[Duel Links] KoG Darkflare Gandora

Skill: Access Denied

Monsters: 13
2 Gandora
2 Darkflare
3 Dimensional Alchemist
2 Skelengel
2 Sphere Kuriboh
2 Kuriboh

Spells: 4
3 Mausoleum
1 Supremacy Berry

Traps: 3
2 Xing Zhen Hu
1 Etaqua

Total: 20
														Introduction

	5th time making KoG, first since the revamp. I've been running Last Gamble Red-Eyes (yes you read that right) for about 3 months, which performed well for me even before Insight was a card. I just hated the RNG and grind for KoG when I knew Red Eyes was the best deck, getting KoG with that felt sorta bland, even with a variant that differs from Beatdown or Balance.
The first week I tryharded with Xyz's; seriously. X-Head Cannon, Z-Metal Tank, etc. Fun deck but I didn't have all the pieces I needed (Peacekeeper), plus Phoenix was impossible to beat. It was definitely right behind Red Eyes in terms of how often you saw them on the ladder. That deck tilted between Plat 1 and Plat 3 with about 80 wins. I took a week off of ranked, mainly farming for Access Denied, used about 600 Red Keys and 400 black keys (Joey and Odion) roughly to finally get it.
	This is a Gandora deck that got me to Legend at 117 wins, and finally KoG after 174 total wins. The last weeks of the season is obviously weaker, but still proud it got far. Gandora has made a bit of a splash, in the main combo of using Mausoleum to summon it, activating its effect, then using Access Denied to turn off monster effects and effect monster summons until the end of the opponent's next turn. With this skill, Gandora doesn't get sent to the grave via its own effect. Also, if Gandora isn't dealt with on the opponent's next turn, Gandora can kill the field again, gaining even more card advantage and attack strength.
	To be honest, the idea of trying to make a certain variant of the deck came from having a lack of Gandoras; besides the free copy with having Yugi, I picked up a prismatic Gandora from the KC Cup way back, but never got him as a drop from the many roaming Yugi events. So with just 2 copies to my name, I felt making a deck 100% dedicated to Gandora itself wouldn't perform well. So with just theorizing, an idea came to mind of running Darkflare Dragon.
	Darkflare itself is a decent boss monster, being a 2400 beater that's pretty easy to summon. If you model the deck around it, it really gives your overall strategy more depth than just using Gandora. Having that as a secondary win condition really adds another wrinkle to the deck, another air of unpredictability. Knowing the rest of my monsters had to be Light or Dark, that overall supported the strategy, I wanted to focus on either good cards for consistency, or at least general defense/stall.
	In terms of lower level Lights, Dimensional Alchemist seemed to make the most sense. And honestly, it's actually a REALLY good card. Its natural ATK and DEF are lackluster, and with its effect, running too many spells or traps makes it potentially inconsistent. But even with those negatives, as a card it puts in a ton of work. Running 13 monsters makes it so that you more often than not banish a monster (could run 14th as well), replacing itself card advantage wise. If you've summoned a Darkflare, Alchemist can help recycle the banished materials. Really solid fundamental card for the deck, strong 3 of. Kind of the heart of the deck in a sense.
	Two really great cards with Alchemist are Kuriboh and Sphere Kuriboh. Being DARK and decent defense cards in their own right, they synergize well with the deck, saving you in various situations, and giving you more turns to get your plays together. While I'd prefer to have a 3rd Sphere, regular Kuriboh is honestly surprisingly solid. Lastly, I'll mention that Skelengel is an extra Light that thins the deck. A little slow, not as good as Crystal Seer, but they make the most sense for the strategy. Another card that could be really good is Dekoichi, which could replace Kuriboh's based on player preference. When I got to Legend 3, I told myself if I derank I'll take 1 Kuriboh out to test it, thank god I never got demoted lol.
	For spells, Mausoleum is a key combo card, if you're ever forced to, you can use it for Darkflare as well. Supremacy is a good 1-of to help control your LP, if you'd ever be below 2000 for Mausoleum it helps. For traps, Xing Zhen Hu helps seal off the opponent's backrow, ensuring your plays get through. Etaqua is just a general, safe defense/stall card. Locking spells/traps, clearing the field, then turning off opposing Sphere Kuriboh's with the skill makes this deck have very sacky plays at times.


													Strategy & Playstyle

	The ideal for most games is obviously Mausoleum + Gandora at some point. But with a deck like this, you get to play regular yugioh for a bit. Most games start off slower, carefully keeping track of LP, thinning your deck, and putting your hand together. Cards such as Econ, Ultimate Providence/CV, Divine Wrath, anything that can stop the effect from activating can be an auto loss in the wrong situation. Hopefully, you're using Alchemist to thin and absorb certain backrow cards, or the secondary win condition in Darkflare doing the same in spots.
	For Alchemist, you should usually use it as soon as you can. If you open all monsters, it can very much feel like Alchemist can miss, but you have to roll the dice sometimes. In such a spot, say going first, you'd have 9 monsters and 7 s/t in deck, so it's still somewhat favorable. If you have both Kuriboh's in hand early, and a Darkflare either banished or in hand, then you'll want to use regular Kuriboh before Sphere if you want to summon Darkflare next turn. Also, if your Gandora play gets countered, rather than waiting to top Supremacy or something, try to make the most out of Alchemist and Darkflare. Even if you're at like 5 cards or less in deck vs some slow matchup, play to win, be more aggressive if you need to.
	For Supremacy, you should save it as long as you can, use it when you're below 2000 LP, or to prevent possible lethal from the opponent. If used when above 2000, if you're forced to use Gandora at above 4000 LP, even after Mausoleum you'll be above 1000, so you couldn't use the skill.
	A clear advantage to the deck is when people misplay against you. It's funny how you'll often summon Alchemist, and the opponent takes a 15 second pause, wondering what the hell you're doing lol. Just a quick list of things you see: Attacking into Alchemist when a Kuriboh or Darkflare is banished. Not anticipating a Darkflare summon as a huge surprise. Not playing around Sphere or regular Kuriboh at all. Setting multiple cards with Gandora on field, ready to clear them. Also, the few people that chained Econ AFTER letting me activate Gandora was hilarious lol.
	In a way, this deck can be memey/cancerous, in that you may find yourself waiting for Gandora or Mausoleum, while doing little to nothing. So you might be playing mill or Weevil, and while you're simply passing turns, you suddenly summon Gandora and out tilt them. But there is a certain amount of flexibility, in that you don't need to have the main combo turn 1 to win. Losses tend to come down to bricking, or simply being overwhlemed by either a faster deck or too much backrow.

														Matchups

	I'll give some insight based on general tips, since you're always aiming to either accomplish the main combo or set up Darkflare.  So you're praying to find the right situation, and hope Econ or something doesn't ruin you. That's more or less the common thing that will halt win streaks.
- A general note that everyone should do is pay attention to prompts. For instance, simply  activating Mausoleum can tell you a lot about what the opponent might have set. If nothing activates, then it's more likely that their backrow is Econ. So you should tailor your plays to trigger that if possible.

Red Eyes: Balance Red Eyes is much scarier because Providence and CV are cards; a good Gandora play wrecks regular REZ. I would say the former is the closest matchup to auto-lose unless you Xing them early.

Phoenix: IMO Beatdown is a more dangerous skill than the (apparently) more common Restart, but people brick with the deck so it makes sense. If going first, don't set multiple backrow since you would lose that advantage from Phoenix effect. I treat Xing as a pretty dead card here, it's okay if they mindlessly pop with Island, and setting it afterwards when Phoenix comes back the 2nd time. Ultimately, if you aren't overwhelmed, Gandora can wreck this deck pretty hard. Banishes all their cards that are dependent on destruction, including teched Wild Tornado's. The skill turns off Sphere, but also any Phoenix in grave that would be coming back, keeping them locked there forever.

Toons/TBD/Troll decks: If they start fast and you don't have the combo together, they can obviously win. But clearly, Gandora being able to clear entire fields, including Toon Kingdom can lead to easy wins. For TBD, stuff like Rare Metal and perhaps Aegis do nothing against you. Alchemist is perhaps trickier for Toons, as well as all troll matchups like mill and Weevil, in that it likely won't get destroyed.
- If you open Gandora and no Mausoleum, then Tribute summoning it is viable. Hope to stall with enough defense while setting monsters, they'll keep trying to attack directly. In a sense, letting Toon DMG go thru for 2000 is fine, since paying half that with Gandora let's you use your skill. Similar logic applies to Mill and more passive Weevil players, except weevil you'll want Mausoleum since Lava Golem is a thing, but sometimes you have to take a chance. 2-3 times after using Gandora on a Weevil they topped Jade Insect which was a tilter

Ice Barriers: The easy tell for this matchup is seeing a Balance player who plays either nothing, or maybe a set monster and no backrow. Since Balance Control and Balance Red-Eyes always set, then you can assume it's Ice Barriers. Hopefully, they didn't open a level 4 that can poke you for damage. Otherwise, you want to pass turns, and try to build your defense up. The ideal would likely be to summon Alchemist backed by a Kuriboh in hand, since it's a good target for their Magic Triangle. Speaking of which, I'm not sure if Access Denied makes it where the card couldn't summon a monster, or if Triangle couldn't activate at all, I didn't see them too much while climbing.

Blue Eyes: Saw then more than you'd think, and almost never with Last Gamble. Blue Eyes can inflict a ton of damage, is naturally bigger than Darkflare, and is often backed by CV's, plus it's a deck that will be running more Econ's than the SRH's and Mirror Wall's that you're not super afraid of. Not fun running into these while climbing, though not unwinnable either.

Venus/Magnet Warriors/Decks with OTC: A deck like this wouldn't thrive in the Harpie era, as any deck with 3 Econ 3 OTC simply has an inherent advantage.

												Decks Beat on KoG Streak:

- Phoenix, Mako, Kaiba with Flame Tiger and Twin Headed Behemoth, Joey with BLS, Duel Standby Fire Princess

1. Restart Phoenix, a combination of summoning 2 Darkflare in one turn, and 2 key Sphere Kuriboh's won the game
2. Mako went on a few turns; via careful play with Alchemist and Darkflare, baited 2 Econ. Topped the main combo midgame and won.
3. Kaiba was the most random deck I'd seen in Legend, the main combo made him quit by turn 3
4. Joey set turn 1 and ended, I attacked with Alchemist for 1800. Played the Beginning Trap, dumping 2 A/D Changer and adding BLS. Played Maosoleum to summon BLS, no Creator in sight. Used his Mausoleum to get out Gandora when he had 200 LP left
5. Duel Standby Fire Princess doesn't seem to compare to Draw Sense Fire. Set monsters the first few turns to Tribute for Gandora, they had 2 Absorbtion out. Chose to use Gandora effect, activate Supremacy to get back to 4000, then summon Darkflare to attack, letting Gandora getting sent to grave. Tea played a couple Golden Apples and a lot of healing. Flipped 3 Cup of Ace successfully, still didn't get Princess, drew it a turn after using 3 Goblin Thief with 3rd Absorption on field. Poking with 2 Skelengel and Darkflare turn after turn won it.

														Last Words

	So while the streak itself was wonky af I still got there, so I'm pleased. Took 5 days to KoG total with the deck, getting from P1 to Legend in 1 day, tilted up and down L1 and L2 for a couple days, then spent 2 days in L3. Assuming you played this the first week of the season, it would be harder for sure if you simply faced consistent, tier 1 decks with this. It could probably get to Legend early on with some dedication, but getting that 5 win streak wasn't too fun lol. And with Floodgate likely being a thing for the upcoming season, it's an uphill battle for a deck like this. But if you like playing Gandora try this out, there's enough shock factor at least for fun wins.