A lot of people are using Chaos monsters in Yu-Gi-Oh! U.S. Nationals, but a few are running decks that despite utilizing Chaos monsters, are in reality finely-tuned anti-Chaos decks. They take skill to build and even more skill to play, but when created and used properly they do what they’re designed to do: crush traditional Chaos and Chaos/Control decks. Evan Vargas, from Dallas, is running one such deck.

“I almost don’t like it when people refer to my deck as ‘a Chaos deck’”, explains Vargas. “Sure, it uses Dragon, but it doesn’t run Luster Soldier or anything. Kycoo matches other 1800s and obviously prevents special summoning stuff, while Airknight provides hand advantage and a way to cut through the defense position Angels, Tomatoes, and Warrior Ladies. Fiber Jar resets the field to disrupt the wall of monsters that Chaos sets up, and three Torrential Tribute clear the field. It just sort of happens that I can support the Dragon, so I run it.”

Here’s Evan’s decklist:

Main Deck
3 D. D. Warrior Lady
2 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2 Airknight Parshath
1 Sangan
1 Witch of the Black Forest
1 Sinister Serpent
1 Fiber Jar
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
1 Yata-Garasu
1 Magical Scientist
1 Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End
1 Raigeki
1 Dark Hole
1 Change of Heart
1 Monster Reborn
1 Pot of Greed
1 Graceful Charity
1 Mirage of Nightmare
1 Delinquent Duo
1 The Forceful Sentry
1 Heavy Storm
1 Harpie's Feather Duster
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Snatch Steal
1 Premature Burial
1 Scapegoat
1 Mirror Force
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Imperial Order
3 Torrential Tribute

Fusion Deck
1 Fiend Skull Dragon
2 Ryu Senshi
3 Thousand-Eyes Restrict
3 Dark Balter
3 Dark Flare Knight
2 Empress Judge
2 Roaring Ocean Snake
1 Dragoness the Wicked Knight
2 Charubin the Fire Knight
2 Karbonala Warrior
3 Deepsea Shark
3 St. Joan
1 Musician King

Side Deck
1 King Tiger Wanghu
1 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2 Berserk Gorilla
1 Jinzo
1 Confiscation
1 Scapegoat
2 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Poison of the Old Man
2 Waboku
2 Dust Tornado


It’s a tight deck that really shows Vargas’ personal style (complete with the Airknights that he’s so partial to). It’s a basic theme with perfect execution that really goes for the throat of Chaos decks.

The side deck is interesting. “It works to counter Scientist, Deck Destruction, Zombie, Control, Chaos—pretty much everything”, states Evan. King Tiger Wanghu has been a surprisingly underplayed card in the Nationals metagame, and given the amount of tech against Chaos that people have been running in their side decks, it’s odd that Wanghu isn’t more popular. Choices like a third Kycoo, Jinzo, Confiscation, and the two Nobleman sort of write themselves, but the two Poison of the Old Man and the Scapegoat are choices that show the level of familiarity the player has with both his deck and his play style. Poison of the Old Man is a clever pick, giving a great counter to those players who are prone to being fooled into using spell and trap removal unnecessarily. It’s a very high utility card given it’s spell speed and its dual effect, and chained against the effect of a Chaos Emperor Dragon it’s a really nice way to add insult to injury.

Against Scientist One-Hit KO decks, the deck does as well as one could ask, running the five big Scientist-stumper trap cards: Ring of Destruction, Imperial Order, and three Torrential Tributes. It’s a bit weak against Last Turn decks, but Last Turn decks are such a small part of any metagame that it’s not generally a concern. Evan’s Anti-Chaos is simple, but in a positive way that allows a truly skilled player to stick to one goal and accomplish it: win, solidly and resiliently. Resiliency is what wins major premier events, and this deck has it in spades.