Notes & Combos

I was inspired to play this by hendu and found it relatively easy to climb with. Main locks: Rivalry of the Warlords+There Can Only Be One: The opponent can only have one face-up monster, this makes it hard for them to link.

Number 86 Rhongo: removing the ojama lock gave me a lot of extra space. Fire prison often forces decks into link monsters (Even Floowandereeze) so the Numbers Eveil + Sales Ban is often live. You can also Sales Ban naming Ash Blossom if you have to dig that turn.

Fire Prison + Skill drain

Cauldron of the Old Man: Even though the effect damage is your main win condition, the life gain can serve as a lock of sorts in race situations.

Card choices/non-choices: Final Countdown: Optional. It is nice having a win condition that doesn't take up a spell zone. Allows Cauldron to go permanent gain life mode for race situations.

Prohibition can make Eldlich cry if you beat them to their game plan.

The extra deck has a couple of paths to Rhongo (Master Duel makes it really easy to not mess this up).

Prosperity and Extravagance clash with the cycle package (Upstart/Into the void/Card of Demise), but there might be some combination that works better.

Pot of Desires is a more interesting option. I don't like it because I find myself having to stall until my opponent decks out with some frequency. However, it is good at finding multiple pieces of the main locks of the deck.