Venom

Venom Monsters, featured in the release of "Tactical Evolution," are a small series of Reptile-type monsters intended to be used alongside the Field Spell card, "Venom Swamp." "Venom Swamp" places "Venom Counters" upon all monsters except Venom Monsters at the End Phase of each player's turn, weakening them dramatically and destroying them once their ATK hits 0. The penultimate Venom monster, "Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes", is easily summoned and gains ATK for each Reptile-type monster in the Graveyard, and if it is destroyed by a card effect, the Trap Card "Rise of the Snake Deity" can replace it with "Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes", a card that is practically invincible once in play and which can initiate its own special victory condition, by inflicting Battle Damage to the opponent three times.

Since they rely upon Reptiles being sent to the Graveyard, Venom decks are at their most vulnerable when remove-from-play strategies are used, like "Dimensional Fissure". Venom deck users are also at risk of losing Life Points early, since the only reliable methods for quickly summoning "Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes" from the Deck involve taking Life Point damage (either via "Damage = Reptile" or "Damage Condenser".) All other Venom monsters happen to have low ATK for their level as well, so it is difficult for a Venom user to take the offense to the opponent early, especially if "Venom Swamp" is not yet on the field.

Important Support

• Evil Dragon Ananta -- In the event that attempting to summon Vennominon or Vennominaga fails, this card can be very powerful as a backup by removing from play all Reptiles in the Graveyard.
• Snake Rain -- Sends 4 Reptiles to the Graveyard from the Deck, powering up Vennominion or Vennominaga by 2000 ATK.
• Damage = Reptile -- Allows the easy summon of Vennominon, since its original ATK is 0. Make sure to have at least a few Reptiles in the grave before summoning him with this, however.
• Snake Whistle -- Summons another low-level Reptile when one you control is destroyed, which can be handy. Note that the OCG rulings state that this card cannot activate upon the Reptile being destroyed by battle, which makes it less useful in the OCG than the TCG.
• Damage Condenser -- Allows the summon of Vennominon in the event you do not have any Reptiles on the field at all.
• Destructive cards that target your own monsters -- Since Rise of the Snake Deity cannot activate in response to cards that would remove Vennominon from the field without destroying it, it is usually more reliable to destroy Vennominion yourself. The Trap Card Offering to the Snake Deity was specifically designed for this effect. Tribute to the Doomed, Offerings to the Doomed and Hammer Shot are some of the other better choices for this. Note that cards like Thunder Crash won't work, since they cause Rise of the Snake Deity to miss its timing.
• Non-Venom Reptiles -- Vennominon and Vennominaga benefit from any Reptile in the graveyard, not just Venoms. Some of the better ones to include in a Venom deck can include Alien Grey, Alien Shocktrooper, Gagagigo, Razor Lizard and even a few Worm monsters.
• Vengeful Bog Spirit -- Prevents monsters from attacking on the turn they are summoned. When Venom Swamp is in play, this will weaken opposing monsters by 1000 ATK before they are able to make their first move. If you have a face-up Venom Boa, this will ensure that any non-tribute monster your opponent summons will be destroyed before they even get a chance to use them.
• Light of Intervention -- Venom Swamp can't place counters on face-down monsters--with this, even a defending opponent will be losing their monsters rapidly.