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.

Combos: Trish's Fishes (Part 1 - The Draw)

Im going to preface this part with a couple comments. You may have heard of the phrase "it takes a village to raise a child" It means no one person really is responsible for making a child who they grow up to become. There is to much interaction with the environment and those around you that shape a person. Yu-Gi-Oh deck building is no different. I've been a Frog player since 2009 when Swap Frog was released in SOVR, I still play a variation of wetlands control (cant wait for replacement toad). I have online articles that are dated that show my development of FrogTK, I also wrote the first online guide on the building and use of the deck as well as forums that show it being developed. But even then I will not sit here and get mad at people that claim similar credit. (Although I did start this blog at first because I wanted better documentation of my ideas time coded but have since realized just how silly that is)

With the number of people in the world playing Yu-Gi-Oh and the limited number of cards it only makes sense that multiple people can build using similar cards and independently come to the same conclusions (I was actually working on a world lock frog deck and a exodia frog deck when I stumbled on to the idea of frogtk) I just recently started reading other players blogs (something I never really did before) and was astounded that some people were testing things and doing things that I thought myself unique in. It takes one person teching one card and sharing the success of it with others to get others moving in a similar direction. Adopting that card does not taint your creativity in the deck nor does it make that deck another persons build. The whole point of this ramble is that nobody really owns a build. Too many people contribute and the ygo community is to closely networked for people to claim ownership. I understand alot of the egos that are out there (and I was and still am one of them), that for them deck building is their rock star status but in the end it was not just one person, it was a village

BUT... there are many out there who do make unbelievable leaps to connect random cards together for synergy and have a great strategic mind and credit should always go to those that its due. Everybody likes recognition So I will make mention of people whom have contributed as best as I can.

ENOUGH OF ALL THAT...

Trish's Fishes is a fusion of FrogTK and FrogFish, in July 2010 when I  started working with Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth (yes I was doing Frogfish or FishTK in July, it was formula Synchron and Red Nova that made me interested in it) it was no biggy we had Substitoad, but 8/18/10 a day that will live in infamy, I learned subby will get hit (RIP Subby), Heavy Storm was still around, cold wave is now gone and you didn't have Warnings. It was this environment that shaped FrogFish. So in any OTK used NOW... Giant Trunade is way important... unless you can beat the back rows making OTK an FTK

For an FTK to function the draw is way important. The water monsters have an advantage with Moray of Greed, and the fact that most of them function in the grave makes Hand and Card Destruction so successful in FrogTK, which even if it could have use POD it couldn't because of the special summoning and since the burn was specific Upstart never worked either (unlike Trish's Fishes) but all these are draw support cards whats most important are the cards you need to draw to go off.

The FTK can go off if you draw:

Swap Frog + An Aqua Monster (not SDKC or Oystermeister) + SDKC

If you draw a frog as your aqua you pitch em to SS Swap. Send Ronin to the grave. Remove the pitched frog to SS Ronin. Normal summon SDKC

If you draw Fishborg you pitch fishborg to SS Swap. Send a frog to the grave. Discard to SS Fishborg and then normal SDKC

****Swap Frog + Monster Reborn + SDKC****

Pitch SDKC to SS Swap. Send your Frog. Recall swap to hand. Monster Reborn your SDKC

****Foolish Burial + Monster Reborn****

Hey I love Swap too but you can also get your SDKC in the grave to be reborn with foolish too

Star Blast + SDKC

you can reduce SDKC level to 1 right away to normal summon him. Being a 1 star water you can synch him with fishborg right away for a Formula Synchron. I first learned of Star Blast on March 6th from a player named Bear who's team took first at the Kumamoto One Coin Cup (OCG)

****Gold Sarcophagus + D.D.R.****

DDR was a go to card in post-substitoad frog builds as ways to make dupe locks (never really worked great) But the cards value was made apparent by Michael Bonacini who uses Gold Sarch to remove a SDKC and then Summon him via DDR

****Gold Sarcophagus +Hidden Armory****

Hidden Armory is like a terraforming for your D.D.R. and because D.D.R specials there is no conflict. However if you draw into a Oystermeister you really gotta think your way out and you cant summon a Fishborg or Oyster first to protect your SDKC from Effect Veiler

There are tons of other cards that can work as well some more consistent than others

YOU MAY NOTICE, there are some **** around a couple of the combos these are all ones that leave you open to still normal summon. I think this is important because if you draw into an oystermeister its much easier to normal summon him out then to do discard acrobatics. As in any FTK the less cards you need to draw the better. BTW drawing into a Level Eater early doesn't hurt either :)

ALSO for those that are going to start whining about this deck just go with the flow it will be gone by next ban list with Generation Force coming out and all the water support thats coming: Cards like surfacing etc.