I discussed Eradicator Epidemic Virus over in The Binder this past Monday, particularly the recent rulings reversal on Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast that might make it a sleeper hit in upcoming tournaments. When I finished reading that article, I immediately went to my new inbox for this column, and lo and behold, waiting for me was a new breed of Virus Control deck that I’d never considered. It was too good an opportunity to pass up—the perfect follow-up to Monday’s work and an intriguing example of how Eradicator Epidemic Virus could be wielded.
Without further ado, here are the creator’s comments on the deck he sent me . . .
Hello Jason,
My deck's main focus is to limit my opponent’s options via Destiny Hero - Plasma and Destiny End Dragoon. Using Plasma’s monster effect negation coupled with Destiny End Dragoon's monster removal, I can retain control of the field and quickly end the game. The control doesn’t stop at the field either, as I have included all three "Virus" cards. Destiny End Dragoon can be tributed with DDV and EEV and will return to the field the following turn.
I feel that at times this deck can be slow, and dead draws are an issue. What can I do to improve its speed and playability?
With much sincerity,
~Adrian A. - Team Apathy
Miami, Florida
Here’s the original decklist Adrian submitted:
Dragoon Control: 40 cards
I like what Adrian has attempted here—it’s ambitious, but it’s got potential. I think we can definitely tune this deck to help it win its share of matches in local play, but to do that, we’re going to need to keep Adrian’s own observations in mind: namely the number of dead draws that the deck can fall victim to.
Like most decks that try to ambitiously combine two strategies, I think this one is just trying to do too much. In fact, if you look at the situation carefully, Adrian’s attempting to combine more than just two strategies: he plans to use the Viruses, summon Destiny End Dragoon, and actually use Destiny Hero - Plasma and Dogma on top of that. It’s the latter element that I feel we need to remove. Adrian is concerned with keeping Plasma and Dogma as live cards, which has led him to play things like Fires of Doomsday and Grinder Golem. Polymerization is also being used over Fusion Gate, meaning that the deck can’t run certain forms of draw acceleration and actually has to draw into a Fusion combo. That makes it slow. If we can fix that problem, we’ll go a long way toward fixing up this deck. Let’s get started!
First on the chopping block is Grinder Golem—we’re going to be giving up on actually summoning Plasma, so the Golem is unnecessary. Both copies of Elemental Hero Prisma will be removed next strictly for issues of space, and one copy of Fear Monger will be removed too. Destiny Hero - Dasher is an obvious drop due to his low utility, and I can’t really figure out why he’s here. The deck has very few monsters it can actually special summon with Dasher’s ability and there are better Destiny Heroes that could be used in this slot.
Eliminating Fires of Doomsday is a must, as all it really accomplished before was the occasional summon of Plasma. With just one copy of Fires in the mix, I doubt it worked all that often. Future Fusion and Polymerization will both be dropped too, in favor of a faster Fusion engine. More on that in a bit.
From here on out, the rest of my drops will all be made as an effort to find space for the cards I want to add. I’ve dropped all the Elemental Heroes save Stratos, and cut down on the number of searchable Warriors, so removing the E - Emergency Call and one of the two copies of Reinforcement of the Army is an obvious choice. I’ll be placing more emphasis on Eradicator Epidemic Virus and adding other spell and trap removal, so I can afford to drop Mystical Space Typhoon and Heavy Storm—the latter is particularly important since I’ll be packing a field spell by the time I’m finished. From there, Brain Control is no longer an intuitive choice, and Allure of Darkness is going to be replaced by a card that fits this deck’s strategy far better—I’ll remove one Allure, but leave the other.
Finally, Trap Dustshoot and Mind Crush are two luxuries we just don’t have space for. While Mind Crush can be quite good in a deck with so many "Virus" cards (and thus a lot of chances to see the opponent’s hand), Dustshoot may actually rob me of chances to use Destiny End Dragoon’s effect, and there isn’t room for either. It’s a painful cut, but it needs to be made.
So far, we’ve removed eighteen cards: almost half the deck and enough for what I want to add. We need to start by tossing in some monsters, and I want to lean the deck’s lineup in a direction that supports the Virus engine. I need to replace some Destiny Heroes too, so Destiny Hero - Malicious is perfect for both of my purposes. On the one hand, it feeds Destiny Draw and the remaining copy of Allure of Darkness. On the other, it’s a great match for Crush Card Virus, emerging from your graveyard only when the time is right.
My other addition to the monster lineup will be a full retinue of Fusilier Dragon, The Dual-Mode Beast cards. Fusilier Dragon can be tributed for both Deck Devastation Virus or Eradicator Epidemic Virus when set face down, meaning that those cards will be playable far more often. The addition of Malicious and Fusilier Dragon to the fixed build will let the Viruses become a far bigger component of Adrian’s overall strategy, and will help to solve his speed issues.
Speaking of speed, we’re going to add a big dose of it to the deck with three copies of Trade-In. Since this deck is running six potential discards for Trade-In, it should be relatively easy to use, and because we’re not using Polymerization anymore, you’ll lose nothing by ditching copies of Plasma and Dogma. You’ll actually be able to use the Destiny Heroes you toss to the graveyard as Fusion materials, because I’m going to add three copies of Fusion Gate and Chain Material.
Playing Fusion Gate and Chain Material turns this from a three-card combo deck (it previously needed Plasma, Dogma, and Polymerization) into a two-card combo deck. And while Plasma, Dogma, and Polymerization only got you one Destiny End Dragoon, Chain Material and Fusion Gate can unleash up to three at once. The ability to do that is important, because Destiny End Dragoon is valid tribute fodder for both Deck Devastation Virus and Eradicator Epidemic Virus. So while Chain Material threatens to destroy any and all copies of End Dragoon you summon with its effect, you can activate the effect of a Dragoon you bring to the field to pick off a monster, and then tribute it off for a Virus before it’s destroyed. That makes summoning two or even three Dragoons all at once very attractive.
The deck now relies on Chain Material surviving a turn on the field in order to really go off—don’t worry, we’ll take care of that concern. In the meantime I want to add another copy of Deck Devastation and Eradicator Epidemic to the trap lineup. With Destiny End Dragoon cards popping up faster than ever before—and doing so in pairs or triplicates—these Viruses can be reliably played in more copies. Fusilier Dragon has the same effect, making it very safe to run more.
My final addition to the deck will help Chain Material and the Viruses be more reliable: a pair of Dust Tornado cards. These take the place of Heavy Storm and Mystical Space Typhoon, acting as spell and trap removal and also allowing us to set Chain Material or a Virus in the opponent’s end phase. That way, these cards won’t have to survive your opponent’s complete turn in order to be used on yours—especially important for Chain Material.
The changes I made to the deck are as follows:
The final build looks like this!
Dragoon Control—Jason’s Fix: 40 cards
Monsters: 14
3 Destiny Hero - Plasma
3 Destiny Hero - Dogma
2 Destiny Hero - Malicious
1 Destiny Hero - Disk Commander
1 Destiny Hero - Fear Monger
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
3 Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast
This new version of the deck is faster and more reliable than Adrian’s original, and it plays a far more aggressive lineup of disruptive cards—especially the Viruses. It can do a lot more, and at a faster pace, but let’s look at how it performs in the four parts of a duel.
When this deck goes first, its opening turn can be hit-or-miss, but when it hits, it hits huge. The ability to unleash Eradicator Epidemic Virus or even Deck Devastation Virus before the opponent can act is massive, as there are few heavily played decks that can handle either card right now. There are only six monsters you can even play to the field on turn 1, so the deck doesn’t command field presence, but the potential for disruption is extremely high despite that. Be careful to hold back your Dust Tornado cards—playing one without a long-term plan (or a steady read on what you’ll be destroying) is always risky, but it’s especially bad here, since a single Tornado can often be the difference between winning and losing. You don’t need to start your press early on—in fact, this deck can unleash more havoc when your opponent has two or three monsters on the field than when he or she controls just one. Don’t be afraid to take some damage early.
The same can be said for the early game, but it’s at this point where activating either a Virus or Chain Material with Fusion Gate becomes a real priority. Burn through your draw cards as fast as possible, unless you have the luxury of securely waiting on Allure of Darkness. Allure is flexible here, able to accept thirteen of the deck’s fourteen monsters as tribute.
By comparison, Destiny Draw has ten targets and Trade-In has only six, so make sure you prioritize the cards you give up for each. In general, you should usually discard Malicious, Disk Commander, or Fear Monger for Destiny Draw before discarding anything else—those three monsters aren’t compatible with Trade-In, so you really want to hold Plasma and Dogma if the number of Trade-In cards remaining in your deck is equal to or greater than the number of Destiny Draw cards. The same can be said of Allure—unless you see a potential play in the immediate future, or already have a Destiny Hero in hand, always pitch Fusilier Dragon instead of a Destiny Hero for Allure’s final effect. Figuring out what to discard (and when) is one of the more important decisions this deck will challenge you with.
If you get to a complicated mid-game with lots of cards on both sides of the table, things can be simplified quickly by your Viruses or mighty blasts from End Dragoon’s draconic maw (I think he’s got three of those, but I’m not certain). However, the deeper into a duel you progress without seeing Solemn Judgment, the higher your opponent’s chance of having one set—you need to be very aware of that, and draw out those Judgments whenever possible. You’ll find situations where allowing your opponent to negate a Virus may be the only way to unleash your Dragoons (or vice-versa), so calculate your moves carefully.
Should you be pushed into a topdecking war, things aren’t likely to go your way. However, if you managed to get even one Dragoon into your graveyard, topdecking shouldn’t be an issue, since you’ll be able to continually return Destiny End Dragoon to the field. Removing enough Destiny Heroes for two copies of Dragoon is usually ideal, because it should allow you to leave any copies of Plasma or Dogma you’ve discarded in your graveyard—just use Chain Material to get the necessary monsters from your deck instead. Your one huge topdeck in the late game is Burial From a Different Dimension, so if you have a Dragoon in the graveyard but have run out of Destiny Heroes to fuel it with, don’t give up hope until you see Burial.
Virus Control and Destiny End Dragoon can both be approached from a surprising number of perspectives. Combining them creates an interesting pincer attack with a lot of synergy, and I’m confident that this deck can carry you to some impressive performances at your local tournament. If you’ve been looking to play something totally out there and very combo-driven, then you should check this out. It can do some pretty insane stuff, and if you enjoy control decks, you’ll definitely enjoy this.
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Want to see your deck featured in The Apotheosis? Send your decklist, formatted like the one in this article, along with your name, location, and a short description of how the deck works, to metagamedeckfixes@gmail.com.