Winter's Dolls

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

 

With waifu being unbanned in the April 1st Banlist, I can finally build Shaddolls in a fairly competitive manner (not for a lack of trying)

 

[spoiler=Decklist]

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the deck:

 

The deck ideally likes to go second. You're running 7 Hand Traps (3 Maxx, 2 Ash, 2 Infinite) so the chances of you being able to interrupt your opponent's T1 plays are pretty high.

 

There is a fair bit of special summoning in the current meta & Maxx is a staple. It's a good Earth that can double as Naga Fodder

 

Ash is self-explanatory

 

You can go first, in which case your idea play is to make either Denglong or Winda and set some backrow. 

 

Dino triggers all the shaddoll effects. 

 

Draconet is a one card Denglong or Needlefiber. It can also tool out a light you need to summon Construct. It's also an decent allure Target. If you have beast, you can make Trish then needle fiber (Bulb). 

 

Galaxy serpent is a "garnet" except Draco works even if Galaxy is in the hand. And with Avarice at three, it's likely to be back in the deck fairly rapidly. 

 

Denglong floats in basically every case, so running one YZ just makes 9 Pillars live in case Deng is removed in such a way that I don't have a chance to activate 9P (Toon Cyber Dragon contact into Megafleet) 

 

Chiwen is a light tuner that can double as construct fodder and has a nice grave revival effect. Overall making it the most ideal secondary YZ to run

 

Mathman over Armageddon becase it can help make Trishula easily with Beast, it's a free Needlefiber that doesn't cost you half your life points (Bulb+Math).  And with winda limited, you might be stuck with a Knight that you can't do much with. Naga is at 3 for now, so you can always fusion summon the Math away

 

Allure is the deck's consistence. You run a fairly robust Shaddoll line up and can afford to lose duplicates of certain dolls. Combined with Hedge this means you can almost always have a viable target to Allure away. It helps you dig into your power spells, your traps, and so on. 

 

3 Shaddoll Fusion, 2 El. With Ash now at 2, and many Ash baits in the deck, this is the optimal ratio. Going second Shaddoll Fusion is a one card needle fiber with Naga (and one that sets up Avarice). Depending on your Normal Summon, it's can also set up Denglong and 9P. El is good for Damage Pushes and chaining on the opponent's turn, but given how ED oriented this format is, regular Shaddoll fusion has an edge

 

Foolish triggers half the deck

 

Your two best Fusions and your entire synchro Toolbox is full of one of's. Avarice helps you make that not a problem. It is sometimes annoying to draw multiples early game, but getting 5 monsters in the grave is really easy with this deck. 

 

Reborn and Soul Charge are combo extenders

 

Super Poly is just generic removal against everything not Wind or Divine

 

Transience is superior to veiler since it can be activated in any phase and the S/T negate second effect is fairly useful too. It also can't be Designated from the Grave. With construct at one, you don't need too many targets to summon it, especially when two of said targets are toolable from the deck. 

 

Dinomichus is all purpose removal that can trigger shaddolls. They also return from the grave as waters for Anon (the water Doll). You can use them for Synchros, links, fusions, whichever. 

 

Nine pillars is decent negation that works with Denglong. It's far from a be-all end-all. One counter trap doesn't go all that far OCG side, but it can help stop an Ash, or Cursed Seal, or Maxx at a bad time

 

Extra Deck:

 

Shaddoll Line up should be pretty straightforward, a number of my ED monsters are water, as is needlefiber, so Anon is live fairly often. Mostly used for pushing for game, but its effect does see niche uses. 

 

Grysta isn't as good this format as it was last format with Pendulum Magicians as the the best deck. Loss of the third Ash makes it a little harder to come by, but the Strikeblades can be damaged by it if they attempt to link through the Token or attempt cute Toon Cydra plays to clean the board out.

 

Winda Construct are the best fusions. You want to recycle them often and not leave them in a place where they get banished. Though it isn't world end if they do get banished. Naga is good effect negation and you run plenty of Earths. 

 

Trish is non targeting removal and quite easy to make in the deck

 

Omega robs cards out of the hand, can recycle spells from the grave, and undoes Banishing from Allure and unforeseen circumstances

 

Brionac is mass non-destruction removal. With Shaddoll fusions getting back the spells, you're in a fairly good spot to have enough discards to make a dent.

 

Denglong is negation and needle target number one (if you draw 9 Pillars, just float needle into Denglong)

 

Coral floats for just about everything, if your opponent has something like Dark Hole or you know your monster is going to get kaiju'd or cydra'd, float into Coral and net a draw. It's a tuner so you can make omega with Dino or Maxx or make needlefiber #2 at a +1

 

T.G. is quick-play backrow destruction. And can quick synchro into Omega or I guess Moon Rose

 

Moon Rose has actually dropped in utility recently, but it's one of the best lv 7 synchros for the deck and can't miss timing. Also being a light, you can push for game with Construct. If you summon it with T.G. it works much like a compulsory Evac. 

 

Needle just combo extends and turns Fusions into synchro fodder

 

Side:

 

Soul Release, banish 5 spells from the opponents graveyard to devastate strike blade. Duster and Typhoon are for backrow heavy decks. Pendulum Magician is taking a backseat at the moment and my deck is weaker to Altergeist, so I figured typhoon was superior to Cosmic cyclone.

 

Cursed Seal really hurts Strikeblade, hurts Heroes, hurts infernoids. Can hurt ABC. Really hurts Zefra

 

All in all it's a nice little card to have especially when my spells are easy to get back into my hand

 

(Current Meta below)

 

 

 

Evenly Matched is just good I guess? Just seems like a side deck staple, not really sure how to discuss its merits? It just has them

 

Anyway, that's my doll build. I've been wanting to do this for a while, and finally a format exists that merits it.

 

Edit: Oh, 43 cards doesn't really damage consistence given cards like squamata can really just function as filler and the deck thins in such a rapid fashion. Most decks OCG side have deck sizes between 40-45

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

 

Updated

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

So eventually settled on this build for the July format:

 

 

 

 

It's clean, consistent, has accessible removal. You struggle a bit against the Gouki lock decks, but so does everyone else

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In the October Format, I've looked through a couple of build ideas with the new toys that got unbanned or lax'd. Super poly is a card you HAVE to run 2 of. No real debate there, it's just too good of removal:

 

1)

 

 

Clown+ Dandy Build:

 

It gives up a little consistency to get searchable lights and keep the versatility of math

 

Works, but relies too much on the normal and can brick if you draw the cards you wanna search/mill of math

 

Upgraded form:

 

 

Pure Clown (swaped Brio and Riser periodically, but looks like Thunder Dragon will be much better this format)

 

Little more consistent, but drawing clown is still a jabroni. There's nothing really "wrong" with this build

 

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2) The Trap Build

 

 

 

This build is very consistent, you can easily get avarice live fast, more traps means that you can run the paleo xyz which turns dino into another hand trap. Weakness is that it needs to go first to get most usage out of traps, you don't wanna go second and open 2-3 traps. And going first in dolls without more protection is risky. Also Ash really hurts

 

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3) Thunder Build

 

 

Quick Avarice, constant lights since TD isn't opt, and good discards. Bricks of drawing multiple TD really suck however

 

 

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4) Spell Deck

 

 

More spells, cut down to 40, problem is altergeist here with Secret Valley, also you can have the reverse problem of drawing too many spells and no monsters

 

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Which gets us to the working model I'm currently on, this has the best results so far, Hertz can search/cycle CYDRA, cydra can remove annoying ED monsters and tribute summon over Iblee if needed. It's a searchable light (clowns), and discard fodder (Thunder Dragon).

 

It stops sky strike floating too. Overall pretty happy with it. 

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

 

Updated w/ Side

 

Few fun screens

 

 

 

 

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Somewhat struggling, the list was pretty vicious to the deck

 

Loss of 2x Math, Bulb and the second Needle are actually felt

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Darj]

Just fill in with an Invoked engine, IMO. x2 Invokation, x1+ Aleister could do the trick.

By the way, no Called by the Grave to stop attempts of Ash Blossom on regular Shaddoll Fusion?

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Just fill in with an Invoked engine, IMO. x2 Invokation, x1+ Aleister could do the trick.

By the way, no Called by the Grave to stop attempts of Ash Blossom on regular Shaddoll Fusion?

Only 1 Invoker? How many of the field spell?

[Darj]

Only 1 Invoker? How many of the field spell?

 

Was just a guess since you don't have much space left after the banlist. Run more if you don't mind going over 40 cards.

Although personally I would give priority to Called by Grave. It also stops Maxx Cs roaming in OCG.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Was just a guess since you don't have much space left after the banlist. Run more if you don't mind going over 40 cards.

Although personally I would give priority to Called by Grave. It also stops Maxx Cs roaming in OCG.

So the Hertz discard loop actually works really well in Dolls

 

It can get regular Cydra, but since Hertz is Cydra in grave it can keep getting copies of itself. If you wanted a good light engine this is the one

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

 

Going for a bit more of the meta counters

 

A second falco clogs, and isn't as needed without 2nd+3rd math + 2nd Needlefiber to make denglong

 

With Sky Strike gone, a 4th cydra card isn't vital, but could be sided

 

Denlong, Chewie, Nine-Pillars engine took a hit with the needle limit, it's a fair bit harder to t1 denglong winda

 

3rd Construct is not vital, would run with space though. Same with Unicorn or Borrel Sword.

 

Borreload is honestly better this meta given the monster effects are king w/ salamangreat and thunder dragon

 

Battle is really between Allure & Avarice (consistency) vs Called by the grave for follow through. Will experiment more