In Yu-Gi-Oh I tend to veer back towards a deck or a format that captures my best memories of the game, or that steals attention every time the format shifts. For me, that deck of immense passion has to be Superheavy Samurai.
I had a long hiatus from Yu-Gi-Oh throughout my late teens and 20s. At first it was a case of affording the game, which shifted me to online play and those terrible, terrible console games. After that I grew disinterested as weekend work sucked up all my free time and left me with one last way to interact with Yu-Gi-Oh - the anime.
I watched Duel Monsters, GX and 5Ds religiously. Zexal come out in the midst of my disinterest, but after that came a shining light (at least at the time) in ARC-V.
There was something about Gongenzaka/Gong Strong. Yuya was flashy and fun, Shun had all the Shonen comeback moments and Yugo was magnificent to watch.
Gongenzaka had more. A man’s man with ironclad monsters and even more resolute morals. He wouldn’t budge or break and when an easy solution was offered up, he’d refuse to take it. When he needed to evolve, he learned how to Synchro summon and took up his new resolute position against the evils of the multiverse.
I wish I had the moral standing of Gongenzaka, but watching him was more than enough to lead me back to the physical game. Why not have one cheap deck for old time’s sake? I found my local card store on a walk around the suburbs, sat down with a commons box and fished out every SHS I could find to ignite this passion once again. I’ve stuck with the physical game for the last 18 months and don’t see this changing any time soon.
So I have a lot of thanks to give to the Superheavy Samurai deck and in particular the importance of Gongenzaka’s Steadfast dueling.
As with all other players stuck in Dimension Box limbo, (hi Fluffals, hi Flower Cardians) we’re still waiting for Superheavy Samurai Daihachi and on top of that the lack of Superheavy Samurai Musashi further limits the deck-building possibilities.
So with that in mind and following a hugely hated SPYRAL format, I decided to sub the SPYRALs for Superheavies but maintain an absurd level of hand traps. With the outlandish restrictions placed on Superheavy Samurai monsters, you have to use every hand trap you can just to wrestle back any level of advantage.
That said this deck is exclusively blind second – you hope to draw two or three hand traps in your opening five and then plough through and OTK with Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo and Superheavy Samurai Steam Train King as soon as possible.
Does it work well? Not at all. But it doesn’t mean we can’t have fun with it all the same.
Superheavy Samurai Hand Trap - Deck List
Deck Building Choices
The generic big plays of Superheavy Samurai throughout the eras still remain: you get to Superheavy Samurai Magnet, Superheavy Samurai Scales, or Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter and start blowing up the field with Superheavy Samurai Ogre Shutendoji or smashing through the obstacles with Susanowo.
Superheavy Samurai Battleball makes the toolbox aspect of the Extra Deck viable as you steal whatever level your opponent has on the field. Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon, SPYRAL Sleeper, Trickstar Lycoris - whatever you want to steal and Synchro with that’s level 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 10!
Stealing power spells or traps with Susanowo and Superheavy Samurai Thief are god tier for a deck that actively limits its ability to generate advantage. Superheavy Samurai Ninja Sarutobi loves wrecking scales and forcing burn while Superheavy Samurai Stealth Ninja is your best turn one option if you’re forced to go first.
The sidedeck is fairly standard for the current meta except for one thing - I've thrown in Astrograph Sorcerer, which comes in if you’re forced to go first. You leave something on the board that you can search from the deck and when the time comes it floats and helps you stay alive with a 2500 ATK body. In essence it makes Astrograph a better Battle Fader or Swift Scarecrow for the scenario as it generates advantage.
Changes and the Future
I choose to only play the best Superheavy Samurai monsters. It makes for some tough cuts but it's crucial going forward. Flutist, Gauntlet, and Soulfire Suit are the next Superheavy Samurai in the queue I wish I could find the space for, but at the end of the day I don’t need them as much as I need the hand traps.
The only non-SHS I also want to find space for in the deck at the moment is Archfiend Eccentrick. It may or may not be reintroduced at the cost of the lesser SHS like Fist or Helper. Eccentrick and Thief help you crack through difficult boards, but that can just as easily be done through Ogre Shutendoji. Other tech monsters are more format dependent, but I could see Vanity's Fiend and Denko Sekka making appearances.
Conclusion
I would love to get above a 50 per cent win-rate at locals with this deck – realistically any ambitions higher than that are cartoonish, baffling fiction worthy of the ARC-V ending. Throughout it all though, this deck stops fantastic set-up on your opponent's turn then drops big threats on the board. That will always create a headache one way or another at the lower tables.
This decklist represents a sign of the times and is something I find myself coming back to time and time again. I think that’s one of my favourite aspects to this game - even if your favourite deck doesn’t receive direct support in the latest set, it can always evolve with the times to stay semi-competitive. You add the Link Monsters, splash in new techs, and figure out the ways to counter this meta.
For the sheer fact that this deck can never go first and can never side in the best meta-stopping spells and traps it will forever be my Superheavy burden, but some things in life you can never turn your back on.
Let me know if there’s anything you’d change about this deck list as I’m always thrilled to hear about new ways to have Superheavy Samurai evolve.
