Hello! My name is Jerome McHale, and I’ve been a duelist since the release of the first set back in 2002. More recently, I participated in the National Championships after a first place finish at a Regional Tournament in Columbus. I hope that this article will give everyone a better perspective about the current tournament scene.
It was the dawn of a new age in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!. October 1, 2004 marked the first time in the history of the game that a U.S. duelist could walk into a tournament knowing that he or she would not get eliminated by a topdecked Yata-Garasu. On this day, the long-empty Forbidden Cards list was finally activated, and there was much rejoicing. Now, with Regional Tournaments fast approaching and a new forbidden list in place, we are faced with an important question: What deck should we play?
Since the Advanced format began a few weeks ago, many defunct strategies have been revived. Burn/Stall decks have risen from the ashes to earn the coveted title of “Tier 1,” along with Magical Scientist OTK and the ever-popular Best of Beatdown. Zombies have once again become a part of the metagame, and the new Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 is a commanding force. Even Warriors have found new life through the addition of Blade Knight and Command Knight, and it’s Warriors that I want to talk about today.
The Warrior deck first became playable back in 2003, after the release of Legacy of Darkness. The set brought efficient searching in the form of Reinforcement of the Army, quick monster removal with Exiled Force, and swarm power from the Marauding Captain. Legacy of Darkness even gave the Warrior deck Freed the Matchless General to carry its flag into battle.
As time passed and more sets were released, the Warrior deck got more and more tools. What happened to it? Why did the deck all but vanish when Invasion of Chaos came out? The answer is that Warrior decks rely on over-extension for victory. By rushing the opponent hard and fast with multiple summons and heavy-hitting level 4 monsters, the Warrior deck attempted to overrun the opposition before a defense could be established. This led to a quick drop in the Warrior duelist’s hand size.
After Invasion of Chaos became legal, players of Speed Chaos and Chaos Control took advantage of that fact by sitting behind sheep tokens and Wabokus until they drew their Chaos Emperor Dragon- Envoy of the End, Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, or any other mass removal card with a Yata-Garasu. After that, they would simply clear the field and peck you to death. With the elimination or restriction of the main mass removal cards in the game and the loss of Yata-Garasu, over-extension has once again become a viable strategy in major tournaments. Let’s take a look at a sample Speed Warrior deck.
Monsters
2 Goblin Attack Force
2 Marauding Captain
3 D. D. Warrior Lady
2 Blade Knight
3 Command Knight
1 Exiled Force
1 Freed the Matchless General
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Jinzo
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
1 Fiber Jar
1 Morphing Jar
Spells
1 Pot of Greed
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Reinforcement of the Army
2 The Warrior Returning Alive
2 Smashing Ground
2 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Snatch Steal
1 Change of Heart
1 Premature Burial
1 Painful Choice
Traps
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Wall
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Magic Cylinder
1 Horn of Heaven
As you can see, the above deck is built to swarm the opponent as early and as often as possible by using and reusing the Marauding Captains. It also packs plenty of removal in the form of Smashing Ground, Nobleman of Crossout, Exiled Force, and D. D. Warrior Lady. This allows you to get in a lot of quick, direct attacks. However, you will burn through your hand pretty quickly, so I’ve included Morphing Jar and Fiber Jar to help replenish it.
After the recent loss of both Sangan and Witch of the Black Forest, the Warrior deck remains one of the few decks with a cheap, efficient way to search out monsters. Reinforcement of the Army and Freed the Matchless General give the Warrior duelist access to well over 50% of the monsters in his or her deck, which provides the ability to build and maintain field presence. I would like everyone to note that I used Freed the Matchless General in this deck over the standard Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning. This is because Freed not only allows you to search your deck for almost any monster you may need on a given turn, but he’s also immune to the ever-popular Snatch Steal and Change of Heart. I don’t know about you, but it really ruins my day when I’ve come from behind in a duel only to have my opponent Snatch Steal my Black Luster Soldier and kill me with it.
I would also like to note the selection of traps in this deck. Warrior decks frequently have monsters on the field to spare, like a Goblin Attack Force that’s stuck in defense mode. It’s times like this when Horn of Heaven is incredibly effective. The monster that would normally have been able to kill your other guys while the Goblins are taking a nap is now removed from the field by tributing an easily replaced monster. Mirror Wall is also effective in dealing with any deck that relies on powering up monsters to smash the opponent, and it works well against other Warrior decks. The lack of spell and trap removal in the current environment means chainability is no longer a primary concern when choosing traps, so Magic Cylinder once again becomes a huge threat.
Of course, it would be unfair for me to go on endlessly about the merits of a Warrior deck, so I would like to leave you with a few countermeasures against them that you can easily side in after game 1. The first and most obvious is Kinetic Soldier. It gets +2000 ATK and +2000 DEF whenever it’s involved in battle with a Warrior. The other option is the oft-ignored Royal Oppression. For the low cost of 800 life points, this trap from Legacy of Darkness allows a player to negate and destroy any card whose effect results in a special summon. Warriors are all about special summoning, so this is obviously bad for them.
There you have it—my take on the new face of Warrior decks. Until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!
-Jerome McHale