Deckbuilding: Deck Ideas

This is part of a series of articles on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, written to assist players participating in the Cup of Greed tournament, hosted by Pod of Greed (the only podcast officially sponsored by KaibaCorp).

 

Not sure what deck to use in Cup of Greed 2024? I have a few ideas. Ranging from the barely playable to the (almost) Tier 1, here are thirty-nine forty deck concepts that have never appeared in the Cup of Greed before, accompanied by a brief description of each. And to be clear, this list is far from exhaustive; there are plenty of decks I either intentionally trimmed or just haven't heard of.

Here's what I've got.

1. Aliens

Aliens are one of those archetypes made before Konami knew how to make archetypes. Despite being centered on creating and manipulating A-Counters, they're very bad at doing it. Exploit their powerhouse cards like Planet Pollutant Virus and Mysterious Triangle, and crush them with the raw force of Cosmic Fortress Gol'gar, which you can do easily thanks to Alien Ammonite.

2. Amazoness

Even older than Aliens, and even more unfocused. Anyone who's used Amazoness Swords Woman knows how fun it is to reflect battle damage back at your opponent, and the archetype has some tools to facilitate that. Amazoness Village gets you stuff out of the deck...but there's not much to get. The Amazonesses are all EARTH, so they can be used to make the three amazing Naturia Synchro Monsters, if you can find the right Tuners.

3. Black Garden Shenanigans

Black Garden's halving of ATK and summoning of Rose Tokens makes them game very slow and grindy, not only because of the reduced damage players will be taking but because they will be Setting monsters to get around Black Garden. I spent a day tinkering with Black Garden nonsense, and here are some things you can do with it:

• Historically, Skill Drain Plants or "Skill-less Garden" exploited the fact that Lonefire Blossom and Tytannial, Princess of Camellias aren't negated by Skill Drain if they tribute themselves. Typical Skill Drain beatdown cards like Beast King Barbaros would be played as well.
•  You can make Vanilla Garden, which takes advantage of the fact that Tokens are Normal Monsters, to equip them with Amulet of Ambition along with some other Normal Monster support.
  
• There's Solidarity Garden, which uses Solidarity to give all your Plants (including the Rose Tokens) an 800 ATK boost. The downside is that you can't run any non-Plants in the deck.
• There's Mighty Garden, which uses Burden of the Mighty to instead weaken your opponent's monsters. Keep in mind that Black Garden halves ATK after Burden of the Mighty lowers it, effectively halving the ATK reduction.
  
• There's PACMAN Garden, which barely runs any Plants and mimics a DM-era Flip Control deck called PACMAN (Pure Advantage Camels Munch All Noobs -- yes, really). The actual monster lineup is different, employing monsters that can't be hit over by Rose Tokens: Golem Sentry, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and SUPER-NIMBLE MEGA HAMSTER seem ideal.
• There's World Tree Garden, which uses the Rose Tokens to generate Flower Counters on The World Tree. This is aided by Cactus Fighter, which interacts well with both Black Garden and The World Tree.

And I'm sure there's even more.

4. Coelacanth Fish

Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth can flood your field with fish to Synchro Summon with. The first challenge is getting Coelacanth onto the field (A Legendary Ocean will screw with the Levels for your Synchro Summons), and the second challenge is how few good Fish there are (with exceptions). Historically, this deck was called Fish OTK or Colossal Fighter OTK, and it would equip an Armory Arm to an opponent's monster and then repeatedly ram Colossal Fighter into it, dealing 2800 damage each time. This will not work in the Cup of Greed, because EDOPro uses OCG rules (at the time, the TCG and OCG differed on how Armory Arm checked the destroyed monster's ATK), so you will have to come up with your own end board.

5. Dark Diviner

 This is a combo, not a deck -- you'll have to figure out how you want to use it. Dark Diviner can't be destroyed in battle, and it rises to match the ATK of stronger adversaries. So it sticks around, and forces your opponent to "find the out". There's no better way to summon it than Junk Synchron and Dark Bug, each of which can revive the other.

6. Divine Wind of Mist Valley

So this is a deck I've only worked with recently, and I don't yet know all its twists and turns. The objective of the deck is of course triggering Divine Wind of Mist Valley by returning your monsters to the hand. This is actually harder than it sounds; there aren't that many cards to that bounce back to the hand. Several of the Mist Valley monsters, like Falcon, Shaman, Thunder Lord, and Mist Condor, support this theme. The best way to bounce is probably Genex Ally Birdman. When Genex Blastfan is Special Summoned (like with Summoner Monk), it can add Birdman to your hand. Then you can bounce Blastfan with Birdman, and use Divine Wind to Special Summon another Blastfan to search another Birdman. Synchro for Ancient Fairy Dragon, destroy Divine Wind and add another Divine Wind, and then you can do it all again if your field is set up right. If conditions are ideal, you can loop through all your Blastfans, Birdmans, and Divine Winds, and end on two Ancient Fairy Dragons and a third Level 7, probably Arcanite Magician (Blastfan is a Spellcaster). Keep in mind that Blastfan can and will miss timing when summoned by Divine Wind, if the monster that got bounced had its effect triggered, as will happen if you bounce Mist Valley Thunderbird.

7. Dragons

 The legendary lucksack deck. There are a couple different ways to build Dragons, but the core is Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and Future Fusion. If you draw Future Fusion, you win. If you don't draw FF or REDMD, you probably lose.

8. Djinn of Rituals

The Djinni of Rituals support Ritual Monsters with a two-pronged approach: they can be banished from the Grave as an offering for the Ritual Summon, and when used for a Ritual Summon, they give the monster a powerful ability. Djinn Releaser is probably the best, but they're all strong in their own way. Now you just have to pick some Ritual Monsters to use.

9. Earthbound Immortals

The EBIs are strong and relatively easy to summon, since they're ordinary two-tribute monsters that can be Special Summoned. And unlike in the anime, even though an Earthbound Immortal can't be attacked, having it on the field still prevents your opponent from attacking directly. But the Field Spell requirement makes them both fragile and even more bricky than they already would be. Mausoleum of the Emperor is an obvious choice of Field Spell, and Aslla piscu's effect also makes it a solid pick, but there are variant options in both categories (Black Garden and Aslla piscu works well together, for example).

10. Fabled

Fabled have effects that activate by discarding or by being discarded, and the core strategy involves mass Synchro Summoning. A decent hand can easily Synchro Summon multiple times on Turn 1. What you actually do with those Synchro Summons is less clear. Fabled is a complicated deck with a lot of lines and divergence points, but when it goes off, it goes off. Fabled Ragin lets you keep making plays (if you draw right), while The Fabled Kudabbi is resilient and The Fabled Unicore is a hilarious omni-negate.

11. Flamvell / Rekindling

A deck built on a foundation of three cards: Flamvell Beast, Flamvell Magician, and Rekindling. Beast can pull Magician out of the deck and make a Level 8 Synchro. Flamvells are an archetype tied together not by their name, but by being FIRE monsters with 200 DEF. Rekindling summons such monsters en masse from the Graveyard. This means you can merge Flamvells with other monsters that meet this condition, like Raging Flame Sprite and some Jurracs. If you want to summon Ancient Flamvell Deity, the best way is probably Flamvell Magician plus Instant Fusion into Charubin the Fire Knight. Self-milling will help put Rekindling targets into the Graveyard.

12. Fortune Lady

It is shockingly difficult to trigger Fortune Lady Light. The best way to do it is Future Visions. Use it to summon Dark (or Water, when applicable). The deck has incredible draw power thanks to Water and Fortune's Future (which can put a Fortune Lady banished by Future Visions into the Graveyard, where it can be brought back by Dark). On paper the deck is a dream, but the reliance on Future Visions and Light to get things moving, coupled with the Fortune Ladies' mediocre ATK, means it doesn't always work out so well in practice.

13. Gigavise (Supervise)

A deck with a Plant core, it uses Gigaplant in combination with Supervise, which is one of the only good Gemini support cards. If Supervise is sent to the Graveyard while face-up (whether the equipped monster leaves the field, or Supervise itself is destroyed), it will revive a Normal Monster (Gemini monster). Use Supervise to give Gigaplant its effects, which can then revive a Plant -- preferably Lonefire Blossom -- every turn. Synchro Gigaplant with a Level 2 to make Black Brutdrago. You can use Future Fusion to make Superalloy Beast Raptinus and set up your Graveyard with whatever Geminis you like. Supervise can be searched with Hidden Armory, though with a harsh drawback. As with many other decks of the format, self-milling with Ryko, Lyla, and/or Card Trooper is a great choice.

While the deck is called Gigavise, it doesn't necessarily require Gigaplant. You could construct the same overall deck concept with Doom Shaman or Il Blud, which revive Fiends and Zombies, respectively. Just keep in mind that Gigaplant is by far the best, because the Plant engine is that good.

14. Hero Beat / Gemini Hero

There are a couple different Element Hero decks that all have almost the exact same card list, but different names. I can't tell them apart, so I'm just going to call them all Hero Beat. This deck is lean and very mean, and centers on Elemental Hero Neos Alius of all things. Alius is a corner case of a card, combining high stats, eminent searchability (Stratos, RotA, Emergency Call), LIGHT Attribute (Honest), and he's a Gemini (Gemini Spark, Hero Blast). If you flip Hero Blast at the right time, you kind of just win the game. Oh, and don't forget to Miracle Fusion into Absolute Zero (or The Shining)! E-Hero Ocean is WATER. I wonder if there are any other good WATER monsters you could include...

15. Herald of Perfection

 If you thought Counter Fairies were too much fun, try Herald of Perfection. This Ritual Monster is an endless omni-negate: as long as you have Fairies to discard, you can keep negating your opponent's effects. How you actually win is your problem.

16. Inca

This is the deck used by Rex Goodwin in the finale. It comprises the Tuners, Supay and Fire Ant Ascator, the non-Tuners, Oracle of the Sun and Apocatequil, and the Synchro Monsters, Sun Dragon Inti and Moon Dragon Quilla. The goal is to summon both Inti and Quilla, and each dragon can then revive the other. The theme of the series is destruction: every monster retrieves something else when destroyed. This, coupled with the deck's ability to easily make Level 8 Synchros, gives it surprising consistency and deck-thinning abilities. You can also include some exotic tech, like Skill Drain and even Yubel...

17. Infernity

A difficult and luck-dependent deck, Infernities at this time are sort of between eras. With only one Infernity Launcher and no Xyz plays, they are far from full power. The goal is basically to summon Infernity Archfiend as many times as possible (preferably in a single turn), first to get your summon cards (Launcher, Necromancer, Mirage) and then your traps (Barrier, Break). The effectiveness of Infernities depends heavily on your deckbuilding, and if you're looking for an expert, uh...I'm not an expert. Fabled may be the most complicated deck here, but Infernity probably demands the most from the player.

18. Iron Chain

To be clear this deck is completely unplayable, Iron Chain Repairman just seems like it should be good. They're EARTH so uh...Naturia Synchros?

19. Karakuri

Another all-or-nothing deck, their centerpiece combo is using Machine Duplication to copy their Tuner (Ninishi, Nishipachi) and then producing a string of Karakuri Shoguns, with each shogun summoning the material for the next. If praying to hard-draw Machine Dupe sounds too consistent, feel free to add De-Synchro to extend the combo even further. All the main deck Karakuri are forced to attack while in Attack Position and automatically switch modes when attacked, which doesn't really affect anything but still makes them strange to pilot. I'm a big fan of the deck, but it's not for the faint of heart.

20. King of the Beasts

In Raging Battle, Konami released a strange trio of TCG exlusives: King of the Beasts, Moja, and Beast Striker. They received little attention at the time, but having played with the deck, I quite like it. King of the Beasts summons itself from the hand or Graveyard by tributing Moja, which can be summoned from straight out of the deck by Beast Striker, and can itself search Beast Striker (or any other Level 4 Beast). Combine this trio with other Beast support like Key Mouse, Lock Cat, and SUPER-NIMBLE MEGA HAMSTER, and you have yourself some real consistency.

21. Machina Gadget

You know, somebody won CoG 2022 with Gadgets (I wonder who that was...). Now, instead of just summoning an endless conga-line of dinky little guys, they can use their bottomless advantage engine to fuel the summon of the eternally recurring Machina Fortress. There's not much to say about the deck: it's simple and effective.

22. Malefic

I know they look like no-tribute Earthbound Immortals but it's an illusion. Your opponent can just keep setting monsters. Skill Drain doesn't help, you can still only have one Malefic on the field. Why am I including Malefics here, then? I still think somebody should play Malefics. I just don't think you should.

23. Monster Mash / Piper Chaos

Two distinct decks that I group together in my mind, maybe because I was playing both around the same time. Monster Mash is almost all monsters, running only a few utility Spells/Traps, usually three (Treacherous Trap Hole is a popular choice). Pseudo-traps like Gorz, Battle Fader, Tragoedia, and Effect Veiler are used as substitutes. The dearth of Spells and Traps lets you run unusual cards like Witch of the Black Rose and Gallis the Star Beast, and makes Magical Merchant go crazy. The deck has basically no bad hands, but also has few really great ones, and it can either take a while to rev up or stall out early.

Piper Chaos is a strange and strangely effective deck that employs Mystic Piper alongside a hefty complement of Level 1 monsters. Piper is revived repeatedly, preferably with Kinka-byo, to draw a card - and often two - every turn. The large number of Level 1's mean the deck can make a lot of Formula Synchrons for even more drawing, and since Piper is LIGHT and Kinka-byo is DARK, Chaos Sorcerer is your go-to boss. Piper Chaos can be played as a Monster Mash deck, but usually isn't.

24. Morphtronic

Summon guys with Celfon. Make them big with Radion. Double-attack with Boomboxen. Hope for the best. Summoning Power Tool Dragon helps somehow. People have a lot of affection for these little guys, and are able to get surprising use out of them, but at the end of the day...they're Morphtronics.

25. Naturia Bamboo Shoot

Technically someone played Naturias last year, but this is a totally different deck. Bamboo Shoot prevents your opponent from activating Spells and Traps. Not both players: just your opponent. That's right, Naturias are so bad that they can get an easy-to-summon guy that instantly turns off half your opponent's deck...and they're still not good. Joking aside, Naturias have a number of useful cards, including Cherries, Cliff, and Pumpkin, plus several of their Insect-Type members. And if you can get Bamboo Shoot and Landoise out at the same time, you kind of just win right there.

26. Nordics

Ever since the Nordic Beasts were first released, I had the sneaking suspicion they were secretly good. It turns out I was right, and Nordic Beasts are actually a highly competitive deck in Tengu Plant Format (the retro format around the release of Generation Force). But the competitive version of the deck is a little weird, and I haven't looked at it in detail. Regardless, the basic idea is that Tanngnjostr, Tanngrisnir, and Guldfaxe make a powerful engine all by themselves that can easily make Thor, Lord of the Aesir or (more likely) Level 7 Synchros. The Nordic Alfar and Ascendants aren't nearly as good, but Vanadis lets you access Odin, which is much better than Thor. Mara of the Nordic Alfar can get you to Loki and is...also an option. I've never seen the appeal, but I remember people talking it up at the time.

27. Ojama

Ojamas just sort of have a ton of stuff they can do. They're Level 2, so they're great targets for Junk Synchron, and Junk Synchro plus an Ojama can make Frozen Fitzgerald of all things. Another combo is using Instant Fusion for Ojama Knight. It can then be revived over and over again by Ojama Country, which swaps the ATK and DEF of monsters, meaning Knight will have 2500 ATK. And that's not all: you can also summon the Ojamas from the deck with SUPER-NIMBLE MEGA HAMSTER. The Ojamas have just one downside: they're terrible. Except maybe Ojama Blue.

28. Owner's Seal

A GX-era deck with a few new toys, this deck revolves around giving your opponent Lava Golem, Grinder Golem, Volcanic Queen, and the tokens from Nightmare Archfiends, and then taking them back with Owner's Seal and Remove Brainwashing. Tends to run a number of Continuous Traps, which when no longer useful can be gotten rid of with Magic Planter to draw cards.

29. Phoenixian Plant

A unique variant on Plants that exploits the immortal Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis, which destroys itself when it battles (and inflicts damage) but can revive itself during your End Phase by banishing a Plant from your Graveyard. You have a lot of options for customizing the deck: Amaryllis combos well with Black Garden; you can increase the number of Level 8's and include Trade-In; and there's my personal favorite, which is to run Naturia Cherries, Inmato, and Cherry Inmato, to flood the field and Graveyard with Plants. Self-milling cards like Card Trooper and Ryko (or Lyla) are highly recommended, to get Amaryllis and other useful Plants like Dandylion and Spore in the Graveyard.

30. Psychics

The Duelist Genesis debuted Psychics, the first new Type in the game. By the time the Dawn of the Xyz Starter Deck came out, Konami had printed a whole thirty-six Psychic-Type monsters -- which to be fair is still more than the number of Sea Serpents. Despite your limited options, there are basically three lines (which are not mutually exclusive) you can take with a Psychic deck: Overdrive Teleporter, Banished Psychics, and Telekinetic Power Well.

The first, Overdrive Teleporter, summons two Level 3 Psychics straight from your deck; you can use one with Teleporter to make Hyper Psychic Blaster, or use the pair with each other to make a Level 6 Synchro. Brain Research Lab eases both Teleporter's summoning and its LP cost. The Banished Psychics comprise Silent Psychic Wizard, Serene Psychic Witch, and Hushed Psychic Cleric, plus a few others, most notably Esper Girl. The moniker is somewhat misleading, because while they do banish monsters, they can't take advantage of -- and in fact are hurt by -- generic banishing cards like Dimensional Fissure. The last I have no experience with, but Telekinetic Power Well facilitates mass revival of Level 2 or lower Psychics (Krebons and Mind Master, mainly), and I believe is part of an Edison Format deck called Well-DAD.

31. Quickdraw Dandywarrior

There are a number of 5D's decks with overlapping lists like Debris Synchro, Junk Doppel, and Plant Synchro, and Quickdraw Dandywarrior is their prototype. It's named for its main combo, which is using Quickdraw Synchron to make Drill Warrior (probably with a Fluff Token from Dandylion) and endlessly recover resources from the Graveyard. As is common with 5D's strategies, self-milling cards like Card Trooper and Ryko fill the Graveyard with resources, and they can then be revived with Debris Dragon or Junk Synchron. One excellent tech choice is including Volcanic Shell, which thins the deck and helps maintain hand advantage.

32. Reactors

Are terrible. The individual members have low scores and burn effects that are unlikely to activate more than once, if that. And Summon Reactor SK is a Level 5, so gathering them all to make Flying Fortress SKYFIRE, an actual good card, is very hard. For best results, I suggest running Black Salvo and mixing them with the Genex Allies (notably Crusher). Black Salvo plus either a Cyber Dragon or an Instant Fusion can make Dark Flattop.

33. Reptilianne

I spent a few days trying to lab out a way to make Reptiliannes even remotely playable. I did not succeed. An archetype that turns your opponent's monsters' ATK to zero sounds great, and they have a lot of cards that look good on paper (Viper, Scylla, Vaskii, Hydra, even Naga and Gardna), but in practice they're a disaster. I made Beast Reptilianne, which uses SUPER-NIMBLE MEGA HAMSTER to fetch Sea Koala, to turn an enemy to 0 ATK and steal it with Viper. I made Reptilianne Ojama, so that Ojama Blue can fetch Ojama Trio, which Reptilianne Hydra can then destroy and draw me three cards. It all sucks. I've started to think that maybe the deck's best strategy really is just equipping Gorgon with Molting Escape and ramming it into your opponent's monsters...

34. Skull Servant

3 Skull Servant, 3 King of the Skull Servants, 3 Lady in Wight, 3 Wightmare. Your King of the Skull Servants can have 11,000 ATK now. One for One can summon King straight out of the deck. Pride of the Weak...I don't know, it has Skull Servant in the art, it must be useful somehow. Surely this deck is good now. Right?

35. Sky Scourge

I know people are cooking something with Sky Scourge Norleras in Edison Format, but I don't know what it is. Norleras is the most notable of the Sky Scourges, being a legal Chaos Emperor Dragon, but Invicil is also interesting, being either Jinzo or Spell Canceler. Enrise is just Chaos Sorcerer with a steeper summoning cost, and probably isn't worth running. The challenge is finding the balance of LIGHT Fairies and DARK Fiends, and getting them into the Graveyard fast enough, and getting Norleras into your hand. Another option is to just copy Norleras with Phantom of Chaos.

36. Spell Counters

There are a number of strategies you can use that revolve around the accumulation of Spell Counters, all benefiting from the Magical Citadel of Endymion, a Field Spell that aids Spell Counter strategies in three different ways and is almost impossible to dislodge from the field. To generate Spell Counters you will of course need a lot of Spell Cards. Spell Power Grasp, Upstart Goblin, and Toon Table of Contents (which can search itself, letting you play three copies in one turn) are common includes.

Arcanite Magician is undoubtedly the best Spellcaster Synchro and makes use of Spell Counters for its destruction effect, making it as good or better that Black Rose Dragon in the right circumstances. The best way to make it is probably Instant Fusion (for Musician King) with a Level 2 Tuner, which you can use easily revive with Magical Exemplar. It can also be upgraded into Arcanite Magician/Assault Mode, and Arcane Apprentice -- a Tuner that searches Assault Mode Activate when used to Synchro -- happens to be Level 2. Another powerful Spellcaster Synchro, which is easier to summon but tougher to use, is Tempest Magician. She can convert cards in hand into Spell Counters, and also clear the field of Spell Counters to inflict massive burn damage. Any Spellcaster Synchro can be used to make the Supreme Arcanite Magician, which can easily be made with Miracle Synchro Fusion.

37. Spiders

To be clear, Spiders are even worse than Reptiliannes. Mother Spider is theoretically the best card in the series, but it limits you to using nothing but Insects. There is only one Insect-Type Synchro, Underground Arachnid, which to be fair is a decent card. It requires a DARK Tuner, and in turn there's only one DARK Insect Tuner: Infernity Beetle. Just so you know. The other promising Spider to me is Informer Spider, which steals an opponent's Defense Position monster (permanently, not just for the turn) when it's sent from the field to the Graveyard by a card effect. You can trigger this by reviving Informer Spider with Limit Reverse and then switching Informer to defense, so that Limit Reverse destroys it.

38. Timeater Stun

So this is a goofy deck that uses Timeater in combination with Terminal World to skip your opponent's entire turn. When Timeater destroys a monster, it skips your opponent's next Main Phase 1. Now, you can still enter Main Phase 2 as long as you've conducted a Battle Phase, and you can enter Battle Phase even if you have nothing to attack with, so normally losing MP1 isn't much of a setback. But Terminal World prevents both players from conducting their MP2, so together with Timeater it skips both Main Phases, leaving your opponent with nothing but a Battle Phase. And if they have nothing to attack with... I've never used this deck, I just thought it was funny, so if you want a more in-depth look I'll let the Mr. Joseph Rothschild himself explain.

39. T.G.

The T.G. (short for Tech Genus and/or TransGender) are an unusual archetype. In theory, they're a high-speed Synchro deck, and to be fair, their Synchros are pretty good. But they're actually better as a your-opponent-doesn't-get-to-play deck called T.G. Stun. It grinds down the opponent with anti-meta cards and an arsenal of Traps, while maintaining advantage with the T.G.'s ability to replace themselves when destroyed, as well as Horn of the Phantom Beast. This is supplemented with TG1-EM1, a better Creature Swap exclusive to T.G., as well as Skill Drain.

40. Worms

There's a Worm for every letter of the alphabet. With so many members, there must be lots of ways to play the deck. Well, about that... Worm Xex and Yagan form an incredible combo, and are an absolute must. Worm Cartaros is a respectable searcher which can be recycled under the right circumstances. Worm King and Queen can be summoned with the ridiculous W Nebula Meteorite. Worm Zero can be fused with Future Fusion, but its ATK and effects both depend on the number of different Worms used to summon it, and you probably won't be running very many. Stepping out of the archetype, Genex Ally Triforce can set a LIGHT monster from your Graveyard every turn. The best way to summon it is Genex Ally Birdman, which can also recycle the flip effects of your Worms.

And there you have it. This isn't everything you can play (not by a long shot) and it isn't even all the dumb decks I've cooked up.

Happy dueling, and don't forget to rev it up!