Forum:Deck Guide/Skill Drain

Skill Drain Guide
By BobaFett2

"Skill Drain" is an extremely powerful card from Dark Crisis that was reprinted in Gold Series and Dark Revelation Volume 1. It was once Semi-Limited because of its powerful effect. What "Skill Drain" does is negate all face-up monster's effects, which can be used in decks that use many effects from their Hands or Graveyards and by decks with big monsters that can be Normal Summoned with a penalty. In addition to this, the deck will not suffer from common meta cards such as "Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter" and "Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier". This makes a "Skill Drain" deck an Anti-Meta deck that can be very powerful. The main weakness of the deck is the fact that you can only use three "Skill Drain" in a deck and three "Pot of Duality" isn't enough to guarantee that you draw it.

Ratings
Power: 7/10 "Skill Drain" decks are powerful but not on the level of "Scraps" or "Samurai".

Consistency: 6/10 The main weakness of "Skill Drain" decks is a lack of consistency.

Speed: 6/10 "Skill Drain" decks are not particularly fast because they just need to get out "Skill Drain" and Normal Summon big monsters.

Draw/Search Power: 3/10 "Skill Drain" decks can make optimum use of "Pot of Duality" and "Upstart Goblin" but outside of Malefic Skill Drain decks there is little draw/search power.

Overall: 5.5 "Skill Drain" decks are never top tier but they can do well in both casual and tournament play.

Monsters

 * Malefic monsters: You can control more than one, they don't require a Field Spell, and multiple monsters you control can attack due to "Skill Drain".
 * Beast King Barbaros: "Skill Drain" makes "Barbaros" a no-tribute 3000. You could also use his effect if you don't control a "Skill Drain". Even without "Skill Drain" "Barbaros" is a tough monsters.
 * Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast: "Skill Drain" makes "Fusilier" a no-tribute 2800.
 * Majestic Mech - Ohka: "Skill Drain" allows "Ohka" to remain on the field without being Tribute Summoned.
 * Malevolent Mech - Goku En: Same as "Ohka".
 * Beast Machine King Barbaros Ür: Special Summoned by removing "Barbaros" and "Fusilier". Skill Drain negates it's negative effect.
 * Elemental Hero Captain Gold: A 2100 monster that allows you to use "Miracle Fusion".

Spells

 * Upstart Goblin: Makes it easier to draw "Skill Drain".
 * Gold Sarcophagus: Slow but more reliable than "Upstart Goblin".
 * Forbidden Chalice: Works like a "Skill Drain" on a single monster. It also gives the monster 400 attack, meaning that it can be used in the damage step on a "Ryko" or on one of your monsters (turn "Barbaros" into a 3400 after your opponent attacks it).

Traps

 * Skill Drain: The central card of the deck type.

Skill Drain Beatdown without Gold
"Skill Drain" beatdown centers on using "Skill Drain" to max out "Beast King Barbaros" and "Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast". The main weakness of the deck is not getting "Skill Drain" or "Forbidden Chalice" early in the game, causing you to be stuck with weak monsters or self-destructing monsters. "Beast Machine King Barbaros Ür" is an optional card (Remove another "Barbaros Ur" or "Barbaros" and "Fusilier") that isn't always easy to summon (due to only having three "Barbaros" and "Fusilier".

Skill Drain Beatdown with Gold
"Skill Drain" beatdown can also make use of "E - Emergency Call", "Elemental HERO Captain Gold", and "Miracle Fusion". This allows for more search power as well as the ability to Fusion the "Elemental HERO The Shining" and "Elemental HERO Gaia", with the abilities of the former still working (so you can recycle an E-Hero). The deck makes use of Special Summons so "Royal Oppression" isn't as good of an option but it has more search and draw power.

Malefic Skill Drain Beatdown
"Malefic" monsters are very powerful and easy to summon but very vulnerable. You can only control one "Malefic" monster at a time and while you control it your other monsters can't attack. In addition to this, "Malefic" monsters are destroyed while there isn't a Field Spell card on the field. "Skill Drain" gets rid of these weaknesses by allowing them to remain on the field without a Field Spell and allowing you to control multiple as well as allowing your other monsters to attack. The only "Malefic" monsters worth using are "Malefic Stardust Dragon" and "Malefic Cyber End Dragon" because they don't require you to have another useless monster in your deck. Malefic Skill Drain decks can make use of "Allure of Darkness" and "Malefic World" as drawing and searching power.

Toon Skill Drain
"Toon" monsters are great in for Special Summoning quickly as you can Special Summon any number of "Toon" monsters while you control "Toon World". They can also attack directly but they cannot attack the turn that they are summoned and is costs Life Points to attack with them. "Skill Drain" can eliminate this cost as well as allowing them to attack the turn they are summoned (although it prevents them from being able to attack directly except against a clear field) and stops them from being destroyed when "Toon World" is destroyed (or removed from the field in some cases).

Macro Skill Drain
"Macro Cosmos" and "Skill Drain" are both powerful anti-meta cards that stop many mainstream strategies. They can be combined effectively because the main Macro Deck monsters don't have effects that activate on the field while the Skill Drain Deck monsters don't use the Graveyard. However, the deck suffers from the common weakness of Macro Decks and Skill Drain Decks of their main cards being easy to get rid of as well as non-searchable.