The wind over the ocean blew hard enough to ruffle the hair of the duelists aboard the ship that carried them toward their destination, their destiny. The night was lit by a full moon and the gleaming of stars overhead. There was nothing along the horizon but a seemingly endless ocean of dark water. Two prestigious players preparing for the battles they would soon fight began a conversation. One of them was the world-renowned child duelist Yugi Moto, who had just defeated Seto Kaiba, the world champion, using the five most powerful cards in the game. Weevil had asked to hold the pieces of Exodia, the incredibly rare and powerful cards Yugi possessed. Once the cards had passed hands, Weevil threw them overboard, exclaiming that the only answer he had to defeating their strategy was to destroy the cards themselves.

The mystique of Exodia has thrilled players since the cards were printed, and with good reason. To play an Exodia deck is to hold the pieces of a single monster so powerful that, once it was unshackled, it would immediately destroy any opponent. For serious duelists, the concept of drawing five specific cards seems daunting and unrealistic. However, through the use of card combos, we can ensure we draw our pieces of Exodia.

There are two combinations of cards that will allow you to draw your entire deck, along with your five Exodia pieces. However, we are going to focus on one today: Butterfly Dagger - Elma, Gearfried the Iron Knight, and Royal Magical Library. With the Library out, you equip the Dagger to Gearfried, destroying the Dagger and returning it to your hand. You repeat this process, adding counters onto Royal Magical Library until you are able to draw all five Exodia pieces. I focus on this combo because every card involved is searchable from the deck, making it incredibly consistent.

The Monsters

As usual, we’ll begin with the monsters. Two of the cards involved in the three-card combo will be in this section: Gearfried the Iron Knight and Royal Magical Library. To search for the library as fast as possible, we’ll include three copies of Shining Angel.

The Monsters

1 Exodia the Forbidden One

1 Right Arm of the Forbidden One

1 Left Arm of the Forbidden One

1 Right Leg of the Forbidden One

1 Left Leg of the Forbidden One

1 Sangan

1 Witch of the Black Forest

3 Gearfried the Iron Knight

3 Royal Magical Library

3 Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu

3 Shining Angel

Everything here seems to be a necessity. The Exodia pieces are our win conditions, while Gearfried and the Library allow us to draw our entire deck. Sangan and the Witch let us search for pieces of the combo while the Blacksmith allows us to get the Dagger. With complete focus, you shouldn’t waste any time in assembling the cards necessary to win.

The Spells

1 Butterfly Dagger - Elma

1 Pot of Greed

1 Graceful Charity

2 Dark Factory of Mass Production

2 Reinforcement of the Army

3 Upstart Goblin

3 Dark World Dealings

3 Magical Mallet

The spell lineup is fairly simple. The Dagger is obviously included to complete the one-turn KO, and the two copies of Dark Factory of Mass Production are your safeguard from an Exodia piece being discarded. The rest of the spells search your deck for parts of the combo. Basically, we want every hand to lead to holding all the combo pieces on the first turn. Then our trap lineup kicks in . . .

The Traps

2 Threatening Roar

3 Waboku

Finally, five copies of chainable battle-phase-skipping traps will allow you to summon Library, set Waboku, and summon Gearfried the next turn. Short and simple: the easiest way to build combo decks.

Playing the Deck

The deck is fairly simple to play. You draw out as many cards as you can immediately, retrieving as many pieces of the three-card combo as possible: Gearfried the Iron Knight, Royal Magical Library, and Butterfly Dagger - Elma. You summon one of the monsters, set a trap to negate your opponent’s attack, and summon the second monster the following turn. Then you play the Dagger, gracefully draw your entire deck, and show your opponent your Exodia pieces.

Side decking when playing this deck is a little difficult, however intriguing it may be. I once had a friend who, in the second game, sided out his five pieces of Exodia and into cards that made the deck more consistent. Basically, he removed five dead draws from his deck and replaced them with cards that gave him even faster access to his infinite draw combo. Believe it or not, after completing the combo and drawing his entire deck, his opponent scooped up his cards (cursing under his breath of course) and signed the match slip. This was during a Regional Top 8 match. While being sneaky about what cards you have in your deck or hand in this way isn’t cheating, it does involve considerable risk. Besides a side-decking strategy that relies on your opponent’s laziness, you might want to consider side decking a few copies of Royal Decree to stop a variety of side decks that might be used against you, including Solemn Judgment and Trap Dustshoot. Just remember to chain the Decree during the end phase of your opponent’s turn. You aren’t trying to make him or her waste cards, you just want the most positive and absolute conditions for your deck to operate without being impeded. Other than that, you can arrange your side deck to slow down the strategies you plan to play against in your area.