The first time I got to talk to Logan Johnson about his deck this weekend, my initial reaction was something along the lines of, "so it's like, Warrior Toolbox, right?" In retrospect, I couldn't have been more wrong.
After he explained it to me, I agreed with him that Hand Control was a better name. While the main deck has a Warrior Toolbox "skeleton" and the deck can often resemble a Beastdown/Zoo list postboard, to label this as a Warrior deck would be to overlook some of its most important features.
Warrior decks do not typically play Tribute Summons, but Logan's deck does. In his opinion, the deck is something like a fusion of the best parts of Soul Control and Warrior Toolbox. From Soul Control, it inherits a couple of Brain Controls and a couple of Monarchs, without going deeper than this, so as to cut out the possibility of drawing too many of either without the other. From Warriors, it takes the double-RotA engine and combines it with a suite of cards that improve his lategame.
Oh, yeah, and I guess the deck discards the opponent's cards a little, too.
Between a Don Zaloog, two Spirit Reapers, and two Thestalos, this deck is always living up to its name. A standard Warrior deck would probably be making use of Trap Dustshoot here, but Logan neither needs nor wants Dustshoot here; the opponent's hand is going to get too small too fast! Compulsory Evacuation Device is a card that's caught on with aggressive decks in the past few years, and Logan's making full use of it here, opting for two copies where most players would probably have two Books of Moon. Compulsory opens up a lot of sick lines with Zaloog and Reaper as well, particularly when the opponent is forced to set lone monsters or set Serpent and use Metamorphosis.
In Logan's opinion, his biggest advantage on Day 1 was his sidedeck. Converting into Beastdown solves many of the deck's postboard problems, both going first and going second. Three Solemn Judgment is a decent catch-all answer to rogue decks, and Kycoo, Wanghu, and Skill Drain each answer different parts of the metagame.
Warrior decks do not typically play Tribute Summons, but Logan's deck does. In his opinion, the deck is something like a fusion of the best parts of Soul Control and Warrior Toolbox. From Soul Control, it inherits a couple of Brain Controls and a couple of Monarchs, without going deeper than this, so as to cut out the possibility of drawing too many of either without the other. From Warriors, it takes the double-RotA engine and combines it with a suite of cards that improve his lategame.
Oh, yeah, and I guess the deck discards the opponent's cards a little, too.
Between a Don Zaloog, two Spirit Reapers, and two Thestalos, this deck is always living up to its name. A standard Warrior deck would probably be making use of Trap Dustshoot here, but Logan neither needs nor wants Dustshoot here; the opponent's hand is going to get too small too fast! Compulsory Evacuation Device is a card that's caught on with aggressive decks in the past few years, and Logan's making full use of it here, opting for two copies where most players would probably have two Books of Moon. Compulsory opens up a lot of sick lines with Zaloog and Reaper as well, particularly when the opponent is forced to set lone monsters or set Serpent and use Metamorphosis.
In Logan's opinion, his biggest advantage on Day 1 was his sidedeck. Converting into Beastdown solves many of the deck's postboard problems, both going first and going second. Three Solemn Judgment is a decent catch-all answer to rogue decks, and Kycoo, Wanghu, and Skill Drain each answer different parts of the metagame.
