Forum:Deck Guide/Venom

by Gadjiltron

Intro

The Dimension World arc in the GX series is notable in that it's the point where everything takes a darker turn. One of the few villains featured during that arc is Professor Viper, whose distributions of the Bio-Bands caused a "Duel Zombie apocalypse" within the academy after his time in the plot expired.

As with many one-shot villains, his Venom archetype was made in the real-life card game but failed to take off due to his lack of screentime, and by extension, lack of extended support.

Mechanics

The Venom archetype is a defensive archetype with a great end goal in the form of a nigh-invulnerable monster. It stalls by distributing Venom Counters, and uses their Field Spell to weaken their opponent's monsters until those monsters either die or are too weak to take on the archetype's members without assistance.

The problem? Venom Counters do absolutely nothing without the Field Spell, meaning that the whole weakening effects disappear without the field. Also, as the Field's weaken effect only affects ATK, the opponent can simply turtle by leaving their monsters in Defense Position.

Fortunately, the ace monsters of the Deck themselves are not reliant on the Field's presence and simply make do with smashing the opponent's LP to bits with a massive ATK score. Effectless Venom Counters can also be utilized by a certain card so to inflict massive damage and potentially end the game too.

Analysis

Strengths

• A "legal God Card" - The ace monster of the archetype is practically invincible, being immune to all other effects and capable of reviving itself should it be destroyed in battle. Not to mention its potential to reach massive ATK scores and its own alternate win condition.

Weaknesses

• Reliant on the field - As mentioned before, Venom Counters do nothing without Venom Swamp.
• Weak base monsters - The base Venom monsters are all very frail, and rely on weakening opposing monsters in order to stay on the field.
• Graveyard-reliant - Even their invincible ace monster is nothing if the Graveyard is empty.
• Deck Devastation Virus - And just to rub it in their face, the Venom's ace monster is not invincible in the hand, and has a base ATK of 0. Weep now.

The Basics

The Field

As mentioned earlier, the general Deck's strategy revolves around the Field Spell, because otherwise the Venom Counters do nothing. Let's see what it actually does:

• Venom Swamp - First, all monsters with Venom Counters lose 500 ATK per counter, and if their ATK hits 0 due to this, they get destroyed. Then, during the End Phase, a Venom Counter is placed on each face-up non-Venom monster. What happens if a monster has a base of 0 ATK? They don't die. Not to mention that Venom Swamp doesn't affect DEF values, so an opponent can still turtle his way out.

Players of Magic: the Gathering may draw parallels between Venom Counters and -1/-1 counters, both of which are capable of killing a monster once enough counters accumulate on them and cut a certain stat to 0 or lower.

The Monsters

• Venom Cobra - A Normal Monster with 100/2100 stats. Defintely not too useful on the offensive side, but considering fragility of the rest of the archetype, Venom Cobra still has its value as a reliable wall to fall back upon.
• Venom Serpent - Standing at 1000 ATK for a LV4 monster, Venom Serpent can make up for its weak stats by placing a Venom Counter on a monster your opponent controls. Unlike several other Venom Counter-placing monsters, Venom Serpent can still attack to quickly remove anything that's been sufficiently weakened.
• Venom Snake - Slightly stronger than Venom Serpent with 1200 ATK at LV3. It can also place a Venom Counter, but in return it cannot attack that turn.
• Venom Boa - With 1600 ATK at LV5, Venom Boa is often dismissed as being too cumbersome to play properly. Its poison is more lethal, being able to place 2 Venom Counters each turn in exchange for attacking.
• Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes - The ace monster of the Venom Deck. Well, its precursor, at least. Vennominon is LV8, has stats of 0/0, and cannot be Special Summoned by another Effect Monster. No Mystic Tomato shortcut for you. Vennominon gains 500 ATK for each Reptile in your Graveyard, allowing him to reach great heights late-game, and if destroyed in battle, you can revive Vennominon by banishing a Reptile from your Graveyard. Oh, and because his name doesn't include the "Venom" word, he has an additional effect that grants him immunity to Venom Swamp. Vennominon is necessary for any Venom-based Deck because he is needed to bring out...
• Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes - Vennominaga is nigh-invincible. She is unaffected by any other card effect except her own. Like Vennominon, she gains 500 ATK for each Reptile in her Graveyard, and can revive herself by banishing a Reptile from your Graveyard if destroyed in battle. And each time she inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent, if they're not dead yet, she gets a Hyper-Venom Counter. Accumulate 3, and it's an instant win for you. What's the major obstacle to summoning her? Rise of the Snake Deity. You need to get Vennominon destroyed to trigger that Trap, but due to fine print, you can't do that during the Battle Phase and thus need to rely on destroying with a card effect. It's a good amount of effort just getting the setup together, but bringing her out is totally worth the trouble you go through. Even more satisfying if your opponent happens to be stubborn enough to let you gather the 3 Hyper-Venom Counters.

Spells and Traps

Fortunately, several of the Spells and Traps are not so narrow-minded as to specify "Venom monster" and say "Reptile-Type monster" instead, allowing you to run them in other Reptile Decks.

• Attack Pheromones - When your Reptiles attack Defense Position monsters, you can force the attack target to switch to Attack Position. This either leaves them in their vulnerable state if you've been stacking Venom Counters on them, or lets Vennominaga inflict Battle Damage to gain a Hyper-Venom Counter.
• Snake Rain - Discard a card and send 4 Reptiles from your Deck to your Graveyard. If you discard a Reptile for the cost, that's a total of 5 monsters loaded in the Graveyard, and 2500 ATK for your ace monsters. Even better if you choose to mill copies of Vennominon so that you don't draw him and can revive him with other cards for later use.
• Venom Shot - If you control a Venom Monster, Vennominon, or Vennominaga, you can mill a Reptile of your choice from your Deck to place 2 Venom Counters on a target monster. Generally considered a weak effect, and people tend to use other means to mill cards or stack Counters.
• Ambush Fangs - Venom monsters are weak and often make easy attack targets. Ambush Fangs protects them by negating the attack, ending the Battle Phase, and as a bonus, it places a Venom Counter on the attacking monster.
• Damage = Reptile - Once each turn, if you take Battle Damage from a battle involving a Reptile, you can Special Summon a Reptile with ATK equal to or less than what you took. Your opponent need not do the attacking, you can intentionally cause the damage yourself. Vennominon is a prime target for this due to his 0 base ATK, and as such any amount of damage is sufficient to bring him out.
• Offering to the Snake Deity - This is more or less the Reptile version of Icarus Attack, but instead you target a Reptile you control and 2 cards your opponent controls. Then those three cards are all destroyed simultaneously. This is also custom-built for triggering Rise of the Snake Deity or Snake Whistle. Definitely worth running.
• Rise of the Snake Deity - As mentioned before, Rise of the Snake Deity is key to Special Summoning Vennominaga. However, it cannot be activated during the Damage Step and therefore you need Vennominon destroyed with a card effect.
• Snake Deity's Command - Spell Card threatening to destroy your field? Reveal a Venom monster in your hand to negate it without any additional costs. Handy, but would have been better if its negation also extended to an additional card type. Beggars can't be choosers...
• Snake Whistle - When a Reptile you control is destroyed, you can Special Summon a Reptile from your Deck. Most infuriatingly, like Rise of the Snake Deity, you cannot activate it during the Damage Step, and thus to trigger this you need a Reptile destroyed by a card effect.
• Venom Burn - Remove all Venom Counters from a monster, and inflict 700 damage for each Counter removed this way. Some inventive people build Decks around this card and abuse the "0 base ATK" loophole on Venom Swamp to stack over 10 Venom Counters on a single monster and effectively kill the opponent in a single shot.

Variants

Defiling Swamp

The standard Venom Deck that uses as much of the Venom archetype as possible.

Toxic Sludge

A Venom Burn Deck that summons a lot of monsters with 0 ATK points. These monsters cannot die by Venom Swamp's effects and thus can hoard a lot of Venom Counters. As it takes time to gather that many Venom Counters, this Deck tends to specialize in defensive measures.

The All-Encompassing Deity

Because Vennominon and Vennominaga do not discriminate between Reptiles, it's possible to build a Deck based on these two cards while using cards from other Reptile-based archetypes. This variant of the Deck scraps Venom Swamp and Venom Counters completely so that it has more space to use other forms of support. The example below uses Worms due to their strong base monsters.

Tag Duel Options

Other Reptile-based Decks are welcome partners for the Venom Deck since they will be able to power up Vennominon and Vennominaga. Your supportive S/Ts which don't discriminate between Reptile archetypes can also aid them. Just be mindful that they are also vulnerable to Venom Swamp and thus will weaken with every turn.

Other Tips

Consider the following cards for use:

• Earthbound Immortal Ccarayhua - In case you do take a severe amount of damage while Damage = Reptile and a Field is present, you can bring out Ccarayhua to deny the rest of the Battle Phase and grant you a very powerful heavy hitter. Althrough the Earthbound Immortal will be susceptible to Venom Swamp, your opponent cannot attack it, and as Venom Swamp eats away at its ATK points it will eventually die and take the rest of the field with it.
• Evil Dragon Ananta - A more reliable emergency plan. Ananta can Special Summon itself by banishing all Reptiles from your field and Graveyard, gaining 600 ATK and DEF for each Reptile banished that way. Also, during each of your End Phases, you must destroy a card on the field, providing a continuous source of removal that keeps the opponent on the ropes. Just be careful not to leave it as the last card on the field.
• Kagetokage - Using Rank 4 Xyz monsters? Kagetokage lends aid by Special Summoning itself the moment you Normal Summon a LV4 monster, making access to Xyz easier and contributing to Vennominon and Vennominaga.
• King Feral Imp - A prime reason for why one would consider Kagetokage. King Feral Imp can detach an Xyz Material to fetch a Reptile of any Level from your Deck. If needs be, you can fetch Vennominon just so that you can use Trade-In to pitch him where he needs to be, or fetch Vennominaga to ensure you don't draw her at a very inopportune moment.
• Lion Alligator - A solid 1900 ATK beatstick that also grants Trample to all your Reptiles (including itself) if you control another Reptile, letting you punch through stubborn defenses.
• Razor Lizard - Similar to Lion Alligator, Razor Lizard gets the ability to instantly destroy the face-down monsters it attacks while you control another Reptile, which is great if your opponent chooses to Set monsters to avoid the threat of Venom Swamp.
• Reptilianne Naga - Since she has a base of 0 ATK, she can be Summoned with ease using Damage = Reptile and is immune to Venom Swamp's poisons. Also, she can't be destroyed by battle, thus providing a wall to fall back on. If needs be, you can also Tribute her for Vennominon.
• Field Barrier - Defends your Field card from destruction while also preventing your opponent from changing the Field.
• Fires of Doomsday or Reptilianne Spawn - Did you somehow get Vennominon in your hand, and need a quick way to Summon him? These cards can Summon 2 0/0 Tokens for Tribute purposes. You also will not need to worry about Venom Swamp due to their stats.
• Molting Escape - Not only does this card help prevent your weaker Reptiles from being destroyed in battle, it also boosts their ATK gradually each time it successfully defends them. When this is coupled with the Venom Counters weakening your opponent's monsters, they will quickly run out of ways to destroy your Venom monsters in battle.
• Solidarity - If you're running pure Reptiles (and thus Viper's Rebirth, below), consider running this too. It will boost the fragile Venom monsters to give a respectable ATK score, allowing them to hold their own.
• Viper's Rebirth - If you Graveyard is all Reptiles, you can Special Summon a non-Tuner Reptile from your Graveyard, but it gets destroyed during the End Phase. Naturally, Vennominon is a prime target for this, as it will then immediately set off Rise of the Snake Deity.
• Alien Brain - Reptile destroyed in battle? Snatch the offending monster for yourself, and turn that into a Reptile too so that it won't be excluded from your own Reptile support.
• Limit Reverse - Special Summon Vennominon from the Grave, and then switch it to Defense Position to immediately destroy it and set off Rise of the Snake Deity.