"This deck might as well be named ‘Tricks.’ It doesn’t make sense, but it always has an answer to everything," mused David Duran, the creator of "Duran Box," who brought the innovative anti-meta deck to a Day 2 showing at Shonen Jump Championship Chicago 2007. He was referring to the Big City deck he was playing against, and with the slowing of the game resulting from the recent rulings regarding Royal Oppression and some new tricks added to the arsenal, the deck is nothing to scoff at.
While Big City has been generally assigned to "Tier 2," and seen as lacking the power to stand ground against the best decks in the game, it’s gotten some help that’ll push it to the limit. Jerome McHale referred to the deck’s nature when writing about Jeff Jones’s Big City build in 2007. "As long as Ocean is on the field, all Elemental Hero monsters on your side of the field and in your graveyard will bear a striking resemblance to Sinister Serpent." That is a rather incredible truth, but it’s somewhat dwarfed by the fact that these Sinister Serpent cards will have an ATK that causes an incredible amount of bother to opponents.
This means we’ll be playing a control deck that maintains options via graveyard and field manipulation, while having enormous monsters to apply pressure. In fact, the same cards we use for payment for our most costly control cards (those which require discard effects) double as the cards we use to apply an aggressive force against our opponent.
The Monsters
The monster lineup includes one copy of Ehren, Lightsworn Monk to help deal with the Monarch deck, because that deck 
has more answers for Big City than almost any other matchup. Normally, this would dissuade us from using the deck, but this build is so consistent against Gladiator Beasts that we’re justified.
Notice that the new and rather strange choice of playing Elemental Hero Neos Alius has been made. Yes, you are looking at a 1900 ATK normal monster. However, he allows us to add a new tool to our Swiss Army knife: Hero Blast. He’ll also be added to our hand via the effect of Elemental Hero Stratos. Also remember that Wildheart is going to be dodging very few cards, and that Alius can run over Elemental Hero Stratos and Gladiator Beast Laquari while also forcing through fast damage. With a little editing to the decklist, you open yourself up to abusing normal monster support cards and cards that combo with Elemental Hero Neos. Talk about having tricks up your sleeve . . .
The other five monsters (Stratos, Ocean, and Wildheart) are pretty standard in a Big City build. Notice that the monster lineup is very small. This helps us dodge Crush Card Virus and Trap Dustshoot. While this may seem like too few monsters, you’ll remember that we play five spells which will add monsters to our hand, filling our monster lineup to a reusable thirteen. If you have access to one of six cards which will cause a turn-1 Stratos drop, you already have a way to get to pretty much every other monster (barring Ehren).
The Spells
The spell lineup is a mixture of removal, hand control, and ways of getting monsters into your hand or onto the field. You want to limit your opponent’s options quickly, generating dead cards. Then you’ll be able to quickly apply pressure and 
finish off your opponent.
Skyscraper 2 - Hero City is where the deck gets its name, and with good reason. Coupled with Elemental Hero Ocean, only D.D. Crow scares you (and your opponent is rarely running more than two). This makes your monsters disposable and reusable. Almost any card that benefits you strongly at the cost of a discard is powerful in this deck, since you’ll be discarding Elemental Hero monsters which you’ll then return to your hand. Your monsters are reusable, but your opponent’s monsters aren’t: this gives you a great edge against a Gladiator Beast player especially. If you catch a Gladiator Beast deck without access to a Gladiator (even in the late game), you’ve gained an enormous advantage.
The Traps
As promised, the trap lineup includes Hero Blast, which will both clear the way to your opponent’s life points and give you the monster to take advantage of that path. The two copies of Divine Wrath are 
simply incredible. They can negate Gladiator Beast Gyzarus, Dark Armed Dragon, Monarchs, Envoys, Judgment Dragon, or whatever monster your opponent’s deck seems to rely on. The cost for this powerful effect? Discard a monster that you’ll return to your hand on the following turn.
Other than that, we pack the infamous three copies of Solemn Judgment and a lot of monster removal. We want to clear a path and take advantage of it quickly.
This is an incredibly combo-oriented deck. While that is normally a bad thing, Big City seems to go so far with it that almost every hand has hidden tricks. If you want to improve your in-play strategy and option recognition techniques, this is a great deck to practice with.
—Ryan Murphy