Since my Round 7 feature match unfortunately turned into a match loss after 35 minutes of deliberation, I found myself in need of another story. It had to be interesting, original, and it had to be, ye know, right there, because I only really had six minutes to put into it before the next round started. So, I decided to profile the weirdest deck that still had a shot at Day 2. I wanted something bizarre, something utterly strange, and something that by all logic probably shouldn’t have an X-2 record.

Devin Djuricin was happy to oblige.

Devin has approached me at least half a dozen times at other events, usually with decks of dubious plausibility. His creativity is always beyond question, but the competitive nature of his strategies is sometimes a bit tough to believe. He’s attended a ton of Shonen Jumps and made his share of respectable finishes, but he’s never really been in the spotlight before. Today we’ll fix that, because he’s running Final Countdown. Here’s what the build looks like . . .

Monsters: 5

3 Lava Golem

1 Spirit Reaper

1 Morphing Jar

Spells: 19

3 Final Countdown

3 Magical Mallet

3 Nightmare’s Steelcage

3 Messenger of Peace

3 Upstart Goblin

1 Scapegoat

1 Swords of Revealing Light

1 Giant Trunade

1 Level Limit – Area B

Traps: 16

3 Solemn Judgment

3 Jar of Greed

3 Waboku

3 Threatening Roar

3 Thunder of Ruler

1 Gravity Bind

Devin’s build is a mix of defensive effects, deck thinning, and a few monsters to create problems for the opponent. In fact, that’s basically all his deck has; it’s incredibly focused, which goes a long way toward explaining why it’s doing so well. Let’s take a look at each suite his deck is incorporating.

First up, the monsters. Morphing Jar provides more deck thinning and draw power, helping Devin accomplish two primary goals: first, getting to Final Countdown. If it can’t do that early on, the deck can’t win, so Morphing Jar is excellent. In addition, this deck packs a ton of chainable stall cards, all of which are expended on a turn by turn basis. Morphing Jar lets him reload as necessary when he’s out of those cards.

Spirit Reaper is pure stall, another layer of defense that can protect the deck when it would otherwise fall to Heavy Storm or Giant Trunade. It’s interesting to note that Spirit Reaper’s popularity has dipped significantly in this format when compared to previous ones, making it a surprising thing to run into for many duelists. When a duelist prepares to ram Morphing Jar and flips this instead, it throws his or her entire game plan off.

The last monsters in the deck (Devin only runs five total) are three copies of Lava Golem. The Golems are there primarily to reduce the opponent’s monster presence, eliminating attackers and shutting down Jinzo and Elemental Hero Wildheart. But, Devin has managed to win at least one game here today on burn damage alone, quite the feat considering the only sources of burn he has are the Golems. Almost half the deck can shut Lava Golem down when it’s under the opponent’s control (a whopping nineteen cards can prevent it from attacking directly), so it’s really a safe bet here. It’s a smart solution to a handful of monsters that would otherwise be ruinous to a deck running sixteen traps.

Jar of Greed, Upstart Goblin, and Magical Mallet are all maxed out, making it exceedingly easy for Devin to accelerate toward Final Countdown. The use of Goblins and Jars effectively makes this deck 34 cards given a bit of time, and that’s a big advantage when you’re looking for one of three cards that you must find in order to win. In addition, Jar of Greed is chainable, something that can be said for about a third of the deck. When you first go up against this deck, most players will reflexively prioritize spell and trap removal. However, the use of so many chainable cards makes that a poor idea. While that trick may not work all day long against a single opponent, Devin only needs to win two games at a time in a tournament like this.

As for defense, the deck is maxed out on lockdown cards (Nightmare’s Steelcage, Messenger of Peace, Level Limit – Area B, and Gravity Bind), as well as one-shot stall cards. Threatening Roar, Waboku, Swords of Revealing Light, Scapegoat . . . Devin is even running three copies of Thunder of Ruler. Again, focus is key, and when his opponent breaks through his continuous defenses Devin has enough one-shots to stabilize and ensure that he makes it to his next turn.

Three Solemn Judgment complete the deck, giving a preliminary layer of defense and another set of outs to Jinzo. They provide even more impetus for a speedy deployment of Final Countdown, since the activation of two Solemn Judgments will prevent Devin from being able to activate his win condition (its life point cost is hefty). However, once Final Countdown is activated the life point cost of Solemn Judgment hardly matters: he’s already paid a huge chunk of life points for Countdown, so he might as well keep on paying for useful effects.

Questionable in its efficiency for generating raw wins? Perhaps. But Devin Djuricin’s deck has carried him to a respectable standing thus far, and all he needs to do to have a shot at tomorrow’s playoff is clear two more rounds. Can he do it? Probably not. But he sure raised some eyebrows here today, and his build is worth preserving for posterity even if he doesn’t make the Top 16. This is the kind of ingenuity that duelists are employing to try and beat the big decks in this format, and, surprisingly, it actually tends to work.