Warriors have been a mainstay of the tournament scene since the introduction of many of their key cards in Legacy of Darkness. One of the overwhelming strengths of the Warrior deck that has helped it remain popular for so long is its incredible versatility. The deck itself is flexible and able to overcome unexpected problems, but its real strength lies in the fact that there are many different ways to build a successful Warrior deck. This week, I’m going to look at the two main variants of Warrior decks that you’re likely to face at Regionals or the Shonen Jump Championships: Warrior Swarm and Warrior Control.
Warrior Swarm
As the name implies, the point of the Warrior Swarm deck is to amass a large number of Warriors in a short period of time. This is usually followed by a massive field-clearing spell and an even more massive direct attack on an opponent or an opponent’s sheep tokens.
Here’s the Warrior Swarm deck that my playtesting group is looking at.
Monsters: 18
1 Jinzo
1 Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
3 D. D. Assailant
1 D. D. Warrior Lady
1 Exiled Force
2 Marauding Captain
1 Zombyra the Dark
2 Blade Knight
2 Magician of Faith
1 Sangan
1 Sinister Serpent
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
Spells: 16
1 Pot of Greed
1 Graceful Charity
1 Delinquent Duo
1 Heavy Storm
1 Snatch Steal
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Reinforcement of the Army
2 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Smashing Ground
2 Scapegoat
2 Enemy Controller
Traps: 6
1 Deck Devastation Virus
1 Magic Cylinder
1 Mirror Force
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Torrential Tribute
Warrior Swarm is a relatively easy deck to play, especially when you compare it to other decks like Evan Vargas’s Soul Control or Mike Rosenberg’s Masks of Tsuku, both of which made Top 8 at the last Shonen Jump Championship. All you need to do to be successful with Warrior Swarm is call up the right Warrior at the right time with Reinforcement of the Army. If you can do that, you’re well on your way to creating overwhelming field presence and smashing your opponent.
As always, there’s a catch. If you can’t pull off the win or put an opponent in the position for Ring of Destruction or Magic Cylinder to finish the job, you could be in trouble. In addition, any number of other cards could stop you from carrying out your plan in the first place. The new Forbidden list allows two of Warrior Swarm’s biggest enemies, Mirror Force and the people’s anti-hero, Delinquent Duo, back into the environment. Players also have access to a new swarm stopper, Lightning Vortex, and the ever-present Tribe-Infecting Virus. Taking a hit from any of these cards will cause some serious damage to the swarm player.
But enough of the bad stuff—let’s talk about why this deck is a serious contender. It packs the standard removal package, consisting of two copies of Nobleman of Crossout, a copy of Lightning Vortex, and a copy of Smashing Ground. The deck also includes the four standard traps. Unique to this build are Magic Cylinder and Deck Devastation Virus. The Cylinder is a simple enough inclusion, because if you can’t quite defeat your opponent with a huge attack, the Cylinder will get him or her when the counterattack strikes. Deck Devastation Virus is the really interesting addition to the deck. Of course, you’ll need to use the Virus with Zombyra the Dark, as that’s the only monster in the deck that you can tribute for the cost of the trap. The good news is that you can search for Zombyra on a whim with Reinforcement of the Army and you can bring it in from the side –deck between games.
Why is the Virus worth running in this deck? In the current environment, monsters with 1500 ATK or less are frequently the most game-breaking cards, so everybody plays them. Warriors have a hard time against sheep tokens and Spirit Reaper, so why not just wipe out those threats for three turns? Against Zombie decks, as long as Vampire Lord isn’t out yet, the Virus can wreck an opponent’s field and stick him or her with nothing but tribute monsters. Of course, the Virus won’t necessarily stop the Zombies completely, but the Zombie player will need to use a lot more resources than he or she would like in order to get a high-level monster on the field. The Virus works well against almost any deck, because the trap can threaten Magician of Faith, Des Koala, and even Jowgen the Spiritualist.
Operating Instructions
Your turn-1 play should probably be setting a face down card and a defense position copy of D. D. Assailant. From there, try to bide your time until you can get four monsters out and attacking on a clear field. Just hope that your opponent doesn’t have Mirror Force or Scapegoat! That’s what playing Warrior Swarm boils down to—as I said before, it’s very simple.
When playing against a Warrior Swarm deck, put a premium on Scapegoat and any defensive traps that you may have. Try to activate your traps one at a time to force your opponent to overextend. When that happens, hit your opponent with a removal spell and begin the counterattack.
Warrior Control
Warrior Control is a much nastier deck than Warrior Swarm. The Warrior Control deck is crafty and cunning, and it’s excellent at making your opponent waste cards for tiny, almost meaningless advantages. Also known as an Attrition deck, a good Warrior Control build can give any opposing duelist nightmares for weeks after facing the deck in a tournament. The deck runs as many cards as possible that can force an opponent to trade resources for “advantage.” These cards include Big Shield Gardna, Zero Gravity, and anything with “D. D.” in front of its name.
Monsters: 18
1 Jinzo
1 Freed the Matchless General
2 Command Knight
2 Blade Knight
1 Exiled Force
1 D. D. Warrior Lady
2 D. D. Assailant
2 Big Shield Gardna
1 Sangan
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Sinister Serpent
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
2 Magician of Faith
Spells: 15
1 Pot of Greed
1 Graceful Charity
1 Delinquent Duo
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Heavy Storm
2 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Smashing Ground
2 Scapegoat
2 Creature Swap
1 Enemy Controller
2 Reinforcement of the Army
Traps: 7
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Zero Gravity
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Magic Cylinder
This type of Warrior deck is significantly more difficult to both play and play against than the Warrior Swarm deck. A good Warrior Control deck can counter nearly every move an opponent makes as long as the Warrior Control player searches for the right monsters for the spells and traps that have been drawn. One of the keys to making this deck work is to avoid limiting yourself to creating only one type of favorable situation. While Warrior Swarm players thrive on a clear field, Warrior Control players have many available options. Rather than attempting to create a specific scenario, take the cards that you get in your starting hand and build a scenario around them.
How can you force your opponent to throw away most of his or her cards to even begin touching you? Big Shield Gardna is an excellent card for this purpose. Fetching Guardna with Reinforcement of the Army on the first turn is an excellent way to set the tempo of the game to your liking. By showing your opponent that you can make their life miserable, he or she may consider holding back Nobleman of Crossout for fear of hitting Guardna. Searching for Big Shield Gardna also sets you up for a rather favorable bluff. If you play Pot of Greed or Delinquent Duo on the same turn that you fetched the Guardna, it’s also a good time to set a copy of Magician of Faith. To avoid wasting a removal card, your opponent will probably make a less optimal move than using Nobleman of Crossout. However, by holding back the removal, your opponent will help you create even more card advantage.
In addition, Command Knight in defense position is an absolute tank. Of all the level 4 monsters that currently see play, only Berserk Gorilla can take out the Knight without help. Plus, once the first attack on Command Knight fails, your opponent must either use a removal spell or let you summon a gigantic Warrior on the next turn. Any way you slice it, when you have Command Knight in defense position, you are in good shape for the next couple of turns. Finally, with the deck’s “D. D.” monsters and annoying trap lineup, making successful attacks against you will be difficult for your opponent.
Operating Instructions
Searching for and setting Big Shield Gardna on the first turn is a great opening move. From there, your optimal plays will depend almost entirely on the situations you encounter, because this is a reactive deck. Remember to base your plays on the cards you have, not the cards you wish you had. If you can learn to do that successfully, you can win even with a lackluster hand.
When playing against this deck, it’s usually best not to hold back. If you can catch your opponent with a bad hand and press the attack, it will be hard for the Warrior Control player to recover. Card Destruction and Dark Balter the Terrible can mess up the Warrior Control deck pretty badly. Another useful tip is to always play Nobleman of Crossout even when you see your opponent get Big Shield Gardna. From personal experience, most players tend to bluff more than they should, so you should try to catch them as often as possible. If you’re wrong, find some other way to get rid of Guardna.
Final Notes
Once again, I’ll leave you with some notes from my playtesting group. As always, the names have been omitted to protect the “innocent.”
CH: Stupid weenie Warriors! I hate that stupid Mystic Swordsman.
JM: You’re lucky I don’t main deck it. I don’t even play Mataza the Zapper.
WM: Heh, I do.
JM: Most people who play it also run the Captains.
CH: I hate the Captains. Level-3 monsters always slip under Gravity Bind and Level Limit - Area B.
JM: What can I say? Burn loses to Warrior nearly every time.
NW: But Zombie Morph crushes Warrior.
JM: Swarm maybe, but Warrior Control smokes Zombie Morph, especially now that Ryu Kokki sees less play. Big Shield reigns supreme.
CH: Why do you keep insisting that Big Shield is a Warrior? Guardna is clearly a Burn card.
There you have it, a Warrior double feature! Notice that out of these two decks, there is only one copy of Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning. Maybe it’s not as necessary to run as you think.
Until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!
Next Week: Is Big Shield Gardna a Burn card?
Jerome McHale
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
jcmchale@andrew.cmu.edu