I once got pwned by an Ameba deck—not beaten, not defeated, but “pwned.” I was completely ravaged, destroyed, wrecked, smashed, and messed up “old school.” It was probably the only game my opponent ever won with that deck, but due to topdecking it was one heck of a one-sided match.

When a reader sent me his Ameba deck, I couldn’t refuse writing an article about it. I mean, how could I resist? I consider this a continuation of me being Ameba’s unfortunate whipping boy and slave.

Here’s what Aaron S. had to say about his deck.

The main focus of this deck is on Ameba and Creature Swap. I’m also looking for ways to recycle those cards while maintaining field control. Please let me know what you think about this deck and how to fix it. I added this little card to my Water deck for the last tournament, and the shock on people’s faces when I played that combo was priceless!

Thanks,

Aaron S.
Bloomington, Illinois

Aaron’s initial build looked like this.

Aaron’s Ameba Deck
40 cards

Monsters
3 Ameba
3 Griggle
3 Magician of Faith
3 Mother Grizzly
3 Nightmare Penguin
1 Cyber Jar
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
1 Sinister Serpent
1 Mobius the Frost Monarch

Spells
3 Creature Swap
3 Salvage
2 A Legendary Ocean
2 Reload
2 Level Limit - Area B
1 Dark Room of Nightmare
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm

Traps
3 Hidden Book of Spell
1 Gravity Bind
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Ring of Destruction


There isn't anything that's actually "wrong" with this deck, aside from the fact that  we'll need to drop one Creature Swap to make the deck legal in the Advanced format. My hat goes off to Aaron for creating a darn good Ameba deck, as far as Ameba decks go. However, there are a few ways we can improve the deck. They mostly involve making it a bit more dedicated to winning through the Ameba theme instead of battle. In theory, making the deck more dependent on Ameba for its win condition seems risky. But we need to make some major changes to the way the deck is set up now. Most of the attack-based cards either have extremely low synergy with the deck’s main components, or the cards are so synergistic that they’re poor topdecks regardless of when a particular card pops into your hand.

The first card we’re going to drop from the deck is Mobius the Frost Monarch. Mobius is a great card and is arguably a staple of several archetypes in the current format. Mobius is good for clearing out problematic traps and spells like Sakuretsu Armor, Book of Moon, and Magic Cylinder—cards that throw monkey wrenches into offensive initiatives. Mobius belongs in a deck that plans on winning by attacking, and this deck is awkward at best when trying to achieve that goal. Mobius is often going to be a dead draw in this deck, and if our plan is working and we’ve got a lock in play, there’d be little reason to care about what an opponent has in his or her spell or trap zone in most cases. That’s why Mobius is getting the “cold shoulder” by being bumped from the deck. And that’s the first, last, and only pun you will ever read in this column . . . I promise.

Next, we’re going to drop all three copies of Griggle. Griggle screams, “Look at me! I’m a poor substitute for Ameba that eats the most important card in the deck to prolong the game!” We don’t want to use our Creature Swaps for any card but Ameba. Ameba is the most difficult card in the deck to find and to use multiple times, and once we draw one, we need to use it quickly, often, and properly to win the game. Unfortunately, Griggle is a distraction in the best-case scenario and a poor topdeck when we’re under fire in the worst-case scenario. Griggle is especially a liability in the late game if we lose the lock.

We’re going to replace the three copies of Nightmare Penguin with three copies of Penguin Soldier. Again, the deck should be more concerned about its key synergies than about its ATK values, and Penguin Soldier is going to open up a lot of new options.

We’re also removing both copies of A Legendary Ocean. The spell gives the deck more offensive bite when the lock is on, allowing some of this deck’s monsters to attack under Gravity Bind’s level-reduction effect. A Legendary Ocean boosts stats a bit as well, but I’m not convinced that this card is very useful in the early game before the lock is on, and I’m skeptical about how much attacking we’ll be doing in the mid- and late game.

We’re also going to remove the single copy of Dark Room of Nightmare. This card doesn’t do much until we get the Ameba combo going, and at that point it still doesn’t do a whole heck of a lot. Dark Room of Nightmare is incredibly conditional. In most cases, it has no utility in the early game, makes for a poor topdeck, and is sort of lackluster even when it works perfectly. We need to make some room, so we’re going to remove it.

Finally, for a little more housecleaning, we’re going to remove one copy of Hidden Book of Spell. It’s a nice card in this deck, but we need to keep the deck’s size down. Keeping three copies in a main deck is overkill, though it could be worth testing for yourself.

The first addition we’re going to make is three copies of Apprentice Magician. In the short run, there may be a few games where this deck doesn’t use Magician of Faith and still wins. But in general, Magician of Faith is an important part of this deck, not only because it recycles a single copy of Creature Swap, but also because it recycles spell-based components of the deck’s lockdown engine. Plus, it recycles Salvage. Magician of Faith is a great card, and if we can get a copy on the field in the early game and protect it, it’s going to be very useful as the game goes on. Apprentice Magician helps get out Magician of Faith and also gives the deck a strong opening play, because the Apprentice can replace itself on the field when it’s attacked.

Next, we’re going to add a card that also has some synergy with Magician of Faith: Book of Moon. Let’s add three copies of it to the deck. Not only will Book of Moon keep Magician of Faith’s effect going, but the spell is also a great defensive play to prevent an attack and make a high-ATK, low-DEF monster vulnerable in the early game if we haven’t gotten a lock on. In addition, it’s great to have a way to flip Penguin Soldier back into face-down defense position so its effect can be a major threat, or it can bounce a spent Ameba back to your hand.

Next, we’re adding two copies of Magical Hats to the deck. Like Book of Moon, this trap can be used in a pinch as a quick defensive play, but its most important use is with Penguin Soldier or Magician of Faith. Magical Hats can flip either of these monsters face down so you can reuse its effect. That’s pretty sweet. You can also use Magical Hats to get spells into the graveyard that you can then bring to your hand with the Magician, or you can use Penguin Soldier’s effect to bounce spells or traps to your hand (provided your opponent attacks Penguin Soldier before Magical Hats’ effect destroys the cards you selected). Magical Hats gives the deck some new options to search for its key cards.

Finally, we’re going to add a single copy of Ceasefire. In any deck, this card maintains its utility throughout the game, but it’s especially valuable in a deck that’s running a lockdown engine. Because this deck is a lockdown variant, we’re going to see a lot of monsters pile up on both sides of the field. Don’t be surprised if Ceasefire does 3000 damage or more to your opponent’s life points.

The changes we made to the deck are as follows.

-1 Mobius the Frost Monarch
-3 Griggle
-3 Nightmare Penguin
-1 Dark Room of Nightmare
-2 A Legendary Ocean
-1 Hidden Book of Spell

+3 Penguin Soldier
+3 Apprentice Magician
+3 Book of Moon
+2 Magical Hats
+1 Ceasefire

Here’s the final deck.

Aaron’s Ameba Deck: Jason’s Fix
40 cards

Monsters
3 Ameba
3 Magician of Faith
3 Apprentice Magician
3 Mother Grizzly
3 Penguin Soldier
1 Cyber Jar
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
1 Sinister Serpent

Spells
2 Creature Swap
3 Salvage
2 Reload
2 Level Limit – Area B
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
3 Book of Moon

Traps
2 Magical Hats
1 Ceasefire
2 Hidden Book of Spell
1 Gravity Bind
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Ring of Destruction

The deck runs the same way it did before, but it’s a bit more focused on getting out Ameba and winning with the monster’s effect instead of attacking. The deck is a lot more stable on defense. It does a lot better in the opening game, thanks to Apprentice Magician, and Magical Hats and Book of Moon can help the deck from the early game to the late game if it ever loses the lock and an opponent tries to press an advantage. At the same time, the deck has more options for searching out and reusing Creature Swap and Ameba, and that’s going to help the deck’s consistency.

You want to have Gravity Bind or Level Limit - Area B in play by the mid-game. If you don’t, you’ll likely fall victim to a few clean attacks and either lose immediately or be forced to spend cards just to keep up with your opponent. That said, this deck isn’t running the usual four to five copies of “locking” cards like most lockdown variants. Instead of having three copies of Gravity Bind and one or two copies of Level Limit – Area B or Messenger of Peace, we have just one copy of Gravity Bind and two copies of Level Limit. That means this deck is going to play more loosely than most lockdown variants. Because the deck has Magical Hats, Book of Moon, and several ways to reuse Penguin Soldier, it can get around this problem and surprise opponents with some neat tricks, but remember to be careful when judging the risks.

Remember to prioritize Penguin Soldier. More and more duelists are side decking Giant Trunade because of the dominance Lockdown Burn has seen in many metagames. As long as you use Penguin Soldier wisely, you’ll probably have an answer to Trunade and can play your locking card again on the next turn. This is where the deck’s synergy shows—because your lock is more dependent on spells than traps, and the deck runs three copies of Magician of Faith and three copies of Apprentice Magician to search them out, the deck can easily recover from the spell and trap destruction that would normally hurt a lockdown variant.

For the side deck, you need to tech hard against anything packing a great deal of spell and trap removal. This isn’t common in most metagames, but an opponent can easily side deck against you by rotating in Giant Trunade, Dust Tornado, or Nobleman of Extermination. Having your own side deck of Magic Jammers and Solemn Judgments will pay off in the long run. Five cards of the fifteen should be dedicated to that, while the other ten cards can be used for local tech. If Scientist Burn is big in your area, go ahead and put some removal in your side deck. Having three copies of Bottomless Trap Hole is an intelligent decision anyway, since Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning is so popular in the current environment and can hurt this deck with its removal effect.

That’s all for this one! I hope this adjustment helps Aaron and gives you some ideas, too!

-Jason Grabher-Meyer

Interested in seeing your deck featured? Send a decklist formatted like the one in this article, your name, and hometown to Jason@metagame.com, and your deck might be used for a future Apotheosis article!