Changing the Meta, one Side Deck at a Time

You should know the story by now. You've been playing a game of Yu-Gi-Oh, and occasionally been having a fun time. However, there's that one time, THOSE times rather, where you DON'T have any fun whatsoever. In fact, it's almost as if you never got a chance to properly play the game at all.

Shhh, it'll all be over soon

Set 5, GG(Get good)

You seem upset

The names might have changed, but the game has stayed the same. CONTROL, and the monsters that facilitate CONTROL are a huge part of the game and the phrase "neg" will forever be etched into your memory by now. There's not much you can do about Konami making monsters like Laggia, Beast, and Mr. Shi En, that's just how they make their money. To be fair though, there are players who like the monsters that give them a huge degree of CONTROL(I actually am going to keep doing that over the course of this article so I'd suggest just getting used to it) over the pace of the game, and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's really that way in a lot of games.

There's at least one thing I'm sure a lot of people can agree on though. Yugioh CONTROL is most often defined by the monsters. Some might say it's the traps, some might say it's certain continuous spells or field spells that also play a big role, but let's not kid ourselves. When we see "Set 5" the thing that makes our gut drop the most is "Summon Rai-Oh". When we see first turn "Summon Magician, trigger Shark" we fear the inevitable "Activate Shock Master, Spells, set 3" that follows it up. The cards in the back row might be a big issue, but it's ALWAYS the cards in the front row that make it worse.

But, don't scoop just yet, because even though CONTROL is a major part of the game, there IS a way for you to fight back. Just Keep Calm, Carry On, and drop a Lava Golem on their stupid, smug faces

That's a solid board state you have there. Be a shame if something happened to it

That's right, the monster that was first used by Yami Marik against Joey Wheeler in the classic Yu-Gi-Oh anime series, and finally appeared in card form all the way back in Pharonic Guardian (that's 2003!), Lava Golem is once again (or should be) making it's triumphant return to relevance in the form of one of the best hard counters in the game.

"BUT WAIT", you might be saying to yourself, "Lava Golem has always been a part of the game, but he's always been used in things like Chain Burn and stuff". Well, where do ya think I got the idea to use the card from anyway my friend? Just read the card and really think about it

• This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned to your opponent's side of the field by Tributing 2 monsters they control. You cannot Normal Summon or Set the turn you Special Summon this card. This monster's controller takes 1000 damage during each of their Standby Phases.

You spotted the part in particular I was talking about yet? Of course you did, I know you know how the card works, come on now it's friggin old. By tributing 2 monsters that your opponent controls, you special summon Lava Golem to their side of the field. Are you starting to put two and two together now? By utilizing Lava Golem, you'll never have to worry about staring down a death field ever again because you can simply tribute the problem monsters and continue on your merry way. The best part about this is, not only do YOU get to select which monsters get tributed, but if you understand how costs work (which if you're playing YUGIOH: The Lawyers game, you really should, but I'll still explain in a little bit) you'll understand why them not even being able to do anything about it is so important.

Another great thing about Inherent Summons is that,

since they don't start chains, they can't be affected by cards

like Dolkka, Herald of Orange Soda, and Naturia Landoise (who

even uses Landoise?) since it's not an effect that actually activates

Always keep this in mind, Lava Golem is an INHERENT SPECIAL SUMMON. Meaning that when you special summon the monster, or at the very least reveal it to your opponent (since you're still going to have to put it on their side of the field anyway), your opponent can NOT chain an effect to it. They can RESPOND to the summon with an appropriate response afterwards, but they cannot chain to something which builds no chain. Remember, INHERENT SPECIAL SUMMONS do not start chains, so if your opponent wants to get cute and tries to chain Maxx "C" or chain Mind Crush, please tell them to put that shit back.

And this is truly one of the more beautiful things about Lava Golem that should really be getting your attention. Because of basic game mechanics, tributing the 2 monsters is considered a COST, basically meaning that before anything else can be done, two monsters MUST be tributed from your opponents side of the field before the gamestate processes whether or not the attempted special summon is successful or not. So while it's true that your opponent can negate the summon of Lava Golem with things like Laggia, Rai-Oh, Warning, and Judgement they can only do that AFTER the monsters have been tributed. Don't get this confused however, should you just so happen to tribute a Laggia and a Rai-Oh for your Golem, there's not much they can do since they'll have already been sent to the grave or where ever via game mechanics.

It gets even crazier once you realize that because of
 game mechanics, once again, you can actually cause cards like
Lightpulsar and The Shining to miss the timing on their effects!

So you get the idea now right? If your opponent gets cocky and decides they want to drop a pair of best friends on the field like Shi En and the Gang, Laggia + Dolkka, Beast + Barkion, ShockLockn'Drop, or just any assortment of NO FUN CONTROL monsters, you can actually punish your opponent and rip right through their otherwise solid defenses. And lets not get it twisted. This card isn't just good for breaking locks, it also functions as monster removal period. So don't fret if your opponent has two set monsters in play or even just two big monsters on the field, you can still tribute those bad boys out the way to drop a nasty card like Golem on them.

But lets not start getting too crazy here though. Remember, every card isn't without its drawbacks.

You read the effect from earlier right? Well, lets take another gander at it shall we?

• This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned to your opponent's side of the field by Tributing 2 monsters they control. You cannot Normal Summon or Set the turn you Special Summon this card. This monster's controller takes 1000 damage during each of their Standby Phases.

"You cannot Normal Summon or Set the turn you Special Summon this card" is a dozy  It might not seem like much but if you know Konami rules, you'll realize why this is a big one. "The turn" or "during the turn" basically means that BEFORE and AFTER you activate the card, or execute its condition, or whatever, you cannot do X. So think of it like Pot of Duality and how it also shares the same wording in order to avoid silly loopholes. This can actually be a huge downside if your particular deck needs that normal summon in order to get things started. What good is breaking through your opponents defenses if you can't even set up your own afterwards?

Lets not also forget that even though Golem is ripping through your opponent and burning them for 1000 life points every standby phase, they STILL have a 3k beater that throws around most monsters in the game, and you did give it to them after all. This can of course be circumvented by using one of your own traps or handy monster removal spells/monsters to get rid of it, but this is more a matter of gamestate, so I won't dwell on it as if its not that big of an issue for you or your particular deck.

OK then, we've talked about how it prevents you from normal summoning/set in that turn, and how its also a 3k beater for your opponent, and that all might not matter much to some (especially if you're already playing a particular sort of burn), but what about one of the most important things to consider?

Not every deck has to be Wind-Ups to
play Shock Master after all

WHAT IF MY OPPONENT SIMPLY DOESN'T PUT TWO MONSTERS ON THE FIELD FOR ME TO TRIBUTE?

It is actually not all that uncommon for some people to come swinging with one monster. In fact, it's actually the sign of a great player if they choose to with hold from throwing up monsters on the field if they fear your Golem, or simply feel more than comfortable enough with beating your face with a single monster. Lava Golem is readily rendered useless since it NEEDS to tribute two monsters in order to be put on the field at all. So if your opponent decides to sit on Laggia and nothing else, they're GOING to sit on Laggia and nothing else and there's not much that Lava Golem is going to be able to do about it. Also keep in mind that Lava Golem can't even be Normal Summoned or Set on YOUR side of the field either, so if your opponent has only one monster and they choose to sit on it, you're pretty much left with an all around useless card

However, there IS another card for you to consider if your opponent decides to come to the party with one creature

If you look close, there's actually a chick on top of that Dragons head. Some dudes mom, I dunno
Either way, she seems pretty HOT

Volcanic Queen! Now while I can't go into much detail about the card since it does just about the exact same thing Lava Golem does, and shares some of the same downsides (can't be normal summon or set, can't normal/set during the turn you want to special or after you special it), there are upsides to it as well

1. This card only needs one monster to tribute in order for it to be special summoned. So even though Lava Golem is more devastating, Volcanic Queen is just as good at breaking apart locks and punishing CONTROL.
2. This card only has 2500 ATT/1200 DEF as opposed to the beefier Golem, and is therefore MUCH easier to run over if you don't have the removal, or simply don't want to use the removal, in order to clear it off the field afterwards
3. It's particular effect takes on two sides, burning for 1000 OR tributing a monster on your opponents side of the field. So if your opponent is put into a situation where taking 1000 life points might actually put them in danger of losing the game, they are basically forced to tribute another monster they control, playing heavily into the Mind Games™ aspect of Yu-Gi-Oh

So now that we know pretty much everything there is to know about these two cards, let's review these gems shall we?

 PROS

• Two of the strongest monster removal cards in the game. Nearly uncounterable in terms of what your opponent can do to stop it (only things that pop to mind in the time of writing this are things like Gozen, Rivalry, and Mask of Weakness and that's more or less preventing it than anything else), and can get rid of nearly impossible to deal with monsters like Shooting Quasar, Red Nova, Axon Kicker, Hazy-Flame Basiltrice, Watt Hoppers(they both shatter the entire lock in fact) Herald of Perfection and even something as durable as Vennominaga!
• Completely unpredictable, almost on the same level of hand traps, and because of the nature of the card, can COMPLETELY throw your opponent off his entire game. While there are ways to actually play around things like Maxx "C" and Veilers, believe it or not, there's a huge impact on the opponents psyche when they get a fat poop stain on their field that burns them every turn. Speaking of which...



Life points are getting pretty low
there partner. Be a shame if my green guns
did something tragic to 'em

• BURN DAMAGE. It might not seem like much, but chunks of 1000 lifepoints every turn can add up if your opponent isn't too wary. There's more than enough ways to kill your opponent should they ever happen to fall under 2000, and Queen and Golem exacerbate that fact greatly
• Game mechanics can actually cause certain problem cards like The Shining and Lightpulsar to miss timing (it can even cause cards like Shooting Quasar to miss timing!) making already strong pieces of monster removal even better in terms of what they are truly capable of.

CONS

• Both cards prevent you from normal summoning or setting during the turn you use/want to use them, limiting their usage. Like I've explained previously, there might not be much point in breaking a solid, CONTROL defense if you can't even set up your own afterwards
• Even though they can be clunky and burn your opponents life points every turn, they are still both 3k/2.5k attack monsters that might end up benefiting your opponent should you not have a way to deal with them immediately,and the burn might not always be a good thing. I've seen people win games sackier ways. Hell, Volcanic Queen can even be used by your opponent to hit YOUR life points should they ever get wise, so be wary.
• VERY stunted in their overall use. While they are more than terrific at breaking apart CONTROL locks, they really don't have much use outside of that. Yes, I've explained multiple times in the article that they can also be used to clear the field of big monsters or other problem monsters in general, but you have to remember that there are other cards that can do nearly the same thing, but NOT at the cost of your Normal/Set for that turn. You have to be realistic with certain cards, and lets be real, there aren't that many situations where you're going to use Golem or Queen JUST to win more.
• Can't hit everything. While it's true that they break apart most locks, they still can't deal with cards like Kristya, Fossil Dyna, and just about anything else that prevents special summons. Remember, they're both SPECIAL SUMMONED to your opponents side of the field, and everything and anything that prevents special summons makes those cards dead in the water, since they can't be normal summoned to your side of the field as general beaters. It's a sad truth, but it's still a truth

Don't forget about Synchros and Boss monsters gu...
Oh wait

All of that aside, I truly believe that Lava Golem and Volcanic Queen will have their place in the upcoming metagame. Even with the newest Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy set coming out in Japan, they still have more than a couple uses in getting rid of problem creatures like Leadblow, Phantom Beastcraft Drago-Sack, and Harpie's Pet Mirage Dragon. And while it's true that they might not have that many uses outside of breaking locks, they are still DAMN good at doing their job and offer the strongest ways to break past annoying monsters. If your deck can actually afford to not worry about normal summoning, I couldn't possibly think of  better cards to use in the side deck for you. Remember, nothing says you can't special summon for that turn

(I can already think of several decks that could abuse Queen and Golem)

So while CONTROL and the tactics that follow suit will always be a part of the game, don't let that fact sour your experience. No matter what might be thrown at you, if you look at the cards, you'll ALWAYS have a chance to make a comeback!