Today we’ll be looking at perhaps the strangest deck to be considered for play in a quite some time: it’s a strategy that looks to blend the Soul Control engine with the powerhouses of today’s format. That means you’ll be looking to capitalize on the monsters your opponent has invested in by taking them, then tributing them to play something of your own. I warn you, the following decklist seems almost unplayable at first glance. Today will be about open minds, testing new ideas, and innovation.
We’ll be using a small Gladiator Beast backbone to benefit from our opponents’ Gladiator Beast decks. This means that we’ll be using the opponent’s monsters to special summon copies of Gladiator Beast Gyzarus and Gladiator Beast Heraklinos. It’ll also allow us some aggressive responses to problems. That will be blended with a pinch of Psychic monsters, which will allow us to use any of our opponents’ monsters to Synchro summon. All of this will be tied together with the spell cards (I won’t spoil that surprise just yet), and made quickly retrievable with three copies of both Mystic Tomato and Giant Rat. You’ll basically be playing your opponent’s deck.
The Monsters
The monster lineup is an unlikely teaming of several decks. While it does seem inconsistent (and I would always argue against the combination of deck archetypes with little or nothing in common), the synergy between the monsters is actually quite strong.
The threads that connect everything within the monster lineup are the three copies of Mystic Tomato and Giant Rat. You’ll be able to fetch Test Tiger, Injection Fairy Lily, or D.D. Warrior (depending on what problem you’re looking at) using the Rat. Using the Tomato, your small Psychic monsters, Spirit Reaper, and Sangan will be searchable.
Generally, everything searchable via Giant Rat is an answer to a problem. Test Tiger, Injection Fairy Lily, and D.D. Warrior will take care of opposing Stardust Dragon cards and Heraklinos. Also, the Lily allows for large life-point depletions and quick games. The Mystic Tomato will either help you Synchro summon or play Crush Card Virus.
Other than those two sets of cards, we have Cyber Dragon to allow for faster play, and three Gladiator Beast monsters to allow for responsive aggression and abuse of the opponent’s Gladiator Beasts. So far, the deck is a bit lackluster—almost ridiculous—until we get to the spells . . .
The Spells
We have an enormous number of cards in our spell lineup that take our opponent’s monsters.
You’ll be putting some serious hurt on everyone who decided to show up to the event with the two most popular decks: Gladiator Beasts and Teleport Dark Armed Dragon. You have one Brain Control and three copies of Mind Control to take the monsters from your opponent’s side of the field. This means that they represent two things: direct monster removal, which allows you to grind your opponent’s deck to a halt, and an already paid cost for making a very large special summon. This is what the deck thrives on—you’ll find playing it very similar to playing Soul Control. You take your opponent’s monster and tribute it for a self-paying Monarch (it takes another of your opponent’s cards), and overwhelm your opponent with both easily generated field presence and the options gained from having an extra card (since you’ve played two cards to destroy an opponent’s monster, play a monster, and destroy at least one other card).
However, there are a few fundamental differences between the operation of this deck and Monarchs. Monarch decks have very little versatility: a Monarch can’t do anything different than exactly what it was meant to do and Soul Exchange can’t be bent to make strange and beneficial plays. Nothing in the deck is flexible, which means that if you draw a bad hand, your deck shuts down. There are three types of cards in a Soul Control deck: Monarchs, cards that take your opponent’s monsters, and cards that are meant to slow the game and help you with that process. If your hand tilts too far in one of the three directions, it can quickly turn into a horrible situation. Here, you’ll see fewer dead hands and much more versatility.
Notice that we also have three copies of Autonomous Action Unit and Creature Swap. Swap is going to work incredibly well with Giant Rat and Mystic Tomato if you haven’t already guessed. You’ll take an opponent’s monster and special summon another without cost, while also dealing some hefty damage in the process. The three copies of Autonomous Action Unit allow you to quicken your presence on the field, which grants you an additional card to special summon (and also makes it easier to get to your Extra deck). It works best against Gladiator Beast decks, where you’ll be able to reuse the Gladiator Beasts you’ve already stolen once from your opponent, send them back to the deck, and special summon one of your own (or simply take Gladiator Beast Bestiari and contact Fuse for Gyzarus).
Next, we have two copies of Gladiator Proving Ground, which brings our Gladiator Beast monster count up to five. That’ll be one in every eight cards, which means we’ll most likely have access to a Gladiator Beast when it is beneficial. We also have two copies of Emergency Teleport, which will let us Synchro summon almost every time we have a copy of Mind Control.
The Traps
The trap lineup is incredibly small, but packs three copies of Threatening Roar. The largest fault of this deck is the fact that it is incredibly reactive to your opponent. It operates in a manner similar to Soul Control decks, but doesn’t run Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. This difference marks a major weakness in the deck: you can’t do anything if your opponent doesn’t either (of course, that also means you aren’t in any immediate danger). All your largest moves are based on baiting your opponent into making a large move first. If your opponent commits his or her hand to the field, you’ll most likely be sweeping it the following turn, setting up a large force of your own, and playing against an opponent hoping to draw into a card that will help him or her (a card which most likely doesn’t even exist).
That’s where Threatening Roar comes in. You’ll be able to stop your opponent from depleting your life points while he or she makes that one move (the one that’s supposed to win the game). Instead, you’ll play the Roar and make it the worst move he or she could’ve chosen.
The Extra Deck
The Extra deck is incredibly important, but flexible. You just want to have as many different Synchro monsters as possible, allowing the maximum number of options on hand in any given situation.
Hopefully, you’ll have the time to give this eccentric deck a try, and even improve upon it. At the very least, it should help you to think outside the box (something that always benefits the top players). Good luck, and no one playing this deck should have to be told to have fun: it does something different every game!
—Ryan Murphy