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!