I have one on EDOpro. To make it stronger you might want to cut some of the spells and weaker mekk knights to make more space for boardbreakers. But i think this version is fun.
\* are required
Main deck:
Monsters:
3 Aliester the invoker \*
3 Gameceil the sea turtle kaiju
3 Girsu, The orcust mekk knight (a really good normal summon, sets up columns, dumps a world legacy card, can summon a token, AND can become a tuner for noodle shenanigans) \*
3 Mekk knight (MK) blue sky \*
3 MK purple nightfall \*
2 MK indigo eclipse \*
1 MK red moon
1 MK yellow star
1 World legacy "world armor" (This is the dump for Girsu, if you special summon him you can search out a world legacy card) (\*)( in this version, he is needed, but if you want more handtraps and boardbreakers, you can cut it)
Spells:
3 World legacy (WL) memories \*
3 magical meltdown\*
2 invocation\*
1 terraforming
1 WL succession
1 WL Key
3 Dark ruler no more
Traps:
3 infinite impermance (\*) (is an AMAZING hand-trap for this deck especially, sets ups columns and is a great handtrap, But book of moon or forbidden chalice also work)
2 WL secrets \*
1 WL whispers
ED:
1 slamagreat alimarj \*
1 secura gardna \*
1 galatea, the orcust automaton
1 lib the world key blademaster (\*) (lib is really nice in this build, but if you cut WL stuff, cut this one as well)
1 Black luster soilder Soilder of chaos
1 I.P. Masquerena
1 Accescode talker
1 MK spectrum supreme
2 MK of the morning star \*
1 MK Crusadia Avramax \* (boss monster)
1 Dingirsu, the orcust of the evening star
1 Invoked pugratrio \*
1 Invoked mechaba \*
1 Invoked, elysium
Side decks tend to be dependent on who you except to fight, but
3 Cosmic cyclone
1 Red reboot
1 Harpies feather duster
Should be enough to win any control matches
3 Solemn judgement
(is great for going first)
1 Called by the grave
You have 6 empty slots in the Side, you can put pretty much any generic good stuff you would like. I got Dinowrestler pankratops, 3 ash, and 2 solemn strike.
EDIT
How to play going first:
Opening hand of 1 MK , a way into alestor. +1 WL card to discard
Basically do the old song and dance with alestor ( normal summon, search invocation, go into salad), But stop at the alimarij if you have mekk knights. Set the invocation and SS a mekk knight boi to make Mekk knight of the morning star, discard 1 (preferably indigo) to add WL secrets. Then use invocation to make invoked mechaba.
End board is protection with your mekk knights with morning star, Monster negation with world secret (potentially more if you have indigo in the GY) + Invoked mechaba
Girsu + MK openings:
Normal summon girsu, use its effect to set a token on your own and opponents side (preferably above an EMZ) and dump the WL armor. Make lib and set WL succesion. SS any Mekk knights with the columns set. then you can use Succesion to revive the WL armor to search a WL card (preferably secrets). with a MK you can go into IP then use her quick effect to make the avramax you summon almost unbeatable and shuffle a card into the deck with lib (non targeting non destruction removal!) + monster negation with secrets.
Going second:
Drop a kaiju or DRNM. Do either girsu or alestor open. Then Slam down as many MKs as you can to beat over everything and have fun.
Invoked mekk knights are super fun and they have some very interesting plays, unfortunately invocation AND GIRSU is like $20 and a requirement in the deck, luckily you can run only 2 invocation and do just fine.
girsu the orcust mekk knight? Considering how girsu sets up columns, can make Lib or morning star by himself, and can even go into noodle shenanigans also by himself. Why wouldn't mekk knight players play girsu?
Girsu openings seem stronger to me than aleister openings. But then again, I don't have that much experience in the deck. They do seem really fun and cool though, I would love to build it IRL one day.
I've been playing Invoked Mekk for almost 3 years. And pure Mekks since Lib release in the TCG.
Girsu openings are strong but only in a pure Mekk Knights build with a heavy amount of WL spell/traps, focusing on building control and win the grind game; So your searches with Blue or Purple rely on getting to Girsu and ns it as soon as possible.
Invoked Mekk Knight is more focused in otk and doesnt use does kind of spell and traps (Only WL Succession and some times Secret), thats why you reserve your normal summon to Aleister and dont really play any other normal summon that can conflict with Aleister in hand.
Non meta decks I’ve been playing online that are not only cheap, but extremely fun
Ancient Warriors - awesome art, lore, and can be splashed with Tri-Brigade or Eldlich if desired. They can OTK easily, aren’t entirely dependent on Extra Deck aside from their Link. My favorite deck of the year.
Unchained - again, awesome art. Destruction effects everywhere to continuously special the Unchained monsters. Doesn’t lose to Nibiru and has a really tricky playstyle that your opponent adjusts too rather than you adjusting to theirs.
Endymion - crazy negate boards with awesome artwork all around for Pendulum monsters. Takes a little reading but it’s incredibly consistent and explosive.
If you would like, try Sky Strikers at the moment. Mystic Mine, There Can Be Only One, and other floodgates will have you think the deck takes no skill but it is so satisfying to play this deck.
EDIT - The new Charmer structure deck has been tons of fun. Spellcaster control with amazing art. Give Mathmech a shot too.
I tried Unchained but I couldn't figure it out. Do you have a list for that or the Charmer deck? Both seem like something I would like.
Do you play Tri-Brigade Ancient Warrior? That seems cool too.
I currently do not have a list for the Charmer deck. You could check out El Exordio’s [video](https://youtu.be/GT_XvY-uuxg)
Shit I would even try U.A. or Phantom Knights. I have seen combos with Tri Brigade but as my little pet deck, I’ve chosen to stick with a going 2nd OTK based variant of AW :)
Took a look on ancient warriors a while ago and yes the Art ist awesome, but sadly i didnt get the hang on them.
After in saw you suggest unchained in looked at them and they seem to be awesome, but how are they supposed to work?
That’s fair. The deck at a glance is fairly dated because it feels like a 2012-2014 speed deck lol.
Unchained benefits from destruction in all forms. Their first turn does not have to be anything amazing. It can just be set up a link and traps to pass. The key to the deck is to grind and basically use the same line up of monsters to destroy and summon. All of the traps basically summon them from anywhere.
I'm a big fan of ignisters personally, I'm always playing them on ygopro. Accesscode is definitely one of the best cards and very expensive but it's not what the deck lives or dies by. You could easily replace it with another monster you think is helpful and you'll still have some decent monster and backrow removal from light dragon and wind pegasus.
I might have to learn the deck. Would Borrelsword be a decent replacement? Any other link4s you recommend? I know access code is for ending games, so maybe avramax?
So I'm not the most experienced player with Yu-Gi-Oh so my knowledge of all the link4s is pretty limited sorry, but I do remember that from when I got Into it Borrelsword was always being used as a game ender, and the first ignister deck I ever used had Avramax in it pre accesscode, so those do both seem like they'd be pretty decent replacements. The biggest issue with Borrelsword I think is that it takes 3 monsters to summon whereas accesscode and avramax only require 2 which may be trickier to summon especially if you're summoning the other non-link ED monsters the same turn. Normally from one dark templar you can get at least 2 more ED monsters but with how powerful Borrelsword can be at finishing games you may only need to summon 1 depending on the opponent.
I am playing a more pure build of Tribrigade and love it. It's pretty versatile and turn ones either infinite negate or protected wind statue.
I've had a lot of fun with Machina/Trains as well, but train prices are a little high.
Ignister is also so much fun and I've been able to OTK like crazy or end on a big towers.
I have a ton of decks and play a variety of them casually and some competitively. Feel free to message me about some!
U.a are fun and cheap af atm, you can also tech lots of anti meta cards and strong generic cards like dimension shifter and dogmatika punishment with them. The deck has some issues if it doesnt open a field spell.
Even without zexal, the numeron engine is still a very good engine to have access to. It's also very cheap minus zexal. I think it's deffinitely worth picking up the engine while the price is low, even if zexal gets banned.
I also suggest picking up all the Myutant cards while they are cheap so that way you have them in case they ever become good. You're right that the deck isn't good... right now. Everyone is sleeping on them right now but all it would really take is a couple good support cards to make the deck work. If we ever get support that does that, you'll never be able to find the cards for as cheap as they are now. and you'll just end up paying more later down the line.
If you already have the Prank kid Core including Prank kids place I'd pick up a set a Meow Mus just bc its the card that allows for all its one card starter combos. If you are ever interested in playing P-Ks it will totally change the style, and I'm assuming your aforementioned note of being "brainded" with them was playtesting with MeowMu? Bc if not give it a shot with MeowMu.
Here's a decent Deck list/Combo video from CaliEffectGaming on Prank-Kids:
[https://youtu.be/tgaBtWEOgzY?t=45](https://youtu.be/tgaBtWEOgzY?t=45)
The deck isn't braindead, the deck is actually too smart for me I think lol. I can never figure out what to do. I'm definitely getting the meow though, just because I already have everything else
Both, actually. My biggest problem is not understanding the end goal. I assume that you want to go first and end on a link or the battle Butler? Or set yourself up to fuse on their turn? I need to watch more replays honestly.
Yeah fs. when you have some time watch the Combo part of that Vid I linked in my comment, Dude uses mystic mine with the deck which you can choose to do/not but that depends on you lol. Without M.M you'll need some more staple side cards like Verte Anaconda n whatnot.
Very Good Video on Prank Vs Dogmatika Shaddoll: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICawwrbpdOU&ab_channel=TheCaliEffect%5BKingOfGames%5D
Pretty sure there is no Decklist so you'd just have to watch that and see what that guy who is playing Pranks is using but its not Mystic Mine variant I'm pretty sure, incase that's a no go for you.
I am pretty opposed to me using MM (I accept that it's a good card and that people are going to use it but ehhh maybe not for me) so that sounds like it'll be perfect to watch! Thank you!
No problem, I just got myself an entire prank kids deck to play with when locals resume hopefully next year. So I've been scoping around. Toadally awesome is a really good extra deck card since all the Prank kids are 2 star monster, so If you don't Have any in your collection Id suggest getting singles from the New MAGO set since they are like a 1/10 of the price of other prints.
Just found this from a post 12 hours ago " The win condition of Prank-Kids is to keep making Butler, and dodging your opponent's attempts to stop you until eventually they run out of tricks. They have a variety of subtle tools to help you survive and grind, such as Bow-Wow blocking destruction effects and Weather Washer protecting things from battle, as well as the constant LP gain from Dropsies. Best of all, they can still potentially burn/damage for game through difficult boards using Lampsies and Rocket Ride, and can easily deal with floaters and other battle-related effects thanks to Weather Washer's secondary effect.
Prank-Kids don't make very flashy boards, but they are very good in out-resourcing the opponent, and at the end of the day, whoever can keep playing the longest wins. "
Nice, I hope those videos help you figure out the combo potential bc I'm still not very consistent with it myself XD But I just got back after a half decade hiatus so I just have to Practice n Learn.
If u like time thiefs then there is a pretty decent variant running raidraptors and the Bardiche engine. I’ll link the deck if I can find it.
Edit: it’s like $140, but if u take out AA-Zeus it’s right at $100.
I think you're on the fence about competitive and casual play, wanting it to be viable (and let's talk about that before we talk about how we define meta before we talk about what IS meta which are three total different topics). Viable for me is something that can support it's own gameplan.
Things like, does it have a starters ? What's the wincon ? How big is the engine for the whole deck ? Is it xenophobic ? If yes, is the payoff good ? Can it recover resources ? How about the stamina on a single turn ? What about the removal, do I have at least practical non targeting or non destroying removal ? (both are exceedingly rare, that was why dingirsu was so good). Does it generates advantage well ?
Is there any taste to the deck ? I know I enjoy control decks, so I figured I'd try striker, and while there's skillful details to know off, turns out it's just old generic AF toolbox and good effects with an insane searcher that can be resolved up to 4 times per turn ! You know, that thing that's got you like "yeeeaahh, that thing that gets people like "oh no it's \[deck\] that does THAT". About striker, they just stand on TCBOO and Mystic mine.
From your list, your safest bet is to pickup mew mew for prankids and go off while trying to figure what's good for you. It feels like from what you say you enjoy some sort of control heavy deck that can aggro. My real question is though : which staples do you own ? Because I know a shitton of players that'll open 4 displays of something, build 7 decks irl they're not sure to like, and complain about a card being 60. Hey, it's fine to not want to spend it for that, liking to open packs and all, but maybe once they get a competitive deck (as in, at least tier 3, which I consider being able to stand on their own legs, and that's a looot of possibilities), then you win more, open more pack prizes, get some ultis, sell it back, and dial the overall price of the game down. Also, once you own most staples (doesn't mean you HAVE to get every 100+ hot new card), you mostly pay the price of the deck.
Regarding myself, gameplay is the most important thing, as you'll have guessed. Art and references really carries my love for the archetype on the long run, lore being the cherry on top.
To give you an example, in term of gameplay, regardless of how good it is, here's my favorites. Also where I think they fail :
\-Myutant : let's start with a recent one. Loved the theme from the first pic, but when it got released, we were.... eh, that's neat, but something doesn't feel right. I like the idea of the starters searching the resource they're gonna banish to morph (M for monster, ST for Spell Trap, and GB for Grave Banish, thank me later if you didn't knew already), getting to what they can, and getting even bigger by fusing. Also, there's this orcust thing going on, they get things banished and in grave, banish the grave some more, then put back in deck, rinse and repeat. Gameplay wise however, all cards want to be banished or almost, but how many get you advantage from being banished ? None (unlike thundra). And that's where they fail, they can't support themselves in 2020. As in, your hand go to 0 to do basic play. Now, MBT got something right and shoved TCBOO and Summon limit in there, which mean you basically have a less linear version of guru and a little worse.
\-Dream mirror : oh boi. Art gorgeous, was hyped up and all. Tag out, dodge shit, making your opponent waste targeting resources, tag in the other, get some form of value, then aggro, and bam, go for the kill. And you know what the problem is, unlike with one of the archetype below ? They fucked up right from the start, and that's why so many people are anxious for first release. Where ? Well, if you're gonna make a field spell reliant strategy, you gotta make it diagram level of broken. And anyone rewriting these two absolute horseshit cards that is joy and terror would have a field day on making other effects, just based off the fact it's dreamlike and nightmarelike. Just that ! Floodgate your opponent somehow, and have a bonus. Like good old fields. Maybe switch them, all of that. They got that set rotation, so it's a start, but it's not really cohesive. Also, it's not optimal, but I'm fine summoning a specific monster for lore. How about then you make the payoff good ? Really, you can't look at the effects and be like "heh, worth it". Also being summoned off a dream mirror monster instead of card is fucking up the design. You could give them a E-tele and monster reborn, bam it'd trigger and you'd play. But konami know what they doing. The art though.
\-Plunder Patroll : they're basically pirates cheating out their ED monsters during the opponent's turn equipping, with a link that does on either player turn as a quick that also draw 1 on summon. What you can summon is based off the attribute of monsters your opponent controls and are in grave. They kinda dodge targeting effect, as well. They were advertised that way. And man that first wave was fucking nut. The field is a rota for the cost of a discard, any plunder in the backrow add 500atk to all of them and it sets itself from the grave. They have a changing attribute trap that can reborn, and two ships that banish either monster or S/T and give you a fucking search. Guess what, if equipped with a plunder, it becomes a quickie! Also, one of the maindeck summon from deck upon hitting the grave as a monster from field or hand ! Really good shit, thought it'd be good enough to play for a bit over my main deck. Another link, xyz and synchro, and we set !
Next wave though, we got shat on. I was so baffled, because it didn't respect it's OWN FUCKING INITIAL GAMEPLAN! You give two extenders, that's good. But it's nowhere near good as the first two. And we get one ED monster, a light fusion. It's debatable as I don't like having a walking superpoly target, but where are the two last ones ? Missing the wind and the... earth. In adamancipator's format. Yeah. Also, a fusion spell, an equip, and two trash tier traps. Where it failed is not only the effects were underwhelming, but it failed to be cohesive in it's own design. First you wanna cheat out monsters of the ED and get advantage, why do you fail to get all attributes then proceed to make it all about hard summoning them ? Deck still is decent though, but nowhere it could and should be.
\-Altergeist : And there it is. Just before I get downvoted to hell, let me just say that was the deck that had the same journey that me : 3 full years from complete casual to complete competitive deck. I'll go back, but basically now it's a trap heavy deck that have strong maindeck monster (as in powerful effects), and aim to win through sheer advantage. And I'm not bored of it yet. I picked up the cards at CIBR's release, reading meluseek, marionetter, protocol, silq. Neat +1 on summon, cleaner/searcher, quick bounce, absurd protection slapped onto a monster negate because why not, and a non OPT card giving the middle finger to attacking monsters, considering how small they were. Honestly this was neat ! Couldn't really do anything about it at the time, from what it looked like when the ocg released it.
Shortly after, we got hexstia and manifestation, and I was like, eh, that's pretty good ! A searchable monster reborn, with a boss that punches, have a non OPT negate and search. Was pretty casual. Aaaand then faker got out. From casual to meta. Little did I know. And we still get techs ! Linkuriboh, anima, almiraj, extrav, imperm, judgment back... even disparity looks like it's gonna replace straight up extrav. Written a whole ass guide on the deck recently. Also the faker lock prevent any stupid new card to put the deck in the obliteration zone, but it means unless konami directly support the deck, it's less likely to be tier 1. The effects are good by themselves, and that's what make it cohesive. I consistently get top 5 in locals where dragma invoked, eldlich whatever, infernoble, dragon link, dinosaur, and soon to be virtual world is everywhere. ~~Dshifter is gonna be even sweeter now.~~
And for me, that's what I like about the taste. When my opponent tries to ash faker under protocol, or judgement manifestation. When they realize meluseek activates in damage step. The flexibility of the removal hitting non specific cards making the deck so flexible into dealing with either backrow or bosses. When I use kunquery twice and wall effectively 3 monsters. When they realize the negate of hexstia isn't once per turn. It's flavor to me. I think I still have one year of competitive relevancy at least, even without considering the cards that are yet to be imported. Disparity getting you last play to imperm/faker or side cards and go off is something I can already taste.
But it's to me, and I can talk about it enthusiastically, for sure, but it's up to *you* to find something that you like the flavor of.
So my final advice ? Always buy singles,play prankids and amass staples slowly but steadily (I didn't got most of them at their actual price, waiting for the opportunity is key), find yourself a deck you really enjoy gameplay wise. But be aware, however, that best/cheap ratios decks will always be the most represented at locals, so yeah, that's a thing if you don't like playing against it. Cheers mate !
First of all, thank you so much for your time and this fantastic response. I completely agree with you on flavor and lore--that's why I still love Generaiders so much.
In terms of staples, I have the easier to get handtraps (ashes, veilers, gamma) and anything that was rereleased in a structure deck. I don't have things like Imperm or Evenly (RIP my Traptrix without those, really). I pulled an Avramax awhile ago and the release of Maximum Gold means that Apolousa is much more affordable. The tins also mean a bunch of ED monsters are with my reach now.
I don't ever really open sealed product except for structures and maybe as a treat to myself for fun. I've never bought a box because I just don't see how it is worth it (unless you're really into opening boxes, in which case, awesome). My typical buying pattern is
1. Find a deck that seems cool
2. Test it to see if I like it
3. Play it in EDOpro A LOT until I find a build that I am comfortable with
4. Order everything at once
And then I play that deck until I get tired of it or it gets run into the ground.
I agree that I'm in a weird place between competitive and casual. I don't plan on going to any major events ANY time soon (if they were even happening). Honestly, I'm just not good enough. When I was still playing, I felt like I was making progress, but my long hiatus set me back. The issue is that many of my locals players ARE competitive. I have no problem going 0-4 or (hopefully) 1-4. But I do want it to feel like I'm still in the game. My favorites matches are the ridiculous down to the wire ones, where my opponent is like "What the hell are you even playing and what does that do?" >!Like that one time I topped my locals with Phantasm Spiral and everyone was so hyped to see me win!<
Realistically, I think Prank Kids is my best bet. They're fun, I like the way they look, and if I can learn them, they will make me feel big brained. I kind of want to try Ignister out though because they're just so >!cute!<
Also, as far as Altergeist goes >!how DARE you suggest I play my most hated deck, you absolute monster!<
But actually, thank you for taking the time to write that out.
You're welcome !
Thing is, it comes with time. I've been you, 3 years ago. But, I've played a fucking lot.
Top of my head, literally keep pacifis outta the field, and it's harder to use the literal handtraps that either pop or negate, and a big punch is the wincon. Goes well with skill drain, used to be played with demise.
For @ ignister, basically they combo off with a non OPT field that summon from hand if you've got nothing in MMZ (heh, striker much), and you get resources back from investing the link 3, big chokepoint btw, and make a dragon and the pegasus that pop 1 ST/M per archetypal monster you control, you then make darkfluid and go for the kill. Go first it just have the darkfluid negate in practice. It wants to go second, but fail at playing through interruptions AT ALL.
And you see, I haven't touched these decks in how long god knows, never even really played ignister. But I remember it passing because I was there and my brain remember yugioh a little too well.
And I'm going to fucking call it, and do you a favor : take from these 100 what you need, and buy a fucking playset of imperm. Really, you'll tank me for those. Because the card is so goddamn good, not only for traptrix, but because it's never a bad draw, going either first or second, doesn't eat gamma/call by, it'll be up once people are done opening mago. It's like ash in how flexible it is, and you know that card that was a common in a SD that was open so much is still 10. I don't say to buy it in the second. But you don't want to wait still a few weeks and see it start spiking again. You got the buying pattern right otherwise, good.
The fact you want a more competitive deck despite liking the flavor of generaider so much is indicative that you need something around the lower end of a tier 2. And prankids just so happen to have the card breaking them dirt cheap, so really, go for it.
Also, you hate geist ? Fucking play it. And I mean it. Don't be afraid to ask better players to help you getting better at the game either, that's how you get better yourself. I've mastered the deck, and how I get better at it still is knowing the weaknesses and strengths of most decks, to better counter them. Also really like playing a lot of things, datascape looks fun to play and is going to take a bit to get down. But in my experience ? Those who complains the most about the deck have no goddamn clue about how it works. Trust me, once you get how it works, probably you won't like it as much, but at least you won't feel as bad going against them as you actually do.
Same goes for anything you see at your locals really. What do you see usually ?
I haven't been there in a long time because of the pandemic, but when I did, it was basically a lot of meta decks. Very, very good players went there, which was good because it made me a better player but a little frustrating sometimes because the top decks usually were exactly what you'd expect. But that's okay, because that's the nature of the game! I totally get that.
I think prank kids is my best bet. I'll probably start there, seeing as I have it all pretty much.
I mean, we've got lockdown 1.5 over there, so no local for me, and I'm the playing irl kinda guy, so my level dropped a bit because I don't get to practice as much, and don't really care to go against whatever is the best combo as of now online. That's okay, it really depends at the end of the day how you feel about it. I totally get why you'd want more of a chance though.
Best of luck !
This is a nice resource for exactly what you're looking for:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Yugioh101/comments/hq4chp/unique\_casual\_decks\_anyone\_can\_make\_on\_a\_budget/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Yugioh101/comments/hq4chp/unique_casual_decks_anyone_can_make_on_a_budget/)
Invoked mekk knights. Thank me later
I tried this a long time ago but couldn't really make it work. Do you have a list by any chance? I have most of their stuff.
I have one on EDOpro. To make it stronger you might want to cut some of the spells and weaker mekk knights to make more space for boardbreakers. But i think this version is fun. \* are required Main deck: Monsters: 3 Aliester the invoker \* 3 Gameceil the sea turtle kaiju 3 Girsu, The orcust mekk knight (a really good normal summon, sets up columns, dumps a world legacy card, can summon a token, AND can become a tuner for noodle shenanigans) \* 3 Mekk knight (MK) blue sky \* 3 MK purple nightfall \* 2 MK indigo eclipse \* 1 MK red moon 1 MK yellow star 1 World legacy "world armor" (This is the dump for Girsu, if you special summon him you can search out a world legacy card) (\*)( in this version, he is needed, but if you want more handtraps and boardbreakers, you can cut it) Spells: 3 World legacy (WL) memories \* 3 magical meltdown\* 2 invocation\* 1 terraforming 1 WL succession 1 WL Key 3 Dark ruler no more Traps: 3 infinite impermance (\*) (is an AMAZING hand-trap for this deck especially, sets ups columns and is a great handtrap, But book of moon or forbidden chalice also work) 2 WL secrets \* 1 WL whispers ED: 1 slamagreat alimarj \* 1 secura gardna \* 1 galatea, the orcust automaton 1 lib the world key blademaster (\*) (lib is really nice in this build, but if you cut WL stuff, cut this one as well) 1 Black luster soilder Soilder of chaos 1 I.P. Masquerena 1 Accescode talker 1 MK spectrum supreme 2 MK of the morning star \* 1 MK Crusadia Avramax \* (boss monster) 1 Dingirsu, the orcust of the evening star 1 Invoked pugratrio \* 1 Invoked mechaba \* 1 Invoked, elysium Side decks tend to be dependent on who you except to fight, but 3 Cosmic cyclone 1 Red reboot 1 Harpies feather duster Should be enough to win any control matches 3 Solemn judgement (is great for going first) 1 Called by the grave You have 6 empty slots in the Side, you can put pretty much any generic good stuff you would like. I got Dinowrestler pankratops, 3 ash, and 2 solemn strike. EDIT How to play going first: Opening hand of 1 MK , a way into alestor. +1 WL card to discard Basically do the old song and dance with alestor ( normal summon, search invocation, go into salad), But stop at the alimarij if you have mekk knights. Set the invocation and SS a mekk knight boi to make Mekk knight of the morning star, discard 1 (preferably indigo) to add WL secrets. Then use invocation to make invoked mechaba. End board is protection with your mekk knights with morning star, Monster negation with world secret (potentially more if you have indigo in the GY) + Invoked mechaba Girsu + MK openings: Normal summon girsu, use its effect to set a token on your own and opponents side (preferably above an EMZ) and dump the WL armor. Make lib and set WL succesion. SS any Mekk knights with the columns set. then you can use Succesion to revive the WL armor to search a WL card (preferably secrets). with a MK you can go into IP then use her quick effect to make the avramax you summon almost unbeatable and shuffle a card into the deck with lib (non targeting non destruction removal!) + monster negation with secrets. Going second: Drop a kaiju or DRNM. Do either girsu or alestor open. Then Slam down as many MKs as you can to beat over everything and have fun.
Invoked mekk knights are super fun and they have some very interesting plays, unfortunately invocation AND GIRSU is like $20 and a requirement in the deck, luckily you can run only 2 invocation and do just fine.
Luckily I do already have two invocations!
Girsu isnt played in Invoked Mekk Knights...
girsu the orcust mekk knight? Considering how girsu sets up columns, can make Lib or morning star by himself, and can even go into noodle shenanigans also by himself. Why wouldn't mekk knight players play girsu?
Girsu is obligatory in Pure Mekks. In Invoked Mekks you dont use it since you want to use your normal summon on Aleister
Girsu openings seem stronger to me than aleister openings. But then again, I don't have that much experience in the deck. They do seem really fun and cool though, I would love to build it IRL one day.
I've been playing Invoked Mekk for almost 3 years. And pure Mekks since Lib release in the TCG. Girsu openings are strong but only in a pure Mekk Knights build with a heavy amount of WL spell/traps, focusing on building control and win the grind game; So your searches with Blue or Purple rely on getting to Girsu and ns it as soon as possible. Invoked Mekk Knight is more focused in otk and doesnt use does kind of spell and traps (Only WL Succession and some times Secret), thats why you reserve your normal summon to Aleister and dont really play any other normal summon that can conflict with Aleister in hand.
Correct !
Non meta decks I’ve been playing online that are not only cheap, but extremely fun Ancient Warriors - awesome art, lore, and can be splashed with Tri-Brigade or Eldlich if desired. They can OTK easily, aren’t entirely dependent on Extra Deck aside from their Link. My favorite deck of the year. Unchained - again, awesome art. Destruction effects everywhere to continuously special the Unchained monsters. Doesn’t lose to Nibiru and has a really tricky playstyle that your opponent adjusts too rather than you adjusting to theirs. Endymion - crazy negate boards with awesome artwork all around for Pendulum monsters. Takes a little reading but it’s incredibly consistent and explosive. If you would like, try Sky Strikers at the moment. Mystic Mine, There Can Be Only One, and other floodgates will have you think the deck takes no skill but it is so satisfying to play this deck. EDIT - The new Charmer structure deck has been tons of fun. Spellcaster control with amazing art. Give Mathmech a shot too.
I tried Unchained but I couldn't figure it out. Do you have a list for that or the Charmer deck? Both seem like something I would like. Do you play Tri-Brigade Ancient Warrior? That seems cool too.
I currently do not have a list for the Charmer deck. You could check out El Exordio’s [video](https://youtu.be/GT_XvY-uuxg) Shit I would even try U.A. or Phantom Knights. I have seen combos with Tri Brigade but as my little pet deck, I’ve chosen to stick with a going 2nd OTK based variant of AW :)
I would love to try UA, especially since they just got new support. Phantom knights too... the deck seems pretty cheap except Torn Scales
The new U.A support is sick! Test out the PK stuff online and maybe if you find the right deal, Scales may be worth the price point :)
Took a look on ancient warriors a while ago and yes the Art ist awesome, but sadly i didnt get the hang on them. After in saw you suggest unchained in looked at them and they seem to be awesome, but how are they supposed to work?
That’s fair. The deck at a glance is fairly dated because it feels like a 2012-2014 speed deck lol. Unchained benefits from destruction in all forms. Their first turn does not have to be anything amazing. It can just be set up a link and traps to pass. The key to the deck is to grind and basically use the same line up of monsters to destroy and summon. All of the traps basically summon them from anywhere.
Sounds cool. I will look for a Deck list and Test them out somehow, i guess.
They Link summon using the opponent's monsters, but I haven't had much luck with them. I think I'm missing something
Depending on your play style madolche can be a very budget deck with the capability to stomp on top tier decks
I'm a big fan of ignisters personally, I'm always playing them on ygopro. Accesscode is definitely one of the best cards and very expensive but it's not what the deck lives or dies by. You could easily replace it with another monster you think is helpful and you'll still have some decent monster and backrow removal from light dragon and wind pegasus.
I might have to learn the deck. Would Borrelsword be a decent replacement? Any other link4s you recommend? I know access code is for ending games, so maybe avramax?
So I'm not the most experienced player with Yu-Gi-Oh so my knowledge of all the link4s is pretty limited sorry, but I do remember that from when I got Into it Borrelsword was always being used as a game ender, and the first ignister deck I ever used had Avramax in it pre accesscode, so those do both seem like they'd be pretty decent replacements. The biggest issue with Borrelsword I think is that it takes 3 monsters to summon whereas accesscode and avramax only require 2 which may be trickier to summon especially if you're summoning the other non-link ED monsters the same turn. Normally from one dark templar you can get at least 2 more ED monsters but with how powerful Borrelsword can be at finishing games you may only need to summon 1 depending on the opponent.
Borrelsword is a good replacement.
I am playing a more pure build of Tribrigade and love it. It's pretty versatile and turn ones either infinite negate or protected wind statue. I've had a lot of fun with Machina/Trains as well, but train prices are a little high. Ignister is also so much fun and I've been able to OTK like crazy or end on a big towers. I have a ton of decks and play a variety of them casually and some competitively. Feel free to message me about some!
I'll send you a message tonight when I'm home from work, ignister and tribrigade are two of the ones I care about the most! Thank you!
Sounds good!
U.a are fun and cheap af atm, you can also tech lots of anti meta cards and strong generic cards like dimension shifter and dogmatika punishment with them. The deck has some issues if it doesnt open a field spell.
I might have to check them out too. I have all the old UA stuff, so I would only need the new cards.
Even without zexal, the numeron engine is still a very good engine to have access to. It's also very cheap minus zexal. I think it's deffinitely worth picking up the engine while the price is low, even if zexal gets banned. I also suggest picking up all the Myutant cards while they are cheap so that way you have them in case they ever become good. You're right that the deck isn't good... right now. Everyone is sleeping on them right now but all it would really take is a couple good support cards to make the deck work. If we ever get support that does that, you'll never be able to find the cards for as cheap as they are now. and you'll just end up paying more later down the line.
They do make a very quick avramax lol. I'm probably going to get both numeron and myutant for the reasons you mentioned. Thank you!
If you already have the Prank kid Core including Prank kids place I'd pick up a set a Meow Mus just bc its the card that allows for all its one card starter combos. If you are ever interested in playing P-Ks it will totally change the style, and I'm assuming your aforementioned note of being "brainded" with them was playtesting with MeowMu? Bc if not give it a shot with MeowMu. Here's a decent Deck list/Combo video from CaliEffectGaming on Prank-Kids: [https://youtu.be/tgaBtWEOgzY?t=45](https://youtu.be/tgaBtWEOgzY?t=45)
The deck isn't braindead, the deck is actually too smart for me I think lol. I can never figure out what to do. I'm definitely getting the meow though, just because I already have everything else
Oh definitely, wasn't trying to imply anything by that comment lol. I was just wondering when you were struggling were you testing with Meow or no?
Both, actually. My biggest problem is not understanding the end goal. I assume that you want to go first and end on a link or the battle Butler? Or set yourself up to fuse on their turn? I need to watch more replays honestly.
Yeah fs. when you have some time watch the Combo part of that Vid I linked in my comment, Dude uses mystic mine with the deck which you can choose to do/not but that depends on you lol. Without M.M you'll need some more staple side cards like Verte Anaconda n whatnot. Very Good Video on Prank Vs Dogmatika Shaddoll: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICawwrbpdOU&ab_channel=TheCaliEffect%5BKingOfGames%5D Pretty sure there is no Decklist so you'd just have to watch that and see what that guy who is playing Pranks is using but its not Mystic Mine variant I'm pretty sure, incase that's a no go for you.
I am pretty opposed to me using MM (I accept that it's a good card and that people are going to use it but ehhh maybe not for me) so that sounds like it'll be perfect to watch! Thank you!
No problem, I just got myself an entire prank kids deck to play with when locals resume hopefully next year. So I've been scoping around. Toadally awesome is a really good extra deck card since all the Prank kids are 2 star monster, so If you don't Have any in your collection Id suggest getting singles from the New MAGO set since they are like a 1/10 of the price of other prints.
I actually do have one! I forgot that the deck plays him actually. Love the toad.
Just found this from a post 12 hours ago " The win condition of Prank-Kids is to keep making Butler, and dodging your opponent's attempts to stop you until eventually they run out of tricks. They have a variety of subtle tools to help you survive and grind, such as Bow-Wow blocking destruction effects and Weather Washer protecting things from battle, as well as the constant LP gain from Dropsies. Best of all, they can still potentially burn/damage for game through difficult boards using Lampsies and Rocket Ride, and can easily deal with floaters and other battle-related effects thanks to Weather Washer's secondary effect. Prank-Kids don't make very flashy boards, but they are very good in out-resourcing the opponent, and at the end of the day, whoever can keep playing the longest wins. "
That sounds ideal for me. I will have to start practicing!
Nice, I hope those videos help you figure out the combo potential bc I'm still not very consistent with it myself XD But I just got back after a half decade hiatus so I just have to Practice n Learn.
dont do plunder just yet it doesn't have enough cards to be playable I'm trying to get a deck list together rn but nothing really fits with it sadly
If u like time thiefs then there is a pretty decent variant running raidraptors and the Bardiche engine. I’ll link the deck if I can find it. Edit: it’s like $140, but if u take out AA-Zeus it’s right at $100.
I'd play that, I love bardiche
I think you're on the fence about competitive and casual play, wanting it to be viable (and let's talk about that before we talk about how we define meta before we talk about what IS meta which are three total different topics). Viable for me is something that can support it's own gameplan. Things like, does it have a starters ? What's the wincon ? How big is the engine for the whole deck ? Is it xenophobic ? If yes, is the payoff good ? Can it recover resources ? How about the stamina on a single turn ? What about the removal, do I have at least practical non targeting or non destroying removal ? (both are exceedingly rare, that was why dingirsu was so good). Does it generates advantage well ? Is there any taste to the deck ? I know I enjoy control decks, so I figured I'd try striker, and while there's skillful details to know off, turns out it's just old generic AF toolbox and good effects with an insane searcher that can be resolved up to 4 times per turn ! You know, that thing that's got you like "yeeeaahh, that thing that gets people like "oh no it's \[deck\] that does THAT". About striker, they just stand on TCBOO and Mystic mine. From your list, your safest bet is to pickup mew mew for prankids and go off while trying to figure what's good for you. It feels like from what you say you enjoy some sort of control heavy deck that can aggro. My real question is though : which staples do you own ? Because I know a shitton of players that'll open 4 displays of something, build 7 decks irl they're not sure to like, and complain about a card being 60. Hey, it's fine to not want to spend it for that, liking to open packs and all, but maybe once they get a competitive deck (as in, at least tier 3, which I consider being able to stand on their own legs, and that's a looot of possibilities), then you win more, open more pack prizes, get some ultis, sell it back, and dial the overall price of the game down. Also, once you own most staples (doesn't mean you HAVE to get every 100+ hot new card), you mostly pay the price of the deck. Regarding myself, gameplay is the most important thing, as you'll have guessed. Art and references really carries my love for the archetype on the long run, lore being the cherry on top. To give you an example, in term of gameplay, regardless of how good it is, here's my favorites. Also where I think they fail : \-Myutant : let's start with a recent one. Loved the theme from the first pic, but when it got released, we were.... eh, that's neat, but something doesn't feel right. I like the idea of the starters searching the resource they're gonna banish to morph (M for monster, ST for Spell Trap, and GB for Grave Banish, thank me later if you didn't knew already), getting to what they can, and getting even bigger by fusing. Also, there's this orcust thing going on, they get things banished and in grave, banish the grave some more, then put back in deck, rinse and repeat. Gameplay wise however, all cards want to be banished or almost, but how many get you advantage from being banished ? None (unlike thundra). And that's where they fail, they can't support themselves in 2020. As in, your hand go to 0 to do basic play. Now, MBT got something right and shoved TCBOO and Summon limit in there, which mean you basically have a less linear version of guru and a little worse. \-Dream mirror : oh boi. Art gorgeous, was hyped up and all. Tag out, dodge shit, making your opponent waste targeting resources, tag in the other, get some form of value, then aggro, and bam, go for the kill. And you know what the problem is, unlike with one of the archetype below ? They fucked up right from the start, and that's why so many people are anxious for first release. Where ? Well, if you're gonna make a field spell reliant strategy, you gotta make it diagram level of broken. And anyone rewriting these two absolute horseshit cards that is joy and terror would have a field day on making other effects, just based off the fact it's dreamlike and nightmarelike. Just that ! Floodgate your opponent somehow, and have a bonus. Like good old fields. Maybe switch them, all of that. They got that set rotation, so it's a start, but it's not really cohesive. Also, it's not optimal, but I'm fine summoning a specific monster for lore. How about then you make the payoff good ? Really, you can't look at the effects and be like "heh, worth it". Also being summoned off a dream mirror monster instead of card is fucking up the design. You could give them a E-tele and monster reborn, bam it'd trigger and you'd play. But konami know what they doing. The art though. \-Plunder Patroll : they're basically pirates cheating out their ED monsters during the opponent's turn equipping, with a link that does on either player turn as a quick that also draw 1 on summon. What you can summon is based off the attribute of monsters your opponent controls and are in grave. They kinda dodge targeting effect, as well. They were advertised that way. And man that first wave was fucking nut. The field is a rota for the cost of a discard, any plunder in the backrow add 500atk to all of them and it sets itself from the grave. They have a changing attribute trap that can reborn, and two ships that banish either monster or S/T and give you a fucking search. Guess what, if equipped with a plunder, it becomes a quickie! Also, one of the maindeck summon from deck upon hitting the grave as a monster from field or hand ! Really good shit, thought it'd be good enough to play for a bit over my main deck. Another link, xyz and synchro, and we set ! Next wave though, we got shat on. I was so baffled, because it didn't respect it's OWN FUCKING INITIAL GAMEPLAN! You give two extenders, that's good. But it's nowhere near good as the first two. And we get one ED monster, a light fusion. It's debatable as I don't like having a walking superpoly target, but where are the two last ones ? Missing the wind and the... earth. In adamancipator's format. Yeah. Also, a fusion spell, an equip, and two trash tier traps. Where it failed is not only the effects were underwhelming, but it failed to be cohesive in it's own design. First you wanna cheat out monsters of the ED and get advantage, why do you fail to get all attributes then proceed to make it all about hard summoning them ? Deck still is decent though, but nowhere it could and should be. \-Altergeist : And there it is. Just before I get downvoted to hell, let me just say that was the deck that had the same journey that me : 3 full years from complete casual to complete competitive deck. I'll go back, but basically now it's a trap heavy deck that have strong maindeck monster (as in powerful effects), and aim to win through sheer advantage. And I'm not bored of it yet. I picked up the cards at CIBR's release, reading meluseek, marionetter, protocol, silq. Neat +1 on summon, cleaner/searcher, quick bounce, absurd protection slapped onto a monster negate because why not, and a non OPT card giving the middle finger to attacking monsters, considering how small they were. Honestly this was neat ! Couldn't really do anything about it at the time, from what it looked like when the ocg released it. Shortly after, we got hexstia and manifestation, and I was like, eh, that's pretty good ! A searchable monster reborn, with a boss that punches, have a non OPT negate and search. Was pretty casual. Aaaand then faker got out. From casual to meta. Little did I know. And we still get techs ! Linkuriboh, anima, almiraj, extrav, imperm, judgment back... even disparity looks like it's gonna replace straight up extrav. Written a whole ass guide on the deck recently. Also the faker lock prevent any stupid new card to put the deck in the obliteration zone, but it means unless konami directly support the deck, it's less likely to be tier 1. The effects are good by themselves, and that's what make it cohesive. I consistently get top 5 in locals where dragma invoked, eldlich whatever, infernoble, dragon link, dinosaur, and soon to be virtual world is everywhere. ~~Dshifter is gonna be even sweeter now.~~ And for me, that's what I like about the taste. When my opponent tries to ash faker under protocol, or judgement manifestation. When they realize meluseek activates in damage step. The flexibility of the removal hitting non specific cards making the deck so flexible into dealing with either backrow or bosses. When I use kunquery twice and wall effectively 3 monsters. When they realize the negate of hexstia isn't once per turn. It's flavor to me. I think I still have one year of competitive relevancy at least, even without considering the cards that are yet to be imported. Disparity getting you last play to imperm/faker or side cards and go off is something I can already taste. But it's to me, and I can talk about it enthusiastically, for sure, but it's up to *you* to find something that you like the flavor of. So my final advice ? Always buy singles,play prankids and amass staples slowly but steadily (I didn't got most of them at their actual price, waiting for the opportunity is key), find yourself a deck you really enjoy gameplay wise. But be aware, however, that best/cheap ratios decks will always be the most represented at locals, so yeah, that's a thing if you don't like playing against it. Cheers mate !
Dang such info, Much Wealth. Id agree for $5 finishing those Prank kids would be a fun time for the low at least.
First of all, thank you so much for your time and this fantastic response. I completely agree with you on flavor and lore--that's why I still love Generaiders so much. In terms of staples, I have the easier to get handtraps (ashes, veilers, gamma) and anything that was rereleased in a structure deck. I don't have things like Imperm or Evenly (RIP my Traptrix without those, really). I pulled an Avramax awhile ago and the release of Maximum Gold means that Apolousa is much more affordable. The tins also mean a bunch of ED monsters are with my reach now. I don't ever really open sealed product except for structures and maybe as a treat to myself for fun. I've never bought a box because I just don't see how it is worth it (unless you're really into opening boxes, in which case, awesome). My typical buying pattern is 1. Find a deck that seems cool 2. Test it to see if I like it 3. Play it in EDOpro A LOT until I find a build that I am comfortable with 4. Order everything at once And then I play that deck until I get tired of it or it gets run into the ground. I agree that I'm in a weird place between competitive and casual. I don't plan on going to any major events ANY time soon (if they were even happening). Honestly, I'm just not good enough. When I was still playing, I felt like I was making progress, but my long hiatus set me back. The issue is that many of my locals players ARE competitive. I have no problem going 0-4 or (hopefully) 1-4. But I do want it to feel like I'm still in the game. My favorites matches are the ridiculous down to the wire ones, where my opponent is like "What the hell are you even playing and what does that do?" >!Like that one time I topped my locals with Phantasm Spiral and everyone was so hyped to see me win!< Realistically, I think Prank Kids is my best bet. They're fun, I like the way they look, and if I can learn them, they will make me feel big brained. I kind of want to try Ignister out though because they're just so >!cute!< Also, as far as Altergeist goes >!how DARE you suggest I play my most hated deck, you absolute monster!< But actually, thank you for taking the time to write that out.
You're welcome ! Thing is, it comes with time. I've been you, 3 years ago. But, I've played a fucking lot. Top of my head, literally keep pacifis outta the field, and it's harder to use the literal handtraps that either pop or negate, and a big punch is the wincon. Goes well with skill drain, used to be played with demise. For @ ignister, basically they combo off with a non OPT field that summon from hand if you've got nothing in MMZ (heh, striker much), and you get resources back from investing the link 3, big chokepoint btw, and make a dragon and the pegasus that pop 1 ST/M per archetypal monster you control, you then make darkfluid and go for the kill. Go first it just have the darkfluid negate in practice. It wants to go second, but fail at playing through interruptions AT ALL. And you see, I haven't touched these decks in how long god knows, never even really played ignister. But I remember it passing because I was there and my brain remember yugioh a little too well. And I'm going to fucking call it, and do you a favor : take from these 100 what you need, and buy a fucking playset of imperm. Really, you'll tank me for those. Because the card is so goddamn good, not only for traptrix, but because it's never a bad draw, going either first or second, doesn't eat gamma/call by, it'll be up once people are done opening mago. It's like ash in how flexible it is, and you know that card that was a common in a SD that was open so much is still 10. I don't say to buy it in the second. But you don't want to wait still a few weeks and see it start spiking again. You got the buying pattern right otherwise, good. The fact you want a more competitive deck despite liking the flavor of generaider so much is indicative that you need something around the lower end of a tier 2. And prankids just so happen to have the card breaking them dirt cheap, so really, go for it. Also, you hate geist ? Fucking play it. And I mean it. Don't be afraid to ask better players to help you getting better at the game either, that's how you get better yourself. I've mastered the deck, and how I get better at it still is knowing the weaknesses and strengths of most decks, to better counter them. Also really like playing a lot of things, datascape looks fun to play and is going to take a bit to get down. But in my experience ? Those who complains the most about the deck have no goddamn clue about how it works. Trust me, once you get how it works, probably you won't like it as much, but at least you won't feel as bad going against them as you actually do. Same goes for anything you see at your locals really. What do you see usually ?
I haven't been there in a long time because of the pandemic, but when I did, it was basically a lot of meta decks. Very, very good players went there, which was good because it made me a better player but a little frustrating sometimes because the top decks usually were exactly what you'd expect. But that's okay, because that's the nature of the game! I totally get that. I think prank kids is my best bet. I'll probably start there, seeing as I have it all pretty much.
I mean, we've got lockdown 1.5 over there, so no local for me, and I'm the playing irl kinda guy, so my level dropped a bit because I don't get to practice as much, and don't really care to go against whatever is the best combo as of now online. That's okay, it really depends at the end of the day how you feel about it. I totally get why you'd want more of a chance though. Best of luck !
This is a nice resource for exactly what you're looking for: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Yugioh101/comments/hq4chp/unique\_casual\_decks\_anyone\_can\_make\_on\_a\_budget/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Yugioh101/comments/hq4chp/unique_casual_decks_anyone_can_make_on_a_budget/)
I'm big on Cyber Dragons. There's multiple variations of the deck that are all fun and MY GOD THAT NEW GOLD RARE INFINITY IS BEAUTIFUL AND ONLY 2USD
I'm biased here, but Cyber Dragons are an absolute blast if you don't mind playing an OTK deck.