When Yu-Gi-Oh first reached a high popularity, most of us were really young and any card was sought after. Cards like Firegrass, Succubus Knight and Petit Dragon were common, Dark Magician was well respected and no one thought they’d ever see a real set of Exodia. Fast forward in to the future and it couldn’t be more different. Cards are thrown away if they’re considered useless, decks sold or thrown away if they don’t reach the current meta and Yu-Gi-Oh is a lot more serious than what it used to be. This list aims to revitalise some duellists who want to go back to having fun rather than taking it too seriously. Here’s 10 decks that won’t win you any tournaments or even beat your friends but are really fun to use!        

 

 

 

10. Roids

Used by: Syrus Truesdale

The Roid monsters have some really cool effects. The Drill for one destroys any defence position monster instantly, the Jet allows you to destroy a spell/trap and the Truck increases power with every monster it destroys in battle. These monsters are really under-rated and can be effective against all kinds of decks. You can utilise traps like Supercharge that keep your hand advantage and Wonder Garage to counter pesky Mystical Space Typhoons or others like it. If you want a good strategy to use, here’s one that will help (I’ve used this strategy myself so I know they work but there’s more on the wiki page). For this you need to get 3 monsters on the field as well as a trap card. Get Ambulanceroid, Rescueroid and Decoyroid on the field and your opponent can’t touch your monsters with attacks as Decoyroid will take every attack but Ambulanceroid and Rescueroid will just keep bringing it back. Combine this with Cyber Summon Blaster and you deal damage with each special summon, combine it even further with Submarineroid and you will be in a prime winning position.

 

 

 

 

9. Exodia

Used by: Many duellists including Yugi Moto, Marcel Bonaparte (possessed by Yubel) and Adrian Gecko

If you’re not up to date with Yu-Gi-Oh at the moment then let me tell you that Exodia isn’t really that good any more. It is good in the sense that you can win the game by getting all 5 pieces but it is getting the 5 pieces that is the tough part. This is because a lot of cards that made Exodia easier to assemble have been banned (Sangan, Card of Safe Return etc), but even then someone has managed to reach the 2012 World Championship last 8 with an Exodia deck. In terms of strategy the best thing you want to do is manipulate cards like Gravity Bind or Level Limit – Area B to prevent your opponent from reducing your life points but also draw a lot of cards using things like Reckless Greed. Magical Mallet would also be a great idea.

 

 

 

 

 

8. Reverse Burn

Incredibly fun for the player, incredibly frustrating for the opponent. This deck is based around using the Bad Reaction to Simochi card to inflict life points to your enemy rather than them gaining it. It’s a very effective method of playing, you can get a lot of wins while having lots of fun along the way. The best cards to use are Dark Cure, The Eye of Truth (see your opponent’s hand and inflict 1000 each turn), Gift Card (inflict 3000), Soul Taker (destroy a monster and inflict 1000) and Upstart Goblin (draw a card and inflict 1000). This deck works well against all decks but watch out for spell/trap destroying cards as they can destroy your Bad Reaction to Simochi and your cards will start giving them life points instead.

 

 

 

 

 

7. Gladiator Beasts

These guys are really under-used and I’m really surprised that they aren’t classed as one of the highest tier decks. Gladiator Beast Gyzarus and Gladiator Beast Heraklinos are very powerful cards that can change the outcome of a game instantly. They’re very easy to summon too, Gladiator Beast Darius can easily get a Gyzarus on the field just by summoning it. Another great thing about this deck is the amount of support cards, the monsters are based around attacking/being attacked to activate their effects and there’s so many cards to support this playstyle. These include Waboku, Defensive Tactics, Gladiator Beast’s Battle Manica and Gladiator Beast’s Battle Archfiend Shield. They also have loads of useful spells/traps such as DisarmGladiator Beast’s Respite and Gladiator Beast’s War Chariot. As you can see, they’re a huge pain to play against but really fun to use. Mix these with XYZ monsters of your choice and you will be a very formidable duellist.

 

 

 

 

 

6. Water Deck

Used by: Mako Tsunami

Ignoring things like Mermails and Atlanteans, water monsters are some of the least used monsters and I don’t really undestand why. They’re not hugely impressive to use but they can get the job done. A great strategy that is really fun is to use A Legendary Ocean alongside Tornado Wall and Astral Barrier, meaning your opponent can only attack your life points directly but you will take no damage. A Legendary Ocean also reduces your water monsters levels by 1, so 5 star monsters like Catapult Turtle, Deapsea Warrior and Terrorking Salmon can be summoned without a tribute and have 200 increased attack/defence. This deck is great for swarming so it would be a good idea to have some attack increasing effects on the field like Nightmare Penguin. The deck is also quite cheap to get hold of, these cards can be found everywhere and are really common. It’s easy to use, cheap, fun to play and one of those decks that I think every duellist should have.

 

 

 

 

5. FINAL

Used by: Yami Bakura

I really wouldn’t recommend using this deck to win unless you’re facing someone who is only using the first generation of cards and even then I probably wouldn’t recommend it. The deck style will never be viable in a competitive environment but if you manage to win by pulling this off, you’d feel incredible. I’ve never managed to do it (tried many times), there’s just too many downsides and ways to get around it but it was really fun using the deck. I’d recommend as many stalling monsters as possible, things like Hyena, Marshmallon, Spirit Reaper, Nimble Momonga etc.

To win using this deck you need to get Destiny Board on the field and then get the Spirit Messages on as well, once you have spelled out FINAL, you win!

 

 

 

 

4. Aliens

Another overlooked archetype, Alien cards are quite interesting and added a really nice touch to the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise. They manipulate alien counters that reduce the attack/defence stats of your opponent’s monsters and/or allow them to be switched to your side of the field. There are many Alien monsters that can also prevent your opponent’s monsters from performing simple acts like attacking or activating their effects. Due to their type and attributes, Alien monsters link up really well with powerful cards like Chaos Sorceror, Evil Dragon Ananta and Black Luster Soldier -Envoy of the Beginning.

 

 

 

 

3. Yugi Deck

Used by: Surprisingly, Yugi

If you’ve never watched the first Yu-Gi-Oh series then I advise you to head on over to an anime website and watch them. Yugi is easily the most recognisable Yu-Gi-Oh character and most people’s favourites. He’s one of the greatest duellists of all time, using his deck is really fun but it’s not that good if you want to win. He’s had many decks but the one you’d want to build would be a collection of his most powerful and well known cards. These include Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, Magician of Black Chaos and their support cards. You will also want to include Chimera, the Flying Mythical Beast, Giant Soldier of Stone, Celtic Guardian and Kuriboh.

You can find a complete list of the cards he used on his wikia page.

 

 

 

 

2. Blue-Eyes White Dragon theme

Used by: Seto Kaiba

Not a Seto Kaiba theme, but a pure Blue-Eyes White Dragon themed deck. Everyone who has paid at least 5 minutes of attention to Yu-Gi-Oh in their lives will recognise Blue-Eyes White Dragon, it is one of the most powerful normal monsters and for a time it was one of the most sought after cards out there. It slowly obscured its way into darkness as better cards came out but now, it’s back. There are loads of awesome support cards out there to get your Blue-Eyes on to the field and make it stay there. Here’s a few: Maiden with Eyes of Blue, Kaibaman, Photon Sanctuary, Call of the Haunted, Ancient Rules, White Stone of Legend, Lord of D., Dragon’s Rebirth, Decoy Dragon and Birthright.

My best deck is actually pretty much the same as what I described, I’ll post the deck list when I can.

 

 

 

 

1. Elemental Heroes

Used by: Jaden Yuki

I think this is the only entry in the list that everyone will agree on. Elemental Heroes are so fun to use because of their diversity and ability to  make the player feel like a real pro duellist. There’s been times when I’ve seen people use up 6 or 7 card effects to get a huge fusion monster on the field. In terms of viability they aren’t that great, you should never take an Elemental Hero deck to a tournament but in terms of having fun, they’re the best. All of the monsters can be fused in one way or another so as long as you have a Polymerization, Fusion Gate or Miracle Fusion, you’re fine. No monsters in your hand? The support cards will solve that, E – Emergency Call, Reinforcement of the Army, O – Oversoul and Skyscraper 2 – Hero City.

You can get a basic starter deck for quite cheap but for the better fusions you will have to open your wallet a bit more but you can still make a really fun deck without spending much money!

 

Hope you enjoyed!