Good evening world, this is xiexieyi bringing you a deck review of the post-March 2012 banned-list, "T.G. Stun". Making a huge splash in YCS Atlanta, this deck cripples many of the Tier 1 and Tier 2 decks through an astounding amount of back row hate as well as powerful searchers and beaters. Though many players speculated that this deck would be dead due to the limiting of the popular "T.G. Striker: and "Reborn Tengu", this is not the case. "Tengu" for one has a few substitutes, namely "Photon Sabre Tiger", and the limiting of "T.G. Striker" hurt the deck a little, but ultimately made room for other cards. This deck has enjoyed success in multiple regionals as well as high YCS rankings to date.
Pros: This deck is surprisingly fast to set up and quite cheap to build. This deck contains many monster searchers and floaters, allowing you to thin out your deck allowing you to top deck cards quicker and more efficiently. The vast pool of traps available for you to effectively utilize and harness are almost endless and though many cards may happen to be continuous or face down, mass destruction cards such as "Heavy Storm" and "Dark Hole" do not effect this deck as much as one may think. As a stun deck, much of the meta is crippled by this deck thus making this a strong deck to run in most major tournaments.
Cons: As this deck does not usually spam special summons at constant intervals, if your normal summons are blocked then you will be set back a turn. As the name implies, this deck runs a powerful T.G. engine consisting of "Rhino", "Warwolf", and "Striker". These three "T.G." monsters all have their effects activated when the hit the graveyard. What happens then when you come across "Dimensional Fissure" or "Macro Cosmos"? Sure you can side in your extra MST(s), but unless you reach them you will have a difficult time searching for some of your monsters. Another con is vulnerability to decks that can capitalize off of "Skill Drain". Decks such as "Malefics" that spam unnecessarily large monsters will be benefited by this usually useful card rather than hurt by it.
Overall: All sides taken into account, this deck overall is astounding due to is innate ability to make meta decks fairly vulnerable. It's cheap, can cover its own bases, and is fun to play with.
Meta Matchups:
Dino Rabbit: This "fearsome" deck is very easy to beat with "T.G. Stun" as "Skill Drain" defeats any powerful beat stick they present. Though "Rescue Rabbit" is able to get around your effect negation, cards such as "TG1-EM1" steal your opponents monsters and allows you to plus off of your soon to be destroyed "T.G. monster. If none of these option are available, the fact is, you probably have a large beat stick ready to be "Horn of The Phantom Beast"-ed allowing you to +2 and quickly win the game. Good side deck options are "Electric Virus", "Chain Disappearance", and extra "TG1-EM1"'s.
Inzektors: These annoying insects do get around "Starlight Road" with "Hornet", but honestly, "Skill Drain" will usually stay out long enough to severely cripple the swarm, and while some "Inzektor" decks have some consistency issues, you will not. Worst comes to worst, your sided "Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror"'s will wreak havoc assuring your win. Good side deck choices are "The Transmigration Prophecy", "Chain Disappearance", "Kycoo", and "Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror".
Wind-Ups: Unless you can get to your "Skill Drain" or set up your field first, this Tier 1, meta deck will give you a bit of trouble. First off, this deck, aside from the loop, can run just as much hate as you can, aka. "Dimensional Fissure", "Dimensional Prison", etc. Secondly, they can set up just as fast as you can with mass special summoning, and if they can get around your hate, you might lose. Yes "Skill Drain" kills "Wind-Ups", but if you do not draw into it, be prepared. Side deck choices are "Chain Disappearance", "Maxx "C"", and "The Transmigration Prophecy".
Dark Worlds: This Tier 2 deck can be just as annoying as "Wind-Ups". The fact that they are also able utilize "Skill Drain" just as effectively as you can creates multiple complications. Another annoying card that destroys any spell/trap based stun deck is "Eradicator Epidemic Virus", which decimates all the spells or traps in your hand for three turns. One of your best weapons against the "Dark World" army is your side deck, for which good choices are: "Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer", "The Transmigration Prophecy", and "Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror".
This is the main deck of my own personal "T.G. Stun" decklist as shown in the preceding image. Below I have provided you a basic breakdown and explanation of each card and why I run it. If there are any doubts or questions about what each card does, I have provided you the links for those
cards in the form of their respective names. Any questions or comments feel free to ask in the comment section below, and without further ado let us begin with the main deck.
T.G. Stun Decklist (Main Deck): (40)
Monsters (15):
x3 T.G. Rush Rhino: This powerful beast-warrior monster's effect gives it and edge over annoyances such as "Thunder King Rai-oh" and other irritating 1900 monsters. As an added bonus, it is a target for "Horn of the Phantom Beast" giving you a 2400 beatstick will "Skill Drain" on the field. In addition, when it is destroyed you can search for any "T.G." other than your "Rhino". What a beast ... no pun intended.
x3 T.G. Warwolf: This card at first may not seem like much, it does have the same searching ability as most "T.G." monsters, but the fact that its stats are fairly sub-par works to your advantage. One example of this is the hated "TG1-EM1". This allows you to trade one of your opponent's heavy hitters with your "wolf", allowing you to destroy it and gain pluses. This card can also be used in conjunction with "T.G. Striker", but that's in the next paragraph so keep reading!
x1 T.G. Striker: With it's "Cyber Dragon"-like effect, this level 2 tuner has the standard search and destroy effect as the previous two monsters. This card however allows other, "Warwolf"'s effect to go off, giving you two monsters on the field for a level 5 synchro monster.
x3 Photon Sabre Tiger: This card ultimately replaced the all-powerful "Reborn Tengu" due to its ability as a level 3 floater. In some cases this card is even better than "Tengu". One reason is its effect which states, "If you do not control another "Photon Sabre Tiger", this card loses 800 ATK". Though this effect may seem like an effort to keep these tigers on the endangered list, this actually provides these beasts with sharpened claws when combined with "Skill Drain", where these cats re-attain their weighty 2000 base attack stat. And once again, combined with "Horn of the Phantom Beast", this cat can run over many powerful monsters and rip them to shreds.
x2 Thunder King Rai-Oh: Known to some circles as "Thunder King Hell-No", this card is essential to many stun decks due to its heavy 1900 attack stat as well as its ability to prevent either player from adding cards to his/her hand. Though it is the only monster in the main deck that cannot utilize "Horn of the Phantom Beast", the fact that it prevents many of your opponents plays and its handy negation effect gives this card a spot in the monster lineup.
x3 Beast King Barbaros: This crazy beast can be normal summoned at the cost of lowering its usual 3000 attack to a still hefty 1900. Not to worry however, when "Skill Drain" is activated, this card goes straight back up to 3000. And when "Horn of the Phantom Beast" is played, this card becomes almost unstoppable with 2700 attack without "Skill Drain', and 3800 with.
Spells (8):
x3 Pot of Duality: Need a little more consistency? Add a pinch of "Duality" and there you have it. Honestly though this card really is needed in the deck. Being able to handpick your own cards allows for quick and easy set up at the cost of not being able to special summon, something that does not usually happen anyways.
x1 Dark Hole: Its a staple, what can I say?
x1 Pot of Avarice: This pot allows for the recycling of your floater and searcher monsters. This is especially good in late game as it gives you a chance to re-stock your deck and field.
x1 Monster Reborn: Yay for staples! On another note if "Beast King Barbaros" is special summoned with this card, he maintains his 3000 attack.
x1 Book of Moon: Stalls for days. Staple.
x1 Mystical Space Typhoon: Though two of this card is a staple in most if not all decks, this deck does not fear many spells or traps (aside from the occasional "Royal Decree") and thus does not need to fun the standard two.
Traps (17):
x3 Skill Drain: At the cost of 1000 lifepoints, this amazing card prevents all your opponents effects on the field, giving you the opportunity to rush in and defeat your opponents in one swoop. This card honestly wins games as it completely shuts down most of the current meta type. On another note most of your monsters' effects apply when sent to the graveyard or when in your hand, damaging your opponent more than you.
x3 Horn of the Phantom Beast: This amazing continuous trap gives you the upper hand in a duel, not just by the gain in attack points, but its ability to allow you to draw one card every time a monster is destroyed by battle. Pluses anyone?
x2 Torrential Tribute: This card is pretty much a staple due to its chainablilty as well as it's mass wiping technique.
x2 TG1-EM1: Wanna make your opponent rage? Switch one of your weak "T.G"'s with one of their bigger monsters to capitalize on your opponent's hard work and your "T.G."s' special abilities.
x1 Mirror Force: Crowd control.
x1 Solemn Warning: Negates a summon, cool.
x1 Solemn Judgment: Negates everything, even cooler.
x1 Call of the Haunted: Bringing back old friends form the grave is always fun, especially if it's a card like "Thunder King" or "Barbaros".
x1 Bottomless Trap Hole: This card is run instead of the extra "Warning" because it not only removes cards, but gives your deck a bit of diversity and adaptability while facing decks such as "Dark World"s.
x2 Starlight Road: When you run 17 traps in your main deck alone remember, use protection.
