Welcome to a new year and a new metagame thanks to the release of Phantom of Chaos. Coming out right after Foolish Burial and Trade-In, Phantom of Chaos is sure to stir up plenty of OTK-worthy decks, many of which will see play at the upcoming Shonen Jump Championship in Orlando. Of course, Light and Darkness Dragon and Macro Cosmos decks will still be the most played, so preparing for such a versatile metagame is no easy task.

Light and Darkness and Phantom decks are both going to be very graveyard-dependent. Both play a horde of Destiny Hero monsters that want to be revived from the graveyard, and the headlining monsters require good targets to exist in the graveyard. This is what makes Cosmos decks so popular. Setting up a wall of D.D. Survivor and Macro Cosmos cards means that the opponent can’t really generate any offense. Cosmos struggles the most with its own consistency, which is why many players haven’t regarded it highly in the past.

While the deck usually draws pretty consistently, it can be broken in half by a player who draws a high amount of spin cards. Using Phoenix Wing Wind Blast to spin Pulling the Rug or Solemn Judgment to the top of the opponent’s deck and dropping Raiza the Storm Monarch afterward to spin Dimension Fissure and destroy D.D. Survivor means destruction of the field and a pair of dead draws against a 2400 ATK beater.

Playing aggressively to break the set-up before it can begin is the key to beating Cosmos. Using this information, John Umali built his own Cosmos variant that tosses aside the stall and spell or trap negation for some more beatdown power. Here’s what Umali played at Shonen Jump Championship San Mateo:

Monsters: 21

3 Raiza the Storm Monarch

3 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch

2 Cyber Dragon

3 D.D. Survivor

1 D.D. Scout Plane

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Snipe Hunter

1 Morphing Jar

1 Marshmallon

1 Spirit Reaper

3 Gravekeeper’s Spy

1 Gravekeeper’s Guard

Spells: 11

2 Reinforcement of the Army

3 Dimensional Fissure

2 Enemy Controller

1 Lightning Vortex

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Brain Control

1 Heavy Storm

Traps: 8

3 Macro Cosmos

3 Solemn Judgment

1 Mirror Force

1 Torrential Tribute

Unlike Hugo Adame and many other players who only ran three or four Monarchs in their Cosmos builds, Umali packed three copies each of Raiza the Storm Monarch and Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch. Thestalos was one of the biggest cards at the San Mateo Jump, since it’s a very good combo-breaking card and puts the pain on players who want to sacrifice cards for game position (amplifying the loss by dropping one of the saved cards).

D.D. Survivor is the backbone of the deck. Having a Survivor means Umali has tribute fodder, a defensive wall, and an 1800 ATK monster all in one. Survivor is so important that Umali played two copies of Reinforcement of the Army just for that card. Having five copies ensures that Umali can draw one every game to get his deck started. D. D. Scout Plane is a security measure, giving Umali a monster to hide behind in case he doesn’t draw his Survivors. The Scout Plane can also be tributed off for Monarchs, allowing Umali to put a lot of pressure on his opponents with floating Survivors and Monarchs.

Aside from the handful of Limited monsters Umali plays, there are the defensive walls of Gravekeeper’s Spy and Gravekeeper’s Guard. Despite the proven success of these cards for years, many players still underestimate the flexibility of Gravekeeper’s Spy. 2000 DEF walls aren’t easy to pass by for any deck, but Cosmos and Gadget decks will really struggle to break free of the monster blockade. Most of their cards are dedicated to breaking through weaker effect monsters or offense-minded big guys. Spy gives Umali the ability to set up a wall, and playing a copy of Gravekeeper’s Guard means Umali can do it twice—1900 DEF is virtually the same thing.

The spell and trap line-ups are very straight and to the point. The most powerful cards and the best tech make the cut and nothing else. Umali, unlike many players out there, plays Heavy Storm in his Cosmos build. He can afford to do this because he doesn’t play a large number of trap cards. Being able to blast away a pair of opposing spell and traps for your Storm and an extra copy of Dimensional Fissure is a very good deal for the Cosmos player, since you’re trading dead cards for live cards, leaving your opponents with cards they can’t use in their hands.

Umali’s deck reeks of the belief that opponents will be looking at numerous dead cards. Having Solemn Judgment as his only support shows that Umali really only cares about taking out his opponent’s best live options. This strategy obviously played out to Umali’s advantage because of Thestalos and Raiza. The defense his monsters provide also gives Umali the protection he needs to play Judgment in the first place.

One card that must have really helped Umali make Top 8 was Enemy Controller. Controller can do many things for the Cosmos player. The first and most obvious is provide a win condition. Taking opposing monsters as either tribute bait or for direct attacks can allow Umali to achieve victory through either damage or card presence. Tributing off a Survivor means Controller essentially works as a monster removal engine, so Umali can benefit from having a much more versatile Smashing Ground.

Controller also provides a means to keep the set-up intact. When the opponent tries to break up the Cosmos/Survivor combo with something like Brain Control, Book of Moon, Heavy Storm, or Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Umali can simply flip the Controller to remove his Survivor from play before anything else can stop it (including spell speed 3 traps since the tributing of D.D. Survivor is a cost). This means the Survivor will return, allowing Umali to drop the spun Macro Cosmos or an extra copy if it was destroyed.

John Umali’s build is very clever. Instead of taking the path every other player is concentrating on beating, Umali took an alternative route. Taking advantage of how Enemy Controller instantly saves your field position led Umali to a Top 8 spot at San Mateo. I expect his deck to be one of the most popular for upcoming premier-level tournaments.