Coin flips, dice rolls, and cards of chance tend to make Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG duelists a little twitchy. Many players feel that such random effects simply aren't game breaking enough to warrant the risk of activating them. Despite that perception, however, cards of chance are quite acceptable when the benefits are large and the repercussions are tiny. With that in mind, let's take a peek at what James Laurent sailed to a Top 4 finish with at Shonen Jump Atlanta:

Monsters: 23

2 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch

2 Chaos Sorcerer

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

2 Cyber Dragon

1 D. D. Warrior Lady

2 Mystic Tomato

3 Newdoria

3 Sasuke Samurai #4

1 Sangan

1 Tsukuyomi

2 Magician of Faith

1 Treeborn Frog

2 Spirit Reaper

Spells: 12

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Creature Swap

2 Smashing Ground

1 Snatch Steal

1 Premature Burial

1 Last Will

1 Confiscation

1 Scapegoat

1 Graceful Charity

Traps: 7

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Fairy Box

1 Mirror Force

1 Call Of The Haunted

2 Sakuretsu Armor

1 Return from the Different Dimension

Isn't that something? The deck is quite original and manages to give a good pounding at the same time. The monster line-up is the most difficult part to dissect, so naturally we'll take that on first. You'll notice that there are some obvious inclusions in the deck to keep it afloat. First, Breaker the Magical Warrior, Sangan, D. D. Warrior Lady, and Treeborn Frog are all good examples of monsters you want to use if possible.  As you can see, Laurent has a number of 1500 or lower ATK monsters and only three spell/trap cards he plans on keeping on the field for an extended period of time, so Sangan and Treeborn Frog fit the deck nicely. There's also every reason to take advantage of the powerful effects Breaker has to offer, so he found his way into the deck quite easily as well.

Sasuke Samurai #4 is the real gem, though. Packing a whopping three copies, Laurent’s deck shows off his good taste in cards of chance. You see, the Sasuke is rarely a dead card if you want to drop it. The Samurai can pounce on face-down cards quickly, and has the possibility of gaining an excellent effect. The best-case scenario is something awesome (your opponent's monster is destroyed for free) while the worst-case scenario is that your Sasuke attacks as normal. Since Sasuke gets his effect on defense as well, your opponent's attacks become that much more difficult. Cyber Dragon and Asura Priest suddenly feel much more cowardly when staring down this giant spearman.

The Samurai doesn't actually need to do anything to exert considerable control over the game. The simple fact that it's on the field means your opponent is hard-pressed to make any attacks . . . and going on the defensive risks losing his or her monster to the Sasuke's attack. Tough spot. Unfortunately for your opponent, without monster removal, he or she will soon find the game coming down to the fate of a coin flip. Sasuke's presence can also force your opponent to play Chaos Sorcerer very early. In a game where players tend to save their Sorcerers as long as possible (to minimize the chance of the opponent having an answer), forcing an early Sorcerer can prove quite beneficial. You should have more options, and be able to deal with the Sorcerer easily. This also makes your monsters that much harder to contest later on, when your opponent has one less Sorcerer out.

The other interesting choice was playing three copies of Newdoria, a card that’s taking a lot of heat nowadays. If it gets squashed by an opponent's floater (something that's paid for itself by gaining cards or removing opposing ones) then you have effectively received the short end of a 2 for 1 trade*. However, its ability to take anything out when it goes means that Laurent can feel safe, knowing that his opponents won’t gain any field presence. Newdoria also puts a stop to pesky Cyber Dragon/Spirit Reaper combo rushes, and it can also force early Sorcerers from your opponent's hand.

The rest of the deck is fairly standard. Cyber Dragon, Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, and Chaos Sorcerer are the power monsters of the format. In a game where stabilization is everything, they help rebuild a field the turn they come out. Magician of Faith, Tsukuyomi, and Spirit Reaper all have unique ways of manipulating resources. They can force simplification or grab some extra tools. Either way, the power of Sasuke Samurai #4 goes up.

Mystic Tomato rounds out the rest of the monsters. This deck is clearly designed to attack your opponents without giving them a good chance to attack back. Mystic Tomato fits this role nicely. Not only does it boast 1400 ATK, making it capable of taking out almost all the ATK and DEF values of your opponent's non-tribute monsters, but it pumps out new dark monsters to replace itself when it's destroyed in battle.

The spell lineup is basic enough, containing the same cards found in many of the top decklists online. You'll notice a lack of Nobleman of Crossout cards in this deck. Laurent doesn't burden himself with the poor topdecking and one-for-one trade Crossout provides. Instead, he uses Creature Swap and Sasuke Samurai #4. Both of these can also provide that same even trade at their worst, and provide a number of additional benefits at their best. The Swap cards have the ability to completely turn a game around. They also work incredibly well with Mystic Tomato, Newdoria, Sangan, Tsukuyomi, and Treeborn Frog.

Let’s look at a common scenario faced by the average tournament player. Your opponent has a face-up Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and a face-down monster. This is normally a tough spot, since you want to take down both the 1400 ATK floater and the face-down card (which will likely turn into another floater). Laurent can do this quite easily. By summoning Newdoria and playing Creature Swap, for example, he puts his opponents into an equally tough spot. Do they give Laurent the Dekoichi and lose their flip to the Newdoria, or do they lose out in the deal and give their opponent the flip effect? These kinds of common win-win scenarios are what take a deck to the top.

A pair of Smashing Ground cards complete the spells, which are all solid choices for the deck. Not only do they help balance out the field, but most of Laurent's monsters would rather take a direct shot at the opponent than be forced to futilely attack some oversized Monarch. Smashing Ground gets rid of things Laurent can't attack so that he can keep the pressure on.

The trap lineup is, once again, basic. Mirror Force, Torrential Tribute, Call of the Haunted, and two Sakuretsu Armor cards are the norm for maintaining consistency and stabilizing the field. Laurent plays one Return from the Different Dimension to combo nicely with both his two Chaos Sorcerer cards and his opponent's as well. Remember what I said about his opponents being tempted to drop Chaos Sorcerer early? Return brings back all the bad memories for your opponent and lets you wreak havoc on either his or her life points or his or her field.

Fairy Box is the icing on the cake. It’s another card of chance with a minimal downside. Paying 500 life points per turn is worth the chance of avoiding anywhere from 1400 to 2400 damage per attack. Since the effect applies to all attacks, this card can prevent lethal damage again and again! The Box also provides an outlet for monster removal. If Laurent has a face-up monster, and the opponent comes barreling in with some bigger ones, Fairy Box can reduce their ATK to 0 and force them to crash into his own monster, destroying them and dishing out some life damage.

Fairy Box also doubles up nicely with Sasuke Samurai #4 when on the defensive. In addition to the coin flip effect of Sasuke Samurai, Laurent gets the coin flip effect of Fairy Box, each creating essentially the same effect. Odds are good that he will make at least one of the calls right, which would give him quite an edge over his opponents. It's no surprise this deck made Top 4. It didn't need to be constantly lucky, either. The numerous win/don't lose scenarios that Laurent faced worked as often as not, and whatever the outcome, Laurent was always one step closer to his Top 4 finish.

* That's bad.