As promised, I’ll start off with a little reader mail regarding my “Secret Agent Man” deck from a couple weeks ago, and by a “little,” I mean, “one letter.” Amazingly enough, only two people had any feedback whatsoever, and one of those two thinks I should “read the ruils more man” because I “don’t know what u are talking about.” Now, I present the remaining piece of my reader mail.

Nate D. has a question that saddens me to the core.

I was just wondering, how is this deck supposed to win against Burn?

The answer? It’s not. In fact, there is almost no way that the current incarnation of Secret Agent Man could ever beat a standard Burn deck. This is primarily because of Wave-Motion Cannon and Lava Golem. The Cannon can build up more potential burn damage faster than you can reasonably gain life points, and Lava Golem does a great job of flat-out offsetting your gains. As anyone who has ever played against Burn can attest, most Burn decks play three Wave-Motion Cannons and one or two Lava Golems, so you probably aren’t going to get any breaks. All I can suggest is to side deck out your Stall cards and side in your own Burn cards if you want to stand a chance against a Burn-playing opponent.

That does it for my reader mail this week. My next order of business is to smash things and go on a massive fiery rampage through the countryside. Of course, the only real way to accomplish this is to be a huge, stomping, fire-breathing lizard. The only creature I’m aware of that fits that description is a dragon, so I’ll give you one guess as to what type of deck I’ll be building today. That’s right—a Dragon deck.

One of the interesting things about Dragon decks is that every player has their own conception about what a Dragon deck should look like. Newer players who may have just bought the Dragon’s Roar Structure deck may think that the Armed Dragon monsters represent the best of what Dragons have to offer. Fiercely competitive players look to Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 for all their stomping needs. Fans of the TV show hold on tightly to their Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Burst Stream of Destruction, while old-school players remember the days of the Lord of D. combined with The Flute of Summoning Dragon and a hand full of Blue-Eyes White Dragons with a quick sigh of nostalgia. Regardless of how many different views there are of the “Dragon deck,” one thing remains constant: players always seem to equate one specific, huge dragon with their image of the Dragon deck. For me, that dragon is Tyrant Dragon.

“It’s Good to be the King!”

Monsters: 19

2 Tyrant Dragon

1 Twin-Headed Behemoth

3 Element Dragon

3 Masked Dragon

3 Spear Dragon

2 Luster Dragon

1 D.D. Warrior Lady

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Tribe-Infecting Virus

1 Sangan

1 Sinister Serpent

Spells: 13

1 Pot of Greed

1 Graceful Charity

1 Delinquent Duo

1 Lightning Vortex

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Stamping Destruction

1 Premature Burial

1 Giant Trunade

1 Snatch Steal

2 Nobleman of Crossout

Traps: 8

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Mirror Force

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Ring of Destruction

2 Widespread Ruin

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

I feel like Tyrant Dragon elegantly sums up everything that’s good about being a dragon. First off, Tyrant Dragon is huge. With 2900 ATK and 2500 DEF, the only frequently played monster that can beat it in a straight fight is Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning. Second, its effects are an excellent representation of what happens when a dragon enters the fray. It fries something—then, if anything is left on the opposing side of the battlefield, Tyrant Dragon just lets out another blast of incendiary breath. Of course, this can be tiring for such a massive monster, so it can only muster up the strength to attack a maximum of twice per round of combat. Tyrant Dragon is also so incredibly powerful that it can simply ignore traps that target it such as Ring of Destruction and Sakuretsu Armor.

Finally, Tyrant Dragon is the king, and as the king, it demands tributes for its actions! You have to tribute two monsters to normal summon it, and if you want to special summon it from the graveyard, you’ll have to tribute another Dragon on your side of the field to successfully complete the summon. Even the art on Tyrant Dragon depicts it as a mighty creature lording over its domain with absolute supremacy! Now that we know whyTyrant Dragon is the king, let’s take a look at its subjects.

Masked Dragon helps to maintain order on the battlefield as a constant reminder of the King’s presence in the realm. It never seems to go away, even if it’s defeated in battle. In fact, sometimes when a Masked Dragon is defeated, it’s replaced by an even more powerful monster, the Element Dragon. Element Dragon is like the successor to the draconic throne, but it can’t reach full power on its own. With help from the other Wind or Fire monsters like Luster Dragon or Masked Dragon, Element Dragon can achieve new heights of power. With a Fire monster on the field, Element Dragon can increase its destructive power by 500 points, and with a Wind monster alongside it, Element Dragon can imitate the double-attacking powers of Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning.

Next, we have Spear Dragon, the berserker of the Dragon army. Well known for its ability to deal damage to an opponent regardless of the position of the opposing monster, Spear Dragon can dispatch most defensive monsters (especially Sheep tokens) with the greatest of ease. However, there’s a high cost for this destructive power, as the Dragon has to rest in defense position until the next turn—and with no defensive power whatsoever, it becomes somewhat of a sitting duck. Fortunately the Widespread Ruin left behind after a dragon’s assault is often enough to waylay any opposition that might try to take advantage of Spear Dragon’s momentary weakness. On the other end of the spectrum is the well-balanced Luster Dragon. With the same ATK value and a lot more DEF than Spear Dragon, Luster Dragon is the perfect monster for long term battles. Tsukuyomi can’t take it out and its Wind attribute helps to fuel the second effect of Element Dragon.

In the end, though, you should let the King do the talking. You’ll need to tribute for Tyrant Dragon somehow, and Twin-Headed Behemoth is a huge help in this task. Once per duel, the Behemoth can automatically special summon itself from the graveyard at the end of the turn in which it was destroyed. It may only come back with 1000 ATK and DEF, but it’s not there for its stats. If you’re simply reviving Tyrant Dragon, the Behemoth alone will satisfy its hunger, but if you plan on summoning it in another way, you’ll need another monster. Sangan and Sinister Serpent are both good at this, as is Masked Dragon.

Once Tyrant Dragon hits the field, the opposing forces are in for a world of hurt. Tyrant Dragon will destroy any monster your opponent cares to summon while the rest of your forces will run rampant through your opponent’s life points. The only problem is what happens if the fickle Tyrant somehow falls under your opponent’s control. Widespread Ruin is perfect for this contingency, as it doesn’t target the monster. In fact, most of the traps in this deck are non-targeting for just this reason. Tyrant Dragon is also perfectly vulnerable to spells and monster effects, which can either hurt or help, depending on the situation.

Interestingly enough, while dragons are always portrayed as magical creatures, all the Dragon-related spells in the game seem to involve smashing. For example, Stamping Destruction depicts, well, some Stamping Destruction. It also happens to provide a valuable service for any Dragon duelist. Mystical Space Typhoon is an excellent spell, but since it’s been limited to a single copy per deck, players have been hard-pressed to find decent spell and trap removal. Stamping Destruction lets you relive the days of three Mystical Space Typhoons while getting some decent Burn damage in to go with your standard destructive rampage. As for some of the other Dragon-specific support cards, some of them are too destructive even for my tastes (that means you, Burst Breath) and some of them are downright bad, like Dragon’s Gunfire.

What have we learned today?

1. I like Dragons.
2. Dragons are cool.
3. Writing while ill, or possibly delirious, is a bad idea*.

As usual, if you want to try out this deck, please feel free to do so. If you have any interesting suggestions or questions go ahead and send them to jcmchale@andrew.cmu.edu.

If you’re wondering why I appear to drift in and out of total insanity as this article progresses, kindly review the third lesson above. Until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!

Jerome McHale

NEXT WEEK: Here I am! Duh-duh-duhhhhh! Rocket like a Warrior!

*Remind me never to do it again. The illness-and-medicine combo isn’t good for your sanity. Now, if you’ll excuse me while the room spins around . . .