Kashtira-la Zone Control

Introduction

Today we have a power unimaginable by most men, only matched by the likes of Infernity and Pole Position loops: Zone Control. In this style of deck you restrict how many cards the opponent can place on the battlefield. This can either be a brutal way of stopping the opponeny from playing or just  pointlessly silly. 

We'll be doing what the locals from hell does best and bring the entire toolbox to the table, reuning many of Konami's weirdest experiments into one unholy abomination. Presenting: Kashtira-La Zone Control.

Lil' Disclaimer

A quick note before we jump into it: This deck is primarily meant for online casual play. This is both due to using unreleased OCG cards and pricier staple cards like Pot of Prosperity. And also because you might be punched if you tried this against a real opponent. Cheaper "alternatives" to a few of the deck's cards will be provided later on, with varying degrees of viability.

Decklist

Kshatri-La Zone Control uploaded by The Faz

3

1

3

3

1

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

1

1

Extra Deck

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

The Meat of the Deck

The meat of the deck is comprised by the Kashtira-la cards, a potent rank 7 strategy that plays on a very different axis than other decks. It can easily summon two rank 7's, essential for the setups ahead. Its crowning jewel is Kashtira Shangri-Ira, the newest poster child for a gimmick that was dropped on wave 2. Originally the Kashtira-La's were supposed to lock down the opponent's zones and slowly mill them out. Wave 2 completely ditched this idea. The new support wave allows you to upgrade Shagri-La into Ariseheart but you won't be doing that today - rather, we will keep Shangri-Ira on the field.

Whenever an opponent's card is banished face-down, Shangri-Ira allows you to lock down one of the opponent's zones. Normally this is just a steppng stone to get to Ariseheart, but here, it's vital. Shangri-Ira can be an insane lockdown tool if paired with Diablosis the Mind Hacker, able to lock down 2 or 3 zones on its own. Furthermore it can summon another Shangri-Ira monster during the opponent's turn, ensuring even more lockdown if they try to use monster effects.

The Potatoes of the Deck

And this is where we get just a little bit silly.

These cards are the extra spice that ensures Kashtira-La Zone Control is, well, Zone Control! Alone, locking down 2 or 3 zones isn't nearly enough to meaningfully stop the opponent; this is where the spice come in. These cards either lock down additional zones or make it more cumbersome to play using the ones available. 

The first and most iconic, of course, is Mr. Jank himself, Yajiro Invader. Historically Yajiro was used in jank highlights where you gave it to the opponent to trigger your effects but today we'll do even better: We'll use it as intended. Whenever the opponent summons a monster, Yajiro moves closer to that column and destroy all cards in its new column. Normally the opponent can just use the leftmost and rightmost column, completely avoiding Yajiro's destruction.

Not today! Shangri-Ira can lock down the leftmost and rightmost column, ensuring the opponent can only play in the middle 3 columns. Under that setup it is exceptionally hard for the opponent to control 2 monsters without Yajiro destroying them, effectively locking them for good! You can also search Yajiro with 71278040 into King of the Feral Imps, either going the Cyberse Gadget line or with a Absolute Dragon into Gravity Controller line.

Remember to save your normal summon for Yajiro tho! 

On another coin we have Ground Collapse and Cyberse Gadget. Rather than punish playing within the columns, they further limit column play even further!  Ground Collapse is a simple continuous spell: While it's on the field, lock 2 zones. Simple, and deadly. Combined with Shangri-Ira you can lock down all 5 of their monster zones! 

On a similar note, Cyberse Gadget also locks down zones. To do this you must normal summon Gadget and go into Link Devotee and Link Disciple. Disciple tributes Devotee, cycles a card and get 2 tokens. Finally, turn the two tokens into I:P Masquerena and, during the opponent's turn link into Excode Talker! Excode Talker allows you to lock down an extra zone, further powering up your locks. 

Example Setups

Roughly speaking, this is what you should be aiming for with your turn 1 setups.

Here, Shangri-Ira is locking 3 zones while Gravity Collapse is locking 2. In order to lock 3 with Shangri you have to use Riseheart's effect after summoning Shangri. The lines are a bit hard to see but nothing you can't consistently do after a few test hands. Afterwards, you make your second rank 7, Diablosis the Mind Hacker. Diablosis' effect allows you to look at the opponent's Extra Deck and banish face-down one of their cards, locking down their options on top of triggering Shangri-Ira to lock a zone.

Diablosis' second effect will trigger in sequence: Whenever a card is banished face-down (including by its other effect) you can banish cards from the top of the opponent's deck. This can take garnets off the opponent's deck, but more importantly, it triggers Shrangi again. This means an easy 2 zones locked, or 3 if you used Riseheart to banish while Shangri was on the field.

This is the other important setup, the one with Yajiro Invader. 

Here, good zone placement is vital. Remember, Yajro can only be summoned to the middle column. Anywhere else will cause it to be destroyed. Furthermore, Yajiro also destroys your other cards in the column: Put your backrow and Shangri-Ira on the sides. Talking about Shangri-Ira, the zones you must target are the leftmost, the rightmost and the center one. This ensues that no matter where they normal summon their monster, it will get destroyed immediately! 

And remember, Shangri-Ira will summon a monster to the rightmost monster zone during the opponent's standby phase. The base Shangri-La monsters all banish cards when the opponent uses a monster effect, allowing you to lock them even further if they try anything funny. In this setup Diablosis was tributed to summon Yajiro; if you get Yajiro off of an eXceed line, you'll want to tribute the King of Feral Imps instead.

Fun Ruling of the Day: Shangri-Ira does not give the zones back if it's negated by Dark Ruler No More.

It simply does not break the board. It's very funny. They have to out the monster.

Final Considerations

Not all cards here are strictily necessary; the eXceed line, while giving more access into your setups, it's rather clunky and could brick you. Similarly, expensive cards such as Dark Ruler No More and Pot of Prosperity can be swapped out for cheaper alternatives. The Extra Deck is very loose as well; you certainly don't need Big Eye or N'tss. Play whichever staples you want in these slots.