Forum:Hardened Armed Dragon Abuse

A few days ago, a user named Clockwork-artichoke posted on my talk page and said how good my decks were. It warmed my heart to hear this, so I decided to thank him. With an awesome deck. He basically got to see it before anyone else. It's based around using Hardened Armed Dragon to summon huge, invincible monsters!

The main idea is that Hardened Armed Dragon gives, well, armor to the monster it's tributed for. This allows for a hell of a lot of fun with huge monsters – basically, you can make nigh-indestructible walls.

Here's the breakdown. There's Hardened Armed Dragon, Spell Striker, and Malicious as quick tribute fodder. Dasher is a way to just special summon some of these monsters. Finally, Giant Rat can search out Armed Dragon, Spell Striker, or itself again to protect my life points.

The rest of the monsters are humongous. However, they're not just there for size – each one has an effect suited to the whole tribute engine thing. For starters, if I tribute Armed Dragon for Covered Core, it can't be destroyed by effects – including its own – or battle. Belial allows me to protect all of my other monsters. Fiendish Engine is incredibly synergistic – it summons tokens to tribute along with Armed Dragon, and I can use its ATK-boosting effect without destroying it. Mosaic Manticore recycles tribute material monsters. The Creator does somewhat the same thing, and resurrects discarded monsters. Finally, under the right conditions Darklord Zerato can be summoned with one tribute – Armed Dragon – and be not destroyed by card effects. This includes its own – it can Raigeki the field while being protected from its own drawback.

The spells are virtually ALL for drawing. There's Trade-In (except for Covered Core, all the 2-tributers are level 8), Precious Cards from beyond (perfect for this deck), Allure of Darkness, Magical Mallet, Hand Destruction, Destiny Draw, and Card of Safe Return (for Manticore, Creator and Monster Reborn). As it is, spells that allow me to draw make up a third of the deck. This is out of fear that I might just have a few more dead draws than I would like otherwise. Also, there's Monster Reborn and Mystical Space Typhoon.

For traps, I've got Solemn Judgment. That's basically it. With Armed Dragon and Belial, there's not a whole lot I need to negate, but it's still there. Of course I'll side in Divine Wrath and other negation for when they're needed.

The ideal opening move with this deck is summoning a huge monster with the help of Armed Dragon. How would you do this? Well, say you had Destiny Draw, Destiny Hero – Malicious, Hardened Armed Dragon, two giant monsters and something else. You simply discard Malicious for Destiny Draw, remove it to summon another from the deck, discard one of the huge monsters to special summon Armed Dragon, and tribute both for your other huge monster. There – you've got a huge monster on the field and 3 cards in hand. Pretty good, eh? Maybe this scenario won't happen just in my opening hand, but that's the reason for the huge amount of draw spells – to get to such a situation.

Tell me what you think of this concept deck. Runer5h 01:30, 26 May 2009 (UTC)Runer5h

version 2.0

1st let me say ive been in the game since it came out and have learned a lot. that is why i know how decks should work. so i'll give it a try with this deck of yours. hope you enjoy my version of this deck.
Monsters20

• Hardened Armed Dragon x3
• Giant Rat x3
• Masked Dragon x3
• Psychic Commander x2
• Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude x2
• Destiny Hero - Dasher x3
• Belial - Marquis of Darkness x3
• Dark Horus x3
• Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon x1

Spells12

• Monster Reborn x1
• Allure of Darkness x2
• Trade-In x3
• Destiny Draw x2
• Mystical Space Typhoon x1
• Heavy Storm x1
• Precious Cards from Beyond x2

Traps8

• Solemn Judgment x3
• Dark Bribe x2
• Bottomless Trap Hole x3

Extra Deck3

• Black Rose Dragon x3

Any questions about this set up, just make a post--Duelest 101 01:29, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

What have you done? you've gotten rid of all the huge monsters except for Belial! Yes, you added a few more, but that doesn't entirely compensate - you really need to explain. And why do I need Black Rose Dragon? I mean, thanks for the suggestions, but still - it seems like you've taken the best part of the deck out. Runer5h 02:00, 29 May 2009 (UTC)Runer5h

well 1st giant rat and masked dragon helps bring out h. dragon faster. now then,you try to abuse lvl 8 monsters but, BIG BUT, good chance you will have used up many cards and still be stuck with a few lvl 8 in you hand as a dead draw. 7 lvl 8's is more then enough. as for black rose, since a monster that used h. dragon cant be destroyed by effects you can summon black rose without losing your big monsters at the same time destroying everything your opponent controls. diamond dude helps a great deal in this deck. this deck will run faster and smoother then your set up, no offense at all.

• you had 24 monsters and half were lvl 8. reducing the monsters to 20 and leaving 7 as lvl 8 leaves you enough basic monsters to hold your own until your big monsters hit the front line. remember, though they cant lose due to effects but a battle still harms them.--Duelest 101 02:09, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

I get your point, but in fairness, I did put in 11 draw spells that could be used right off the bat to counteract the dead draw problem. I also wouldn't add in Gadjiltron Dragon and Dark Horus. If I had to choose only two monsters to replace them with, I'd choose two that I already had - Mosaic Manticore and Fiendish Engine for their incredible synergy. By contrast, the ones I'd be alright with removing would be The Creator and Covered Core. They have the lowest ATK of all the big monsters, and not-as-useful effects. So I guess I'll take them out, and maybe a Darklord Zerato too, and put in another Fiendish Engine for it's awesome effect. (3800 ATK! Generates tribute fodder!)

I also sort of think that three each of Masked Dragon and Giant Rat just to search out one little card - or rather two, including Psychic Commander - is blatant overkill. I guess it's a good idea to put in another Rat, but not more than that.

I wouldn't take out the Malicious's and Spell Strikers, as they were a main tribute engine. I see why Diamond Dude would be useful, so he'll stay in , but I think two Dashers was enough, so I'll take the one you suggested out.

For spells: Oh, fine, I can afford to take out Magical Mallet and Hand Destruction. The latter isn't as useful now with the removal of Creator. And without The Creator, Card of Safe Return can go too - I won't have as reliable a way to trigger it anymore. I'm not so sure on Heavy Storm, because of how it destroys my own cards - I'll go with Giant Trunade instead. Also, as long as I have Psychic Commander, I'll put in Emergency Teleport for quick Synchros or tributes.

For traps: Okay, I'll put in another Solemn Judgment and Bottomless, but I don't think I need Dark Bribe as much.

For the Extra Deck: I guess Black Rose Dragon is a good idea, but why stop there? I'd rather put some other cards in too, including the soon-to-be-released-in-English Ancient Fairy Dragon for its synergy with H. Dragon.

So, with this compromise, the deck looks like this:

This brings the deck to 43 cards. Not a bad sum, especially with seven normal draw spells and two continuous draw spells. I see what the problem was with having only 8 normal-summonable monsters. Thanks. Runer5h 02:52, 29 May 2009 (UTC)Runer5h

much better

the second format looks much much better. i say, test it out when you get the chance. comment on my decks when you can. search for samurai's return, assault on life, or oppressive monarch

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• Consider adding Reinforcement of the Army and/or Ultimate Offering. The Horror'^{Speak if you dare} 18:32, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

I don't know that Spell Striker/Diamond Dude are important enough to warrant Reinforcement of the Army's inclusion. I don't think Ultimate Offering will fit - I've got a consistent way of special summoning H. Dragon via its own effect, and lots of ways to special summon other tribute fodder (Malicious, Spell Striker, Monster Reborn, Mosaic Manticore, Fiendish Engine) so I don't think I'll need the trap. Besides, I don't know how it would fit. Runer5h 19:29, 29 May 2009 (UTC)Runer5h

After Testing...

I made proxies of the cards in this deck, so now I can use it for testing. Mainly, I've found that this deck is a whole lot of fun to play with. Its tribute engine is very sound and I can usually get out a huge monster by the second turn. This deck is very fast with the combination of all the draw spells and Diamond Dude - usually, the turn I activate the effect of Trade-In or Destiny Draw with Diamond Dude is the turn I start dominating the game. The only additions I'll be making are in the Extra Deck: I'll be adding Goyo Guardian, which can be tuned with Psychic Commander and Spell Striker - what else should go in?

As for matchups, this deck beats any beatdown-styled deck you can care to name. It's just that awesome. Its worst matchup is definitely Burn decks - I can barely pull through against my brother's FIRE deck. (Great story; I had 800 LP, Dark Strike Fighter, and Belial on the field. my brother had 3800 LP, a monster set, and 2 Backfires face-up. He was taunting me, saying that I would lose next turn - presumably, he would attack me with his set monster, which would be destroyed, and the Backfires would burn through the rest of my LP. I confidently stated the opposite. Well, what do you know - I drew Diamond Dude, summoned it, and tributed my 3 monsters for Dark Strike Fighter's effect, burning him for precisely 3800 LP.)

In any case, thanks for your help! What else should I have in this deck?Runer5h 16:35, 7 June 2009 (UTC)Runer5h

only sudgestion id make is throw in an earthbound for a truly undistructible monster card effects cant touch it battles cant touch it and with direct attack duel will be over in no time flat 76.11.148.109 12:05, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

And it wouldn't be destroyed by its own effect? I like your idea. Which one would you recommend? Runer5h 19:34, 8 June 2009 (UTC)Runer5h

aslla piscu because if it loses in battle, when you attack an opponents monster, it wipes the field clean of you opponents monsters and hits them for 800 each. ccapac apu is a 3000 flame wing man. so both are good

ok i would run mystic plasma zone just for the extra 500 atk boost just incase ya cant pull it out with harden and then run apu as your earthbound since you wont have to worry about it being destoryed if you pull it with harden anyway 3500 direct atk if ya got mystic on the field too will be a win in no time flat76.11.148.109 13:15, 9 June 2009 (UTC) millingfreak

No. I don't think Mystic Plasma Zone is right for this deck. It's as likely to help my opponent as me, and I think I'm about covered for attack power. As for running any Earthbound, it's complicated by the fact that I don't need, per se, to summon my other huge monsters by tributing H. Dragon. Earthbound Immortals, on the other hand, give me no choice if I don't have a field spell on hand. And although I like the idea of walloping my opponent with that kind of card, I've got enough beatdown power as it is.

Of course, if I were to choose an Earthbound Immortal, Ccapac Apu would definitely take preference over Aslla Piscu. Runer5h 19:49, 9 June 2009 (UTC)Runer5h

well your prob right about that for this deck but hey could build a pritty darn good earth bound deck with this consept as for me its back to work on my black wing deck did some hard testing on it today agienst my dueling buddys cb deck and pc monarch took 2 of 3 matches but looks like i have some kinks in the tech cards to work out and prob some trimming to do sittin at like 43 cards 76.11.148.109 23:36, 9 June 2009 (UTC) millingfreak

After a Good Smackin'

This is the most consistent of my concept decks that I've proxied. And it still got ****ing owned by BioMasterZap and E-Dizzle. So, I've made some changes.

The main change is in the tribute line-up. Previously it was Fiendish Engine, Mosaic Manticore, Belial, and Darklord Zerato. Now, it's Fiendish Engine, Belial, Barbaros, Malicious Edge, and Tyrant Dragon. I also replaced Spell Striker with Jester Confit. Finally, I put in Overwhelm, an awesome card. I'm hoping the deck will run more smoothly now. Runer5h 01:16, 22 June 2009 (UTC)Runer5h