One of the most intriguing characters in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime is Seto Kaiba, the incredibly wealthy lone wolf who sports his Dragon deck at the finals of almost every tournament. His favorite card, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, might not be the greatest of cards, but it’s certainly one of the coolest. A Kaiba-themed Dragon deck probably couldn’t go the distance in a Shonen Jump Championship, but it’s an inexpensive way to get a friend hooked on the game at a local Traditional tournament.

We’ll try to make the deck Kaiba themed, but feature some Dragons that he hasn’t premiered himself. It might steal from the deck’s mystique, but it’ll definitely make it more fun to play. We’ll try to make an aggressive Dragon deck that pushes the opponent with damage and recruiters in the early game and pushes for a one-turn KO in the late game.

The deck is going to draw a lot of cards, but (more importantly) it’ll be able to quickly convert those cards into aggressive action that your opponent will have to deal with. We’re going to attempt to hit that perfect blend of a card-drawing engine and the ability to use cards that quickly back opponents into corners. All of this will be backed with the deck’s ability to draw into an early-game Five-Headed Dragon, which could easily put enough pressure onto an opponent to earn you a win. There are a lot of huge one-turn drops in this deck: if you’re ever in a position where a lucky draw could win you the game, this is probably the deck to go for it with (and, with the amount of aggression Dragons can pull early game, you should get into that position rather quickly).

The Monsters

The monster lineup mostly includes Blue-Eyes White Dragon for the deck’s theme, but you’ll notice that it’s a Light monster and an incredible piece of aggression if you get it next to Royal Decree. The copy of Kaibaman seems like a no-brainer in a Kaiba-themed deck as well: how could you not play a card based on the character in a deck made as a tribute to him? Here, the build is a bit unbalanced, but cards like Graceful Charity, Card Destruction, Morphing Jar, and Cyber Jar should take care of the need to draw the cards together.

Monsters: 20

1 Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End

1 Blue-Eyes White Dragon

1 Light and Darkness Dragon

3 Cyber Dragon

1 Tribe-Infecting Virus

1 Sangan

1 Witch of the Black Forest

1 Spirit Ryu

1 Cyber Jar

1 Morphing Jar

1 Treeborn Frog

1 Kaibaman

3 Exploder Dragon

3 Masked Dragon

The other monsters actually have quite a bit of synergy in the deck. Chaos Emperor Dragon’s best friend, Light and Darkness Dragon, is simply amazing in this strategy. It comes out fast and brutal, and the damage it deals is much more important in an aggressive build like this one. Morphing Jar and Cyber Jar will help you abuse your aggression, giving you extra fuel for the multiple summons. Spirit Ryu gives you additional monster removal through nearly unstoppable aggression and helps you take advantage of a large hand. There is a lot of potential in this card which hasn’t been exploited, especially in combination with the spell and trap lineups we’ll be including.

The Spells

The spell lineup is heavily based on three things: taking your opponent’s monsters to attack with, destroying opposing spells and traps, and drawing more cards. The inclusion of Dragon’s Mirror allows for late game comebacks that would otherwise be impossible. One of my favorite cards (and one which I used to win some of my earliest local tournaments) is Super Rejuvenation. Playing multiple copies at once can allow for an incredible drawing engine, especially when played next to Morphing Jar or Card Destruction. Notice that it’s a quick-play spell card, so you can set it next to Morphing Jar to draw an incredible number of cards. One of the most amazing hands I’ve ever had with this deck was Morphing Jar, two copies of Super Rejuvenation, and three Dragons. On turn 2, I had twelve cards in my hand (and yes, that included a Heavy Storm, Dark Hole, and Spirit Ryu).

Spells: 18

1 Pot of Greed

1 Graceful Charity

1 Painful Choice

1 Card Destruction

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Heavy Storm

1 Harpie’s Feather Duster

1 Raigeki

1 Dark Hole

1 Monster Reborn

1 Premature Burial

1 Snatch Steal

1 Change of Heart

1 Brain Control

1 Dragon’s Mirror

3 Super Rejuvenation

This spell lineup gets really aggressive. You’ll be taking your opponent’s monster just to attack with it or to tribute for Light and Darkness Dragon—both could win you games. You’ll be able to do so with little worry as well: the trap lineup will complement the three pieces of spell and trap destruction this deck runs. In competitive play, I might even suggest Stamping Destruction to add both burn pressure and added removal.

The Traps

The trap lineup is fairly simple: an attempt to disable your opponent’s traps to take advantage of the deck’s ability to be more aggressive than an opponent. Instead of playing removal spells, we’ll rely on our creatures to take care of it.

Traps: 2

2 Royal Decree

Playing the Deck

This deck makes for a great introduction to the game, offering strange combinations that a new player might not notice. There are a lot of small synergies that could involve an incredible amount of drawing in a single turn. While the deck has a formidable drawing engine, it has a stronger ability to rob the opponent of life points. Even if you’re in a tough spot in the late game, you’ll often be only a Snatch Steal, Brain Control, or Change of Heart away from winning, and that isn’t a bad position to be in!

—Ryan Murphy