Synchro Kitty

Synchro Cat was definitely the scariest OTK deck I have encountered during my experience playing YGO(I started playing when Gladiator's Assault was released). I only faced it once at my locals but it OTK'd me both games. Ever since I watched multiple players lose to Synchro to one turn kills. The Cat was heavily hit September 2009 as Summoner Monk, Rescue Cat and Dark Strike Fighter took a blow. Summoner Monk and Rescue Cat, the main combo pieces of the deck were limited to slow the deck down. The deck's key spell cards that made otk's possible, Cold Wave and Mind Control, were limited as well. Dark Strike Fighter the win Condition of the deck was banned. Players were unable to otk as frequently and many people left Synchro Cat behind and moved towards other decks that could possibly take over the new format. Synchro Cat is still a force to be reckoned with. With the right hands it can still otk and while not as deadly as they used to be, the Synchro Cat deck can still outplay any current top tier deck if underestimated. Synchro Cat didn't only win by OTK. It had another kind of victory. It focused on decreasing the opponents card presence and keeping their own advantage. Look at the deck list I have created and tested and see if you can spot the advantage each card in the deck provides.


Monsters:21
3x Cyber Valley
3x X-Saber Airbellum
2x Mystic Tomato
2x Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
2x Gravekeeper's Spy
2x Gravekeeper's Guard
1x Rescue Cat
1x Summoner Monk
1x Dark Armed Dragon
1x Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1x Sangan
1x Blackwing-Gale the Whirlwind
1x Des Koala

Spells:11
2x Allure of Darkness
2x Pot of Avarice
1x Mind Control
1x Brain Control
1x Machine Duplication
1x Heavy Storm
1x Giant Trunade
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Cold Wave

Traps:08
2x Threatening Roar
2x Bottomless Traphole
1x Mirror Force
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Trap Dustshoot
1x Torrential Tribute


Now for my analysis.

First off are the monsters. Cyber Valleys allow you to draw more cards from your deck and allows you to create a slower environment for you opponent if they don't have an answer to it other than attacking it. In conjunction with Brain Control, Mind Control, and Machine Duplication this deck can seriously start grinding away at your opponents cards and allow you to put you combo faster. Airbellums are the heart of the deck as they are a level 3 beast tuner accessible by Rescue Cat. It creates ideal situations when your opponent has no monsters on their side of the field. A direct attack and your opponent is down 1 card from their hand. Airbellum works really well with Mind Control and Brain Control by allowing a possible discard from your opponents hand and a Synchro summon. The Mystic Tomato's allow you to keep your field presence after a massive Blackwing or Lightsworn swarm and counts towards your dark count for Dark Armed Dragon and allows easy access to Summoner Monk. Ryko is the answer to the feared Colossal Fighter and allows you to clear cards on the field that may become a nuisance later on while loading your graveyard for Dark Armed Dragon and Pot of Avarice. Gravekeeper's Spy's allow you to +1 and enables double Synchro summons and allows the deck to go Arcanite Magician for an easy -2 for your opponent. Gravekeeper's Guards also open up the possibilities to an Arcanite Play but also allow you to rid the field of one monster when flipped face up. Annoying Synchro monsters beware and he works well with Airbellum too. Rescue Cat, the Soul of the deck. It allows for a +1 and enables Synchro Summons by searching out Airbellums and any other beasts if needed. Summoner Monk is the body of the deck and he allows you turn any spell card into a level four monster once per turn. With Rescue Cat as a level four it goes nuts and lets loose 2 Airbellums which leads to an Arcanite Magician and Airbellum. Arcanite destroy 2 cards on the field while the extra Airbellum clears a card from the opponents hand or if you had another no tuner monster on the field it would allow for a double synchro summon. Dark Armed Dragon is an instant +3 if he survives his summoning and with a 2800 attack body he will end games really fast. Gorz saves you from a bad situation or allows you to decimate your opponent by walking into your feigned weakness by hitting the field as a 2700 hitter and creating a +1 by creating a token. Sangan searches for whatever you need at any situation. Gale allows access to the unbeatable Armor Master and is a dark so it can easily fuel DAD and Allure and its shrink ability makes Gale an enemy of high attack monsters. Des Koala is a level 3 dark Beast monster that can be searched by Rescue Cat when your in need of a level 6 synchro monster. Its a dark so it also fuels DAD and Allure and its burn damage and high defense is always nice too.

Allure's allow for quick draws and easy deck thinning. The pots recycle fallen monsters and allows for draws and if synchros were used it allows for multiple +'s. Mind Control and Brain Control allow for an easy -1 from your opponent and allows for easy synchro plays and Cyber Valley draws. Machine Dupe allows for the abuse of Cyber Valleys and their effect. Heavy Storm, Giant Trunade, MST , and Cold Wave do what they do best. They allow you to make your plays without interference from decimating back row cards like Torrential or Mirror Force.

Threatening Roars allow you to survive OTK's and set up your combos safely. Bottomless Traphole is your basic monster removal card and can be a +1 if your opponent summoned more than 1 monster at the same time with 1600 attack points or more. Mirror Force and Torrential Tribute are the field enforcers of the deck while Trap Dustshoot allows you to see your opponents hand and hinder their strategy. Call can lead to a multiple Rescue Cats and well you all already know what this does.

Tomorrow I'll do an analysis on a Gladiator Beast deck I created.