A ton of big players are running Beast decks here today, but Jeff Jones is one of the few who’s managed to go undefeated thus far. What makes his build different, and what made him want to play the deck in the first place? I sat down with him briefly to find out. First, here’s the build:

“I’m playing the deck because a friend told me to,” explained Jones. “It’s got a lot of strengths, the main one being a continuous 2600 ATK monster.” Make no mistake, the big reason to play this deck is the star player. Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest is an amazing card in a format where the biggest monster has 2400 ATK virtually all the time. The ability to walk over Jinzo, Raiza the Storm Monarch, and anything else short of Dark Magician of Chaos is amazing. The fact that Baboon repeatedly returns when it’s been dealt with makes it a potent influence when it hits.

Giant Rat is the real lynchpin of the deck. As a Beast, it provides the necessary trigger for Baboon’s special summon, as well as a strong opening move and a ton of synergy. Its ability to search out Card Trooper is integral, giving the deck a secondary win condition as well as important infrastructure for its core strategy. “The other advantage to running this deck is that you’re basically able to run seven Card Troopers, so if you ever draw Machine Duplication, you win.” Where other decks would pitch an awkward Duplication to discard effects when it couldn’t be used, this deck can afford to hold onto it, knowing it can rustle up a Trooper with relative ease through Giant Rat, Sangan, or natural draws. Unlike duelists like Corey Defeo and Roberto Martinez, Jones isn’t running a single Snipe Hunter.

The searchability of Card Trooper with Giant Rat is important because it also helps compensate for Green Baboon’s status as a Limited card. Baboon’s effect can be used to bring it back from the graveyard, so dumping it there with Card Trooper is an absolute boon. Getting Green Baboon on the field without ever drawing it is one of the sweetest moves possible, and Card Trooper is prioritized in good part for that reason.

Another difference between this build and many others here today is the lack of Des Koala. Most duelists playing Beasts here today are running two to three copies of Koala in order to punish slow combo decks and deflect shots from recruiters, Cyber Phoenix, and other weaker monsters. But Jones eschewed Des Koala from his build due to the threat of Card Trooper, a decision that has served him well so far today despite the low number of Beasts he’s ended up running.

The deck has strong matchups against T-Hero and Machine Beatdown, being able to control both decks defensively until the deck is ready to take a serious offensive stance. “It’s great against Monarchs, too,” remarked Jones. “Monarchs are a bit more difficult because they can get out Raiza. The worst matchup is obviously Dimension Fissure and Macro Cosmos, and I’ve seen a few of those running around today.” Interestingly enough, despite Dimension Fissure being the deck’s greatest fear, Jones’s Team Etcetera teammate, Corey Defeo, actually won that matchup in round 1.

The deck opens strongly, ideally playing Giant Rat or Nimble Momonga set one turn 1. Card Trooper is also an acceptable play (face up or face down depending on the matchup), meaning this deck has ten good opening monsters once Sangan is included. It then moves to an early and mid-game that inveigles and confuses the opposition. Anticipating Baboon is one concern, but the deck packs more mid-game tricks that can really come out of left field. Neo-Spacian Grand Mole may not be a Beast, but he adds to the deck’s roster of hard-to-deal-with plays once the game state has become complicated. Injection Fairy Lily provides a totally different effect, but she serves a similar purpose: exploding out of nowhere during the mid-game to create chaos. The deck has more such tricks, but I don’t want to spoil them all while the event is ongoing.

Duelists just aren’t ready for this strategy, and despite the challenges it can face in this environment, a good player can work some incredible head games to pull off wins other decks would find impossible. The threat of Baboon, and the fact that an experienced player can create the image of that threat when it doesn’t actually exist, is deadly. Brain Control can be a huge concern: losing a monster that the Beast player needed to see destroyed in order to get Baboon to the field is an absolute beating, so those Brain Control / tribute combos are even more painful than they normally would be. But still, a monster that is essentially unbeatable in battle more than compensates for that risk.

A 2600 ATK renewable beatstick, an amazing opening and early game, and more Troop-Dup than you can shake a stick at: that’s what this deck is about, and I won’t be surprised if one or more versions of it make it all the way to Day 2. Jeff Jones has all the wit and bluffing skill needed to pilot this deck to its maximum potential, and he’s my bet for a rogue Top 16 appearance. Time will tell if he can keep up his streak.