This week we’ll be looking at a hybrid deck, combining the new Dark Armed Dragon with one of my favorite cards, Strike Ninja. This will allow for extreme aggression and combinations of utility cards that will put most other synergies to rest. The thread that ties the two decks together is D. D. Scout Plane, allowing you the constant aggression of a Ninja with the removal agent of a Dragon. Imagine a monster that just refuses to die next to a mass removal agent at the same time: if your opponents can contain their frustration, it’ll be a miracle.
The Monsters
The monster lineup is a delicate balance between Warriors and Dark Armed Dragon. The Destiny Hero Warriors will allow you extra draws to get you the pieces to your two-part combination attack. The interesting part of this deck is the difficulty of side-decking against it. While remove-from-play cards would seem to be effective against the Destiny Hero, Dragon, and Ninja part of the monster lineup, it won’t fare well at all against the main-decked Scout Planes.
As I said before, the Scout Planes are the thread that holds this deck together. They provide reusable fuel for the Ninja, while offering removal with Dark Armed Dragon. Strike Ninja will also grant you the ability to manipulate the number of Dark monsters in your graveyard so you can special summon the Dragon. The two themes work perfectly together, both in execution and final use of their abilities. I’m confident that such a theme will prove popular in the time to come.
Notice that I’ve included two copies of Phantom of Chaos. This allows an easy Dark Armed Dragon facsimile in the event it hits your graveyard. Another interesting monster I’ve included is Dark Magician of Chaos. As most players who’ve played Strike Ninja know, he grants two benefits: aggression that never goes away and free double-tribute fodder. While it could be argued that Light and Darkness Dragon or various other double tribute monsters would be better choices, the Magician is too incredible in Traditional to not play him when the chance is offered.
The two copies of Mystic Tomato may seem underpowered for Traditional, but they have far too many targets to be excluded from the deck. You can reasonably search for Sangan, Witch, Snipe Hunter, Phantom of Chaos, D. D. Scout Plane, Disk Commander, or Fear Monger. In almost any situation or number of cards you could be holding, there’s something that it can search for to help you.
Obviously, the point of the deck is to maintain a Ninja and Dragon at the same time. You’ll clear your opponent’s monsters (and back-row cards if you’d like) while constantly making direct attacks with the Ninja. If something breaks your hold over the field, you can make your Ninja vanish and summon either the other Dragon or Phantom of Chaos.
The Spells
Starting the game with either Painful Choice or Foolish Burial provides incredible momentum. Obviously, the former is preferable, but the latter is also acceptably strong. With Painful Choice, you’ll be able to search both Scout Planes, Dark Magician of Chaos, and Disk Commander all at once (just make sure you can use Strike Ninja quickly and regulate the number of Darks in your graveyard). Throughout the game, you’ll have to think about how many Dark monsters are in your graveyard. Try to prevent the drawing of dead Dragons: they should be beat-sticks, not dead weight.
When playing this deck, you’re going to have to use your Ninja wisely. If you don’t trust yourself with only one, I’d suggest running two. If you save him until the later game, you’ll almost always capitalize more than you would if you played him early.
You’ll be trying to draw many cards in the early game to quicken the aggression. This is an aggressive deck, so you’ll want to force your opponent’s back against the wall as soon as possible. The faster you can deplete life points and cards, the better. Ideally, you’ll want your opponent and yourself playing cards off the top of the deck. Remember your Infection Points and how to use them.
Traps
As the trap lineups in Traditional normally are, this one is short and simple. I chose not to include Imperial Order, which I would normally find room for. It seemed unnecessary to stop an opponent from playing spells. The opponent’s field disruption won’t work on the Ninja, so all he or she can do is draw cards (which either he or she won’t be able to use or which you’ll destroy). That leaves these four: three monster destruction cards that are too good to not play and Call of the Haunted, which compliments the Disk Commander.
Give it a try yourself! With Dark Armed Dragon doing so well at Shonen Jump Championship Houston in the Advanced format, it’s not surprising how well it performs in Traditional, too.
—Matt Murphy