Anti-Meta Warriors

What is Anti-Meta Warriors?

Anti-Meta Warriors (also known as "Warrior Aggro") is a Yu-Gi-Oh! Goat Format deck distinguished by the presence of 2 Reinforcement of the Army and several aggressive warriors to search out with it, including but not limited to D.D. Warrior Lady Lady, D.D. Assailant, Exiled Force, Blade Knight, Mystic Swordsman LV2, and Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke. They also play a higher trap count in order to back their threats up, typically including 3 Solemn Judgments. A special version of this deck, often called “Gearfried Warriors,” plays 3 Gearfried the Iron Knight and 3 Smoke Grenade of the Thief.

Anti-Meta Warriors Strategy

Anti-Meta Warriors is a deck that seeks to limit the opponent’s options through aggression. They follow mantra that there’s no such thing as wrong threats, only wrong answers. It seeks to capitalize on the fact that the control decks in the format are usually relying in synergies to stabilize the board and can be slow to setup early game. It does this by using cards like King Tiger Wanghu, Abyss Soldier, or Blade Knight to deal with the opponent’s monsters while also pushing for damage. If all goes well, the opponent’s lifepoints will be reduced to 0 within the first 10 turns of the game while they struggle to establish a board.

Anti-Meta Warriors Core Interactions

Anti-Meta Warriors will ideally have a threat and multiple traps (or Book of Moon) to back it up. They take advantage of Dust Tornados and Sakuretsu Armors protect the monsters from potential destruction. Solemn Judgment offers reliable support in both protecting the back row from Heavy Storms and for allowing Warriors to push through Mirror Force and Torrential Tribute. Reinforcement of the Army acts as a tutor for specific warrior monsters that fit the given situation. If the opponent is setting monsters it can find Exiled Force, Blade Knight, Mystic Swordsman Level 2. If the the deck has already cleared monsters from the board, Reinforcements can fetch Don Zaloog and attack the opponent’s hand. Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke can eliminate defense position monsters like Gravekeeper’s Spy, Spirit Reaper, and sometimes Chaos Sorcerer. The Gearfried version of this deck can play a hand disruption role by using Smoke Grenade of the Thief with Gearfried the Iron Knight. It also often plays Trap Dustshoot. With perfect information and your opponent’s best options gone, you can often steamroll through your opponent in the early game. Abyss Soldier+Sinister Serpent can be a key interaction in the deck that not only helps move cards out of the way so that attacks get through without issue, but it also opens up high damage output potential. Combined with Premature Burial, Warriors can summon an Abyss soldier, then use Premature Burial to bring a fallen soldier back from the graveyard. If everything sticks, the deck can push for more damage by using Abyss Soldier’s effect to bounce the Premature Burial back to the hand. Since Premature Burial wasn’t destroyed, the monster it brought back gets to stay on the field, allowing Warriors to use it again and bring back another monster.