OmegaZed’s Dueling Domain – “At Long Last – The Tech Genus Deck!”

Make no mistake, the Tech Genus (T. G.) monsters and deck are a force to be reckoned with. In Pittsburgh, PA during the Yu-Gi-Oh North American World Championship Qualifiers, one lucky duelist was crowned our North American National Champion. Hansel Aguero beat out a wide open field to become the main representative alongside three other duelists to participate in the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championships which are currently going on at the time of this writing. Hansel piloted a very interesting build of T. G. so before we break down the version I currently play, let’s take a look at what Hansel piloted to his successful victory.

Monsters: 13

[3x] Reborn Tengu

[3x] T. G. Rush Rhino

[3x] T. G. Striker

[3x] T. G. Warwolf

[2x] Thunder King Rai-Oh

Spells:

[1x] Book of Moon

[1x] Dark Hole

[1x] Monster Reborn

[1x] Mystical Space Typhoon

[3x] Pot of Duality

Traps:

[1x] Call of the Haunted

[1x] Compulsory Evacuation Device

[2x] Dark Bribe

[2x] Dimensional Prison

[3x] Horn of the Phantom Beast

[1x] Mirror Force

[1x] Royal Oppression

[2x] Skill Drain

[1x] Solemn Judgment

[2x] Solemn Warning

[1x] TG1-EMIt

[1x] Torrential Tribute

[1x] Trap Dustshoot

 

We’re just going to cover the main deck and Hansel’s choices. A low monster count may make some players confused, but going into the National Championships, one deck on everyone’s mind was Gravekeepers. The GK match and its very powerful spell card Royal Tribute can spell doom for decks that draw a lot of monsters. Keeping his monster count low was definitely a smart idea. I tend to always cringe when I see a Thunder King packed in with cards that add from the deck to the hand. The T. G. monster effects do this and Hansel also maxed out his copies of Pot of Duality. Obviously he kept his cool and if Thunder King was on his board he held back on playing Duality or forcing a T. G. search through destruction. For most of the decks in this current format, Thunder King is a pain and if Hansel opened up with Thunder King on his first turn, duels no longer went great for the opponent as now their focus had to shift on how to eliminate Rai-Oh quickly and easily. Sometimes that spelt doom for the opponent.

Reborn Tengu is a Beast-Warrior, and two of the T. G. regulars are also part of the Beast family of cards so packing in a full set of Horn of the Phantom Beast was a no-brainer. It boosts, beasts and beast-warriors by 500, and if you destroy a monster by battle because of it you also got to draw a card. It equates to tremendous card advantage when stacked on a single monster that can stay on the board and whether equipped to a Tengu or a Rhino, quickly led to Hansel ensuring he had cards in hands to win the game with.

Dark Bribe is an interesting choice, but looking at Hansel’s deck and you’ll notice why he needed it. Giant Trunade spells doom for this deck, as does Royal Decree. While Hansel could definitely out-beat other decks through brutal attack power alone, with fewer monsters than most other decks, Hansel definitely had to rely on powerful controlling traps, and protect them at all costs. Sometimes that cost is worth stopping a Giant Trunade, even if your opponent gets an extra card.

Skill Drain in my opinion is the best card in this deck. It does nothing to stop his T. G. search effects as they all activate in the graveyard. It does however completely shut down the main matches you could expect at a huge tournament. Six Samurai, Plant Variants, Gravekeepers and most other decks cringe at the sight of Skill Drain and Hansel definitely knew this going into the tournament. Congratulations to Hansel and all the other qualified duelists who participated in this exciting tournament!

 

Moving on to a different side of the T. G. archetype, let’s go into the T. G. deck that yours truly currently has in his arsenal. One of the main things I wanted to do was seek out where the T. G. monsters could fit in best. As a standalone deck they are quite formidable, but when I build decks I aim to go beyond what a theme can do. After much play testing and practice and sit downs with other duelists, I settled on the following build below. The TCG Banned and Restricted list has also been revealed (more on that next article!) and we’ll be adapting the deck to fit in with the changes that it brought.

 

T. G. Plants

 

Monsters: 20

[1x] Dandylion

[2x] Dopplewarrior

[1x] Effect Veiler

[1x] Glow-Up Bulb

[1x] Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

[2x] Junk Synchron

[1x] Level Eater

[2x] T. G. Cyber Magician

[3x] T. G. Rush Rhino

[3x] T. G. Striker

[3x] T. G. Warwolf

 

Spells: 10

[1x] Book of Moon

[1x] Dark Hole

[1x] Foolish Burial

[1x] Heavy Storm

[1x] Monster Reborn

[2x] Mystical Space Typhoon

[1x] One for One

[1x] Pot of Avarice

[1x] Reinforcement of the Army

 

Traps: 10

[2x] Bottomless Trap Hole

[2x] Dimensional Prison

[1x] Mirror Force

[1x] Solemn Judgment

[2x] Solemn Warning

[1x] TGX3-DX2

[1x] Torrential Tribute

 

As you can see I combined some of the key parts of the plant engine with the T. G. monster theme to provide a deck that does two things. First, it guarantees a monster play almost every turn. Secondly, I get to Synchro Summon a great deal, sometimes a lot in just one turn! While the ban and restricted list definitely aims to push the game towards the newly introduced Xyz summons, one cannot ignore the powerful Synchro monsters that belong to the T. G. family.

As for what Synchro monsters you can use, you’ll definitely want to take advantage of T. G. Hyper Librarian and Formula Synchron, as the advantage they create through simple card draws can swing many games in your favor. If you have the room for an Arcanite Magician feel free to splash one in there. Currently my synchro line-up for this deck looks like this:

 

Extra Deck:

[1x] Ally of Justice Catastor

[1x] Black Rose Dragon

[1x] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

[1x] Formula Synchron

[1x] Naturia Barkion

[1x] Scrap Dragon

[1x] Shooting Star Dragon

[1x] Stardust Dragon

[1x] T. G. Blade Blaster

[1x] T. G. Halberd Cannon

[1x] T. G. Hyper Librarian

[1x] T. G. Power Gladiator

[1x] T. G. Wonder Magician

[1x] Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

I am indeed one short of a full 15-card Extra Deck as I have yet to decide who my last slot shall be given too. I’m leaning towards Orient Dragon, one of the recent TCG exclusive cards in the new Generation Force booster box set so who knows.

As always, experiment to see what works best with your playstyle. Both decks showcased in this article offer great insight to the power of the T. G. archetype. Until next time, keep dueling and have fun!