Forum:Deck Guide/Mist Valley

=Mist Valley= The Mist Valley cards are a fairly small set introduced in Hidden Arsenal 2. The set is a series of WIND monsters whose effects focus around returning cards to the hand, either as costs or to benefit from being returned. The decktype has never received much attention, being viewed by many players as a weak deck. Chris Lockwood brought Mist Valley into the spotlight during his Round 1 Feature Match of YCS Providence, which he unfortunately lost. I say unfortunately because I believe the deck has a lot of potential.

Strengths
Mist Valley decks have the ability to swarm the field and gain a lot of card advantage through the use of Divine Wind of Mist Valley. They can make Synchro monsters quickly and overwhelm the opponent through sheer numbers. The archetype hosts one of the strongest good level 4 beaters, Mist Valley Falcon, as well as one of the strongest Synchro Monsters, Mist Valley Thunder Lord, who can boost himself up to a whopping 3100 ATK. They have little reliance on the Graveyard, making them nearly immune to Necrovalley, and can make good use of Royal Oppression with so many Bounce effects. Once Mist Valley decks go off, there's little one can do to recover.

Weaknesses
Compared to many of today's meta decks, Mist Valley decks are slow and a bit inconsistent. They sometimes have trouble getting started, and are very slow without their Field Spell. They rely heavily on their Field, and are weak to Closed Forest. They will be in competiton for the Field Spell zone with Gravekeeper's, Dragunity, and the upcoming Dark World decks. They can turn this into an advantage, however, by using Ancient Fairy Dragon (which they can make easily, even without Divine Wind) to destroy an opposing Field Spell and grab their own.

Cost
Most of the important cards are available as Commons or cheap holos. The entire Main Deck (excluding Solemn Warning) can be purchased for well under 50$, but an Extra Deck is needed, which can get expensive. Fortunately, Mist Valley decks can almost never make Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, softening the blow to your wallet. They do however, still need Scrap Dragon. A complete Mist Valley deck, including Extra Deck, but not including Solemn Warning, can probably be purchased for under 100$, making it one of the cheapest decks available.

Meta Ranking
Note: This analysis is for Birdman Tengu Valley. The other decks score lower in almost every category with the exception of Black Valley having more search/draw power.

Speed: 8/10 Mist Valley decks were originally quite slow, but thanks to Divine Wind of Mist Valley, they have gained quite a bit of speed.

Power: 9/10 With some of the strongest beaters available, and the ability to make quick Synchro monsters and swarm the field, this deck can be quite strong.

Consistency: 7/10 The deck relies heavily on the Field Spell, and without it, the deck loses a lot of its strength. That being said, it's still capable of making big plays even without Divine Wind.

Search/Draw Power: 6/10 Mist Valley decks have NO draw power, but Divine Wind allows for a fantastic toolbox and deck thinning strategy to get the cards you need to your hand and field quickly. Optional cards such as Terraforming and Genex Blastfan increase this searching power.

Overall: 7.5/10 Though not prevalent in the meta game, MIst Valley decks can be quite strong, and may become competitive as other decks are weakened with the upcoming September 2011 banlist.

Meet the Archetype
Monsters:
 * Mist Valley Apex Avian The strongest monster of the set, Apex Avian stands at 2700 with a powerful effect: bounce a MIst Valley to negate any effect. However, it's level 7, which makes it difficult to bring out, and overall not the bets choice.
 * Mist Valley Executor A level 5 monster with poor stats and a weak effect. It combos well with a number of cards, but is simply outclassed by Falcon.
 * Mist Valley Falcon At 2000 ATK, Mist Valley Falcon is the biggest level 4 monster of the set (and of many sets for that matter) and combos incredibly well with a large number of cards that will be discussed later.
 * Mist Valley Soldier A level 4 Tuner that bounces any monster it battles, so long as both Soldier and the opposing monster are present at the end of the clash. This is good for bouncing pesky Spirit Reapers and Scrap Goblins without setting off Goblin's effect.
 * Mist Valley Watcher A level 4 Vanilla sitting at 1500/1900. It's good for being a name for certain cards, but that's about it.
 * Mist Valley Shaman A level 3 Tuner with a decent effect, it's good in pure Mist Valley decks. Outside of pure builds, however, it is simply outclassed by Genex Ally Birdman.
 * Mist Valley Thunderbird A weak monster with a seemingly simple effect: it Special Summons itself whenever it gets bounced. It's a decent card, and allows you to do all your bouncing without losing field presence, but has little use beyond that.
 * Mist Valley Windmaster A level 2 Tuner with weak stats and a subpar effect. Rarely worth using.
 * Mist Valley Baby Roc A level 2 Tuner with a Fabled-like effect: it Special Summons itself when sent from the Hand to the Graveyard. However, Mist Valley decks lack a way to do so, making this card a sub-par choice.
 * Mist Valley Thunder Lord The only Synchro Monster of the set, with a seemingly simple, but incredibly powerful effect. Once per turn, during either player's turn, it can bounce a card in order to gain 500 ATK. What does that mean for you? Well, for starters, it works even better than Falcon with all the same cards, but more importantly, it lets you set off Divine Wind during your opponent's turn. The possibilities are limitless, not to mention the extra +1, something no duelist can refuse. In my opinion, this card is the strongest monster in the set, both in terms of ATK and effect.
 * Mist Condor Although not a Mist Valley monster, it sets off some effects, but has little other purpose. It is outclassed by a number of other cards.

Spells:
 * Divine Wind of Mist Valley This card is the heart of any Mist Valley deck. Once per turn, it Special Summons a WIND monster from the deck when a WIND monster you control is bounced (even if you control your opponent's monster). Though not strictly Mist Valley support, this effect can be incredibly powerful, and generate ridiculous card advantage.

Other Card Choices
Monsters:
 * Reborn Tengu A powerful choice in any Synchro deck, this card benefits even more in Mist Valley from being a WIND monster.
 * Genex Ally Birdman This card is the main trigger of a good Mist Valley deck, setting off Divine Wind and Reborn Tengu.
 * Genex Blastfan When Special Summoned, by any means, it allows you to search your deck for a Birdman. Be careful though: it will miss the timing if you bounce Tengu and then summon it through Divine Wind.
 * Winged Rhynos A decent Beater, it can bounce itself any time a Trap is activated, even one of your own. This sets off Divine Wind, combos well with Torrential Tribute, and makes Rhynos immune to opposing Dimensional Prisons, Mirror Force, and Bottomless Trap Hole, among others. Like Thunder Lord, this card can let you set off DIvine Wind on your opponent's turn, making it extremely versatile.
 * Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite This card has a lot of synergy with the Archetype, again comboing well with all the same cards as Falcon and Thunder Lord.
 * Breaker the Magical Warrior This card's effect can be reused many times with all the bouncing going on.
 * Ancient Fairy Dragon Destroy opposing Field Spells to get your own, or pop your own to use the effect multiple times per turn.

Spells:
 * Big Bang Shot The first of many cards that works well with Falcon, Thunder Lord, and Zephyrus (henceforth abbreviated to just "Falcon"). Equip it to an opponent's monster and bounce it to remove that monster.
 * Terraforming This card is very important to get Divine Wind to your hand. Three is not recommended, as it dead draws too often. Two is just right.
 * Swords of Revealing Light Another card comboing beautifully with Falcon. It can become a permanent attack lockdown.

Traps:
 * Call of the Haunted (and similar) Another card that works extremely well with Falcon. Since CotH stays on the field if the monster is removed by anything other than destruction, like Synchro Summoning or Bouncing, it can be bounced and reused many times.
 * Royal Oppression A powerful Anti-Meta card, you can bounce this with Falcon (and the like) to make the lockdown one-sided. Be careful: this card CAN be chained to the effect of your Divine WInd.
 * Safe Zone Another card that works well with Falcon. Attach it to an opponent's monster and bounce the Safe Zone to destroy said monster. Repeat as often as desired.

Pure Mist Valley
The weakest of the decktypes, Mist Valley is better off combined with other cards.

Birdman Tengu Valley
The strongest of the decktypes, this card has great swarming power and consistency.

Black Valley
Combining Blackwings and Mist Valley results in a fairly powerful deck that can use Dark Simorgh.