Admit it—the only thing in this game that’s more entertaining than destroying something of your opponent’s is taking it from them. I like it, you like it, and when it comes down to it, we all love that look our opponents get when they realize that not only are they deprived of that monster or that killer spell, but now we’ve got it instead. Stealing stuff is a form of card advantage, a great way to create swings in tempo, and it’s downright fun. Today’s submitter, Matt from Peterborough,* understands these points and sought to create a deck that used them to his advantage.
You probably get too many of these, but I'm absolutely serious about this deck.
I’ve been humoring the idea of building a theft deck and have begun construction of it. The deck is about half completed. The strategy is pure thievery—I try and take my opponent’s monsters. I support that with a bit of Beatdown, but it would be nice to see this as a practical theft deck.
I've tried this design out with a proxied build, but met with only mediocre results. Maybe this could be a serious deck idea, though?
—Matt B, Peterborough, Ontario
Matt’s deck is actually pretty solid despite what he says, and it uses some cool theft-oriented cards that you’ve likely seen but never actually played with. Here’s the decklist that he submitted to me.
Thief!
40 Cards
Monsters: 18
2 Dark Necrofear
1 Dark Ruler Ha Des
3 Archfiend Soldier
1 Giant Orc
1 Tsukuyomi
2 Brain Jacker
3 Jowls of Dark Demise
1 Magician of Faith
1 Sangan
1 D. D. Warrior Lady
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Exiled Force
Spells: 16
2 Brain Control
1 Snatch Steal
1 Exchange
1 Enemy Controller
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Premature Burial
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Metamorphosis
1 Scapegoat
1 Book of Moon
2 Smashing Ground
1 Dark Hole
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
Traps: 6
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Torrential Tribute
2 Sakuretsu Armor
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Dust Tornado
There isn’t anything fundamentally wrong with this deck. Matt’s kept his total card count low to ensure that he draws into what he wants when he wants it. The deck opens strongly, and it’s able to drop any number of nasty face down monsters or summon a big beater like Giant Orc so that it can bully the opponent into playing defensively if he or she doesn’t have immediate access to Smashing Ground. Matt’s deck has lots of good tech as well, packing Ha Des to negate effects and making use of Drillroid and Exiled Force to take care of defense position monsters. Though Matt didn’t send me a list for his fusion deck, I’m willing to bet it included Thousand-Eyes Restrict to complement Magician of Faith and Scapegoat.
If anything, I think the deck is a little too tech-oriented. It looks a bit too much like a Beatdown deck, just like Matt said. Flat out, the swirling torrent of flip effect monsters that everyone thought the new format was going to bring never materialized, so Dark Ruler Ha Des’s effect isn’t as useful as it could be. While its extra 50 ATK lets it put the smackdown on Jinzo or Mobius the Frost Monarch, I think most metagames just aren’t right for this card. We can use that slot in the deck a bit better by focusing on the theft theme instead.
Exiled Force, Scapegoat, and Metamorphosis all sort of fit into the same category. While Exiled Force is spectacular, I don’t think it fits the tempo of this deck. Aside from that, I’m eager to free up a bit of space for a few new tricks, so I’m going to recommend that Exiled Force be bumped to the side deck. Metamorphosis is too slow for this deck, and it’s often a dead draw, so it’s an easy cut. I’m going to drop Scapegoat strictly because it wouldn’t fit the way that I’d personally play this strategy. Since I’ll be taking monsters all the time, I figure I’m going to usually have more than one monster on the field. I dislike Scapegoat, though, so if you think it would fit your play style and you’d like to try the deck yourself, go ahead and use those fluffy little Sheep if you’d like to.
Finally, I’m going to drop the single copy of Exchange. It’s a fun card, but it can be unpredictable, and I’d like to go with a slightly more reliable form of control. The current Advanced format is more focused on monster control than hand control, so that also plays a big role in my decision. Since this is the last cut, I’ll just go ahead and reveal my evil plan . . .
. . . Falling Down! If you’ve never played against a solid Archfiends deck, you’re missing out. Falling Down is one of the most underrated cards in the game, and while it isn’t splashable tech that every player can use, it’s definitely worth building a deck around. It combos nicely with Book of Moon, and Archfiend Soldier followed up with Falling Down can turn a seemingly doomed game into a near-win. Just make sure to protect your Archfiend Soldiers, because if you’re ever without an Archfiend, Falling Down will be immediately destroyed. It’ll even get destroyed if you’re in the middle of a chain, so you need to be careful how you play it. Hit hard and fast and you shouldn’t have any problems. Since that’s the case, we’ll be using two here.
That said, more Archfiends would be welcome, and this deck is going to be swinging directly on a regular basis. Because of that fact I want to add a single copy of Axe of Despair. Man, I remember when this was the hottest new card out there, but it’s still good today, and it can quickly cause trouble for your opponent if it sticks around on the field. Because it counts as an Archfiend, you can use it to satisfy the condition of Falling Down, so make sure to balance out its potential usefulness and think before you equip it. An extra 1000 damage is nice, but remember that in previous formats where Delinquent Duo was legal, a player was more than happy to pay 1000 life points for a one-card advantage. Make sure that when you play Axe of Despair, it either sticks around for a few turns or clinches the win immediately.
Next, I’m going to replace a bit of the tech that I removed. I’d like to pack a second Drillroid into Matt’s deck. Though it’s sort of similar to Exiled Force I prefer the battle-ready qualities it carries. This deck is only using two copies of Smashing Ground, so it needs some way to deal with Spirit Reaper. Drillroid can dish out some pain to the Reaper without being a dead draw, so it’s a nice card for this kind of strategy. We’ll be looking to capitalize on sudden momentum swings, so battle-worthy monsters are the key to this deck’s success.
On that note, I want to add another copy of Giant Orc. They hit hard, can usually earn you card advantage if they attack twice, and even if they do hit the graveyard quickly due to their nonexistent DEF, well, that’s just more food for Dark Necrofear. A fast 2200 damage is precious to a deck like this, and answers to Cyber Dragon are always a welcome addition as more and more players increase the number of Dragons they’re using. Everything seems to be running Cyber Dragon nowadays, and it’s one of those cards that if you can run it, you should be. If there are answers that are indigenous to your deck theme you should really run them, and the Orcs happen to eat Cyber Dragon like a cone of delicious Peterborough ice cream.**
The changes to the deck are as follows.
-1 Dark Ruler Ha Des
-1 Exiled Force
-1 Exchange
-1 Scapegoat
-1 Metamorphosis
+1 Giant Orc
+1 Drillroid
+2 Falling Down
+1 Axe of Despair
Here’s the fixed build of Matt’s deck, Thief!
Thief!: Jason’s Fix
40 Cards
Monsters: 18
2 Dark Necrofear
3 Archfiend Soldier
2 Giant Orc
1 Tsukuyomi
2 Brain Jacker
3 Jowls of Dark Demise
1 Magician of Faith
1 Sangan
1 D. D. Warrior Lady
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Drillroid
Spells: 16
2 Brain Control
1 Snatch Steal
1 Enemy Controller
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Premature Burial
1 Swords of Revealing Light
2 Smashing Ground
1 Dark Hole
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
2 Falling Down
1 Axe of Despair
1 Book of Moon
Traps: 6
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Torrential Tribute
2 Sakuretsu Armor
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Dust Tornado
The deck is now a bit more focused towards monster control, and that’s good, because that makes it a better fit for the current environment. Everything old is new again, and the old-school theory of controlling monster presence is just as valid now as it was back in the days of simplistic Beatdown decks. The two copies of Falling Down are going to give this deck an even better chance at catching the opponent off-guard and making him or her unexpectedly take 4000 or 5000 damage, and if your deck can do that, it’ll be a real contender.
Drillroid, Giant Orc, and Axe of Despair are going to give the deck an offensive edge, making it a bit more aggressive. That aggression is important, because you need to be able to press for a win early in certain matchups. For instance, if you’re playing against a Return from the Different Dimension deck, you’ve got two advantages. An unpredictable tempo is the first, and the second is raw speed. Your monsters are a lot bigger than your opponent’s, and even a single theft can allow you to cripple the Return player if you time things right. Remember that both Return and Chaos strategies are looking to create a grinding tempo. The Return duelist will look to make as many one-for-one trades as is tactically wise, while the Chaos duelist will play a bit slower. The key to defeating both lies in understanding the impact of broken tempo—neither deck survives very long when a relatively calm duel explodes into an unexpected assault. Get a few theft cards ready and launch them all at once to get the most out of the matchup.
Be careful of hand control strategies. You might want to side deck an extra copy of Sakuretsu Armor and a pair of Widespread Ruin to protect yourself from Reaper and Don Zaloog. This is a synergy-heavy deck despite the size of its monsters, so losing Falling Down, Necrofear, or an Archfiend can be ruinous.
As a side note, you might want to try running Goblin Elite Attack Force over Giant Orc. The decision comes down to your personal play style. The extra DEF that the Goblins possess can be great in a Control matchup by blocking attacks from Don Zaloog. Just be careful when you’re swarming, because the Goblins can be lightning rods for Smashing Ground.
All in all, this is definitely one of the stronger decks I’ve featured here in The Apotheosis in the past few weeks. If you’re looking for something new (and potentially very competitive), give this idea a shot. Originality wins because matchups between established decks have been so well-tested by most knowledgeable players, many duelists will only be ready for Beatdown/Chaos, Warrior Tool Box, Lockdown, and maybe Return from the Different Dimension. This deck denies tempo control to strategies that require it, and that makes this deck absolutely deadly in the current format.
Thanks for sending it in, Matt! Hopefully the fix helps you out a bit!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
*Peterborough’s actually just a bit north of where I live, and it’s sort of a base camp for lots of cottagers continuing on up the map. They have the best ice cream in the world, and it’s in this one little store near the middle of town. I thought I’d mention that, just in case you read the submitter’s hometown and thought, “Hey! I wonder if that guy knows where to get the best ice cream in the world!” Because believe me—he does.
**Sorry. I just really want some ice cream now.