As I write this, there are three days left before Shonen Jump Championship San Mateo. Light and Darkness Dragon and Foolish Burial have taken the format to an entirely new level, and the most popular decks have undergone quite a shift. Any deck that can’t deal with Light and Darkness Dragon has dropped off the map entirely, and as a result of the new metagame, Macro Cosmos-based decks are at an all-time high.

Like most start-of-format tournaments (which San Mateo might as well be given the number of new, highly competitive cards making their debut), very aggressive decks show the most promise. Players with new decks are still working out all the kinks, meaning that aggressive decks like Cosmos and Return could easily storm through a bad draw/play and steal a game. This is the strategy that Paul Levitin and Emon Ghaneian used when they won Shonen Jumps with Return from the Different Dimension-based decks. Taking advantage of slow Monarch decks is what the Return deck does best, but can it handle Light and Darkness Dragon?

The deck Nathan Balcombe used for Shonen Jump Championship Durham provides a good skeleton for a Return deck. Some of the extra choices he made could turn out to be pivotal in a lot of matchups. Here’s what he ran:

Monsters: 19

3 Bazoo the Soul-Eater

1 Snipe Hunter

1 Card Trooper

1 Magician of Faith

2 Elemental Hero Wildheart

1 Exiled Force

3 D. D. Assailant

3 Cyber Dragon

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Sangan

1 Elemental Hero Stratos

1 D. D. Warrior Lady

Spells: 13

1 Scapegoat

2 Shrink

1 Fissure

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Lightning Vortex

1 Future Fusion

1 Premature Burial

1 Brain Control

2 Reinforcement of the Army

1 Smashing Ground

Traps: 8

1 Dust Tornado

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Mirror Force

1 Torrential Tribute

2 Return from the Different Dimension

1 Call of the Haunted

At first glance, most players would consider this an anti-Zombie deck. D. D. Assailant and D.D. Warrior Lady work quite well against Zombies. Removing opposing monsters from play can hinder the graveyard-based special summon effects, which shuts down the draw engine that Zombies rely on. Furthermore, because most Zombie players only run one Il Blud and two Ryu Kokki cards, they won’t see those big guns again once you remove them from the graveyard. That decreases the value of the Zombies’ Pyramid Turtle and special summon abilities, which basically run the entire deck.

Bottomless Trap Hole helps achieve the same goal, but can do so while protecting a monster as well. The Trap Hole can stop key monsters from using their effects properly, such as Zombie Master, Il Blud, or a Raiza the Storm Monarch that targeted the trap. Bottomless Trap Hole is quite the versatile trap card, and few people  see the value it brings even against the Macro matchup. Cosmos players usually bring out Monarchs that can fall into the Trap Hole, but Bottomless can also remove D.D. Survivor permanently from play. After it uses its effect for the first time, Bottomless Trap Hole can send the Survivor back out of play, where he remains trapped, unable to use his effect for a second time that turn.

Bazoo the Soul-Eater can be a pretty big card against Zombies too. One of the things Zombies pride themselves on is the strength most of their monsters hold. Not even a Monarch can destroy Ryu Kokki in battle without also falling, and Il Blud and Zombie Master boast pretty decent stats for a recruiter format. Bazoo can flatten them all though. With a maximum ATK of 2500, it can trample almost every monster in the game. Of course it can’t beat Light and Darkness Dragon, but when combined with other cards, it can certainly help to achieve that goal.

Since Bazoo’s cost involves the graveyard, it is OK to “waste” the effect while a Light and Darkness Dragon is on the field. Doing so allows you to chain a second card (Shrink for example) which won’t be negated by the Dragon. In combination with Cyber Dragon, Enemy Controller would work well too. Controller is a good card for a deck such as this, and definitely helps take care of the Light and Darkness Dragon issue. Elemental Hero Stratos, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and Snipe Hunter also work well in conjunction with Shrink, and are good ways to start off a chain with low cost.

Against non-Light and Darkness Dragon decks, this Return deck functions as a beatdown deck with Return as a finisher. Elemental Hero Wildheart bosses his way through trap cards, impervious to Phoenix Wing Wind Blast and the most powerful defensive traps. Wildheart will almost always connect for 1500 damage the turn you summon him, and with some protection, can score direct hits turn after turn. Furthermore, when special summoned by Return from the Different Dimension, Wildheart sticks around thanks to his own effect. Since he’s an Elemental Hero, he can also help Stratos bust the backfield. This can be especially useful in the burn matchup, where Wildheart can already break through Dimension Wall and Gravity Bind, but you need to take care of Wave-Motion Cannon or Level Limit - Area B.

Future Fusion is a solid card for this deck, and when Macro Cosmos players have their remove-from-play continuous spell or trap cards up, Future Fusion will aid the Return goal that much faster. Being able to remove three copies of Cyber Dragon from play is nothing to sneeze at, and a Return win can come from nowhere, especially when facing the Macro matchup. Busting out a huge Fusion is nice too, especially when it can be special summoned in the future.

The deck functions as a matchup-specific beatdown/Return machine. Depending on what deck he’s facing, Balcombe can adjust his strategy to exploit the weaknesses in his opponent’s cards. With a few minor adjustments to the deck, it can be built to take on Light and Darkness Dragon decks as well. Since it already matches up well with a lot of commonly played decks in the metagame, don’t expect Bazoo/Return to fall off the face of the earth just yet.