Goat Format Championship 12 Deck Tech: Zombie

Ever since Delinkquent's top finish with Zombies at FLC17 in April, zombie decks have exploded in popularity. Instead of working with traditional zombie tropes, most have opted to work with Delinkquent's shell, hoping to mirror his inspirational success. Alex, who goes by Necromancy4kids on Discord (which is probably the best name anyone piloting zombies could have) is one such player. Of course, he's arrived today with his own tweaks to the deck as well. 

Deck List

Overview

Even though it was possible to build zombie-themed decks with the release of Castle of Dark Illusions in 2002's Metal Raiders set, it wasn't until Pyramid Turtle was released in 2003's Pharaonic Guardian that the archetype saw any real competitive play. Unlike other recruiters, Turtle searches out monsters based on their defense stat, so it's possible to use it to special summon powerful monsters that would otherwise require a tribute to bring into play. Traditionally, Vampire Lord was the target of choice, with Ryu Kokki often played as a singleton, if at all. Book of Life rounded out the core support cards, and allowed for even more special summon 

shenanigans. It was this set of staple zombies that Eric Wu took to a top finish at 2005's Shonen Jump Championship. Though not a pure Zombie list, his Zombie Chaos deck put zombies on the map, and was a success that the format would not see again until Delinkquent's FLC17 finish. 

Player Insight

Fast-forwarding to today, Delinkquent's influence on the archetype is clear.  Though not specifically citing his list as an inspiration, Necormancy4kids does play many of the same core cards, and seems to approach the strategy in the same way. ​

I wanted to play something that was both original and also strong. I also wanted to disrupt Chaos as much as possible, and there is no better way to do that than by denying them the Chaos cards and the monsters in grave to summon them.​I also had the desire to play Great Phantom Thief, a card which nobody really has seen before and that I feel can really only be used in a deck like this one.Dust Trapshoot, Solemn Judgement, and Kycoo were all chosen to stop Chaos monsters from ever touching the field. Great Phantom Thief is great when combined with Trap Dustshoot, as it's a repeatable Mind Crush and often forced the opponent to use removal out of fear of losing their best card. Ryu Kokki is able to take on both Chaos monsters by itself as well, destroying Sorc in battle or BLS with its effect. Many opponents forget that Ryu Kokki has an effect or how it works, and walk right into it.

At the time this article was written, Necormancy had an impressive 3-0 record, and was on his way to repeating Delinkquesnt's success. With interesting cards like Phantom Thief at his disposal, this is certainly an exciting run! Though not confident in his actual play today, he definitely seems confident in the deck! ​

I have been playing very poorly thus far, but have been lucky to draw some combination of trinity pieces in almost every game [...] "Let me show you power! This is the overwhelming power I have obtained by fighting a different way!"