In reflecting upon Shonen Jump Championship Baltimore, I’ve decided that there were a number of things missing from the weekend that would have made it more in line with my general expectations and probably less aggravating in retrospect than it currently is. The main one is a win by Teleport Dark Armed. I’ve seen Jason’s analysis of the reasons why Gladiator Beasts managed to win through a Top 16 that was clearly stacked against them, and I still don’t get how it happened. Fine, they played Gladiator Beast War Chariot and D.D. Crow, and the Teleport Dark Armed players didn’t run any more than one spell-based method of getting monsters off the opponent’s field. It still hideously favors the Teleport Dark Armed player, and the fact that the people running the deck were vastly more experienced threw it even further into their corner. With that said, the win still didn’t materialize, leading a lot of people to continue to claim Gladiator Beast dominance. These people are very wrong.

The other thing that baffled me as I went over the coverage from Baltimore and reflected on my own experiences was the total lack of Little City in the Top 16 and the tournament in general. I watched a lot of matches being played and observed a lot of people preparing their decks for the event, and I barely saw any Little City. I really hope that the deck breakdown will show that the deck really was there in force, but the fact that it didn’t make Day 2 at all makes me believe it wasn’t. I can’t help but feel that there was a huge opportunity being missed. Right now, there are two main categories of decks: the ones that special summon a ton of monsters and the ones that run Royal Oppression. You can then divide the Royal Oppression group into two more groups: Gadgets and Skill Drain decks. Of the two, I tend to prefer the Skill Drain decks, as they have the greatest chance of completely shutting down an opposing strategy without a second thought. Combine this with the fact that Little City can use all the effects it needs even while Skill Drain is on the field in addition to churning out consistently high ATK values, and it really makes you wonder where the deck was.

The predominant theory is that the Little City players decided that all was lost if they didn’t draw both Royal Oppression and Skill Drain, and that they decided to bin the deck based on that. I submit, however, that if you find a way to incorporate Lightning Vortex and Burden of the Mighty into the deck, you can make up for any deficiency caused by missing one or the other and additionally help to keep the severe beating that is Colossal Fighter at bay. Let’s try it out.

Monsters: 15

3 Honest
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
3 Elemental Hero Neos Alius
2 Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior
3 Elemental Hero Captain Gold
3 Exiled Force

Little City is on the opposite corner of the deck map from Gladiator Beasts, locking down special summons and negating monster effects instead of trying to generate lots of both. It also wins out big time in the battle of ATK strength since it’s got both Honest and eight monsters with original ATK greater than the original ATK of Gladiator Beast Laquari. It’s also the only deck I know of that can run down Gladiator Beast Heraklinos without losing any cards, and the potential of plays like that makes the single copy of Skyscraper in the deck pretty darn good. Think about it. If you get that Skyscraper down, you can take out any monster that your opponent has a reasonable chance of summoning with the singular exception of Colossal Fighter.

Frankly, nothing is going to take down Colossal Fighter in battle except another Colossal Fighter, so it’s best to put him out of mind and in the graveyard with Exiled Force. Skyscraper allows an unparalleled level of domination in the battle phase allowing your Elemental Heroes to survive any fight as long as the opposing monster doesn’t have equal ATK either before or after the 1000 ATK boost. You’ll basically never have a game where you can’t play the card thanks to Elemental Hero Captain Gold and the slew of cards that can search him out, and on the off chance that you draw it naturally, you now have another three 2100 or 3100 ATK monsters on your side. The main problem with Skyscraper is that it only works when you’re attacking, but that’s mitigated by the fact that you have Honest waiting in the wings to win those battles.

One of the things that often worries players when they consider running Little City is that it has an abnormally low monster count. Fifteen doesn’t seem like very many monsters, but when you’ve got a suite of search effects split between Reinforcement of the Army and E - Emergency Call, you’ll find that fifteen is plenty without clogging your hand with extras. In fact, being clogged with monsters is probably the worst thing that can happen to you with this deck: that would mean that you aren’t drawing any copies of Prohibition, Royal Oppression, or Skill Drain.

Since we’re talking about Skill Drain here, I think a quick rules primer for the card is in order. Skill Drain negates the effect of any monster that is face up on the field at the time that its effect would resolve or be applied. That means that if you summon Elemental Hero Prisma and activate its effect while Skill Drain is on the field, nothing will happen. If the monster is face down or not on the field when it would resolve, its effect is not negated. That’s why you have a full complement of Exiled Force cards. Exiled is in the graveyard when its effect resolves, so it doesn’t fall under the blanket of Skill Drain. One trick that Gladiator Beast players might try to pull on you involves using Book of Moon in response to their own Gladiator Beast Gyzarus effect to have it resolve and take out your Drain. This actually works, but if all is well you’ll have used Royal Oppression against the summoning anyway (making it irrelevant).

The other big rules hassle for this deck is the inclusion of Prohibition in the main deck. The latest iteration of rules on the card make it clear that you can’t put the prohibited card on to the field in any way, shape, or form. You can’t set it, or special summon it with Mystic Tomato or the effect of a Gladiator Beast monster.

Furthermore, you can’t use an existing face-down copy of a prohibited card to pay the cost of something or to perform a contact Fusion. In fact, you can’t use a face-down copy of a prohibited card for anything, making Prohibition into a sort of targeted Cold Wave at times. If you need to push an Exiled Force to the field to clear the way for game-winning damage, you can use Prohibition on Solemn Judgment to stop your opponent from flipping one and ruining your plan. Against Gladiator Beasts, calling Gladiator Beast Bestiari is a popular method of keeping the opponent from using his or her best tricks. Overall, you need to figure out exactly how and when to use Prohibition before you even get to the tournament.

While I would normally advocate a ton of Lightning Vortex cards, they really aren’t necessary for a deck that can battle its way through anything. Not having to waste any cards against Stardust Dragon is a huge boon, but just in case you absolutely need something out of the way right now, I stuck in a pair of Phoenix Wing Wind Blast cards. Popular for its ability to dump Destiny Hero - Malicious into the graveyard while taking an opponent’s card out of the picture, Wind Blast is just flat-out good. It’s also a solution to your Colossal Fighter problem that doesn’t involve losing one or more monsters to it. Little City is still a great choice in today’s metagame. With special summons flying at three or more a turn, Royal Oppression offers the chance to trade your life points for a total shutdown of your opponent’s strategy. It’s not something you can really play around like Solemn Judgment. You either have to destroy it, or lose. That’s one reason why my Synchro Dude deck packed a full complement of Grave Squirmer cards.

Make sure to join me next week when I’ll be playing with three copies of one of the most maligned ultra rares ever. Come on back, and until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!

—Jerome McHale