Deck Analysis 2: Who Got Their Monsters In My Peanut Butter?

by **Dante Kestrel** Sun Jul 15, 2012 4:31 pm

Hello everyone, it's Dante again, giving you the deck advice that can give you an edge on the competition, without becoming your competition. Side effects of these decks may include nausea, better self esteem and vertigo medicine.

We all have those decks that we despise, for their rapid summoning and clouding that destroys all our cards in a single turn. Whether they be Elemental Heroes, Inzektors, Hieratics, or others, they make sure that you won't last more than a turn. Decks like these are frustrating, and above all, leave us feeling worse. This is why we need to fight with alternative methods to make sure we can disable them, as well as their support.

One of the classic ways to get rid of monsters in a deck is Clown Control. Using Stumbling, you're disabling their monsters by rendering them unable to attack, and also destroying or sending them back. With the proper strategy, you can have the last laugh.

What Do You Mean I Can't Put The Joker On This List?

Deck Analysis 2: Who Got Their Monsters In My Peanut Butter? D09By

Main Deck: 43 cards

Monsters x 21

1 x Ancient Gear Engineer
3 x Crass Clown
1 x Dandylion
3 x Dream Clown
1 x Fossil Dyno Pachycephalo
3 x Giant Rat
1 x Gigastone Omega
1 x Morphing Jar
2 x Naturia Rosewhip
1 x Ryu-Kishin Clown
1 x Sangan
2 x Thunder King Rai-Oh

Spells x 11

1 x Book of Moon
1 x Dark Hole
1 x Gravity Axe - Grarl
1 x Monster Gate
1 x Monster Reborn
1 x Polymerization
1 x Pot of Avarice
1 x Shrink
3 x Stumbling

Traps x 11

1 x Call of the Haunted
1 x Dark Bribe
1 x Dimensional Prison
1 x Magic Cylinder
1 x Mirror Force
2 x The Huge Revolution Is Over
1 x Torrential Tribute
2 x Solemn Warning
1 x Zero Gravity

Extra Deck: 15 Cards

1 x Bickuribox
1 x Ally of Justice Catastor
1 x Black Rose Dragon
1 x Naturia Barkion
1 x Naturia Beast
1 x Red Dragon Archfiend
1 x Stardust Dragon
1 x X-Saber Urbellum
1 x Gachi Gachi Gantetsu
1 x Lavalval Chain
1 x Number 39: Utopia
1 x Number 50: Black Corn
1 x Snowpeak Giant
1 x Tiras, Keeper of Genesis
1 x Wind-Up Zenmaines

Side Deck: 15 Cards

1 x Banisher of the Light
2 x Blade Rabbit
1 x Don Zaloog
1 x Earthquake Giant
1 x Goblin Attack Force
1 x Power Breaker
1 x Spear Dragon
2 x Twin-Sword Marauder
1 x Big Bang Shot
1 x Gravity Bind
3 x Labyrinth of Nightmare

Breakdown:

Main Deck:

In this deck, it's Clowns that will send the monsters packing, but for the true control aspect, there has to be other cards that pile on the effects and strengthen that lockdown. One thing that's unique about this deck (And I'll I'll discuss in detail when we get to the Side Deck) is that there are two ways to play this. Whether you prefer Stumbling or Labyrinth of Nightmare, you have your options on how you want to work in your strategies. Likewise, the cards in this deck allow you to play a number of ways, depending on what you have in your hand.

Starting out with the main cards of this deck, Dream Clown and Crass Clown have been in this combo for many, many years. With Stumbling out, Dream Clown's effect will immediately kick in, and destroy your monster of choice. Crass Clown may not be as easy to kick off right away, but that's why the cards like Zero Gravity or Nishipachi are in this deck. Switching battle positions can get it moving quickly to send a monster back, as well as leave your opponent in an awkward position with the other monsters they have out, if any. Don't get too confident about them though, as a well-placed Solemn Warning can leave you out cold, if you don't have anything else to work with. Aside from that, they're not high attack monsters, and generally aren't reliable when dealing with full-on confrontation. If you ever get stuck with these two, and a huge monster ready to pummel them in, Shrink can wind it down and save you from losing a worthwhile Xyz or Synchro Material.

Of course, there's one other clown in this deck that is worth mentioning, and that's Ryu-Kishin Clown. In a way, this card really does help to support the other two with it's effect, as a cleverly placed Ryu-Kishin Clown can result in your biggest threat eliminated that easily, via Dream Clown or Crass Clown. Likewise, it can always switch the position of your opponent's monsters, in case you need to destroy with something that isn't a clown. Likewise, Karakuri "Nishipachi" will accomplish the same purpose, and can also lead to an easy big monster for you.

Giant Rat plays a huge support role for this deck, being a primary way to get out cards that'll get your deck going faster. For starters, Rat can get out a Dream Clown with it's search effect, which can destroy a monster if Stumbling's out. At the same time, Giant Rat can keep you afloat with more of itself, providing a defense if you need it. But the most important use of this card is definitely to get your tuners and your negaters out. Naturia Rosewhip as well as Nishipachi are both searchable via Giant Rat, and can get easy synchros, if their effects aren't good enough. At the same time both Fossil Dino and Ancient Gear Engineer (He's in there for a reason) can be brought out as well, to prevent your opponent from throwing out more Trap cards, or Special Summoning more monsters. Dandylion's good too, what with the free tokens.

Speaking of Dandylion, with a deck like this, it's important to have a good defense, and cards like Dandylion and Gigastone Omega assure that. While Gigastone Omega has pure defensive points to back it up, it's effect also guarantees that your opponent will think twice about using that Dark Hole on your monsters, unless they want to get rid of all the cards they have set up to stop you. Not to mention, you won't have to waste a Normal Summon on it, and if you need to, can get an easy Stardust out of it for more a defense/offense. Dandylion, on the other hand, gives the defense through it's death. No matter how it gets sent to the graveyard, if Dandylion is put into the graveyard, you'll get two tokens out of it. This can either give you that one extra turn you need to turn things around, or something to tune into another Synchro.

By far, the ultimate card you have for defending yourself in this deck is Stumbling (Labyrinth of Nightmare, if you're sick of me referencing the one card). I used this card in my last entry as well for different reasons, but the fact of the matter is that this card will prevent your opponent from attacking you. As long as it's on the field, nothing can attack on the first, and all your monsters can hit what's now in Defense Mode, most likely with lower Defense Points than Attack to get rid of them easily. This card also has it's faults, however, as you will be delayed on your attacks by having it out so all your monsters are also put into Defense Mode. If this playstyle isn't for you, I urge you to look at the Side Deck portion of this Breakdown, and see to it that you follow the advice presented there for your deck, instead of using Stumbling.

Finshing up the monster support are Fossil Dyno Pachycephalo and Thunder King Rai-Oh, seeing as you probably already know what Sangan does. Because sometimes, it isn't enough just to leave your monsters vulnerable to destruction; these two ensure that you won't have to deal with those gruesome ones if you don't want to. Being a somewhat benifical double-edged sword, Pachycephalo will make it so that neither of you can Special Summon any monsters until it leaves the field, and as an added bonus, if it's flipped from a face-down position, it'll wipe out anything on the field that's been Special Summoned. Likewise, Rai-Oh can prevent a Special Summon, by sacrificing itself. However, what separates this card is that it will also prevent your opponent from adding cards to their hand, outside of drawing. So that makes their Sangans, their Goblin Zombies, and otherwise useless with the Thunder King watching over the field.

Looking over some of the important Spells of this deck, Gravity Axe - Grarl and Monster Gate may seem like a bad choice at first, but these effects need to be taken into consideration with the rest of the deck. The attack bonus of Grarl is a slight gift in itself to the mostly low attack monsters of this deck, but it's the second effect that warrants it's inclusion. With Stumbling making it so that all your opponent's monsters are in defense mode, Grarl can make it so that they'll be forced to stay in Defense Mode. No matter how weak your monster may be, even after the boost, this card will make it so that they'll be stuck until you destroy them, or they destroy Grarl. Likewise, Monster Gate is great, for almost any of your monsters. Dream Clown will destroy a monster, Ryu-Kishin can adjust your monsters, and so much more. It simply adds on to all that I've said about these monsters' effects and what can be done with them.

I briefly went over this card in the last deck analysis, but The Huge Revolution Is over is essential to making sure that you protect your cards. If the average person wanted to negate mass destruction, they'd use Stardust Road, and pack in a Stardust Dragon without even bothering to have any Tuner support. But, being the more adventurous deck builders that you all are, (Why'd you come here if you weren't?) this card will be a less mainstream alternative; this will also banish whatever you're dealing with, which is a huge plus if you happen to dealing with monsters on this effect. At the same time, it prevents Heavy Storm from leaving you defenseless, and stops Dark Hole in it's tracks. Dark Bribe may be the light Spell/Trap negation in this deck, but The Huge Revolution Is Over keeps you safe from the big threats.

I had the card Zero Gravity recommended to me for this deck by a friend of mine, and I'm glad they did. The card is a quick way to switch monster positions, without having to wait for your continuous card to do it for you. At the same time, it can get you free kills off of Defense monsters, and will equally destroy monsters if used with your friendly murderous Clown duo. This card is a must-have in this deck if you want it to be successful.

Extra Deck:

Feel free to disagree with me on this, but when I see the opportunity to make a Fusion, especially with old classics like the clowns, it's hard to pass up. Bickuribox is a heavy hitter, if you ever need one, and one of the few powerful Fusions that doesn't require a Fusion Summon to be Special Summoned. Not to mention, it's great for a Level 7 Xyz, if you don't mind using it with an Urbellum or Black Rose, and replacing something in your Extra Deck. Just like Bickuribox, Tiras, Keeper of Genesis is not necessarily a choice that you need to use in this deck. However, with four targets to get this card out, I feel that it's a worthwhile addition to add a bit of bulk, along with protection at the same time. Besides, who can argue with the satisfying feeling of wasting two big monsters for an even bigger monsters that can't be beat out by a Dark Hole.

Continuing with our theme of prevention support, Naturia Beast and Naturia Barkion are perfect for those pesky times when your opponent will rely on their Spells and Traps to constantly disrupt your deck. That won't happen again, once these are out, as long as you have a Deck and a Graveyard to spare. These cards are some of the best around for negation (I almost want to make something else out of it..).

With so many Defense monsters out on your opponent's side of the field, Red Dragon Archfiend would be a waste not to be put in this deck. Provided you keep it alive for just one turn, it'll either wipe out all your opponent's monsters, or force them to switch into Attack Mode, and risk taking damage over keeping their monsters. It's a win-win scenario for you. But, you may need a worthwhile defense for that level 8 slot, in case they're still pounding ya too hard. Stardust Dragon provides that, to assure that your monsters won't be destroyed, and still have some attack power to it, to destroy whatever you need to.

For the occasional scenario that you get stuck with that wide-open Morphing Jar and Ryu-Kishin Clown, Gachi Gachi Gantetsu will turn them into a fortified defense and make sure that those weaker monsters get a worthwile boost. Lavalval Chain is a great card for any deck that needs monsters in a steady supply, by placing your choice straight at the top of the deck to deal with all your problems. Both Utopia and Black Corn will provide you protection in different forms, and keep you lasting to get those worthwhile cards. With the abundance of Earth cards in this deck, Snowpeak Giant is an interesting option as to use. If you have the means to use it properly, I recommend it, as this can grab any Earth monster you may have lost throughout the duel, including Synchros like the Naturia monsters. Wind-Up Zenmaines is just as well a provided precaution if you need that card that'll take a few hits for you, and deal a few out when they're out of breath.

Side Deck:

This is where things get interesting, as the other side of this deck is revealed in the Side Deck, should you choose to adjust it. Labyrinth of Nightmare adds an entirely new level of depth to your play-style, and completely changes how you'll be working your maneuvers. With this Continuous Trap, instead of having battle positions changed by summon, you'll be playing by turn, and the turn player will have their monsters adjusted by the End Phase. If you don't see the difference in this, you will as soon as I explain everything else in this Side Deck that can easily accompany it, as this opens a new world as possibilities.

For starters, you could probably tech in Banisher of the Light into either version of this deck. This is an interesting option, if you're willing to take the risk, of controlling the other person's graveyard as well. Granted, you'll have to adjust some cards if you add in Banisher, like Giant Rat, but it's something to consider, if you really need that extra edge against some higher-tier enemies.

Blade Rabbit and Don Zaloog are both cards that wee very close to making it into the primary version of this deck, but I felt that they would be better suited for this Labyrinth of Nightmare edit. For starters, it's clear that Rabbit doesn't have a lot of attack to work with, so that switch that you're doing during the End Phase is crucial so that you're not stuck if your opponent summons a huge monster that you can't defend against immediately. At the same time, this card has an effect that's literally the same as Dream Clown in that regard, the only difference being that Dream Clown just says "select and destroy one monster" (Huge difference, isn't it?). Zaloog also has a great effect for this deck, but just wasn't good enough to work in the main edit. The fact of the matter being that Zaloog has to inflict damage for it to be effective. Considering that Stumbling will force monsters into Defense Positon regardless when they're summoned, it makes the Don ineffective as a result, unless you can guarantee that one Direct Attack or a monster that they'll switch to Attack. Especially tied with Big Bang Shot, he can really devastate your opponent's hand/deck.

Goblin Attack Force, Spear Dragon and Power Breaker are prime examples of cards that are perfect for the Labyrinth of Nightmare version of this deck. Goblin Attack Force is a card with huge attack, but is forced into Defense Position afterwards. Using Labyrinth, the Goblins can attack, go into Defense, and then get thrown back into Attack Mode at the End Phase, ready to defend and go for an attack next turn. Spear Dragon may not be as powerful in the similar regard, but has a piercing damage ability that can really do some damage, and will also be changed into Attack Position during the End Phase, instead of dying at 0 Defense. Granted, Power Breaker may also not seem as useful, but will definitely be helpful, when there's an annoying Continuous Spell/Trap or Field Spell stuck on the field that's keeping you from acting to the best of your ability, along with it's moderately high 1900 attack.

While Twin-Sword Marauder and Earthquake Giant may not seem to be as valuable as the other three aforementioned cards in this version of the deck, their effects can still shine very bright when needed. Considering how many monsters are getting thrust into Defense Position by either Labyrinth of Nightmare or one of the many other position changing cards in this deck, Marauder serves to deal damage out of those monsters, and then get another free attack out of it, whether to destroy another monster, or to attack directly and deal a bigger amount of damage either way. It fits better in this version of the deck, as with it's lackluster defense, the monster wouldn't survive long in the main edit. Earthquake Giant may also seems like a strange addition, especially considering the fact that it's a level 5 monster as well. But, when considering the fact that it can change the opponent's monster's battle position every time that Labyrinth (or some other card) goes off, it proves great support for anything else looking to do damage. Just as well, the monster has good defensive stats to keep it standing, and serves as another material to Xyz summon Tiras, Keeper of Genesis.

Narrowing down the last two support cards of this deck, Big Bang Shot is one of those equips that isn't exactly necessary (Hence it being in the Side Deck), but still proves useful when the moment is right. Piercing damage is always nice, and when the monster equipped with this card is boosted by 400 points, it'll be easy to dish that damage out. The downside of this card would be that anything equipped with it will be banished if the spell leaves the field. This, along with the situationalness of a card such as this prevented it from being an inclusion in the main edit, but can still prove a nice asset if you see that you'll need something like this.

Gravity Bind holds a special spot in here to adjust how you play your version of this deck. Gravity Bind will assure your opponent that you have complete control over monsters on the field. Whether in the Stumbling or Labyrinth build, Gravity Bind can disable most decks that generally use Level 4 or higher monsters as a standard, and anything of a lower level is too weak to stand against monsters like Dream Clown. However, the major flaw in this card is what keeps it from being placed into the Main Deck. With the emergence of Xyz's and their "Ranks", they are completely immune to any cards that involve levels, and will make Gravity Bind useless against them. For this reason, Gravity Bind should be used with this precaution in mind. Make sure that there are other safety procedures to prevent Xyz monsters or stop them, if they get out, to assure balance.

Weaknesses and Counters

With a deck like this, which some can classify as a "Stall" Deck, there are bound to be problems when approaching competition. Unfortunately, one thing to keep in mind is that dueling another Stall deck or a Burn deck is not good for your chances. The main idea of Clown Control implies that your opponent will summon monsters that you can use against them and then destroy them. However, in the case that a Burn Deck will use one giant monster, or not use any monsters at all and keep you still while you slowly drain away, this deck can't really do anything about it. For situations like this, the Black Rose Dragon in the Extra Deck is crucial to making sure that their trump cards don't go too far and are wiped out before their plans begin. Never get caught in a stall with this deck, as it's very difficult to get out of it.

At the same time, it takes proper management to keep this deck going, in the cases that Stumbling doesn't appear in your first few turns. Those scenarios will happen on occasion, and it's important not to waste everything you have when you run into that. This could be an entire lesson for another day, but to sum it up, have backup plans, in case the monsters that you put out get destroyed quickly. Situations like these would warrant a Gravity Bind to keep your opponent's monsters at bay, while you scramble for some worthwhile cards and an Xyz to get around Gravity Bind. Most of all, do not take risks if you're not certain on what's to come. Throwing out cards and hoping that Stumbling will come next turn is definitely not a good strategy and will likely get you destroyed in the process of even waiting for Stumbling.

Above all, Stumbling/Labyrinth of Nightmare has to be protected with the proper support, so that your plans don't fall apart mid-duel. The Huge Revolution Is Over, along with Dark Bribe are things that need to be placed down as soon as possible with said main cards to keep them from being destroyed by your opponent's Heavy Storms and your Mystical Space Typhoons. The worst thing that can happen in duels with this deck is all your set-up going to waste.

I hope that all of this has made some sense to you, and that you'll be able to take this deck even further than I did with adjustments. There are definitely cards that I didn't even manage to fit into the Side Deck, because there are so many possibilities to be made with these combinations. As always, feel free to leave a response in this topic if you have any questions, advice, criticism, love, hate, indifference or speculation into the universe. I also accept Private Messages of all that stuff I don't really feel like repeating, even though what I'm typing right now would take just as much time as what I just typed, if not even more by continuing it right now.

See ya next time,
Dante Kestrel, Doctor with a PhD in Medical Malpractice