Introduction

What is it with KONAMI and their love for level 3s? The last time we had anything Level 3 related, (eyes at Virtual World) nothing pleasant came out of it. Nevertheless, the PUNK archetype, fresh from Grand Creators, has finally debuted in the metagame scene as yet another consistent 3-Axis tool. What exactly is PUNK, and what could they produce? Let me paint you the big picture.

The Pieces of PUNK

The PUNK Monsters reflect several renowned forms of historical Japanese arts and performances. PUNK wields several effects all associated with tutoring other PUNK cards out of the deck. The Level 3 Psychic Tuner department demands 600LP to retrieve specific PUNK card types from the deck, along with a slightly irrelevant secondary quick effect. The crew also has Level 8 monsters to accelerate the PUNK playstyle, to eventually summon their signature boss monster, Ukiyoe P.U.N.K. Amazing Dragon. As this deck requires a strong focus on Level 3 Monsters, this has prompted many players to adopt a 3-Axis mindset towards this deck. Otherwise, the already impressive Traps PUNK owns may allow for the deck to be played in a more authentic way.

Young PUNKs

• Noh P.U.N.K. Seamin (adds Monster)
• Gagaku P.U.N.K. Wagon (adds Spell)
• Joururi P.U.N.K. Madame Spider (adds Trap)
• Ukiyoe P.U.N.K. Sharakusai (performs a Fusion or Synchro Summon)

There are 4 mini PUNK monsters as of this writing. As mentioned earlier, they will request a mere 600LP fee in order to generate specific advantage. Most of your initial plays will pivot around being able to resolve Sharakusai's Fusion, which will allow you to summon Ukiyoe P.U.N.K. Carp Rising. Carp Rising can then proceed to split itself up into 2 more mini PUNKs. This simple tactic will usually allow the player to trigger at least 3 mini PUNKs, granting the player a huge advantage. Constantly recycling your mini PUNKs is the key to overwhelming the opponent's resources.

Medium PUNK

• Noh P.U.N.K. Numeral Ogre (Discard this, add mini PUNK)
• Noh P.U.N.K. Foxy Tune (Discard this + 1, Special Summon mini PUNK)

Both older PUNKs will require the player to discard itself to tutor the mini PUNKs from your deck. Foxy Tune is better, as this deck will consistently suffer from being able to develop additional bodies on board. Both of these PUNKs can also summon themselves by releasing one other PUNK on the field. This allows you to easily tap into Amazing Dragon. These PUNKs are essential as an engine, as Foxy Tune is another way to develop another Level 3 monster on board. (normally for 3-Axis).

Grand PUNK

• Ukiyoe P.U.N.K. Carp Rising (Fusion)
• Ukiyoe P.U.N.K. Amazing Dragon (Synchro)

These are the big guns of the deck, but both serves different purposes. Through the Fusion effect of Sharakusai, you will often summon Carp Rising first, in order to summon more PUNKs from your deck. Amazing Dragon can be easily summoned through the simple additions of this deck's natural Level 3 Tuners and Level 8 monsters. This boss monster can wipe the opponent's board, which is one of the few aggression plays this deck has. Amazing Dragon is also able to resuscitate PUNKs from the graveyard, allowing you to continue using mini PUNKs for additional resources.

As a fun trivia, both Carp Rising and Amazing Dragon refers to the Chinese myth of "Carp Leaping over The Dragon Gate". This reference is reflected in Carp Rising's effect to grant double attacks if used as a Synchro Material, preferably into Amazing Dragon.

PUNK Power

The PUNKs also have several decent spell/traps within its arsenal, ideally for Wagon or Madame Spider to tutor.

There are two PUNK spells to date, Crusher Beat and Wild Picking. Wild Picking is an aggressive spell meant to bolster PUNK's poor offensive stats, while Crusher Beat encourages your opponent to reconsider disrupting your PUNKs. Both spells provide decent aura-like effects that might eventually overwhelm your opponent if used correctly. However, the passive nature of these cards do not accelerate nor boost the consistency of PUNK, therefore you might want to reevaluate the potential of these cards.

There are also two PUNK traps, Dangerous Gabu and Nashiwari Surprise. Dangerous Gabu resembles the currently popular Infinite Impermanence, while Nashiwari Surprise can potentially destroy a card on the field. These are strong disruptive effects that are easily searchable through Madame Spider, and are definitely worth using.

Display of Decklists

The idea behind PUNK is very simple. You should try to start with either Foxy Tune or Seamin, and both will allow you to eventually develop 2 PUNK bodies on the field. You can do almost anything with two Level 3 Tuners on board, but your game plan is up to your deck's construction. So over here I will present a few ways to play.

Pure PUNK

This deck is fitted with the most basic additions in order to supplement the ideal PUNK gameplay. As you might have noticed, PUNKs do not provide any sort of restrictions, so I tried to adopt as many good stuff as possible.

Psychic Tracker, Wheeleder and Nyannyan are all very good Level 3 Psychics that fuel Amazing Dragon's effect. Halqifibrax is a standard for any archetype boasting easy Tuners. Water Dragon serves as an easy Level 8 for Synchro Summons. Polymerization can help summon Carp Rising as an alternative to Sharakusai, which also plays around needing a Normal Summon.

As the pool of decent Level 11 Synchros is pitiable, you have to consistently rely on Amazing Dragon for any sort of aggression. Your game plan is normally to summon Amazing Dragon using Carp Rising, wipe the opponent's board, and attack for large amounts of damage. Otherwise, constantly summoning Madame Spider will net you several PUNK Traps, previously noted for their strong disruption. Sharakusai can also Synchro Summon on the opponent's turn, allowing your summoned Amazing Dragon to serve as disruption during your opponent's turn!

One notable exclusion is the lack of Wagon and his spells. Unfortunately, this deck already suffers from overcoming disruption, and Wagon's spell do not contribute to either consistency nor disruption. The inclusion of Wagon will compromise the base consistency, until a better PUNK spell is printed in the future.

(OCG) PUNK Good Stuff (3-Axis)

This is the latest hit from the OCG, a horrific amalgamation comprised of the greatest 1-card engines released so far. This deck only requires a way to tap into Crystron Halqifibrax in order to summon a possible board of Borreload Savage Dragon, Thunder Dragon Colossus, Wandering Gryphon Rider and Destroy Phoenix Enforcer.

Seamin and Foxy Tune can both produce multiple Tuners on board, leading to an easy summon of Halqifibrax. This has resulted in the smallest possible PUNK engine, and it is a good reference for any 3-Axis. You may notice the singular Madame Spider, an alternative much needed should Maxx "C" be dropped on the activation of Foxy Tune.

The depiction of this visual list will not go in-depth about the workings of this deck, as it is merely intended to only show the PUNK engine. Instead, you may choose to read up on Destroy Phoenix Enforcer and the Brave Token engine here.

Eliminating the Entertainment

What stops a deck when all of its playstarter add cards? To begin with, this deck suffers heavily from developing extra bodies onto the board. Many of PUNK's plays requires the initial setup provided by Seamin and Foxy Tune, and even then any sort of negation or disruption will heavily impact the flow of the turn. It will be safe to say this archetype is frankly quite fragile. They does not possess any sort of counter-negation, nor have enough firepower to will through several disruptions. Simply increasing the number of disruptions you use can potentially ruin any opposing PUNKs.

Ideally, you should stop the very first few moves they make. Even against an established board, it will not be that difficult to break.

My Thoughts and Concerns

PUNKs has turned out to be the least popular archetype in the set. On the release date of Grand Creators, I opened 3 boxes and somehow got a complete playset of these cards, so I simply had to make them work. The current best applications for PUNKs is yet another cog in 3-Axis, but an archetype full of tuners is sure to be exploited in the near future. For a deck meant to Synchro, there are barely any options, and there are also no other alternative Fusion options. However, it is common for main sets to support these archetypes at least once, and I will look forward to it. But as of now, Brave Token will continue dominating the metagame, and Exorsisters will continue dominating the waifu spot in our hearts.

As Grand Creator approaches the TCG soon, I hope you readers will maybe pick this deck up, and possibly give the best performance you can!