Deck Profile - Devil's Era (Outdated)

It's about time I created a new deck. I've been looking at Magic World a lot, since they're the wildcard world that really allows skilled players to perform well by interacting more with how a player plays and not as much deckbuilding (but that's important too!). So this article is going to try to focus on both how to build a deck to give you options and how to utilize those options during a match. Well, as best as I can present it, anyhow.

With that in mind, I decided to present a pretty extreme example of a deck because A. it's a good example of Magic World shenanigans and B. it actually works. You wouldn't think it but it does, because it's Magic World.

I love Magic World.

There's a lot of different good builds, like Abra-rush and burn and Art advantage. The build that I'm gunning for is based on the newest Impact that Magic World got, New-Era Great Spell, The Creation. This card allows Magic World to get even more gauge and also replenish their life at a surprising level. Because of the way resources are spread in this deck, you'll see some pretty surprising card choices. Overall, this deck aims for midrange and control and just to really piss your opponent off. You basically slowly bleed them to death and they'll never feel like they're doing anything to you. This is about as close to a real permissions/lock deck that I can realistically imagine for Buddyfight.

Devil's Era - 72 Pillars (Creation Control)

Size 2

• 2 Demon Realm Negotiator, Gusion
• 4 Dance! Asmodai

Size 1

• 4 Demon Realm Computer, Vassago
• 2 Reminiscing the Homeland Marcosious
• 2 Demon Doctor, Buer
• 4 Demon Lord, Asmodai
• 2 Street Racer, Eligos

Items

• 3 Gunrod, Del Gesu

Spells

• 4 Magical Goodbye
• 4 Nice One!
• 3 Devil Advantage
• 4 Check it Out!
• 2 Key of Solomon, First Volume
• 4 Chillax!
• 3 Great Spell, Saturday Night Devil Fever!

Impact

• 3 New-Era Great Spell, The Creation

Deck Deconstruction

I've got a lot of explaining to do.

First of all, The Creation can be played two ways: with a Wizards base, or with an Asmodai base. I drafted this article for Wizards initially, but Asmodai gimmicks won me over. Also Vassago is a card.

Your monster line-up is pretty standard for 72 Pillars. 4 Asmodai is an always. We run 4 Vassago in this deck because he's actually a plus now with Creation, and the ability to change any card in your hand into Dragon Emperor Legends is so silly. Marcosious is such a scary Size 1, 3-crit in Magic World is so dangerous and you can call it with Saturday Night Fever for free. I added the two Buer after hearing some feedback that the deck is too gauge-heavy. It really isn't because you need to space out the usages, but I suppose having Buer can't really hurt. Two Eligos is pretty standard, he blocks some heavy attacks and comes back to hand in exchange for life, which you'll have a lot of in this deck.

6 Size 2's that draw for you. Easy. You can run them at any ratio, though I prefer more Dance! Asmodai for the 6000 power.

No Solomon Shield but 4 Chillax? This is a pretty good call for this deck. You have a lot of gauge to spend and there's some pretty scary crit out there in the world now that Danger World's back in action. Also, people who think you only have Solomon Shield and link you get massively screwed, so you can game them like that. Since you want your monsters to die so you can get them again with Saturday Night Fever! (and you protect the important ones with Magical Goodbye), it seems like a waste to run shields.

Everything else is standard, like the Devil Advantage and Nice One! and stuff. I think that about does it for the cards, but how on earth do you play this deck?

Your first priority is to get The Creation set up, because without it your Vassago is a wash and you want to start ramping as fast as you can. It's unfortunate that you have to draw into The Creation, but until that happens you have to try your best and tank with monsters and not let them rush you too hard. This is where Chillax! really comes in handy as an anti-aggro tool, use it wisely.

Once The Creation is up, it's time to shine. This deck is very good at casting at least 1 draw spell/effect every turn (you have 14), so pace yourself and make sure you can always trigger The Creation every single time it's available. This doesn't mean hold on to the effects, per se - priority is still having cards in hand that are useful. But you really have to notice whether or not you can draw into things you need, like a Magical Goodbye to bounce Dance! Asmodai for next turn or a Devil Advantage to cycle two Vassago back to hand. Meanwhile, equip a Del Gesu as soon as possible and start whaling away on your opponent.

At every moment of the game, you should be looking to use Saturday Night Fever!. Since you draw so much and dump so much hand, you should hit the requirements pretty ridiculously fast. This isn't a card to spam, but well-timed Saturday Night Fevers can make or break your game. You definitely want to use it during your turn if you haven't triggered Creation yet and grab Vassago, along with some Asmodai's for popping. But this deck isn't limited to just those plays.

4 Check it Out! and 3 Saturday Night Fever gives you access to 7 different Counter-calling spells. Check it Out! has the additional property of bouncing your field, allowing you to do two things you want at once: grab that Dance! Asmodai back and play something. The normal call for Check it Out! is Asmodai so you can negate an attack, but Creation allows us to either call Vassago or Dance! Asmodai and trigger both the draw and the Creation on your opponent's turn, effectively gaining a shield and 1 life - a pseudo Chillax, if you will. By being able to trigger Creation on both turns, you can double the payout of the Impact - which is pretty insane. Having enough gauge to repeatedly spam Check it Out! is quite a spectacular thing.

And watch as your life goes up, up, up...with so much life, feel free to tank random potshots and shrug off damage as if weren't a thing. Your monsters are more important than you, and even then you want your monsters in the drop zone more often than not.

When all is said and done, you'll win after 10 or so turns of relentless attrition so long as you can read your opponent's plays and provide meaningful Counters to them, which is the only acceptable playstyle for Magic World.

Sideboard Ideas

A deck like this is pretty heavily dependant on the sideboard, since you need to be able to answer key threats and not lose against specialized counters. Since your draw power is so massive, you can easily run 1-ofs in the deck and still be able to consistently get them out.

While the deck doesn't have any Size 3's of now (you need to be able to call Size 1's every turn), feel free to add any of the three Size 3's we have available: Belial, Champion Wrestler Asmodai, and Sabnac. They each have a specific niche and a specific weakness, so it's important to know when to choose them. For example, Asmodai is a big no-no against Dungeon World and Sabnac offers very low damage pressure so it's a bad choice against Magic and Katana.

For Size 1 options, there's Buer if you feel like you're lacking in gauge - however, you give up a lot of damage pressure with him, so choose wisely. You can also run Let's Play! Asmodai - he has good power and also heals very consistently in this deck.

You have a lot of freedom with spells. Power Ray Maximum, Abra Cadabra!, Begone!! and Oops! are all viable options that you can check out. Besides Check it Out!, we also have 2 other free Counter summon options in Quick Summon and Speed Summon, so if you're interested in cheaper methods you could try those.

What I would definitely experiment with is I'm Wicked! Walling is an important part of a control deck, and I'm Wicked! unlocks a whole new level of gameplay. When you can Speed Summon Vassago to the center and get a 7000/1/7000 wall that also turns a dead card in your hand into Dragon Emperor Legend...that's called gg. I'm Wicked! works well with both Sabnac and Belial in turning them into 7000 formidable stallers that are immune to Pillar of Fire. You can also drop a few Dance! Asmodai for Protector of Friendship, Barbados and really double down on tanking.

Finally, that new Judge Asmodai Impact? It works in this deck. Feel free to be hilarious.

Sample Sideboard:

• 2 I'm Wicked!
• 4 Speed Summon
• 2 Demon Realm Knights Leader, Sabnac
• 1 Rebel, Belial
• 1 Judge Asmodai's Super Impartial 3 Rounds, Rock! Paper! Scissors!

Other Options

I've pretty much covered everything you could work with. Change too much and you start going into the other builds for Magic World, so I'll limit myself here. Definitely switch Del Gesu with any other Gunrod/Item that you're more comfortable with, but Del Gesu has the added utility of sacking a Marcosious for an extra 3-crit attack when pushing.

You could also try to fit both Key of Solomon spells in, but I find that Second Volume is more or less redundant and you're not actually plussing, you're just getting more gauge and life which is nice but we want to cycle dead cards in this deck.

Avoid Running

Anything that I haven't mentioned is basically less efficient in every aspect, so...yeah.

Counters

If you get sacked really early and don't draw any Chillax! and your opponent just bum rushes you with damage...well, that's the easiest way to lose with Magic World.

20 monsters isn't a lot either (which is why most of them either draw or cycle) so you should be wary of that number, definitely getting your draw engine going early is important. I'm mildly tempted to run max copies of Gusion just for consistency, but we'll have to see about that.

Once you get going, there's little that can actually answer card-for-card with what you're delivering. Ancient World has the best chances with profitable Soulguard (Death Tallica too) but a few Dangerous Backdrops and link attacks will do the trick usually. Remember, if you link your field and they Wrath Trigger, you can Check it Out! and bounce as much back as you can salvage and call something else.

Whether you win or lose with a control deck is so dependant on the way you play it. If you make bad choices and are very inefficient with your exchanges, then you'll lose because the deck itself has little win conditions. But if you micro-manage well and answer tit-for-tat, your case-by-case margin of advantage against your opponent is ridiculous.

Final Words

It's been a long time since I've authored a deck profile, but I have to admit that this one came out quite nicely. There's a lot of great synergy and smart play you can do with this deck, and in the right hands it is such a game stomper.

When you're playing this deck (or decks like these), remember that you are a permissions player. Everything your opponent does, you must be able to answer it correctly and advantageously (sometimes this means eating 4-crit to the face!). You must get your opponent to the point where nothing they do is without your full consent and authorization. Get good enough, and it'll feel like you're playing solitaire.

Please submit deck names for this little bundle of attrition and grief in the comments below! I'll update this in a week with the winning name.

Update: This is pretty late, but I'll be finally naming the deck now. There were some pretty great ones, and the "72 Problems but a Draw ain't one" was probably the funniest. I loved all the references out there too. But in the end, I'll just be taking something simple because it's sometimes better that way.

Winner of the deck-naming challenge: Tachikaze Master @ Devil's Era

Prepare to get served.

- updated to H-BT01, CP01, H-EB01, TD07, PP01 -

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