Deck Profile & Article - Anti-Meta Gadgets

Hey guys, it's GuitarSlam,

Today I want to discuss a deck concept that I started playing around with after my Flamvellsworns weren't nearly as consistent as I would have liked last week. I had tested my Lightsworns (and then Flamvellsworns) for weeks and I knew what it could do. I made a deck profile on YouTube and here on my blog discussing the power and amazing combos that the deck had at it's disposal. Then I get to the tournament and it didn't perform well. Monster clogged hands, no real constructive plays, and just bad draws. This made me remember an idea that I had thought of last year: Unless you're fast enough to keep up with the top decks, you've gotta bring them down to your level.

It's not to say that Lightsworns aren't fast enough to keep up with X-Sabers or Frognarchs, it clearly is. If you open Recharge, Charge, Lumina, Garoth, mill Wulf, there's not much more you could have done. The problem is that that kind of opening only happens once every fifteen games. Most of the time you're getting a hand of monsters and few milling options. Consistency is the key; you may have a lot of speed but if you can't use it when it's needed, there's no point in being fast.

So I began wondering what I needed to do to be successful at the tournament. I knew that I could just chalk up the poor weekend to bad draws and try again but I felt that something drastic needed to be done. I thought about my theory on having speed and consistency and I realized that I needed to remake a deck. I hadn't played anti-meta in about a year but it was time to go back. I began remaking Anti-Meta Gadgets.

The theory behind Gadgets is that you're always going to have a monster in hand with plenty of one-for-one (1-4-1) monster destruction at your disposal. If you can manage to hurt your opponent's game plan drastically while putting a continuous steam of monsters on the field, you're in a really good position. It doesn't matter that Gadgets are a slow deck; they have the ability to drag your opponent down to the same speed. Being really fast and really slow do the same thing when you play X-Sabers; it levels the playing field.

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Monsters: 16

[2] Green Gadget
[2] Red Gadget
[2] Yellow Gadget
[2] D.D. Warrior Lady
[2] Legendary Jujitsu Master
[1] Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
[1] Thunder King Rai-Oh
[1] Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
[1] Tragoedia
[1] Banisher of the Radiance
[1] Wattgiraffe

Spells: 11

[3] Smashing Ground
[1] Fissure
[1] Lightning Vortex
[2] Book of Moon
[2] Dimensional Fissure
[1] Heavy Storm
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps: 14

[2] Bottomless Trap Hole
[2] Royal Oppression
[2] Dimensional Prison
[2] Dark Bribe
[2] Threatening Roar
[1] Mirror Force
[1] Solemn Judgment
[1] Torrential Tribute
[1] Starlight Road

If you're not used to Gadgets you may look at this deck list and go, "What? 14 Traps and 16 Monsters?! That'll cause too many clogged hands!" That's an understandable fear but don't worry, it doesn't happen. You only want to draw 1 or 2 monsters in your opening hand because the rest of the cards are going to hurt your opponent.

The Gadgets are included for obvious reasons; they thin the deck and give you a constant flow of monsters. D.D. Warrior Lady is more 1-4-1 destruction and Jujitsu Masters slow down your opponent by making them lose a monsters and stopping them from drawing anything new. Kycoo and Banisher of the Radiance are graveyard hate and both can shut down Infernities and any Frog deck. The tech monster is Wattgiraffe. Don't hate on this card until you've tried it. I thought it was dumb too until I got wrecked by a Wattgiraffe in a tournament (you can read about that in my last tournament report). It's a free 1200 damage that can get past big attackers that are in the way and it also stops Gorz if it hits first when your opponent's field is clear (they take the damage first, then Gorz activates. By then it's too late, Wattgiraffe's effect kicks in). The monster line-up is simple and good at what it does; messing with your opponent.

The spells are even simpler than the monsters. Smashing Ground, Fissure, and Lightning Vortex kills your opponent's field, clearing the way for your Gadgets to poke the life point count. Dimensional Fissure has the same purpose as Kycoo and Banisher. If you take the grave away from a lot of decks now, they fall apart. The rest are staples.

The traps are huge in this deck. They provide protection for
your monsters and stop your opponent's plays. Royal Oppression stops all special summoning (and since you don't do any in this deck, it's an absolutely amazing card to play). Bottomless and D-Prison are more 1-4-1 destruction. Mirror Force, Solemn, Torrential, and possibly Starlight Road are staples. The trap that no one expects is Dark Bribe. A lot of people write this card off because it lets your opponent draw a card. Who cares! If an Infernity player's going to activate Heavy Storm on your field of D-Fissure, Oppression, and Bribe, aren't you happy you can negate Storm? Otherwise your opponent just got the green light to OTK you. If you learn to use Bribe at an appropriate time, it's an amazing card.

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Well that's the deck, I hope you guys enjoyed it. It's really quite cool that a slow deck with a lot of cheap, common cards can have such an impact on the meta. Try this deck out for yourself, you may just put down your plethora of meta decks and come to the dark side (Uklazar would be so happy to know I made a Star Wars reference :P).

See you guys later.