Dueling "C": Deck Introduction: Cancer ABC

ABC players thrive to go first. Their aim is to set up the field, lockdown, smile at you and offer the handshake. That is the normal ABC players. I am not normal. Apologies.

~~Cyber~~ Cancer ABC

~~Cancer~~ Ken Sir's ABC

My deck was build on the basis to allow me a better second turn, as opposed to many players of the same deck. Maximising my decks potential to go second has its merits. I can confidently max out Maxx C and play it at three copies without worries that it will be a clog my opening hand. If I go first, and I draw into non-combo pieces like Maxx C, one out of the five opening cards I have would have been wasted and be unable to contribute to my opening field.

With that in mind, allow me to introduce to my deck's engine!

CyberDragonsFTW. Nice art, credits to original artist.

Took my deck for a drive at the local ranking this weekend. (9th July) It was a pleasant experience which made me learn more and at the same time, figure out what is missing from my deck. Most importantly, I grew to like this deck build more and the results convinced me of a good ABC matchup.

Allow me to first showcase my decklist for the sake of discussion before my proceed any further with the article.

Decklist

Most card choices will be explained later on in the article, but let's touch on a few first.

Evidently, I dropped the Gadgets engine totally and included Prisma as the star instead. Main reason being that Gadgets lack synergy with Cyber Dragons, and Prisma is more suited for my deck build. (more explanation of Prisma's ability & contribution later on.)

As far as Rank 4 options goes, it all boils down to personal preferences.

Diamond Dire Wolf & Castel are the R4NK toolbox which eliminates problematic floodgates and backrow threats. Monster threats as well.
Dark Rebellion destroys the power ceiling which my deck faces, offering 2500Attack points and an effect to further increase its attack stats.
Starliege Paladynamo is a personal-preference thing. It allows me to clear a monster effect and my Level4 monsters have no trouble fitting its summoning condition.
Tsukiyomi if I am desperate and open a hand full of monsters, and Exciton can turn the tides of the game.
While I can run double copies of xyz cards, which is not a rare sight, I would rather go for diversity than quantity. (E.g. Castel + Dire rather than double Dire)

For side deck it all depends at your locals' meta. For mine I expected it to be quite diverse. Staple card choices in the side include Ghost Ogre & D.D. Crow. I recall siding out Cycle Reader out at the 11th hour but I don't remember for what card. Traps are for situations where I may find going first is a better option, although I didn't end up going first in any of my games. They are also useful traps even if I were to go second, and are meant to take out problematic foes like Crystal Wing.

Twin Twisters takes the form of my most preferred choice for backrow destruction.

Lava Golem was for non-machine type monster lockdowns I can't escape, similar to my traps. Except that Golem does what Compulsory Evacuation Device can't do against Naturia Exterio.

Carrying on...

The plays

1) OVER 9000!!!

The combo lies with getting Prisma on the field, via a normal summon or A Hero Lives, and having Overlord Fusion in hand.

Prisma sends Cyber Dragon to the grave, and upon successful resolution, allows you to fuse both of them for Rampage.
Rampage's ability mills two LIGHT machines**, probably two of the missing ABC components.(E.g. A & B) To get ABC-Dragon Buster on the field, you would require having either one of the components on the hand (E.g. C), and/or Galaxy Soldier. Both of which are searchable by Cyber Repair Plant.
Dump C into the graveyard and summon out Soldier. Bring out Dragon Buster, then proceed to attack, thrice with Rampage. (3 x 2100 + 3000 = 9100)
Should you be unable to OTK, join the two level5 machines on the field for a xyz summon of this deck's iconic boss monster.

** Should you have a second copy of Overlord Fusion, feel free to dump two more Cyber Dragons, then use Overlord Fusion #2 to dump the needed ABC parts. With just a single extra copy of Overlord Fusion you will have an extra monster on the board that can attack thrice, and be used for an xyz summon.

2) If you can't beat them, join them.

This deck's second selling point lies in the core of the Cyber engine - Cyber Dragon itself. With the Cyber engine, Cyber Dragon can contribute to the summoning of Cyber Dragon Infinity, alongside a single Galaxy Soldier. This leaves you with two unused Galaxy Soldier, and you can even summon a second Cyber Dragon Infinity the next turn.

Playing the Cyber Dragons also allows me to abuse the effects of Cyber Dragon Nova, instead of letting it be a material for Infinity. It's "detach-and-special-summon" ability is the reason why you can summon two Cyber Dragon Infinity in a single turn. The 2100 attack gain can also contribute to OTKs.

I have an arsenal of nine cards that can be used to clear the standard lockdown of Cyber Dragon Infinity alongside Dragon Buster once I draw into them. That is almost a quarter of the deck. BEHOLD:

Cyber Dragon
Prisma
Hero Arrive

All these cards aim to bring out Cyber Dragon, or pose as one and contact fuse into Chimeratech Fortress Dragon. Against an opponent unfamiliar with my deck, they will Hero Arrive to resolve, and opt not to negate it with Infinity, and Prisma will touch down. By then, they will probably still not use Dragon Buster's effect until you pay the cost by revealing and milling, then they realise the gravity of the situation. Buster's effect will kick in, and that's when you are free to special summon Cyber Dragon from your hand, which Infinity is useless against.

Alternatively, should they have negated Prisma with Infinity's negation effect, you would require a third copy of Cyber Dragon as the second one that touches down will be banished by Dragon Buster.

Even so, with two copies, you would have successfully baited out the effects of the two board monsters. I even mained cards such as Swords of Concealing Lights and Book of Eclipse to either bait their effect or flip them down to render them useless. Don't forget that Transmodify can also summon out Cyber Dragon.

The best part about this strategy is that your monsters still serve purpose after baiting the effects.

3) Grave-Danger

You can follow up with Cyber Repair Plant - to add either ABC parts or Galaxy Soldier. Hell you can even add another Cyber Dragon to try your luck for a contact-fusion again.
Go for Overlord Fusion as well. Summon Rampage and use its effect to clear the backrow cards. After that, proceed to mill & OTK.
Overlord Fusion also shines late game to fuse your deceased Cyber Nova & Infinity. It is the single card that I would want to draw in a DESTINY DRAW as it can turn the tables and win me the game without the help of Dragon Buster. I don't think many cards in the basic ABC build can turn the tables with a single draw, should they not have the required components in the grave.

In short, two Cyberdra-s in your hand and you can already clear their two monsters via contact-fuse, by summoning them both, one after another. (Dragon Buster would clear #1) In the absence of backrow, of course.
Optimally, you should attempt to clear the monsters without using up your normal summon, which is why it is a good thing to open with Cyber Dragon + Hero Arrive.

It also worth noting that Prisma can also serve to gather ABC parts in grave, despite being unable to trigger Union Hanger's efffect. (Beat that, Gadgets!) And it can act as copy to be banished for the summon Dragon Buster. :P

Problems faced:

Very very very poor first turn.

You can't use Chimeratech Rampage's effect to mill your ABC components. Outside of contributing to the summon of Cyber Dragon Infinity, Rampage serves little to no purpose during your first turn.
The same can be said for Cyber Dragon.
Hand traps clog your hands and are mostly useless during the first turn.

That said, players are unlikely to let me go first, at least all the players I have faced haven't done so. They are probably captivated by the allure of locking me down.#lolbutno coz CyberDragonFTW

Limited extra deck space

Due to the inclusion of more Level 5 Machine LIGHTs, and the Cyber Dragon engine, more space has to be allocated to those fusion monsters, reducing my R4NK toolbox.
This, in turn, limits my options for R4NK plays as I do not have the space and luxary of including cards such as Utopia: Hope Lightning since it is too space-consuming. Evident lack of Gear Gigant X is also a prime example of my extra deck worries.

Lack of Gadgets

While I do not like the gadgets, they have their own merits.
They are a single normal-summon rank 4 plays, and assests which can be used for Transmodify's effect, making it easier to summon Cyber Dragon Infinity on their first turn. Prisma, my deck's substitutes for the mechas, can't lack cohesion with Transmodify.

Prisma

Having replaced the mainstream Gadgets with Prisma, I do not have access to a self-replacing ability upon this LIGHT type monster is being destroyed.
I also do not pilot the synchro builds, making it harder for me to search out Union Hanger outside of Transmodify. Without Chicken Game, my deck has no additional draws outside of the Draw Phase if it were not for Maxx C.
I prefer using A Hero Lives to call out Prisma as it doesn't use up my normal summon for the turn. With the frequent negation in the meta, I normally end up using A Hero Lives more than once per turn, usually on my first turn. Left with 2000LP, that is pretty much courting death.
In short, should you use A Hero Lives twice in succession, it is time to end the game fast by OTK. That or I have to control the board very well.

Other archetypes

Having built the deck to go second to kill ABC, I do not fair well against other archetypes.
As a general rule, going second makes me vulnerable to backrow threats and lockdowns that I can't escape from my opponent. Anti-Spell Fragrance kills my deck due to the reliance of spells and the larger number of I chose to include in the main deck. I even had to side backrow destruction instead of putting in the main deck due to space constraints. While it is true many decks face the risk of lockdown by the opponent, I almost always goes second, making me face almost twice the risk of an inescapable lockdown.
Draw Maxx C or die. Should I open without any hand traps, I will probably lose out in resources to the current common decks. Worse if I face a lockdown. It isn't a total loss, just an uphill battle.

When you get lockdown-ed. LOL

The ~~untouchables~~ un-searchables

Key components of the combos, the spells, are unsearchable in this deck:

Repair Plant
Overload Fusion

Have to rely on drawing into them. And I can't ~~stack my cards~~ "guide the course of my destiny with my own will" like the Pharaoh does

Cyber Dragon monsters stats are also a pain in the neck.
- A low 1600def means that it will lose the battle phase should it be flipped face down, which is sooooooo common in the OCG.
- Rampage, while being able to attack thrice, is quite useless in battle apart from launching three direct attacks. 2100Attack doesnt pose much of a threat, and definitely can't win many of the common monsters on the board in battle.
But hey at least you can get over Kirin.

Other available options

Cycle Reader can be mained, and sided out for D.D. crow upon a non-LIGHT archetype matchup.

A second set of Cyber Dragon Nova and Infinity is worth a try.

Being searchable via Cyber Repair Plant, Electromagnetic Turtle can be played as means to prevent OTKs. It is vital in the sense that it allows you room for reversal - a turn-the-tables play, which is common in this deck with the topdeck draw of Overlord Fusion or Cyber Dragon. ABC also usually devotes their resources to OTKs, leaving them with little to no hand size, which can make them vulnerable to a reversal plan.

Cyber Twin Dragon exists, but unlike Rampage, it can't be summoned with Cyber Dragon monsters. I have never used more than one Rampage per game thus far, so maybe I will drop the second copy for Twin. The reason Twin wasn't my first choice was because unlike Rampage, it doesn't contribute to my extended plays much except for the brute force it packs. However, after playtesting for a day, I realise that I do require more fire attacking power in my deck.

Power Bond, like Overlord is not searchable. I usually find my Cyber Dragons in my grave more than field+hand, which is why I don't run it. Not worth the slot and I would rather rely on Limiter Removal for a double attack kind of thing.

I have considered Limiter Removal & Honest as side deck options, which could contribute to OTK plays and allow me to emerge victorious in battle. Moreover, it can be used defensively and deal damage to the opponent during their turn. Probably going to replace Lava Golem for the slots required. Golem sacrifices my normal summon, and I don't like it. Couldn't find a way to clear lockdowns in general, and thus it was included as a first choice.

Instant Fusion and Panzer dragon is an interesting tech, with the latter being capable of destroying a board card. I, however, feels that my deck doesn't require the additional Level5 summon.

Cupidity? Not a fan.
I search my deck a lot to add cards to my hand and I also need to mill. Can't risk banishing them.

Conclusion

Being separated from the competitive scene for two weeks, I have yet to plan ahead and include the new INOV cards into my deck. Moving forward, I would probably include Pot of Avidity & Dimension Barrier into my deck.

The deck is far from complete, by the basic skeleton is there. It is a mixture of a "can't beat them, join them" and at the same time a "die die die" attitude you are giving the most popular meta deck now. The plays, depend on the situation on hand (pun intended) - Your opening hand

Run simulations, be it via playtesting via casual or a solo-shuffle-draw. Find out which is the most feasible way to summon Cyber Dragon and bait out their effect that costs you the least in card economics. Anticipate what your opponent may or may not do.
Practice. Time. Experience. It all boils down to that. I, too, am still learning.

Quoting Sho from GX, this deck can still evolve, if I wanna speak dramatically. Future Ancient Gear support is speculated, and may be splashable into the deck. Perhaps the most anticipating point is the fact that I can run Ancient Gear Drill and search out ANY normal spell. With that in mind, I eagerly await.

That's all for my long deck introduction article. Thanks for reading.
Will continue to update the blog more so in the following weeks.
As usual, feel free to PM our Facebook Page and/or email in to me at kensir096@gmail.com.sg
I can also be contacted via Twitter.

Until next time,

Ken Sir

Dueling "C"

Tuesday, 12 July 2016

Deck Introduction: Cancer ABC