"Deck thinning" is the term for cards that are used to reduce the size of your deck, to increase the chances of drawing whatever particular card you may need. Single-use cards that only draw one card, such as Jar of Greed or Upstart Goblin, have little use other than to thin the deck. Deck thinning may be achieved by searching out specific cards from the deck, increasing the number of cards you draw in a turn, or simply by getting rid of cards in your Deck, such as with Foolish Burial or Painful Choice. Deck thinning is generally not considered useful in large decks, since it is simpler to just make a deck with the minimum of 40 cards, and have among those 40 cards the deck-thinners.
Deck thinning is the preferred method of winning in an Exodia deck.
Generally Useful Deck Thinning Cards
(Cards that allow you to draw extra cards will not be listed here, unless they exist only to thin the deck, such as Jar of Greed. Self-milling cards such as Destruction of Destiny will also not be listed here, as those cards indiscriminately send cards to the graveyard, defeating the purpose of attempting to narrow the possibilities for what you might wish to draw.)
- Thunder Dragon
- Volcanic Shell
- Green Gadget, Yellow Gadget and Red Gadget
- Toon Table of Contents x 3, plus one Toon monster
- Gather Your Mind
- Jar of Greed
- Upstart Goblin
- Good Goblin Housekeeping
- Reckless Greed
- Guard Penalty
- Elemental Hero Stratos (more effective when combined with Elemental Hero Ocean)
- Magical Hats
- Foolish Burial
- Painful Choice
- Advanced Ritual Art (Ritual monster deck only)
- Future Fusion (Fusion monster deck only)
- T.A.D.P.O.L.E.
- Legacy of Yata-Garasu (Better than Jar of Greed)
- Elemental Hero Woodsman in a deck that has 3 Polymerization cards
- Golden Bamboo Sword (while you have a Broken Bamboo Sword on the field)
There are many monsters that have the ability to summon copies of themselves, with little to no assistance from other cards. Most of these can provide a sturdy defense and all are considered to be useful deck thinners: