Orcust

Welcome to my build of Orcust! 

(Well, technically it's not my build exactly, but I'll get into that...) 

- 

Deck Summary:

As an obvious disclaimer, I am not a pro-player, much less a dedicated Orcust player on ladder, but I absolutely love this deck and am more than happy to add it to my 'frequent fliers' list. 

You're probably wondering why this build looks a little familiar. If you follow the tournament scene, this build is akin to Victor Torres who placed Top 32 at YCS Lima in September.

        (HIGHLY recommend checking out his list if you're interested in trying it out on paper: https://ygoprodeck.com/deck/orcust-650636) 

If anything, this is probably the closest to a 1-to-1 copy of his deck altogether, but there currently isn't an updated list for Master Duel Format for pure Orcust (at least from what I saw up to this point) so I'll take the reigns and do my best to provide any insight on what the deck can accomplish. (EDIT: Refreshed the page only to find like 5 updated lists so please ignore this entire line, :)(:)

Yes, yes. I jumped on the Orcust bandwagon... It all started when I pulled a Royal Rare Girsu in a Legacy Pack in 2024 (at least I thought it was a Legacy Pack... idk man... I barely spend money on this game...) and tried to make it work with Jinzo, Knightmare, etc. Needless to say my efforts were next to futile, but managed to reach Plat before the recent support and found the gameplay loop for the deck to be quite enjoyable! 

This archetype first released in 2018 and has a bit of a cult following since then. The archetype itself shares a beautifully written lore that features archtypes like World Legacy, Knightmare, Crusadia, Mekk-Knights and even Krawlers! (spoilers: it's sad as f*ck) 

This deck focuses on DARK Machines and Banishing which is really comfortable given we're still in Maliss meta. Not to mention Mitsurugi just dropped, but I'm already going bald enough from stress so we're not gonna talk about that right now. 

Anywho, onto the combos!

Endboard & Combo Line Example:

The Banishment and Graveyard are going to be your best friends here. Any card that sends to grave for cost or resolution is going to work some magic for your Orcust pieces. The only difference now is that they're all One-Card Combos :DDDDD thanks to the addition of Galatea-I. Before, you'd have to pray they didn't have anything to counter Girsu dumping a piece to the grave on top of running some of the most resource-heavy cards just to fasciliate your plays. The deck was... not in a good spot before this support dropped, unfortunately... 

**That said, here's an example of what an ideal hand can accomplish: 

In Hand: [One for One]/[Orcuststrated Return], [Orcust Harp Horror], [Orcust Knightmare], [Orcustrated Babel], Any non-engine/handtrap

*(This deck can play around a lot so I'm adding subpoints as alternative routes just in case)

1. Activate Return or One for One -> Send Harp Horror 
   
     - 1a. If Harp Horror gets Ash'd, you could always Normal Summon Girsu (if you have one in hand) and go from there, ideal dump on ETB would                    be Cymbal Skeleton.

2. Activate Harp Horror in grave. Special Summon Girsu. Resolve Girsu ETB effect dumping Cymbal Skeleton. Activate Girsu's second effect to create a Token on both sides of the field. From here, you can either use the Token, OR Girsu themselves in order to conduct the next summon. (FUN FACT. Summoning a Token on their side of the field enables [Dominus Impulse] :^) )
   

      - 2a. Ideally, using Girsu is recommended as, if all else fails, you can Link off the token for a [Linkuriboh] in order to soften the blow for a potential                Turn 3 comeback. 

      - 2b. If you used [One for One], Brass Bombard can further extend your endboard or act as another Tribute for the Link-1 enabling the grave                        effect to Special Summon an Orcust monster from hand.

3. Special Summon Galatea-I (the art is so cuuuuuute!) Activate the effect -> send [Orcust Knightmare] for later then add [World Legacy - "World Crown"] to your hand (wait for it.) Follow this up with activating Cymbal Skeleton in grave to bring back our favorite sadboi: Girsu. (Sorry, spoilers...) 

4. Much like the storyline, we're going to Link off Galatea-I and Girsu in order to summon Galatea (the other one.) Activate Galatea's effect and return one of your Orcust pieces from the Banishment to set an [Orcust Crescendo] (love this card.) 

5. Remember sending [Orcust Knightmare]? We're gonna activate the effect in grave, targeting Galatea, in order to send [World Legacy - "World Wand"] to the grave. World Wand will trigger allowing a free summon of World Crown. Not only that, we can also banish World Wand, in order to Special Summon an Orcust monster from the Banishment.

6. By this point, you should have 4 bodies on board: Galatea, Orcust from Banishment, World Crown and a [Linkuriboh] or Token. (Sweet Slifer, praying they don't have a Nibiru.) From here, Link off everything, except the World Crown, to summon our stylish new boss monster: [Enlilgirsu, the Orcust Mekk-Knight] (OH NO, HE'S HOT) 

7. FINALLY, Activate [Orchestrated Babel], set Crescendo alongside any counters you might've drawn from Return and pass. 

    7a. You can most likely continue extending into something that'd be useful in the next turn like an I:P but I'll leave that up to ya'll. We're more                          defensive in this house.

- Board Complete!!! - 

Follow-Ups & Tech 

The endboard might look a little light as this isn't the correct line to go, but there are SOOO many points of interaction outside of the endboard alone. Typically, it's recommended to play Orcust alongside another archetype that enables more options, but I prefer the pure build as it maintains a steady resource loop alongside my favorite thing in the world, recursion. 

With Babel on the field ALL of your Orcust monster effects are Quick-Plays including the Links in grave and on the field! Insane! I know! Meaning, Enlilgirsu's effects of adding a Banished Orcust or World Legacy card back to hand and sending it to the deck in order to steal adds a point of interruption. Mind you, it's stolen permanently so be sure to choose wisely. 

Alongside Handtraps and Staples, you have a ton in your arsenal in order to make your opponent's turn, really annoying. 

The example hand is merely a straight shot to Enlilgirsu, however I've managed to summon Dingirsu consistently even after being interrupted numerous times.

Sideboard: 

This sideboard is mostly centered around handtrap additions and potential alternative lines for extension. Really, you could go as far as adding a whole Synchro line focused [Borreload Savage Dragon] if you're really feeling saucy. 

I threw the Knightmares on there as I really wanna give those a shot, but the Extra Deck is already tight enough as it is so it probably won't happen anytime soon. Though, can't help but to hardstick myself in Plat playtesting these strats. 

Still, much like the story, you're able to slot in a good majority of World Legacy, World Chalice and Mekk-Knights as those archetypes surprisingly compliment Orcust to a certain degree. Almost like it was a marketing strategy planted by Konami... *Doakes meme* 

UPDATE: [Dark World Dealings] moved to the Side as I kinda underestimated having an extra couple Impulses and Imperms. Still, if you're running into inconsistency issues with dumping your Orcust pieces, this would probably be my choice.

Conclusion: 

F*&k, I love this deck, man. Was so tempted to dismantle Orcust for other stuff, but these new additions have made me fall in love all over again. It sits in the Rogue catagory, as it still loses to a lot of points of interaction, sadly, but I definitely recommend playing around with it as it can be splashed with almost any DARK archetype. Though, most slottable archetypes that don't xeno-lock you would be just as fine as well. 

FOLLOW ME ON MASTER DUEL FOR ROGUE/MEME/NON-META NONSENSE 
181-209-956 

Also, feel free to use my campaign code in case you have a fresh account, or are just starting out: 00cdab64