Today's deck comes in from Jonathan Contreras, who sent me his Beatdown list. It doesn't have much of a theme, but it does have lots of different monsters, and I basically take that as justifiable license to expound upon the themes I like. So this one should be fun! Here's what Jonathan had to say:


Hi! My name is Jonathan, but you can call me Shogo!

My deck doesn't have a theme, but can you help me with my deck? It’s some kind of "tutti-frutti" of beat down . . . hehe . . . ok here we go . . .

-Jonathan Contreras


Thanks for sending it in, Jonathan! Here's the deck list:
 
Jonathan's Beatdown
40 cards

Monsters
1 Dark Ruler Ha Des
1 Jinzo
1 Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End
1 Guardian Sphinx
1 Vampire Lord
1 D. D. Warrior Lady
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Witch of the Black Forest
1 Yata-Garasu
1 Reflect Bounder
1 Gemini Elf
1 Injection Fairy Lily
1 Sangan
1 Mad Dog of Darkness
1 Marauding Captain
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
1 Cyber Jar
1 Magician of Faith
1 Luster Dragon
1 Slate Warrior
1 Exiled Force

Spells
1 Raigeki
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Monster Reborn
1 Harpie's Feather Duster
1 Pot of Greed
1 United We Stand
1 Change of Heart
1 Mage Power
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Snatch Steal
1 Graceful Charity
1 Premature Burial
 
Traps
1 Magic Jammer
1 Mirror Force
1 Imperial Order
1 Magic Cylinder
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Seven Tools of the Bandit


It's a Beatdown deck alright, but it's sort of in shambles. I have two major concerns. The first is that the card selections are all over the map—not a lot of synergy or even reliable strategies. Second, the deck is too heavy on tribute monsters.

The good news is that you've got a variety of options. The bad news is that taking any one direction with this deck means tossing out a lot of cards. But, we're gonna do what we have to do. Personally, I like the idea of keeping this as sort of a wacky Beatdown. You've already got Marauding Captain and D. D. Warrior Lady, as well as Cyber Jar, Reflect Bounder, and some other interesting cards. So, I'm going to fix this up to be a Fiend/Warrior deck with a splash of Chaos. Should be cool!

A big goal of the deck will be to get Terrorking Archfiend into play. The challenge is that I'm not interested in making this an Archfiend deck—doing that would be a different fix altogether. Luckily, there are lots of ways we can get Marauding Captain into play without making this an all-Archfiend deck. We can replace the 1900 ATK beatsticks with Archfiend Soldier—that much is obvious. But we could also set the Terrorking in defense and let an opponent's attacker flip it over. Or we could special summon it with Cyber Jar, or even with Marauding Captain's effect! It's a great card that's totally underplayed right now, mostly because people don't see the interesting ways in which its limitations can be overcome.

So, let's get to the drops. Dark Ruler Ha Des, Guardian Sphinx, and Vampire Lord are all getting dropped. Dark Ruler Ha Des belongs in a Fiend deck, Guardian Sphinx belongs in odd Lockdown decks, and Vampire Lord belongs in Zombie decks. They don't belong in Beatdowns as a general rule—they can work, but it takes some careful deck building and finesse. They certainly don't work together, though, and we want to keep Jinzo and Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End. So they take a hike.
 
Yata-Garasu is also in the wrong deck. It should really only be run in Control decks, where it can be the focus, and used with proper efficiency. Here, it’s nothing but a momentum card, and often a waste of a draw. If you win with Yata-Garasu in a Beatdown deck, you probably would have won without it anyway, and faster. Yata-Garasu is a dead card if you're in a bind, and because a Beatdown deck can't take full advantage of it, there's really not a lot of use for it here.

Gemini Elf, Mad Dog of Darkness, Luster Dragon, and Slate Warrior all get punted, because we're replacing our general attacking needs with Archfiend Soldiers and Terrorking Archfiends.

I'm going to toss Tribe-Infecting Virus into the side deck—you're going to have a lot of offence on the board, but you probably won't have a lot of cards to spare, so Tribe-Infecting Virus doesn't really fit here. In addition, you're going to be heavily weighted towards two types of monsters (Fiends and Warriors), so a Monster Reborn, Snatch Steal, or Change of Heart on your Tribe-Infecting Virus could spell disaster.

Magician of Faith is gone. It's a dated card that's a bit too slow for most decks, especially this one, which likes its games fast. It can be great when paired off with Apprentice Magician, but it really has no place in a Beatdown deck—especially a quick one like this.

Last up on the chopping block for monsters is Injection Fairy Lily. I love the card, it's incredibly fast, and normally I'd recommend it for Beatdown, but in this case, the life point loss from Terrorking Archfiend could hurt, so we need to keep costs like Lily's to a minimum.

Moving on to spells, I'm going to drop Swords of Revealing Light. It's up to you—if you find the card works really well for you, by all means just pop it back in, because the fixed build of the deck only is 40 cards total. If you feel you can live without it though, do so—you'll gain a bit of speed that can be quite valuable.

I'm going to toss Mage Power. I'm leaving United We Stand, which I can justify because of the way this deck plays (though I'm always wary of playing any big equip spells without having something in the deck that can push damage through a defense-position monster). But this deck is already going to overplay itself on a regular basis—it'll be hurt by monster removal. Running more than one equip spell to boost stats is just asking to give an opponent card advantage.

Lastly, I'm removing Premature Burial. You've already got Call of the Haunted and Monster Reborn, both of which are superior cards. Premature Burial is a mistake to play in Beatdown—you're basically giving your opponent control of the situation if he or she has a Heavy Storm, Harpie's Feather Duster, Breaker the Magical Warrior, Imperial Order, Magic Jammer, Magic Drain, or Spell Shield Type-8, and you're losing 800 life points in the process. There's not much good to be seen in doing that.

Lastly, I'm dropping the two counter-traps in the deck. Magic Jammer is playable, but it needs the proper backup (such as Thunder Dragon or Sinister Serpent), and I'd really only play it in something that uses key traps or continuous spells, neither of which are found in a Beatdown deck. It's situational and low utility. Even worse is Seven Tools of the Bandit. In serious competition, most people only run five to six traps in their decks. The odds of you having this one-of in your hand at the same time your opponent is looking to use a key trap card, as well as having the 1000 life points free to pay the cost, are not ones I'd like to bet on.

Moving onto the additions, I'm going to add two more copies of D. D. Warrior Lady. They were good in the original build of the deck, and they're going to be even better here. They take care of troublesome Witch of the Black Forests, Sangans, and Mystic Tomatoes, and also provide a wall against big hitters that your opponent doesn't have the guts to lose. We’ll add two Shining Angels to go with the D. D. Warrior Ladies, as well as round out the complement of fodder for Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End.

Marauding Captain is a key card in this deck. It gets Terrorking Archfiend into play and combos really well with lots of the deck’s monsters (including itself). Two is a must, so I'm adding in a second.

Next up, the Fiends! Three Archfiend Soldiers will take the place of the 1900 ATK monsters we removed from the deck. Slate Warrior will be missed, but it just doesn't give the element we want from Archfiend Soldier—compatibility with Terrorking Archfiend. Speaking of which, we need three Terrorking Archfiends, as well. Terrorking Archfiend is a super rare and might be a bit tricky to get, but since the card is so underplayed, it shouldn't be that hard to trade for. Terrorking is just flat out amazing and well worth its 800 life point standby cost. Not only is it a 2000 ATK monster with a solid defense, as well as a carrier of the standard "I roll a die and your effect doesn't work" Archfiend ability, it also comes with its own built in Dark Balter. Pretty awesome. It allows you to overextend and protects you from nasty flip effects. The fact that it also stymies Witch of the Black Forest and Sangan and turns Mystic Tomato into gespacho is a more-than-nice bonus, as well.

On the spell front, the deck needs Dark Hole. Heck, virtually all decks need Dark Hole. If you go second and have it in hand, it's an uncosted piece of monster removal. If you're in the late or mid game, it's a free whack for whatever amount of damage your hand can dish out. It's a disgustingly broken card, and I don't see any reason to not include one—especially in a Beatdown deck.

We need one more Mystical Space Typhoon, too. We can get away with not using Heavy Storm in this deck, because of Breaker's presence, but only running two Mystical Space Typhoons is a bad idea. It's easily one of the highest utility cards in the game, destroying equip cards, countering Premature Burial and Call of the Haunted, negating Imperial Order, stopping Waboku in the end phase of the turn in which it was played, destroying an opponent's Mirage of Nightmare in your own draw phase, and so much more. Three is a must, because we need the road clear at all times for big attack pushes.

Also, since the deck now features more Warrior-type monsters and can do some pretty neat things with Marauding Captain, two copies of Reinforcement of the Army are a great idea. They thin the deck; search for D. D. Warrior Lady, Exiled Forces, or Marauding Captain; and just generally give you a level of control and accessibility that other decks don't have.

Lastly, the deck could use a Ring of Destruction. Beatdowns thrive on speed and board control, and Ring of Destruction gives both with ease. With United We Stand in the deck, you’ll be able to end the game with Ring of Destruction even more often than normal.

The final list of changes looks like this:

-1 Dark Ruler Ha Des
-1 Guardian Sphinx
-1 Vampire Lord
-1 Yata-Garasu
-1 Gemini Elf
-1 Mad Dog of Darkness
-1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
-1 Magician of Faith
-1 Luster Dragon
-1 Slate Warrior
-1 Injection Fairy Lily
-1 Swords of Revealing Light
-1 Mage Power
-1 Premature Burial
-1 Magic Jammer
-1 Seven Tools of the Bandit

+2 D. D. Warrior Lady
+2 Shining Angel
+1 Marauding Captain
+3 Archfiend Soldier
+3 Terrorking Archfiend
+1 Dark Hole
+1 Mystical Space Typhoon
+2 Reinforcement of the Army
+1 Ring of Destruction


And the fixed build is as follows:


Jonathan's Fiend/Warrior Deck—Jason's fix
40 cards

Monsters
1 Jinzo
1 Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End
3 D. D. Warrior Lady
1 Reflect Bounder
2 Shining Angel
3 Archfiend Soldier
3 Terrorking Archfiend
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Witch of the Black Forest
1 Sangan
2 Marauding Captain
1 Cyber Jar
1 Exiled Force

Spells
1 Raigeki
1 Monster Reborn
1 Change of Heart
1 Snatch Steal
1 Graceful Charity
1 Pot of Greed
1 Dark Hole
1 United We Stand
2 Reinforcement of the Army
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Harpie's Feather Duster
 
Traps
1 Mirror Force
1 Imperial Order
1 Magic Cylinder
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Ring of Destruction

You've got a few potent opening monsters: Reflect Bounder, D. D. Warrior Lady, or the pair of Marauding Captains will do well. In general, though, anything that can stay alive until turn 2 is good, turn 2 being when you can start to make a fast offensive push via Marauding Captain. Nobleman of Crossout would probably help such an initiative, so it's likely worth side decking a pair of them. You may even want to test main decking Nobleman of Crossout once you get used to the deck, as both a one-of and as a pair.

The objective here is to dominate the field as quickly as possible. Remember that Raigeki and Dark Hole are your enemy, as they are in any deck that runs Marauding Captain. Dropping a second monster with Marauding Captain's effect is an overextension, and understanding the risk behind doing that is important. I've crushed a lot of the Warrior decks I've gone up against strictly because the people playing them had the speed they needed but misapplied it, and consequently got stomped in the long run by a Mirror Force, Dark Hole, or Raigeki. Pick your spots. The strength of any Warrior deck—even a Warrior/Fiend hybrid—isn't that it's fast in a general sense, it's that it can change gears from an average pace to a fast pace very quickly, making offensive over-extensions when the opponent wasn't expecting it. You want to keep an average flow to the game until you have an opening, and then use Marauding Captain to make a precise push with exact monsters (via Reinforcement of the Army, careful hand management, and deck control) for enough damage to lock the game.

With this deck, you basically get Beatdown with the advantages of a Warrior deck (Marauding Captain, the traditional monsters minus Goblin Attack Force, use of Reinforcement of the Army) that also gets to use Terrorking Archfiend as a big, steady source of muscle. Terrorking is very difficult for the opponent to deal with, and really messes with effect monsters. Chaos Emperor Dragon is a convenient bit of icing on the cake.

Hopefully it works well for you, Jonathan! Thanks for sending it in!


As a reminder, players with deck ideas they would like to see featured in this column can email their requests to jasonatmetagame@yahoo.com. Please include your first name, your city and state of residence, your decklist in the format used above, and a few sentences about your deck and the challenges and successes you've had with it.