When you play a proven Deck, you build your in-game skills and focus on your decisions move-by-move while you Duel, instead of worrying about the construction of the Deck itself.  Even if you’d rather build an original Deck, those Top 16 Deck lists let you know exactly what you should test against to see if your Deck is ready for competition.  But one of the coolest things about influential Decks is that they set trends you can take advantage of.  If everybody thinks a Blackwing Deck is built only with certain cards, and that it only does certain things in a Duel, then playing different cards in your Blackwing Deck gives you an edge.

As the months continue in any Advanced Format, certain card choices and plays become more familiar: victory often comes down to which Duelist can anticipate his opponent’s moves the best.  Understanding your opponent’s goals and correctly guessing what cards they have face-down (or in his hand) is a highly-prized skill: but at the same time, no opponent, no matter how skilled, can play around cards he doesn’t see coming.  By choosing to play cards that your opponent doesn’t expect, you get a unique advantage. We’ll call those out-of-the-box card choices “Shock Factor” cards.

You can find “Shock Factor” cards in a lot of different places.  They could be…

-Older cards that don’t see as much play as they used to.

-New cards that haven’t been played much in tournaments.

-Specific cards from a theme like Gladiator Beasts or Blackwings that have fallen by the wayside.

-Cards from one theme that you play in a different Deck.

                                   These are 3 older cards many Duelists won’t expect.

Ceasefire and Nobleman of Crossout are great choices nowadays, since both cards punish popular monsters like Gravekeeper’s Spy and Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, stopping their Flip Effects and removing them from play.  Morphing Jar was once tremendously popular, and Duelists played carefully to make sure they didn’t lose more cards to its effect than their opponents did. Setting 2 cards to your Spell & Trap Card Zone and then Setting a monster used to be like saying “Hi!  I just Set Morphing Jar!”  But now, if you Set a monster your opponent is more likely to suspect something like Super-Nimble Mega Hamster or Gladiator Beast Hoplomus. Many opponents will just think you drew Starlight Road if you Set 2 Spell or Trap Cards.  Magic Cylinder and Needle Ceiling are 2 more “old school” cards with a high shock factor.

                          Here are 3 new cards that lots of Duelists aren’t used to playing against.

Despite its popularity, Battle Fader still has a high shock factor in a lot of Decks because it’s really hard to predict.  Tuner’s Scheme has seen some use in Side Decks, but the average Duelist still doesn’t think about it when he tries to guess at an opponent’s face-down Spell or Trap Card: since Stardust Dragon is so popular right now, it’s really powerful.  Widespread Dud is another card that can help you play around Stardust Dragon and other tough-to-destroy monsters like Blackwing Armor Master or Colossal Fighter.  Once Dud has been activated, its effect to destroy monsters is Continuous (it doesn’t start a Chain), so your opponent can’t negate it with Stardust Dragon’s ability.

Playing just 2 or 3 unexpected cards in your Deck can give you an edge over your opponents, and as Duelists fall into more and more of the same patterns when they build their Decks, cards like these get better and better.  Join us soon for a look at specific cards that can add variety to Decks you might already be playing.