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Brad Poth is excited about his deck. After he dropped by to tell me his record and show me his combo, I figured it was worth checking out. Synergy-heavy decks always interest me, and this was one I hadn’t seen before.

Brad’s a seasoned player—he’s been actively involved in the game since season 2, played in Nationals, and is a common sight at Regional tournaments in the area. He came to Atlanta along with his team, Team Havoc.

His deck is built around a clever combo involving Hino Kage-Tsuchi. “This is what I do. I use Giant Trunade, to move everything to their hand, then I special summon Gilasaurus. [My opponents] almost always decide to special summon, then I use Brain Control to take [his or her] monster, tribute for Hino, and [my opponent will] lose his or her entire hand. I got eleven cards off of someone in game 2. If I can get the combo by turn 2, then I almost always win. I can also flip Cyber Jar, and usually get Hino or whatever else I need off of that. My opponent’s going to get at least one monster off of it, and then I’ve got what I need. I’m also running Reload in case I don’t get at the combo early enough. No one sees Hino-Kage-Tsuchi coming, so the element of surprise works well for me.”

The deck playtested well, so he decided to bring on at the Shonen Jump. “My only loss so far has been to a Ben Kei One-Turn Kill deck,” he said. The current environment is kind to the deck, too. “There’s not as many topdecks to worry about now.” He doesn’t plan to keep playing it once Elemental Energy is released, but for now he finds it successful.

Mystic Tomato, Cyber Jar or Spirit Reaper are all good picks for opening moves, and fill out the Hino/Gilasaurus pairing and the D. D. lineup. Sangan and Breaker fill the spot they always fill in a deck.

Brad runs Big Bang Shot, which has a decent utility in the deck. “I’ll equip it to Hino, to make sure it does the damage it needs to do in order to get the effect, or if my opponent has a monster that I can’t get rid of, I’ll attach Big Bang Shot to it right before I use Trunade. They lose a monster and I get it back to my hand anyway.” A single copy of Messenger of Peace and Scapegoat give him some field control, along with Swords of Revealing Light. If he doesn’t get his combo early, he’s going to need to hold his opponent off. Multiple copies of Brain Control are popular in this format, and give Brad ample opportunity for tribute materials.

For traps, two copies of Royal Decree will give him free rein with Hino, and he won’t have to worry about Magic Cylinder or Sakuretsu Armor.

Brad made his side deck choices in order to adjust his deck to fare better against other decks. “I’ve got cards to go against Ben Kei, Warrior, Soul Control…. Basically I try to make the deck itself as strong as possible, and then change against those kinds of matchups in game 2.

What are the deck’s weaknesses? “Soul Control is the matchup I dislike the most, and as far as individual cards go, it’s Morphing Jar. If the opponent gets the Morphing Jar, that’s hard on me.”

Brad Poth

Monsters: 18
1 Sangan
2 Mystic Tomato
2 Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi
2 Spirit Reaper
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Magician of Faith
1 D. D. Warrior Lady
2 D. D. Assailant
2 Gilasaurus
1 Cyber Jar
1 Morphing Jar
1 D. D. Survivor
1 Exiled Force