I must confess, I’ve had a soft spot for the Fairy subtype since last year, when I met a noted player in the Texas region who qualified for Nationals with a mono-Fairy deck. Back in the old Painful Choice/Scapegoat/Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning format last October, he managed to pilot multiple copies of Shining Angel, Airknight Parshath, and Mudora into a Top 4 regional berth in one of the most competitive metagames in the world.

Much has changed since last October. Airknight Parshath has lost much of its effectiveness due to the release of Cyber Dragon, and finds itself unable to munch on Scapegoat tokens. Mudora does not have its friend Painful Choice to fuel the graveyard for huge attack pumps any longer. Shining Angel can only search out one D. D. Warrior Lady, as opposed to three in the past, when she was not placed on the limited list.

With the release of Enemy of Justice, the trend has shifted toward Fairy monsters that rely on a counter-trap base such as Voltanis the Adjudicator and Bountiful Artemis. It would seem that the shift in the metagame has rendered the old, standard beatdown Fairy variant irrelevant. Mudora and Airknight Parshath don’t have the gas left to push through the Chaos Return-dominated format. Or do they?

This column is called New Grounds because it boldly pushes forward new deck ideas that can be taken confidently to any regional or Shonen Jump Championship event. Let’s see if we can resuscitate the old Fairy archetype!

Creating Advantage through the Fairy Theme

The goal of the original build was to slowly fuel the graveyard with Fairy monsters. Mudora would swell to epic proportions, easily running over the 1800 ATK Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer and 2000 ATK Berserk Gorilla that dominated the format. In a game that takes long enough, Mudora can become the equivalent of a normal summoned Summoned Skull, or even better. This type of edge cannot be ignored.

Cards like Shining Angel and Airknight Parshath provide a stable base of support for the theme. The card that unites them against Cyber Dragon is Rush Recklessly, which effectively allows Angel to cancel Cyber Dragon’s presence while replenishing field presence. Also, Airknight can run over it in the damage step to draw an additional card. This link provides the foundation for our strategy and allow us to utilize multiple copies of the once popular tribute monster.

Finally, the Fairy deck has many new tricks in its basket. Asura Priest has seen a resurgence in popularity and rightfully so. Combine it with Rush Recklessly and you can now clear the entire board. Majestic Mech - Ohka, as mentioned in the Skill Drain article has also revitalized the Fairy build, allowing us to link with support cards like Creature Swap, Last Will, and even Chaos Sorcerer (there was a dearth of good Light types prior to it and Skelengel’s release).

All in all, the strength of the new additions counterbalances the new threats (namely Cyber Dragon. Ideally the goal is to soak up the Dragon and Sorcerer hits while keeping Mudora in hand. Then at the ideal moments, Mudora will be dropped with 2500+ attack, leading to huge momentum swings. The Fairy deck should have an interesting matchup with top-tier Chaos Return and its variants.

Build: Fairy Aggro Theme (FAT)

General Synergies and Goals:

1) Utilize Shining Angel to stabilize field presence and fuel the graveyard for Mudora.

2) Use the support base of spell and traps to cement control of the tempo.

Pivotal Cards:

1) Shining Angel

2) Mudora

Constructing the Monster Lineup

We can separate the groups into Fairy-specific support and general support. Many frequently appearing cards, such as Chaos Sorcerer and Pot of Avarice, must be chosen carefully or removed altogether because of their clash with Mudora’s effect.

Fairy Subtype Support:

3 Shining Angel

2 Mudora

2 Airknight Parshath

2 Majestic Mech - Ohka

3 Skelengel

2 Asura Priest

The different Fairy monsters in the deck all have different selling points. The three copies of Skelengel and Shining Angel will be your primary means of maintaining field and hand presence. Upon destruction, they’ll replace themselves while sending one key Fairy monster to the graveyard.

Airknight and Ohka are the two heavy hitters—you’ll want to summon them when trouble is near. The two copies of Asura Priest work well with Creature Swap, and the two Mudora should be self explanatory. Fourteen Fairy monsters is a great number to use; the rest of the slots will have to be filled with relevant support.

General Support:

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Sangan

1 Treeborn Frog

2 Spirit Reaper

1 Jinzo

1 Chaos Sorcerer

1 D. D.Warrior Lady

1 Morphing Jar

Because our spell base plans to use two copies of Creature Swap, one Metamorphosis, and one Last Will, it’s not hard to see why both Treeborn Frog and Scapegoat are necessary. The deck includes one copy of Chaos Sorcerer to exploit the natural Light and Dark counts of the deck, and uses Morphing Jar to fuel the graveyard with more Fairy monsters. The rest of the selections are self-explanatory.

The Spell and Trap Support for our Fairy Theme

Let’s start with the staples.

Spell Staples:

1 Confiscation

1 Graceful Charity

1 Premature Burial

1 Snatch Steal

2 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Heavy Storm

Themed Spell Support:

2 Creature Swap: A necessary element of our strategy. Swap works with Asura Priest, Angel, Ohka, Frog, flipped Skelengel, Sangan . . . in short, almost every monster card in our deck. It would be silly not to run two copies.

1 Last Will: Last Will also works with numerous cards in the deck, including D. D. Warrior Lady, Ohka, and standard battle/tribute tricks. It will usually fetch out either a Fairy beatstick or Spirit Reaper.

2 Rush Recklessly: Running three copies of this spell card might be a tad reckless, but the spell handles Cyber Dragon and Spirit Reaper, and works wonderfully well with a number of our cards.

1 Scapegoat: A practical necessity.

1 Metamorphosis: Again, this card has too much synergy in the deck to ignore.

1 Smashing Ground: Great with Spirit Reaper and great to push through with Shining Angel.

As for traps, the only one we need to be mindful of is Royal Decree. This deck will pack three copies of Royal Decree. That’s it.

Themed Trap Support:

3 Royal Decree

Expected Matchup with the Best Decks in the Format

With plenty of great monsters to choose from in the early going, the deck should not falter on the first few turns. Contrary to the dictates of the Chaos Return strategy, where loading three copies of Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive into the removed from game zone is a good idea, you do not want Skelengel to get hit by Nobleman of Crossout. It might be a better idea to simply open by summoning Shining Angel, or setting monsters if you have no choice. From there, depending on your spells in hand, the game can either move slowly (more favorable) or lightning-quick (not so good).

The deck needs turns to pass for Mudora to develop. Because its 1800 DEF won’t keep it safe from some of the format’s more popular monsters, you’ll need to maintain a slow pace as often as you can. If you suspect that the opponent is holding Cyber Dragon, don’t summon a monster! If you sense an impending Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, don’t summon a monster! The Shining Angel and Skelengel cards must be carefully cultivated to fuel Fairies in the graveyard.

Jinzo and Royal Decree effectively cut off the Return avenue of victory. You need only fear the huge monster threats, which are headache enough. If Mudora can push through battle on a Sorcerer or Monarch (it’s one of the few non-tribute monsters in the game capable of doing so, by the way), you’ll likely secure the victory. Remember, the Fairy deck shines in the mid- and late game. Being forced to summon Mudora early on in the duel will likely spell defeat.

New Grounds Verdict: The deck can definitely suffer from a fast pace of play. However, it effectively counters Chaos Return and Chaos Swap. You’ll simply have to hope that Airknight and Mudora both hold up. Rapid overextensions or cards that kill your field presence like Snatch Steal and Zaborg the Thunder Monarch are huge trouble. However, the new Fairy deck appears to be decidedly competitive and can give Chaos Return a run for its money in the right circumstances.