A Mediocre player's 5th Gadget

Tech Genus Gadgets are the only competitive OCG deck that I have yet to build, mostly because I cannot imagine playing a 9 Gadget deck with only 40 cards. But, because I got bored of playing with Inzecter, Herald, and Frog, I'm going to build it. This article is going to be a step-by-step report on how I decided to build the deck, the side, and how it playtests.

I. The Core

This deck is going to be Offering Gadgets. As such, I can't imagine running not running 9 Gadgets to work off my Trap. But like I said, I have issues with running that many Gadgets in a typical-sized deck. The solution? Make it Fifth Gadget, and run 45 cards. With the sudden increase in the use of Smashing Ground, and the fact that I think Creature Swap is excellent vs. the opponent's 1 Laggia (as bait) or the opponent's 1 Dolkaa (to trade with my guy), I really like the idea of putting in as much removal as possible. The extra space means I'll have much more room to side-deck (I already had a side-deck scheme coming into this article) which will take the sting out of the match-ups I find difficult. But we'll go into match-ups later. Let's start with the core of my Gadget deck, which will be...

3 Red Gadget
3 Yellow Gadget
3 Green Gadget

3 Ultimate Offering

Gadgets do what Gadgets do best, and that's make +1 all-day. Offering let's you spam your Gadgets, extending and doing a lot of damage while mantaining advantage. 9 Gadgets means the deck can run the train longer, and cards like Utopia, Roach, Pearl, and Disigma give the deck more flexibility than it used to have. 45 cards minimizes the chance of drawing double of triple Gadget hands. Essentially, it's an OTK set-up. Activate Offering, spam, and win. You either win, or the opponent takes a minus if they have Mirror Force or Torrent.

II. The Monsters

I want to run as few monsters as possible (anything over 20 seems too much) because I want my normal summon every turn to be Gadget, Gadget, Gadget, and keep the train of advantage going. Since the theme is to have self-repalcing cards, the Tech Genus monsters seem the perfect fit.

3 T.G. Striker
3 T.G. Warwolf

Striker is our tuner, that let's us make 6-star Synchro monsters like Orient Dragon, Gaia Knight, Brionac, or Naturia Barkion. Warwolf searches out Striker, and his effect means we can go into 5-Star Synchros like Catastor or Librarian, or into a 9-star Synchro if we throw a Gadget into the mix. Our monster count is now 15, which might be enough, but I'm still not satisfied. I don't want my entire defense to be in my backrow, where they are vulnerable to Heavy, MST, Laggia, or Grapha. Since the deck maintains hand advantage well, I figure I can add...

1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
2 Tragoedia

Tragoedia has always been a favorite of mine in Gadgets. The ability to become huge off of the Gadgets and the Snatch Steal effect that let's me take opposing copies of Thunder King Rai-Oh for a Gadget I don't need is sweet, and it helps preserve your lifepoints for Offering to go off. Now we have 18 monsters, but I'm still not satisfied. I feel like my monster line-up doesn't give me an edge against opposing metadecks. I need something that gives me that added defense...

3 Effect Veiler OR 3 Maxx 'C'

I'm a little torn between these two at the moment. While Veiler is very, very good, I feel Maxx 'C' is better in the Synchrocentric match-up (where Veiler is subpar.) In other match-ups, I can't really decide. Both stop early Venus plays, though Maxx 'C' isn't a minus, but Veiler can prevent Hyperion from destroying your backrow. Maxx 'C' can nab a +1 against a first-turn Rabbit play, but Veiler can stop their Tour Guide plays. Maxx 'C' does that as well, but if they can push for game damage, I'd prefer to have the Veiler. The spellcaster is very, very good with Ultimate Offering, opening up Synchro plays, while Maxx 'C' really doesn't do much unless paired with a Striker. At this point, I'll have to see what the rest of the deck looks like before I decide. As for now, the monster line-up is completed. It's 21, which is a little over what I wanted, but we'll correct these little things at the end.

III. The Spells

The spell line-up in Gadget has almost always been dedicated to removal. Nevertheless, there are some staples that I think need to be present

1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn

Dark Hole and Heavy are candidates for being syphoned out, but at the moment, their status as 'staple' earns them spots in the deck.

3 Pot of Duality

Every deck needs speed, especially a 45 card deck that requires its 3-of trap to go off. While the OTK isn't the only win condition (it was a pretty flimsy one to begin with, in my opinion) it is still one of the win conditions.

2 Mystical Space Typhoon

I really don't want to lose to main deck Skill Drain (in Tech Genus and Dark World) or to crap like Necrovalley, Dragon's Ravine, Gate of the Dark World, Fusion Gate, or that other stuff. 8 spells, brings us to 29 cards in total, so now we go into disruption...

2 Smashing Ground
2 Creature Swap
1 Book of Moon

Smash is good against Agents, to kill big guys in Rabbit decks (or in Laggia's case, force it to detatch its material) or to get rid of tough opening play monsters like a 3000 attack Tragoedia, a Thunder King, or a Zenmaines on an otherwise empty board. While using it on Grapha might not seem all that attractive, the deck has few ways to get over a 2700 attacker, so killing it for 1 turn might be enough to seal the game with an Offering. Creature Swap has synergy with the T.G. guys, as well as with the low-attack Gadgets. 13 Spells, so far, so we're at 34. Space is starting to become an issue, but there are still some spells I want to add...

1 Pot of Avarice
1 Limiter Removal

Avarice recycles your Gadgets, so the train can run even longer. The fact that you expect to send a ton of them to the grave makes it even easier to activate. Limiter Removal is the super-power card. Boost 2 Gadgets, attack for 5000, then Xyz, or boost 3 Gadgets and kill them right there. It can be dead, especially if your opponent has defense set or a huge monster, but there are some cool tricks behind it. Boost Yellow Gadget, run over Venus, then Swap it for Gachi Gachi before it dies can be fun, just for the opponent's reaction. Just remember to never play it beside Pot of Duality. Now we have 36 cards, and we really need to start getting into out traps.

IV. The Traps

3 Ultimate Offering

39 cards. Pretty cramped, but we can go over since we'll be making some cuts...

2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment

That's the Solemn brigade. It's standard

2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Dimensional Prison
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute

Those last 2 see less and less play every day, so their inclusion could shock some people (hopefully my opponent). Our deck is now over the limit, but there is a last card I want to add...

1 Starlight Road

This card has won me a lot of games. And the thing is, it never negates Heavy Storm. Stopping their 1 Dark Hole (the only out some decks have to a board of Utopia/Roach) and bringing in a Stardust to further protect you is game-winning. It also lets you set heavy backrow the first turn if you open poorly. No opponent would commit to that field, and no opponent would Heavy that field unless they have Warning. It just lets you set-up your plays, and protect them, better.

V. The finished product and the cuts

Monsters: 21

3 Red Gadget
3 Yellow Gadget
3 Green Gadget
3 T.G. Striker
3 T.G. Warwolf
3 Effect Veiler OR Maxx 'C'
2 Tragoedia
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

Spells: 15

3 Pot of Duality
2 Smashing Ground
2 Creature Swap
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Book of Moon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Limiter Removal

Traps: 14

3 Ultimate Offering
2 Solemn Warning
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Dimensional Prison
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Starlight Road

Total: 50 cards

So we need to cut 5 to get the deck back to Fifth Gadget. Of course, the core of the deck is untouchable, so the candidates would be:

1 Striker
1 Warwolf
1 Gorz
1 Avarice
1 Limiter
1 Starlight
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Starlight Road
1 Maxx 'C' OR 1 Effect Veiler

There are 10 candidates. The first one I'll take out is Gorz. With 3 Continuous Traps and a Starlight Road, he'll go off less often than I'd want. Next I can see taking out 1 Mystical Space Typhoon and the 1 Mirror Force. I have no problems if my Gadget gets D-Prison'd or Warning'd, and the 1 MST ensures I do have that 1 extra out to an annoying permanent. Mirror Force isn't really as good as it used to be, since Hyperion/Brionac/Trishula can get rid of it before it goes off. Any of the above kills Torrential, but Torrent can at least take them with it. I'm really not going to mind losing my Gadget or my 1 Xyz to it, since it was free anyway. The last 2 I'm going to take out are 1 copies of the T.G. monsters. 45 cards is not going to OTK as often, and these cards are dead without Creature Swap (unless you count chump blocking.)

So, the fixes:

- 1 Warwolf
- 1 Striker
- 1 Gorz
- 1 MST
- 1 Mirror Force

Incidentally, my monster count is back below 20, just where I wanted it. Also, now that I've established the deck, I can decide on the Veiler/C dilema. The deck, while still capable of performing a One Turn Kill, has steered away from that focus somewhat. At 45, I'll draw Offering less often, and will need draw power more often. With that, and the fact that I'm liking my Agent match-up with the Main deck Creature Swap/Smashing Ground, the slot goes too...

3 Maxx 'C' (Sorry, Effect Veiler. I still think the twintails are Tsundere)

So, after all is said and done...

Resurgence's 5th Offering Gadget

Monsters: 18

3 Red Gadget
3 Yellow Gadget
3 Green Gadget
2 T.G. Striker
2 T.G. Warwolf
3 Maxx 'C'
2 Tragoedia

Spells: 14

3 Pot of Duality
2 Smashing Ground
2 Creature Swap
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Book of Moon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Limiter Removal

Traps: 13

3 Ultimate Offering
2 Solemn Warning
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Dimensional Prison
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Starlight Road

Total: 45

VI. The Side deck

Because I only play full-matches unless I'm testing a fun deck, the side-deck is very important. The theme I'd arranged for this deck is to side into a full suite of anti-meta, with specialty picks for the matches that need them, while taking out the T.G. monsters and the Ultimate Offerings. Siding out Gadgets is also a possibility, but in a 45 card deck, I really don't want to be in the position of not drawing Gadgets

2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Doomcaliber Knight

The 2 Chaos Anti-Meta beatsticks. TKR is good against everything, while DCK can make Agents and Plants think twice. Since you're playing Gadgets, your opponent will probably side out their Veiler's and Maxx C (unless your opponent likes to Veiler Gadgets, but whatever...) so he'll live more often than not. When your opponent can't activate their Brio or Formula because they're staring down a 1900 negater with protection. But DCK really shines best against Rabbit Laggia. Open him Turn 1, they have to waste their Tour Guide or Rabbit to kill him, leaving your backrow free to stop their play next turn, free from fear. Dolkaa can stop him, true, but he will practically force Laggia to negate his summon, meaning you can then Xyz to something bigger and run him over, or else just play Smashing Ground.

2 Cyber Dragon

Karakuri side (Fortress goes in the extra deck)

2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo

Dyna is good vs. everything everywhere. You normal summon him, set backrow, the opponent can't kill it. Plants have 2 outs to it that aren't monsters (4 if you count Enemy Controller) if you normal summon it, and Agents have even less (must be why Smashing Ground suddenly saw play.) While it's face-down, Plants can Brionac it, and Agents can Hyperion it, but if they had to choose between killing the face-down monster or the face-down S/T, there are a significant number of players who would choose the S/T, because, well, it is getting more rare to see Dyna in people's decks. Karakuri have next to nothing to kill a face-down Dyna. It's Landoise or bust, and if they decide to have Burei flip it face-up before they summon Landoise, ka-ching. Rabbit will more likely than not choose to summon a 2nd Laggia over a Dolkaa in the Gadget match-up, which also means a lot of money if they attack a set Dyna.

2 Spirit Reaper

This is apparently good. I've yet to see why, since I've never run it. Regardless, the deck runs so much monster removal, having Reaper get in there and poke can be game winning. Just don't do it against Dark World. Side for Rabbit and some other match-ups.

2 D.D. Crow

Synchrocentric is a bitch, and this is a good side against both them and Dark World.

2 Mystical Space Typhoon

For anti-meta decks like T.G. or Gravekeepers. I was tempted to run 2 Leeching the Light instead, but I'll have to further test the Agent match-up to confirm that. This gives us 1 loose slot in the side. I've already taken care of most of the expected matches, so I'll run...

1 Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind

The used-to-be staple Tuner in Gadgets gets the side-deck slot, because it's filler, because it fits the anti-meta theme, and because I have a soft spot for Blackwings. It also kills Shi-En, if that still mattered today.

Final side deck:

2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Doomcaliber Knight
2 Cyber Dragon
2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
2 D.D. Crow
2 Spirit Reaper
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind

So, that's the final product. Testing and such are underway. If you have a recommendation fix or suggestion or rant, feel free to place it.

45...
45...
45...
45!!!
Pot exists to stack the math in your favour. Running 45 cards stacks the math against you.