"Gambler" deck? (YGO)

[Captain Blue]

I've been thinking of making a YGO RP...or at least waiting until CARD GAMES dies down and then joining the inevitable sequel, and I needed a deck theme. This theme would, realistically, fail the vast majority of the time, but would work in the context of Roleplay: A deck that uses several cards that use dice rolls and coin flips. I already have a list of a few cards I'd like in the deck below. I'll edit it and add the amount of each card as people suggest additions to it. Please add other cards and some advice on how to make/use the deck effectively...and go easy on me if you can. I haven't played in forever, and stopped getting cards around the time they started making the Union/Level monsters.

Card List:
Sand Gambler
Dice Reroll
Second Coin Toss
Barrel Dragon
Skull Dice
Graceful Dice

 

[Alter Ego]

Well, if we're talking gambling, it has to have benefit to compensate for the risk. Such cards include:

Dice Jar - potentially 6000 burn damage in one go; this would be coupled with Barrel Behind the Door to ensure that you can fling that damage at your opponent no matter which way the dice roll.

Fairy Box - highly annoying defensive card, as every time your opponent takes the beat from that coin toss, they'll not only lose the monster but also take a direct hit from whatever they attacked.

Gamble and Lucky Chance - In RPing, draw power is crucial for keeping the duel interesting, as otherwise you'll run out of cards and thus out of interesting plays. These would be your thematic options for avoiding that. Lucky Chance makes for some very nice synergy with frequently trigger coin toss effects like the Samurai's too.

Sasuke Samurai #4 - Quite a potent walling monster, like a focused Fairy Box without the damage on top. Can also be used to rip through the unbreakable walls and stuff and it's of the highly searchable low-level warrior type too.

Snipe Hunter: One of the few gamble monsters to actually prove competitively viable. Junk card disposal chute that blows troublesome stuff off the field, all at the roll of a die.

Time Wizard - Nothing says 'gamble' quite like one player being guaranteed to have their field blown wide open.

Twinbarrel Dragon - Decent low-level beater that can blow something big up with its on-summon effect. Blowback Dragon, and even Gatling Dragon obviously work too; you can create a continuum of them if you like. I see you already have Barrel Dragon listed too; weakest of the lot, but you could keep it for continuity/fusion reasons.


And last but not least, two words:

Arcana Force

The Arcana Force line is all about gambling, both in support and monster effects. If the canonical/aesthetic aspects of it don't bother you, these can certainly extend your arsenal quite a bit. I'd also stay away from Graceful/Skull Dice and Dice Reroll; they're rather awful cards, to be honest. Focusing on either the coin toss or the dice roll side of gambling would also be a good idea, since it lets you concentrate your support. Personally, I'd go for coin toss effects since they have more and generally better support, but eh...whatever floats your boat, I guess.

 

[Captain Blue]

I talked it over with a friend of mine, and we came up with a proper Gambling Deck and Side Deck thanks to you and her ideas. Feel free to tell me what you think of it.

Deck:
1 Gatling Dragon
1 Barrel dragon
1 Blowback Dragon
1 Twin-Barrel Dragon
2 Arcana Force 0 – The Fool
2 Arcana Force 1 – The Magician
2 Arcana Force 3 – The Empress
2 Arcana Force 4 – The Emperor
2 Arcana Force VII – The Chariot
2 Arcana Force XIV – Temperance
2 Arcana Force XVIII – The Moon
1 Arcana Force XXI – The World
2 Arcana Force EX – The Dark Ruler
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1 Marshmallon
1 Snipe Hunter
2 Gambler of Legend
1 Sand Gambler
1 Time wizard
2 Light Barrier
1 future fusion
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Monster Reborn
2 Second coin toss
1 Polymerization
1 Creature Swap
1 Scapegoat
1 The Sanctuary in the Sky
1 Valhalla, the Hall of the Fallen
1 Arcana Call
2 Reversal of Fate
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential tribute
1 solemn judgment
2 Gamble
1 Lucky Chance
1 Ojama Trio

Side Deck:
2 NO ENTRY!!
1 Dice Jar
1 Barrel in the Door
2 Sasuke Samurai #4
1 Breaker the magical warrior
2 Fairy Box
1 United We Stand
2 Cestus of Dagla
1 Arcana Force EX – The Light Ruler
2 Heavy Mech Support Platform

 

[Scarlet Weather]

Alright, I can't resist playing around with a few things for this deck.

First off, I know the theme is a gambling deck but there are better angles to explore than some of the ones you've chosen. Also, your spell and trap line-up needs work. Just because the theme is "gamble" doesn't mean we can't play a line-up that includes non-gambling support.

We'll start by making some obvious cuts:

-1 Gatling Dragon (Which, being a fusion monster, should be in the extra deck to begin with)
-1 Barrel Dragon
-1 Blowback Dragon
-1 Twin-Barrel Dragon
-1 Ojama Trio
-1 Scapegoat
-2 Gamble
-1 Future Fusion
-2 Gambler of Legend
-1 Sand Gambler
-1 The Sanctuary in the Sky
-1 Lucky Chance

Alright, that's a lot of cuts, so here's an explanation: Ojama Trio has no synergy with this deck, and seems like filler more than anything else, so there are better cards to replace it with. Barrel, Twin-Barrel, and Blowback dragon are all fun cards but we've got enough high-level monsters already and we don't want to screw around with too many more, so they get the axe. Scapegoat comboes well with Light Ruler, but it really serves no other purpose, and we're not even main-decking the thing. Gambler of Legend and Sand Gambler are cut to make room for better cards, as well as Gamble and Lucky Chance. We've also cut out Future Fusion since we're no longer running any fusion monsters.

Now to make some CHANGES-

+3 Cup of Ace
+3 Nova Summoner
+2 Creature Swap
+2 Shining Angel
+3 Honest
+1 Fairy Box

First, I have to say that you deserve deep, unbridled shame for forgetting to add Cup of Ace to this deck, seeing as it's probably the biggest gamble you can play for. Heads you get Pot of Greed, tails your opponent gets to draw two cards for absolutely nothing. It's absolutely and ridiculously fun. Nova Summoner is an excellent card in any deck running Arcana Force 0- The Fool because it allows you to summon The Fool in defense position, effectively transforming it into an unpassable wall presuming you win the coin toss. A fool that guards your life points and can't be destroyed by battle or card effect is a very valuable card to be playing with indeed. Shining Angel gets added in to provide extra recruiting power for Nova Summoner, as well as an additional target for our shiny new two copies of Creature Swap. Three copies of Honest are absolutely a must in a deck running this many light-attribute monsters, so all of them are in. Fairy Box is filler, but it's also a favorite gamble of mine because it really has no drawbacks for you beyond a small life point fee and requiring the use of one of your spell and trap card zones. When fifty percent of your opponent's attacks at best do nothing and at worst result in the destruction of their monster and (sometimes) high damage to their life points, life is fun.

So yeah, other people may suggest better ways to improve the monster line-up, but this is my take on the deck.

 

[Forci Stikane]

-1 Gatling Dragon (Which, being a fusion monster, should be in the extra deck to begin with)
-1 Barrel Dragon
-1 Blowback Dragon
-1 Twin-Barrel Dragon
-1 Ojama Trio
-1 Scapegoat
-2 Gamble
-1 Future Fusion
-2 Gambler of Legend
-1 Sand Gambler
-1 The Sanctuary in the Sky
-1 Lucky Chance

Now to make some CHANGES-

+3 Cup of Ace
+3 Nova Summoner
+2 Creature Swap
+2 Shining Angel
+3 Honest
+1 Fairy Box

You missed the now-useless Polymerization and the copy of Creature Swap that was already present in the Deck, ACC.

First of all, we should add some spacing to the decklist to make it easier to look through.

Monsters: 27

1x Blowback Dragon
2x Arcana Force XIV – Temperance
1x Barrel Dragon
1x Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
2x Arcana Force XVIII – The Moon
1x Arcana Force XXI – The World
2x Arcana Force EX – The Dark Ruler

1x Twin-Barrel Dragon
2x Arcana Force 0 – The Fool
2x Arcana Force 1 – The Magician
2x Arcana Force 3 – The Empress
2x Arcana Force 4 – The Emperor
2x Arcana Force VII – The Chariot
1x Marshmallon
1x Snipe Hunter
2x Gambler of Legend
1x Sand Gambler
1x Time Wizard

Spells: 13

2x Light Barrier
1x Future Fusion
1x Heavy Storm
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Monster Reborn
2x Second Coin Toss
1x Polymerization
1x Creature Swap
1x Scapegoat
1x The Sanctuary in the Sky
1x Valhalla, the Hall of the Fallen

Traps: 10

1x Arcana Call
2x Reversal of Fate
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Solemn Judgment
2x Gamble
1x Lucky Chance
1x Ojama Trio

The first problem to jump out here is that there are too many cards in this deck. Specifically, there are 10 cards too many. We should deal with removing those first. I suggest the following:

-1 The Sanctuary in the Sky
-1 Barrel Dragon
-1 Ojama Trio
-1 Scapegoat
-1 Future Fusion
-1 Polymerization
-2 Gamble
-1 Sand Gambler
-1 Arcana Force EX - The Dark Ruler

Most of these were removed for similar reasons that ACC mentioned, but I also removed a copy of The Dark Ruler because you need to cut down on the Tribute Monsters as well as stick to the easiest forms of summoning that you can. Since the Dark Ruler requires three monsters on the field, this does not qualify and thus we can remove a copy for the sake of space.

We are left with:

Monsters: 24

1x Blowback Dragon
2x Arcana Force XIV – Temperance
1x Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
2x Arcana Force XVIII – The Moon
1x Arcana Force XXI – The World
1x Arcana Force EX – The Dark Ruler

1x Twin-Barrel Dragon
2x Arcana Force 0 – The Fool
2x Arcana Force 1 – The Magician
2x Arcana Force 3 – The Empress
2x Arcana Force 4 – The Emperor
2x Arcana Force VII – The Chariot
1x Marshmallon
1x Snipe Hunter
2x Gambler of Legend
1x Time Wizard

Spells: 9

2x Light Barrier
1x Heavy Storm
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Monster Reborn
2x Second Coin Toss
1x Creature Swap
1x Valhalla, the Hall of the Fallen

Traps: 7

1x Arcana Call
2x Reversal of Fate
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Solemn Judgment
1x Lucky Chance

Now we are at least down to 40 cards, yet the deck still has a bit too much focus on monster effects, so we need to adjust it to allow for more support.

-2 Gambler of Legend
-1 Blowback Dragon
-1 Time Wizard
-1 Arcana Call/Reversal of Fate

+1 Sangan
+1 Valhalla, the Hall of the Fallen
+2 Cup of Ace
+1 Light Barrier

Cup of Ace is the token draw engine, acting as a Pot of Greed upon a successful coin toss. Sangan is added over Time Wizard simply because he serves as monster retrieval, being able to pull out virtually any low-level monster this deck has. You can add Time Wizard to the Side Deck if you want, but if you are making this deck specifically for CARD GAMES or a similar RP, then a Side Deck is rather useless since most duels will only be a single round. Valhalla and Light Barrier are added for pure support, helping with the gambling monsters in this deck. Also, with Light Barrier maxed out, you could theoretically remove a copy of Second Coin Toss for another copy of Creature Swap, but I personally advise against it.

Alternatively, you could focus specifically on high-level Arcana Force monsters, removing The Magician and The Emperor entirely for an extra copy of The Empress and a full retinue of The Lovers, then exchanging both copies of Temperance for two more copies of The World, but this falls more to personal preference.

As for the Side Deck, however...

-2 Heavy Mech Support Platform
-2 Cestus of Dagla

+3 Nova Summoner
+1 Cup of Ace