After the September 2, 2024 Banlist, Centur-Ion has lost its "freewin" button Hot Red Dragon Archfiend King Calamity - and rightfully so! I'm going as far to say that the big chungus was holding back the true potential of Centur-Ion players who used it as a crutch, and now are forced to play more skillfully and creatively! Anyways, there are equally more powerful threats this deck can turbo out instead, like Cosmic Blazar Dragon and Red Supernova Dragon.
Level 12 Synchros are summoned like constantly in this strategy, leading to the summon of either Legatia (draw 1, destroy 1) or Auxilia (search 1). Both of these mechanical femme fatales generate advantage during the End Phase, placing your spent Centur-Ion starters from the GY and Banishment in the backrow where they can be used again for next turn. These ladies combine together with their pilot, machine and spirit partner to synchro summon level 12 boss monsters during your turn and your opponent's turn!
With the added power of the Bystials, Centur-Ion can counter a metagame full of light/dark monsters to banish in the GY like I:P Masquerena, Fabled Lurrie, Fiendsmith Requiem, Unchained Soul of Yama, and Yubel! Bystials also grant Centur-Ion level 6 bodies to access the coveted level 10 synchro boss monster line-up like Dis Pater, Chengying and Chaos Angel!
The hyper consistent nature of Centur-Ions means that this deck can play a whopping 18 handtraps, meaning you'll almost always handtrap your opponent to a standstill or a weakened gamestate and outgrind your opponent with sheer mechanical might and the power of friendship!
Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
ARCHETYPES AND DECKBUILDING
The CENTURION deck core is compact because of it's amazing consistency and 1-card starters being only a mere 16 cards. The only Centur-Ion cards that aren't a 1 card starter are Emet VI, Gargoyle II, Phalanx and Bonds. Terraforming is added since it searches out the field spell and it's a one card starter. This brings the deck's total to 13 one-card starters (3 Trudea, 3 Primera, 3 Stand-Up!, 3 Emblema Oath, and 1 Terraforming), meaning that having them in your opening hand in a deck of 42 cards is extremely likely. If you have multiple starters in your hand, you can use them as extenders whenever your opponent interrupts you, so this deck is naturally very resilient to handtraps.
BYSTIALS absolutely menace the metagame right now since commonly used decks like Yubel, Branded, Labrynth, and Fiendsmith variants all fold to getting their respective light/dark monsters getting banished in the GY. Since Centur-Ion have inherent synergy with Bystials, a sizeable Bystial package is included in the deck. 3 Lubellion, 3 Druiswurm, 1 Magnumhut, 1 Saronir, 1 Baldrake and 1 Branded Regained are included. Since they are level 6s and 8s, Bystials work with Centur-Ion's level 4 tuners beautifully to crank out level 10 and 12 synchro boss monsters. The Bystial engine also maintains an incredible grindgame, especially with Magnamhut and Regained in rotation.
STAPLES compose the rest of this deck. 18 handtraps are featured in this deck (including the six level 6 bystials). 3 Imperm, 3 Ash, 3 Nibiru and 3 Droll counter the commonly used cards in the meta nowadays, especially Nibiru (because Apollousa got banned) and Droll (since Yubel and Fiendsmith are popular right now).
42 cards are used in this deck because there are some bricks/garnets that you don't want to draw and you'd rather tutor out of your deck during your combo like Synchro Rumble, Centur-Ion Bonds and Centur-Ion Gargoyle II, Branded Regained and Centur-Ion Atrii. With 13 starters and 18 handtraps, your hands will most likely contain 1-2 starters and 1-3 handtraps due to the ratios.
COMBOS AND GAMEPLAN
Centur-Ion's current combo was always linear, and all cards do the same thing, extend through interruption and lead to the same outcome. This means that this deck is extremely predictable, very simple and easy to learn. As said before, most Centur-Ion cards are one card starters, and if your first starter gets interrupted/negated, the other starters in your hand can also act as extenders to continue on your combo. For example, if Primera got impermed/veiler'd, you can summon Primera and continue comboing to get your level 12 synchro boss monster, Legatia.
Since the gameplan hinges the success of the Centur-Ion combo, the pilot must do whatever they can to simplify the opponent's gamestate and bait interruption. With the 18 handtraps in this deck and Bystial's ability to beatdown threats on the battlefield, it's generally really easy!
Here is a Centur-Ion 2 card combo featuring Primera (or any other 1 card starter) and Bystial Lubellion.
Activate Bystial Lubellion to discard it from hand and search for Bystial Magnamhut.
Normal summon Primera to search Stand-Up!
- Activate Stand-Up! Use Stand-Up's effect to send 1 card from hand to GY to place Trudea on the backrow as a continuous trap.
- Special summon Trudea from the backrow.
Activate Trudea's effect to place itself on the backrow and Gargoyle II from deck on the backrow.
Special summon Gargoyle II from the backrow.
Synchro summon Auxilia using Primera + GargoyIe II.
CL1 Auxilia's on-summon effect to add from deck to hand Centur-Ion Phalanx, CL2 Gargoyle II's effect to add itself from GY to hand.
Activate Bystial Magnamhut's effect targeting Primera in the GY. Activate Magnamhut's effect to add a Dragon monster in the End Phase.
Summon from the GY Lubellion by tributing Magnamhut.
Activate Lubellion's effect to place Branded Regained in the backrow.
Set Centur-Ion Phalanx and any other spells/traps in the backrow.
During the End Phase, activate Auxilia's effect to place Primera on the backrow from Banishment as a continuous trap.
During the opponent's Main Phase, special summon Primera from the backrow.
CL1 Primera to search a Centur-Ion card (usually Bonds since it's excellent follow-up), and CL2 Stand-Up! to synchro summon for Crimson Dragon, Resolve Stand-Up! Synchro summoning Crimson Dragon using Primera + Bystial Magnamhut.
Activate Crimson Dragon CL1 to search Synchro Rumble from deck, Activate Crimson Dragon CL2 targeting Auxilia to synchro summon either Blazar (omni-negate) or Supernova (banish entire enemy field) from Extra Deck.
Here is the classic Centur-Ion 1-card combo, without Magnamhut:
Primera = Legatia (Pop monster, draw 1 and resource generator) + Blazar Dragon/Supernova Dragon + follow-up
- Normal summon Primera to search Stand-Up!
- Activate Stand-Up! Use Stand-Up's effect to send 1 card from hand to GY to place Trudea on the backrow as a continuous trap.
- Special summon Trudea from the backrow.
Activate Trudea's effect to place itself on the backrow and Gargoyle II from deck on the backrow.
Special summon GargoyIe II from the backrow.
Synchro summon Legatia using Primera + GargoyIe II.
- Activate Legatia's on-summon effect to pop a monster with highest ATK your opponent controls (if applicable) and draw 1 card.
- During the End Phase, activate Legatia's effect to place Primera on the backrow as a continuous trap.
- During the opponent's Main Phase, special summon Primera (CL1) and Trudea as a level 8 (CL2) from the backrow.
CL1 Primera to search a Centur-Ion card (usually Bonds since it's excellent follow-up), and CL2 Stand-Up! to synchro summon for Crimson Dragon, Resolve Stand-Up! Synchro summoning Crimson Dragon using Primera + Trudea.
Activate Crimson Dragon CL1 to search Synchro Rumble from deck, Activate Crimson Dragon CL2 targeting Legatia to synchro summon either Blazar (onmi-negate) or Supernova (banish entire enemy field) from Extra Deck.
With one singular card, you've locked your opponent out of the game, and you have ample follow-up for next turn's OTK!
The win condition of Centur-Ion is to outgrind your opponent with immense resource generation with Legatia's +1 draw, Auxila's search, and end phase recursion of Centur-Ion monster cards. Bystials also add another layer of recursion and resource generation to the deck with Magnamhut and Regained. If you've slowed down your opponent enough with your handtraps, Supernova and Blazar, you should be able to out-resource your opponent and win!
With the heavy handtrap line-up in this deck, Centur-Ion Bystial can draw up to a whopping three times per turn! Legatia, Atrii, and Branded Regained all draw 1 card if you succeed in resolving their effects, and with this deck's 18 handtraps, you're likely to draw into a lot of them! Sooner or later, you'll find your hand absolutely chock full of advantage from all the cards you draw/add from deck. Once everything is established, your opponent should drown in the amount of card advantage you have.
GENERAL TIPS
If your opponent is targeting your Centur-Ion monster, you can "dodge" their targeting effect if Emeth VI is in your hand or GY! Simply chain Emeth VI's effect to place your monster in the backrow!
With this handtrap heavy deck, it is important for the pilot to know the chokepoints of every opposing deck to handtrap most effectively. Practice and study up for your match-ups!
Dimension Shifter shuts off many common handtraps that slow down Centur-Ion like Droll, Ghost Ogre, Ghost Belle and Effect Veiler! If you have the chance, always shotgun your Shifter!
Bystials can trigger Stand Up! By summoning on your opponent's turn, and if Primera/Trudea are on the field, you can synchro summon either Dis Pater, Chengying or Chaos Angel!
If your opponent targets your continuous trap card Centur-Ion monster on the backrow during the main phase, you can "dodge" their targeting effect by simply chaining their quick effect summon!
Centur-Ion Phalanx can banish your continuous trap card monsters in the backrow to summon them next stand-by phase. That's because monsters treated as continuous traps in the backrow are still counted as "monsters" and Phalanx reads "target 1 face-up monster card on the field."
When choosing either Blazar or Supernova to synchro summon with Crimson Dragon, ask yourself - what counters my opponent more, a omni-negate (Blazar) or field banish (Supernova)?
- Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Even though the infamous "Calamity Lock" has been banned recently, Centur-Ion can still consistently win vs. top meta decks because of their extreme consistency, 18 handtraps, and robust gameplan! Yubel and Snake-Eyes Fiendsmith has been somewhat weakened in the banlist so now I think it is Centur-Ion's time to shine! The strategy will get even stronger in a couple weeks as well with Rage of the Abyss' powerups for Centur-Ion coming out - I'll be sure to make an updated decklist and video for that.
I personally think mechas and mecha pilots are the coolest thing ever, especially in Yugioh, so this is my new favourite deck for the time being. YOUR DRILL WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS WITH CENTUR-ION!
GLHF Duelists!
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