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Welcome to a work-in-progress guide to helping you create (better) Duel Monsters decks. One note the I should tell you about me is that I am only an average card game player, and make only average decks. However, I have had a load of experience in playing and creating decks, and this kind of information could be invaluable to you as a Duel Monsters player. I learned some important lessons from a player who taught me how to play Magic: The Gathering. Despite learning them from that game, they can be easily adapted to other games with relative ease.
When creating your deck, you need to keep several things in mind (which, coincidentally, are the major topics of this guide):
The Theme
Card For Your Theme
Staple Cards
Make Your Deck
Deck Testing
THE THEME
If you learn only one thing from this guide, learn this: DON'T JUST THROW CARDS TOGETHER TO MAKE A DECK. It's because the deck will be unfocused, and you will never know what will be coming up, and the chances that you will have some cards to back up the others is slim at best. Of course, you could be some king of DM genius and subconsciously pick up cards and form a deck that works all of the time. However, if you're like me, that kind of thing will NEVER happen, so you'll have to rely on hard work to make your deck work correctly.
The Theme is one of the most important parts of a deck. Though its key lies not during a Duel, but rather what will go into your deck. What constitutes a theme? Think of it as a basis, or a common element that links the cards of your deck into one strategy. That's another good word for it. The theme can also be a specific strategy. Some of you already know at least one theme deck: The Exodia Deck. That deck is based solely on getting all five parts to Exodia in your hand, and winning the game. Exodia is its theme.
You're not limited to just a specific card (or cards) as your theme. It can also be a card main-type, or card sub-type. For example, the character of Jounouchi/Joey in the animated series and comic has Warrior and Animal Warriors as his theme (with just a splash of Gambling cards). Perhaps you like Angels, Dragons, or Demons as your sub-type.
For some other themes, let's take a look at the characters in the series:
Yugi Mutou: Black Magician deck, with cards that support it and and few other tricks
Seto Kaiba: Hard to class. The best assumption would be a beatdown deck, with strong Monsters like Blue Eyes, The God of Obelisk, and Blood Vors. He also has some anti-Monster cards, such as the Deck Destruction Virus of Death
Katsuya Jounouchi (i.e. Joey Wheeler): a Warrior and Animal Warrior deck, with a splash of chance cards, like the Time Magician.
Insector Haga (i.e. Weevil Underwood): Haga's deck is a pure Insect-Combo deck. Since Insects are rather weak, it takes some additional tricks to get the deck running. In the Duelist Kingdom, he used the Great Moth (which I advise against using since it is EXCRUCIATING slow to use) as his finisher. In Battle City, his finisher was the Insect Queen, with his Insect Barrier combo (in the animated series of Battle City, he also used the Great Moth).
Mai Kujaku (i.e. Mai Valentine): In the Duelist Kingdom, Mai concentrated on the Harpy Lady, using her cards to support it. In Battle City, she uses the New Amazoness deck, which used Amazoness cards, but also included her Harpy Ladies.
Ryouta Kajiki (i.e. Mako Tsunami): Almost a plain Sea deck. However, his difference is tricks and the main hitter. In the Duelist Kingdom, Kajiki uses the Leviathan as his big Monster. However, in Battle City, he uses the trick of a big Monster, the Fortress Whale, and the Legendary Fisherman that could not be attacked while the Sea card is on the Field!
Dinosaur Ryuzaki (i.e. Rex Raptor): Ryuzaki's dinosaur deck is PURE beatdown. This is an easy deck to use -- big Monsters, and big powerups!
Player Killer (i.e. Panik): This deck is also hard to class. His card uses darkness to attack with, which means its probably will use the Darkness Field card, and Demons and Magic-User Sub-Types to power them up. But his Castle The Spreads The Darkness card powers up Undead Monsters in the real card game. See how confusing his deck is?
Ghost Kotsuzuka: His deck in the animated and comic series can't really be used in the real card game, since Cry of the Living Dead is only a one-shot Trap card in the real card game. However, as his name suggests, his deck is a Ghost deck. You could use ghost-like cards (such as the Ghost of Medusa), which falls under the Undead Sub-Type. However, as he had zombies as a result of the CLD in the animated series/comic, you could make a Cemetery-Recursion deck.
Mei and Kyuu (The Labyrinth Brothers): This team has the "Maze-Dungeon" theme of Monsters tried to keep their opponent's off balance while they summoned the second most-powerful Monster in the game, the Gate Guardian. However, the Guardians are high-level Monsters, which means you're going to have to get a lot of summons to summon them, in order to summon the Gate Guardian.
Bandit Keith Howard: His is a Machine Sub-Type deck, along with beatdown.
Pegasus J. Crawford (i.e. Maximillion Pegasus): Pegasus' deck is a strange combination of comedy and grossness. First, his deck is based around the Toon World card, which effectively makes his Toons invincible to attack, and allows him to attack his opponent directly. Second, he also has the Sacrifice and Thousand Eyes Sacrifice card, which can absorb his opponent's Monsters.
Rare Hunter: Exodia deck. Need I say more? Okay, a Defensive Exodia deck.
Esper Roba: Esper Roba used a "psychic power" deck. It had some Monster control, along with Machines. His main hitter was the Psycho Shocker.
Pandora: Pandora's is an extended Black Magician deck, with a large arsenal of Magic and Trap cards that support his Black Magician.
Pantomime: Like Malik's deck (technically, Malik was playing this one as well), this one also based around a God card, the Saint Dragon - God of Osiris. However, that God card is also banned. If we look at the major point of his deck, it was to constantly increase Osiris' power with the number of cards in his hand. Another Monster in the game, Muka Muka, also does something similar to it. He also had some Water-based cards in the deck, such as Humanoid Slime and Revival Slime, along with some lockdown.
Dark and Light Mask: You would have to make both of their decks into one deck. In the series, one took the initiative, and the other backed him up with Traps and Magic cards, along with Sacrifice-Sealing Mask. This makes the game based on small Monsters, and Cemetery Recycling. (In the GBA version of DM Expert 5, they played a "Bounce" deck, where they used card effects that returned Monsters to their opponent's hands). The finishers included the insanely strong Masked Hellraiser and Death Guardius.
Ryou Bakura: Bakura called his deck an "Occult Deck." It contained the Ouija Board, along with the horrific beauty, Dark Necrophia. For his deck, use cards that look "disturbing" to fit in the Occult theme.
Rishid: Has a Trap deck. The deck consists mostly of Trap cards, and items that support its theme. Holy Beast Selket is the main hitter of this deck. However, with the additional effect of the [Royal Shrine] in the real DM game, you can play a large Monster deck.
Malik Ishtahl: Malik's deck is based around getting the Ra card out onto the Field. But as Ra is a banned card in normal games, that makes his theme different in the real card game. He had some tricky cards like Viser Death and Legend Devil. It's hard to class his deck.
Isis Ishtahl: Isis' deck was a "Cemetery Protection" deck. It went about recycling her Cemetery into her deck, while at the same time cycling her opponent's deck into his Cemetery. It's interesting to note that she had no big hitters in her deck; she relied on the Reversed Worlds card to deck her opponent.
Once again, you are not limited to card types. Some things to consider are:
Beatdown Deck (concentrating on lots of strong monsters to lay waste to your opponent
Black Magician Deck (the Black Magician and cards to support it beings its theme; check the Card of the Week section for a sample Black Magician deck)
Ouija Deck (tries to get all five parts of the Ouija Board on the Field to win; check the Card of the Week section for a sample Ouija Board deck)
Discard Deck (forces your opponent to discard cards from his hand so that he can't do anything to stop your assaults)
Deck Destruction Deck (discards cards from your opponent's deck. When your opponent is forced to draw a card and cannot because he has no cards in his deck, he loses the game)
Devil Franken Deck (uses the Devil Franken to get Blue Eyes White Dragon out, tosses a Giant Growth on it, and attacks for 9000 damage for a one-hit kill!)
Direct Damage Deck (uses lots of cards that do damage right to your opponent's Life Points. Called a "Cheese Deck" in Magic: The Gathering)
Sneak Attack Deck (uses the Monsters that can attack your opponent directly, along with Equipment cards that boost their attack strength)
Fusion Deck (uses powerful Fusion Monsters, like Black Demon's Dragon and Saint Jeuneau to inflict damage, hard and fast)
Ritual Deck (uses like the Fusion deck, but uses Ritual Monsters, like the Masked Hellraiser, Chaos Soldier and Zera)
CARDS FOR YOUR THEME
Once you have your theme set, go through your collection first and pick out cards that DIRECTLY relate to your theme. For example, if you want a Direct Damage deck, go through all of your cards and pick out the ones that do direct damage. Do so whether or not you are going to use the cards or not.
Now, go through your collection AGAIN and pull out those cards the INDIRECTLY relate to your theme. You can also think of this as cards that SUPPORT your theme -- for example, high defense strength Monsters to protect you while you get cards for your combo out, or cards that will help you get to other cards.
Don't make your deck yet!
STAPLE CARDS
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." -Anonymous
Truer words have never been said. In the case of this card game, it is the "staple cards."
"Staple" doesn't mean the little metal things that you keep papers held together with. This tense means "standard," or "reoccuring." The staple cards in DM are the ones that show up in nearly every deck, tournament-level and fun-level. Generally, these cards have also been restricted by Konami for use in tournaments. Regardless, their power cannot be overlooked. Here are some of the staple cards that you should ALWAYS consider putting in your deck:
Jar of Greed
Angel's Gift (at least one)
Raise Dead
Black Hole
Thunder Bolt
Harpy's Feather Sweep
Holy Barrier - Mirror Force
Magic Cylinder
Early Burial
With the following cards, you should HIGHLY consider putting these in your deck:
Critter (if your deck has high defense, low attack strength monsters)
Black Forest Witch (if your deck has high attack, low defense strength monsters)
Tempest (when you have Magic/Traps on the Field, it functions as a second Harpy's Feather Sweep)
Welcome For The Dead
Imperial Decree
Man-Eating Bug
Cyclone
Emissary of Obliteration
Goblin Strike Team
MAKE YOUR DECK
Now, for all of the cards that you pulled out of your collection and the staple cards, and begin creating your deck out of them.
Now, there are some "pointers" to creating decks. All decks should contains some cards that relate to the following. You should include at least TWO of each of these types of cards in your deck. Your chosen cards may already contain some of the types. Along with Monsters, if you have the following types of cards, you can be ready for most of the situations that you will run into.
Card Drawing
Monster Removal
Monster Recovery
Magic/Trap Removal
Magic/Trap Recovery
Magic/Trap Negation
Surprise
The "Surprise" type is two or three cards to deal with a particular situation in your area. For example, if the players in your area play a lot of copies of particular Monsters, add a Chain Destruction, or Bottomless Pit Trap. Perhaps they use a lot of Magic cards. Add some more negation cards. It's your choice with what to include in this type.
Here's another saying I want you to remember: "Speed kills...your opponent." What this means is that faster you get to the cards that you need, the faster you can decimate your opponent. Speed is also a bit of a psychological factor in the game. If you get to everything you need really fast, then it puts your opponent on the defensive rather than the offensive, which leaves you in a better position.
When including Monsters in your deck, if you are going for power, the following cards represent the best of their levels. A good idea is to have a number of small Monsters in your deck, then have one or two big hitters to clear a path for your other Monsters.
Level 4 or lower (no detrimental effects):
Gemini Elf (1900/900)
Blood Vors (1900/1200)
Newt (1900/400)
Red Cyclops (1800/1700)
Gatling Buggy (1800/1500)
Dunamis Valkyria (1800/1050)
Lamp Spirit - Ra Djinn (1800/1000)
Seazareon (1800/800)
Rainbow Fish (1800/800)
Birdman (1800/600)
Rock Soldier (1300/2000)
Rock Dragon (1300/2000)
Aqua Madol (1200/2000)
Island Turtle (1100/2000)
Level 5 or 6:
Cybertic Wyvern (2500/1600)
Demon Summon (2500/1200)
Emerald Dragon (2400/2000)
Fisherbeast (2400/1200)
Millennium Shield (0/3000)
Labyrinth Wall (0/3000)
Level 7 or higher:
Blue Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500)
Cosmo Queen (2900/2450)
Tri-Horn Dragon (2850/2350)
Winged Messenger (2750/2400)
Millennium Neanderthal (2750/2500)
Fusion:
Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon (4500/3800)
Meteor Black Dragon (3500/2000)
Black Demon's Dragon (3200/2500)
Two-Mouthed Thunder Dragon (2800/2100)
Saint Juneau (Attack strength 2800)
Ritual:
Masked Hellraiser (3200/1800)
Chaos Soldier (3000/2500)
Magician of Black Chaos (2800/2600)
Zera (2800/2300)
When making your deck, I should says one thing:
MAKE AS CLOSE TO A FORTY CARD DECK AS POSSIBLE.
Think of it this way: "Every card that you have over forty is one more turn until you draw the card that you need." Of course, they are ways around this, if you include more card drawing in your deck.
For a standard forty card deck, try this formula:
Monster cards: 23 cards
Magic cards: 12 cards
Trap card: 5 cards
For including Monsters in your deck, you should porportion the number of their levels. For example, you want more level 4 or less Monsters in your deck, compares to level 5 or higher Monsters. This is due to the fact that you need to sacrifice the level 4 ones to summon the bigger ones. Try this formula:
Level 4 or less: 60% of the Monsters in your deck.
Level 5 or 6: 30% of the Monsters in your deck.
Level 7 or higher: 10% of the Monsters in your deck.
DECK TESTING
Sure, you could be some sort of deck-building genius. You could make decks that work the first time, every single time. But if you're like the rest of us, you need to test the deck. Test it thoroughly. Test it A LOT. When testing your deck, ask yourself these questions:
How fast am I getting to the cards that I need?
What cards types are giving me trouble?
What specific cards are giving me trouble?
What cards in my deck are useless in most situations?
What cards do I need more of?
These big questions will unlock the key to becoming a better deck. These questions are there for you to add/remove cards to suit the situations.
IN CLOSING...
Well, I hope that you enjoyed reading through this guide. I also hope that you have gained some additional insight into making your decks, and making your decks better. You also have to know that this guide is only that: a guide. There are some techniques that work well for one person, and fail for another. The best thing to do is suit your decks and play style to yourself. And as the saying at the beginning of the Battle City story says in the animated series:
"Obey the rules and your manners, and have fun dueling!"
When creating your deck, you need to keep several things in mind (which, coincidentally, are the major topics of this guide):
The Theme
Card For Your Theme
Staple Cards
Make Your Deck
Deck Testing
THE THEME
If you learn only one thing from this guide, learn this: DON'T JUST THROW CARDS TOGETHER TO MAKE A DECK. It's because the deck will be unfocused, and you will never know what will be coming up, and the chances that you will have some cards to back up the others is slim at best. Of course, you could be some king of DM genius and subconsciously pick up cards and form a deck that works all of the time. However, if you're like me, that kind of thing will NEVER happen, so you'll have to rely on hard work to make your deck work correctly.
The Theme is one of the most important parts of a deck. Though its key lies not during a Duel, but rather what will go into your deck. What constitutes a theme? Think of it as a basis, or a common element that links the cards of your deck into one strategy. That's another good word for it. The theme can also be a specific strategy. Some of you already know at least one theme deck: The Exodia Deck. That deck is based solely on getting all five parts to Exodia in your hand, and winning the game. Exodia is its theme.
You're not limited to just a specific card (or cards) as your theme. It can also be a card main-type, or card sub-type. For example, the character of Jounouchi/Joey in the animated series and comic has Warrior and Animal Warriors as his theme (with just a splash of Gambling cards). Perhaps you like Angels, Dragons, or Demons as your sub-type.
For some other themes, let's take a look at the characters in the series:
Yugi Mutou: Black Magician deck, with cards that support it and and few other tricks
Seto Kaiba: Hard to class. The best assumption would be a beatdown deck, with strong Monsters like Blue Eyes, The God of Obelisk, and Blood Vors. He also has some anti-Monster cards, such as the Deck Destruction Virus of Death
Katsuya Jounouchi (i.e. Joey Wheeler): a Warrior and Animal Warrior deck, with a splash of chance cards, like the Time Magician.
Insector Haga (i.e. Weevil Underwood): Haga's deck is a pure Insect-Combo deck. Since Insects are rather weak, it takes some additional tricks to get the deck running. In the Duelist Kingdom, he used the Great Moth (which I advise against using since it is EXCRUCIATING slow to use) as his finisher. In Battle City, his finisher was the Insect Queen, with his Insect Barrier combo (in the animated series of Battle City, he also used the Great Moth).
Mai Kujaku (i.e. Mai Valentine): In the Duelist Kingdom, Mai concentrated on the Harpy Lady, using her cards to support it. In Battle City, she uses the New Amazoness deck, which used Amazoness cards, but also included her Harpy Ladies.
Ryouta Kajiki (i.e. Mako Tsunami): Almost a plain Sea deck. However, his difference is tricks and the main hitter. In the Duelist Kingdom, Kajiki uses the Leviathan as his big Monster. However, in Battle City, he uses the trick of a big Monster, the Fortress Whale, and the Legendary Fisherman that could not be attacked while the Sea card is on the Field!
Dinosaur Ryuzaki (i.e. Rex Raptor): Ryuzaki's dinosaur deck is PURE beatdown. This is an easy deck to use -- big Monsters, and big powerups!
Player Killer (i.e. Panik): This deck is also hard to class. His card uses darkness to attack with, which means its probably will use the Darkness Field card, and Demons and Magic-User Sub-Types to power them up. But his Castle The Spreads The Darkness card powers up Undead Monsters in the real card game. See how confusing his deck is?
Ghost Kotsuzuka: His deck in the animated and comic series can't really be used in the real card game, since Cry of the Living Dead is only a one-shot Trap card in the real card game. However, as his name suggests, his deck is a Ghost deck. You could use ghost-like cards (such as the Ghost of Medusa), which falls under the Undead Sub-Type. However, as he had zombies as a result of the CLD in the animated series/comic, you could make a Cemetery-Recursion deck.
Mei and Kyuu (The Labyrinth Brothers): This team has the "Maze-Dungeon" theme of Monsters tried to keep their opponent's off balance while they summoned the second most-powerful Monster in the game, the Gate Guardian. However, the Guardians are high-level Monsters, which means you're going to have to get a lot of summons to summon them, in order to summon the Gate Guardian.
Bandit Keith Howard: His is a Machine Sub-Type deck, along with beatdown.
Pegasus J. Crawford (i.e. Maximillion Pegasus): Pegasus' deck is a strange combination of comedy and grossness. First, his deck is based around the Toon World card, which effectively makes his Toons invincible to attack, and allows him to attack his opponent directly. Second, he also has the Sacrifice and Thousand Eyes Sacrifice card, which can absorb his opponent's Monsters.
Rare Hunter: Exodia deck. Need I say more? Okay, a Defensive Exodia deck.
Esper Roba: Esper Roba used a "psychic power" deck. It had some Monster control, along with Machines. His main hitter was the Psycho Shocker.
Pandora: Pandora's is an extended Black Magician deck, with a large arsenal of Magic and Trap cards that support his Black Magician.
Pantomime: Like Malik's deck (technically, Malik was playing this one as well), this one also based around a God card, the Saint Dragon - God of Osiris. However, that God card is also banned. If we look at the major point of his deck, it was to constantly increase Osiris' power with the number of cards in his hand. Another Monster in the game, Muka Muka, also does something similar to it. He also had some Water-based cards in the deck, such as Humanoid Slime and Revival Slime, along with some lockdown.
Dark and Light Mask: You would have to make both of their decks into one deck. In the series, one took the initiative, and the other backed him up with Traps and Magic cards, along with Sacrifice-Sealing Mask. This makes the game based on small Monsters, and Cemetery Recycling. (In the GBA version of DM Expert 5, they played a "Bounce" deck, where they used card effects that returned Monsters to their opponent's hands). The finishers included the insanely strong Masked Hellraiser and Death Guardius.
Ryou Bakura: Bakura called his deck an "Occult Deck." It contained the Ouija Board, along with the horrific beauty, Dark Necrophia. For his deck, use cards that look "disturbing" to fit in the Occult theme.
Rishid: Has a Trap deck. The deck consists mostly of Trap cards, and items that support its theme. Holy Beast Selket is the main hitter of this deck. However, with the additional effect of the [Royal Shrine] in the real DM game, you can play a large Monster deck.
Malik Ishtahl: Malik's deck is based around getting the Ra card out onto the Field. But as Ra is a banned card in normal games, that makes his theme different in the real card game. He had some tricky cards like Viser Death and Legend Devil. It's hard to class his deck.
Isis Ishtahl: Isis' deck was a "Cemetery Protection" deck. It went about recycling her Cemetery into her deck, while at the same time cycling her opponent's deck into his Cemetery. It's interesting to note that she had no big hitters in her deck; she relied on the Reversed Worlds card to deck her opponent.
Once again, you are not limited to card types. Some things to consider are:
Beatdown Deck (concentrating on lots of strong monsters to lay waste to your opponent
Black Magician Deck (the Black Magician and cards to support it beings its theme; check the Card of the Week section for a sample Black Magician deck)
Ouija Deck (tries to get all five parts of the Ouija Board on the Field to win; check the Card of the Week section for a sample Ouija Board deck)
Discard Deck (forces your opponent to discard cards from his hand so that he can't do anything to stop your assaults)
Deck Destruction Deck (discards cards from your opponent's deck. When your opponent is forced to draw a card and cannot because he has no cards in his deck, he loses the game)
Devil Franken Deck (uses the Devil Franken to get Blue Eyes White Dragon out, tosses a Giant Growth on it, and attacks for 9000 damage for a one-hit kill!)
Direct Damage Deck (uses lots of cards that do damage right to your opponent's Life Points. Called a "Cheese Deck" in Magic: The Gathering)
Sneak Attack Deck (uses the Monsters that can attack your opponent directly, along with Equipment cards that boost their attack strength)
Fusion Deck (uses powerful Fusion Monsters, like Black Demon's Dragon and Saint Jeuneau to inflict damage, hard and fast)
Ritual Deck (uses like the Fusion deck, but uses Ritual Monsters, like the Masked Hellraiser, Chaos Soldier and Zera)
CARDS FOR YOUR THEME
Once you have your theme set, go through your collection first and pick out cards that DIRECTLY relate to your theme. For example, if you want a Direct Damage deck, go through all of your cards and pick out the ones that do direct damage. Do so whether or not you are going to use the cards or not.
Now, go through your collection AGAIN and pull out those cards the INDIRECTLY relate to your theme. You can also think of this as cards that SUPPORT your theme -- for example, high defense strength Monsters to protect you while you get cards for your combo out, or cards that will help you get to other cards.
Don't make your deck yet!
STAPLE CARDS
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." -Anonymous
Truer words have never been said. In the case of this card game, it is the "staple cards."
"Staple" doesn't mean the little metal things that you keep papers held together with. This tense means "standard," or "reoccuring." The staple cards in DM are the ones that show up in nearly every deck, tournament-level and fun-level. Generally, these cards have also been restricted by Konami for use in tournaments. Regardless, their power cannot be overlooked. Here are some of the staple cards that you should ALWAYS consider putting in your deck:
Jar of Greed
Angel's Gift (at least one)
Raise Dead
Black Hole
Thunder Bolt
Harpy's Feather Sweep
Holy Barrier - Mirror Force
Magic Cylinder
Early Burial
With the following cards, you should HIGHLY consider putting these in your deck:
Critter (if your deck has high defense, low attack strength monsters)
Black Forest Witch (if your deck has high attack, low defense strength monsters)
Tempest (when you have Magic/Traps on the Field, it functions as a second Harpy's Feather Sweep)
Welcome For The Dead
Imperial Decree
Man-Eating Bug
Cyclone
Emissary of Obliteration
Goblin Strike Team
MAKE YOUR DECK
Now, for all of the cards that you pulled out of your collection and the staple cards, and begin creating your deck out of them.
Now, there are some "pointers" to creating decks. All decks should contains some cards that relate to the following. You should include at least TWO of each of these types of cards in your deck. Your chosen cards may already contain some of the types. Along with Monsters, if you have the following types of cards, you can be ready for most of the situations that you will run into.
Card Drawing
Monster Removal
Monster Recovery
Magic/Trap Removal
Magic/Trap Recovery
Magic/Trap Negation
Surprise
The "Surprise" type is two or three cards to deal with a particular situation in your area. For example, if the players in your area play a lot of copies of particular Monsters, add a Chain Destruction, or Bottomless Pit Trap. Perhaps they use a lot of Magic cards. Add some more negation cards. It's your choice with what to include in this type.
Here's another saying I want you to remember: "Speed kills...your opponent." What this means is that faster you get to the cards that you need, the faster you can decimate your opponent. Speed is also a bit of a psychological factor in the game. If you get to everything you need really fast, then it puts your opponent on the defensive rather than the offensive, which leaves you in a better position.
When including Monsters in your deck, if you are going for power, the following cards represent the best of their levels. A good idea is to have a number of small Monsters in your deck, then have one or two big hitters to clear a path for your other Monsters.
Level 4 or lower (no detrimental effects):
Gemini Elf (1900/900)
Blood Vors (1900/1200)
Newt (1900/400)
Red Cyclops (1800/1700)
Gatling Buggy (1800/1500)
Dunamis Valkyria (1800/1050)
Lamp Spirit - Ra Djinn (1800/1000)
Seazareon (1800/800)
Rainbow Fish (1800/800)
Birdman (1800/600)
Rock Soldier (1300/2000)
Rock Dragon (1300/2000)
Aqua Madol (1200/2000)
Island Turtle (1100/2000)
Level 5 or 6:
Cybertic Wyvern (2500/1600)
Demon Summon (2500/1200)
Emerald Dragon (2400/2000)
Fisherbeast (2400/1200)
Millennium Shield (0/3000)
Labyrinth Wall (0/3000)
Level 7 or higher:
Blue Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500)
Cosmo Queen (2900/2450)
Tri-Horn Dragon (2850/2350)
Winged Messenger (2750/2400)
Millennium Neanderthal (2750/2500)
Fusion:
Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon (4500/3800)
Meteor Black Dragon (3500/2000)
Black Demon's Dragon (3200/2500)
Two-Mouthed Thunder Dragon (2800/2100)
Saint Juneau (Attack strength 2800)
Ritual:
Masked Hellraiser (3200/1800)
Chaos Soldier (3000/2500)
Magician of Black Chaos (2800/2600)
Zera (2800/2300)
When making your deck, I should says one thing:
MAKE AS CLOSE TO A FORTY CARD DECK AS POSSIBLE.
Think of it this way: "Every card that you have over forty is one more turn until you draw the card that you need." Of course, they are ways around this, if you include more card drawing in your deck.
For a standard forty card deck, try this formula:
Monster cards: 23 cards
Magic cards: 12 cards
Trap card: 5 cards
For including Monsters in your deck, you should porportion the number of their levels. For example, you want more level 4 or less Monsters in your deck, compares to level 5 or higher Monsters. This is due to the fact that you need to sacrifice the level 4 ones to summon the bigger ones. Try this formula:
Level 4 or less: 60% of the Monsters in your deck.
Level 5 or 6: 30% of the Monsters in your deck.
Level 7 or higher: 10% of the Monsters in your deck.
DECK TESTING
Sure, you could be some sort of deck-building genius. You could make decks that work the first time, every single time. But if you're like the rest of us, you need to test the deck. Test it thoroughly. Test it A LOT. When testing your deck, ask yourself these questions:
How fast am I getting to the cards that I need?
What cards types are giving me trouble?
What specific cards are giving me trouble?
What cards in my deck are useless in most situations?
What cards do I need more of?
These big questions will unlock the key to becoming a better deck. These questions are there for you to add/remove cards to suit the situations.
IN CLOSING...
Well, I hope that you enjoyed reading through this guide. I also hope that you have gained some additional insight into making your decks, and making your decks better. You also have to know that this guide is only that: a guide. There are some techniques that work well for one person, and fail for another. The best thing to do is suit your decks and play style to yourself. And as the saying at the beginning of the Battle City story says in the animated series:
"Obey the rules and your manners, and have fun dueling!"