Hurricane Country

And we're back. This article will cover a rather cheap and annoying deck, the Ojamas. This trio of speedo wearing aliens debuted in YuGiOh GX as the deck Chazz Princeton dug out of the ice.
Originally they weren't much and were better off being ignored. After all they're just normal monsters with no atk and subpar def. Then came the release of their brethren, Blue and Red.

So let's start with the trio:
Ojama Green, Yellow, Black
Light/Beast/2/0/1000
He's one of the Ojama Trio. It's said that he butts in by any means necessary. It's also said that when the three are together, something happens.

That "something happens" would be Ojama Delta Hurricane!!
Normal Spell
You can only activate this card while "Ojama Green", "Ojama Yellow" and "Ojama Black" are face-up on your side of the field. Destroy all cards on your opponent's side of the field.

Now how do we go about summoning the trio?

Ojama Red
Light/Beast/2/0/1000
When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon up to 4 "Ojama" monsters from your hand in Attack Position.

But how do we get Ojamas in hand for that?

Ojama Blue
Light/Beast/2/0/1000
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can add 2 "Ojama" cards from your Deck to your hand (this can include "Ojamuscle").

Ojamagic
Normal Spell
When this card is sent from the hand or the field to the Graveyard, add 1 each of "Ojama Green", "Ojama Yellow" and "Ojama Black" from your Deck to your hand.

Ojamagic provides great bluff or discard fodder. Blue provides another Ojama for Red to summon but has no affect on Hurricane.

Now let's cover a great recruiter in the deck.

Super-Nimble Mega Hamster
Earth/Beast/4/1100/1800
Flip: You can Special Summon 1 Level 3 or lower Beast-Type monster from your Deck in face-down Defense Position.

Your most often target will be Blue.

So the skeleton should look like:
2 Black
2 Green
2 Yellow
3 Blue
3 Red
3 Mega Hamster

2 Hurricane
3 Ojamagic

No reason to run a complete playset of the trio plus we have Ojamagic and Blue to grab em.

Now what makes this a good deck? The exceed mechanic and Ojama Country.

Ojama Country
Field spell
Once per turn, you can send 1 "Ojama" card from your hand to the Graveyard to Special Summon 1 "Ojama" monster from your Graveyard. While you control a face-up "Ojama" monster, switch the original ATK and DEF of all monsters on the field.

So first you can dump an Ojama card to revive an Ojama. Second as long as you control an Ojama all monsters switch their stats. Now what's that mean? Our Ojamas become 1000 atk instead of 0. Not much to write home about but that's where the exceed mechanic comes in.
Summon Red>special up to 4 Ojamas>overlay and summon X Gachi Gachi Gantetsu.
Gachi gives all monsters 200 atk and def times the number of materials it has. This effect stacks so 2 Gachis with 4 materials means 2600 atk or def depending on Country. Add a third and you get 3 3000 Gachis. Those Gachis will be pesky to get rid of. The only concern is the Ojama. Once that goes down, and it won't be hard since it'll only have 1800 atk if you managed a full field off Red's effect netting you 2 Gachis, all stats revert to normal. The good thing is that most monsters tend to have high atk and low def or vice versa.

The deck has many directions to go in. There's using Junk Synchron to revive a fallen Ojama to summon Ally of Justice Catastor or Frozen Fitzgerald. You can even use Genex Ally Birdman after a Red play to summon a higher lvl synchro. Bounce an Ojama to summon Birdman>synch into lvl5-9>toss the Ojama in hand to revive an Ojama if you have Country out.

There's using entirely beasts and Solidarity.

There's using a number of high def monsters alongside the Ojamas and Country to get high atk, ie: D Hero Defender.

You can even go the fusion route and lock up your opp's field.

Here's my current build on DN:
20
2 Ojama Black
2 Ojama Green
2 Ojama Yellow
3 Junk Synchron
2 Snipe Hunter
3 Ojama Blue
3 Ojama Red
3 Mega Hamster

17
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
Monster Reborn
Mind Control
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
3 Ojama Country
2 Ojama Delta Hurricane!!
3 Ojamagic
2 Pot of Duality

3
3 Royal Decree

Ally of Justice Catastor
Black Rose Dragon
2 Frozen Fitzgerald
Mist Wurm
3 Gachi Gachi Gantetsu

There's the basic Ojama skeleton plus staples and some tech choices.
Junk opens the door for synchro monsters.
Snipe Hunter gets rid of trouble cards plus it'll net you the trio if you chucked Ojamagic.
Mind Control let's you nab opp monsters for exceeds or synchros.
Duality grabs a key piece if you're missing it.
The deck runs a lot of monsters and spells so Decree shuts down troublesome traps.

Other tech choices:
Honest; all the Ojamas are light so if you want some def if your opp tries to knock down the Ojama keeping Country active here you go.
Pot of Avarice; you'll likely end up having a fair amount of monster go to the grave if you synchro often. I myself wouldn't mind having one in the deck but I haven't really found the room. I may cut a MST for it.
Future Fusion; dump the trio and summon King or dump a pair to summon Knight.
Creature Swap; there's a ton of low/nonexistent atk in the deck so steal an opp's monster. Use it with Blue and get more advantage.
Hand Destruction/Card Destruction; both can toss cards you don't want to speed the deck. Both will activate Ojamagic, increasing your hand size but Hand beats DW since it says sends and not discard.
White Elephant's Gift/Common Charity; both let's you draw 2, one at the cost of sending an onfield normal monster, the other by removing a nilla from your hand.

Hope you enjoyed the article. Until next time this is the Island of Lost Cards, taking care of the eccentrics.

Aquatic Zeal

First off Gishki; they are a water archtype that focuses on rituals. The ones currently out are interesting but not all that great.

The money's at Evigishki Zeal Gigas
Water/Aqua/Effect/Ritual/10/3200/0
Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Ritual Summoned. You can Ritual Summon this card with any "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card. Once per turn: You can pay 1000 Life Points; draw 1 card, and reveal it. If it is a "Gishki" monster, shuffle 1 card on the field to the Deck.

It's a rather nice beatstick with a nice effect. For a mere 1000 lp you get a draw. If that draw happens to be a Gishki monster your opp loses a card to the deck.
Now Zeal Gigas isn't due out until HA07 so we have some time til then to gather the deck pieces.

The key ritual spell is Gishki Aquamirror.
Ritual Spell
This card can be used to Ritual Summon any "Gishki" Ritual Monster. You must also Tribute monsters from the field or your hand whose total Levels equal the Level of the Ritual Monster you Ritual Summon. You can shuffle this card from the Graveyard into the Deck to target 1 "Gishki" Ritual Monster in your Graveyard; return that target to your hand.

There are 2 other ritual spells but they aren't nearly as good as Aquamirror.
Forbidden Arts combines a ritual spell with Soul Exchange while cutting the summoned monster's atk in half. Not worth it.
Duplicate Soul Mirror costs a minimum of 2000 lp to summon a ritual. Also not worth it.

Now that we've covered the rituals, let's cover the engine.

Gishki Shadow
Water/Sea Serpent/4/Effect/1200/1000
If you Ritual Summon a WATER Ritual Monster, this 1 card can be used as the entire Tribute. You can discard this card; add 1 "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card from your Deck to your hand.

Grab Aquamirror and if need be tribute it for a ritual.

Vision Gishki
Water/Sea Serpent/2/Effect/700/500
If you Ritual Summon a WATER Ritual Monster, this 1 card can be used as the entire Tribute. You can discard this card; add 1 "Gishki" Ritual Monster from your Deck to your hand.

Same as Shadow but for a monster.

Gishki Abyss
Water/Fish/2/Effect/800/500
When this card is Summoned: You can add 1 "Gishki" monster with 1000 or less DEF from your Deck to your hand, except "Gishki Abyss".

The deck's Manju. It'll either grab a Shadow or Vision which will then grab its respective target.

Gishki Ariel
Water/Spellcaster/4/Effect/1000/1800
FLIP: You can add 1 "Gishki" monster from your Deck to your hand.

The deck's recruiter, very similar to Worm Cartaros. Rather nice def so it'll have a chance to sit on the field.

Gishki Beast
Water/Beast/4/Effect/1500/1300
When this card is Normal Summoned: You can target 1 Level 4 or lower "Gishki" monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target in face-up Defense Position.

Beast opens the door for exceeds or grabbing a Shadow/Vision for a desperate ritual summon.

Gishki Chain
Water/Sea Serpent/4/Effect/1800/1000
When this card is Normal Summoned: Look at the top 3 cards of your Deck and if there is a Ritual Monster or Ritual Spell Card among those cards; you can reveal it to add it to your hand and return the remaining cards to the top of the Deck in any order.

Allows for stacking and can grab a missing ritual piece. Cuts luck out of Gigas's effect.

So the skeleton should look like this:
3 Evigishki Zeal Gigas
3 Gishki Shadow
3 Vision Gishki
2 Gishki Abyss
3 Gishki Ariel
3 Gishki Beast
2 Gishki Chain

3 Gishki Aquamirror

Non theme support covers a fair amount of cards, most notably Salvage and Surface.
Salvage grabs Vision and Shadow for more deck thinning or that necessary ritual tribute. It'll also grab Beast and Ariel if you need walls (Beast into Utopia).
Surface works well with Abyss and Vision. Summon Abyss>grab Vision>dump for ritual>Surface to revive Vision>overlay for Gachi.

Next is staple spells/traps.

Here's my current build I've enjoyed on DN:
21
3 Evigishki Zeal Gigas
3 Gishki Ariel
3 Gishki Beast
2 Gishki Chain
3 Gishki Shadow
3 Vision Gishki
2 Gishki Abyss
2 Tragoedia

16
3 Salvage
2 Surface
Monster Reborn
Heavy Storm
Dark Hole
Book of Moon
Mind Control
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
3 Gishki Aquamirror

3
3 Royal Decree

The extra is up to you but I'd include:
2 Number 39: Utopia
Gustaph Max, Super Dreadnought Cannon Express

Gustaph Max is a lvl10 exceed that deals 2000 damage by detaching a material. It also has 3000 atk and def. Summon and atk with 2 Gigas then overlay into Max for 2000 more damage. If done right it'll be game.

Trag provides a bit of def should you get hit plus it's lvl10 for Gigas.
Triple MST allows the deck a chance to be more aggro.
Mind Control steal lvl4s for Utopia.
With the heavy monster and spell count, Decree helps shut down the traps that'll get in the way, most notably Warning.

Quick note for summoning the rituals: Using actual monsters to add up to 10 or whichever lvl you need is not all that efficient. The optimal play is to grab an Aquamirror and 2 copies of the ritual monster. Tribute one copy to summon the second and then use Aquamirror's effect to add that first copy to your hand and shuffle Aquamirror back into the deck.

Hoped you enjoyed the article. This is the Island of Lost Cards, saving all the Gishki supers from Hidden Arsenal. We'll be right back after these commercials.

Lapse

Sorry for the lapse in articles. I've been a lil busy jumping into a new game and designing playmats for said game. I've also been lacking ideas for decks and cards to write about. And lastly I had a large portion of my collection stolen. Seven decks and every good extra/fusion deck card I've had.

The new game is Cardfight Vanguard. It came out last year in Japan and was imported late last year to America, mostly on the west coast I believe. It's quickly jumped to the forefront in Japan and many like it here.
The anime is rather interesting and can be found on Crunchyroll for those interested. It's one of the few, if not only, animes that actually follows the real rules of the game. Just by watching the first few episodes you'll learn the basics.

I've spent the past week testing a pair of decks on DN. The other week at local casuals a duelist had a Gishki deck he was trying to get an oldschool player to use. He didn't succeed but he did spark my interest in the archtype. On top of that a team member on Pojo has also been playing Gishki. Add that together and I had an overwhelming urge to try em out.
The other deck was Ojamas. It's something I've wanted to try before but kept forgetting to make it on DN while I've had trouble gathering the pieces for an actual deck.
I'll post separate articles for each deck shortly.

Returner's Beatdown

For any returning players out there, here's a simple beatdown deck for you.
17-18
3 Dark Elf
3 Slate Warrior
3 Giant Orc
3 Goblin Elite Attack Force
2 Penguin Soldier
1-2 Dark Necrofear
2 Caius the Shadow Monarch

12
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
3 Smashing Ground
Allure of Darkness
2 Pot of Duality
3 Mystical Space Typhoon

7-9
Mirror Force
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
0-2 Ultimate Offering

Plenty of beatsticks with lots of removal.
For anyone wary of Duality, try this: pick up the top 3 cards and see if adding one of them to your hand helps. In this particular deck, the special summon clause won't be an issue. In others, it's more about gathering combo pieces for later in the game.
Offering simply allows the possibility of a swarm. It's up to the player's preference to use it or not. If anyone's interested in trying to use Offering for exceeds, stick to Offering Gadgets. They're far better equipped to do it.

Magical Retreat

Today we'll look at an easily disregarded and underestimated common from Photon Shockwave.

Sound the Retreat!
Normal trap
Return all monsters you control to the hand.

Now at first appearance why would anyone run this? After all the hard work you did to get a few monsters on the field why put yourself back to square one? Some people use Compulsory Evacuation Device in response to the opp's removal effect to save their monster. This would do it largescale in response to mass removal like Dark Hole and the freshly semi limited Torrential Tribute. But then you'd have to summon them all over again.
Now here comes the ingeniousness someone brought up on Pojo the other day about the card. Use Magical Hats.

Magical Hats
Normal trap
Activate only during your opponent's Battle Phase. Select 2 non-Monster Cards from your Deck and 1 monster you control. Shuffle those 3 cards and Set them on the field in facedown Defense Position. The 2 cards selected from your Deck are treated as monsters (ATK 0/DEF 0) and are destroyed at the end of the Battle Phase.

A favorite of Yugi's, this card has seen play a few times, largely in Geartown decks. Grab a pair of Geartown, make your opp choose either to atk em or end the battle phase and out pops Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragons.
Now with Sound the Retreat we have an instant Gold Sarcophagus that'll net you 2 spell/trap cards.
As with most combo decks, this one will need the help of Pot of Duality. The only issue is that these cards take up almost a quarter of the deck if you use em in full quantities. Try out different numbers on DN and see what works for you. Aside from this being a rather ingenious engine the deck can be anything you'd like.

Solitaire

As I mentioned before I'm an active member of the Pojo forums. I'm also a member of three of the theoretical and support teams on there.
Over a year ago, a pair of members worked together on an antimeta deck, trying to improve and spread some awareness. The deck still needs work but is generally fun.
Let's start with the key components and then I'll add my little spin.

Timeater
Dark/Machine/Effect/6/1900/1700
If this monster destroys a monster on your opponent's side of the field in battle, your opponent skips his/her next Main Phase 1.

A low atk tribute monster that most players would glance at and ignore. While it does skip the first main phase of your opp, it simply sends them into their battle phase from standby.

Next is Thunder of Ruler.
Normal trap
You can only activate this card during your opponent's Standby Phase. During the turn this card is activated, your opponent cannot conduct his/her Battle Phase.

This shuts down the battle phase and has been seen in numerous stall decks. Used with Timeater, your opp is left with draw, standby and end phase. Cutting main 1 and battle phase stops your opp from entering main 2. Threatening Roar has a similar effect but will let them enter main 2.

Now we cut off their second main phase.
Terminal World
Continuous spell
Activate only during Main Phase 1. While this card is on the field, both players skip their Main Phase 2.

Now the turn will be draw, standby, end.

Now the hard part. Thunder of Ruler and Threatening Roar are only 6 cards with limited retrieval choices. Another issue is that Timeater must constantly kill a monster to make the opp skip their first main phase. And then there's always the consistency issue.
Now during the think sessions that were held by the two members, atleast one person tried Mask of Darkness to retrieve Thunder and Roar. Another person used Creature Swap to hand off battle recruiters (Mystic Tomato and the like) to the opp to deal with Timeater. Another option is Black Garden.
For consistency we have Duality. For Time edible monsters there's Wall of Ivy and Ojama Trio. To deal with Timeater's low ATK there's Solidarity in pure machine builds and Burden of the Mighty in all others. There's also Shrink and Forbidden Lance.

To help with Timeater's tribute there's Psychic Shockwave.
Normal trap
Activate only when your opponent activates a Trap Card. Discard 1 Spell/Trap Card to Special Summon 1 Level 6 DARK Machine type monster from your Deck.

The card was meant to be a way to summon Jinzo but it works here well enough.
Another card that helps is Safe Zone to keep Timeater alive as well as safe from bothersome Veilers.

Now for the actual deck. As I said, I put my own spin on the deck, making it a little less focused on Timeater.

16
3 Timeater
3 Victory Viper XX03
2 Falchion Beta
2 Jade Knight
3 Lord British Space Fighter
3 Blue Thunder T-45

16
2 Solidarity
2 Enemy Controller
2 Burden of the Mighty
3 Terminal World
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Limiter Removal
United We Stand
Book of Moon
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole

8
3 Thunder of Ruler
2 The Huge Revolution is Over
Mirror Force
2 Torrential Tribute

I took Timeater's need to eat monsters and combined it with Spaceships' same need.
E Con allows for easier snacks while making use of the tokens.
United makes a single ship into a boss, especially if used on Viper.
Huge Revolution was discussed in an earlier article and works well here.
The rest is self explanatory.
Enjoy the solitaire when you get the lock off and enjoy the beatdown otherwise.
Thanks for reading. Until next time this is the Island of Lost Cards, taking care of the ignored and unwanted.

Dark Magic

I'm an active member of the Pojo forums. I try to help new players, either in the newbie section of Pojo or at locals.
Recently I've been seeing atleast three people try to make a Dark Paladin deck. While it's always easier to make a pure Dark Magician deck, I thought I'd give Dark Paladin a shot. Now the key card to a Dark Paladin deck and even a regular DM deck is Elemental Hero Prisma. A walking Foolish Burial is always nice.
Now let's look at ways of summoning Dark Paladin. With no special fusion cards for such an old card like Miracle Fusion, Gemknight Fusion and the likes all we really have is Fusion Gate and the original Polymerization. Both are lousy in requiring the cards in hand and/or on field. Again we go back to Prisma which helps us in this. There's also King of the Swamp with really helps as it's a fusion substitute that can tutor Poly.

That leaves us with:

2 Dark Magician
3 Skilled Dark Magician
2 Elemental Hero Prisma
Buster Blader
3 King of the Swamp

2 Polymerization

2 Dark Paladin

I didn't mention Skilled Dark before but it's always good to have in anything DM related.
Now with only 11 monsters we need to fill some slots. Let's add the good ol Apprentice engine.

2 Apprentice Magician
2 Old Vindictive Magician

Now we can add Sangan with 7 targets.

Now let's focus on the spells. First we'll add the staples.

2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm

For those capable we'll add Dualities. Otherwise it'll be Upstarts.

2 Dark Magician
3 Skilled Dark Magician
2 Elemental Hero Prisma
Buster Blader
3 King of the Swamp
2 Apprentice Magician
2 Old Vindictive Magician
Sangan

2 Polymerization
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
3 Pot of Duality/Upstart Goblin

2 Dark Paladin

And now the traps. Along with the staples, we'll add 2 copies of Call since the deck will be dumping DM or Buster quickly.

Final deck list:

16
2 Dark Magician
3 Skilled Dark Magician
2 Elemental Hero Prisma
Buster Blader
3 King of the Swamp
2 Apprentice Magician
2 Old Vindictive Magician
Sangan

12
2 Polymerization
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
3 Pot of Duality/Upstart Goblin
Book of Moon
Allure of Darkness

11
Mirror Force
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Call of the Haunted
2 Dimensional Prison/Sakuretsu Armor
2 Solemn Warning/Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device

15
2 Dark Paladin
+13 random exceeds/synchros

The deck is currently 39 so add whatever piece of tech you'd like for the last slot.
Enjoy the dark magic.