As anyone who has been playing Yu-Gi-Oh! for some time knows, there are two dominant deck types out there right now: Control and Beatdown. There are a few new deck types that are seeing some play, including Zombies, Warriors, Exodia, and Gravekeeper, but they're much less popular. Ever since the first Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championships, players have gotten heavily into Control decks. While the term "Control" covers a wide range of decks, they all have things in common. They all have Delinquent Duo, The Forceful Sentry, Yata-Garasu, Don Zaloog, and usually Drop Off or Time Seal. Control is ideal for the player who wants to use the cookie cutter deck and knows that it will probably do well at a local tournament. Beatdown decks have been popular since the beginning of Yu-Gi-Oh! and have always relied on having the biggest and most effective monsters available to beat the opponent to a pulp. Today's Beatdown decks usually feature Goblin Attack Force, Jinzo, Gemini Elf, or Archfiend Solider, and then have a few control cards thrown in. Beatdown decks offer a little more leeway in terms of creativity than Control decks, but most of the ones you see out there are still fairly generic.

I would go so far as to say that 90 percent of tournament players use a "modified Control/Beatdown" deck. What that means is that you could compare two players' decks and find at least 25 cards that are exactly the same in both. Just about every deck today runs Tribe-Infecting Virus, Breaker the Magical Warrior, Jinzo, Sinister Serpent, Witch of the Black Forest, Goblin Attack Force/Giant Orc, and usually a D. D. Warrior Lady or Vampire Lord. That is flat-out painful to me.

The lack of creativity on the tournament scene makes me wonder what players do with cards when they open their packs. The best way to become a great player is to become a great deck builder. When you display creativity during the deck building process, that same creativity will come across when you are playing. The best players I have ever met (using any deck type) are highly creative deck builders. Just because your deck doesn't win every time doesn't mean it isn't a good deck. Never let losing discourage you from building new decks and trying them out each week at tournaments. Some of the best decks I have ever seen drew blank stares from most opponents--Gravekeeper's Assailant decks, Fiend decks, and Burn decks are just some of the decks that I have seen people put together that are both extremely fun to play and hard to play at the same time.

In keeping with my mini-rant on non-creativity, I decided it was time to go completely against the grain and try building a deck that has been tried before, but with a new twist. The concept of a "Mill," or Deck Destruction deck, has been around for years in various trading card games, but Yu-Gi-Oh! players haven't really been able to capitalize on this deck theme until recently. In the past, there wasn't enough protection for the deck depletion effects, and you ended up getting plowed under by the beatsticks. But with the last three set releases, there have been quite a few cards that give some real strength and stability to this deck type, and now it has a good chance at being able to keep up with the modified Control/Beatdown decks.

Earlier attempts at Deck Destruction decks revolved around cards like Gravekeeper's Servant, Hiro's Shadow Scout, and Card Destruction. A few of those cards are certainly good enough to keep in a current version of this deck, but some need to be cut. So what are some of the new cards that help this deck?

The first one is Vampire Lord (and no, I'm not a hypocrite). Vampire Lord is a fine card, but it doesn't belong in every deck. Its recursion effect is decent, but the effect of being able to remove one card type from the opponent's deck fits perfectly with this deck's theme. One of my favorite combos with this deck is to flip summon Needle Worm and then tribute it for Vampire Lord. You get to use two great effects in one turn, and there's no real downside for you. Before Vampire Lord, the most viable monster with a decent attack that fit in this theme was Bistro Butcher, but it doesn't last very long in the current environment.

Another great card for this deck is Don Zaloog. Don fits in many deck types, and this deck loves Don's second effect, which lets you discard two cards from the top of your opponent's deck. Playing with this deck, I would never use the effect of forcing the opponent to discard from his or her hand unless I knew he or she was sitting on a card that could damage me quite badly. Don doesn't have the highest attack in the world, so you have to be careful when you're deciding when to play it. You can take a real beating if you drop it with no protection, so be sure to choose your moment wisely.

The final new-ish card that makes this deck possible is Needle Worm. That card is the reason that this deck can work as well as it does. Yes, Needle Worm is very hard to come by, but it has one of the most debilitating effects in all of Yu-Gi-Oh!

Spear Cretin is one of the must-have cards in this deck. This little monster allows you to recycle that Needle Worm, Morphing Jar, or Morphing Jar #2 and use their effects multiple times. Combining this with Book of Taiyou allows you to use those flip effects on the same turn you bring them into play with Spear Cretin and Shallow Grave. This deck does need Witch of the Black Forest, Sangan to search for cards you need, and Sinister Serpent, so that you always have a monster to protect your life points. Because this deck doesn't go on the offensive very often, you need ways to protect your life points while you obliterate your opponent's deck. Waboku and Gravity Bind serve as fantastic protection for your monsters and buy you the turn or two you need to set up your strategy. For those of you that worry about Jinzo, this deck has seven ways to deal with that and any other problem cards: Book of Moon, Offerings to the Doomed, Raigeki, and Dark Hole. Fiber Jar is the bane of this deck's existence. The Nobleman of Crossout in this deck is there for the sole purpose of trying to remove Fiber Jar, as it negates all the hard work done by Needle Worm and Morphing Jar.

Deck Destruction
45 Cards

Monsters
1 Cyber Jar
2 Don Zaloog
2 Morphing Jar
2 Morphing Jar #2
3 Needle Worm
1 Sangan
1 Sinister Serpent
3 Spear Cretin
1 Vampire Lord
1 Witch of the Black Forest

Traps
2 Gravity Bind
1 Imperial Order
2 Magic Jammer
1 Mirror Force
3 Waboku

Spells
3 Book of Moon
2 Book of Taiyou
1 Card Destruction
1 Creature Swap
1 Dark Hole
1 Graceful Charity
2 Gravekeeper's Servant
1 Harpie's Feather Duster
1 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Offerings to the Doomed
1 Pot of Greed
1 Raigeki
2 Shallow Grave