Have you tried "asking your friends" for a copy of Trident Dragion? (good joke btw Komoney)! Or did you randomly have the guy in your bulk from 2009? Well you're in luck, since Tenpai Dragons have made this card extremely powerful and competitively viable!
For the "year of fire's" finale and acknowledgement of the "year of the Dragion" for the Chinese New Year, Konami has really outdid themselves this time. Through a field full of monsters, hand full of handtraps, gamestate with plentiful interruption, Tenpai Dragons can still obliterate all your opponent's lifepoints EASYYYY!
One turn kill your opponent with the force of a million suns with the combined absurdly high attack power of Dragion - 36400 total lifepoint damage! Not only are these dragons unaffected by activated effects during Main Phase 1 through their archetypal field spell, these cards are so consistent with 16 one card starters that you can jam about 25 staples into the deck! You can inundate your opponent with a flurry of handtraps and boardbreakers then proceed to their final reckoning as you enter battle phase.
JOIN THE TENPAI GANG AND OBLITERATE YOUR OPPONENT WITH THE FORCE OF A THOUSAND NUCLEAR BOMBS!
Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
ARCHETYPES AND DECKBUILDING
Not mixed with any other archetypes, Tenpai Dragon is usually played "pure." This deck has so many staples in it while being consistent that duelists sometimes say the Tenpai player is using a OTK engine in a handtrap deck!
The TENPAI cards are a potent, compact and consistent OTK strategy composed primarily of 1-card starters. Almost every Tenpai card has as much potential and gas as "Branded Fusion" and "Snake-Eyes Ash!" This deck core uses 3 Sangen Summoning (searcher field spell), 3 Sangen Kaimen (emergency teleport), 3 Tenpai Chundra (summons from deck), 3 Tenpai Paidra (spell/trap searcher) and 2 Fadra (quick efffect synchro summon - the only non-starter). Terraforming, Set Rotation and Pot of Prosperity count as additional 1 card starters, effectively granting this deck 17 1-card starters.
A small KASHTIRA engine is included in Tenpai and it is composed of 1 Wraitsoth, 3 Kashtira Fenrir and 1 Set Rotation. Set Rotation adds another 1 card starter, thus making this strategy slightly more consistent. Fenrir does so much for the deck. In addition to being a very powerful removal juggernaut, Fenrir is capable of searching itself, giving the Tenpai duelist extra discard fodder for Sangen Summoning. That way you can use more staples to OTK rather than fodder for Sangen Summoning or Forbidden Droplet!
The rest of the deck are STAPLES! The board breakers consist of x3 Kashtira Fenrir, x2 Lightning Storm and x1 Harpie's Feather Duster. These board breakers disproportionately eliminate your opponent's resources to make a breakthrough and OTK with Tenpai much easier. There are handtraps aplenty in this deck - so much so that your opponent will most likely have a sub-optimal board facing down your OTK juggernaut.
COMBOS AND GAMEPLAN
The GAMEPLAN with this deck is straightforward – Slowdown your opponent with handtraps, break their board with boardbreakers, then OTK with your 17 1-card starters! The simpler your opponent's gamestate is, the easier it is to OTK.
You'll always win the die-roll since you want to go second. Here is the main going-second COMBO for Tenpai Dragon:
Sangen Summoning + Discard = 30000+ damage!
Activate Sangen Summoning.
Use Sangen Summoning's effect to search Paidra from deck. Discard a card.
Normal summon Paidra. Search Sangen Kaimen from deck.
Enter the Battle Phase. Activate Sangen Kaimen to add Chundra from deck to hand then summon it.
Attack with Chundra. At the start of the damage step, summon Fadra from deck.
Attack with as many monsters as possible (make at least 3 attacks so that your Extra Deck Tenpai's effects are live).
Activate Chundra's quick synchro effect to synchro summon Sangenpai Bident Dragion using Chundra + Fadra.
Sangenpai Bident Dragon's on-summon effect to summon from GY Fadra.
Activate Fadra's effect to summon Chundra from GY. Attack with as many monsters as possible.
Activate Fadra's effect to quick synchro into Trident Dragion using Bident Dragion + Fadra.
Activate Trident Dragion's on-summon effect to destroy Sangen Summoning and another card you control so it can make 3 attacks.
Activate Sangen Summon's trigger effect in the GY targeting Trident Dragion to double it's attack.
Attack three times with a 6000 ATK Trident Dragion! As needed, you can summon Bident Dragion from GY to destroy a spell/trap and for additional damage.
Obviously, this deck can deviate from the above combo to fit the situation as needed. For example, can use Rose Dragon + Sangen Summoning to destroy everything on the field to clear your opponent's board, then proceed to OTK in the battle phase with your singular Sangen Kaimen. You can also access your synchro toolbox like Meteorburst Dragon to counter specific battle-immune threats like Yubel, Floowandereeze Empen or illusion monsters.
If you haven't finished off your opponent yet, you can link off your remaining Dragons to Hieratic Seals or S:P Little Knight, which are both powerful monsters in a simplified gamestate. Next turn, you can attempt to OTK again!
Congrats duelist, you've most likely cheesed your way to a cheap win in the first match! You can safely assume that most opponents will still try to go first next match, so you're probably good to continue to side in blind second cards. If you feel like your opponent may force you to play 1st, just jam as many handtraps into your deck during siding.
When forced to go first, ending on Hieratic Seals, Fenrir and several handtraps often is enough to stop your opponent in their tracks. Simplifying the gamestate as much as possible is key so that you can still OTK on the crackback next turn.
GENERAL TIPS
Since this deck contains a ton of handtraps, remember to handtrap your opponents at the most opportune time! Knowing when and where to handtrap is essential to this deck's success since a weakened opponent vastly increases your chances of OTK or FTK. Be sure to study up!
If you can't finish off your opponent with your first OTK attempt with Tenpai, make Seals/S:P with your remaining monsters and maintain your handtraps. You'll likely place your opponent in a simplified gamestate after your onslaught. So a single/couple interruptions is enough to slow them down so you can OTK them again next turn!
If you've been Dimensional Barrier'd, you can always go for the Links instead of Synchros and OTK with Promethean Princess, Salamangreat Raging Phoenix and Zealantis.
If your opponent has handtrapped or floodgated you to a standstill, you can make Striker Dragon then proceed to summon S:P Little Knight to banish one card your opponent controls or in their GY. "S:P pass" with handtraps is as effective as "Seals pass."
Sometimes in games 2/3, your opponent may still go first (perhaps they think you'll use Heatwave or some other kind of floodgate). Worry not! Your Centur-Ion deck has 25 staples/handtraps/boardbreakers to slow down your opponent so you can still play a regular grindgame with their simplified gamestate with the Centur-Ion cards. The only problem
While not optimal, both Tenpai can still OTK under Dimension Shifter. If Shifter is active, damage comes to about 10000, which is borderline OTK if the opponent has some cards on the field. Keep this in mind when playing Shifter, it still hurts your ability to play!
If you're worried about the price of Trident Dragion's hefty $120USD price tag (as of this article's writing), it is not mandatory for the Tenpai strategy. You may not be able to OTK through Prosperity and Shifter however. 9 times out of 10 however, from personal experience I find that games finish with Tenpai before Trident Dragion comes out.
Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
CONCLUDING REMARKS
I admit, I'm not the most "skillful" duelist. I generally don't think 3 turns ahead, play 4 dimensional chess, predict what's in my opponent's hand, etc. That's why I LOVE decks like Tenpai - it makes dueling so easy and simple that even a "Yugi-Boomer" like me can win against meta! I've always been a player who loves "aggro" playstyles and I find it sooo unbelievably satisfying dismantling boards and control decks. Naturally, a blind second meta deck is the perfect deck for me (and perhaps for you as well)!
Players are sure to catch on to this "cheesy" style of dueling so it's competitive viability might not be around for long. The more people are ready to side and play against Tenpai, the less effective the strategy may be. Perhaps Tenpai may be so unstoppable and annoying that Konami themselves have to step in and outright limit/ban the cards! In the meantime while the deck is at the zenith of it's power... Lets enjoy our free wins with Tenpai Dragon! ?
GLHF Duelists!
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