Notes & Combos

M5 Millennium/Fiendsmith/Sky Striker — Season 56

On the Millennium channel, we discussed a full-circle engine where any starter can consistently reach the same endboard of at least 4 interactions, with 2 additional ones depending on the opening hand.

Basic endboard interactions:

1. Exodia Spell Negate
2. Exxod, Fires of Rage boardwipe
3. Azurune Summon Negate
4. Desirae Field Negate

Optional interactions depending on opening hand:

5. Heart of Gaia Monster Negate
6. Heart of the Blue-Eyes (send a Level 8+ monster to the GY)

The only person I saw publish this variant was TheShapestofSnatches. I wanted to test its consistency, and this season I had enough UR to craft it. I changed some ratios because I don't think the deck can afford more bricks.

I settled on the following ratios + 1 Gaia:

• 4 Sky Striker Starters: 3 Raye + 1 Hornet Drones
• 7 Fiendsmith: 2 Engraver + 1 Lacrima + 3 Tract + 1 Lurrie
• 15 Millennium: 3 Sengenjin + 3 Golem + 3 Shield + 3 Wedju Temple + 1 Heart of the Blue-Eyes + 2 Ankh
• 25 Hand traps/board breakers
• 8 Bricks: 5 Exodia pieces + 1 Exodia Trap + 1 Azurune Trap + 1 Roze

The probabilities are the following:

• Starter/Sky (4) — 30.06%
• Fiendsmith Starter (7) — 47.46%
• Millennium Starter (15) — 77.63%
• Any 1 Starter (26) — 94.91%
• Any 2 Starters (26) — 72.83%
• 1 HT/Board Breaker (25) — 94.06%
• 2 HT/Board Breakers (25) — 70.09%
• 1 Brick (8 cards) — 52.41%
• 2 Bricks — 12.76%

This variant shines as a consistent way to reach full ceiling. Any starter can reach the basic endboard, opening hands are usually strong. However, not every engine plays the same way into handtraps.

Fuwalos/Maxx “C” and Droll can be particularly awkward when opening with the FS or S.S. portion. The advantage is that these engines can absorb other handtraps and still reach the same endboard after being interrupted.

The main disadvantage is adding Roze as a brick. While she is not a hard brick like a Trap, seeing her in the opening hand can still feel bad. You need to send her to the GY, either by placing her in the Spell & Trap Zone and sending her with Doomed Dragon or by using her as Link Material.

S.S. can also help break boards and demands an answer when you Normal Summon Raye, making it useful going second.

FS gives the deck its cohesion and makes closing games quickly much easier. I'm convinced the 2nd Exodia Trap is not worth the additional brick potential, which is why I only play one.