monsters Scurry is playing, all of them are highly focused. He’s playing a slim, efficient Toolbox engine with three copies each of his most important Warriors, and he’s left himself with no room for error; while other players would toss in tech monsters like Don Zaloog or D. D. Warrior Lady, he’s only main decking three Warriors total. D.D. Survivor, D. D. Assailant, and Exiled Force are the only cards he can pull from his deck with his two copies of Reinforcement of the Army, but, because of the deck’s playstyle, that’s really all he needs. The fact that five of his Warriors can act as card-for-card monster removal is an important asset, because it gives him a ton of control over the field and that gives D.D. Survivor room to do some serious damage. We saw that play out in Scurry’s feature match, where he repeatedly used D.D. Survivor as his main attacker while the other Warriors kept the field under control. D. D. Assailant was only used as a primary attacker when Scurry didn’t have any other choice.

Three Raiza the Storm Monarch provide a focused Monarch lineup similar to the one Matt Highline ran in Chicago. Highline kept his overall utility high by playing just three Monarchs, and Scurry is doing the same thing here. In a deck packing so many redundant cards, utility can be an issue and dead draws can create losses, so the slim Monarch lineup keeps the deck aggressive and proactive.

The spells are also a short list, with Scurry relying on traps for most of his effects. He can afford to do so because he’s got a strong suite of disruption, maining three copies of Solemn Judgment and two copies each of Dark Bribe and Pulling the Rug. In Chicago I predicted that Dark Bribe would be a strong addition to this kind of deck in the future, and I’m glad to see it’s played out that way. Not only does Dark Bribe protect Dimensional Fissure and Macro Cosmos, but it also justifies Scurry’s entire approach to the deck, running just eight spells but an incredible seventeen trap cards. Without the added negation against threats like Heavy Storm, that just wouldn’t be possible.

Trap Dustshoot pre-empts monster threats while pairs of Sakuretsu Armor and Bottomless Trap Hole deal with those that make it to the field. Mirror Force and Torrential Tribute round out the list, with Call of the Haunted obviously being eschewed due to the deck’s remove-from-play strategy.

That strategy gives Scurry a serious edge in competition. The sheer number of remove-from-play effects Scurry is playing, essentially the maximum number possible, gives him the speed he needs to cut off fast decks like Perfect Circle and Zombies. Sure, depriving either deck of their graveyard is great, but if you can’t do it on turn 1 or turn 2 it just won’t matter; Zombies can beat you in a single turn, and all Perfect Circle needs to win is one or two turns to abuse Destiny Hero – Malicious and Destiny Hero – Disk Commander. From there it can leverage its extra cards into very precise simplification and win out anyway, using Phoenix Wing Wind Blast and Raiza the Storm Monarch to keep Fissure and Cosmos out of the game. Scurry’s focus gives him the speed he needs to outplay those strategies, and it’s a great idea.

Even against less favorable matchups, the core strategy of Scurry’s deck gives him the obvious strength of an 1800 ATK Treeborn Frog in D.D. Survivor. That fact alone was basically enough to carry David Duran to Day 2 in Chicago, so it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Scurry made the cut this weekend. His build really represents the future of this archetype, with Dark Bribe setting off a chain of events that make the strategy a lot stronger.

Shane Scurry is focused, perfectly tuned to the metagame, and has understood a set of options that just wouldn’t have been possible weeks ago. His deck here today is unique, and if he can make it to Day 2 he’s bound to be imitated over the coming months. Frankly, I like his chances.