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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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 Since the introduction of Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning and Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End, removing monsters from the game as a cost is seen a lot in high-level competition. This mechanic, which was a common focus of the Invasion of Chaos set, goes all the way back to Labyrinth of Nightmare with cards like Dark Necrofear and Aqua Spirit. In fact, there was an entire cycle of monsters (one for each attribute) that were summoned by removing monsters from your graveyard.
At first, Dark Necrofear was the most popular monster in Labyrinth of Nightmare because the fiend was on the TV show, but it was around the time of Legacy of Darkness that duelists discovered the hidden gem of the set: Soul of Purity and Light. At the time, Warriors were dominant because they could swarm the field with multiple high-power monsters. Soul of Purity and Light was a great answer to Warrior swarm tactics because it reduces the ATK of all your opponent’s monsters by 300 during your opponent’s battle phase.
Take a look at this example of a Legacy of Darkness-era Light deck.
Monsters
2 Soul of Purity and Light
3 Thunder Nyan Nyan
3 Shining Angel
2 Magician of Faith
2 Hoshiningen
2 Airknight Parshath
1 Fiber Jar
1 Morphing Jar
1 Witch of the Black Forest
1 Sangan
Spells
1 Pot of Greed
2 Graceful Charity
1 Harpie’s Feather Duster
1 Change of Heart
1 Raigeki
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Premature Burial
1 Snatch Steal
1 Nobleman of Crossout
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Luminous Spark
1 Painful Choice
Traps
1 Mirror Force
1 Magic Cylinder
1 Call of the Haunted
2 Torrential Tribute
This is a good example of a deck that’s built to combat the current metagame. Of course, the Legacy of Darkness-era metagame was very different from the metagame today. To do well in that environment, a deck had to win quickly or set up a situation in which the deck could replenish its resources faster than an opponent could destroy them. The Light deck could reach both these goals with surprising efficiency.
To maintain field presence, the Light deck used monsters with 1900 ATK and three copies of Shining Angel. The deck also used Luminous Spark to make its monsters more deadly. A Thunder Nyan Nyan with 2400 ATK could clash with Jinzo, and a 1900 ATK Shining Angel could ram into Gemini Elf, replace itself, and let you attack again. In addition, the Light deck could easily recover from Raigeki and Dark Hole by removing two Light monsters from the graveyard to summon Soul of Purity and Light. What better way to dominate an opponent than to turn his or her best removal spell into a massive monster with a crushing effect?
 Of course, you can’t do anything without cards in your hand. The Light deck did a good job keeping cards in hand because it had two copies of Airknight Parshath in addition to the standard card-drawing spells. Yu-Gi-Oh! doesn’t have that many effective sources of card drawing. Airknight Parshath is great because it has a card drawing mechanism and a bonus trample effect to help you draw those cards. It still surprises me that it wasn’t until Invasion of Chaos that Airknight Parshath became mainstream.
If the Light deck was so good, why didn’t anyone play it? One reason is that most players didn’t think to use it. The deck revolved around many commons and rares, which was enough to make most players shy away. The more pressing concern, however, was that there was a huge weakness to the deck. If you could take control of one of the Light deck’s monsters or play a Light monster of your own, you could counter the Light deck’s advantages and turn them in your favor. Players who tried to play the Light deck were usually shot down in games 2 and 3 of matches by duelists who switched in two copies of Creature Swap from their side decks.
Fortunately for the Light deck, things got better as the sets went on. The Pharaonic Guardian set introduced Ring of Destruction to the environment. The set also increased the number of Dark monsters used in mainstream tournament decks. This in turn increased the advantage that the Light deck had over standard decks by boosting the worth of Hoshiningen.
The Magician’s Force set created new options for the Light deck player. Roulette Barrel provided a defensive wall and some extra monster removal. Magical Merchant helped get monsters into the graveyard and spells or traps into your hand. Apprentice Magician let you accelerate into Magician of Faith and replenish a counter on Breaker the Magical Warrior.
 Sadly, Magician’s Force caused the downfall of many interesting deck themes. Tribe-Infecting Virus punished players for using many monsters of the same type, and the fact that you could search for the Virus with Witch of the Black Forest made matters worse. Fortunately, the Light deck survived. In fact, it bounced back with the release of Dark Crisis. Reflect Bounder was a huge asset to anyone who could get one, and having three copies of D. D. Warrior Lady was a necessity. This was the largest surge of support that the Light attribute had received since Labyrinth of Nightmare.
Then, the bomb dropped. The Invasion of Chaos set was released and the metagame was turned upside down. The introduction of Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End nearly wiped creativity out of the game. Because the Dragon was easily summoned and could wreck the most carefully made plans, players threw aside their Warriors, Beatdowns, and Light decks. Chaos decks reigned. No one paid attention to the excellent Light-support cards in Ancient Sanctuary because they didn’t fit into standard Chaos decks. The Light deck vanished from the scene.
Let’s fast forward to today. Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End is a thing of the past, and unique decks are competitive in high-level tournaments again. The Light deck is now a viable option for tournament play. The deck works well against Warriors, Beatdown strategies, and Beast/Earth decks. The next time you’re looking for a new deck, take a good look at the Light deck. You just might like it.
Be sure to join me again next week, when I’ll be taking a trip to the circus. Until then, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!
Jerome McHale
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at jcmchale@andrew.cmu.edu |
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