BWST

Slooooow..
gdi

Anyway, today I'd like to show you what I've been using as my signature deck on DN for a while. I've never been completely sure what to call it though, and have been referring to it as a Sangan abuse deck, which more or less sums up a lot of it. However, it has the name Blackwing ST on my deck editor as a result of its history, so I dunno.

3 Armageddon Knight
3 Tour Guide from the Underworld
3 Reborn Tengu
2 Caius the Shadow Monarch
2 Blackwing - Breeze the Zephyr
2 Genex Ally Birdman
2 Necro Gardna
2 Effect Veiler
1 Blackwing - Zephyrus the Elite
1 Battle Fader
1 Plaguespreader Zombie

3 Upstart Goblin
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mind Control
1 Monster Reborn
1 Mystical Space Typhoon

3 Limit Reverse
2 Call of the Haunted
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment

1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Locomotion R-Genex
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Scrap Archfiend
1 Blackwing - Armor Master
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 T.G. Hyper Librarian
1 Ally of Justice - Catastor
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Steelswarm Roach
1 Diagusto Emeral
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Leviair the Sea Dragon


Now, I've tested this a lot, so got a fair bit to write on it. First thing to note is Sangan's relationship to pretty much everything else in the deck. Sangan is, here, at its absolute best in the graveyard, and a fair number of the cards in here are dedicated to getting it there. Armageddon Knights and Tour Guides all serve this purpose. Sangan is needed there because of all the cards that are dependant on it; Limit Reverse at 3, Call of the Haunted at 2, and Monster Reborn at 1. Sangan is usually the best choice for all 3, because it has so much synergy with absolutely everything in here.

Armageddon Knight plus a Sangan resurrection card makes Trishula by ditching Plague. Caius plus a Sangan resurrection card is a +1. Sangan resurrection plus any tuner is basically a free synchro. And adding Breeze the Zephyr to hand with Sangan means it replaces its-self with a level 3 tuner, so increasing field presence.

This is fair, and a nice plus engine if your moves go through. What I really like about it though is the trap resurrection cards all become +1s if the opponent hits them with any kind of destruction, which they often will they are also recyclable with Zephyrus the Elite, which can make for some fantastic plusses with Armageddon Knight.

Second card that deserves a mention is the Armageddon Knight. Thanks to everything it is able to do, it is probably stronger than Tour Guide in this version. Set up defense with Necro Gardna, ditch Plaguespreader Zombie for either Brio or Trish, or ditch Zephyrus the Elite and recycle a resurrection card for more plusses, and then make a Rank 4 Xyz. I often find myself searching for Armageddon Knight with Sangan so I can make an explosive play next turn.

Third thing to mention is Tour Guide from the Underworld. If it goes through, it is very powerful because it ditches Sangan and gives access to either a 2500 beater or Leviair. However, people are much more likely to try and negate it because they are a lot more aware of the dangers it poses, and its not really much use after that. Nonetheless, the access to Leviair is excellent because a lot of cards in this deck make for good targets. Necro Gardna, Plaguespreader Zombie, Genex Ally Birdman, and anything else that got banished somehow.

Then we come to Blackwing - Breeze the Zephyr. If you draw it, its a tuner that you can use to make one of the Blackwing synchros and not much else. If you add it via a card effect however, its a tuner that comes out for free. I mentioned this with Sangan already, but a lot of players seem unaware of the fact that if you add Breeze with either Upstart Goblin or Allure of Darkness, it can be special summoned then as well. While Armed Wing is a mediocre card and if played I usually just use it to bait stuff out, Armor Master can be a complete pain for a lot of opponents if they don't have much monster destruction available.

Most of the other cards are fairly self-explanitory. Of those that might not be, Battle Fader is to save me after nukes. Simply chaining Limit Reverse or CotH and searching Fader can foil the opponent's plans to take me out, and its searchable, unlike Gorz. Upstart Goblin is to keep the deck's consistancy, although I would recommend using it after you've used something to ditch Sangan if you have access to something like that, or after you've searched with Tengu because using it and drawing another one isn't nice. And the lack of boss monsters like BLS and DAD are because this version lacks space and they can be dead if drawn too early/late.

This may take practice to run. I still mess up sometimes, especially if I'm in a bad mood for whatever reason, and the hands occasionally clog.

I have more than one version of this, but this is the build I've tested most. Hope you enjoyed it.

Traps Valley and Watts

Right, big post today because turns out I'm not good at updating frequently.

First off, I'm operating on a new account now. New username is "!            Cheshire", because I felt like showing off and having a name up at the top gets you attention. My win record on it has been pretty good, especially considering the sorts of things I've been running.

Which brings me to the first deck I'll be showing off today. This is a build I'd originally made last format. It was ok, but not fantastic, and with Heavy Storm back I couldn't be bothered with remaking it for a long time because I thought it would die easily.

Monsters: 9
2 A Cat of Ill Omen
3 Gravekeeper's Spy
2 Gravekeeper's Descendant
2 Gravekeeper's Commandant

Spells: 12 
3 Pot of Duality
3 Magic Planter 
3 Necrovalley
2 Royal Tribute 
1 Dark Hole


Traps: 19
3 Imperial Custom
3 Embodiment of Apophis
3 Zoma the Spirit
3 Tiki Curse
3 Starlight Road
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Metal Reflect Slime

Extra Deck: 15
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon 
2 Stardust Dragon


This deck has a very defensive play style. Grab Necrovalley and you'll usually be good to go. The Gravekeepers are used as either beaters, guards, or Xyz fuel. They can also use Descendant to get rid of cards that this deck finds especially problematic. A Cat of Ill Omen is what ties Gravekeepers in with the trap heavy side of this build. I'd originally planned on running three of them but the deck was tight on space and three clogged on occasion.

The spells are mostly used to keep the deck steady. Again, there's not a lot of space and with the way the deck works, pretty much every staple aside from Dark Hole and Pot of Duality (if you consider it a staple) had to be removed. Monster Reborn isn't really needed with Necrovalley being here anyway. The spells that I have put in exist either to speed the deck up (Magic Planter, Pot of Duality) or to control and suppress the opponent (Necrovalley, Royal Tribute, Dark Hole)

Now we get onto the main part of the deck; the traps. Three Imperial Custom and three Tiki Curse are your main tools here. With Imperial Custom in play, all your trap monsters are basically indestructible, and Tiki Curse turns every other trap monster into an unstoppable killer. Zoma the Spirit and Embodiment of Apophis were selected because they have good stats for trap monsters. The same applies for Metal Reflect Slime, but because its just a wall its only needed at 1.

With this many traps in the deck, Starlight Road at 3 is absolutely essential. The deck commits heavily to the field, so Starlight lets you feel much, much safer when you play. Heavy Storm, Black Rose Dragon, Dark Hole, etc etc. The Solemn brigade is in there to counter what Starlight cant, cards like Trishula and Chaos Sorcerer if the opponent gets it out somehow.

The Extra deck is barely noteworthy. Only thing worth noting in my opinion is double Stardust despite triple Starlight Road. This is something that I've come to decide is the best layout, as I have never needed to use 3 Starlight Road in one duel. At least one is either destroyed before it can be activated, never drawn, or never triggered, so 2 Stardust is all that's needed.

This deck has recieved the least testing so far out of the two. Worth a try, I've had success with it in rated against some fairly high tier decks, and playing something unusual is always fun. But the really good deck I've been using lately is the next one.

 Monsters: 16
3 Wattking Cobra
3 Wattgiraffe
3 Wattdragonfly
3 Watthopper
2 Effect Veiler
1 Wattfox
1 Honest

Spells: 10
3 Pot of Duality
3 Magic Planter
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Heavy Storm
1 One For One

Traps: 14
3 Starlight Road 
3 Red Screen
3 Fiendish Chain
2 Call of the Haunted
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment

Extra: 15
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier 
2 Stardust Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Orient Dragon
1 Wattchimera
1 T.G. Hyper Librarian
1 Ally of Justice - Catastor
1 Magical Android
1 Armory Arm
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Gem-Knight Pearl
1 Steelsworn Roach

The monsters here are fairly standard. Simply, they are the best of the Watt monsters available, with Honest and Effect Veiler put in for protection. The Watthopper lock (get 2 Watthoppers out on the field) stops the opponent being able to target Watts with anything at all, and with that in effect you can often just sit back and beat the opponent directly with Wattgiraffe and Wattking Cobra. Wattdragonfly is used to set up the combo and recruit other Watt monsters. The Cobra does this as well, but its too the hand so it becomes less instantaneous.

While the others have a near perfect synergy with each other, Wattfox is the odd one in here. At a glance it doesn't serve much of a purpose, and it is a fairly mediocre card. However, I include it because it is very easy to search for things in this deck, and it is a Watt tuner monster. I can therefore make Wattchimera with it, and create even more pressure for the opponent by shutting off their draws. Since I only run 1, it doesn't lead to bad draws.

The spells here are again mostly about speed. 3 Duality and 3 Magic Planter means you'll usually get what you need fairly fast, and One for One and Monster Reborn are very nice when it comes to arranging your field, One for One helping to get the Watthopper long into effect. Dark Hole and Heavy Storm are just in there as staples.

Again, the traps shine here. This deck /has/ to commit to the field, the Watthopper lock only works effectively if you do. Therefore, 3 Starlight Road is absolutely fantastic here, because the opponent will be trying their hardest to nuke the field, as it is pretty much the only standard way around the Watthoppers.

Fiendish Chain and Red Screen are generally defensive cards. Red Screen serves as stall until you can get the Watthopper Lock, or as a back-up if the opponent manages to get rid of it somehow, while Fiendish Chain deals with problematic monster effects such as Trishula which can get around the Watthopper lock due to the fact that it technically doesn't target (although a lot of players seem unaware of this). Call of the Haunted is to help set your field up fast, for use with Wattdragonfly in suicide attacks primarily, although it works with all the others as well. And since all three are continuous trap cards that can wind up on the field being useless, or maybe a hinderance in the case of Red Screen after the Hopper lock is out, they are all food for Magic Planter to advance your position further. The Solemns are just more protection.

The extra deck is basically a toolbox of cards that I thought might come in handy. Only cards in it that come out frequently are Wattchimera and Stardust Dragon, the others are just stuff that I'd bring out as needed. I've been considering replacing Gem-Knight Pearl with Formula Synchron, as I occasionally have seen opportunities to plus with it, but undecided so far. Magical Android is in purely because its light, and can work with Honest.

One thing to note is that this deck can pay life points fast. Red Screen and the Solemns, plus life points lost from Dragonfly suicides all add up, and its rare that I finish with more than 4000 life points. Fortunately, life points don't really matter that much until they're at 0, and I'm sure it can be immensely frustrating to opponents that they cant finish me off when I'm down to less than 1000. 

Another thing to be aware of is the opponent actually getting a nuke through can be fatal. You can stop most of them by all means, or last through them if you have Dragonfly out, but this deck does not top-deck well if it gets its field wiped. This makes Starlight Road even more valuable, it protects you from going into near hopeless situations.

And I have yet to play a Skill Drain deck. However, I'm sure if the opponent could get Skill Drain out, it would absolutely wreck this deck. Hopper lock no longer effective, Giraffe and Cobra cant attack directly anymore, and the only out I could fit into the main deck is Heavy Storm. The side-deck for if I built this IRL would need to include 3 MST.

Now, despite that, I actually think Watts are going to have a massive impact on the format if enough people notice them. This particular build has a win record of something like 25 wins to 3 losses (I wasn't really keeping track of my wins, but I know the minimum I've played with it is 20.) A lot of the really good things around right now target, which makes them useless against this, and it can leave many opponents helpless. I've actually had several ragequits and been ASS'd about twice, so good for trolling as well if you're into that.

Thanks for reading, hope this large post made up for my slowness at updating.