Evan prefers to innovate rather than play an already established deck, and this event wasn’t an exception. Since the new Advanced format only kicked in yesterday, it still remained up in the air as to what to expect to see on the floor. It’s a prime time to experiment, since at best, you’ll be second-guessing the metagame.

This deck is refreshingly Chaos-free, and more synergistic than most. It will take skill to play successfully, but Evan has some inventive combos in here that make good use of his cards. Here’s the list.

Evan Vargas’s Soul Control

Monsters: 17
3 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
1 Mobius the Frost Monarch
1 Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys
1 Hand of Nephthys
2 Apprentice Magician
2 Magician of Faith
2 D.D. Assailant
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
1 Sinister Serpent
1 D.D. Warrior Lady
1 Sangan

Spells: 18
1 Pot of Greed
1 Delinquent Duo
1 Graceful Charity
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Snatch Steal
1 Premature Burial
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Metamorphosis
1 Swords of Revealing Light
2 Enemy Controller
3 Scapegoat
1 Lightning Vortex
2 Soul Exchange

Traps: 5
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Mirror Force
1 Royal Decree

Side Deck: 15
1 Morphing Jar
2 Kinetic Soldier
1 Airknight Parshath
2 Mobius the Frost Monarch
1 Metamorphosis
1 Nobleman of Crossout
3 Wave-Motion Cannon
1 Ceasefire
1 Windstorm of Etaqua
2 Dust Tornado

Fusion Deck: 40
3 Thousand-Eyes Restrict
3 Dark Balter the Terrible
2 King Dragun
1 Gatling Dragon
3 Ryu Senshi
3 Dark Blade the Dragon Knight
2 Reaper on the Nightmare
3 Dark Flare Knight
2 Fiend Skull Dragon
2 Ojama King
2 Mokey Mokey King
1 Master of Oz
2 Musician King
1 Sanwitch
2 Dragoness the Wicked Knight
2 St. Joan
1 Humanoid Worm Drake
3 Karbonala Warrior
1 Darkfire Dragon
1 Charubin the Fire Knight

Evan’s got some consistenly popular cards—Tribe-Infecting Virus, Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, the D. D. crew (Warrior Lady and Assailant), Breaker the Magical Warrior, Sinister Serpent, and the newly returned Sangan. They’re all fairly high-utility monsters that help out most decks. Enemy Controller and Scapegoat can stall or protect his life points, Delinquent Duo robs his opponent of cards, and Metamorphosis will give him access to a range of useful fusion monsters. Not a lot of surprises with these—they’re popular in most decks, especially Control-oriented ones. Traps are fairly standard, although Royal Decree is somewhat rare.

He’s got some unusual tricks, though. Mobius the Frost Monarch has seen a lot of play in recent months, since players like his spell and trap removal effect, but Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch hasn’t been as popular as his colder cousin. Evan has found an interesting combo with the Fire Monarch and Soul Exchange. Soul Exchange can be useful; it helps clear out your opponent’s field, and gets your tribute out fast and cheap, but it does oblige you to skip your battle phase. If you’re interested in doing some damage that turn, that’s going to cramp your style. But take a look at Thestalos’ effect. When it’s successfully tribute summoned, you can discard a card at random from your opponent’s hand. If it’s a monster, inflict damage to your opponent’s life points equal to that monster’s level times 100. It’s an all-purpose move—you get a 2400 ATK monster, your opponent loses a monster from his or her monster zone, is down one card from the hand, and might take some damage as well. Then, once Thestalos or Mobius have used up their effect or otherwise outlived their usefulness, Metamorphosis can turn them into a more valuable fusion.

You’re going to need the right cards in your hand, and running out of Soul Exchanges or Metamorphosis will be a problem. Evan has added in Apprentice Magician and Magician of Faith. Apprentice Magician will help keep field presence by getting out Magician of Faith, who can in turn Recycle back any needed spells. Apart from the synergistic necessities, it will also fetch back Lightning Vortex, Pot, or anything else that will really mess up his opponent.

Board presence is maintained with renewable monsters like Sangan, Apprentice Magician, and Phoenix, large monsters like Thestalos and Mobius, along with Scapegoat and the monster-recovering spell and trap. Clearing out the opponent’s field is accomplished with good old Mirror Force, along with Tribe-Infecting Virus, Lightning Vortex, and Soul Exchange. There’s actually a lot of monster destruction here.

For the opening, it’s probably best to start with Sangan or Apprentice Magician, to ensure you’ve still got a monster on turn two. Whether you then tribute it for something bigger or bring out a second monster to attack with, maintaining that presence is vital. The early game can rely on Swords or Scapegoat to fend off the opponent, allowing them time to summon fodder for Soul Exchange. The deck needs to be ready to sweep in by mid-game, clearing out the opponent’s field and slicing down any remaining life points.

Evan’s side deck contains some control variants, as well as cards to tech against whatever deck he’s matched up with. Warrior decks won’t like running into Kinetic Soldier, Wave-Motion Cannon will help against Burn, and more Mobius can clear out Lockdown.

The fusion deck is rather eclectic. Evan has the old standard favorites like Thousand-Eyes Restrict, Ryu Senshi, and Dark Balter. Gatling Dragon and King Dragun are nice, up to date additions, and overall, there’s a nice selection of level 6 monsters to choose from when he wants to trade in Thestalos or Mobius.

As of the end of round 3, Soul Control was undefeated. It’s an uncommon build, and as we wait to what will emerge from the latest Advanced formats, Evan’s approach just might spark some new trends.