If you give a mouse a cookie, he’ll want a glass of milk to go along with it. If you give a moose a muffin . . . and so on. The point is that including a certain component in your plans will give rise to desires for things to complement it.
The concept I’m referring to is synergy, where the components of a whole (your deck) add up to a greater effect when they all work together. One of the leaps of logic that an advanced player must take is to understand that every deckbuilding decision can either enhance or disrupt the deck’s overall synergy. This article will explain some of the biggest concepts governing the sometimes-elusive idea of synergy.
Basic Examples
Some of the easiest examples of synergy are themed subtype support. For example, Zombie decks use Book of Life and Pyramid Turtle to enhance their setups. These support tools are only available to Zombie players. Or, take a look at Reinforcements of the Army. This searchable tool lets Warrior decks achieve certain goals, such as flip effect management (with Mystic Swordsman LV2 or Exiled Force) or spell and trap removal (with Greenkappa), far faster than a normal deck.
In both of these examples, the theme is enhanced by the support that is given. There are direct benefits to creating a synergistic lineup of monsters, since much of the available spell or trap support is subtype-specific.
There are many more basic examples of this type of synergy. It’s actually quite easy to take a look at minor ways that duelists have constructed their decks to promote some sort of synergy. However, most decks today have become what’s termed “cookie-cutter,” meaning that they contain the forty best, available cards, instead of trying to achieve a specific goal or purpose.
Advanced Examples
To distinguish your deck from the rest of the pack, you’ll need more advanced types of synergy. An example of this type of synergy involves Night Assailant. Night Assailant is valuable to both the Tsukuyomi-Lock archetype that Mike Rosenberg debuted in Pomona, and the Flip Effect Chaos deck I pioneered that Wilson Luc later adapted to nearly win the Shonen Jump Championship in New Jersey.
The final build of my deck used Night Assailant, along with Slate Warrior, as an offensive force. Card Destruction, Graceful Charity, and other popular cards became free as a result of the Assailant. Wilson Luc took this concept a step further with the advent of the new Forbidden list, adding Tsukuyomi to take further advantage of the flip effects in the deck.
In these examples, three duelists took the time to make sure that every component of their deck was aligned with the use of Night Assailant, carefully setting the ratio of flip effects and discard cost cards to achieve maximum synergy.
Another classic example is the decision that most players face when choosing between Book of Moon or Enemy Controller. Book of Moon is the Night Assailant of spells, meaning it’s the most combo-based spell card in the game. It’s a relatively weak zero-for-one resource trade if it’s simply used to block an attack. But in most cases, duelists use Book of Moon to achieve far more effective ends than its simply defensive purposes.
The differences look like this. Enemy Controller can help reduce the cost of tribute monsters, increase life point damage totals, destroy Spirit Reaper and Berserk Gorilla, and work well with Don Zaloog. However, in all other cases, Book of Moon is a better card. My deck from Charlotte used Book of Moon for a variety of reasons, including the reuse of flip effects and the protection of my search cards from defensive traps. Generally, when you take time to carefully consider every component of your deck, the results are wonderful.
Examples of Bad Synergy
There are numerous examples of bad deck synergy, even in the best Shonen Jump Championship decks. One of the best is the inclusion of one copy each of Hand of Nephthys and Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys with zero copies of Apprentice Magician to search out the Hand. In this case, it simply became a race to draw Hand of Nephthys before the Phoenix, since drawing the Phoenix at any point would make Hand of Nephthys completely useless. This is a particularly good example of bad deck synergy.
Other examples can include the use of Book of Life with Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer and Bottomless Trap Hole. This is an inexplicable choice, once you consider the fact that Kycoo will remove required graveyard targets. These kinds of examples don’t often affect the outcome of duels, but lapses in synergy will have a definite effect. In many cases, a lack of synergy can completely destroy a deck.
Make sure to thoroughly test your deck for all possible flaws and lapses in synergy when preparing for the most important events. Those last bits of testing will often make the difference between a finish with only one or two losses or a demoralizing, four-loss record.