Counter Fairies

Buckle up kids, today I bring to you one of the strangest decks in Yu-Gi-Oh (of course not on par with the likes of the Psi-Blocker loop and the 93-step Inzektor FTK) in which you use Counter Trap cards to both gain advantage and floodgate your opponent out of the game.

The undisputed star of Counter Fairies is Bountiful Artemis. This final stage of zombie-camel evolution is from a time before every draw effect needed a once-per-turn clause attached to it. But, this is honestly needed for the deck to even stand a chance against any semi-competent deck. Without the ability to regain the advantage you lose by using all of your Counter Traps, you would be completely beaned after a single turn. Run 3 of this card every time you even think of building this deck.

The next star of the show is Guiding Ariadne. Do you remember playing a game of Yu-Gi-Oh and having the internal debate that all players have at one point in their lives where you asked yourself if activating Solemn Judgment was going to be worth the 4000 lifepoints to activate? Well now you don't have to worry. Ariadne just straight up removes the cost of most Counter Traps, letting you activate all 9 Solemns in one game and even a full playset of Seven Tools alongside it.

The final main-deck monster is Sacred Arch-Airknight Parshath. That mouthful of a card really shouldn't be played at more than one. You may look at his summoning condition and yell at me for not including a few more fairies, but to that I say: "Have you read Rebirth of Parshath?" And hell, if you're in a tight spot you can still summon him the regular way. I'd just rather not banish my Artemis for a bungus if possible.

The rest of the deck is really self-explanatory. Pot of Extravagance, Pot of Duality, and Card of Demise help you dig for your Artemis turn 1. Sanctuary in the Sky and Sanctum of Parshath both turn on Divine Punishment. Terraforming is just here so you can deck thin a smidgen. And then the Counter Trap suite is all up to preference. I do recommend at least having the three Solemns, Divine Punishment, and Rebirth of Parshath. The rest are all variable, and some other solid options not found in the main or side deck are Black Horn of Heaven, Trap of Board Eraser, Spell Vanishing, Ultimate Providence, and Judgment of Anubis. Do not play Grand Horn of Heaven. Trust me, I tried. The card sounds super cool in practice, but it can't negate a summon that does not start a chain, restricts you to only the main phase, and completely shits itself if your opponent drops Prosperity or Extrav (Ya know, two really good cards that most decks run if they can afford it).

The side deck is just to cover your weak spots. Gameciel does what it has always done and just schlorps up a problem boss monster. Heavy Storm Duster pops backrow and dodge's Imperial Order (which this deck really doesn't care about). Lost Sanctuary is just another copy of Sanctuary that can maybe negate an effect once in a while. To be honest, you can just cut this and run one of the Counter Traps I listed above instead. Seven Tools of the Bandit is just if you really really need to stop traps from activating. And Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell is for killing any Pacifis players dreams of playing the game of Yu-Gi-Oh.

This deck can also run Lord of the Heavenly Prison, which is just a really good card to have in backrow decks. Realistically, you were never losing to backrow removal anyway with your 9 spell/trap negates and 12 monster effect negates, but it's still nice to have a 3k beatstick to close out games. You can also run Prosperity if you really want to dig for the exact card you need. I personally think it's better to get a quick draw 2 in this deck than an extra set of Dualities, but that's just my preference. Another card that pops up in Counter Fairy lists is Van'Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord. This card is terrible, but also extremely funny to resolve. Run it if you're a braver man/woman/everything else in between and outside than I. You can also put actually decent cards in the Extra Deck as well. Realistically you'll never have enough monsters to make a spooky Link or Xyz board, but if you really wanna try and make combo Counter Fairies a reality, I won't crush your dreams.