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Doomkaiser Dragon
Card# CSOC-EN043


Doomkaiser Dragon's effect isn't just for Zombie World duelists: remember that its effect can swipe copies of Plaguespreader Zombie, too!
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The Apotheosis: Machine Control
Jason Grabher-Meyer
 

 

Back when we could run Limiter Removal in threes, I adored playing Machines. Nothing but Magical Scientist could end games as quickly as a mechanized horde, and good Machine decks were packing Scientist anyway—Cannon Soldier liked it some baldheaded backup, after all. With most of the era’s choice Machines split between Light and Dark attributes, it was a Chaos lover’s dream to boot, and an expert Machine duelist was able to blend virtually all of the contemporary deck themes into one wicked hybrid.

 

And then we lost two of those Limiters.

 

With Limiter Removal reduced to one per deck, the powerful spell slid from “the reason to play Machines,” to just another feather in the cap of Cyber-Stein. Many individual Machines remained highly useful on their own (Cyber Dragon upped the ante even more in that respect), but there was little reason to run a cohesively themed Machine strategy. Now, another Cyber monster has single handedly redeemed the archetype’s potential: Cyber Phoenix offers a wholesale answer to targeted effects like Snatch Steal and Sakuretsu Armor, keeping them off your Machines and out of the game. That’s a freedom that can’t be ignored, and reader Steve S. has put together a surprise-packed Machine build that looks to exploit it. Here’s what he had to say about it.

 

This is my favorite deck. I’ve been playing with it for a couple weeks now and it won me several duels. The ranking now is 16-2 and it also destroys cookie-cutter decks, because it packs so many surprises that my opponent can’t predict my next move. In the second duel, I like to side in OTK cards just for the heck of it, and it takes my opponent by surprise. By the way, my deck is at 42 cards and I’d like it to be 41, if you could.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

—Steve S.

 

Here’s what Steve’s decklist looks like.

 

Machine Control

42 Cards

 

Monster: 21

1 Chaos Sorcerer

1 Jinzo

2 Blowback Dragon

2 Cyber Dragon

3 Cyber Phoenix

2 Victory Viper XX03

2 Drillroid

2 Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Sangan

2 Magician of Faith

1 Tsukuyomi

1 Treeborn Frog

 

Spells: 13

2 Smashing Ground

1 Snatch Steal

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Graceful Charity

2 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Premature Burial

1 Book of Moon

1 Swords of Revealing Light

1 Scapegoat

1 Limiter Removal

 

Trap: 8

1 Mirror Force

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Sakuretsu Armor

1 Widespread Ruin

1 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Compulsory Evacuation Device

1 Forced Back

 

This deck aims to use a toolbox of Machine monsters to generate powerful effects. Drillroid clears out walls like Spirit Reaper and Gravekeeper’s Spy, Blowback Dragon blasts away at specific problems, and Victory Viper XX03 stacks on new effect after new effect. Cyber Phoenix protects them all, ensuring that Drillroid’s attacks are never blocked, that Blowback is never swiped with Snatch Steal, and that Victory Viper’s acquisition of new powers is never stopped.

 

In theory, the ability to keep monsters on the field is what makes the toolbox strong. The problem is that unlike Warriors, Machines can’t search out their key control monsters with a card like Reinforcement of the Army, nor can a Machine duelist retrieve them from the graveyard with specialized cards like The Warrior Returning Alive. Searchability is what makes a Toolbox strategy strong, so I’ve got some concerns about the direction in which Steve has decided to take his clockwork army.

 

With that said, there are several effective offshoots of Steve’s strategy—namely, that it offers many ways to take advantage of Cyber Phoenix’s effect in order to exercise superior control over the game. By using Steve’s means towards a different end, we can create an effective strategy.

 

First up, we need to drop some monsters. I’ll be employing a bunch of tributes, so that means I need to make cuts to the high-level part of the monster lineup: the Blowback Dragon and Jinzo cards will both have to be removed. In addition, I’ll be using a more varied attribute lineup, so I don’t feel that the single copy of Chaos Sorcerer will be a good fit.

 

I’ll be adding some new ways to deal with monsters, so Drillroid won’t be very important to my version of the deck. In fact, I can probably afford to drop both copies in the original build. In addition, I only want to run one Victory Viper XX03. I think it’ll make a very cool, unpredictable single copy, but I don’t think the deck needs to run it in multiples. A pair needs more support than I’m willing to afford it in this case.

 

I also need to drop some spells, and you’ll see why once I start adding cards. Scapegoat seems needless in a deck that can pursue other options to maintain its field presence. Swords of Revealing Light will be removed for the same reason. Meanwhile, the base functions of Book of Moon and Smashing Ground can be performed by other cards. I’ll be replacing them with non-spell alternatives.

 

Finally, I’ll swap out Widespread Ruin and Forced Back in favor of some different, more specialized monster control cards. We’ll get to that in a bit.

 

First up, the big addition: Spell Canceller. The Canceller’s effect protects it from Book of Moon, Snatch Steal, and Smashing Ground, but when coupled with the Phoenix, it will also be impervious to targeted traps like Sakuretsu Armor and Compulsory Evacuation Device. That leaves a couple of monsters, a handful of non-targeting traps, and battle as the only remaining threats to the Canceller. We’ll be able to play around virtually all of those with careful play habits. Three copies of Spell Canceller, alongside the three Phoenix cards, will form the backbone of this build. Turn all of the opponent’s spells into dead cards and you’ve got a huge advantage.

 

A pair of UFO Turtle cards will let us reliably seek out the all-important Phoenixes without costing us anything when Canceller is gone and Limiter hits the field. UFO Turtle is going to accomplish a very important job in this deck by keeping monsters around so that we can build toward the type of swarm we’re looking for.

 

Exiled Force will answer Jinzo, and you’ll notice that my next few changes take the mighty android into heavy consideration. This deck skews itself towards traps instead of spells in order to ensure that Spell Canceller hurts the opponent more than it hurts you. That’s all well and good, but if Jinzo hits the field, you’ll start drawing just as many dead cards as your opponent will, and it’s important to remember that Canceller is a lot more fragile in battle than Jinzo, Chaos Sorcerer, or even Cyber Dragon.

 

With that in mind, I’ll add three copies of Solemn Judgment and two copies of Horn of Heaven. Yes, Horn of Heaven, the counter-trap that costs two of your cards to shut down just one of your opponent’s. Does that sound like a bad deal? Remember that you’ll have plenty of used-up flip effect monsters kicking around, like Magician of Faith and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. They make great fodder for tributing to the Horn, as does Sangan and Treeborn Frog. Heck, you can even tribute off an Option token that was earned through the third effect of Victory Viper XX03. This deck has plenty of ways to make Horn of Heaven a more-than-viable trade, which will not only keep Jinzo off your back, but also keep the field clear of anything that could brick-wall you or threaten Canceller.

 

That’s it for the fix, so check out the complete list of changes I made.

 

-2 Blowback Dragon

-2 Drillroid

-1 Chaos Sorcerer

-1 Jinzo

-1 Victory Viper XX03

-1 Scapegoat       

-1 Swords of Revealing Light

-1 Book of Moon

-1 Smashing Ground

-1 Widespread Ruin

-1 Forced Back

 

+3 Spell Canceller

+2 UFO Turtle

+1 Exiled Force

+3 Solemn Judgment

+2 Horn of Heaven

 

The final version of the deck is as follows.

 

Machine Control: Jason’s Fix

40 Cards

 

Monster: 20

3 Spell Canceller

2 Cyber Dragon

2 Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Sangan

1 Tsukuyomi

1 Victory Viper XX03

2 Magician of Faith

3 Cyber Phoenix

2 UFO Turtle

1 Treeborn Frog

1 Exiled Force

 

Spells: 9

1 Smashing Ground

1 Snatch Steal

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Graceful Charity

2 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Premature Burial

1 Limiter Removal

 

Trap: 11

1 Mirror Force

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Sakuretsu Armor

1 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Compulsory Evacuation Device

3 Solemn Judgment

2 Horn of Heaven

 

The deck is now more of a new spin on the classic Canceller Control than a Toolbox, and I’m fine with that. Machines don’t have the support to function as an effective Toolbox theme—very few monster types do. Instead, I’ve chosen to play to the type’s unique strengths, hopefully rendering many of the opponent’s cards dead in the process.

 

With five monsters that let you draw cards, plus the UFO Turtle cards thinning themselves from the deck, it shouldn’t be hard to get to your first Canceller. You want to get one on the field as early as possible, provided you feel confident that you can protect it. Just to touch on some of the cool points of the deck, consider the following:

 

  • The highest DEF of any of the deck’s previous Machines was 1600. A tie between Phoenix and Drillroid was pretty bad news for the Phoenix, which could be easily sniped with Smashing Ground. By using Canceller, we’ve protected Cyber Phoenix from that threat, and it immediately repays the favor by shielding the Canceller from more effects.

 

  • There were 108 spell cards in main decks in Day 2 of Shonen Jump Atlanta. If we are to assume this is an accurate representation of the current top-level metagame in North America, then we can say that Canceller will make thirteen to fourteen of the average duelist’s cards into dead draws. That’s one draw in three, wasted.

 

  • Canceller will negate a Premature Burial that brings it to the field, but only after it’s special summoned. Destroy the Burial, and the Canceller sticks to the field regardless.

 

  • Chain Call of the Haunted to one of the opponent’s spells and bring back Canceller: you’ll negate the spell, plus you’ll earn yourself a green-hating beatstick in the process. Two big effects for the price of just one card. Nice.

 

  • Tsukuyomi can allow you to turn Spell Canceller face down in order to activate spells you wish to use. Then, just flip summon it to slap the lock back on your opponent.

 

The deck wants to open with UFO Turtle, but Cyber Phoenix, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, Sangan, and Treeborn Frog are all very workable. One of the hardest parts about running this deck is deciding whether to drop Phoenix early, when you might not have the proper defenses for it, or later on in a duel, when it’s easier to support. Do not underestimate the potential of a turn 2 special summoned Cyber Dragon, followed up by Phoenix, especially if Sakuretsu Armor still sees a lot of play in your area. Such a play can often generate a ton of momentum, and if you can keep it up for a few turns, you can pull off an early win.

 

If you can’t take control of a game through aggressive play on the first few turns, then the mid-game is where most of your tricks really kick in. It’s here that you can really start taking advantage of Phoenix and Spell Canceller, because your opponent has had a few turns in which to draw the cards that you’ll be negating. If you can get your key monsters onto the table, the opponent will really be feeling those dead draws.

 

Don’t be afraid to use your high-cost counter-traps, so long as they truly push the goal of the deck, which is keeping monsters (especially Spell Canceller) on the field. Remember that losing a single Phoenix in battle isn’t a big deal. You’ll briefly lose the protection that it offers, but you’ll draw a card to replace it, and that can help you dig towards Canceller. You can always search out another Phoenix with Sangan or UFO Turtle.

 

The late game is where this strategy truly shines. A counter-trap and Spell Canceller is utterly ruinous for the opponent, because if you press the duel into topdecking and your hapless victim keeps drawing spells, you’re basically taking free turns. If they do topdeck into a big monster you can negate it with Horn of Heaven or Solemn Judgment, and the latter takes care of any other threats you might face.

 

How does it beat Chaos Return? First, those five counter-traps can all negate the special summoning of Chaos Sorcerer. Granted, it comes with a price, but again, you can keep Horn of Heaven’s cost low by feeding it used flip effect monsters, Option tokens, or Treeborn Frog. Solemn can shut down Return, too, so if the opponent is just relying on the “chain Return to an effect” trick and not clearing out your spell and trap zone, you’ll be able to crush his or her hopes right at the root.

 

Remember that Chaos Return needs to have a relatively clear field in order to attack for game. This deck maintains field presence better than your opponent might expect, and that makes it a tricky matchup. Virtually all of your traps have been selected to net you field advantage: if the opponent doesn’t have monsters on the field, but you do, you’ll win pretty quickly. Usually there would be a caveat added to that statement, something along the lines of “unless you’re up against some sort of Lockdown deck,” but hey, Spell Canceller loves Lockdown matchups. It loves them like delicious candy.

 

“Canceller Control” was actually one of the red herrings that came into the mix during all the hubbub about Max Suffridge’s deck before Shonen Jump Atlanta (it fit the “CC” naming scheme that he had hinted at). It’s a truly competitive deck, though, and it can do really well in the current North American metagame. Test it out on the local level, and you’ll be surprised at what it can do in a Regional or a Shonen Jump Championship.

 

Thanks for sending it in, Steve! Hopefully the fix is helpful.

 

—Jason Grabher-Meyer

 
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