Rick Diaz was one of many duelists playing an Aggro Beatdown deck, flavored to taste. Cyber Dragons and Personal Favorites was a strong option, and despite the potential of theme decks in the new format it was a very popular choice. Rick’s build was a good example of a competitive, straightforward deck that could be built on a relatively tight budget, but still provides competition through battle-gleaned card advantage.
Rick is 21, and hails from Warren, Ohio. He plays on Team All-American Cards and Comics, and holds the position of team co-captain. He earned a Nationals invite last year, and has secured another for the current year’s season. He traveled to Atlanta this weekend with a hodgepodge of friends and teammates.
“I don’t have a name, I don’t want to call it ‘Normal Beatdown.’ It used to run Skill Drains actually, it started off as a Skill Drain deck and that’s the reason for all the normal monsters. It didn’t stop Cyber Dragon, it didn’t stop graveyard effects, so it was pretty good in that respect. But I started changing the build and used more and more Warrior-type monsters, and as I began using increasing amounts of them I just didn’t find I needed the Drains any more.”
“I decided to stick with so many normal monsters because they’re big enough to just run over a lot of the major cards in the format, especially Warrior Toolbox decks. Also, I really like the synergy with Dark Factory of Mass Production. It’s an easy two-for-one once you hit the mid and late game, and that’s really good in this format.” In a play environment where Pot of Greed no longer rules the roost, Rick is right. Cards like Dark Factory of Mass Production and Backup Soldier can be exceedingly good if you build around them.
“The only real problem is Cyber Dragon, because of its size, but I’ve got Book of Moon and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast to take care of it.” It makes for a good place to spend those extra normal monsters. He can get extra normal monsters in the graveyard with Magical Merchant, and then use the Dark Factory that way too. “Originally I was running more copies of Dark Factory, and more normal monsters. Monsters with 1900 ATK are like card advantage right now—they just destroy. Plus it gives me a mental edge,” he said with a grin, before explaining that, “People think normal monster means scrub.”
Once the Japanese Advanced list was released, Rick just started searching for as many 2-for-1 mechanics as he could find, and he tried Water themes first. But it was a short leap to Dark Factory themes, and once the North American Advanced list was released it really didn’t hurt his current build. From there the deck just naturally grew to be more versatile. Winning his first several matches of the day, he was feeling pretty good about the direction the deck had taken.
Rick side decks Kinetic Soldier to deal with the common Warrior matchup, and he mentioned that his worst fear is actually Soul Control. By side decking two copies of Mask of Restrict, he can effectively tech the deck in games two and three if he finds the rather rare pairing. Drillroid is also a new favorite of his, allowing aggression to win out over cards like Spirit Reaper.
Here’s what his deck looks like.
Monsters: 18
1 D.D. Survivor
3 Archfiend Soldier
2 Cyber Dragon
2 D. D. Assailant
2 Mad Dog of Darkness
3 Insect Knight
1 Don Zaloog
1 D. D. Warrior Lady
1 Magical Merchant
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Spirit Reaper
Spells: 15
1 Book of Moon
1 Dark Hole
1 Rush Recklessly
1 Heavy Storm
2 Smashing Ground
2 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Enemy Controller
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Dark Factory of Mass Production
1 Snatch Steal
1 Scapegoat
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Nobleman of Crossout
Traps: 8
1 Dust Tornado
1 Sakuretsu Armor
1 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
2 Mirror Wall
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
Side:
3 Kinetic Soldier
2 King Tiger Wanghu
2 Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell
2 Mask of Restrict
1 Wave-Motion Cannon
1 Giant Trunade
1 Mobius the Frost Monarch
1 Dust Tornado
1 Chiron the Mage
1 Drillroid
While it’s deceptively innocuous at first, there’s a great deal of synergy in Rick’s strategy. The result of a great deal of testing, it may not be the most polished or completed version of the strategy possible. But it’s done well for him today, and even though it might still be a work in progress, its success clearly shows that normal monsters once again have a place in the competitive duelist’s arsenal!