Tricky Puppet Alliance


Observing the people's opinion on the relevant topic, I decided to cover a rather new deck type utilizing Karakuris. Appeared originally in the booster pack Starstrike Blast, the first time I was to make a deck for them coincided with the release of STOR in OCG, after seeing some innovative builds that contained the monsters responsible for the attention this deck got, Saizan, Kuick and Bureido. These technologic marvels must attack when you have them in Attack position (except for Synchros) having a very unique strategy based on changing the battle positions of monsters in order to control the duel efficiently. Without keep you waiting, here's a summary of what you'll be reading below

I. Introduction to MDLs
II. Members of the Karakuri alliance
III. Puzzle assembled!
IV. Ample ways to control the Duel
V. Strategic considerations and the future

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I. Introduction to MDLs

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Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido" EARTH / Machine / Level 8 / 2800 ATK / 1700 DEF / Synchro 1 Tuner 1 or more non-Tuner Machine-Type monsters When this card is Synchro Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 "Karakuri" monster from your Deck. Once per turn, when the battle position of a face-up "Karakuri" monster you control is changed, draw 1 card.

With each card having perfect synergy with the others it's pretty hard to introduce them one after the other, while giving information to cause some possible combination thought inside the reader's mind. I think that Bureido is a good place to start with, so let's see what differentiates him from other monsters. Using 1 material along with 1 tuner monster always brings less options to the user by diminishing the available cards by one, known as card prescence. Bureido erases this disadvantage by summoning a Karakuri from your deck, giving you profusely draws from your Deck, the same time. Didn't you forget that they all bear the "This card must attack if able" effect, right ?

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Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei" EARTH / Machine / Level 7 / 2600 ATK / 1900 DEF / Synchro 1 Tuner 1 or more non-Tuner Machine-Type monsters When this card is Synchro Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 "Karakuri" monster from your Deck. Once per turn, you can select 1 monster on the field, and change its battle position.

Pretty much the same as above. Divergences concern the level, attack and defense stats and effect, being mainly the ones that render Burei the best partner Steel Shogun could ever have. A glimpse on both of their their second effects is enough to understand the perfect synergy these guys have. Exploding with Karakuris encourages like two copies of them in the field but this alone works well with level one tuners to bring Bureido since the only Synchro requirements are referred to the non-Tuner monster/s. The Burei is also capable of destroying virtually any other monster in battle - if it has an ATK or DEF less than 2600, it's out!

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Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 "Nishipachi" EARTH / Machine / Level 3 / 500 ATK / 1600 DEF / Tuner This card must attack if able. When this face-up Attack Position card is selected as an attack target, change it to Defense Position. When this card is Normal or Special Summoned, select 1 monster on the field and change its battle position.

The main Tuner to get your Synchros out, and also a handy target for Bureido to trigger his draw effect instantly. Also helps against monsters weak in ATK position. In the variant we're discussing about, it should be our main focus by the time that we care less about Watchdog, remember that tuners non-related to Karakuri will be used for our final deck, too. The usual level 4s tuned with Nishipachi unleash Burei and some support from Instant Fusion is enough to make a Bureido play which is slightly more preferred to set up different combos later on.

II. Members of the Karakuri alliance

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Machina Gearframe EARTH / Machine / Level 4 / 1800 ATK / 0 DEF / Union When this card is Normal Summoned, you can add 1 "Machina" monster, except "Machina Gearframe", from your Deck to your hand. Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can equip this card to a Machine-Type monster you control as an Equip Card, OR unequip it to Special Summon this card in face-up Attack Position. (A monster can only be equipped with 1 Union Monster at a time. If the equipped monster would be destroyed, destroy this card instead.)

This card made quite an impact upon its release in the Machina Mayhem structure deck in February 2010, now looking at Machina Gearframe simply, we see it has reasonably good attack for a level 4 - 1800 although it does lack any defense points. This is good enough to trade off with quite a few of the big level four beaters and tune with Strategist for Burei. Nabbing you a Machina monster from your deck for free when it's Normal Summoned, in other words Machine Gearframe emulates the effect of Elemental Hero Stratos just perfectly.

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Machina Fortress EARTH / Machine / Level 7 / 2500 ATK / 1600 DEF You can discard Machine-Type monster(s) whose total Levels equal 8 or more to Special Summon this card from your hand or Graveyard. When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, select and destroy 1 card your opponent controls. When this face-up card you control is targeted by an opponent's Effect Monster's effect, look at your opponent's hand and discard 1 card from their hand.

Apparently the monster you'll be searching with Gearframe almost always due to the very tight margins of adding more not-needed cards for our strategy that make this deck less consistent. Being able to Special Summon himself from the grave as long as you can discard Machine-Type monster(s) whose total Levels equal 8 or more is the most useful play, what I strictly suggest is to discard itself and an other Machine type monster, instead of Special Summoning him from your hand the very first time. When you have then special summoned Machina Fortress you can then take full advantage of Gearframe’s union ability and equip Gearframe to Fortress to prevent from destruction by battle or card effects by destroying this card equipped to it instead. Being a Machine type this card can also take advantage of being affected of Limiter Removal by making that push for game a little easier to achieve.

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Lonefire Blossom FIRE/ Plant / Level 3 / 500 ATK / 1400 DEF Once per turn, you can Tribute 1 face-up Plant-Type monster to Special Summon 1 Plant-Type monster from your Deck.

As you noticed I avoided giving this deck an actual name due to its using a series of different engines contributing to deck thinning and also make big Karakuri Synchro plays. Another ally apart from Machinas can be considered Plants, more specifically a careful selection of what's responsible for part of the success in a Plant deck, and who's better than Lonefire with Glow-Up Bulb and Spore ?

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Emergency Teleport Quick-play Spell Special Summon 1 Level 3 or lower Psychic-Type monster from your hand or Deck. During the End Phase this turn, remove from play that monster.

One obvious conclusion till this point is that first-turn Bureido is a luxury by giving more cards to Set for the bakrow and keep him alive while trying to develop the field even more. In cases where you either can't access Strategist or Lonefire seems to be slow E-Teleport summons one of the Karakuri's Psychic Tuner friends right off the bat.

III. Puzzle assembled!

Monsters: 19
3 Machina Gearframe
3 Machina Fortress
1 Machina Force
1 Karakuri Ninja mdl 919 “Kuick”
1 Karakuri Muso mdl 818 “Haipa”
3 Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 “Nishipachi”
2 Lonefire Blossom
1 Glow-Up Bulb
1 Spore
1 Dandylion
1 Psychic Commander
1 Mind Master

Spells: 13
2 Pot of Duality
2 Instant Fusion
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Limiter Removal
1 Book Of Moon
1 Giant Trunade
1 Foolish Burial
1 One for One
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Emergency Teleport
1 Mind Control

Traps: 7
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Solemn Warning
2 Royal Decree
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Mirror Force

Extra Deck: 15
2 Cyber Saurus
3 Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X “Bureido”
2 Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 “Burei”
1 Armory Arm
1 Formula Synchron
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Side Deck: 15
2 Chain Disappearance
2 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Cyber Dragon
2 Electric Virus
2 Kinetic Soldier
2 Puppet Plant
2 D.D. Crow
1 Naturia Beast
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

IV. Ample ways to control the Duel

Before analyzing further you should note that the winning condition is not that defined in the deck because of the number of combinations it provides, soon explained in the next lines. Let me start now by saying that Strategist with Instant Fusion is a potential opening granting you access to Bureido. Other than that, instant Bureidos may seem to be a little bit rare to occur but they can be often accomplished by Burei as I stated before. Level 4 monsters include Karakuris and Gearframe, some of them being decent beatsticks but also useful materials for Burei when used with Psychic Commander and Strategist. Level one tuners like Glow-Up Bulb, Spore and Mind Master also turn your Burei into Bureido and all these things happen while you get to summon another Karakuri each time a Karakuri Synchro is Synchro Summoned.

Even when first-turn plays like the one described earlier aren't viable the deck is insanely consistent. Almost every monster can be searched by something else with Lonefire Blossom and E-Teleport/Mind Master being the epitome of dumping cards to the grave, giving you the right tuners to make appropriate plays while thinning the total card count of the deck. Having dead draws is not something that I've personally encountered, the best case I can remember was me having 20 cards left in the deck with Burei and Bureido face-up in the 6th turn of the Duel! Lightsworn could give you identical speed in the past without ensuring however that you're going to have the cards you want in the grave and the right support waiting inside the deck.

Passing them off as a mediocre arch-type is out of the question with the option of winning the Game without essentialy commiting the field with more monsters every turn, resulting in more card advantage and duel control. Armory Arm supports the Colossal Fighter OTK, Naturia Beast contributes to the S/T lock thanks to the "Royal tech" I opted for adding and Machina Fortress has sure dissapointed Gadgets for a more worthy ally. If you don't achieve to go off with Karakuris, Fortress could still push for the game just by resummoning himself from the grave the time you wield more advantage with the support cards this deck has.

V. Strategic considerations and the future

Being unwilling to test Royal Decree is acceptable, if you don't feel like running them you will probably swap them for Trap Stuns, or even more general destruction means. For the time, they definitely stay with Scrap Dragon always capable of big surprises. You may try different builds like pure Karakuri or something running more Karakuris by sacrificing one of the three support installments. For the time I can sure tell that the deck could perform way better after the release of certain cards in TCG. Note that not only more Karakuris like the recent ones will give the deck a different feel but Machina Cannon is also something much expected, letting us to avoid Force dead draws and widening the horizons to OTK.

As an outcome of the three hundred views I unexpectedly got last time and most important, the requests from you to improve yourselves as duelists, this article is finally over, any sort of feedback or opinion is much appreciated !

Nice and usefull article, but some cards didn't reach yet ( i mean in KCVDS ).

Thanks for the positive feedback omar. KCVDS often stays behind what's going on in real life so you might consider waiting a bit, a major update is about to happen as Seto announced, or try playing with them in YVD/DMG.

This update will take 2 years .

ok back to topic

i find the article to be good but u made a few errors for example

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what I strictly suggest is to discard itself and an other Machine type monster, instead of Special Summoning him from your hand the very first time. When you have then special summoned Machina Fortress you can then take full advantage of Gearframe’s union ability

i think u forgot gearframe in that sentence

also i don't understand why u didn't use naturia beast, or torrential in your build

still very good read bro KIU

I mentioned that Gearframe searches Fortress in the first sentence of the paragraph you refer to and Torrential is not good in this deck, when you need to set up your field with the proper monsters to get access to the powerful and versatile combination list I describe. Naturia Beast was accidentally omitted, editted now so you can make the lockdown strategy viable.

It's just me or everyone, chimeratech and naturia beast was in the wrong place(side deck), should be in the extra deck. Anyways, i'm trying karakuri gadget and karakuri morphtronic atm in WC 2011. It's good and i never imagined these karakuri's variants have more strength and have a fairly good balance. Good article as always and keep up the good work.

Thanks, but I can't see where's the problem with these two monsters you mentioned.

I think the jancook forgot that currently you can side synchros and fusion monsters as well. That means you can put them in the side deck.

Now for the article, great job, it was a nice read indeed.

pretty nice article again, bro I try as well some variants machinas + karakuris irl, but i like more the variant with towns and karakuri's castle.Its pretty damn awsum, rly.

I like the idea for instant fusion.Many ppl forget bout dat card. +rep

Pretty good article as said before..but the deck counts 39 i think you're missing the book of moon?