As a trustworthy spokesman about the game, I can tell you with confidence that a deck based around Wind attribute monsters can be tournament-viable. You might think I’m only trying to twist you around, but give it a chance!

Wind monsters are indeed some of the most overlooked in the game, and I would be hard-pressed to find even one that is considered a “staple” in most Shonen Jump Championship-caliber deck lists. Once Yata-Garasu was forbidden, most Wind monsters seem to have lost the will to continue. This deck is the first in my series of attribute types that features no elemental searcher. Flying Kamakiri #1 doesn’t bring anything to the table except for Harpie Ladies (an underplayed archetype, to say the least), and more copies of itself.

Instead, our approach today will be a Wind Beatdown deck, with numerous copies of some of the best 1900 ATK monsters in the game mixed with a stable defensive lineup. The two definite shining stars of the Wind deck are Silpheed, a nifty common from Invasion of Chaos that provides numerous advantages, and . . . wait, there’s only one. Yup, Silpheed is it. It looks like quite a bit of work will be required to elevate the Wind deck to respectability.

Constructing a Solid Wind Monster Lineup

The relative lack of shining stars that have the Wind attribute does not spell doom for the archetype. There’s a veritable treasure trove of solid Beatdown monsters that can fit the bill for your burgeoning Wind deck. Its strength lies in the ability to constantly churn out 2400 ATK normal summoned monsters through Rising Air Current, the nifty field spell of the Wind arsenal. You see, Wind houses not one, not two, but three 1900 ATK monsters! Slate Warrior provides sneaky tricks by flipping it, thus giving birth to a monstrous 2900 ATK beatstick when Rising Air Current is in play. Spear Dragon will be a 2400 ATK monster with piercing damage that creates huge life point swings in your favor. Rounding out the lineup, Luster Dragon is a very beautiful dragon covered with sapphire. If you feel the need for even more Beatdown monsters, Winged Sage Falcos packs a game-breaking effect. Provided it hits one of the intended targets, you can tie up your opponent’s draw phase and destroy his or her monster.

Each time one of these monsters is destroyed, you can feel free to special summon Silpheed. It hits the field as a 2200 ATK powerhouse (through the field spell boost) that creates excellent trades simply by destroying a monster. That’s right—if you manage to destroy D. D. Survivor, Don Zaloog, Cyber Dragon, or other assorted delight, its effect means you’ve just booked yourself a room at the two-for-one villa! Any monster that destroys it as a result of battle will cause a discard. Throw in the fact that you can special summon it (swarming for over 4600 points of damage in one turn, if you’re attacking with a normal summoned monster as well) and you have a Wind deck staple.

A few other noteworthy wind monsters include Twin-Headed Behemoth and . Both are relatively weak without field spell support, but still pack nifty effects. If you can manage to use monster removal to clear the field, your opponent will be reluctant to use spell or trap removal on your 2000 ATK Twin-Headed Behemoth. It works great as a field presence tool and a monster that can poke through for some nifty damage. Sasuke Samurai #4, on the other hand, should be used mainly to attack your opponent’s face down monsters. If the coin flip works, the monster is destroyed. You can build all sorts of massive advantages with the card in this way, because monsters attacking into it will also face the effect.

Unfortunately there are no good tribute monsters to run in this . . . wait, what’s that big battleship looming on the horizon? It’s B.E.S. Tetran, just in time for this article! The best Wind tribute monster of all time has just arrived, fresh for this article, and it’s a certified doozy—even without the powers of Rising Air Current. Packing two magnificent effects, you’ll likely be able to immediately fire off one of your opponent’s spells or traps right when you summon it. The deck wants to focus upon getting a “free” tribute for this monster, whether it’s a used flip effect, Sangan, or some other option. At this point, a few possible scenarios can happen.

If your opponent chooses to use a monster effect or spell or trap effect to destroy B.E.S Tetran, you have just effectively forced a two-for-one trade. It’s your Tetran for the opponent’s destroyed face-down spell or trap, as well as a piece of removal. This is a definite win-win situation for you. Just watch out that your opponent isn’t trying to use that spell or trap to destroy B.E.S. Tetran.

You can also pass attacking with B.E.S. Tetran, instead choosing to use removal such as Smashing Ground to clear the field for direct attacks. Remember, Tetran does not lose a counter if it attacks directly. If your opponent chooses to activate a defensive trap like Sakuretsu Armor, you’ve gained another two-for-one trade.

The smart opponent will refuse to budge, hoping to ram multiple Mystic Tomatos at the battleship in hopes of destroying it. This type of stand-off strategy will mean that your opponent cannot set a spell or trap card for defensive purposes, for fear of having Tetran’s second counter remove it again. In all of these scenarios, you can see that the battleship is a looming monstrosity that helps your combat tactics. Let’s take a look at a possible monster lineup for a Wind deck.

Monsters: 20

2 B.E.S. Tetran

3 Slate Warrior

2 Spear Dragon

2 Silpheed

1 Twin-Headed Behemoth

1 Winged Sage Falcos

1 Sasuke Samurai #4

1 Sangan

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Magician of Faith

1 Tsukuyomi

3 Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive

1 Cyber Jar

This deck packs numerous combat tricks with Tsukuyomi. If your opponent doesn’t manage to destroy Slate Warrior during his or her turn, you can spring a 2400 or 2900 ATK monster on the very next turn! In addition, the glut of flip effects leads to a load of powerful opening turn plays that lead to increased card advantage and damage. The spells and traps will be used primarily to protect your flip effects, keeping them on the field to both poke for damage and serve as tribute fodder for B.E.S. Tetran.

Spells: 14

1 Dark Hole

1 Premature Burial

1 Snatch Steal

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

3 Rising Air Current

1 My Body as a Shield

3 Smashing Ground

1 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Book of Moon

The spell lineup for this deck is pretty simple to understand. We have the basic staples, and three copies of Rising Air Current and three Smashing Ground to get rid of your opponent’s pesky monsters. Nothing special to see here, folks, so it’s on to the traps.

Traps: 8

3 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Call of the Haunted

3 Sakuretsu Armor

1 Torrential Tribute

Again, the traps are pretty basic cut and dry stuff. However, you’ll want to run three copies of Bottomless Trap Hole to stop pesky Mobius the Frost Monarchs from wreaking havoc on your backfield. The rest should be pretty simple.

This just about wraps up the Wind deck. Remember, you can keep Rising Air Current a secret until it nets you some advantage through battle. The consistent, strong draws of the opening game should be enough to propel you into the ideal situation. With both you and your opponent in a low-resource game, the constant flow of monsters and their extremely high ATK values should push you over the edge.

Wind decks are mostly ignored by the general public, but this deck is a chance for Wind to finally claim a piece of the spotlight. And with more monsters like B.E.S. Tetran reaching our hands, this deck should continue to gain strength.