Hello everyone! Today, I will be discussing some deck-building
theory in the Nekroz deck. Even if you cannot play Nekroz, this article might
still be helpful, since the concepts I will discuss can carry over to other
decks.
There have been moments where I was playing the game, and I
was completely helpless and unable to play. Yesterday was a good example of
this. I’ll provide the backstory…
I played Nekroz at Locals yesterday. I went 2-0 the first
three rounds, without much of a challenge. Round 4 I fight against Nekroz for
the first time ever. On his first turn, he locks me down with Djinn Releaser of
Rituals. As well, I knew he ended his turn with a Gungnir in hand, because he
searched it. My response was activating Dark hole to clear his Clausolas
(Djinn-locker) and Lavalval Chain. He did activate Gungnir to protect his
Clausolas, to which I chained Book of Moon. It was the smartest play;
unfortunately, he had Trishula as well to protect from the Book. Essentially,
he opened perfect, and I couldn’t play the game. Game 2 I go first, but do not
open with the pieces to make the Djinn lock. He goes, and has the pieces to
perform the lock, and I eventually do not draw any outs to it during the entire
game.
Needless to say, I wasn’t too impressed with that result. I
just had to brush off my negative feelings so it wouldn’t interfere with my top
4 performance. I figured I’ll reclaim myself in the finals, since I ended up
fighting against Evilswarms and he fought against Ritual Beasts, in the Top 4
portion of the tournament. I won my match, and I was ready for another mirror
match for Top 2, and then for some reason, he ends up losing to Ritual Beasts… Needless
to say I end up defeating Ritual Beasts in the finals.
After buying a box of Secret Forces, and pulling my second
Valkyrus, I tweak my deck slightly, and have a “fun” match against Nekroz. Game
1 he locks me with the Djinn, game 2 I lock with the Djinn, and game 3 he locks
me with the Djinn, then OTKs me.
I was forced to make the realization that I lost solely
because I wasn’t allowed to play the game. After I found out he was playing a
41 card deck with 2 Brionac, I realized I got sacked pretty hard, and my deck
wasn’t prepared for that. Whatever; that’s beside the point.
Now that story time is concluded, I can actually begin
discussing the focus of the article. If I can’t surpass a 41 card incomplete
deck because of some ridiculous lock, I’m doing something wrong.
I’ll start with the decklist I ended the day with yesterday.
I proceeded to use this list during playtesting against Burning Abyss.
3 Brionac, 3 Unicore, 2 Valkyrus, 1 Clausolas, 1 Gungnir, 1
Trishula, 1 Decisive Armor, 3 Maxx “C”, 3 Manju, 2 Senju, 2 Shurit, 1 Dance
Princess, 1 Djinn Releaser
3 MST, 3 Preparation of Rites, 2 Nekroz Kaleidoscope, 2
Nekroz Mirror, 2 Nekroz Cycle, 2 Dark Hole, 1 Raigeki, 1 Book of Moon
Did you notice my deck is 40 cards? I believe that 40 card
decks pave a route of success. Any extra cards you play reduce your
consistency, which can and will make a difference over many games. I’m not
crazy; this is math. How everyone is playing Nekroz decks with more than 40
cards just completely blows my mind.
When I build decks, I break down the cards I select into two
groups. The first group is the Skeleton, the mandatory cards that have to be
included to create a consistent and functional deck. In Nekroz, the skeleton is
huge, unfortunately, and includes a plethora of searching cards like Brionac,
Manju and Preparation of Rites.
The second group is everything else. These are cards that
you elect to play that will further your deck’s progress in the majority of the
games you play. Personally, I want to select cards that will assist me against
the majority, or all tier 1 decks, since those are the decks to beat. For
example, MST is good against Emptiness, and plays an integral role against
Qliphorts, while stymieing Burning Abyss and Nekroz defense (if their build has
room for defense).
I considered breaking down the entire deck like I just did
with MST, but that would make this post a juggernaut. Furthermore, this post
isn’t really a deck analysis, so-to-speak. This post is dedicated to exploiting
the weaknesses of the Nekroz deck, and exploring options to mitigate these
weaknesses.
When I originally composed the deck, Dark Hole and Raigeki
were for the Djinn Lock, since the opponent won’t always have Gungnir. Book of
Moon is another out, and the opponent won’t always have Trishula. Also, Dance
Princess was also included because it can possibly attack over the Djinn lock,
thanks to Decisive Armor, but that can be stopped by Gungnir.
After what happened yesterday, I’ve decided to main deck 3
Maxx “C”. It was something I originally wanted to do, but couldn’t because of
tight deck space. After what happened yesterday, I had no choice; I had to make
room. If I’m going second, and the Nekroz player opens the capabilities to
perform the Djinn lock, Maxx “C” will either let me draw a few cards
(theoretically I’ll draw an out), or they will just stop (which would be my
preference). Even though this card is mediocre against Qliphorts, I’m pretty
sure it needs to be played, just because of first-turn Nekroz Shenanigans.
Fortunately, Maxx “C” is strong against Burning Abyss, which comforts me. Maxx
“C” officially can stay at 3 in my main deck, since it’s powerful against 2 of
the 3 tier 1 decks.
Continuing on the events of yesterday, I was almost
convinced immediately that Book of Eclipse was a staple, at least in this deck.
However, I have a few problems with this card:
1.
This card is absolutely terrible against
Qliphorts.
2.
This card is only okay against Burning Abyss.
I’m going to discuss Book of Eclipse against Burning Abyss,
as well as against other cards, momentarily. First, here is the exact
specifications of the card:
Quick play spell: Change
all face-up monsters on the field to face-down Defense Position. During the End
Phase, flip all face-down Defense Position monsters your opponent controls
face-up, and if you do, your opponent draws 1 card for each.
Against Burning Abyss, if you can set Book of Eclipse, there
are a few things you can do. If the opponent summons Tour Guide, you can chain
Eclipse to the activation of Tour Guide. It will be turned face down, then the
monster will be summoned and that will usually stop their turn (unless they can
use Foolish Burial on a Libic). As well, if the opponent starts their turn by
revealing and special summoning a Burning Abyss monster, you can activate
Eclipse to flip it down. However, this isn’t the best move… They can set a
Burning Abyss monster for turn, set a Fire Lake, then draw 2 cards at the end
phase when those monsters flip up, and Fire Lake is live (Really, any backrow
can be a problem. Fire Lake is just the best example in this context).
If the Burning Abyss player plays Masked Hero Dark Law, then
Book of Eclipse becomes a little more useful. The final situation Eclipse can
be useful is when you want to turn off Fire Lake, but then you need to
eliminate their board, which isn’t too hard.
On a side-note, this card is an out to Majesty’s and
Vanity’s Fiend. These cards still seem semi-regular play.
As I mentioned earlier, I did a lot of playtesting against
Burning Abyss. I know for a fact we completed at least 6 matches, and I know I
only lost a single match (I opened completely unplayable game 3). When playtesting,
every time I drew Dark Hole, I assumed for a brief moment that it was Book of
Eclipse (since I would probably remove Dark Hole for Book of Eclipse). In the
majority of those moments, Dark Hole was more useful, but there was the odd
situation where a Book of Eclipse would’ve been better.
Now, I’ve almost convinced myself that Book of Eclipse can
be worth running in the main deck. However, I am faced with a seemingly
pressing inquiry: What exactly do I take out for Book of Eclipse, and how many
copies should go in the main deck?
Dark Hole seems like the single best pick, in first glance.
Is that the optimal choice, though? Dark Hole if an out to Emptiness, and
Emptiness is a problem for this deck. Dark Hole is another out to the Djinn
lock, assuming Gungnir isn’t around to save the day. Against Nekroz, though,
it’s safe to assume Book of Eclipse is more versatile than Dark Hole.
There are a couple of other cards that could be removed for
Book of Eclipse, but that could damage the deck’s consistency. Senju is an
option since it is a limited search, as opposed to Manju and Preparation or
Rites.
Moving onto today’s adventures, I did some more playtesting
today, trying to work with a single Book of Eclipse, and a few other slight
changes:
3 Brionac,
3 Unicore, 2 Valkyrus, 1 Clausolas, 1 Gungnir. 1 Trishula, 1 Decisive
Armor, 3 Manju, 3 Senju, 2 Maxx C, 2 Shurit, 1 Dance Princess, 1 Djinn Releaser
3 MST, 3 Preparation of Rites, 2 Nekroz Kaleidoscope, 2
Nekroz Mirror, 2 Nekroz Cycle, 1 Book of Moon, 1 Raigeki, 1 Dark Hole, 1 Book
of Eclipse
In regards to the Burning Abyss deck I was testing against,
we included 3 Shared Ride and a couple Vanity’s and Majesty’s Fiends into the
main deck. Considering the deck was destroyed last night, it needed to be
adjusted so it had a better matchup. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened.
The games were about 50/50.
Majesty’s Fiend and Vanity’s Fiend prevented me from playing
the game until I drew an answer. I swear, every time I played Book of Eclipse,
it was played on one of those Fiends. Unfortunately, I was never able to
experiment with that card in any alternative situation.
Random side-note: I witnessed a lot of hands that were
complete bricks. I don’t know if it was horrible luck, but I immediately went
back to 3 Senju after it consistently happened. After that, I can’t remember
bricking.
Finally, I wish I didn’t have to move a Maxx C to the side
deck. Inevitably, I was drawing Maxx C after the huge Burning Abyss push
occurred, then it was relatively dead when I drew it. There was a little part
of me that wished I was playing Effect Veiler instead. Veiler would not have
been useless in any of the circumstances where I had Maxx C.
Ultimately, more experimenting will be required before I decide
my final build. This post identified how I felt about fighting the meta with Nekroz.
In all honesty, between the current top three decks, Nekroz is the deck to beat; it is the best
deck. This is the truth, and regardless of the path, I can’t afford to
auto-lose the mirror match. As well, I need to ensure the deck recipe has
enough tricks to combat everything else.
Let me know your thoughts on this post, and thanks for
reading!
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