Forum:Deck Guide/Gimmick Puppet

Author's note: With the release of 'Number Hunters', so has the release of the rest of the Gimmick Puppet archetype, something that I have become obsessed with. Why? Well, Gimmick Puppets are extremely aggressive Xyz summoners, second only to (in my opinion) Dragon Rulers. They focus on the summon of Rank 8 monsters, which is an underestimated rank in my opinion, probably because of that fact that most decks aren't solely focused on that rank, and have 'better avenues' to go to. So, in order to give them a little lovin, here is my guide to a good, and competitive, Gimmick Puppet deck. --Jared Grace (talk • contribs) 07:51, December 28, 2013 (UTC)

Analysis

Strengths

• Swarming for fast Overlaying: Gimmick Puppets can easily Special Summoned themselves so that you can create a big swarm of monsters for a fast Xyz Summon.
• Swarming for Strong Defense: "Gimmick Puppet" monsters tend to be high Leveled and can easily Special Summon themselves while maintaining a strong defense.

Weaknesses

• Dead draws - You're using more high-level monsters than normal in this Deck. Better hope you have a good opener, or you're a sitting duck for a few turns.
• Low ATK - Gimmick Puppets don't have high ATK (except "Egg Head", "Giant Grinder", "Heaven's Strings", and "Destiny Leo".) so they won't be staying long enough for you on the field.

The Basics

Monsters

• Gimmick Puppet Dreary Doll - Dreary Doll is a great card in this deck, for multiple reasons. She can special summon herself while in the grave just by banishing another gimmick puppet, making it insanely easy to use her as Xyz material. And she is pretty easy to pitch into the grave, using either the effect of Egg head (We'll get to him soon) or Trade In for some extra draw power. She also has 0 atk and def, making her a prime target to abuse many cards that work with monsters will low attack and defense. The only real downside to her is the fact that using her as Xyz material means you have to summon a Gimmick Puppet Xyz, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Run 3 in any Gimmick Puppet deck. You won't regret it.
• Gimmick Puppet Egg Head - This egg-cellent card (see what I did there?) is a key card in Gimmick Puppet decks, and is pretty versatile. By discarding a Gimmick Puppet, you can either burn your opponent for 800 points of damage or make his level 8, allowing you to Xyz summon one of your boss monsters. All in all, he is a great monster. Run 3 in your Gimmick Puppet deck.
• Gimmick Puppet Gear Changer - Gear Changer brings some versatility to the Gimmick Puppet archtype, and, along with Egghead, can get around nasty Ophions. Gear Changer can change its level to the level of any other Gimmick Puppet monster on the field except for itself. In other words, it can open up some Rank 4 options, or better yet, with Egghead, use his effect after Egghead has become level 8, and summon a Rank 8 monster even with Evilswarm Ophion on the field. A pretty neat card that definitely has its uses. Run 2-3, depending on your preference.
• Gimmick Puppet Magnet Doll - Very simple. Special summon him when you have a Gimmick Puppet on the field. Xyz for 8. And what's great about this guy is that he doesn't limit you to a Gimmick Puppet monster to summon into. Run 3.
• Gimmick Puppet Nightmare - You can special summon it by tributing an Xyz monster you control. Now this can go a few ways. You can either tribute an Xyz monster you have, probably one with no materials left, or, you can tech in a creature swap, and trade in one of your weaker Gimmick Puppets for your opponents Xyz, and use that to summon Nightmare. Another interesting thing: Nightmare doesn't come alone. When you summon him this way, he brings a second from your hand or grave. Honestly, he is a better Inferno Reckless Summon target than anything, that way you get three instead of just two. Also, he's another one that limits you to summoning a Gimmick Puppet, so be wary of how you use him. Run 0 or 3, depending on how you plan to play.
• Gimmick Puppet Scissor Arms - Pretty much a Foolish Burial for Gimmick Puppets, he's ok for getting Dreary Doll fodder or a Nightmare into the grave. With his low attack, he won't be staying on the field for long, so don't get to attached to him. Run 1-2. Any more will clog you up.
• Gimmick Puppet Twilight Joker - Yeah....Twilight Joker is the black sheep of the Gimmick Puppet archetype. easily summoned when one of your Puppets are destroyed, but unless your opponent only has one monster on the field, he won't be staying long enough for you to actually use him. Sure, he can save you from an OTK....maybe. Run 0-1, only if you really want to.
• Gimmick Puppet Des Troy - Now this is an interesting card. Des Troy is a nice word play. He does what he is designed to do symbolically, serve as a decoy in order to summon the real troops. Symbolic? Yes. Practical? Not so much.

Run 1-2, depending on how you plan to play.

• Gimmick Puppet Humpty Dumpty - OK, this is a level 4 of Gimmick Puppets that can be Machine-Duped. However, its effect does not really benefit puppets that much. Special summoning from the hand is something that should really be limited to Magnet Doll.
• Gimmick Puppet Shadow Feeler - Eh, this one does try to shield you from attacks, but it is still a bit of a longshot. It deals extra damage from you just to summon itself, and I do not like that because of such a thing. Still, I am becoming more and more interested to build a Hope For Escape Puppet Deck...
• Number 15: Gimmick Puppet Giant Grinder - And so we come to the first of the Gimmick Puppet Xyz: Number 15 Giant Grinder. While he may have a pitiful attack of only 1500, he has a very decent defense stat (2500) and a killer effect, which allows him to destroy two special summoned monsters a turn, and inflict some serious burn damage if they are Xyz. Now in a world of Big Eyes and Priestesses, this guy is a savior. And while Dracossac may be harder to get around, if you have the right set up with Nightmare, you can pop its tokens, summon another Giant Grinder, and get rid of that Draco and inflict a whopping 2600 points of damage to your opponent. Now that's what I call efficient. Run 1-3 in your Extra Deck.
• Number 40: Gimmick Puppet of Strings - Number 40 is an interesting card. It is a nice 3000 attack beater with a mediocre effect. Detach an Xyz material, and destroy all face up monsters at the end of your opponents turn except for him, ad inflict 500 points of damage for each monster destroyed. Sounds awesome right? Well, no, not really. Because Strings waits until the end of your opponent's turn, it gives them a chance to counter. However, there is a really good plus side to summoning this bad boy. He has 3000 attack, and is a DARK monster. In other words, he is an EEV target, which as he all know, is the bane of Spellbook's existence. So with that being said, run 2-3 in your extra deck.
• Number 88: Gimmick Puppet of Leo - One of the few instant in conditions in the game, Number 88 is ridiculously easy to summon in this deck. The only problem is protecting him long enough to get his effect off and win the duel. However, with 3200 attack points, you won't likely have to worry about him getting run over. No, you have to worry about monster effects, and since you need your back row clear in order to get a Destiny Counter, that won't exactly be easy. However, you can easily just use him as a 3200 beater, and another EEV target. Run 0-1 in your Extra Deck.
• Number C15: Gimmick Puppet Serial Killer - The First of the 3 Chaos XYZ monsters is not too bad in terms of its effect. It can pop any 1 card, and has a volcasaurus effect. Still, for a Chaos XYZ, it has pretty low stats for a Chaos XYZ. Literally, they are just the opposite of its regular form. Advantage, it does not need its regular XYZ counterpart to use its effect in full.
• Number C40: Gimmick Puppet Devil's Strings - Alright, probably the best of the 3 Chaos XYZ we got. Since Strings is the most common Rank 8 Puppets go into, this is probably gonna be easier to utilize. Simply detach with Number 40 Strings, then Chaos Xyz this guy for a monster nuke, burn damage, and a free card.
• Number C88: Gimmick Puppet Disaster Leo - They really hit this card hard with a nerf, being that it has to be summoned via Ranking up Leo specifically. It does have immunity to targetting, and 3500 is a nice attack to boot, but that summoning requirement is just atrocious.

Spells

• Junk Puppet - This card is amazing. You can special summon any Gimmick Puppet in your grave, and special summon it. Let's face it, this card is most likely an instant Xyz for you. Run 3. Always.
• Puppet Ritual - No, puppets do not have a ritual monster card (but hey, I would love it.) This card lets you summon 2 level 8 puppets, but requires you to give up your battle phase and be at a losing point of the duel. Until there is a powerful rank 8 burner, this card is gonna see limited to nil use.

Supporting cards

• Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis - This card is great in this deck for so many reasons. Easily summoned, nice beater, and an effect that compliments Gimmick Puppets. You like have Gimmicks in the grave (Namely Dreary Doll and Nightmare), and this card gets them there, all while popping your opponents cards into oblivion. When played right, you can easily get out a second Xyz monster alongside this guy and push for game. This is one dragon you do not want to overlook. Run 2-3 in your Extra Deck.
• Number 107: Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon - This card is great in this deck for so many reasons. Easily summoned, nice beater, and an effect that compliments Gimmick Puppets. You like have Gimmicks in the grave (Namely Dreary Doll and Nightmare), and this card gets them there, all while popping your opponents cards into oblivion. When played right, you can easily get out a second Xyz monster alongside this guy and push for game. This is one dragon you do not want to overlook. Run 2-3 in your Extra Deck.
• Mechanicalchaser - Now this may seem like an odd choice, but here me out. This is normal monster, which makes it a Rescue Rabbit target, and it is DARK, which allows for easy summon of Number 66: Master key Beetle, who we will discuss in a bit. Run 0 or 3, depending on whether or not you run rabbit.
• Rescue Rabbit - You can use Rescue Rabbit to banish itself and summon two Mechanicalchaser from your deck to instantly to get Number 66: Master Key Beetle.
• Number 66: Master Key Beetle - This card here is why you run MechanicalChaser. He protects your cards from destruction, and when paired with the right cards, can make your cards nearly un-killable. He has a decent attack, and generally flows well with the deck. Run 1-2 in your Extra Deck.
• Gearspring Spirit - This is a great tech card for Gimmick puppets. Easy rank 8 material, and it can reduce an opponent's monsters attack to 0. And if you have none-machine monsters in your grave, don't sweat it. Simply use him as Trade In fodder, and get cards that you can work with. Run 1-2, depending on your machine ratio.
• Machina Fortress - It can Special Summon itself from the field or Graveyard by discarding Machines with levels totalling 8 or more. The wording means you can even use the same Fortress as part of the discard requirement. Out on the field, it has other effects that make it a pain to deal with. If destroyed in battle, it destroys a card on the field; if targeted by a Monster Effect, you get to see your opponent's hand and pick and discard one card from it. Regardless of which kind of Machina Deck you're playing, it's good to run 2 or 3.
• Machina Cannon - It has 0 base ATK, but this will increase by 800 for each Machine you discard from your hand to Special Summon it by its own effect. You'd need 3 Machines to even get it to a respectable 2400 ATK, but in a pinch it's a good wall with a static 2200 DEF, since you'll only need to toss out a minimum of one Machine to summon it. It's also level 8 and a less of a dead draw, making it a good substitute for it.
• Machina Gearframe - Gearframe is awesome, as it has decent stats on its own with 1800 ATK, is a Union, which allows it to protect other Machines, and when Normal Summoned, he can search for any Machina monster from your Deck aside from itself. 9 out of 10 times, you're using it to get Fortress.
• Geargiganto X - Geargiganto X is pretty useful support. It can detach Xyz Material to add a LV4 or lower Machine from Grave or Deck to your hand, allowing recycling of or searching of any Machine you'll need.
• Inferno Reckless Summon - Considering the fact that the only none Xyz Gimmick Puppet monster with attack over 1500 is Egg Head, this card is a staple, considering how much you are going to be special summoning your puppets during the course of the duel. In most cases, you should be able to Xyz at least twice, and if not, you at least have one Xyz monster in the field. Run 2-3.
• Machina Armored Unit - A Continuous Spell from the Structure Deck. Once per turn, when a Machine you control is destroyed in battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon a Machine of the same Attribute but with less ATK from your Deck. Defender's a prime target for this since it has low ATK and you can Summon it in Defense Position, but a Machina Deck usually doesn't have the space for it.
• Solidarity - Certain builds make use of this to make Gimmick Puppets a bunch of 2X00 ATK beatsticks.
• Rank-Up-Magic Argent Chaos Force - Argent is the new Rank-up card on the block. Basically, it is Limited Barian's Force for a rank 5 or higher monster, but it also can recycle itself from the grave once per duel. Considering most of the CXYZ/C# cards are rank 9, rank 8 benefits the most from this.
• Genex Ally Birdman - Allows you to easily summon a level 4, level 7, or level 11 Synchro in a Gimmick Puppet Deck. Also allows you to return cards like Gearspring Spirit, who can be immediately summoned again.
• Googly-Eyes Drum Dragon - See Above for Best Reason. 4000 Beater is still pretty darn awesome otherwise.
• Felgrand the Divine Dragon Knight - Probably the best generic Rank 8 Around. Do try to run this thing, it is a monster to deal with outside of Colossal Fighter and Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos in the meta scene.
• Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack or Number 11: Big Eye - Two rank 7s commonly seen in the Machina Gimmick and the Machina Gimmick Drain builds of the deck.
• Black Rose Dragon, Star Eater and Armory Arm - Usually, these can be found in Puppet decks that run Birdman, though it is most common only the first 2 will be used.
• Allure of Darkness - Many of the monsters are dark, actually most that are commonly seen are dark. You will love this.
• Number Wall - This card is great. Many of the Xyz cards you will be running will be Numbers. And when Combined with Number 66, all you have to worry about pretty much is your monsters being targeted for card effects like Big Eye. This is a mean card, and very deadly in a Gimmick Puppet Deck. Run 2 - 3.
• Trade-In or Advance Draw - They run a decent number of level 8s as a pure build. The Machina Build runs several searchable level 8s. What’s not to love about Trade-in for an easy two cards? Advance Draw is less playable due to a card on the field being required, but Necro Doll still benefits hugely from being summonable from the grave.
• Hand Destruction and Dark World Dealings - Use them to send your Gimmick Puppets (Namely Dreary Doll or Nightmare) or cards that you don't need anymore or can't use to the Grave.
• Foolish Burial and Next to be Lost- Use them to get Dreary Doll fodder or a Nightmare into the grave.
• Limiter Removal - Duh. It is a machine Archetype. Most machine decks would not want to be caught dead without this card.