For the Duelist: Bouyancy and Fire Princess

[MangaFan007]

This is something I have been working on for quite a while now... If you are interested in YGO TCG you should read about this deck I cooked up. It works for me (100% win ratio in 15 duels against different types of deck), tell me if it works for you...


[b]Introduction[/b]

A Bouyancy Deck is a deck designed to keep your Life Points up. Those of you who have played Yu-Gi-Oh! games for the GameBoy Advanced have experienced first hand the power of a bouyancy deck, Anzu (Tea) uses them. This article will treat this kind of deck and we will construct one.

[b]Game formats[/b]
In the current metagame there are two types of format, advanced and traditional. To construct a deck, we have to choose the format we wish to use. Most tournaments will use advanced format. Note that when you make a deck under advanced format it automatically falls under traditional format as well. The format will determine the cards you can add to your deck and how many copies of the card you can have in it. This deck will be made under advanced format (just like all the other decks I make). To begin with, we need to know what are the limitants of this format. From the UDE website:

[i]Forbidden Cards (You cannot use these cards in your Deck or Side Deck)[/i]
Butterfly Dagger - Elma
Change of Heart
Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End
Confiscation
Dark Hole
Fiber Jar
Harpie's Feather Duster
Imperial Order
Magical Scientist
Makyura the Destructor
Mirage of Nightmare
Monster Reborn
Painful Choice
Raigeki
The Forceful Sentry
Witch of the Black Forest
Yata-Garasu

[i]Limited Cards (You can ONLY use one of the following cards in the Deck & Side Deck combined)[/i]
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
Breaker the Magical Warrior
Call of the Haunted
Card Destruction
Ceasefire
Cyber Jar
D. D. Warrior Lady
Dark Magician of Chaos
Deck Devastation Virus
Delinquent Duo
Exiled Force
Exodia the Forbidden One
Graceful Charity
Heavy Storm
Injection Fairy Lily
Jinzo
Left Arm of the Forbidden One
Left Leg of the Forbidden One
Lightning Vortex
Mage Power
Magic Cylinder
Mirror Force
Morphing Jar
Mystical Space Typhoon
Pot of Greed
Premature Burial
Protector of the Sanctuary
Reckless Greed
Reflect Bounder
Right Arm of the Forbidden One
Right Leg of the Forbidden One
Ring of Destruction
Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys
Sangan
Sinister Serpent
Snatch Steal
Swords of Revealing Light
Torrential Tribute
Tribe-Infecting Virus
Twin-Headed Behemoth
United We Stand

[i]Semi-Limited Cards (You can ONLY use two of the following cards in the Deck & Side Deck combined)[/i]
Abyss Soldier
Creature Swap
Dark Scorpion - Chick the Yellow
Emergency Provisions
Good Goblin Housekeeping
Gravity Bind
Last Turn
Level Limit - Area B
Manticore of Darkness
Marauding Captain
Night Assailant
Nobleman of Crossout
Reinforcement of the Army
Upstart Goblin
Vampire Lord

Now that we have this fact down, we can get to work.

[b]Gathering the cards and building the deck[/b]

[b][i]Gathering Cards[/i][/b]
The first thing we need are cards that will increase our LP. Here is a small list of cards that will fit this purpose. Enclosed in parenthesis is the pack and number of the cards used.

[i]Solemn Wishes (PSV-055 or DB1-174):[/i] This continuous trap card increases your LP by 500 each time you draw.
[i]Cure Mermaid (LON-041 or DB1-237):[/i] As long as this monster is face up on your side of the field, it will increase your life points by 800 points (WATER, Fish, ATK 1500, DEF 800).
[i]Enchanted Javelin (PSV-015, SDP-059 or DB1-077):[/i] This normal trap card will increase your LP by an amount equal to the attack of an oponnents attacking monster.
[i]Gift of the Mystical Elf (PVS-009, SKE-044 or DB1-073):[/i] This normal trap card will increase your LP by 300 for each monster on the field.
[i]Dian Keto the Cure Master (SDP-027, SDJ-027, SDY-023 or SDK-027):[/i] This normal spell card will increase your LP by 1000.
[i]Rain of Mercy (PSV-065 or DB1-180):[/i] This normal spell card will increase both player's LP by 1000.
[i]Red Medicine (LOB-054 or DB1-115):[/i] This normal spell card will increase your LP by 500.
[i]Nimble Momonga (MRL-086 or DB1-051):[/i] When this monster is destroyed as a result of battle, increase your LP by 1000 points. Also you can take cards from your Deck of the same name as this card and Special Summon them to the field in Face Down Defense position to your side of the field, the Deck is then shuffled (EARTH, Beast, ATK 1000, DEF 100).

There are other cards that match but we will keep our eye on this ones for now. If we check our restriction list, we can see that none of this cards appear in any category, so we can have 3 copies of each in our deck.

[b][i]The building process[/i][/b]
Before we go on, I would like to say that no matter what everybody else says, it is my thesis (and I have tested it on the past with full success) that there are no such things as staples (cards that are common to every ground and must be used or regret consequences), I will stay away from those. Now that is out of the way, we move on.
If we add all the cards in the list above to the maximum number allowed we would have a total of 24 cards. This is not a very nice number, because now that we have a strategy, we must also survive. We must filter what cards we want to use and what cards we do not.
First we want to try to stay away from the "one shot deals." This means adding Solemn Wishes (x3) and Cure Mermaid (x3) to our decks (6). To protect us from attacks from the opponent we have a good choise in our list so let us add 3 copies of Enchanted Javelin for a total of 9 cards in our deck. Let us use them a swarming/deck-thining technique from one of the monsters on the list, so let us add 3 Nimble Momongas (12). Now that that is done, let us try to do some damage to the oponent while we are at it. There is this little monster in Duel Monsters called Fire Princess (LON-024 or DB1-234). Fire Princess is a 4 star, FIRE Attribute, Pyro-Type, 1300 ATK, 1500 DEF monster with a little effect. Each time you increase your Life Points, the opponent will be dealt 500 points of damage. Now let us do a little math here, in our deck we have 12 cards that will increase our LP, by Fire Princess' Effect, 12*500 = 6000 points of damage will be dealt to the LP of the opponent if the cards were to last only one turn. Solemn Wishes will last forever on the field (until destroyed that is), so that will increase our chanses of defeating our opponent with only this card are pretty high.
Now, there are only 3 Fire Princess in our Deck, we want her out, and we want her out fast! To accomplish this we will add 3 copies of UFO Turtle to our deck. When this monster is destroyed and sent to the graveyard in battle, you can Special Summon a FIRE monster with attack 1500 or less to your side of the field in face up Attack Mode. This totals now to 18 cards. However, by its own, Fire Princess will not hold in battle, so we must aid her. Let us then add 2 Gravity Binds and 2 Level Limit - Area B (22 cards total). Gravity Bind is a continuous trap that will stop any Level 4 or higher monster from attacking, Level Limit - Area B is a continuous spell card that will switch all monsters with ATK 1500 or more to defense position and they will stay like that. Summoned monsters with ATK matching this criteria will be summoned into face up Defense Mode. Note also that this cards helps our Cure Mermaid.
Now that we have these monsters protected, we want to accelerate our LP gain fast, let us then add 3 Mother Grizzly (MRL-090, DB1-053 or SD4-005). This monster does almost the same thing as UFO Turtle, but for Water based monsters. It should be obvious we want to get Cure Mermaid with this card.
To accelerate drawing power, let us add 1 Pot of Greed (LOB-119, SD1-015, SD2-017, SYE-040, DB1-134, SD3-019 or SD4-018), 1 Graceful Charity (SDP-040 or DB2-EN095) and 1 Morphing Jar (DB2-EN104). Also, let us toss in a Mystical Space Typhoon (MRL-057, some starter decks) in the mix to have some spell/trap removal available.
The total count now is 16 monsters, 5 spells, and 8 traps. This raises a little issue. From the so called staples, there is Jinzo. Jinzo will nullify all our traps. That is not good if we wish to stall. So let us try to get rid of Jinzo (or any other annoyance the opponent might have). Let us then add 3 Book of Moon (PGD-035 or DB2-EN232) and 2 Nobleman of Crossout (many reprints, main are PSV-034 and DB1-089). Book of Moon is a spell card that will flip a Face up monster into Face Down Defense Position, and the best part, it is Quick Play, so you can activate it during your opponent's turn! Now, Nobleman of Crossout is a spell card that will remove a face down monster from play. The total count of cards now is 34. The famous Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of The Beginning pales to this combo as well.
To keep your monsters safe, let us add 3 Sakuretsu Armors (DCR-102 or DR1-264). Sakuretsu Armor saw some play during the period Mirror Force was banned. Now that Mirror Force is off the Ban list, it went back into the trump. When your opponent attacks, you can activate this trap, it will destroy the attacking monster. Now we have 3 slots empty in our deck. I always like to keep as close as possible to 50% monsters in the deck, with 40 cards total. So let us add another 3 monsters. Let us add then 3 Giant Rat (MRL-079, SYE-020 or DB1-045). Giant Rat is a version of UFO Turtle, but it fishes out EARTH monsters. Our objective with this one is to get Nimble Momonga. Grand Total: 40 cards.

[b]Final Statements[/b]
So, this is our deck

Monsters
=========
Cure Mermaid (x3)
Nimble Momongas (x3)
Fire Princess (x3)
UFO Turtle (x3)
Mother Grizzly (x3)
Morphing Jar (x1)
Giant Rat (x3)
---------------
Total 19

Spells
=======
Level Limit - Area B (x2)
Pot of Greed (x1)
Graceful Charity (x1)
Book of Moon (x3)
Nobleman of Crossout (x2)
Mystical Space Typhoon (x1)
---------------
Total 10

Traps
======
Solemn Wishes (x3)
Enchanted Javelin (x3)
Gravity Bind (x2)
Sakuretsu Armor (x3)
---------------
Total 11

---------------
Grand total 40
===============

The strategy is simple. Use the searchers (UFO Turtle, Motehr Grizzly, Giant Rat) or the deck thinners to get the needed monsters/traps. Use Solemn Wishes/Enchanted Javelin to increase your LP. Use Fire Princess to damage your opponent's LP. Use the remaining cards to protect yourself and your monsters. Note how this deck not only uses bouyancy, it will also burn your opponent's LP. This is not a true burn deck though. For a burn deck, wait for my next article.

[Nomura]

Awesome strategy, and deck. Hmm. How 'bout I give you my deck? I'm gonna have to limit my cards more, since I have more than one limited cards in it...

My deck name is "From Within the Darkness"

Zombyra the Dark
Trap Hole
Souls of the Forgotten
Backup Soldier
Feral Imp
Ookazi
Masked Sorcerer
Monster Reborn [3]
Dark Blade
Change of Heart [3]
Dark Scorpian-Meanae the Thorn
Spellbinding Circle
Hiro's Shadow Scout
Dark Magician
Dark Necrofear
Swords of Revealing Light
Sangan [2]
Reinforcements
Kuriboh
Just Desserts
Wall of Illusion
Reinforcements
Element Doom
Shadow Spell
Kuriboh [2]
Yami
Despair from the Dark
Axe of Despair [2]
Red Eyes B. Chick
Paralyzing Potion
Red Eyes B. Dragon
Malevolent Nuzzler
Mystic Clown
Black Pendant
Red Eyes Darkness Dragon [2]
Mystic Plasma Zone [2]
Spiritualism
Summoned Skull [3]
Hinotama
Fissure
Big Eye
Witch of the Black Forest
Swarm of Scarabs



That's my deck. Every Monster in it's a Dark attribute. My best strategy is playing "Change of Heart", taking control of my oppenent's monster, and then tributing it to bring out my Summoned Skull. I can do this three times, since I have three change of hearts and three Summoned Skulls.

[Jeebs]

MangaFan007: Nice solid deck. A few suggestestions:
1. Replace Cure Mermaid with Dancing Fairy (and replace Mother Grizzly with Flying Kamikiri #1). Dancing Fairy has the same effect, except that you gain 1000 LP instead of 800. It also has 200 more ATK and DEF. [b]EDIT:[/b] Scratch that. I forgot that Flying Kamikiri #1 only works with WIND monsters with 1500 ATK or less.

2. Put in more spell/trap removal, in case you run into a Bad Reaction to Simochi (a continuous trap that reverses the effects of LP gaining effects for the opponent of whoever controls it). That card could completely ruin your deck.

Nomura: Change of Heart, Monster Reborn, and Witch of the Black Forest are forbidden. Even when they weren't, you could only have one per deck. Sangan is limited to one per deck. Aside from that, 54 cards is a little too much. Try cutting down to no more than 46. That increases the odds of drawing what you need.

Here's my deck. I tried to make it a good balance of offense and defense.

[b][u]Monsters (22)[/u][/b]
[u]Level 7+:[/u]
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
Lava Golem
The Creator

[u]Level 5-6:[/u]
Jinzo

[u]Level 1-4:[/u]
Big Eye
Cyber Jar
Dreamsprite
Giant Orc
Magician of Faith
Magician of Faith
Magician of Faith
Mask of Darkness
Mirage Dragon
Penguin Soldier
Raging Flame Sprite
Sangan
Sasuke Samurai
Sinister Serpent
Spirit Reaper
Stealth Bird
The Creator Incarnate
Tribe-Infecting Virus

[b][u]Spells (13)[/u][/b]
[u]Normal:[/u]
Giant Trunade
Giant Trunade
Heavy Storm
Pot of Greed

[u]Continuous:[/u]
Level Limit - Area B

[u]Equip:[/u]
Axe of Despair
Axe of Despair
Axe of Despair
Fairy Meteor Crush
Premature Burial
Wicked-Breaking Flamberge - Baou

[u]Quick-Play:[/u]
Mystical Space Typhoon
Scapegoat

[b][u]Traps (9)[/u][/b]
[u]Normal:[/u]
Ceasefire
Magic Cylinder
Ring of Destruction

[u]Continuous:[/u]
Astral Barrier
Call of the Haunted
Spirit Barrier

[u]Counter[/u]
Barrel Behind the Door
Spell Shield Type-8
Spell Shield Type-8

Total: 44

Combos:
1. Ring of Destruction + Barrel Behind the Door: Lets me destroy a face up monster and do double its attack power to my opponent. It works well with Lava Golem.

2. Astral Barrier + Spirit Barrier: Astral Barrier allows me to redirect attacks to my Life Points and, as long as I have at least one monster on my field, Spirit Barrier reduces the damage to 0. Good for protecting my monsters, especially Raging Flame Sprite.

[MangaFan007]

Thanks for your comments, suggestions and for sharing your decks as well. Too bad the new ban list made the deck I posted illegal, so I will have to modify it.

To Nomura:
-There is a deck similar to yours called "Soul Control." They say is one of the strongest decks in the game and it won the Shonen Jump championship I do not remember when. It uses a card called "Soul Exchange" which enables you to tribute one of your opponent monsters instead of your own as long as you skip your battle phase the turn you do it. The deck then uses Zaborg the Thunder Monarch (lvl 6, 2400 atk, 1200 def) , a monster with the effect that once it is tribute-summoned can destroy a monster on the opponent's side of the field, making a good combo with Soul Exchange.

To Angel:
-Nice control deck you have in there, heavy on traps, just the way I like them ;). The issue with Dancing Fairy is that is not searchable, so I did not add it, but hopefully, your monsters will be well protected with all the Sakuretsu Armors, Gravity Binds and Level Limit - Area B. Yes, I am well aware of Bad Reaction To Simochi, I have a deck based around that card. Maybe I will post it later :D.


Now, here is another deck for you to try:

=============
Main Deck
=============

Monsters
=========
Thunder Dragon (x3)
Shining Angel (x3)
Hoshiningen (x3)
X-Head Cannon (x3)
Y-Dragon Head (x3)
Z-Metal Tank (x3)
Airknight Parshath (x2)
--------------
Total: 20

Spell Cards
============
Frontline Base (x3)
Fusion Gate (x3)
Terraforming (x2)
Nobleman of Crossout (x1)
Mystical Space Typhoon (x1)
-----------------
Total: 10

Trap Cards
============
Sakuretsu Armor (x3)
Formation of Union (x3)
Dust Tornado (x1)
Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell (x1)
Call of the Haunted (x1)
Ring of Destruction (x1)
-----------------
Total: 10

-----------------
Grand Total: 40


=============
Fusion Deck
=============
Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon (x3)
XY-Dragon Cannon (x3)
XYZ-Dragon Cannon (x3)
XZ-Tank Cannon (x3)
YZ-Tank Cannon (x3)
-----------------
Total: 15


The strategy is simple. Use Shining Angel to get Hoshiningen or the Y,Z machines on the field as needed. This will help with deck thining as well. Once you have the X,Y,Z on the field, fuse them (remember you do not need Fusion Gate for this). Discard Thunder Dragon to fish the other two out of your deck. This will help you get Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon out on the field and thin your deck as well. Hoshiningen will power up all monsters (they are all light). Airkight will help with deck thining as well. Frontline Base will help you with swarming. Terraforming will make it easier to get Fusion Gate out. Use your traps wisely to defend yourself and your monsters.

[b]Note:[/b] This deck is extremely deadly when properly used. I have beaten people in two (2) turns using this deck. Be warned: they might hate you forever after that.