Burning in Hell ~ OMEGALOVANIA [Shiranui; Last Update: April 11th, 2016]

[Blake]

Other Builds. Please read OP first, if you have not, before reading update posts:

Second Version

 

(Musical Spoilers, not story; OP is not responsible for other videos spoiling you. OP does maintain they are bastards, though.)

3 Goblin Zombie
3 Mezuki
3 Shiranui Sage
3 Uni-Zombie
2 Summoner Monk
2 Shiranui Spiritmaster
1 Mathematician
1 Shiranui Spectralsword
1 Zombie Master
3 Pot of Cupidity
3 Twin Twister
3 Upstart Goblin
1 Book of Life
1 Burial from a Different Dimension
1 Gold Sarcophagus
1 Foolish Burial
1 Raigeki
1 Soul Charge
3 Shiranui Style Swallow’s Slash
2 Solemn Strike
1 Solemn Warning

3 PSY-Framelord Omega
2 Shiranui Samuraisaga
2 Shiranui Shogunsaga
1 Archfiend Zombie-Skull
1 Revived King Ha Des
1 Red Dragon Archfiend Tyrant
1 Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Abyss Dweller
1 Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Number S39: Utopia the Lightning

What? You thought Omega was going to stand there and take it?

I don’t have as much flare with this deck as I do, say, Performapal/Performage, but I believe I can get the point across all the same.

First off, the basic goal of the deck is very linear; Make a cheap early Omega, then sit on that until the next turn. If Spectralsword is set up, explode. If not, revive/NS and poke with Omega + zombies, then MP2 Unizombie into another omega, hopefully setting up Spectralsword this time.

The important thing to note with this deck is that it’s really not about LP. Yours and your opponents are mere lategame resources in your eyes, and your game is about advantage. Despite the slowish start and lower advantage at that time, this deck is very much about renewing your resources while choking the opponent’s out. Twin Twister, RDAs, Swallow’s Slash, Omega, Raigeki, all of it adds to the removal and/or denial of resources. And yes, Twister/Raigeki are generic, but they still help with the deck’s overall goal.

That’s not to say that you cannot burst kill. Shogunsaga exists, so you definitely can. It’s just that you can’t really answer boards AND burst kill in the same turn, unless they’ve somehow lost LP (Think around 2500~ LP, normally), you use a board clear, and THEN Shogunsaga. This is why Omega is so important, because it keeps your opponent from rebuilding the boards you clear out. Multiples especially. In the late game, you don’t even need the renewal effect, because you’re too busy board clearing (Tyrant, optimally) and banishing their hand.

I’ll cover card choices, but then I’ll also go over other cards I considered and their implications.

• Shiranui Sage: Absolute 3-of. A lonefire that turns into a 1-card Omega combo as a basic play is insane, and it sets you really far ahead. Not to mention, Sage + Spectralsword = 3300 damage and/or a Level 8 Synchro, all at the cost of sage being banished.
• Shiranui Spiritmaster: It's not really great? The biggest reason you run it is for its banish effect, which goes well with Swallow's Slash, and it's not the worst card to have in hand for 1-card R4. There aren't many R4s, but they are high quality, so it's not that bad.
• Shiranui Spectralsword: I'd really only run 1, because that's all you need. It's very difficult for your opponent to remove it from your area of control, and it's a really dead draw, so you just need to dump the single copy as quickly as possible. That said... Cupidity MAY be a reason to run a second. Because you WANT to banish it with Cupidity, so that Omega can put it back ASAP, which is more important than the initial Mezuki restock, if you only have 1 Omega.
• Uni-Zombie: Versatile tuner and a foolish on legs. Hell, the discard effect isn't even bad, especially here, because it dumps dead zombies in hand/can allow you to double Omega early on, which pushes your farther ahead. Not a ton to say, though not nearly as strong to DRAW as it is to get off of Sage.
• Mezuki: i don't need to explain this, right
• Goblin Zombie: Synergy with Swallow's Slash is nice, as are the combos you can sometimes do with this/Mezuki/Uni, but it's one of the weaker links, in all honest. It just makes you less likely to crash and burn, even if T1 goes south, and can be really good once you get going.
• Zombie Master: You only need 1. It's not super amazing, but it's an easily found combo extender, so that's nice.
• Summoner Monk: Honestly, this is the optimal T1 card. 2 spells + This means you can go monk -> monk -> Sage -> uni, and then Uni becomes 4/ makes one monk 5, and can revive into double Omega, which means drawing Sword is less aids, and can also discard ANOTHER mezuki if you drew it. Alternatively, Monk + Spell + Mezuki is also double Omega, because Monk -> Sage -> Uni, uni mills Mezuki, discards mezuki (board is 4 5), revive Sage with Mezuki 1, Sage + Uni = Omega, Mezuki 2 revives uni, 3+5 = Omega. HOWEVER, the best scenario is opening Monk + Spell + Mezuki/Spectralsword, because you can then do the same thing, but end on a DEF Lv. 5 Monk/Sage (depends on setup) + Omega, and have Sword in grave with Sage. There are similar plays with GobZom, in order to search out combo pieces.
• Mathematician: While not as good as Foolish, a Foolish on legs is still better than no extra Foolish/Uni. It also can work well with Uni, seeing as how Uni can buff levels, and Spectralsword + Uni + this can become Tyrant, so that's sweet.
• Pot of Cupidity: This is a card you have to run 3 of. And the logic is as follows: Use the first one, consider the second one, funk the third one. Second one can win games with resource renewal, but puts you on a clock. Given the board/advantage management aspect, that clock can be very real. You want to NOT hit Burial from a Different Dimension, but you DO want to his Spectralsword, 0-1 Mezuki, and 0-1 GobZom. 0-1 Zombie Master also works. It gives you tech options, and so long as Burial is live/you hopefully find it, your Omegas can fish out the face-down cards instead of the face-up ones.
• Twin Twister: Removal. Puts resources into the grave, where they belong. Deck can die to backrow, and this card goes well in decks with Icarus Attack cards, so.
• Upstart Goblin: gogogo monk/sage
• Book of Life: This is a card I am really unsure about. The inability to play it T1 makes me really not like it, but it's good if you find it later. But this is a very Turn 1 oriented deck so... IDK, I really would not mind replacing this, but third Solemn Strike felt unneeded.
• Burial from a Different Dimension: Realistically a Monster Reborn at worst. Really good if you make Omega and have Cupidity T1, and fine throughout the game.
• Gold Sarcophagus: Lets you proc Sage/Spiritmaster, helps you find Sword/Mezukis faster.
• Foolish Burial: Puts Sword/Mezuki/GobZom/Sage/etc. into the bin. Broken.
• Raigeki: herp
• Soul Charge: Early LP payment for free Omegas. Mid-Lategame LP payment to nuke the board. You have a lot of Zombie-only attacking turns, anyways, so the no BP is actually fairly negligible.
• Shiranui Style Swallow's Slash: It's an Icarus Attack with bonuses, and it gets along with GobZom. Despite the theoretical asynergy with Pot of Cupidity, I have never actually had this card be dead due to it.
• Solemn Strike/Warning: Backrow. Deck can get killed easily early, so drawing Sage/Monk is well and good, but some extra padding is nice, as well.

Now for the Extra Deck, I'm not going to go too in depth, just going to give basic thoughts, with the exception of the bosses.

All 3 copies PSY-Framelord Omega are live and strong, as you can really burn through resources quickly, and they deny your opponent the ability to play when all together. The infinite renewability is nice, as well, given that there will be games where an Omega or two get answered. The deck's boss, easily.

Red Dragon Archfiend Tyrant is the deck's megaboss. You don't make him every game, but he is really useful for nailing the coffin in your opponent's game. Blowing up the entire board while using Omega to eat their hand up means you've pretty much won. The attack restriction doesn't matter too much, because you generally HAVE to use Uni-Zombie's effect to summon it, but it's not impossible, and 3500 is big. Just be mindful that banishing your Omegas in response to this means you don't get to renew banished resources, so you are at a slight disadvantage to your opponent's MAJOR disadvantage.

The 4 copies of Level 6 Zombies are... pretty much never going to be hardcast. You can summon Samuraisaga every so often, but he's still usually just a fodder for Sword to summon via Vayu effect. Ha Des is the best of the 4, and Archfiend Zombie-Skull is the worst, but he DOES synergize with Tyrant, which is the main reason for still running him. Sword + Sage plays can go into Tyrant fairly easily, so leaving a protected 2500 on the board isn't half bad.

2 Shogunsaga because I actually have to summon the second copy some games, though 1 is usually enough. Option is nice, though. And Scarlight is just the best generic 8 not named Omega.

The 3.5 Rank 4s are just utility cards. Abyss Dweller seems like the weakest of them, but it's still not bad against Kozmo. I just rarely ever R4, and usually need to go into Castel/Utopia over it.

And that's the deck as-is. But like I said, I want to discuss options/ideas, so let's go on to that.

[spoiler=Shiranui Samurai]

During either player's turn: You can banish 1 Zombie-Type monster from your Graveyard; this card gains 600 ATK, and if it does, banish any monster that battled this card, after damage calculation. These effects last until the end of this turn. If this card is banished: You can target 1 "Shiranui" monster in your Graveyard, except "Shiranui Samurai"; add it to your hand. You can only use each effect of "Shiranui Samurai" once per turn.

This guy can be a 1-of tech for getting stuff back from the grave off of Sarc/Swallow's Slash, but... It feels overkill. You only really want to get Sage back, and only early, and you can just banish Sword with your initial Swallow doesn't need to pop anything, and it sucks to draw. Still, could easily be tested.

[spoiler=Scapeghost]

FLIP: You can Special Summon any number of "Black Sheep Tokens" (Zombie-Type/DARK/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0).

So this is a card that Sage can grab, and it's a Zombie for general purposes. It's also a Level 1 Tuner, so it's a very solid card. And what does this give us access to?



Through Scarlight, for the latter. Also a bunch of better access to Level 5/7, technically, but those aren't as relevant.

The issue I found is that, outside of access to 2 very good 9s, it just doesn't fit in the deck. You focus on even numbers, and an odd number just feels really out of place. 2/4/6/8/10 and maybe 12, yes, but... IDK, the 1 felt out of place. Not bad, but not completely coherent. Could probably try to build around, though.

[spoiler=Chicken Game engine]

The player with the lowest LP takes no damage. Once per turn, during the Main Phase: The turn player can pay 1000 LP, then activate 1 of these effects;

● Draw 1 card.

● Destroy this card.

● Your opponent gains 1000 LP.

Neither player can activate cards or effects in response to this effect's activation.

Aside from theoretically synergizing with Omega, in that you can take a lot of early damage you don't want to, this engine also speeds you toward your Sage/Summoner Monk, while being fodder for SummMonk if you don't need to use them/want to searhc a field and ditch it. What engine?



There is an issue that the lack of another field spell means that you can get dunked on by the opp using it, not to mention Pseudo Space can be a dead draw. The biggest issue, however, is that this takes up a lot of space. 7-9 cards, depending on amount of Pseudo Space. Sure, there are other cards you can tech to make it more efficient...



But that's just even MORE slots used on this engine. Maybe you could cut Pseudo Space for one of these (namely Chaos Zone), but the deck doesn't really need the extra unbanishing help, not to mention that it doesn't speed you up, only powers you through.

[spoiler=Leo, the Keeper of the Sacred Tree]

1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters

Cannot be targeted by an opponent's card effects, except during your Main Phase 2.

Very solid card, I just have no idea where I'd fit it. Like, maybe over Dweller, but IDK. It has merits as a boss monster that isn't easy to take down, but I am not sure that justifies the slot.

[spoiler=Traptrix Rafflesia]

2 Level 4 monsters

This card is unaffected by Trap effects while it has Xyz Material. "Traptrix" monsters you control, except "Traptrix Rafflesia", cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects. Your opponent cannot target "Traptrix" monsters you control, except "Traptrix Rafflesia", with card effects. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card and send 1 "Hole" Normal Trap Card that meets its activation conditions from your Deck to the Graveyard; this effect becomes that Trap Card's effect when that card is activated.

I actually had her in for the longest while, but... Aside from the fact that you can't afford to R4 very often, she also has ACTUAL asynergy with Pot of Cupidity. Hitting even 1 Trap Hole means you lose a valuable usage, and if she hits the wrong one... Well, you're funked. And you can't afford to run Treacherous, anyway, given the quality of Swallow's Slash. I guess you coudl build slightly differently, by getting rid of solemns and swallow, then putting in TTHN, TTH, BTH, and maybe one other to circumvent the Pot, but IDK.

All in all... The deck is actually fairly linear. The later you go, the more complex it gets, but the general gameplan is:

•  
• Make Omega.
• Abuse Mezuki/Sword.
• Fill board.
• Deny resources.
• ???
• Profit.

So it can get a little stale to play, with time. It doesn't really compare to Dracopal at its current level, which shouldn't be a shock, but it's still a very solid decktype moving forward, and could see usge, likely more refined, if the meta shifts.

[Catman25]

Beelze still seems pretty good against Kozmo and other situations

[Blake]

Beelze still seems pretty good against Kozmo and other situations

space?

 

Abyss Dweller for Beelze doesn't seem worth it

[Catman25]

I guess I'm not too familiar with the Spectralsword plays, but 4 Level 6s seems like a lot

[Blake]

I guess I'm not too familiar with the Spectralsword plays, but 4 Level 6s seems like a lot

i guess I could cut one Samuraisaga, but a little wary. I'll test it out when I get home.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

If you're playing under the TCG banlist, no Norden seems odd

[Progenitor]

Honestly I really like 1 Samurai because it's a really easy funk you to Monarchs and other monsters that become real problems in the graveyard.  Even if it doesn't have enough attack, it will still banish the card.  While that is admittedly extremely lackluster, it has honestly saved me games in some situations, and crashing it doesn't even matter when you consider the implications Mezuki has on said application it's midigated slightly and becomes a much more readily reusable resource.  Plus it's one of the only engine starters for late game when you need to banish Sage and make something, but your sword is already banished (which can happen sometimes).

 

Personally, I like to run 2 Goblin Zombie and 1 Smith, solely for the fact that smith can search Swallow and, if played, synthesis.  It's not "deader than goblin" or anything, so I never really found a reason not to throw 1 in for the hell of it instead of 3 goblin zombie (2 is more than enough IMHO when you use Uni-Zombie well).

 

Speaking of which, while I know it's not the best of options, Synthesis is honestly a pretty ok card.  Most of the time all you're really gonna have out anyway are your Omegas, so when you either don't need to use them to return stuff next turn, or when you're in a really shitty spot, you have a means to clear your field and thus make Synthesis live, and that opens up a plethora of new plays that may not rely on Uni-Zombie, and thus allowing you to attack with non-zombies.  It's not that great at 3, but I honestly think it's worth the situational 1 of since you can grab it proactively with Smith.

 

Also, while Pot of Cupidity is freaking insane, I've been finding that 3 might be a bit too much.  You only really want to get it off once, and only twice assuming you can establish your Omegas fast and start recurring your cards, and by that point you still have a decent amount of cards in the deck.  I have never once been in a situation where it was even possible to use 3, but i have been in a position where I've drawn all 3, and thus that 3rd copy wound up as a really shitty dead draw.  Maybe you've had better luck, i don't know.  But in my experience I've been funked by it too many times to run 3 considering how iffy the card is anyway.  I run 2, and while I don't pull it off right away quite as readily, I have yet to have it screw me with dead drawing it with only 11 cards in the deck.

 

Also if you're feeling cheeky you can run Cupidity with a tech Soul Absorption for a +5k life.  Then who cares if it was inconsistent you have more than enough life to stall them off 

[Blake]

If you're playing under the TCG banlist, no Norden seems odd

what does norden do

 

It makes Rank 4s... which are mediocre, aside from those mentioned in OP and Dire Wolf.

 

It makes Level 7 Synchros... which the deck has no space for.

 

It makes generic 6s... see above.

 

It makes 5s with Scapeghost... again see above.

  

Honestly I really like 1 Samurai because it's a really easy funk you to Monarchs and other monsters that become real problems in the graveyard.  Even if it doesn't have enough attack, it will still banish the card.  While that is admittedly extremely lackluster, it has honestly saved me games in some situations, and crashing it doesn't even matter when you consider the implications Mezuki has on said application it's midigated slightly and becomes a much more readily reusable resource.  Plus it's one of the only engine starters for late game when you need to banish Sage and make something, but your sword is already banished (which can happen sometimes).

I mean yeah, I admitted Samurai's fine, but it suffers from the issue that most zombies do (that being that it is AIDS in the hand) while not adding a ton to the deck. I have no issues with someone playing it, I just don't really care to, personally.

 

Personally, I like to run 2 Goblin Zombie and 1 Smith, solely for the fact that smith can search Swallow and, if played, synthesis.  It's not "deader than goblin" or anything, so I never really found a reason not to throw 1 in for the hell of it instead of 3 goblin zombie (2 is more than enough IMHO when you use Uni-Zombie well).

Ideally, you are not comboing off with Goblin Zombie. You pray that, at WORST, you open it + Swallow's, which is far better than the same opening with Smith. GobZom is a bit more live due to not needing to be Synchro Material, meaning he can (suboptimally) fix bad hands, where it only searches X copies of 1-2 cards that GobZom doesn't, while GobZom has more range. It's even worse to draw than GobZom, so I'm not really convinced.

 

Speaking of which, while I know it's not the best of options, Synthesis is honestly a pretty ok card.  Most of the time all you're really gonna have out anyway are your Omegas, so when you either don't need to use them to return stuff next turn, or when you're in a really shitty spot, you have a means to clear your field and thus make Synthesis live, and that opens up a plethora of new plays that may not rely on Uni-Zombie, and thus allowing you to attack with non-zombies.  It's not that great at 3, but I honestly think it's worth the situational 1 of since you can grab it proactively with Smith.

 You always want to renew resources, unless you're nuking with Tyrant/Scarlight, in which case Synthesis doesn't add much. I wouldn't play Synthesis without Chicken engine, and short testing with that made me really hate it.

 

Maybe if I ran Smith, but I really don't like such a narrowly designed card with the dreadful stats it has.

 

Also, while Pot of Cupidity is freaking insane, I've been finding that 3 might be a bit too much.  You only really want to get it off once, and only twice assuming you can establish your Omegas fast and start recurring your cards, and by that point you still have a decent amount of cards in the deck.  I have never once been in a situation where it was even possible to use 3, but i have been in a position where I've drawn all 3, and thus that 3rd copy wound up as a really shitty dead draw.  Maybe you've had better luck, i don't know.  But in my experience I've been funked by it too many times to run 3 considering how iffy the card is anyway.  I run 2, and while I don't pull it off right away quite as readily, I have yet to have it screw me with dead drawing it with only 11 cards in the deck.

 Pot of Cupidity is a 3-0 card. You run three in order to find the first copy, not all three. That's just the basic design of it, and it's the only way TO run it, though the third copy is never going to be used outside of things with Necroface.

 

You want to pull off cupidity + Monk/Sage T1, so you want to run more Cupidity. In all my testing, I've never found all 3, and Monk exists to use up extra copies, so it's not that bad to dead draw it.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

what does norden do

 

It makes Rank 4s... which are mediocre, aside from those mentioned in OP and Dire Wolf.

 

It makes Level 7 Synchros... which the deck has no space for.

 

It makes generic 6s... see above.

 

It makes 5s with Scapeghost... again see above.

Dweller was my main guess, but you could increase uni's level 1st, sync, then make another xyz

[Blake]

Dweller was my main guess, but you could increase uni's level 1st, sync, then make another xyz

You can't increase the level of a revived Uni, meaning Norden isn't a standalone play, which it needs to be.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

You can't increase the level of a revived Uni, meaning Norden isn't a standalone play, which it needs to be.

That's where we disagree, but it's your deck. So *shrugs*

[Blake]

What does reviving a Level 4 with Norden do? Give me more things to Synchro with, which the problem is normally getting enough Tuners? 

 

I did consider Norden, but given the tightness of the ED, in addition to the fact that it isn't a standalone play in this deck, I really couldn't justify it.

 

also i can't believe i missed crystal wing, i feel so dumb

[Blake]

I guess I'm not too familiar with the Spectralsword plays, but 4 Level 6s seems like a lot

Quoting this because I realized when I went to build.

 

Sword, the most common way to summon non-Omega synchros, is FIRE.

 

I can't actually summon Beelze that easily, and I'm not sure Kozmo alone merits running it when I can just run Crystal Wing instead.

 

And I know Crystal Wing isn't a perfect Kozmo answer, but it's better utility.

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

If Spectralsword is set up, explode.

I don't quite get what you mean.

How do you do Synchro plays so quickly, and get out these large amounts of Synchro monsters you are claiming to be able to Summon?

I've never played with or used Shiranuis, so I have no real idea how they work, and what you need to do to "explode".

[Blake]

I don't quite get what you mean.How do you do Synchro plays so quickly, and get out these large amounts of Synchro monsters you are claiming to be able to Summon?I've never played with or used Shiranuis, so I have no real idea how they work, and what you need to do to "explode".

Just... Read the cards?

 

Spectralsword + Sage is a free level 8 Synchro, and, depending on other setup, the potential to do more. And this is something you can do every last turn. This cheap advantage makes every other play go further because they don't have to immediately be removal.

 

Nevermind that you are, for some reason, taking that line out of context. It was used in the context of filling the board with zombies for a quick punch, not shitting out Synchros.

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

Just... Read the cards?

 

Spectralsword + Sage is a free level 8 Synchro, and, depending on other setup, the potential to do more. And this is something you can do every last turn. This cheap advantage makes every other play go further because they don't have to immediately be removal.

 

Nevermind that you are, for some reason, taking that line out of context. It was used in the context of filling the board with zombies for a quick punch, not shitting out Synchros.

How are a Level 4 non-Tuner and a Level 2 Tuner a "free" Level 8 Synchro?

[Bringerofcake]

How are a Level 4 non-Tuner and a Level 2 Tuner a "free" Level 8 Synchro?

Banish spectral sword and sage for a level 6

Sage activates, special summoning spectralsword

Sync 8 with the 6 synchro and spectralsword

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

Banish spectral sword and sage for a level 6

Sage activates, special summoning spectralsword

Sync 8 with the 6 synchro and spectralsword

OK?

And how can you do this consistently each turn?

[The Warden]

You make PSY-Framelord Omega Dan. Omega returns Sage to your grave, and thus you have Spectralsword and Sage in your grave for the next turn.

[Blake]

OK?And how can you do this consistently each turn?

If you can't bother to read cards before commenting, don't comment. Seriously. Everything you've asked

So far is either ignoring context or could easily be solved by reading the cards.

 

PSY-Framelord Omega exists.

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

If you can't bother to read cards before commenting, don't comment. Seriously. Everything you've asked

So far is either ignoring context or could easily be solved by reading the cards.

 

PSY-Framelord Omega exists.

No, it's that I just got the connection of how it all comes together. Thank you.

[Blake]

*heh. seems i'm back here again. though, it makes sense. you could say that the last posted attempt was... barebones. let's see if we can't kick it up a notch, this time? It's a beautiful day outside...



-1 Goblin Zombie
+1 Scapeghost

-3 Upstart Goblin
-1 Book of Life
-1 Gold Sarcophagus
+2 Allure of Darkness
+2 Jewels of the Valiant

-2 Solemn Strike
-1 Solemn Warning
+2 Endless Trap Hole
+1 Bottomless Trap Hole
+1 Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare

-1 PSY-Framelord Omega
-1 Shiranui - Samuraisaga
-1 Shiranui - Shogunsaga
-1 Red Dragon Archfiend Tyrant
+1 Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon
+1 Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss
+1 Scrap Dragon

-1 Abyss Dweller
+1 Diamond Dire Wolf
+1 Traptrix Rafflesia

I'm going to be honest: There were a LOT of changes made in the... 20 days since I posted this build. Like, a lot. I tried a lot of different cards out, in order to see what they benefited or did not, and I'll actually devote a segment to some of those, because I didn't hate them as choices. I also have a bit more insight into matchups and such, as opposed to less than a week's worth.

I will say this, first, though: RIP Upstart. That is what made me the most sad, because it did impact the deck. I was running the 1, but I can't find space for it anymore, which sucks.

I removed Tyrant because... I only need it against Dark Magician, however relevant that is. Pendulum isn't the same juggernaut to tackle that it was, and I don't find myself needing the nuke much at all anymore. It makes me sad, but it needed to be done.

Scrap Dragon was the first addition to the deck after I posted. Not long after, at all. While it’s not aged as well as I would have liked, spot removal that can combo with Omega/Archfiend Zombie Skull is really nice, and it can be nice as a Dire Wolf, to boot.

Crystal Wing came not too long after, as well, and I had completely overlooked it. I regret doing that, because it is the funking bomb, and it wins me a funk ton of games. It helps against Kozmo, as well, which can be a bit tough for the deck to deal with.

Hot Red Abyss is something that I had lightly tested before, but not too much ,and wrote it off due to Scapeghost not being super synergetic, as seen in the OP. However, it’s a really strong boss that you can combo into with many setups, and it’s both strong on its own AND next to Crystal Wing. You only have to run 1 Scapeghost, so it’s not that bad. Oh, and it revives your Uni-Zombies for cheap +++.

And this is why I had to reduce the Omega and Shiranui Synchro numbers. While I wish I could run 4 Level 6s, 2 Shogun, and 3 Omega… I need options. Powerful options. They do too linear a thing. I also have something to run over the second Samurai, anyway, but I’ll cover that later.

Dire Wolf is a post-list addition for much the same reason as scrap dragon: Easy removal.

Raff came back in vogue, in my eyes, due to two things: The new trap hole and the hands where you can’t first turn Omega for value. Will cover later.

I kept swapping Dweller in and out, but despite it helping in bad matchups, I am never in a position where summoning it puts me ahead. Ever. It really sucked in that regard, so I just cut it entirely to make space for Utopia to come back, who had been temporarily removed.

On to spells… Book of Life sucks ass. Not much else to say. It needs to be playable T1, and I’d play monster reborn in a heartbeat.

Upstart got limited, and I touched on that.

I cut Gold Sarc half due to space (same as 1-of upstart), half due to being in constant love/hate with it. It really pisses me off when I draw it early in place of something else, unless I also opened sage, and it has good points, just… It is kinda overkill.

Jewels of the Valiant is something I tried out at 3 not long ago, but I saw it at awkward times a little too often. As such, I applied the logic of “1 Foolish 2 not!Foolish”, and thus this happened. It solves the issue of not being able to Sword + Mezuki T1, which means you get a lot of free value thanks to it. Not to mention, past T1, it mills extra Sages ($$$) and Goblin Zombies/Zombie Master for combos and renewal of resources.

Allure allows me a draw engine that somewhat takes Upstart’s place, though it really makes me want to fit the 1 Upstart back in. It’s not perfect, but I run 9 darks (Was at 8, adding scapeghost made 9), so it’s rarely dead. Hell, I’ve even been in a situation where I was going to blind Allure, just because it became “2 Mezukis get discarded and mill 2 cards” with no drawback, at worst.

And then traps!

I cut the solemns because, well… Mostly due to raff, but also because this deck has no real defensive nature. Burst damage kills them, and the solemns aren’t really enough to stave off such burst in many cases, only making you weaker to it.

The Trap Holes offer you versatility, as well as help against matchups you aren’t as good against, like Burning Abyss or Kozmo, though latter isn’t that bad.

Additionally, I undersold Endless Trap Hole. It’s pretty decent overall, but it shuts Burning Abyss down if you hit them with it early. Sure, PK half can still function, but it has the potential to more-or-less win the game for you.

So, with changes out of the way, I’ll move on to single cards.

[spoiler=Further card choice thoughts]Links in pics, if you don't know what the cards do.

Shiranui Spiritmaster

This was a card I undervalued a lot. While its number did not change, there are a lot of things you can do with this guy, besides R4 (Which is still fine).

For example, with Sage + Spectralsword in grave:

•  
• NS Spiritmaster, revive Sage
• Sage sacks Spiritmaster, finds Uni-Zombie/Scapeghost, dependant on situation
• (Optional: Revive Uni-Zombie with Mezuki, if you found Scapeghost)
• Uni effect (either), become 4.
• Spectralsword effect, banish it + the dead Spiritmaster, get a 6.
• Spiritmaster pops something.
• Synchro 8 with Uni + Sage. (If you have access to Scapeghost via grave setup or otherwise, this is SRDA)
• Sage banishes due to Spiritmaster's effect, revives banished Sword.
• (SRDA + Scapeghost = HRDAA)
• Sword + 6 = Crystal Wing

And it has other such little interactions, which makes me like it a lot. Very good card to search if you get GobZom plays setup.


Doomkaiser Dragon

So close to playable. Its SS effect goes off any time it's SSd, meaning it synergizes with Spectralsword. Additionally, it's the best "early fodder" you can make, because you lose nothing if you're not in the mirror.

Unfortunately, I've no need for the fourth 6, and this is the worst of the 4 possible. What makes me even more sad is that I never managed to get into a mirror in order to abuse it, though I'm sure it's a super swingy card.

You need a hard summonable copy (Samurai) and the other two offer quality effects, because murdering floaters is awesome and effect immunity is solid/safe.


Call of the Haunted

I tested this over Book of life for a long time. 2 copies. Honestly... It's solid. Not amazing, just solid. You will never turn your nose up at more revival, as that's what the deck is all about, so it's fine for what it does. It's an option, but not absurd here like you'd normally want.


Shiranui

Samurai doesn’t do enough on his own, Smith doesn’t synergize with the deck enough, and has next to no synergy with Swallow’s Slash, which is unfortunate.

The field still seems bad, as you’ll rarely even be in a situation to use the second effect of Sage/its effects require you to be in a lesser position to use them. Maybe it’s okay and I’m dumb, but it’s not live T1… ever, and that kills it for me.

 

 

Of note:
The deck has a hard time dealing with bursty decks, as I’ve said, and decks that have too many effects to answer. Atlantean and Burning Abyss variants seem like the worst matchups, due to this, because you really AREN’T defensive. You just have to push as efficiently as possible, and pray they don’t OTK you out the gate. Raff and traps help this, but not as much as you’d like, and the solemns honestly do even less against anything except Megalo. Ironically, the decks it has the most trouble with seem to have graveyard effects much like itself, which makes the inability to efficiently Abyss Dweller hurt all the more, and Forbidden Graveyard kinda sucks.

Kozmo is an awkward matchup, but it’s mostly figuring out how to bait them while trying to get ahead in the gamestate. First one to the front tends to win, though it’s not impossible for either side.

As for the Spectralsword vs. Omega thing I keep bringing up…

It is better to set up Spectralsword plays with the 1-card Sage combo than to make 1-card Omega, as a rule of thumb.

This changes depending on your setup/going first or second/opp’s deck/etc., but this is the case.

Hell, if you open Summ Monk but no way to dump an extra Mezuki, Rafflesia tends to be better than Omega, at that.

First turn Omega is not bad, but there are many situations where you should consider it an optimal play when combined with Spectralsword setup, but usually not optimal without. This is not a be all, end all, but being able to make 0-card Level 8s or combo plays is better than single revives with Mezuki, even if it is another free level 8. It comes with the cost of no non-Zombie attacks, and if your opp devotes, that isn’t good.

Consider what you’re playing against when you decide, if you can.

Not really sure what else to say, so gonna leave it at this. Questions, comments, and concerns welcome. There will be a link at the top of the OP to this post/any future ones.

[goodfusion]

How often do you use Scapeghost's FLIP effect?

[Blake]

How often do you use Scapeghost's FLIP effect?

Basically never. And if I do, it's because I have Swallow's Strike.

[Dad]

So, I'm going to pose a few questions.  Mostly these are because I'm super out of the loop not having played for going on four years (maybe longer; the last thing I remember is XYZ's being previewed).  But as a fan of Zombie decks, I hope you'll bare with me.  Most of these questions will be directed at Synchro Monsters.

 

1.)  Archfiend Zombie Skull.  It requires Plaguespreader, but there isn't one in the deck.  I'm assuming this is for the mirror match since you have Zombie Master that could pitch and revive it?

 

2.)  Revived King Ha-Des.  Same question as above.

 

3.)  Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss.  Similar question.  It requires a Non-tuner Dark Dragon-type.  Again assuming this is for tech against a particular match-up, but I'm unsure.

 

4.)  When would you go for Samuraisaga over Shogunsaga?  Just curious as to your preferences and/or why.