Welcome back, duelists! We’re here this week with another Floridian: Trinity B from Jacksonville. He has another unique themed deck that . . . well, I’ll let him explain.
I’ve wanted to make a killer Vehicroid deck ever since the Cyber cards came out. I have finally accomplished making one (with the help of the Syrus Truesdale Starter Deck). My friends call me the handicap duelist (even though I win two out of three times) and say the “roids” are worthless and weak. I want to prove people wrong about the friendly looking Vehicroids! By the way, my favorite stratagem is to play Future Fusion, then summon Expressroid to put two of the monsters back into my hand, and then Power Bond them.
Thanks,
—Trinity B.
Jacksonville, Florida
Trinity comes to us with a Vehicroid deck. It seems to be fairly straightforward from the get-go: some ’roids for Fusing and some support. Let’s take a look at the list and see how we can expedite this deck’s success by turning any mechanical maladies into mechanical melodies.
Super Roid—42 cards
Monsters—21
2 Expressroid
3 Drillroid
3 Steamroid
3 Submarineroid
3 Gyroid
1 Rescueroid
1 Ambulanceroid
2 Cyber Phoenix
2 The Earth - Hex-Sealed Fusion
1 Sangan
Spells—14
2 Power Bond
2 Vehicroid Connection Zone
1 Future Fusion
2 Dark World Lightning
1 Enemy Controller
1 Heavy Storm
1 De-Fusion
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Limiter Removal
1 Smashing Ground
1 Magical Mallet
Traps—7
2 Sakuretsu Armor
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
2 Raigeki Break
1 Torrential Tribute
Fusions—6
2 Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill
2 Steam Gyroid
2 Ambulance Rescueroid
We need to analyze the strategy before we make changes. The monster lineup is the focus for this deck, much like it was last week. Expressroid should be an automatic three-of in this strategy, as it can very quickly refuel you in the late game. It also instantly fills your hand with cards you’ve already used. This not only refuels discard effects like Snipe Hunter and Raigeki Break, but it also allows you to trade ’roid monsters for cards like Smashing Ground, Sakuretsu Armor, or simply one monster for another—say letting Steamroid attack a Cyber Dragon and then letting it get run over by another. Some alterations should be made, but all in all, the deck is fairly solid and cohesive. That means my only job is making it run better.
Raigeki Break and Dark World Lightning are interesting choices in this deck, since they are both forms of universal removal that require a discard and effectively play on trading excess ’roid monsters in your hand for cards your opponent has on the field. Gyroid is another interesting choice—it lends itself to a slow or defensive playing style, which is only (half-) supported by one other card in the deck—Submarineroid. Steamroid, Drillroid, Limiter Removal, and even De-Fusion all lend themselves to an aggressive playing style. The oddballs in this deck, then, are Ambulanceroid and Rescueroid, which are part of an interesting combo but quite hard to summon. The unique thing is the rapid-fire, explosive nature of certain parts of the deck—with Power Bond or (even more frighteningly) Limiter Removal and Vehicroid Connection Zone, it can pull out a 6000-ATK monster with piercing battle damage that doesn’t die. Heck, get Power Bond and Limiter Removal and your opponent will need nothing short of 4000 ATK or DEF on a monster to survive a single attack—even if he or she has 8000 life points! The other explosive source of damage in the deck is Expressroid and Ambulanceroid, which can build a field of 4700 damage across four monsters in a single turn.
This deck can be played a few different ways, but I think the best is to gradually degrade your opponent’s defenses and then come out with explosive damage. With that goal in mind, a few things are changed. First off, the focus has to be more centralized—the Ambulanceroid and Rescueroid combo is cute but very ineffective, since only one of each is played and only one is searchable. With The Earth - Hex-Sealed Fusion already in the deck, there are ways around normal methods of summoning every piece of Fusion material. Rescueroid is removed altogether and Gyroid, while fun, is cut down to a single copy. Submarineroid goes to two. Though having Cyber Dragon in this deck would be a nice bonus for the odd Power Bond into Cyber Twin Dragon, it should not be the focus of the deck. Two copies of Giant Rat are added, and Breaker the Magical Warrior joins the fun. Giant Rat supports the deck by summoning any of three monsters that aid explosive damage—Ambulanceroid, Expressroid, and The Earth - Hex-Sealed Fusion. Breaker is the virtual definition of aggressive play.
The spells are simpler—De-Fusion is a favorite of mine, but has usually proven ineffective when I use it, since you usually end up winning by the time you play it anyway. (As a side note, try using Dark Paladin, Buster Blader, and Dark Magician with De-Fusion sometime—exactly 8000 damage and one of the best win conditions ever.) Dark World Lightning should be cut in favor of cards that do a better job and in a different fashion. Both of these are removed entirely to make room for double doses of Nobleman of Crossout and Giant Trunade. This deck should also include Premature Burial for more sudden damage potential. Enemy Controller gets the axe for the equip spell, and Magical Mallet gets cut for Pot of Avarice. I’ll get to the greedy vase later, and throw in a Lightning Vortex for more face-up monster removal.
The traps are another beast. Sakuretsu Armor doesn’t fit the aggressive nature of the deck, and neither do Compulsory Evacuation Device or Torrential Tribute. We can replace the lineup with Supercharge and a similarly oriented group, or make it more generic and add Mirror Force, Call of the Haunted, and Ultimate Offering. We could even go with Royal Decree. I chose to use the more conservative option due to the high concentration of non-’roid monsters (nearly one-third) and the considerable difference in power between the second and third options.
As of now, there are 38 cards in this deck and I am considering five serious additions (Cyber Dragon shenanigans notwithstanding):
1) A second Pot of Avarice.
2) Card Destruction to help filter the deck and fill the graveyard for both Pot of Avarice and Expressroid.
3) Morphing Jar. See #2.
4) A third Giant Rat to expedite filling the graveyard and creating big damage. It would also be able to act as a pseudo-replacement for Gyroid.
5) Snipe Hunter—all of this still playing into Expressroid and Pot of Avarice.
All of these options revolve around using the ’roid monsters to trade with your opponent and create a situation where both of you are playing with very few cards, then utilizing Pot of Avarice and Expressroid. The #1 option should be cut immediately. Why? We already have Pot of Avarice, three copies of Expressroid, and two recursion effects in the deck. Focus should be shifted from emptying cards out of the graveyard toward additional ways to fill the graveyard. Option #3 can also be cut because if either #4 or #5 is entertained then we are looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of 24 monsters, which does not mesh well with Morphing Jar. We’ll add Snipe Hunter and Card Destruction, and suddenly this is playing a lot like the aggressive Armed Samurai - Ben Kei decks of many formats ago. It acts as a powerful, aggressive deck up until the point when it beats your face in with upwards of 7000 points of unpreventable damage in a single turn.
Cut:
-1 Rescueroid
-1 Submarineroid
-2 Gyroid
-1 Magical Mallet
-1 De-Fusion
-1 Enemy Controller
-2 Dark World Lightning
-2 Raigeki Break
-2 Sakuretsu Armor
-2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
-1 Torrential Tribute
Added:
+1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
+2 Giant Rat
+1 Expressroid
+1 Snipe Hunter
+1 Card Destruction
+1 Giant Trunade
+1 Lightning Vortex
+1 Pot of Avarice
+2 Nobleman of Crossout
+1 Premature Burial
+1 Mirror Force
+1 Ultimate Offering
+1 Call of the Haunted
This new deck plays very aggressively—you force your opponent to trade his or her removal for your threats and gradually turn the game into a topdecking war, never running out of gas thanks to Expressroid and Pot of Avarice. When you’re fueled up and ready to go, you can start your engine of death and bash your opponent for more life than he or she has. A few possible additions that I didn’t feel were necessary were Cyber Dragon and Gaia Power—I think some of you just got a really bright smile on your face. However, we’re out of time today, so I’ll leave construction of that deck to you. Here is the finished result:
Supercharged Roid—Matt’s Fix—41 cards
Monsters—22
3 Expressroid
3 Drillroid
3 Steamroid
2 Submarineroid
1 Gyroid
1 Ambulanceroid
2 Cyber Phoenix
2 The Earth - Hex-Sealed Fusion
1 Sangan
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
2 Giant Rat
1 Snipe Hunter
Spells—16
2 Power Bond
2 Vehicroid Connection Zone
1 Future Fusion
2 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Heavy Storm
1 Giant Trunade
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Limiter Removal
1 Smashing Ground
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Premature Burial
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Card Destruction
Traps—3
1 Mirror Force
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Ultimate Offering
Fusions—9
3 Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill
3 Steam Gyroid
3 Ambulance Rescueroid
Thanks to Trinity for the decklist! Until next time, duelists!
—Matt Murphy
Got a cool deck that you think could benefit from some advice? Send me a decklist in the format shown in this article, along with your name, location, and a couple of paragraphs describing how the deck works. You can reach me at mjm.metagame@gmail.com.