Saturday, 14 March 2009

My View on the March 2009 Banlist

There is much contoversy over the new banlist, some lvoe it, others hate it. So I thought I'd go through every card on the ban list and give my personal opinions, and here they are:

Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
Description: Way to easy to summon, can remove any Monster, and can attack more than once.
Verdict: Will remain Banned.

Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End
Description: Way to easy to summon, can blow up the whole field and both players hands, while doing burn damage.
Verdict: Will remain Banned.

Cyber Stein
Description: Can bring out ANY fusion monster, probably the best card for OTKs and even FTKs.
Verdict: May be unbanned, but very unlikely.

Cyber Jar
Description: Reset button, can get you out of any situation with basically no draw backs.
Verdict: Hmmm... This is a tough one... May be Unbanned, but very, VERY unlikely.

Dark Magician of Chaos
Description: Effect can be abused, awesome for FTK decks.
Verdict: Won't be unbanned.

Destiny Hero - Disk Commander
Description: Effect is VERY easily abused, stats make it easy to search out.
Verdict: Won't be unbanned.

Fiber Jar
Description: Resets almost the whole game, can get you out of almost ANY situation.
Verdict: It will be a cold day in Hell when this card makes it off the banlist.

Magical Scientist
Description: Easily creates an FTK, is also a duelist's swiss army knife, you can get any Fusion for any Situation (TER anyone?).
Verdict: Very unlikely it will be unbanned.

Magician of Faith
Description: Easily abused with Book of Taiyou/Moon, can fuel FTKs.
Verdict: Won't be unbanned unless for some strange reason Book of Moon hits the list.

Makyura the Destructor
Description: Is part of an OTK.
Verdict: I can see this card getting unbanned (If it gets unbanned I am getting some ideas for a Trap deck...)

Sinister Serpent
Description: Makes discard costs Null & Void, but could be a dead draw pretty often.
Verdict: Unlikely, but you never know.

Thousand-Eyes Restrict
Description: Complete Monster lockdown, and you can steal your Opponent's best Monster.
Verdict: I wish it was unbanned, but I doubt it ever will be.

Tribe-Infecting Virus
Description: Against themed decks, this card is practically a Raigeki.
Verdict: This may be unbanned given the popularity of Stardust Dragon, but I can only see it off the list if draw power is decreased.

Tsukuyomi
Description: An OTK/FTK's best friend, reuses Magician of Faith/Mask of Darkness Once per turn!
Verdict: May be unbanned if the Meta gets rid of abusable Flip Effects.

Victory Dragon
Description: Contrary to popular belief, only banned because the rules on scooping in the OCG are different to the TCG, which screws this card up.

Witch of the Black Forest
Description: Sangan's older sister, this beauty can search basically all the best effect Monsters in the game.
Verdict: I doubt it will ever see the light of day again.

Yata-Garasu
Description: If you summon this card, and your Opponent has nothing in their hand/field that can stop it, you win. Period.
Verdict: Never EVER will this little birdy come off the list.

Butterfly Dagger - Elma
Description: This card was often combo'd with Gearfried the Iron Knight, for infinite Spell Counters (Royal Magical Library), Infinite Lifepoints (Spell Absorbsion), even Infinite Burn (Type Zero Magic Crusher).
Verdict: Won't come off the list as long as Gearfried still exists.

Cathedral of Nobles
Description: This card... isn't as overpowered as you'd think. Unlike Makyura the Destructor, you can't activate Traps straight from your hand, you can only activate them the same turn they are set.
Verdict: Although there are combos with Scrap Iron Scarecrow and the like, I can definitely see this card off the list.

Change of Heart
Description: Mid Game this card is deadly. You have no useful cards and you're getting hammered by the opponent's monster, taking one for a turn could completely change the game in your favour. On the other hand, Brain Control is only limited and the meta game is fine so...
Verdict: Maybe unbanned, but pretty unlikely.

Confiscation
Description: 1000 points is often worth it to see your opponent's strategy, and screw it up. With alot of duelist's main cards being limited, this card combined with D.D. Crow = Good Game in your favour.
Verdict: Very unlikely it will be unbanned, to disruptive.

Dark Hole
Description: Reset button, basically a Raigeki if you have no monsters on the field.
Verdict: See 'Cyber Jar'.

Delinquent Duo
Description: This card was that devlish bird, Yata's best friend. Similar to Confiscation this card caused a lot of disruption.
Verdict: To hand disruptive for the current Format.

Dimension Fusion
Description: If your opponent plays this card, 90% of the time, you're f*cked. Given how easy it is to remove your best Monsters from play, this card fueled the majority of Advanced Format OTKs until it was banned.
Verdict: Unless Removing from Play becomes harder, this card is not coming back.

Graceful Charity
Description: This card has no down side in most decks. Lets you draw 3 new cards, generating hand advantage, then lets you discard two for revival later. This card was perfect in any deck (especially Chaos).
Verdict: This format basically revolves around our graveyards, so it might come back another format where it's downside is actually bad.

Harpie's Feather Duster
Description: Getting rid of the opponent's backline is game finishing. If you had all your powerful monsters out and were a bit worried about the facedowns, this card was your best friend.
Verdict: This format has alot of Spell/Trap destruction without Feather Duster, very unlikely to come back.

Last Will
Description: So many good effect Monsters were easily summoned by this card. If you look at my Magical Scientist FTK deck you will see just how useful this card is.
Verdict: I can see it getting unbanned, but it isn't the most likely card.

Metamorphosis
Description: One of the main cards in Goat Control, this card was like a better version of Magical Scientist. Any necessary Fusion could be easily brought out. This card + Scapegoat + Thousand Eyes Restrict = Awesome!
Verdict: This card may come back if Fusions lose some support, but otherwise, it's staying on the list.

Mirage of Nightmare
Description: MASSIVE draw power, use this card and then destroy it with Mystical Space Typhoon, or just make sure you had no cards in your hand when the drawback kicks in.
Verdict: Too easily abused, it has a nice warm spot on the list.

Painful Choice
Description: Similar to Graceful Charity, getting cards in the graveyard is to useful in this format.
Verdict: See 'Graceful Charity'

Pot of Greed
Description: Card advantage with no draw back? Yes please. Pot of Greed could help you get a +2 against your opponent, and in this format, that is to good.
Verdict: May come back, but don't expect it in the near future.


Sunday, 8 March 2009

Deck #3 - Magical Scientist FTK

Name: Magical Scientist FTK
Type: Burn/FTK
Format: Traditional
Card Number: 40
Description: The purpose of the Magical Scientist FTK is to bring out Magical Scientist and Catapult Turtle on the first turn, then performing the FTK (Explained below).

WHAT IS AN FTK AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
An FTK stands for First Turn Kill, it means beating the opponent on your first turn before they have even made a move, some other FTKs are the Butterfly Dagger Elma FTK or the Chick the Yellow FTK. The Magical Scientist FTK works by paying 1000 Life Points to summon a Fusion Monster, then tributing it with Catapult Turtle to deal damage to the opponent. Here is an example:
Magical Scientist and Catapult Turtle are on the field, both players have 8000 life points.
Player A pays 1000 life points to summon Steam Gyroid (ATK 2200)
Player A's Life Points = 7000
Player A tributes Steam Gyroid to inflict 1100 points of damage to Player B
Player B's Life Points = 6900
Player A pays 1000 life points to summon Dark Blade the Dragon Knight (ATK 2200)
Player A's Life Points = 6000
Player A tributes Dark Blade the Dragon Knight to inflict 1100 points of damage to Player B
Player B's Life Points = 5800
Continue until Player A has 1000 Life Points left, and Player B has 300 left.
Player A Tributes Catapult Turtle for his own effect taking Player B's Life Points to 0.

So the whole point of this deck is to get thos two monsters out on the first turn.

MONSTERS
Magical Scientist
Catapult Turtle
Catapult Turtle
Catapult Turtle
Sangan
Witch of the Black Forest
Gilasaurus
Gilasaurus
Morphing Jar
Sacred Crane
Fiber Jar

Let's take a look at the monster line-up. We only have 1 Magical Scientist because it is limited, but Catapult Turtle is unlimited so we have three of those. Sangan and Witch of the Black Forest don't have to be attacked to get their effects, using some of the cards in this deck we can destroy them and get Magical Scientist or Catapult Turtle (Depending on which card destroyed). Straight to our hands. Gilasaurus can be Special Summoned with no cost, so he provides an instant tribute for Catapult Turtle. Morphing Jar can only activate it's flip effect on the first turn if we use Book of Taiyou, but even so it helps us replenish our hand if it doesn't have anything useful. Sacred Crane is very helpful, we send it to the graveyard with cards like Painful Choice or Reasoning, then revive it to draw a card, then send it to the grave again and reuse it's effect. Fiber Jar is my second favourite card of all time (Behind Helpoemer), it is like a massive reset button, so if the combo doesn't work, we can just reset the duel and try again!

SPELLS
Reload
Reload
Reload
Magical Mallet
Magical Mallet
Magical Mallet
Card Destruction
Graceful Charity
Last Will
Reasoning
Monster Reborn
Premature Burial
Pot of Greed
Gather Your Mind
Gather Your Mind
Gather Your Mind
Monster Gate
Monster Gate
Monster Gate
Painful Choice
Cost Down
Spell Reproduction
Spell Reproduction
Book of Taiyou
Book of Taiyou
A Feather of the Phoenix
A Feather of the Phoenix
A Feather of the Phoenix

Reload, Magical Mallet, and Card Destruction are obvious choices for any FTK deck, if our hand doesn't work our we just redraw with them. Graceful Charity lets us draw new cards, and lets us discard cards to the graveyard to Special Summon later, there's no down side! Reasoning gets cards in the graveyard for us to Special Summon later, and there is a small chance we'll get to Special Summon Catapult Turtle or Magical Scientist. Monster Reborn and Premature Burial bring back cards in the graveyard, which is the easiest was to summon Magical Scientist and Catapult Turtle. Pot of Greed is two cards for free, nothing bad about that. Gather your Mind is for thinning the deck, but they could be taken out if you have better ideas for cards. Monster Gate is like a better version of Reasoning, pretty much the same effect but there is none of the "Opponent picks a level" effect. Painful Choice lets us get monsters in the graveyard and in our hand, just pick heaps of your best cards and it will work out. Cost Down lets us summon Catpult Turtle without a tribute, so that's good. Spell Reproduction lets us reuse our Spell Cards, which is VERY useful in this kind of deck. Book of Taiyou is for Morphing Jar, but you could probably exchange it for another card. This card lets us reuse cards, and putting it on top of the deck won't matter with all the draw poer this deck has.

TRAPS
Guess what, there aren't any! No traps at all! This is because traps require a turn to be used, and this is a FIRST TURN Kill so traps are useless. You could put in Makyura the Destructor but really there aren't many traps which are useful for this deck anyway.

FUSIONS
Aqua Dragon
Dark Balter the Terrible
Dark Flare Knight
Dark Blade the Dragon Knight
Punished Eagle
Roaring Ocean Snake
Ryu Senshi
Sanwitch
Steam Gyroid

Here are some of the fusions you could put in the deck. You can put in any Fusion Monster you want as long as:
It's ATK is over 2000
It's Level is lower than 7
It doesn't have to be summoned by Fusion Summon.
It can be tributed.

CONCLUSION
This is an awesome deck to use if you want to win, but it isn't much fun most of the time. I only use this deck in tournaments and if my friends WANT to duel against it.

If you have an comments or suggestions please E-Mail them to grimtuesday@hotmail.com

~Saturday

Deck Concept #2 - Recycle Deck

I remember when I first started playing Yu-Gi-Oh! I had this Spell Card called Recycle. I thought this card had a really cool effect, and I kept trying to find ways to make a deck around this card. First idea was to use Card Shuffle, so the card which ended up at the bottom of my deck wouldn't stay there. Then I needed some stall, so Messenger of Peace and Level Limit - Area B were added. I though Convulsion of Nature would be useful because the bottom card would be taken to the top. After that I thought, with all these Continuous Spell Cards I might as well add a Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder! Then another thought struck me, with all this use of Recycle, I'd need cards worth bringing back, so I added in Mirror Force, Monster Reborn, Pot of Greed, all the staples. I was just bursting with ideas, but then the best idea hit me... Lightsworn! I use Lightsworn monsters (Which is currently a Tier 1 Deck) to mill out my deck, then use Recycle to get any card I want! Next came Pot of Avarice because I needed to bring back Monsters as well, and with Pot of Avarice came Giant Germ, with Recycle, Pot of Avarice, and Giant Germ, I could constantly bring them back and use their effect! With the main build done I started to work on the flaws of the deck, If I accidentley milled Recycle, I would need Magician of Faith or Spell Reincarnation to get them back. I realised that if I milled myself completely, and then someone uses a Heavy Storm I might as well throw in the towel, so Magic Drain, Solemn Judgement, and Dark Bribe were added as well.

I believe I have constructed a pretty good deck idea, but see what you can make of it! I'd be really interested to hear if there are any more cards you think would work well in this deck, so please E-Mail them to grimtuesday@hotmail.com

~Saturday

P.S. Don't mention Spell Economics or Spell Absorbtion, their effects only activate when a Spell Card is activated, not when a Spell Card's effect is activated, so they would do nothing to prevent the life point payment of Recycle and Card Shuffle.

P.S.S. But Spell Absorbtion does increase our Life Points, and we will be using Spells over and over, so it might be worth adding it in.

Saturday, 7 March 2009

Deck Concept #1 - Seer Deck

Here is a strange deck type which could work very well if constructed properly. This deck involves using cards like Big Eye, The Eye of Truth, Confiscation, etc... To see what your opponent is going to do, and then counter it using a variation of Warrior Toolbox or Rat Toolbox. You could also add in cards like Fruits of Kozaky's Studies and Convulsion of Nature, and then use cards like Archfiend's Oath to your advantage. Eye of Truth could be coupled with Bad Reaction to Simochi for burn, Conscription could be used with Convulsion of Nature, we could even put in Diabolos, King of the Abyss, given that Big Eye, Nurse Reficule the Fallen One, etc... are Dark Types.

So... I hope this post gave you some ideas, if you have any success with the deck please tell me at grimtuesday@hotmail.com

~Saturday

Deck #2 - Flint Life Point Gain

Name: Flint Life Point Gain
Type: Life Point Gain/Infinite Life Points
Format: Advanced
Card Number: 42
Description: The Flint Life Point Gain Deck involves abusing Flint Lock's ability to move Flint around the field, and gain Life Points while doing it via Morale Boost.

Deck Breakdown:
MONSTERS
Flint Lock
Flint Lock
Flint Lock
Fire Princess
Fire Princess
Fire Princess
Agent of Judgement – Saturn
Agent of Judgement – Saturn
Agent of Force – Mars
Agent of Force – Mars
Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu
Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu
Shining Angel
Shining Angel
Sangan
UFO Turtle
UFO Turtle
A Cat of Ill Omen

Just like all my decks, we can place our Monsters into differnet groups.
SEARCHERS
- Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu
- UFO Turtle
- A Cat of Ill Omen
- Shining Angel
- Sangan
Shining Angel lets you get Flint Lock to the field, which is very helpful obviously, and it also lets you get out the Angel of Force - Mars as an added bonus. Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu brings the brilliant Flint into your hand, so that is always a good draw. We'll be using UFO Turtle mainly to get Fire Princess onto the field, but don't neglect his ability to summon another one of himself from the deck, it may just save you from losing. A Cat of Ill Omen lets us bring a trap to the top of our deck, and because most of the traps in this deck are circumstantial, this is a pretty useful card. Sangan is a staple, it lets us get almost any monster from our decks to out hands.

KILLERS
- Agent of Force - Mars
- Agent of Judgement - Saturn
- Fire Princess
The killers are the cards which are most likely to win us a duel. Fire Princess makes our Life Point gaining deadly to the opponent, and because most of the time our Life Points will be higher than our opponents, the Agents can be very helpful, Saturn's high attack strength is a bit of a bonus as well.

MAIN MONSTER
- Flint Lock
Flint Lock is the main Monster Card in this deck, he is invinvible while equipped with Flint, can place any Flint on the field to himself, and Once Per Turn, he can put any Flint equipped with himself on another Monster. He is also necessary for the Infinite Lifepoint Combo.

SPELLS
Flint
Flint
Flint
Morale Boost
Morale Boost
Morale Boost
The Sanctuary in the Sky
The Sanctuary in the Sky
The Mask of Remnants
Flint Missile
Flint Missile
Mystical Space Typhoon
Dark Snake Syndrome
Messenger of Peace
Monster Reborn
Double Summon
Fairy of the Spring

Time to split the Spells into different groups!

MAIN SPELLS
- Morale Boost
- Flint
These cards, coupled with Flint Lock, are what increase our Lifepoints. Every time an equip card is equipped to a Monster, Morale Boost increases our points, so every time Flint Lock moves Flint to another monster we gain an extra 1000 points! That comes up to 2000 - 3000 life Points every turn if you can keep Flint Lock alive. Flint stops the opponent's beaststicks in their tracks, which helps us keep Flint Lock alive even more so. These cards are also essential to the Infinite Life Point Combo.

HELPERS
- Fairy of the Spring
- Flint Missile
- Double Summon
Double Summon is used mainly for the Infinite Life Point Combo (ILPC), it lets us summon two Flint Locks in the same turn, making the ILPC a potential OTK. Flint Missile destroys any monster equipped with Flint, so we can get rid of our opponent's strong monsters, and it comes back to our deck for future use! Fairy of the Spring lets us get Flint back from the graveyard, which is a very valuable asset, consider running more than 1 of these.

FAIRY SUPPORT
- The Sanctuary in the Sky
Sanctuary is only used so we can use our Agent monsters, depending on your playstyle, you may want to consider taking out the Agents and this card.

OTHER CARDS
- Mystical Space Typhoon
- Messenger of Peace
- Dark Snake Syndrome
- The Mask of Remnants
These cards didn't really fit into any other category so...
The Mask of Remnants may puzzle you at first but it is quite helpful. You are on Infinite Life Points due to the combo, so you can only lose by
a) Exodia
b) Destiny Board
c) Final Countdown
d) Decking Out
You will probably agree that Decking Out is the most likely way to lose, but as long as you have this card you can't deck out, because when it is activated it is shuffled back into your deck for you to draw and activate again.
Mystical Space Typhoon is a staple so that has to be in there. Messenger of Peace is for defence, because this deck has quite a few dead-draws. Dark Snake Syndrome is another card for the Infinte Life Combo, eventually your opponent will lose if it stays on the field while your Life Points are infinite so it puts your opponent under pressure to destroy it.

TRAPS
Astral Barrier
Astral Barrier
Gravity Bind
Solemn Judgment
Solemn Judgment
Mask of Restrict
Wall of Revealing Light

So atlast we come to the traps, they are mainly cards that involve payment of Life Points to activate their effects.

Astral Barrier protects our monsters from attacks, and most of the time you will barely notice the damage it does to you with the Life Point gain this deck uses. Gravity Bind is for protection against the opponent's strong monsters. Solemn Judgement can negate ANYTHING, and in this deck, paying half your Life Points usually doesn't matter. Mask of Restrict stops our opponent from tributing monsters equipped with Flint, because Flints effect of switching to a new monster only activates if the equipped monster is DESTROYED not TRIBUTED. Wall of Revealing Light is good protection at the cost of Life Points, and like I keep saying, Life Point costs don't matter.

INFINITE LIFE POINT COMBO
- Flint Lock x2
- Morale Boost
- Flint
The moment you've all been waiting for, the Infinite Life Point Combo! To pull off this combo you will need to have the above cards on the field. The combo goes like this:
Flint equips to Flint Lock A.
Morale Boost increases Life Points by 1000.
Flint Lock A activates its effect (not the Once Per Turn effect) to equip Flint to Flint Lock B
Morale Boost increases Life Points by 1000.
Flint Lock B activates its effect (not the Once Per Turn effect) to equip Flint to Flint Lock A
Morale Boost increases Life Points by 1000
And so on.

CONTROVERSY
Many people say this combo doesn't work, this is because they think you are using Flint Lock's Once Per Turn effect. If someone tells you that you can't perform this Combo, tell them that Flint Lock has two effects and that you were activating the one that WASN'T the Once Per Turn effect.

TRIVIA
Flint, Flint Lock, and Flint Missile all come from the Konami video game, Xexex. Because Konami are both a video game, and card game company, they decided to make cards out of some of their video game characters. Other Examples:

GRADIUS
-Gradius
- Victory Viper XX03
- DUCKER Mobile Cannon
- Boss Rush
- Moai Interceptor Cannons
- Stone Statues of Easter Island
- Big Core
- B.E.S. Crystal Core
- B.E.S. Tetran
- B.E.S. Covered Core
- B.E.S. Big Core Mk II
- Power Capsule
- Cyclon Laser
- Option Hunter
- Solar Flare Dragon

THUNDER FORCE
- Blue Thunder T-45

PARODIUS
- Aitsu
- Koitsu
- Soitsu
- Doitsu
- Space Mambo

MYSTICAL NINJA GOEMON
- Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja
- Lady Ninja Yae
- Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke
- Sasuke Samurai
- Sasuke Samurai #2
- Sasuke Samurai #3
- Sasuke Samurai #4

CONCLUSION
I only use this deck when I am going easy on my opponents, or are having a fun duel. I would NEVER enter this deck into a tournament, so don't expect to much from it. Although, I would be really interested to hear if you managed to make a tournament-worthy version of this deck, so please E-mail me at grimtuesday@hotmail.com if you have any success!

~Saturday

Deck #1 - Clown Control

Name: Clown Control
Type: Destroy Monsters
Format: Advanced
Card Number: 41
Description: The Clown Control Deck is a reasonably old deck type, it involves using the abilities of Dream Clown and Crass Clown, as well as various cards which change monster position to constantly clear your opponent's field.

Deck Breakdown:
MONSTERS
Breaker the Magical Warrior
Crass Clown
Crass Clown
Crass Clown
Don Zaloog
Marauding Captain
Dream Clown
Dream Clown
Dream Clown
Exiled Force
D.D. Warrior Lady
Giant Rat
Mataza the Zapper
Peten the Dark Clown
Peten the Dark Clown
Peten the Dark Clown
Ryu-Kishin Clown
Swarm of Scarabs

We can categorize our monster line-up into several categories:
CLEARERS
- Dream Clown
- Crass Clown
- Swarm of Scarabs
- Exiled Force
These are the cards which will clear the opponent's field, it is really easy to use Crass Clown and Dream Clown's effects with all the position changing this deck packs. Swarm of Scarabs is like the gift that keeps on giving, and Exiled Force fits well into the Warrior Toolbox (More on that later).

ATTACKERS
- Mataza the Zapper
- Don Zaloog
Once our opponent has a clear field we attack with these two, in this deck Mataza is like a 2600 3-Star, and Son Zaloog gets rid of the opponent's options.

DEFENDERS
- Peten the Dark Clown
Okay I admit, I only put Peten in to continue with the 'Clown' theme, feel free to take him out for something like another Marauding Captain or a Marshmallon.

HELPERS
- Ru-Kishin Clown
- Giant Rat
Unlike Peten, I didn't put in Ryu-Kishin for the Clown theme, he is a genuinely good card for this deck, but could easily be replaced as well. Giant Rat helps heaps for our Warrior Toolbox, and our main clown is an earth type so...

WARRIOR TOOLBOX
- Marauding Captain
- D.D. Warrior Lady
- Exiled Force
- Don Zaloog
- Mataza the Zapper
- Breaker the Magical Warrior
If you have never heard of a Warrior Toolbox, it basically revolves around using Reinforcements of the Army (RotA for short) and the Warrior Returning Alive to counter anything the opponent throws at you. Marauding allows us to summon our other Warriors quickly and protects them, D.D. and Exiled wipe out strong opposing monsters, Breaker gets rid of those troublesome Spells and Traps, and Mataza and Don are powerful cards in this deck (see ATTACKERS).

SPELLS
Swords of Revealing Light
Heavy Storm
Mystical Space Typhoon
Level Limit - Area B
Messenger of Peace
Reinforcement of the Army
Reinforcement of the Army
Stumbling
Stumbling
Stumbling
The Dark Door
The Warrior Returning Alive
Earthquake
Earthquake

The Spell Cards can also be categorised:
PROTECTORS
- Swords of Revealing Light
- Level Limit - Area B
- Messenger of Peace
- The Dark Door (To an extent)
These cards do just what their name suggests, protect the player. We don't always get the perfect draw with this deck, and it is sometimes difficult to recover from a deadly blow, so I put these cards in to help in those situations. The Dark Door prevents them form swarming us, but also prevents us from dealing OTKs so it isn't perfect. Swords is a staple, and Messenger works well because it doesn't restrict any of our monsters from attacking. Area B is good for dealing with the opponents high-level beaststicks, but immoblizies our Don Zaloog and Crass Clown.

POSITION CHANGERS
- Earthquake
- Stumbling
In my experience, Stumbling is probably the single greatest Spell Card in this deck, it allows us to use out Dream Clown as soon as we summon him, AND it prevents our opponents from attacking as soon as they summon their monsters, giving our Clowns one extra chance to destroy them. Earthquake is another good card, which I mainly use in conjunction with the Trap Card Tragedy, but it also serves as basic position changing.

WARRIOR TOOLBOX
- Reinforcement of the Army (RotA)
- The Warrior Returning Alive ( tWRA)
These cards are essential to a Warrior Toolbox, RotA lets us get ANY Warrior we want from our deck into our hand as long as it is level 4 or lower, and seeing as how the majority of our Monsters are Level 3-4 Warriors, it has barely any boundaries. tWRA lets us get our fallen Warriors back from the graveyard, and mid-late game, this card is just as good as RotA. (Don't forget that Dream Clown is a warrior as well!)

STAPLES
- Heavy Storm
- Mystical Space Typhoon (MST)
- Swords of Revealing Light (SoRL)
Incase you didn't know, Staples are cards which work well in any deck they are used in. MST and Heavy Storm get rid of the opponent's pesky face-downs, and Swords protects us (See PROTECTORS).

TRAPS
Tragedy
Tragedy
Final Attack Orders
Gravity Bind
Level Limit Area A
Labyrinth of Nightmare
Zero Gravity
Zero Gravity
Zero Gravity

Finally we move onto the Trap Cards, which, you probably guessed by now, can also be split into groups.

PROTECTORS
- Gravity Bind
Before I used Clown Control I used to run a Stall (Defense) Deck. I cannot tell you how useful this card is, most of your opponents will be completely locked down until they draw a Breaker, MST, or Heavy Storm. Plus the only card of ours Gravity Bind badly effects is Don Zaloog.

CHANGERS
- Final Attack Orders (FAO)
- Level Limit Area A
- Zero Gravity
- Labyrinth of Nightmare
Zero Gravity is probably the best trap in our deck, it activates our Clown's effects, it turns the Monster's our opponent is about to attack with to Defense Position, and it turns their weak monsters to Attack! Labyrinth of Nightmare changes our Clowns positions and goes well with Tragedy (See STRATEGIES) Area A and FAO are really good cards for combos ( Once again, see STRATEGIES).

CLEARERS
- Tragedy
As I mentioned before, Tragedy is like a Raigeki in this deck, just look at the possibilities.
Earthquake + Tragedy = Raigeki
Labyrinth of Nightmare + Tragedy = Raigeki
Zero Gravity (Some times) + Tragedy = Raigeki
This card is awesome!

Now that we have been through the cards in the deck, lets look at some of the combos we can pull of.

STRATEGIES
TRAGEDY + (ANY POSITION CHANGER)
Tragedy has some of the best Combos, combine it with most of the Position Changing cards in this deck for an instant Raigeki.

AREA A/FAO + Labyrinth of Nightare + Dream Clown
Given that you have a good defence, this combo can be really annoying for the opponent. Dream Clown is always ready to attack, and at the end of each of your turns, your Opponent loses a monster!

Marauding Captain + Exiled Force/D.D. Warrior Lady
Good if your opponent only has one monster on the field, Summon Marauding, Summon D.D. or Exiled, destroy their monster and attack directly with Marauding for 1200 points of damage.

Swarm of Scarabs + Stumbling
Opponent summons monster, Stumbling changes it to Defence, Swarm kills it and attacks directly, the cycle starts over. If your opponent has used up all their Spell/Trap removal, and cards which allow you to summon twice in the same turn, this combo can be devestating.

Dream Clown + Stumbling
Simple, summon Dream Clown and destroy a monster. Easiest combo you can pull off.

The Dark Door + Mataza the Zapper
The Dark Door's effect states "Both players can only attack with 1 monster during their respective Battle Phases", so Mataza's double attacking effect isn't stopped by the Dark Door, not so much a combo as it is a thing to keep in mind while dueling.

If you can think of more combos, E-mail them to GrimTuesday@hotmail.com and I will add them to the list!

CONCLUSION
While Clown Control doesn't stand up to a well built Twilight, Dark Armed Dragon, or Lightsworn Deck, it is a really fun deck to use and build, if you decide to make a Clown Deck, feel free to copy my Deck to the very last card, just don't go around claiming you designed it :D.

~Saturday