Inspiration from a deck used by Paul Lynn in South Florida (previously of Team Nexus) has led these three Championship-level duelists to run a surprising choice here today: Dark World.

Monsters: 16

3 Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World

3 Broww, Huntsman of Dark World

3 Sillva, Warlord of Dark World

3 Cyber-Stein

2 Cyber Dragon

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Morphing Jar

1 Sangan

Spells: 16

3 Dark World Lightning

3 Dragged Down into the Grave

3 Megamorph

1 Card Destruction

1 Graceful Charity

1 Heavy Storm

1 Nobleman of Crossout

2 Giant Trunade

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps: 7

3 Sakuretsu Armor

2 Draining Shield

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Mirror Force

Fusion:

2 King Dragun

2 Gatling Dragon

2 Cyber Twin Dragon

2 Ryu Senshi

1 Cyber End Dragon

It’s Stein and Darkworld—two of the metagame’s best strategic flavors—swirled into one delicious sundae of dominance! The key? Speed, speed, and more speed. Dark World gives the deck an explosive potential, and this deck is committed to it like almost no other. Three Goldd, three Sillva, and even three copies of Broww serve to demonstrate how all-in this deck design really is, and it’s matched by even more support than the average Dark World deck runs. While Morphing Jar, Card Destruction, and Graceful Charity are standard, and two (or even three) Dark World Lightning cards are usually seen, three copies of Dragged Down into the Grave are nigh-unheard of. Not only is it an even trade on a card-for-card level if your force the opponent to discard one of your Dark Worlds (one that gets you the free discard of your opponent’s best card), but it also gives you intelligence. For veteran players like these, the pseudo-Confiscation effect of getting to see all but one of your opponent’s in-hand cards can be invaluable.

Dragged Down also lets the deck be more reliable, working its way towards key cards like Goldd or Sillva. Or, for that matter, the Stein-suite. It seems possible that this is actually the fastest Cyber-Stein deck ever built, aside from dedicated OTKs like those running the Tundo draw engine in the previous Advanced format. When the deck needs to burn towards part of its win condition, be it Cyber-Stein, Megamorph, or even just another Dark World monster to augment an on-field Morphing Jar, it can do so. In effect, Dragged Down into the Grave acts as an alternative to the Third Planet draw engine of Jar of Greed and Reckless Greed. It’s an interesting choice, though not necessarily superior to Third.

Draining Shield plays a fascinating role in the deck, deflecting threatening attacks while also providing potentially massive life point gain.  The cool part? Not only does Draining Shield make Stein a more sustainable option, it also compensates for the times that the deck just can’t draw into its combos, or when a big rush of Dark World monsters happens to go awry. Heck, if you can get off both in one game, you can even get over 10000 life points and use Cyber-Stein’s effect twice. Such a move isn’t all that common or practical, but that certainly dazzles an audience when it’s pulled off.

Two Giant Trunade cards serve to back up offensive presses, either with Dark World or Cyber-Stein, and it’s proving to be a popular card here today. Megamorph—another traditional support card for Stein—can also be used with the Dark World monsters to create 4600 ATK beatsticks. Brutal. Megamorph has been wrecking duelists for three rounds straight here today, so it’s no surprise to see here.

The best part? This isn’t the only topnotch Dark World deck here today. Team Nemesis and several other players are running drastically different builds with everything from Thunder Dragon to Brron, and all of them seem to be doing pretty well. Who knows? Maybe we’ll finally see a breakout showing from Dark World in tomorrow’s Top 8.