If there is anything as sweet as having your opponent at your mercy, I simply cannot bring it to mind. Systematically stripping an adversary of options and forcing him or her to play your game instead of the one he or she had planned is nothing short of delicious, for two reasons. First, creating such a situation is a true test of skill, and achieving it consistently is an accomplishment. Second, it usually means that you’ve won the duel—in grand fashion, at that.

It is with this philosophy in mind that we turn to today’s contributor, an experienced duelist who yearns for the era when control could be absolute at a moment’s notice. Nowadays one must work a little harder, but the spirit of complete control is still alive in dueling!

Ever since the Forbidding of Yata-Garasu, one incredibly powerful strategy has

been absent from competitive play: the total lockdown of your opponent. This deck seeks to come close with another powerful monster, Mystical Knight of Jackal. His biggest weakness is that he requires two tributes to summon. I've tried to overcome this with the effects of the Destiny Heroes, specifically Malicious and Dasher.

With a lot of Destiny Heroes in this deck, along with Destiny Draw, it is easy to get their effects. Fear Monger can provide even more special summoning power for tributes for the Jackal. Doom Lord gives you some powerful monster removal, especially if you use it with D - Shield. Elemental Hero Stratos can get any of the Destiny Heroes, and Card Trooper can send Dasher or Malicious to the graveyard to use their effects later. Don Zaloog eliminates the opponent’s hand once you’ve got the Jackal out to make the lock even more effective.

This deck works pretty well, but it is pretty easy to get the wrong cards at the wrong time.

—Kelson R.

Missouri

Here’s the decklist Kelson submitted.

Mystic Destiny—42 Cards

Monsters: 21

2 Mystical Knight of Jackal

3 Destiny Hero - Dasher

3 Destiny Hero - Malicious

3 Destiny Hero - Fear Monger

3 Destiny Hero - Doom Lord

1 Elemental Hero Stratos

2 Card Trooper

3 Don Zaloog

1 D. D. Warrior Lady

Spells: 14

3 Destiny Draw

2 Reinforcement of the Army

1 Snatch Steal

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Heavy Storm

3 The Warrior Returning Alive

2 D - Spirit

1 Premature Burial

Traps: 7

3 D - Shield

1 Call of the Haunted

3 Sakuretsu Armor

Kelson’s selections are well-reasoned in his letter, and he has a very inspired idea: expand on last year’s somewhat popular Destiny Hero - Dasher special summoning engine to include Destiny Draw, making the strategy faster. He’s using this concept to try and fuel field control with Mystical Knight of Jackal, reinforcing it with hand control in the form of Don Zaloog.

It’s a clever idea that could definitely work, but Kelson’s noted his first major problem: too many of the cards he’s employed just don’t do enough at different points of the duel, which means he’ll often be without viable action.

Right now, my main issue with the deck is that we’re setting up a very powerful tool—the Dasher engine—and then doing very little with it. We go to a great deal of trouble to support nothing but two copies of Mystical Knight of Jackal, going so far as to include a full compliment of The Warrior Returning Alive in order to rescue copies sent to the graveyard by Card Trooper. This deck could accomplish its central goals better, and it could be doing a lot more in addition. So, with that said, I’ll start by removing all three copies of Don Zaloog. There are simply better, more synergetic options available, and depending on yet another low ATK monster is a poor idea. Since we’ll be broadening the deck’s scope and lowering the overall count of Warriors, all three The Warrior Returning Alive cards will also be removed.

Destiny Hero - Doom Lord is the last monster I will remove from the deck. It’s a very simple proposition: I need more room for monsters, and I’d like to eliminate those that don’t justify their exceedingly low ATK and DEF. Even if we remove all three Doom Lords, we’ll still have nine cards that let us pay the cost of Destiny Draw, so his loss should not present much of a blow in the long run.

Of course, Doom Lord is a potent (if fragile) removal engine in combination with D - Shield . . . which we’re also removing. This is yet another low-utility card that just isn’t very good in many situations, and while Kelson is using it here to ensure tribute fodder, there are easier ways to do so. Perhaps the only card in the deck that’s more conditional than D - Shield is D - Spirit. Short of a very aggressive deck that needs to get out three monsters for Destiny Hero - Dogma, there is little reason to run such a narrow card. It will rarely (if ever) be useful, and we just can’t afford the space it’s occupying.

Finally, I will drop one Sakuretsu Armor from the trap lineup. I’ll be changing the goal of the deck’s trap balance, and I’ll need a little bit of room to do so.

Now, on to the additions! You may have doubted my reasoning when I removed Don Zaloog from the deck. “But Vowler,” you cried, “Mystical Knight of Jackal isn’t that big of a deal if your opponent still has cards in his or her hand!” Though your statement would be correct, your lack of faith in yours truly would be misguided. I’ll be replacing the three Don Zaloog cards with a pair of the classic Spirit monster, Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi!

While Don Zaloog was a small monster that could pluck one card from the opponent’s hand, Tsuchi is a far larger monster that can decimate every card the opponent has. When he dishes out battle damage, your opponent’s hand empties completely, making him far more potent than Zaloog ever could be. The fact that he requires two tributes means that he won’t always be useful – remember, he can’t be special summoned by Dasher.  But Don Zaloog’s small size placed a similar condition on him anyway, restricting his utility to situations where you already had control. By using Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi, we take further advantage of the deck’s central infrastructure, building off of that tribute support while at the same time justifying an expansion of it. Previously, we simply had no real path towards a truly crushing Jackal lock. The hand control aspect of Kelson’s plan was vague at best, but now things are clear: threaten with Tsuchi to encourage defensive monster plays, then take advantage of the situation with the Jackal.

This deck hates monster removal. Going to all the trouble of summoning Mystical Knight of Jackal or Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi, and then losing either to something as mundane as Sakuretsu Armor, is nothing short of depressing. In order to prevent that scenario from becoming an unpleasant reality, I’ll add two Dust Tornado cards and one Confiscation. Dust Tornado will serve as a precursor to an ambitious attack (especially good with Hino), and Confiscation will eliminate potential threats before they ever get a chance to hit the table. The information you gather with Confiscation will also prove useful, as it can help you decide which of your monsters to focus on and when to execute key combos.

Finally, a bit of monster removal on our side of the table will help keep the deck on track. One copy each of Smashing Ground, Mirror Force, and Ring of Destruction are musts. Yes, the Ring can sometimes conflict with life point payments demanded by Mausoleum, but quite frequently we’ll be eliminating smaller monsters with its effect instead of larger ones. More on that later.

For now, gaze upon the changes I have proposed!

-3 Destiny Hero - Doom Lord

-3 Don Zaloog

-3 The Warrior Returning Alive

-2 D - Spirit

-3 D - Shield

-1 Sakuretsu Armor

+2 Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi

+1 Sangan

+3 Gravekeeper’s Spy

+1 Book of Moon

+1 Smashing Ground

+1 Confiscation

+2 Mausoleum of the Emperor

+1 Ring of Destruction

+1 Mirror Force

+2 Dust Tornado

Now here is the fixed version of Kelson’s deck: faster, stronger, better!

Mystic Destiny—Vowler’s More-Than-A-One-Trick Pony Version—42 Cards

Monsters: 21

2 Mystical Knight of Jackal

2 Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi

3 Destiny Hero - Dasher

3 Destiny Hero - Malicious

3 Destiny Hero - Fear Monger

1 Elemental Hero Stratos

2 Card Trooper

3 Gravekeeper’s Spy

1 D. D. Warrior Lady

1 Sangan

Spells: 14

1 Snatch Steal

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Heavy Storm

1 Confiscation

3 Destiny Draw

2 Reinforcement of the Army

1 Premature Burial

1 Book of Moon

1 Smashing Ground

2 Mausoleum of the Emperor

Traps: 7

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Ring of Destruction

1 Mirror Force

2 Sakuretsu Armor

2 Dust Tornado

This deck only has eleven monsters that can be played to the field on their own, but it compensates for this weakness by having eight of them that are suitable as a first turn play. Everything but Fear Monger fits the bill, and even it becomes viable with a single Destiny Draw. In the opening and early game this is a very good thing, because your immediate goal is survival, with an intent to draw into your bigger monsters.

Taking a few on the chin early in the duel isn’t a bad thing. If your opponent believes that you are vulnerable, then he or she will become cocky, and leave openings for Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi. Any monster with less than 2800 ATK fits the bill if it’s in attack position, but the smaller the better. A single strike with Tsuchi will be enough to ruin the average opponent, especially if you do little to disrupt his or her field and encourage him or her to maintain conservative habits. Your smaller monsters can then bat cleanup, or in an ideal situation, the Jackal will bring a quick close to the game.

Beware recruiters. Mystic Tomato is the Jackal’s worst enemy, because while the Jackal can still send Tomato back to the top of its controller’s deck, he or she will get to claim its special summon effect anyway: the Tomato won’t be bounced until after it has hit the graveyard and its effect has been triggered. The increased focus on monster destruction will come in handy in such a case, but remember that you can always take advantage of an attack-position recruiter with Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi, too. This is why I stated that Ring of Destruction was less of a risk then it might first appear. Its precision in removing recruiters from the field is exceptionally useful.

There are some actions that you should always make as soon as possible with this deck, and others that should be held off on until conditions are perfect. You should always deploy Malicious as quickly as possible in order to ensure that you don’t draw a second or third copy. Using Destiny Draw to discard Dasher when given the opportunity to do so is also smart, since every turn without a Dasher in your graveyard is another lost opportunity at special summoning tribute fodder or the Jackal. At the same time, you want to restrain yourself from using Mausoleum of the Emperor for anything but Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi or a well-defended Mystical Knight of Jackal in most cases. Use it for Dasher or Malicious only when you truly must, or when it promises to set up a big play a turn or two down the road. Once it hits the field, it runs a heavy risk of being destroyed.

Being able to control both your opponent’s hand and his or her monsters and upcoming draw is a dual-pronged attack of a deadly caliber. On a lucky draw, it can ruin the average Demise OTK or Diamond Dude Turbo deck on its first or second turn thanks to Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi. With more average draws, it should still wreak havoc on conservative Monarch builds, thanks to their tendency to not bother setting Sakuretsu Armor with a Monarch out. It can also give Gadgets a run for their money, provided it has the time to play around defensive monster removal. Mystical Knight of Jackal just loves swinging on a face-up Gadget, because it usually means the opponent won’t be able to make any sort of summon on the following turn.

A pair of old monsters unite with new dueling techniques, and the results are nothing short of spectacular! If you’re a fan of the old Destiny Hero - Dasher decks, go ahead and give this one a whirl. Back at your dorm. Not here. Because class is dismissed.

What in Zorc’s name are you waiting for? Get out of my lecture hall!

—The Incredibly Quick-Witted Dr. Crellian Vowler, PhD

Are you a dismal slacker? Do you feel the need to seek help from someone clearly superior to you in every way? Don’t worry—just send me your Advanced format decklist, a few paragraphs describing what the deck does, and your name and location to: VowlerIsSoAwesome@gmail.com. I may take pity on you and feature your deck in my next lecture!