What I enjoy the most about these columns is that it forces me to look at every possible deck and analyze them completely. After a first glance at the German National Championship decklists, I pretty much just dismissed the bunch as “the usual” and moved on. I did see a handful of Return from the Different Dimension-based decks, as well as some successful builds that made room for Deck Devastation Virus (or DDV, as it’s more commonly known). These were certainly nothing extraordinary, but they did warrant a closer analysis.

For this week, I received a pair of decklists in the mail from the same National Championship. They came to me as two possible subjects for my fifth installment of “The Champions.” The first list featured Duc Tran’s anti-metagame build. After a few minutes of looking it over, I dumped the idea of analyzing it. It just wasn’t up my alley, and I felt giving it a half-hearted review based on personal preferences wouldn’t do it justice.

The second deck, however, played much more closely to my tune. Christopher Lamp’s DDV/Chaos hybrid appeared to be very reliable, worked well against the expected metagame, and packed some wicked combos.

Christopher Lamp: German Nationals 2006 Top 8

43 cards

Monsters: 21
2 Chaos Sorcerer
2 Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World
2 Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive
2 Cyber Dragon
2 Magician of Faith
2 Magical Merchant
1 Sillva, Warlord of Dark World
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 D. D. Warrior Lady
1 Tsukuyomi
1 Sangan
1 Night Assailant
1 Morphing Jar
1 Mask of Darkness
1 Treeborn Frog

Spells: 13
2 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Card Destruction
1 Enemy Controller
1 Heavy Storm
1 Confiscation
1 Premature Burial
1 Graceful Charity
1 Snatch Steal
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Metamorphosis
1 Book of Moon

Traps: 9

2 Dust Tornado
2 Deck Devastation Virus
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Sakuretsu Armor
1 Mirror Force

The first thing you’ll notice is the pair of Deck Devastation Virus cards, closely followed by their support cards. Tributing a Dark monster with an ATK value 2000 or greater is no easy task, and this deck has to be able to pump out some big monsters in a hurry. You may be surprised to see only five monsters that can satisfy this condition, but the deck knows how to make the most of them. A pair of Chaos Sorcerer cards are perfect for any situation, and they work very well with Deck Devastation Virus. One of the only drawbacks is their vulnerability to an opponent who’s saved a Snatch Steal or Creature Swap for them. But DDV combats this problem perfectly, since it allows you to foil your opponent’s cards while destroying his or her deck at the same time.

The other three DDV tributes are a pair of Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World and one copy of Sillva, Warlord of Dark World. These monsters are excellent in a metagame where two or three Spirit Reaper cards are always lying in wait, to say nothing of the ever-present Morphing Jar, which just loves making nasty appearances. The Dark World monsters put these otherwise excellent cards in their place, and they can often turn the game completely around when you need them to.

However, there’s always the chance that your opponent isn’t playing with Spirit Reaper or Morphing Jar. There’s also an equal chance that he or she won’t actually draw them. As such, you need to be prepared to make use of them without relying on your opponent. Christopher has accomplished this by packing the “trinity” of cards that work so very well with Dark World: Morphing Jar, Card Destruction, and Graceful Charity.

Graceful Charity is pretty much a no-brainer for any deck, and its potential to single-handedly change the game is more prevalent in this deck than any other. Along with the three Dark World monsters, Charity also combos with Treeborn Frog and Night Assailant, allowing Christopher to throw some free cards, since being discarded doesn’t actually take any presence away.

Back to the monsters. The rest of the team pretty much supports Chaos Sorcerer. A handful of flip effects and an array of Light and Dark monsters fill out the standard monster lineup. Yet Christopher’s monsters do more than first meets the eye. The pair of Magical Merchant cards not only dump Lights and Darks (and hopefully one very bouncy Frog) from Christopher’s deck, but they also work quite nicely with Pot of Avarice. You’ll notice that Christopher doesn’t play any copies of Return from the Different Dimension, which leaves his graveyard wide open to manipulation in other forms. The Merchants also combo up with Metamorphosis to throw down a game-controlling Thousand-Eyes Restrict. Finally, they can ditch Dark World monsters brought forth through means of Call of the Haunted or Premature Burial to be sacrificed to Deck Devastation Virus.

Mask of Darkness is one of my favorite pieces of tech. Its helpful Dark attribute and sometimes-scary 900 ATK work well as a flip effect, and its effect is one of a kind. Trap cards can be fantastic, especially in this deck. Deck Devastation Virus can deplete an opponent’s hand and ruin his or her entire strategy in one go. For games where the DDV doesn’t go exactly as planned, Christopher has the option to either draw another one, or use Mask of Darkness to recycle the previous card. Since Mask of Darkness is searchable through Sangan, the chance of being able to draw it doubles. However, the other traps in this deck are just as strong. Mirror Force and Torrential Tribute are some of the most worrisome cards in the game, and being able to use them over and over again is nothing short of amazing.

The Mask also doubles up as another target for Tsukuyomi. It’s a particularly devilish target at that, since grabbing back Sakuretsu Armor or Dust Tornado repeatedly can often prevent an opponent from making certain moves. The Sakuretsu Armor option can put your opponent in an awful spot. In the late game, when resources become very tight and games often deteriorate into “summon, attack, end,” turns, combining Tsukuyomi with Mask of Darkness to get back Sakuretsu Armor means your opponent cannot hope to take down the Mask through attacks, and can do nothing but watch as you constantly flip it, retrieving trap after trap as turns go by. Magician of Faith and Nobleman of Crossout can achieve similar results against an opponent with nothing but flip effects.

The remainder of the deck is a close-knit synergy of powerful cards. Card Destruction works perfectly with the Dark World Monsters, but also with Night Assailant and Treeborn Frog, both of which are searchable by Sangan. Pot of Avarice is another explosive card here. The deck is dependent on its monsters, and you’ll probably have noticed that every single combo I’ve listed involves at least one monster. Avarice allows them to be recycled and do their thing again and again. In a slow matchup, it wouldn’t be uncommon for this deck to use Pot of Avarice with Magician of Faith and Tsukuyomi, and reuse Graceful Charity four or five times.

The deck is excellent against the expected metagame, which plays a lot of monsters below 1500 ATK, as well as a lot of discarding firepower. Its biggest problem is maintaining consistency. However, Christopher has done something most players wouldn’t think of to help in that department: he’s upped the card count! The deck plays an almost-unheard-of 43 cards. While most players would argue that this actually takes away from the ability to draw the deck’s combos, I believe that it prevents multiples of the same combo pieces from being drawn so often. Drawing pairs of Deck Devastation Virus is upsetting, and drawing a hoard of Dark World monsters with no way to use them can lead to a quick defeat as well. 43 cards is great for this deck, and I expect that the average draw is good enough to set up a big combo.

The lack of Scapegoat is a bit odd. It’s become a common card in many decklists: good against the Return from the Different Dimension match up, and excellent with Metamorphosis as well. However, the lack of it in here can be justified, since once an opponent loses a chunk of his or her hand, you’ll want to start putting pressure on him or her. You can’t really do that with four fuzzy Sheep tokens, can you?

Dark World Lightning is another card I’d like to see in this deck. With three Dark World monsters, Night Assailant, and Treeborn Frog, Dark World Lightning’s powerful effect comes without a costly discard. It would also help your Dark World monsters jump to the field that much faster, giving you another engine for Deck Devastation Virus’s sacrifice.

That being said, Christopher Lamp has still made an excellent anti-metagame deck. His excellent deck building took his Chaos/Deck Devastation build to a Top 8 finish at German Nationals, and has opened the eyes of anti-metagamers everywhere!