[kansashoops]

What is Soul Control?
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The Soul Control deck archetype was created by Evan Vargas and debuted at the Los Angeles Shonen Jump tournament in April 2005. In a meta awash with Chaos decks, Soul Control was a breath of fresh air, and Vargas rode his innovative deck to a Top 4 finish. Here is his deck list, according to metagame.com:

Monsters - 17
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3x Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
1x Mobius the Frost Monarch
1x Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys
1x Hand of Nephthys
2x Apprentice Magician
2x Magician of Faith
2x D.D. Assailant
1x Breaker the Magical Warrior
1x Tribe-Infecting Virus
1x Sinister Serpent
1x D.D. Warrior Lady
1x Sangan

Traps - 5
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1x Ring of Destruction
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Mirror Force
1x Royal Decree

Spells - 18
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1x Pot of Greed
1x Delinquent Duo
1x Graceful Charity
1x Heavy Storm
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Snatch Steal
1x Premature Burial
1x Nobleman of Crossout
1x Metamorphosis
1x Swords of Revealing Light
2x Enemy Controller
3x Scapegoat
1x Lightning Vortex
2x Soul Exchange

The deck was unusual in several respects besides being Chaos-free. Five tribute monsters (including 3x Thestalos, which no one was playing), three copies of Scapegoat (this was before the rule change that spawned Goat Control in the U.S., so 3x Scapegoat was uncommon), and two copies of Soul Exchange (another card no one else in the country was playing). The main goal of the deck was to generate card advantage at every opportunity, and the most important mechanic for doing so was the Soul Exchange + MonarchMonster combo. Use Soul Exchange to tribute their monster for Thestalos, and they lose a monster on the field and a card in hand. Use it to tribute their monster for Mobius, and they lose one monster and up to two spell or trap cards on the field. Maintaining field presence was also an important goal, and it was primarily achieved with three copies of Scapegoat, two copies of Apprentice Magician, and one copy of Sacred Phoenix, which returns from the graveyard if destroyed by a card effect. At a time when most decks had only two monsters with an attack of 2400 or more (Jinzo and Black Luster Soldier), this one had five, giving it an uncommon amount of firepower.


"Soul Control" Now
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In the weeks and months that followed, many people have netdecked Vargas' deck and many more have tried to make it their own by introducing their own changes and innovations. When you see a "Soul Control" deck posted on the internet now, chances are it will bear only passing resemblance to his original deck. The only thing that all "Soul Control" decks tend to have in common is that they generally run four or more tribute monsters, at least two of which are monarchs (Thestalos, Mobius, Zaborg, Granmarg), and two or more cards that allow an opponent's monster to be tributed instead of one of their own (either Soul Exchange, Brain Control, or some combination of the two). Everything else is fair game.

The most common strategy now seems to be to combine the basic Soul Control mechanic with an established supporting deck theme, such as Tomato Control, Warrior Toolbox, zombies, gravekeepers, etc. Some of these mesh well, and others don't. I have experimented with quite a few different combinations myself, and the ones that seem to work best are those that combine elements of aggro with elements of control, and which place considerable emphasis on maintaining field presence. The reason this is important now, as it was in Vargas' deck, is that any deck running 4-6 tribute monsters is going to get some bad hands filled with multiple tribute monsters. The Laws of Chance say that it's simply unavoidable. So you want the rest of your deck to help you survive until you can put those tribute monsters to good use. Some people try Soul Control, get an opening hand with 3 tribute monsters in one of their first few duels, and immediately give up on the deck. That's fine, Soul Control isn't for everyone. But if you design your deck well, and learn how to play it well, this won't cost you a duel or a match very often. The key is lots of practice and lots of testing, so that you can evolve a deck build and a play style that maximizes the deck's strengths and hides its weaknesses. This is not the kind of deck that you can slap together on a Friday night and win a tournament with on Saturday afternoon.

Building a Good Soul Control Deck
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Based on all the testing I've done, I'd have to say that the best builds are the ones that have good balance, placing equal emphasis on aggro and control monsters, and equal emphasis on generating card advantage and maintaining field presence. Below is the build that I am currently playing, which I have been working on since the October 1st ban list came out. In my last tournament (about 60 players), I lost in the semi-finals, due mainly to some especially bad draws in duels 1 and 3. It happens. Earlier in the day, I beat the 5th ranked player in the state with it. Anyway, here's the deck:

Monsters - 19
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2x Thestalos
3x Mobius the Frost Monarch
1x Breaker the Magical Warrior
2x D.D. Assailant
1x D.D. Warrior Lady
1x Don Zaloog
2x Mystic Tomato
1x Tsukuyomi
1x Sangan
1x Legendary Jujitsu Master
1x Drillroid
1x Magician of Faith
2x Spirit Reaper

Traps - 10
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1x Call of the Haunted
1x Torrential Tribute
3x Sakaretsu Armor
1x Widespread Ruin
2x Dust Tornado
2x Magic Drain

Spells - 14
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2x Soul Exchange
1x Brain Control
1x Snatch Steal
1x Premature Burial
1x Heavy Storm
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Dark Hole
1x Smashing Ground
1x Nobleman of Crossout
1x Scapegoat
1x Book of Moon
2x Enemy Controller

Side Deck
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2x Guardian Sphinx
2x Zaborg
2x Des Wombat
1x Possessed Dark Soul
1x Kinetic Soldier
2x Threatening Roar
1x Dust Tornado
1x Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell
2x Compulsory Evacuation Device
1x Metamorphosis

Unlike Vargas' deck, this one places more emphasis on Mobius and less on Thestalos. The main reason for this is that the most powerful combo this deck has to offer is Soul Exchange (or Brain Control) + Mobius. If the opponent has one monster on the field and two or more spells/traps, then this combination can generate a 3-for-1 advantage. The opponent loses one monster and two spell/traps, and we lose only Soul Exchange/Brain Control. If we used Brain Control and Mobius then destroyed a second monster, we can even get a 4-for-1 swing in card advantage on a single turn, which is potentially game-breaking. Obviously that's a best case scenario, but it's not terribly uncommon. I should point out that this shift in strategy makes a lot of sense if you look at the trap lists for the top 8 players at recent Shonen Jump events, versus those back in April. With the banning of Mirror Force and Ring of Destruction, and the decreased play of Jinzo, people have started running multiple copies of traps like Sakaretsu Armor, Widespread Ruin and Bottomless Trap Hole. Decks with 8-11 traps were unheard of in April 2005, but quite common now. More traps means more targets for Mobius. With Pot of Greed, Graceful Charity, and Black Luster Soldier gone, destroying cards already on the field has become more important than destroying cards in hand. There aren't any "broken" cards left to discard (which is why most people don't bother to play Confiscation), except maybe Dark Hole.

The "Soul Control" in the deck comes from the 2x Thestalos, 3x Mobius, 2x Soul Exchange, and 1x Brain Control. (You'll notice that the deck also uses 1x Scapegoat and 2x Enemy Controller, which are often used to produce a free Brain Control effect.) In my experience, it's best to have one Soul Exchange or Brain Control for each tribute monster over 2 that you have. 5 tribute monsters minus 2 means 3 copies of Soul Exchange/Brain Control, which is what we have here. Four tribute monsters is safer than five, but also weaker. Six gives more strength, but yields more bad hands. I would recommend stopping at 5 unless 1 or 2 of the tribute monsters can be special summoned. For example, 2x Thestalos, 2x Mobius, and 2x Cyber Dragons would be OK. 2x Thestalos, 3x Mobius, and 1x Jinzo is asking for trouble. I've recently started experimenting with a Zombie/Soul Control deck, using 6 tribute monsters, and it usually works fine because the zombie tribute monsters are special summoned at least half the time.

The supporting theme for this deck is Tomato Control. It runs 2 copies of Mystic Tomato, and 4 monsters that can be summoned by them: 1x Sangan, 1x Don Zaloog, and 2x Spirit Reaper. Spirit Reaper and Don both complement Thestalos with their ability to discard from the opponent's hand, and Mystic Tomato and Spirit Reaper help the deck maintain field presence. Sangan can search for 9 of the other 18 monsters in the deck.

Another point of emphasis for the deck is destroying the opponent's defenses. 3x Mobius, 2x Dust Tornado, 1x Heavy Storm and 1x Mystical Space Typhoon give the deck lots of spell and trap removal, and 2x Magic Drain gives it some spell negation as well. If the deck is generating card advantage as it should, Magic Drain will usually negate their spell card, and even if it doesn't it will cost them two cards to get their effect to go through, further depleting their hand. Early game, the goal here is to deplete their resources; later, it will be to allow attacks to go through.

Finally, the deck runs lots of defensive traps of its own: 3x Sakaretsu Armor, 1x Widespread Ruin, and sometimes siding in 2x Compulsory Evacuation Device in place of the Magic Drains. This helps protect the weaker monsters such as Don and Magician of Faith, but also helps clear their field of monsters so attacks can go through.

Playing the Deck Wisely
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When playing this kind of deck, it's important to play conservatively in the early game. What you want to do early is to use the Soul Control mechanic to generate card advantage and weaken the opponent's defenses, so that you can use your big guns to maximum advantage later. Obviously your ability to do that will depend on drawing the cards you need to do so, but with 3x Mobius and 2x Thestalos, chances are good that you are going to get 2 of them early on and that they will produce some 2-for-1's or 3-for-1's. Whenever possible, use Soul Exchange or Brain Control to sacrifice the opponent's monster rather than your own, even if you have a monster on the field and even if it means foregoing an opportunity to attack (you can't attack on a turn where you've used Soul Exchange). Make the duel a war of attrition, and remember that this kind of deck is prone to bad draws and topdecks poorly. If it's mid-game and your opponent has more cards than you and/or you are topdecking, you're in trouble. Peck away at their life points when it's safe to do so, but concentrate on conserving your own resources (cards in hand and cards on the field) and depleting theirs until you've achieved a clear advantage. Don't make a big push until late in the game, even if you've got a Mobius on the field, and a D.D. Assailant and a Premature Burial in hand (especially if they still have a Torrential Tribute or a Dark Hole in their deck or hand). You're running a marathon, not a sprint. Conservative early, aggressive late.

The Side Deck
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In my experience, it's important for your side deck to offer some alternatives to the main tribute monsters. I currently use 2x Guardian Sphinx and 2x Zaborg in my side deck, and I side them in in place of Thestalos against certain decks. Zaborg is good against decks/players that tend to swarm or overextend. Guardian Sphinx is good against decks like gravekeepers that are good at producing defensive walls made up of monsters. Zaborg is too, but Sphinx creates unique problems for most decks, and I often side it in after the first duel just to give my deck a new look and surprise my opponent. (I've won quite a few duels solely because my opponent couldn't get past Guardian Sphinx; I've not won a single one because Thestalos discarded something important.) It's not a good choice against decks running 2x Creature Swap, though. You don't want your own Sphinx being used against you.

I try to run 2x Des Wombat in my side deck whenever possible, because I still see lots of burn decks. 2x Des Wombat, 3x Mobius, and 3x Dust Tornado usually shuts them down pretty well. Possessed Dark Soul is good for stealing their monsters, and it's also good against Spirit Reaper, Thousand Eyes Restrict and Relinquished. I use Kinetic Soldier against hardcore warrior decks, and I keep 2x Threatening Roar for use against OTK decks, which like to use Giant Trunade or Heavy Storm just before they launch a major attack. Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell is good against decks that rely heavily on a specific spell card like Necrovalley or Wave Motion Cannon. Metamorphosis is good against decks that rely on level 8 or level 0 monsters. A good answer for Sacred Phoenix, for example, is to use Soul Exchange/Brain Control/Enemy Controller together with Metamorphosis to turn your opponent's Phoenix into your own Cyber Twin Dragon. (Lava Golem is also level 8.)

I also like having 2x Compulsory Evacuation Device to side in in place of Magic Drain against decks that swarm or overextend, or decks that run monsters that are hard to summon like Relinquished or Sacred Phoenix. You could also use Bottomless Trap Hole or Widespread Ruin instead.

You will probably have favorite side deck cards of your own, but the important point here is to use your side deck to provide answers for potentially troublesome deck types. A well balanced Soul Control deck generally does pretty well against most deck types, but it's a good idea to develop a side deck makes your deck even stronger against specific deck types without compromising the deck's synergy. When you add a card to your side deck, ask yourself which card in the main deck it would normally replace. Also, try to decide in advance which cards you would want to side in against a given deck type, and which cards they would replace. For example, when I side in trap cards, they usually replace the 2x Magic Drain or the 2x Dust Tornado, but against a burn deck that doesn't attack I would side out the Sakaretsu Armors and Widespread Ruin instead. When I side in monsters, I'm generally either replacing 2x Thestalos with 2x Sphinx or 2x Zaborg, or I'm replacing Drillroid, Legendary Jujitsu Master, and/or Tsukuyomi for one or two of the non-tribute monsters in my side deck. All of these potential moves have been considered in advance, and none hurts the overall synergy of the deck.

On a related note, one of the reasons I run 43 cards in this deck rather than 40-41 is that it makes it easier to sidedeck without hurting the deck's synergy. If I were to decrease the deck size to 41, I would probably drop the 2x Magic Drain, and then I would have a harder time sidedecking without messing things up. With a deck that runs five tribute monsters, maintaining synergy and balance is critical, and it's easy to disrupt it when you bring in cards from your side deck. I do that pretty well with a 43 card deck, but if you can do it with a 40-41 card deck, so much the better.

The New Nemesis: Dark World
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Any deck running 2x Thestalos, 1x Don Zaloog, and 2x Spirit Reaper is asking for trouble against a Dark World deck, which is just begging for you to make them discard from their hand. I was really worried about this at first, but after playtesting against my son's Dark World deck for a couple of weeks, I'm a lot less concerned. The most important thing to do if you are playing these 3 cards is to not discard from your opponent's hand until you know what kind of deck he's playing. If he's got an opening hand with some Goldd's and Sillva's, he may try to bait you into hitting him with Spirit Reaper. Don't take the bait. After 3 or 4 turns, you should know whether your opponent is playing a Dark World deck. If he is, follow these guidelines:

- Don't tribute for Thestalos. Set him if you need to, but don't trigger his effect.
- Use Spirit Reaper defensively (he's good against Dark World when used defensively), but not offensively.
- If you attack with Don Zaloog, use his second effect to pitch two cards from the top of their deck.
- After the first duel, side out the 2x Thestalos and possibly the Don.

Don't get carried away with side-decking against Dark World decks. If you avoid discarding from their hand, your deck is a tough match up for them. They are usually running 4-6 2300 attackers, and nothing stronger. You probably have 4-5 2400 attackers, so you have the edge in head-to-head battle if you can survive their storms and get your main monsters out. I can usually beat my son's Dark World deck even without side-decking, but simply replacing Thestalos with Sphinx or Zaborg, and maybe replacing Magic Drain with Compulsory or Threatening Roar, would make for a stronger matchup. I originally thought I needed to add End of Anubis or a couple of the Dark World monsters to my side deck, but I no longer think that's necessary. If their deck works optimally and yours works poorly, you will lose. Otherwise, you are in good shape with a Soul Control deck against a Dark World deck.

Building Your Own Soul Control Deck
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I expect most people will want to make their own unique Soul Control deck, rather than playing mine, so I'll close with some tips for doing so.

First, start the deckbuilding process by selecting the main Soul Control cards you want to use, the tribute monsters and supporting cards. These choices will effect what you do elsewhere. For example, if you decide to make a really aggressive build that uses Brain Controls rather than Soul Exchange, so you can attack more, you would not want to use Injection Fairy Lily or other cards that have life point costs in your deck, and you would need to be careful about using Premature Burial. On the other hand, if you are using no Brain Controls, you could build a deck that used Giant Rat instead of Mystic Tomato, and included searchable Earth monsters like Exiled Force and Injection Fairy Lily. As far as tribute monsters go, I strongly recommend focusing on Mobius, and then selecting two other monsters to go with it. Thestalos and Zaborg are obvious choices, but some others like Guardian Sphinx can also work well. A good zombie deck might combine 2-3 Mobius with 2-3 Ryu Kokki, for example.

Second, select non-tribute monsters that support and complement those tribute monsters. If you are running a risky build with 6 tribute monsters, it will be very important for the non-tribute monsters to provide lots of field presence. Mystic Tomato, Spirit Reaper, Giant Rat, Pyramid Turtle, Gravekeeper's Spy. Run in multiples, those kinds of cards can help you stay in the game if you get a hand full of tribute monsters, if you can get just one of them. If you are running only four tribute monsters, then your non-tribute monsters can be more aggressive choices. Even if you are leaning toward control, though, I would suggest including something like 2x D.D. Assailants to give your deck some firepower other than the tribute monsters.

Third, select spells and traps that complement the monsters and each other. If you are running 2x Don Zaloog and 2x Spirit Reaper so you can generate a lot of discards, you need lots of defensive traps to protect them. (Mirror Wall is not the answer, in my opinion.) If your non-tribute monsters are mostly defensive, you might want fewer defensive traps and more copies of Smashing Ground, which can't be Dust Tornado'ed during your end phase. And if you are running 10 traps, you wouldn't want 2 of them to be Royal Decree.

Fourth, avoid sub-themes that require lots of supporting cards. The worst "Soul Control" variant I've tried was one based on gravekeepers. By the time I put in my five tribute monsters, 2x Soul Exchange and 1x Brain Control, then added 3x Necrovalley and 1x Terraforming, I had created a deck that was prone to horrific draws. There were ways to make it better, but the fundamental premise was deeply flawed. More generally, be very careful about including cards like Creature Swap that are bad topdecks, and make sure that the potential rewards outweigh the risks. Wave Motion Cannon is probably a poor choice in this deck, for example.

Finally, do as much playtesting as possible. If you've never played a deck with 4-6 tribute monsters before, there will be a learning curve for you, and you'll probably have to alter your play style a bit. But more importantly, you need to test your deck to see what works and what doesn't. You are not going to get it right the first time, or the second, or the third. Even if you post your deck on the internet and get input from other people with similar decks, you still need to test your deck. Some ideas that seem good, aren't, and some cards that work well in one Soul Control variant work poorly in others. I've seen people win tournaments with aggro decks that they threw together that morning. That won't happen with a Soul Control deck. It's a fun deck type to play, and it can be as competitive as you want it to be, but it will take some time and effort to make it so.