Staples - News from the Battlefield 3

Welcome on this third News from the Battlefield, everyone. We'll today talk about cards that are usually played in any given deck, mainly Tier 1 decks (Lightsworns, Blackwings, Gladiator Beasts, Monarchs and Gadgets). Most of these cards are Spells and Traps, but don't be surprised to see one or another monster in the list.

What does it takes for a card to be a staple ?

The logical answer would be "It has to be played in many, if not all variations of any given Tier 1 deck", but it's a little more complex than that. Some cards, while being labelled as staples, do not have their places in some decks.

A little example would be Sangan. This monster has the great ability to fetch any 1500 or less ATK monster from your deck, and add it to your hand. It can also be comboed with Crush Card Virus, serving as a target for the activation of this card while having its own effect activated.

It can easily be in any Blackwing variant (due to its DARK attribute fitting with the theme and its effect fetching some important Blackwings) in any Lightsworn (nabbing Lumina, Ryko or Honest while warranting the use of Crush Card Virus in Lightsworns), Monarchs (getting Spirit Reaper or Dandylion) or Gladiator Beasts (fetching mainly Bestiari, Rescue Cat and Test Tiger), but it'll hardly be played in any Gadget variant, due to Gadget fetching themselves and emptying the deck to the point it's easier enough to get the needed cards.

Still, it IS a staple, because of these reasons :

- It is versatile (You can put it in nearly every Tier 1 deck)
- It can be used in combo with other cards in the deck, them being also staples for the given deck (CCV for Lightsworns, Rescue Cat for Gladiator Beasts, Dandylion for Monarchs, and many Blackwings)
- It's effect helps the deck reaching its main objective (getting the important cards needed for the main offensive)

Now that you have understood the concept of staples, let's take a look of the cards themselves.

The Big Four

What are these, you ask ? It's four cards you'll want to play in every deck, no matter what, except if the card contradicts with the main idea of the deck. They are powerful, and any combinaison of two of them is usually game-breaking.

Monster Reborn

Its effect allows to summon a monster from any Graveyard, thus allowing you to take back the advantage that was lost at the moment your best monster was taken down, or to nab your opponent's key card and use it against him/her. Having to face your own Heraklinos, Stardust Dragon, Thought Ruler Archfiend, Goyo Guardian or Dark Strike Fighter is something hard to counter, especially if you do not have any card to back yourself up at the moment Monster Reborn is used. And with the recent advent of Dark Strike Fighter, Monster Reborn may more often mean game-winning damage.

Heavy Storm

In Yu-gi-oh, deck are composed of two things : Monsters whose attacks and effects are made to destroy opponent, and spells and traps to back them up. And Heavy Storm allows, at no cost, to destroy this back up, this giving you the upper hand. And while it also destroys your own cards, any player using Heavy Storm either don't care about its own protection (especially if the destruction of opponent's spells and traps mean "victory" for him/her) or estimate the reward is higher than the risk taken. Definitely another game-breaking card, for obvious reasons.

Torrential Tribute

With this little trap, it's the front line that is destroyed, thus the monsters. It usually is a good answer to any opponent trying to have the upper hand with a flood of monsters, or just when the opponent summons his/her key monster, as it prevents your opponent from taking advantage of that monster, while negating the advantage he would gain from the Normal or Special Summon you responded with Torrential Tribute. It also destroys your own monsters, but any player using this usually has means to restart summoning on his next turn, and thus taking the upper hand again.

Mirror Force

Another game-breaking trap, whose effect will utterly and completely destroy any monster ready to attack your monsters or yourself, at no cost at all. It will thus counter any flood of monsters starting the attack by sending them all to the Graveyard, giving you the upper hand once again. And, unlike Torrential Tribute or Heavy Storm, none of your cards will be destroyed, thus giving you a greater advantage than any of those. The bad point is that it's the most vulnerable of the four, as Monster Reborn and Heavy Storm cannot be destroyed before they are activated (except by any Counter Trap negating Spells), and Torrential Tribute can be activated before any Monster Effect can harm it, while Mirror Force needs you to wait for the attack, with the risk of it being destroyed. But with a higher risk comes higher rewards.

Other staples

These cards are surely not as used as the Big Four, but they are frequently played for the obvious advantage they give to the player using them.

Monsters :

- Sangan. As explained before, it searches a lot of cards and can be used in combo with Crush Card Virus, another powerful staple.
- Snipe Hunter. Its effect transforms any dead card in hand into a single-target field destroyer, with a little luck involved.
- Spirit Reaper. Its effect helps protecting your Life Points from attacks, it can destroy opponent's hand, and is usable in many situations.

Spells :

- Mystical Space Typhoon. A single-target Spell/Trap destroyer with no cost at all, and with the advantage of it being a Quick-Play Spell card, thus being playable during your opponent's turn.
- Brain Control. Its effect allows to use any of your opponent's monsters for a single turn, thus giving place to a lot of game-breaking situations.
- Swords of Revealing Light. The best defensive Normal Spell card, protecting yourself for three of your opponent's turns, thus giving you enough time to get the cards needed to take back any lost field advantage.

Traps :

- Crush Card Virus. Its effect allows yourself to see which cards your opponent has set, in hand, and in its three next draws, while destroying any 1500 (or more) ATK monster. The only thing stopping it to be a part of the Big Four is its cost, too restrictive to be splashable at no conditions.
- Threatening Roar. While it doesn't have any destructive possibilities, this card allows any player to save its monsters or itself from attacks for a single turn, and can be chained to any card destroying it.
- Bottomless Trap Hole. With the presence of many monsters going over the 1500 ATK stat, this is a monster removal card with virtually no cost. In addition, the monster trapped is removed from the game, thus harder to get back.

Closing words

Well, here is a list of the many cards that can be relatively easily splashed in any deck, for good results. Of course, playing these all won't warrant you victory, but it's one of the steps that will guide you to. Understanding which cards are better than others in any given deck is another story, of course.

In the next "News from the Battlefield",... Well, I actually have no ideas at all about what I could write about, so suggestions are open. And until the next one, have a good game !

-Izual (Nickname on UniMetagame Forums)
UniMetagame Syndicated Writer


(View Izuals full ongoing Battlefield series on our forums at forum.unimetagame.com)