Forum:Ringing in the New Year with Steelswarm!

Happy new year everyone! 2011 was pretty crazy, and 2012 promises to be a lot of fun too! I've decided to start the new year with a little something I like to call VerzSwarm! It's a hybrid Verz/Steelswarm deck that mixes the Verz Xyzs with the Steelswarm tribute monsters for a great combination of power, resiliency, consistency, and control!

So, for monsters, we've got 3 of Steelswarm Girastag - an amazing card by any standard. It has 2600 ATK at one tribute, gets rid of a card your opponent controls (bypassing Stardust Dragon), and you get 1000 life points! Then come the level 4 monsters - three each of Verz Castor, Steelswarm Needle, and Steelswarm Caller. Castor makes for very quick Xyz summons, so it's worth its weight in gold (which is admittedly not much). Needle is a good beatstick with a cool effect - it won't always be used, but against synchro decks it's great. Caller combos with Girastag for miniature swarming capabilities. Next are the three copies of Steelswarm Cell - instant tribute fodder for Girastag or Moth, which I've included one of. Moth isn't as awesome as Girastag, but sometimes it's perfect for the job - say, your opponent has a field full of big monsters. Finally, one Dark Armed Dragon rounds out the monster line-up. This deck has excellent grave control, so DAD is usually useful.

Three Pots of Duality come first, naturally - in decks like this, it's a staple. 2 Recurring Nightmare is a must in Steelswarm, with 13 0-DEF monsters. (I tried Recurring Nightmare at 3, but it lead to dead draws.) Reinforcement of the Army searches Castor, making Xyz summons even easier. Allure of Darkness is only sensible in an all-DARK deck. From there, it's all staples - MST, Heavy Storm, Monster Reborn, and Dark Hole.

The trap line-up is a lot of fun. Why? The Infestation traps, of course! Corrosive Contagion Infestation is an amazing card for a few reasons:
 * If I have too many big monsters in hand, I can trade them for small ones - or vice versa.
 * If my monster on-field would be destroyed or banished, I can chain Contagion and get a new monster instead! (Or the same one.)

Next up we have Infestation Ripples. For 500 life points I can revive a Steelswarm from my graveyard - usually Caller, sometimes Needle. It's very good, actually - easy tribute fodder or Xyz material. From there, it's staples - 2 Warning, 1 Dimensional Prison, 1 Mirror Force, Solemn Judgment, Torrential Tribute, and Trap Dustshoot.

Now for the extra deck, and the best card there - Verz Ophion! It's awesome for so many reasons:
 * Easy to summon - just pair Castor with Caller, Needle, or another Castor!
 * Searches out Ripples (if I need revival) or Contagion, with its effect. It searches a searcher!
 * 2550 ATK means it can attack over Stardust and many other monsters.
 * Its effect prevents either player from special summoning level 5 or higher monsters, essentially shutting down most synchro decks.
 * After it searches Contagion, if it would be destroyed by a card effect, I can simply use Contagion to trade it for another useful monster from my deck!

Basically, it's awesome. It's easy to bring out first turn, and it can lock down a good few decks. Next, there's 2 each of Verz Bahamut and Thanatos - both excellent cards - and 1 each of Verz Nightmare and Ouroboros. Then it's pretty much staple rank 4s.

Tell me what you think of this deck, and happy new year! Runer5h (talk • contribs) 05:36, January 1, 2012 (UTC)Runer5h