Deck Contruction: Burning Skulls

I recently obtained playsets of the three burning skull monsters; Burning Skull Head, Skull Flame, and Supersonic Skull Flame, and I've been thinking so hard about how to build a deck around them. That's where this post comes in. Instead of explaining a deck I already built, I'm going to go through the process of building a deck from scratch.

First, let's look at the cards which the deck will be based around.

Burning Skull Head

FIRE/Zombie/Effect

3/1000/800 

When this card is Special Summoned from your hand, inflict 1000 damage to your opponent. You can remove from play this face-up card you control to return 1 removed from play "Skull Flame" to its owner's Graveyard.

Skull Flame

FIRE/Zombie/Effect

8/2600/2000

Once per turn, you can Special Summon 1 "Burning Skull Head" from your hand. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase the turn you activate this effect. You can add 1 "Burning Skull Head" from your Graveyard to your hand instead of conducting your normal draw during your Draw Phase.

Supersonic Skull Flame

WIND/Zombie/Effect

10/2600/2000

This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by removing 1 "Skull Flame" in your Graveyard from play. Once per turn, you can inflict 400 damage to your opponent for each "Burning Skull Head" in your Graveyard. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon 1 "Skull Flame" from the Graveyard.

So, what do these guys do? Let's start with Skull Flame. He can special summon Burning Skull Head from your hand, dealing 1000 damage by Burning Skull Head's effect. You can also add 1 Burning Skull Head to your hand from your graveyard instead of drawing a card in your draw phase. While Skull Flame is in the graveyard, you can remove it from play to special summon Supersonic Skull Flame. Supersonic Skull Flame can deal up to 1200 damage per turn, depending on how many Burning Skull Head are in your graveyard. When it's destroyed, you can special summon 1 Skull Flame from your graveyard, which starts the cycle over again. Then, by removing from play a Burning Skull Head from your side of the field. you can place the Skull Flame you removed to special summon Supersonic Skull Flame back in the graveyard.

So basically, you should constantly have a 2600 attack monster on the field while being able to get some burn damage in as well. The great thing about these monsters is that they're Zombies, which have a huge amount of support. All three monsters can be special summoned from the graveyard, though you'd have to special summon Supersonic Skull Flame properly first.

On to the deck! First, the monsters

• 3x Burning Skull Head
• 3x Skull Flame
• 2x Supersonic Skull Flame

Since Supersonic Skull Flame cannot be easily summoned at first, we'll only use 2. I've left out Skull Conductor because there are other ways of using Burning Skull Head's effect, and without 2 Burning Skull Head in your hand, he's a pretty useless monster.

• 3x Pyramid Turtle
• 2x Il Blud
• 1x Zombie Master
• 1x Mezuki
• 2x Goblin Zombie
• 1x Plaguespreader Zombie

These are the Zombie support monsters. Pyramid Turtle can special summon any of these monsters from the deck, except Supersonic Skull Flame. Il Blud can special summon any of these monsters from your graveyard or hand, which means 1000 damage if you choose Burning Skull Head. Zombie Master can discard a high level Zombie monster for revival, and can special summon any level 4 or lower Zombie, which means reusing your Turtles. Mezuki revives Zombies, Goblin Zombie can add Burning Skull Head to your hand, as well as Zombie Master, Il Blud, Mezuki, and Plaguespreader. Now for the non Zombie-monsters.

• 1x Sangan
• 1x Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
• 1x Dark Armed Dragon
• 1x Gorz, Emissary of Darkness

Sangan can grab Pyramid Turtle and Goblin Zombie from the deck, Gale can help take down your opponent's big monsters and synchro into Ancient Fairy Dragon, which is another way to get Burning Skull Head's burn effect. Dark Armed Dragon is here because we have plenty of dark monsters, and Gorz is a great backup defense. That makes 22 monsters. Let's look at the spell cards.

First, we'll look at all the spell cards that support the deck theme, then the staple cards and other support spells.

• 3x Book of Life
• 1x Foolish Burial
• 1x Burial from the Different Dimension

I've maxed out Book of Life to fully utilize Skull Flame and Il Blud. Foolish puts monsters in the grave to be special summoned. Burial from the Different Dimension puts Burning Skull Head, Skull Flame, Mezuki, and Plaguespreader back in the graveyard.

• 1x Heavy Storm
• 1x Allure of Darkness
• 1x Brain Control
• 1x Lightning Vortex
• 1x Card Destruction

The first 3 are basic. I'm including Vortex to clear my opponent's monsters for my Zombie swarm to attack, and with so many high level monsters, Card Destruction dumps them for revival, refreshes my hand, and can mess with my opponent's strategy. That's 10 spell cards. Now, on to the traps.

• 1x Mirror Force
• 1x Torrential Tribute
• 1x Call of the Haunted
• 1x Solemn Judgment
• 2x Bottomless Trap Hole
• 3x Thretening Roar

Solemn and Roar protect my field setup, as it may take a turn or two to get the deck moving. The rest are pretty standard.

And there we have it. 41 card deck that should constantly have you bringing out big monsters and burning your opponent the whole match. The deck should be 40 cards to keep it consistent, but I'll leave that decision up to you.

Burning Skulls

Monsters: 22

2x Supersonic Skull Flame

3x Skull Flame

1x Dark Armed Dragon

1x Gorz, Emissary of Darkness

3x Burning Skull Head

3x Pyramid Turtle

2x Il Blud

1x Zombie Master

1x Mezuki

2x Goblin Zombie

1x Plaguespreader Zombie 1x Sangan

1x Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind

Spells: 10

1x Heavy Storm

1x Allure of Darkness

1x Brain Control

1x Lightning Vortex

1x Card Destruction

1x Foolish Burial

1x Burial from the Different Dimension

3x Book of Life

Traps: 9

1x Mirror Force

1x Torrential Tribute

1x Call of the Haunted

1x Solemn Judgment

2x Bottomless Trap Hole

3x Thretening Roar

Deck Profile: This well. It's filled with power. Telekinetic power.

 This is my current deck for the new format. I've only been able to test it against Six Samurai so far, but it won about every game with neither player side decking.


The point of the deck is basically the same as dark synchro, but it's based around getting Krebons in the graveyard and using Telekinetic Power Well to synchro multiple times.

Monsters: 21
3x Mystic Tomato
2x Armageddon Knight
1x Dark Grepher
1x Necro Gardna1x Plaguespreader Zombie
2x Destiny Hero - Malicious


The Krebons are easily accessed via the monsters above. Tomato brings Krebons/Arma Knight/Necro/PSZ/Malicious to the field. Armageddon Knight dumps the Malicious/PSZ/Krebons to ready them for a synchro. Level 6 and 8 synchros are the easiest to summon this way.

3x Krebons
1x Mind Master

Krebons is the best tuner for this deck because it's very easy to get it into the graveyard, it's a dark, and it can be special summoned with Power Well and Emergency Teleport. The Mind Master can also be special summoned with those cards, and I can use his effect to send a Krebons to the graveyard and grab one from the deck if needed.


2x Cyber Dragon

This guy can turn the game around if used correctly. If I'm in a position where my opponent has monsters and I don't, I can special him, summon a Krebons, and nuke the field with Black Rose, or use Mind Master for a quick Brionac. With Power Well, I can even make a level 8 very easily if it's needed.

1x Dark Armed Dragon
1x Gorz, Emissary of Darkness
2x Caius the Shadow Monarch


1x Sangan


DAD and Gorz are obvious choices. Caius is there for power, removal, and a potential level 8 synchro. Sangan can grab 13 monsters in the deck, so that's an easy choice.



Spells: 11
1x Heavy Storm
1x Giant Trunade


1x Mystical Space Typhoon
 
Being a swarm/power deck, my opponent's backrow needs to be clear.

1x Brain Control
1x Mind Control


These let me use my opponent's monsters for synchro.

1x Allure
1x Foolish Burial
1x Emergency Teleport
3x Telekinetic Power Well






Allure is draw power, Foolish puts Krebons/PSZ/Malicious in the grave, and Teleport and Power Well special summon my tuners. Power Well can special summon any number of my tuners from the graveyard, except Plaguespreader.
 
Traps: 8
1x TT
1x Mirror Force
1x CotH
1x Solemn
2x BTH
2x Threatening Roar

The traps are basic, except for the 2 Threatening Roars. I chose to run this because it protects my field so I can make a huge play on the next turn. Most of the monsters in my deck are relatively weak until I can tune them into a big synchro. It also helps against the mass of Gladiator Beasts decks we'll probably see early in the format. 


If you have any questions, or complaints, don't hesitate to leave me a comment :)

It's like Christmas morning! And you got a bunch of underwear....

In case you've been in a coma for the past few days, here's the next 6 months of Yugioh.

• Restricted

Chaos Sorcerer - Didn't really need to go to 1.
Tragoedia - Good one. Gorz is at 1, and Trag has been seeing a lot more play lately.
Necro Gardna - This could've went to 2. This hurts LS, but not as much as some other things on the list. Many potential decks also get hurt by this, which is unnecessary.
Necroface - I played a Necroface mill a few months ago, and it was a pain. This is good, but not entirely needed.
Mezuki - Zombie killer. This is the card that put Zombies back on top. This is a good idea.
Lightlord Summoner - Lumina - Really hurts LS. I'd rather they restrict/ban Judgment Dragon instead, but this really puts a damper on the LS strategy.
Burial from a Different Dimension - I guess with Mezuki at 1, Zombie players would've used more of these. I don't feel it needed restricted.
Foolish Burial - This is a good spot for this. Although, most decks just use 1 anyway.
Destiny Draw - Completely destroys anything with D Heroes in it. I guess this will make players think outside the "throw in D Hero engine" mindset.
Charge of the Light Brigade - Even more LS hate. If RotA was at 1, this should be also.
Allure of Darkness - Slows down many decks. Blackwings, Zombies, and any dark decks get hurt by this. Personally, I believe this should've stayed at 2.
Mind Crush - With Dustshoot staying at 1, I don't know why this needed limited.
Magical Explosion - You know how Konami hates OTKs. I didn't see this card being played anyway.

• Semi Restricted

Honest
Cyber Dragon - I like this, although with Cyber Dragon Zwei, there will probably be an uprising in Chimeratech decks.
Demise - King of Armageddon - Get ready to see alot of attempts at Demise OTK. Without Metamorphosis and 1 Advanced Ritual Art, it won't be as consistent, but I wouldn't count it out as a threat.
Dandylion - Gives Monarchs a chance. Plant decks can also benefit.
Treeborn Frog - Frog decks and Monarchs get a boost.
Black Whirlwind - Blackwings needed something done, and this is ok. It would be nice if Vayu made the list as well, but we'll have to settle for this.
United We Stand - No problems here
Royal Decree - I don't know the reason for this. Even if Decree makes it into the side deck, nobody uses more than 2 anyway.
Royal Oppression - Hurts anti meta decks a bit, but not a big deal.
Skill Drain - Same as above. Most recent Skill Drain variants have only been using 2 anyway.

• Unrestricted

Mask of Darkness - More monarch support if you plan on going with the Reckless build.
Smashing Ground - Along with Fissure, maybe Gadgets will shine again, but I don't think many other decks will be using this card.


Overall, this list hurt some of the current top decks, such as Lightsworn and Zombies, while others like Blackwings went basically untouched. The loss of 1 Whirlwind and 1 Allure doesn't seem like a big hit. Absolute Zero and decks that just toss in the D Hero Draw engine took a big loss with the D Draw. In my opinion, instead of limiting Lumina and Charge, they could have just restricted Judgment Dragon. The LS toolbox isn't as hard to deal with as a giant field-clearing monster with a negligible summon requirement and cost. My prediction is that Blackwings will stay on top, along with Gladiator Beasts, while X Sabers reach tier 2-1.5, and Infernities take over when The Shining Darkness is released. We might even see Gravekeepers shoot up in popularity with all their new cards from ABPF.

Deck Profile: The Sky's on Fire!

Here's a fun deck I was working on a while ago. I feel it's pointless to post this so close to the new format, but until the list comes out, I have nothing to blog about.

Monsters: 22

• 2x Flying Fortress Sky Fire
• 3x Summon Reactor 
• 2x Spell Reactor  
• 2x Trap Reactor

Essential to the deck.

• 3x Mystic Tomato
• 1x Sangan
• 2x Armageddon Knight
• 1x Black Salvo

Tomatoes can search out the Spell and Trap reactors, as well as PoC, Sangan, and Armageddon Knight to set up the next turn. Armageddon Knight sends the parts to the graveyard to be revived with Dark Creator, Salvo, or PoC. Salvo revives Trap Reactor, and I can syncro in a pinch.

• 1x Dark Armed Dragon
• 3x The Dark Creator
• 2x Phantom of Chaos

DAD is DAD. The Dark Creators can revive anything in the deck, besides Sky Fire, and can be used with Trade In. The PoCs can use TDC's effect, and there should be no problem getting them in the graveyard.
 
Spells: 8

• 1x Heavy Storm
• 1x Giant Trunade
• 1x Brain Control

Staples. 

• 2x Allure of Darkness
• 3x Trade In

All but 2 monsters in the deck are dark, and everything besides the reactor monsters can be removed. Trade In lets me dump The Dark Creator for PoC use, and lets me replace a drawn Sky Fire for something more useful.

Traps: 11

• 1x Torrential Tribute
• 1x Mirror Force
• 1x Call of the Haunted
• 1x Solemn Judgment
• 2x Bottomless Trap Hole

Basically staples with some protection. The Solemn keeps my monsters alive or does what Solemn does.

• 2x Anti Spell Fragrance 
• 3x Fake Explosion

Spell Fragrance makes my opponent  waste a card if they want to activate a spell while Sky Fire is on the field, and Fake Explosion is some protection while easily bringing out the Summon Reactor.


So the purpose of the deck is to get Sky Fire on the field quickly, then shut down your opponent with his effect and Spell Fragrance. There is plenty of draw power and the dump/revive tactic will make sure you get your reactors on the field for Sky Fire.

The Encounter: 2/13/10: Me vs Phil

Game 1


Game 2

This was the first tournament I've been to since around Christmas. I didn't really have a deck made, so I threw together Rex Mendoza's SJC deck because I don't have any Divas. First round, I played a kid with some kind of JD-less twilight. I opened ridiculous with Trooper, Book of Life, and Mezuki. Trooper milled Zombie Master and Plaguespreader. Needless to say, that round was over quickly. Next, I played Phil with Zombies, then Jason with Destiny Zombies. Both were great matches, but unfortunately, I didn't get either on video. The videos above are from my top 4 match against Phil. I then lost to Jason to make 2nd place.

Feel free to comment on the match, and share your thoughts as to what should or shouldn't have been done.

INTRODUCTIONS!

There are many Yugioh blogs out there created by players that consider themselves good at this game. This is not one of them.

Hello! Allow me to introduce myself. I am CrashLove37, and I am an average duelist. I've been playing the TCG since it was released in the US, and have been to quite a few regionals, a couple SJC's, and too many locals to count. I'm also a part of the infamous Team Jarvis (currently on hiatus). My highest "achievement" in this game is going 7-3 at an SJC in College Park, Maryland a couple years ago. Probably 95% of my regionals have ended with me going x-3, which, as I've said before, is quite average.

I created this blog to put my thoughts as an average player onto the internet where they will probably go unseen forever. Some of the things I'm going to post will be some random deck ideas, like my Gravekeeper/Blackwing deck I used this format with fair results, thoughts about cards and banlists, and just my thoughts about the game in general. I know I'm not alone in my quest to be a better player, so if you are also an average duelist, feel free to follow this blog and share your thoughts. :)