This week’s deck comes to us from Kirk, in Honoka'a, Hawaii. Kirk is running a deck that was at one point a laughable idea—a deck focused on winning by use of Final Countdown. Though most tournament-worthy games don’t last the ten full turns (ten of yours, and ten of your opponent’s) required to fulfill Final Countdown’s win condition, I played an eye-opening game against an opponent in Miami a few weeks ago in which I just couldn’t draw enough spell and trap removal to get through the opponent’s defences. A Final Countdown deck can certainly work, so long as the deck is built and played with focus. Here’s what Kirk had to say:

Hello,

My name is Kirk, and I play at a couple stores here in Honoka’a. My friends and I like to put together and play offbeat decks that go beyond the normal beatdown decks that people always play, so lately I’ve been working on a Final Countdown deck for some variety. When I draw Final Countdown in the first turn or two, games tend to go pretty well, but having to wait to draw it until later in the game is just a death sentence. I’ve started to try and use a more beatdownish approach to give myself a fighting chance, but now it just seems like a slow Beatdown deck.

Thanks in advance for the help,

--Kirk, Honoka’a, Hawaii


Ack. It seems like most players who have trouble branching out into more creative decks always seem to slip back into Beatdown. Kirk’s got a good dose of that problem here, running several monsters that are more suited to a Beatdown strategy than what he’s really trying to accomplish. Here’s the decklist:

Kirk's Final Countdown

40 Cards

Monsters
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
2 Goblin Attack Force
2 D. D. Warrior Lady
3 Archfiend Soldier
1 Sinister Serpent
1 Fiber Jar
3 Penguin Soldier
3 The Forgiving Maiden
1 Witch of the Black Forest
1 Sangan

Spells
1 Pot of Greed
1 Graceful Charity 
1 Dark Hole
1 Raigeki
1 Change of Heart
1 Snatch Steal
1 Swords of Revealing Light
3 Scapegoat
3 Final Countdown

Traps
1 Mirror Force
1 Judgement of Anubis
3 Gravity Bind
1 Imperial Order
3 Waboku


This decklist is interesting, as it’s clear that Kirk still has remnants of his initial focused effort intact (the deck being devoid of recursion is partial testament to this). However, as Kirk said, it looks as if the deck had a lot of Beatdown seep into it as a desperate attempt to survive games where Final Countdown was slow to arrive.

Let’s establish the priorities of the deck first, so we can understand what it is Kirk is trying to achieve. First and foremost, as Kirk correctly noted, activating and resolving Final Countdown in the very early game is a necessity for this deck. We need to do everything we can to make sure that Final Countdown sees play as early as possible, or else this deck won’t get off the ground. Second, once Final Countdown is successfully resolved, the only real issue is survival. Hold out for nineteen turns (counting both your and your opponent’s turns, of course), and you’ll win the game.

That said, sticking to 40 cards is extremely important. With that in mind, the two goals of this fix will the same as the priorities of the deck—get Final Countdown in hand, and survive long enough to win with it.

First, we need to do some trimming. Like last week’s fix of Emmet’s Last Turn deck, we need to clear out the monsters that are more beatdown-oriented. It’s often a good idea to have a few big guns in a deck aiming for an alternate win condition, but in this case, we really don’t have room to spare, since our two key priorities are so important. Breaker the Magical Warrior, the two Goblin Attack Forces, the three Archfiend Soldiers, and the two copies of D. D. Warrior Lady are going to be removed. Keep the two copies of D. D. Warrior Lady as side deck material, but don’t treat them as main deck cards for this particular deck.

From here, we still need some more room to work, so we need to remove one Penguin Soldier, one The Forgiving Maiden, and the Sinister Serpent. I’m a huge fan of the Serpent, and I generally consider it to be a staple (which is a rather arguable stance in some eyes), but in this deck, we need to sacrifice it to stay focused and dedicate the entire deck to the two main goals. Though Penguin Soldier and The Forgiving Maiden are fabulous survival-oriented cards, running two of each should be enough. We need the room, and a Nobleman of Crossout on Penguin Soldier won’t hurt quite as much with only two copies in the deck.

Two more survival-oriented cards that we’re going to need to remove from the deck are Swords of Revealing Light and one of the Scapegoats. Test the deck with and without Swords of Revealing Light—your metagame may demand that it be included in the deck. However, to begin with, keep it out, and treat it as a potential side deck card. I’m going to leave in two Scapegoats, because monsters whose damage can carry through Defense position monsters aren’t nearly as common as they were in the general environment a few months ago. Again, if you find that monsters with damage carry-through effects are common in your area, Kirk, run a Swords of Revealing Light over one of the two remaining Scapegoats. Not to worry, though—the deck will have some extra monster removal beyond what is normally seen, and it should do fine.

Change of Heart and Snatch Steal, though generally seen as staple cards for most decks, are going to have a surprisingly low utility in a Final Countdown deck. Both of these cards are going to be cut from the original deck list in favor of some specialized monster removal to take care of major threats.

From here, we first need to worry about getting that all-important early-game Final Countdown. Get three copies of Owl of Luck into the deck; with one of these in your opening hand, you’re guaranteed a third turn Final Countdown so long as your opponent doesn’t use a piece of monster removal on the first turn. Also, three Reloads will allow you to keep getting new hands until one has a Final Countdown in it. Of course, in midgame and late-game situations, this becomes a good bluff, as well a good way to get to any other card in the deck.

That’s about all we can do on the Final Countdown front. From here, we need to concern ourselves with general survival. Adding three copies of Nimble Momonga is certainly a good starting place, giving you both a defensive wall and a good amount of life points. Momonga is also going to thin your deck, so in the early game it's going to help with draw manipulation, whether your need it to get a Final Countdown or to get a Gravity Bind.

Speaking of Gravity Bind, I’d suggest running two Cat of Ill Omen to get at the Binds faster. In a pinch, a Cat of Ill Omen can also get you an extra piece of protection for that Gravity Bind, either in the form of Imperial Order or in the form of one of the two Spell Shield Type 8s that we’ll also be putting into the deck.

Spell Shield Type 8 is a great card for this deck. With it, you’re going to be able to protect your important monsters from the removal cards that can really brutalize this deck—primarily Raigeki and Nobleman of Crossout, but also Dark Hole, Tribute to the Doomed, and Offerings to the Doomed. Just remember that the card has been given errata, so now you must discard a spell card from your hand when using its effect of general negation. Use it sparingly—don’t go and negate everything on reflex. Think carefully about what your most important survival-oriented cards are, and protect those. Don’t let the opponent trick you into wasting your limited amount of protection on the cards that matter the least to your overall strategy.

Like any lockdown deck using Gravity Bind, the deck is going to be very susceptible to Jinzo. Offerings to the Doomed can actually be a good choice, since it can eliminate Jinzo the moment it hits the field, as opposed to trying to use a spell speed 1 spell card to get the job done, leaving Jinzo's controller with one turn in which he or she can attack. However, with a good number of Effect monsters providing defensive options in this deck, it’s worth the risk to forego Offerings to the Doomed in favor of a more permanent solution. One Dark Core will take that troublesome Jinzo out of the game for good, and since Jinzo itself will be negating all the popular counters to spell cards, it’s a safe bet that the Dark Core is all that will be needed. Though Dark Core is in the deck solely to provide Jinzo tech, it will, of course, also prove useful against any number of other threats. I’m going to add two to the deck for that reason and to try to provide a reliable chance of drawing one.

I will comment on one card, and that’s Judgement of Anubis. One of the few triple-conditional cards in the game, I generally see it as a terrible card that isn’t worth playing. However, using a lockdown engine with Gravity Bind, you can be guaranteed that your opponent will try to destroy something in your trap/spell zone at some point. Also, being a Final Countdown deck, your opponent is always going to be biting at the bit to attack, so he or she will generally have at least one face-up monster to destroy. That said, if Judgement of Anubis ends up being a dead card as it usually is, don’t hesitate to pull it out of the deck.

So the changes made have been the following:

-1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
-2 Goblin Attack Force
-2 D. D. Warrior Lady
-3 Archfiend Soldier
-1 Penguin Soldier
-1 The Forgiving Maiden
-1 Sinister Serpent
-1 Change of Heart
-1 Snatch Steal
-1 Swords of Revealing Light
-1 Scapegoat

+3 Reload
+2 Dark Core
+2 Spell Shield Type 8
+2 Cat of Ill Omen
+3 Owl of Luck
+3 Nimble Momonga


The final deck looks like this:

Final Countdown—Jason’s Fix
40 Cards

Monsters
1 Fiber Jar
2 Cat of Ill Omen
3 Owl of Luck
2 Penguin Soldier
2 The Forgiving Maiden
3 Nimble Momonga
1 Witch of the Black Forest
1 Sangan

Spells
1 Pot of Greed
1 Graceful Charity 
1 Dark Hole
1 Raigeki
2 Scapegoat
2 Dark Core
3 Reload
3 Final Countdown

Traps
1 Mirror Force
1 Judgement of Anubis
3 Gravity Bind
1 Imperial Order
2 Spell Shield Type 8
3 Waboku


Some cards to consider, either as side deck candidates or to contemplate testing in the main deck, are as follows:

Gather Your Mind
Neko Mane King
Des Lacooda
Jar of Greed
Messenger of Peace

These cards likely won’t be necessary, but they’re decent options that could warrant exploration. Also consider side-decking Ring of Destruction. Run it purely to tech Magical Scientist, and remember that you can use Cat of Ill Omen to retrieve it as necessary. Magical Scientist can hurt this deck very badly, since Dark Balter the Terrible and Ryu Senshi shut this deck down.

As mentioned above, playing the deck is relatively simple. At first, do everything you can to get a Final Countdown and activate it with a successful resolution. Then, survive. The Forgiving Maiden, Penguin Soldier, and Nimble Momonga are all great for this, but the number one card in the deck to frustrate the opponent terribly is Fiber Jar. When possible, try to gain some life points from Momongas before pressing the broccoli-rocket reset button, but always remember that it is the single most valuable monster in the deck. Don’t hesitate to use Imperial Order or a Spell Shield Type 8 to protect Fiber Jar. Also beware of what a Fiber Jar across the table can mean for you. If you suspect your opponent has set one, do what you can to get rid of it. You don’t want to give your opponent a free swing with a direct attack to your life points.

Thanks for sending it in, Kirk!

--Jason