Seeing as how the Shonen Jump Championship in Atlanta this weekend is going to be the first premier-level field test for the new Crossroads of Chaos cards, this will be the last time that I get to play around with them without any hard data on how they’re impacting the Shonen Jump circuit. Thus, I’ve decided to take the opportunity to give you one interpretation of what I think is going to be one of the top deck types going into this weekend, possibly even rivaling Teleport Dark Armed Dragon: Zombies.

I mentioned in an earlier article that the secondary market has had a sort of love-hate relationship going with Goblin Zombie. It started at an average secret rare price, and then dropped once Zombies appeared to be less than competitively relevant. Then Mezuki came out and it went back up again . . . until Zombies failed to improve. Goblin Zombie bottomed out at a bit under twenty dollars on the secondary market, but once players found out about Plaguespreader Zombie, it started climbing, hasn’t stopped, and probably won’t stop anytime soon. As for the exact forces at work here, that’s likely a topic for a future School of Duel, but come this Saturday you’re going to be seeing a lot more undead people on your opponent’s side of the field.

There are two basic reasons that Zombies have wound up back in the public eye despite having only one Day 2 appearance in a heavily hybridized deck. The big reason is the release of Plaguespreader Zombie in Crossroads of Chaos. The card gives the deck a ridiculous number of new options and is without a doubt the reason that Card of Safe Return was preemptively Semi-Limited to two per deck in September. With only two copies of the continuous spell available, it’s less likely that the Zombie player will be able to generate a completely insurmountable field and hand presence within the first couple of turns. The operative word there is less. It’s still reasonably likely that—devoid of outside influence—a Zombie deck can win the game long before your life points actually hit zero.

The other reason that duelists are getting excited about Zombies again is the impending reprint of Il Blud as a promo card for the Crossroads of Chaos Special Edition packs. Il Blud has been extremely difficult to obtain for the entirety of its existence. This reprint gives players who aren’t involved with high-capital teams the ability to share in the swarming fun without breaking their binder. That, in turn, is going to make future competition that much fiercer. Now is the perfect time to take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the deck that’s looking to drag Teleport Dark Armed Dragon down into the earth. Let’s start with a list.

Monsters: 18

1 Ryu Kokki
1 Il Blud
1 Spirit Reaper
3 Mezuki
3 Zombie Master
3 Goblin Zombie
3 Plaguespreader Zombie
3 Pyramid Turtle

Extra Deck: 15

First and foremost, Zombies are a swarm deck. In fact, I’d say they’re the premiere swarm deck. Teleport Dark Armed Dragon is more about summoning one big guy quickly than flooding the field with as many guys as possible, and Plants have never been as good at swarming as Zombies have. I’m certain that there are many who would disagree with me on the last statement, but just look at the monster lineup available to Zombies. Where are the Plant versions of Goblin Zombie and Mezuki? Where is their Zombie Master? They don’t exist is the answer to these questions. Plant swarm decks simply cannot consistently match the sheer numeric output of the Zombie deck in terms of monsters on field, total ATK power, cards drawn, and (thanks to Plaguespreader Zombie) individual ATK power. Plaguespreader Zombie gives Zombies access to the Extra deck in a way that Krebons can only dream about.

While Teleport Dark Armed Dragon actually has to draw two copies of Emergency Teleport or a Teleport and a Krebons to normal summon in order to get two Synchro monsters out in a single turn, all Zombie players have to do is somehow get a Plaguespreader Zombie into their hands and go to town. Normal summon Plaguespreader Zombie and perform a Synchro summon, then use its effect to get it back for another! It can create multiple level-6 Synchros in one turn or even allow you to build up to a level 8. If you take the second route, you can even use Doomkaiser Dragon or Revived King Ha Des, leaving them in the graveyard for later revival via Book of Life. The reason for the skew of two Doomkaiser to one Revived King is that I expect Zombies to see a lot of play leading to mirror matches and greater opportunity for Doomkaiser Dragon’s effect to shine.

The early game for a Zombie deck depends on the monsters you draw and whether or not you can get to a Card of Safe Return. You really want to see Goblin Zombie in your opening six, since it’s your ticket to getting all the monsters you like out of your deck. When it’s destroyed for the first time, you’ll likely want to grab a Zombie Master if you don’t have one or a Plaguespreader Zombie or Mezuki if you do. This lets you drop an 1800 ATK monster and bring back your Goblin Zombie for another round of searching while loading your graveyard with the cards you’ll need to end the game. If you were fortunate enough to have a Card of Safe Return, you’ll also replace the cards you played with new ones from the deck and even have the option of Synchro summoning without penalty if you already dumped a Plaguespreader. This setup period is the time at which the Zombie deck is most vulnerable. If you can stop it from exploding here and get a credible threat on the field, you can force it to outdraw you in order to win.

The problem is, without any sort of negation to help keep your monsters around, the Zombie deck is more than capable of outdrawing you. You can get a Zombie player down to a totally bare field with no cards in hand, but if he or she has copies of Mezuki in the graveyard and picks up a Card of Safe Return, that player could be off to the races. Counter traps and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast are incredibly important in this matchup: while Zombies can spin away your cards with their own Wind Blasts, they rarely have the room to run Solemn Judgment as well to make sure their beatdown works. If a build can successfully incorporate the counter trap this weekend, look for it to become the build of choice in the last few weeks of 2008.

The big question going into this weekend is whether or not Zombies have the speed and power needed to compete with Teleport Dark Armed Dragon and Lightsworn. My gut instincts tell me that they do. Any deck that can get five quality monsters to the field faster than Lightsworn can and keep its hand full while doing so is a serious contender in my mind, and with multiple copies of Creature Swap available, having the best monster on the field isn’t going to be a problem either. As I mentioned before, counter traps give Zombies a real headache, so the deck might find itself impaled upon the business end of Gladiator Beast War Chariot if the matchups don’t fall in the deck’s favor. Gladiator Beasts are a very tough match for the legions of the undead, especially with Gladiator Beast Hoplomus seeing more play along with the new Gladiator Beast Retiari. Retiari can bury important Zombies for good (barring Burial from a Different Dimension), and Zombie players who wrote the secret rare off as useless could find themselves on a one-way trip to the X-1 bracket if they’re surprised by a Waboku with too many important cards in the graveyard. Little City seems like a poor matchup for the deck unless the Zombie duelist can outmuscle Elemental Hero Neos Alius while avoiding the wrath of Skill Drain and Royal Oppression.

This weekend is sure to be an interesting one thanks to the debut of Plaguespreader Zombie, and I’m quite intrigued to see all the places players are going to try to use it. Until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!

—Jerome McHale