This week we’ll be talking about the recent developments in the format and what the metagame may look like at the upcoming Shonen Jump Championship Houston.
From what I’ve seen so far, Light and Darkness Dragon decks are still consistently underrated, with negative attributes attached to the deck such as "slow" or "inconsistent." The last two Shonen Jumps show otherwise, but that may change due to the ridiculous speed that Dark Armed Dragon decks wield. Let’s discuss.
Signals of a Much Faster, More Aggressive, and More Combo-licious Format
There are a few signals that indicate that the post-Phantom Darkness format will be a fast one. First, Allure of Darkness is pretty much a Destiny Draw without any real drawback thanks to Escape from the Dark Dimension. Second, Destiny Hero - Disk Commander can see increased usage by playing The Dark Creator in a Dark-centered deck. A simple play that can get you four cards from Disk Commander could go like this: 
-Special summon The Dark Creator.
-Remove a Dark monster to special summon Destiny Hero - Disk Commander from the graveyard
-Draw two cards, then tribute the good Commander for the Monarch of your choice.
-Play
Premature Burial to bring back Disk Commander for another two draws.
With this, you have three monsters on the field and two of them have more than 2000 ATK. You’ve also drawn four cards and will be attacking for more than half of your opponent’s life points if he or she doesn’t have a response. There’s no telling what you may have drawn with Disk Commander, but if you had exactly five Dark monsters in your graveyard and removed one of them to special summon the Commander, then you have three left. If you drew Dark Armed Dragon, then your opponent is in for a surprise of the worst kind.
Diamond Dude Turbo strategies gain strength with more efficient usage of Dark Magician of Chaos and the introduction of Cyber Valley combined with Machine Duplication. With Cyber Valley you get draw power and graveyard manipulation in one package. I’ve seen a few lists out there that use Cyber Valley in Diamond Dude Turbo builds that play Magical Explosion. A simple play of Machine "Dupe" with Valley can allow stacking of your next three draws or stacking one draw and drawing two cards by removing the last two Cyber Valley cards. A sample situation will illustrate the ridiculousness that Cyber Valley can produce. It might be hypothetical, and it assumes a few conditions, but it’s just one of a hundred plausible (and insane) plays that could happen:
-Summon Cyber Valley and then play Machine Duplication.
-Play Destiny Draw.
-Activate the first Cyber Valley’s third effect by removing it from the field and a Dark Magician of Chaos from your hand. Select Destiny Draw to place on top of your deck.
-Activate the second effect of another Cyber Valley to draw two cards. You’ve removed all of your Cyber Valley cards from play.
-Play your re-acquired Destiny Draw to draw into Dimension Fusion and discard another Destiny Hero for your trouble.
-Pay 2000 life points to play Dimension Fusion, which special summons three Cyber Valley cards plus Dark Magician of Chaos. With Magician of Chaos you can get your Destiny Draw back (or anything else).
-With these monsters on the field, use Cyber Valley’s third effect to stack your Dimension Fusion on the top of the deck.
-Remove your Cyber Valley and your Dark Magician of Chaos to draw two cards.
-Rinse and repeat until you run out of life points.
This kind of combo is just absurd and don’t be surprised if you find Dark Magician of Chaos and Dimension Fusion in your draws before this silliness becomes a lingering reality. With this type of recycling and Spell Economics, you can play Magical Explosion after you’ve run through your whole deck full of spells to hit your opponent with 4000+ damage per copy.
Another signal of a fast powerhouse format is the introduction of Dark Armed Dragon. The power of this card is obvious and I’m sure the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG community will be inspired to find ways to summon it as quickly as possible. Decks centered on this behemoth will likely have the following characteristics: 1) speed 2) superior deck manipulation 3) superior card presence. If you’re looking for a few ideas to fill those attributes, try Destiny Hero - Plasma and Fires of Doomsday: they work wonderfully together. The same also applies to Dark Magician of Chaos and Fires of Doomsday. Allure of Darkness, the Magician, and Escape from the Dark Dimension is another combination that rewards you with a cycled hand, a 2800 ATK monster, and an extra spell. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror as a main deck choice for any control decks attempting to take the momentum away from Dark Armed Dragon.
Even Zombies get a new addition to their arsenal with the long-awaited arrival of Goblin Zombie. It adds a whole new level of consistency to the Card of Safe Return draw engine. I like how you can reliably search for Zombie Master and then revive Goblin Zombie to draw a card. One of the ailments of the standard Zombie deck was its inability to tribute for anything. If you drew your Ryu Kokki or Il Blud, then you’d have to find a way to discard it. Tributing wasn’t an option since you wouldn’t be using your core cards effectively. Now, you get the added bonus of tribute summoning without any real drawback. Using Goblin Zombie as a tribute for Raiza the Storm Monarch, Mobius the Frost Monarch, or Zaborg the Thunder Monarch suddenly doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.
Can Control Get a Little Love?
On the flip side, we have new additions that can enhance the power of control decks. These decks will be necessary to stop the onslaught of speedier strategies. Spellcasters got a nice boost from Dark Red Enchanter. I liked this monster when I first heard about him since he works so well as a hand disrupter with Soul Exchange. The Enchanter can be played like another copy of Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch by using his effect from the get-go. You can play Allure of Darkness, Destiny Draw, or anything else you deem necessary in order to get more counters on Dark Red Enchanter. The longer he stays on the field, the more dangerous he becomes for your opponent’s hand.
The Yubel series is another interesting contender for the control side of things. The first form is extremely easy to get on the field whether by Mystic Tomato or any revival card. Yubel offers protection from any battle damage you might take and he cannot be destroyed by battle either. Once you get the second form on the field, all hell breaks loose. A permanent Dark Hole effect hitting the field every single turn is nothing to take lightly: you now own the field. If you do anything to remove the card from the field save spinning it, you’re then faced with another threat: Yubel - The Ultimate Nightmare. My particular affinity with this series of monsters is how well the field can be maintained by their mere presence. You may think, "why bother?" Well . . . Yubel is very simple to destroy on your own. If you’re especially crafty, then you’ll pull off a nice end phase trick with a chainable card that can destroy your own monster like Destruction Ring to special summon Yubel - Terror Incarnate and blow up the field.
I like how players are experimenting with Blue Thunder T-45 in Gadget decks. It combos well with Shrink and Enemy Controller to produce tokens with muscle to throw at your opponent. The damage potential with Limiter Removal is very hard to ignore. If you need to find a quicker way to win before Light and Darkness Dragon or Dark Armed Dragon wrecks your day, then this is one of the best ways to do it.
It May Not Last Forever
Even though we have a new set of options to speed up the format, it might be short-lived. The Advanced format is set to change in two or three weeks and we’ll get the first notification of the changes from Upper Deck Entertainment on February 21st. Any changes that will be made to the Advanced List are merely speculation at this point, which is why I did my best to stay away from that discussion.
Thanks for reading and have a great week!
—Bryan Camareno