Secrets of Teching Part I - Skill Drain
Hey there.
This week, I want to talk about one very enigmatic card. Its uses are nearly infinite and can cripple many decks in today’s meta. This one card is Skill Drain.
Now if you’ve read my blog on Stardust Dragon, you’ll see some mention of Skill Drain in the beginning. Just for all of those who haven’t, I’m going to basically retell them now. First take a look at the card itself.
Skill Drain
Continuous Trap Card
Pay 1000 Life Points. The effects of all face-up Effect Monsters are negated.
First, I need to talk about two types of uses of this card. Offensive and Defensive. Let's go over Defensive first.
Defensive uses of Skill Drain generally involve both A. Negating the effects of your opponent's cards and B. Using cards that aren't affected by Skill Drain or are affected in a positive way.
What are the top-tier decks nowadays? Lightsworns and Gladiator Beasts, as usual. Their key cards? Judgment Dragon and Lumina on the Lightsworn's part, and Gyzarus and Laquari/Bestiari on the GB's part. Skill Drain prevents JD from bombing, Lumina from summoning, and any Gladiator Beast from using its effect once tagged in (although please note that Gladiator Beasts are able to tag out and in if Skill Drain is up).
Lightsworns can't mill, GBs can't abuse tag-in effects, Blackwings can't abuse Sirroco, Gale, or Armor Master, DivaDAD and MonkDAD can't abuse their key cards, or DAD for that matter. Just about every top deck is hit hard by Drain.
Defensive decks will use this to their advantage. The fact that some cards are hindered by Drain and some aren't can be easily exploitable. One such example are cards whose effects activate in the graveyard. Cards like D.D. Crow, Necro Gardna, Mezuki, and Plaguespreader Zombie aren't hindered in any way by Drain. But there's another type of card like this; cards that use an effect on the field but activate in the graveyard.
Sounds preposterous? Here's an example: Exiled Force.
Exiled Force
EARTH/Warrior/Level 4/ATK 1000/DEF 1000
You can Tribute this card to destroy 1 monster on the field.
It's effect has two parts; a cost and an activation. The cost is tributing itself, its activation activates after it tributes itself. Skill Drain only negates effects that activate on the field, therefore cards like Exiled Force, Thunder King Rai-Oh, and most importantly, Stardust Dragon, are unaffected by Skill Drain.
So a defensive deck will load a deck up with strong cards that are in the most part unaffected by Skill Drain, like Thunder King Rai-Oh, Doomcalibur Knight, Lonefire Blossom, or Exiled Force. However, a defensive deck has other options too. One is using certain amazing defensive cards to wall up against the enemy. An enemy deck, when confronted with Skill Drain, will often resort to attacking repeatedly with high-ATK monsters to try to overpower you quickly. Thus, monsters with high defense can last a surprisingly long while. Examples are cards like Big Shield Gardna and Destiny Hero - Defender. Clocking in at 2600 and 2700 defense points each, they both have effects that aren't the best to have in any deck, but become nullified when Drain is up, turning them into high-DEF meatshields. They both can stop any Gladiator Beast bar Heraklinos, any Lightsworn but Judgment Dragon, and most TeleDAD variant monsters except Dark Armed Dragon itself.
The other type of cards that are abused in both Offensive and Defensive Skill Drain are cards that are not affected in any way by Skill Drain. In addition to cards that activate effects in the Grave, there are cards that activate effects in other places and do not have an effect once they hit the field. Cyber Dragon, for example, can be Special Summoned from the hand and becomes a mere beatstick after being played. Gorz the Emissary of Darkness will lose its ability to play a token, but you still get a great 2700 ATK point wall. Many X-Sabers and Blackwings also summon directly from the hand, making them good combos for a Skill Drain deck.
Now while Defensive Drain decks rely more on STUNning your opponent, leaving them unable to do anything while you take out their life points slowly, Offensive Drain decks are fast-paced decks that take advantage of the lack of speed that other decks have under Drain. The most famous example of this is Beast King Barbaros.
Beast King Barbaros
EARTH/Beast-Warrior/Level 8/ATK 3000/DEF 1200
You can Normal Summon or Set this card without Tributing. If you do, its original ATK becomes 1900. You can Tribute 3 monsters to Tribute Summon this card. When you do, destroy all cards your opponent controls.
Without Skill Drain up, he's a 1900 ATK point vanilla monster (which isn't too bad in its own sense) but WITH Drain up, you get a no-Tribute normal-summonable 3000 ATK beatstick with no downsides whatsoever. And if Skill Drain isn't up and you have the necessary Tribute fodder (easy with cards like D.D. Survivor and Treeborn Frog who fit well into Drain decks) he becomes an amazing card that can completely clear your opponent's field.
He also has a less-famous albeit older counterpart, Fusilier, the Dual-Mode Beast. He's a machine with 2800 ATK that can also be Normal Summoned at the cost of losing half his ATK; a cost that is completely negated with Skill Drain out. One more thing: Say you have Skill Drain set and Fusilier is Summoned onto your side of the field; a useless 1400 ATK monster. Your opponent decides to take him out with his 1800 ATK Laquari. That's when you spring Skill Drain; which will restore Fusilier's ATK back to 2800, watching as Laquari rams into him and dies. And get this: If Drain is destroyed later, Fusilier's ATK remains at 2800 (and Barbaros's at 3000!).
Ever seen those level 4 cards like Giant Orc, who have great ATK but suckish defense, and get shifted to defense position for 2 turns after they attack? Guess what? With Skill Drain up, there's no downside. Cards like Jirai Gumo, Giant Orc, Naturia Spiderfang, and Goblin Elite Attack Force all become mere 4 star 2100+ ATK beatsticks. Cards like Giant Orc and Axe Dragunote also become great food for Deck Destruction Virus with no downside.
An Offensive Drain deck will use these cards to their advantage and swarm, literally swarm the field with 3000 and 2800 ATK point beatsticks in a matter of seconds. The opponent can't destroy them by means of monster effects like DAD, Gyzarus, or JD, and can't withstand the high ATK of these monsters either, and are overwhelmed. I now present to you a modified version of KingDrain, by OGRE, an example of Offensive Drain.
Main Deck: 40
Monsters: 16
3 Beast King Barbaros
3 Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast
1 Cyber Dragon
3 Thunder King Rai-Oh
3 D.D. Survivor
3 Doomcaliber Knight
Spells: 14
3 Dimensional Fissure
3 Burden of the Mighty
3 Book of Moon
2 Forbidden Chalice
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Reinforcement of the Army
Traps: 10
3 Skill Drain
3 Dark Bribe
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Mirror Force
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Torrential Tribute
Side Deck: 15
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
2 Light-Imprisoning Mirror
2 Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror
2 Mirror of Oaths
3 Royal Oppression
1 Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn
2 Legendary Jujitsu Master
2 Dust Tornado
Extra Deck: 15
1 Mist Wurm
2 Stardust Dragon
2 Colossal Fighter
2 Thought Ruler Archfiend
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Blackwing Armor Master
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
2 Ally of Justice Catastor
This is a perfect example of using both Offensive and Defensive cards in a Drain deck. Barbaros and Fusilier are used to rush in the deck. Survivor is another great card in this deck, as it's not hampered at all. It's tribute bait for Barbaros if Drain isn't up, is a nice 1800 ATK points, and a good source of wall.
Dimensional Fissure is another card that works well in this deck; it further slows down most enemy decks that use the grave (Zombies, X-Sabers, Lightsworns). Burden of the Mighty enables Fusilier and Barbaros to deal with the likes of Red Dragon Archfiend, Judgment Dragon, and Gladiator Beast Heraklinos. Solemn and Bribe both work wonders in protecting your cards and Drain from deadly Spell or Trap cards. Most of the other cards are staples, but you see how potent an offensive Drain deck can be.
That’s the end of my blog for this week; next week, I’ll be going over another card; Mind Crush. Again, please comment and rate!
This week, I want to talk about one very enigmatic card. Its uses are nearly infinite and can cripple many decks in today’s meta. This one card is Skill Drain.
Now if you’ve read my blog on Stardust Dragon, you’ll see some mention of Skill Drain in the beginning. Just for all of those who haven’t, I’m going to basically retell them now. First take a look at the card itself.
Skill Drain
Continuous Trap Card
Pay 1000 Life Points. The effects of all face-up Effect Monsters are negated.
First, I need to talk about two types of uses of this card. Offensive and Defensive. Let's go over Defensive first.
Defensive uses of Skill Drain generally involve both A. Negating the effects of your opponent's cards and B. Using cards that aren't affected by Skill Drain or are affected in a positive way.
What are the top-tier decks nowadays? Lightsworns and Gladiator Beasts, as usual. Their key cards? Judgment Dragon and Lumina on the Lightsworn's part, and Gyzarus and Laquari/Bestiari on the GB's part. Skill Drain prevents JD from bombing, Lumina from summoning, and any Gladiator Beast from using its effect once tagged in (although please note that Gladiator Beasts are able to tag out and in if Skill Drain is up).
Lightsworns can't mill, GBs can't abuse tag-in effects, Blackwings can't abuse Sirroco, Gale, or Armor Master, DivaDAD and MonkDAD can't abuse their key cards, or DAD for that matter. Just about every top deck is hit hard by Drain.
Defensive decks will use this to their advantage. The fact that some cards are hindered by Drain and some aren't can be easily exploitable. One such example are cards whose effects activate in the graveyard. Cards like D.D. Crow, Necro Gardna, Mezuki, and Plaguespreader Zombie aren't hindered in any way by Drain. But there's another type of card like this; cards that use an effect on the field but activate in the graveyard.
Sounds preposterous? Here's an example: Exiled Force.
Exiled Force
EARTH/Warrior/Level 4/ATK 1000/DEF 1000
You can Tribute this card to destroy 1 monster on the field.
It's effect has two parts; a cost and an activation. The cost is tributing itself, its activation activates after it tributes itself. Skill Drain only negates effects that activate on the field, therefore cards like Exiled Force, Thunder King Rai-Oh, and most importantly, Stardust Dragon, are unaffected by Skill Drain.
So a defensive deck will load a deck up with strong cards that are in the most part unaffected by Skill Drain, like Thunder King Rai-Oh, Doomcalibur Knight, Lonefire Blossom, or Exiled Force. However, a defensive deck has other options too. One is using certain amazing defensive cards to wall up against the enemy. An enemy deck, when confronted with Skill Drain, will often resort to attacking repeatedly with high-ATK monsters to try to overpower you quickly. Thus, monsters with high defense can last a surprisingly long while. Examples are cards like Big Shield Gardna and Destiny Hero - Defender. Clocking in at 2600 and 2700 defense points each, they both have effects that aren't the best to have in any deck, but become nullified when Drain is up, turning them into high-DEF meatshields. They both can stop any Gladiator Beast bar Heraklinos, any Lightsworn but Judgment Dragon, and most TeleDAD variant monsters except Dark Armed Dragon itself.
The other type of cards that are abused in both Offensive and Defensive Skill Drain are cards that are not affected in any way by Skill Drain. In addition to cards that activate effects in the Grave, there are cards that activate effects in other places and do not have an effect once they hit the field. Cyber Dragon, for example, can be Special Summoned from the hand and becomes a mere beatstick after being played. Gorz the Emissary of Darkness will lose its ability to play a token, but you still get a great 2700 ATK point wall. Many X-Sabers and Blackwings also summon directly from the hand, making them good combos for a Skill Drain deck.
Now while Defensive Drain decks rely more on STUNning your opponent, leaving them unable to do anything while you take out their life points slowly, Offensive Drain decks are fast-paced decks that take advantage of the lack of speed that other decks have under Drain. The most famous example of this is Beast King Barbaros.
Beast King Barbaros
EARTH/Beast-Warrior/Level 8/ATK 3000/DEF 1200
You can Normal Summon or Set this card without Tributing. If you do, its original ATK becomes 1900. You can Tribute 3 monsters to Tribute Summon this card. When you do, destroy all cards your opponent controls.
Without Skill Drain up, he's a 1900 ATK point vanilla monster (which isn't too bad in its own sense) but WITH Drain up, you get a no-Tribute normal-summonable 3000 ATK beatstick with no downsides whatsoever. And if Skill Drain isn't up and you have the necessary Tribute fodder (easy with cards like D.D. Survivor and Treeborn Frog who fit well into Drain decks) he becomes an amazing card that can completely clear your opponent's field.
He also has a less-famous albeit older counterpart, Fusilier, the Dual-Mode Beast. He's a machine with 2800 ATK that can also be Normal Summoned at the cost of losing half his ATK; a cost that is completely negated with Skill Drain out. One more thing: Say you have Skill Drain set and Fusilier is Summoned onto your side of the field; a useless 1400 ATK monster. Your opponent decides to take him out with his 1800 ATK Laquari. That's when you spring Skill Drain; which will restore Fusilier's ATK back to 2800, watching as Laquari rams into him and dies. And get this: If Drain is destroyed later, Fusilier's ATK remains at 2800 (and Barbaros's at 3000!).
Ever seen those level 4 cards like Giant Orc, who have great ATK but suckish defense, and get shifted to defense position for 2 turns after they attack? Guess what? With Skill Drain up, there's no downside. Cards like Jirai Gumo, Giant Orc, Naturia Spiderfang, and Goblin Elite Attack Force all become mere 4 star 2100+ ATK beatsticks. Cards like Giant Orc and Axe Dragunote also become great food for Deck Destruction Virus with no downside.
An Offensive Drain deck will use these cards to their advantage and swarm, literally swarm the field with 3000 and 2800 ATK point beatsticks in a matter of seconds. The opponent can't destroy them by means of monster effects like DAD, Gyzarus, or JD, and can't withstand the high ATK of these monsters either, and are overwhelmed. I now present to you a modified version of KingDrain, by OGRE, an example of Offensive Drain.
Main Deck: 40
Monsters: 16
3 Beast King Barbaros
3 Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast
1 Cyber Dragon
3 Thunder King Rai-Oh
3 D.D. Survivor
3 Doomcaliber Knight
Spells: 14
3 Dimensional Fissure
3 Burden of the Mighty
3 Book of Moon
2 Forbidden Chalice
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Reinforcement of the Army
Traps: 10
3 Skill Drain
3 Dark Bribe
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Mirror Force
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Torrential Tribute
Side Deck: 15
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
2 Light-Imprisoning Mirror
2 Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror
2 Mirror of Oaths
3 Royal Oppression
1 Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn
2 Legendary Jujitsu Master
2 Dust Tornado
Extra Deck: 15
1 Mist Wurm
2 Stardust Dragon
2 Colossal Fighter
2 Thought Ruler Archfiend
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Blackwing Armor Master
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
2 Ally of Justice Catastor
This is a perfect example of using both Offensive and Defensive cards in a Drain deck. Barbaros and Fusilier are used to rush in the deck. Survivor is another great card in this deck, as it's not hampered at all. It's tribute bait for Barbaros if Drain isn't up, is a nice 1800 ATK points, and a good source of wall.
Dimensional Fissure is another card that works well in this deck; it further slows down most enemy decks that use the grave (Zombies, X-Sabers, Lightsworns). Burden of the Mighty enables Fusilier and Barbaros to deal with the likes of Red Dragon Archfiend, Judgment Dragon, and Gladiator Beast Heraklinos. Solemn and Bribe both work wonders in protecting your cards and Drain from deadly Spell or Trap cards. Most of the other cards are staples, but you see how potent an offensive Drain deck can be.
That’s the end of my blog for this week; next week, I’ll be going over another card; Mind Crush. Again, please comment and rate!
Tags: anti-meta, barbaros, skill drain
Total Comments 84
Comments
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You don't need to OTK with this kind of build.Posted 2 Weeks Ago at 07:08 PM by Brute Honesty 
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Thanks, I didn't realize that it was at 41.
Posted 2 Weeks Ago at 07:14 PM by Jebus McAzn
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Much, much better.
The side needs a little work.
3 Oppression is very much needed IMO. Not so sure on Imprisoning Mirror's. You have tons of LS Hate, and Bw's aren't too dependent on effects.Posted 2 Weeks Ago at 08:17 PM by Shadow Master
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Shadow-Imprisoning is there mainly for Z-Heroes, not blackwings. Sirocco has been reduced to one in the sidedeck because it doesn't work under Drain, but is still nice against BWs. 3 Oppressions are now there, and I've taken out Threatenings in favor of Dust Tornado (as Oppression is plenty of GB hate).
Posted 2 Weeks Ago at 10:42 AM by Jebus McAzn
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