Today we have a repeat-contributor! Phil, from Fort Worth, Texas, submits his Direct Damage deck, and has the following to say.

Hi Jason!

I’ve started playing around with a direct damage, and I’m wondering how you think it can be improved.

Thanks!

—Phil, Fort Worth, Texas

Ok Phil, let’s take a look!


Phil’s Direct Damage Deck
41 cards

Monsters
3 Giant Germ
3 Jinzo #7
3 Mystic Lamp
3 Nightmare Horse
3 Servant of Catabolism
3 Spirit Reaper
1 Cyber Jar
3 Magician of Faith
2 Penguin Soldier

Spells
1 Pot of Greed
1 Graceful Charity
1 Swords of Revealing Light
3 Poison of the Old Man
1 Raigeki
3 Messenger of Peace
1 Monster Reborn

Traps
3 Gravity Bind
1 Magic Cylinder
1 Mirror Force
1 Imperial Order

Now right off the bat, we have to recognize the distinction between two different types of direct damage. In Yu-Gi-Oh!, there are two major categories that all direct damage can be grouped into. First, there’s the classical concept of direct damage found in several TCGs, in which a card has an effect that deals damage. Second, and more unique to Yu-Gi-Oh!, is the direct damage concept of monsters that can attack the opponent’s life points directly, regardless of what state the field is in.

The thing about direct damage decks is that, whether you’re using direct-attack monsters or cards that deal direct damage as an effect, the amount of damage dealt is usually somewhat small. In the case of monsters that attack directly, this can be remedied by using a variety of equip spell cards, or field or continuous cards that boost attack ratings. In the case of effect damage, cards such as Dark Room of Nightmare can be employed to boost the damage dealt. However, boost-oriented cards are only going to be of use when, well, there’s something to boost. Using equip cards can result in card disadvantage if your opponent destroys the monster to which the equip was attached. Field and continuous spells that boost attack values are dead cards if you don’t have any monsters attacking directly at the time. Using a card like Dark Room of Nightmare is going to be nice, but really, when you’re employing the two different genres of direct damage in a single deck (classical effect damage, and direct attack), you won’t be getting the maximized utility out of it.

Really, that’s what it comes down to. Yu-Gi-Oh! doesn’t have a lot of draw control, so a good card is one that has a high level of utility at all times—a card that is always useful will rarely be a bad draw, right? So inherently, cards that embellish other cards, or require other cards to be useful, are going to be weaker and less desirable to play overall. You’ll lose topdecking ability, and you’ll lose overall efficiency in the long run.

So, instead of looking at cards that can enhance the effect damage and direct battle damage this deck can dish out, we’re going to look at expanding the ways in which the deck can deal damage. More variety means more options, which makes the deck harder to predict and thus harder to play against. Simple, right? Right.

That said, the first thing we have to do with this deck is make some room to diversify. Right now we’ve got a few sources of damage—direct attackers (Jinzo #7, Mystic Lamp, Nightmare Horse, and Servant of Catabolism), Giant Germ's "destroyed and sent to the graveyard" effect, Poison of the Old Man, and Magic Cylinders. All of these are important and useful in their own ways; the direct attackers all offer a source of direct damage that is, unlike the rest of the sources in the deck, renewable (it can be used more than once, assuming the monster survives from turn to turn). The Giant Germs provide field presence and a deterrent to attacking, making the opponent think twice before pressing an offensive. The Poison of the Old Man cards provide quick doses of damage in good chunks, and can also be used to prolong the game if you find yourself down on life points (alternatively, they can also be seen as having utility when you believe you already have the game locked and don’t need to deal more damage). Lastly, the Magic Cylinders create both an offensive-minded defense, as well as providing an important target for an opponent’s spell and trap removal. However, there are many strong sources of direct damage that are not in use yet in this deck.

Right now, the deck is very biased towards direct attackers. The deck currently has a dozen of them, and frankly that’s just far too many. Servant of Catabolism is the best option going for raw attack power, so we’ll keep it. Jinzo #7, Magical Lamp, and Nightmare Horse all accomplish what Servant of Catabolism can, only without the efficiency, so all nine of these will be removed from the deck. It is tempting to keep the three Nightmare Horse and add Polymerization or Fusion Gate to the deck, to incorporate Reaper on the Nightmare, but this would be a costly addition to the deck that is probably not advisable in this early stage. By all means, feel free to try it out for yourself later if you feel like it.

Next up, we’re going to drop one Spirit Reaper. Spirit Reaper is a fabulous card that can be excellent in a deck that craves defense as much as this one does, but, three of them seems like overkill—two will likely do.

Next, drop the three Magicians of Faith. With a diversified base of options, the deck won’t be nearly so dependant on Poison of the Old Man to dish out damage, but it will benefit from using its normal summon once per turn in new ways. So, the Magicians are tossed out.

Penguin Soldier will also be removed from the deck. With the three Giant Germs, three Gravity Binds, two Spirit Reapers, and some more defensive options that we’ll add later in the fix, the two Penguin Soldiers just won’t be needed any more. Feel free to test them, but odds are you’ll find that the deck runs better without them.

Now, to add some cards! We’ve taken out eighteen cards from the deck, so we’ve got a lot of space to work with.

First off, let’s look at the damage options we can add. Balloon Lizard is an interesting card from Invasion of Chaos that can provide both a great deal of direct damage and a wall, since an opponent will be hesitant to attack it once it gets a few counters on it. Of course, this can be remedied by sending it on a kamikaze mission, attacking a larger monster with it just to send it to the graveyard and use its effect. It’s a great card for this kind of deck, so I’m going to suggest running two.

As another source of direct damage, a pair of Des Koalas can be fabulous if drawn in the early game, and can still do quite a fair bit of damage in the mid and late game if you play your cards right.

A pair of Cannon Soldiers is a must for this type of deck. Cannon Soldier allows you to capitalize completely on any Gravity Bind lockdowns that you might achieve, as suddenly the stalemate game that you’ve gotten your opponent into becomes a slow, agonizing countdown to victory. This capitalization is going to be synergetic with Servant of Catabolism’s interaction with Gravity Bind as well, so if you get a lock in place (and it’s important to attempt to do so in every game), exploit both of these cards at the same time to dish out as much damage as possible.

Chain Energy is an incredibly underrated card that is simply awful to play against. Again, it’s more useful in the early game, but it’s almost always going to be a decent thing to draw. Lay down what you want to lay down, activate Chain Energy, and watch your opponent wince. It’s especially effective against Control players who had intended to only play cards as they really needed them—the kind of people who open every game with a single face down spell or trap and a face down monster. Like Cannon Soldier, Gravity Bind, and Servant of Catabolism, Chain Energy is going to find a natural synergy with other cards in this deck, namely Des Koala. Let the opponent’s hand stack up as he or she plays a minimal number of cards due to the threat Chain Energy poses, and then wallop him or her with the Koala’s effect. Whether your opponents press through Chain Energy or play conservatively and get nailed by the Koala, it’s a bad situation for them either way.

Ring of Destruction is another important source of damage. It’s certainly not a cheap card to get your hands on, but if you can get one, it will really pay off in this deck. It’s a fabulous defensive card and a great game ender.

A few other inexpensive cards are going to help this deck out quite a bit. One Witch of the Black Forest should be in every deck, but it's especially important to a deck like this one. With the fix, you have many different options when it comes to monsters. Witch is going to make it so that those options are available when you need them, allowing you to pick and choose. Dark Hole is another staple that is going to be important. Again, this is going to be synergetic with Cannon Soldier, since you can tribute all your monsters to Cannon Soldier before using Dark Hole—after all, you were going to lose those monsters anyways. Change of Heart is also important; unlike the limited utility it can have in other lockdown-based decks, here Change of Heart can be used with Cannon Soldier as not only a fast bit of damage (by attacking the opponent with his or her monster), but also as a piece of monster removal (by tributing the Change of Hearted monster to Cannon Soldier so that the opponent doesn’t get it back).

Three Nimble Momongas are going to help thin the deck down, getting you to your Gravity Binds and other important cards a little bit faster (in the same way that Giant Germ contributes to this goal). They’re going to provide field presence, longevity through their life point gain effect, and in a pinch, they’ll make great ammo for Cannon Soldier.

Along the same lines, two Scapegoats can help this deck. Use them well, and you can draw out your opponent’s spell and trap removal, chaining them to claim their effect. It’s a great defensive card, a great combo with Cannon Soldier, and when Chain Energy is on the field, it gives you four pieces of defensive field presence for the comparative life point cost of just a single summon. Very nice.

Here’s the list of changes made:

-3 Jinzo #7
-3 Mystic Lamp
-3 Nightmare Horse
-1 Spirit Reaper
-3 Messenger of Peace
-3 Magician of Faith
-2 Penguin Soldier

+2 Balloon Lizard
+2 Des Koala
+1 Witch of the Black Forest
+2 Cannon Soldier
+3 Nimble Momonga
+2 Chain Energy
+1 Dark Hole
+2 Scapegoat
+1 Change of Heart
+1 Ring of Destruction

The final decklist looks like this:


Direct Damage—Jason’s Fix
40 cards

Monsters
3 Giant Germ
3 Nimble Momonga
3 Servant of Catabolism
2 Spirit Reaper
2 Balloon Lizard
2 Des Koala
1 Witch of the Black Forest
1 Cyber Jar
2 Cannon Soldier

Spells
1 Pot of Greed
1 Graceful Charity
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Dark Hole
2 Scapegoat
3 Poison of the Old Man
1 Raigeki
1 Change of Heart
2 Chain Energy
1 Monster Reborn

Traps
3 Gravity Bind
1 Magic Cylinder
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Mirror Force
1 Imperial Order

Some recommended side deck cards are Messenger of Peace, Ceasefire (a fabulous card that might be worth main decking in this sort of deck), Tribute to The Doomed, Dark Core, Delinquent Duo, Confiscation, and perhaps a few pieces of spell and trap removal (Mystical Space Typhoon and Harpie's Feather Duster are recommended). Also worth considering are two interesting direct damage cards from Invasion of Chaos: Tower of Babel and Curse of Darkness. Curse of Darkness in particular is going to be a great side deck card for this deck, being an excellent tech card for particularly spell-heavy competition and a nice distraction for those who would use their spell and trap removal cards to go straight for your Gravity Binds.

The deck can be played in several different ways—just always remember to take advantage of the synergies within the deck and play each situation by ear. Field presence is important to maintain, as sometimes those Gravity Binds can take their sweet time to get to your hand. Keep the pressure on, and don’t leave the opponent any room to breathe if you can avoid it.

Thanks for sending it in, Phil!