Saturday, August 15, 2009

Junk and Debris and You: A History, Creation Guide, and Playing Guide.

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Part 0: Introduction
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(A note from Rauzes: this first part is a lot more interesting if you use your imagination, and imagine a reading room, with everyone huddled around the fireplace, on a rainy evening.)

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It was a dark and stormy night; and the rain fell in torrents...

Oh.

Hello there. I didnt see you enter.

Have a seat. The warmth of the hearth is best shared by many.

Tonight our story is that of Junk and Debris, the rather adventurous duo whom, needless to say, have made quite a name for themselves in their various quests amongst the stars, often in a very comical manner.

They have journeyed from the skies to the stars.

From a world of Rigid Ice to a world of Raging Infernoes.


To worlds of pitch darkness, and in the future, to a world of pure light.

There are countless stories of the duo, stories told in books such as this one, or stories spread by tounge, rumors that spread across the world.

Tonight I shall share with you a very unique one, that of their beginnings.

Tonight's story does not begin with their first adventure, or their first capture, for that matter.

We shall be going much farther back, back before they even met,

back to the the first day,

back to:


The Origin Story.




And so we begin.




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Part 1: Day Zero: Inspiration.
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It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents. All was calm and silent in the streets...

Only it wasnt partularily stormy, and there was no rain...

The lights around the city were, as always, brighter than the stars of the sky, for the city of Tokyo is our setting.

A smoking wreckage came into sight, but quickly ran off, as this one was dressed in a messy suit and smelled of old tobbaco.

Another smoking wreckage passed, and yet another, as if trying to escape that which was hunting them.

Then, as our protagonist(hereafter referred to as; "The Protagonist", or, if you are french, "Le Protagoniste"), turned a corner, a spectacle revealed itself before him, a whole different smoking wreckage.

A car had crashed into a telephone pole.

Then it hit The Protagonist,

A news reporter rushing to the scene.

And that is when it became clear: That what was before The Protagonist was nothing more than junk and debris.

The Protagonist, as you may have noticed, is a player of Yu-Gi-Oh, much like most of you.

Which is why our story follows not that of the car, but of our protagonist.

Junk and Debris, both words meant the same thing: refuse, waste, and offal.

but what The Protagonist saw wasnt what others did.

Junk Synchron and Debris Dragon, used in Conjunction, was what The Protagonist saw.

Both being monsters that summoned synchro materials with themselves, used in conjunction, they could create easy 1 summon synchros.

Unfortunately, this was an untested concept, with no past whatsoever to back it up.


So thus, our Protagonist had to think for lists of Debris Dragon targets, looking for where there could be monsters of both level 2 and 3 with less than 500 ATK, where both levels had significant synergy.

To no avail...

This continued until The Protagonist reached home.

Feeling a drop fall, The Protagonist looked up, into the sky,

and realized:

All the answers were in space...

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Part 2: Prototype
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The first and foremost adventure of Junk and Debris was, as you know, into space.

However, several of the aspects included in today's builds were not present.

For example: at the very begining, the deck utilized an advantage engine using 3 Armageddon Knights to send 3 Cross porters to the grave, in order to search out Neo Spacians. This idea was eventually scrapped, with only 1 armageddon knight remaining, in favor of Convert Contact.

The origional lineup of Neo Spacians was: 3 Glow Moss, 1 Flare Scarab, and 1 Grand Mole. Obviously this caused a lot of problems, but it was to feed Debris Dragon.

The origional lineup also contained three copies of Raigeki Break, the reasoning behind which, was to use Armageddon Knight to gain advantage, so you could use Raigeki Break, and simultaneously throw away Glow Mosses.

Also, as the origional build was to intially cut costs to a minimum, and truely MINIMUM, no treeborn frog, and dandylion, as well as all monsters over the level of 4, were not included.

The origional build contained no foil cards. Only commons and rares.

Later builds scrapped the idea of a budget, and went all out to perfect the deck concept.

The concept was, as described in the origional post, to synchro summon once every turn, via Junk Synchrons and Debris Dragons.

Allure of Darkness and Crush Card Virus were rather recent inclusions, because the fact that Dark Panther could be used did not come in until post-playtesting.

Limit Reverse into Sangan to search Junk Synchron and Debris Dragon was the only way to search out the two tuners, so it was one of the more prominent parts of earlier builds.

Also included in earlier builds, but were later scrapped for the inclusion of better cards, were Manevolent Catastrophe, Smashing Ground and Fissure, and Threatening Roar.

Through lots of playtesting, and a growing group of followers, the build has developed into that which you see today.

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Part 3: Creating your own Junk and Debris Build
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As you know, there have been many builds of Junk and Debris possible, and many have been created.

These are not limited to the five you find on this blog, but other blogs and other people have created their own builds for this decktype.

However, there are several problems with creating a Junk and Debris deck.

To help against these, I have created a little guide for people to follow.

To begin, we have the basic framework of the Junk and Debris decktype, the raw stuff that makes it run regardless of the targets the engine you choose to run(more on this later in this section).

This consists of:
3 Junk Synchron,
3 Debris Dragon,
1 Sangan*

2 Pot of Avarice
2 Foolish Burial.
1 Card of Safe Return*

(Note: the cards marked with an asterix(*), are not a core part of the deck, but are definately one of the core aspects of the Junk and Debris deck type.)

This core is more or less all thats needed for the deck to be called a Junk and Debris deck.

The next step in the deck construction process is to add your engine, what your deck is going to run on.

This is the hardest step of the process, mainly due to the difficulty of engine creation.

There are several requirements to this engine, and fulfilling all of these are, needless to say, difficult.

Here are some requirements, the larger ones.

Having synergy between the level 2 and level 3.

The level 2 monster you choose must support the level 3 monster by searching or recruiting it, or have strong thematic support with the said level 3. Simply put, you need to be able to put both the level 2 and level 3 into the graveyard as soon as you can, and unless doing one leads to the other, its not going to be happening often.
Examples include: Cross porter, Shien's footsoldier, Batteryman Micro Cell.

The alternative to this is to have multiple targets for both levels, with enough synergy between them, so you can send just one and run off with that, which will give you enough time to run with the other target.
The downside to this take is that you must be able to set up one target, and leads to more possible dead hands.
Examples: Polymerization, sending Infernal Prodigy and King of Swamp for Absolute Zero, or using Raven to send Kahki, destroying a card, and allowing you to use that Kahki to synchro in the meantime.

The final alternative is to have lots of ways to send card to the graveyard.
This is shown in the latest episode of Junk and Debris, where Dark Grephers, Armageddon Knights, and Foolish Burials are used in conjuntion with searchers to search our Fhoen.
Usually, this can only apply to DARK based decks.

Thematic Support.
This is quite important. Unless both targets can benefit from similar support, or the thematic support allows for Debris Dragon or Junk Synchron support, the engine may possibly fail, or lead to very bad hands.
This includes, but not limited to: Thematic draw cards, thematic ways to send card to the graveyard.

The final step is to add the "Filler".

The "filler" in the deck would be cards such as Monster Reborn, and Mirror Force, staples to all decks, as well as cards such as Cyber Dragon, Dandylion, Treeborn Frog, etc, which will help with the deck's running.

While deciding which "filler" to include, it is best to try to include around 15 "Filler" cards.

Your Junk and Debris engine should not exceed the suggested 25 cards, including your "core".

Be sure to playtest the deck, just to make sure it works, and to tweak it to perfection


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Part 4: Playing the deck
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After seeing discussion on Junk and Debris builds, as well as seeing some people's "plays", it has become evident that many people are misplaying left and right.

Thus, this section is to assist with this, and guide you, on your plays of Junk and Debris.

Note that this section is mainly to deal with the Origional space variant, by far the most effective, as of testing, but is applicable to all builds.

The Setup: A setup is to have one target valid for Junk Syncron AND Debris Dragon(Level 2, less than 500 ATK), and a level 3 Debris Dragon target, in your graveyard. Your deck should have an engine that allows this to happen within the first few turns on almost 100% of the time.
In most cases, before even considering foolish burial-ing your Treeborn Frog or Dandylion, setup is prioritized(well, since dandylion does contribute to setup, its a valid target)


The Opening.

On turn 1, if you are going first, you want to throw your opponent off as to exactly what deck you are playing. Do this by setting a monster, preferably something you want to die, or if you are desperate, Debris Dragon(it has 2000 DEF, in case you didnt notice).
This causes the opponent to probally make a misplay on turn 1, giving you a huge advantage when you swing back next turn with an instant synchro monster, and possibly giving you enough momentum for game.
Best done on 1st turn going first on game 1.

The other alternative is the advantage gaining opening, with you summoning Armageddon Knight and sending Cross Porter to the graveyard, gaining a free neo spacian, or your similar stratgem your engine allows. This, while gaining advantage and possibly allowing for a partial setup, may leave you open to a OTK, or a huge swing in momentum.

The final choice for opening is your full setup + synchro on field opening. Simply put, with a combination of Convert Contact, Foolish Burials, Allure of Darkness, etc, you thin out your deck 5-10 cards off your deck, achieve complete setup, and summon Junk Synchron or Debris dragon and let it lead into a Synchro, followed by swinging over the enemy monster, or destroying the enemy's entire field, depending on the first turn situation. This is the best choice on going second on games two and three.


The Panic Button.

A good strategy to keep in mind is the emergency panic button. While you want to be summoning something significant every turn(Junk Synchron, Debris Dragon), in the situation where you have multiple significant monsters, always retain one Debris Dragon in your hand.

The reasoning behind this is to be able to retain a "panic button", in case the situation gets out of hand. While this can be ignored if you have a stranglehold of control over the field(for example, a DAD, Stardust Dragon, and a set Raigeki Break), it is usually a good idea to keep that Black Rose Dragon as a emergency backup plan.

To note is that you should always be prioritizing synchro beatdown. If you have a Debris Dragon in your hand, and something insignificant like Magical Android on your field, do summon the Dragon and apply beatdown.

Advantage Means Nothing.
One of the unique points of Junk and Debris is that is can uniquely ignore advantage.

By being able to summon Black Rose Dragon multiple times per duel, exceeding three, if you play your pot of avarices right, means you can be ruthless in destruction, and almost outright ignore advantage, because you only need 1 card to flatten the gap.

Also, destroying Cross Porters, Sangans or Dandylions leading to the cards replacing themselves is a very valid strategy for your Black Rose Dragon. Use this to search out a Junk Synchron or Debris Dragon, and thin your deck out, while stalling.

This also means that Raigeki Break or Pheonix Wing Wind Blast are good, valid cards to use, as they not only help setup, but also allow for control, at no real "cost", because you can ignore the discard.


Pot of Avarice targets.

Prioritize Debris Dragon and Junk Synchron. Followed by a Synchro if your reserves have run out, then your advantage engine, should you still have ways to use it. If you still have a fighting chance, Pot of avarice should not be your choice of action.
If you are holding your Junk Synchron or Debris Dragon, and a Pot of Avarice, in most situations, you would try your synchro first.

To drag the game out or not

Most of the time, you can stall pretty well with Junk and Debris. However, this can lead to the game being dragged on. To do so or just rush for the kill is entirely up to you, but here are some guidelines to help your decision:
Think about the enemy's deck. Is it good in the long run? Or will it just deck-out?
Think about your deck: How many Junk Synchrons and Debris Dragons do I have left?

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Part 5: Conclusion
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Well, this concludes tonight's reading.

The rain might fall tonight, but it simply means tommorow will be one where the sun shines through.

Oh.

One last thing before you go.

Here is a card, Debris Dragon.

Why?

Because the next chapter of Junk and Debris is written by you...

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7 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for this info, Rauzes! I have been avidly following your blog, and your advice and decks are simply AMAZING!

    Using this base, I have constructed a Junk and Debris and Electric Power deck, (batteryman engine with Honests).

    It seems quite consistent!

    Thanks for the info, again, and have a great time with this blog, it's simply brilliant.

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  2. That was absolutely amazing. I loved reading every word. I'm going to make a Junk and Debris deck, just as soon as I can get some Debris Dragons.

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  3. LOL, Lightgrunty from Youtube ?? Cool! =D

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  4. After reading this one, it was really true that I was in love with J&D.

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  5. I'm surprised this hasn't received more comments on its awesomeness! Thanks for the fun story and really explaining how to play this deck. I've been interested, looked at decklists, watched videos, but this really made it all click! Thanks again and keep up the good work!

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  6. excellent post, I liked it, but could be updated with the new format?

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  7. I was looking at the yugioh Wikia page for JUnk Debris decks, and this was in the references, so I clicked on it. I was wondering, however, If you thought a budget dark simorgh build of this deck could work. Meaning, triple dark panther and air hummingbird, 2 glow moss, grand mole, and some other tech dark and wind monsters. Thanks.

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