As the Shonen Jump Championship in Washington approached, players around the continent were talking about the expected successful decks at the tournament. Zombies were definitely the most hyped, but were only a week old. Since copies of Il Blud were hard to find and the deck looked difficult to play, duelists looked elsewhere for competitive decks. Gadgets, Apprentice Monarchs, Perfect Circle, and burn were viewed as the other top contenders, and the Top 16 did not disappoint. Each of these decks took a spot in the Top 16, with a whopping five slots belonging to Zombies.

However, Zombies did not win. In fact, Zombies didn’t even make the finals. Instead, it was burn and Jonathon Labounty’s Perfect Circle deck that faced off in the finals, with the latter emerging victorious. While plenty of duelists placed their bets on Perfect Circle to be the best deck out of the gates, few players would have told you Phoenix Wing Wind Blast would make all the difference.

What we’ve seen so far in this format has been shocking. Previously, it was the consistent and powerful Monarch decks that were the most feared. They weren’t too combo oriented, except for the interaction between Monarchs and Brain Control or Soul Exchange. However, the deck would often pull out random combinations of powerful cards that would work to destroy the opponent. So even if you could stop the main focus of the deck, there was always an alternate route to victory.

Zombies don’t have such a luxury. If you’re able to stop their ability to flood the field with special summons, the deck will inevitably fall apart. The Zombie deck prides itself on the ability to combat most of these counters by main-decking Dust Tornado and being able to play aggressively with Pyramid Turtle and Giant Rat. This means that the deck can take advantage of both poor draws and overly conservative players.

However, like all combo decks, the possibility exists for a combo-breaking strategy to come along and pound it into the dirt. Donald Myers’ Warrior deck is one excellent example of a metagame-inspired build designed to take apart combo decks, and I’ll be looking at it next week. However, this week we’ll examine a deck that was able to capitalize on the opponent’s constant attempts to make game-breaking combos, both on its turn and on the opponent’s. Here’s what Miguel Albarran piloted to a Top 8 finished at Shonen Jump Chicago:

Monsters: 23

3 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch

3 Raiza the Storm Monarch

1 Card Trooper

1 Treeborn Frog

2 Apprentice Magician

1 Old Vindictive Magician

1 Magician of Faith

3 Volcanic Rocket

1 Sangan

2 Crystal Seer

1 Snipe Hunter

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

3 Volcanic Shell

Spells: 11

1 Blaze Accelerator

2 Wild Fire

2 Soul Exchange

1 Heavy Storm

1 Brain Control

2 Pot of Avarice

1 Book of Moon

1 Premature Burial

Traps: 7

1 Torrential Tribute

3 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast

1 Mirror Force

1 The Transmigration Prophecy

1 Bottomless Trap Hole

At first glance this appears to be a Monarch deck with a few extra tech cards, and in fact, that’s how the deck is supposed to be played. The combo of Soul Exchange and Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch/Raiza the Storm Monarch has tested true throughout the formats. Being able to take out any monster and play a Monarch in the same turn is extremely valuable, and this deck looks to take advantage of the concept.

However, Miguel knows that standard Monarchs need help breaking up the combo decks that are running rampant in this format. Phoenix Wing Wind Blast is how he chose to tackle the situation, but besides Treeborn Frog, Monarch decks generally don’t like to discard any cards to the graveyard. Miguel decided to pay for his discards with Volcanic Shell, a strategy that many players had adopted for the tournament. Miguel and Team Kamikaze took it one step further though, and decided to put Volcanic Shell to even more use through Blaze Accelerator. The card allows Miguel to turn his Volcanic Shell into monster destruction. Although it prevents him from attacking on any turn he uses the effect, Blaze Accelerator does not specify that the target must be face up or face down. Therefore, Miguel can take out any threatening target. When combined with Soul Exchange, his monster removal is completely versatile and available almost every turn.

Drawing too many copies of Blaze Accelerator could not be more unwelcome. To combat this issue, Miguel simply limited the card to one copy. But to be able to access the continuous spell whenever he chose, he ran three copies of Volcanic Rocket—a 1900 ATK search card for the continuous spell. Similar to the hurt that Elemental Hero Stratos can put on the opponent, Volcanic Rocket can drop its attack points on the field while replacing itself immediately with a copy of Blaze Accelerator. The best part about the card? It can grab Blaze Accelerator from your graveyard, which means that the single Accelerator will get lots of mileage while taking up only one slot in the deck. 1900 ATK also means that the Rocket can attack over Zombie Master and Elemental Hero Stratos while being able to take out all the same monsters they can. This gives Miguel’s deck a significant edge during the battle phase, and is one of the reasons why it was so successful.

Probably the most pivotal card Miguel used is Wild Fire. Dark Hole and Raigeki were feared cards during the days of the traditional format, and players have been looking for ways to make cards like Justi-Break and Grand Convergence work ever since. They’ve met with limited success because there is no search available for the required cards. Wild Fire doesn’t have that problem because of the availability of Blaze Accelerator in this deck. Having a quick-play Dark Hole available allows Miguel to prevent Zombies and Diamond Dude Turbo from exploding in one turn, and can rob the opponent of all of his or her field presence with one activation. However, that’s not all Wild Fire does. Its second effect also gives Miguel a token that boasts 1000 ATK and DEF and can be used as a tribute for a Monarch.

The Apprentice engine flows smoothly with the rest of the deck. Since Wild Fire prevents Miguel’s opponents from playing aggressively, Crystal Seer will often survive to be tributed for Raiza or Thestalos. The same can be said for Old Vindictive Magician and Magician of Faith, allowing Miguel to set the aggressive tone. Should the opponent make cautious attacks, he or she will be met by Apprentice Magician, who can turn the tables on even the most conservative players.

Snipe Hunter and Pot of Avarice are very popular cards this format, as they’re the only splashable cards available for what they do. However, these two cards perform a lot better in this deck than in others. With Volcanic Shell and Volcanic Rocket producing extra discard fodder, Snipe Hunter can take out targets for a low cost even if the first roll misses. Should Miguel encounter a string of good luck, he can take out entire fields with almost no cost at all. Pot of Avarice helps achieve that goal as well, and works beautifully with Volcanic Rocket: the graveyard is quickly filled with monsters and Avarice allows Miguel to recycle two of his Shells, only to search them out again.

With the North American metagame seeming to favor combo and burn decks at the moment, Miguel’s Volcanic Monarchs could very well be the next step to bringing Monarchs back into the spotlight. Being able to capitalize on old favorites while also breaking apart combo decks is what duelists have been looking for, and Volcanic Monarchs could very well be their answer.

—Matt Peddle