Dark Synco: Return of Dark Armed Dragon

Dark Syncro

Table Of Contents

[xi]: Introduction
[xii]: Power Players
[xiii]: Primary Spells/Traps
[xiv]: Support[/color]
[xv]: Traditional Decklist (2008)
[xvi]: Current Decklist
[xvii]: Variants

[xi] Introduction
As many(read most) are aware of, 2008 was the year of Tele-DAD, or Teleport Dark Armed Dragon decks. These decks were consistent and devistating, so much so that at the average tournament during 2008, as many as 14 or 15 of the top 16 decks were Tele-DAD decks, and this is not Tele-DAD varients, these are decks where the only real difference was the staples and tech cards added. The deck had a 20-30 card engine, so there was very little distinction between the variations. They were called Tele-DAD decks because of their abuse of the now limited card Emergency Teleport to summon Krebons, and Destiny Hero Malicious to summon as many as 3 syncro monsters per turn, as early as the first turn, and set up the graveyard to summon Dark Armed Dragon to nuke the field and attack for game. This deck abused the Diamond Dude Turbo engine to summon DHero Malicious, and to use their 3 Destiny Draws to increase their draw power. With almost every important card in the deck either limited or semi limited (almost all of them escaped bans) it fell from the public eye. Currently a Dark Syncro variant is listed as tier three, although my build of the deck has consistently done very well against the top meta decks of this format. With the reprinting of DAD in the new structure deck, and konami's hard on for dark cards, could next format see the rise of a tier one dark syncro deck? only time will tell.



[xii]: Power Players

Dark Armed Dragon

Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by having exactly 3 DARK monsters in your Graveyard and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. You can banish 1 DARK monster from your Graveyard to target 1 card on the field; destroy that target.

DAD is the former namesake of this deck. When the time is right, and the grave is kind, DAD can facilitate large amounts of damage to opposing players.
Run 1, period.

Destiny Hero - Malicious

You can banish this card from your Graveyard; Special Summon 1 "Destiny HERO - Malicious" from your Deck.

Malicious is the primary way for this deck to get its level 8 syncros, once he is in the grave he is a free level six you can call upon at any time, and he can remove himself from the grave to allow for slight amounts of graveyard control.
Run 2

Dark Grepher

You can discard 1 Level 5 or higher DARK monster to Special Summon this card from your hand. Once per turn, you can discard 1 DARK monster to send 1 DARK monster from your Deck to the Graveyard.

Grepher is a fast card for moving darks to the grave, he is also an easy way to dump malicious, then ss itself, then if you have another dark in your hand you can discard it to move even more cards to the grave that desire to be there.
Run 0-3

Armageddon Knight

When this card is Summoned, you can send 1 DARK monster from your Deck to the Graveyard.

Armageddon Knight is a nice alternative to Grepher, and is useful in the situations where you don't have any darks in your hand/no darks your willing to dump in your hand.
Run 0-3 My advice is 3 combined Grepher/AK

Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude

Once per turn: You can reveal the top card of your Deck, and if it is a Normal Spell Card, send it to the Graveyard, otherwise place it on the bottom of your Deck. During the Main Phase of your next turn, you can activate the effect of that Spell Card in your Graveyard (even if you no longer control this face-up card).

DD is a great card in this deck, fodder for Allure, and DDraw, fodder for Grepher, his effect is great for setting up plays and deck thinning, a card definitely worth including
Run 1-2

Destiny Hero - Dasher

Once per turn: You can Tribute 1 other monster; this card gains 1000 ATK until the End Phase. If this card attacks, change it to Defense Position at the end of the Battle Phase. One time only, when you draw a Monster Card during your Draw Phase while this card is in your Graveyard: You can reveal it; Special Summon it. This card must be in the Graveyard to activate and to resolve this effect.

Dasher is another card with a myriad of uses while hes in the hand, like DD he can be discarded or banished for allure and DDraw, although i hesitate to banish dasher. he can also be discarded to SS Grepher, which is a great advantage. On top of that Dashers real beauty is he can once per duel SS whatever monster you draw in the draw phase, which is just fantastic when trying to go off on big plays. I run 1, but if you really like him you may be able to get away with 2 so
Run 1-2

Plaguespreader Zombie

You can return 1 card from your hand to the top of the Deck to Special Summon this card from your Graveyard. If you do, remove this card from play when it is removed from the field.

Another card that loves the grave, and can help control how many darks are in it. Mali and PSZ in the grave are an 8* Syncro whenever you want it.
Run 1

Elemental HERO - Stratos

When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can activate 1 of these effects:
● You destroy Spell/Trap Cards on the field, up to the number of other "HERO" monsters you control.
● Add 1 "HERO" monster from your Deck to your hand.

Stratos is highly effective at getting you your D-Heros when you want them for DDraw or whatever other reason, he is very useful.
Run 1

Sangan
This is just obvious, no picture, no effect, just run 1

Previously A Power Player

Krebons

When this card is selected as an attack target, you can pay 800 Life Points to negate the attack.

Krebons is great when you want to stall a turn or two before exploding, he was the tuner of choice during the TeleDAD days, but is no longer as useful now that E-Tele is limited.
Run 0-2, only run 2 if your running E-Tele, and really, there are better options



[xiii]: Primary Spells/Traps

[xiv]: Support

[xv]: Traditional Decklist (2008)

Jerry Wang's TeleDAD deck won two Shonen Jump tournaments in 2008, here it is

Monsters: 17

2 Dark Armed Dragon
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
3 Destiny Hero – Malicious
1 Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude
1 Destiny Hero - Doom Lord
3 Krebons
1 Dark Grepher
1 Snipe Hunter
1 Sangan
1 Spirit Reaper
1 Plaguespreader Zombie
1 D.D. Crow

Spells: 16

3 Destiny Draw
3 Allure of Darkness
3 Emergency Teleport
2 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Monster Reborn
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Brain Control
1 Monster Reincarnation

Traps: 8

3 Solemn Judgment
2 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Crush Card Virus

Extra Deck: 15

3 Stardust Dragon
3 Thought Ruler Archfiend
3 Goyo Guardian
2 Colossal Fighter
2 Red Dragon Archfiend
2 Magical Android



[xvi]: Current Decklist

[xvii]: Variants

Updated a bit

Looks good so far. I know this deck was really hated, but I actually miss Tele-Dad.. Would be interesting to see it face Plant synchro. So yeah Konami, put DAD @ 2 and Mali back @ 3... you've done worse, no?

teledad would rape plant syncro, 100% positive, my variant stacks up decently well against it, and my build is still far slower than the original

can you plz fix your font color? it is hurting my eyes

i kinda liked the different colors thing, but sure