Deck Building 101 - Lesson 6

[raybomb]

This thread is for the discussion of the article "Deck Building 101 - Lesson 6" by Dan Eckstein. You can find it here - http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/article.asp?id=788

Discuss!

[slowesttooth]

i think you should stick to one theme. Adding Dice Jar if you don't want to do that would be very nice, since Barrel Behing the door will basically make your opponent's LP go down.

[kungfujoe919]

I would like to know your deck purpose before giving my opinion. I'm not great at deck building but it seems that your focus is on monster removal combined with anti trap cards. The only thing I would suggest is double up on the Vampire Lord and maybe on Pyramid Turtle to search him out. You have the ability to clear the field but the added attack power will help you deal damage. You don't want to clear the field just to hang around. Make sure you can take full advantage of every opportunity. 7 Tools of the Bandit is good but try a Trap Jammer if you can find it. I assume the 7 Tools is for mirror force. Also Mirage Dragon is a good anti Mirror Force so keep it in there. Overall a good deck.

[Frylock72]

Well, since this is my deck (thanks a million for posting it, Dan), I'll respond to everyone's posts, I guess.

My theme is control. It's a deck that's gone through the washing machine in regards to themes. It started as a mixture of Ancient Sanctuary boosters and Starter decks Yugi and Kaiba Evolution. Over about six months it evolved into Chaos, then over another six months of defeats at tournaments it devolved into themeless again. It had always had control elements in it, but since I took out the Chaos it hasn't really had a theme.

I think I've gotten wrapped up in esoteric effect monsters. I used to run beatstick monsters plus monster removal. Hmm ... I don't like Trap Jammer because it has to be used during the battle phase, and while most traps activate then, there are many outside of the battle phase that are just as dangerous.

I've taken Barrel out. Admittedly, that deck list is from a couple weeks ago. I've changed it (after picking up the four Monarchs), so I'll list it here.

Total card count: 40

Monsters: 17
Magician of Faith x2
Mask of Darkness
Cyber Jar
Night Assailant x2
Chiron the Mage
D.D. Warrior Lady
Exiled Force
Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
Pitch-Black Warwolf
Pyramid Turtle
Tribe-Infecting Virus
Tsukuyomi
Vampire Lord
Vampire Lord
Zaborg the Thunder Monarch

Magic: 15
Book of Moon
Delinquent Duo
Graceful Charity
Hammer Shot x2
Heavy Storm
Lightning Vortex
Monster Reincarnation
Nobleman of Crossout
MST
Pot of Greed
Premature Burial
Scapegoat
Smashing Ground
Swords of Revealing Light

Traps: 8
Bottomless Trap Hole
Ceasefire
Mirror Force
Ring of Destruction
Sakuretsu Armor
Seven Tools of the Bandit
Spell Shield Type-8
Torrential Tribute

Side Deck: 15

Dark Ruler Ha Des
Granmarg the Rock Monarch
Kinetic Soldier
Kuriboh
Mobius the Frost Monarch
Ryu Kokki
Sprit Reaper
Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
Dark Core
Nobleman of Extermination
Call of the Haunted
Divine Wrath
Horn of Heaven
Michizure
Rope of Life

Kinetic Soldier and Ryu Kokki are for Chaos decks (same as Kycoo), Dark Ruler and the Monarchs for control, and Kuriboh is just taking up space until I find a Sinister Serpent.

I've been trying to lower my trap count, but I find I don't have the spells to replace them (since more monsters is dead weight in my hand since I don't run Ultimate Offering).

I'm considering taking out Lightning Vortex and replacing it with another one-shot card (Hammer Shot or Smashing Ground). The decks I run against don't really leave a lot of monsters on the field in face-up position.

Then again, maybe Ceasefire will give me the opportunity to use it (I just tweaked my deck around before posting it, so I haven't tried those two out yet).

Anyway, input is appreciated (again, thanks Dan!).

-Josh-

[willieschi]

alright, i really like this deck, and think it is clear that the main strategy is to defend your self long enough to do the major life point damage with fairy lilly or dice jar. it is very original and i like that. dice jar is a card you should add 2 or 3 of. along with dice re-roll to go with it. if you don't have those, oh well, try getting them, if you can't well, my suggestion still stands. also, i don't no if it is limited or not but, if not, you should try adding another 2 or 3 barrels. i love the strategy, you just need to defend your self from opponent's monsters just a little better. try adding draining shield from ancient sanctuary or, if you don't have that, waboku. that should put your deck at a much higher power level than it was at before.

[vito1]

Maybe if there were more flip effect monsters you can make Tsukuyomi's effect to greater potential.

[Frylock72]

Dice Jar can't be barreled against. You don't know who's taking the damage, and therefore cannot barrel the damage. Besides, I don't like relying on luck.

Check the deck I put up in the discussion area above. I've modified it from the one in the article.

[Frylock72]

Willieschi: Eh, I'm afraid you're not even close. XP The deck's theme is my attempt at control and apparently beatdown, I'm not really sure. I mix and match monsters with effects that I like, and both the deck in the article and the deck I just posted are the result.

[Prof X]

Not posting grades yet. I am really hopeing for better input. Come on class your better than this.......

[Jarlaxle_]

hey sry I hav'nt been able to look at the assignment yet up until now. My boss has had me working like crazy and until at least wed probly thursday i won't have time to post something decent (sry bout that, its outa of my hands) anways my solution for assignment 5 is up although im not sure i grasped the concep correctly.... anyways il post something soon jigadoo:P

[LazyMan]

get the chaos guy.

If anyone knows of a toon for my avatar that can fit let me know at:
lazyman826@comcast.net
Thanks for the help guys!

[Frylock72]

This deck has already been chaos. I took it away from that because EVERYONE plays Chaos. It's boring. Trying to think of a way to beat Chaos, now that's fun.

BLS isn't so powerful anymore. Sure, his abilities rock, but anything from Tribute to the Doomed to Smashing Ground/Fissure/Hammer Shot to Torrential to Ring can take him out.

The only reason he usually wins is because people pull him out late-game, when the person has exhausted their resources on the other monsters.

[Jarlaxle_]

Alright lets give this a shot, I first want to tell you frylock not to take any of my comments personally since I am going to try to be as objective as possible.

Well my first impression of the deck is well just what you mentioned chaos - BLS.
I understand your reasoning but you should'nt build you deck around not using chaos, build your deck and if by a mere coincidence chaos fits by all means put it in, otherwhise don't loose any sleep over it. Now I realise the prof wants us to limit the amount of changes we will make so il try my best not to overdo it. seeing how you want a control/beatdown is see what I can do.
ok well the first matter of importance we need to get you a theme going and sticking to it as it stand now the deck(To me) looks like a cookie cutter chaos minus the soldier with a hint of tsukiomy. Well not being sure what I will put in I will tell you what I will take out and why.
first thing to go would be: zaborg, I admit he has a good effect but read the card text carefully it says destroy not "you can" therefor if for some reason its the only monster on the feild when summoned it will destroy itself. Now you may like the card and I respect that, but as a duelistyou have enought trouble dealing with your opponents cards you don't have the time or luxury to have your own cards destroy themselves or even the slight chance of it happeneing.
-1 zaborg
next cut is the hammer shot, well one could agree its effect is pretty cool it can possibly kill your own monsters so im going to use the same argument as above to remover them.
-2 hammer shot
I see you are running a scapegoat but neither metemorphosis or creature swap I understand you want to stall you opponent but a more efficient way would be to have searcher monsters not only will it thin your own deck it allows you to get what you want.( so either add metamorphosisand/and or creature swap or take it out completely)
-1 scapegoat
now looking at the monster selection so far either we add some big boys or we put in some stalls Im gona go the beatdown route. so il be taking that Mask of Darkness and tsukuyomi out
-1Mask of Darkness
-1tsukuyomi
I will also take out DD. warrior lady,... there's something about the card in this deck just does'nt seem right...
-1dd warrior lady
I think il take out the vamp lords as well as the turtle since we need bigger monsters
-2 vampire lords
-1 pyramid turtle
and il take the warewolf out as well.
-1 pitch black warwolf
I think I would sidedeck the kycoo for chaos and remove him from the maindeck
-1 kycoo
and since we have no big monsters to bring back to our hand right now il remove the monster reincarnation
-1 monster reincarnation
Since we are laready running deliquant duo and ring of destruction I think putting in 7 tools is really risky since we have so many cards that damage our lifpoints already.
-1 7tools
il take out the spell sheild as well I think since you want less traps
-1 spell sheild type 8
Now that we have a little room to work I think il try going the zombie route with a hint of beasts.
so
+3 pyramid turtles( speeds up the deck)

+2 ryu koki( really big takes care of warriors and spellcasters)
+2 vampire lord( draws out the enemies traps)
+2 spirit reaper( good wall nice stall and control)
+1 giant rat(searches for exiled/ turtles) also searchable by sangan
+1 sangan( searches for pretty much everytinhg in the deck except the gorrila's and the big boys)
+2 beserk gorilla's(we want to keep the pressure on the opponent and not give him time to breath so stire hard an fast with the beserks)
il add 2 books of life
and 1 smashing ground and 1 call of the haunted
+2 book of life( since we are not really negating traps we have more revival to compensate and its good anti chaos cus you can remove what you want from the opponents graveyard sorta like a kicoo once he hits but we get a big creature too)
+1 call of the haunted ( more recursion having 4 will really piss of your opponent since you can have from 0-3 monsters fairly easilyin one turn for the kill)
+1 smashing ground( you really only have to worry about specific threats with the big creatures and it can't backfire on you)
since you don't like to run to many monster and I have to cut somewhere I think il take out the cyber jar and the chiron sidedecking both...
you wanted to cut down on traps so il cut..... ceasfire
-1 ceasfire
I will remove one sakerestu armor since we want our opponent to kill the turtle.
-1 Sakuretsu Armor
I think I might take out the botomless to make some more room
and il add divine wrath to deal with soldier lily any anoying effects say magician of faith or what not
and 1 regeki break to kill anything
also these last 2 additions make it possible to abuse of the night assailants, get our big creatures in the graveyard for the book's of life
the magician of faiths will allow us to reuse our targeted removal as well as pot and our recursion effects.
and since we want to make those magician's of faith usefull in gona put in a metamorphosis
and snatch steal should be in there cus we are running a lot of tributes and if your removal is'nt good enought it will allow you to gain a monster your opponenet lossing one giving you a card advantage.... since you want a control deck it seams like a good bargain.

so here is the deck as it stands, I am aware we are using 42 cards but I doubt that with all our searchers it would be a problem. we could cut the giant rat I suppose if we wanted to trim it down.... I would definatly sidedeck for burn since this deck is somewhat vulnerable to it,I don't know if you own a breaker so I did'nt put on in, so if you wanted more magic trap removal you could use a chiron inseted of a ryu kokki, I hope you will be pleased with the changes send me an e-mail if I completely missed what you wanted frylock and il give me another shot to try to understand more what you want.

monsters 20
3 pyramid turtles
2 spirit reapers
2 ryo koki
2 vampire lords
1 giant rat
2 beserk gorilla's
1 tribe infecting virus
2 night assailant
2 magician of faith
1 exiled force
1 sangan
1(sinister serpent slot since you are trying to get one)

magic16
1pot of greed
1gracefull charity
1deliquant duo
2book of life
1 book of moon
1 nobleman of crossout
2 smashing ground
1 lightning vortex
1 mst
1 heavy storm
1 premature burial
1 swords or revieling light
1 metamorphosis
1 snatch steal

traps 6
1 call of the haunted
1 mirror force
1 torential tribute
1 ring of destruction
1 divine wrath
1 regeki break

definitly needed in the sidedeck: anti burn, 1 more nobleman(it was really hard I wanted to maindeck the 2 but had to be happy with 1 might sub out the smashing ground for it its hard to say you almost need to know who you will be facing for that choice to be made apparent) 2 divine wraths (anti phoenix/chaos zombie really a versitile card could maindeck one more if you so choose to), chaos is well delt with in the maindeck so I doubt we need to add anything ( might put in the kenetic soldier or 2 hence the importance of the giant rat....), if you are going against a mirror match I would put in the divine wraths to stop you opponent from getting to search with the turtles.I would also put in some anti mill deck stuff since iv seen a handfull in my area and if you don't see it comming and are pretty much assured a loss if they get into turn 2 or 3.

authors note: if you wanted more control no necessarely field oriented I would put in 3 drop off's if I was to put 1, maybe add some wingblasts of the phenix, or back to square one's (I like the spin idea it seems very promissing especially combined with reapers(or the don) and sinister serpent)
well that's that, I have my own deck to build for the regionals so good luck with everthing. Jigadoo:P

[Jarlaxle_]

Since you consider 40 cards as a rule id take out 1 giant rat and 1 regeki break. but again there are plenty off ppl that made the top 8 in the shonen jump tournement with a deck consisting of more than 40 cards iv seen up to 43 cards( roy Saint-clair as an example), Gustavo Reyes and Vincent Tundo where running 41 cards, I agree that 40 seems to work better but there are always exceptions so I choose to disagree with the magical number 40 rule IF and ONLY IF there are enough searchers to compensate, back when we had painfull choice I though that muc hwas clear as crystal but I have yet to attend a very BIG tournement so my opinions on the metagame may be completly off the mark.

[Prof X]

Frylock - 100 - self critique is the most valueable tool a person can have. Thank you for having the gumtion to place your deck in our hands.

Jaraxle - 88% - Valid points one and all. Except you side to take out 2 Vamp lords and then added them back in. Understand that Frylock may not go the way you would go. To be rather Zen like about it your deck should feel right to you. Something about a near Zombie deck may make frylock not feel right so therefore he shouldn't do it. I like the fact that Frylock deck doesn't really fit in a category, it's outside the box. I wish he draws were more consistant with on styly of play but it works pretty good and maybe he likes the fact that no two games go the same route. It makes him less sidedeckable. Great constructive ideas though and well said so that no feelings were hurt.

Class as whole. I expected more from you guys. Maybe Frylock has a deck that stands up. I think it will especially with the changes he has made for himself. It is hard to make small changes and that is maybe all that it would need. My suggestion is up to metagame. If you think half of the field will be choas based its fine but if not then I would suggest Moving your anti choas cards to the sidedeck and place a couple more general defense/anti trap cards in their place. But I am defensive player so that fits me.

[Jarlaxle_]

I completely agree with the metagame since well the thing is no matter what you run as long as you have the magician of faith and the sinister 3 (pot, graceful and duo) it becomes a real game of luck and less skill since a good player can recover from one of these when its used against him, and to a limit 2 if he plays his cards right, but all 3 well it spells doom for anyone if you opponent gets pot graceful duo and gets to use that magician of faith on turn 1 to get back say duo.

[Frylock72]

Prof: Thanks. I'm always looking for a new way to run my deck that will make it faster, stronger and more in control than the next.

Jarlaxle: Kinetic Soldier is stronger (against Warriors) than Ryu Kokki plus it's a non-tribute monster. Two Spirit Reapers is too much because I can get the one back due to my monster recursion spells.

Tsukuyomi is a great card. It's Book of Moon with 1100 attack, plus it returns to my hand where it's slightly safer than the field. A searcher would probably be a good idea, but only one. With Magi of Faith, Pot of Greed, Graceful Charity and Tsukuyomi, I'll have all of the deck thinning I need.

I think I'll put up an overview of the cards in my deck and how they work together, to give you guys an idea of the direction I'm heading in. I'll talk about each theme I have going on and then the cards that back them up.

Spirit Reaper, Pyramid Turtle, Vampire Lord: I use V-Lord because of his recursion ability and his deck-thinning ability. I use the Turtle to bring him out faster, and I use Spirit Reaper to buy me a little time. These are really all of the Zombies I've ever used, and I only put the Turtle in for his search ability.

Tribe, Night Assailant, Zaborg, D.D. Lady, Exiled, Pitch-Black Warwolf, Chiron: Field control. Tribe and Night Assailant are obvious, D.D. and Exiled to get rid of threats, Pitch-Black as a mobile Trap Jammer and Zaborg as muscle plus monster destruction. I realize every Monarch's effect says you have to use it; it's why I only play them when I'll destroy something (say, one of my Scapegoats).

Magi of Faith, Mask of Darkness, Cyber Jar, Kycoo, Tsukuyomi: All back-up. Magi and Mask for recursion, Kycoo to ward off Chaos, Cyber Jar for deck thinning plus monster destruction and Tsukuyomi for her diverse ability. Magi of Faith is obvious, and Mask of Darkness because getting back spell cards is bad enough for my opponent; getting back trap cards (like Mirror Force) is even worse.

Hammer Shot, Smashing Ground, Nobleman, Heavy Storm, MST, Lightning Vortex, Delinquent Duo: Field Control. The only one I'm thinking about replacing is Vortex, because using it is difficult when no one leaves monsters face-up in a larger quantity than two. Ceasefire I added to help with that plus negate effects, but I'm not sure that'll help enough. I use two Hammer Shots because they're the single-shot kills I have in largest number (rather than Fissure, whose effect I dislike). Sure, Hammer Shot means any monster on the field, but it also takes care of the biggest threat (since most face-up monsters will be high attack ones, or ones with relatively high attack and good effects). Tribute to the Doomed is nice, and so is Raigeki Break, but unless I have the Night Assailant combo going on, it'll cost me dear cards.

Pot of Greed, Graceful: Thinning.

Swords, Scapegoat: Stall. Plus, as I mentioned above, Scapegoats are great targets for Zaborg's effect if he's the only one left on the field after I tribute the monster for him.

Premature Burial, Monster Reincarnation: Monster recursion. I'll list a four-card combo later in the post. Monster Reincarn is a great card. The discard isn't really that bad, even without Night Assailant. You can bring back any monster in your grave (even a Spirit monster). I tried running Autonomous Action Unit, but the monsters in the grave really weren't worth it when I could pull back my own for a little over half the cost. If it worked on my grave, sure, but not on just my opponent's. I still might side-deck it just to use agianst Chaos.

Book of Moon: My multitool. Save from Mirror Force, Ring, Bottomless Trap Hole, attacks, monster effects, etc. It can do so much just by flipping a card face-down. About the only thing it can't do is stop a flip effect from going off (you can flip the monster back face-down immediately, but it was flipped and therefore the effect still activates).

Ceasefire: Flip effect negation. I hate face-down monsters because it could be anything from a Slate Warrior to a Man-Eater to a Cyber Jar to a Blue Eyes White Dragon.

Bottomless, Ring, Torrential, Mirror Force, Sakuretsu: Monster destruction. I often use Ring against BLS immediately, and I once used it against Grave Protector, since monsters in my deck would not have been good (not for V-Lord, especially).

Spell Shield, Seven Tools: Magic/Trap negation. Seven Tools helps so much, even with the 1000 point cost. Ryu Senshi costs the same, and Dark Balter, and people play them, too. Why? Because it's worth it and I need something to back up my Pitch-Black Warwolf.

Now, the four-card combo I used revolved around Exiled Force and Premature Burial. Been paying attention? If so you might realize the combo.

It is: Exiled Force, Premature Burial, Magician of Faith and Tsukuyomi.

Use Exiled, Premature him, use him again. Flip Magi, get Premature back, play it, bring him back, use him again. Play Tsukuyomi, flip Magi back down, rinse, repeat.

This won't happen in one turn unless you've got Ultimate Offering out. I used it against a friend and successfully got it off over five times (sure, PB's expensive, but the effect is worth it). In one turn, you can take out three of your opponent's monsters.

This deck is an aggressive deck. I duel fast and hard, and I rely on my cards to bring monsters to the field and get rid of my opponent's resources to hit him directly. So I guess this would be considered Beatdown Control. And with the other three Monarchs in the side-deck, I can adjust to what my opponent is doing (playing lots of spell/trap, put in Mobius; having a full hand, put in Thestalos; playing a lot of face-down, play Granmarg).

Regionals is going to be very fun, even if I don't win, because I am going to be facing a lot of good to great duelists. And I love a challenge.

Thanks again for rating and fixing my deck, and I'd love to keep using this post, actually, even after I go to Regionals. As I said, I enjoy critique to my deck and if someone has a better combo than the one I'm using, I'll gladly try it out.

-Josh-

[Jarlaxle_]

well fry lock that's a great overview,
just a note about all the monarchs: you can chose to use mobius, thestalos's effect you always want to use and gramarg and zaborg have to go off.
while kinetic soldier is stronger anti warrior than kyu kokki, ryu kooki is a consistant threat to any deck because he is a hoping 2400 powerhouse that is real easy to bring out, as for the kinetic soldier he's good against warrior's only, I simply put the ryu in because in my area I seem to be running to a lot of warrior/phoenix or warrior /zombie hybrids, while the kinetic soldier deals with half the deck the ryu can deal with both; so for me while they both delt with my opponents warriors kinetic soldier was the most consistant.( but I respect your opinion its your deck and you may do as you see fit I just want to make you think a little.)

tsukiyomi I will leave alone since you like the combo, the reson I took it out is to me anyway, the number of monsters is the turns of build you have had, if you use the monster than it comes back sure you get to use the effect repeatively but your field precence suffers in concequance.

alright now for the reapers, well I can see using only one but when I run a zombie I save my recursion for the big boys unless im really tied down to the wall, its a real good topdeck and to me is a solid card, plus the hand desruption it brings is well priceless and it give's you acces to a tribute monster nearly 95% of the time.

the vamp lords well since you insist on running 2, I would put in another pyramid turtle since tributing for tha vamp lord is riski, but since you are only running 3 zombies, im really not sure what to say....

I think cyber jar is riski in this deck since using 2, 1800 attack 2, 1600 atk leaves you open to beserks, mad dogs, arch fiend soldiers, skilled dark, etc
I agree with the resoning of all the trap and magic cards, but personally I like the targeted removal of smashing ground better than hammer shot, while its true it will kill the biggest threat, but say we have the following senario you have a vamp lord out he has a mad dog and a pyramid turtle, you want to kill the turtle without its effect kicking in since he could search for a vamplord or a ryu kokki, with hammer shot your target is vamp lords which will not come back since he was destroyed with your own card effect where as smashing ground you would use it would kill the turtle and you can trample over the mad dog, while it is true you could attack the mad dog and the turtle would then ram into vamp lord next turn summoning a ryu say in the battlephase next he runs into the vamp lord , even though you can kill the ryu the next turn you have already lost the vamplord on the field and suffer a card disadvantage. similar senarios happen to me quite often, it will target BLS since it has a woping 2500 defence, and smashing grounds target is the highest defence on you opponent's side of the field.

[Frylock72]

If I had another, I'd put it in, but I only have one. Maybe I'll switch it for a Fissure. Of course, Book of Moon would save my Lord.

Yeah, I have Patrician and Ryu Kokki, and maybe I'll side-deck them. But the only zombies I really like are Reaper and V-Lord. Fear and Despair are nice, but they're tributes with kind of useless effects.

Tsukuyomi is a double-edged weapon, yes, and I've top-decked her plenty. I use her as a one-shot wall to put attacking monsters f/d (especially if they have two monsters out, one attacks, Tsuk flips, the other goes f/d).

Wow, I need to read my cards again. Except you do have to use Thestalos. It doesn't say 'can,' it says 'randomly discard'. But Mobius is very nice, now that I know I can destroy only one or none.

That's a good point about Kinetic, though. He's side-decked anyway, I might just put Kokki in there as well, trade a V-Lord out for it. The problem I have with all the good zombies is that they're mostly tributes (and I hate running more than three tribute monsters). At least Kinetic is low enough to slip under Bottomless.

I only have one Reaper and one Turtle (and even with two V-Lords, if I do put in Sangan, he can be tribute bait). And Reaper is only needed until I get something my opponent can't smack through (such as V-Lord or any Monarch). After all, someone can just Snatch Steal/Mal-Nuz/Stop Defense him and he's gone.

Cyber Jar ... he's a card that must be played at the right time, same as Card Destruction. After all, I'm not going to set it if I have a V-Lord on the field, after all.

Thanks for your input, you made me realize a couple things. I'm going to a YGO gathering tomorrow, I'll see what I can get there.

Also, I've been thinking of side-decking Jinzo. Not very seriously, but somewhat. I don't think he'd go very good in this deck.

[Jarlaxle_]

glad to be of some help!! jinzo is always a good Idea to side deck I think since its good anti burn and will keep your monsters alive more, even though I personally see it as a cliche card the effect is always nice that's why I would att least sidedeck him, I forgot to put him in at the last regionals and it cost me my spot in the top 8 (I HAD PUT IN AN AIRNIGHT which died everytime without getting his effect off once...sight damn wabaku...) so yea I got to get to work see ya:P

[MukaMuka-lvl7]

well, I'm not very good without following a theme, but I think I can make some suggestions... It looks like your deck is just a hodgepodge of powerful cards. Granted, vamplord is nice, but I've never seen the fascination with him when he's so easy to kill in combat.

I'd rotate in ryu kokki for a good beatstick (replacing a vamp lord|), and then rotate him out if he's not working for you
vamp lord <-> ryu kokki

the traps are nice, but maybe some more versatility would be good, I'd replace the spell shield with a metamorphosis and run the full gamut of fusions if you have them (balter, senshi, fiend skull, TER). Then rotate the 7 tools out for the Nobleman of Ex. and zaborg for mobius.

There's not really much too say more for a semi original power deck. non-chaos, non-"zombie", I can't think of much else that wouldn't hurt more than it'd probably help. I just don't see too much synergy between the cards, which may or may not be a good thing.

Sorry teach, it's hard to fix a deck as personalized as this one that's already using so much power!

[Frylock72]

I hate Metamorphosis. Being able to summon fusions is nice and all without running three Polys, but it's in almost every deck that Chaos is in.

Seven Tools has saved me more than I can tell you (especially against Mirror Force or Bottomless).

I've got Ryu Kokki in my side. Mobius I am actually thinking about trading in (for a V-Lord), since his effect is optional plus I get 400 more ATK. I've also got Nobleman, but he hurts me even more than life points if my opponent happens to have the same trap I do (and most will, seeing as how Mirror Force, Ring, CotH, etc. will be in decks).

I honestly don't know what to do about the synergy. My deck ran great before I started shifting in all these control cards. I don't know what I was doing right. I stomped my friend (the one I duel with the most) almost every time (after he used to stomp me almost every time).

Hmm ... I'm going to go into a state of meditation and study my cards. I think with the tournaments I'd been going to I'd gotten good synergy, but after I moved back down here I started 'one cool card'-ing again.

Thanks for your input, though, I appreciate it.

[Prof X]

frylock, since it is your deck I'll leave the grading up to you. How do you feel everyone has helped?????

[Frylock72]

Uhm ... Well, this is something I didn't expect. Hm. You'll have to forgive my first grading. Let's see ...

MukaMuka: 95% - Meta is run waaaaay too much in decks now because people just HAVE to have their fusions and MS was banned. You got props for mentioning Ryu Kokki, and the weaknesses of V-Lord, plus realizing that the deck has a very personal touch (about a year's worth, now).

Jarlaxle: 98% - You had some solid ideas in your first post, and kept mentioning things (some of which I wasn't aware and I realized). Except for a bit of disorganization deck-creation wise, you've got a good grade and some great imagination.

Lazy Man: 0% - That is neither a good suggestion nor a critique. Too many people run chaos now, and it's not even Chaos, it's just BLS with just enough darks and lights to summon him. I'd appreciate it if you at least tried.

Willieschi: No grade as of yet, since you haven't posted a response. Same goes for kungfujoe and slowesttooth.

More grades when more responses come up. This was a definite challenge, Prof, and I have more respect for you now (I've always sucked at grading). =P

-Josh-

[Frylock72]

Okay, I don't know what happened to my deck building skills. They've completely abandoned me. I bought the Vampire Genesis and Red Eyes Darkness Dragon structure decks, and I edited my deck yet again. And it still sucks worse than before.

I don't have a damn clue as to what's wrong. Here's my current deck (minus side deck), and be as brutal as you want within the Prof's guidelines. I think I need to be smacked back into reality.

Monsters: 15
Magician of Faith
Magician of Faith
Mask of Darkness
Cyber Jar
Night Assailant
Night Assailant
D.D. Warrior Lady
Exiled Force
Pyramid Turtle
Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
Tsukuyomi
Tribe-Infecting Virus
Vampire Lord
Mobius the Frost Monarch
Ryu Kokki

Spells: 17
Book of Life
Book of Life
Book of Moon
Creature Swap
Dark Core
Delinquent Duo
Graceful Charity
Heavy Storm
Monster Reincarnation
MST
Nobleman of Crossout
Nobleman of Extermination
Pot of Greed
Premature Burial
Scapegoat
Smashing Ground
Swords of Revealing Light

Traps: 8
Bottomless Trap Hole
Call of the Haunted
Interdimensional Matter Transporter
Magic Jammer
Mirror Force
Ring of Destruction
Sakuretsu Armor
Seven Tools of the Bandit

There it is, crappy as can be. *groan* I think I'm working too much ... That and I haven't dueled in, like, months.

Anyway, thanks for continuing to read. I'm always looking to get info on my deck and new combos that might work. If anyone wants me to give info on their deck, just link me to it and I'll say my piece.

-Josh-