Sometimes even the most innocuous, downright shabby-looking cards can prove to be deceptively useful. Nowhere is this more evident than in last format’s “Ojamachine Gun” deck, which used Ojamagic to search out three Ojamas for use with Snipe Hunter. When the deck operated as planned, it would first discard Ojamagic for one roll with Snipe. Then it could destroy up to three more cards, one for each Ojama it could discard. It was simple and effective, but it never reached mainstream status due to the arrival of the Gadgets. All the extra card presence created by the Gadgets served to mitigate the deck’s power.

Today however, an Argentinean duelist has diversified the deck’s use of Ojamas to create a new, more resilient strategy. Here is what he had to say about it.

Hi, I’m Sebastian from Argentina, and I want you to help me with this new idea I’ve been working on since last month. I’ve been trying to get some help, but so far I haven’t been able to make things work consistently.

I’m trying to use Ojamagic to search my deck for lots of Ojamas. Then, I can discard them as needed to keep Manticore of Darkness on the field, or discard them for Snipe Hunter and Raigeki Break. Things go okay, but sometimes I just don’t get going fast enough, or I draw Ojamas and lose. Hopefully you can help me out.

—Sebastian T.

Mendoza, Argentina

What a saddening lack of adjectives referring to yours truly. Oh well—maybe next time. Like “Ojamachine Gun” before it, a simple premise is key to this deck’s success. However, as you’ll see, Sebastian’s small conceptual change (the addition of Manticore) alters how the entire monster lineup can be constructed. Observe his original decklist . . .

OjaManticore—42 Cards

Monsters: 21

2 Manticore of Darkness

1 Mobius the Frost Monarch

2 King Tiger Wanghu

1 Berserk Gorilla

2 Snipe Hunter

2 Mystic Tomato

1 Sangan

2 Magical Merchant

1 Mask of Darkness

1 Spirit Reaper

2 Ojama Green

2 Ojama Yellow

2 Ojama Black

Spells: 9

2 Ojamagic

1 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Pot of Avarice

1 Book of Moon

1 Premature Burial

1 Magical Mallet

Traps: 12

3 Sakuretsu Armor

3 Raigeki Break

1 Karma Cut

1 Torrential Tribute

2 Good Goblin Housekeeping

2 Reckless Greed

Sebastian’s main complaint is a lack of consistency and speed. Since this deck searches for so many cards and thins itself aggressively, it’s fine to have more than the 40-card minimum. However, it seems that there’s a lot of space devoted to accelerating the deck’s performance, and while that’s a good idea, it just isn’t panning out the way Sebastian had planned. I’ll be working to fix that, and I’m also going to tweak some of the alternative discards this deck employs.

Magical Merchant was Sebastian’s first mistake. While the Merchant can combo with Manticore of Darkness by sending it to the graveyard, he would have to rely on random chance in order to do so, and that isn’t worth the cost of playing Merchant here. When you search out Ojamas with Ojamagic, you have to take one of each: if you cannot, then you can’t take any. The fact that Magical Merchant could grind Ojamas into the graveyard and shut down your entire plan means that it has to be removed.

Magical Mallet, Good Goblin Housekeeping, and Reckless Greed are all here because Sebastian wants to get to Manticore and Ojamagic as quickly as possible. In addition, Housekeeping and Mallet could serve to trade Ojamas for real cards, giving you more options while also ensuring that you don’t get stuck with Ojamas in hand and thus lose out on Ojamagic. However, Card Trader would be a far easier option to employ, and even that seems unnecessary. I’ll cut all three of these in favor of some redundancy and stall power instead. It’s just far simpler to do so.

I think there are effects costed by discards that are far more impressive than the ones being used here, and this is me we’re talking about, so I’m clearly right. Snipe Hunter is certainly a winner, but Raigeki Break and Karma Cut are questionable when compared to other effects we could be using. I’ll drop the single Karma Cut as well as all three Raigeki Break cards, with the intent of replacing them with something else.

Finally, Mask of Darkness and Sakuretsu Armor will be dropped to create a bit more space. On to the improvements!

Snipe Hunter and Ojamagic are both paramount to success in this strategy, so Sebastian should really be running three of each. Currently he’s only running two, so adding one more Snipe and one more Ojamagic seems like a no-brainer. This alone will serve to make the deck far more reliable than the spell and trap cards Sebastian was previously relying on.

We’re discarding approximately one metric ton of cards and don’t have anything that could be stuck in the spell and trap zone, so where’s the Treeborn Frog? This deck will still have three tribute monsters by the time I’m finished with it, so the Frog is another must-play. On the aggressive side, it helps us bring out big attackers, and on the defensive side it’s a turn-by-turn chump blocker that soaks up damage. There’s no reason to avoid using it.

On the discard side, I’m going to add one Lightning Vortex card, two Phoenix Wing Wind Blast cards, and one Card Destruction card. Lightning Vortex is a great follow-up to a few turns of stall, and Wind Blast maintains the utility of Raigeki Break while being all-around better against Treeborn Frog, Sangan, and Gadgets. In the hands of a skilled player, it is far more deadly than Raigeki Break could ever hope to be. Card Destruction is perhaps the most intriguing (and important) of the three. It’s the perfect way to discard Ojamagic, turns Ojamas into real cards, and helps dig toward your combos. How Reckless Greed made Sebastian’s cut before Card Destruction is a mystery to me. It sends an in-hand Manticore to the graveyard so that you can special summon it at the end of the turn, and even feeds Pot of Avarice (a very important card when you’re worried about managing your in-deck Ojamas). In it goes.

Scapegoat is the perfect defensive addition to this deck. Its spell speed 2 status makes it a dynamic answer to any threat you may face, and it’s a more useful way to ensure that you see extra cards than Good Goblin Housekeeping. Just be careful of your own King Tiger Wanghu, and remember that you can’t use a Sheep Token to bring back Manticore, since Token monsters can never go to the graveyard.

My last additions to the deck are also intended to neutralize threats against it. Confiscation will almost always be useful, but it’s especially good against a Bottomless Trap Hole that might threaten your Manticore later in the game. Ring of Destruction and Mirror Force are each potent defensive tools that present more options when you’re faced with 2400 ATK beatsticks, and that’s exceptionally valuable when you consider that a reinforced Manticore can handle just about anything else all on its own.

Here are the changes I have made to Sebastian’s original version . . .

-2 Magical Merchant

-1 Mask of Darkness

-1 Magical Mallet

-1 Karma Cut        

-2 Good Goblin Housekeeping

-2 Reckless Greed

-3 Raigeki Break

-1 Sakuretsu Armor

+1 Snipe Hunter

+1 Treeborn Frog

+1 Ojamagic

+1 Card Destruction

+1 Confiscation

+1 Lightning Vortex

+1 Scapegoat

+2 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast

+1 Ring of Destruction

+1 Mirror Force

Here is the final version of the aptly-titled “OjaManticore!” Don’t you simply adore that name!?

OjaManticore—40 Cards

Monsters: 20

2 Manticore of Darkness

1 Mobius the Frost Monarch

2 King Tiger Wanghu

1 Berserk Gorilla

3 Snipe Hunter

2 Mystic Tomato

1 Sangan

1 Spirit Reaper

1 Treeborn Frog

2 Ojama Green

2 Ojama Yellow

2 Ojama Black

Spells: 13

3 Ojamagic

1 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Pot of Avarice

1 Book of Moon

1 Premature Burial

1 Card Destruction

1 Confiscation

1 Lightning Vortex

1 Scapegoat

Traps: 7

2 Sakuretsu Armor

2 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Ring of Destruction

1 Mirror Force

The deck will now open in a slightly stronger fashion, thanks to the addition of Treeborn Frog. However, it is still relatively weak until it can pitch an Ojamagic to the graveyard. Then the entire duel changes.

The earlier you can start the discard tricks, the better. Once you get an Ojamagic under your belt, you’ll be ready to support Manticore of Darkness, and getting one to the field becomes your next goal. You can certainly maintain a Manticore before your hand is loaded with Ojamas—the inclusion of Berserk Gorilla and King Tiger Wanghu allow for that, plus there’s always the chance that you might get to both Manticores and be able to cycle between them. However, if you have a choice of action, always go for the Ojamas first. They’re useful for many different things, and they make Manticore of Darkness a lot more dangerous.

The Beast monsters are more than just Manticore-supporting beatsticks, too. While Berserk Gorilla is just splashed for some variety, King Tiger Wanghu’s power cannot be overstated. Where this deck’s weakest matchup was once Gadgets, it now has two potent weapons against them—the first being Wanghu’s effect. The second of course, is the strength of Manticore against card-for-card monster removal. Wanghu is valuable against Gravekeeper’s Spy, Destiny Hero - Malicious, Card Trooper, Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands, Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude, and a plethora of other popular monsters, so understanding his versatility and his variety of uses within certain matchups is key to winning.

Bottomless Trap Hole, D. D. Warrior Lady, and D. D. Assailant are huge threats to Manticore of Darkness, since each can remove it from play. Once again, it makes sense to go the Ojamagic route before summoning Manticore, because Snipe Hunter can eliminate all three of these threats with a lucky die roll. Even if your roll misses, many opponents will respond to your summoning of Snipe Hunter by flipping an available Bottomless anyway, so you can draw out cards that you’d rather not see by sacrificing less important ones. Be conscious of sequences of events like these when playing this deck.

For all that this updated version of “Ojamachine Gun” gains, it gives up very little compared to the original. If you enjoyed playing last format’s version (or if you perhaps wanted to do so, but slacked off instead . . . slacker!), I would highly advise giving this one a whirl. You’ll be stunned by the aggression it is capable of, and your opponent will hate losing to a deck that wins by hurling Ojamas everywhere.

Humiliation for your enemies! Who could resist such a thing? Now, GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!

—The Wise and All-Seeing Dr. Crellian Vowler, PhD

Are you a dismal slacker? Do you feel the need to seek help from someone clearly superior to you in every way? Don’t worry—just send me your Advanced format decklist, a few paragraphs describing what the deck does, and your name and location to: VowlerIsSoAwesome@gmail.com. I may take pity on you and feature your deck in my next lecture!