Just two weeks ago I made a bold prediction in the chapter of The Champions right before Gen Con Indy. I had analyzed “Cesar-Stein” and claimed that it would become the deck to beat at Shonen Jump Championship Indianapolis. However, it appears that the deck’s popularity was short-lived. It was piloted by many brave World’s competitors, and their success (or lack thereof) remains mostly unknown to the North American Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG community. Without access to deck lists from the World Championships, most of us had to prepare for Indy without the aid of the world’s finest . . .

 . . . up until the point where Dario Longo won. Instantly, Dario’s deck became a hit, and luckily for professionals and beginners alike, the deck list was available right here on Metagame.com. It came in the form of Dario’s 4th place deck list at the European Championships. With such an unprecedented level of success on a national level, Dario’s World Championship title sent the Italian player instantly into stardom. Everyone began to practice with his deck, and all thoughts of Cesar-Stein went out the window.

Yet some still believed in the possibility of a lightning-fast Stein deck that packed the consistency of a Chaos deck. One such player was Robert Morgan. No matter how much I try to pretend this guy isn’t going to Top 8 another SJC with a new, unique build, Morgan keeps on coming up large. He’s earned a right to be featured as one of the Champions, and today I will take a look at how he accomplished his fourth Shonen Jump Top 8 with this build:

Monsters: 20

3 Cyber Dragon

3 Nimble Momonga

2 Cyber-Stein

2 Apprentice Magician

2 Magician of Faith

1 Old Vindictive Magician

1 Sangan

1 Chaos Sorcerer

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Exiled Force

1 Morphing Jar

1 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch

1 Asura Priest

Spells: 16

1 Megamorph

1 Limiter Removal

1 Heavy Storm

2 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Creature Swap

1 Giant Trunade

1 Snatch Steal

1 Last Will

1 Scapegoat

1 Enemy Controller

1 Pot of Avarice

1 Graceful Charity

1 Confiscation

Traps: 4

2 Royal Decree

1 Sakuretsu Armor

1 Mirror Force

As you can see, Morgan opted to take the Cesar-Stein build to less of an extreme. One problem with a straight-OTK main deck is the possibility of a bad draw. Under that scenario, it’s next to impossible to make the hand work. Even if your opponent has a poor draw, he or she can likely still take you down with ease. In an attempt to fix the problem, Morgan played with fewer OTK pieces and more of the consistent Chaos cards.

The monster line-up looks like Cesar-Stein at first. Three copies each of Cyber Dragon and Nimble Momonga give the impression of an aggro deck that wants to finish the game quickly. There is also more than one copy of Cyber-Stein, which signals that there is at least some sort of reliance on destroying an opponent before he or she can fight back. However, this is where the deck quickly heads off into unmarked territory.

Remember how Cesar-Stein played three copies of Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive? It seemed like the perfect fit. Draw power, Machine type, and Dark attribute, all coupled nicely on to a 1400 ATK body. However, there are some problems with being run over. Dekoichi suffers from the same drawback all flip effects do: having to be set a turn before it can activate. In other words, it’s terribly slow. In today’s aggressive environment, this can be quite a pothole for the Stein player. When your opponent has a lot of field presence, it’s difficult to gain a foothold on the duel and become the aggressor. It’s even harder to punch through damage. This can inevitably lead to situations where all the Stein-OTK pieces still don’t add up to enough damage.

To offset this factor, Morgan ran the Apprentice Magician/Magician of Faith/Old Vindictive Magician trio over any other flip effects. This way, Morgan could maintain his field presence while filtering his deck for different effects. This left Morgan with the ability to play monsters that Cesar-Stein couldn’t afford to. Exiled Force and Asura Priest, whose lack of field presence would otherwise be much too unbearable for the Stein player, are now no longer a liability. Zaborg the Thunder Monarch is also that much more consistent, considering that Apprentice Magician brings out a team of flip effects ripe for tribute.

Morphing Jar is one of the most powerful cards in the game right now, and you can bet Morgan wields his like an axe. Whether it’s smashing through the opponent with the extra cards it provides, or helping the deck draw into its few OTK pieces, Morphing Jar does it all. Morgan would be a fool not to use it in this deck.

The final monster of note is the lone copy of Chaos Sorcerer. Most decks would optimally want to fit as many copies of Sorcerer as they could in a deck, but Morgan’s got some good reasons to only pack one. First, a single Sorcerer gives room for Pot of Avarice, a card that helps Morgan in both draw power and utility. Avarice replenishes options that have either been denied or proven useful already throughout the duel. Either way, Morgan would be happy to get another crack at using them. I’m sure at least once in the tournament he was below 5000 life points before he made a comeback with multiple Nimble Momonga cards and won with Cyber-Stein when his opponent thought he or she was safe.

The combo pieces have their own utility as well. Megamorph has a few tricks up its sleeve, such as attaching to an opponent’s monsters to make them smaller when Morgan is winning. It can also destroy Reapers instantly, while pumping a Cyber Dragon + Nimble Momonga team to 5200 damage. Limiter Removal can do the same thing, and Last Will has its own little toolbox to pull out the perfect card for the situation.

A pair of Creature Swap cards is meant to help combat the popular Cyber Dragon. Because opposing monsters get in the way of a deck that relies this heavily on Cyber-Stein, Morgan needs a consistent way to deal with them. Creature Swap not only turns the tide of field presence, but converts the rewards into life point damage as well.

Morgan’s trap line-up is quickly becoming the norm in competitive play. At this Shonen Jump alone, six of the Top 8 decks main-decked Royal Decree. It’s becoming clear that aggressive play and a defense based entirely on field presence is the way to go. The traps in this deck are designed for one simple task: keep opposing monsters off the field, and your own on it. While this certainly isn’t a new strategy, it’s tried, tested, and true.

With the ability to pull out faster Cyber-Stein wins than his opponents—combined with the consistency of a standard Chaos deck—Robert Morgan had, undeniably, one of the best decks in the tournament, and it took him to another Top 4 finish.