My favorite part of the new Forbidden and Limited list isn’t so much what went on the list as it is the cards whose limitations were loosened or eliminated completely. Injection Fairy Lily has been Limited since it was released—as has Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys—but why? I guess initially it was judged that Lily could end games too fast, and back before we had a Forbidden list, she probably could. Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, though, was probably never the threat it was immediately envisioned to be. Limited upon release like its cousin, Vampire Lord, Phoenix has long been waiting for someone to finally spring it from its cage, and now the time has come. Thus, for my first deck of the new format, I think I’ll take full advantage of the fact that I’m allowed three copies. Is playing three copies of the Phoenix a good idea? Not necessarily, but it may be more advantageous than most people make it out to be. There are some pretty sweet card interactions that you can pull off thanks to Phoenix, and it does have a method by which it can be special summoned from the deck. In fact, that method is compatible with the ever-popular Apprentice Magician engine! Let the coolness commence!
Monsters: 20
3 Old Vindictive Magician
2 Apprentice Magician
3 Cyber Dragon
1 Treeborn Frog
1 Sangan
1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
3 Drillroid
Spells: 12
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Book of Moon
1 Premature Burial
1 Snatch Steal
1 Nobleman of Crossout
3 Enemy Controller
3 Smashing Ground
Traps: 8
1 Mirror Force
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Call of the Haunted
2 Sakuretsu Armor
2 Generation Shift
One of the cards quietly deemed a “sleeper” hit upon its release was Generation Shift. It was a common from Shadow of Infinity and the second “generic” search card that we received in the set (the first being another favorite of mine, Damage Condenser). The problem with Generation Shift was that you needed to have the monster you wanted to search out on your side of the field face up. After that, you had to activate the trap and destroy your own monster before you could fetch out another copy of it. In theory, the card was supposed to enable the multiplicity monsters in the set to wreak havoc, but those specific monsters never really caught on with the dueling public. The obvious monster to use with Generation Shift is, of course, Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys. However, at the time of Shadow of Infinity’s release, the Phoenix was still limited to one per deck.
Nowadays, though, Phoenix is allowed in threes, which makes Generation Shift a great choice for anyone who decides to play with the big gold bird. Why? Because Generation Shift instructs you to destroy one of your own face-up monsters in order to fetch a monster with the same name from your deck. Sacred Phoenix, if destroyed by a card effect whilst face up on the field, will be special summoned back to the field in your next standby phase, and we all know what happens then, right? Every deck weeps at the sight of a Heavy Storm clearing their back row, but when (at least one) Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys keeps on coming back every turn, most people stop bothering to set spells and traps that can’t be used during the standby phase. This is useful due to the fact that it makes Sakuretsu Armor, Mirror Force, and Widespread Ruin completely useless. Bottomless Trap Hole is about the only card that’s going to do you any good, and whether it sees any main deck play will likely be based on how big of a threat duelists consider Phoenix to be. Of course, if you’re a very clever Phoenix player who happens to be a fan of Generation Shift, you can save your Phoenix from Bottomless Trap Hole by chaining Generation Shift and destroying your own Phoenix before Bottomless can resolve. You’ll be out a Phoenix for the turn, but you will likely have another one in your hand as a result of the Shift. Add in Treeborn Frog and Hand of Nephthys, and you’re looking at two Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys cards on the field next turn!
One of the first things that went through my head when I saw that Phoenix was unlimited and Treeborn Frog wasn’t Forbidden was, “Oh man, I am so going to summon three copies of Phoenix across three consecutive turns. Beat that Monarchs!” The ability to accumulate a new copy of a self-recurring Heavy Storm-wielding monster every turn for three turns is simply insane, and it’s the kind of reward a player deserves if he chooses to play three copies of a monster that’s been called the worst topdeck ever. Thus, if this is going to be the main strategy behind the above deck, we’re going to need to set some in-game goals. Goal 1: get Treeborn Frog as fast as possible. This goal is shared by every single Monarch deck as well: Treeborn Frog is essential to their smooth running, and we need it to pull off our Great Phoenix Caper. Goal 2: grab Hand of Nephthys. The deck plays three copies of Phoenix’s support monster, so you’ll likely draw one at an early point in the game. We can pick up a second one by means of the Apprentice Engine, leaving the third to come from either a second Apprentice Magician, revival through Call of the Haunted or Premature Burial, or chance. Goal 3: don’t get nailed by Bottomless Trap Hole, D. D. Assailant, or Neo-Spacian Grand Mole. You can take out an Assailant with a Cyber Dragon, you can foil a Bottomless Trap Hole with cleverness, but Neo-Spacian Grand Mole is quite possibly the absolute worst thing that can happen to a Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys. Having a Phoenix move from the field to your hand without anything else happening is horrible. It leads to a huge number of squandered opportunities, especially if you had to commit a lot of time and effort to getting a single Phoenix into play. You can do some tricks with Cyber Dragon to help keep the Mole off the field, but in general you’ll actually have to risk losing a lot of spells and traps to your own Phoenix effect in order to keep Grand Mole from ruining your life.
We now come to the question of matchups in the new format. What are they most likely to be? The first Shonen Jump Championship using the new Forbidden and Limited list isn’t till this weekend, so we won’t have any idea of what the metagame is going to look like until then. I’m also writing this before SJC St. Louis, so I’m not quite sure how the release of the new duelist packs and Elemental Hero Stratos has turned out. I can, however, make a few educated guesses. First off, thanks to three out of the four new Duelist Pack ultra rares and Elemental Hero Stratos, I would predict Destiny Hero combo decks to be high picks. There are a couple of different builds, however, and I’m unsure of which type is going to be popular. March 1st also marks the legality date for Strike of Neos, and that means that Six Samurai decks will be on the march. Gadgets will always be popular, and I think the same can be said for Monarchs as well.
Against combo decks, you generally don’t have much of a plan to execute your particular strategy due to the need to win the game faster than an opponent can, and in the case of the Destiny Hero combo decks, this is even more of a pain. If you can get a Phoenix on the field, you can try to win quickly, but cards like Back to Square One are likely going to be there to put it somewhere where you can’t get it. Generation Shift becomes really important here, because if you have to spend a draw phase on Phoenix, you’re far more likely to lose. Free turns are greatly appreciated by all combo decks. As for Gadgets and Monarchs, the entire point of those decks is to simplify the duel to the point where they have monsters and you have nothing. Gadgets are better at it than Monarchs, but as long as they aren’t maindecking Bottomless Trap Hole, Phoenix is better against them than it is against Monarchs. Specifically, the whole “2400 ATK” thing that Monarchs have going for them makes them better against Phoenix than Gadgets. The sure-fire ways to deal with a Phoenix are to defeat it in battle, remove it from play, or tribute it. The generic Monarch deck can do at least two of the three very easily. Against Monarchs, you’re likely to want to side in some copies of Forced Back, Pulling the Rug, or both.
Finally, we come to the Six Samurai. Unfortunately, I don’t think that beating Six Samurai with a Phoenix deck is going to be an easy task, especially if the Samurai deck is built right. Great Shogun Shien can take down a Phoenix easily and the rest of the Samurai make it difficult for your deck to even get off the ground due to its ability to negate the Apprentice Engine. Overall, though, I think it’s worth giving this deck a try. I’ve always wanted to play three copies of Phoenix, and you’d better believe that I’m going to take advantage of the opportunity. SJC Houston is this weekend, and the shape of the new metagame will begin to take form. If you aren’t going to be there, make sure you check out the live coverage right here on Metagame.com, and until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!
Jerome McHale
jcmchale@andrew.cmu.edu
NEXT WEEK: Speaking of the Six Samurai . . .