Since its inception, PUNK has gained notoriety as an engine, enabling 1 card OTKs, Halq/Auroradon combo without normal summon and etc. Competitively, PUNK was only viable as an engine smushed into goodstuff decks – it was never good “pure.”
This all changes with the release of Power of the Elements, with two new ridiculously strong PUNK support cards printed in the set! The field spell “Extreme Session” is an extender AND pot of greed, all in one card! Dragon Drive searches any level 3 psychic tuner on summon (including Ghost Ogre) and is also an extender if your opponent chains to your PUNK effect!
Extreme Session and Dragon Drive enable a mass handtrap playstyle for PUNK, allowing it to still fight through board wipes like the all-too-common Dark Ruler No More! This support granted the previously unfit engine to top competitively – all on its own archetypal legs!
Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
ARCHETYPES, ENGINES AND DECKBUILDING
- Forming the deck’s core, The PUNK cards in the Main Deck consist of 22 cards:
3 Emergency Teleport, 2 Extreme Session, 1 Dangerous Gabu, 1 Nashiwari Surprise, 3 Ze Amin, 3 Ogre Dance, 3 Foxy Tune, 3 Deer Note, 1 Madame Spider, 1 Wa Gon and 1 Sharakusai. In the Extra deck, there are 2 Amazing Dragons and 1 Dragon Drive. These cards form the basis of this deck’s main combo lines.
- Handtrap cards in the maindeck consists of whopping 21 cards:
3 Psyframe Gamma, 1 Psyframe Driver, 3 Effect Veiler, 3 D.D Crow, 3 Ghost Ogre, 3 Ash Blossom, 3 Nibiru and 2 Impermanence. Many handtraps are light/dark, so they can be excavated by Chaos Ruler. Effect Veiler is also a target for Halqifibrax, which then can be used to create Accesscode through Selene for quick OTKs. The handtrap ratios in this deck is designed so that the player draws 2-3 handtraps with their opening hand, allowing Punk to comfortably play 1st or second.
- Generic Support cards assist the Pure Punk strategy and consist of 7 cards.
3 Gizmek Orochi, 1 Shinobi Necro, 1 Called By, and 2 Pot of Desires. Gizmek Orochi functions as a relatively free LVL 8 extender, beatstick, and monster removal. Shinobi Necro is this deck’s prime Halqifibrax target, serving as a tuner multiple times with Chaos Ruler to get LVL 10 Synchros like Baroness and Chengying on board. Shoutout to the mastermind behind this spice, Pak on Youtube!
This deck is 50 cards so that there is the least possible chance to draw into this deck’s 5 hard/soft garnets: Psy-Frame Driver, PUNK Sharakusai, PUNK Wa Gon, PUNK Madame Spider, and Shinobi Necro. Keep in mind that many of these bricks don’t’ mind being discarded to the GY as part of your combo, so they can still be somewhat used if you hard draw them. 50 cards also enable multiple uses for Gizmek Orochi and Pot of Desires, both requiring many cards banished from deck face down as their activation cost.
COMBOS AND GAMEPLAN
Ideally, this deck likes to go first so it can make a board, and draw twice with it’s new “Pot of Greed” card (hopefully handtraps), Extreme Session. Going second this deck can handtrap opponents to slow/stop their strategy, shrug off interruption, clear the board and deal lethal by generating multiple high ATK monsters.
GOING FIRST, Pure Punk works towards a board that changes depending on what the opening hand is. The ideal board consists of Baronne/Chengying, a LVL 8 (Chaos Ruler, Gizmek Orochi, etc.), Sharakusai (Quick Synchro with LVL 8 -> Amazing Dragon bounce up to 4), Halqifibrax (Tag out into Formula Synchron for the draw + Quick Synchro) and a set PUNK trap (Nashiwari Surprise outs things like Mystic Mine and Dangerous Gabu is a monster negate). In addition to the board, you should have multiple handtraps, especially drawn off the effect of Extreme Session. This wide variety of interruption means that if you get Dark Ruler’d or Lava Golem’d, you still have interruption in your hand and backrow.
GOING SECOND, Pure Punk can play through a board already weakened by handtraps. This deck has multiple extenders like Emergency Teleport, Foxy Tune, Gizmek Orochi and Extreme Session – so playing through negates is easy if you have drawn these cards. Uninterrupted, one Punk Ze Amin and a discard leads to a board of Accesscode Talker, Amazing Dragon which is 2 pops, 4 bounces and 8300 damage!
There are many PUNK combos, but I’ll only be explaining the main PUNK combos for going 1st and 2nd. (Shoutout to Tune World/Pak from YouTube for these combos. If you want more combos, check their channels out!)
(Going 1st) Ze Amin + 1 Discard = Sharakusai + LVL 8 (For Amazing Dragon), Set PUNK trap, and Draw 2
1. Normal/Special summon Ze Amin. Activate Ze Amin’s effect to search for Foxy Tune.
2. Activate Foxy Tune’s effect in hand and discard one card. Summon Sharakusai from deck.
3. Activate Sharakusai’s effect to fuse Ze Amin + Sharakusai. Fusion summon Rising Carp.
4. Tribute Rising Carp to summon Wa Gon + Deer Note from deck.
5. Activate Wa Gon’s effect to search for Extreme Session. Activate Extreme Session.
6. Synchro Summon using Wa Gon + Deer Note for Dragon Drive.
7. CL1 Activate Dragon Drive’s effect on summon to search for Madame Spider, CL2 Deer Note’s effect in GY summons Sharakusai from GY. Extreme Session’s trigger effect activates to draw one card.
8. Activate Extreme Session’s effect to special summon Madame Spider from hand. Activate Madame Spider’s effect to search for PUNK trap. Extreme Session’s trigger effect activates to draw one card. Set Trap Card.
The end board should be Extreme Session, set PUNK trap, Sharakusai + Dragon Drive (for Amazing Dragon bounce on opp’s turn), and Madame Spider. 2 cards were also drawn with Extreme Session, so your hand may have 1-4 handtraps. Given the right extenders, this board can also end on Halqifibrax, Baronne and Chengying for additional interruption.
This is Pure Punk’s bread and butter combo with Ze Amin and a 1 discard.
If you already have garnets like Extreme Session, Wa Gon or Madame Spider already in hand, along with Ze Amin access, you can summon Chaos Ruler instead of Dragon Drive. This play enables The Zombie Vampire to mill a total of 9 to your GY to dig for handtraps, Gizmek Orochi and establish an end board with LVL 10 Synchros + Halq.
Careful about putting all your resources in your first turn board, since this format duelists are blinding second or siding/maining board breakers like Lava Golem and Dark Ruler No More! It is advisable to always have follow up (Ze Amin, Emergency Teleport, etc.) for next turn in hand in case your board gets wiped.
(Going 2nd) Ze Amin + Any LVL 3 PUNK tuner, 1 Discard = Accesscode Talker (2 pops) + Amazing Dragon (3-4 bounces) and Draw 1+
1. Normal/Special summon Ze Amin. Activate Ze Amin’s effect to search for Foxy Tune.
2. Activate Foxy Tune’s effect in hand and discard one card. Summon Sharakusai from deck.
3. Activate Sharakusai’s effect to fuse Ze Amin + Sharakusai. Fusion summon Rising Carp.
4. Tribute Rising Carp to summon Wa Gon + Deer Note from deck.
5. Activate Wa Gon’s effect to search for Extreme Session. Activate Extreme Session.
6. Synchro Summon using Wa Gon + Deer Note for Chaos Ruler.
7. CL1 Activate Chaos Ruler’s effect on summon to Excavate 5, CL2 Deer Note’s effect in GY summons Rising Carp from GY. Extreme Session’s trigger effect activates to draw one card.
8. XYZ Summon The Zombie Vampire using Chaos Ruler + Rising Carp. Detach from The Zombie Vampire to mill 4 and summon a tuner from GY.
9. Make Halqifibrax using tuner + The Zombie Vampire. Halqifibrax -> Selene -> Accesscode. Pop up to 2 cards on your opponent’s field.
10. Summon Chaos Ruler from GY banishing a light + dark. Summon from your hand a LVL 3 PUNK tuner using Extreme Session’s effect. Synchro Chaos Ruler + LVL 3 tuner to summon Amazing Dragon. Bounce up to 4 cards from your opponent’s field.
11. Attack with 8300 on board with Accesscode + Amazing Dragon!
As you can see Pure Punk can OTK in an instant with very minimal resources, even with a mere Emergency Teleport to summon Ze Amin. Clearing the board is a piece of cake too, since the combo above clears up to 6 cards on field before the battle phase. Even without the LVL 3 PUNK tuner in hand, Chaos Ruler + Accesscode is still lethal (8300 DMG) on an empty board.
GENERAL TIPS
- If you have an extender like Emergency Teleport or Foxy Tune in hand, try to bait out your opponent’s interruption by activating Ze Amin’s search effect. She is excellent hand trap bait. Summon Sharakusai from deck afterwards and proceed to full combo!
- If your opponent is playing a GY-centric deck like Splight, Tearlaments, Tri-Brigade, Sky Striker and etc., careful about using The Zombie Vampire’s mill effect. Since it mills their deck as well, you may be helping out your opponent more than you help yourself!
- If you feel that your opponent will attempt to Dark Ruler/Super Poly/Droplet/Lava Golem etc. you the following turn, leave Psychic End Punisher as the only card left on board. An unaffected gigantic monster is often enough board presence to allowing you to survive and counterattack the following turn!
- This deck loses hard to common floodgates like Gozen Match, Skill Drain and Mystic Mine. This deck’s sides 6 anti-backrow cards specifically for this reason. Also, PUNK Nashiwari Surprise can also destroy backrow.
- While shrugging off most handtraps, this deck is crippled when faced with Droll & Lockbird, Dimension Shifter and Nibiru. D.D Crow hurts as well, since certain cards are needed in the GY for this deck’s engine to function.
- When playing vs. a backrow player and going first, have a Sharakusai and a LVL 8 ready to quick synchro into Amazing Dragon. When they set 3-5 backrow, at their end phase, quick synchro into Amazing Dragon to clear their entire field, leaving them at your mercy in the following turn!
- Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
CONCLUDING COMMENTARY
Thank you Konami, for giving my beloved PUNK deck a POT OF GREED, SEARCHER and TWO EXTENDERS with two cards and pushing these cyberpunk performers to meta status. When they put their minds to it, Konami certainly knows how to design cards well to create a competent and entertaining deck! Bravo Konami, bravo, I’ll give you a rare congratulations and approval for the Punk support. <3
From my personal experience playing Online and in Locals, it is super fun playing piloting Pure Punk. Playing this deck, it’s the greatest feeling having a 6 card hand full of handtraps and follow-up at the end of combo. Even if my board gets cleared, I still fire away hand trap after hand trap to stop my opponent in their tracks!
(Again, shoutout to Tune World and Pak for their beautiful guides, combos and videos that resulted in the creation of this deck!)
I hope you have as much fun as I do piloting this deck online and IRL. And with that, I’m taking this deck to Locals again this week, wish me luck! That’ll be all for now, GLHF Duelists!
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