Deck of the Month [2] - Fish OTK

Happy April Fool's Day everyone.* Arceus here with the 2nd edition of Arceus's Deck of the month. For the month of April, I will be discussing the Fish OTK deck and its many strategies. With the Top 32 announced from YCS Charlotte, many people are looking to see what the current meta for March 2011 will be. One of the top decks is Fish OTK. The deck was around a little last format, but has increased popularity since Charlotte took place.

== 1. The Monsters ==

The Fish OTK deck's boss monster is a Fish from Phantom Darkness titled Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth. By discarding 1 card, you can summon as many Fish monsters as possible from your deck, but they can't attack and their effects are negated. This is no problem if you are planning on to use these Fish as Synchro Material Monsters. The monsters that will most likely be the target of Coelacanth's effect are Fishborg Blaster and Oyster Meister. Fishborg Blaster is a Level 1 Fish Tuner Monster who can be Special Summoned from the Graveyard by discarding 1 card if you control a face-up Level 3 or lower WATER monster. Oyster Meister is a Level 3 Fish non-tuner Monster that creates a Level 1 Oyster Token any time it is sent to the Graveyard, except through Battle.

Because Coelacanth is so important in this deck, you need a good way to unleash this ancient fish. Most players use a Frog engine of Swap Frog's, Treeborn Frog's, Dupe Frog's, and Ronintoadin as tribute fodder. The deck also uses big protective monsters such as Gorz the Emissary of Darkness and Tragoedia to maintain field presence and to summon Coelacanth. Some players even use Snowman Eater's for the same reason.

The main strategy of the deck is to Clear the field of any backrows that may be a threat to you, summon your Coelacanth, and to summon 2 Fishborg's and 2 Oyster Meister's from your deck. You would then tune a Fishborg Blaster witth an Oyster Meister to Synchro Summon Armory Arm, thus producing a Level 1 Oyster token. Then, you can take 1 of 2 paths. One of them is to Synchro your 2nd Fishborg and Coelacanth into Colossal Fighter. Then, discard a card to summon your Fishborg back, and tune it with your 2nd Meister for another Armory Arm. Then, you equip your 2 Arm's to an opponent's monster, increasing its ATK by 2000. Colossal Fighter would then attack this monster, dealing 5600 damage to your opponent through both Arm's effects. Colossal Fighter is revived through his effect, and attack again for game. You may lose some LP through this process, but it is worth it.

The 2nd option is to have your Coelacanth, 2 Fishborg, and 2 Meister out again. Synchro Summon a Fishborg and Meister into an Armory Arm, and summon your Oyster Token. Thrn, synchro your 2nd Fishborg and Token into Formula Synchron, and draw a card. Synchro the Formula and 2nd Meister into Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon, and summon another token. Discard 1 card to summon Fishborg, and tune the token with it for a 2nd Formula Synchron. With this summon, Gishilnodon's attack increases to 3000. Draw your card. Synchro your Armory Arm and Formula Synchron into Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. Discard any necessary cards to clear the opponent's field, and attack directly with all of your monsters for 8100 damage.

Additionally, this deck will be able to Summon Shooting Quasar Dragon and OTK with it when released into the TCG. This can be done by Tuning a Formula with an Armory Arm and Brionac. Since it can attack twice, that's instant 8000 damage.

== 2. The Spells ==

Because OTK'ing with this deck is so important, many players use 3 Gold Sarcophagus to search out key cards such as Giant Trunade, Swap Frog, and Coelacanth. In fact, Giant Trunade is one of the most vital cards in the deck. It helps you set up your OTK without any worries of your opponent stopping you.

Players also use Moray of Greed to return dead Frog's or uneeded Fish back to the deck and refresh their hand. Speaking of Frog's, when you summon Treeborn Frog during your standby Phase, you can immediately chain Enemy Controller, tributing your Frog to take an opposing monster, and summon Treeborn right back. This automatically gives you 2 monsters to sacrifice to summon Coelacanth.

You never want to set any cards with this deck in most cases because it interupts your plays with Treeborn Frog.

The rest of the spells are your standard staples.

== 3. Traps ==

Most Fish OTK decks use no Trap cards. The reason, as I have said, is because it messes up yout Treeborn. However, you can play a few Traps, such as Treacherous Trap Hole, Trap Stun, or Malevolent Catastrophe. In my opinion, I feel that Trap cards are not needed.

== 4. Sample Deck Lists ==

Monsters: 23
[3] Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth
[3] Fishborg Blaster
[3] Oyster Meister
[3] Swap Frog
[3] Dupe Frog
[2] Treeborn Frog
[1] Ronintoadin
[1] Snowman Eater
[2] Light and Darkness Dragon
[1] Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
[1] Tragoedia

Spells: 17
[3] Moray of Greed
[3] Gold Sarcophagus
[3] Pot of Duality
[3] Enemy Controller
[1] Monster Reborn
[1] Dark Hole
[2] Mystical Space Typhoon
[1] Giant Trunade

Extra: 15
[3] Formula Synchron
[2] Armory Arm
[1] Colossal Fighter
[1] Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon
[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
[1] Scrap Dragon
[1] Black Rose Dragon
[1] Shooting Quasar Dragon
[1] Shooting Star Dragon
[1] Stardust Dragon
[1] Red Nova Dragon
[1] Red Dragon Archfiend

This wraps up April's Deck of the Month. Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If anyone as suggestions of future decks to review, leave them in the comments.

*[NOTE: This article was intended to be posted April 1st, 2011.]

~Arceus