Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Deck Profile: Piper's Countdown

OK! Back on track with another fun, inexpensive yet competitive deck profile.

This may actually be the most inexpensive deck I have featured so far with the only money cards really being the Mystic Piper, Metaion and Pot of Duality. So at most your paying $9-10 for a card. Plus theres no synchs to worry about buying

The concept:
Play Final Countdown ASAP then stall (preferably chain able stall) for 20 turns (10 of yours 10 of theirs) easy right??? Ummm yes and no. To really play this deck in a competitive environment you need to be able to read your opponent extremely well. This deck wins if you can walk that line between over extending and under extending. An over extender will find themselves quickly handless and no answers to any cards losing before the 20 turns are up. An under extender will quickly have all their life points knocked away way before they see the 20 turns. So honestly you need to have a good understanding of other decks, game mechanics as well as some math so you can make the long haul to 20 turns.

Its one of those decks that you will find yourself playing your opponent but also playing against your own self. Which for me makes if fun

This build:
For me Im all about optimizing consistency and after much trial and error I honed in on using Mystical Piper as the focus for my build. Most of my stall cards are level 1 so for that he is good at plusing. The new cars for me that make this build live is "one day of peace" and Metalion the Timelord.  ODOP is draw power and stall all in one its the perfect card and one of the only answers you will have in the main deck to cards that burn for damage which is one of the decks tougher opponents (chain burn, Nurse Burn etc) and MTT- is an answer to decks that can OTK when they find a chink in your armor, not to mention that his effect sends him back to the deck for reuse and to give you more draw cards when your deck is thinning down because you waited 5 turns to play Final countdown. Ill chat about building your side deck at the bottom but first Ill get into the build as well as some of the challenges it faces. Read the cons in the card description as well to id some of the challenges.



Monsters:
3x Battle Fader ($0.99 x 3= $2.97)
Pros: level 1 to work with piper, has the ability to stick around longer due to Zero Gardna, Threatening Roar, Waboku, and Thunder of Ruler. He is searchable via Sangan.
Cons: Effect can be negated via anything that negates summons. He is susceptible to Debunk and anything that hates on dark monster effects.


1x Metaion, The Timelord ($9.00)   *one seems just right due to his recycling effect
Pros: He is searchable via Sangan. Will feed your deck for further abuse after his effect goes off. Can clear the field from those poised to oak you when the opening presents itself. Gets rid of monsters whose effects can hurt the deck (Thunder King, Krystia, Jinzo etc etc) He is normal summonable through his effect so he works with pot of duality and around cards that impede special summoning. And he is not a dark or a light which a lot of cards are being run against 
Cons: Not a level 1 

3x Mystic Piper ($9.00 x 3= $27.00)
Pros: He is searchable via Sangan. Is chain able with his effect to draw. You have 11 targets for his effect, so 1/4 of the deck lets you plus with this card
Cons: Hes a light monster which has a lot of hate against it right now. 
*There is a rather cool loop you can do with Kinka-byo and this card in the grave that yields tons of draw power however I ruled it out because in 20 turns I want to be very careful on losing cuz I deck out, although you can judiciously use this loop when you need to so test it out and see if it works for you.

1x Sangan ($0.50)
Pros: The decks searcher can grab all your monsters. He's standard in most variant of this deck


3x Swift Scarecrow ($0.99 x 3= $2.97)
Pros: level 1 to work with piper. He is searchable via Sangan. Because he is not summoned he can't be stopped by cards that negate summoning. He is a Earth which has less hate than light and dark monsters 
Cons: By going to the grave he doesn't hang around for attack fodder, Is hurt by cards that don't allow access to the grave.

2x Winged Kuriboh ($0.50 x 2= $1.00)
Pros: level 1 to work with piper, has some stun capabilities. He is searchable via Sangan.
Cons: Im not a huge fan of this card because the effect isn't chain able. I only keep it around because of the level 1 thing but he would be the first card I dump in a rebuild. There are Kuriboh builds out there but IMO he is lack luster in this one. Speaking of luster BLS will have you hating this card so if you are against a chaos deck side him out asap as for any deck that uses piercers.

3x Zero Gardna ($0.25 x 3= $0.75)
Pros: His stall effect is chain able. Is a earth and a level 4 giving you access to more synchs if you side into effect veiler and need to go that route. He's searchable via sangan 
Cons: I wish this guy was a level 1 but thats about it

Spells:
3x Final Countdown ($2.00 x 3= $6.00)
I run 3 and after I play it I either grab the others with gold sarc so I don't draw into it and set it for MST bait. The 2000 cost + upstarts lets some variants run frozen soul but I found soul fairly worthless with Metaions burn effect happening but oh well thought Id mention it

3x Gold Sarcophagus ($5.00 x 3= $15.00)
Gets that Final Countdown to your hand that much quicker. I normally grab for a Metaion or a final countdown after I played final countdown so I can clear my draws for more piper plays or cards that I need to draw into for my stall

3x One Day of Peace ($0.75 x 3= $2.25)
Card is bad@ss give you a draw and stall in one shot. Plus saves you from pesky burn effects

Traps:
3x Threatening  Roar ($0.50 x 3= $1.50)
Don't wait to trigger it when they declare an attack since it will let that attack go through (unless this is your plan)

3x Thunder of Ruler ($0.50 x 3= $1.50)
Its like T-Roars weaker brother, it can be a tough call to flip if they have no monsters out since it has to flip in the main phase. BUT they could also swarm and OTK you so reading your opponent and understanding their deck is crucial. 

3x Waboku ($0.50 x 3= $1.50)
Doesn't stop the battle so glads and others that need to attack for the effect to go off can still get around this card b ut it can be chains to an attack and stop that damage unlike T-Roar and T-Ruler.

So there it is a $75 deck... Although a lot of these cards are not in use in most other decks and can be traded for quite easily. And the staple ones you probably already have



WHAT HURTS THIS DECK:

You really want to watch out for things that stop your spell and/or traps. Royal decree hurts 25% of your deck and you have no MST or heavy storm in the main. A Dark Bribe or Solemn Judgement on your final countdown can really smart as well.

Other than that burn decks can really get at you fast before you can make the 20 turns, Herald of Perfection builds get mighty tricky, Glads can have the potential to work around some of your cards but Its hilarious to side into GB Hunter who also has the effect of making Metaion stay on the field which will quickly have them pulling their hair out.

But with the new structure deck Dragons Collide coming out you gotta be prepared to see LADD, you will waste tons of resources on getting rid go ladd which in a deck that is always down to the wire this can be a game breaker. Ladd and Herald are why Lava Golem in the side can be so much fun

Speaking of Dragons heres a screenshot, and I kid you not this was his field for like 15 turns Im sure he was just itching to take a swing



the bls really had me I couldn't set that little winged bastard or the 3 eyed fur ball. plus the back rows really had me worried for my battle fader. Once you start running the deck you will get a good idea of the priority you give to playing which card. With no back rows you should use your traps. This way you don't worry about MST or other back row destruction that can flip on the turn you set them. Next I go for. Early on against a weak field Ill set my kuribohs, this way if they destroy him and his effect can't go of, i won't be hit with the field u you see above. Next priority wise for me is fader with fader your main concern is anything that will negate the summon so read the field and play him before you would your scarecrows.






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