It’s been and gone. After a year of waiting following on from Max Suffridge’s 2005 National Championship win, the 2006 US Nationals have finally passed by, and from a field of 356 competitors, Austin Kulman came out on top. I’m here again to bring you a card, combo, and deck from the top tables at US Nationals. Of course, it would be my luck that my card of choice, Royal Decree, was covered last Monday by Mike Rosenberg—so after a bit of research, I decided to produce something new for you guys and girls today.
The Card: Night Assailant
Night Assailant
Attrib: Dark
Type: Fiend/Effect
Level:3
Atk: 200
Def: 500
FLIP: Select 1 monster on your opponent's side of the field and destroy it. When this card is sent directly from your hand to the Graveyard, return 1 Flip Effect Monster from your Graveyard to your hand.
The first word that should flash in to your head when looking at the card Night Assailant is “versatile.” It has two possible effects for different scenarios, and counters quite a bit of the current metagame, as well as providing good positive synergy with commonly played cards. The best examples of this are using Night Assailant to counteract cards used with Dark World, such as Card Destruction and Morphing Jar, as well as working with Tsukuyomi and Magician of Faith.
Night Assailant itself saw a lot of play among the top tables of the US Nationals throughout the day, finding itself in four of the Top 8 decklists. Graceful Charity becomes fantastic if you manage to hit it off with Night Assailant and a flip effect monster, and let’s face it, they’re not exactly short in demand.
Of course, it’s not just the latter effect of Night Assailant that we want to look at. It also has the classic “Man-Eater Bug” ability that allows it to destroy a monster on the field via flip effect. This is what makes Night Assailant so versatile: whether it’s in your hand or on the field, the chances are that it’s doing something useful. This “flip, destroy” engine works well in the current format due to the large amount of flip effects and Spirit Reaper cards flying around everywhere, as well as when big hitters like Jinzo run in to it.
Overall, Night Assailant is a brilliant card to include in a deck that’s running a good amount of flip effect monsters and a Tsukuyomi to match. Unless you’re playing something rogue such as Fiends, it won’t use the effects much as it can, so it’s probably better to give it a miss otherwise.
The combo: Majestic Mech – Ohka and Metamorphosis
While researching this article, a source of mine enlightened me to a combo he’d seen played all over the Nationals throughout the course of Day 1. This one didn’t surprise me at all, since it was something that I’d personally been experimenting with.
Majestic Mech – Ohka
Attrib: Light
Type: Fairy/Effect
Level:6
Atk: 2400
Def: 1400
You can Normal Summon this card without Tributing a monster. If you Normal Summon it this way, it is sent to the Graveyard during the End Phase.
Metamorphosis
Group: Spell Card
Type: Spell
Tribute 1 monster on your side of the field. Special Summon 1 Fusion Monster of the same Level as the Tributed monster from your Fusion Deck.
Metamorphosis is the card that ruled the metagame during the April 2005 format where it was unrestricted, along with Scapegoat, its usual partner in crime, and Thousand-Eyes Restrict, its favorite fusion monster. It’s still usable today with the amount of low-level flip effects running around (Magician of Faith and Magical Merchant to name just two), along with Treeborn Frog.
Majestic Mech - Ohka is fresh out of Enemy of Justice and has seen a fair bit of play due to its huge amount of combo possibilities (as well as the fact that it’s a Light monster, and can have its 2400 ATK finish games, ram into Monarchs, and more). Put the two of these together, though, and you have a really, really, annoying combo.
Majestic Mech - Ohka is getting destroyed at the end of the turn anyway, right? Why not take the opportunity to get a level 6 monster on your side of the field for no tribute. Then you have an large number of options to play with. The first is attacking. Yeah, I see your amazement. Chaos Sorcerer? No problem: run Ohka in to it and problem solved. Cyber Dragon? Again, same situation, no problem. Creature Swap was popular with Ohka too throughout the course of US Nationals, but what if you were to replace it not with an opponent’s monster, but Ryu Senshi? How about Dark Blade the Dragon Knight? In a sticky situation, Ojama King in defense position could always help.
Metamorphosis opens a whole new world of possibilities for Ohka, using a number of different Fusion monsters to shut down the other player’s chances of sustaining any substantial amount of card advantage during the next turn. Ryu Senshi will be the card of choice for most players, though. Not only does it dodge cards such as Snatch Steal*, but it negates traps for the cost of 1000 life points. This is pretty good when Sakuretsu Armor and Return from the Different Dimension are causing problems. Providing you have a comfortable life point count, it basically becomes a twisted version of Jinzo.
This combo didn’t make it in to the Top 8 at all, but it was definitely used around the tables at US Nationals, so why not give it a try? Experiment around with Ohka a bit, it’s a great card. And remember, Metamorphosis is far from extinct!
The Deck: Vincent Tundo’s Life Equalizer Deck
Monsters: 6
3 Thunder Dragon
3 Royal Magical Library
Spells: 32
1 Card Destruction
3 Giant Trunade
2 Upstart Goblin
2 Card Shuffle
3 Spell Reproduction
1 Graceful Charity
2 Reload
1 Premature Burial
3 Convulsion of Nature
3 Archfiend's Oath
2 Magical Mallet
3 Toon Table of Contents
1 Level Limit – Area B
1 Toon World
1 Heavy Storm
3 Pigeonholing Book of Spell
Traps: 2
1 Life Equalizer
1 Blasting the Ruins
Tundo was the center of a lot of attention after his success in placing highly at US Nationals, not to mention the amount of people talking about him during the event itself. We at Metagame.com were in so much awe that we even had to give him two feature matches just to make sure we weren’t dreaming.
Tundo uses a mix of intricate moves based around getting Royal Magical Library on the field as soon as possible, and then starting the inevitable cycle of drawing. The high spell count allows him to go through his entire deck pretty quickly by acquiring counters on his Library, while skimming through his deck with cards such as Reload, Magical Mallet, and the combo of Convulsion of Nature and Archfiends Oath. The latter plays an essential part in manipulating the life point count to 8000 in order to have the required difference for Life Equalizer.
To put it bluntly, this deck is totally insane. There are so many possibilities and playable combos involved that new ones pop up all the time. The deck idea is unique and admirable, and Tundo definitely deserves props for a remarkable job. If you’re looking for a deck to test your skill, then definitely consider trying it out for yourself!
With the European Championships coming up soon and with Shonen Jump Atlanta just finished, it’s going to be an interesting few weeks on the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG scene. Remember to stay tuned for all the action right here at Metagame.com!
James Pennicott
AveragePsycho (at) gmail (dot) com
Got an idea you wish to share? Something that needs clearing up? Just want to chat about different aspects of Yu-Gi-Oh!? Drop me an email and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can! Thanks.
*This is often forgotten as a part of Ryu Senshi’s effect, and as such, games are ruined by it. You’d do well to remember this part of the effect in the future. Also remember that it cannot negate already active trap cards, only those that are activated while it is on the field.