A Peek in My Gauntlet: Spellcasters
Jason Grabher-Meyer

I love having a testing gauntlet*. Whether you're looking to play hardcore and practice against all the format's top decks, or just really like having a few options when you try and decide what to play at your local league, it's probably the best thing going. Whether you're a casual player or a veteran shark, maintaining a tuned testing gauntlet keeps your skills up and lets you goof around when you need a break. This game's about both high level, intense competition, and having fun. If you've got a few extra decks at all times, you'll be able to fulfill both of those interests.

It's with that outlook in mind that I figured I'd spend a few weeks showing you some of the decks that currently reside in my gauntlet. I won't bother showing you the Aggro Beatdown or Monarch decks – you can hit up any SJC Top 8 and see basically the same thing. What I'd like to show you are the competitive rogue decks I've been working on, as well as some of the stuff I've designed more for personal satisfaction than regional domination.

Right now my main deck is actually a Spellcaster build, and after a lot of testing I can honestly say that I'd be happy as a clam taking this to any regional I might compete in. Spellcasters offer a bunch of effects and capabilities that your average Beatdown or Monarch deck simply can't produce, and now that I've got a few tournament wins under my belt with it, I think I'm ready to show this puppy off.

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In order to make any themed deck justifiable, we need to have reasons to adhere to the theme. Flat out, no one should ever play a deck with the Reasoning of “I like Spellcasters” or “I like Zombies” unless they don't really care about their win ratio. I do, so even if I play a really stupid deck for kicks, I generally have strategic reasons to do so. Let's look at what makes Spellcasters worth playing.

First up, Magician's Circle is key. It builds field presence, lets me special summon Magical Marionette without tributing, and sucks good cards out of the opponent's deck. In most duels, the average opponent hit by Circle is only going to be able to pull one of two cards: Magician of Faith or Breaker the Magical Warrior. Both are terrible to special summon in attack position – you won't get Magician's flip effect, nor Breaker's token. If the opponent is running Apprentice Magician they might pull that, but you can still run it over for a nice load of damage, and it's really seeing less play now thanks to Hydrogeddon. Even Injection Fairy Lily is manageable, as she can be taken down with any number of nasty tricks.

In fact, one of them also happens to be unique to this deck. Magical Dimension is nothing short of incredible, allowing you to special summon any Spellcaster from your hand and destroy one of the opponent's monsters for the cost of a tribute from your side of the field. Provided you control a face up Spellcaster, you can tribute ANY monster you control, whether it's a Sangan, a Treeborn Frog, or something you nicked from the opponent with Brain Control. You don't have to destroy a monster, but if you do, the last thing to happen when the chain resolves is the monster destruction: not your special summon. That means Bottomless Trap Hole and Torrential Tribute can't be activated.
You can even attack with a monster, bait out Sakuretsu Armor, and then activate Dimension on the chain. You were going to lose the monster anyways, so tribute it for Dimension's activation! The opponent wastes Sakuretsu Armor and loses a monster, while you have a fresh, sometimes better, attacker on the field.

Oh, and that monster you're destroying? It can be face up or face down, giving this deck four cards instead of one (Nobleman of Crossout) that can easily blow away set monsters. And because Magical Dimension is a quickplay, you can use it on the opponent's turn. Say, chained to Mobius's effect, or to tribute away a monster targeted by Zaborg? Sweet stuff.

In fact, the third lynchpin to this deck gives it even more field control. Magical Marionette is nothing short of amazing, quickly getting big enough to walk all over opposing Cyber Dragons: just one spell bumps him up to 2200 ATK. Add one more spell counter, and you've got a free piece of monster destruction to blow away a recruiter, Monarch, or mysterious face down blocking the way to your opponent's life points. You can even just summon Apprentice Magician to add a spell counter to Magical Marionette without using a spell card.

So there are the three reasons to play Spellcasters. How about Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys? It's probably not something you'd expect to see here, but it's a great fit. See, Magician's Circle is awesome, but it's less than stellar when it's pinned down by Royal Decree. This deck goes light on Traps in order to feed more spells to Marionette, but it still wants to use Circle as often as possible. Sacred Phoenix provides synergy by burning Decree off the table with its effect.

But the rabbit hole goes a bit deeper. The fact that we're running an Apprentice Magician engine gives us easy access to Hand of Nephthys, both maintaining the field presence that Hand needs, and ensuring that we can usually get the Phoenix out before we draw it. Magician's Circle can even be used to pull Hand from the deck in a pinch, bringing out the Phoenix to eliminate weak monsters from your side of the field and consolidating them into a far stronger one. Plus, all the field presence we're getting out of Gravekeeper's Spy, Hydrogeddon, and Treeborn Frog makes the Phoenix really easy to tribute summon when it DOES find its way into your hand.

Complementary Card Choices:
Okay, so now you've seen all the central stuff. Let's go through the deck card by card to explain some of the supporting role choices.

Cyber Dragon lets the deck take an aggressive stance, even when faced with other similarly aggressive decks. Yes, this is a control deck. But it needs to be attacking perpetually, or else it falls victim to aggressive monsters like Hydrogeddon. Speaking of, I originally ran Peten the Dark Clown in order to maintain board presence for tributes and fuel Magical Dimension. It stymied Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, Exiled Force, and Mystic Swordsman LV2. But it also got wrecked by Hydrogeddon, and didn't provide the long term synergy I was hoping to get.

I dropped the clowns in favor of three Hydrogeddon. They're a no-brainer here because Rush Recklessly is already a must: a pair feeds more spell counters to Magical Marionette without requiring any sort of field condition from the opponent (like, sayyyy, Smashing Ground would). I already had the infrastructure to support Hydrogeddon, and I had specific needs that matched what they can provide: I needed a source of field presence, and I needed it to be aggressive. Hydros were made to order, and this deck can't get enough of them.

Magician of Faith and Old Vindictive Magician are both part of the Apprentice Magician engine. In addition, each can net me a card (or cost the opponent one) and then be used as tribute for Magical Dimension. They're both auto-ins for this strategy.

Gravekeeper's Spy gives the deck some resilience against Hydrogeddon, and helps build board presence for attacks and tribute summons. Skilled Dark Magician also provides another source of big DEF, and it's a strong attacker than can smack down Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer. He can even let you bluff as if you're running Dark Magician. In truth, he's just a beatstick that fits the deck's need for Spellcasters.

Lily is a crushing pull with Magician's Circle in game 1 against a Stein player. In fact, she's a crushing pull with Magician's Circle against virtually anybody, and she and Marionette are your default targets for Circle. Finally, Breaker the Magical Warrior is a no-brainer for any combat-oriented deck, but is especially good here for two reasons. First, he's a Spellcaster, so he'll trigger Magician's Circle or bring Magical Dimension online. Second, you can summon Apprentice Magician to give him another spell counter. Brutal.

As for the spells, most of the choices should be pretty obvious. While previous versions of the deck ran two copies of Smashing Ground instead of one Smashing and one Brain Control, the latter proved to be valuable with all the tributing this deck can do. You can grab one of the opponent's monsters and swing with it to pressure them into using Sakuretsu Armor, Book of Moon, or Enemy Controller. Then, you can tribute that pilfered monster in main phase 2 for a tribute summon, or even feed it to Magical Dimension or Hand of Nephthys.

The three non-specialized traps are pretty predictable. Torrential Tribute, Mirror Force, and Ring of Destruction each grant control over the field and open the opponent to attacks, so they're obvious main deck choices. With that said though, they'll sometimes be side decked out. More on that once we discuss the side deck.

How To Play It:
This deck is a challenge to play – it gives you a lot of options that can be unfamiliar and thus difficult, and it take some practice to avoid misplays. Still, let's take a look at how it acts in different parts of the average duel.

This deck can open by setting Treeborn Frog, Apprentice Magician, Old Vindictive Magician, or Gravekeeper's Spy. That's six ideal opening monsters, and there are a number of acceptable opening moves that can also perform well. Skilled Dark Magician is big enough to be set on turn one. Sangan can draw out the early Exiled Force from an inexperienced duelist, and you can even summon Hydrogeddon and set (or bluff) Rush Recklessly.

Whether you went first or not, you need to start getting aggressive as early as possible. That usually means attacking on turn 2. An early-game push with Hydrogeddon is a blessing, but it doesn't happen until the draws come, so you'll frequently need to explore your specialized options to mount an early game offense. Magician's Circle is a great early-game play, depriving your opponent of a key monster, dishing out damage, and populating your field with a big hitter. Magical Dimension can also clear the opposing monster and bring down a bigger one. If you opened by setting something like Treeborn Frog or Sangan, you can summon another Spellcaster, activate Magical Dimension , and trade Treeborn or Sangan for another big attacker. Doing so lets you make two big attacks early on.

Despite that potential though, be very careful with how you use Magical Dimension. While the monster destruction is optional, the special summon of a Spellcaster is not. That means that Dimension can be a dead card if you don't have a Spellcaster in your hand. I initially ran three copies, but after being locked with multiple dead Dimensions for a few too many games I dropped down to two. It was one of the best decisions I've made in developing the deck. Also, do not use Dimension too early. If you destroy one of the opponent's monsters you've cost them a card, but you're still losing your tribute and bringing a monster to the field, a three card commitment with a two card loss. It's most effective when it's combo'd with a spent flip effect, Sangan, or Treeborn, and it's especially good when it's letting you attack for game, countering Sakuretsu Armor, or blowing away a tribute monster. The hardest decisions you'll make with this deck will revolve around this card.

During the mid-game you hope to be the aggressor. If you are, then keep up the pressure with Circle, Dimension, and Magical Marionette's effect. Try and keep the opponent off the table as much as possible, so that they can't mount a comeback with something like Zaborg. If you find yourself on the defensive, then you've got ample Blockers. All of your defensive picks can maintain field presence for tributes, plus the Apprentice Engine leads into Sacred Phoenix, Magician of Faith, or Old Vindictive. Usually, at least one of those three options is enough to pull you out of a bad situation.

In the late game you've got three Cyber Dragons and a ton of defensive options to keep things going in your favor. You DO get some potentially dead draws (like Rush Recklessly and Nobleman of Crossout) so you need to play carefully, but as long as you understand the risks this deck can face in topdecking situations you'll usually find that you do pretty well.

Side Decking:
I'm actually not big on side decking, and I tend to avoid it whenever possible. With that said, this deck can do some really cool stuff. Chiron the Mage and Mobius the Frost Monarch are there to hate on Decree, or just to take down a really defensive player. Banisher of the Radiance is for recruiter-heavy strategies: nothing in this deck is really effected by it save Phoenix. Apprentice Magician doesn't need to go to the graveyard to get its effect, so you can rotate out Hand and Phoenix for two Banisher and be on your way.

Dark Elf and Deck Devastation Virus rotate in as a five-card suite, replacing Hand of Nephthys, Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, Skilled Dark Magician, and any two of the removal traps depending on the specific matchup. With these five cards added to the deck there are six natural tributes for Deck Devastation Virus: three Magical Marionette and three Dark Elf. All six can even be searched from the deck with Magician's Circle, so once you draw Devastation it's really easy to use. You can even activate Rush Recklessly on Breaker the Magical Warrior to tribute him if you're desperate.

The Virus is exceptionally valuable against Warrior Toolbox and Cyber-Stein decks, because it can usually take out at least half of the monsters run in those strategies. It also bumps the deck up to a whopping five answers with which to outplay Sakuretsu Armor – Book of Moon and Magical Dimension make up the other three.

Mind Crush comes in for extra Stein hate, chaining to shut down virtually any iteration of the Stein combo. If the opponent activates Giant Trunade, chain Mind Crush to call Cyber-Stein. If they activate Last Will, call Exiled, and vice versa. It's also nice against a monster searched for by Sangan, as a followup to Confiscation, or a preemptive tactic when it's obvious the opponent is holding a Monarch.

Performance:
Like I said, I've taken this deck to multiple tournament wins in the past few weeks, and it seems to have a relatively good matchup against virtually anything. It's more consistent, and faster, than Monarchs. It ruins defensive strategies, and its superior level of field control gives it an edge over its main competition, Aggro Beatdown.

This is perhaps one of the most challenging decks I've ever played. One of the great things about an Aggro Beatdown deck, and the reason the deck succeeds, is that it presents its controller with a lot of options. This deck presents you with even more, but many of them are complicated or simultaneous, meaning that a great deal of patience and experience is needed.

But, it rewards its user with unparalleled field control, impressive game-breaking plays, and the best Deck Devastation Virus engine possible in the current Advanced format. This could definitely win regional-level tournaments, and if it's piloted by someone who can take the mental strain for nine or ten rounds straight, it could have a good shot at making Day 2 at an SJC. It will never be a cookie cutter deck because it's simply too complicated for the average duelist's tastes, but for the determined, it's exceptionally dominant.

-Jason Grabher-Meyer

*A testing gauntlet is a group of decks that you use to test against, usually consisting of some of the format's top decks, as well as some others for variety and experimentation.