I must admit, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Vehicroid monsters. Ever since their debut back in Cybernetic Revolution I’ve cheered whenever I saw those goofy looking, cartoon-ish Machines take the field against the likes of Chaos Sorcerer and its Light and Dark cronies. The thing is, the Vehicroids only ever had three playable cards working in their favor, and unfortunately, Steamroid, Gyroid, and Drillroid just weren’t enough to carry the little Machine variant that could. Nowadays though, things have changed in a big way. Power of the Duelist has brought some exciting new Vehicroid cards into the fold, and the new forbidden and limited list has eliminated the biggest threats to this fledgling deck type. In other words, now seems like a great time to bring back the ‘roids!

Monsters: 21

3 Cyber Dragon

3 Steamroid

3 Drillroid

3 Submarineroid

3 Gyroid

2 Exiled Force

1 Cyber-Stein

1 Sangan

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 D. D. Warrior Lady

Spells: 12

1 Graceful Charity

1 Heavy Storm

1 Book of Moon

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Limiter Removal

3 Enemy Controller

1 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Last Will

1 Premature Burial

1 Future Fusion

Traps: 7

2 Supercharge

1 Dust Tornado

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Mirror Force

1 Ring of Destruction

Fusion: 3

1 Cyber End Dragon

1 Cyber Twin Dragon

1 Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill

The Vehicroids have picked up a number of new tricks since we saw them last in Cybernetic Revolution. For starters, they’ve picked up a few new basic ‘roid monsters. Submarineroid has an effect that allows it to ping the opponent directly for 800 points of damage each turn as long as it switches to defense position afterwards. Its DEF is an excellent 1800, giving it a great combination of offensive and defensive capability.

Submarineroid is also one of the components of the new Vehicroid fusion monster, Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill. While the Jumbo Drill is essentially nothing but a smaller Cyber End Dragon, its usefulness in this deck is readily apparent. The single allowed copy of Future Fusion is an invaluable tool for both thinning out the deck and bringing out a surprise gigantic attacker without the need to pay 5000 life points to Cyber-Stein. Of course, I’ve also included the dreaded tech-Stein in this deck to go along with the increasingly amazing Last Will. Exiled Force is probably going to be the primary trigger for the effect of Last Will in this format, and with two copies of the Warrior to work with, Will is going to be used for some pretty crazy stuff. Not only does it allow players to search out singular copies of Cyber-Stein, but it can also be used to dig through the deck for the other copy of Exiled Force, allowing a crafty player to come up with a surprising amount of monster removal. It’s a handy little trick if you’re planning on running the required cards.

Finally, the ‘roids got a few new spells and traps to work with, though only one of them is put to use in this deck. Initially, I was going to throw in a copy of Vehicroid Connection Zone in case I ever happened to possess the required monsters. This plan was quickly chucked out the window after I had the displeasure to watch another player at my local store lose every time he drew the card, regardless of whether or not it actually did him some good (it never did). It is a neat concept though. In fact, it’s the ultimate in protecting your investment without the need for a bunch of Solemn Judgment cards.

Next up is the odd trap card Wonder Garage, which reminds me a lot of Hidden Soldiers, though it seems harder to support. It’s just not fast enough or strong enough here to justify inclusion. Moving in the completely opposite direction though, we find Supercharge! One thing that’s going to happen a whole lot in the new format is attacking, and that’s excellent news for this deck filled with ‘roids. Supercharge can activate any time your opponent attacks you while all your monsters are face-up Machine-type ‘roid monsters, at which point you get to draw two cards from your deck. That’s right: it’s Pot of Greed in trap form. It’s also an unrestricted means of helping a very specific Machine deck dig out the cards it needs to stay in the game, and that makes it one of the best theme-specific support cards ever printed.

Now that we’ve met all the new ‘roids, let’s talk about how to use them. Your ideal turn 1 play is to set Gyroid and a spell or trap and let the opponent do his or her thing. Barring the shenanigans of Cyber-Stein, you should be ready to start destroying the opponent’s board position as soon as your second turn begins. Defensive, non-flip effect monsters like the various recruiters fall before the might of Drillroid, as does any monster that you can force into defense position with Enemy Controller. Steamroid is still one of Cyber Dragon’s worst foes, and without Chaos Sorcerer around to remove the ‘roid after it takes out a Cyber Dragon, your opponent will likely have to try an attack to get rid of the Steamroid. When he or she does, all sorts of interesting things might happen. While you’ve got your standard Mirror Force and Ring of Destruction to fend off attacks, you’ve also got three copies of Enemy Controller and a Book of Moon as well. You might even have a Supercharge down to let you draw some bonus cards. The thing is, your opponent doesn’t know. Many players like to avoid attacking unless they know (or are reasonably sure) that the attack is safe. This greatly benefits players who use Steamroid, because every turn they don’t attack your ‘roid is another turn you get to wreak havoc with it.

Keeping with the very aggressive theme of the deck, I’ve also included a complement of Cyber Dragon cards to go with the rest of the Machine army. Cyber Dragon is (unsurprisingly) still an excellent card in the new format, and playing a Machine deck without it simply won’t do. Of course, there’s always the problem of availability, but with a Cyber Dragon tin coming out sometime in September this is sure to become a non-issue in the weeks to come. Just be careful that you don’t try to activate Supercharge while you’ve got a Cyber Dragon on the field. Letting your opponent know what you have down is generally a bad call. Finally, if your opponent decides to play Scapegoat against you, go ahead and let him or her have all the Sheep he or she wants. Don’t attack any. Just drop your Submarineroid and start attacking the opponent through the Sheep. You’ll still have to worry about Creature Swap, but you’ll be able to keep up the pressure despite your opponent’s defensive maneuver. In fact, Ojama Trio can help keep your opponent’s monster zones locked down for just this purpose, but that’s a deck for another time.

In fact, there are so many decks out there that can compete in this new format that I suspect I’ll have difficulty finding them all by the time March rolls around—at which point I’ll have to start the search all over again. Remember, the Forbidden and Limited list can’t do all the work for you. Even if every problematic card is systematically restricted or removed from the card pool, our decks will never be handed to us on a silver platter. Running the same exact thing as everybody else is still a bad idea for everyone involved. It creates a stagnant metagame, it sucks the fun out of the game, and it increases the importance of luck to what most players have deemed an intolerable level. What people still aren’t realizing it that it’s up to us to do something about it. We’ve been given the tools, and now it’s time to head into the workshop and build something. Shonen Jump Championship Boston will be the first major event under the new list, and I can’t wait to see what people will play there. Until next time, play hard, play fair, and, most importantly, have fun!

Jerome McHale

jcmchale@andrew.cmu.edu

NEXT WEEK: Flash!! Savior of the Universe.