Centurion

My pre-release Centurion decklist I've been slowly building up. Centurion's a fairly small engine, and you can play it in a variety of decks that don't block Synchro Summons, although playing it pure or with a couple of small resource engines splashed in feels like the most optimal move, since you can fit plenty of non-engine staples to supplement and insure plays.

The basic Centurion strategy is this: simple combos that spit out Level 8 and Level 12 Synchros left and right, during your turn and during your opponent's turn with the help of your Field Spell. Your main-deck Centurions will be constantly shifting between being monsters and being Continuous Traps - the fact that they're Traps allow you to use their effect to Special Summon themselves during the opponent's turn, and the cards all work together to protect each other when they're not tagging in and out - Primera protects your high-level cards from effect destruction, Legatia provides your low-strength cards with battle immunity, and Stand-Up Centurion! protects itself when a Centurion monster exists. It's an incredibly easy strategy to pick up, but where the average player separates from the advanced is how you follow-up - you might be able to King Calamity your opponent once in a while, but if that gets blocked, utilizing your surviving pieces is crucial for you to build back, which this deck can do if it really needs to.

Basic Centurion Combo - 1.5 card combo (requires Stand-Up Centurion! + 1 other card), survives Droll, cannot be Nibiru'd:

1. Activate Stand-Up Centurion!
2. Use Stand-Up Centurion!, discard 1 card for cost
   • Resolve: Place Centurion Primera from Deck into S/T Zone as Continuous Trap
3. Use Centurion Primera
   • Resolve: Special Summon Centurion Primera from S/T Zone
   • On Resolution: Trigger Centurion Primera
     
     • Resolve: Add Centurion Trudea
4. Normal Summon Centurion Trudea
5. Activate Centurion Trudea
   • Resolve: Place Centurion Trudea from Field into S/T Zone and place Centurion Emet VI from Deck into S/T Zone
6. Use Centurion Emet VI
   • Resolve: Special Summon Centurion Emet VI from S/T Zone
7. Synchro Summon Centurion Legatia using Centurion Primera and Centurion Emet VI
   • On Summon: Trigger Centurion Legatia
     • Resolve: Draw 1 card
8. During End Phase: Activate Centurion Legatia
   • Resolve: Place Centurion Primera from GY into S/T Zone.
9. During Opponent's Turn, when it's safe: Use Centurion Primera CL1, Use Centurion Trudea CL2
   • Resolve: Special Summon Centurion Trudea from S/T Zone and increase its Level to 8; Special Summon Centurion Primera from S/T Zone
   • On Resolution: Trigger Centurion Primera CL1, Trigger Stand-Up Centurion! CL2, Activate Centurion Emet VI from GY CL3 targeting Centurion Trudea
     • Resolve: Special Summon Centurion Emet VI from GY and place Centurion Trudea into S/T Zone; Synchro Summon whatever Synchro is best for the situation; add whatever Centurion card is best follow-up for next turn

The best play (until it inevitably gets banned) is to summon Crimson Dragon, then using its Quick Effect immediately to summon Hot Red Dragon Archfiend King Calamity, which will lock your opponent out of all on-field effects for the rest of their turn, allowing you to run with that momentum for the remainder of that Duel.

If you start with Emblema of Oath, you can use that to Set Stand-Up Centurion! from your Deck and make plays like normal.

If you start with Centurion Primera, you can Normal Summon Primera to add Stand-Up Centurion! to your hand. From there, you activate Stand-Up, use its effect to discard to place Trudea into the S/T Zone, Special Summon it, then continue plays from step 5.

If you start with Centurion Trudea, you can Normal Summon Trudea, use its effect to place Primera into the S/T Zone, Special Summon Primera, add and activate Stand-Up, then use Stand-Up to place Emet VI into the S/T Zone. From there, continue plays from step 6.

If you have all the combo pieces you need while you're building during your first turn, add Truth Centurion instead of a second Stand-Up or another Centurion monster - this gets you an omni-negate for next turn in case the opponent has a strong hand or GY effect to try to break you. During your opponents turn, for the Primera search, I like adding Faith of Centurion on the off-chance your Legatia is outed during the turn - you can use it to recoup the Primera that Legatia would have re-placed, giving you material for another Synchro on your turn.

Now for the side engines and unorthodox staples.

A minimal Bystial package with 1 Magnamhut and 3 Druiswurm acts as powerful GY disruption, can provide bodies on the board for defense, and provide strong effects. Druiswurm's non-destruction removal is always solid when it gets triggered, and Magnamhut can either fetch a Druiswurm or recoup a lost Signer Dragon. In addition, them all being Level 6 opens up the Level 10 Synchro package of Chaos Angel and Baronne de Fleur, in case your initial plays get interrupted and you only have Primera on-board.

Two Kashtira Fenrir give you a good option going first or second - you can summon the first, search the second, then use the second as your discard fodder for Stand-Up. And of course, there's its second effect that banishes one of your opponent's cards face-down if they use a monster effect. Finally, it being Level 7 opens up the Level 11 Synchro package without wasting your Normal Summon on Ash Blossom - specifically, Psychic End Punisher.

Because of the large amount of space for hand traps, I've elected to run a Crossout Designator package, split between the Main and Side Decks. As good as this deck is against Droll and Nib, a well-timed Ash or Imperm can stop your plays if you didn't draw a second piece of follow-up. Splitting the negation between Effect Veiler and Infinite Impermenance gives you counterplay against both if you draw Crossout in your opening hand, and of course, running Ash Blossom at 3 is almost never a bad thing. There is also one copy of Nibiru in your Main Deck, in case you get the chance to go crazy - while a basic Centurion combo only performs four Summons, placing Fenrir or a Bystial on the board before that during the same turn will land you with a Primal Being Token as soon as Legatia is summoned. As for your Side Deck handtraps, you have two more copies of Nibiru for actual use, 1 Droll and Lock Bird, just in case you're forced to use Terraforming or Prosperity, 1 Ghost Ogre and Snow Rabbit, which would kill your Stand-Up if not countered, and 1 Dimension Shifter, which is a Garnet for you but also shuts down a floodgate that would kill your ability to recoup resources.

There Can Be Only One is just your average side-board floodgate. The only Centurions that match types are Legatia and Emet VI, meaning you can play under this card most of the time.

This is absolutely not the final version of the deck. Like all archetypes that originate from Deck Build Sets, there's likely going to be new support in future releases, and I didn't even elect to add Bonfire to this list, which is just another 1-3 copies of Trudea - I wanted to keep this list restrained to Valiant Smashers and earlier, to make it as accessible as possible to the earliest adopters of this archetype. Centurion has had incredible results in the OCG, and I'm looking forward to being one of the first to run it here in the TCG.