This week, we’ll be reviewing one of the most loath-worthy strategies this game has ever created: Comic Odyssey’s Burn deck. Despite being eliminated in the ninth round at the deck’s first American showing at Shonen Jump Championship Indianapolis, I have to tip my hat to its creators: it is one of the best control decks this game has ever seen. In both poker and the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, there are generally two types of players: aggressive and conservative (though there are clearly varying degrees of each). Aggressive players play swarm decks, overpowering monsters, or even one-turn KO strategies. Conservative players however, don’t just want to win the game. They want to play with a reactionary style, drawing out the game in a way which both leads to victory and emasculates the opponent in the process. The feeling of having every powerful card but being completely unable to use them is an incredibly absurd situation to find oneself in.
That is the power of this burn deck, which may be wrongly labeled. Though it uses Wave-Motion Cannon as a win condition, it’s more of a control deck than anything else. Almost every card played is chosen to stop opponents, not to deal damage. Only once the wheels are turning and total control is taken does the deck activate its win condition.
To create such a behemoth, one must first consider what the deck is attempting to lock down. What are your opponents running that might cause you problems? At the moment, you should be focused on three things: Lightsworn, Gladiator Beasts, and Dark Armed Dragon decks. Of course, considering the cost of the other two decks and the rather widespread belief that Gladiator Beasts are the best of the three right now, you should expect to play against them the most often. As a result, when choosing between two cards, you should be asking, "How do each of these cards specifically help me against Gladiator Beasts?"
Of course, control decks have difficulty handling decks with an explosive nature. We now ask ourselves where to find the gauntlet necessary to test the deck when our opponents are really up on their luck. Look no further than the Traditional format, where almost every match will be faster than one in Advanced play. Controlling the chaos will help you prove the deck’s worth and feel comfortable operating it against the most popular Advanced decks in the game.
The Monsters
We’ll be using an all-Dark monster lineup, so we can play Allure of Darkness. Notice that everything is searchable via Mystic Tomato, and the other four monsters can all be used as targets for Crush Card Virus. Also, they’ll all have effects when Skill Drain is on the field.
The Spells
Instead of three copies of Wave-Motion Cannon, we play two: replacing one with Final Countdown. If your opponent summons Banisher of the Radiance or activates Macro Cosmos, you won’t be able to use your Cannons. This allows you to play through random matchups which would otherwise be unfair and leave you with no way to win.
Anything that stops opponents from attacking is great against Gladiator Beast monsters. If you can do that while also shutting down Test Tiger and Gladiator Beast Gyzarus, you’ve probably won the game against Gladiator Beasts.
The Traps
This is where we lock our opponents down. We have multiple cards that produce generally the same effect. Skill Drain and Royal Oppression both stop Gladiator Beast Bestiari, Gyzarus, and even Dark Armed Dragon in their tracks. Those are going to be this deck’s worst enemy. Again, there are cards here that will stop attacks also, though we want to focus more on simply negating the powerful effects of all monsters. Metal Reflect Slime is a fun new toy for the deck. Once Skill Drain hits the field, it’s almost impossible to destroy.
We have a total of seven cards that attempt to stop opponents from destroying the lockdown combination: Imperial Order, Solemn Judgment, and Dark Bribe. All are incredibly powerful in this deck. Finally, we have the overwhelmingly powerful Crush Card Virus, which can win games in a single activation.
In all, the deck is geared to simply stop opponents in their tracks and make them wish they were paired against someone else. Generally, it’s games 2 and 3 you should be worried about. Before side decking, you should almost always win. To play this deck at an event, your opponents will either need to have forgotten about this strategy and neglected to side deck for it, or you’ll need to show up with an extraordinary side deck yourself to counteract their efforts. Good luck pioneering control decks, and try not to get bludgeoned by your opponents after your matches!
—Ryan Murphy