“When you removed the book from the cradle, did you speak the words?”

“Yeah . . . basically.”

“Did you speak the exact words!?”

“Well . . . maybe not every single syllable, no.”*


Type-Limitation: Using a deck that consists of only one type of monster. Normally, decks played in Yu-Gi-Oh! consist of monsters representing a multitude of types, but the Type-Limited deck is different.

When you are limited to one specific type of monster, the usual strategies and tactics no longer apply. You are now bound to that monster type’s own specific strengths and weaknesses, and your understanding of them will affect your play and your deck.

We will begin our journey with a deck that is much to my liking: the Zombie deck.


The Dead Do Not Fear

Zombies have a funny little habit of never quite going away. Just when you think you’ve got the last one licked, another one appears to take its place. They have a duel nature that allows them to work on multiple fronts. Cards like Spirit Reaper and Decayed Commander can support hand disruption, while cards like Regenerating Mummy and Despair from the Dark work against it. You can focus on a low-level theme with Pharaonic Protector, Pharaoh’s Servant, and Spirit of the Pharaoh, or go for a high-level theme with Ryu Kokki and Vampire Lord.

The direction you take your Zombie deck in should be based around your style of play. Zombie Decks exist in a variety of forms, including Hand Control, Reasoning/Monster Gate, straight Beatdown, and even Chaos. For this week’s article, I will detail a Zombie deck that focuses on the higher-level Zombies, using cards like Call of the Mummy and Pyramid Turtle to avoid the usual methods of summoning high-level monsters.


This week’s deck is a mixture of several Zombie deck themes and will function well as a starting point toward your own Zombie deck. It focuses on several stand-alone tactics and various combinations, usually involving two cards.


Deck: Watch My Dance

Monsters
2 Despair from the Dark
1 Ryu Kokki
1 Vampire Lord
1 Patrician of Darkness
3 Regenerating Mummy
2 Double Coston
3 Pyramid Turtle
2 Spirit Reaper

Spells
2 Wasteland
2 Call of the Mummy
3 Book of Life
1 Monster Reborn
1 Pot of Greed
1 Graceful Charity
1 Mirage of Nightmare
2 Creature Swap
1 Heavy Storm
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Dark Hole
1 Snatch Steal

Traps
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Mirror Force
1 Ordeal of a Traveler
2 Torrential Tribute
1 Judgment of Anubis
1 Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell


Sometimes They Come Back . . . Again!

This Zombie deck revolves around special summons. Special summons from your hand, deck, or graveyard will become commonplace in your duels and are achieved through a variety of card effects:

Call of the Mummy will special summon any Zombie from your hand, as long as you have no monsters in play. Just wait until you see the look on your opponent’s face when you special summon Despair from the Dark without offering any tributes.

Pyramid Turtle will special summon every monster in this deck, with only Despair from the Dark excluded. One fun strategy is to use Pyramid Turtle to attack a stronger monster and then use its effect to special summon a strong Zombie like Ryu Kokki to finish the job. You can also use this tactic with Creature Swap for even more fun.

Book of Life combines two very helpful effects: it special summons a Zombie from your graveyard and removes an opponent’s monster in his or her graveyard from play. Using this combination, you can selectively ruin your opponent’s graveyard and strategies involving it while also special summoning a Zombie to do your bidding. I suggest using this against Chaos decks to remove their precious Light and Dark monsters from play, or against any monster you never want to see return to play.


Treachery of the Undead

Zombies need to rely on tactics to overcome the typically higher offensive power of their adversaries. On average, the level 4 Zombies don’t stand up in a fight with the usual crowd of level 4’s prevalent in many decks. Wasteland was added to help remedy this. True, it is a field spell card, and generally these aren’t helpful, but Wasteland is one of the few field cards that don’t have a high likelihood of helping your opponent and can give the Zombies that little extra push they need to overcome.

The deck’s defense operates on multiple fronts:

Torrential Tribute works well in a Zombie deck because of the easy methods of special summoning monsters, and thus recovering quickly. Call of the Mummy and Book of Life will get you back in play quickly.

Ordeal of a Traveler is a card many duelists may not be familiar with. It was released in Pharaonic Guardian with little to no attention paid and never really received its moment in the spotlight. Its only real flaw is the slow revealing of your hand card-by-card. Obviously you don’t want to rely on this tactic for too long, but while it is working, it works very well. You want your opponent to begin considering if his or her attacks are even worth the risk, especially when the target may turn out to be a Spirit Reaper.

Speaking of Spirit Reaper, his best buddy Patrician of Darkness is also present in the deck. This is an old combo many are no doubt familiar with, but for those not yet initiated, the idea is to use Patrician of Darkness’s effect to control your opponent’s battle phase, deciding which of your monsters his or her monster will attack. A monster you can’t handle gets to attack Spirit Reaper, and those weaker get to deal with Patrician of Darkness.

Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell and Judgment of Anubis are included to counter the usual sources of trouble, spell cards.


The Weaknesses

Tribe-Infecting Virus: Odds are, if this card shows up, it will wreck some havoc. While the Zombies, like all Type-Limited decks, are vulnerable to this card’s effect, they do have quick ways of coming back from behind. Don’t fret over this one too much, but keep in mind your opponent is bound to go hunting for it at the first opportunity.

Gravity Bind + Level Limit - Area B: While not a commonly played combination in tournament play, if these two show up, the Zombies are going to be sitting around for a while. If you find yourself playing against this type of deck, try to save your removal options for when you really need them.

The End of Anubis: Nothing hurts Zombies more then taking away their graveyard. Many of the Zombie’s effects get around Necrovalley, but The End of Anubis is a far greater deterrent.


Send all comments to curtis@metagame.com.
(Now who can decipher the origin of the deck’s name?)


* Exchange between Wiseman and Ash, from the movie Army of Darkness