There’s a certain thrill attached to the summoning of a boss monster that really can’t be duplicated by anything else in the game. I suppose it has something to do with the whole "wielding absurd amounts of power" thing that most players like to do. Just to clarify, when I talk about "boss monsters," I’m talking about the biggest, baddest monster that a particular theme can drop. I don’t consider Dark Armed Dragon a boss monster, because he isn’t really the boss of a specific deck. By definition, a boss monster needs a few specific traits. First, it needs to be huge. I’d consider 3000 ATK the magic number for a boss monster, though more is always better. Second, it needs to have an absolutely game-breaking effect or suite of effects. Finally, summoning it should put the opponent in an insurmountable or nearly insurmountable position, if not win you the game outright. Dark Armed Dragon really only fits the second description given that it gets hosed by a simple Book of Moon.
Gladiator Beast Heraklinos is definitely the boss monster of the Gladiator Beasts. It’s huge, it can negate spell and trap cards, and the optimal sequence of plays for dropping it digs a 300-esque pit and kicks your opponent into it. The methods of dealing with Heraklinos are few and frequently un-played, making the prevention of the card’s summoning a paramount priority when facing the Gladiator Beast deck. The same thing can be said of Judgment Dragon, with players continuously checking their opponent’s graveyard for Lightsworn monsters to see how much time they have left before Judgment Dragon can start dropping or how many Judgment Dragon cards they don’t have to fear, barring recursion. It doesn’t even mess around with that negation stuff: just drop it for free and clear the field for 1000 life points before swinging for 3000 damage. More than one Judgment Dragon at a time is usually a win, and when the Dragon hits, it’s usually game no matter what you do.
This brings us to the focus of today’s deck. Judgment Dragon wasn’t the only boss monster released in Light of Destruction. Depending on your definitions, at the very least Ancient Gear decks and Destiny Hero decks received boss monsters of their own, and thus far no one seems to have given them much attention. It’s a shame, considering that one of them almost certainly wins the game when it comes out and the other is nearly impossible to get rid of and carries a more versatile and one-sided version of the effect of Ring of Destruction. It’s the latter card, Destiny End Dragoon, that’s been my focus since I played against a deck making use of it in the final Swiss round, and then the finals, of a recent tournament. While I managed to defeat it easily in the last Swiss round (owing to a combination of poor draws for its pilot and incredible draws for me), the tables were turned in the finals, forcing me to play like a madman to pull through. Thankfully, between some timely pre-event modifications to my deck, actually drawing my side deck cards, and intelligent play, I managed to win, but not before I discovered first-hand exactly how menacing Destiny End Dragoon really is. It inspired me to come up with my own Destiny End Dragoon deck to cut a swath of destruction through a local event or two, and I figured it’s definitely worth sharing.
The main would-be problems of Destiny End Dragoon are that it usually isn’t going to instantly win the game like a Judgment Dragon barrage can, and it can’t protect itself from harm like Gladiator Beast Heraklinos can. Dragoon makes up for both of these with an ability never before seen on a Fusion monster: it can return to the field every turn. Sure, one one-sided Ring of Destruction might not win you the game—especially if you have to use it against a face-down monster and deal no damage as a result—but forcing your opponent to choose between losing his or her guy and taking 3000 to the face every turn seems pretty good to me. Combine this with the fact that most monster removal is monster-based these days, and you’ll find that it’s actually quite difficult to destroy Destiny End Dragoon on your own turn without wasting cards, only to see it come back.
Fortunately for opponents, Dragoon destroys itself a vast majority of the time at the end of the turn during which it’s first summoned due to the side effect of Chain Material, but that’s hardly an issue given Dragoon’s recursion effect. Basically, the only thing you need to worry about is Bottomless Trap Hole, and even then the opponent would have to wait until Dragoon revives itself for the first time to avoid you just pulling out another Dragoon that turn.
This brings me to an interesting point. Chain Material says, "any time you Fusion Summon a monster this turn." Fusion Gate doesn’t say "once per turn." Between Fusion Gate and Chain Material, you can actually drop all three Dragoons in one turn and use them to wipe an opposing army off the field, dealing massive damage as you go. Seeing as how nearly all the successful decks are using Solemn Judgment right now, all you really need to do is get the opponent to burn one in order to protect those monsters, and then go to town with some Dragoons. One of the biggest dangers to playing Solemn Judgment in a competitive environment used to be that you could easily get toasted by Ring of Destruction. After Ring went away, it became safer and more necessary to use Solemn Judgment, and now there’s a new deck that can punish players for it without having to resort to stall tactics and continuous spell and trap cards to do so. Even better, the deck is pretty easy to run.
The basic strategy for this deck is to sit behind the mortal enemy of the metagame, Legendary Jujitsu Master, while playing draw spells that load your graveyard with Destiny Heroes while looking for the Fusion Gate/Chain Material combo. Then, once you get it or get into a position that you can just flat-out summon the Dragoon, you do it and terrorize the field. There’s nothing very fancy going on here, just draw acceleration and a huge monster that you’re going to drop on unsuspecting opponents and wreak havoc with.
One of the biggest advantages of the monster is that people will have a terrible time figuring out how to play against it. Most opposing players will only have their side-decked copies of D.D. Crow or Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror as an out to the Dragoon, and that’s if they can kill it in the first place. In defense of the current main decks, they definitely have monster removal. The problem for your opponents starts with that removal in the form of a boss monster of their own, Dark Armed Dragon, or Gladiator Beast Murmillo. Gladiator Beasts are going to have a difficult time with the main-decked Jujitsu Masters, and they’re likely to have to blow their Test Tiger to get through Jujitsu Master, leaving your Dragoon safe upon its summon.
As I mentioned before, Bottomless Trap Hole can be an issue, but with the Chain Material + Fusion Gate combo, the problem is basically solved for as long as Dragoon stays on the field. You can also get around the trap card by holding off on reviving the fallen Fusion until you’ve seen Mystical Space Typhoon or Heavy Storm, or by summoning either Destiny Hero - Dogma or Destiny Hero - Plasma and forcing your opponent to act. Trust me, no one wants to see either of those monsters on the table, and an opponent will burn removal to avoid a beating. Remember, your deck looks like a Destiny Hero - Plasma strategy until you drop the first Dogma into the graveyard, so take advantage of the potential play patterns an opponent would use against that deck to push your strategy forward.
Destiny End Dragoon is one scary card to see facing you from the other side of the table. When I had to deal with it, not drawing Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror would easily have meant game in my opponent’s favor, and if I hadn’t drawn a second Mirror to replace the first one after its untimely destruction, I was still going to lose. Just because answers exist doesn’t mean you’re going to get them or that your opponent isn’t going to be able to play around them, and when opponents are playing with this kind of power, you’d better hope they can’t play around them. Until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!
—Jerome McHale