It's a TRAP!

A while back I posted about how Chain Whirlwind is excellent tech in a format where people spam Mystical Space Typhoon like there's no tomorrow. Unfortunately as time progressed players have begun to realize the potency of Trap Stun to better protect their plays. Running into the occasional Jinzo also completely fazes Chain Whirlwind. Facing such situations I went back and looked at some builds I ran in the past for some ideas to counterattack this situation. It was then I rediscovered this beauty:

Back around the time just before Synchro Monsters were introduced to the TCG I experimented with a deck that focused on cards that punished my opponents when my cards were destroyed. In addition to Dark Coffin I ran cards such as Smoke Grenade of the Thief and Blast with Chain. Gearfried the Iron Knight and Kuraz the Light Monarch made the deck flow nice and smoothly. The ultimate reason I scrapped the deck was because I ran mono-Warriors and it was difficult to search for the appropriate monster in certain situations when Reinforcement of the Army was limited. Another problem was the limited amount of self S/T removal as many of the cards typically used for such purposes (MST and Heavy Storm) were limited at the time. After a few trial runs I took the deck apart and stored them away.

The game has gone through many changes since then. Now we have the newly reprinted Gold Sarcophagus  at our disposal, meaning that a set Dark Coffin that manages to survive destruction for two turns can serve as fodder for Kuraz without having to lose card advantage. DREV also introduced Double Cyclone which can set off Dark Coffin whenever you wish.

Still not convinced?

Well what if I told you that Dark Coffin cannot have it's effects negated by Jinzo, Royal Decree, Trap Stun, Thought Ruler Archfiend, Stardust Dragon, Prime Material Dragon, My Body as a Shield or any Counter Trap?

Not bad now eh?

Remember players, the game ends with you.

Double or Nothing

With Heavy Storm now banned, I've been seeing a LOT of Mystical Space Typhoon spamming now that the latter's been semi-limited. The solution? Chain Whirlwind.

I'll admit, I was surprised when most players overlooked this common card in Duelist Revolution, but it's quickly proved to be quite potent. In an age where player set without fear, turning your opponent's 1-for-1 removal into a 2-for-3 can be quite devastating, if not unexpected.

It certainly makes up for the lack of mass S/T removal, though there are other options. The newly unlimited Black Rose Dragon also comes to mind, though you'll need to watch out for Starlight Road.

Remember players, the game ends with you.

UPDATE: Apparently teching a copy of Chain Whirlwind in your Six Samurai deck isn't a half bad idea, especially when Hand, Yaichi, Kamon, and Irou can easily fulfill the activation requirements.

Pineapple Express

Of all the Duel Terminal/Hidden Arsenal archetypes, the Naturias have been gathering a significant amount of hype. Between Naturia Beast, Naturia Barkion, Naturia Exterio, and Naturia Landoise, the group possessed numerous means of card negation at relatively low cost.

Naturia Beast (Beast-Type/EARTH/Level 5/ATK 2200/DEF 1700)

1 EARTH Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner EARTH monsters.

While this card is face-up on the field, you can send the top 2 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard to negate the activation of a Spell Card and destroy it.

Naturia Barkion (Dragon-Type/EARTH/Level 6/ATK 2500/DEF 1800)

1 EARTH Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner EARTH monsters.

You can remove from play 2 cards from your Graveyard to negate the activation of a Trap Card, and destroy it.

Naturia Exterio (Beast-Type/EARTH/Level 10/ATK 2800/DEF 2400)

"Naturia Beast" + "Naturia Barkion"

A Fusion Summon of this card can only be conducted with the above Fusion Material Monsters. You can remove from play 1 card from your Graveyard and send the top card of your Deck to the Graveyard to negate the activation of a Spell or Trap Card, and destroy it.

Naturia Landoise (Rock-Type/EARTH/Level 7/ATK 2350/DEF 1600)

1 EARTH Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner EARTH monsters.

 You can send 1 Spell Card from your hand to the Graveyard to negate the activation of an Effect Monster's effect, and destroy that Effect Monster.

Unfortunately Beast, Barkion, and Landoise are Synchro Monsters, with Exterio being a fusion of Beast and Barkion, meaning summoning enough of them to generate the lock would be difficult. When it was announced that Naturia Bamboochute would be released in Duelist Revolution, the competitive applications of the deck began to be reevaluated.

Naturia Bamboocute (Plant-Type/EARTH/Level 5/ATK 2000/DEF 2000)

If you Tribute Summon this card successfully using a "Naturia" monster as a Tribute, your opponent cannot activate Spell or Trap Cards while this card is face-up on the field.

With either Naturia Bamboocute or Naturia Exterio and Naturia Landoise on the field, a player would have a near complete lockdown over his/her opponent. Throw in a Royal Oppression and you might as well say "good game".

Some of you might be a bit apprehensive at the notion of getting Exterio to the field, and I can understand that. After all, it is a Fusion between Synchros and doesn't allow you to use Fusion Substitutes. However, there is simple way of getting it into play. 

Remember The Earth - Hex-Sealed Fusion? By Tributing itself and sending the other appropriate Fusion Material Monsters to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon an Earth-Attribute Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck. By getting either Balkion or Beast and then using the Hex-Sealed Fusion's effect, you can easily set-up half the lock.

What about Naturia Bamboochute though? It requires you to tribute a Naturia, most of which have lackluster stats. If you opponent knows what your trying to pull off, you may have trouble keeping your Monsters alive. 

Fear not, the geniuses at Konami's R&D department foresaw these problems and created a TCG exclusive to remedy the problem:

I know what you're thinking, and you are correct. Yup, Konami actually went out and made Plants their own Treeborn Frog. And it's even compatible with Snyffus too.

The combo isn't perfect I'm afraid as having anything other than a Beast or Plant in the Graveyard would allow you to Special Summon Pineapple. However, that can be alleviated by getting the Bamboochute lock set up first before bringing out Landoise. You may even want to forgo the Synchros and focus on using Bamboochute and Pineapple in a Plant-based Naturia deck. It really comes down to preference.

Remember players, the game ends with you.

Absolute Zero Barrier

Remember when the early spoilers for The Shining Darkness pack came out and players were hyping up Infernities? The archetype had amazing capacity to generate field advantage, primarily in the form of Synchro Monsters. Then it was revealed that in the TCG release Infernities would be getting their own Counter Trap, Infernity Barrier, which offered complete negation of all effects with the sole criteria of needing an Attack Position Infernity Monster and no hand.

Players went ecstatic. That one card guaranteed Infernities a spot as a Tier 1 deck. Now, not only could they swarm the field, they could protection themselves while they did. Many called it unfair that an already powerful archetype be given such an all-purpose form of negation. Well, it looks like the folks at Konami still haven't learned their lesson.

Paradox Fusion (Counter Trap)

Activate by removing 1 face-up Fusion Monster you control from play. Negate the activation of a Spell or Trap Card, OR the Special Summon of a monster and destroy that card. During your 2nd End Phase, return the removed Fusion Monster to the field in face-up Attack Position.

When I saw this card in the spoiler for Duelist Revolution, one specific card came straight to mind:

Elemental Hero Absolute Zero (Warrior-Type/WATER/Level 8/ATK 2500/DEF 2000)

1 "Elemental Hero", "Destiny Hero" or "Evil Hero" monster + 1 WATER monster

This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. This card gains 500 ATK for each WATER monster on the field other than "Elemental Hero Absolute Zero". When this card is removed from the field, destroy all monsters your opponent controls.

Think about it: Paradox Fusion can do just about everything that Solemn Judgment can do, though without the benefit of being able to negate Normal and Flip Summons. On the flip side, however, you get the cost you paid (the Fusion Monster) returned within two turns anyway, so the card is essentially free negation, without the need to pay half your Life Points.

Speaking of cost, since the Fusion Monster would be removed from play—and hence leave the field—if Elemental Hero Absolute Zero were used to pay the cost, your opponent would loose all their monsters due to Zero's effect. Even if Paradox Fusion were negated, the cost cannot be unpaid, so at the very least you would be able to take out any of their monsters.

Elemental Hero Absolute Zero cannot be Special Summoned, but this doesn't matter. Like the case with Interdimensional Matter Transporter, Paradox Fusion does not summon the Monster back, it merely returns it to play. Meaning that same Fusion Monster can be used to pay for more Paradox Fusions later in the game.

The card is a common in the OCG, but I believe it will be promoted to Super Rare at the very least for the TCG release. If my suspicions are correct, Hero Fusion decks will be making a huge revival within the coming months.

Remember players, the game ends with you.