Back when I previewed Armageddon Knight and Dark Eruption, I mentioned that there would be a number of combo decks that develop as a result of Phantom Darkness. Despite this, many duelists out there just don’t understand how powerful these cards are, and as a result are going to get destroyed by decks they never imagined. Despite the fact that last week I published a deck that abuses the power of the Yubel monsters to lock the opponent out of the game and set him or her up for huge swings from The Calculator, I still see the card being criticized as "too slow" or "never going to see play." These are probably the same people who would hear me say that there’s a Plant deck that can win on the very first turn of the game and immediately jump on their forum of choice to proclaim that I’ve finally lost it. That’s fine. Anyone who doesn’t believe I can win on the very first turn thanks to Gigaplant and Lonefire Blossom is free to go. For those of you who have already figured out what I’m going to do to bring it all together into one deadly package, try not to ruin the surprise.
The biggest weakness of the Gemini monsters is the fact that, under normal circumstances, they won’t be able to do anything useful until your next turn after you summon them. If I drop an Ancient Gear Knight, it doesn’t really do me much good until I find a normal summon to spend on it, turning it into an unstoppable attacker. Same goes for any other Gemini monster, including the immensely powerful Il Blud and its newest cousin, Gigaplant. The thing that Gigaplant and Il Blud have going for them is that they have methods of being special summoned from the deck that would allow them to be summoned again on the turn they hit the field.
For this deck, we’ll be focusing on Lonefire Blossom bringing Gigaplant out to the field. Technically, I could do the same trick I’m going to use Gigaplant for with Il Blud, but that would require me to go and find some copies of Il Blud and make an inferior deck, so let’s perish that thought straightaway. Lonefire Blossom is a much better combo card than Pyramid Turtle anyway because it involves absolutely no interaction on your opponent’s part. Still, the fact of the matter is that if we’re going to try and win in one turn, we need to have our Gigaplant cards come on to the field ready for action. After all, if we can get two copies of Gigaplant, we can start a loop with them and Mass Driver to revive and tribute the Gigaplant cards for 8000 damage provided we have a way to summon them with their effects active. Fortunately, we do! Superalloy Beast Raptinus can be summoned to the field with Dragon’s Mirror by using any two Gemini monsters as the materials, and it just happens to do exactly what we need it to! Here’s what a Gigaplant combo deck might look like.
Just to clarify, here’s the combo we’re looking to execute. You need Superalloy Beast Raptinus and Mass Driver on the field. Then, you somehow summon a Gigaplant to the field. Use it to either revive another Gigaplant or a Lonefire Blossom that can get you another Gigaplant. Then tribute the first Gigaplant to Mass Driver and revive it with the other Gigaplant. Then tribute the other Gigaplant and start the loop again. It can actually be done on the first turn with four cards if you happen to draw Future Fusion, Dragon’s Mirror, Mass Driver, and Lonefire Blossom. Simply play Future Fusion, pitching two copies of Ancient Gear Knight or a pair of Blazewing Butterfly cards, then remove them from play with Dragon’s Mirror to get Raptinus to the field.
Next, spend your normal summon on Lonefire Blossom and tribute it to summon Gigaplant from your deck. Use Gigaplant to revive the Blossom, then tribute again for a second Gigaplant. Play Mass Driver and win the game. It takes one more card than Heavy Storm/Future Fusion/Overload Fusion, but it’s also not dependent on getting three Limited cards in your hand. Of course, as the game wears on, your options to set up the combo will increase and decrease in complexity depending on which cards from your deck you’ve seen and which you’ve managed to move to the graveyard or field. Deck manipulation is essential when attempting to execute a combo strategy, so the more search power you can get your hands on, the better.
Demise is particularly lucky in this respect as it has access to Trade-In in addition to up to nine monsters that can search the cards required to summon Demise, King of Armageddon to the field. The deck’s main problem is the fact that it can be stopped in its tracks by Threatening Roar or Waboku. You won’t find that problem with this deck, and you’ll also never have to attack, so you can focus yourself entirely on making the correct plays to ensure that your combo goes off. While I generally don’t find combo decks fun to play or play against in a tournament environment, building and playing decks like this is a great way to discipline yourself so that when you do get into a tournament environment, you’ll be able to be cool and methodical with no mistakes. Believe me when I say that mistakes will kill you. Right now, the deck to beat plays three copies each of Raiza the Storm Monarch and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. If you make a bad search or play some cards incorrectly or out of order, you aren’t going to get a second chance to go off since your opponent is likely going to force you to redraw a card next turn. Let’s go over the things you’ll need to be aware of in order to successfully run this deck.
The first thing you should do whenever you see your sixth card is to figure out whether or not you win the game. If you have a shot to end it straight up, you should take it, even if you’re going second. If you delay because they might have Torrential Tribute or Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, you’re just going to get beat by it in some other way in the future, so why not take the chance? Even if you have a winning hand and are going first, you’re still going to have to worry about D.D. Crow. The Crow can end your game in a second if it takes a necessary combo piece from your graveyard in response to one of your cards, regardless of whether or not it’s the first turn. That’s a chance you’re going to have to take if you want the ability to end the game on turn 1. If you don’t have a winning hand, you need to decide what it is you need to get and modify your plans accordingly. Are you looking for a Lonefire Blossom? Then your best bet is to try to get it with UFO Turtle. No Turtle? Then you’re stuck trying to either draw into the Turtle or the Blossom by means of your regular draw (Card Destruction, or Hand Destruction). In the meantime, you look at what cards you do have and try to stall out the game with them. If you’re missing Mass Driver or Dragon’s Mirror, then you’re just going to have to dig for them.
In the meantime, you have Level Limit - Area B and Gravity Bind to potentially slow things down for a few turns while you draw. You can’t take too long though, as Light and Darkness Dragon will likely be the end of you if it hits play. Do you have a plan to deal with theoretical no-win situations like an opposing first-turn Dimensional Fissure or Macro Cosmos? With the exception of your actual in-game draws, these are all things you can plan out at home while you goldfish with the deck ("goldfishing" is playtesting your deck against a non-existent opponent who makes no moves in order to see whether or not your deck can work, and if so, how fast).
Overall, when compared to decks like the old Diamond Dude Turbo and Demise, this deck is likely to be left by the wayside. That doesn’t mean that we can’t learn from it or improve upon it. For all I know, there’s some team out there that has an incredibly fast and consistent version of the deck that’ll smash anybody who can’t get to a D.D. Crow at record speed. My recommendation to everyone who is inexperienced with combo decks is to put this one together and see if you can run it successfully for a week or two. The mere act of learning how to play it and training yourself to execute properly will do you a world of good in dueling exploits. Until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!
Jerome McHale