Hi everyone!
I am in a mood for writing/blogging these days so I want to share with you this new Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck I have come up with and which I took a liking to after testing it a couple of times – my take on a “Banish Fish” deck!
You know I like to set myself little challenges in deckbuilding such as taking a rather obscure, at first glance rather weak Monster / Creature type and trying to build a decent deck around that, trying to make the most of the available cards and getting the best possible deck with what I find to support the general theme. This time around, it all began as it does every so often with my new deck ideas in any CCG, as I kinda stumbled upon a certain card which caught my eye. This time it was this card….
…which I thought had potential if it had just the right deck built around it to support it and “max out” its effect. Another card I already knew which I think is a real powerhouse, again, in the right deck…
… pretty much sealed the deal for me and I had to build a deck around the rather obscure Fish type which is not exaclty known to be one of the more powerful and supported Monster types.
Well I am going to do the usual and show you a photo of the deck as I tried it (it is still in a raw state and I already know how to tweak it in order to make it rock even more!), then provide a card list and follow up with some of my thoughts on how the deck is supposed to work!
Banish that Fish!
Monsters…21
3 x Oyster Meister
3 x Shark Stickers
3 x Snowman-Eater
3 x Banisher of the Light
3 x Golden Flying Fish
3 x Abyssal Kingshark
3 x Royal Swamp Eel
Spells…8
3 x Fish and Kicks
3 x Dimensional Fissure
1 x Mystical Space Typhoon
1 x Dark Hole
Traps…11
3 x Fish Depth Charge
3 x Underworld Egg Clutch
2 x Fish Rain
2 x Macrocosmos
1 x Torrential Tribute
My Thoughts on the Deck:
Well the general theme of the deck is firstly Fish and Fish-support cards as well as destroying and banishing stuff. I consider Fish Depth Charge and to somewhat lesser extent Fish and Kicks to be the ace-cards of this particular build. The former is pretty straightforward and convenient to use in a deck with mostly Fish-type Monsters and is in and off itself a cheap way of generating much needed “card advantage”: You can tribute 1 of your Fish Monsters to destroy any 1 card, Spell, Trap, Monster in whatever postion, and then draw 1 card. This means you will use 1 card to cost your opponent 1 card and draw 1 card while doing so (card draw being a very rare and precious commodity especially in the Yu-Gi-Oh! context). That simply spells card advantage. And what makes this card even more awesome is the fact that it is a Trap which you can activate any time. So at best you’d activate it in response to one of your fish being destroyed anyways. That way you technically don’t lose a Monster to Fish Depth Charge’s effect. In order to make use of the great effect of the latter one, Fish and Kicks, you have to have at least 3 of your Fish, Aqua or Sea Serpent Monsters banished. If you meet that requirement you get to banish ANY 1 card on the field, which is obviously very useful and versatile as you cannot only banish a Monster, regardless of position mind you, but also a pesky Spell or Trap card! In this deck, that steep requirement can be reached pretty easily (in theory) as the deck has 18 Monsters of the specified types (all Monsters except Banisher of the Light, which I included for good reasons, are either Aqua or Fish types) and features multiple ways how to get your Fish and Aquas banished.
The deck has “tripple banishing insurance” so to say, as I included a Monster, a Spell and a Trap (in mutliples of course) which has all Monsters or even all cards banished when they would normally just go to the Graveyard. These are 3 copies of Banisher of the Light (the only non-Fish or Aqua type Monster in the deck), 3 copies of the Spell Dimensional Fissure (which has only Monsters banished) and 2 copies of the Trap Macrocosmos (banishing all cards that would otherwise go to the graveyard) as additional backup. That makes 8 cards to have your Fish Monsters banished out of a total of 40 cards, which should provide ample ways to accomplish the goal of meeting Fish and Kicks’ requirement. And the best side effect of this: Your opponent’s cards will get banished too which works out greatly on so many levels: Firstly it is a great “hoser” for any nasty graveyard tricks, such as reanimating Monsters for instance, your opponent might have planned for. Secondly, many card effects only work when the card is sent to the graveyard, not when it is banished, thus interfering with your opponents strategy as once again.
Lastly, and I had planned for it but it was during my first games with the deck that I saw how well it worked, the deck has a lot of Synchro- and even more so XYZ-Summoning potential going on. Royal Swamp Eel makes for good Level 8 Synchro-Summons if you manage to have it surive till you can drop a second Level 4 Fish Monster such as Golden Flying Fish or Abyssal Kingshark. Shark Stickers was obviously made for quickly XYZ-Summoning any Rank 3 XYZ-Monster (I like Number 17: Leviathan Dragon or Grenosaurus for instance) on the other hand and if you don’t feel like Synchro-Summoning with Eel, you can overlay him with any other of your Level 4 Monsters to XYZ-Summon into a Rank 4 XYZ-Monster of your choice such as Gem-Knight Pearl for major beats or Number 39: Utopia for beats and utility. I have to admit that my knowledge of the bulk of existing Synchro- and XYZ-Monsters is still terribly limited so if you happen to know of any that would fit in particularly well with this deck, please bring them to my attention in a comment!
Now let me give you some thoughts on the individual card choices in this deck:
Oyster-Meister:
As all the Monsters in this deck, this guys strenght is not his ATK-value (in fact none of the Monsters in this deck have more than 1700 ATK, but that’s what the extra deck is for!) but his effect. When he is destroyed, except by battle, you can put a 0 ATK and 0 DEF Token of the Fish type into play. The most basic use of Meister is a defensive one. You can set him and when he gets destroyed by an effect you can put the Token into play in defense position as well to fend of one more attack. However what I like most to do is to sacrifice him for activating Fish Depth Charge or even for the effect of Golden Flying Fish to get the Token, which can be used as additional tribute fodder for another Fish Depth Charge or to destroy another card with the Flying Fish! Of course, being a Fish-Type, Oyster Meister can be combined with Shark Stickers to XYZ-Summon.
Shark Sticker:
As mentioned before, this was simply made for enabling easy Rank 3 XYZ-Summons in a deck featuring a considerable number of Fish and Aqua type Monsters as you can Special Summon the Stickers from your hand when you summon a Fish, Sea Serpent or Aqua Monster. You can see where this is going. The problem is you cannot use this as a Synchro Material so no use in combining this with Royal Swamp Eel for a Level 7 Synchro-Summon. An alternative use for Shark Stickers in this deck would be to Special Summon it to have one additional Fish to tribute for activating Fish Depth Charge or the effect of Golden Flying Fish.
Snowman-Eater:
This one is not a Fish type Monster and I must say that is the Monster in the deck which I’d most likely swap for another, preferably Fish type Monster as soon as I find a good alternative for it. However Snowman-Eater can be very useful as it is yet another of the many ways to destroy Monsters this deck features. The only downside is that the Monster you want to destroy when Snowman is flipped must be face-up. That can be quite limiting. You can alternatively use Snowman-Eater in conjunction with Shark Stickers, as the former is both an Aqua-Type and has a Level of 3.
Banisher of the Light:
The oddball Monster in this deck, being neither of the Water Attribute nor an Aqua or Fish type, which I am simply running for its effect: As long as Banisher of the Light remains face-up on the field, all cards that would go to the graveyard are banished instead. So Banisher is one of the numerous ways to get your Fish and Aquas banished to hit that threshold of 3 Fish, Aqua or Sea Serpent Monsters being banished in order to activate Fish and Kicks and at the same time messes up with your opponent big time if they are trying to do anything graveyard-related. Also with 2000 DEF it is a good blocker that may remain on the field for a bit and fend off some of your opponent’s weaker Monsters attacks.
Golden Flying Fish:
While oddly being of the Light Attribute, I consider this one your ace-Monster in this particular deck as its effect just kicks major buttocks with so many Fish around to activate it. You can, as often as you want, tribute another Fish Monster to destroy ANY card on the field. This is yet another great and pretty easy way to get rid of just any troublesome card on the field, be it Spell, Trap or Monster, set or face-up, regardless of postion. As mentioned above Golden Flying Fish has great synergies with the easy-to-special-summon Shark Stickers and Oyster Meister. Particularly the latter is awesome with the Flying Fish as you can tribute Meister to destroy one card and then tribute the Oyster Token it spawned to target and destroy another card. Talk about card advantage!
Abyssal Kingshark:
Yet again this Fish’s stats are lackluster as he has an ATK of just 1700. However, once more its effect redeems it: When it would be destroyed by an effect that does not target it for the first time on one turn, it is not destroyed. This combos greatly with your Dark Hole and Torrential Tribute and can be useful to avoid “global” destruction effects of your opponent, giving you a headstart over your opponent after you, or he/she cleared the field. Use with Royal Swamp Eel to Synchro Summon at your convenience.
Royal Swamp Eel:
Well not much to say about this one honestly. With 1700 ATK Eel does not really qualify as a good beater but what matters is that he is a Fish and a Level 4 Tuner, thus he is your main, and in fact your only way to facilitate Synchro-Summons.
Fish and Kicks:
As discussed above this card can be really powerful – if its requirements are met. As a reminder: When 3 or more of your Fish, Sea Serpent or Aqua Monsters are banished you can activate it to banish ANY 1 card on the field. No further explanation needed. Once you set up the requirements you have one hell of a versatile and powerful card!
Dimensional Fissure:
The second way you can meet the “Fish and Kicks threshold”. As long as this Spell is face-up on the field, all Monster cards that would go to the graveyard are banished instead.
Mystical Space Typhoon:
Well this one might be quite redundant. While being an incredibly useful Spell in and off itself, you probably got enough other ways to get rid of a Spell or Trap. Might take that one out in favor of something more useful eventually.
Dark Hole:
Needless to say that this is an awesome field sweeper killing all Monsters on the field. While this is quite useful in general, there is that minor combo with Abyssal Kingshark who survives the Dark Hole to give you a headstart and some advantage over your opponent.
Fish Depth Charge:
A real power-card in a Deck with 15 Fish Type Monsters. As discussed above you can activate this Trap to tribute one Fish you control and then destroy ANY 1 card on the field AND draw 1 card. This card singlehandedly made me want to build a dedicated Fish Deck to make a proper home for it. Again, the best way to use it would be to activate it in response to one of your fish being destroyed so you don’t have to waste a Monster for activating Fish Depth Charge. A note on the side: With tripple Golden Flying Fish and tripple Fish and Kicks, the three copies of Fish Depth Charge make the deck contain a total of 9 (!) more or less easy to use universal pinpoint card removal cards. So almost a fourth of the deck consits of potent, cheap removal effects in the form of Monsters, Spells and Traps.
Underworld Egg Clutch:
This Trap works amazingly well when you have one of your banishing cards in play (and only then): Whenever one of your Fish, Auqa or Sea Serpent type Monsters is banished, you can effectively replace the lost Monster as Underworld Egg Clutch lets you add 1 Level 4 or lower Fish, Auqu or Sea Serpent Monster from your deck to your hand. So if you have all set up right, nearly everyone of your Monsters gets replaced by a Monster of your choice from your deck.
Fish Rain:
Again this card only works when you have a way to banish your Monsters. If you the means for doing so, Fish Rain will let you Special Summon a Level 3 or lower Fish, Aqua or Sea Serpent Monster from your hand whenever a Monster of these types gets banished from the field. In conjunction with Underworld Egg Clutch this makes for a great engine to first get some of your Fish into your hand and then Special Summon them from there.
Macrocosmos:
The third solution you have for getting those Fish banished (and annoy the hell out of your opponent) in the form of a Trap card. Banishes any card that would be sent to the Graveyard and has a secondary effect that is totally irrelevant in this deck.
Torrential Tribute:
Another great field sweeper and a staple in many decks – for good reasons! As Dark Hole, this has a great synergy with Abyssal Kingshark who will survive the activation of this card.
How to Improve the Deck:
Well as I mentioned initally the deck seen in the photo above and discussed in the article, the deck is still in a very raw state.
I will probably reduce the number Underworld Egg Clutches to 2 and the number of Fish Rains to 1 as well as cut the Mystical Space Typhoon in favor of something more useful. As mentioned above, the Snowman-Eaters will be swapped for an alternative Monster, preferably a Fish, as soon as I find something to fill in for that one.
There is one other Fish-support card I want to add to this deck as it would be a perfect fit for the same. Have a look for yourself:
This would add even more to the destructive capabilites of the deck and be a good (or bad depending on your perspective) surprise element in many situations. And yes, “F!sh!” is spellt with an exclamation mark in the card title…
One other card that comes to my mind that would be incredibly powerful and useful in a “Banish Fish” deck like this would be Return from the Different Dimension. You’d first have a ton of your Monsters banished, clear the way with Fish and Kicks and Fish Depth Charge, and then unleash your Return from the Different Dimension. By paying half of your life points you Special Summon as many of your banished Monsters. They are banished at end of turn. Now the killer part is you can use the Special Summoned Monsters as Material for XYZ-Monsters and Synchro-Monsters. Since only the Monsters that were summoned by Return from the Different Dimension would be destroyed at end of turn, not the ones that were XYZ- and Synchro-Summoned using them as material, this will allow you to bring out a ton of XYZs and Synchros and swing in for the win!
Andi's Games Realm 