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I promised to do this a long time ago, but I never did it for various reasons xD And then I tried and my laptop died on me so the post died... But anyways! Here I am with this new series of articles, The Budget Corner!!
Once per month, I intend to bring you a Deck that can be build with just a few bucks. Fear not, as these Decks are designed to annoy the hell out of people and actually win games!!
So, how about getting started with this?
► The Concept! - The path of the Warrior involves returning from the Grave endlessly.
So, everybody should know how awesome The Immortal Bushi is. No, seriously, he's an awesome monster. We all love Warriors, and Konami does too: they probably have the most and best support in the entire game! And if you play a pure Warrior Deck, you can have Bushi as your reward. As long as you don't have a non-Warrior-type monster in your Graveyard, Bushi revives every time you don't control monsters during your Standby Phase. Think of it like a Treeborn Frog, except you can revive it while you control Spells and Traps. Bushi also states that he can't be tributed for anything, EXCEPT the Tribute Summon of a Warrior-type monster. But it compensates that with being of the DARK attribute: Armageddon Knight is good friends with him! Everything is looking good right? Right...?
Sadly, we're forced to face the awful reality: there aren't a lot of Warrior-types worth tributing for. Freed the Matchless General is decent, but too weak. Kuraz is awesome, but it doesn't really give advantage and the Summoning Sickness hurts. Silent Swordsman Lv5 is cool, but needs Royal Decree and ATK modifiers to shine. So we were left without options and Bushi was sent into oblivion...
Until we got the Synchro Summon mechanic! Bushi CAN be used as a Synchro Material, so as long as you find something to tune him with, you're all set! We have several Warrior-type Tuners, but the best of all is Junk Synchron, hands down. We also had cool Level 2 Warrior-types, like Fortress Warrior or Mystic Swordsman Lv2... Now if we could only dump them easily...
Oh, wait, we now have a way! Enter Doppelwarrior! If something revives from your Graveyard, he can be Special Summoned from your hand. Junk Synchron and Bushi help with that. Then, if you use him for a Synchro Summon, you get Warrior-type Tokens to tribute/tune with! But wait, that's not all! He's a DARK Level 2 Warrior-type! I think we have a Deck here. Let's try to build it!
► Building the Core!
So we now know what we want: an engine that involves The Immortal Bushi, Junk Synchron and Doppelwarrior. That gives us a good source of advantage that can be recycled and recurred over and over again.
First we need to decide how many copies of our core monsters we need. Junk Synchron will be maxed out, as he'll be our primary source of Synchro Summons. Bushi is like Treeborn Frog: too many copies of him aren't good, as you're more likely to draw them before you can dump them. Having only 1 makes it very vulnerable though, so 2 is perfect. Doppelwarrior is extremely abusable, but we lack enough Tuners that fit on the theme to run a full set, and running only 1 would make things a bit hard. Hence, a pair of them is just about right.
Second, we need a way to get Bushi in the Graveyard. Since it's a DARK monster, Armageddon Knight is useful for this. Being a Warrior himself, he lets us dump without worries. Doppelwarrior can also be dumped if needed: we sometimes will need the Junk Synchron food more than Bushi. We can also toss Foolish Burial here, since it can do what Armageddon can, but without a Normal Summon. Since we have about 4 targets for dumping, 2 Armageddon Knight seems enough.
We have this so far:
| Junk Bushi Doppel | ||||
| Monsters (9) 2 Armageddon Knight 3 Junk Synchron 2 The Immortal Bushi 2 Doppelwarrior | Spells (1) 1 Foolish Burial | |||
Let's start adding filler and theme support.
► Completing the Deck!
Reinforcement of the Army is a must. It lets us grab basically anything in the Deck, so it's always good. The Warrior Returning Alive is also a good pick, since it lets us reuse Junk Synchron and Doppelwarrior. 3 Would be excessive, so let's go with 2.
A cool thing about Doppelwarrior is that it's Level 2. This means he has an exclusive search card in Reinforce Truth. Of course, Reinforce Truth is best used in your opponent's turn, so you can attack during yours! Reinforce Truth has another cool use: it can block swarms if used properly. And by "using properly" I mean looking at X-Saber Pashuul. Level 2 Warrior-type Tuner that can't die by battle. Sweetness! Just be careful, as Pashuul burns 1000 of your LP in each of your opponent's turns if he's in Defense Position. Your best bet is to bring him out to block a swarm or a big attack, then use it during your turn so you can avoid the damage. There are sometimes when the damage is better than dying to a swarm too xD 2 Doppel and 2 Pashuul gives us a good number of Reinforce Truth targets. Pashuul can also be tuned with Bushi or other Warrior-types, so it's all good. He's even a Junk Synchron target if you really need it. You could scale with Junk, Pashuul and Bushi into a Level 8 with ease!
A trick I love with Junk Synchron is Turret Warrior. Not for the obscene amounts of ATK it can get, but because it allows for high-level tuning. Revive something with Junk Synchron, and tribute it off for Turret Warrior. That's a Level 8 right there! You can also revive a Tuner and tribute Junk Synchron if you need a different level. Turret Warrior lets you trade a weak Armageddon Knight for a strong 2600 ATK monster too! Of course, he's a bit situational, so let's just tech 1 copy. And speaking of tech, I think a copy of Necro Gardna would be nice. Blocking attacks for free is good, and Gardna gives Armageddon Knight/Foolish Burial something useful to do when the setup is already done. You can also Normal Summon Gardna and get it off the field with Turret. 1800 ATK might not be awesome, but it's an option.
I know you all are thinking about it, so let's just mention it here. What about Solidarity? +800 ATK for tribal Decks is a generous boost, but on this Deck it means more than that: it means EVERYTHING you can Summon is a threat. 2000 ATK Bushi? 2200 Armageddon Knight? Yes please!! Solidarity gives you a way to become aggressive when you're not getting any combos going on, and it also lets you put even more pressure on your opponent when you DO have combos going on! Solidarity is a bit tricky though, as it won't help a lot if drawn in multiples. Again, 2 is a good number: not too few, not too much.
The recently released set of Hidden Arsenal 04 gave us a REALLY good card to use with Bushi: General Raiho of the Ice Barrier. Its ATK is low for a tribute, but its effect is worth it: if your opponent activates an Effect Monster's effect, they either discard a card or have their effect negated. Against some Decks, that's denying them absolutely any advantage they could have. In topdecking situations, he's a beast. And with Solidarity, it reaches 2900 ATK, enough to beat almost anything. Raiho is truly a gem, but let's include just one to avoid bad hands.
We need some more cards to complete a Deck. We have several options and routes to take. Let's go with one of the easiest and most annoying ones: The D.D. Warriors! Assailant and Warrior Lady are some of the most annoying monsters ever made. You don't want to take them down via battle, because you WILL regret it. They force your opponent to spend their removal in them, leaving your combo monsters free to do their job. They can also ram themselves into annoying threats and get rid of them for good, leaving your other monsters free to attack. This is especially useful when Bushi is around, as it lets him poke for damage while you take down big guys without effort (or, if Solidarity is out, then Bushi might be kicking some ass!). Solidarity also boosts the D.D.s over 2000 ATK, so they might even take down whatever is annoying you!
To round up things, let's add our everyday cards. Dark Hole, Monster Reborn, Mirror Force and Torrential Tribute will like to be here, as they're generic removal/recursion cards that help us in various situations. Other types of generic removal would be appreciated here too, in order to make safe plays, protect your future Synchro materials and/or just get rid of whatever your monsters can't handle! Bottomless Trap Hole lets us get rid of big Summons, while Sakuretsu Armor lets us get rid of attackers. Mystical Space Typhoon allows Spell/Trap removal, while Giant Trunade does the same but clears the whole field!
To finish up, let's add a pair of Seven Tools of the Bandit. They allow us to bypass cards like Solemn Warning, protect our monsters from nasty Trap-based removal, and perhaps most importantly, they let us make a big play without worries! Nothing like dropping a Junk Destroyer while your opponent can't do a thing about it.
So we now should have a complete decklist! Let's see how it ended up.
| Junk Bushi Doppel (40) | ||||
| Monsters (20) 1 General Raiho of the Ice Barrier 3 D.D. Assailant 3 D.D. Warrior Lady 2 Armageddon Knight 3 Junk Synchron 2 The Immortal Bushi 1 Turret Warrior 2 Doppelwarrior 1 Necro Gardna 2 X-Saber Pashuul | Spells (11) 1 Dark Hole 1 Foolish Burial 1 Giant Trunade 1 Monster Reborn 2 Mystical Space Typhoon 1 Reinforcement of the Army 2 Solidarity 2 The Warrior Returning Alive | Traps (9) 2 Bottomless Trap Hole 1 Mirror Force 1 Reinforce Truth 2 Sakuretsu Armor 2 Seven Tools of the Bandit 1 Torrential Tribute | ||
Yep, so far looks good. But what about the most important tool: the Extra Deck?
Well, fear not! The Extra Deck is rather simple for this build. It's also easier to get than most Extra Decks, since we'll be using Warrior-types exclusively!!
| Junk Bushi Doppel | ||||
| Extra Deck (15) 2 Colossal Fighter 2 Junk Destroyer 3 X-Saber Urbellum 3 Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth 3 Junk Warrior 2 X-Saber Wayne | ||||
Combos like Bushi + Doppel + Junk into Destroyer + 2 Tokens is what gives this build a lot of advantage, but one of its most terrifying strengths is its raw power! Colossal Fighter can get REALLY huge with ease, even more with Solidarity around. But the biggest star is Junk Warrior.
Thanks to Doppelwarrior's effect being optional and Junk Warrior's being mandatory, here's what happens when you do a Junk Warrior with Synchron and Doppel: Junk Warrior activates, then Doppel is chained to its effect. Doppel Tokens come around first, THEN Junk Warrior gains their ATK. This means your Junk Warriors will have AT LEAST 3100 ATK! If the Tokens' ATK is being boosted by Solidarity, then Junk Warrior gets really massive!
Urbellum provides us a generic Level 7 with a decent effect to work with, while Gaia Knight provides Level 6 muscle. Wayne rounds up the Extra Deck, allowing for swarming and providing a generic Level 5. With this, you can Summon whatever you need for the situation!
► Things to consider when building.
Probably the hardest card to get would be Armageddon Knight. It has 2 prints: Turbo Pack rare and PTDN Super Rare. Lowest rarity is about $4~6, while the highest range from $7 to $10. It's not an OMFG EXPENSIVE card, but it can hurt a bit. Raiho's price is somewhere between the prices of the different Knight's rarities, so he's not that hard to get either. Doppelwarrior is a rare and goes for around $2, so no sweat there. Necro Gardna has several prints, but it shouldn't be higher than $5. To get the copies needed on the Decklist, you'd need to spend around $20, probably a bit more.
I have good news for you guys though! Most of the cards on this Deck are commons, and all of its Synchro Monsters can be found in Starter Decks!! From Colossal to Destroyer, all Synchro Monsters included on this Deck are Starter Deck ones. Several cards on the Deck can also be found on Starter Decks, like Junk Synchron and Sakuretsu Armor, as well as generic useful cards like Dust Tornado, so if you can buy some Starter Decks it will be a good investment! Actually, by getting copies of 5DS1 and 5DS3, you'd get all the Synchro Monsters needed for the build.
Of course, not everyone can/wants to do that, so you might want to purchase individually. You can look on the internet to see how individual cards are priced, but a rough estimate of how much would this cost is around $70, including the Extra Deck. Considering the "tier" builds are on the thousands, that's pretty cheap!
► Other cards/routes to consider.
If you didn't like the route we took but you liked the concept, there are several other cards or methods you might want to look at!!
• HERO Engine.
While stuff like Absolute Zero and The Shining aren't the easiest things to get, the HERO engine is pretty easy to fetch. Alius is a common as well as Gemini Spark, Stratos got reprinted and Hero Blast is just a rare. Instead of the D.D. Monsters, you can try a Neos Alius engine to have more low-level muscle! Alius gets really big with Solidarity around, and you can Gemini Spark/Hero Blast your troubles away with ease!
• More tributes!
Raiho is truly a beast in Bushi-based Decks. You could very well max him out and support him with cards like Forbidden Lance in order to mess up each and every of your opponent's plans! With a steady tribute engine with Bushi and solid emergency tributes with Pashuul, Raiho can be really good!
• Chaos-End Master
Chaos-End Master is a Warrior-type Tuner that fetches a Level 5 or higher monster with 1500 ATK or less. Guess what? Turret Warrior fits that criteria! Of course, Chaos-End is pretty hard to get, being a secret and all that. Still, he's not really used, so if you can find him and get if easily, give it a try with some Turret Warriors in your Deck!
• More Synchro Monsters!
If you have access to them, there are other Synchro Monsters you might like. Junk Archer and Junk Berserker are booster ultras, so they're kinda hard to get. They aren't as expensive as Black Rose Dragon and the likes, and they can be really useful, so try to get them if possible! Junk Gardna is easy to find in the Movie Pack, so give it a try too! He's really annoying to face, and can turn dangerous situations into a piece of cake!
Generic stuff like Stardust Dragon and similar are also good. I know they break Solidarity, but you won't mind that if they win you the duel, will you?
► Bottom Line!
So this is it! I hope you all like this first entry of The Budget Corner, and I'll be waiting for you guys next month with another interesting budget build!
