Monsters

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Bountiful Artemis is the backbone of the deck. A control deck needs a steady stream of card draw or search effects to be consistent. For a deck based on the counter-trap Fairy monsters, Bountiful Artemis will let you see extra cards in your deck. Not only that, but it has relatively solid stats at 1600 ATK and 1700 DEF, which is enough to survive most encounters with level 4 monsters. You can help it stay alive against larger monsters with various stall devices such as Swords of Revealing Light and Nightmare’s Steelcage. If you are running more than eight counter-traps (which you should be with Counter-Control), then Bountiful Artemis is an easy three monsters to add to your deck.

Layard the Liberator fills the role of a late-game source of monster replenishment. However, the effect can be very difficult to work with. While the possible monster recursion with Soul of Purity and Light and Skull Lair can be incredible, it requires you to run some potential dead draws in your deck. While I have not dismissed it completely, its inclusion will require some serious experimentation.

Voltanis the Adjudicator proved itself a solid monster in my personal testing with the card. It’s huge, it can be played during your opponent’s turn, and it has a devastating effect. However, I felt that it could be better supplemented with a Wave-Motion Cannon instead. At least, that’s what I thought before I saw Synthetic Seraphim, which is incredible! It easily makes Voltanis the Adjudicator a serious threat. I certainly think one slot is justified for Voltanis if you are running at least one or two copies of Synthetic Seraphim, since it allows you to be more generous with your monster line-up by branching out and away from just Fairy monsters.

Freed the Brave Wanderer was in Jerome McHale’s version of Counter-Control, and it may be a solid choice. However, I am not sure what running it will do to your monster line-up, since it constrains you to a heavy Light lineup. It may act as great synergy with Layard the Liberator, so we’ll keep this monster in mind.

Airknight Parshath is obviously incredible for the deck, although it may not be the best option. But it draws you cards and gives you more counter-trap fuel, and it can deal some serious piercing damage. It also deals with Spirit Reaper, which is a problem for Counter-Control in multiple ways. Seems good to me!

Another card that handles Spirit Reaper well is Cybernetic Magician, which I’ve been pushing since it came out. It may be the perfect monster-based path to victory for Counter-Control. Not only does it allow you to win in one turn, but its effect targets (and effectively destroys) Spirit Reaper. Oh, and it also makes your tokens from Synthetic Seraphim into absolute monsters.

Finally, the Heralds are a serious drain on your hand, but they provide you with something not even your trap cards can: unknown counters. Herald of Purple Light is a must-have in your deck to deal with potential turn 1 Royal Decree cards. I’d definitely have the maximum number of Purple Light cards in my side deck.

Spells

Spells are self-explanatory for this deck. You don’t run many. Graceful Charity is a must, and various stall devices such as Swords of Revealing Light and Nightmare’s Steelcage are excellent candidates. A couple of copies of Wave-Motion Cannon may be good to run as a backup path to victory.

Traps

While the trap card line-up is the heart of the Counter-Control deck, it should also be the easiest to work with. Your only tough choices will be how many of these trap cards to run, and that can change through side-decking and planning for a specific metagame.

Solemn Judgment is an easy inclusion in this deck, and three copies is great. It is the most all-purpose counter-trap in this game and should not be excluded from counter-control.

Divine Wrath is an interesting card since it has the ability to negate a lot of things. It nullifies Chaos Sorcerer, Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, Sangan, flip effects, Tsukuyomi . . . well, it negates a lot of cards. It seems like a grand candidate for this deck, with at least one or two copies in the main deck. I’d have a full playset of them in between my main deck and side deck for Counter-Control.

Forced Back is a heavy tempo control card against fast decks in this game, and it doesn’t even have a cost. I am not sure, however, if it can justify space in this deck when you already have five cards added to the trap lineup at this point (three Solemn Judgment, one Mirror Force, and one Torrential Tribute).

Synthetic Seraphim is a serious powerhouse for this deck, but I have not had the time to test it out much at all yet. Making free tokens when you activate your cards is very nice, especially when those tokens can win you the game with Voltanis or Cybernetic Magician. I’d run at least one copy in my deck as another way to drag the game on, although running two copies is a possibility.

Negate Attack has always been overlooked, but did you ever notice it is a counter-trap? Negating battle phases and drawing a card for it is a lot better than simply negating a battle phase. Thank Bountiful Artemis for being so awesome, since it might justify a copy or two of this card in the deck.

Finally, there are various other counter-traps that negate specific types of cards, such as Magic Jammer, Seven Tools of the Bandit, and Horn of Heaven. These are not as universal as Solemn Judgment, but they can fill out the rest of your counter-trap lineup if necessary. Don’t go completely overboard with this mechanic, however. Solemn Judgment and Divine Wrath are still your two most reliable counter-traps, so focus on those before you move to these. Forced Back would also take priority over these cards, except for maybe Horn of Heaven, which acts as a strong combo with Synthetic Seraphim and shuts down the threats you are most worried about.

The Deck

With all of the basic cards covered, here is a sample deck list that you can work with if you wish to explore this deck type.

Counter-Control Basic Build

Monsters: 18

3 Bountiful Artemis

2 Des Lacooda

1 Voltanis the Adjudicator

1 Herald of Purple Light

1 Mask of Darkness

1 Sangan

2 Airknight Parshath

1 Morphing Jar

2 Skelengel

1 Tsukuyomi

2 Magician of Faith

1 Cybernetic Magician

Spells: 9

1 Graceful Charity

1 Snatch Steal

3 Nightmare’s Steelcage

1 Swords of Revealing Light

3 Wave-Motion Cannon

Traps: 13

3 Solemn Judgment

1 Mirror Force

1 Torrential Tribute

3 Divine Wrath

1 Negate Attack

2 Forced Back

2 Synthetic Seraphim

My initial build did not run Magician of Faith, but it looked like a good addition once I added in the three copies of Wave-Motion Cannon. Had it not been for that, and the fact that looping Solemn Judgment can be a bit broken at times, I would have justified cutting Tsukuyomi out of this deck. Also, it’s possible that Synthetic Seraphim does enough work providing tributes for Airknight Parshath, sporting a 2000 ATK with Cybernetic Magician, and just generally keeping you alive to have enough Seraphim Tokens left over to feed Voltanis.

I am by no means saying that this build is perfect. It’s just an initial creation that generally represents what a competitive Counter-Control deck could look like. It’s up to you, as players, to effectively test this deck and see what the best version of it looks like. In fact, I encourage it! If anybody takes it to a Shonen Jump Championship, go up to the press table, and let them know your name so Metagame can see if you’re doing well! If you Top 8 a regional, or finish high in the standings, please let me know. I want to hear how everybody does with this deck concept should they experiment with it. If you let me know how well you did and provide a deck list, I’d be more than happy to dedicate a week to showing off your work to the rest of the readers!

Next week, we’ll be going back to the normal column, and featuring what I think is the best tech in the format right now.

If you have any questions or comments, or would like to report a success story with this deck or something else that’s unique from a regional or Shonen Jump Championship, feel free to e-mail me at Mrosenberg@metagame.com.