What’s better than running a single focused strategy? Running three!
. . . Okay, so maybe that isn’t always true. Sure, some of the game’s best decks have hybridized two popular themes: Beatdown Control and Turbo Chaos both had eras in which they completely dominated. At the same time though, some of the worst decks ever created have been terrible hybrids. Burn Exodia? Last Turn Deck Out? You’ve never seen them on Metagame.com, but believe me, eager duelists wanting coverage have shown them to me time and again.
And boy, did they fail.
Team Dark Dimension’s Andrew Anderson doesn’t seem to be a member of the latter category. Today he’s running a Chaos / Cyber-Stein / Deck Devastation Virus hybrid (a tribrid?) that uses some interesting monster choices to tie together three very different themes.
The Chaos theme limits the deck’s monster choices pretty tightly. On the Dark side, Anderson is running Jinzo, Chaos Sorcerer, Giant Orc, Breaker the Magical Warrior, Sangan, and Cyber-Stein. For Light monsters, he’s using Thunder Dragon and Cyber Dragon. The only off-attribute monsters that made the cut are Exiled Force and Morphing Jar.
The Thunder Dragons not only feed Chaos Sorcerer, but they also thin the deck. That’s important when you’re hoping to dig towards Cyber-Stein, Giant Trunade, and Megamorph. Chaos Sorcerer can clear the field for a push with Cyber End Dragon or another big fusion, too.
On the Deck Devastation side, Anderson can tribute off Chaos Sorcerer or Giant Orc to pay the activation cost of the Virus.
So that’s how the deck does what it does. But what precisely does the deck accomplish by blending three totally different strategies? In short, it gets an unpredictable series of potential plays and some very cool, unique moves.
The primary strength of the deck is that Deck Devastation Virus can clear a packed field, letting a big Fusion monster special summoned by Cyber-Stein attack directly. You can even do it in reverse, special summoning Gatling Dragon to devastate high ATK monsters and then tributing it off to Deck Devastation in order to clear remaining small monsters. Lightning Vortex combos with Thunder Dragon, taking advantage of the free discard fodder to again clear the way for big attacks with Sorcerer or a Fusion. You can even tribute something for Deck Devastation Virus, play Last Will, and special summon Cyber-Stein to go for game.
It’s almost just an expanded control suite rolled into traditional Cyber-Stein. Chaos Sorcerer and Deck Devastation Virus both combo to generate more control for when you drop the Stein, giving Anderson the information and field advantage he needs to go for game when other Cyber-Stein decks wouldn’t be able to do so.
So far it’s 3-1, losing only to a local favorite in Round 1. After that bumpy start to the day Anderson has dominated competition left right and center. With the ability to switch gears on the fly and bust out unexpected moves opponents don’t see coming, he’s befuddled his opponents with flurries of surprising offense.
Inspired by Feroze Ramcharan’s impressive work with Cyber-Stein decks, Anderson actually got a chance to meet the man who inspired him. “Feroze Ramcharan is here judging today. It’s totally him that inspired me to pick up Cyber-Stein.” With Feroze heading up the floor judging team under Head Judge Frank Debrito, Anderson has had a bit of time to hang out with the duelist who some say single-handedly made Cyber-Stein a respected deck type.
If he can pull off a Day 2 qualification by winning out for the rest of the Swiss rounds, he’ll carry the Cyber-Stein torch and show that it continues to be a competitive path towards victory, even in these Return-dominated times.