Simorgh Beatdown (Master Duel)

UPDATE: With the release of Triple Tactics Thrust, the deck no longer auto-loses to Ash Blossom. Search out Harpie's Feather Storm and start your lines over again next turn!

The new Simorgh support is finally in Master Duel, which means it's time for big bird beatdown!

For the unaware, Simorgh is the *other* Normal-Summon-spam bird archetype, but is actually more fair and fun to play in my opinion, since it also utilizes Special Summons in addition to Normals and Tributes. The idea is to go second, Normal Summon the small birds, proc their self-revival effects to use them as tribute fodder, and OTK with our giant beatsticks that we can easily bring out with our field spell.

Monsters

3x Simorgh, Bird of Bringing - This bird lets us search any Simorgh card (except itself) upon its Normal Summon, which is fantastic. If we have another bird in hand and don't have either the field spell or Simorgh Onslaught, I recommend grabbing one of those two. It also has the aforementioned self-revival effect.

3x Simorgh, Bird of Perfection - This is the man right here. This chad is what makes it all possible. When a Winged Beast is Normal Summoned or Special Summoned, Perfection lets us immediately Normal Summon a Simorgh monster from our hard, including itself. When Perfection is summoned, we can send a Simorgh monster to the grave as a cost (so it can't be negated) to get a Simorgh spell from the Deck. The cost is important, as we can send a self-reviving bird to the GY to immediately bring it out. We can also send Darkness if it's not already in the GY.

2x Simorgh, Bird of Beginning - This bird allows us to Normal Summon an additional Simorgh monster when it's Normal Summoned. A little lackluster, but it does have a valuable self-revival effect which will allow us to link climb or Tribute Summon. Note that its first effect will miss timing if summoned via Perfection.

2x Simorgh, Bird of Calamity - This bird lets us send one Simorgh card from the Deck to the GY. Use it to send Simorgh of Darkness or another small bird that can revive itself. Calamity itself can also self-revive.

1x Simorgh, Lord of the Storm - The first of our big beatsticks, Lord of the Storm cannot be targeted by Spells or Traps. It can also bounce any of our opponent's cards when a Spell or Trap is activated, at the cost of a Simorgh monster. Remember the small birds that can revive themselves? Use those.

1x Simorgh of Darkness - Fantastic beatstick that can bring itself out for free from the GY when we Tribute Summon any monster. Plenty of ways to get it there as mentioned before. It also has a very valuable Spell/Trap negate, at the cost of a Simorgh monster.

1x Simorgh, Bird of Protection - Since the small Simorghs only revive themselves if the S/T zone is empty, Protection is a great bird that can bounce a S/T card when Normal Summoned. We can include more copies if needed.

1x Simorgh, Bird of Ancestry - Another great beatstick with a simple effect: when it's Tribute Summoned, we can bounce up to 2 of our opponent's cards. This is a better going-second bird than Lord of the Storm, but you can adjust the ratios of them as you see fit.

1x Mist Valley Apex Avian - Apex Avian being a Wind Winged Beast is a blessing for this deck. We can bring it out via Sovereignty or Tribute Summoning, and it's a non-one-per-turn omni-negate at the cost of returning any Mist Valley card to the hand, including itself.

2x Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju - Stormwinds Statue is banned so we can play Gameciel instead of Gadarla.

2x Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring - You can add a third forehead girl if you want.

Spells

3x Elborz, the Sacred Lands of Simorgh - An amazing field spell that has two extremely important functions. The first allows us to reveal a Level 5 or higher Wind Winged Beast monster, and for the rest of the turn, the Tribute cost of all Winged Beasts is decreased by 1. The second effect allows us to immediately Normal Summon a Winged Beast monster, which will allow us to extend our combos further.

2x Simorgh Onslaught - Great searcher card that lets us discard 1 Winged Beast to add both 1 Wind-attribute and 1 Dark-attribute Simorgh to our hand. As with Perfection, I recommend discarding either Darkness or a small bird. Also, we only run 2 copies because of its tendency to brick occasionally.

1x Simorgh Repulsion - At this point, I should note that the mini Simorghs can only bring themselves back from the GY only if our opponent controls nothing in their backrow. A non-issue if we go first, but if we go second, Simorgh Repulsion lets us bounce all cards in their backrow at the cost of discarding a Winged Beast. It also has a lesser-used secondary effect like Onslaught, which allows us to decrease the level of a Winged Beast monster in our hand by 1. It's only really applicable to Dark Simorgh and Apex Avian though, and most likely we're going to be Special Summoning them anyway.

2x Called by the Grave - We need as many of our searchers to go off as possible.

3x Triple Tactics Thrust - This card is so good. The premier targets for this are Triple Tactics Talent and Feather Storm.

2x Book of Eclipse - Hate Kashtira? Me too.

1x Herald of the Abyss - Hate Purrely? Me too.

1x Harpie's Feather Duster - All-around excellent card to wipe our opponent's backrow, while also allowing our mini Simorghs to activate their GY effects.

Traps

3x Harpie's Feather Storm - Probably the most broken card in the entire game, Harpie's Feather Storm turns off all of our opponent's activated monster effects for the entire turn if we control a Wind Winged Beast. It's ridiculously powerful in Harpie decks and fantastic in Simorghs. This can win us the game if we manage to draw into it. Feather Storm also has a secondary effect to search Harpie's Feather Duster from the Deck or GY upon its destruction, which is, again, really helpful for our birdies.

1x Simorgh Sky Battle - This card provides some decent targeting protection for our birds. Sovereignty already does this innately, but if you can't get Sovereignty out for whatever reason, Sky Battle is a good substitute. It also has a second effect that rarely comes up but is hilarious to activate.

1x Trap Trick - We used to run this at 2 since it was our only way of searching Feather Storm, but now with Triple Tactics Thrust in the game, we cut it down to 1 (or you can remove it entirely).

Extra Deck (I'll only go over the important monsters)

Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty - The grandmaster himself. During every End Phase, we can summon any Winged Beast we want as long as the levels are less than or equal to the number of unused S&T zones. This means we can go into a floodgate (Barrier Statue), an omni-negate (Apex Avian), or even just a big beatstick. Sovereignty (and any Winged Beast he points to) also cannot be targeted with card effects. He also has a Simorgh-exclusive effect that grants him battle protection by destroying 1 other Simorgh card instead, including the field spell. Sovereignty is currently banned in the TCG, so that's why this is a Master Duel decklist. In the TCG, you'll be Tribute Summoning the big birds instead.

Harpie Conductor - When the mini Simorghs come back from the GY, we are locked into Winged Beasts only for the rest of the turn. If that happens, we can fall back onto Harpie Conductor. Any Link-2 will do, really, but Harpie Conductor has the benefit of being the same Type and Attribute as the Simorghs.

Tri-Brigade Ferrijit the Barren Blossom - Drew into a bunch of small Simorghs and can't get enough of them onto the field? Ferrijit can help us easily by Special Summoning any Level 4 or Lower Winged Beast from our hand.

I:P Masquerena - If we aren't locked into Winged Beasts yet, I:P Masquerena is helpful and provides valuable protection for Sovereignty. When summoned by Masquerena, Sovereignty cannot be targeted or destroyed by card effects or battle (if another Simorgh is on the field).

Notes

• Going 1st - Basic Link Climb - Normal Summon 2 small Simorghs (Normal Summon and use Beginning's effect, Perfection's effect, or Elborz's effect; if you have Perfection and another small bird, summon the other small bird first). Link into I:P Masquerena or Harpie Conductor, then activate a small Simorgh's GY effect to bring itself back. Finally, Link into Sovereignty. This is recommended if going first.
• Going 2nd - OTK- The idea behind the OTK is pretty simple. Assuming you have both a small Simorgh (preferably Bringing) and Perfection in your hand, summon the small one, chain Perfection. Perfection will summon itself, and if your your small Simorgh is Bringing, add Elborz or Onslaught to your hand. Perfection's on-field then activates and you send Darkness to the GY while adding Elborz or Onslaught, whichever one you didn't pick. Activate Onslaught to add Ancestry to your hand, then activate Elborz. Use Elborz's first effect to reveal Ancestry, then use the second effect to Normal Summon Ancestry using the small Simorgh on the field. Target 2 cards to bounce with Ancestry, then Darkness will chainblock immediately. From there, assuming the board is clear, that is over 8000 direct damage. If you didn't manage to OTK, revive the small Simorgh back from the GY and link into Sovereignty.
• The side deck contains some other cards to consider. Wynn the Wind Channeler is good since she can get a small Simorgh from your hand into the GY and add another one. The Dark-attribute Simorghs are considered Wind as well, so her restriction doesn't really impact us. Floowandereeze and the Unexplored Winds is good too, allowing us to get rid of our opponent's problem cards. However, it does not synergize well with Elborz and Ancestry's passive effect. Finally, the Dark Simorgh-Anti-Spell Fragrance lock is an excellent floodgate when going first, but it's not very consistent and Kashtira Fenrir can easily remove it.

Thank you for making it this far and hope you've enjoyed my Simorgh guide!