Photo Credit: Ricarda Reicher

Dragon’s Ravine

Next, I want to talk about the Field Spell mindset. In my opinion I don’t care if my opponent has a faster access to Dragon’s Ravine because I am the player who just waits with his Ravine until my opponent plays his. Why? It is a simple plus one and if they want to protect their Ravine then they lose their Mystical Space Typhoon. Even worse, they could lose key monster removals like Phoenix Wing Wind Blast or Raigeki Break. In other words, if you play Ravine first, then you commit a lot to the board. This is a bad spot in my opinion.

I also love to just summon Debris Dragon and get Trigon or Card Trooper to summon Ancient Fairy Dragon for the free life gain and my own Field Spell. If you used your Break/PWWB on my Ravine before then you take the risk that my Debris play will kill you.

Mystical Space Typhoon

I get the feeling that MST is only here for turn one to kill the opponents backrow before you commit any cards onto the field or to kill Ravine. I think that’s pretty weak because playing your own Ravine afterwards or going into Ancient Fairy Dragon seems much better. You do not want to MST an opposing backrow if you have sets, because you will risk that they simply chain Raigeki Break/PWWB on your Ravine/backrow and you wasted your MST that way. This also reminds me of Tele-DAD because when you pushed first and didn’t kill your opponent then you lost because he handled your board on the next turn.

Card Trooper

Why should I run Card Trooper? Card Trooper is the best level 3 monster besides Trigon. The only reason you run Trigon is that you can send him to the grave with Ravine. When you summon him with Debris you can also mill three additional cards which can put the game into your favor. Yes, he can be hit by Crimson Blader, but you also can have protection and you still draw a card if he dies. He gets even better after siding for Game Two and Game Three because Debunk creates a Dragon beatdown. Most Dragons will not even hit the field and your Trooper gives you access to free resources. Milling two or three colours with Trooper is just broken.

The Trap Game

How do we play our removals then? We just kill their monsters and hit with our Dragons. We have more removals because we don’t use them on their Ravine. Most times you don’t have to kill something immediately because it’s not a real threat.

Why Trap Stun? Because Return from the Different Dimension and Sixth Sense are just broken and have a very high percentage to leave the format after December. Most times when you resolve one of those cards you just win. The question is now, how can you beat it? If you look through all the Dragon Ruler decklists you will always see seven to nine traps and most of them are chainable. Every trap card can be negated by Trap Stun. It is the only card besides Solemn Warning which can negate Return. It also lets you push when your opponent feels safe and it helps you to defend if he/she wants to push for himself/herself. You also have a safe way to resolve Crimson Blader’s effect if he is backed up by Trap Stun. It helps you against any trap heavy anti-decks and Trap Stun into Black Rose Dragon will seal the deal for you.

One short side note on Solemn Warning: I like this card because it’s very strong in the Spellbook and Evilswarm matchup. It is one of the few true removals and the 2000 life points cost can be nullified by Ancient Fairy Dragon’s life gain. It is also a counter to Black Rose Dragon and Return which alone is enough to warrant a slot.

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