Tempo Melffy - Sept 1st Build for Ycs 9

Tempo Melffy.

1.  Fellow Friends of the Forest.


2.  Deck-list and Tech Choices.


3.  "Combo" Guide and tips.


4.  Future options. 

1. Fellow Friends of the Forest.

First off I'd like to thank everyone for checking out my deck, this is my first here so I’m sorry if the formatting is a little off. Before I talk about the list I'd just like to point everyone to some top-notch Melffy resources, Renren's article (here) and Lilith Saintclaire's Deck-list and Guide (here). These are the resources that got me into the archetype and honestly they form the backbone of this list, if you want to get into Melffy I can't recommend them enough. 

2. Deck-List and Tech Choices.

The Main-deck Melffy and their Forest Friends. 

Melffy Puppy x 3.

This ratio is almost mandatory in any non-combo Melffy variant in my opinion. Its the Melffy you want see as a part of every end board with Forest, it summons your other Melffys or Kalantosa for pops, what more could you ask for? It's even searchable off Emerging Emergency Rescute Rescue due to its convenient stat line.  

Melffy Catty x 3. 

Catty is an interesting card and obviously you run at least 1. It's an omni-searcher for your entire deck and sets you up to make Herald on your opponent’s turn by searching Hop Ear Squadron, but it can feel bricky. I chose 3 for this deck due to expecting grind heavy meta match-ups; it's paid off for me but feel free to experiment with your own ratios. 

Melffy Pony and Fenny x 1. 

Pony and Fenny are the least useful main deck Melffys (next to Rabby, see below) but they can be surprisingly effective in niche hands. The main use for them is unclogging Kalantosas from the hand, and recycling Hop Ear Squadron and your other Melffy's from the grave. I play both at one to search with Catty or summon with Puppy but you can try more in your list.

Melffy Rabby x 0. 

So originally I played a couple Rabby and its lagomorph comrade Rescue Rabbit. However, throughout my testing it kept bricking my hands even with Unexpected Dai at 3. I think there are better options for starters in the deck, especially the Fabled monsters (see next section) so I elected to remove Rabby. It's a shame, it's by far the cutest Melffy maindeck monster. 

Rescue Cat x 3.

Rescue Cat pulls a lot of weight in this list, single-handedly summoning 2/3rd's of your extra deck without locking you into beast types. I always want to see it in my opener (ideally alongside other starters/extenders) but even on its own a Naturia Beast is nothing to sneeze at. I wouldn't recommend running less than 3 if you're opting for a tempo build, but combo varies so feel free to see what works for you. A final note on the Rescue archetype here, if you choose to run the Rabby+Rabbit package you will obviously get more out of the archetypal support Emerging Emergency Rescute Rescue (more on that below.) Although even without it, the ability to search Puppy and Cat was good enough in my testing.

Valerifawn, Peropero Cerperus, and Mine Mole x 1.

These are your turn 1 Naturia Beast setups with Rescue Cat; pick Mine Mole if you haven't drawn a Mellfy or Peropero for the surprise pop. Vallerifawn can be used to get to Halq for finishing games or sometimes Forest if you're desperate. I wouldn't mess with these ratios, although with an increased Fabled package you could try an extra Mine Mole for plusing off of Unicore on your turn with Chawa. (See the Fabled section for more on this.)

Amazoness Pet Baby Tiger x 2.

Our first pure extender, Amazoness Baby Tiger is a fantastic discard off of your Fabled cards or Egotistical Ape, or a good follow-up add of of Catty. The most consistent way to get it in the grave is as a summon off of Rescue Cat or Obedience Schooled and then using it as XYZs or Link material. You can even run Amazoness Call to get it in your hand or grave over Rescute Rescue if you prefer something that’s always live. 

Egotistical Ape x 1.

Our second extender and an excellent un-bricker of hands, Egotistical Ape allows you to make Naturia Beast or Halq from nearly any hand that includes him. My normal discards are the aforementioned Baby Tiger or a lone Fabled Cerburrel depending on where you want to end, even Peropero Cerperus can be choice as it can make him level 2 for XYZs plays. 

Danger! Bigfoot x 2. 

Finally a monster with a respectable attack stat! Danger! Bigfoot allows the deck to swing above its normal weight class, either with his attack stat, effect, or his convenient level in conjunction with a Synchro enabler we'll talk about soon. Bigfoot raises the deck’s ceiling considerably and since he's searchable by Catty you'll rarely have a match without him. Your ratios may vary but I’ve found 2 works well. 

Yokotuner x 1.

I'll be honest, Yokotuner is mostly here to clean up niche hands. I'm not going to expect to draw both my level 3s  and Obedience Schooled but if it happens then I have Yokotuner to still make Naturia Beast. Its also a target for Halq's effect in a pinch. It could easily be replaced with more Fabled support but this was the variant I went with.

Hop Ear Squadron x 1.

Almost at the end of our Forest Friends we come to Hop Ear Squadron, the best target for Catty's search. It gets you a negate on your opponent’s turn in the form of Hop Ear plus any level 2 left on your board, ideally Kalantosa into Herald. If you're left with a Bigfoot on the field you can use Hop Ear to go into Leo Keeper of The Sacred Tree, who when combined with Borrelsword forms the most consistent OTK line my list has. 

The Fabled Nozoochee and Cerburrel x 2,1. 

So finally we come to the Fabled package. Beyond just getting you into Forest in a pinch or going into Unicore off of Catty, I also like them as extenders to beef up your end boards. Sometimes that extra Hastorr or Sandayu proves too much for my opponent to out. If you would like to expand this package I recommend dropping the Rescute Rescue in favour of 3 Nozoochee and 3 Cerburrel alongside maybe a couple Chawa and a Ganashia, although those last 2 work better as starters for combo builds. I really enjoy playing the Fabled package so I recommend experimenting with this. 

The Spells and...no just Spells.

Obedience Schooled x 3.

This is a tough one. On the one hand you want to include this for the tempo swing it provides as it starts almost any play you might be making going first or second. On the other hand, it locks you into beasts, which lowers the ceiling on your plays. Practise with the deck’s plays can help you get more out of this card. I play 3 in this build because I'm aiming to resolve it with Rescue Cat for an explosive end-board (more on this in the Combo Guide) but in more combo or control-oriented builds it didn't preform nearly as well in my testing. 

Emerging Emergency Rescute Rescue x 3. 

So I really like this one, it boosts the consistency of both your starter and of seeing Melffy Puppy due to a surprising (and I’m sure intentional) stat distribution. Since you want to see both of those cards all the time I consider this worth the 3 slots, that said its not always live. Due to the cost of your LP being lower there can be some awkward hands where it isn't quite usable, at least on turn 1. I run Upstart at 1 as an admittedly jank way to make it usable more often. That said, my latest testing has involved Verte Anaconda (more on this at the end) as a consistent way to lower life points so run whatever you prefer.

Melffy Tag x 2.

So Melffy Tag is pretty amazing, how many archetypes can boast a quick play Monster Reborn after all? It's searchable off of Forest for either extension or keeping key Melffys on the field. I find 3 to be unnecessary because of how searchable it is, 1 is doable but I miss the second copy in tempo builds specifically. Go with what works best for your needs.   

Upstart Goblin x 1.

So this was a rushed add the night before my last event. I only included it to make Rescute Rescue live more often going first. In all honesty this was a bad call, you very rarely draw it and Rescute Rescue in a hand where you actually need it to make a play. I've gone on to remove this in favour of more handtraps but feel free to experiment with this slot, its not essential to the deck. 

Harpies Feather Duster x 1.

Another rushed meta call days before the event, I was expecting more backrow-reliant decks but I didn't see that many. For a more synergistic option I'd recommend Twin Twisters for the discard, although in my current build I've opted for more copies of Forbidden Drop. This is a good slot for experimentation and meta-adjustment so experiment as you like.

Forbidden Droplet x 1.

I think Droplet fits well in this deck for a multitude of reasons: it provides more discard options for your Fabled Cerburrel and Amazoness Baby Tiger for follow up plays, it insulates your board against powerful effect monsters going second, and really helps against other tempo decks. In my last tournament this came in the form of several 2-0's against Plunder Patroll but in testing it holds up against other forms of ramp/tempo as well. Against more general decks I'd probably switch this for Triple Tactics Talent as it can win some match-ups on its own (more on this below).

Handtraps and The Side. 

So a short primer before I get into this section, I have included handtraps with the side due to my personal philosophy on siding and deck building in general. I prefer to use my side deck for anti-meta picks (often handtraps or equalizers) that I can cycle through for specific match-ups. That’s why I’ve lumped these together and because of this I’m not going to explain my picks for the side. You can use this space for whatever you like if you disagree, or you can try out my approach if you’d like.

Ghost Ogre and Snow Rabbit x 3.

This is my standard pick for main-deck hand traps in the current meta. I find its live more often than Gamma in game 1, and game 2 the loss of power compared to Gamma matters less. Often I will switch this for a more matchup-dependant option like Ash, Veiler, or Gamma, but that’s down to personal taste.

The Extra Deck.

Leo, Keeper of The Sacred Tree x 1.

So our first extra deck monster is Leo, Keeper of the Sacred Tree, the second best Naturia synchro in the deck. He’s your largest body, the only Beast in the deck with over 3000 atk points he’s your answer to large threats that are vulnerable to battle. In-conjunction with Borrelsword Dragon he makes up the deck’s otk line, as a bonus he’s almost as hard to get rid of as Borrelsword in some circumstances. The most consistent line to make him involves Danger! Bigfoot with either Valerifawn on your turn or Hop Ear Squadron on your opponents turn.

Naturia Beast x 1.

So here is the single most impactful card in the extra deck, next to Forest at least. Sometimes enough to win a game by itself, Naturia Beast is well suited to this archetype — perhaps more so than some of the Melffy extra deck monsters (Mommy is such a disappointment tbh). Aside from the obvious potential synergy of milling Tiger or the other discards, there’s also the fact that this build of Melffy really can’t otherwise contend with back-row decks or decks heavy on spell-based combo extension. Turning all of that off at almost no downside is very appealing.  s mentioned above in the section on Rescue Cat, your best way to get to Naturia Beast is Valerifawn plus Peropero/Mine Mole off of the aforementioned Rescue Cat. I like to use Peropero going first as often opponents will walk over Naturia Beast instead of wasting valuable removal.  

The Fabled Unicore x 1.

This one’s pretty funny, I can’t say I’d ever heard of it before I got into Melffy but it can be surprisingly powerful in some match-ups. It’s somewhat conditional due to your hand-size needing to match your opponents, but I’ve found its not that hard to maintain with the average hand (More on that in the combo guide). Sometimes it can even be made on top of a full board due to Nozoochee and Cerburrel not taking your normal summon, although don’t expect to draw both of them every hand.

Old Entity Hastorr x 1.

I wasn’t expecting to make Hastorr as often as I did, but it really came through against the influx of Towers in the meta. Obviously it’s better with a couple negates supporting it but I managed to stall out some games with just Hastorr and some well-timed draws. I find it’s best made with the Fabled package instead of Unicore, but you can also make it with a normal-summoned Valerifawn in a pinch. I mentioned adding Twin Twisters instead of Harpies earlier and if you were to do that you’d probably pull off Hastorr’s second effect with more consistency. Another option is using Hastorr to punish board wipes when summoned off of Hop Ear Squadron during your opponents turn.

Herald of the Arc light x 1.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few metas you’ll be incredibly familiar with this one. It’s a negate and a sort-of Macro Cosmos, and it’s the perfect level to be made off of Hop Ear plus a spent Kalantosa on your opponents turn. There isn’t really a reason not to play this and there aren’t any worthwhile alternatives that I’ve found, so get used to seeing this one.

Crumble Logos The Prophet of Demolition x 1.

This was a pretty unspecific pick, the Rank 2 XYZs pool is interesting but somewhat light on Interaction so Crumble Logos was my pick among them. Forest is better in most cases, always going first and sometimes going second depending on your grave set-up and hand. You can’t summon him under Obedience Schooled but I mostly find myself summoning him on the crack-back so that really doesn’t matter as much (see Combo Guide for details). You could play most any other Rank 2 here if you wanted, for example Sky Cavalry Centaurea or Excited Melffys for Negalogia set-ups once it’s released.

Ronin Raccoon Sandayu x 1.

The Raccoon archetype is a good fit for Melffy Tempo, especially the boss monster. It can provide an out to anything without battle protection or another protected monster to draw out removal. It can easily be summoned off of Bujinki Ahashima to trigger its effect on your turn, and it’s a good out to a weak board post-handtrap. I play this one in all my Melffy decks because it’s just so versatile, I would really recommend the same unless you desperately need the slot.

Melffy of the Forest x 2.

Finally we arrive at Forest, the only Melffy XYZs currently worth playing, at least till Excited Mellfys comes to the TCG. (No one can make me play Mommy.) It searches any Melffy card on your turn, normally Puppy if you didn’t draw it or Tag if you want to extend a little more. On your opponent’s turn Forest is an incredibly disruptive card in this build as your opponent likely has no way of knowing what sort of interaction Forest will put up beyond the obvious effect negate. In my opinion Forest is the archetype’s best card and the center of my build, remove at your own risk.

Topologic Zeroboros x 1.

So the Link monsters in this deck are mostly for toolboxing on your opponents turn using I:P Masquerana with any spent Melffys or Kalantosas. Zeroboros’s role in all this is to clear boards that none of our aforementioned interaction could stop. Zeroboros for it’s part is excellent removal, especially considering you can trigger it with a sacrificial Melffy during the end phase of your turn in a pinch. There are other options for this slot, and all the other Masq targets, but that’s format-dependant so I’ll leave that to your judgment.

Borrelsword Dragon x 1.

Borrelsword is a large, indestructible threat that you ideally drop on your opponent’s turn to finish them on the crack-back. Alternatively, you can make it on your turn through use of Halq and Valerifawn or Yokotuner on your turn for a swift OTK. If you feel more inclined to push for swift lethal on your turn you could swap this out for Accesscode Talker or even Decode Talker if you’re on a tight budget. I’ve experimented with running Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax as an option for protecting boards and it works well but limits your OTK options.

Knightmare Unicorn x 1.

If you are seeing a pattern then yes, Unicorn is the last Masquerana target. It is good direct non-destructive removal, as ideally you’re going to be plusing off of its effect (See Combo Guide). The other Knightmares can be valuable if you can find the space for them. I have a dedicated build for that and some neat tech in the works, so we’ll see how the larger Knightmare suite works out.

Bujinki Ahashima x 1.

This is my favourite tech in the extra, it’s such a powerful addition to certain boards and such a good fit for the archetype aside from its inconvenient typing. I’ll go over more of the combos below but you’re looking to use Ahashima at the start of the game to put up itself, Forest, and a Melffy, ideally Puppy for the disruption. This leaves you with a pop (assuming Puppy), an effect negate, and a spell or trap pop; decent for a board that most hands can make. This slot could always be used for Fire Fighting Daruma Doll or Missus Radiant if you’re so inclined but I prefer this.

Crystron Halqifibrax x 1.

Welcome to the 2020 meta: Halqifibrax is absolutely everywhere, even the forest. We play him here as an OTK enabler with either Valifawn or Yokotuner on your turn into the link 4 of your choice. There are as many options here as there are Synchro builds so go wild or check out Renren’s article I linked at the top.

I:P Masquerana x 1.

I’ve already mentioned at length the use of Masquerana but I’ll go over it in full here. If you have 2 monsters spare after any of your primary lines, Masquerana is an excellent way to generate more interaction and make your Link 4 of choice nigh unstoppable. In the tighter extra decks of combo Melffy I’ve experimented with using Artifact Dagda instead for the Scythe lock, and you could definitely try that in this build once the extra deck gets tighter (see Future Thoughts).

3. "Combo" Guide and Tips

So now we arrive at the strategy section of this decklist. If the quotation marks didn’t give it away there’s not exactly a lot of combos here, so instead I’m going to go over 5 opening hands and what you can make with them by the end of turn 1. I will also include some stats for the 5 openings to hopefully give you some idea as to what the deck can do on average, as well as suggestions for follow up plays. I will try to add replays in future but I hope this suffices for now.

Disclaimer: My math may not be accurate to the exact percentile, I’d allow for a couple percent either side to be safe if that degree of accuracy matters to you.

1. Rescue Cat + Obedience Schooled + Normal Summon Lv 2.

I decided to start with the optimal opening hand, or at least some version of it. You have a 15% of opening this hand, assuming Rescute Rescue is live (It’s 9% if not). From this position my normal end board looks like Forest plus Puppy, Naturia Beast with Peropero in the grave, and Ronin Raccoon with a 2300 attack token. The way you get to this is up to you; I prefer to resolve Obedience Schooled first to bait any Ash Blossom or other hand traps. The result of this is 3 level 2 Monsters, your pick but I normally go to: Baby Tiger, Nozoochee, and a Melffy. You go into Forest and Sandayu with these plus your normal summon; I would advize getting the Melffy and Baby Tiger in the grave for a clean follow-up play. Next play Rescue Cat into Naturia Beast, using your choice of Peropero or Mine Mole depending on what you need. From there a lot of it depends on how your opponents turn plays out; if you can end on Naturia Beast the game is likely over. If not, your best bet is either Halq or Masq into Borrelsword depending on their end board. Sandayu is capable of taking care of a lot of non-Towers threats once it’s on the board so I tend to lean on that to clean up.

2. Obedience Schooled + Amazoness Baby Tiger.

So this hand isn’t super likely in this build coming in at 7% but I wanted to mention it as it leaves you with more cards in hand than most of the hands I’m going over. The end board for this is very similar to the one above except without Naturia Beast: a Forest plus Puppy and Sandayu with protection. The route to this board starts with Schooled for the second Baby Tiger (Remember to special the first from your hand with its effect) and two level 2 monsters. I like Melffy Pony and a Nozoochee here normally. From there we XYZs summon Forest with the Melffy plus any of the other level 2s, activating it’s effect for Puppy if you didn’t draw it, and finally summoning Sandayu with the remaining monsters. This leaves you with a pop and effect negate plus an indestructible Sandayu providing you have a beast. Some decks can be stopped by just the pop and negate but I wouldn’t expect it to stop meta. This normally leaves you with Sandayu to clean up the board and a spent Kalantosa. As mentioned above I like using Sandayu to resolve non-Towers boards and then link it plus either the Kalantosa or your normal summon (if you have one) into Masquerana for a follow up play plus your returning Puppy.

3. The Fabled Cerburrel and Nozoochee + a Melffy.

This hand is a pretty rare draw at 10% but I wanted to go over it to give you an idea of how these cards can be used alongside other boards as you draw into them. The end board this hand produces leaves you with The Fabled Unicore and a Melffy, ideally Puppy or Catty for the pop or negate they provide. The reason this board composition work is because due to Melffys’ special summoning/returning to the hand gimmick you can manipulate your hand size with minimal difficulty. This can be good to bait your opponent into inoptimal lines, and as long as you can get to Catty and Rescue Cat you can follow up with nearly any monster in the extra. As above Masq is an excellent follow up with spare Kalantosas or any Melffys, although for board breaking I like Ahashima into Sandayu for a backrow pop into a token to run over anything your opponent managed to summon.  

4. Catty + Bigfoot.

Another two-card combo but this one shows up a bit more often at 10%, especially as the game progresses due to the pieces being highly searchable off of Forest and Catty itself. The play requires you to resolve Bigfoot first so there is always the risk that you discard Catty, but fortunately you’re much more likely to hit one of the deck’s many discards. Once you have Bigfoot on the field and providing you summon Catty at the end of the turn, you can search Hop Ear and use its effect with Bigfoot to summon Leo Keeper of the Sacred Tree. This can be a rough one to out due to its odd protection effect and high attack value so I recommend combining it with other interaction to seal out the game. My normal follow up is using Halq to climb into Borrelsword with a bounce on the way to clear up any threats. Normally this closes out the game but I’d recommend managing your resources for follow-up plays.

5. Any Melffy + Any Lv 2 Normal Summon.

Finally I thought I’d go over a less-than-ideal opening hand, and at 48% chance to show up you’re likely to see this one a lot. It’s important to mention that this will most likely show up with some of the other hands mentioned above: it has a 25% to show up with 1 of your 2 main starters. This will obviously change how you resolve the hand but I figured I’d mention how best to resolve these pieces alone, as a lot of it carries over to maintaining tempo in-conjunction  ith other hands mentioned above. There’s no ideal 2 cards to see here, obviously it’s better to see Puppy or Catty with Tiger but I’ve made this hand work with Pony and Kalantosa. To start you’ll want to set whatever your normal is, unless your Melffy is Catty in which case you may want to normal it for a Hop Ear play on your opponents turn. Once you’ve summoned or set and resolved any useble spells, you want to end turn and special your Melffy. Depending on what Melffy you have you hopefully have 1 pop/negate on your opponent’s turn, likely leaving you with a spent Kalantosa plus whatever you set or potentially a Herald or Hastorr. If you’re left with even one level 2 on the board you’re probably still in it; my advice for a follow up would be to get into Forest or Naturia Beast as fast as possible. Both of these options will put up more disruption and hopefully let you stall out your opponent’s win condition long enough for you to out-tempo them.  

4. Future Options and Last Thoughts. 

At last we come to the end of this guide! I’d like to thank anyone who read the whole thing. I hope its been helpful and if you weren’t already into Melffy as a tempo deck I hope you’ll give it a try. I built this deck to enter into YCS 9 (See MBT’s channel for more on that here) and although I didn’t make anything close to top cut, I was still impressed with its performance. I’d like to take a minute to go over some of my thoughts as to the future of the deck, along with some of the cards I’m excited to test when they release later this year.  irst among those cards is obviously Excited Melffys: from setting up Negalogia AA-Zeus on your turn with its direct-attacking effect to recycling any Kalantosa from the grave for more pops on your opponent’s turn, it’s an amazing addition to the archetype. Since I mentioned it already Negalogia is also a very welcome addition with its Rainbow Neos-esque board wipe, and there are even some interesting synergies with its ability to add material from almost anywhere. I will definitely be adding this one come November. I’d also like to go over Number F0: Utopic Future Dragon and its currently released summoning aide Number F0: Utopic Future. I did consider putting Future in this build but without Future Dragon it lacks a lot of the utility for such high investment. Once Dragon comes out it will likely become my go-to follow-up play as it packs protection, a beefy attack stat and a negate that steals your opponent’s monsters. Common outs like Knightmare Unicorn will fizzle to the negate before being stolen for a swift OTK with Borrelsword, I’d keep an eye on this one especially.

Thanks again for reading, I intend to continue to play Melffy and will put out more guides as I test and refine my list so watch this space. If you have any questions about the guide or the deck feel free to leave it below, but until next time have a blast with Melffy Tempo!