Fusion summon, synchro summon, xyz summon, pendulum summon, and link summon. The one deck that does everything except ritual summoning returns and is stronger than ever! D/D/D got some new cards in Battle of Chaos, propelling the strategy right back into the midst of the competitive scene!
D/D/D is a deck that is notorious for being the hardest to pilot in the game. With its variety of options, routes, and plays, depending on any given situation, the deck takes a lot of time and practice to master. Back in January 2017, it was considered the best deck of the game for a grand total of two weeks, until Raging Tempest dropped, which introduced Zoodiacs. We all know what happened after that.
Fast forward to February 2022 and the deck finally gets some decent support pushing it back into the spotlight. The deck now has twelve starter cards, which almost guarantees that you will find a way to kickstart your combos. The deck also has more negation than ever now and even gained a new trick by stealing the opponent's monsters either with a monster effect or a trap card effect.
The New Cards and What Makes Them So Good
The first card we will introduce is , a level four pendulum monster with a low scale of one. Its pendulum effect isn't very relevant, but it's always nice to be able to increase one of your monster's attack to run over big problematic monsters. It's the monster effect we are interested in here. if you control a D/D monster, you can special summon it from your hand in defense position, giving you an extra body on board. It can also help you fuel your graveyard as you can discard either a D/D or a Dark Contract card to draw a card if pendulum summoned. The last effect is probably the most relevant one. If this card is special summoned from the graveyard, something D/D decks can easily do, you can add a D/D card from your deck to your hand, except for the card itself.
It is not a starter card and will always have to be paired with your starters, i.e. , , , and the card that searches for any of them, . Gryphon helps you get the deck's xyz plays going by allowing you to go into , a card that was overlooked prior to the new support. Caeser's last effect is what really matters. By sending it to the graveyard, you can add any Dark Contract card from your deck to your hand. Ideally, you'd want to revive it and use as material to summon , which cannot only burn your opponent and lower one of their monster's attack and defense by 1,000, but its second effect allows you to fuel your graveyard with any D/D or Dark Contract card. Preferably, it would be a D/D monster that can further your plays such as .
Moving on to the new star of the extra deck, . This is the most expensive D/D/D card from the set, but you want to play two copies of it. It's still affordable anyway. A rank ten xyz monster, it can be summoned on top of any D/D/D monster, giving you instant access to a 3,000 attack beat stick. Once per chain, if your opponent activates a monster effect from the field, you can either detach two materials from this card or destroy a Dark Contract card to attach that monster to Machinex as material. Stealing monsters in 2022 is something that might disrupt a lot of decks.
Next up, we have a field spell card, . It is usually a one-of copy only. It is basically a floodgate that inflicts 1,000 damage to the opponent anytime they summon an extra deck monster similar to a D/D/D extra deck monster you control. The floodgate part of the effect is that they cannot summon another monster with similar mechanism during the same turn. So, if you control Machinex and they special summon an xyz monster, they take the damage and are unable to summon any other xyz monsters for the rest of the turn. The card also has a bonus effect. If it is sent to the graveyard, you can add any D/D monster that's either in the graveyard or face up in the extra deck to your hand. This last effect is a hard once per turn to avoid abusing it.
Finally, we have the new trap card, , which is searchable by . It is basically a watered-down version of . If you control a D/D/D monster, you can take control of an opponent's monster until the end of the turn, but it cannot attack and its effect is negated. If it is a monster that was special summoned from the extra deck, it is treated as a D/D/D monster. This allows you to xyz summon Machinex over it.
The Deck
Here is a sample list of how the deck should probably look like going forward.
D/D/D Sample Decklist
Main Deck
Extra Deck
Side Deck
3
3
3
3
1
1
1
2
1
1
2
3
3
1
1
3
1
1
2
1
3
1
3
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
3
3
3
3
3
The once useless {c=Abyss King Gilgamesh} is now one the stars of the deck. Not only does it set up your pendulum scales to help you extend by pendulum summoning and then summoning from the grave by scaling , but it's also a way to get as well as into the graveyard to activate their effects.
In North America, the deck plays slightly differently since is legal there. Sadly, it's a promo card that did not make its way to Europe yet and therefore remains unusable over here. It has a scale zero, which allows the pendulum summoning of the level one monster . I hope we get it soon because it gives more options and can help you flood the field in certain situations. It also has some really nice monster effects—yet, it seems they are for another time.
Consistent, fun, and difficult, this is a very rewarding deck to pilot as most people will have no idea at which point to interrupt your plays. Personally, I'm building the deck and will try it out in some locals soon, before deciding whether or not I should take it to a bigger event.
What do you think about the deck? Do you think it will be a strong meta competitor or will it fail to make an impact? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section down below!
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily Cardmarket's.
