Budget Beater #2: Final Countdown

For this week's Budget Beater I thought I'd put a deck that I've been playing all week and having some of the most fun ever, and for the first time in a while, built in real life. It's Final Countdown, and it's the most rage-inducing deck I've ever built. Here's the list:


3 Battle Fader
3 Swift Scarecrow
3 Zero Gardna
2 Spirit Reaper
2 Effect Veiler
1 Morphing Jar


3 Final Countdown
3 Pot of Duality
3 Upstart Goblin
2 Gold Sarcophagus 
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Dark Hole


3 Threatening Roar
3 Waboku
3 Thunder of the Ruler
3 Jar of Greed
1 Torrential Tribute

The first thing to say about the deck is it's price. With the recent release of Pot of Duality as a super rare in the 2011 Collectible Tins, it is really easy to make cheap decks run well. The deck mostly consists of Commons, some of which might be harder to find in real life, but should be a sinch online. The two Effect Veilers make up the bulk of the price, coming in at around £15 each; but the great thing is the rest of the deck shouldn't cost more than that in it's self.

The first three monsters in the deck are invaluable for any Final Countdown deck. Battle Fader and Swift Scarecrow do virtually the same thing; but both have different advantages. Battle Fader Special Summons himself; so he can protect from another attack the turn after he is used. Swift Scarecrow has the edge, however, because he isn't summoned he can't be negated by the likes of Solemn Warning or Judgment. One of the first things I learned when playing this deck is always use Scarecrow first (unless the opponent has an empty backrow). The next monster is Zero Gardna; he works well because his effect can be chained to cards such as Caius and Trishula, stopping them from inflicting damage, especially as my deck essentially makes me start playing on 6000 life points.

Spirit Reaper is the only monster which I don't usually see in the deck, and I can't understand why. It's so difficult for an opponent to get round a Spirit Reaper if they don't have the right cards. Book of Moon doesn't work; and my Effect Veilers stop things like Caius from running circles on my hooded Zombie friend. The thing about him is, if he survives one turn he's already done as much as a Swift Scarecrow would have, and the fact that he can survive permanently means that technically he's infinitely better than Scarecrow. All bogus figures aside, Reaper is a star in this deck, and I'd be hard pressed to find anyone to disagree with me.

The spells that I run are all standard place. Come tomorrow (when the new F/L list kicks in) I will run 3 Veiler over the Swords, just because it's so easy to destroy. I will, however place two in the side deck, for when I side into Burn Game 3. The Gold Sarcophagus and Pot of Duality help me get to my Countdown early, I think 2 and 3 copies of each respective card is enough.

The Trap line-up is also very basic. 3 Threatening, Wabuko and Thunder of the Ruler make attacking me very difficult. The are all chainable, although Thunder can only be used in the Standby Phase, so Heavy Storm and MST don't phase me. Another thing to note about playing the deck is that you shouldn't set more than 1 stall card per turn. If your opponent Heavy Storms you, you can only use one; so remember to hold onto your cards! The final Trap is Jar of Greed; a chainable version of  Upstart Goblin with no cost. It helps dig through your deck, but it can be replaced with more stall cards (such as Gravity Bind, Level Limit etc).

Hope you enjoyed the short article about my new favorite deck!

Budget Beater #1 - Worms

Welcome to my first ever blog. I'm Ethan, and I play Yu-Gi-Oh. Like a vast majority of the player base, I am hindered by the money (or lack of) in my wallet. But I've got on with it and managed to surprise a few people, and using my innovation and creativity; come up with some pretty decent, fairly cheap decks. Today's is the build of Worms that I am working on for the current format; it is specially geared to stop plays such a Tour Guide/Sangan and Black Luster Soldier/Honest. Here it is:



3 Worm Xex
3 Worm Yagan
3 Worm Cartaros
2 Evil Dragon Ananta
2 Worm King
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Effect Veiler
1 Honest

3 Pot of Duality
2 Smashing Ground
1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole
1 Book of Moon
1 Monster Reborn

3 W-Nebula Meteorite
3 Threatening Roar
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Mind Crush
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Trap Dustshoot


The first thing worth discussing is the Monster line-up. Most Worm decks I run start with 3 Xex, 3 Yagan and 3 Cartaros. In my opinion, and that of many successful Worm players, the only 3 Worms worth running (not including King). Some may argue Lynx is good because he can help gain advantage, but in practice he's too slow. The play you want to start most games with is; Summon Worm Xex sending Yagan to the graveyard with his effect, then bringing Yagan out in defense for a +1. Cartaros makes this play super consistent and running 3 of each of the Worms also ensures that you get this play every time. The final Worm in the deck is King. King is a card that I run because I have to. I can special summon it off of W-Nebula, and use it next turn to clear back rows for a push, also fueling Ananta. He's decent in that he can be Tribute summoned with 1 Worm Monster, but overall, it's not worth running more than two.


The next monster in the deck is Evil Dragon Ananta; a card that has fallen out of favor recently. What Ananta does is it stops your opponent making plays. While he's there, it's pointless committing anything that won't kill it to the board, because it will be killed at the end of the turn. Ananta can also be used as a Win Condition, since the deck can't Synchro summon without using valuable Effect Veilers, or the Gale in the side deck, any monster that can come out with high Attack-points is very relevant. Thunder King Rai-Oh is a card that can be replaced for another card that might be more effective against the decks at your local tournament. I love Rai-Oh, however, because he's such a tempo shifter. If you can clear the field with Worm King and then summon Rai-Oh and let him sit there, your opponent is stuck. They can't Synchro, because they'll end up going -1 and they can't get anything from their deck to help them out of the situation because Rai-Oh shuts that down too. He's so versatile, I think he's an auto-in for most decks. 


The final, and arguably most important Monster of the whole format is going to be Effect Veiler, and it's one card that's worth the £15 you spend on each one. Tour Guide from the Underworld is currently being hailed as the best card ever, and I am starting to understand why. Every deck has monsters below 1500 attack, you name it; Zombies, Lightsworn, X-Sabers, Fabled, Monarch, Plants, and Tour Guide gives them a way to search any of these cards, while also putting 


1) A DARK monster in the grave for Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
2) A 2500 beatstick Xyz monster, or a monster than can search any banished card


Tour Guide is broken; which is why every deck needs to play Effect Veiler in order to stop it. Veiler also helps against Trishula, a card that most people throw heaps of card advantage into making, hoping to get a cute +2 off of it's effect. Effect Veiler says "no". It also stops BLS - EotB from attacking twice. 


The only Spell Cards that I feel are worth mentioning are Pot of Duality and Smashing Ground, the rest are standard for most decks at the moment. Pot of Duality is a card budget players like me finally get to enjoy. For just over a year it was a "Run this or lose to decks that do" card. In a mirror Match the person with Duality in there deck was way more likely to succeed. Duality is a card that ups the consistency of your opening Xex/Yagan play. 


Smashing Ground is a card that I expect to see a lot more of in the coming months. Jeff Jones (2 time SJC/YCS winner) posted an article about how useful this card is over at Alter Reality Games, which pretty much highlights what I'm about to say. With the ever-present Tour Guide/Sangan into Leviathan Dragon play, often times your opponent will end their turn with 1 Monster on the field, Smashing Ground can deal with this. The effectiveness of Smashing Ground is maximized my the usage of W-Nebula Meteorite. Meteorite has often lead me to a situation where I'm drawing 3 Cards during the end phase, summoning a Worm King and bouncing an opposing monster. That's a +4 (or +5 if it was a Synchro/Xyz monster). Using cards like Smashing Ground that are 1 for 1 cards (use one card, destroy one card) help to make sure that the advantage is kept. 


There are 3 Trap Cards that I will explain. The first is Threatening Roar. Threatening Roar is a card that I feel has grown massively in potential since the unbanning of Heavy Storm and the introduction of so many boss monsters (some decks having access to as many as 8). The scenario in which Roar is most effective is when your opponent  activates heavy Storm and you have it and Nebula face down. You activate Nebula in response to the Storm and then play Roar. Your monsters flip up (at which point Yagan and such can use their effects), and your opponent is unable to destroy them during the battle phase. At the end of the turn the drawing is almost guaranteed. 


The next Trap is Mind Crush, a card that recently went to 2 in the September '11 F/L list. Mind Crush is really good right now. Tour Guide/Sangan, as I have previously explained, is probably going to define the format, and Mind Crush is a really good against it. It shines in Worms especially as Yagan is bouncing monsters back to the hand all of the time due to Nebula, Mind Crush allows you to get rid of them and see what else your opponent has (as conformation). A card that goes hand-in-hand with Mind Crush is Trap Dustshoot. Trap Dustshoot is awesome now that the "Heavy Storm frame of mind" is back; people don't set their hands, people hold onto cards. And when they see 2 face-downs they aren't afraid to use Heavy and get a cheap +1. That's where Dustshoot comes in: You set up Xex/Yagan and set Dustshoot and, say, Nebula. Your opponent Storms you, you chain both cards, Dustshoot takes their combo starter (Tour Guide, Stratos, Lumina) and then later that turn you get 2 Draws and a Worm King. That's a +2, off of Heavy Storm. This won't happen always, but when it does, it's sweet. 


I hope you enjoyed my deck profile and article about Worms, stay tuned and I'll have another Budget Beater next week.