Mike Pianka is 3-1 right now with an innovative Burn deck being played by multiple top duelists here today. Created by Nick Palermo, it’s drawn comparisons with recent European strategies and has racked up quite a few wins today in the hands of Yugioh ETC pilots like Chris Flores and Andre Borges.

The deck uses a ton of currently popular tech in this format to beat out the top decks, and then applies proven Burn strategies and three copies of Reckless Greed to get to its win condition cards. Here’s what it looks like:

Monsters: 12 

3 Cyber Valley

3 Destiny Hero – Defender

1 Destiny Hero – Fear Monger

1 Sangan

1 Morphing Jar

1 Destiny Hero – Disk Commander

1 Card Trooper

1 Elemental Hero Stratos

Spells: 13

3 Destiny Draw

3 Wave-Motion Cannon

2 Allure of Darkness

2 Reinforcement of the Army

1 Monster Reborn

1 Scapegoat

1 Machine Duplication

Traps: 16

3 Reckless Greed

3 Skill Drain

1 Royal Oppression

3 Dark Bribe

3 Solemn Judgment

1 Crush Card Virus

1 Ceasefire

The deck is essentially a modernized version of Comic Odyssey Burn, Hugo Adame’s Skill Drain masterpiece that served as progenitor to strategies like Machine Burn and other variants. Like that deck, Pianka’s retains three copies of Skill Drain, a card that’s arguably far better now than it ever was a year ago in CO Burn’s heyday. The deck uses the Dark Bribe and Solemn Judgment protection engine as well, the same engine that Comic Odyssey made so famous at SJC Chicago over a year ago.

But it’s the deck’s innovations that make it noteworthy. A single copy of Royal Oppression provides an even greater edge in what is now the most common matchup in the average SJC metagame — Gladiator Beasts. While running just a single copy doesn’t guarantee that Pianka and co. will see Oppression in every game, the fact that he’s running double the number of negation traps means that once he gets Oppression to the field he’ll be able to keep it there far more readily than other decks.

Allure of Darkness and Destiny Draw add acceleration, thanks to the addition of the deck’s lynchpin: Destiny Hero – Defender. After making an impressive showing at the European Championships a few weeks ago, Defender has seen virtually no play in North American metagames. This deck changes that, tapping into the massive DEF value and combo potential that this card gives its controller access to. With Skill Drain on the field Defender’s drawback effect is negated, making it a cost-free wall that’s relatively easy to maintain. Without access to the effects of cards like Gladiator Beast Gyzarus, Dark Armed Dragon, or Ehren, Lightsworn Monk, it’s nearly impossible to get rid of. This defensive strategy is so effective that it actually doubles as a secondary win condition should the opponent call “Wave-Motion Cannon” with Prohibition.

Speaking of, the Cannon makes a reprising role here as the deck’s number one path to victory: no surprise, as that’s generally pretty standard for control-oriented Burn variants. Ceasefire is also played though, and it’s worthwhile to note that the impact of these cards is much higher now than it was in Burn’s last dominant era. The reason? Everybody’s running Solemn Judgment. When players willfully chop their life points in half, frequently as early as their opponent’s first turn, the viability of big burn damage goes way up. Ceasefire can win matches all on its own, a surprisingly likely scenario given that the average player simply has no idea how to approach this matchup.

Reinforcement of the Army ensures access both to Destiny Heroes for use with Destiny Draw, as well as Destiny Hero – Defender as a defensive tool. There isn’t much to Reinforcement for in this deck, but ratcheting in the Defender lock with Skill Drain on the field is brutal enough to warrant running the maximum number allowed. The other monster that this deck runs in triplicate is Cyber Valley, a defensive powerhouse that accomplishes the same two goals Defender achieves: drawing cards, and creating defensive walls. Granted, the defensive capability of Cyber Valley isn’t nearly as permanent as the solution offered by Defender, but it’s an important part of the deck’s defensive suite — redundancy is needed in order to create consistency. Pianka, Flores, and the rest are also playing a single copy of Machine Duplication for the early game triple Valley play, drawing even more cards under the right conditions.

In a format where defense is severely underrated, this deck accomplishes what few others can and dominates because of it. It’s unclear whether or not anyone piloting this build will make it to Day 2, but if they don’t, this build should still be a great springboard for duelists interested in playing a new iteration of the old Skill Drain Burn strategy.