Destiny Heroes have made quite an impact on the North American metagame since their release before Shonen Jump Championship St. Louis. With Elemental Hero Stratos at three copies per deck, Diamond Dude Turbo became the undisputed deck to beat for the rest of the format. Unfortunately for DDT players, that was only one tournament. At SJC Houston, Kris Perovic proved that DDT was still a top-tier deck, and recent successes from players like Marc Glass, Chris Bowling, Joseph Parchman, and Perovic once more at SJC Montreal further proved the power of this combo/beatdown/OTK deck.
However, after June 1st, Magical Stone Excavation became Limited. Whether or not DDT can survive yet another setback remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: Destiny Draw and Destiny Hero - Malicious aren’t going into the shoebox anytime soon. Theerasak Poonsombat’s aggressive Destiny Hero beatdown concept—which has found four SJC Top 8’s in two tournaments—has emerged as the newest variant of DDT. In addition, a new Monarch variant has come out of the playtesting arena and into the limelight as one of the format’s top decks. Introducing “Perfect Circle”:
Monsters: 20
3 Cyber Dragon
3 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
1 Sangan
1 Treeborn Frog
3 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch
2 Destiny Hero - Fear Monger
2 Card Trooper
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
3 Destiny Hero - Malicious
1 Destiny Hero - Disk Commander
Spells: 13
3 Destiny Draw
2 Brain Control
2 Smashing Ground
1 Snatch Steal
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Premature Burial
1 Pot of Avarice
Traps: 7
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
3 Sakuretsu Armor
1 Call of the Haunted
Looking at the trap line-up for this deck, we can see that it wants to function the same way as standard Monarch decks, only faster and more powerful. Three copies of Sakuretsu Armor make the cut for their ability to stop opposing attackers from causing too much damage. Like other Monarch decks, this one wants to slowly whittle down the opponent, forcing poor trades on his or her part before pressing in for damage. Sakuretsu Armor helps achieve this by protecting monsters like Card Trooper from being destroyed as a result of battle. Furthermore, Sakuretsu Armor allows Samek to destroy opposing monsters that his Card Trooper or Elemental Hero Stratos can’t destroy to make room for direct attacks.
The only other trap of note is Call of the Haunted. Call has been all but banished from Monarch decks because of the potential to lock down your own Treeborn Frog. The powerful trap card has been included in this deck because of its potential working with Destiny Hero - Disk Commander. There are plenty of targets that allow Samek to chain Call of the Haunted to a destruction effect as well. Sangan, Card Trooper, and Destiny Hero - Disk Commander all work well in these scenarios.
However, what makes Call of the Haunted so good is the extra potential for an OTK. In the same tournament, Lazaro Bellido defied previous norms by adding both Call of the Haunted and Dust Tornado to his Monarch deck. Either of these two cards can add a great deal to the OTK potential without detracting from the deck at all. Monarch players must simply be disciplined when working with Treeborn Frog—setting only necessary spells and traps, which means exercising restraint with Call of the Haunted and occasionally Dust Tornado as well. Picture a very likely scenario for Jessy Samek. His opponent has just pushed through with Zaborg the Thunder Monarch and set a spell or trap card. On his turn, Jessy plays Cyber Dragon, brings Destiny Hero - Malicious to the field via the graveyard effect of a second Malicious, and activates Call of the Haunted on Elemental Hero Stratos to destroy his opponent’s set spell or trap card. He’s then free to drop a Monarch of his own (or a Brain Control), and attack for extreme amounts of damage. Chances are, if the opponent has taken any attacks before this turn, he or she will be toast.
The monster line-up showcases, at first glance, a patient control deck. It looks like all Jessy wants to do is sit and wait for his Monarchs and Destiny Hero - Fear Monger cards to supply him with enough cards to one-up the opponent at every opportunity. While this is certainly a possibility, the monsters also embody a disturbing amount of offense.
One of the biggest troubles for Monarch decks is getting Cyber Dragon into play during the late game. At this point, Monarch players usually have a Treeborn Frog hopping in and out of the graveyard, and barring an unfortunate Bottomless Trap Hole or a lack of Monarch cards, Cyber Dragon tends to stay in the hand for a very long time. The problem is that you can’t have your Cyber Dragon remain on the field and benefit from the effects of one of your Monarchs in the same turn. Enter Destiny Hero - Malicious. Since Malicious’s effect isn’t relegated to the standby phase like Treeborn Frog’s, Samek can special summon his Cyber Dragon before bringing Malicious out as tribute for a Monarch.
The ability to place two monsters on the field with more than 2000 ATK in one turn cannot be underestimated. Not only does this create the possibility of winning the game via some quick direct attacks (especially with the aid of Zaborg the Thunder Monarch), but if your opponent doesn’t have a big trap card waiting, it means he or she will be losing some monsters or a lot of life points . . . neither of which is particularly favorable.
As if that wasn’t enough, this is exactly the type of thing you want to see against burn and OTK decks. Demise OTK doesn’t enjoy having its life points reduced to 2000 too early, which is exactly what happens when you’ve got Cyber Dragon, Brain Control, a pair of Destiny Hero - Malicious cards to special summon to the field, and a Monarch. DDT is equally displeased by this turn of events, and in one swift sequence, you can disable the primary win condition for both decks. Chain Strike burn decks thrive on the belief that your opponent can’t dish out very high amounts of damage per turn. Destiny Hero - Malicious really messes with this, as he both jumps in for 800 damage and allows you to summon your biggest monsters without having to give up other attackers.
Elemental Hero Stratos is an excellent tool for this deck. Acting as an outlet for any of the Destiny Hero monsters, Stratos can turn your Premature Burial or Call of the Haunted into a card-drawing engine by fetching Destiny Hero - Disk Commander. Equally as devastating, Stratos can put together combos with Destiny Draw, refreshing your hand and dumping useful monsters into the graveyard. Finally, Stratos can also drop down to clean up the spell and trap cards on the field. Whether it’s an unknown set card, a Snatch Steal controlling one of your best monsters, or even your own Call of the Haunted that got stuck in your spell and trap zone and is blocking your Treeborn Frog from returning, there will almost always be some mess for Stratos to mop up. If there’s not, things are probably looking good anyway.
Destiny Hero - Fear Monger has been labeled one of the weakest monsters in Perfect Circle. Many players believe that experienced duelists will simply not attack unknown face-downs while a Disk Commander is in the opponent’s graveyard, and will instead wait around for a way to destroy the set monsters outside of battle. While this may work in theory, it isn’t so easy to accomplish. If you let Perfect Circle draw too many cards, it can put together an OTK much faster than most other decks. On the flip side, if you turtle up too much, you’ll be vulnerable to cards like Torrential Tribute or Heavy Storm. As such, Fear Monger forces opponents into a lot of lose-lose situations. Should Fear Monger’s effect activate while a Disk Commander is hanging around in the graveyard, its controller will be handed three cards that turn, and will likely have answers to anything the opponent has.
A big part of this deck is being able to refresh your hand. Churning through your deck means the chances of drawing power cards or numerous Monarchs are that much higher, which is one of the traits that makes a successful deck. Destiny Draw does an excellent job of allowing you to see new cards. In addition, it throws Destiny Hero - Malicious and Destiny Hero - Disk Commander into the graveyard, where they will be useful later on. The biggest reason a pair of Fear Mongers made the cut is because of the words “Destiny Hero” in their name, which allows them to be discarded to Destiny Draw.
Simply put, Perfect Circle is an excellent deck. With side decks now being totally devoted to Demise OTK, DDT, and standard Monarch builds, Perfect Circle can’t be easily countered. When it and more typical Monarch decks meet, the advantage is almost always to Perfect Circle, and if your Monarch deck has no room to side for the Circle, you’ll be unable to do much but hold on and hope for the best.