One of the most important things in deckbuilding is making sure the deck flows smoothly. Usually, this is done by packing 40 cards that don't have any contradicting themes. They all tend to be centered on one goal, with maybe a contingency plan for back-up. Aggressive decks that were everywhere just before the Forbidding of Cyber-Stein are perfect examples. Their goal was to dominate the opposition with an overflow of monsters, ideally having more monsters on the field than the opponent at any given moment. They typically used Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, Hydrogeddon, and Brain Control with a tribute monster to achieve their goals.

However, in the back of the deck’s plans was the ability to explode at any given moment. Although aggro strategies often won by using steady field control (and eventual complete control), there were odd times when the deck would bust out a four- or five-card combo and steal the game. Something along the lines of Heavy Storm, Cyber Dragon, Premature Burial, Brain Control, and Injection Fairy Lily, for example, can take opponents completely by surprise, and finish them in one swift turn. Cyber-Stein increased the chance of this happening exponentially by lowering the amount of cards necessary to dish out 8000 damage.

Control decks have always been able to do this. It's what makes them viable for tournament play. If you only have one way to win, you’re bound to be shut down by the wide variety of decks, play styles, and draws in a Shonen Jump Championship. You want to have as many ways to win as possible, while minimizing chance. Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG players are always looking for a way to make their decks act this way, and when assembled right, they shine at SJC tournaments. The most recent deck was this build played by Carlo Perez:

Monsters—13

3 Elemental Hero Stratos

1 Destiny Hero - Dasher

3 Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude

3 Destiny Hero - Malicious

1 Jinzo

1 Dark Magician of Chaos

1 Exiled Force

Spells—27

3 Reasoning

3 Monster Gate

3 Destiny Draw

1 Graceful Charity

1 Heavy Storm

1 Premature Burial

2 Reinforcement of the Army

2 E - Emergency Call

3 Dimension Fusion

3 Lightning Vortex

1 Card Destruction

1 Magical Stone Excavation

3 Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade

This deck is basically one giant combo. The goal is to overwhelm the opponent with monsters that can get in direct hits. Getting a lot of monsters onto the field with this deck is surprisingly easy, despite only having 13 actual monster cards. Elemental Hero Stratos is the core of everything. It searches out more Stratos or any of the Destiny Hero cards. (You'll ideally want to run through all three Stratos before searching for anything else.) It frees up room for Reasoning and Monster Gate to grind extra spells into the graveyard, and it increases the likelihood of special summoning a Jinzo or Dark Magician of Chaos.

Jinzo is in the deck to block opposing traps as you destroy them. In most decks, it simply negates the trap field and keep traps unplayable for as long as possible. However, in this deck, the traps are meant to be destroyed. Once three Elemental Hero Stratos have been searched, sent to the graveyard, and removed via Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade, they can be brought back through Dimension Fusion. Each Stratos then triggers its effects, which allows Perez to destroy all of his opponent's spell or trap cards and search for more monsters. That kind of swing is unheard of.

Dark Magician of Chaos only makes things worse for the opponent. Facing down these monsters alone was hard enough, but a 2600 ATK behemoth with the ability to fetch any spell card in the graveyard just adds to the trouble. Dark Magician of Chaos can either grab the perfect spell card to finish off the opponent or fetch Dimension Fusion to make sure you do it all again later. Since the Dark Magician of Chaos himself will be removed through his own effect, and the Stratoses will find their way back to the removed-from-play pile via the Divine Sword, you've got a loop that's virtually impossible to stop so long as the opponent has the life points to continue it. Considering the size and removal abilities of the monsters being brought back, the opponent's life points are going to decrease a lot faster than Perez's.

Destiny Hero - Malicious is perfect for this deck. He's the optimal discard choice for Destiny Draw, and can fetch multiple copies of himself for multiple purposes. The first is to provide tribute for Jinzo or Dark Magician of Chaos, either directly or though Monster Gate. The ability to pull more copies of Malicious out of the deck means deck thinning and increasing the potential of Diamond Dude. Furthermore, Malicious removes himself from the graveyard, allowing the Dimension Fusion antics to begin immediately. He's also a Warrior, and can be removed with Divine Sword. The third copy will often be removed in order to get the third Stratos out of play as well.

Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude is another card that can get the entire thing flowing. With 24 normal spell cards in the deck, the chances of hitting one are pretty good, especially once the deck's been depleted of most of its monsters. The normal spells won't win games on their own, but they can certainly increase the pressure against the opponent.

 Destiny Hero - Dasher exists primarily as filler for Stratos once all the copies of Malicious are gone. His ability to special summon a monster won't be used very often, and his stats aren't particularly impressive. However, he can get bumped up to 3100 ATK by tributing a Malicious. The extra damage often won't mean much, but being able to trounce opposing Cyber Dragon and Dark Magician of Chaos cards in the mirror match can be clutch.

The final monster is Exiled Force. Though seemingly innocent, this card could turn defeat into victory. With three copies of Lightning Vortex, Perez generally has no trouble with face-up monsters. In addition, face-down monsters are usually just attacked and pushed aside. However, it is possible for some monsters to get in the way. A defense-position Spirit Reaper can ruin an entire battle phase, and a Spell Canceller usually means game over. Exiled Force can deal with both of these, and can be used multiple times per turn through Dimension Fusion and Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade. The ability to clear a field full of face-down monsters can be crucial to winning many games for Perez.

The spell line-up is meant to accelerate the rate at which cards are sent to the graveyard. Reinforcement of the Army and E - Emergency Call are in the deck to search out Elemental Hero Stratos as fast as possible. He can search whichever D-Hero you need to make your current hand work and get the deck flowing. Once the necessary cards are fetched, Reinforcement can grab Exiled Force so it doesn't get in the way of Reasoning and Monster Gate. These two cards ideally want to bring out either Jinzo or Dark Magician of Chaos to get the OTK set up.

Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade and Dimension Fusion are the heart of the strategy. When combined, they can cycle Stratos and Dark Magician of Chaos into play, which generates massive swings in card presence as well as massive damage. Card Destruction and Destiny Draw fuel this process and ensure a Malicious will get into your graveyard quickly. Magical Stone Excavation can allow for the re-use of any spells in the graveyard. It's especially useful to retrieve Premature Burial, which exists in the deck primarily to bring back Dark Magician of Chaos should it be discarded, or Elemental Hero - Stratos to claim his effect again.

Lightning Vortex was a very wise choice for this deck as well. The ability to destroy all opposing monsters clears the way for Stratos and Dark Magician of Chaos to attack directly. However, almost equally important is the ability to ditch the Divine Sword at any given moment. This allows for quick removal of Stratos, Diamond Dude, or Exiled Force, fuelling Dimension Fusion and getting the deck going.

While many decks have the potential to either control the opponent or break out a killer OTK, no deck has ever been able to do them at the same time with such consistency. There's no question that this was the best deck to play at Shonen Jump St. Louis, and with a player of Carlos Perez's caliber, I'm not surprised at all to see him take home the gold.