Despite a strong emphasis on effects that trigger during the End Phase,T.G. decks - short for Tech Genus - have a ton of Synchro monsters thatironically clash with what the deck was always best at.

In the past, virtually every competitive T.G. deck was some form of stunstrategy, decks that aimed to systematically shut off entire branches ofyour opponent's plays, all covered by the extremely creative umbrella ofthe name "T.G. Stun". But personally, I'd rather play around with the bigSynchros.

Needless to say, stun's not extremely captivating for my tastes, nor is ita big strategic focus in competition these days. With all that said, thisweek's contributor writes us from Brooklyn…

Thanks for taking the time to read the deck! I don't think thatT.G. monsters are your favorite, but I think I can make somethingout of the strategy. Hopefully you can see something in the decktoo. I like all the T.G. Synchro Monsters because they have verygood effects. I only wish I could use T.G. Hyper Librarian like weused to in the old days.

If I had to pick out a favorite, I would choose T.G. Blade Blaster.It's easier to Summon than most of the other big Synchro Monsters,so hopefully you can see something in the build I'm sending yu andgo from there. If only I could easily make all the other T.G.Synchros, but what I'm really sad about are all the unfortunateT.G. monsters. I tried to use T.G. Catapult Dragon, but it may notbe good.

-Jercon Z. ~ Brooklyn, New York

T.G. decks fell in and out of favor with me pretty regularly in theirheyday, but then again so do a lot of strategies.

Check out what Jercon's deck looks like here in 2018.

DECKID=108364My favorite thing about the deck is Hi-Speedroid Chanbara; it's so powerfulthat it can end games all on its own.

I'm not sure if I'll be keeping both copies in the final build, but as wedive into this week's deck fix I'm really excited about Jercon's strategy!

Gotta Do The Building By The Book
Although a hybrid of T.G. monsters and Agents was popular for quite a whilein tournaments, that particular mash-up wasn't as good in the TCG as it wasin the OCG, hinging on both T.G. Warwolf and T.G. Striker to make bigplays. Ever wonder why T.G. Striker was actually Limited to one-per-deck awhile ago? Thanks to Warwolf and Striker, you could flood the early gamewith Synchros and Xyz Monsters; even something as simple as The Agent ofCreation – Venus could create a window for lethal damage!

Obviously it's a completely different story today, but keep in mind thatyou can still flood the field with an aggressive push, or at the very leasthave resources for upcoming turns thanks to the T.G. monsters – theirability to search more monsters when your on-field copies get destroyed isstill pretty respectable. I think the best way to build the T.G. deck in2018 is going all-in: you need to put all your chips in the proverbial potand try to make the biggest boards possible if you're going to do anythingworthwhile.

In short, there are several things missing from Jercon's build that canreally open up the entire deck, and I think they're really important here.First and foremost, Brilliant Fusion's noticeably absent, and I don't thinkyou can truly explode with Synchro monsters in the Link era unless youcapitalize on Gem-Knight Seraphinite and friends.

#####CARDID= 20407 #####

…By friends I mostly mean Brilliant Fusion, but the card's so pivotal forthis deck, you'll also want Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra and PredaplantOphrys Scorpio. With three copies of Scorpio and three Brilliant Fusions,you'll have a great chance of seeing it early on.

Not only will you want to see your Brilliant Fusion as early as possible,you'll want some way to get monsters out of your hand and onto the field.Obviously it would be nice to have some resources set aside for futureturns, but with so many small monsters, you might as well just throw downyour hand as soon as you can to capitalize on what you've already drawn.

There are plenty of ways to Special Summon extra monsters from your hand,whether it be Red Resonator, Goblindbergh, Trident Warrior… the list goeson. Strangely enough, I really did consider Marauding Captain for a bitsince it's an Earth monster, and thus cheap fodder for Missus Radiant. Butin the end I settled back on Red Resonator.

It might seem like a weak reason to do so, but really it all comes down toT.G. Wonder Magician. Keep in mind, a good chunk of your Extra Deck may benothing more than fodder for making big monsters, so you might as well getsome use out of whatever you're summoning before you throw it away. T.G.Wonder Magician pops spells and traps as you climb to your bigger Synchros,but since it needs a non-Tuner T.G. monster, your ancillary monster supportneeds to lean towards Tuners.

Keep Cards In Hand If You Can!
It's not extremely important to have extra cards in your hand after youmake your big plays, but the big, bad boss monster - T.G. Blade Blaster -does protect itself from targeting spells and traps if you pitch a cardfrom your hand.

T.G. Halberd Cannon's obviously nice to summon if you can manage it, butBlade Blaster's more reliable and a lot easier to bring out. It's simplymore realistic to focus on that Synchro instead of the bigger one, andwhile it won't pick your opponent's hand apart like PSY-Framelord Omega,you can get it off the field to save your boss monster if you need tothanks to its second effect.

To keep the deck more consistent, you'd really like to make your openinghands as streamlined as possible. I emphasized just how important BrilliantFusion was earlier, and I do believe that it trumps everything else in thedeck. By running Pot of Desires, you're gambling that you won't banish theGem-Knight Garnet you desperately need in the Main Deck to activateBrilliant Fusion in the first place. Sure, Pot of Desires digs you toimportant cards you need faster, but you're hamstringing your chances toactually resolve a Brilliant Fusion.

Fear not, though: there are other ways to extend your plays beyond thespecific cards you start the duel with. Fire Formation - Tenki not onlygets you to T.G. Warwolf, but Reborn Tengu's arguably more important.Tengu's seen very little play since it was released from the Forbidden& Limited List, but I think it's worth using to have extra monsters.And in an ideal world you'd have Red Resonator and Brilliant Fusion to gowith it. In tandem, you can effectively field your entire hand and go fromthere.

#####CARDID= 8722 #####

Out of all the core T.G. support, you won't find many cards that gel withthis strategy. I mean, there aren't even many we could fairly described as"good." The only card I can really vouch for is TG1-EM1 because it's anamazing last ditch effort when you have nothing else. There's no betterfeeling in the world than stealing your opponent's monster and gifting themone that will pay back dividends in the future.

You could make the case for a lot of trap cards, T.G. and otherwise, but Ithink if you're looking more at the broad picture, you'll find that it'sthe best of both worlds. It's a way to thwart your opponent and when youhave nothing else going for you, it'll prove to be beneficial.

Check out the changes below!

-1 T.G. Rush Rhino
-2 T.G. Cyber Magician
-2 Junk Synchron
-1 Jet Synchron
-3 Doppelwarrior
-2 T.G. Catapult Dragon
-3 Allure of Darkness
-1 One for One
-3 Into The Void
-1 Twin Twisters
-1 TG1-EM1
-2 TGX3-DX2

-1 T.G. Blade Blaster
-1 T.G. Hyper Librarian
-1 T.G. Power Gladiator
-1 Missus Radiant
-1 Proxy Dragon
-1 T.G. Halberd Cannon

+2 Red Resonator
+1 Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra
+3 Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio
+3 Reborn Tengu
+1 Performage Trick Clown
+1 Gem-Knight Garnet
+1 Synkron Resonator
+1 Junk Synchron
+1 Heroic Challenger - Thousand Blades
+3 Fire Formation - Tenki
+3 Resonator Call
+3 Brilliant Fusion

+1 T.G. Wonder Magician
+1 Leo, the Keeper of the Sacred Tree
+1 Gem-Knight Seraphinite
+1 Coral Dragon
+1 Crystron Ametrix
+1 M-X-Saber Invoker

I know - it's crazy to think that I'd actually take out Junk Synchron, butit's a tad unneeded, especially once you filter out some of the othermonsters that go along with it. I like the idea of Doppelwarrior andfriends, but things never came to fruition when I tried to make biggerplays with it.

Here's the final rebuild of Jercon's strategy.

DECKID=108365M-X-Saber Invoker was a last minute addition, though I'm not convinced it'sthe absolute best choice. I'm always partial to The Phantom Knights ofBreak Sword as a way to pop threats on the board, but on the flip side bothPredaplants stacked together can make a Missus Radiant if you field HeroicChampion - Thousand Blades off Invoker.

This deck can be quite fragile, so choose carefully if you think there's aminor tweak you'd like to explore.

Just remember, beat your opponents before they beat you!

-Loukas Peterson




-Your name and city.


