Branded Simorgh

NOTE: This deck is still in it's early stages as its an odd mashup of decks that haven't been mixed before. They do work together and have potential to grow better, but this is one of the first versions of the deck. After I get enough recommendations on how to make it better, and figure out myself how to make it more consistent, it will be updated. If this looks different, its because I updated it today, So if you end up enjoying this build, be sure to check back sometime for a more consistent version.

 

I'm back with another Frankenstein that manages to work! Branded with a Simorgh engine and Despia support. So a few days ago I bought some Albaz strike structure decks, and remembered all it takes is Artifact Scythe or D-Barrier to shut them down entirely. So I took to the abyss of cards that is my dresser to see what I had that could fix it, and I stumbled across an old favorite Archtype of mine, Simorgh! More specifically, Dark Simorgh. It's first effect allows it to summon itself from the hand or gy by banishing both a WIND and DARK monster from the opposite. Branded Despia were all dark, and Simorgh were wind, so it's summoning criteria immediately checked out. But it's second effect is what initially caught my eye, "Your opponent cannot set any cards on the field." This meant that If I got it out, Branded wouldn't have to worry about Scythe Baronne, D-Barrier, Eldlich, Swordsoul blackout, or having their Mirror match use a Super polymerization on your turn. So, With that weakness so effortlessly covered, it was time to mash these decks together until they worked. This deck focuses on getting Mirrorjade, El Shaddoll winda, Dark Simorgh, and Dramaturge out while pressuring your opponent with cards like Lorpar, Sauravis, Super polymerization, and Mercourier. And so while it's end game is almost the exact same as its other variants, it's a whole lot more fun to play. The deck ended up a Pricey at roughly $138, but about $93 of that come from some easily replaceable cards, albeit it makes the deck less efficient, but $45-$62 instead. So I'll be going  over how the Simorgh engine works, And what to replace if you want the cheaper version:

 

What you'll need to buy-

 

Three Albaz Strike structure decks will grant you a sizeable chunk of your deck for just $30, but you won't be playing all three copies of most the cards you do get from them, So you could Buy two structure decks and the few cards needed from the third on the side for cheaper. 

3 Super Polymerization, 2 Aluber the Jester of Despia, 3 Branded Opening, and 1 Dragonmaid Lorpar. These are the cards that make the deck Pricey and add up to Roughly $82 on their own. These can be bought individually, or from the Dawn of Majesty set, where you also have the chance of getting the $15 fusion monster I didn't include in the decklist. Later I'll explain replacement cards for them if you're looking for a cheaper version.

Your entire side deck comes from Albaz Strike. Those are the big two points you need to be notified about, the rest of the cards are under a dollar with the exception of three cards under three dollars. 

 

Simorgh engine and how it works-

 

The Simorgh engine consists of  3 Dark Simorgh, 3 Simorgh bird of bringing, 2 Simorgh bird of calamity, and 3 Simorgh Onslaught. And cards that expand the engine, but aren't Simorgh cards are; 1 Dragonmaid Lorpar, 1 Tempest dragon ruler of storms, 1 Sauravis the ancient and ascended, and 2 Dragon Ravine with a Terraforming. 

In this build, your normal summon is always used on either Aluber, Albaz, or Bird of Bringing. So the usual play goes normal summon Bird of bringing to add Onslaught from your deck to your hand. then activate Onslaught to discard a Simorgh or Tri-Brigade Mercourier to add a Bird of Calamity and Dark Simorgh from your deck to your hand. Now from here there are different ways to Discard the second monster needed to summon Bird of darkness:

1. Use Branded fusion to Send Albaz and Dogmatika/Shaddoll monsters from the deck to the gy to fusion summon Albion, then Banish Albaz and a Dark monster to fusion summon Lubellion. now you can use Lubellion's effect to discard the other monster to fusion summon either Mirrorjade or El Shaddoll winda. Then banish your wind and Dark monster from the GY to summon Dark Simorgh.

2. Use Branded Opening to Discard the second monster and add your Despia monster. Now you can already summon Dark Simorgh.


3. You can use Dragon Ravine to Discard a dark monster to send Tempest, dragon ruler of storms from your deck to your gy. Now banish both from your gy to summon Dark Simorgh. For being banished, Tempest can add Dragonmaid Lorpar from your deck to your hand.

 

And Those are the common plays for Dark Simorgh, though there are others. So onto how each card in the engine fits into the deck.

Starting with Dark Simorgh, It prevents your opponent from setting ANY cards, nullifying one of Branded's biggest known weaknesses. Furthermore, its both a dark monster and has over 2500ATK, so it can be used as fusion material. Lastly, banishing triggers the effects of cards like Tempest, Mercourier, and can banish monsters for its summon that Lubellion can shuffle right back into the deck.

 

Dragon ravine has several uses. Discarding triggers Despian tragedy effect, and cards like Dramaturge and Albion make no impact on your end game, keeping your hand in good shape. Next, it can Dragons from the deck to the gy. This includes Tempest, Albion, and Albaz. Albion can then send branded opening from your deck to your gy to give your fusion monsters protection. Tempest can be banished from the gy to add Dragonmaid Lorpar from your deck to your hand, or can banish other monsters from the gy to summon itself. And Albaz is fusion material, and this helps you use Branded in red if you put it in the build(I personally didn't yet, but this is only day one of me having the deck).

 

It sucks when you go first in a tournament and brick, it could cost you your spot in top cut. Bird of Bringing helps prevent Bricking on turn one by giving you a backup play. The backup play is Normal summon Bird of Bringing to add your needed Simorgh card( Onslaught if you don't have a way to get Dark Simorgh out, or, Dark Simorgh if you can already get a dark monster into your gy.). Now link summon Salamangreat Almiraj with bird of bringing, then link summon Secure Gardna with Salamangreat Almiraj. Now you can summon Dark Simorgh. and if you drew them, you can Summon Dogmatika Maximus by banishing Salamangreat Almiraj from your gy, and activate its effect to send two cards from your extra deck to the gy to add Albaz cards to your hand at the end phase to set up your fusion plays next turn, Dogmatika can be searched with Nadir servant. and Lastly set your D-Barrier/Super Polymerization/There can be only 1. Ending your turn 1 Brick with a Bang. Bird of Bringing is also your Simorgh engine starter as explained previously. It's last use is after all your plays are over, if it's in your gy, you can special summon it as a small defense during the battle phase.

 

Tempest has a few uses. As stated previously, it can add Dragonmaid Lorpar from your deck to your hand when banished, Lorpar can discard itself to negate a Face up monsters effect or force bait a negate. Tempest can discard itself and a wind monster(usually the second material needed to get out Dark Simorgh) to add Lorpar, Albion, Sauravis, or Albaz from your deck to your hand. Keep in mind that Tempest can only use one of its three effects per turn. Sauravis is viable fusion material, and can negate pesky cards like Effect Veiler.

 

Lastly, Bird of Calamity. It can send Dark Simorgh from the deck to the gy, and can revive itself at the end of your play like Bird of Bringing. Really I just needed another WIND Simorgh in the deck and it was the best option.

 

And that's how the Simorgh's fuel the deck. I'm sure there are other ways to make this engine even more efficient, but this is the best I have right now. 

 

Why use this variant over others?-

 

Of course you have the question of what makes this variant better than the others. And being a mirror match, not much. It prevents set cards, and Can make more efficient use of it's hand traps like Mercourier, Lorpar, and Sauravis, and because of typing's, Dark Simorgh can stay out if you have There can be only one out. This variant also has a small backup play to make a complete brick even rarer. Consistency wise, This deck is good. So the only one ups your Mirror match will have are

Better more expensive fusion monsters.

Being able to make better comebacks.

Better consistency depending on the build.

But other than that, This deck can do the same things they can but with a major weakness covered.

 

Making your deck cheaper-

 

I said this deck was supposed to be budget, and its at least half to a third the price of a top tier Branded deck. but its still $138. Lucky for you, the Albaz Strike structure decks come with some replacements for these pricy cards. so who gets replaced with what?

Branded in red ends up being $6 for a little extra consistency, but, the structure decks come with Branded in White, which you can use to replace them.

Super polymerization ends up being $15, but the structure deck comes with kaiju's, so if you want to remove those monsters for less money, use the kaiju's. and if you have some spare change, you might want to look into buying Galdara the Mystery Dust Kaiju. It's a cheap kaiju all the same, but can be used as material for Dark Simorgh. Super poly can also be replaced with your side decked cards and they deck's consistency will stay the same.

Aluber the Jester of Despia comes out to $12, but can be replaced for Springans Kitt who comes in the structure deck. It lets you add the branded fusion, but you have to sacrifice a card in your hand, and it doesn't have the same synergy a Despia booster would. It does however gain a new Synergy with Dogmatika Maximus. At full first turn brick combo, Between Nadir servant Kitt and Maximus, you'll have 4 Albaz based cards ready to go next turn.

Branded Opening comes out to $45, and can't truly be replaced. So mix in whatever fills in the empty space. Without you Despia engine, the deck focuses a little more on having backrow to hold your opponent down. One idea is Anti-Spell fragrance. Since your opponent is forced to set spells, and Dark Simorgh prevents cards from being set, together they shut off both spell and trap cards entirely. And Alongside Winda, that's a job only a Kaiju could hope to take on, and not everyone plays a kaiju.

 

In the end, if you replace all the expensive cards, you end up spending $61 instead of $130, and without Lorpar & nadir servant, your down to $45.

 

How to shut down an opponent-

 

Eldlich/Trap stall- These decks need Traps to survive, Dark Simorgh just crushes them. So get Dark Simorgh out turn 1 and unless your opponent has a way to destroy it/tribute it, they're gone without a fight, and cards like Mirrorjade and Mercourier  help prevent your opponent from removing Dark Simorgh. If you go second though, Stall decks could hurt you for a few turns before you can finally get you're able to destroy it. Dogmatika Maximus can handle these if you added the fossil monsters to your extra deck. I don't think you can Play over skill drain though, you'd just have to attack over whatever's out with no effects. Twin Eldlich will definitely overpower you unless you can get Dark Simorgh and/or there can be only one, or a well timed Super Polymerization.

 

 

Baronne Scythe- I meant it when I said Dark Simorgh made that big difference to the deck, because yet again, Scythe can't be set. breaking that whole gimmick. If you go second though, You can use Lorpar to force bait Baronne, Clash with Dramaturge, or remove it with fossil/N'tss using Dogmatika Maximus/Nadir Servant. and set a super poly to keep them down next turn.

 

Have fun fighting that 4-Negate Apollousa.

 

Swordsoul- I doubt you'd be seeing these in Locals much, but, there can be only one stops them from doing anything with their monsters, and Dark Simorgh keeps them from setting Swordsoul Blackout. They can only use 1 Vishuda effect per turn, And between Dark Simorgh, Mirrorjade, Dramaturge, and there can be only one, Vishuda isn't enough. oh and D-barrier too I guess. If you go second though, force bait with Lorpar, Super Poly to remove the threat, And do your thing from there. Dark ruler no more and called by the grave are going to help a lot here.

 

oddly enough, I don't think there's much you can do against Dragon Link. And P.U.N.K are shut down with Super Poly and D-Barrier and Ghost Ogre. I think called by the grave can negate foxy tune and ogre dance as well. That about covers decks I know to expect at locals.

 

 

Well that's all for Branded Simorgh, as always I hope you enjoyed, and even more than ever, Feedback is highly appreciated.

 

PS- Guardian chimera, Despian Quaeritis, Virtual world Kyubi- ShenShen, Anti-spell fragrance, Alba-Lenatus, and Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer can all be mixed into the deck/side deck to make it dramatically better.