HalHornCorSec
05-13-2005, 02:52 PM
I’m back with my second semi-article. This time, it’s about the deck Kaiba uses in the Pyramid of Light movie. This is from the same source with the same translators as the Yugi Deck article. Now, let’s get this freak show over with:
Monsters (19, 20):
Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon (removed Enemy Controller for this)
Blue-Eyes White Dragon x3
Rare Metal Dragon
Luster Dragon x2
Des Feral Imp
X-Head Cannon
Paladin of White Dragon
Vorse Raider
Y-Dragon Head
Z-Metal Tank
Lord of D.
Spear Dragon x2
Familiar Knight
Peten the Dark Clown x3
Spells (16, 15):
Card of Demise
Cost Down
Dark Core
Dimension Fusion
Monster Reborn
Nobleman of Crossout
Obligatory Summon
Polymerization
Pot of Greed
Soul Release
The Flute of Summoning Dragon
Megamorph
De-Fusion
Enemy Controller (removed for Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon)
Mystical Space Typhoon
White Dragon Ritual
Traps (5):
Attack Guidance Armor
Cloning (removed for Pyramid of Light)
Return from the Different Dimension
Ring of Destruction
Deck Destruction Virus
Pyramid of Light (removed Cloning for this)
Fusion Monsters (2):
Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon
XYZ-Dragon Cannon
CARD OF DEMISE
[Spell Card]
Draw cards from your Deck until your hand contains 5 cards. During the Standby Phase of the fifth turn after this card was activated, discard all cards in your hand to the Graveyard.
OBLIGATORY SUMMON
[Spell Card]
Your opponent must Special Summon as many monsters as possible from their Deck to the field of the same Type of 1 monster they control on the field. The effects of the Special Summoned monsters that would activate at the time of being summoned are negated.
ATTACK GUIDANCE ARMOR
[Trap Card]
Direct an attack to the monster equipped with the Cursed Armor.
DECK DESTRUCTION VIRUS
[Trap Card – Continuous]
You can only activate this card when a DARK Fiend-Type monster with 500 or less ATK is destroyed as a result of battle. Send 10 random cards from your opponent’s Deck to the Graveyard.
Now, I want to get a couple mistakes straight in the movie. First, Deck Destruction Virus does NOT mix with Peten the Dark Clown. Sorry, Kaiba, but Yugi should have had 20 extra cards in his Deck. Also, Kaiba had one Dragon-Type monster in his Graveyard that didn’t power up his Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon: Paladin of White Dragon. So, technically, he won the instant he destroyed Sorcerer of Dark Magic.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let me assess this Deck:
The most important thing to note is what Kaiba takes out of his Deck to put in his precious God-Smiting cards. Enemy Controller—which would have won him the duel in several situations, mind you—and Cloning were given the axe. Not exactly what I would pick if I wanted to beat Yugi, but to each his own.
Anyway, on to the deck itself. And, trust me, this is ten times more playable than Yugi’s deck. It has 8 LV4 monsters with an attack of 1800 or more. That gives it strong Beatdown characteristics. Two of them do Piercing Battle Damage (“When this monster attacks with an ATK that is higher than the DEF . . .”). With only 4000 Life Points in this format, this is priceless. Overall, over a quarter of this deck can lead to the Special Summoning or easy Normal Summoning for several of this deck’s cards. With only four Tribute-requiring monsters, it already outdoes Yugi’s. With all the ways to Special Summon three of those four, and the pure power the fourth one gets in the movie, there is very little that can stop it.
The Spell Lineup is based mostly on the Different Dimension strategy: Dark Core, Nobleman of Crossout, Dimension Fusion, and Soul Release give this deck a little bit of needed Removal, Graveyard Control, and a ton of Special Summon ability. True, there’s a major cost for Dimension Fusion—but it is one of only 3 cards that would directly hurt the owner’s Life Points. Yugi’s deck had a lot more in that regard, especially with all the reusability.
Between Pot of Greed and Card of Demise, this deck has unbelievable one-sided Draw Power. Combine that with Peten the Dark Clown and Paladin of White Dragon’s Deck Thinning abilities, and you have one very speedy deck.
Now, enough promoting Kaiba’s PoL deck (vastly superior to Yugi’s, I will say again). Let’s look at the bad points:
You have 19, which becomes 20, monsters. That’s bad, given the deck structure. You have 1 Nomi Monster with a very restrictive Summoning Condition. That’s bad. You have 3 monsters requiring 2 Tributes. That’s bad. You have Rare Metal Dragon’s restrictions, some weak monsters, and some very situational cards. And, a card that doesn’t work with a single card in this deck. That’s very bad.
Anyway, this is a rather short review, as there are far fewer things to complain about than my last article. This deck, by anime standards, is okay—but just not up to, say, the Battle City and KC Grand Prix deck level. But, it sure kills the Yugi PoL deck, for many obvious reasons.
Why would they make a Yugi Deck that was so obviously . . . beatable, and then give Kaiba-boy the almost playable deck? Who designed that horrid duel, anyway?
Well, 3.5/5, because it is actually descent for Kaiba’s standards. I just wouldn’t recommend it if you weren’t planning on facing and beating the God Cards, if all the cards retain their anime effects. And, of course, the KC Grand Prix is the grand-daddy of all Kaiba Decks.
Later.
Monsters (19, 20):
Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon (removed Enemy Controller for this)
Blue-Eyes White Dragon x3
Rare Metal Dragon
Luster Dragon x2
Des Feral Imp
X-Head Cannon
Paladin of White Dragon
Vorse Raider
Y-Dragon Head
Z-Metal Tank
Lord of D.
Spear Dragon x2
Familiar Knight
Peten the Dark Clown x3
Spells (16, 15):
Card of Demise
Cost Down
Dark Core
Dimension Fusion
Monster Reborn
Nobleman of Crossout
Obligatory Summon
Polymerization
Pot of Greed
Soul Release
The Flute of Summoning Dragon
Megamorph
De-Fusion
Enemy Controller (removed for Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon)
Mystical Space Typhoon
White Dragon Ritual
Traps (5):
Attack Guidance Armor
Cloning (removed for Pyramid of Light)
Return from the Different Dimension
Ring of Destruction
Deck Destruction Virus
Pyramid of Light (removed Cloning for this)
Fusion Monsters (2):
Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon
XYZ-Dragon Cannon
CARD OF DEMISE
[Spell Card]
Draw cards from your Deck until your hand contains 5 cards. During the Standby Phase of the fifth turn after this card was activated, discard all cards in your hand to the Graveyard.
OBLIGATORY SUMMON
[Spell Card]
Your opponent must Special Summon as many monsters as possible from their Deck to the field of the same Type of 1 monster they control on the field. The effects of the Special Summoned monsters that would activate at the time of being summoned are negated.
ATTACK GUIDANCE ARMOR
[Trap Card]
Direct an attack to the monster equipped with the Cursed Armor.
DECK DESTRUCTION VIRUS
[Trap Card – Continuous]
You can only activate this card when a DARK Fiend-Type monster with 500 or less ATK is destroyed as a result of battle. Send 10 random cards from your opponent’s Deck to the Graveyard.
Now, I want to get a couple mistakes straight in the movie. First, Deck Destruction Virus does NOT mix with Peten the Dark Clown. Sorry, Kaiba, but Yugi should have had 20 extra cards in his Deck. Also, Kaiba had one Dragon-Type monster in his Graveyard that didn’t power up his Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon: Paladin of White Dragon. So, technically, he won the instant he destroyed Sorcerer of Dark Magic.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let me assess this Deck:
The most important thing to note is what Kaiba takes out of his Deck to put in his precious God-Smiting cards. Enemy Controller—which would have won him the duel in several situations, mind you—and Cloning were given the axe. Not exactly what I would pick if I wanted to beat Yugi, but to each his own.
Anyway, on to the deck itself. And, trust me, this is ten times more playable than Yugi’s deck. It has 8 LV4 monsters with an attack of 1800 or more. That gives it strong Beatdown characteristics. Two of them do Piercing Battle Damage (“When this monster attacks with an ATK that is higher than the DEF . . .”). With only 4000 Life Points in this format, this is priceless. Overall, over a quarter of this deck can lead to the Special Summoning or easy Normal Summoning for several of this deck’s cards. With only four Tribute-requiring monsters, it already outdoes Yugi’s. With all the ways to Special Summon three of those four, and the pure power the fourth one gets in the movie, there is very little that can stop it.
The Spell Lineup is based mostly on the Different Dimension strategy: Dark Core, Nobleman of Crossout, Dimension Fusion, and Soul Release give this deck a little bit of needed Removal, Graveyard Control, and a ton of Special Summon ability. True, there’s a major cost for Dimension Fusion—but it is one of only 3 cards that would directly hurt the owner’s Life Points. Yugi’s deck had a lot more in that regard, especially with all the reusability.
Between Pot of Greed and Card of Demise, this deck has unbelievable one-sided Draw Power. Combine that with Peten the Dark Clown and Paladin of White Dragon’s Deck Thinning abilities, and you have one very speedy deck.
Now, enough promoting Kaiba’s PoL deck (vastly superior to Yugi’s, I will say again). Let’s look at the bad points:
You have 19, which becomes 20, monsters. That’s bad, given the deck structure. You have 1 Nomi Monster with a very restrictive Summoning Condition. That’s bad. You have 3 monsters requiring 2 Tributes. That’s bad. You have Rare Metal Dragon’s restrictions, some weak monsters, and some very situational cards. And, a card that doesn’t work with a single card in this deck. That’s very bad.
Anyway, this is a rather short review, as there are far fewer things to complain about than my last article. This deck, by anime standards, is okay—but just not up to, say, the Battle City and KC Grand Prix deck level. But, it sure kills the Yugi PoL deck, for many obvious reasons.
Why would they make a Yugi Deck that was so obviously . . . beatable, and then give Kaiba-boy the almost playable deck? Who designed that horrid duel, anyway?
Well, 3.5/5, because it is actually descent for Kaiba’s standards. I just wouldn’t recommend it if you weren’t planning on facing and beating the God Cards, if all the cards retain their anime effects. And, of course, the KC Grand Prix is the grand-daddy of all Kaiba Decks.
Later.