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Back in August—before the inception of the current Advanced list but after its announcement—I fixed a Fiend deck in The Apotheosis. The result was a strategy that fielded no Monarchs and no Cyber Dragon cards, but rather sought to control the biggest monster on the field thanks to Dark Necrofear. I knew duelists just wouldn’t know how to handle it in a format where not everyone was expecting Snatch Steal. Fast forward four months and I’ve taken similar builds to multiple tournament wins in my area. The deck is aggressive, it controls the field, and it can side Deck Devastation Virus to destroy Monarchs. It still doesn’t need Cyber Dragon, and duelists still don’t know how to play against it. Ditch the Returns and Merchant, add Scapegoat, an Enemy Controller, and a D. D. Warrior Lady, and you’ve got something that stands toe to toe with the format’s top decks.

The next format should finish off Chaos Return by removing the “Chaos” part of the equation. Despite John Jensen’s success with the deck at Shonen Jump Championship Indianapolis, it’s been flagging in popularity over the past few weeks. It didn’t make it to the Top 8 of the World Championships, it got pummeled by Recruiter Chaos at SJC Philadelphia, and it’s basically been on the downturn for a long time.

What’s the reason? The deck just wasn’t that consistent, especially in mirror matches. There are better ways to use Return, and now that Chaos will be out of the picture come September, it’s time to start looking at some of them.

Enter Ian, a reader who’s decided to try his hand at a deck I’ve worked on myself. I’ll let him tell you about it:

Hi, my name is Ian and I just wanted to say that I really love these articles. You do a great job of making decks more fun and playable, and it's nice to see that people are still trying to find anti-metagame decks. Speaking of anti-meta, I might have found one.

This is a deck that I've wanted to run for a long time. It’s centered on Dark Necrofear as its removal engine to use with Return from the Different Dimension, but that's not its only win condition. What makes Dark Necrofear so cool is that it’s another Snatch Steal once it dies, and that's something that I really love to see. I use the Dark Jeroid to destroy Cyber Dragon and make Jinzo more manageable. The Giant Orc cards are just a beat stick and also for sacrificing for Deck Devastation Virus, and the Goldd and Sillva are there in case they discard with Spirit Reaper or something; plus, they're Fiends.

I think it can too! Here’s the deck that Ian sent me, before the new Advanced list was released.

Ian’s deck list looks very similar to mine when I first put it together. Fiends actually have a wealth of options at their disposal, and Ian’s demonstrated a healthy awareness of most of them. Unfortunately, he also appears to be a bit boggled as to which he should pursue, just as I was. The primary focus for my fix involves trimming away some of the deck’s fat, giving it more focus, and making it a bit more consistent. My primary goals will be as follows:

If I can keep monsters on the field, harass the opponent with Deck Devastation Virus, and build towards a big Return, I should be able to win against virtually anything. With those aims in mind, I’ll start cutting some cards.

First up, Ian’s Snatch Steal, second copy of Spirit Reaper, and second copy of Nobleman of Crossout all need to be removed to make the deck fit the new format. They aren’t huge losses. The removal of Snatch Steal from the environment actually makes Dark Necrofear’s effect even more surprising and powerful, while Reaper and the second Nobleman of Crossout were never particularly important. Heck, the loss of a Nobleman of Crossout from each deck is just going to make it easier to use cards like Giant Germ.

Because of the lack of Spirit Reaper in the new format, I’m going to remove the two copies of Dark Jeroid. Their primary use in Ian’s build was to target and destroy Reaper. While they can do more than just that, I don’t find them to be optimal in the current format, and I think there are better Fiends that I could be using.

I love Dark World. One of my favorite decks I own right now is a copy of the Dark World build run by King Hung Shum at this year’s World Championships, but monsters like Goldd and Sillva need to be the centerpiece of a strategy in order to work well. I’m going to drop both, and I’m also going to remove the one copy of Strike Ninja for the same reason. These are all monsters to build a deck around, and they aren’t meant to be splashed into other strategies. Without Goldd and Sillva I can also get rid of Dark World Lightning and Card Destruction.

That gives me ten card slots to play with, and it’s probably enough space for what I have in mind. I’ll stop dropping cards from the deck now and begin with the additions.

First up, I want to max out on Dark Necrofear. I don’t have any other way of removing monsters from play, save a lucky Nobleman of Crossout on my Slate Warrior cards or something similar, so seeing one Necrofear over the course of every game is incredibly important. If I don’t, Return from the Different Dimension is going to be a useless draw. A third Dark Necrofear is a must, though hopefully I won’t ever see two in my opening hand.

Speaking of Slate Warrior, I’m going to need some. This may very well be the best Fiend card printed, and now that it’s in the Lord of the Storm Structure Deck it’s ridiculously easy to get your hands on. Three Slate Warrior cards are going to provide the muscle this deck needs, giving us disposable big beaters that can bring down Monarch and Cyber Dragon cards while letting us keep Giant Orc in hand for Deck Devastation Virus. Setting Slate Warrior to get its awesome flip effect is a lot safer now that Nobleman of Crossout is a limited card, and even if Slate does get hit by Nobleman, that just loads your out of play area for Return.

A third Giant Germ is important too. I can’t really figure out why Ian was only running two. Even if this addition took the deck over 41 cards, it wouldn’t matter, since the destruction of one Germ is going to pop the other two onto the field anyways. These cheery little globules of infection will maintain field presence, dish out some damage, and act as graveyard fodder for Necrofear. They’re a must in this deck, and they’re one of the most underrated monsters out there. The lack of a second Nobleman of Crossout just puts them over the top.

Two Mystic Tomato cards will let us search for the Germs, while also giving us access to Sangan, Spirit Reaper, and Newdoria. The latter is perhaps the most important, because it’s another Fiend that is going to help us maintain field presence. Not only will Newdoria knock out big, troublesome monsters, it will also prevent the opponent from attacking and fuel Necrofear. When it’s returned to the field by Return, it can then crash into something larger to take it out. The two-Tomato two-Newdoria engine is a proven winner, and it slides into this deck perfectly!

The last monster I want to add is Night Assailant. It can trade off with one of your opponent’s monsters thanks to its effect, and since it’s a Fiend, it can be more Necrofear food in a real pinch. You wouldn’t want to Return it, but when you need to block attacks for one more turn before bringing out Dark Necrofear, Night Assailant is your go-to guy. In addition, it’ll combo with Graceful Charity and Morphing Jar to bring back Magical Merchant or Slate Warrior.

Finally, with one card slot remaining, I’m going to add one Ring of Destruction. Not only will Ring protect me from Cyber-Stein, it’ll give me another way to keep monsters off of my defense-position Giant Orc, and defend Necrofear from attacks when I don’t care to use its effect. To me, Ring is a must in this format. It was given to us to deal with Cyber-Stein, and I try not to look a gift horse in the mouth!

This deck has a very clear game plan. It usually acts defensively for the first few turns, populating the field with recruiter monsters and keeping the opponent’s monster count down with Newdoria, Night Assailant, and Smashing Ground. It’s not an early-game deck, but if it can take a big crack against an opponent early on, it should: keeping the pressure on your adversary is never a bad idea, and this deck can swing hard and fast with Slate Warrior and Giant Orc. Your ideal openings are plentiful: Mystic Tomato with Giant Germ is perfect, while Assailant, Newdoria, Morphing Jar, Slate Warrior, Spirit Reaper, and Sangan are all acceptable. This deck does very, very well on turn 1.

The mid-game is where you explode. At that point you’ve got Fiends in the graveyard for Dark Necrofear, and hopefully Deck Devastation Virus in-hand. Try to get the most out of Deck Devastation: your ideal scenario for its activation is in response to a card that threatens the Necrofear or Giant Orc you plan to tribute. For instance, while just summoning Giant Orc and tributing it off for the Virus can be good, it would be better to summon that Orc, attack with it into Sakuretsu Armor, and then chain Deck Devastation Virus. That way, your opponent loses Sakuretsu Armor as well as whatever the Deck Devastation Virus costs him or her.

The Virus comes in handy bringing out Necrofear, too. If Bottomless Trap Hole or Torrential Tribute threaten your special summon, you can always beat out the opponent’s play on the chain by tributing Necrofear for Deck Devastation. That costs him or her the trap while keeping Necrofear in the graveyard for Premature Burial, Call of the Haunted, or another Necrofear’s summoning requirement.

Eight traps is a lot in a format where Jinzo and Mobius the Frost Monarch are likely to see a resurgence, but most of my traps are chainable and high utility, so I should be able to roll with things pretty well. I’ve got a ton of monster destruction from Newdoria and Night Assailant, and Slate Warrior can really soften up Jinzo if needed: I’m not too worried about the android. Royal Decree might be a concern in your area, but if someone’s playing it, then all the usual side decking advice for Decree is sound. Siding out some of your traps for more spell-based monster control is a good idea, but often Decree will just wind up helping you out anyways, as Necrofear takes control of a big monster and proceeds to stomp around the field, wearing your opponent’s monster like a hat.

This deck can be a major competitor in the new format, and is especially good against Warrior decks packing Don Zaloog, Mystic Tomato, and Exiled Force. Even though Magician of Faith and Spirit Reaper are now down to one per deck, Deck Devastation Virus is a massive card that can totally ruin your opponent’s day. This deck has unparalleled synergy with the Virus, and is chock full of tricks your opponent won’t see coming.

Working on a deck for the new Advanced format? Looking for some help, or just want to see your creation right here on Metagame? Send it to me, and you might see your deck featured in an Apotheosis column! I’m Jason (at) metagame (dot) com, and I’m always looking for cool new decks to write about.