Ask any duelist around what he or she thinks of Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning. Chances are whoever you ask will give you an odd look and cry “broken!” at the top of his or her lungs. That duelist will probably do the same if you ask him or her about Cyber-Stein. These two cards were each so good that top tier decks were changed to accommodate them, or even focused on using them to their fullest extent with complements like The Warrior Returning Alive or Last Will. In fact, the pair was so unfairly powerful that both eventually landed a spot on the Forbidden list.

What made these cards broken was their capability to control the game or simply end it. If you were in a bind, either one could drop down for some heavy monster removal—the Soldier could destroy two monsters in battle or remove one outright, while Stein could bring out Gatling Dragon or Cyber Twin Dragon. If you and your opponent were jockeying for control of the match, there was potential at any time for either player to unleash a combo of three or four big cards to take the duel.

Players have been trying to mimic this philosophy on the Shonen Jump Championship circuit since its beginnings. Even today, Monarch decks can break out with Brain Control and Cyber Dragon, while Gadget decks have Overload Fusion, Ultimate Offering, and/or Snipe Hunter to allow for great potential damage. In the days of three Dimension Fusion cards and Elemental Hero Stratos, Diamond Dude Turbo was able to take either a controlled approach or try for an OTK combo. More recent DDT decks have shifted towards the OTK side, which sets them up for a lot of anti-OTK hate. That’s why Theerasak Poonsombat adjusted the DDT deck, giving it the ability to lock down games in a controlling fashion, while at the same time it threatened to explode and finish things off. Here’s what he ran at Shonen Jump Championship Anaheim:

Monsters: 19

3 Cyber Dragon

3 Card Trooper

3 Destiny Hero - Malicious

1 Elemental Hero Stratos

1 Destiny Hero - Dasher

1 Destiny Hero - Disk Commander

1 Sangan

2 Snipe Hunter

1 Jinzo

1 Dark Magician of Chaos

1 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch

1 Destiny Hero - Fear Monger

Spells: 17

2 Metamorphosis

2 Brain Control

1 Giant Trunade

1 Premature Burial

1 Scapegoat

1 Limiter Removal

3 Destiny Draw

1 Reinforcement of the Army

1 Smashing Ground

1 Pot of Avarice

1 Snatch Steal

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Heavy Storm

Traps: 4

1 Ring of Destruction

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Mirror Force

1 Torrential Tribute

The deck basically wants to function like beatdown. You want to lean on your opponent with your monsters and force him or her to commit to the field. At that point, a key two- or three-card combo can break the game open and allow you to establish control. If your opponent’s going to try to counter this strategy by refusing to commit to the field, those two or three cards turn into a one-turn knockout.

Card Trooper is essential for the deck. Boasting an impressive 1900 ATK when boosted by its own effect, it provides hefty damage potential and insurance against your opponent’s monster removal. That’s just the beginning of Trooper’s responsibilities. Card Trooper also fuels the graveyard with very important cards. Sending off Destiny Hero - Malicious or Destiny Hero - Disk Commander is huge. Now T doesn’t have to draw those cards, which is good, since they don’t do much in the hand other than work as fodder for Destiny Draw. Sending almost any spell to the graveyard opens up the options for Dark Magician of Chaos, increasing the chances that playing him and using his effect will start up a game-winning combo.

Card Trooper also benefits from Limiter Removal. While this may seem like a very situational benefit, remember that Card Trooper’s graveyard effect will discourage a lot of players from destroying it with a card like Sakuretsu Armor. As such, they may be willing to take an attack while they’ve got 3800 life points or less remaining. All it takes is Limiter Removal during the damage step to seal the deal. Furthermore, combining Jinzo with Card Trooper and Limiter Removal means a potential 8600 damage. Finally, Card Trooper’s draw effect means that T can refresh his hand when it’s been decimated. As such, T can often find uses for dead cards in his hand. Destiny Hero - Malicious, Dark Magician of Chaos, Destiny Hero - Disk Commander, and Snipe Hunter usually require a few cards in hand to maximize their potential. However, T can’t simply wait around for more cards or he’ll be destroyed. Card Trooper allows him to make a play for either damage or defense while keeping his hand size up.

Destiny Hero - Malicious serves multiple purposes in this deck. The first is to act as tribute bait for the four tribute monsters that aren’t Cyber Dragon. Once that’s done, Malicious can fetch another copy of himself for either damage or Metamorphosis purposes. Metamorphosis will usually tribute a Malicious for either Ryu Senshi or Steam Gyroid. Senshi can negate trap cards and put a block on Monarch Spells like Brain Control or Soul Exchange, while Steam Gyroid pumps up with Limiter Removal. Once again, Jinzo plus Steam Gyroid and Limiter Removal can dish out a hefty 8200 damage.

Adding more tribute support and creating more problems for the opponent’s strategy are Destiny Hero - Disk Commander and Destiny Hero - Fear Monger. Using Premature Burial or Call of the Haunted on the Disk Commander is an excellent way to draw some cards and set up a tribute monster. Recursion through Fearmonger is also optimal, although once the Disk Commander hits the graveyard your opponent will be less likely to make frivolous attacks. This is something T could also have used to his advantage. Scaring an opponent into not attacking can set up a swarm of monsters and allow for a breakthrough finish for T.

Snipe Hunter has been receiving a lot of heat lately. Many players have either been in situations where terribly bad luck has let them down, or have seen one of Shane Scurry’s feature matches in which Snipe Hunter misses multiple dice rolls and kills any momentum he might’ve had. As such, many players have steered clear of this troublesome Fiend. This deck can use the discard power though, and Snipe Hunter provides multiple discards along with some potentially game-ending destruction capability. With several cards that are dead when in hand and a handful of tribute monsters ready to be special summoned by Premature Burial or Call of the Haunted, T can feel free to discard almost anything. Since he’ll usually have either Destiny Hero - Malicious or Premature Burial/Call of the Haunted in hand, he can almost always make the tribute summon happen.

Destiny Draw is an excellent card in this deck. The draw power and ability to dump unneeded cards allows T to set up a lot of plays and open numerous options. T can also get away with playing three copies because he’s got Snipe Hunter to back it up. The final choice I’ll bring up is Giant Trunade. While this card may look like it’s in place to set up an OTK, Trunade can win games by teaming up with Premature Burial and Call of the Haunted. Multiple revivals of cards like Jinzo, Destiny Hero - Disk Commander or Card Trooper can often be too much for the opponent to deal with. Ridding your opponent of his or her defensive options is just a bonus, and maybe the final nail in the coffin to boot.

The brilliance of the deck is its strong matchup against combo and OTK decks like Demise, DDT, and burn, while being able to maintain a good matchup against the more mainstream Monarch, Gadget, and hodge-podge decklists like those of Team Junky Spot. Combo and burn decks tend to have a lot of trouble against strategies that can break out in one turn. Since T is able to drop a massive amount of monsters so quickly (including Jinzo), he can drop the opponent’s life points below 2000 in a single battle phase. The pair of Snipe Hunter cards in T’s deck can also dampen the spirits of burn and stall players. Giant Trunade just adds to the pile of things these combo and burn decks will have to worry about.

If there’s one sure thing about this deck, it’s that it is very difficult to play. I believe it will be one of the most challenging decks to master, but those who can figure it out will be rewarded with excellent OTK and control power on a consistent basis. We haven’t seen the end of this build, and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see Theerasak make another Top 8 appearance with it at the next Jump he attends.