Whenever I’ve attended an event in the past few weeks, I’ve had at least two people run up to me and initiate the following exchange.

Them: “You’re Jason from Metagame, right?”

Me: “Yup! Nice to meet you.”

Them: “Yeah, yeah, same here.” Pause. One . . . two . . . three. “Look what I can do with Rescue Cat!” Then they start waving a deck at me.

Seriously, this deck is the sleeper hit of the year. Everybody loves Rescue Cat, and the ability to deliver a one-turn KO with the most adorable Yu-Gi-Oh! card ever released is just too delicious for me—or for anyone else—to resist.

I picked one of the several Rescue Cat decks to hit my inbox lately, and lo and behold, it happened to be from Josh S., of D. D. Dynamite fame! His build included Cannon Soldier, and that was reason enough for me to choose his deck over the other excellent Rescue Cat decks that were submitted. Here’s what he had to say about it!

Dear Jason,

Thanks for reviewing my D.D. Dynamite deck!

I've got another original deck idea that I thought you might be interested in. It revolves around Rescue Cat and Last Will. Rescue Cat and Last Will together allow for a massive army to spring up very quickly (providing you get another kitty using Last Will, of course), which will catch an opponent unawares. This combo can win games in a single turn, if you go second. I also decided to add Cannon Soldier to the mix to get in that last little bit of damage. Although it's already very dangerous, I was wondering if you'd be able to help make it a little more focused, so it could really pack a punch?

Thanks,

Josh S., New South Wales, Australia

To be honest, Josh’s current build is quite good. I’d consider this to be more of a tweak than an out-and-out fix, but I do have some tricks that will help Josh win even more games with everyone’s favorite fluffy kitty. For the uninitiated, here’s how the deck works.

Unlike most decks, this one really doesn’t mind going second. The extra card afforded by going first is very nice, but the deck doesn’t need it. Your ideal opening play is Rescue Cat and Last Will. Multiple copies of Last Will will make this even more deadly. Play Last Will, summon Rescue Cat, and use its effect to bring out two monsters. Des Wombat has the largest natural ATK, but Hyena and Gyaku-Gire Panda are also legal targets. You can grab Milus Radiant, too—though it’s weaker than the other options, it will allow this deck to win on the first turn.

Let’s say that you pull Des Wombat and Milus Radiant. Now, claim Last Will’s effect and grab another Rescue Cat. Tribute it off as you did the first, and ideally, grab another Wombat/Milus team. Those Wombats are now swinging for 2600 each, while each Milus Radiant is attacking for 1300 damage. That’s 7800 damage if you can attack directly! Another Last Will, Premature Burial, or Ring of Destruction will mean game over.

Hyenas give you more board presence while providing a nifty way to trigger Last Will without having Rescue Cat on hand, Pandas punish Scapegoat, and Cannon Soldier can tribute all of your monsters before they get destroyed by Rescue Cat’s effect. It’s a very synergistic deck—check out what it looks like!

Rescue Cat Writes a Will: 40 cards

Monsters: 17

3 Rescue Cat

3 Cannon Soldier

3 Hyena

3 Des Wombat

2 Gyaku-Gire Panda

2 Milus Radiant

1 Sangan

Spells: 19

3 Last Will

3 Scapegoat

2 Reload

2 Level Limit – Area B

1 Pot of Greed

1 Graceful Charity

1 Delinquent Duo

1 Heavy Storm

1 Giant Trunade

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Tribute to The Doomed

1 Premature Burial

1 Swords of Revealing Light

Traps: 4

1 Gravity Bind

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Ring of Destruction

Josh’s build is very good, and there are just a few changes I’d like to make. These will give it some extra options and a bit more resiliency. Even though this deck has the ability to win on turn 1, it usually will not, so some reinforcement and defense will really help out. The ability to search for Rescue Cat without having to use Reload as often will also be valuable.

First, I’m going to remove one copy of Cannon Soldier. They’re nice, but we’re going to be making them searchable, so we won’t need three. I’m also going to be cutting down on the number of Scapegoats, so Cannon Soldier’s combo potential with this deck is going to take a bit of a hit. Two will definitely suffice.

Next, I’m removing two copies of Scapegoat. While Scapegoat can block attacks, it just seems a bit too narrow for our purposes. I intend on replacing a lot of the deck’s defensive tricks with some more self-replacing monsters, and I think in the long run it’s going to make the deck run a bit more smoothly. Self-replacing monsters will help us get to Rescue Cats and Cannon Soldiers when they’re needed.

Mystical Space Typhoon will also be removed. We need the space, and I just don’t see it being as valuable here as it usually is in a battle-oriented deck. I’d suggest rotating it into the side deck, and an accompanying pair of Dust Tornado would help out in trap-heavy matchups. However, for the main deck, it’s nothing but dead weight.

Finally, I’m going to remove the single copy of Gravity Bind. In today’s environment, Level Limit – Area B is a stronger choice, because it’s more difficult to negate, and Josh is already running two. With a pair of Reload, it shouldn’t be all that hard to get to it, especially since this deck thins itself at an alarming rate in the first few turns of a duel.

Now, we’ve got some space to work with. The first thing that I want to add? Three Nimble Momonga. With all the ATK of Hyena, Nimble Momonga comes down in defense position and can provide a strong deterrent to any opponent who would consider attacking you. The 1000 life points that you’ll gain when Nimble Momonga is destroyed in battle is a deadly psychological weapon that can evoke frustration in even the most collected of duelists. The Momongas continue the deck’s focus of self-replacement and deck thinning while presenting Rescue Cat with another option for offensive blitzes, and against smaller monsters like Marauding Captain, the act of sending all three to their demise can gain you huge sums of life points. They’re versatile, dangerous, and obnoxious to play against, so three are a natural fit. When using Nimble Momonga, keep in mind that it’s a great turn 1 play if you go first, and it can easily give the additional ATK needed to win the game on turn 2.

Next, I want to add a single copy of Giant Rat. Being able to search for Rescue Cat is very important, and while you won’t be attacking with Giant Rat to kill it off yourself (vulnerable kitties are bad kitties), you can still leave it up as a defensive wall and fool your opponents into attacking it. It gives this deck a nice opener when it goes first and lets you select a monster from a wide range of options. Giant Rat will keep an opponent guessing, and that’s yet another psychological advantage.

Finally, I’m going to add a pair of Mystic Tomato. While Giant Rat may seem like a more fitting card for this deck, Mystic Tomato will let you seek out Rescue Cat with Sangan, and unlike the Rat, its effect can be used when you’re on the offensive. Just smash it into a bigger monster, pull Cannon Soldier, and suddenly you have something productive to do with your Wombats and Milus Radiants before Rescue Cat sends them to meet their maker. That means speed, and in this deck, speed means victory.

Here are the tweaks I made to the deck.

-1 Cannon Soldier

-2 Scapegoat

-1 Mystical Space Typhoon

-1 Gravity Bind

+2 Mystic Tomato

+1 Giant Rat

+3 Nimble Momonga

The final decklist looks like this.

Rescue Cat Writes a Will

Jason’s Tweak: 41 cards

Monsters: 22

3 Rescue Cat

2 Cannon Soldier

3 Hyena

3 Des Wombat

2 Gyaku-Gire Panda

2 Milus Radiant

3 Nimble Momonga

1 Sangan

2 Mystic Tomato

1 Giant Rat

Spells: 16

3 Last Will

1 Scapegoat

2 Reload

2 Level Limit – Area B

1 Pot of Greed

1 Graceful Charity

1 Delinquent Duo

1 Heavy Storm

1 Giant Trunade

1 Tribute to The Doomed

1 Premature Burial

1 Swords of Revealing Light

Traps: 3

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Ring of Destruction

This version of the deck plays a little bit differently from before. While the core theory and intent are all the same, the fixed build doesn’t lean back to rest as much as Josh’s initial decklist did. It’s a bit more monster-centric now, as you can see by the nigh-unheard-of 22 monsters!

This is very much an early-game deck. While it doesn’t need to win on turn 1, it probably needs to win by turn 4 in order to have a chance at survival in a tournament. With that said, don’t underestimate the power of Gyaku-Gire Panda. If you can lock down the field for just a few turns, the odds are good that your opponent will just keep setting and summoning monsters in anticipation of finding an opening. When they have four or five monsters on the field, just drop a Panda and send it screaming into one of their face-down monsters! You can rack up thousands of points of damage with just one attack, so remember that even though this deck looks like it doesn’t have a late game, it does have one noteworthy trick.

Also, remember that Scapegoat works very well with Cannon Soldier. It might be old news, but it’s worth pointing out, since this deck is so skewed towards winning through battle and not through direct burn. Cannon Soldier is another factor that can help this deck pull out a win in the later turns of a duel.

If you’re a serious duelist and you haven’t yet felt the power of Rescue Cat, do yourself a favor and build this deck. Take it to a tournament just once and watch the hilarity that will ensue. I’ve been playing Yu-Gi-Oh! for a long time, and there’s nothing I can think of that compares to this deck for out-and-out entertainment value. It’s a blast to play, it’s even more fun to win with, and you’re guaranteed to get some praise for your originality.

Thanks for sending it in, Josh!

—Jason Grabher-Meyer

Interested in seeing your deck fixed up and featured in The Apotheosis? Send it to me with your name, city and state of residence, and a bit of information describing the deck—it might be featured in a future article! You can get in touch with me at Jason@metagame.com.