Warrior Deck

A Warrior Deck is, not surprisingly, based upon the monster Type of Warrior. Warriors make up one of the largest pools of cards in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. In addition to that they possess some of the most powerful cards in the game. Some of this is due to the fact that there are so many warriors (some are bound to be good), but some of it must be attributed to a favoritism on the part of Konami because an overwhelming proportion (compared to other types) of Warriors are at least playable, if not powerful, and more often than other types, downright broken.

With this in mind, its easy to see why the Warrior Deck is one of the oldest deck types and is still in heavy use today. To be a true warrior deck all a deck needs is a profusion of warriors, but some of the most popular types of Warrior Deck through time have been the Warrior Swarm and the Warrior Toolbox.

Warrior Swarm Deck
A Warrior Swarm Deck is a rather old, and currently outclassed deck type that was popular back in the days of mass removal cards like "Raigeki" and "Dark Hole". With one's field constantly under threat of being wiped it was naturally an advantage to be able to return to numbers as quickly as possible and while you had the chance to grab for as many lifepoints as you possibly could. This deck's main power was rushing the field with Marauding Captain. This combo was particularly deadly with "United We Stand" and if monster removal was available (such as the extra summon of "Exiled Force" through "Marauding Captain"'s effect) then it was a direct hit to the opponent. Mysterious Guard can ward off opposing monsters.

Warrior Toolbox Deck
A Warrior Toolbox Deck revolves around the principles of searching out a Warrior "tool" to counter almost any move your opponent may put into play. Sometimes referred to as merely "Toolbox", Warrior Toolbox is a much more recent and still popular and powerful deck type. This deck type revolves almost completely around loading the deck with utility monsters, cards such as "Goblin Attack Force", "Mystic Swordsman LV2", "Exiled Force", "D.D. Warrior Lady", "D.D. Assailant", "Don Zaloog", and sometimes even "Elemental Hero Wildheart". The reason for this is that the majority of these cards (with a few exceptions such as the D.D.s) have a limited useful outside of specific situations. Toolbox survives and thrives in today's metagame because it is able to reliably search the monsters it needs when it needs them to suit any situation. Most of this searching is done via "Reinforcement of the Army" and "Sangan", but occasionally Toolbox will utilize cards such as "Giant Rat" or "Mystic Tomato" due to the fact that a large majority of its cards may be tutorable by those monsters (including many non-warrior monsters which are seamlessly splashable in the Toolbox deck).

Warrior Equip Deck
This common form of a Warrior Deck revolves around using Equip Cards to quickly overwhelm even your opponents strongest monsters with normally weak monsters. A great combo is to summon Gilford the Legend while you have Gearfried the Swordmaster on the field. If you do this while you have five equip cards in your Graveyard you can wipe out all of your opponents monsters AND inflict massive damage! Other good cards to ad to this deck are Megamorph, Armed Samurai - Ben Kei, and Mage Power (Especially if you have a lot of Equip Cards). But an important thing to remember is to ad cards like Ultimate Offering, Double Summon, and Mausoleum of the Emperor, to maintain field advantage, because if you can't keep a couple of monsters on the field all you will have is a bunch of useless stuff.

The A. Forces
The A. Forces's primary use is in a pure Warrior Deck, this can provide a further boost to a Swarm-based Warrior Deck. It's also worthy of note that you receive additional boosts for face-up Spellcasters, although Spellcasters themselves do not receive the bonus.

Amazoness Chain Master
Amazoness Chain Master is best kept in your side deck against anyone using an Exodia Deck, Lightsworn Deck, Dark Armed Dragon or any other "ace card based" deck. With it you can take one card you opponent has in their hand and add it to your own for the price of 1500 Life Points. Add Compulsory Evacuation Device to ensure they have something worth taking. If you think the life points price is too high, Exchange will work just as good, except for not only will they get a card from you, but also look at your hand.

Amazoness Swords Woman
Amazoness Swords WomanDon't hit a lady, especially this one because you'll take the Battle Damage. With this chicka out there your opponent will think twice before attacking as they will take the battle damage instead of you. Useful when the opponent has a "Super" monster out there like The Wicked Dreadroot, or play it face-down to give their Piercing monster a nasty surprise. Combo with Mist Body to cause all kinds of trouble for the opponent.

Armed Ninja
Armed Ninja is quite a forgotten Warrior, but he can destroy 1 Spell Card your opponent has when he's Flipped. Better yet, he can peek at a Trap card, so you can see what your opponent has if you didn't chose a Spell card.

Buster Blader
Buster Blader was popularized by Yugi Moto in the Duel Monsters Anime, is of course a great card to Side Deck against Dragon Decks. However, it's probably not worth summoning it because it requires 2 tributes, and only 1 Mirror Force (etc.) to blow it away again.

Colossal Fighter
Colossal Fighter is a powerful monster on its own for a simple Level 8 Synchro Summon, can be done easily with "Jutte Fighter" and "Hero Kid"'s effect and can Special Summon himself, or any other Warrior, from your or your opponent's Graveyard after being destroyed as a result of battle. Not to mention his ability to raise his attack by 100 for each Warrior in your and your opponent's Graveyard.

Command Knight
Command Knight is a basic monster for enhancing Warriors' attack strength. It cannot be attacked if you have another monster and helps out a lot in any Warrior Deck. The ideal situation for a powerful lockdown is to have 2 or even 3 face-up "Command Knight"s. Also this card is a great choice for most warrior decks.

Comrade Swordsman of Landstar
Comrade Swordsman of Landstar, while a weak monster on its own, this Monster powers up other Warriors like "Command Knight". Plus, Special Summoning this card with "Marauding Captain" or to Normal Summon him and Special Summon "Spell Striker" or "The Immortal Bushi" means an easy Synchro Summon of a powerful Level 6 Synchro Monster, most notably "Goyo Guardian".

D.D. Assailant
D.D. Assailant is most often used late-game, to assist in finishing off an opponent with her 1700 ATK, she can also be used, in a pinch, to remove a strong monster from the field at the cost of some Life Points.

D.D. Survivor
D.D. Survivor serves the same late-game purpose as "D.D. Assailant", but is also exceptionally useful at being an exclusive counter to a "D.D. Warrior Lady, D.D. Assailant and D.D. Warrior".

D.D. Warrior
D.D. Warrior is a weaker version of D.D. Warrior Lady, because you have to remove that and the opponent's monster. But it is a good anti-card against Treeborn Frog, Sangan, Destiny Hero - Disk Commander or any other monsters, which abilities are activated when they're sent to the Graveyard (Mother Grizzly, Mystic Tomato, UFO Turtle, etc...).

D.D. Warrior Lady
D.D. Warrior Lady serves the same basic removal purpose as "D.D. Assailant", but is also searchable by Sangan, Last Will and Reinforcement of the Army. Her effect is also Optional, so you can use it to remove high Defense monsters.

Damage Condenser
Damage Condenser is good in a lot of decks, but thrives in a Toolbox. If your opponent hit's you with a big monster you can bring out one of your big guys like Buster Blader, or just get a smaller one with an Effect like the D.D.s, Exiled Force, Silent Swordsman LV3, etc.

Destiny Hero - Dasher
Destiny Hero - Dasher is a decent warrior, you can tribute one of your own monsters to have him gain 1000 ATK. If you tribute a warrior monster for this effect, it will also power up Colossal Fighter. Its effect that one time while it's in the Graveyard, you can Special Summon a Monster Card that you've drawn, can also be helpful in a pinch.

Destiny Hero - Defender
Destiny Hero - Defender has the most DEF for any non-tribute monster in the game. His effect is less negative (your opponent draws 1 card during their Standby Phase whenever he's in face-up Defense Position) and having 100 more DEF makes him a better choice than Big Shield Gardna, and he should be enough to stall out for a while to get you time to execute your combos. Plus, his negative effect can combo with Appropriate, which is a good card for your Side Deck to be used against Exodia Decks.

Destiny Hero - Plasma
Destiny Hero - Plasma makes a good lock down so your opponent can no longer use monster effect, plus this card can stop any high level monster, like Five-Headed Dragon, and gain half of its ATK.

Different Dimension Capsule
Different Dimension Capsule is sure not as good as Reinforcement of the Army as it takes two turns and can be stopped, but now that Reinforcement is limited you need some more options, also unlike Reinforcement you can also search for the higher level monsters as well as Spells/Traps.

Don Zaloog
"Don Zaloog" is one of the best monsters to search out with "Last Will", if an open-field has been cleared, as an alternative to searching out "Spirit Reaper". Also searchable by "Sangan", "Reinforcement of the Army" and Mystic Tomato.

Elemental Hero Bladedge
Elemental Hero Bladedge is good high level Warrior monsters are hard to come-by nowadays. Elemental Hero Bladedge may be weak for a Level 7 monster at 2600 ATK, but he has a piercing effect, and can be powered up quickly with your Command Knight, The A. Forces and Comrade Swordsman of Landstar.

Elemental Hero Stratos
Elemental Hero Stratos is as good as a Swiss army knife, he's a beatstick, can destroy Spells/Traps, and can search for other Heroes including Destiny Hero - Plasma and Elemental Hero Bladedge.

Elemental Hero Wildheart
Elemental Hero Wildheart is good due to Its immunity to traps keeps it safe from monster destruction traps such as "Sakuretsu Armor", and also prevents the effects of cards like "Mirror Force" and "Torrential Tribute" from being effective.

Exiled Force
"Exiled Force" is the exception to just about every lockdown in the game. He's useful for taking out a strong and/or stubborn monster, removing a face-down Defense Position monster from the field, or circumventing Anti-Effect Monster effects, especially when you already have Field Advantage. Also a very strong card when combined with the effect of the now-banned "Last Will". The most common metagame cards that can stop him are Solemn Judgment and Stardust Dragon.

Field-Commander Rahz
Field-Commander Rahz is useful for getting a Warrior you need to the top of your deck, especially combined with draw cards or cards that rely on knowing what is on the top of your deck.

The Fiend Megacyber
The Fiend Megacyber its ability is a little weaker than the Cyber Dragon's one. But The Fiend Megacyber has an advantage over Cyber Dragon: You can special summon it even if you have one or more monsters on your field. He also has more attack than Cyber Dragon. So if you prefer a Warrior-type monster, you should choose The Fiend Megacyber. Otherwise, take Cyber Dragon. He can work well after you use a Synchro Summon or a Tribute Summon. He can also be used for those purposes.

Freed the Matchless General
Freed the Matchless General was used to be a staple of the original Warrior Toolbox decks, since its effect made it very easy to pull the appropriate Warrior-Type monster from the deck for each situation. This sort-of permanent Reinforcement of the Army effect was further enhanced by Freed the Matchless General's protection from Spell Cards which target one monster, such like Shield Crush, Brain Control, Soul Taker or Book of Moon. In the current meta-game, however, Freed the Matchless General is not commonly played, since his 2300 ATK is run over by too many 2400 ATK monsters (Jinzo, Monarchs, Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, etc.) and the slew of Synchro monsters that have recently hit the meta-game.

Gearfried the Iron Knight
Gearfried the Iron Knight is effective when "Snatch Steal" was still Limited, he was a good late-game Beatstick, but as of late, his ability to destroy anything he's equipped with, is too limiting for most to consider playing him, with the exclusive exceptions of "Smoke Grenade of the Thief" and "Blast with Chain". You can also use him to bring out "Gearfried the Swordmaster", although the fact that it requires two extra cards makes it not worth it if you wish to have card advantage.

Getsu Fuhma
Getsu Fuhma is another good Side Deck card, use it against Zombie or Fiend decks as a problem solver.

Giant Rat
Giant Rat is useful since many Warriors are EARTH-attribute, this card is very useful for getting the ones you want on the field. Having 3 of them in your Deck makes for a decent defense. If you wish to maintain a Warrior theme then "Warrior Lady of the Wasteland" works just as well.

Gilford the Lightning
Gilford the Lightning is a decently strong beatstick, its primary purpose is to wipe out all of your opponent's monsters through its effect. Because Warrior-type decks prefer to keep a dominant field, "Gilford the Lightning" is not frequently used, and generally only as a match ender or a clutch. "Hero Kid" is a helpful card to get "Gilford" out. The "The Immortal Bushi"-"Inferno Reckless Summon" Combo is helpful as well. And, if there's no use of "Gilford" anymore, you can use "Trade-In" to get some new hand cards.

Goblin Attack Force
Goblin Attack Force is pure power, used solely for taking out cards like "Cyber Dragon", or for causing a lot of damage in a direct attack. An alternative is the Goblin Elite Attack Force. It loses some power in exchange for decent defense points, however, the biggest disadvantage of Goblin Elite Attack Force compared to Goblin Attack Force is that Goblin Elite Attack force is not a Warrior-type monster, but a Fiend-type. This makes it non searchable with Reinforcement of the Army which is a big disadvantage.

Goyo Guardian
Goyo Guardian is a Level 6 Synchro Warrior Monster that is easily obtained by Normal Summoning "Marauding Captain" and using its effect to Special Summon a Level 3 tuner such as "Comrade Swordsman of Landstar", Goyo Guardian is unusually powerful for a Level 6 (2800 ATK), plus his special ability lets you steal the opponent's Monsters, putting them at a major disadvantage.

Guardian of Order
Guardian of Order is not really the most splashable Warrior, but can work if you got alot of LIGHT Attribute monsters on your side. Some notable LIGHT Warriors are D.D. Warrior Lady, Blade Knight, Kuraz the Light Monarch, Gilford the Lightning, Silent Swordsman, Elemental Hero Neos Alius and Luminous Soldier. He also works with Cyber Dragon and Honest.

Hero Kid
Hero Kid is evidently a weak monster, although its ability to Special Summon copies of itself can be very helpful. If you Special Summon it with Marauding Captain in Defense mode, your opponent has 3 roadblocks to get through. Plus, if you can Special Summon all 3 copies of Hero Kid without using your Normal Summon, you can Tribute them all to summon "Gilford the Lightning" and destroy all of your opponent's monsters.

Junk Synchron
Junk Synchron allows you to Special Summon Level 2 or lower Monsters from your Graveyard, which is helpful for Synchro Summoning level 5 Synchros such as Junk Warrior (which can only be summoned when "Junk Synchron" is a Tuner).

Jutte Fighter
Jutte Fighter is a level 2 Tuner Monster that's easy to search (Sangan, Reinforcement of the Army, Giant Rat, etc) and can change the Battle Position of one of your opponents monsters to Defense Position to combo with Piercing, or other card effects, like those of Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke or Red Dragon Archfiend

Koa'ki Meiru Bergzak
Subscribers to V-Jump Magazine in Japan know [Koa'ki Meiru Bergzak]] in the best Level 4 Beatstick you can get. True it lacks the 300 points that Goblin Attack Force has, but doesn't need to turn to defence mode, instead it can attack a second time if it destroys an opponents monster. Useful for taking care of swarm decks. The only drawback is that you need to reveal a Warrior type monster in your hand (or discard an Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru).

Koa'ki Meiru War Arms
Koa'ki Meiru War Arms is a little guy can equip Warrior-type monsters in your Graveyard to this card and gain half its ATK. "Marauding Captain" gives this card an ATK of 2000. You can equip multiple monsters to this card and has a destruction protection. Just be sure to have a Warrior in your hand.

Kuraz the Light Monarch
Kuraz the Light Monarch is a great tribute card for a warrior type deck. This warrior can destroy up to two cards your opponent controls. The downside of it, is that it will let your opponent draw more cards. Easy to summon if you already have a monster on the field. Unlike other monarchs, it can trigger its effect even when its special summoned, however his unable to attack the same turn his summoned to the field.

Luminous Soldier
Luminous Soldier is a good card to Side Deck against decks with alot of DARK monsters in them, as he'll gain 500 ATK when fighting them. He won't stop any Dark Armed Dragon decks with his effect though, but still good to side deck with. He's also good against Red-Eyes B. Dragon and Dark Magician decks, as his effect will total his ATK to 2600, and he was made to counter Dark Magician.

Marauding Captain
Marauding Captain allows for Swarming with Warriors and his effect to prevent the opponent from attacking other Warrior-type Monsters is helpful; if you have more than one "Marauding Captain" and other Warrior-types on the field, your opponent cannot attack. With the advent of Synchro Monsters, he's useful for easily getting a Synchro Summon by using his effect to Special Summon a Tuner, which is especially useful to get out the very powerful Level 6 "Goyo Guardian".

Mataza the Zapper
Mataza the Zapper is an often overlooked card, especially with a clear field, his ability to attack twice means a heavy 2600 damage with an open field, without any Equip Cards.

Mysterious Guard
Mysterious Guard although not a Warrior-Type itself, Mysterious Guard is used to its full potential in a Warrior Deck. As a FLIP Effect, it returns one face-up monster on the field to the top of the owner's deck, and if you have a Warrior-Type monster on your side of the field, you can return additional monster (face-up or face-down) to its owner's hand. You can use the second part of the effect to gain a +1 field advantage, or if Mysterious Guard has not been destroyed, you can send it back to your hand by its own effect and then set it again. What better way to frustrate your opponent? It is also a Spellcaster-Type, which means it will contribute to the effect of The A. Forces, for those who still run the card.

Mysterious Puppeteer
Mysterious Puppeteer is yet another forgotten Warrior, this guy shines when you have Ultimate Offering out. You'll gain 500 Life Points each time a monster is Normal Summoned or Flip Summoned, thus negating the Cost of Ultimate Offering. Use him to swarm with warriors to power each other up with The A. Forces, use for Synchro Summons, or for tribute fodder, especially for Gilford the Lightning or Destiny Hero - Plasma.

Mystic Swordsman LV2
Mystic Swordsman LV2 Mystic Swordsman Series were truly a staple amongst Warrior Decks in general, but have largely been dropped in favor of "Shield Crush" and "Nobleman of Crossout". Its ability centers around being able to remove face-down Defense Position monsters from the field, without flipping them face-up, or destroying them by battle. It can take out many monsters that would otherwise constitute a problem, such as Searchers ("Mystic Tomato" and "Giant Rat"), "Magician of Faith", "Old Vindictive Magician", "Apprentice Magician", and any other cards like "Morphing Jar" that have a Flip Effect.

Mystic Swordsman LV4
Mystic Swordsman LV4 is more powerful than "Mystic Swordsman LV2", he's best placed face-down, or Special Summoned from the Graveyard. He can also be special summoned with "Marauding Captain".

Mystic Swordsman LV6
Mystic Swordsman LV6 is best used in a Deck that revolves around him, he can recycle cards back to the top of the Deck, preventing your opponent from being able to draw something to take him down, if they wish to keep their Life Points protected. With a decent 2300 atk, he can cause some real damage.

Obnoxious Celtic Guard
Obnoxious Celtic Guard is a great staller card that can be brought out with Giant Rat or Warrior Lady of the Wasteland, combo with Spirit Barrier and Command Knight for a near impenetrable deffence.

Penumbral Soldier Lady
Penumbral Soldier Lady gains 1000 ATK when fighting a LIGHT monster, making her great to Side Deck against Blue-Eyes White Dragon (What she was made to counter, as her effect makes her have a total of 3100 ATK), Lightsworn, and Batteryman Decks, or any deck with alot of LIGHT monsters, like Cyber Dragon decks.

Reinforcement of the Army
Reinforcement of the Army is perhaps the best searching card out there, it's useful for getting any Warrior-Type monster from your Deck that's Level 4 or below.

Rose, Warrior of Revenge
Rose, Warrior of Revenge is one of the few Level 4 Tuner Monsters, this Warrior-Type Tuner is advantageous because it is searchable with Reinforcement of the Army. Level 7 Synchro Monsters are particularly easy to get out with her by Special Summoning her with the effect of Marauding Captain and then sending both to the Graveyard for the Synchro Summon.

Silent Swordsman LV3
Silent Swordsman LV3 the Silent Swordsman Series are good early-game cards, LV3 especially if he can survive for longer than a turn.

Silent Swordsman LV5
"Silent Swordsman LV5"'s ability to be unaffected by Spell Cards is higher than "Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6", because you can equip it still with Equip Spell Cards. But the ability of "Silent Swordsman LV7" is not as good as "Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8".

Spell Striker
This little and weak monster can be, if it's used wisely, very destructive. It has three very useful abilites. First, you can Special Summon it from your hand, if you Remove from Play one Spell Card in your Graveyard. So you can summon another monster to the field, or you can offer Spell Striker for a high-level monster. Furthermore, Spell Striker can attack your opponent's Life Points directly. If you have a Command Knight on your side of the field, or if you have a Equip Spell Card equipped to Spell Striker, it can cause a lot of damage to the opponent. Last but not least, if Spell Striker is attacked by a monster with more ATK, it takes no Battle Damage.

Summoner Monk
Another Spellcaster supporter who can be searched with Mystic Tomato. He can get any level 4 monster from your deck like the Goblins, D.D.s, and others. Though he requires a spell card to use his effect, but Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade will work well since you can add it to your hand by removing two Warriors from your graveyard, or a spell that you can add to your hand instead of drawing like Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru or Magical Blast.

Sword of Dragon's Soul
This card can be used instead of Buster Blader in a Warrior Equip deck if you chose, seeing how it's an Equip Card.

The Immortal Bushi
This card works as a "warrior" Treeborn Frog, very useful for getting high level monsters in the next turn.

The Warrior Returning Alive
Useful for maintaining Hand Advantage, this can take any Warrior-Type monster from your Graveyard and add it to your hand, regardless of its Level.

Trap Master
Another forgotten Warrior, he's good for taking out your opponents Spell Cards and Trap Cards. Even better, he can see them while they're set, so he'll also reveal if your opponent is trying to trick you with Quick-Play Spell Cards. Crimson Ninja works just as well, only real difference between these two monsters are the sets they came from and their stats (Trap Master has higher stats, but not really enough to make a big difference usually).

Twin-Sword Marauder
This card is useful for taking down two of your opponent's monsters, and its piercing effect can be deadly when combined with equip cards.