Forum:Deck Guide/Exodia

By Lappyzard

=Exodia= Although technically they are "Forbidden One" cards, and not "Exodia" cards, most people know them simply as "the pieces of Exodia". As one the oldest Archetypes in the game, Exodia decks have been around forever.

Strengths
Exodia Decks don't care about Life Points, because they use an Alternate Win Condition. This allows them to be reckless with their card choices and not have to focus on what the opponent does. Regardless of what you are playing against, the goal reminas the same: assemble all five pieces of Exodia and declare yourself the winner.

Weaknesses
Exodia decks typically have no defense, leaving them wide open to opponent's OTKs. They rely a great deal on luck and usually have no way to recover if an Exodia piece is Banished, leaving them with no way to win.

Meta Ranking
Speed: 10/10 Exodia decks tend to be incredibly fast, drawing through large portions of their deck in a single turn.

Power: 0/10 Exodia decks usually have no way to win except Exodia.

Consistency: 6/10 Exodia decks depend heavily on drawing the right cards to get to Exodia in order to win.

Search/Draw Power: 10/10 Exodia decks are usually nothing but. The objective is to draw your entire deck as quickly as possible.

Overall: 6.5/10 It's not very prudent to judge Exodia decks on the same scale as other decks, because they are played differently and they win differently. However, this ranking fairly accurately reflects the ability of Exodia decks to win in today's metagame.

Card Choices
I'm going to do this section a little differently from my other guides due to the vast number of Exodia decks that one can make. Deck-specific cards will be listed and discussed in their appropriate sections.

Meet the Archetype

 * Exodia the Forbidden One Commonly referred to as the "head", this card was one of the first effect monsters, as well as the first to grant an alternate win condition.
 * Right Arm of the Forbidden One Exodia's right-hand man, this is one of the 5 pieces you have to assemble.
 * Left Arm of the Forbidden One Exodia's other arm, this is another of the pieces Exodia demands.
 * Right Leg of the Forbidden One Yep, Exodia needs legs, too. Another piece of Exodia.
 * Left Leg of the Forbidden One I'd be pretty unhappy if I was missing an arm or a leg. Make sure you have all five pieces!

Exodia's Library FTK
This deck uses Royal Magical Library and a ton of draw spells to try and draw out the entire deck in one turn.
 * Royal Magical Library This is the most important card in Exodia's Library decks. by accumulating 3 Spell Counters on the Library, you can remove them to draw one additional card.
 * Magical Citadel of Endymion This card is used to hold additional Spell Counters for the Library. This deck tries to draw out in one turn, and the Citadel is once per turn, so use it and replace it as soon as possible.
 * Terraforming It's a Spell Card for the Library and it searches the Citadel, thinning the deck.
 * Pot of Duality Only run one of this, because it can only be used once per turn. Otherwise, it's great for getting to the card you need.
 * Toon Table of Contents Use this card to search itself twice. It gives plenty of counters to the Library.
 * Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon This card can optionally be used at the end of the run of Toon Tables of Contents. Get it, and ditch it with Trade-In.
 * Trade-In It works with Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon and the level 8 Destiny Heroes.
 * Destiny HERO - Plasma / Destiny HERO - Dogma Optionally use these cards with Destiny Draw and Trade-In.
 * Destiny Draw Optionally use these cards with the Destiny Heroes and Trade-In.
 * Broken Bamboo Sword and Golden Bamboo Sword The Broken Sword is a Spell Counter for the Library, and the Golden Sword becomes a Pot of Greed.
 * Upstart Goblin It decreases the size of the deck and gives counters to the Library. Your opponent's Life Points don't matter.
 * Spell Power Grasp You can only use one per turn, so use it, get the other one, and ditch it as a cost.
 * Reload and Magical Mallet Use this to throw cards you need to search instead of draw back to the deck. Don't "hang on" to any cards, just return your entire hand.
 * Hand Destruction and Dark World Dealings Ditch cards that you don't need anymore or can't use.
 * Double Summon Get an extra Library out to draw more cards.
 * Other Draw Spells Remember that the objective is to draw your entire deck in one turn. Anything that can't be used first turn or makes you wait, leave out.

Dragon's Library FTK
Similar to Exodia's Library, this deck includes Dragon-Type monsters for more Draw Power. In addition to the cards listed under Exodia's Library:
 * Blue-Eyes White Dragon Use this with Trade-In and search it via White Stone of Legend.
 * White Stone of Legend Use it with Cards of Consonance and search for Blue-Eyes.
 * Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon Use it with Toon Table of Contents and Trade-In.
 * Flamvell Guard Use this with Cards of Consonance or as an emergency wall if the FTK fails.
 * Trade-In Use it with both Blue-Eyes.
 * Cards of Consonance Use it with White Stone and Flamvell Guard.
 * Super Rejuvenation The key card of Dragon's Library, this card lets you draw one for each Dragon you discarded or Tributed that turn. If you draw another copy in the End Phase, you can play it to draw right away.

The Search For Exodia
This deck focuses on searching the pieces of Exodia to ensure you get them to your hand instead of drawing them.
 * Emissary of the Afterlife This card lets you add a level 3 or below Normal Monster to your hand when it's sent to the Graveyard.
 * Sangan This card can search any of the Exodia pieces.
 * Mist Valley Falcon By bouncing Call of the Haunted or Limit Reverse, you can get a search with Sangan and then set it again.
 * Gold Sarcophagus Use this card to search for Exodia pieces quickly, or get Sangan if you need it.
 * Dark Eruption Retrieve Sangan or a lost Exodia piece.
 * Foolish Burial Send Sangan to your Graveyard early to start searching.
 * Magic Planter By sending Limit Reverse to the Graveyard, you can draw 2 and search with Sangan.
 * Call of the Haunted Use this to revive Sangan or an Emissary, then bounce it with Falcon to get a search.
 * Limit Reverse An unlimited Call of the Haunted that works with Sangan.
 * Gravity Bind A Continuous Trap, so it works with Magic Planter. It lets you stall.
 * Royal Oppression This card is important for slowing down your opponents, and it's a Continuous Trap that works with Magic Planter.

Exodia's Heart
This deck uses Heart of the Underdog along with Normal Monsters to draw Exodia as fast as possible.
 * Heart of the Underdog The key card in this strategy, it lets you draw out massive portions of your deck in a single turn.
 * Reload Helps get the Heart to your hand faster, and it's a Quick-Play Spell so you can use it during your Draw Phase if the Heart gets interrupted.
 * Hand Destruction Useful for the same reasons as Reload.

Appropriately Forbidden
This deck uses Appropriate as a draw engine to get to Exodia.
 * Chainsaw Insect A 2400 beater that allows your opponent to draw, triggering Appropriate's effect.
 * The Bistro Butcher A less effective version of Chainsaw Insect, but still useful for the purpose nonetheless.
 * Destiny HERO - Defender With a very high DEF of 2700, this card is a wall that triggers Appropriate.
 * Dark World Dealings With Appropriate out, this lets you draw quite a few cards.
 * Hand Destruction Useful for the same reasons as Dark World Dealings.
 * Cup of Ace Regardless of the coin toss result, you draw 2. More if you have multiple Appropriates.
 * Appropriate The most important card in this deck, it lets you draw 2 cards any time that your opponent draws by an effect, his or yours.
 * Dark Bribe Excellent negation that triggers Appropriate.

Worm/Machine Exodia
This deck relies on Future Fusion to send a vast number of Worms or Machines to summon Worm Zero / Chimeratech Overdragon. The Worm deck also uses Worm Linx and W Nebula Meteorite for additional Draw power.
 * Future Fusion Rarely do you see a single card with the ability to thin your deck by so much. Since Zero and Chimeratech have unlimited number of Fusion Material, this card can let you thin your deck by 30+ cards in one turn.
 * Gold Sarcophagus To search Future Fusion.
 * Worm Linx While it stays face-up, you draw a card during each player's End Phase. Worm Deck only.
 * Worm Cartaros To search for Linx. Worm Deck only.
 * W Nebula Meteorite This card lets you draw a lot of cards and thin your deck by quite a bit. Worm Deck only.

Infinite Draw Loop
There are a number of Draw loops that can be done. For a near-complete listing, see Exodia OTK. There are too many to list here, so for an idea of how to build a Loop Deck, check out BobaFett2's Loop Guide. (I'll link to it when he finishes.)