We've got less than a week before the release of Nekroz. So I'm going to give a lesson on how to side against them, as well as how to play against them.
It's been sometime since an Archtype straight out of the Duel Terminal universe has gotten some positive light. As a matter of fact, along with Qlis, this is the first time YuGiOh history that a DT Archtype will be considered Meta. And not only Meta, but absolute Tier 1.
No, this does not include Verz/Evilswarm. They were and still are considered Anti-Meta.
Anyway, while resisting the urge to dive into the explanations of their card art and lure, I'm here to teach you about the possible ways to side against this behemoth of a contender in the limelight.
The first way to combat Nekroz is to shut down or shunt their ability to freely search from the deck. This may include cards like:
Droll&Lock Bird
Thunder King Rai-Oh
Mistake
Shared Ride
Mind Crush
Each card above, with the exception of one, has the ability to entirely stop searching as a whole. Mind Crush, on the other hand, is the card you use directly after they add so that they are forced to drop whatever advantage they tried to obtain--with the added benefit of getting to view your opponent's hand.
Pros:
~ These cards can essentially shut down the entire use of the deck
Cons:
~ Very few of the above cards can be used to their full potential in most of the current Metagame
~ None of the cards prevent your opponent from summoning their boss monsters
Now, possibly you wish to counter and crush very specific aspects of your opponent's play. There are cards that do so, and they are:
D.D. Crow/Soul Release/The Transmigration Prophecy
To remove and push around their Shrit/Djinn and their Ritua Spells
Dimensional Fissure/Macro Cosmos/Imperial Iron Wall
To prevent them from using their Ritua Spells entirely
Mask of Restrict/Vanity's Emptiness
To prevent them from Ritual Summoning
Majesty's Fiend/Vanity's Fiend
To entirely shut down their ability to both search and summon
Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell
To utter destroy their Spell usage
These sides are (mostly) already in use, and thus fairly common. Most metadecks also either main these floodgates, or side them in spades.
Pros:
~Each of the cards are versatile and may often help against other decks
~They're easy to work with, and almost never hinder your own plays
Cons:
~None of them entirely shut down Nekroz on their own
Excuse the dimensions....
Well... It should be more of "How to Try Not to Lose" against Nekroz. They're beyond overly-powerful and stupid consistent. However, even with that ability to be able to create pushes nearly every turn, they only have 1 monster in their entire arsenal that actually GENERATES advantage when summoned.
And that monster's name is Trishula.
They may be able to get 10 searches a turn with Shrit and their "Thousand Hands", and Brio, and their Birdboy...and Preparations, and RoTA........But only Trish allows them to generate advantage by making you lose your advantage. But I will show you, card for card, how to get over every boss monster they'll commonly summon on you.
Clausolas
The first tricky one of the "Big 3". He is often summoned through the use of Djinn, and thus locks out your ability to Special Summon. On top of that, any Extra Deck monster you may summon will get its ATK reduced and it's effects negated.....on either Player's Turn. The best way to deal with this card is to use backrow.
Albeit 1200ATK is easy to get over, they'll more often than not summon it in DEF mode. And 2300DEF is difficult to get over without an Extra Deck monster, or the ability to Special Summon
Unicore
2300ATK lvl 4 beatstick, that is a walking Skill Drain on any monster Summoned from the Extra. There is a reason why he is limited in the OCG.
However, that reason is because he is a 1-for-1 with Herald (the Synchro), which lets you get free searches.
He poses no TRUE threat, unless you can't summon something stronger than 2300ATK. If you have that ability, you may simply run him over, and then move on with your life
Trishula
This is easily the biggest pain in the ass. Not because of its stats, but because it banishes 3 cards when it's summoned.
BUT!!!!Due to its wording, there is a way to abuse its ruling...
You see Trish must have all three targets (Hand, Field and Graveyard) available previous to its activation. That mains if you prefer to play with no hand, you've effectively defused their best boss monster from generating mass advantage.
Other ways to prevent Trish from being a pain is by chaining your own cards to the Nekroz Mirrors' activations, and clearing your own board.
Every other Nekroz monster is NOT A THREAT!!
I mean it. They may have large stats, but this game doesn't care about beaters anymore.
Now, keep in mind that you have to remember all the Ritua Monsters' discard effects. So I will state them below.
Claus ~ Discard --> Search Ritua Spell
Unicore ~ Discard --> Monster Reincarnation any Nekroz
Brionac ~ Discard --> Search any Nekroz
Gungnir ~ Discard --> Prevent Destruction for 1 Monster
Trish ~ Discard --> Prevent Targeting
Valk ~ Discard + Banish --> Battle Fader
Armor ~ Discard --> 1000atk Boost
Then, lastly, all the Ritua Spells have the ability to Banish themselves from the Graveyard (with any Nekroz Monster), to search out ANY Nekroz Ritua Spell from the Deck.
It may be a lot to remember, but it's every aspect of the deck that the common person uses. This concludes my blessing of knowledge to you all.
