July 2002 brings the release of Metal Raiders, an enormous booster set with many superior cards. The most notable new monsters are Sangan and Witch of the Black Forest, both allowed at 2 copies per deck. Because they have such a large impact on every game, I call this format the Critter Format (after the OCG translation of Sangan). The deck above takes full advantage of their versatility by running a diverse array of tech monsters to provide an ideal response to any situation.
As with the Yugi Kaiba Format, monster removal and battle are key, but the addition of 2 copies of Heavy Storm greatly changes the tempo of the game. Adding fuel to the fire, Magician of Faith essentially doubles the frequency of power spells. Suddenly it is much easier to capitalize on an your advantage and press with powerful plays on every turn. Let's review some of the card choices, starting with the 6 Power Spells:
RAIGEKI and DARK HOLE are still the baddest cards. However, you can use them more freely in the sense that you have a realistic chance of retrieving them from the Graveyard with Magician of Faith, although I still try to take out at least 2 monsters every time I use one. The odds of hitting 2 solid beaters are greatly diminished, since there are now true Floater Monsters in the game in the form of Witch, Sangan, White Magical Hat, and Masked Sorcerer. It is also tempting to use Raigeki or Dark Hole on a face-up beater and a set monster, for fear of it being Magician of Faith, but that set monster could easily be a Witch or Sangan. Unfortunately this play is perhaps the least risky in that scenario, as allowing a Magician of Faith to go off could easily lead to a loss. It's often better to cash in the 1-1 while clearing the board for your own plays while staving off your opponent.
MONSTER REBORN hasn't changed much, but it gets a little more versatile now that you can target your own Witch of Sangan to set up a Tribute Summon or use defensively. It's still a Power Spell that can swing the game in your favor, so it's usually best to hold it as long as possible or use it to clinch the game.
POT OF GREED is now a bona-fide Power Spell with the addition of Magician of Faith and the greater emphasis on card advantage. Pretty self explanatory. Use it immediately due to the threat of White Magical Hat or Robbin' Goblin.
CHANGE OF HEART is a lot more complicated now. It has enormous potential to gain you advantage by stealing a face-down Flip Effect Monster like Magician of Faith, but it also has a near equal potential to backfire if you steal Witch, Sangan, or a defensive wall. My best advice is to hold off unless you have a solid reason to believe a Magician of Faith was set, or either you or your opponent is totally desperate. This includes having already taken out a set Sangan or Witch, or your opponent being in a situation where they cannot afford to set Sangan or Witch due to your aggressive position in the current game state. Conversely, I would preferably set a monster to bait out a Change of Heart before setting my own Magician of Faith. Sometimes it is also fine to let a Magician of Faith go through if your opponent does not have any game breaking Spells in the Graveyard. Remember, Change of Heart has other uses than being a gamble at stealing a Faith, so holding it for later is a solid play if you can afford it. Using Change of Heart is always a calculation of risk versus reward.
HEAVY STORM is the newest Power Spell, and being at 2 is a bit nutty. The Dark Hole equivalent of S/T removal, it is the first serious S/T removal released. De-Spell and Trap Master are officially outdated. In the Yugi Kaiba format, it was perfectly acceptable to set as many S/T as you wished, and the only thing holding you back was the limit of 5 S/T slots. But from now on, it is straight-up risky to set more than 1 S/T that is not chainable. Setting 2 unchainables even when your opponent has 1-2 S/T can backfire in a number of ways: (1) Your opponent's S/T are Spells that can be activated and followed up by a 2-1 Heavy Storm, (2) Your opponent can play defensively and let you summon monsters into their Traps, leaving you with 2 S/T to their none or 1, (3) One of their S/T is in fact Heavy Storm, the classic "pro-Heavy." In addition to these somewhat tricky plays Heavy Storm can obviously be used aggressively to get in an crucial attack or go for game. The biggest counter to it is Waboku, because it can save you for a turn and prevent your opponent from following up with a play to gain advantage in battle. Some people might be inclined to play Magic Jammer or Solemn Judgment as counters as well, but these both have serious drawbacks that will be addressed below.
LAST WILL now gets a serious boost, with the ability to bring out many versatile monsters like Witch, Sangan, White Magical Hat, Masked Sorcerer, etc. Although it is rather limited in use because until the 2006 erratum Last Will must be activated before one of your monsters is sent to the Graveyard. So how can you effectively use Last Will? There are a few ways: (1) Before a Tribute Summon, (2) Before playing Dark Hole on your monster, (3) Before a kamikaze attack with one of your monsters, particularly when you can attack an opponent's Witch with your Witch or their Sangan with your Sangan. Remember, you can Special Summon a monster during the Battle Phase to get an attack in with something like White Magical Hat. If the kamikaze attack fails to take out its target, your monster will likely die and you can bring out a Sangan or Witch in defense mode.
FISSURE is still a very useful card, although all the floater monsters make it more complicated to use, since you will need to take out that floaters in battle in order to use Fissure on a bigger monster in MP2. I recommend 2 or 3 in any deck.
SWORDS OF REVEALING LIGHT is further weakened by the presence of Heavy Storm, but there aren't many more good options in the Spell Department to replace it. It's saving grace is that it can still be used aggressively to flip monsters up and that it can be used with some confidence after an opponent has already played 1 copy of Heavy Storm.
SANGAN and WITCH OF THE BLACK FOREST are quite irritating to get rid of outside of battle, since they are effectively immune to Fissure and Trap Hole. They can also punish aggressive removal plays like Raigeki, Dark Hole, and Change of Heart when they are set face-down, since they will always get their effects when sent to the graveyard. Notably, they make Man-Eater Bug much less playable. The fact that these Critters can also search each other out adds to the frustration. These guys are incredibly versatile and one or the other can search out nearly any monster in any deck. They are great in almost every situation in the early game. Their one weakness is that they are easily run over when you are trying to defend yourself late game.
LA JINN and 7 COLORED FISH are self explanatory. They are the highest attack vanilla monsters and the only commonly played monsters that can take them out in battle are Summoned Skull, Jirai Gumo, and Dark Elf. These vanillas remain useful aggressors, but the copy number in a typical deck falls precipitously from Yugi Kaiba to Critter Format, because there are many useful new effect monsters one can play.
SUMMONED SKULL plays a nearly identical role here as it did in Yugi Kaiba, but now it can be brought out more easily thanks to Sangan and Witch being great Tribute Fodder. It is also a nice backup plan to have when you are stealing a facedown monster with Change of Heart. You can choose to run 1 or 2, but keep in mind you can grab it with Witch.
DARK ELF is primarily used in response to La Jinn or 7 Colored Fish. The 1000 life point cost for each attack is rather steep, but is too good not to use in response to vanillas. Be sure to have a plan for getting past set monsters in the next few turns, because you will want to stay on the aggressive and hopefully get in a few direct attacks. The number of Dark Elf you run also limits the number of Jirai Gumo and 7 Tools of the Bandit you can play.
GIANT SOLDIER OF STONE and WALL OF ILLUSION surprisingly still have their uses. Particularly when combined with a Robbin' Goblin. Wall of Illusion and Robbin' Goblin were made for each other, as you can discard at least 2 cards in one swing if your opponent summons a monster with 1800 ATK or less, attacks into Wall + Goblin, and then has a clear field for you to attack with Wall and discard a card next turn. Stone is obviously superior against a Dark Elf. Using one of each gives you a nice option when you search them out with Sangan.
WHITE MAGICAL HAT is the first card that can gain advantage in battle without having to run over a smaller monster. If you can set up an clean attack and protect it for a turn, you're golden, but usually one attack is all you will get thanks to the prevalence of Sangan and Witch.
MASKED SORCERER is very similar in its uses to White Hat, with the notable ability to get its effect when facedown and attacked by a Sangan or Witch thanks to having 1400 DEF. It also slips under Trap Hole, which is quite nice.
MUKA MUKA is an interesting experiment in versatility. It's best ability is that it gets under Trap Hole before it pumps up. It's big weakness is that you need to keep a rather large hand to play it: 5 Cards to make it 2100 ATK or 4 Cards to make it 1800 ATK. If you can pull that off by being conservative with your cards, you can really make it count.
MASK OF DARKNESS is similar but generally inferior to Magician of Faith. Regardless, it is versatile and allows you to get back Waboku, Mirror Force, Robbin' Goblin, etc. It has the same weaknesses as all Flip Effect Monsters, being slow and vulnerable to Change of Heart.
MAN-EATER BUG is severely weakened by the presence of Floaters. However, I still think running 1 or 2 is ideal, because it is effective, target-specific removal in the face of a Beater + Floater. It nicely compliments Fissure, which cannot target.
MAGICIAN OF FAITH is the most powerful Flip Effect Monster in the format. Getting back a Power Spell is too good and too versatile. However, because it is so powerful it is also much more vulnerable to Change of Heart. Faith is always in the back of both players minds, and there is a real art of cat and mouse that one needs to perfect in order to pull it off with a high rate of success. Such plays include setting a Sangan against an open field to bait out Change of Heart or setting a Faith with no Power Spells in the Graveyard. It adds a new layer of mental gamesmanship.
TRAP HOLE and WABOKU are still staples at 3. Both are necessary to stop threats, and each has its own strengths. Trap Hole is great because it actually removes the threat, while Waboku is great because it guarantees protection in the event of Heavy Storm.
MIRROR FORCE is a powerful new addition to the Trap lineup, and it adds another form of mass removal to your arsenal. Use it wisely, but don't hold it forever, because it is crushing to lose it to a Heavy Storm. It's the best weapon you have to stop aggressive plays coming from Masked Sorcerer and White Magical Hat.
ROBBIN' GOBLIN is rarely expected. It's best activated when you are attacking with a Floater or when your opponent attacks a defensive wall. However, you need to be have pretty solid field presence in order to use it, meaning it can be a bit situational and is bad when you are losing. The threat of Heavy Storm seriously weakens its usefulness, because you cannot set Goblin and real protection without risking the loss of both.
Other cards: JIRAI GUMO is similar in uses to Dark Elf, but it can work much better late game when the cost of losing half your life points is minimal and maybe you need to take the risk. The great thing about it is that it runs over Dark Elf too.
Other cards: THUNDER DRAGON is potentially useful in combination with Tribute to the Doomed and Magic Jammer. It can also convert floater monsters into slightly bigger beaters through a Tribute Summon.
Other cards: CANNON SOLIDER is great in theory when combined with Change of Heart or Last Will, or when going for the kill. However, it strikes me as too much of a minus in most situations.
Other cards: KURIBOH is possibly nice for blocking that last attack that will kill you, but the bigger question is whether you can actually regain advantage by surviving one extra turn. It also seems a bit redundant with the utility of 3 Waboku. It's potentially a good side deck choice against Dragons.
Other cards: TRIBUTE TO THE DOOMED might be good combined with Thunder Dragon, but it's dubious that this is of any use given the fact that we still have 3 copies of Fissure, Trap Hole, and Man-Eater Bug at our disposal.
Other cards: SHIELD & SWORD might be good to side in against a deck that runs Dark Elf or Jirai Gumo in multiples, since both have lower defense than La Jinn and many other common monsters.
Other cards: MAGIC JAMMER has the ability to stop some seriously good power spells, and is one of the best cards that I did not include in my deck. However, I feel that the cost of 1 card and committing another S/T to the board in a format with 2 copies of Heavy Storm is a bit much, because at the end of the day most of your opponent's power spells would be a 2-1 anyway, and you are making it much easier for your opponent to get a plus off of their Heavy Storm. It's a good side deck choice against Dragons.
Other cards: SEVEN TOOLS OF THE BANDIT is actually really solid, but I chose to cut it from my deck in order to run a second Dark Elf. If you load up on too many copies of Dark Elf and Seven Tools, the life point payments will catch up to you, so you have to make some trade offs. The best thing about Seven Tools is that it is the one card that can stop Waboku at minimal cost.
Other cards: SOLEMN JUDGMENT is also a very interesting card. However, I feel that the life point cost is too high to justify in most situations, and it has the same problem as Magic Jammer in that it makes you vulnerable to Heavy Storm. I would say it depends on the deck you are running, and it could work in theory (see below). It's also a good side deck choice against Dragons.
Other decks: MASS NEGATION
One could combine Thunder Dragon, Magic Jammer, Seven Tools, and Solemn Judgment into a deck designed to negate all of your opponent's power plays and press them quickly. Other cards that would work well with this strategy are multiple copies of Mask of Darkness, Masked Sorcerer and White Magical Hat, and Jirai Gumo. The key would be to start the duel strong and gain advantage through battle with some of these monsters, because you will be quite vulnerable if your opponent can reduce the game state to top-decking. This deck is potentially viable because Jinzo, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Royal Decree are not yet out.
Other decks: DRAGONS
Dragons are still potentially deadly, revolving around Lord of D. plus The Flute of Summoning Dragon, but I would guess you have to get the combo going much more quickly thanks to your opponent's ability to run stuff like White Magical Hat and Magician of Faith. Luckily that's far from impossible thanks to the addition of Cannon Solider (using priority to launch) combined with Last Will to pull out a quick Lord of D. that cannot be gobbled up by a Trap Hole. Cannon Solider can also give you an extra 2000 points of damage if you can somehow get it back onto the field after playing Lord of D. + Flute. The potential to run Seven Tools and Solemn Judgment also gives this deck an out to Waboku, which was the bane of its existence in the Yugi Kaiba Format.
As with the Yugi Kaiba Format, monster removal and battle are key, but the addition of 2 copies of Heavy Storm greatly changes the tempo of the game. Adding fuel to the fire, Magician of Faith essentially doubles the frequency of power spells. Suddenly it is much easier to capitalize on an your advantage and press with powerful plays on every turn. Let's review some of the card choices, starting with the 6 Power Spells:
RAIGEKI and DARK HOLE are still the baddest cards. However, you can use them more freely in the sense that you have a realistic chance of retrieving them from the Graveyard with Magician of Faith, although I still try to take out at least 2 monsters every time I use one. The odds of hitting 2 solid beaters are greatly diminished, since there are now true Floater Monsters in the game in the form of Witch, Sangan, White Magical Hat, and Masked Sorcerer. It is also tempting to use Raigeki or Dark Hole on a face-up beater and a set monster, for fear of it being Magician of Faith, but that set monster could easily be a Witch or Sangan. Unfortunately this play is perhaps the least risky in that scenario, as allowing a Magician of Faith to go off could easily lead to a loss. It's often better to cash in the 1-1 while clearing the board for your own plays while staving off your opponent.
MONSTER REBORN hasn't changed much, but it gets a little more versatile now that you can target your own Witch of Sangan to set up a Tribute Summon or use defensively. It's still a Power Spell that can swing the game in your favor, so it's usually best to hold it as long as possible or use it to clinch the game.
POT OF GREED is now a bona-fide Power Spell with the addition of Magician of Faith and the greater emphasis on card advantage. Pretty self explanatory. Use it immediately due to the threat of White Magical Hat or Robbin' Goblin.
CHANGE OF HEART is a lot more complicated now. It has enormous potential to gain you advantage by stealing a face-down Flip Effect Monster like Magician of Faith, but it also has a near equal potential to backfire if you steal Witch, Sangan, or a defensive wall. My best advice is to hold off unless you have a solid reason to believe a Magician of Faith was set, or either you or your opponent is totally desperate. This includes having already taken out a set Sangan or Witch, or your opponent being in a situation where they cannot afford to set Sangan or Witch due to your aggressive position in the current game state. Conversely, I would preferably set a monster to bait out a Change of Heart before setting my own Magician of Faith. Sometimes it is also fine to let a Magician of Faith go through if your opponent does not have any game breaking Spells in the Graveyard. Remember, Change of Heart has other uses than being a gamble at stealing a Faith, so holding it for later is a solid play if you can afford it. Using Change of Heart is always a calculation of risk versus reward.
HEAVY STORM is the newest Power Spell, and being at 2 is a bit nutty. The Dark Hole equivalent of S/T removal, it is the first serious S/T removal released. De-Spell and Trap Master are officially outdated. In the Yugi Kaiba format, it was perfectly acceptable to set as many S/T as you wished, and the only thing holding you back was the limit of 5 S/T slots. But from now on, it is straight-up risky to set more than 1 S/T that is not chainable. Setting 2 unchainables even when your opponent has 1-2 S/T can backfire in a number of ways: (1) Your opponent's S/T are Spells that can be activated and followed up by a 2-1 Heavy Storm, (2) Your opponent can play defensively and let you summon monsters into their Traps, leaving you with 2 S/T to their none or 1, (3) One of their S/T is in fact Heavy Storm, the classic "pro-Heavy." In addition to these somewhat tricky plays Heavy Storm can obviously be used aggressively to get in an crucial attack or go for game. The biggest counter to it is Waboku, because it can save you for a turn and prevent your opponent from following up with a play to gain advantage in battle. Some people might be inclined to play Magic Jammer or Solemn Judgment as counters as well, but these both have serious drawbacks that will be addressed below.
LAST WILL now gets a serious boost, with the ability to bring out many versatile monsters like Witch, Sangan, White Magical Hat, Masked Sorcerer, etc. Although it is rather limited in use because until the 2006 erratum Last Will must be activated before one of your monsters is sent to the Graveyard. So how can you effectively use Last Will? There are a few ways: (1) Before a Tribute Summon, (2) Before playing Dark Hole on your monster, (3) Before a kamikaze attack with one of your monsters, particularly when you can attack an opponent's Witch with your Witch or their Sangan with your Sangan. Remember, you can Special Summon a monster during the Battle Phase to get an attack in with something like White Magical Hat. If the kamikaze attack fails to take out its target, your monster will likely die and you can bring out a Sangan or Witch in defense mode.
FISSURE is still a very useful card, although all the floater monsters make it more complicated to use, since you will need to take out that floaters in battle in order to use Fissure on a bigger monster in MP2. I recommend 2 or 3 in any deck.
SWORDS OF REVEALING LIGHT is further weakened by the presence of Heavy Storm, but there aren't many more good options in the Spell Department to replace it. It's saving grace is that it can still be used aggressively to flip monsters up and that it can be used with some confidence after an opponent has already played 1 copy of Heavy Storm.
SANGAN and WITCH OF THE BLACK FOREST are quite irritating to get rid of outside of battle, since they are effectively immune to Fissure and Trap Hole. They can also punish aggressive removal plays like Raigeki, Dark Hole, and Change of Heart when they are set face-down, since they will always get their effects when sent to the graveyard. Notably, they make Man-Eater Bug much less playable. The fact that these Critters can also search each other out adds to the frustration. These guys are incredibly versatile and one or the other can search out nearly any monster in any deck. They are great in almost every situation in the early game. Their one weakness is that they are easily run over when you are trying to defend yourself late game.
LA JINN and 7 COLORED FISH are self explanatory. They are the highest attack vanilla monsters and the only commonly played monsters that can take them out in battle are Summoned Skull, Jirai Gumo, and Dark Elf. These vanillas remain useful aggressors, but the copy number in a typical deck falls precipitously from Yugi Kaiba to Critter Format, because there are many useful new effect monsters one can play.
SUMMONED SKULL plays a nearly identical role here as it did in Yugi Kaiba, but now it can be brought out more easily thanks to Sangan and Witch being great Tribute Fodder. It is also a nice backup plan to have when you are stealing a facedown monster with Change of Heart. You can choose to run 1 or 2, but keep in mind you can grab it with Witch.
DARK ELF is primarily used in response to La Jinn or 7 Colored Fish. The 1000 life point cost for each attack is rather steep, but is too good not to use in response to vanillas. Be sure to have a plan for getting past set monsters in the next few turns, because you will want to stay on the aggressive and hopefully get in a few direct attacks. The number of Dark Elf you run also limits the number of Jirai Gumo and 7 Tools of the Bandit you can play.
GIANT SOLDIER OF STONE and WALL OF ILLUSION surprisingly still have their uses. Particularly when combined with a Robbin' Goblin. Wall of Illusion and Robbin' Goblin were made for each other, as you can discard at least 2 cards in one swing if your opponent summons a monster with 1800 ATK or less, attacks into Wall + Goblin, and then has a clear field for you to attack with Wall and discard a card next turn. Stone is obviously superior against a Dark Elf. Using one of each gives you a nice option when you search them out with Sangan.
WHITE MAGICAL HAT is the first card that can gain advantage in battle without having to run over a smaller monster. If you can set up an clean attack and protect it for a turn, you're golden, but usually one attack is all you will get thanks to the prevalence of Sangan and Witch.
MASKED SORCERER is very similar in its uses to White Hat, with the notable ability to get its effect when facedown and attacked by a Sangan or Witch thanks to having 1400 DEF. It also slips under Trap Hole, which is quite nice.
MUKA MUKA is an interesting experiment in versatility. It's best ability is that it gets under Trap Hole before it pumps up. It's big weakness is that you need to keep a rather large hand to play it: 5 Cards to make it 2100 ATK or 4 Cards to make it 1800 ATK. If you can pull that off by being conservative with your cards, you can really make it count.
MASK OF DARKNESS is similar but generally inferior to Magician of Faith. Regardless, it is versatile and allows you to get back Waboku, Mirror Force, Robbin' Goblin, etc. It has the same weaknesses as all Flip Effect Monsters, being slow and vulnerable to Change of Heart.
MAN-EATER BUG is severely weakened by the presence of Floaters. However, I still think running 1 or 2 is ideal, because it is effective, target-specific removal in the face of a Beater + Floater. It nicely compliments Fissure, which cannot target.
MAGICIAN OF FAITH is the most powerful Flip Effect Monster in the format. Getting back a Power Spell is too good and too versatile. However, because it is so powerful it is also much more vulnerable to Change of Heart. Faith is always in the back of both players minds, and there is a real art of cat and mouse that one needs to perfect in order to pull it off with a high rate of success. Such plays include setting a Sangan against an open field to bait out Change of Heart or setting a Faith with no Power Spells in the Graveyard. It adds a new layer of mental gamesmanship.
TRAP HOLE and WABOKU are still staples at 3. Both are necessary to stop threats, and each has its own strengths. Trap Hole is great because it actually removes the threat, while Waboku is great because it guarantees protection in the event of Heavy Storm.
MIRROR FORCE is a powerful new addition to the Trap lineup, and it adds another form of mass removal to your arsenal. Use it wisely, but don't hold it forever, because it is crushing to lose it to a Heavy Storm. It's the best weapon you have to stop aggressive plays coming from Masked Sorcerer and White Magical Hat.
ROBBIN' GOBLIN is rarely expected. It's best activated when you are attacking with a Floater or when your opponent attacks a defensive wall. However, you need to be have pretty solid field presence in order to use it, meaning it can be a bit situational and is bad when you are losing. The threat of Heavy Storm seriously weakens its usefulness, because you cannot set Goblin and real protection without risking the loss of both.
Other cards: JIRAI GUMO is similar in uses to Dark Elf, but it can work much better late game when the cost of losing half your life points is minimal and maybe you need to take the risk. The great thing about it is that it runs over Dark Elf too.
Other cards: THUNDER DRAGON is potentially useful in combination with Tribute to the Doomed and Magic Jammer. It can also convert floater monsters into slightly bigger beaters through a Tribute Summon.
Other cards: CANNON SOLIDER is great in theory when combined with Change of Heart or Last Will, or when going for the kill. However, it strikes me as too much of a minus in most situations.
Other cards: KURIBOH is possibly nice for blocking that last attack that will kill you, but the bigger question is whether you can actually regain advantage by surviving one extra turn. It also seems a bit redundant with the utility of 3 Waboku. It's potentially a good side deck choice against Dragons.
Other cards: TRIBUTE TO THE DOOMED might be good combined with Thunder Dragon, but it's dubious that this is of any use given the fact that we still have 3 copies of Fissure, Trap Hole, and Man-Eater Bug at our disposal.
Other cards: SHIELD & SWORD might be good to side in against a deck that runs Dark Elf or Jirai Gumo in multiples, since both have lower defense than La Jinn and many other common monsters.
Other cards: MAGIC JAMMER has the ability to stop some seriously good power spells, and is one of the best cards that I did not include in my deck. However, I feel that the cost of 1 card and committing another S/T to the board in a format with 2 copies of Heavy Storm is a bit much, because at the end of the day most of your opponent's power spells would be a 2-1 anyway, and you are making it much easier for your opponent to get a plus off of their Heavy Storm. It's a good side deck choice against Dragons.
Other cards: SEVEN TOOLS OF THE BANDIT is actually really solid, but I chose to cut it from my deck in order to run a second Dark Elf. If you load up on too many copies of Dark Elf and Seven Tools, the life point payments will catch up to you, so you have to make some trade offs. The best thing about Seven Tools is that it is the one card that can stop Waboku at minimal cost.
Other cards: SOLEMN JUDGMENT is also a very interesting card. However, I feel that the life point cost is too high to justify in most situations, and it has the same problem as Magic Jammer in that it makes you vulnerable to Heavy Storm. I would say it depends on the deck you are running, and it could work in theory (see below). It's also a good side deck choice against Dragons.
Other decks: MASS NEGATION
One could combine Thunder Dragon, Magic Jammer, Seven Tools, and Solemn Judgment into a deck designed to negate all of your opponent's power plays and press them quickly. Other cards that would work well with this strategy are multiple copies of Mask of Darkness, Masked Sorcerer and White Magical Hat, and Jirai Gumo. The key would be to start the duel strong and gain advantage through battle with some of these monsters, because you will be quite vulnerable if your opponent can reduce the game state to top-decking. This deck is potentially viable because Jinzo, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Royal Decree are not yet out.
Other decks: DRAGONS
Dragons are still potentially deadly, revolving around Lord of D. plus The Flute of Summoning Dragon, but I would guess you have to get the combo going much more quickly thanks to your opponent's ability to run stuff like White Magical Hat and Magician of Faith. Luckily that's far from impossible thanks to the addition of Cannon Solider (using priority to launch) combined with Last Will to pull out a quick Lord of D. that cannot be gobbled up by a Trap Hole. Cannon Solider can also give you an extra 2000 points of damage if you can somehow get it back onto the field after playing Lord of D. + Flute. The potential to run Seven Tools and Solemn Judgment also gives this deck an out to Waboku, which was the bane of its existence in the Yugi Kaiba Format.
