ACQ Prep Work: Part 3 - Side Deck

[Part 3]

A random Mermail-Atlantean deck in Japan found its success with My Body as a Shield as a versatile answer to the plenty of destruction in the metagame now.

For players looking to impose a stricter lockdown on the field, Magical Deflector is an effective card for the meta, as it is capable of negating a wide range of spells which includes the common Elemental Triangle of the Zoodiacs that players require to start off their plays and the Quick-Play spells Twin Twister and Cosmic Cyclone. Forbidden Chalice and Book of Moon, both popular choices to serve as answers to threats, also fall victim to this trap.

Skull Invitation is a troll-ish to punish Infernoids decks for their excessive mills. Being a continuous trap does make it vulnerable to Zoodiac Beast Drancia however, but a 20card card mill does net your opponent a hefty 6000LP damage fine, leaving their lifepoints hanging by a thread.

Gorz, Emissary of Darkness has seen some play in the Side Deck of decks which runs lesser traps, such as Shaddoll Zoodiac Beast. It can be effective in turning the tables and stopping OTKs, since Zoodiac Beast deals damage in bits and pieces with different monsters.

Artifact Lancea has been staple since the introduction of Eidolons. Unlike Chaos Hunter and Imperial Iron Wall, it can't be outed by Zoodiac Beast Drancia, but has the shortcoming of having a one-turn expiration date. It can also conflicts with staples such as Pot of Desires and Cosmic Cyclone, which can go both ways - stand in the way of the user or disrupt your opponent further.

Flying "C" is an issue easily solved by Drancia's destruction or even Forbidden Chalice's negation, but players do still include it in their side. A timely arrival and drop before Drancia even lands on the field can disrupt the opponent sufficiently for a counterattack the next turn, especially if they fell to the bait of accepting the Maxx "C" challenge.

Lullabuy of Obedience continues to be the bread and butter of Infernoids' Side Deck, which gains an edge over the other meta decks by having the ability to search out normal spells using Left Arm Offering. Infernoids face the challenge of battling prepared opponents who have Different Dimension Grounds ready for them.

Fluffals aren't seeing much play here in Singapore. Thus, no specific side deck card has appeared in preparation for them. However, the commonly played Dimensional Boundary is also capable of preventing their fusion summon.

Chain Disappearance continues to see some play in order to get rid of Zoodiac Beast Marmorat for good. Mirror Force trap variants make a return as well, after witnessing the trend of Zoodiac Beast decks dropping S39: Utopia the Lightning. However, perhaps in response to this, the most recent top decks in Japan does indeed have some Zoodiac Beast players accommodate two of their Extra Deck slots to S39: Utopia the Lightning in order to avoid such a tragedy.

Effect Veiler currently counts for nothing against the Zoodiac Beast lineup.






A Side Deck should optimally cater to the top contenders of the metagame and serve as a mediocre answer to possible rogue decks as well. Don't forget to not over-side and end up slowing down your deck too much, making it harder for you to achieve your win condition and end game state.

For Part 4 tomorrow, we will look at some sample decklists.