Generally I am against decks that torture the opponent by draining his life points little by little. Also I am against lockdown decks since they are boring to play both with and against. But this time I have found a deck that fits both categories and it is really interesting even though I would not suggest it for competitive play for reasons I will explain below.
This deck is build around an very old guy, who was for many years overshadowed by his more powerful friend Yata-Garatsu, Fenrir. His effect is similiar to that of Yata-Garatsu but his disability to be normal summoned and his pathetic attack which he needs more than Yata-Garatsu have stand as obstacles for him to see any competitive play.
I have really try to use him effectively with many different cards such Umiruuka (making him a 1900 ATK beatstick) or Legendary Ocean (1600 ATK plus the ability to pass under Gravity Bind and Level Limit - Area B, cards I have included in that deck) but the opponent will just summon a stronger monster to run over Fenrir or he can summon no monsters so Fenrir's effect would be useless. And such I have thought about a different card that not only helping Fenrir overcome his low attack but also summons monster on the opponent's side of the field. This card is none other than Black Garden. The main combo is pretty much like that : Summon Fenrir, activate Black Garden, summon a monster (usually a reusable one like a Spirit) which will trigger Black Garden's effect halving your monsters attack and summoning an 800-ATK Token on your opponent's side of the field. Attack with Fenrir, lock your opponent from drawing and next turn repeat.
I have assebled a deck that focuses on creating the lock as possible but due to the nature of the combo (time consuming and slightly boring ,dropping opponent's life points by 600 each turn may take even 14 turns, even though it is interesting from an academic point of view) I have not playtest and refined the deck as much as I would like to and such I am not sure if it has the perfect balance possible.
Monsters x 17
Fenrir x 3
Swap Frog x 3
Treeborn Frog x 1
Ronintoadin x 1
Fishborg Blaster x 1
Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi x 1
Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch x 1
Mobius the Frost Monarch x 1
Mother Grizzly x 3
Deep Diver x 1
Sangan x 1
Three copies of Fenrir have obviously included as it is the main piece of the combo. Then as you see I have included almost the whole Frog Engine along with a Fishborg Blaster. This have been done for a wide variety of reasons. First and foremost Swap Frog have been included in lieu of the more commonly seen in this deck Izanami and Yaksha for the reusable monster with the purpose of generating tokens due to his searcability (Dupe Frog, Mother Grizzly and Sangan), his more flexible effect "return to hand" effect, his "special summon" and his power to send water monsters from deck to Graveyard. As you can see Swap Frog is perfect for this deck and such him have been included along with his friends. Treeborn Frog and Ronintoadin have been included as targets for Swap Frog, their ressurection abilities and in some cases Water Food as well (especially Treeborn since when Black Garden hits the field is useless). Fishborg Blaster helps the second and third purpose of the Frog Engine which are a bit of draw power in the form of Formula Synchron and Synchro Summoning (a big Synchro is never bad) respectively.
Now let's move to the Tribute Summon Monsters. Thestalos and Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi are both powerful monster with hand disruption effects and they are very easy to summon due to the Frog Engine. I will explain later why I have chose to add hand distruption so for now I will simply add that Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi must CAN be used with Fenrir and the opponent will simply discard at the start of the Stanby Phase. Mobius is here for some Spell/Trap hate and for his Water Atributte. Mother Grizzly, the Water-Attribute searcher is included for it's ability to search for Swap Frog, Fishborg Blaster and the next card I will talk about plus it is a great way to fill the grave easily with Water monsters for Fenrir. But the reason that justifies the use of Mother Grizzly is none other than Deep Diver. He is like a Sangan with a different kind of steroids, his effect activates in end of the battle phase with all the things that mean and he do not add cards in your hand. But it let's you tranform your next draw to ANY monster you want: mainly Fenrir, Swap Frog, Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi, Mobius or Thestalos. Plus he is Water Food for Fenrir and searchable as stated above for Grizzly and Sangan. Last Sangan is the most commonly seen searcher and can search for many important cards such as :Fenrir,Swap Frog and Mother Grizzly. As you can see there are more than one ways to search Swap Frog and such Dupe Frog was uneeded
Spells x 15
Black Garden x 3
Terraforming x 3
Upstart Goblin x 2
Mesenger of Peace x 3
Mystical Space Typhoonx 2
Monster Reborn x 1
Dark Hole x 1
Black Garden along with Terraforming have been included to ensure maximum possibilities of having one of the main pieces of the combo in your hand really as soon as possible. Upstart Goblin is here for obviously increasing the speed of the deck and I would really like to include a third one but simply there was no space. The next card is the most debatable one. Messenger of Peace have been included as the primary way of protecting Fenrir from nasty monsters that are already on the field before Black Garden or have 3000 attack so even if they are cut in half can run over Fenrir or strong level 4 or lower monsters like Kizan or Neos Alius that the opponent have seted and then flip summoned so it's attack remain intact. I have considered a huge amount of cards to include insteasd of Messenger but this is possibly the best I have tested (except one that you will see in the Trap Line-Up). Be careful though for 1400 ATK monster that are on the field or 2800 monsters that can be summoned like Tytannial or Colossal Fighter since your opponent can suicide them on Fenrir. The last four Spells are what I consider as the staples in the current Format.
Traps x 8
Dark Bribe x 3
Solemn Judgment x 1
Spiritual Water Art - Aoi x 3
Wall of Revealing Light x 1
First of all I will say that these eight traps interfere as less as possible with Treeborn Frog. For a long time in lieu of Dark Bribe I had Malevolent Catastrophe but I find Dark Bribe more flexible and more compatible with Treeborn Frog. As I have said again in the previous article, in decks that abuse Field Spells I prefer Dark Bribe over Seven Tools of the Bandit since it can stop Mystical Space Typhoon and an opponet's Field Spell before your own, is destroyed. Solemn Judgment needs no justification as it is the most flexible trap and peronally whenever I can try to include it to my builds. Spiritual Water Art - Aoi is my personal favorite from the Spiritual Arts. The reason is simple: a well-timed Trap Dustshoot can win games and Aoi is even better since it can discard all those nasty surprises in the form of Spell or Traps. The best part: with Treeborn Frog it is free! Trap Dustshoot itself is a tough substraction but there was absolutely no space. Finally Wall of Revealing Light is the fourth and the best form of protection for Fenrir but since it is limited and such I had to include the three copies of Messenger of Peace.
The Extra Deck here is really typical aside from the triple Formula Synchron and such I will present the one I use with no further comment.
Extra Deck x 15
Formula Sycnhron x 3
Armory Arm x 1
Ally of Justice Catastor x 1
Magical Android x 1
Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier x 1
Gaia Knight, Force of Earth x 1
Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier x 1
Black Rose Dragon x 1
Stardust Dragon x 2
Scrap Dragon x 1
Red Dragon Archfiend x 1
Shooting Star Dragon x 1
I have stated above that ths deck is not really competitive due to it's weakness to any form of card destruction: Caius, Mystical Space Typhoon, Scrap Dragon, Brionac (even bounce can hurt if the opponent bounce only Fenrir, if you special summon him again his attack will be halfed and cannot run over the Tokens) and Black Rose Dragon are all popular answers to this combo. And such I have added as much Hand Destruction as I could to exterminate all these threats before they happen for this is the best way to counter them all for good.
Overall this is not a bad deck. With a good side deck and in the hands of a great player can win some local events and also can be a good fun deck if you like Lockdowns. But I do not believe it can hold it's own against the current Meta in a big tournament. But do not be dissapointed, this is one from those deck that only better can turn over the years, for new cards are released and some of them may help this deck to be more competitive, so stay alert!
Thanks for reading and till next time.
-Eatos
Bibliography
Ryan Murphy, 2009, Metagame, "The Budget Builder: Black Garden"
http://gillysgonnawalk.com/metagame/yugiohd9da.html?tabid=33&ArticleId=10605
Jerome McHale, 2008, Metagame, "Almost There: Garden of Nightmares"
http://gillysgonnawalk.com/metagame/yugiohac30.html?tabid=33&ArticleId=10330
Jerome McHale, 2009 , Metagame, "Almost There — Back In Black (Garden)"
http://gillysgonnawalk.com/metagame/yugiohf883.html?tabid=33&ArticleId=10593
Matt Peddle, 2008, Metagame, "The Champions: Jerome McHale"
http://gillysgonnawalk.com/metagame/yugioh3b7a.html?tabid=33&ArticleId=10504
Ryan Murphy, 2008, Metagame, "The Forgotten Format: Water Monarchs"
http://gillysgonnawalk.com/metagame/yugiohd712.html?tabid=33&ArticleId=9216
This deck is build around an very old guy, who was for many years overshadowed by his more powerful friend Yata-Garatsu, Fenrir. His effect is similiar to that of Yata-Garatsu but his disability to be normal summoned and his pathetic attack which he needs more than Yata-Garatsu have stand as obstacles for him to see any competitive play.
I have really try to use him effectively with many different cards such Umiruuka (making him a 1900 ATK beatstick) or Legendary Ocean (1600 ATK plus the ability to pass under Gravity Bind and Level Limit - Area B, cards I have included in that deck) but the opponent will just summon a stronger monster to run over Fenrir or he can summon no monsters so Fenrir's effect would be useless. And such I have thought about a different card that not only helping Fenrir overcome his low attack but also summons monster on the opponent's side of the field. This card is none other than Black Garden. The main combo is pretty much like that : Summon Fenrir, activate Black Garden, summon a monster (usually a reusable one like a Spirit) which will trigger Black Garden's effect halving your monsters attack and summoning an 800-ATK Token on your opponent's side of the field. Attack with Fenrir, lock your opponent from drawing and next turn repeat.
I have assebled a deck that focuses on creating the lock as possible but due to the nature of the combo (time consuming and slightly boring ,dropping opponent's life points by 600 each turn may take even 14 turns, even though it is interesting from an academic point of view) I have not playtest and refined the deck as much as I would like to and such I am not sure if it has the perfect balance possible.
Monsters x 17
Fenrir x 3
Swap Frog x 3
Treeborn Frog x 1
Ronintoadin x 1
Fishborg Blaster x 1
Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi x 1
Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch x 1
Mobius the Frost Monarch x 1
Mother Grizzly x 3
Deep Diver x 1
Sangan x 1
Three copies of Fenrir have obviously included as it is the main piece of the combo. Then as you see I have included almost the whole Frog Engine along with a Fishborg Blaster. This have been done for a wide variety of reasons. First and foremost Swap Frog have been included in lieu of the more commonly seen in this deck Izanami and Yaksha for the reusable monster with the purpose of generating tokens due to his searcability (Dupe Frog, Mother Grizzly and Sangan), his more flexible effect "return to hand" effect, his "special summon" and his power to send water monsters from deck to Graveyard. As you can see Swap Frog is perfect for this deck and such him have been included along with his friends. Treeborn Frog and Ronintoadin have been included as targets for Swap Frog, their ressurection abilities and in some cases Water Food as well (especially Treeborn since when Black Garden hits the field is useless). Fishborg Blaster helps the second and third purpose of the Frog Engine which are a bit of draw power in the form of Formula Synchron and Synchro Summoning (a big Synchro is never bad) respectively.
Now let's move to the Tribute Summon Monsters. Thestalos and Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi are both powerful monster with hand disruption effects and they are very easy to summon due to the Frog Engine. I will explain later why I have chose to add hand distruption so for now I will simply add that Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi must CAN be used with Fenrir and the opponent will simply discard at the start of the Stanby Phase. Mobius is here for some Spell/Trap hate and for his Water Atributte. Mother Grizzly, the Water-Attribute searcher is included for it's ability to search for Swap Frog, Fishborg Blaster and the next card I will talk about plus it is a great way to fill the grave easily with Water monsters for Fenrir. But the reason that justifies the use of Mother Grizzly is none other than Deep Diver. He is like a Sangan with a different kind of steroids, his effect activates in end of the battle phase with all the things that mean and he do not add cards in your hand. But it let's you tranform your next draw to ANY monster you want: mainly Fenrir, Swap Frog, Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi, Mobius or Thestalos. Plus he is Water Food for Fenrir and searchable as stated above for Grizzly and Sangan. Last Sangan is the most commonly seen searcher and can search for many important cards such as :Fenrir,Swap Frog and Mother Grizzly. As you can see there are more than one ways to search Swap Frog and such Dupe Frog was uneeded
Spells x 15
Black Garden x 3
Terraforming x 3
Upstart Goblin x 2
Mesenger of Peace x 3
Mystical Space Typhoonx 2
Monster Reborn x 1
Dark Hole x 1
Black Garden along with Terraforming have been included to ensure maximum possibilities of having one of the main pieces of the combo in your hand really as soon as possible. Upstart Goblin is here for obviously increasing the speed of the deck and I would really like to include a third one but simply there was no space. The next card is the most debatable one. Messenger of Peace have been included as the primary way of protecting Fenrir from nasty monsters that are already on the field before Black Garden or have 3000 attack so even if they are cut in half can run over Fenrir or strong level 4 or lower monsters like Kizan or Neos Alius that the opponent have seted and then flip summoned so it's attack remain intact. I have considered a huge amount of cards to include insteasd of Messenger but this is possibly the best I have tested (except one that you will see in the Trap Line-Up). Be careful though for 1400 ATK monster that are on the field or 2800 monsters that can be summoned like Tytannial or Colossal Fighter since your opponent can suicide them on Fenrir. The last four Spells are what I consider as the staples in the current Format.
Traps x 8
Dark Bribe x 3
Solemn Judgment x 1
Spiritual Water Art - Aoi x 3
Wall of Revealing Light x 1
First of all I will say that these eight traps interfere as less as possible with Treeborn Frog. For a long time in lieu of Dark Bribe I had Malevolent Catastrophe but I find Dark Bribe more flexible and more compatible with Treeborn Frog. As I have said again in the previous article, in decks that abuse Field Spells I prefer Dark Bribe over Seven Tools of the Bandit since it can stop Mystical Space Typhoon and an opponet's Field Spell before your own, is destroyed. Solemn Judgment needs no justification as it is the most flexible trap and peronally whenever I can try to include it to my builds. Spiritual Water Art - Aoi is my personal favorite from the Spiritual Arts. The reason is simple: a well-timed Trap Dustshoot can win games and Aoi is even better since it can discard all those nasty surprises in the form of Spell or Traps. The best part: with Treeborn Frog it is free! Trap Dustshoot itself is a tough substraction but there was absolutely no space. Finally Wall of Revealing Light is the fourth and the best form of protection for Fenrir but since it is limited and such I had to include the three copies of Messenger of Peace.
The Extra Deck here is really typical aside from the triple Formula Synchron and such I will present the one I use with no further comment.
Extra Deck x 15
Formula Sycnhron x 3
Armory Arm x 1
Ally of Justice Catastor x 1
Magical Android x 1
Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier x 1
Gaia Knight, Force of Earth x 1
Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier x 1
Black Rose Dragon x 1
Stardust Dragon x 2
Scrap Dragon x 1
Red Dragon Archfiend x 1
Shooting Star Dragon x 1
I have stated above that ths deck is not really competitive due to it's weakness to any form of card destruction: Caius, Mystical Space Typhoon, Scrap Dragon, Brionac (even bounce can hurt if the opponent bounce only Fenrir, if you special summon him again his attack will be halfed and cannot run over the Tokens) and Black Rose Dragon are all popular answers to this combo. And such I have added as much Hand Destruction as I could to exterminate all these threats before they happen for this is the best way to counter them all for good.
Overall this is not a bad deck. With a good side deck and in the hands of a great player can win some local events and also can be a good fun deck if you like Lockdowns. But I do not believe it can hold it's own against the current Meta in a big tournament. But do not be dissapointed, this is one from those deck that only better can turn over the years, for new cards are released and some of them may help this deck to be more competitive, so stay alert!
Thanks for reading and till next time.
-Eatos
Bibliography
Ryan Murphy, 2009, Metagame, "The Budget Builder: Black Garden"
http://gillysgonnawalk.com/metagame/yugiohd9da.html?tabid=33&ArticleId=10605
Jerome McHale, 2008, Metagame, "Almost There: Garden of Nightmares"
http://gillysgonnawalk.com/metagame/yugiohac30.html?tabid=33&ArticleId=10330
Jerome McHale, 2009 , Metagame, "Almost There — Back In Black (Garden)"
http://gillysgonnawalk.com/metagame/yugiohf883.html?tabid=33&ArticleId=10593
Matt Peddle, 2008, Metagame, "The Champions: Jerome McHale"
http://gillysgonnawalk.com/metagame/yugioh3b7a.html?tabid=33&ArticleId=10504
Ryan Murphy, 2008, Metagame, "The Forgotten Format: Water Monarchs"
http://gillysgonnawalk.com/metagame/yugiohd712.html?tabid=33&ArticleId=9216
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