Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragons - Nov 9th build
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1020Deck Primer
Modern Chaos Blue-Eyes – November 4th Build for Casual Play
Hey everyone, before I get started I’d just like to plug my Discord server The Yu-Gi-Oh Writers Guild. We’re hosting the first in a series of tournaments this month The Winter Revel, with a set of custom deck building restrictions to encourage a more archetypal style of play. Check us out here if you’re interested.
So lately I find myself worn out by the deck building constraints of the current meta. As of now PHRA has failed to oust the top decks like Infernoble or Dragonlink from Tier One. Zoodiac have taken over the lower tiers with help from the Dogmatika engine and Divine Arsenal AA ZEUS – Sky Thunder. This has left many of my favourite decks high and dry at the lower tables; simply incapable of climbing the ladder. Luckily for anyone in this position there have been a number of smaller casual tournaments as of late with more yet to come as November unfolds. One of these encouraged me to build a new deck so I decided to revisit an old favourite: Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon. Now the title might be confusing to some, to clarify this build does not include Chaos Max. Now that’s out of the way this build does include a variety of level eight monsters and a small Lightsworn engine to assist with setup. All of this is tied together with a rank eight extra deck of Hope Harbinger and Draglubion plus its targets of Numbers 100 & 99. This gives us a variety of options going first or second for both control or OTK lines. Join me below as I breakdown my deck building choices and a selection of effective lines.
Main Deck Monsters
Blue-Eyes White Dragon x 3
We start our look at the maindeck with one of the most iconic monsters in Yu-Gi-Oh history Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Famously used by Kaiba throughout the Duel Monsters arc of the anime and nearly every spin-off the character appears in. As far as Blue-Eyes goes in this build we’re mostly using it as a resource to fuel our draw engine and as extension from the grave with cards like Master with Eyes of Blue. To this end it’s fantastic as we have numerous ways to set-up and pay-off our engine like Raiden and Alternative White Dragon. Even Blue-Eyes's attribute comes in handy for extending with Levianeer. Overall while I wouldn’t run less of this as its the core resource of this build, two could be an option if you’re cutting down on Trade In in favour of other draw spells.
Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon x 1
Another iconic anime monster next with Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. Used by Atticus in his final duel against Jaden in the GX arc of the anime to limited effect, Darkness Metal Dragon’s diminutive performance isn’t reflective of it’s storied competitive success. Red-Eyes Darkness Metal has had top-cut appearances starting all the way back in 2010 and continuing all the way to this year with ten top eight appearances despite the current state of in-person play. Its performance is due to this card’s effects that allows us to first summon it from the hand by banishing a face up dragon from our side of the field before summoning any dragon from the hand or grave. It’s due to the ease of summoning and generic tribal extension that this card finds itself on the limited list. Due to this we can only play one copy although if it ever comes off the list we’ll be playing more.
Chaos Emperor, the Dragon of Armageddon x 1
A rather new addition here with the retrain of this deck’s namesake Chaos Emperor, the Dragon of Armageddon. Most players should be familiar with the original Chaos Emperor Dragon, Envoy of the End as it was an early format-warper back in the aptly named Chaos format. The retrain was released to the public this year in Battles of Legends: Armageddon to much hype as it had already seen some competitive success, appearing in twelve topping decks since 2018. We play it here to help with setup on the play in niche hands and to assist with board clearing going second. It can even be used as an explosive finisher due to its board-wipe dealing 300 damage for each card sent to your opponent’s grave by its effect. One could play this in multiples although without greater focus on Pendulum or Guardragon combos I find it to be bricky in the hand.
Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon x 3
Next up is the card responsible for Blue-Eyes’s World Championship win in 2016 Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon. Used to great effect by Shunsuke Hiyama Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon is arguably the decks most powerful card, then and now. Between its essentially free summoning condition to its targeted pop Alternative almost always pluses while allowing us to climb into our rank eight package. We can search for Alternative a couple ways, optimally through Melody of Awakening Dragon but Chaos Space is also an option. This together is why I choose to play three Alternative, although it could be cut to two if you’re using a different rank eight engine.
Danger! Bigfoot! x 3
Onto another level eight extender; Danger! Bigfoot! Provides a similar set of benefits to the aforementioned Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon. As with all Danger! monsters Bigfoot allows us to reveal him in hand before our opponents discards a random card from our hand. If that card wasn’t Bigfoot he can then be special summoned from the hand, drawing us a card in the process. If Bigfoot was discarded we can target and pop an opponents face up card. Aside from that Bigfoot is our primary discard with Chaos Space in situations we need Alternative and don’t have Melody. Much like Alternative Bigfoot almost always pluses us while allowing for easy access to Draglubion or Hope Harbinger, hence why we play three. You can cut this in favour of other rank eight engines — Schwarzschild Limit Dragon comes to mind if you value more tribal synergy with Blue-Eyes.
Chaos Dragon Levianeer x 2
The second of our eponymous Chaos Dragons, Levianeer is a powerful extender or board clear in the right circumstances. Searchable off of Chaos Space, we have a good chance (50% going first, 57% going second) of opening Levianeer anytime we need it. More often than not its a fantastic going second play to clear problem cards from field or climb into Number F0: Utopic Future Dragon for the OTK. Due to a lack of dark attribute monsters it can sometimes be hard to get the hand-looping effect off going first but that’s not the focus of this build. If you value it more a number of dark engines could be used to increase the likelihood of resolving it. In that case I’d recommend playing three along with the dark Warrior engine and Summoner Monk to assist in seeing them more often.
Danger! Thunderbird! x 1
Our last Danger! Monster, Thunderbird is mostly here to up our chances of opening a Danger! monster. With three copies Bigfoot and one of Thunderbird we have a 42% chance to open either one going first. This is important for consistently getting our rank eight onto the board going first, although Thunderbird has utility going second as well. This is thanks to its discard effect as like Bigfoot when this card is discarded you can target and destroy one card, this time a set card instead of a face up card. Mostly we use this to clean up problem back-row like Dogmatika Punishment or the ever-popular Mystic Mine. I’ve experimented with playing two or three of these as well as an extra Danger! Monster in Danger! Ogopogo! to assist with our rank eight game plan. This is a valid choice although it tended towards bricking in my testing.
Dragon Spirit of White x 1
Now we look at another Blue-Eyes favourite Dragon Spirit of White. We play it here mostly as a fourth copy of Blue-Eyes White Dragon for the purpose of our search and draw spells. Aside from that its also useful with Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon’s stand-by phase effect as a banish of any spell or trap your opponent controls. We can also trigger the banish proactively with Return of the Dragon Lords should you need to. I didn’t find playing more than one necessary due to how searchable this is but two could be warranted in a more Blue-Eyes focused build.
Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn x 3
Finally we reach our normal summon of choice Raiden, the Hand of the Lightsworn. He’s well known these days due to a brief stint this year in the short-lived Lightsworn Eldlich as its normal summon of choice. We play him for much the same reason as he lets us mill a total of four cards over the course of a turn. We can use this to further our Chaos plays or set-up Blue-Eyes combos with the aforementioned Return of the Dragon Lords or Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon respectively. The fact that he’s a tuner also gives us a great followup line into Accesscode talker on the draw. I did briefly experiment with other starters like Mekk-Knight Orcust Girsu for lines into True King of all Calamities or the old Blue-Eyes staple Sage with Eyes of Blue but neither preformed as well as Raiden. If you dislike this choice feel free to try any other options you like.
The White Stone of Ancients x 2
Next up is another of our tuners: The White Stone of Ancients a favourite of the 2016 Blue-Eyes lists. In their lists this was played as the primary tuner for lines into Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon and as a search through its grave effect. In this build we play it more for the latter although there are Halqifibrax lines that can still make Spirit if necessary. We have a number of ways to get White Stone of Ancients in the grave — ideally we’ll be using Cards of Consonance but Foolish Burial or Melody of Awakening Dragon will do. I sacrificed playing three of these in favour of a single Master with Eyes of Blue for followup plays but if you’d prefer you can play the extra copy.
Master with Eyes of Blue x 1
As I mentioned above I sacrificed an extra copy of White Stone of Ancients in favour of this. Master with Eyes of Blue helps with unbricking certain niche hands and making Spirit Dragon or Accesscode Talker on the followup. This is aided by the same Foolish Burial and Melody of Awakening Dragon mentioned above. Once he’s in the grave we can make use of his effect or attribute for extending our plays, but my favourite is to resurrect him with Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians for an easy Accesscode Talker. This lets us close out games quickly but if you value the boosted consistency of an extra White Stone of Ancients go for it.
The White Stone of Legends x 1
Finally our last maindeck monster and tuner all-in-one The White Stone of Legends. It’s played for its ability to search a Blue-Eyes when it’s sent to the grave and its tuner status as its an alternate Halqifibrax target if we’ve banished both of our White Stone of Ancients. Like all the level one tuners we can also normal summon it and link it off for Linkuriboh or Relinquished Anima if we have no other way to get the search. You could definitely cut this but it would come at the price of less Foolish targets and searching.
Spells
Return of the Dragon Lords x 2
We start off the spells and traps with Return of the Dragon Lords, essentially a tribal Monster Reborn for dragons. This allows us to convert a lot of the set-up Raiden provides into extension towards our rank eight payoff. It also has a secondary graveyard effect that can prevent our dragon monsters from being destroyed by battle or card effect. This is obviously relevant to any lines that end on Spirit Dragon or Draglubion/Hope Harbinger as it allows us to preserve their field presence and inherent negates for more ideal targets. Three of these tended to brick in testing although if you choose to play an increased Blue-Eyes package that will likely change.
Trade-In x 3
Our first of several draw or search spells starting with the most ubiquitous. Trade-In is an iconic Blue-Eyes staple since its release in the Rise of the Dragon Lords Structure Deck as a common of all rarities. While it has a place in any rank eight strategy Trade-In is especially welcome here for setting up our Blue-Eyes and Chaos Dragon plays respectively. This is the reason I choose to play three here. Ideally we see it with Melody of Awakening Dragon for the maximum possible set-up. It would be pertinent to switch this up in-line with whatever your normal summon of choice is however I still think three copies is warranted for consistency.
Cards of Consonance x 1
Another draw spell and counter-point to Trade-In, Cards of Consonance is a powerful option for Blue-Eyes decks since its release in 2010. With that said you may be wondering why I’ve only chosen to play one, reason being due to a lack of targets. Since we’re playing a total of three targets one copy of Consonance is all we need due to how rarely it’ll be live in our opener. At 33% to open any one of our dragon tuners one is enough to ensure we can resolve it anytime we need it, however rare those might be. You could play One for One instead if you value the synchro lines over the XYZs lines but I find the synchro to be kind of underwhelming as a going first option compared to Draglubion.
The Melody of Awakening Dragon x 3
Now to look at our first of three search spells we play, The Melody of Awakening Dragon. Melody allows us to discard any card to search two dragons with 3000 or more attack and 2500 or less defence. This is of course Blue-Eyes White Dragon’s exact stat line for convenient access to Alternative and Dragon Spirit of White for example. As luck would have it we can also search Levianeer for followup hands requiring more than a single pop. The synergy is at a point where we can often go plus three or four off of a single copy plus discard. We play it at three because of this as the searching and setup are too good to pass up in my view.
Foolish Burial x 1
Another setup tool and one that I’m very fond of playing, Foolish Burial. Released in the same structure deck as Trade-In, Foolish Burial is powerful enough to be on the limited list at time of writing. For those who are new to the game Foolish Burial allows us to send one card from the deck to the graveyard, an effect so ubiquitous most players, myself included refer to any effect that sends monsters from deck to grave as a Foolish. We play Foolish here to do a number of things from assisting with setting up Blue-Eyes and Chaos Dragon plays to searching us fodder for Trade-In. If I had the chance to play more copies I would so bear that in mind for future builds.
Charge of the Light Brigade x 1
Next up is a powerful searcher for our normal summon that doubles as an explosive set-up piece in specific hands. Charge of the Light Brigade mills three from the top of the deck and adds a level four or lower Lightsworn monster from the deck to the hand. This allows us to mill a total of five cards if both this and Raiden go off uninterrupted which can produce some truly ridiculous combos depending on what you mill. Now astute readers might be wondering why I haven’t chose to prioritize this set-up combo by playing more copies of Charge instead of the three Raiden mentioned above. The reason is two-fold, firstly the number of handtraps being played even causally today makes it unlikely that both of Charge and Raiden will resolve. Secondly the extra copies of Raiden are useful for followup plays into Accesscode Talker whereas the extra copies of Charge of the Light Brigade are useless after the first turn. If you’d prefer more copies of Charge I would recommend switching focus away from Accesscode lines on the followup to something like Borrelsword and I:P Masquerena instead.
Chaos Space x 3
The last of our searchers and the newest by far, Chaos Space is a boon to all Chaos strategies. Released earlier this year in Toon Chaos, Chaos Space has featured in a number of top tier strategies including both versions of Dragon Link. This popularity is due to its incredibly versatile searching effect that allows us to discard a light or dark attribute monster in order to search a level four to eight monster with the opposite attribute from the deck. Beyond this when it’s in the graveyard Chaos Space allows us to banish it to target a banished light or dark monster that cannot be normal summoned or set before placing it on the bottom of the deck and drawing a card. The first effect can search almost any monster in the deck short the tuners with the correct discard while also setting up our Chaos plays with the discard and recurring our resources with the grave effect. It should be obvious at this point why we play three of these and personally I wouldn’t recommend cutting any regardless of the build.
Emergency Teleport x 1
Finally we’ll look at the last spell card, Emergency Teleport. Famously released in same set as Charge of the Light Brigade, The Duelist Genesis ushered in a new era for the established DAD Returns deck. TeleDAD would go on to define an entire format as one of the game’s most famous tier zero decks in Yu-Gi-Oh’s history. Emergency Teleport has seen widespread play long after the decline of DAD as a strategy in decks from Kozmo to Synchron Eldlich builds earlier this year. It’s mostly played these days as an extender for any deck trying to make Halqifibrax and this build is no different. Our target of choice is Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit both for its tuner status and light attribute which lets us set up our Chaos plays while also climbing into our synchros though Halqifibrax. In a spot it can even be an additional copy of Ogre if you’re desperate for interaction as her effect can be activated from the hand or field. Feel free to cut this in favour of something like Upstart Goblin if you value the consistency over extension.
Extra Deck
Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon x 1
We start our look at the extra deck with the first Blue-Eyes synchro monster Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon. Azure-Eyes has a couple of useful effects we’ll go over: firstly on the turn it’s summoned it prevents you and your opponent with targeting or destroying dragon monsters you control, and secondly it lets you summon a normal monster from your graveyard during your standby phase. The primary effect is obviously most useful when summoned off of Spirit Dragon during your opponent’s turn but it can also assist with OTKs in hands where you have your XYZs on the field already. The secondary effect can help with extension and popping spell or trap cards with a little setup. It all depends on what you have available in the grave — if you have a Dragon Spirit of White you’re good to pop a spell or trap, but if not the best option is a Blue-Eyes White Dragon for extension. You can absolutely cut this if you’d prefer to go deeper into the XYZs package but I like it for its ability to resolve niche hands with a single level eight.
Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon x 1
The second extra deck card we’ll be going over is the other notable Blue-Eyes synchro Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon. I’ve gone over his effects at length but briefly for those of you skim reading: he stops anyone summoning more than 2 monsters at once plus he can negate any effect that activates in the graveyard once per turn. His last effect lets us tag him out for any light Dragon extra deck monster, normally that’ll be Azure-Eyes but we play another target in Black Rose Moonlight Dragon. Which of these you choose depends entirely on what sort of board state you’re facing but I’ll go more into detail about the use cases of each target in their respective entries. You can cut this and the entire synchro package if you’d like but you’ll want to update the maindeck to include more rank eight support at that point.
Cloudcastle x 1
Our third synchro is here purely for True King of All Calamities setups on the followup. Cloudcastle is slated to get a little more popular with the release of the Virtual World archetype two days ago at time of writing. I suspect it’ll be popular there for much the same reason it is here; it allows for simple True King set-ups on the followup using spent level nine synchros like Spirit Dragon or Azure-Eyes. Its on field effect actively works against our strategy so I’d recommend only going into Cloudcastle when you have access to another level nine in grave. You can remove this but I wouldn’t recommend it as True King of All Calamities is a significant part of our game plan.
Black Rose Moonlight Dragon x 1
The final synchro monster and the second Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon target is Black Rose Moonlight Dragon. We play Black Rose as a monster negate accessible by our synchro line so as to not be left without interaction on some niche hands. We have no way to summon this normally so I wouldn’t recommend relying on this without Spirit Dragon access or alterations to the main deck. Feel free to take this out for another Spirit Dragon target or a larger XYZs package.
True King of All Calamities x 1
The first of our XYZs is also the most well-known and oppressive card in the deck. True King of All Calamities has been the gold standard of floodgate monsters since its release in 2017 in Maximum Crisis. As I mentioned above we summon him through followup lines specifically involving Cloudcastle and a spent Spirit Dragon or Azure-Eyes in grave. As a followup play True King is incredible; if your opponent’s board is already simplified by various pops and negates, True King of All Calamities will stop them from coming back altogether. It’s 3000 attack is also notable as a way to close out games, given that every extender in the deck has at least 2500 attack. I wouldn’t recommend cutting this as it’s our most powerful followup, but if you dislike floodgates then more Blue-Eyes extra deck support could be an option.
Number 92: Heart EartH Dragon x 1
Next up is our first Draglubion target Heart EartH Dragon, a situational but powerful option against decks lacking in non-destruction removal. Its first effect prevents it from being destroyed by battle while dealing all battle damage you would have taken to your opponent. Its second effect allows it to resurrect on destruction providing you have material with the added bonus of it gaining 1000 attack for every banished monster on re-summon. This together can make it hard for decks without highly specific tech or non-destruction removal to out this card before we run it into their most powerful monster for big damage. You could remove this in favour of another relevant Draglubion target but I’ve found this to be unexpected and powerful in casual play.
Number 97: Draglubion x 1
Finally onto the card that ties our XYZs package together and allows us to cheat out a variety of targets, Number 97: Draglubion. For those unfamiliar Draglubion’s effect allows one to detach a material to summon any Dragon-type Number monster from the extra deck by attaching another one from the extra deck to it. This is the core of our best lines as we can turn any two level eight extenders into 9000 damage going second or a negate going first. Aside from this Draglubion also cannot be targeted with card effects which can help in keeping it alive for followup plays. Not much more to say on this one as I’ve gone into greater detail in the entries for the targets above and below. I wouldn't recommend cutting this as it ties the extra deck together but there are a huge number of targets for its effect that you could test.
Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon Titanic Galaxy x 1
The second to last XYZs and Draglubion target that we’ll be looking at is Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon Titanic Galaxy. The name is quite a mouthful so I’ll be referring to him as Hope Harbinger for the sake of my editor. Hope Harbinger’s effect is a combination of synergistic negation and powerful floating that compliments our first turn end boards nicely. Its first effect is a standard spell or effect negate that attaches the negated card to it as material while its second effect allows us to redirect attacks to it by detaching a material. This can be useful for keeping our other XYZs alive or preventing any OTKs. On the chance that an XYZs is destroyed while it’s on the field Hope Harbinger allows us to give attack equal to one of the destroyed monsters to itself or any other XYZs you control. This helps to facilitate OTKs on the followup as the attack gain is permanent. I wouldn’t recommend cutting this as it’s another of this build’s powerful going first options, but if you do decide to cut it I’d recommend another negate to replace it.
Number 100: Numeron Dragon x 1
Our last XYZs and Draglubion target is Number 100: Numeron Dragon, the largest beat-stick in the build. We summon this with Draglubion’s effect like the rest, however unlike the rest this tends to end games in one swing. When on the draw one only has to summon this with the above effect before detaching its one and only material to have it gain attack equal to the combined ranks of all XYZs monsters on the field times 1000. Assuming itself and Draglubion are the only monsters on the field this will result in 9000 attack for Numeron Dragon, which providing you’ve chipped in over prior turns should result in a win. This makes up the majority of followup plays from boards where Draglubion survives to your second turn and your opponent has left something in attack position. Worse for them if they happen to have an XYZs monster on the field as that will result in even higher attack for Numeron Dragon. I wouldn’t cut this if you value the ability to close games quickly, however if you’d prefer to favour the next monster removing it could be an option.
Accesscode Talker x 1
Next up is last stop of our link climb and second OTK enabler Accesscode Talker. My readers will probably recognize Accesscode as he was released earlier this year in Eternity Code and has been played in anything capable of making a link four. We climb into Accesscode in a typical line involving Halqifibrax and Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians aided by our single copy of Master with Eyes of Blue in grave. This will give us a 5300 attack monster and one to two banishes from the field to resolve whatever board our opponent has. Feel free to remove this combo and payoff — I favoured it because of going second hands that lack a second level eight extender but that's only relevant in this build specifically.
Selene, Queen of the Master magicians x 1
Next up is Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians, the third stop on our link-climb to Accesscode Talker. A good link monster in her own right, Selene is played mostly for her effect. On summon she gains spell counters equal to the number of spell cards in both graveyards and on the field which can be removed three at a time to summon any spellcaster type from your hand or graveyard. This is always Master with Eyes of Blue in this build but if you replaced Ghost Ogre with Effect Veiler you’ll have more targets on average. From the summon of our spellcaster from hand or grave we link Selene off with it for Accesscode, enabling our alternative OTK line. If you cut Accesscode obviously cut this in favour of something more synergistic with your build.
Crystron Halqifibrax x 1
I really hope all my readers understand why we play this next link monster, Crystron Halqifibrax. At time of writing Halqifibrax has been at large in the TCG for eight months since its release in Duel Overload, enabling all sorts of combos. In this build it enables the above mentioned Accesscode combo along with a few synchro lines in hands with at least two extenders. Normally you’ll want to summon the one copy of The White Stone of Legend off of Halqifibrax’s effect, although The White Stone of Ancients is acceptable in a pinch. Both can be linked off for one of a couple options we’ll go over shortly to get their searches off should you need them. As with the other links we’ve been over this can be cut if you don’t favour the Accesscode lines; alternatively one could emphasize this option with the addition of Linkross and Martial Metal Marcher for better synchro payoffs.
Heiratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres x 1
Our last link two is a favourite of many modern Dragon-tribal lists such as Dragon Link. Heiratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres is probably the most generally playable of all the Heiratic archetype as it allows us to cheat out our Dragon Spirit of White while bouncing a card from our opponent’s field. This can be enough to stall out an opponent’s turn long enough for one to draw into one of this build’s two OTK lines. I tested replacing this with I:P Masquerana but that often lost me games even with proper targets instead of the Accesscode climb. As a result I would recommend keeping this in the build regardless of what changes you make as until Blue-Eyes gets a link two of their own, this will be the best option.
Linkuriboh x 1
Time for the second to last link monster now, Linkuriboh is one of the best generic link ones out there. Many of you will be familiar with this one and its uses as it has been played in a variety of strategies thanks to its ability to convert tokens into link fuel. We play it here as a corner case for getting our level one tuners in the grave if we have no extenders or alternative normal summons. This doesn’t come up often mind, as we have a 76% chance to open at least one extender, but I still value this pick. You can cut this if you want to move away from the synchro lines with your build as another target for Draglubion would be better in that case.
Relinquished Anima x 1
Finally we reach the last extra deck monster, Relinquished Anima: a link one that doubles as a removal spell in specific cases. Like the other extra deck Relinquished monsters Anima can equip one face-up monster to itself, providing it’s pointing to that monster. In practise this means that any player careless enough to leave a monster face up in front of either extra monster zone can be punished with Anima and any of our level one tuners. Like Linkuriboh above, this also assists in getting our level one tuners in the graveyard for their effects or for a Chaos Dragon play. I wouldn’t cut this from any list with level ones as it can be an amazing boon if your opponent forgets or doesn't know to play around it.
Handtraps and the Side Deck
Notes on the Side Deck
Before I get started I’d like to explain my choices around the side deck and the handtraps I’ve elected to include in the main deck. This deck was built for a couple smaller tournaments that I predicted would have a slower meta compared to the current competitive scene. This proved to be the correct call for the tournaments I was in but I would caution against the same side deck for competitive play. That aside the reason I decided to maindeck Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit was mostly due to it being live more often than PSY-Framegear Gamma and it not taking up another maindeck slot with PSY-Frame Driver. If you’d prefer Gamma it doesn't alter much of the deck beyond finding a slot for Driver so go for it if you need a more competitive option. One last thing of note before I go over Ghost Ogre is my inclusion of Dante, Pilgrim of the Burning Abyss. He’s here as an optional punish for Dogmatika strategies running Maximus as when he’s sent off of an opponent’s Maximus he rips a card from their hand. I find this funny and worth playing in a casual setting but if you’d prefer N’Tss that is a better option.
Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit x 3
Now to look at our only main deck handtrap Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit. I’ve already gone over a lot of why we play it above so here I’ll go over its synergies with the rest of our build. Chief among the synergy is the aforementioned Emergency Teleport allowing us to summon one of these anytime we can can fire off a quick-play spell. This will allows us to get more interaction if needed or more commonly to extend into Halqifibrax on the followup for Accesscode Talker. If you prefer Ash Blossom or any of the other popular handtraps you can switch this out for them, although in that case you’d be better switching Emergency Teleport for Upstart Goblin or another consistency booster.
Time now to look at some of the deck’s combos going first along with some notes on potential followup plays. I’ve chosen to include three of the more common openers to hopefully illustrate how the deck performs on average along with some data to show how often one can expect them. One of the deck’s strongest suits is its flexibility while playing through a couple interruptions going first or second so I’ll try to highlight this where possible.
Starting off with a classic opener of Blue-Eyes decks, this opener will leave us with a Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon and the ability to tag out into Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon for its protection effect. This hand can take several forms with a 22% chance to open any variant of it. The most optimal is a hand of Blue-Eyes Alternative and White Dragons plus The White Stone of Legend. To start we’ll summon our level eight of choice — say Alternative White Dragon in this case but any of the Dangers work too. From there we’ll normal summon our White Stone of Ancients and then synchro summon Blue Eyes Spirit Dragon. If we have a couple extra extenders Hope Harbinger or Draglubion can be good additions to increase the stickiness of your board. A followup from here can be as simple as going into True King of All Calamities with the aid of Cloudcastle, or detaching your other material from Draglubion to summon Number 100: Numeron Dragon for a swift OTK. This alone is the weakest of our openings but with the addition of other interaction it can still close out games.
Next up a slightly more common opening at 40% to open going first and 50% going second. This play ends on boards of our rank eight XYZs package — normally Draglubion and Hope Harbinger going first, or Draglubion and Numeron Dragon going second. This represents a negate and Towers-ish effect in Draglubion’s first effect going first or 9000 damage on board for a quick OTK. All the followups I recommend from here involve using Draglubion’s effect again either for the above-mentioned damage line or Heart-eartH Dragon for stickier boards. This opening is normally enough to close out games against the build’s intended targets but if you have the option combining this with any of the other lines mentioned here it’ll result in exponentially stronger boards.
The final line we’ll be looking at is our alternate OTK line going second, although this can double as a followup effectively. All you’ll need is Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn and a monster you can special summon like any of our Danger! monsters. At 31% to open this going first and 40% going second this hand is hardly rare but exceptionally powerful. To start we’ll normal summon Raiden, remembering to mill two with his effect before special summoning our extender and linking both off for Halqifibrax. We’ll then use Halqifibrax’s effect to special summon Master with Eyes of Blue providing we didn’t mill it off of Raiden’s effect. This will allow us to link both of them off for Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians before using her effect to summon back Master with Eyes of Blue and linking both of them off for Accesscode Talker. From here you’ll have a 5300 attack monster and two banishes from the field with which to close out the game. There’s normally no need to followup from this point but if you find yourself not winning from here I’d recommend a rank eight play or anything that’ll put more damage on board.
Finally we reach the end of this guide, I appreciate all of you who took the time to read this. If you enjoyed this or found it helpful why not leave a like or comment? I try to put out one of these every couple weeks so if you’d like me to cover a specific deck or archetype let me know in the comments below or on Discord @CryptidYgo#6296. I’ll also take a minute to plug my Discord server The Yu-Gi-Oh Writers Guild. We’re a community of Yu-Gi-Oh content creators who provide help and feedback as well as opportunities for self promotion. At the end of this week on November 15th we’ll be hosting the first in a series of four free-to-enter tournaments, The Winter Revel. If you’d like to learn more about this or the Discord check us out here.
As for my final thoughts on the deck I have to say I was surprised by how much fun I had with this list. I haven’t tried to hide that this is a casual list for casual play but despite that this list exceeded my expectations. The combo of Draglubion plus Hope Harbinger wound up being too much for many rogue tier and below decks due to how consistent it is. While I don’t think this list would hold up competitively in today’s meta I was surprised how much fun Yu-Gi-Oh can still be. Despite all the Halq-Kross combos and nine negate set-ups going first that plague the current meta it is still possible to have fun playing Yu-Gi-Oh at any level. If like me you’re feeling a tad burned out by the grind of meta play I would highly recommend returning to a more casual environment with a deck like this. That’s going to be it from me but until next time stay safe and have fun.
- Introduction
- Maindeck
- Sidedeck and Tech Choices
- Combo Guide
- Final Thoughts
- Introduction: Screw the Meta, I Don’t Have Money
Hey everyone, before I get started I’d just like to plug my Discord server The Yu-Gi-Oh Writers Guild. We’re hosting the first in a series of tournaments this month The Winter Revel, with a set of custom deck building restrictions to encourage a more archetypal style of play. Check us out here if you’re interested.
So lately I find myself worn out by the deck building constraints of the current meta. As of now PHRA has failed to oust the top decks like Infernoble or Dragonlink from Tier One. Zoodiac have taken over the lower tiers with help from the Dogmatika engine and Divine Arsenal AA ZEUS – Sky Thunder. This has left many of my favourite decks high and dry at the lower tables; simply incapable of climbing the ladder. Luckily for anyone in this position there have been a number of smaller casual tournaments as of late with more yet to come as November unfolds. One of these encouraged me to build a new deck so I decided to revisit an old favourite: Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon. Now the title might be confusing to some, to clarify this build does not include Chaos Max. Now that’s out of the way this build does include a variety of level eight monsters and a small Lightsworn engine to assist with setup. All of this is tied together with a rank eight extra deck of Hope Harbinger and Draglubion plus its targets of Numbers 100 & 99. This gives us a variety of options going first or second for both control or OTK lines. Join me below as I breakdown my deck building choices and a selection of effective lines.
- Main Deck: Dragons, Birds, and Bigfoots Oh My
Main Deck Monsters
Blue-Eyes White Dragon x 3
We start our look at the maindeck with one of the most iconic monsters in Yu-Gi-Oh history Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Famously used by Kaiba throughout the Duel Monsters arc of the anime and nearly every spin-off the character appears in. As far as Blue-Eyes goes in this build we’re mostly using it as a resource to fuel our draw engine and as extension from the grave with cards like Master with Eyes of Blue. To this end it’s fantastic as we have numerous ways to set-up and pay-off our engine like Raiden and Alternative White Dragon. Even Blue-Eyes's attribute comes in handy for extending with Levianeer. Overall while I wouldn’t run less of this as its the core resource of this build, two could be an option if you’re cutting down on Trade In in favour of other draw spells.
Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon x 1
Another iconic anime monster next with Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. Used by Atticus in his final duel against Jaden in the GX arc of the anime to limited effect, Darkness Metal Dragon’s diminutive performance isn’t reflective of it’s storied competitive success. Red-Eyes Darkness Metal has had top-cut appearances starting all the way back in 2010 and continuing all the way to this year with ten top eight appearances despite the current state of in-person play. Its performance is due to this card’s effects that allows us to first summon it from the hand by banishing a face up dragon from our side of the field before summoning any dragon from the hand or grave. It’s due to the ease of summoning and generic tribal extension that this card finds itself on the limited list. Due to this we can only play one copy although if it ever comes off the list we’ll be playing more.
Chaos Emperor, the Dragon of Armageddon x 1
A rather new addition here with the retrain of this deck’s namesake Chaos Emperor, the Dragon of Armageddon. Most players should be familiar with the original Chaos Emperor Dragon, Envoy of the End as it was an early format-warper back in the aptly named Chaos format. The retrain was released to the public this year in Battles of Legends: Armageddon to much hype as it had already seen some competitive success, appearing in twelve topping decks since 2018. We play it here to help with setup on the play in niche hands and to assist with board clearing going second. It can even be used as an explosive finisher due to its board-wipe dealing 300 damage for each card sent to your opponent’s grave by its effect. One could play this in multiples although without greater focus on Pendulum or Guardragon combos I find it to be bricky in the hand.
Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon x 3
Next up is the card responsible for Blue-Eyes’s World Championship win in 2016 Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon. Used to great effect by Shunsuke Hiyama Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon is arguably the decks most powerful card, then and now. Between its essentially free summoning condition to its targeted pop Alternative almost always pluses while allowing us to climb into our rank eight package. We can search for Alternative a couple ways, optimally through Melody of Awakening Dragon but Chaos Space is also an option. This together is why I choose to play three Alternative, although it could be cut to two if you’re using a different rank eight engine.
Danger! Bigfoot! x 3
Onto another level eight extender; Danger! Bigfoot! Provides a similar set of benefits to the aforementioned Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon. As with all Danger! monsters Bigfoot allows us to reveal him in hand before our opponents discards a random card from our hand. If that card wasn’t Bigfoot he can then be special summoned from the hand, drawing us a card in the process. If Bigfoot was discarded we can target and pop an opponents face up card. Aside from that Bigfoot is our primary discard with Chaos Space in situations we need Alternative and don’t have Melody. Much like Alternative Bigfoot almost always pluses us while allowing for easy access to Draglubion or Hope Harbinger, hence why we play three. You can cut this in favour of other rank eight engines — Schwarzschild Limit Dragon comes to mind if you value more tribal synergy with Blue-Eyes.
Chaos Dragon Levianeer x 2
The second of our eponymous Chaos Dragons, Levianeer is a powerful extender or board clear in the right circumstances. Searchable off of Chaos Space, we have a good chance (50% going first, 57% going second) of opening Levianeer anytime we need it. More often than not its a fantastic going second play to clear problem cards from field or climb into Number F0: Utopic Future Dragon for the OTK. Due to a lack of dark attribute monsters it can sometimes be hard to get the hand-looping effect off going first but that’s not the focus of this build. If you value it more a number of dark engines could be used to increase the likelihood of resolving it. In that case I’d recommend playing three along with the dark Warrior engine and Summoner Monk to assist in seeing them more often.
Danger! Thunderbird! x 1
Our last Danger! Monster, Thunderbird is mostly here to up our chances of opening a Danger! monster. With three copies Bigfoot and one of Thunderbird we have a 42% chance to open either one going first. This is important for consistently getting our rank eight onto the board going first, although Thunderbird has utility going second as well. This is thanks to its discard effect as like Bigfoot when this card is discarded you can target and destroy one card, this time a set card instead of a face up card. Mostly we use this to clean up problem back-row like Dogmatika Punishment or the ever-popular Mystic Mine. I’ve experimented with playing two or three of these as well as an extra Danger! Monster in Danger! Ogopogo! to assist with our rank eight game plan. This is a valid choice although it tended towards bricking in my testing.
Dragon Spirit of White x 1
Now we look at another Blue-Eyes favourite Dragon Spirit of White. We play it here mostly as a fourth copy of Blue-Eyes White Dragon for the purpose of our search and draw spells. Aside from that its also useful with Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon’s stand-by phase effect as a banish of any spell or trap your opponent controls. We can also trigger the banish proactively with Return of the Dragon Lords should you need to. I didn’t find playing more than one necessary due to how searchable this is but two could be warranted in a more Blue-Eyes focused build.
Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn x 3
Finally we reach our normal summon of choice Raiden, the Hand of the Lightsworn. He’s well known these days due to a brief stint this year in the short-lived Lightsworn Eldlich as its normal summon of choice. We play him for much the same reason as he lets us mill a total of four cards over the course of a turn. We can use this to further our Chaos plays or set-up Blue-Eyes combos with the aforementioned Return of the Dragon Lords or Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon respectively. The fact that he’s a tuner also gives us a great followup line into Accesscode talker on the draw. I did briefly experiment with other starters like Mekk-Knight Orcust Girsu for lines into True King of all Calamities or the old Blue-Eyes staple Sage with Eyes of Blue but neither preformed as well as Raiden. If you dislike this choice feel free to try any other options you like.
The White Stone of Ancients x 2
Next up is another of our tuners: The White Stone of Ancients a favourite of the 2016 Blue-Eyes lists. In their lists this was played as the primary tuner for lines into Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon and as a search through its grave effect. In this build we play it more for the latter although there are Halqifibrax lines that can still make Spirit if necessary. We have a number of ways to get White Stone of Ancients in the grave — ideally we’ll be using Cards of Consonance but Foolish Burial or Melody of Awakening Dragon will do. I sacrificed playing three of these in favour of a single Master with Eyes of Blue for followup plays but if you’d prefer you can play the extra copy.
Master with Eyes of Blue x 1
As I mentioned above I sacrificed an extra copy of White Stone of Ancients in favour of this. Master with Eyes of Blue helps with unbricking certain niche hands and making Spirit Dragon or Accesscode Talker on the followup. This is aided by the same Foolish Burial and Melody of Awakening Dragon mentioned above. Once he’s in the grave we can make use of his effect or attribute for extending our plays, but my favourite is to resurrect him with Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians for an easy Accesscode Talker. This lets us close out games quickly but if you value the boosted consistency of an extra White Stone of Ancients go for it.
The White Stone of Legends x 1
Finally our last maindeck monster and tuner all-in-one The White Stone of Legends. It’s played for its ability to search a Blue-Eyes when it’s sent to the grave and its tuner status as its an alternate Halqifibrax target if we’ve banished both of our White Stone of Ancients. Like all the level one tuners we can also normal summon it and link it off for Linkuriboh or Relinquished Anima if we have no other way to get the search. You could definitely cut this but it would come at the price of less Foolish targets and searching.
Spells
Return of the Dragon Lords x 2
We start off the spells and traps with Return of the Dragon Lords, essentially a tribal Monster Reborn for dragons. This allows us to convert a lot of the set-up Raiden provides into extension towards our rank eight payoff. It also has a secondary graveyard effect that can prevent our dragon monsters from being destroyed by battle or card effect. This is obviously relevant to any lines that end on Spirit Dragon or Draglubion/Hope Harbinger as it allows us to preserve their field presence and inherent negates for more ideal targets. Three of these tended to brick in testing although if you choose to play an increased Blue-Eyes package that will likely change.
Trade-In x 3
Our first of several draw or search spells starting with the most ubiquitous. Trade-In is an iconic Blue-Eyes staple since its release in the Rise of the Dragon Lords Structure Deck as a common of all rarities. While it has a place in any rank eight strategy Trade-In is especially welcome here for setting up our Blue-Eyes and Chaos Dragon plays respectively. This is the reason I choose to play three here. Ideally we see it with Melody of Awakening Dragon for the maximum possible set-up. It would be pertinent to switch this up in-line with whatever your normal summon of choice is however I still think three copies is warranted for consistency.
Cards of Consonance x 1
Another draw spell and counter-point to Trade-In, Cards of Consonance is a powerful option for Blue-Eyes decks since its release in 2010. With that said you may be wondering why I’ve only chosen to play one, reason being due to a lack of targets. Since we’re playing a total of three targets one copy of Consonance is all we need due to how rarely it’ll be live in our opener. At 33% to open any one of our dragon tuners one is enough to ensure we can resolve it anytime we need it, however rare those might be. You could play One for One instead if you value the synchro lines over the XYZs lines but I find the synchro to be kind of underwhelming as a going first option compared to Draglubion.
The Melody of Awakening Dragon x 3
Now to look at our first of three search spells we play, The Melody of Awakening Dragon. Melody allows us to discard any card to search two dragons with 3000 or more attack and 2500 or less defence. This is of course Blue-Eyes White Dragon’s exact stat line for convenient access to Alternative and Dragon Spirit of White for example. As luck would have it we can also search Levianeer for followup hands requiring more than a single pop. The synergy is at a point where we can often go plus three or four off of a single copy plus discard. We play it at three because of this as the searching and setup are too good to pass up in my view.
Foolish Burial x 1
Another setup tool and one that I’m very fond of playing, Foolish Burial. Released in the same structure deck as Trade-In, Foolish Burial is powerful enough to be on the limited list at time of writing. For those who are new to the game Foolish Burial allows us to send one card from the deck to the graveyard, an effect so ubiquitous most players, myself included refer to any effect that sends monsters from deck to grave as a Foolish. We play Foolish here to do a number of things from assisting with setting up Blue-Eyes and Chaos Dragon plays to searching us fodder for Trade-In. If I had the chance to play more copies I would so bear that in mind for future builds.
Charge of the Light Brigade x 1
Next up is a powerful searcher for our normal summon that doubles as an explosive set-up piece in specific hands. Charge of the Light Brigade mills three from the top of the deck and adds a level four or lower Lightsworn monster from the deck to the hand. This allows us to mill a total of five cards if both this and Raiden go off uninterrupted which can produce some truly ridiculous combos depending on what you mill. Now astute readers might be wondering why I haven’t chose to prioritize this set-up combo by playing more copies of Charge instead of the three Raiden mentioned above. The reason is two-fold, firstly the number of handtraps being played even causally today makes it unlikely that both of Charge and Raiden will resolve. Secondly the extra copies of Raiden are useful for followup plays into Accesscode Talker whereas the extra copies of Charge of the Light Brigade are useless after the first turn. If you’d prefer more copies of Charge I would recommend switching focus away from Accesscode lines on the followup to something like Borrelsword and I:P Masquerena instead.
Chaos Space x 3
The last of our searchers and the newest by far, Chaos Space is a boon to all Chaos strategies. Released earlier this year in Toon Chaos, Chaos Space has featured in a number of top tier strategies including both versions of Dragon Link. This popularity is due to its incredibly versatile searching effect that allows us to discard a light or dark attribute monster in order to search a level four to eight monster with the opposite attribute from the deck. Beyond this when it’s in the graveyard Chaos Space allows us to banish it to target a banished light or dark monster that cannot be normal summoned or set before placing it on the bottom of the deck and drawing a card. The first effect can search almost any monster in the deck short the tuners with the correct discard while also setting up our Chaos plays with the discard and recurring our resources with the grave effect. It should be obvious at this point why we play three of these and personally I wouldn’t recommend cutting any regardless of the build.
Emergency Teleport x 1
Finally we’ll look at the last spell card, Emergency Teleport. Famously released in same set as Charge of the Light Brigade, The Duelist Genesis ushered in a new era for the established DAD Returns deck. TeleDAD would go on to define an entire format as one of the game’s most famous tier zero decks in Yu-Gi-Oh’s history. Emergency Teleport has seen widespread play long after the decline of DAD as a strategy in decks from Kozmo to Synchron Eldlich builds earlier this year. It’s mostly played these days as an extender for any deck trying to make Halqifibrax and this build is no different. Our target of choice is Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit both for its tuner status and light attribute which lets us set up our Chaos plays while also climbing into our synchros though Halqifibrax. In a spot it can even be an additional copy of Ogre if you’re desperate for interaction as her effect can be activated from the hand or field. Feel free to cut this in favour of something like Upstart Goblin if you value the consistency over extension.
Extra Deck
Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon x 1
We start our look at the extra deck with the first Blue-Eyes synchro monster Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon. Azure-Eyes has a couple of useful effects we’ll go over: firstly on the turn it’s summoned it prevents you and your opponent with targeting or destroying dragon monsters you control, and secondly it lets you summon a normal monster from your graveyard during your standby phase. The primary effect is obviously most useful when summoned off of Spirit Dragon during your opponent’s turn but it can also assist with OTKs in hands where you have your XYZs on the field already. The secondary effect can help with extension and popping spell or trap cards with a little setup. It all depends on what you have available in the grave — if you have a Dragon Spirit of White you’re good to pop a spell or trap, but if not the best option is a Blue-Eyes White Dragon for extension. You can absolutely cut this if you’d prefer to go deeper into the XYZs package but I like it for its ability to resolve niche hands with a single level eight.
Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon x 1
The second extra deck card we’ll be going over is the other notable Blue-Eyes synchro Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon. I’ve gone over his effects at length but briefly for those of you skim reading: he stops anyone summoning more than 2 monsters at once plus he can negate any effect that activates in the graveyard once per turn. His last effect lets us tag him out for any light Dragon extra deck monster, normally that’ll be Azure-Eyes but we play another target in Black Rose Moonlight Dragon. Which of these you choose depends entirely on what sort of board state you’re facing but I’ll go more into detail about the use cases of each target in their respective entries. You can cut this and the entire synchro package if you’d like but you’ll want to update the maindeck to include more rank eight support at that point.
Cloudcastle x 1
Our third synchro is here purely for True King of All Calamities setups on the followup. Cloudcastle is slated to get a little more popular with the release of the Virtual World archetype two days ago at time of writing. I suspect it’ll be popular there for much the same reason it is here; it allows for simple True King set-ups on the followup using spent level nine synchros like Spirit Dragon or Azure-Eyes. Its on field effect actively works against our strategy so I’d recommend only going into Cloudcastle when you have access to another level nine in grave. You can remove this but I wouldn’t recommend it as True King of All Calamities is a significant part of our game plan.
Black Rose Moonlight Dragon x 1
The final synchro monster and the second Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon target is Black Rose Moonlight Dragon. We play Black Rose as a monster negate accessible by our synchro line so as to not be left without interaction on some niche hands. We have no way to summon this normally so I wouldn’t recommend relying on this without Spirit Dragon access or alterations to the main deck. Feel free to take this out for another Spirit Dragon target or a larger XYZs package.
True King of All Calamities x 1
The first of our XYZs is also the most well-known and oppressive card in the deck. True King of All Calamities has been the gold standard of floodgate monsters since its release in 2017 in Maximum Crisis. As I mentioned above we summon him through followup lines specifically involving Cloudcastle and a spent Spirit Dragon or Azure-Eyes in grave. As a followup play True King is incredible; if your opponent’s board is already simplified by various pops and negates, True King of All Calamities will stop them from coming back altogether. It’s 3000 attack is also notable as a way to close out games, given that every extender in the deck has at least 2500 attack. I wouldn’t recommend cutting this as it’s our most powerful followup, but if you dislike floodgates then more Blue-Eyes extra deck support could be an option.
Number 92: Heart EartH Dragon x 1
Next up is our first Draglubion target Heart EartH Dragon, a situational but powerful option against decks lacking in non-destruction removal. Its first effect prevents it from being destroyed by battle while dealing all battle damage you would have taken to your opponent. Its second effect allows it to resurrect on destruction providing you have material with the added bonus of it gaining 1000 attack for every banished monster on re-summon. This together can make it hard for decks without highly specific tech or non-destruction removal to out this card before we run it into their most powerful monster for big damage. You could remove this in favour of another relevant Draglubion target but I’ve found this to be unexpected and powerful in casual play.
Number 97: Draglubion x 1
Finally onto the card that ties our XYZs package together and allows us to cheat out a variety of targets, Number 97: Draglubion. For those unfamiliar Draglubion’s effect allows one to detach a material to summon any Dragon-type Number monster from the extra deck by attaching another one from the extra deck to it. This is the core of our best lines as we can turn any two level eight extenders into 9000 damage going second or a negate going first. Aside from this Draglubion also cannot be targeted with card effects which can help in keeping it alive for followup plays. Not much more to say on this one as I’ve gone into greater detail in the entries for the targets above and below. I wouldn't recommend cutting this as it ties the extra deck together but there are a huge number of targets for its effect that you could test.
Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon Titanic Galaxy x 1
The second to last XYZs and Draglubion target that we’ll be looking at is Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon Titanic Galaxy. The name is quite a mouthful so I’ll be referring to him as Hope Harbinger for the sake of my editor. Hope Harbinger’s effect is a combination of synergistic negation and powerful floating that compliments our first turn end boards nicely. Its first effect is a standard spell or effect negate that attaches the negated card to it as material while its second effect allows us to redirect attacks to it by detaching a material. This can be useful for keeping our other XYZs alive or preventing any OTKs. On the chance that an XYZs is destroyed while it’s on the field Hope Harbinger allows us to give attack equal to one of the destroyed monsters to itself or any other XYZs you control. This helps to facilitate OTKs on the followup as the attack gain is permanent. I wouldn’t recommend cutting this as it’s another of this build’s powerful going first options, but if you do decide to cut it I’d recommend another negate to replace it.
Number 100: Numeron Dragon x 1
Our last XYZs and Draglubion target is Number 100: Numeron Dragon, the largest beat-stick in the build. We summon this with Draglubion’s effect like the rest, however unlike the rest this tends to end games in one swing. When on the draw one only has to summon this with the above effect before detaching its one and only material to have it gain attack equal to the combined ranks of all XYZs monsters on the field times 1000. Assuming itself and Draglubion are the only monsters on the field this will result in 9000 attack for Numeron Dragon, which providing you’ve chipped in over prior turns should result in a win. This makes up the majority of followup plays from boards where Draglubion survives to your second turn and your opponent has left something in attack position. Worse for them if they happen to have an XYZs monster on the field as that will result in even higher attack for Numeron Dragon. I wouldn’t cut this if you value the ability to close games quickly, however if you’d prefer to favour the next monster removing it could be an option.
Accesscode Talker x 1
Next up is last stop of our link climb and second OTK enabler Accesscode Talker. My readers will probably recognize Accesscode as he was released earlier this year in Eternity Code and has been played in anything capable of making a link four. We climb into Accesscode in a typical line involving Halqifibrax and Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians aided by our single copy of Master with Eyes of Blue in grave. This will give us a 5300 attack monster and one to two banishes from the field to resolve whatever board our opponent has. Feel free to remove this combo and payoff — I favoured it because of going second hands that lack a second level eight extender but that's only relevant in this build specifically.
Selene, Queen of the Master magicians x 1
Next up is Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians, the third stop on our link-climb to Accesscode Talker. A good link monster in her own right, Selene is played mostly for her effect. On summon she gains spell counters equal to the number of spell cards in both graveyards and on the field which can be removed three at a time to summon any spellcaster type from your hand or graveyard. This is always Master with Eyes of Blue in this build but if you replaced Ghost Ogre with Effect Veiler you’ll have more targets on average. From the summon of our spellcaster from hand or grave we link Selene off with it for Accesscode, enabling our alternative OTK line. If you cut Accesscode obviously cut this in favour of something more synergistic with your build.
Crystron Halqifibrax x 1
I really hope all my readers understand why we play this next link monster, Crystron Halqifibrax. At time of writing Halqifibrax has been at large in the TCG for eight months since its release in Duel Overload, enabling all sorts of combos. In this build it enables the above mentioned Accesscode combo along with a few synchro lines in hands with at least two extenders. Normally you’ll want to summon the one copy of The White Stone of Legend off of Halqifibrax’s effect, although The White Stone of Ancients is acceptable in a pinch. Both can be linked off for one of a couple options we’ll go over shortly to get their searches off should you need them. As with the other links we’ve been over this can be cut if you don’t favour the Accesscode lines; alternatively one could emphasize this option with the addition of Linkross and Martial Metal Marcher for better synchro payoffs.
Heiratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres x 1
Our last link two is a favourite of many modern Dragon-tribal lists such as Dragon Link. Heiratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres is probably the most generally playable of all the Heiratic archetype as it allows us to cheat out our Dragon Spirit of White while bouncing a card from our opponent’s field. This can be enough to stall out an opponent’s turn long enough for one to draw into one of this build’s two OTK lines. I tested replacing this with I:P Masquerana but that often lost me games even with proper targets instead of the Accesscode climb. As a result I would recommend keeping this in the build regardless of what changes you make as until Blue-Eyes gets a link two of their own, this will be the best option.
Linkuriboh x 1
Time for the second to last link monster now, Linkuriboh is one of the best generic link ones out there. Many of you will be familiar with this one and its uses as it has been played in a variety of strategies thanks to its ability to convert tokens into link fuel. We play it here as a corner case for getting our level one tuners in the grave if we have no extenders or alternative normal summons. This doesn’t come up often mind, as we have a 76% chance to open at least one extender, but I still value this pick. You can cut this if you want to move away from the synchro lines with your build as another target for Draglubion would be better in that case.
Relinquished Anima x 1
Finally we reach the last extra deck monster, Relinquished Anima: a link one that doubles as a removal spell in specific cases. Like the other extra deck Relinquished monsters Anima can equip one face-up monster to itself, providing it’s pointing to that monster. In practise this means that any player careless enough to leave a monster face up in front of either extra monster zone can be punished with Anima and any of our level one tuners. Like Linkuriboh above, this also assists in getting our level one tuners in the graveyard for their effects or for a Chaos Dragon play. I wouldn’t cut this from any list with level ones as it can be an amazing boon if your opponent forgets or doesn't know to play around it.
- Sidedeck and Tech Choices: The Casual Dilemma
Handtraps and the Side Deck
Notes on the Side Deck
Before I get started I’d like to explain my choices around the side deck and the handtraps I’ve elected to include in the main deck. This deck was built for a couple smaller tournaments that I predicted would have a slower meta compared to the current competitive scene. This proved to be the correct call for the tournaments I was in but I would caution against the same side deck for competitive play. That aside the reason I decided to maindeck Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit was mostly due to it being live more often than PSY-Framegear Gamma and it not taking up another maindeck slot with PSY-Frame Driver. If you’d prefer Gamma it doesn't alter much of the deck beyond finding a slot for Driver so go for it if you need a more competitive option. One last thing of note before I go over Ghost Ogre is my inclusion of Dante, Pilgrim of the Burning Abyss. He’s here as an optional punish for Dogmatika strategies running Maximus as when he’s sent off of an opponent’s Maximus he rips a card from their hand. I find this funny and worth playing in a casual setting but if you’d prefer N’Tss that is a better option.
Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit x 3
Now to look at our only main deck handtrap Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit. I’ve already gone over a lot of why we play it above so here I’ll go over its synergies with the rest of our build. Chief among the synergy is the aforementioned Emergency Teleport allowing us to summon one of these anytime we can can fire off a quick-play spell. This will allows us to get more interaction if needed or more commonly to extend into Halqifibrax on the followup for Accesscode Talker. If you prefer Ash Blossom or any of the other popular handtraps you can switch this out for them, although in that case you’d be better switching Emergency Teleport for Upstart Goblin or another consistency booster.
- Combo Guide: The Real Return of the Dragon Lords
Time now to look at some of the deck’s combos going first along with some notes on potential followup plays. I’ve chosen to include three of the more common openers to hopefully illustrate how the deck performs on average along with some data to show how often one can expect them. One of the deck’s strongest suits is its flexibility while playing through a couple interruptions going first or second so I’ll try to highlight this where possible.
- Any Level 8 Extender Plus Level 1 Tuner
Starting off with a classic opener of Blue-Eyes decks, this opener will leave us with a Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon and the ability to tag out into Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon for its protection effect. This hand can take several forms with a 22% chance to open any variant of it. The most optimal is a hand of Blue-Eyes Alternative and White Dragons plus The White Stone of Legend. To start we’ll summon our level eight of choice — say Alternative White Dragon in this case but any of the Dangers work too. From there we’ll normal summon our White Stone of Ancients and then synchro summon Blue Eyes Spirit Dragon. If we have a couple extra extenders Hope Harbinger or Draglubion can be good additions to increase the stickiness of your board. A followup from here can be as simple as going into True King of All Calamities with the aid of Cloudcastle, or detaching your other material from Draglubion to summon Number 100: Numeron Dragon for a swift OTK. This alone is the weakest of our openings but with the addition of other interaction it can still close out games.
- 2. Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon plus Blue-Eyes White Dragon and a Danger! Monster
Next up a slightly more common opening at 40% to open going first and 50% going second. This play ends on boards of our rank eight XYZs package — normally Draglubion and Hope Harbinger going first, or Draglubion and Numeron Dragon going second. This represents a negate and Towers-ish effect in Draglubion’s first effect going first or 9000 damage on board for a quick OTK. All the followups I recommend from here involve using Draglubion’s effect again either for the above-mentioned damage line or Heart-eartH Dragon for stickier boards. This opening is normally enough to close out games against the build’s intended targets but if you have the option combining this with any of the other lines mentioned here it’ll result in exponentially stronger boards.
- 3. Raiden plus any extender; going second
The final line we’ll be looking at is our alternate OTK line going second, although this can double as a followup effectively. All you’ll need is Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn and a monster you can special summon like any of our Danger! monsters. At 31% to open this going first and 40% going second this hand is hardly rare but exceptionally powerful. To start we’ll normal summon Raiden, remembering to mill two with his effect before special summoning our extender and linking both off for Halqifibrax. We’ll then use Halqifibrax’s effect to special summon Master with Eyes of Blue providing we didn’t mill it off of Raiden’s effect. This will allow us to link both of them off for Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians before using her effect to summon back Master with Eyes of Blue and linking both of them off for Accesscode Talker. From here you’ll have a 5300 attack monster and two banishes from the field with which to close out the game. There’s normally no need to followup from this point but if you find yourself not winning from here I’d recommend a rank eight play or anything that’ll put more damage on board.
- Final Thoughts
Finally we reach the end of this guide, I appreciate all of you who took the time to read this. If you enjoyed this or found it helpful why not leave a like or comment? I try to put out one of these every couple weeks so if you’d like me to cover a specific deck or archetype let me know in the comments below or on Discord @CryptidYgo#6296. I’ll also take a minute to plug my Discord server The Yu-Gi-Oh Writers Guild. We’re a community of Yu-Gi-Oh content creators who provide help and feedback as well as opportunities for self promotion. At the end of this week on November 15th we’ll be hosting the first in a series of four free-to-enter tournaments, The Winter Revel. If you’d like to learn more about this or the Discord check us out here.
As for my final thoughts on the deck I have to say I was surprised by how much fun I had with this list. I haven’t tried to hide that this is a casual list for casual play but despite that this list exceeded my expectations. The combo of Draglubion plus Hope Harbinger wound up being too much for many rogue tier and below decks due to how consistent it is. While I don’t think this list would hold up competitively in today’s meta I was surprised how much fun Yu-Gi-Oh can still be. Despite all the Halq-Kross combos and nine negate set-ups going first that plague the current meta it is still possible to have fun playing Yu-Gi-Oh at any level. If like me you’re feeling a tad burned out by the grind of meta play I would highly recommend returning to a more casual environment with a deck like this. That’s going to be it from me but until next time stay safe and have fun.
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