Deck Building 101 - A Substitute Teacher

[raybomb]

This thread is for the discussion of the article "Deck Building 101 - A Substitute Teacher" by Will Sanchez. You can find it here - http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/article.asp?id=821

Discuss!

[robbodopolis]

thisn synergy confuses me alot. i just prefer to call it a combo like he mentioned in the article

[scarredwarrior]

hello, ive been silent in this class, and since this is my favorite subject,ive decided to speak up . todays homework was to review one of three decks,point out synergy, and suggest more. ill do deck number one.


on the first deck i noted that it has the powerful agents in it. these cards are very destructive when used right, and in this case they are.
for instance, the agent of force mars has tons of synergy with cestus of dalga.when combined, the attack power of force becomes boubled.
i would reccomend shield drain with this card. when your opponent attacks, you can cancel it and gain life! that would dramatically improve his strengh.

other cards that works well is ring of destruction with agent of judgmant saturn. when you manage to have one quarter as much life as your opponent (and believe me, this is easy),activeate it for some serious hurt. while the damage you take is miminal, he will lose the duel! to make it even easier to use, try with encanted javelin. it would cut the time it takes in half, making it even easier!
that is all i can think of right now. if anyone wants to use this deck, get more agents of force mars and jupiter, they work really well!!

[Frylock72]

Congrats on getting the sub, sub. This is a good lesson with a challenge.

I'll be going over the second deck. This deck seems to be mostly about control, at first glance. MST, Creature Swap, Snatch Steal, D-Duo, Raigeki Break, Moisture Creature. But it's also beatdown, ala Guardian Angel Joan, Kaiser Sea Horse, Mudora, Airknight.

Guardian Joan combos well with Cestus of Dagla, because you would then get twice the life point boost.

One of my favorite combos is Magician of Faith and Pot of Greed. Play, flip Magi, bring back, play again. And if you happen to have another monster face-down, and your opponent has a monster or two, you can activate The Spell Absorbing Life and gain life points as well (since every monster in this deck is effect and most monsters not in beatdown decks are effect as well).

The Shallow Grave also combos with The Spell Absorbing Life, especially when played with an already full field (and you grab something without a flip effect, like Sangan, or Hoshiningen).

And here's a combo I was currently wondering about. Why was Moisture Creature in this deck without three Mystic Shine Balls and an Agent of Creation - Venus? The answer: Kaiser Sea Horse. Just because his effect says you can treat him as two tributes doesn't mean you can't use another monster. So tribute Kaiser Sea Horse and Sangan, and you get a 2800 beatstick plus a searched card thanks to Sangan.

Now we know that the Agent of Creation and Mystic Shine Balls are most often used to summon Moisture Creature (which is what my short-lived fairy deck used). And with the equip cards Cestus of Dagla or Big Bang Shot the Creature's an even bigger threat.

Moisture Creature, with Heavy Storm and MST, won't be used to his full advantage in this deck, especially with the Agent missing. Sure, Kaiser and another monster can be used, but the Agent's an almost guaranteed summon (minus Torrential, that is, but that's why Seven Tools is in here, and why I like this deck). Or, heck, even if you just pull out the Agent with Ultimate, then summon the three Shine Balls, if you have at least two equips (any combination of the four) plus Hoshiningen and Luminous, that's three monsters with 1500 attack (the Shine Balls), plus two other monsters with 2100 (Agent), plus maybe Mudora (which, with a full field, would be a 2500 beater).

The Spell Absorbing Life is a well-needed card for this deck, what with the Premature Burial, My Body as a Shield, Seven Tools, D-Duo etc., and will be much easier to pull of than Guardian Angel Joan, which requires a successful attack and depends on the attack of the monster. And while this is a good one-shot card, without recursion your life points might still be in danger. Mask of Darkness is always a good choice, even though it's a Fiend. And this would allow you to bring other cards back, such as Call of the Haunted (to bring that that irritable Moisture Creature), or Raigeki Break to get rid of that BLS or one f/d trap card.

Hmm .... This is a pretty good Fairy beatdown control, and would be pretty fun to play. I bet with some tweaking it could hold its own at local tournaments.

[MukaMuka-lvl7]

Maybe I can help clear up the assignment by leading with an example :-)

take a look at this deck I made a while back and then follow along as I trace the web. http://yugioh.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=8744

Main theme- finding many easy ways to get out monsters worth metamorphing.

card choice 1- Creature Swap
synergy with- (weak monsters and searchers) 1 A Cat of Ill Omen (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2578), 3 Giant Rat (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=310), 2 Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2786), 2 Magician of Faith (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=477), 2 Pyramid Turtle, (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=615)1 (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=615)Sangan, (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=674)1 (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=674)Scapegoat (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=1795)
2 cards synergize with 12

card choice 2- giant rat
high synergy with-3 (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=615)Enraged Muka Muka, (free tribute monster) (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2149)
synergy with- 2 Giant Rat, (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=310)2 (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=310)Pyramid Turtle, (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=615) 2 (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=615)Creature Swap (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=134)
3 cards synergize with 9

card choice 3- Last Will
high synergy with- 3 Enraged Muka Muka, (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2149)1 (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2149)Deck Devastation Virus, (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2307)1 (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2307)Torrential Tribute, (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=826)3 (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=826)Metamorphosis, (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2598)1 (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2598)Kaiser Glider, (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2773)1 (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2773)Vampire Lord, (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2248)1 (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2248)Ryu Kokki (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=1950)
synergy with-3 Giant Rat, (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=310) 2 (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=310)Pyramid Turtle, (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=615)1 (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=615)Sangan, (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=674)1 (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=674)Spirit Reaper (http://www.duelyugioh.com/db/search_result_card.asp?id=2584)
2 card synergize with 18 (some cards serve multiple synergies like muka, can be searched out by last will on one hand, and can also be tribute summoned to fulfill the requirement on the other)

Now I dont want to do ALL the work for you, so give a short description (like the few parenthesis statements I made) of how each line of power (2 card combo) is beneficial in the decks presented in the assignment.

[MukaMuka-lvl7]

hey frylock, looks like i was writing while you were posting. You've definetly had the best ideas and explanations so far. I'm going to give you a 90% for now,there's a few other points I like about that deck, but I'm goingto hold off on most comments until more people have gotten a chance to do the homework.

scarred warrior- 60% dont get discouraged! thats still a passing grade, but I hope with a little more clarification you might like to take a second look and add to your homework. You've definetly got some good ideas as well though.

robbodoppolis- I hope I've managed to celar things up a little with my example. My structure is just one possibility though, I hope you'll try the homework one more time, I hate to see students left behind!

[willieschi]

and i found that that the best theme there is to get a lot for a little. special summoning all those monsters to destroy in tribute summoning! i suggest adding mudora and monster reincarnation. it doesn't sound like great synergy at first glance, i know, but if you got back, say, guardian angel joan in your hand, you would have to tribute 2 more cards, to get her out again. and since fairys are the only type of monster i saw in this deck, it would be great synergy to combo those 3, assuming that joan hits both field and graveyard, because it would power up udora even further, giving you 2 exteremely powerful monsters.
i also noticed some cards with brilliant synergy already in this deck. i would have never thought to have combined airknight with the anubis curse!
that is one of my synergy things you told us to put in. i also think you should add a big eye, as it's synergy with reasoning and koitsu is beautiful. noone expects a lvl 10(or is it 9?) monster in anyones deck, so it would obviously be a very situational, but good, choice.ther's also gravity bind and area b. usually they wouldn't have synergy, but with those tins having come out, and total defense shogun in existence, gravity bind is necesarry to keep certain monster(s) at bay.
well, there we go. it's not pretty but it's true. i've done my homework and know what i am talking about.



i hope :p

[robbodopolis]

ah i get it now. thanks mukamuka. ill see what i can do now about the assignment. btw yes enraged muka muka is powerful!

[MukaMuka-lvl7]

willieschi- 88% You have some very good suggestions for other cards to add, I'll give you that, but once again theres a little more going on here. Look around the deck a little more and show which cards are helping to cover some of the inherent weaknesses in the monster set. you noticed reasoning, but what else is there?

[Prof X]

Well guys, Aruba was great and check out this tan I got. Wasn't Muka muka awesome in class. He went much farther than my suggestion of "write something about fairies" would have implied. Congrats. Grade for the assingment 100%. Next week will be finals so get your caps on.

[MukaMuka-lvl7]

thanks teach! And class, watch for my thoughts on these decks in a few days!

[willieschi]

er... prof x? if you could pls grade the assignments for lesson 7, i would really appreciate it. noone there got graded, and now thast you are back from wherever it was you were (tanning, apparently. lol.), i'm sure, it's quite possible.


much love,
CHI