Deck Profile – Cesar Gonzales’s “Cesar DAD”

Leading into this tournament over the past several weeks, one Deck has been the focus of the Dueling rumor mill – Cesar Gonzales’s rumored revamp of Teleport “Dark Armed Dragon”.  Questions ranged from “which Destiny Heroes does it play?” and “which tuners?” to “does it really run Insects?” and the most pressing query of all “does this Deck even exist?”  Nobody seemed to have actually seen the build, and it was unclear just how anyone heard about it in the first place.

Prior to this event Cesar revealed the Deck list to just two other Duelists – his long-time friend and American Champion Chris Bowling, as well as yours truly.  While outlandish rumors of an Insect engine or a peculiar lineup of Blackwing support are in fact untrue, the Deck is hugely different from the one Cesar made repeated Day 2 appearances with over the past year.  Finally forced to innovate by sweeping changes in the March 1st Advanced list, Cesar has responded in kind, making big adaptations to the Deck he wielded perhaps better than any other Duelist.

Here's a look:

 

Cesar Gonzales’s Deck

Monsters (20)	Spells (12)	Traps (9)	Side Deck	Extra Deck
1x Dark Armed Dragon 1x Caius the Shadow Monarch 2x Destiny Hero – Plasma 2x Destiny Hero – Malicious 1x Destiny Hero - Fear Monger 1x Elemental Hero Stratos 1x Dark Grepher 1x Plaguespreader Zombie 1x D.D. Crow 1x Card Trooper 2x Cyber Valley 1x Phantom of Chaos 1x Sangan 1x Spirit Reaper 2x Krebons 1x Mystic Tomato	2x Allure of Darkness 1x Brain Control 1x Emergency Teleport 2x Destiny Draw 1x Mystical Space Typhoon 1x Scapegoat 1x Heavy Storm 1x Reinforcement of the Army 1x Monster Reborn 1x D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation	2x Phoenix Wing Wind Blast 1x Crush Card Virus 3x Solemn Judgment 1x Torrential Tribute 1x Trap Dustshoot 1x Return from the Different Dimension

Staying as true as he can to the strategy’s roots, Cesar’s Deck is centered on a Destiny Hero draw engine, packing two copies of “Destiny Draw” powered by two “Destiny Hero – Malicious,” “Destiny Hero - Fear Monger,” and a pair of “Destiny Hero - Plasma”.  “Elemental Hero Stratos” searches those monsters from the Deck as needed, while a lone “Dark Grepher” sends those cards and others to the Graveyard to set up big combos.

The Deck’s relatively light on Tuners, packing a single “Plaguespreader Zombie” and two copies of “Krebons” – nothing else.  From there “Dark Armed Dragon,” “Spirit Reaper,” and “Sangan” round out the predictable picks.  With those cards locked and loaded, the Deck gets interesting.

Two copies of “Cyber Valley” provide alternate outlets for monsters that are special Summoned, and in conjunction with “Allure of Darkness” the Valleys make this one of the most draw-heavy Decks of the tournament. D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation and “Return from the Different Dimension” let Cesar reuse the Valleys, as well as other remove-from-game monsters like “Plaguespreader Zombie” and Malicious.  The Valleys also provide defense and a strong opening against the most aggressive Decks of this format, letting Cesar throw up an easy-to-play roadblock and buying time for combo building.  “Emergency Teleport,” “Scapegoat,” “Brain Control”… they’re all combo fodder for the Valleys.  This Deck layers synergy upon synergy, the key to Cesar’s hopeful success.

“Card Trooper” provides even more draw as well as more Graveyard control – one more way to stack those big plays Cesar’s banking on.  “Mystic Tomato” is another layer of defense and searchability, fetching Tuners, “Spirit Reaper,” and even “Phantom of Chaos”.

The longer a game goes, the better the situation gets for Cesar, and he’ll be looking to leverage his defensive early game into back-breaking mid and late games.  Opening with “Card Trooper,” “Cyber Valley,” Stratos, “Krebons,” or “Mystic Tomato” are all very stabilizing plays against Decks like Gladiator Beasts and Lightsworn, and they all lead into big followups by providing extra cards, search power, or maintaining field presence for Synchro Summons.  Cesar will no doubt hold back his “Solemn Judgments” and “Phoenix Wing Wind Blasts” as long as possible to cinch in those game-winning combos.  Every card in this Deck serve a dual purpose, and that’s the key to its competitive edge.  So now that the cat’s out of the bag, how well does the top secret Deck work? 

“I’ve 2-0’d everybody this morning!” grinned Cesar as he stood in line to register for the event.  Adam [Corn], Emon [Ghaneian], Anthony [Alvarado], everybody!  It beats Lightsworn, it beats Gladiators!...”  With his self-imposed gag order no longer in effect, Cesar is simply ecstatic with the potential for his build this weekend.

But the tournament hasn’t yet begun – will Cesar DAD live up to the hype?  Teleport “Dark Armed Dragon” strategies are regarded by many as a dead archetype, and today, Cesar may be the Deck’s last hope.  A win here would destroy the expected metagame so many predicted for the next few months, and would be yet another title win for Cesar – but a flop and a drop would be a big blow to his massive reputation.  It’s a new day for Dueling here in Anaheim, and everything is on the line for this Shonen Jump Champion!

-Jason Grabher-Meyer

 

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