Many of the game’s top players have experimented with Deck Devastation Virus at some point in their dueling careers. The card made significant appearances at Shonen Jump Championship Long Beach and Shonen Jump Championship Hamilton, and now it’s a top pick for the new Advanced format. If you’ve read the card over before, you know what it offers: incredible hand disruption, information about your opponent’s options, and even a quick answer to cards like Sakuretsu Armor and Bottomless Trap Hole. If you’ve ever tried to put a deck together around it though, you’ve probably hit one bump in the road.

What are you going to tribute for it?

Well, there are more than fifty Dark attribute monsters with 2000 ATK or more in the game, so just listing them all wouldn’t be very helpful. Many (like Flash Assailant or The Earl of Demise) are probably not very strong picks. So instead of just hammering out a list, I’ve picked through the history of the game to bring you my top twenty choices of potential tribute monsters for Deck Devastation. Some of these might be familiar or obvious, but others you may not have considered, and I’ll take you through the advantages of each. Last week’s “cheat sheet” for Return combos got some good feedback, so hopefully I can toss more deck-starting ideas your way this time, too. Goodness knows it’s time for deck-starting ideas, isn’t it?

This week, I’ll look at the first ten monsters, conveniently grouped into Spellcasters, Warriors, and Zombies. Next week I’ll lay out the final ten, examining the options available to Machines and Fiends. You don’t necessarily need to combine monsters from just one monster type, but by organizing them this way, it illustrates some immediate synergies. Plus, looking at the lists pre-arranged by monster type will make it a lot easier for you to select monsters that can work well with decks you’re already working on.

Let’s get started with a look at Spellcasters!

Spellcasters

Magical Marionette:

Jason and Jerome have both developed a taste for this guy lately. In a format where the easy monster removal offered by Chaos Sorcerer is no longer mainstream, Marionette’s effect can be incredibly valuable: smiting both face-up and face-down monsters with total disregard for their type, attribute, or ATK. Marionette is exceptionally good when combined with cards like Toon Table of Contents or even Gather Your Mind, allowing you to sweep the field of multiple monsters the turn you summon it.

Of course, if you don’t want to use Marionette’s effect to destroy monsters, you can leave the spell counters on it and just watch it get very, very big—big enough to take down Cyber Dragon, pesky Monarchs, and more! One of the great things about Marionette is that you can summon it, give it a few counters, and attack a big monster. Then you can fire off the rest of its spell counters for its effect in main phase 2, and tribute it for Deck Devastation Virus to clean up what’s left. That’s a lot of utility for one card.

Dark Magician Girl:

Dark Magician Girl can support Deck Devastation Virus in a Spellcaster deck based around Dark Magician, where its lower tribute cost makes it an easier sacrifice than Dark Magician itself. Just one Dark Magician in the graveyard will give Dark Magician Girl the strength to take down Cyber Dragon, and if it’s at 2300 ATK and threatened by a Monarch, you can tribute it away to make the best of a rough situation. Plus, you get to sit and look at Dark Magician Girl. I know a lot of you like to sit and look at it. I’ve seen you do it.

Dark Elf:

Now we’re getting old school. This was one of my favorite monsters back in the day—it was a great opening summon because it could hold off just about anything, and people hardly ever took it with Change of Heart. Dark Elf has one of the highest ATK scores for a level 4 monster that can be normal summoned, and it’s perfect tribute fodder for Deck Devastation Virus. It’s the only Spellcaster that can be normal summoned and tributed for the Virus, so it makes a good splash into any deck using it. As always, its 1000 life point cost to attack is a double-edged sword. On one hand, you’ve got to have some guts to attack with it. On the other, you can count on your opponent thinking twice before stealing Dark Elf with Brain Control.

Dark Magician of Chaos:

Dark Magician of Chaos is by far the most “invested” monster we’ll discuss here today, but it has its advantages. Its effect bounces a spell card from your graveyard to your hand, but if it’s ever removed from the field, it is removed from play. (Might be worth considering, in line with the last few weeks’ worth of articles, hmm?) Dark Magician of Chaos demands a big investment, but for the right Deck Devastation Virus build, it’s a gem.

It’s important to note that of these four monsters, everything but Dark Magician of Chaos can be special summoned from your deck with Magician’s Circle. That means you can search out your tribute fodder as needed—a relatively rare ability for a Devastation Virus deck. In addition, all four of these monsters can be special summoned from your hand with the effect of Magical Dimension. Nice!

Let’s step right along and look at our next type—

Warriors

The Fiend Megacyber:

Using The Fiend Megacyber with Deck Devastation Virus is just mean. Ideally, you’ll let your opponent summon or set two small monsters. Then, you special summon Megacyber with its effect and start evaluating your options. If you tribute it immediately, you’ll clear the field for an attack this turn—remember, you’ve still got a normal summon. If you think the opponent has Sakuretsu Armor or Mirror Force set, you just send Megacyber into battle.

When the opponent flips his or her trap card and targets Megacyber, you chain Deck Devastation Virus and tribute it off. You were going to lose the Megacyber regardless, but this way you’ve drawn out one more card from the opponent. Though you can’t search out The Fiend Megacyber from your deck (at least not very easily), you can tribute it and then return it to your hand with The Warrior Returning Alive.

Zombyra the Dark:

Perhaps one of the most popular monsters on this list, Zombyra the Dark is arguably the most convenient monster to use with Deck Devastation Virus. Searchable via both Reinforcement of the Army and Freed the Matchless General, Zombyra’s 2100 ATK puts it well into tribute range for the Virus. In addition, its ATK score means that it can go head-to-head with Cyber Dragon in a pinch, trading off to eliminate the Dragon. That means you can save cards like Exiled Force for bigger threats like Jinzo and Zaborg the Thunder Monarch.

The more potential tributes you run in a deck built around Deck Devastation, the easier it will be to use it. Zombyra is very cool because with three copies and two Reinforcement of the Army cards, you’re essentially running five potential “hits” for the Virus. At the same time, you’re only giving up three deck slots. Reinforcement can be used to fetch other monsters as needed, so you’re making the most of a streamlined deck list.

Destiny Hero - Dasher:

Did you know this new Destiny Hero was also a perfect fit for Deck Devastation Virus? Destiny Hero - Dasher’s high natural ATK can combine with its discard effect to take out virtually any monster regardless of its size. You can only use its effect to increase its ATK by 1000 points on your turn, not your opponent’s, so if it comes under fire from Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys or a Monarch, Dasher could be in trouble. In addition, when it does make a successful attack, it’s going to go to defense position, and it only has 1000 DEF.

Deck Devastation Virus is the perfect way to keep Dasher from being a one-hit wonder. Send it into battle, get off a big hit, and then—when and if the opponent retaliates—just tribute it off to strip the opponent’s hand, field, and next three draws. With Destiny Hero - Dasher in the graveyard, you’ll be able to use its second effect as early as your next draw phase. That means more field presence for you, and you might even get to circumvent the tribute cost of a big monster.

Don’t forget that Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade can make even more Warriors into tribute bait for the Virus. The Blade will bump D. D. Survivor to 2100 ATK: perfect for both destroying Cyber Dragon and being offered for Deck Devastation.

Finally, let’s see what’s available to you Zombie fans!

Zombies

Ryu Kokki:

The number-one Zombie beatstick out there right now has got to be Ryu Kokki. Appearing in the Top 8 of SJC Indianapolis and SJC Hamilton, Kokki’s massive 2400 ATK makes it a force to be reckoned with. While part of its strength in the last format was based on its ability to oust Chaos Sorcerer in battle, the fact that the Sorcerer is now gone doesn’t make Kokki a weak choice. It still beats up on Cyber Dragon, it trades with Monarchs, Jinzo, and Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, and it kicks out huge amounts of damage. Since it’s such an aggressive monster, it can be vulnerable to trap cards, making it a nice choice for Deck Devastation.

Vampire Lord:

The removal of Chaos Sorcerer has made Vampire Lord quite a bit more useful. Though Cyber Dragon can still rob it of its effect, you can always tribute it for Deck Devastation Virus in a situation where you were going to lose it anyway. You won’t get the Vampire Lord back next turn, but if you can redirect the Cyber Dragon’s attack to a Spirit Reaper or Pyramid Turtle, you accomplish a lot.

Patrician of Darkness:

Here’s a card no one remembers. If Vampire Lord was dancing on Chaos Sorcerer’s grave, then Patrician of Darkness is the one that threw the party to begin with. This card teams up with a defense-position Spirit Reaper to effectively negate all of your opponent’s attacks. Better yet, it can redirect attackers into Ryu Kokki to destroy them instead. Patrician saw little to no play in the last format, but that’s because Chaos Sorcerer made such short work of it. Now, this monster’s only big concerns are Zaborg the Thunder Monarch and monster removal like Exiled Force or Smashing Ground. In the event that any of those threats hit the field, chain Deck Devastation Virus to take the Patrician out of the equation. The opponent wastes the effect, and you get to mess up his or her hand for three turns.

All three of these monsters can be searched out with Pyramid Turtle, making Deck Devastation Virus a very reliable pick for any Zombie deck. Odds are good that a topnotch Zombie build will run at least a few of these monsters anyway, so it isn’t a very big leap to slip two Deck Devastation Virus cards into your trap list. Zombies are perhaps the best monster type to side Deck Devastation, since it requires virtually no changes to your monster lineup and is undetectable until the moment the Virus is revealed. Plus, you can always tribute a Zombie for the Virus, and then special summon it back with Book of Life immediately after. That’s great for those situations when you’re tributing a Zombie to force an opponent’s attack elsewhere, because it lets you hit unexpectedly against a vulnerable field on the next turn. Remember, you can get several of these cards in the Zombie Madness structure deck—it’s got Ryu Kokki, Vampire Lord, and Pyramid Turtle.

That’s it for this week—seen any deck-building ideas yet? If not, don’t worry: we’re only halfway through the lineup. Next week I’ll show you the best of the best from the ranks of Machines and Fiends, including two that made it all the way to the Top 8 of this year’s World Championships. See you next time!