Well, my deck is used to try and clear the field and then go in for an attack. I use monsters like Old Vindictive Magician and Man-Eater Bug, and spells and traps like Dark Hole and Raigeki to destroy their monsters. I also use cards like Gemini Elf and Bazoo the Soul Eater to put a hurting on their life points. I also try and use cards that will prevent their monsters from attacking my life points like Mirror Force, Magic Cylinder, and Negate Attack. That's really all I can say about my deck.

 Shawn’s deck is interesting, because it has a defensive tilt to it, with a lot of tricky face down monsters with interesting effects that make the deck unpredictable. Here’s what it looks like:

 Shawn’s Defensive Beatdown

50 cards total

 Monsters
1 Jinzo
1 Vampire Lord
2 Old Vindicitive Magician
2 Man-Eater Bug
2 Bazoo the Soul Eater
2 Gamma the Magnet Warrior
1 Sinister Serpent
2 Alpha the Magnet Warrior
1 Kiseitai
1 Mystical Elf
1 Kelbek
1 Princess of Tsurugi
1 Gemini Elf
1 Fiber Jar
1 Penguin Soldier
1 Little-Winguard
1 Gearfried the Iron Knight
1 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
1 Cyber Jar
1 Different Dimension Dragon
1 Witch of the Black Forest
1 Beta the Magnet Warrior

Spells
1 Riryoku
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole
1 United We Stand
1 Raigeki
1 Change of Heart
1 Monster Reborn
1 Harpie's Feather Duster
1 Axe of Despair
1 Scapegoat
1 Graceful Charity 
1 Card Destruction

Traps
2 Magic Jammer
1 Seven Tools of the Bandit
1 Mirror Force 
1 Ceasefire
1 Negate Attack 
1 Imperial Order 
1 Magic Cylinder 
1 Sakuretsu Armor

 In my opinion, the deck is facing some serious challenges. However, they’re ones we can overcome pretty easily. I know Shawn from a Mall Tour stop and a message board we both frequent, so I know he can go for a full overhaul. Still, we’ll try to keep it as affordable as possible, since we’ll be making quite a few changes.

First off, at 50 cards, the deck is just too big to give us the reliability we want. A deck of 50 cards can work, in very specific hands, with a very specific archetype. For anything that revolves around field presence, however, like a Beatdown variant, you need to be as close as possible to some of your key cards, such as Raigeki and Imperial Order, at all times. Running at 50 cards, the deck just can’t accomplish that. So, bringing down the total card count is a priority.

Second, the idea of a highly defensive deck is nice, but against an aggressive Control deck or an aggressive Beatdown deck, a deck that is this heavily weighted towards defense just won’t stand a chance. Don’t get me wrong--some defensive cards can be great surprises and can work quite well in most circumstances. Unfortunately, Shawn has chosen a lot of cards that have a limited utility (they’re only useful in certain situations), and several of those are limited due in part to the fact that they’re meant to be used when you’re on the losing side of the battlefield.

On top of that, it’s nice to have a lot of once-off flip effect and continuous effect monsters that can all perform different functions, but, in practicality it doesn’t quite work. Cards like Princess of Tsurugi, Kelbek, and Wing-Guardian are just a bit too conditional to be useful, at least in a deck not centered around them. These cards can be great in a theme deck, but when used as splash for a Beatdown build, they aren't that helpful.

Speaking of themes that don’t quite jive, it’s not a great idea to be running the Magnet Warrior pieces. They’re underpowered when it comes to defense and attack and are really only meant for a deck that is built around Valkyrion (which is tricky, at best). With all the valid possibilities for deck building, it’s often difficult to focus on one thing and stay determined to do that well. However, if you don’t, your deck will be a mish-mash of thoughts and concepts that refuse to mesh neatly with each other.

So, let’s take the original goal of Shawn’s deck (winning through the use of unpredictable face down monsters and strong Beatdown-style field presence), and focus on that until we’ve hammered out a deck that really works.

We’re going to get rid of the Magnet Warriors, as mentioned above, since they don’t really contribute anything to the theme of the deck. Kelbek, Little-Winguard, and Kisetai are going to be dropped, just because they’re sub-par cards. They’re all interesting, and they can all sort of be useful if you’re lucky, but we’ve got to trim some fat from the deck, and these cards have to be removed because of that.

Penguin Soldier, Man-Eater Bug, Old Vindictive Magician, and Princess of Tsurugi are all solid flip effect monsters, but considering the number of people running Nobleman of Crossout, Ceasefire, and Fiend Skull Dragon (with Magical Scientist to use it when needed), flip effect monsters can be pretty difficult to use effectively in the current environment. I think the way to go is to remove all of these cards from the deck and then re-evaluate how to achieve the deck’s goal.

There are some interesting cards in Dark Crisis that can be used very effectively as face down defense position surprises. The two that come to mind for the purpose of this deck are D. D. Warrior Lady and (as Shawn has already included) Different Dimension Dragon. Different Dimension Dragon gives a reliable defense against control decks. D. D. Warrior Lady, however, is quite nasty, and when set face down, becomes a secret wall that only the owner is alert to the existence of. D. D. Warrior Lady and Different Dimension Dragon have an interesting, albeit perhaps loose, synergy: If you’re facing an opponent who you know will lead off with a large attacker, a defense position D. D. Warrior Lady can rob him or her of that main attacker very easily. If, however, your opponent is the type to first throw out smaller attackers, like Don Zaloog, Mystic Tomato, and Witch of the Black Forest, against your face down defender, then Different Dimension Dragon is the ideal card to use face down. We’re going to bump up the Different Dimension Dragon count to two, and add in two D. D. Warrior Ladies to take advantage of this. It’s nice, because we can preserve the feel of the original deck without succumbing to the potential weakness that a dependence on flip effect monsters can bring to a strategy. D. D. Warrior Lady is pretty popular right now, so it might be difficult to get in your metagame. If worst comes to worst, stick with the Man-Eater Bugs or Old Vindictive Magicians if you really can’t avoid it, but aim for D. D. Warrior Ladies.

Mystical Elf is going to be removed because we’ve got another Different Dimension Dragon as a blocker. Although Mystical Elf can block Dark Elf, and Different Dimension Dragon cannot, the Dragon is going to be more important to the deck overall since it will allow you to press an offensive, while still often ensuring that your field presence will remain solid due to its effect.

Gearfried the Iron Knight needs to be removed, because as a basic attacker, it’s no longer a particularly wise inclusion outside of an Earth deck. The reason why is that if you go against an Elma-Exodia deck, you can be unwittingly giving the opponent part of his or her Butterfly Dagger - Elma/Gearfried/Royal Magic Library combo. It’s rare, but, it happens, and I’ve done it before to a very surprised Gearfried the Iron Knight player.

I’d suggest sidedecking Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer. As an 1800 ATK monster, it just doesn’t fulfill the brute force needs of this deck. Sidedecking one or two can be an excellent move though, mainly to punish players who use Vampire Lord.

Now that the bulk of the attackers are gone from the deck, all we really have left for serious offense is a lone Gemini Elf and two copies of Bazoo the Soul Eater. We’re going to need to fix that, but we can do that pretty cheaply. Add in and Archfiend Soldier--they’re cheap, Witchable, 1900 ATK beatsticks. Next, add in two Infernalqueen Archfiends. This card is just broken. The life point cost needs to be monitored carefully, but the fact that it grows by 1000 ATK in every standby phase is just hideously overwhelming. Lastly, add in two Goblin Attack Forces and two Spear Dragons. Goblins can be a bit pricey, so if you can’t get your hands on them, feel free to drop in more Gemini Elves, another Infernalqueen Archfiend, or another Archfiend Soldier. In an ideal world, though, you’ll benefit from the added oomph that Goblin Attack Force can give.

We’ve got a good group of attackers now, plus a lot of good support. We’re keeping Sinister Serpent, Witch of the Black Forest, Fiber Jar, and Cyber Jar (which will combo nicely with Different Dimension Dragon), so we’ve got a good suite of things that make entertaining and strategically beneficial sets. To round everything out, add in three Nimble Momongas--no card gives board presence and, more importantly, terrible amounts of annoyance and grief like Nimble Momonga. Plus, it’s not a flip effect, so we only have to be really careful playing the two Jars.

That gives us twenty-two monsters, which seems like a good amount. It's a bit higher than usual, but it will work.

For the spells, we can get rid of Card Destruction, Axe of Despair, and United We Stand. Card Destruction doesn’t really fit in this deck, and equip spells often present your opponent with a chance to destroy two cards on your side of the field for the price of one when the monster they’re attached to bites the dust. However, given the board presence added by Different Dimension Dragon, I’d suggest testing United, just in case. Add in a Delinquent Duo, too. With the Momongas, you should be able to pay the 1000 life points without it making much of a difference to your overall play. Lastly, I’m going to add one more Mystical Space Typhoon. With all the diverse uses for this card, there just isn’t a reason not to run three. The fact that it’s a Starter Deck card makes it even more alluring.

The deck is a little heavy on trap cards. That’s not always a bad thing, but you do have to be wary of Jinzo. What is a problem, though, is the low utility of some of the traps that are being used here. Negate Attack is, in most ways, just a shiny (and inferior) Waboku. Yes, it will completely end the battle step, so monsters can’t potentially be flipped and revealed or have their flip effects activated at an inopportune time by an unforeseen attack. However, it also can’t be chained to things like Mystical Space Typhoon and Harpie's Feather Duster, which is a major strength of Waboku. Not only does it make Waboku easier to use (it’s very difficult to prevent it once it’s on the field and the initial turn of being set has passed), but it also allows you to use Waboku as bait to draw out your opponents’ spell and trap removal. This can be invaluable. So, we’re going to drop Negate Attack and put in a single Waboku. If you find you aren’t using it, then feel free to drop it from the deck--not everyone likes it, thought many swear by it.

Next on the chopping block in the traps category, Magic Jammer and Seven Tools of the Bandit have to be removed from the deck. The cost of Magic Jammer is high even when it works, and because it’s a somewhat conditional counter-trap, you won’t see it work as often as you’d like. Seven Tools, though it has a more manageable cost, is far more difficult to use. The average person is only using four to six trap cards in his or her deck anyways, so the odds of having one copy of Seven Tools of the Bandit show up in your hand at the correct moment is rather slim.

Lastly, we’re going to remove Sakuretsu Armor in favor of Ring of Destruction. Sakuretsu Armor has the same restrictions that Negate Attack carries--it can only be flipped when it is triggered. Considering you’re already running Magic Cylinder, it’s likely a bit of an unsafe gamble to run two traps that both require a declaration of attack as a trigger. If you can’t get a Ring of Destruction, don’t worry about it, just run neither. It just means that your 43-card deck becomes a 42-card deck, and there isn’t anything wrong with that.

So, the total changes made are:

-1 Beta the Magnet Warrior

-1 Alpha the Magnet Warrior

-2 Gamma the Magnet Warrior

-2 Old Vindicitive Magician

-2 Man-Eater Bug

-1 Kelbek

-1 Little-Winguard

-1 Penguin Soldier

-1 Kiseitai

-1 Mystical Elf

-1 Princess of Tsurugi

-1 Gearfried the Iron Knight

-1 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer

-2 Magic Jammer

-1 Seven Tools of the Bandit

-1 Negate Attack

-1 Sakuretsu Armor

-1 Axe of Despair

-1 United We Stand

-1 Card Destruction 

+2 D. D. Warrior Lady

+1 Different Dimension Dragon

+2 Goblin Attack Force (more 1900 ATKs will work as substitutions)

+2 Archfiend Soldier

+2 Infernalqueen Archfiend

+3 Nimble Momonga

+2 Spear Dragon

+1 Mystical Space Typhoon

+1 Delinquent Duo

+1 Pot of Greed

+1 Waboku

+1 Ring of Destruction

The final deck looks like this:

Defensive Beatdown--Jason’s Fix

43 cards total