Oh, Cyberdarks! I really liked the concept behind the Cyberdark monsters when they were first released, and I actually took a couple of competitive local tournaments with a build that focused on Cyberdark Horn, Cyberdark Edge, and Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch instead of Cyberdark Dragon. I felt pretty good about myself . . . and then Yannick Dubeau went and built a way cooler Cyberdark deck that took him all the way to Day 2 at Shonen Jump Championship Montreal. My achievement certainly felt a little less significant, but that was overshadowed by a thrilling success that was long overdue.
The only problem was that the Cyberdarks just weren’t big enough. Sure, the ability to attack over Cyber Dragon with 2200 or 2300 ATK was awesome, and it sure seemed impressive the first time I built the deck. But the more I played, the more I wished I could attack over Monarchs.
Now, thanks to the 1700 ATK Hunter Dragon from Tactical Evolution, I can! And so can today’s deck submitter, Danny. Here’s the e-mail he sent along with his decklist . . .
Hey, this is your friendly neighborhood Cyberdark duelist. I’ve been running Cyberdarks since they first came out. Though I have gotten some well-deserved support in the form of Hunter Dragon, one of my friends keeps frustrating me by calling my Cyberdarks an uncompetitive deck, and I want to prove him wrong.
The deck is about doing heavy damage fast through battle and some good burn cards. It uses a lot of spell and trap removal to combat Necrovalley, Dimensional Fissure, and Royal Decree. It uses Emissary of the Afterlife to speed things up while sporting a nice offense. And finally, there’s Generation Shift, which can be chained to a number of monster removal and brainwashing cards.
I hope you can help show that Cyberdarks are a lot stronger than people say they are.
Danny P.
Let’s see what Danny put together . . .
Hunter Dragon’s Impact: 43 Cards
Monsters: 23
3 Cyberdark Horn
3 Cyberdark Edge
3 Cyberdark Keel
3 Hunter Dragon
1 Twin-Headed Behemoth
3 Masked Dragon
3 Exploder Dragon
2 Emissary of the Afterlife
1 Sangan
1 Morphing Jar
Spells: 9
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Stamping Destruction
1 Future Fusion
2 Smashing Ground
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Swords of Revealing Light
Traps: 11
1 Deck Devastation Virus
1 Eradicator Epidemic Virus
1 Magic Cylinder
3 Dimension Wall
2 Generation Shift
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
Fusions: 5
3 Cyberdark Dragon
2 Five-Headed Dragon
Danny built his deck for the current format, and now that the new September 1st Forbidden and Limited list has been revealed, I want to bring his deck into the new environment. Come September, it’s going to be a great time to play Cyberdarks: I heard a lot of people voicing concerns about Jinzo lately, since Brain Control, Smashing Ground, Fissure, and Snatch Steal (all easy ways to deal with the pesky android) have been Limited or Forbidden, and Jinzo has gone to two per deck. Cyberdarks don’t have to worry though, because thanks to Hunter Dragon, they can just attack right over Jinzo anyway. While other decks may struggle to oust Monarchs and Jinzo from the field, this one can do it with ease. So, I’d like to update this deck for September.
Next, the deck is far too large. At 43 cards, it can’t draw copies of Hunter Dragon or Future Fusion as reliably as it should, which made Danny resort to running Emissary of the Afterlife. While that’s a creative solution, playing a smaller, more efficient deck is going to be easier in the long run. We need to slim this thing down to have it running at top speed.
Finally, there are some strategic conflicts here that are hindering Danny’s competitive progress. Three copies of Dimension Wall are better suited for a deck that doesn’t plan to aggressively dominate in battle, and—while the Wall can provide a solid retort when the opponent runs over one of your un-boosted Cyberdarks—that’s really not the position we should be planning to play from. This deck isn’t coy, and it isn’t conservative: it wants to play monsters each turn. Dimension Wall just isn’t a good fit here.
So with those goals in mind, it’s time to make some drops. First up is one copy each of the Cyberdarks themselves. Six Cyberdarks plus Pot of Avarice and another helpful spell to let us reuse the sinister Machines will be enough, and this change frees up a lot of valuable space. I’ll also drop all three copies of Exploder Dragon. Cyberdark decks in the current format need it to help them manage Monarchs and Jinzo, and there just weren’t enough Dragons out there: Exploder Dragon was an obvious choice for fulfilling the deck’s draconic needs. Hunter Dragon solves both of those problems, acting as a Dragon to attach as well as providing enough ATK to take on big tribute monsters. While Exploder Dragon will still work for some duelists, I personally prefer mine in the side deck if anywhere.
Next, I’ll drop both copies of Emissary of the Afterlife. We’ll be speeding up the deck by improving its core infrastructure, so the band-aid fix of Emissary won’t be necessary. While it’s a nice card to have in this type of strategy, we just can’t afford the space. I’ll drop Morphing Jar to complete the monster cuts as well, and replace it with something I consider to be a better fit later.
With fewer Dragons in the deck, and the ever-present chance to send virtually all of them to the graveyard with Future Fusion, Stamping Destruction is no longer worth playing. I’ve run this card successfully before in dedicated Dragon decks, but you need more than just seven Dragons for it to be reliable. Otherwise it could be a dead card for many turns, sitting in your hand doing nothing. Slip these into the side deck and add a third if burn decks are popular in your area.
One copy of Smashing Ground needs to be removed in order for this deck to be legal. Smashing is now at one per deck, so we’ll need to employ some alternative forms of monster control. Again, Cyberdarks basically are monster control in and of themselves, but more answers to big beatsticks are always a good thing. Ring of Destruction needs to be dropped for the same reason—it’s no longer a part of the playable card pool.
Eradicator Epidemic Virus seems risky, especially when you’re only running one copy. This deck can certainly support three copies of Eradicator with a bit of tweaking, but I’d rather focus on the core battle strategy instead of spell and trap disruption. It’s certainly an awkward fit at just one copy. Deck Devastation Virus will also be sent to the side deck, since—after playing Cyberdarks for a while myself—I really feel they don’t mind smaller monsters. Cyberdark Horn absolutely loves going up against Apprentice engine monsters or set cards like Spirit Reaper, Treeborn Frog, or Card Trooper, so the small monsters aren’t really my chief concern.
With Dimension Wall removed, my last drop is the pair of Generation Shift cards. This was smart tech in the era of Brain Control and Snatch Steal, but since there’s going to be a lot less of that in about a week and a half, Generation Shift just isn’t necessary anymore.
So with some space cleared, we have seventeen slots to fill in order to bring the deck back up to 40 cards. The first cards I want to add are some support monsters. Snipe Hunter will let us discard in-hand Dragons to fuel Cyberdarks, or ditch Cyberdarks in the early game if there aren’t any Dragons in the graveyard yet. It’s a nice answer to Banisher of the Radiance or Dimensional Fissure, and it’ll work well with one of the spells I’m adding.
Next, Card Trooper takes the place of Morphing Jar. With Trooper now down to one per deck, it should be a lot easier to find people willing to trade them, so if you don’t have one yet, it’s a great time to pick a few up. Trooper is a Machine, so it has synergy with our central theme, and it will also feed Dragons to the graveyard.
Cyber Dragon and Raiza the Storm Monarch will give this deck an aggressive edge. Cyber Dragon fills in for your big attackers early on, when you haven’t had time to establish your Cyberdark infrastructure. It’s a very solid recovery card when things go wrong, and it creates plays that are important to this (and virtually any other) format. Raiza can take advantage of Cyberdarks that are hit once in battle, and can help alleviate the problems Zane’s Dark-side monsters can face when it comes to defensive removal. Finally, I’ll add a copy of Breaker the Magical Warrior for the same reason. This deck loves eliminating cards like Widespread Ruin before they can cause problems to our invested 2500 ATK attackers, and Breaker can do that. Even on his own, he’s just a great monster to have on your side.
Next, one copy of the new Cyberdark Impact! starts the additions to the spell lineup. Cyberdark Impact! will help smooth out some of the Cyberdarks I cut, and it’s a very flexible card that enhances this deck’s offensive options. If you don’t have one yet, you can sub in Overload Fusion, but the new secret rare from Tactical Evolution is definitely a better option.
Limiter Removal is a must. This is a heavily-themed Machine deck, capable of attacking directly and dealing piercing damage, so Limiter is an absolute necessity. The days of Machine Duplication are certainly over, but this explosive little spell card continues to be a volatile force.
Scapegoat will provide defense when draws become strictly Dragon- or Cyberdark-heavy: with Raiza at its disposal, this deck doesn’t mind being forced into a slow game for a brief period of time. Scapegoat will in turn call for Enemy Controller to ensure that we don’t lock ourselves, and it’s a complementary addition I’m happy to make. When you’re swinging for 2500 damage, turning a defending monster to attack position and running it over can win games. The same can be said for Cyberdark Horn, which can often take advantage of low DEF numbers thanks to Enemy Controller.
Book of Moon accomplishes a similar goal while also protecting your own monsters from effects that only hit face ups. I like to think of Book as a compromise with this deck’s original use of Generation Shift, since it techs some of the same cards Generation was originally intended to stop.
The last spell I’ll add will be one Lightning Vortex. As another discard outlet for some of the deck’s lower utility cards, it fulfills some of the same goals as Snipe Hunter, getting Dragons into the graveyard or giving us something to do with in-hand Cyberdarks when there just isn’t a Dragon for them to attach yet. I believe that the first weeks of this new format will be defined by very aggressive plays and a lot of monsters committed to the field, so Lightning Vortex will be a great tech pick. Finally, I’ll add some additional monster removal in the form of Widespread Ruin. Three copies will punish opponents who go after weakened Cyberdarks, and will interfere with plays that your opponent takes for granted (such as attacking Masked Dragon).
That’s it for this deck fix. Check out the total changes I made.
-1 Cyberdark Horn
-1 Cyberdark Edge
-1 Cyberdark Keel
-3 Exploder Dragon
-2 Emissary of the Afterlife
-1 Morphing Jar
-2 Stamping Destruction
-1 Smashing Ground
-1 Deck Devastation Virus
-1 Eradicator Epidemic Virus
-3 Dimension Wall
-2 Generation Shift
-1 Ring of Destruction
+2 Cyber Dragon
+2 Raiza the Storm Monarch
+1 Card Trooper
+1 Snipe Hunter
+1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
+1 Cyberdark Impact!
+1 Scapegoat
+1 Limiter Removal
+1 Book of Moon
+2 Enemy Controller
+1 Lightning Vortex
+3 Widespread Ruin
The final build of the deck looks like this:
Hunter Dragon’s Impact: 40 Cards
Monsters: 21
2 Raiza the Storm Monarch
2 Cyber Dragon
2 Cyberdark Horn
2 Cyberdark Edge
2 Cyberdark Keel
3 Hunter Dragon
1 Twin-Headed Behemoth
3 Masked Dragon
1 Sangan
1 Card Trooper
1 Snipe Hunter
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
Spells: 13
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Future Fusion
1 Smashing Ground
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Cyberdark Impact!
1 Scapegoat
1 Limiter Removal
1 Book of Moon
2 Enemy Controller
1 Lightning Vortex
Traps: 6
1 Magic Cylinder
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
3 Widespread Ruin
Fusions: 5
3 Cyberdark Dragon
2 Five-Headed Dragon
With Twin-Headed Behemoth, Masked Dragon, Sangan, and Card Trooper all providing adequate opening plays, this deck shouldn’t have a hard time stabilizing early on. From there, you want to play aggressively in order to start stacking up Dragons in the graveyard, while also accruing multiple Cyberdarks in hand. Your main concern should usually be big attackers: let your Cyberdarks do the work with smaller nuisances. You’ll notice I didn’t use Nobleman of Crossout in this deck. That’s because I’m a firm believer that your Cyberdarks can handle face-down monsters regardless of what they may happen to be.
The chief challenge to a duelist playing this deck will come in the form of a question: damage or cards? You’ll often be faced with a situation where you can use a card to clear an opposing monster out of the way to allow a direct attack, or attack instead and claim a card in battle, dealing little damage. Cyberdark Edge will pose a similar quandary every time it’s on the field, thanks to its “attack directly” effect. Knowing when to play for each agenda is integral here, and will require some practice and exploration. Try to put yourself in your opponent’s shoes: which play would he or she really prefer to not see? A Demise deck or Monarchs will have few ways to deal with lots of early damage: Demise needs life points to be paid for his effect, while Monarchs need time to put together favorable combos. On the other hand, a beatdown variant like Six Samurai, Machines, or Zombies will feel the loss of comparative card presence far more than life points. Matchup, play styles, and your draws should determine how you prioritize your in-game goals.
The mid-game is really where this deck gets sweet. As the field sees more face-down monsters and your Dragons make their way to the graveyard, your opponent is going to have more on his or her mind than your potential for a direct attack or piercing damage. That’s the best time to hit him or her, especially if you’re smashing your way through defense-position monsters for damage. The more complicated the game becomes, the harder it will be for your opponent to account for all the possible ways you could deal damage to him or her, and that usually ends with your opponent getting sloppy. Take the opportunities he or she presents you with: if you spot an obvious attack with Horn against a defense-position monster, go for it. If he or she invests in a Monarch and fails to protect it, wipe it away. Play your cards liberally and make play decisions that encourage the same behavior from your opponent.
The late game can be a tossup, but when it comes down to it you’ll usually have the advantage of being able to normal summon the biggest monsters in your particular duel. In addition, the ability to deal extra damage often becomes a win condition in topdecking situations. Nothing deals finishing blows quite like this strategy.
Cyberdarks can challenge Monarchs and Jinzo in an era where the ability to do so is rare. If you’re interested in trying this deck out, I’d definitely recommend it for local competitive play, and even Regionals once you get some practice. Hopefully Danny manages to pummel his naysayers with this revamped deck!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Got a cool deck that you think could benefit from some advice? Send me a decklist in the format shown in this article, along with your name, location, and a couple of paragraphs describing how the deck works. You can reach me at jdgmetagame@gmail.com.