Desert Twister is really a phenomenal card, and I’m a bit surprised at just how little attention it’s been getting. It’s really fallen into the shadows of Tactical Evolution’s secret rares (as well as cards like Crystal Seer and Zombie Master), and I think that’s a shame. It’s taken a bit of a bad rap when compared to Frost and Flame Dragon (under the logic of “spells and traps can be chained, monsters can’t”), but I’m really not sure that’s warranted. While Enemy Controller may see more play in this format than the last, there are a lot of shifts that make Desert Twister better than it would have been just scant weeks ago. For instance, your opponent’s Call of the Haunted isn’t going to be chained to target Card Trooper nearly so often, since it’s now Limited. Ring of Destruction certainly won’t be flipping in response, and there’s a far lower chance of losing Twister (or monsters that would eventually be needed in your graveyard to summon it) to Trap Dustshoot.
While Frost and Flame Dragon’s effect is still more reliable than Twister’s, one also has to take into account the graveyard fodder these monsters pair off with. While I’m not one to make generalizations about entire attribute groups, the Earth attribute may be second only to Dark when it comes to highly-played monsters. I think Wind and Earth just give you more deckbuilding options than Fire and Water do.
Several readers picked up on this and sent me their Desert Twister decklists, but I selected today’s contributor because I feel he created a powerful synergy that went above and beyond. Here’s what he had to say:
Hi Jason,
With the new Forbidden list now in place, I want to try a new Earth/Wind Return deck. The strategy uses Magical Merchant, Snipe Hunter, and Card Trooper to get Earth and Wind cards into the graveyard, and uses Granmarg and Raiza to keep control. Two copies of Bazoo have been added in case you do not draw Desert Twister or he is discarded by Merchant or Trooper and you need an additional way to remove monsters from your graveyard.
Thanks,
Ryan H.
—Michigan
Here’s Ryan’s deck list . . .
Desert Twister Return—40 cards
Monsters: 26
2 Desert Twister
3 Raiza the Storm Monarch
3 Granmarg the Rock Monarch
3 Sasuke Samurai #4
3 Winged Rhynos
3 Cyber Dragon
3 Magical Merchant
1 Card Trooper
1 Snipe Hunter
2 Bazoo the Soul-Eater
1 Magician of Faith
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
Spells: 8
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Premature Burial
1 Smashing Ground
1 Brain Control
1 Soul Exchange
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
Traps: 6
3 Return from the Different Dimension
1 Mirror Force
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Torrential Tribute
The use of Winged Rhynos is cool, but what really made this deck work for me was the focus on monster control. With Desert Twister clearing the opponent’s spell and trap zone alongside Breaker the Magical Warrior, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Heavy Storm, you have quite a lot of control over the opponent’s back row. But the use of Raiza the Storm Monarch, Snipe Hunter, Granmarg, and Sasuke (as well as the spell-based control cards) really makes this deck brutal on the opponent’s field presence.
I’d like to develop that a bit more, and in order to do so, I’ll actually have to remove one of the deck’s heavy hitters: Granmarg the Rock Monarch. With the speed this deck is capable of achieving, I don’t feel that Granmarg is the right fit, being relatively unwieldy and conditional at all the wrong times. The crush of Monarchs in this deck can create awkward draws, and while plenty of duelists run six Monarchs, I think there are better options here that will enhance Ryan’s core strategy. All three copies of Granmarg will be removed.
With only three Monarchs remaining, I see little need for Soul Exchange. We want to be forcing simplification early on, and that means keeping battle options open. I’m also all about keeping this deck’s utility as high as possible, so if I’m going to be using a potentially dead draw I want it to be a real game-winner.
Finally, Magician of Faith will be dropped as well. Useless in the early game, Magician is a tempo-slowing card in a deck that’s already running several slow monsters. Is it an amazing card? Sure. But I’d like to have the majority of my games over and done with before its effect can become a factor in most cases. I’ll drop it for something faster.
My first addition is meant to replace Granmarg: a pair of Exiled Force cards. I needed to replace the Rock Monarch with an Earth attribute monster (as well as something that could eliminate monsters from the field), and Exiled Force is definitely at the top of both those lists. It can allow us to summon Desert Twister at unexpected times, it has a very high utility, and it’s an awesome card to bring back with Return from the Different Dimension since it can clear out stuff like Spirit Reaper which would normally stop your direct attacks. With the Apprentice engine so popular, this card is a winner, and two here will be a perfect addition.
Next, Sangan will provide some search power to help this deck’s precision. Getting to Magical Merchant and Card Trooper is integral, and being able to bring out Snipe Hunter, Sasuke Samurai #4, or Exiled Force at will is excellent. Sangan is the perfect card to draw into when you just need one more Earth or Wind monster to go off, and it’s also a great card to open with if you go first.
Remember how I removed Soul Exchange because it didn’t have the high-impact potential I wanted in a conditional card? Dimension Fusion has the punch Soul Exchange was missing, so I’ll add a copy here to give us a fourth win condition-level effect. Plays like summoning and tributing Exiled Force, bringing out Desert Twister, blowing away a trap, and then assembling a horde of monsters from the removed pile for game is what I want to be doing, and Dimension Fusion gives me the proactive speed to make it possible. This format seems to be slower than the last, so keeping 2000 life points shouldn’t be all that difficult.
Finally, one more copy of Nobleman of Crossout will serve to counter all those obnoxious face-down monsters that are gaining popularity. If you can play Nobleman to remove a blocker, awesome. If the opponent keeps attacking you and doesn’t set monsters instead, hey, that’s good news too: it means that the tempo of the game is probably pretty fast. Return and Dimension Fusion work better in simplified game states, and if your opponent is going to go ahead and create those for you, by all means, play into that trend.
Those are all the changes I’m going to make—a pretty short list this week! Here are my tweaks:
-3 Granmarg the Rock Monarch
-1 Magician of Faith
-1 Soul Exchange
+1 Sangan
+2 Exiled Force
+1 Nobleman of Crossout
+1 Dimension Fusion
The final decklist looks like this:
Desert Twister Return—Jason’s Fix—40 cards
Monsters: 25
2 Desert Twister
3 Raiza the Storm Monarch
3 Cyber Dragon
3 Magical Merchant
1 Snipe Hunter
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Sangan
3 Sasuke Samurai #4
3 Winged Rhynos
2 Exiled Force
1 Card Trooper
2 Bazoo the Soul-Eater
Spells: 9
2 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Premature Burial
1 Smashing Ground
1 Brain Control
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Dimension Fusion
Traps: 6
3 Return from the Different Dimension
1 Mirror Force
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Torrential Tribute
You want to win as quickly as possible. Remove your biggest monsters from your graveyard when given the chance, and play to eliminate cards from the field: card-for-card trades are your friend, because each Sakuretsu Armor or Widespread Ruin your opponent uses is one less card to stop your game-finishing swarm. Aggression is key in all matters, save that of Magical Merchant, which should frequently take precedence over attacking. Getting to your special summoning win conditions is of the utmost importance, because bullets aren’t worth anything without a trigger to pull. You need Return from the Different Dimension or Dimension Fusion for your strategy to pay off.
With that said, Magical Merchant is usually your best opening. Don’t bother playing to draw out threats like Nobleman of Crossout or Exiled Force: if the opponent has those cards in his or her opening hand, pin a rose on them and move on. Many will choose to make a cautious attack with Cyber Dragon anyway. Sangan and Card Trooper are also good openers. If Nobleman does become a big problem, remember that you can always side in Big Shield Gardna: it’s surprisingly good tech here since it fits the deck’s attribute needs, and any opponent who runs into it is at least going to be left scratching his or her head.
In the early and mid-game, you want to force a fast tempo. Draw out anything that can stop your attacks, and make card exchanges wherever necessary. The pace of play will soften the opponent’s defenses for when you activate Return or Dimension Fusion, and it’ll also stave off long-term threats like Monarchs. You have a whopping thirteen answers to Jinzo, so don’t worry too much about him: focus on the cards that can give your opponent the footing he or she needs to fend off your attacks.
Hold your Bazoos. On the one hand, it’s great to remove monsters from play and load yourself for the win, but Bazoo’s ATK is a precious resource that can solve a multitude of problems. Don’t drop the monkey early just to flesh out your field or make a cheap attack: if it’s not going to 2500 ATK and crushing something worthwhile, it’s probably not necessary to play it. Bazoo’s effect can be a total surprise to the average opponent—enabling win scenarios that he or she doesn’t see coming—so be coy about how and when you deploy everybody’s favorite furball.
This deck can win with a dramatic speed, and you can customize it to fit your own tastes really easily. Monsters like D. D. Assailant and Silpheed fulfill your attribute requirements, and they have intriguing interactions with the remove-from-game mechanic. Try it out for yourself, and don’t be afraid to tweak it for your tastes!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Got a cool deck that you think could benefit from some advice? Send me a decklist in the format shown in this article, along with your name, location, and a couple of paragraphs describing how the deck works. You can reach me at jdgmetagame@gmail.com.