When Masterduel came out, one of the first decks I've built was Thunder Dragons. I arrived in competitive TCG when Colossus was just banned, and I wanted to see it's power for myself in a format where this "Mistake on legs" was legal. And boy, did it deliver!
With Danger! cards and a Chaos support engine to help Thunder Dragons further their plays, Thunder Dragons hits hard, fast and while shrugging off interruption - easily OTKing an opponent from full lifepoints even though they have a complete board. Going first, an 3-4 negate Apollousa, a search-floodgate with Colossus, multiple pops with Titan, and a spell negate with Hope Harbinger is a nigh-unbreakable board!
With Chaos Thunder Dragon, you summon multiple gigantic draconic boss monsters, methodically decimate your opponent’s board, maintain resource advantage and when the time is right - swing for game!
Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
ARCHETYPES AND RATIOS
Forming the core, the THUNDER DRAGON cards in the maindeck consist of 16 cards. 3 Thunder Dragons, 3 Dragondark, 2 Dragonmatrix, 2 Dragonroar, 1 Dragonhawk, 2 Aloof Lupine, 2 Thunder Dragon Fusion and 1 Gold Sarcophagus. In the Extra Deck there are 2 Titan and 1 Colossus.
Enabling extension, searching, effect activation and milling of the Thunder Dragon cards, the CHAOS cards in the maindeck consist of 14 cards. 3 Chaos Space, 1 Black Dragon Collapserpent, 1 White Dragon Wyvernburster, 1 Chaos Valkyria and 1 Chaos Creator. The Assault Mode Engine is included as well to synchro summon Chaos Ruler - 2 Emergency Teleport, 1 One for One, 2 Psi-Reflector, 1 Assault Beast and 1 Assault Mode Activate.
Simultaneously drawing cards and providing bodies on board, the DANGER! cards consist of 13 cards. 3 Bigfoot, 3 Thunderbird, 3 Nessie, 2 Tsuchinoko, and 2 Jackalope.
The STAPLE cards in this deck take up 17 cards in this deck assisting with draw power, insulating plays and breaking the opponent's board. 3 Allure of Darkness and 1 Pot of Desires serve as draw power. 1 Impermanence, 1 Ash Blossom and 3 Maxx "C" along with 1 Crossout Designator and 2 Called By the Grave are for protection. 1 Dark Ruler No More and 1 Harpie's Feather Duster help break an opponent's board. 1 Monster Reborn, 1 Foolish Burial with it's target, 1 Gizmek Orochi serve as extension.
This deck has 60 cards since almost every card is a starter, key cards are highly searcheable and a big deck decreases the chances of hard-drawing this deck's 2 bricks (Assault Beast and Assault Mode Activate).
COMBOS AND GAMEPLAN
The GAMEPLAN with this deck is simple – lockdown the board going first, and OTK going second.
If the duel is forced into a grind-game, the Thunder Dragon resource loop and the previous turn's graveyard set-up can whittle an opponent down. Thunder Dragon Fusion can also be banished the turn after you use it to allow you to search for Thunder Dragonroar, which can be discarded to recover Thunder Dragon Fusion from the banished pile. Provided your GY/Banished Pile set-up, another Titan can be easily made.
GOING FIRST, boards that end on Thunder Dragon Titan, Apollousa, Colossus and Hope Harbinger is often enough to ensure your survival until the next turn and keep your opponent at a stand still. The board might be even so far advanced that the opponent may straight up surrender, since the boards that deck deploys turn one are almost an FTK with the sheer number of negates, floodgates and interruption present.
GOING SECOND, boards are easily picked apart by Thunder Dragon Titan and Accesscode's multiple pops. After breaking an opponent’s board, this deck can combo endlessly and easily generate enough gigantic monsters onboard to obliterate your opponent’s lifepoints in one turn.
COMBOS/GUIDELINES
Chaos Thunderdragon's combos are highly variable and hand dependent. Also, due to the chance-based nature of the Danger! cards and the other various draw cards (Pot of Desires, Allure of Darkness, Chaos Space), end-boards and available plays always change depending on what's in your hand.
As you advance your plays, the hand, GY, banished pile and board tend to get very "snow-bally" accumulating more and more resources as you summon many times, draw multiple cards, build follow-up for future turns.
There are no clear-cut combos for this deck, but here are some guidelines based on what cards you have available on your hand:
- Chaos Dragons = Cross Sheep: If you draw into Wyverburster or Collapserpent, these cards can make Cross-Sheep without normal summon. Summon one Chaos Dragon -> summon Striker Dragon -> Search the other Chaos Dragon -> Banish the Chaos Dragon in the GY to Special Summon -> If you used Chaos Space to search these dragons, banish Chaos Space for 1 draw -> Summon Cross-Sheep or another link monster of choice!
- Cross-Sheep + Titan/Colossus: Fusion or special summon a Titan/Colossus to a zone Cross-Sheep points to summon another card from the GY. Depending on your situation, make Apollousa with multiple negates or Accesscode with 2+ pops!
- Aloof Lupine + Thunder Dragon = Cross Sheep -> Apollousa/Titan: Normal summon Aloof Lupine -> Banish Thunder Dragon in hand and Thunder Dragonroar in deck -> Dragonroar eff to summon Thunder Dragondark from deck -> Link off Lupine + Dragondark for Cross-Sheep -> Dragondark eff to search Thunder Dragon Fusion -> Thunder Dragon Fusion eff to summon Titan to a zone Cross-Sheep points to -> Cross-Sheep effect to summon from GY Aloof Lupine -> Link off Cross-Sheep + Aloof Lupine + 1+ more monster(s) for 3-4 negate Apollousa.
- Dangers! cards: If you have lots of Danger! monsters in your hand, think about the chance of summoning them with the likelihood of discarding particular cards in your hand. If there is a valuable spell card you do not want to discard in your hand (like Monster Reborn or Thunder Dragon Fusion) be sure to set it first. Also, the OG Thunder Dragon can stock up your hand with 2 more cards so that the Danger! cards have more chance to successfully resolve and summon themselves with the +1 draw.
- Draw cards and thinning out your deck: If you have a card/play that draws or digs in your deck, be sure to search as much as possible first. Search with Chaos Space, Thunder Dragons, Emergency Teleports first before summoning Chaos Ruler or using Pot of Desires!
- 2 Level 8s = Hope Harbinger/4 Material Zeus: If you have easy access to two level 8s, you can access to Rank 8 toolbox this deck offers. Going first, Hope Harbinger can be summoned with Numeron Dragon for a spell negate and two beefy bodies on board. Going second, Dingirsu -> Pain Gainer -> Zeus can be made for 1 non-targeting send and 2 fieldwipes as follow-up.
- Normal Summon: If you look closely at this deck, this deck only has 2 dedicated normal summons - 2 Aloof Lupines. That is because normal summons are typically saved for the Thunder Dragon monsters, since they all require only 1 tribute. Tributes for your summons are easy to obtain, since almost every monster special summons in this deck. After you summon the Thunder Dragon monster, you can tribute it to special summon Colossus, given you used a thunder monster's effect in the hand that turn.
- Thunder Dragon Fusion in GY: In turn 3+, Thunder Dragon Fusion is your follow-up play. It normally searches Thunder Dragonroar so you can recycle Thunder Dragon Fusion to summon another Titan. It can also search Chaos Creator, which can further summon from the banished pile and trigger more banish effects from your GY!
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Remember, the optimal endboard this deck can make going first is 3-4 negate Apollousa, a Titan with multiple pops, a Colossus to lock searching and a Hope Harbinger for a spell negate. That's usually enough to stop all your opponent's plays or have them instantly concede.
Going second, this deck can easily make 8000+ attack on board and with multiple removals with Titan/Accesscode. While achieving gamestate, Chaos Thunderdragon should be able to shrug off most interruption - except floodgates.
Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
GENERAL TIPS-
- Many of this deck's plays occur before committing to summoning a monster on board. Try to fish and bait for your opponent's interruptions before truly committing to your big plays.
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- If you want to focus more on destroying multiple backrow, creating Thunder Dragon Titan is the ideal play, since it can pop cards on the field multiple times without targeting and can survive being destroyed multiple times (for ex. Torrential Tribute or Conquistador of the Golden Land).
- Since this deck lacks an inherent normal summons and doesn’t really set cards, Denko Sekka can be decent budget option for the backrow decks you will face. She is also searchable off Thunder Dragon Fusion!
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- This deck is particularly weak to backrow, floodgates and high impact handtraps like Nibiru, Maxx "C", and Droll & Lockbird.
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- Thunder Dragon Colossus is an extremely hard to kill instant-win button vs. common decks Flundereeze and heavily cripples decks like Branded Despia. If all your other plays have been stopped, at least try to get this purple menace out!
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- Chaos Thunderdragon doesn't have an obvious "chokepoint" where a well-timed handtrap/interruption can end your turn. This deck slices through low-impact handtraps like nothing!
CONCLUDING COMMENTARY
The synergy between Thunder Dragons, Chaos and Danger! almost seem like these three archetypes were designed to support each other! Thunder Dragons maintain hand advantage serving as discard fodder for Danger! cards as well as GY set-up for Chaos cards! Danger! allows free bodies on board with +1 draws while setting up the GY for Chaos cards we well! The synergies between these two are incredible!
Having enjoyed this deck's weaker incarnation in the TCG, witnessing it's unmitigated power complete with Colossus is a real treat! Colossus is a true powerhouse threat that shuts down many decks and avenues of play. A nice little bonus is the beautiful animation of this beauty everytime you summon Colossus and Titan - which is often the last thing your opponent will see before they surrender or get obliterated!
GLHF Duelists!
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