This year, it was Arcana Force 0 - The Fool. It’s a card that most people didn’t take a second glance at, but Yannick saw its hidden power. Combined with Nova Summoner to special summon it in defense mode, The Fool is basically just a wall to get around. Against most decks, having a monster that simply can’t be destroyed in battle isn’t that great. Gladiator Beasts can easily tag out for Gladiator Beast Murmillo, and Dark Armed and Lightsworn have their big Dragons. However, when The Fool flips tails for its effect, it can’t be targeted by any cards your opponent controls, and things get a little more difficult. The Fool could literally stick around for the entire duel.

Which deck, then, would benefit from having a wall it could stall with indefinitely? Yannick decided to go with Counter Fairies, and he used the template established by Jerome McHale that I reviewed two weeks ago. Here’s what Yannick ran:

Monsters: 20

As you can see, Yannick plays a bunch of risky cards that Jerome opted to forego. Van’Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord is a pretty good monster, especially when you’re playing as many counter traps as Yannick, but there’s no doubt that it can be a dead draw, and your opponent is going to want to prevent you from successfully resolving as many counters traps as possible. It’s also a Dark attribute monster, which does nothing to help Freed the Brave Wanderer, and it can’t be protected by Honest. For these reasons and more, Jerome opted not to play the card, but Yannick had one very good reason why he should: Arcana Force 0 - The Fool.

Should Arcana Force not flip properly the first time, Van’Dalgyon can special summon it back into defense mode after Yannick successfully negates a monster effect. He is then free to try his luck once more. Setting up a defense-mode Fool is all Yannick really wants to accomplish. From there, it simply has to be protected from non-targeting effects like Torrential Tribute, of which there are only a few. Van’Dalgyon offers recourse if the Nova Summoner plan falls through, and thus three copies made it into Yannick’s deck.

The rest of the monsters exist as essential cards in the Counter Fairy strategy. Freed the Brave Wanderer and Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter can take care of cards your opponent manages to get on the field, while Bountiful Artemis allows Yannick to offset the costs of Divine Wrath and Dark Bribe, while turning Magic Drain and Solemn Judgment into positive trades. Honest protects all of your Light monsters and offers an easy means to finish the duel against a player using Solemn Judgment.

Nova Summoner’s primary purpose is to special summon The Fool in defense mode. It’s in the deck instead of Shining Angel because it can do just that. Additionally, the Summoner can fetch Honest. With Honest’s ability to bounce to the hand, Nova Summoner can ultimately become an out to opposing monsters by turning into an Honest and going back to the hand in order to make an attack possible on the following turn.

Similar to Jerome, Yannick doesn’t play too many spell cards. In fact, he only plays four. Creature Swap is another way to answer cards that the opponent can get out before you negate them. Counter Fairies have amazing control over what cards are able to hit the opponent’s field, and with Creature Swap in hand, Yannick can make sure only the card he wants to take is on the table. He can then negate any of his opponent’s answers that would prevent the Swap from resolving. Finally, after taking a powerful monster, Yannick can back it up with all of his defensive cards. There’s nothing quite like leaning on the opponent with his or her own monster, forcing him or her to use card after card trying to take it out.

But let’s not forget about the Arcana Force. Remember that The Fool can’t be switched to defense mode and isn’t destroyed in battle, so swapping it over to the opponent and beating it up turn after turn is definitely a viable option. Imagine: Yannick summons The Fool and flips heads, and swaps it over to the opponent in exchange for Elemental Hero Stratos, Gladiator Beast Laquari, or Jain, Lightsworn Paladin. In the case of the latter two monsters, your opponent actually only has four turns before you beat him or her with just those two cards. The opponent can’t even turn The Fool face down with Book of Moon. It’s probably not something that happened very often, but it’s definitely an alternative route to victory. And it becomes even more possible with each copy of Van’Dalgyon Yannick draws into.

Mystical Space Typhoon is a great card in this format. Solemn Judgment and Bottomless Trap Hole are everywhere, and players are counting on them to stop key cards. Space Typhoon answers those cards before they can even be flipped, and can break the back of an opponent who needed Solemn Judgment to ensure that a Test Tiger + Elemental Hero Prisma combo went through.

Smashing Ground is there to answer Spirit Reaper, Gravekeeper’s Spy, or any other monsters your opponent is going to rely on. Humorously enough, it’s actually Yannick’s only way to deal with an opposing Arcana Force 0 - The Fool that’s flipped tails, though that probably wasn’t something he had to do at Nationals. Monster Reborn is in the deck and Premature Burial is not because Reborn can get around D.D. Crow. If Yannick believes his opponent to have the Crow, he can simply not activate Reborn on his own stuff. Instead he can force his opponent to use Crow to answer the free card Van’Dalgyon is trying to revive, strong-arming him or her into costly exchanges (not something you want to make against Counter Fairies).

Yannick’s deck is very tricky, very consistent, and extremely synergetic. He’s taken the skeleton of Jerome’s Counter Fairy deck and elevated it to new heights. The Fool really can win matches, and it was a big part of why Yannick was able to make the Top 8. Will Counter Fairies continue to see success on the Shonen Jump circuit? Only time will tell.

—Matt Peddle