They’re here!
The long-awaited Warrior’s Triumph Structure decks have finally arrived on American shores, and they’ve brought a veritable cornucopia of Warrior goodness with them! Needed a D. D. Warrior Lady, but didn’t want to shell out the, excuse the term, “phat cash,” that many stores and dealers were asking for one? No problem! More than half of Warrior’s Triumph is made up of reprinted cards that were originally super rare, ultra rare, or promo holographic foils. Royal Decree tops the list of these reprinted cards. Heck, I bought three copies of Warrior’s Triumph as fast as I could just to get myself a playset of Decrees. If you’re looking for some of the rarer cards that Yu-Gi-Oh! has to offer, this Structure deck has a bunch of them.
On top of that, there are also some awesome new cards that have never been available anywhere else.
Warrior’s Triumph is great for newer players who may have wanted to put together a Warrior deck, but didn’t have some of the older cards needed for the toolbox setup. Maybe you’re just like me and you’re too lazy to go digging through shoeboxes of cards to find them. Either way, it’s an amazingly convenient package, and since many retailers are selling them for about ten bucks, they’re an incredibly good value for your dueling dollar.
The best thing about Warrior’s Triumph is that you can easily convert it into a real deck that’s capable of playing on the tournament level. Let’s look at a couple of deck designs, and show you how both budget players and well-armed veterans can use Warrior’s Triumph to create viable decks.
First, let’s take the viewpoint of a new player—one who’s looking to get into Yu-Gi-Oh!, but not looking to drop a big wad of cash just yet. This player is going to want to do three things to build his or her deck.
1. Pick up one copy of Warrior’s Triumph.
2. Remove a few cards to free up some room.
3. Purchase or trade for a few relatively inexpensive singles to complete the deck.
It’s that easy: three simple and cost-efficient steps to having a tournament-level deck. Let’s go through them one by one and show you exactly what to do.
First, go get yourself that Warrior’s Triumph Structure deck! They’re available at both hobby stores and big chain stores (like Toys R Us and Wal-Mart), so they shouldn’t be hard to find. Once you get your hands on one, you’re going to want to drop a few of the trickier cards to make room for some more straightforward ones. Here are the cuts that I’d make, if I were in this situation.
-1 Gilford the Legend
-1 Gearfried the Swordmaster
-2 Reload
-1 Lightning Blade
-1 Fairy of the Spring
-1 Release Restraint
-1 Blast with Chain
Most of these cards are just a little too complicated to be reliable if you’re only running a single copy of them. Reload can help you get key combos together, like Release Restraint and Gearfried the Iron Knight, but that’s best in Sealed Pack play. It still falls a bit flat in competitive Constructed environments. Ideally, you’d be able to run three copies of Gearfried and three of Release Restraint, plus a second Gearfried the Swordmaster, to support the strategy. However, that’s a lot of extra cards, and it’s basically an entirely new deck theme, so we’re going to skip that and instead put in some cards that are a little bit easier to play.
We’re going to be aiming for versatility and utility, hunting down cards that we’ll always be happy to see come off the top of the deck. In addition, the point of the exercise here is to create something competitive without breaking the bank. If you decide you like the deck, you can tweak it out with some shinier and more expensive additions down the line.
Here’s what I’d add to Warrior’s Triumph to quickly put it into fighting form.
+1 Sangan
+1 Cyber Jar
+1 Nobleman of Crossout
+3 Smashing Ground
+2 Sakuretsu Armor
Sangan will enhance this deck’s ability to seek out its monster-based tricks, while Cyber Jar will help it swarm the opponent. The other three cards are all focused on field control and will clear the way for our horde of pint-sized beatsticks. Many of the cards we’re using don’t have very high ATK values, but they add up quick if they’re attacking directly. The best part? None of these cards are holos. Smashing Ground and Sakuretsu Armor are really popular right now, but they’re still only silver-foil normal rares.
The final deck looks like this.
Monsters: 19
1 Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight
1 Goblin Attack Force
1 Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke
2 Gearfried the Iron Knight
1 Dark Blade
1 Command Knight
1 D. D. Warrior Lady
1 Armed Samurai - Ben Kei
1 Mystic Swordsman LV4
1 Mataza the Zapper
1 Warrior Lady of the Wasteland
2 Marauding Captain
1 Obnoxious Celtic Guard
1 Exiled Force
1 Mystic Swordsman LV2
1 Sangan
1 Cyber Jar
Spells: 16
2 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Giant Trunade
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Snatch Steal
1 Swords of Concealing Light
1 The Warrior Returning Alive
1 Fusion Sword Murasame Blade
1 Wicked-Breaking Flamberge – Baou
1 Divine Sword – Phoenix Blade
1 Nobleman of Crossout
3 Smashing Ground
Traps: 5
1 Magic Jammer
1 Royal Decree
2 Sakuretsu Armor
1 Call of the Haunted
The strategy here is Rush/Equip. You’re looking to pummel the opponent as quickly as possible, and that’s facilitated through the use of monster removal and a fast offense. Many duelists may turn their nose up at Marauding Captain, but the reality is that it can let you dish out damage in excess of 3000 life points completely out of nowhere. Power like that just can’t be ignored. Sure, Marauding Captain can burn your hand pretty quickly, but you’ve got Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight to make up for that. The new Advanced format is far more concerned with what’s going on in the field than what’s going on in the hand, and having more cards in hand than your opponent doesn’t count for as much as it used to. If you dominate the battlefield, you’ll dominate the game.
This deck thrives on the searchability of its cards. Sangan, Reinforcement of the Army, and Warrior Lady of the Wasteland can each let you search your deck for a versatile pool of effect monsters. Are you facing down Cyber Dragon? Fetch yourself a D. D. Warrior Lady, Exiled Force, Cyber Jar, or even Obnoxious Celtic Guard. Maybe you need to take out a face down monster that might have a nasty flip effect? Send Mystic Swordsman LV2 and Exiled Force to the rescue! Your goal is to control the field and maintain a presence on it, while having answers to your opponent’s moves at the same time. Search cards help ensure that you’ll have the right tool for the job, whenever you need it.
You’ve also got reliable beatsticks that can dish out raw power when it’s needed. Gearfried the Iron Knight, Dark Blade, and Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke each have 1800 ATK, and Goblin Attack Force’s 2300 ATK can wipe out virtually anything that it might encounter. Don’t forget that you’re packing Divine Sword – Phoenix Blade and Fusion Sword Murasame Blade—both of these can let smaller monsters take down big ones.
For traps, we’ve got a nice spread of options. Call of the Haunted can bring back a big attacker or let you reuse an important effect monster. Sakuretsu Armor keeps you safe from attack, while Royal Decree shuts down your opponent’s Sakuretsu Armors and Torrential Tribute. Magic Jammer used to be a very dated card, but it combos well with Divine Sword – Phoenix Blade, which is probably the best new card in Warrior’s Triumph. Just discard Phoenix Blade to pay for costs like those of Magic Jammer and Lightning Vortex, and you’ll be able to reclaim the Blade by removing two Warriors in your graveyard from the game.
It’s an aggressive deck that balances synergy and utility to create a truly competitive performance. And for the cost of one Structure deck and a few singles, you can’t go wrong!
While that’s a great deck for new duelists or players on a budget, veteran players can get a lot out of Warrior’s Triumph, too. Let’s assume that you’ve picked up two copies of the deck, and thus have an expanded card pool to work with. First, let’s pick what we want to use from the pair of Structure decks.
1 Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight
2 Goblin Attack Force
1 Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke
2 Command Knight
1 D. D. Warrior Lady
3 Marauding Captain
1 Exiled Force
1 Mystic Swordsman LV2
2 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Giant Trunade
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Snatch Steal
2 Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade
2 Royal Decree
1 Call of the Haunted
We’re going to keep the rush theme, because that pair of Royal Decree is just too good to resist. One-for-one trades like Sakuretsu Armor and Smashing Ground are the major threats limiting aggression in the current format, and while Smashing Ground is a spell, every other popular one-for-one trade is a trap. Sakuretsu Armor, Bottomless Trap Hole, Trap Hole classic, and Widespread Ruin can all be shut down by Decree’s effect. If an opponent isn’t prepared, then he or she can easily be caught off guard, and a Rush strategy is the perfect way to catch the opponent unawares. It’s for that reason that we’re maxed out on Marauding Captain.
We’ve only got 24 cards, though, so we’re going to need to add 16 more. If you’re a serious competitor, odds are good that you have access to the following list of cards. Even if you’re missing a couple of cards, there’s always trading, or you can substitute cards that are more to your taste.
+3 Cyber Dragon
+2 D. D. Assailant
+1 D. D. Survivor
+1 Sangan
+1 Morphing Jar
+3 Smashing Ground
+1 Premature Burial
+1 Nobleman of Crossout
+2 Brain Control
+1 Royal Decree
Even though Cyber Dragon, D. D. Assailant, and Brain Control don’t come cheap, the rest of the list is a mix of normal rares and cards that have been reprinted as commons, so again, you’re going to see a big return on your investment.
Cyber Dragon has been added because we’re looking to exploit any opening that the opponent may offer as thoroughly as possible. Combined with Marauding Captain and a beatstick, you can often be swinging on turn 2 for more than 5000 damage. Do you do this at the cost of your hand? Sure. But unless the opponent is packing Lightning Vortex, or you happen to wander right into Torrential Tribute, that’s not really a problem. Again, we’ve got a single copy of Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight to take advantage of low hand presence.
D. D. Assailant is a must for a Warrior deck if you have one or more in your collection. It has a high enough ATK value to rumble with a long list of monsters and come out on top, and its effect makes it poison to anything else that it might do battle with. Since it’s searchable with Reinforcement of the Army, it’s probably the best monster to summon if you’re looking to make your opponent’s decisions difficult. It can also function as a secondary piece of monster removal, clearing a nice path for your smaller attackers.
Sangan searches for key monsters, Morphing Jar lets you restock your hand once you expend it, and the rest of the cards are all intended to contribute to the deck’s field control engine. The result is a pretty basic deck that hits hard and fast while still maintaining the ability to recover after it overextends. Here’s the final decklist.
Monsters: 20
1 Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight
3 Cyber Dragon
2 Goblin Attack Force
1 Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke
1 D. D. Survivor
2 Command Knight
1 D. D. Warrior Lady
3 Marauding Captain
1 Exiled Force
1 Mystic Swordsman LV2
1 Sangan
2 D. D. Assailant
1 Morphing Jar
Spells: 16
2 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Giant Trunade
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Snatch Steal
2 Divine Sword – Phoenix Blade
3 Smashing Ground
1 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Brain Control
1 Premature Burial
Traps: 4
3 Royal Decree
1 Call of the Haunted
You might want to experiment a bit with monsters like Zombyra the Dark or Giant Rat, but the overall infrastructure of the deck is undeniably solid. We’re not running any copies of Don Zaloog or Spirit Reaper, but that’s because the environment becomes very unfriendly towards those cards with the addition of Elemental Energy.
This deck is all about speed. You want to wipe out your opponent as soon as possible, strictly because most decks won’t be able to handle your efforts to do so. It can survive and win in the mid and late game, but the earlier you lean on an opponent the better. Since you’re maxed out on copies of Smashing Ground, and you have access to Lightning Vortex, D. D. Warrior Lady, and Exiled Force, you’ve got plenty of answers to Control decks that seek to maintain field presence with cards like Mystic Tomato. You’ll also shut down all the traps that your opponent may rely on by using Royal Decree.
A generic Beatdown deck is going to have problems in this matchup, simply because you can develop your field faster. The opponent will be looking to gain advantage through traps, but you’ll take those away from him or her, and he or she won’t be able to hold off your swarm despite the fact that he or she may have bigger monsters than you. Press relentlessly and the matchup is likely an easy one—just be wary of Airknight Parshath. It can make life fairly difficult for Goblin Attack Force.
Lockdown Burn is also a pretty simplistic matchup, since you’ve got three copies of Royal Decree to negate Gravity Bind, and three pieces of spell and trap removal to deal with Messenger of Peace and Level Limit – Area B.
The one major tossup is One-Turn Kill decks. This deck basically intends to lose small monsters all the time in battle, and that means lots of openings that a massive Cyber End Dragon can exploit. The fact that you’re not running Sakuretsu Armor or Widespread Ruin makes this matchup all the more difficult, but remember that speed is on your side. If you can overrun the opponent before he or she can draw the combo pieces, you’ll be good to go.
The entire series of Structure decks have never disappointed, offering superior Sealed Pack play and giving new duelists access to prime cards that were previously very expensive. However, Warrior’s Triumph really ups the ante, breaking the previous records of playability and introducing some awesome new cards. If you haven’t rushed out to get your copies yet, you should probably do so. They’re a great value for your dueling dollar, and they’re easily the best deal of the year for any TCG player.
With new cards, awesome reprints, and playability right out of the box for both novice and veteran players, Warrior’s Triumph has something for every level of duelist!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer