Forum:Deck Guide/Worm

By Lappyzard

=Worms= Worms are a series of LIGHT Reptile-Type monsters introduced in Duel Terminal - Synchro Awakening!!. Their effects revolve around being set and flipped face-up in order to gain powerful effects. Worms were boosted to the competitive level with the realease of their most powerful support card, W Nebula Meteorite. Since then they have enjoyed moderate success as a Control-oriented Archetype.

Strengths
Worms have a number of powerful support cards to tip the duel in their favor. They also have good effects that generate Card Advantage. Worms are good at maintaining control of the field by disrupting their opponent, and hitting them hard when they're left wide open.

Weaknesses
Worms are much slower than most decktypes today. Some decks are capable of throwing more at them than Worms can handle, overpowering them. They sometimes have trouble recovering if they lose control of the duel or if the opponent gains a significant advantage and overwhelms them.

Meta Ranking
Speed: 8/10 Worms gain a good bit of speed through the use of Worm Linx, Worm Xex, and W Nebula Meteorite.

Power: 7/10 Outside of Worm King, most Worm decks can't reach high ATK levels.

Consistency: 9/10 Worms are a consistent decktype made all the more consistent by Pot of Duality.

Search/Draw Power: 9/10 Between Worm Cartaros, Worm Linx, and W Nebula Meteorite, Worms have some of the best search and draw power in the game.

Overall: 8.25/10 Worms a prevalent in the metagame as an anti-meta control strategy, and have had moderate success.

Meet the Archetype
Monsters:
 * Worm Apocalypse A weak Worm that destroys a Spell or Trap card when flipped up. It's decent.
 * Worm Barses A weak Worm that changes a monster's battle position. Not worth using.
 * Worm Cartaros Its flip effect lets you search out a level 4 or lower Worm from your deck. It's a great Toolbox strategy.
 * Worm Dimikles It's a decent beater but in that category it's outclassed by Xex and Tentacles.
 * Worm Erokin It's level 6, which already hurts it, and on top of that it can't be Special Summoned. Its effect is pretty weak too; once per turn you can flip a Worm monster face-down.
 * Worm Falco A weak Worm that flips all other Worms face-down when it's flipped face-up. Not worth using.
 * Worm Gulse It gets stronger when a Worm is flipped up, but it starts off too weak to be used effectively.
 * Worm Hope When it's flipped up, you draw 1 card. When it dies, you discard one. A mediocre effect.
 * Worm Illidan Its effect is good, but it's level 5, and a weak level 5 at that, so it's not worth using.
 * Worm Jetelikpse Don't ask me how to pronounce that. I have no idea. Anyways, this is a weaker Worm who will revive itself once on the turn it's flipped up. Not the best monster.
 * Worm King This is the sub-boss of the Worm monsters. He can be summoned with one Tribute if that Tribute is a Worm monster. He comes in at 2700 ATK with the ability to Tribute Worms in order to destroy cards.
 * Worm Linx A weak Worm with a ridiculous effect. After it's flipped up, during each player's End Phase, you draw 1 card. Over the course of a few turns, this stacks up to 6+ free cards if he's properly protected.
 * Worm Milidith This card equips itself to an opponent's monster and deals minor burn damage each turn. It's outclassed by a number of Spell cards that do the same thing, all of which are terrible to begin with.
 * Worm Noble A level 6 Worm that does minor burn damage. Overall pretty useless.
 * Worm Opera When flipped up, it weakens all non-Worm monsters. This is really unnecessary and a waste of space.
 * Worm Prince An interesting effect but with a drawback that's easily triggered. Cartaros is better for the purpose.
 * Worm Queen With 2700 ATK and the same summoning condition as Worm King, this card is the other sub-boss of the Worm set. It's effect is basically a Worm version of Lonefire Blossom. It can be useful but in most cases King is better.
 * Worm Rakuyeh It's got high ATK for a level 4 but the drawback makes it difficult to use.
 * Worm Solid It can power up to a very high DEF and the effect can be useful too, but this card isn't the best choice.
 * Worm Tentacles A 1700 beater that can gain a second attack by removing a Worm in your Graveyard from play. The cost is negligible and the damage is good.
 * Worm Ugly A weak Worm that gives itself to your opponent when it's Tributed. Extremely situational and overall a horrible card.
 * Worm Victory This card is the polar opposite of Worm Solid. However, it's level 7 which makes it hard to use.
 * Worm Warlord It can attack twice and negate the effects of monsters it battles. It could see some use as a Side Deck card but since it's level 6 its uses are restricted.
 * Worm Xex One of the better Worm monsters, it has 1800 ATK and lets you send a Worm to your Graveyard from your Deck when it's summoned.
 * Worm Yagan One of the better Worm monsters, this card can set itself on the field from the Graveyard if you control only Worm Xex. It bounces a monster when it's flipped up.
 * Worm Zero The boss of the Worms, this card is only effective if summoned with Future Fusion. It has a number of powerful effects, with more abilities unlocked the more Fusion Materials he has. Most decks don't play him though.

Spells:
 * Worm Call This card lets you Special Summon a Worm from your hand face-down if you have no monsters. It's not very effective.

Traps:
 * W Nebula Meteorite This card is the most powerful Worm support card, if not the most powerful support card of any archetype, in the game. It lets you flip up all face-down monsters to trigger their effects. Then, in the End Phase, you Set them all again and draw 1 card for each Worm you set. Finally, you can then summon a level 7 Worm straight from your deck!

Other Card Choices
Monsters:
 * Honest This powerful card is an obvious choice for any LIGHT-based deck.
 * Evil Dragon Ananta This card can hit the field with ridiculous ATK. In addition, it also destroys one card on the field during each End Phase.
 * Wind-Up Zenmaister Easily made from Xex and Yagan, this Rank 4 Xyz Monster lets you detach an Xyz Material to flip a monster you control face-down. This lets you reuse the effects of Worms like Yagan and Cartaros.

Spells:
 * Future Fusion This card can make Worm Zero ridiculously powerful.

Traps:
 * Offering to the Snake Deity Similar to Icarus Attack, this card is great for blowing stuff up and disrupting your opponent.
 * Gozen Match All Worms are the same Attribute, letting them use this card to hamper their opponents.
 * Rivalry of Warlords Identical to Gozen Match, but for Type.

Standard Worms
This decktype focuses on using your Worm Monsters to shut down your opponent and generate Card Advantage.

Worm Exodia
This deck uses the draw power of Worms with the deck thinning of Future Fusion to draw Exodia quickly.