As I write this today, there are three days until Shonen Jump Championship Long Beach. Readers will be seeing this after the big tournament, which means that I’m free to tell a story without endangering anybody’s tech at the now-passed tournament.
A few weeks ago at our local card shop, the finals of a local tournament took place between a friend of mine and a friend of Andy’s, one of the shop’s local players. My friend was playing Warrior Toolbox, but Andy’s friend chose to play a Zombie deck that was completely dedicated to Vampire Lord. This struck me as a bit odd, since Vampire Lord has an ATK value that causes it to be run over by both Cyber Dragon and Mobius the Frost Monarch. However, as I watched the games progress, I saw Vampire Lord become one of the most annoying burdens to Andy’s opponent!
Then it hit me. “Vampire Lord gets clobbered by Cyber Dragon and Mobius the Frost Monarch. My opponent probably has two Cyber Dragons that he or she can topdeck, and around twelve other cards that are blank if they’re drawn,” I thought. I saw the Warrior Toolbox player sitting on set Sakuretsu Armors for turns upon turns, refusing to activate them on Vampire Lord’s attacks. Andy ran three copies of Vampire Lord, which was a bit over the top, but it got the job done. Triple Vampire Lord and multiple copies of Pyramid Turtle and Spirit Reaper, when combined with multiple copies of Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, meant that Andy had a solid anti-metagame deck. His opponent could rarely have any decent monsters in his graveyard, and his multiple copies of Smashing Ground and Sakuretsu Armor had basically no card text for a majority of the games.
Yes, that’s right. Spirit Reaper isn’t the only Zombie in Yu-Gi-Oh!. How could we have forgotten that Vampire Lord exists? For the sake of respecting Andy’s find, I didn’t say anything about this deck in last week’s article. Now that Shonen Jump Long Beach has passed, it’s fair to note that Vampire Lord looks like a solid option, both in this and the next Advanced formats.
Breakdown and Strategies
Vampire Lord is a classic example of a monster with multiple functions. At level 5, its 2000 ATK seems pretty mediocre. However, as a Zombie-type monster, it has the ability to be special summoned from your deck through Pyramid Turtle, which is quite possibly one of the best search monsters in the game.
The first effect of Vampire Lord is what’s made it such a notable tribute monster over the course of this game’s history. If it’s destroyed by a spell, a trap, or a monster effect that your opponent controls, you can special summon Vampire Lord back to the field during your next standby phase. This effect is not only amazing in preserving your overall card presence, but it also allows you to play at a faster tempo throughout your game.
While Vampire Lord’s on the field with another monster, your opponent’s discouraged from playing spells such as Dark Hole or Smashing Ground, because Vampire Lord will effectively nullify the effectiveness of those cards. Dark Hole will allow Vampire Lord to be returned to your field during your standby phase, effectively turning the mass removal spell card into an ineffective 1-for-1 trade that hardly slows down the Zombie player’s speed of putting pressure on the opponent. Smashing Ground will almost always destroy Vampire Lord if it was played, even if you control other monsters. This makes Vampire Lord an absurd defensive trick during your opponent’s turn, as it means your opponent’s going to be playing with more dead cards than more useful cards.
Your opponent can always draw possible outs, such as Snatch Steal and Cyber Dragon, but the odds are greater that he or she will draw a less desirable Smashing Ground or Sakuretsu Armor. Playing one of those cards on Vampire Lord would not only cause the opponent to lose card advantage, but the player with Vampire Lord is still going to be mounting pressure on the opponent with no loss of speed whatsoever. Because of this, Vampire Lord is an effective anti-metagame card, as its effect will effectively turn many cards that your opponent may be running into ones that aren’t entirely useful in the match.
The second effect of Vampire Lord is noticed far less than its special summoning ability, but it does serve some purpose in a game. Andy not only used multiple copies of Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer to stop threats such as Chaos Sorcerer, Pot of Avarice, and Treeborn Frog, but also to create a combo with Vampire Lord’s second effect. Andy would commonly name “Monster” with Vampire Lord’s ability, causing the opponent to send a monster from his or her deck to the graveyard. Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer would then swing at the opponent and remove whatever was just discarded from the effect of Vampire Lord.
This was an interesting strategic move on Andy’s part, as it thinned the opponent’s deck of any walls or threats that could be set or summoned against him. However, this also left the slew of horrendous draws, such as Smashing Ground, in his opponent’s deck! This strategy turns Vampire Lord into a theoretical card advantage engine, as it’s ripping potentially useful draws out of the opponent’s deck and leaving him or her with worse options to draw during those situations. It may also cause the opponent to waste Sakuretsu Armor against Vampire Lord on occasion, just to stay alive, which is definitely not a desirable play.
Despite the amazing effects of Vampire Lord, it’s still a pain to be forced into tribute summoning for it. This is why its monster type is so amazing. Pyramid Turtle is probably the best search monster in the game, paling only in comparison to Sangan and Witch of the Black Forest. Not only can you special summon Vampire Lord with Pyramid Turtle, but you can also special summon alternate copies of Pyramid Turtle in the event that you’re just trying to wait out a battle phase. Of course, if Vampire Lord isn’t your top priority at a specific moment, Pyramid Turtle can also special summon Spirit Reaper in defense position—something that I’m sure users of Mystic Tomato wish they could do. The versatility of Pyramid Turtle, the annoyance of Spirit Reaper, and the ongoing pressure of Vampire Lord have made Zombies an excellent potential deck type throughout multiple Advanced format changes.
Final Thoughts
Vampire Lord is an effective monster that manages to counter many of the commonly played cards in today’s (and in next week’s) Advanced format. Its only downfall of being a little underpowered in stats is compensated by its ability to be fetched from your deck by Pyramid Turtle, a monster that was already a powerful force for players who wanted to add consistency to their decks. While three copies of Vampire Lord may be a bit much, you still have the option to run a complete set of them in your deck. Even if you find three to be too many, two copies of Vampire Lord is still a threatening sight for an opponent. However, you should definitely be careful not to overextend with multiple copies of Vampire Lord all at once. You don’t want to lose your advantageous situation to an untimely Snatch Steal or Brain Control.
If you are looking for any testing ideas for the next six months, be sure to work with Zombies for a bit. Spirit Reaper is easily one of the best monsters of this format, and Vampire Lord just so happens to work well with it, thanks to Pyramid Turtle. When all three are run in the same deck, your opponent will soon be in a world of hurt.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this or any of my previous articles, feel free to email me at Mrosenberg at Metagame dot Com. I will try my best to get back to everybody.