Comprehensive Guide to PUNK Gold Pride (June 2023)

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Meta Decks P.U.N.K. Gold Pride 53 High Quality

TCGplayer $402.01 / Cardmarket €133.29

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Deck Primer

Konami's newest favourite archetype, the TCG exclusive "Gold Pride," seems to be tailor made specifically to play with PUNK. Not only are the cards aesthetically similar, both archetypes reward the duelist for paying/losing lifepoints - allowing them to draw cards, special summon combo pieces, and power up their boss monsters (10300ATK Psychic End Punisher anyone?)! The inherent synergy is immense since PUNK naturally combos into Gold Pride and the lifepoint payments by PUNK allow all Gold Pride monsters to special summon themselves for free!

The CYAC support gives newfound consistency, board presence, interruption and power to the strategy, allowing this momentum/resource-oriented deck to consistently compete with an overwhelmingly negate/floodgate heavy meta. In my opnion, PUNK Gold Pride is well-positioned to compete after the June 5th 2023 banlist, since it is relatively untouched while all the top meta decks have been nerfed. Also, one of the deck's weaknesses, Droll & Lockbird, may also see a decrease of play with many players ditching Superheavy Samurai (the main reason Droll was maindecked) since it was neutered into oblivion by the banlist (RIP Scarecrow and SHS, you didn't live long in this world, you died too young ;-;).

It is safe to say that Gold Pride has definitely boosted the power of PUNK by a few levels! The deck's end board from only one Ze Amin + 1 discard is composed of 3 pops (Start Your Engines, Star Leon and PUNK Nashiwari Surprise), non-targeting/destroying monster removal (Pin Baller) and 3 cards draw (PUNK Jam Session and Better Luck Next Time!). Not only that, but follow-up for the grind game is also generated by the constant summons of Captain Carrie, searching your starter "Start Your Engines" during your turn and your opponent's turn! If allowed to combo off, this deck ends with a full board, and a 6 card hand full of hand traps/follow-up. This deck also is infamous for easily bringing out Psychic End Punisher, a "towers" monster that most decks are unprepared to deal with.

In the hands of a good pilot your opponent will likely be out-sped by the sheer resource advantage, board presence and offensive pressure that PUNK Gold Pride is now extremely proficient at with CYAC support. Build incredible momentum and leave your opponent in the dust!

Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!

ARCHETYPES AND DECKBUILDING

In contrast to other duelist's iterations of this deck, my personal PUNK Gold Pride list is gargantuan, consisting of 53 cards! It is 53 cards since one Ze Amin + discard is full combo, and there are 15 copies of Ze Amin (3 Ze Amin, 3 Ogre, 3 Foxy Tune, 3 Emergency Teleport and 3 Small World) giving the duelist a fair chance of drawing into it with their starting hand. 53 cards also make it less likely that you will hard draw your garnets (Sharakusai, Deer Note, Wa Gon and Jam Session) that are essential for the combo. Trust me, 53 cards is still surprisingly consistent and totally not bricky!

The two archetypes in this deck are of course Gold Pride (12 cards) and PUNK (16 cards). PUNK cards are your starters for the main combo while Gold Pride are extenders that your board generally ends on.

Many handtraps (14 cards) are included, meaning that going second, you still have a decent chance of stopping your opponent since your starting hand probably contains 1-2 handtraps. Going first, you have a great chance of drawing into them, since the PUNK combo draws you three cards. Crossout Designator is in the deck to protect your combo against pesky Nibirus, Ashes and Drolls that would otherwise severely limit your plays. Finally, handtraps are also Small World bridges to search Ze Amin (to start your combo) and Kurikara (to clear boards). In games 2-3, these handtraps are exchanged for the going-second cards in your side deck.

In the Extra Deck, there is sadly no reliable way this deck can make level 10 Synchros anymore with the limit of Psy-Frame Gamma, so Baronne and Stardust Assault Synchron are replaced by a Zeus package of Fortune Tune + Downerd Magician. Knightmare Phoenix, Knightmare Unicorn and Accesscode are included in case your opponent activates Dimension Barrier against you, locking out Synchros. You can still OTK easily with links instead, since this strategy swarms the board very easily with plenty of material.

The Side Deck is full of board breakers designed to counter popular meta decks. PUNK Gold Pride can somewhat play through some interruption because it has a ridiculous amount of extenders (every Gold Pride monster summons itself for free!), but the strategy can be significantly easier to play if the board state is equalized. These Side Deck cards are exchanged with your handtraps in games 2-3.

COMBOS AND GAMEPLAN

The strategy of PUNK Gold Pride is to destroy/remove your opponent's cards while building as much resource advantage as it can with multiple draws and searches. True to the "racing vs. your opponent" theme of the deck, PUNK Gold Pride's win condition is building up as much momentum as possible (card advantage and board presence). The more momentum you have, the more unstoppable are!

The combo for this strategy is the standard PUNK combo -> Gold Pride combo. Here is the main combo for PUNK Gold Pride:

Ze Amin + Discard = Draw 3 cards, set PUNK trap, set Start your Engines!, Leon's quick synchro (either destroy 1 monster or bounce 4), Roller Baller's monster removal

(The following is standard PUNK combo) Summon Ze Amin. Ze Amin searches for Foxy Tune.
Foxy Tune effect to discard 1 card in hand to summon Sharakusai from deck.
Sharakusai fusion summons Rising Carp, using Sharakusai + Ze Amin.
Tribute Rising Carp to summon Deer Note and Wa Gon from deck.
Activate Wa Gon's effect to search for Jam Session from deck.
Activate Jam Session.
Synchro summon Dragon Drive using Wa Gon + Deer Note.
CL1 Dragon Drive to search for Madame Spider from deck, CL2 Deer Note to summon Sharakusai from GY.
Jam Session's trigger effect draws you 1 card.
Special summon Madam Spider from hand. Madame Spider searches for PUNK trap from deck.
Jam Session's trigger effect draws you 1 card a second time.
(The following is the Gold Pride combo) XYZ summon Chariot Carrie using Sharakusai + Madame Spider.
Detach 1 material from Chariot Carrie to add from deck to hand Better Luck Next Time! and send to GY Roller Baller.
Activate Better Luck Next Time to add Captain Carrie from deck.
Special summon Captain Carrie. Captain Carrie searches Start Your Engines! from deck.
Set your spells/traps in your backrow. In addition to the PUNK Trap and Start your Engines! you searched, you may have additional Imperms, Crossouts and Called By, etc. to set as backrow. Summon extenders if you want, and if possible summon boss monsters like Psychic End Punisher and Dragite in your EMZ, since you needs your main monster zones free for your Gold Pride monsters.
Proceed to End Phase. Chariot Carrie activates to summon Captain Carrie from deck. This triggers Better Luck Next Time! to draw 1 card.
During your opponent's turn, Activate Start your Engines! to summon Leon from deck. Leon summons from GY Roller Baller.

With Ze Amin + discard, you get many interruptions and resources!

Leon can quick synchro to destroy a monster on the field with Star Leon. Alternatively, Leon can quick synchro with Dragon Drive on board to bounce 4 cards with Amazing Dragon. Roller Baller can quick fusion to equip monsters your opponent controls. Your set Start your Engines! pops a monster. Your set PUNK trap also either negates/destroys. You also likely have many handtraps in hand. You have 4 guaranteed interruptions, probably 1-3+ handtraps, and follow-up for next turn! That's about 5-7 interruptions for your opponent to contend with, and you have more than enough to OTK next turn.

If you're interrupted mid-combo, your plan B is to summon Psychic End Punisher to stall for next turn's counterattack, since most decks cannot out it.

Going second, hopefully your handtraps simplify the gamestate enough to the point your in-engine combo and extenders are enough to allow you to play the game through your opponent's interruption.

The PUNK Gold Pride pilot has a plethora of options to clear the board and OTK going second based on the gamestate:

A 4 material Zeus is easily summoned with 2 level 3s -> Fortune Tune -> Battle Phase attack -> Zeus. Gold Pride Star Leon and Pin Baller clear the boards of monsters while Captain Carrie's effect in the GY turn them into 4000+ ATK beatsticks. PUNK Gold Pride also easily turbos out Psychic End Punisher, a nigh unstoppable "towers" monster capable of a 1 shot kill that many decks are unprepared to face. Amazing Dragon synchro summoned with Rising Carp and Ze Amin clears 2-4 cards from the board while enabling it to attack twice with 3600ATK (7200DMG). Small World searches for Kurikara so you can clear your opponent's pesky boss monsters, especially Ariseheart and Shangri-Ira. Finally, Accesscode is available to OTK as well since this deck swarms the field very easily with lots of link material. Accesscode is a good alternative in case you get D-barrier locked from Synchros.

GENERAL TIPS

If you get hit by Droll & Lockbird or Dimension Shifter, your plan B synchro summon Psychic End Punisher. Chances are that your opponent cannot out this monster and you'll be alive next turn to continue counterattack without committing too much of your resources.
PUNK Gold Pride has an in-engine way to hardcounter the current strongest meta deck! Vs. Kashtira, make summoning Nytro Head a priority. The token it generates on your opponent's board during their Standby Phase makes plays very awkward for Kashtira, if not outright shutting down their entire strategy.
This deck absolutely sucks vs. backrow floodgates when going second! If you want to take out a card from the Extra Deck, Scrap Dragon is a good way to out a Gozen Match. Ze Amin + Deer Note -> Scrap Dragon. Other than that, my other recommendation vs. spells/traps is to side as much backrow hate as possible versus decks like Labrynth and Runick. Cosmic Cyclone, Lightning Storm and Evenly Matched are your best friends in these backrow heavy match-ups.
Keep close track of your dangerously low lifepoints and keep your monsters in defense position unless you know you can attack for game! If you're not careful, Masquerade the Blazing Dragon's 600 lifepoint tax, Sky Striker Ace Hayate's direct attack, or Swordsoul Longyuan's 1200 damage burn can quickly end your duel.
This deck's endboard folds to common board wipes like Evenly Matched and Raigeki, since it has no easy way to negate spells and traps (the limit of Psyframe Gamma makes this deck's S/T negate Baronne, difficult to make). If you feel like your opponent will attempt to boardwipe you, end your board with Psychic End Punisher so you can at least have board presence that can shrug off these high impact cards. If you're allowed full combo, you also likely have 3-6 cards in hand with many of them handtraps, so if you get boardwiped it's not the end of the duel for you.
If you're feeling truly brave, a 60 card version of the deck is possible by including the card Dark Spirit's Mastery into the deck. Not only does it search Ogre Dance (which in turn searching Ze Amin), but it also searches Lava Golem, a potent board breaker! With Dark Spirit's Mastery, you have a consistent PUNK deck despite having the maximum 60 cards, since it has 18 copies of Ze Amin.
Not only does Small World search Ze Amin to start your combo, it also searches incredible board breakers such as Kurikara and Lava Golem! From my experience nobody really negates Small World since they'd rather negate a choke point in a combo, so Small World is a great card to open with so you can start clearing your opponent's board.

Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Based on the racing anime movie "Redline," Gold Pride simulates the great lengths racers in the movie go through to get a lead over their opponents by paying life points for its plays. Just like the racers in the movie lived on the edge of life and death during dangerous racing, it is the same with YOU, the duelist who gets rewarded the lower your lifepoints are! If you play this deck, you MUST watch the movie Redline to learn where these cards came from - it'll make you appreciate the deck even more!

The fact that it synergizes so well with another favourite strategy of mine - PUNKS, makes my heart so happy since I really appreciate the Cyberpunk aesthetic both archetypes portray. The handtrap heavy, momentum based gameplay is the style of Yugioh I personally find fun, and PUNK Gold Pride is a perfect deck for that. I feel like an absolute badass ending on a board with a ton of disruptions (no negates so my opponent can actually play) and having a full hand with handtraps/follow-up for next turn!

To borrow a meme from Yugioh 5Ds, if you're piloting PUNK Gold Pride, you are truly dueling on motorcycles! I hope you have as much as fun as I have playing this deck, it certainly is a breath of fresh air compared to the other decks that "FTK" the opposing player with a negates/locks/stun (that's no fun at all).

TURN UP YOUR SPEED TO THE MAXIMUM AND OUTRACE YOUR OPPONENTS!

GLHF Duelists!

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