Saving the Stars: The Future of Satellarknights

I have had more success with Satellarknights than with any other deck.  This weekend, I won 10 packs and pulled a Virgil – not bad for a knight’s work.  Still, my faith in the deck is pretty limited.  Let’s be clear: Doolists taking this deck into a major tournament are going with an underdog.  

I'm going to spend two weeks with my head in the stars.  This week's post will focus on the main deck.  Next week, I will look at extra and side deck choices.   

Tell Tale Problems

While Tellarknights shine in their ability to search and recur, they have few significant drawbacks.  First, they run a ponderous number of traps.  Meanwhile, Shaddoll’s and Qlipharts are moving on to near trapless editions.  Even Burning Abyss decks are shedding traps as demonstrated by Jake Phinney’s six-trap wonder deck at ARG Orlando.   

While powerful, traps are inherently slow cards that are great at preventing problems.  Seeing red when you’re going first is a wonderful experience.  However, they do a poor job of getting you out of jams.  Bottomless is a fine card but not when there is a scrap yard’s worth of Qlips on the field. 

Qliphart rising has also ushered in the great age of set card destruction.  Some Qlip players in Orlando were playing triple MST and triple Night Beam.  This type of one-for-one destruction hurts Tellar players greatly since a significant portion of their card advantage comes from COTH and Oasis. Compare this mechanic to Shaddoll and BA players whose advantage comes from sending cards to the graveyard. If this trend weren’t enough, enter Denko Sekka who can single-handedly shut down 40% of your deck. 

The second problem is the deck’s reliance on normal summoning.  This idea has quickly evolved from sophisticated concept to bandied buzzword.  Of the major meta decks, Tellars are burdened the most with this criticism, which is ironic since Tellars are also the first archetype to get their effects regardless of the manner in which they are summoned.  From a mechanic standpoint, their effects are completely independent from normal summoning. However, this term really refers to the ease of special summoning.  Compared to Harpies and Samurais, Tellars are not so normal summon dependent. However, the label is well deserved for a deck whose set up is 3 turns longer than the rest of the meta. 

The third problem is their vulnerability to destruction.  Creating a wall of Satellarknights takes planning and several turns.  Knock it down with Dark Hole and the Tellar doolist will have to start all over again. This experience is dramatically different in for the BA player.  Activating Dark Hole can give them card advantage.  Now that Dark Hole is at two, I fear our little walls will be knocked into dust. 

Mini Makeover

For those of you who still wish to reach for the stars, here are a few principles that I try to incorporate into my builds:

Honest is essential.  I am happy to tell any purist to get over their righteous indignation and play the card.  If Qlipharts can main Limiter Removal, we can play two Honests.  In fact, I will sometimes “accidently” reveal my Honest while shuffling in order to enhance my bluffs.  I’ve had opposing doolists book a lone Alsahm in order to play around a potential Honest.

Bait out the destruction.  My trap lineup is a bit different.  With the exception of Nova, they are all continuous*.  They are not reactive with the possible exception of Emptiness.  Furthermore, they usually require a response.  This is why I dropped Fiendish Chain for Battleguard Rage. I can put a 2800 point monster on the field without special summoning leading most Shaddoll players to burn a MST to stop it.  I’m fine with that play since the goal is to protect COTH and eventually reuse it with Triverr. Of course, the card is not without risk, since popping the monster will leave you at a neg 1.  Nevertheless, it's time for a little out of the box thinking.

Limit the dead cards.  This deck does not have the liberty to brick.  Drawing Altair without cards in the graveyard gives you an Axe Raider. This is why I play Foolish Burial.  Between the COTHs, Oases, and Altiers, Foolish is never dead.

Don’t forget Thrasher.  Photon Thrasher is really a pumped up Vega.  Sure, you can’t summon him when you have board presence, but that’s not the time you need help.  I have found him most useful in getting rid of a defense position Burning Abyss monster.  By doing so, Fire Lake is often dead and I can proceed with the rest of my set up.  He also swings easily over Dinko Sukka.

3 Satellarknight Deneb 

3 Satellarknight Altair

3 Satellarknight Unukalhai

1 Satellarknight Vega

1 Satellarknight Alsahm

2 Photon Thrasher

2 Honest

3 Reinforcement of the Army

2 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Satellar Skybridge (or Forbidden Lance)

1 Snatch Steal

1 Foolish Burial

3 Magic Planter

3 Stellarnova Alpha

3 Call of the Haunted

2 Oasis

3 Vanity’s Emptiness

2 Battleguard Rage

*Hence,  Magic Planter is nearly always live - at least until Dark Law comes out.

Maxi Makeover

For the most part, the fixes given above are not particularly radical.  We are still a long ways from the 6 trap deck.  Here is my attempt to build of such a Satellar Deck:   

3 Satellarknight Deneb

3 Satellarknight Altair

2 Satellarknight Unukalhai

2 Satellarknight Vega

2 Satellarknight Alsahm

1 Satellarknight Procyon

2 Photon Thrasher

2 Honest

3 Reinforcement of the Army

2 Mystical Space Typhoon

3 Satellar Skybridge

1 Snatch Steal

1 Magnum Shield

2 Hidden Armory

1 Soul Charge

3 Enemy Controller

1 Raigeki

3 Stellarnova Alpha

3 Call of the Haunted

This deck still requires some tweaking.  I am not sure if triple E Con and Skybridge are a good idea.  Forbidden Lance and Chalice may be reasonable alternatives.  That said, this deck feels like a Satellar deck that is trying to be a Shaddoll deck.  While Diamond has blown some life into the price of Deneb, I remain rather pessimistic about this archetype as a whole. 

Nevertheless, the stars have been good to me and for that reason I will continue to play it.

For those of you who aren’t astronomers by trade, here’s a pronunciation guide:

Altair: AL - tair

Alsahm: AL - sahm

Betelgeuse: BET-el-jooz

Deneb: DEN-ebb

Procyon: PRO-see-on

Rigel: RYE-jel

Sirius: SEER-ee-us

Unukalhai: uh-NOO-kul-lye

Vega: VEY-ga

Tellar Tech

Sometime in the past three weeks, I went to bed playing a meta deck like Satellarknights and woke up playing an anti-meta deck like Satellarknights.  Evidently, the stars have fallen leaving little but a burning abyss. 

Despite the loss of prestige, power, and pennies, I decided to stick with my wayward knights. Maybe I was only one tech card away from Satellar Supremacy?  

I began by searching for all cards with the term “warrior” in the description.  This strategy yielded 216 cards, most of which were pretty bad. However, Magnum Shield, the 131^st card, did catch my attention.  This is an equip spell card that boosts the attack of a warrior monster by its defense.  


For the most part, equip spell cards are like marshmallow Peeps. As a kid, you love ‘em; but, the taste wears a little thin when you’re an adult.  Noob doolists love to boost their cards with extra attack. However, they do it by giving up card advantage.  Spot removal of your monster and you are down two cards to their one.  

That said, there is reason to consider this card.  First of all, the attack boost can be substantial as the table to the right suggests.  All of the normal summoned Tellar knights get over Winda and two of them can bring down Construct.  Furthermore, it forces Shaddoll players to use materials from their field or hand.  Likewise, Burning Abyss players can struggle against big monsters.  They will be forced to use a Monarch effect to get rid of the card.

The card should be used judiciously, which is why I wouldn’t play more than two.  Early in the match, you can force an opponent to burn a MST, which may preserve your Call of the Haunted plays.  Late in the game, it can give you a quick and unexpected OTK.  For example, this weekend I was paired with a Frognarch player who seemed a little too eager to let me attack into an open field.  Knowing that he had Gorz in hand, I attacked with Excalibur at 6,000 points for game.

Those of you who are still playing Satellarknights know it’s an uphill battle.   It’s unfortunate because this deck would certainly have been considered a tier one deck if it was released a year or two ago.  Nevertheless, it’s still a good deck and one that is quickly becoming affordable.  So here’s to all of you who are still looking to the stars.  

This weekend's build - a little burn with a little control.

Beating Shaddolls

I admit to being a fan of Satellarknights.  The cards are aesthetically pleasing; the theme is noble; and the design is balanced.  While the stalwart will point out that today’s balanced is yesterday’s broken, the archetype is not overrunning the current meta.  In fact, I don’t anticipate that it ever will.  Though Stellarknight Trihiver will be a welcome XYZ addition, the knights fail because of the clause that limits game actions to only tellarknights. 

I call my current build “Stars and Cars” because it combines Tellarknights and Geargia.  While eclectic, the deck is one of the most consistent that I have ever played.  It maintains hand advantage, provides flexibility, and rarely produces dead hands … 

… it also consistently loses to Shaddolls.  In brief, the deck reliably makes Shaddoll Fusion live, which leads to Winda, which leads to tears.  Given the lack of recent Tellar tops, this problem can’t be easily overcome. 

The low moments in Yugioh give doolists a choice: Join ‘em or Screw ‘em.  Since I have already invested too much money, I opted for screw ‘em.  Though zeal and salt may be on my side, successful construction of an anti-meta deck is a bit of a long shot.  The list of positive features in a Shaddoll deck is formidable.  Consider the following:

• Flip effects
• Graveyard Effects
• Search Effects
• Anti-Meta Effects (e.g. Winda)
• Spell Effects
• Large Boss Monsters (particularly when combined with dragons or Lightsworns)

Most anti-meta decks specialize in stopping one or two game mechanics.  Shaddolls gives us six.  Furthermore, some of these mechanics are very difficult to stop.  Graveyard effects are negated by only a few cards, a fact that also causes problems when playing Burning Abyss as well. 

Inspired by ROTA’s promotion to three, I took another look at my Harpie Hanzo deck.  The deck list is given below:

Monsters:

Harpies: Channeler x 3; Lady #1 x 3; Queen x 3, Dancer x 1

Friends: Hanzo x 3; D.D. Warrior Lady x 1, Evilswarm Hraesvelg x 2, Dark Simorgh x 2

Spells: Soul Charge x 1, D Fissure x 1, Raigeki x 1, Elegant Egotist x 1, Hysteric Sign x 3, Hunting Ground x 3, ROTA x 3

Traps:  Hysteric Party x 3, Art of Transformation x 2, Fiendish Chain x 3, Soul Drain x 1

Extra: Castel x 2, Chidori x 2, Zerofyne x2, Abyss Dweller x 2, Silent Honor Ark x 2, Dire Wolf x 1, Exciton x 1, Blackship x 1, Beserk x 1, Heartlandraco x 1

Side: Anti-Spell Fragrance x 3, Stygian Dirge x 3, Emptiness x 3, Soul Release x 3, Creature Swap x 3

While this deck won’t stop every aspect of the Shaddoll deck, it does have several devilish features:

No Setting!  Dark Simorgh keeps opponents from setting any cards on the field.  Good luck if you are playing the Jonesian 20 trap card deck.  Thanks to the triple ROTA, doolists have six cards in their deck that will get them to the big bird. 

Big Body: Not only does Simorgh hinder opponents play, he is also something of a beater.  While Hunting Ground is active, Dark Simorgh has a 2900 attack.  More importantly, he is not summoned from the extra deck, which lowers the effectiveness of Shaddoll Fusion.

Decreasing the Graveyard Threat: There are 13 cards that take away graveyard activation: Warrior Lady x 1, Hraesvelg x 2, D Fissure x 1, Soul Drain x 1, Castel x 2, Chidori x 2, Abyss Dweller x 2, Silent Honor Ark x 2. 

The best XYZ ever! Ice Beast Zerofyne is the single most broken and most unknown card in the game.  It negates monster effects and gains 300 for each face up card on the field.  This latter property is the reason for the 16 continuous spells and traps. 

 I will post my predictions for all of the archetypes for the next format in the coming days. 

I have invited haou judai to become an author for this esteemed blog.  This  invitation also goes out to anyone over the age of 40 who plays this game with passion.  Who knows, maybe I will change the name of the blog to "The Minds of the Yugiold".

Summon the Heroes

So campers, can Heroes have an impact on the current meta?  I’m not interested in some virtual, OCG-defined diversion.  I’m talking about a game with real TCG cards played against real TCG people.  In other words, can our Heroes overcome all that the Duelist Alliance will throw our way?

Before answering the question, one has to get past all the whining about the imprisonment of Stratos and the delayed arrival of the structure deck.  There is little to be gained by wishing for cards that don’t exist in a language that can be read by most of the people on this continent.  Take it from someone who waited nine months for Tin Goldfish only to have their precious gadgets blown off the tables by the Droolers.   Real men don’t play proxies. 

The Heroic Anti-Meta

I believe Heroes can be a force with the currently available card pool.  To do so, the deck will have to overcome the Shaddolls.  Soon the card formerly known as Midrash will slow special summoning to a crawl.  This dark deck has the capability of neutering Satellarknights, Gears, Sylvans, and even the ever-invincible Infernities.  However, this restriction means little to Hero players.  All it takes is one well played Miracle Fusion to turn the duel around. 

So with an anti-meta mindset, here is my deck list:

Monsters: Alius x 3, Bubbleman x 2, Photon Thrasher x 2, Evocator Chevalier* x 1, Fire Hand x 2, Ice Hand x 2, Kuribandit x 2

Spells: Miracle Fusion x 3, E Call x 2, ROTA x 2, Pot of Duality x 3, Gemini Spark x 3, Dark Hole x 1, Forbidden Chalice x 2, Forbidden Lance x 2

Traps: Solemn Warning x 1, CED x 1, Skill Drain x 3, Summon Limit x 3

Extra Deck: Shining x 2, Abs Zero x 2, Escuridao x 1, Nova Master x 2, Gaia x 1, Exciton x 1, Ark x 1, Abyss x 1, Castel x 1, Emeral x 1, Black Ship x 1, Crazy Box x 1 

Side Deck: DD Warrior Lady x 1, Maxx C x 3, MST x 3, Super Poly x 2, Parallel World x 2, M Cosmos x 1, D Fissure x 1, Dark Bribe x 2

The real ace of the deck is Skill Drain.  This card shuts down so many mainstream decks that its unrestricted status seems like a cooperate oversight. Pay 1,000 LP and watch your opponent weep.  Furthermore, most other Skill Drain decks are a thing of the past. The one exception may be Dark World, but Hero players have a way around that deck as well. 

Summon Limit is the second best anti-meta tech. In many ways, this is the trap version of Winda.  I like it’s stability compared to Vanity’s Emptiness.  While it is dead against Shaddoll’s, it is quite live against the rest of the spam-happy meta. 

A Little Help from Dragons of Legend

Search cards mean a great deal to Hero players as evidenced by the nostalgia for Stratos and yearning for Shadow Mist.  Drawing the right spell can mean the difference in winning or losing.  Part of the consistency problem is overcome with triple Pot of Duality.  However, I really like Kuribandit in this deck.  The little fur ball can get you to Miracle Fusion, Skill Drain, or Gemini Spark. 

Ice and Fire Hand are also nice adjuncts.  These cards can set up a wall of sorts and let you draw into your bigger plays.  They are also unaffected by Skill Drain and serve as materials for Nova and Absolute Zero. 

Flexible Side Deck

While Skill Drain is great for the field, it does little for the host of cards that activate in the graveyard.  Once again, Heroes demonstrate unparalleled flexibility.  After siding out Fire and Ice Hands, one can play D Fissure, M Cosmos, and Parallel World Fusion.  I do keep Kuribandit in so that I can get to D Fissure and M Cosmos.  

Then there’s Super Poly!  I don’t main it because the cost is rather high.  However, the card is a great out to problem monsters.  More importantly, it doesn’t destroy the opponent’s monster and it is a downright an indefensible play.

The only unusual side deck card is Dark Bribe.  The last time this card saw light outside my binder was with my Malefics.  Usually, I really don’t like giving up advantage.  That said, spell cards are becoming much more common.  Not only do we have Shaddoll Fusion but we also have The Monarchs Storm Forth and Artifact Ignition.  While stopping traps has become commonplace, stopping spells remains problematic.  The card also can protect Skill Drain from MST.  So it’s back in the side deck.

Here's to the Heroes! 

 * I could be talked into dropping Evocator and a Spark for two Barbarros