In the last two installments of The Champions, I’ve been lecturing that the current format has become very combo-oriented. Zombies, Perfect Circle, burn, and Demise OTK are all built around combinations of two or three cards that can turn the tide of a duel. Between a snowballing recursion engine, constant spinning and Monarchs, total lockdown, or total victory, these four decks each rely on beating the opponent up with breakout turns.

For many, the key to victory has simply been to play whichever combo deck they’re most experienced with and hope to hit their strongest cards before the opponent. Anti-metagame tech and side decking have become key factors in determining winners lately, though, and they’ve come in the form of negation and spin effects. Raiza the Storm Monarch, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Solemn Judgment, and Dark Bribe have found their way into a wide range of decks. These cards have the ability to shut down big combos and save the user from falling into an insurmountable ditch.

The deck I’m taking a look at this week made it to the Top 8 due to a combination of good anti-metagame tech and an extremely talented pilot. Jerry Wang of Team Overdose has seen plenty of Day 2 life, and is one of my favorite players to write about. His unique style of play and deck choices raise both criticism and respect, and the choices he made at Shonen Jump Championship Chicago have earned him a spot as this week’s Champion with the following deck:

Monsters: 21

3 Raiza the Storm Monarch

2 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch

2 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch

2 Cyber Dragon

3 Hydrogeddon

2 Mystic Tomato

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Snipe Hunter

1 Sangan

1 Morphing Jar

1 Spirit Reaper

1 Treeborn Frog

1 Magician of Faith

Spells: 10

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Brain Control

1 Pot of Avarice

1 Premature Burial

1 Scapegoat

2 Soul Exchange

2 Enemy Controller

Traps: 9

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Mirror Force

1 Call of the Haunted

3 Solemn Judgment

1 Bottomless Trap Hole

2 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast

It’s Monarchs, with a twist. The start-of-format deck you were looking at probably looked a little something like this, minus the tech. Chances are you were looking at a pair of Soul Exchange cards and six or seven Monarchs. What most players found at early Regional tournaments was that these decks simply could not stop hands more powerful than the ones it would draw. Zombies simply drew too many cards, Demise OTK couldn’t really be stopped, and burn completely shut it down. This was evident by a lack of Monarch decks found in the Top 8 of Shonen Jump Washington.

What Jerry did was take the Monarch deck that everyone had dumped and spiced it up a little. Where other players added safe, high-utility cards like Smashing Ground, Apprentice Magician, and Sakuretsu Armor, Jerry put in Hydrogeddon, Enemy Controller, and Solemn Judgment. They were able to pull through where the other cards failed. While part of this can be attributed to Jerry’s skill, no player can make the Top 8 unless he or she has good matchups with the expected metagame and a great deck.

The Monarch skeleton Jerry used involved a pair of Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch cards and Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, as well as the usual three copies of Raiza the Storm Monarch. Together, this trio of Monarchs can disrupt almost every deck played in tournaments quite easily. Discarding cards from the hand breaks up combo decks like Demise OTK and Zombies, and Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch makes that happen when he comes into play.

Particular emphasis is being put on monsters these days. It’s not enough to simply bounce Pyramid Turtle to the top of your opponent’s deck anymore. now you have to destroy it before it can get its effect. Zaborg the Thunder Monarch does the job here, and when combined with Soul Exchange he can take out any two monsters on the field. Raiza the Storm Monarch doesn’t destroy the target, but he’s far more versatile. Being able to hit anything on the table and at worst break even is why Raiza is one of the most played monsters on the Shonen Jump circuit.

The usual complement of monsters makes the cut as well—you’d be hard-pressed to find a Team Overdose deck not running Morphing Jar. Mystic Tomato brings everything any player could want to the table, and the rest of the monsters are simply stable, common choices . . . except for Hydrogeddon, of course. Hydrogeddon is a nifty monster that duplicates itself when it destroys another monster. When up against an opposing Apprentice Magician or Mystic Tomato, players can quickly find themselves staring down three 1600 ATK beatsticks.

To complement the Hydrogeddon cards, Jerry plays two copies of Enemy Controller. Turning a Monarch or an Il Blud to defense to be destroyed in battle by the Hydro not only eliminates the opposing threat, but also allows Jerry to buff up his field and get some damage in all in the same turn. Imagine: Jerry swings a Hydrogeddon into a face-down Pyramid Turtle. This is usually a bad scenario, since the opponent will search for Il Blud and get a free Turtle next turn. However, Jerry can continue the battle phase by playing Enemy Controller, switching Il Blud to defense mode, and destroying it with Hydrogeddon. He then gets in a free 1600 damage to boot by attacking with the third Hydro.

That’s not all the Controller can do though. In a format filled with one-turn knock-outs and lots of targeting effects, Enemy Controller can be chained quite often to save you from danger or advance your position. Treeborn Frog and Sangan make good tributes for the Controller, allowing Jerry to tribute his opponent’s monsters the same way that Brain Control would. This allows for a wide variety of plays, which means that Jerry can take advantage of almost every deck.

The final two pieces of tech that make this deck so competitive are Phoenix Wing Wind Blast and Solemn Judgment. Between the pair, Jerry can control pretty much any opposing strategy and make sure that key cards don’t see play. Important monsters like Il Blud or Zombie Master can be dealt with via the Wing Blast, as well as Monarchs or big time plays like Lightning Vortex and Mirror Force. Wing Blast is especially deadly when played against combo strategies, as it can block the big turns Zombies and burn can have before they ever get a chance. Then they’re forced to draw useless cards again, and it’s usually too late for them to make anything out of it. Imagine sending back Card of Safe Return when your opponent was hoping to special summon a string of Zombie Master cards. Not only will he or she have a team of Masters waiting to be destroyed by your Monarchs, but that player’s also not going to get any help from the next draw either. Alternatively, you could chain Wind Blast to the first Zombie Master’s effect and shut off the special summon by removing Master from the field. Both plays are very strong.

Solemn Judgment, on the other hand, is going to keep Jerry in the game against Monarchs and Perfect Circle. Negating the opponent’s Monarchs or game-breaking cards is going to result in either massive swings in card presence for Jerry or lots of damage for his opponent. Whatever Jerry’s plan, Solemn Judgment is going to help make it happen.

That’s really what this deck is all about, and why it’s so good in the hands of a player like Jerry Wang. The flexibility it offers means Jerry won’t ever find himself hopelessly outmatched. In a format where big turns and favorable matchups define competitive play, a flexible and powerful deck like Jerry’s Monarch build is going to contest the Top 16 every time. Enemy Controller, Solemn Judgment, and especially Phoenix Wing Wind Blast are going to be big cards so long as the format continues as is. Jerry’s Monarchs are only the beginning.

—Matt Peddle