Instant Win Deck

Exodia

 * See also: Exodia OTK

An Exodia Deck relies upon helping you to:


 * Either obtain all 5 pieces of Exodia the Forbidden One to declare an instant win;
 * Send all pieces of Exodia the Forbidden One to the Graveyard so Exodia Necross can be summoned; or
 * Summon Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord and use its effect to send all 5 pieces of Exodia the Forbidden One to the Graveyard to declare an instant win.

This option can be used with cards such as Witch of the Black Forest, Sangan, Deep Diver and Emissary of the Afterlife to add the pieces to your hand (to quickly do that is to have a Torrential Tribute when you Summon one of them). Deck thinning monsters such as Mystic Tomato can allow you to not only shorten your deck but summon monsters such as Sangan or Witch of the black forest and thus activating their effects when destroyed. Graceful Charity, Pot of Greed, and Jar of Greed provide deck thinning. Monster Reincarnation, Backup Soldier, Dark Factory of Mass Production, Pot of Avarice and Dark Eruption can be used to retrieve pieces from the Graveyard.

Due to the March 2009 Forbidden/Limited list, Gold Sarcophagus is now Semi-Limited, meaning you can have 2 of it in your deck now.

The cards Level Limit - Area B, Messenger of Peace, Gravity Bind, Threatening Roar, Waboku, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, Draining Shield ,Negate Attack ,Swords of Revealing Light, Wall of Revealing Light, Zero Gardna, Battle Fader, Spirit Reaper, Arcana Force 0 - The Fool and Marshmallon can be used to stall while you gather the pieces. Defense Draw not only stalls but gives you draw power. Recruiter monsters, such as Bubonic Vermin and Troop Dragon can both stall and thin the deck.

Loops
Loops to continually draw cards in the same turn can be used to draw all five pieces:

Butterfly Dagger - Elma Loop
Continually equip Gearfried the Iron Knight with Butterfly Dagger - Elma while Royal Magical Library is on your side of the field. This allows you to continually draw cards until you draw all five pieces.
 * This is only available in the Traditional Format due to the banning of Butterfly Dagger - Elma.

Manticore of Darkness Loop
To draw all five pieces of Exodia in the one turn continually tribute a Manticore of Darkness to revive another using their effect, while Card of Safe Return is active. This allows you to continually draw cards until your draw all five pieces. Some cards that go great with this loop are Foolish Burial and Infinite Cards. Foolish Burial gets one of the Manticore of Darkness to the grave yard and Infinite Cards makes you not have to discard when you draw.
 * This is only available in the Traditional Format due to the banning of Card of Safe Return.

Heart of the Underdog / Reload Loop
Fill your deck with the five pieces of Exodia, one, two or three copies of Heart of the Underdog and fill it to 40 cards with the rest as NORMAL > Level 4 2000+ DEF monsters. Keep setting your 2000 DEF monsters until you draw Heart of the Underdog. On your next draw, if you draw a Normal Monsters, you can draw again with the effect of Heart of the Underdog. Keep drawing until you have all five pieces. You may have to wait two turns to draw all pieces, because Exodia the Forbidden One is an effect monster. Also you may want to throw in two or three Reloads to give you a brand new hand if you don't have a Heart of the Underdog. Reload is used to get a new hand during the Draw Phase because it is a Quick-Play Spell. However, be wary when using Reload, as you do not want to dump back four pieces just to get rid of one bad card. Magical Mallet would work just as fine in this situation. Another solution is Hand Destruction, another quick-play draw spell.

Because this deck is comprised almost entirely of stall monsters, it will have trouble dealing with beatdown monsters with 4 stars and 2100+ ATK, or ones with effects that destroy Defense position monsters. Thus, Gene-Warped Warwolf will come in handy, as its 2000ATK can serve well as a defender, or destroy any unwanted monsters on the field, such as a Goblin Attack Force or Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke, both of which can dispose of your 2000 DEF monsters very easily. Gene-Warped Warwolf stands out due to being a normal monster as well as having 2000 ATK, allowing it to survive all attacks just as well as any 2000 DEF monster, which common 1900 Attackers cannot do. Being a normal monster, it can be used with Heart of the Underdog. It would also help to put one copy of Cry Havoc! in this deck, to swarm your field with defenses, and make it harder for your opponent to damage you. If you have more than one copy of this card, then drawing Exodia will be that much harder. The Dark Door can help this deck, since you probably won't need to attack with more than one monster. Using multiple copies of Messenger of Peace can also work very effectively. Since Messenger of Peace prevents any monsters with at least 1500 ATK attacking your monsters, you will be safe from harm as all of your monsters have 2000 DEF. Although adding any non-Normal Monsters will slow the deck down, Gold Sarcophagus or Different Dimension Capsule can help to draw Heart of the Underdog or a piece of Exodia. Recommended Cards:


 * Chamberlain of the Six Samurai
 * D.D. Trainer
 * Earthbound Spirit
 * Elemental Hero Clayman
 * Giant Soldier of Stone
 * Humanoid Slime
 * Island Turtle
 * Mystical Elf
 * Oppressed People
 * Prevent Rat
 * Skull Dog Marron
 * Spirit of the Harp
 * The Dragon Dwelling In The Cave
 * Venom Cobra
 * Aqua Madoor
 * Soul Tiger
 * Battle Footballer
 * Renge, Gatekeeper of Dark World
 * Charcoal Inpachi
 * Gene-Warped Warwolf
 * Magical Mallet
 * Heart of the Underdog
 * Sangan
 * Chorus of Sanctuary
 * Messenger of Peace

Cyber Valley Loop
With the release of Cyber Valley, a new strategy can be used. Summon Cyber Valley and activate Machine Duplication to summon other two. Activate Spell Economics, remove 2 Cyber Valley from play to draw 2 cards, activate Dimension Fusion to get them back, activate the effect of Dark Magician of Chaos to get Dimension Fusion back, remove two to draw cards, activate Dimension Fusion and repeat until you get all pieces.

Or

Have Dark Magician of Chaos, 3 Cyber Valley, Spell Economics and Dimension Fusion. Have the 3 Cyber Valley and the DMoC removed from play. Have Spell Economics on the field. Activate Dimension Fusion to bring back DMoC and the 3 Valleys. Use DMoC's effect to bring Dimension Fusion back to your hand. Activate the 3 Cyber Valleys effects (For the 3rd Valley use DMoC as the tribute for Valley's second effect)to draw 4 cards. Use Dimension Fusion's effect again and so on and so forth


 * Neither of these loops work in Advanced Format due to the banning of Dimension Fusion and Dark Magician of Chaos.

Departed Wanghu Loop
This Loop uses the following cards:¨
 * Destiny Hero - Departed
 * King Tiger Wanghu
 * Card of Safe Return
 * Imperial Iron Wall

During your Standby Phase have King Tiger Wanghu and Card of Safe Return face-up on your side of the field and Destiny Hero - Departed in your Graveyard. Departed is special summoned to our opponents side of the field and you can draw one card by the effect of Card of Safe Return. Then Departed is destroyed by the effect of Wanghu but special summons again during the same Standby Phase. This will cause an infinite loop because Card of Safe Return will add an effect, allowing the loop to continue. Repeat this until you get all the 5 Pieces of Exodia in your hand!
 * This loop no longer works in Advanced Format due to the banning of Card of Safe Return on September 1st.

Spear Cretin Loop
The Loop uses the following cards:
 * Spear Cretin (one on the field and one in your graveyard)
 * All-Out Attacks
 * Card of Safe Return
 * Spirit Barrier (not necessary for the loop but good if your opponent has a high ATK monster and you do not have enough Life Points)
 * one monster on your opponents side of the field with an ATK of 500 or more

Flip Summon Spear Cretin and attack your opponents monster with it.(you can also use The Shallow Grave if both Spear Cretin are in your Graveyard and the Special Summoned monster still attacks due to the effect of All-Out Attacks). Special Summon the other Spear Cretin from your Graveyard and draw one card from Card of Safe Return. The Special Summoned monster is changed to Attack Position due to All-Out Attacks effect and attacks the opponents monster. This will work even if your opponent has a 500 ATK monster and Special Summons it in face-down Defense Position, because it will be shifted to Attack Position by All-Out Attacks. You draw your entire deck and win when you get the 5 pieces in your hand.
 * This loop no longer works in Advanced Format due to the banning of Card of Safe Return on September 1st.

Red Ogre Loop
The Loop uses the following cards:
 * Red Ogre
 * Precious Cards from Beyond
 * Ultimate Offering
 * Samsara Kaiser (recommended at least one at the beginning of the loop, you can start even without it, but will be impossible to continue if you don't draw it)
 * Mysterious Puppeteer (not necessary to start the loop but essentially to draw it soon, as it will make any Summon costless)

Activate Ultimate Offering and Precious Cards from Beyond then Summon 2 monsters(preferably 1 Samsara Kaiser). Tribute them to Summon Red Ogre. Draw 2 cards from Precious Cards from Beyond, then discard one to return Red Ogre to your hand. Continue this until you get all the pieces in your hand. Essentially for this loop is to draw soon the second Samsara Kaiser (so that you won't have to tribute other monsters) and Mysterious Puppeteer, to make any Summon by Ultimate Offering costless. Both being Warriors they can be searched by Reinforcement of the Army. If you must discard or use for a Tribute a Piece of Exodia at the start of the loop, use Monster Reincarnation or Dark Factory of Mass Production to bring it back. Once you can repeat this loop 2/3 times, there will be no problem to finish it. Two copies of Level Eater can help with a tribute fodder for Red Ogre, allowing you to save 1000 life points each time you summon it. Your hand would increase by one card per summon as you would draw two from Precious Cards and discard one to return the ogre. You can +3 per summon if you add Card of Safe Return which is traditional format only.

Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins Loop
This loop contains in reusing Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins's 4th effect, while returning it to the hand with Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Boundary. Make sure you have at least 3 Crystal Beasts in your Spell and Trap Card Zone, then Summon Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus, placing your 4th Crystal Beast in your Spell and Trap Card Zone. Activate Emergency Teleport and tune Krebons and Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus to summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Boundary. Play Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins and activate its 4th effect to draw one card. Use Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Boundary's effect to return the Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins back to your hand and continue this until you draw your entire deck. Note that you need 5 cards in your hand for this loop to work, which is very improbably, so keep in your Deck Dark Factory of Mass Production, as it will make the essentially +1 in your hand. You can also use Backup Soldier and return the pieces during your opponents Draw Phase.

Archfiend's Oath Loop
This loop contains in reusing Archfiend's Oath's effect, while you have Convulsion of Nature and returning it to the hand with Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. Summon a Level 4 Tuner and Special Summon a Quillbolt Hedgehog from you Graveyard, then Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. Play Archfiend's Oath and Convulsion of Nature and use the effect of Archfiend's Oath to add the top card to your hand. Use Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier's effect to return the Archfiend's Oath back to your hand and continue this until you add entire deck to your hand. Note that the 8000 Life Points will only allow you to draw a maximum of 15 cards, so keep Spell Absorption and Spell Economics in your deck. Also you will lose at least 3 cards from your hand so keep in your deck cards that increase your hand advantage like Thunder Dragon or Ojamagic (Ojamagic works very good, since its effect activates when discarded for Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier giving a +3 in this case). Also use Dark Factory of Mass Production and Backup Soldier if you must discard any of the pieces of Exodia.

Frog Rejuvenation Loop
For this Loop you will need:
 * Substitoad
 * DNA Surgery or D. Tribe
 * Super Rejuvenation
 * Any other monster, or a card that can give you a monster to tribute
 * And of course, many Frogs in the Deck

Summon Substitoad, then play any card that can give you a tribute for Substitoad (ex. Brain Control, Instant Fusion, Fiend's Sanctuary, Stronghold the Moving Fortress, One for One). Play DNA Surgery (selecting Dragon) or D. Tribe and begin to continually tribute monsters to Special Summon Frogs from your Deck with the effect of Substitoad until the number of tributed monsters is equal to the number of remaining cards in your Deck. Play Super Rejuvenation and draw your entire Deck including the five pieces of Exodia! Bear in mind not to tribute all of your frogs in one turn however, If you have to draw more cards than you have in your deck, you still win even if you draw out your deck because you will have all five pieces of Exodia already by then.

Tuner Loop
For this loop you will need:
 * Card of Safe Return
 * Quillbolt Hedgehog
 * Imperial Iron Wall
 * King Tiger Wanghu
 * any tuner monster. Shiba-Warrior Taro recommended.

Summon the tuner monster before summoning King Tiger Wanghu unless it has 1500 or more ATK. Once all the other four cards are face-up and active, summon Quillbolt Hedgehog. It will be destroyed right away, but you can bring it back right away because of the tuner monster. Then you will draw a card for Card of Safe Return. As soon as that happens, it will go back to the graveyard instead of getting removed because of Imperial Iron Wall. Thus, the process will start over again and repeat infinitely until you draw the 5 pieces of Exodia.
 * This loop no longer works in Advanced Format due to the banning of Card of Safe Return on September 1st.

Exodia Necross
This option can be used with cards such as Painful Choice, Foolish Burial, and Witch of the Black Forest. Needless to say, Exodia Necross and Contract with Exodia are needed.

The main goal, though is to thin your Deck to make it easier and faster to draw all five pieces. Deck thinners like the Gadget Monsters, Gold Sarcophagus and Different Dimension Capsule are good ideas.

Cards like Necrovalley, The End of Anubis and Imperial Iron Wall are also good options to make the Exodia's parts stay on the Graveyard.Use Spirit Barrier with Exodia Necross so you take no damage.

Along with the release of Phantom Darkness cards like Armageddon Knight, Veil of Darkness, and Dark Grepher can make this deck extremely quick at getting what it needs into the grave

Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord
With the release of this card, it creates a different Exodia strategy, because if you send 5 differently named "Forbidden One" cards to the Graveyard due to this card's effect, you win the Duel. If you're looking to create an "Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord" Deck, it is recommended to include cards that shuffle cards from your hand back into your Deck, since you wouldn't want the Exodia cards in your hand for this strategy. "Magical Mallet", "Reload", and "Card Trader" are top choices.

You could also have a Deck with mostly Normal Monsters, since "Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord's" ATK is 1000 x the number of Normal Monsters in your Graveyard. "Heart of the Underdog" can be awesome in a Deck like this. If you put a lot of Normal DARK monsters in the deck, "Veil of Darkness" can help power Exodius up and thin your deck—but beware: "Exodia" cards cannot be sent to the Graveyard this way, because they have to be sent by Exodius' effect if you're looking to trigger the automatic win. If you send an "Exodia" piece to the Graveyard with "Veil of Darkness", you can shuffle it back into the Deck with "Pot of Avarice".

"Exodius" can be used in many OTK strategies, as "Diffusion Wave-Motion" can provide some awesome support. An example of a simple OTK strategy involves:
 * "Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord"
 * "Waboku" or "Zero Gardna"
 * "Heavy Storm" or "Giant Trunade" (optional)
 * "Diffusion Wave-Motion"
 * "Spell Economics" (should your Life Points be lower than 1000)
 * "Ojama Trio" (Optional helps fill up your opponents monster zones).

Here is how the strategy works:
 * Wait until your opponent has filled all of their Monster Card Zones. If necessary, force the situation, using card effects that summon monsters to the opponent's side of the field.
 * Summon "Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord" to the field.
 * Summon "Zero Gardna" and Tribute it (or activate "Waboku" if it is face-down on your side of the field). This will prevent Exodius from being destroyed in battle, as well as prevent Battle Damage to you.
 * Activate "Diffusion Wave-Motion" and "Spell Economics" (See above tip).  Since Exodius' effect requires a monster to be sent from your hand or Deck to the Graveyard, "Diffusion Wave-Motion" will allow Exodius to attack all your opponent's monsters in one turn, so send the 5 Exodia cards for Exodius's effect, and you've instantly won.


 * The main weakness of this strategy is that your opponent could block any of these cards with countering effects, which is why cards like "Heavy Storm" and "Giant Trunade" will enable you to clear the field.

Destiny Board
A Destiny Board Deck revolves on placing the 4 Spirit Messages by the effect of Destiny Board, so you can declare an Automatic Win. As this can only be done in 3/4 turns, you most protect both your Letters and your Life Points. A Cat of Ill Omen brings Destiny Board easier to your hand. Spirit Reaper, Marshmallon, Waboku, Threatening Roar can be used for stalling. Continuous Spell or Trap cards should not be used. To protect your Spell & Trap Cards you can use Carrierroid or even Prime Material Falcon. Stardust Dragon may be the best to use, since he can protect both your Monsters and your Spell & Trap Cards and can be Synchro Summoned using Dark Resonator. Another alternative is to use Herald of Green Light, Herald of Purple Light and Herald of Orange Light in conjunction with Fairy-Type Monsters, preferably the Cloudians, as they can not be destroyed by battle. You can also use The Sanctuary in the Sky, since it is a Field Spell Card. Since the Spirit Messages are Dead Draws it is good to add in a Vortex Trooper or a Magical Mallet.

Monsters

 * Stardust Dragon
 * Carrierroid
 * Prime Material Falcon (optional)
 * A Cat of Ill Omen
 * Vortex Trooper
 * Spirit Reaper
 * Marshmallon
 * Dark Resonator
 * Krebons
 * Card Guard
 * Herald of Green Light
 * Herald of Purple Light
 * Herald of Orange Light
 * Cloudians that cannot be destroyed by battle

Spell Cards

 * Spirit Message "I"
 * Spirit Message "N"
 * Spirit Message "A"
 * Spirit Message "L"
 * Magical Mallet
 * The Sanctuary in the Sky (if used with Cloudians)

Trap Cards

 * Destiny Board
 * Trap Reclamation
 * Waboku
 * Threatening Roar
 * Solemn Judgement

Final Countdown
A Final Countdown Deck revolves around using Final Countdown in combination with another Decktype, such as a Stall Deck.

This can only be declared 20 turns after Final Countdown is activated. If Final Countdown is initially negated, the only way to declare a Final Countdown Victory is to retrieve Final Countdown from your Graveyard, activating it provided you have 2000 Life Points to spare, and wait the applicable 20 turns. Thus, including cards that can negate attempts to destroy Final Countdown is a wise idea. One way to speed up the process is to use the trap card "Pyro Clock of Destiny" which allows the countdown to move forwards another step. You can also use "Mask of Darkness" to get Pyro Clock of Destiny back.

In order to maximize the capabilities of the Final Countdown deck, it is wise to use stalling cards, such as Wall of Revealing Light, Swords of Revealing Light and Messenger of Peace. This will ensure that you can survive the allotted 20 turns. Nimble Momonga is especially useful here, since it can both heal your life points if you are in danger, and can also set another two to further recover your life points and to block the opponent's assault.

It is important to include Anti Burn cards in a side deck for this type of deck, as cards like Gravity Bind won't stop a Burn Deck. Cards like Energy-Absorbing Monolith should be included in a side deck in order to protect your life points.

Monsters

 * Spirit Reaper
 * Marshmallon
 * Yubel
 * Arcana Force 0 - The Fool (Optional- advanced format allows three)
 * Battle Fader
 * Zero Gardna

Spells

 * Upstart Goblin
 * Final Countdown
 * Gold Sarcophagus
 * Spell Economics
 * Swords of Revealing Light
 * Messenger of Peace
 * Nightmare's Steelcage
 * The Dark Door
 * Level Limit - Area B
 * Gravekeeper's Servant along with Macro Cosmos
 * Pot of Avarice

Traps

 * Scrap-Iron Scarecrow
 * Gravity Bind
 * Pyro Clock of Destiny
 * Metal Reflect Slime
 * Macro Cosmos along with Gravekeeper's Servant
 * Dark Bribe
 * Solemn Judgment
 * Life Absorbing Machine
 * Threatening Roar

Last Turn
A Last Turn Deck revolves around "Last Turn" and the many cards needed to support it. This type of victory can only be declared when the victory check of "Last Turn" is successfully resolved so only one monster remains on the field. A "Last Turn" victory may be declared by either player after "Last Turn" has resolved.

As of the March 2010 banlist, "Last Turn" is now banned in Advanced format

Another strategy however is to have at least 3 different Six Samurai monsters in your graveyard with "Backs to the Wall" and "Last Turn" face down and a powerful 3 tribute monster in your hand (preferably "The Wicked Avatar" due to its effect. By activating "Backs to the Wall", you immediately satisfy the conditions to activate "Last Turn" as well as giving you some monsters to tribute. After your samurai are revived, summon "The Wicked Avatar" and then activate "Last Turn". Due to "The Wicked Avatar"'s effect, you are virtually guaranteed to win the duel. Some protection from spells & traps such as "Solemn Judgment" or "Dark Bribe" are necessary to protect your key cards.

Monsters

 * Jowgen the Spiritualist
 * A Cat of Ill Omen
 * Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
 * Cyber-Stein
 * The Last Warrior from Another Planet
 * Mask of Darkness
 * Elemental Hero Wildheart
 * D.D. Warrior Lady
 * D.D. Assailant
 * D.D. Warrior
 * Newdoria
 * Vanity's Fiend/Vanity's Ruler
 * Yubel
 * Marshmallon
 * Spirit Reaper

Traps
The Exodia Necros/graveyard strategy: This strategy involvesthe use of exodia necross in ur hand and afew pieces of exodia in the grave with monster reincarnation. use monster reincarnation and discard necros. Then his effect makes him return to your hand, making him usefull to kill again. Another version of this requires foolish burial, backup soldier and at least 5 cards in ur grave ( not exodia's head) Use foolish burial to throw a part of exodia other than his head into the grave. Then when your opponent draws activate backup soldier nad bring that part and 3 others ( if you have) into your hand!
 * Last Turn
 * Wall of Revealing Light
 * Self-Destruct Button
 * Double Snare
 * Judgment of Anubis
 * Seven Tools of the Bandit.
 * Pikeru's Circle of Enchantment
 * Hallowed Life Barrier
 * Non Aggression Area