Making the Top 8 of a Shonen Jump Championship is no simple task. You and your deck have to perform better then your opponents for eight out of nine rounds to safely secure a Day 2 appearance. As if this weren’t difficult enough, consider the fact that you often have to power through a handful of mirror matches as well. It’s no secret that mirror matches are frequently won by the player with the better hand, but the other deciding factor in such cases is tech cards. Tech—uncommonly used cards played in the main deck to prepare for a particular matchup—can mean the difference between a win and a loss in the mirror match. For example, the player who decided to try out two copies of Banisher of the Radiance has an advantage in the Tomato Control vs. Tomato Control mirror match.

Then someone thought, "What if I play a deck comprised entirely of tech cards?" It’s a risky proposition, that’s for sure. It takes some serious guts to run into a Shonen Jump with a deck built only to give the popular decks trouble. With fewer monsters that pack all-around consistency and power to make the deck win, the all-tech deck needs to find some way to hold its ground. Jake McNeely took second place at Shonen Jump Arlington with just such a tech deck. His success proved that you could take an original build based entirely around screwing up cookie-cutter decks and do so successfully.

Chris Moosman did the same thing at SJC Seattle with this exceptional build:

Monsters—19

3 Cyber Dragon

1 Banisher of the Radiance

1 Asura Priest

2 Drillroid

3 Hydrogeddon

2 Prickle Fairy

2 Exiled Force

1 D. D. Assailant

1 D. D. Warrior

1 Don Zaloog

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

Spells—14

1 Book of Moon

1 Pot of Avarice

1 Graceful Charity

2 Reinforcement of the Army

1 Heavy Storm

2 Smashing Ground

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Confiscation

1 Nobleman of Crossout

2 Enemy Controller

1 Rush Recklessly

Traps—7

3 Sakuretsu Armor

1 Blast with Chain

1 Mirror Force

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Ring of Destruction

The plan is quite simple, really. Deal 8000 damage to the opponent before he or she can deal with your tech cards or finish you first. As such, you’ve got to be the aggressive player. That’s not to say you should be reckless or attack at every chance you get, but you need to carefully consider when your opponent might be able to take advantage of your conditionally weaker monsters. Luckily for Moosman, this deck has one of the largest toolboxes the game has ever seen.

The monster line-up comprises the tech that’s designed to cripple the opponent’s deck and disorient his or her plans. By forcing your opponent’s deck to deal with your tech monsters, you take away the advantage of consistency that your opponent has. Mystic Tomato and Cyber Dragon aren’t so reliable when staring down a Banisher of the Radiance, Hydrogeddon, or Asura Priest.

The basis of the monster line-up is the set of Warriors. D. D. Assailant, D. D. Warrior Lady, Don Zaloog, and two copies of Exiled Force, coupled with a pair of Reinforcement of the Army cards to search them out, give the deck utility and a little more consistency. Moosman needs to make sure he can deal with every situation the opponent can throw at him, and using these Warriors gives him the ability to do that. D. D. Assailant is good to press damage or bait out monster removal cards. D. D. Warrior Lady can break the hearts of Monarch players everywhere by removing their Sangan, Treeborn Frog, or Mystic Tomato while being able to perform the same functions as her Assailant counterpart.

Don Zaloog is an especially important card in the deck. I would guess that Moosman’s opponents often found themselves unable to play anything for fear of one of Moosman’s tech cards coming down and negating their effects. Don Zaloog takes advantage of an opponent who’s unwilling to commit to the field, robbing him or her of the very cards the opponent tried to protect by keeping them in hand. Asura Priest follows the same philosophy. If an opponent finds him- or herself in a hole or with a reactive hand, you won’t want to change the game state. Playing conservative in this format usually means one of two things: you’re saving cards until the opponent commits, or you’re unable to commit anything to the field safely. Asura Priest drops down to connect for 1700 damage, then returns to the hand and leaves the game in the exact situation as the turn before. This reduces your opponent’s ability to top-deck out of the situation or commit his or her resources after all. Either situation works for you, because it means you’re in control of the game and can capitalize on any move your opponent makes.

Exiled Force is what forces the opponent into these kinds of situations. Against the Monarch deck, it simplifies the game state and keeps monsters off your opponent’s field. Barring a Treeborn Frog from your opponent, he or she usually won’t be able to make any moves. The Monarch deck is simply too reactive to play against Exiled Force, and without the Frog, it becomes very difficult to capitalize on your open field.

With the key monsters dictating the way the game will play out, Moosman included the rest of his tech to create greater utility against almost any Monarch build. Banisher of the Radiance absolutely cripples the opponent’s ability to keep a monster on his or her side of the field. Treeborn Frog, Mystic Tomato, and Twin-Headed Behemoth all fall to this 1600 ATK powerhouse. The same philosophy is applied to Drillroid, which can take out Spirit Reaper, Mystic Tomato, Apprentice Magician, and defense-mode Cyber Dragon cards. Keeping monsters off the opponent’s field is how the deck prevents itself from being crippled by the power of the Monarchs, and is the deck’s primary goal.

Hydrogeddon, Cyber Dragon, and Prickle Fairy are the "rebound" monsters of the deck. In case you were in a cave on Mars, monsters don’t tend to stay on the field for more than a couple of turns these days. As such, you’ve got to make sure you can rebuild your field whenever you get the chance. Most players do it with Cyber Dragon and Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. However, this deck can’t afford to play the Zaborgs, so it’s got to find different ways.

Hydrogeddon does an excellent job at rebuilding a field. If you’re able to run over an opponent’s floater monster (like a face-up Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive) and the opponent’s newest set monster, you’ll be in excellent shape with three brand-new 1600 ATK beat sticks on the field. Your opponent will rarely be able to deal with all three Hydros, giving you the next turn to push your field presence. Hydrogeddon doesn’t really have to wait for you to get behind though. It can jump out at any point of the duel and completely alter the tempo of the game. A good offense does make for a good defense, and getting ahead with a quick Cyber Dragon/Hydrogeddon play can put the opponent too far behind to ever catch up, especially if he or she has a lackluster hand.

I can see you squirming in your seat right now, silently screaming, "Get to the Prickle Fairy already!" Prickle Fairy hasn’t seen the spotlight since the days of Berserk Gorilla, where it meant the instant destruction of the opposing Gorilla should it attack. In this deck, Prickle Fairy creates a balance on your field. 2000 defense is nothing to sneeze at, and its position-changing effect gives Moosman’s Hydrogeddon and Asura Priest cards easily defeated defense-mode Monarchs and Breakers, while painting a target on anything that Drillroid wants to hit. Being able to hit Mystic Tomato and Cyber Dragon after they’ve swung into the face-down Prickle Fairy lets Moosman keep a threatening field.

The defensive nature of Prickle Fairy lets you sit back and allow your opponent another turn with his or her monsters. This proves very beneficial to Moosman. If the opponent had a flip effect monster, but no tribute, Moosman is set up perfectly for Hydrogeddon, especially if the opponent sets another monster. If the opponent doesn’t flip the set monster, Moosman can go with either Banisher of the Radiance or Drillroid and shut down what’s likely a Treeborn Frog, Apprentice Magician, or Spirit Reaper.

The spell and trap line-up support the field-stabilizing department. Smashing Ground is the ultimate in "let’s just get that out of the way" monster removal. While it hurts to destroy a monster that has already generated a positive effect, this deck doesn’t have much ability to take out on-field Monarchs or Cyber Dragon cards without it. Smashing Ground gets monsters out of the way and lets your own Don Zaloog or Asura Priest connect directly.

Even more important than destroying monsters on your turn is doing so on your opponent’s turn. By doing so, Moosman protects his riskier monsters, like Drillroid and Banisher of the Radiance, who don’t find any sort of replacement when destroyed in battle. As such, Moosman played a hefty amount of protection. Three copies of Sakuretsu Armor and a set of the popular traps start off the line-up, but a pair of Enemy Controller cards (one Blast With Chain) and a copy of Rush Recklessly give Moosman the added defense to protect his weaker monsters. Enemy Controller also combos nicely with Drillroid, allowing Moosman to turn monsters like Mystic Tomato and Cyber Dragon to defense mode and destroy them with Drillroid’s effect.

The deck plays a variety of spells and traps in order to keep its predictability low. The deck is successful largely because of its surprise nature. Playing too many of a specific card like Rush Recklessly or Blast with Chain would give the opponents a better chance at guessing what Moosman has in store. The flexibility in the spell and trap line-up also gives Moosman some good set-ups. There are definitely times where Blast with Chain just won’t cut it, like staring down a Spirit Reaper or Cyber Dragon with your Hydrogeddon cards.

Packed with flexibility, utility, and some extreme anti-metagame tech, this deck has it all. Once again it’s been proven that a tech deck can make it into the final rounds of a Shonen Jump. Expect to see some Moosman net decks at SJC So Cal, but also be on the lookout for some original tech-decks. The reign of the Monarch builds may soon be drawing to a close.