One aspect of the game that has stuck with the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG is the possibility that your opponent could pull off some random, game-winning five card combo on any given turn. The Forbidding and Limitation of some obscenely powerful cards has done a lot to reduce that threat. We no longer have to fear Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning dropping down for a potential 6000 damage or Magical Scientist sending four 2200 ATK Fusion monsters into our face-up Spirit Reaper.

However, the top decks in every format have always been able to explode in one turn. Using cards like Brain Control or Enemy Controller (the primary purpose of which is to back the deck in ways unrelated to brute offense) gives players extra ways to find damage and finish off an opponent. Of course, some cards exist entirely to deal damage. These are generally neglected, swept aside to make room for cards that enhance the situation on the field and contribute to multiple turns’ worth of damage. That hasn’t stopped duelists from being successful with purely damage-oriented cards.

Chain Strike burn dedicated 40 cards to dealing direct damage with absolutely no field investment. Similarly, Michael Sherkin’s 4-Turn burn from Shonen Jump Championship Montreal was built around the belief that if any assortment of eight cards could deal 8000 damage, the opponent would have lost by his or her fourth turn. He found a lot of success that day, losing only to decks that were able to create multiple special summons, such as Demise OTK.

The real weak spot for these decks is that they’ve drawn a lot of hate from the side deck. Most players prepare themselves for these archetypes, and the possibility of making it nine or ten rounds with only one loss becomes less and less likely as time progresses. Therefore many players have put these decks aside and turned to the more prominent decks in the format. These strategies can still pull out OTK moves and dish out unstoppable damage, but they’re more practical for tournament play. Or so we thought.

Justin Womack didn’t think damage-based decks were to be put aside just yet. In fact, he earned his invite to Worlds at the U.S. National Championship with this innovative quick-strike deck:

Monsters—17

3 Card Trooper

3 Cyber Dragon

3 Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World

3 Injection Fairy Lily

3 Cyber Phoenix

1 Jinzo

1 Morphing Jar

Spells—17

3 Dark World Lightning

3 Machine Duplication

3 Brain Control

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Snatch Steal

1 Premature Burial

1 Nobleman of Extermination

1 Limiter Removal

1 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Card Destruction

Traps—7

3 Dimension Wall

1 Magic Cylinder

1 Ring of Destruction

1 Ceasefire

1 Call of the Haunted

This tricky concoction is an OTK strategy that disguises itself as another ordinary deck. The only cards that suggest something fishy is going on are Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, Dark World Lightning, Injection Fairy Lily, and Dimension Wall. These cards definitely suggest some added OTK potential and that the opponent should be wary, but most players are going to shrug off the possibility that they’ll all be used in conjunction with more popular cards to create a game-winning scenario. The Dark World cards fool the opponent into thinking that he or she is up against a Dark World deck. This can actually be a fatal mistake, especially if the opponent acts on it and tries to set no spell or trap cards. The copies of Lily and Dimension Wall, in the meantime, simply look like experimental cards that probably won’t work.

Womack starts off every match innocently enough. Direct strikes with Cyber Dragon, Card Trooper, or Cyber Phoenix aren’t exactly unheard of and the opponent will simply absorb the damage and counter-attack. Little does the opponent know that Womack was just making his final turn that much easier to achieve. The best part about Womack’s OTK deck is that he doesn’t have to burn every card at once. He can set up a game-winning scenario several turns before that and chip away at his opponent’s life points.

This makes Ring of Destruction the best card for this deck to see. Many games that involve pressing with conservative monsters like Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive are usually won or lost by Ring of Destruction. When the opponent tries to counter-attack over a Card Trooper or Dekoichi, Ring of Destruction protects the rampaging attacker while inflicting some hurt on the opponent as well. Damage adds up fast, and opponents find themselves below 4000 uncomfortably quickly. For Womack, this almost guarantees a victory, since it is extremely easy for him to dish out the remaining damage with the cards he plays.

Dark World Lightning does a lot more than one might think for this deck. Although its primary purpose is to remove monsters or defensive traps while also special summoning a 2300 ATK monster, it can function properly without Goldd. When used in conjunction with Brain Control, Dimension Wall, and Injection Fairy Lily, Womack simply needs to get his opponent’s last defenses out of the way before pouring on the final damage. Here’s where the versatility of Dark World Lightning really shines, and it can become the gateway to both monster or spell and trap removal, depending on which type of destruction you need.

Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World makes good use of both Dark World Lightning and Card Destruction, becoming a free 2300 ATK on the field. While Goldd may seem like it has too much dead-draw potential to run, the 2300 ATK will often prove to be the difference between winning and losing. Take a scenario in which your opponent has Raiza the Storm Monarch out and one set spell or trap card. Normally you wouldn’t be able to play Mystical Space Typhoon, Cyber Dragon, Injection Fairy Lily, and Brain Control to attack for game. You’d fall just 100 damage short, and with all your options spent, would likely lose without dealing that final piece of damage. Goldd adds the extra 200 ATK over Cyber Dragon though, and can be special summoned with one of four cards. Of course, Womack uses Cyber Dragon as well, but Goldd and Lightning simply add to the list of outs.

Injection Fairy Lily is the big card of the deck. When pumped, Lily does more damage than any other monster currently played in the game. With many players capitalizing on the use of Card Trooper in their metagames today, Lily doesn’t even have to get a direct shot in. Attacking over Card Trooper produces 3000 damage—more than enough to get Womack on his way to victory.

Machine Duplication has seen a huge rise in popularity recently. Card Trooper is probably the most versatile monster we’ve got, and boasting an impressive 1900 ATK when pumped is nothing to sneeze at. Duplication turns one Trooper into three, allowing for a grand total of 5700 ATK points on the field. Another nifty bit of math synergy there: one Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World turns that 5700 damage into 8000. Combine that with Dark World Lightning to destroy whichever card the opponent is protecting him- or herself with, and you should begin to see exactly how dangerous this deck can be.

Dimension Wall and Magic Cylinder are the big burn cards for Womack’s strategy. When the opponent attacks directly, that player will suffer the full ATK of his or her monster in the form of life point damage. Picture an attacking Card Trooper or Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch swinging in for a direct attack. This isn’t exactly a rare circumstance. If Womack’s opponent has tributed for Thestalos and passed, and Womack simply sets a spell or trap, the play the opponent makes is almost always the same: attack directly before playing any other cards. Why? Because most players are afraid of Torrential Tribute or a chainable like Ring of Destruction, and will therefore either try to complete the favorable card exchange by forcing Womack to destroy the replaced monster or connect for even more damage. But instead, Womack surprises the opponent with Dimension Wall: his or her conventional play leads directly to destruction next turn.

This deck has an unbelievable amount of ways to create a game-winning turn. Furthermore, it does so without flagging an OTK attempt and by playing on the most common moves made by intermediate and advanced players today. However, the recent success from Womack could hurt the deck. Players will be on the lookout for Card Trooper discards to reveal a hidden OTK purpose now, and dumping even one Dark World Lightning can set off the red alert. Only time and another Shonen Jump Championship will tell if this deck has what it takes to keep running with the lead pack.