With the support from Infinite Forbidden, Quattro's Gimmick Puppets transformed from an obscure, weak anime deck into a nearly unstoppable first turn kill powerhouse! Mansion of the Dreadful Dolls renders your Gimmick Puppet combo UNAFFECTED by monster based handtraps as well as monster interruption! With this absolutely cracked field spell, going first and second suddenly became much easier for the strategy, especially since Gimmick Puppets burn for the entirety of your opponent's lifepoints going first, and going second, opponent's boards are naturally cleared as you fly through the combos.
Rouge Doll is another incredible card, acting as this deck's "Exosister Martha," summoning herself and another Gimmick Puppet from deck for further XYZ plays! Not only that, she recurs herself the GY as soon as she hits hit (for ex. Getting detached for foolish'd) granting this strategy a robust grind game. Little Soldiers gives the deck it's best normal summon and 1-card combo in the form of a foolish burial. Cattle Scream gives the deck a free body to XYZ summon with and more ways to summon monsters on your opponent's side of the field to enable the burn FTK.
The support for Gimmick Puppet is SO CRACKED that it constantly makes tops in tournaments! Check out the NAWCQ and EUWCQ decklists and you'll find a few Gimmick Puppet lists in there! This current list is my own version from the topping Gimmick Puppet decks. I thought the burn FTK was just like it's namesake - a gimmick. But in reality, I was pleasantly surprised during testing that Quattro's macabre puppets can really win games with their "fan service!"
Gimmick Puppet is like the burn version of "Tenpai Dragon." They know the FTK is coming, they try as much as possible to stop it, but it still succeeds! As Quattro would often say... "NOW THAT'S TRUE FANSERVICE!"
Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
ARCHETYPES AND DECKBUILDING
While Gimmick Puppet is played "pure," it uses a Horus package to support the strategy. Finally, a the staples consist of a Crossout with it's targets to enable the FTK combo to go through as much as possible.
The GIMMICK PUPPET cards constitute the main strategy, forming the majority of the deck. Due to the consistency boosts from the new INFO support, the deck core is relatively small. Rouge Doll, Little Soldiers, Mansion of the Dreadful Dolls and Condolence Puppet are all used at 3 since they are starters. Two each of Terror Baby, Cattle Scream and Argent Chaos Force are used since they are garnets and mostly need to be searched from deck as part of the combo. Terraforming and Set Rotation are both 1 card starters, since they search Mansion of the Dreadful Dolls. Finally, Service Puppet Play is the search target for Fanatix Machinix, enabling the deck to interrupt the opponent if they manage to survive the burn FTK.
A HORUS engine is used to enable rank 8 plays and to give Set Rotation another target to go into. King's Sarcophagus is also a great discard outlet for cards you want to get out of your hand, like if you happen to draw your garnets of Bisque Doll and Terror Baby who have beneficial effects in the GY.
The rest of the deck is composed of STAPLES. Since Gimmick Puppets are very consistent with the new support from INFO, this deck can field quite a few staples. These staples were chosen specifically to enable the FTK to go through as much as possible, so 3 Crossout with it's targeted handtraps with 1 Called By are used.
While this deck needs to be consistent, so it is 40 cards sharp to enable to FTK to go though with as much protection as possible.
For siding in games 2/3 the best cards to take out are x1 Cattle Scream, x1 Argent Chaos Force, x1 Condolence Puppet, x3 Crossout, and any number of match-irrelevant handtraps. In the sidedeck, x1 Shifter and x1 D-Barrier are included as Crossout targets, should you think your opponent side those in vs. you.
COMBOS AND GAMEPLAN
Gimmick Puppets are infamous for being an extremely effective FTK burn strategy. Gimmick Puppet is almost like the burn version of "Tenpai Dragon." The fieldspell searches a starter, and it renders Gimmick Puppet monsters nigh untouchable as you weave through the combo.
Here are several burn FTK combos for Gimmick Puppet:
Mansion of the Dreadful Dolls = Burn for 9300 + Service Puppet Play (Steal opponent's monsters)
Activate Mansion of the Underworld Dolls. Add from hand Little Soldiers.
Normal Little Soldier, send to GY Rouge Doll.
Activate Rouge Doll's GY effect to add it from the GY to hand.
Activate Rouge Doll's hand effect to summon herself hand, reveal any rank 8 from Extra Deck and summon Cattle Scream from deck.
XYZ summon Fantasix Makina using Little Soldiers and Cattle Scream.
Activate Fantasix Makina's effect to detach Cattle Scream and add from deck Rank-Up Magic Argent Chaos Force.
Activate Argent Chaos Force targeting Fantasix Makina to rank it up into Dark Strings.
Summon Cattle Scream from the GY by detaching a material from Dark Strings.
XYZ summon Puppet of Strings using Cattle Scream and Rouge Doll.
Activate Argent Chaos Force's trigger effect in the GY to add itself back to hand.
Activate Puppet of Strings effect to place a String Counter on Dark Strings.
Activate Argent Chaos Force targeting Puppet of Strings to rank it up into another Dark Strings.
Activate Dark String's trigger effect in CL1 to destroy as many monsters with String Counters as possible, draw 1 card, and burn your opponent for 3300 (the ATK of the destroyed Dark Strings). In CL2, activate Fantasix Makina's effect to summon itself from the GY.
Activate Argent Chaos Force's trigger effect in the GY to add itself back to hand.
Activate Mansion's effect to detach 1 material from your Dark Strings on the field to summon the Dark Strings in the GY to your opponent's field.
Activate Argent Chaos Force targeting Fantasix Makina to rank up into the Chaos version of the card: CXYZ Gimmick Puppet Fanatix Makinix.
Activate Fanatix Makinix's effect to add a Gimmick Puppet trap from your deck (typically Service Puppet Play). If your opponent manages to live to the next turn, you still have an interruption!
Activate Fanatix's effect detaching 1 card to summon to your opponent's side of the field Puppet of Strings.
Link summon Chimera Doll using Fanatix + Dark Strings.
Activate Chimera Doll's effect to add from deck Terror Baby.
Normal summon Terror Baby to summon from GY Cattle Scream.
Banish Little Soldiers from GY targeting Terror Baby to make it a level 8.
XYZ summon Giant Grinder using Terror Baby + Cattle Scream.
Detach from Giant Grinder twice targeting both Dark Strings and Puppet of Strings on your opponent's side of the field to burn for 3300 and 3000. You burn your opponent for a grand total of 9300!
Mansion of the Dreadful Dolls = Burn for 8100 + Draw 3 cards + Service Puppet Play (Steal opponent's monsters)
Repeat steps 1-6 from the first combo.
Activate Argent Chaos Force targeting Fantasix Makina to rank it up into Fanatix Makinix.
Activate Fanatix Makinix's effect to add a Gimmick Puppet trap from your deck (typically Service Puppet Play). If your opponent manages to live to the next turn, you still have an interruption!
Summon Cattle Scream from the GY by detaching a material from Fanatix Makinix.
XYZ summon Puppet of Strings using Rouge Doll and Cattle Scream.
Activate Argent Chaos Force's trigger effect in the GY to add itself back to hand.
Activate Puppet of Strings effect to place a String Counter on Fanatix Makinix.
Activate Fanatix's effect detaching 1 card to summon to your opponent's side of the field Cattle Scream.
Activate Argent Chaos Force targeting Puppet of Strings to rank it up into Dark Strings.
Activate Dark String's trigger effect in CL1 to destroy as many monsters with String Counters as possible, draw 1 card, and burn your opponent for 3100 (the ATK of the destroyed Dark Strings). In CL2, activate Fantasix Makina's effect to summon itself from the GY.
Activate Argent Chaos Force's trigger effect in the GY to add itself back to hand.
Detach a material from Dark Strings to put a String counter on Cattle Scream on your opponent's field.
Activate Argent Chaos Force targeting Fantasix Makina to rank it up into Dark Strings.
Activate Dark String's trigger effect again to destroy as many monsters with String Counters as possible, draw another 1 card, and burn your opponent for 2000 (the ATK of the destroyed Cattle Scream).
Activate Mansion's effect to detach 1 material from your Dark Strings on the field to summon the Puppet of Strings in the GY to your opponent's field.
Detach a material from Dark Strings to put a String counter on Puppet of Strings on your opponent's field.
Link summon Chimera Doll using Dark Strings + Dark Strings.
Activate Chimera Doll's effect to add from deck Terror Baby.
Normal summon Terror Baby to summon from GY Dark Strings.
Activate Dark String's trigger effect for the third time to destroy as many monsters with String Counters as possible, draw another 1 card, and burn your opponent for 3000 (the ATK of the destroyed Puppet of Strings). You burn your opponent for a grand total of 8100 AND draw 3 cards in the process!
Little Soldiers + Any Level 8 Gimmick Puppet =
Repeat steps 1-6 from the first combo.
Activate Argent Chaos Force targeting Fantasix Makina to rank it up into Fanatix Makinix.
Activate Fanatix Makinix's effect to add a Gimmick Puppet trap from your deck (typically Service Puppet Play). If your opponent manages to live to the next turn, you still have an interruption!
Summon Cattle Scream from the GY by detaching a material from Fanatix Makinix.
XYZ summon Puppet of Strings using Rouge Doll and Cattle Scream.
Activate Argent Chaos Force's trigger effect in the GY to add itself back to hand.
Activate Puppet of Strings effect to place a String Counter on Fanatix Makinix.
Activate Fanatix's effect detaching 1 card to summon to your opponent's side of the field Cattle Scream.
Activate Argent Chaos Force targeting Puppet of Strings to rank it up into Dark Strings.
Activate Dark String's trigger effect in CL1 to destroy as many monsters with String Counters as possible, draw 1 card, and burn your opponent for 3100 (the ATK of the destroyed Dark Strings). In CL2, activate Fantasix Makina's effect to summon itself from the GY.
Activate Argent Chaos Force's trigger effect in the GY to add itself back to hand.
Detach a material from Dark Strings to put a String counter on Cattle Scream on your opponent's field.
Activate Argent Chaos Force targeting Fantasix Makina to rank it up into Dark Strings.
Activate Dark String's trigger effect again to destroy as many monsters with String Counters as possible, draw another 1 card, and burn your opponent for 2000 (the ATK of the destroyed Cattle Scream).
You can also more or less replicate either combo without Mansion of the Dreadful Dolls by having Little Soldiers + any level 8 Gimmick Puppet. The only difference is that your Gimmick Puppet Monsters on the field will be affected by your opponent's non-XYZ monster effects, especially handtraps. If you also lack a level 8 body, Horus monsters are excellent extenders.
Unlike other FTK decks, Gimmick Puppets actually do well at breaking boards, especially while Mansion is active. Going second, Gimmick Puppets naturally break boards as they combo through Gigantes Doll, Giant Grinder, Puppet of Strings and Dark Strings. All the while, Mansion of Dreadful Doll renders your monsters nearly invincible vs. your opponent's monster-based interruption (except XYZ monsters like Zeus and TY-Phon). Horus monsters paired with Gold Sarcophagus remove monsters through the battle phase effectively as well.
GENERAL TIPS
The Horus monsters are excellent extenders if you lack a level 8 body to XYZ summon with. The Horus cards also excel at removal of hard to out monsters in the Battle Phase.
Despite your Gimmick Puppet monsters not affected on the field while Mansion is active, you're still vulnerable to handtraps like Droll, Shifter, Imperm and Bystials. Remember, this deck has many extenders (Horus, Biqsue Doll, Chimera Doll, Terror Baby) so you can still potentially play through those specific handtraps!
For siding in games 2/3 the best cards to take out are x1 Cattle Scream, x1 Argent Chaos Force, x1 Condolence Puppet, x3 Crossout, and any number of match-irrelevant handtraps. In the sidedeck, x1 Shifter and x1 D-Barrier are included as Crossout targets, should you think your opponent side those in vs. you.
If your FTK have been interrupted into a standstill and you lack resources to complete the shift, the trap card Service Puppet Play is your next play. Summon as many XYZ monsters as possible so you can quick effect steal your opponent's monsters.
- The FTK combo is very easy to mess up since every move is very exact and calculated. You can get interrupted midway as well, so your opponent can survive the FTK Practice makes perfect!
Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Recently, Konami keeps pretty insane field spells for archetypes they want to see meta competitive play. Almost like how Invoked has "Magical Meltdown," the fieldspell renders your archetypal cards unaffected! First Tenpai, then Yubel, and now out of nowhere... Gimmick Puppet?!
Gimmick Puppet certainly has made it's own unique niche as the competitive "burn deck!" Despite how degenerate and un-interactive it is, it's kind of exciting that in a tier 0 format dominated by ridiculously expensive 1-card combo engines that burn FTK can make its mark.
Being a burn FTK is kind of thematically relevant too, since your opponent doesn't get to play - all they do is watch in awe as you control the strings of the horrific puppet show! In the words of Quattro... "NOW THAT'S TRUE FANSERVICE!"
GLHF Duelists!
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