Deck Profile: Calvin Tsang

Canadians have a reputation for subdued lifestyles: we're traditionally accepting, open-minded, friendly, and quiet people. But every now and then we make up for it. Calvin Tsang is part of the exclusive club of Canadians like Don Cherry and Ed the Sock.

​He took fourth place at Canadian Nationals with a tweaked version of Chad Justice's Ben Kei deck from SJC Houston. While Ben Kei decks have taken off in circles all over North America, we here at Metagame.com have never taken a detailed look at the deck. With Tsang again running Ben Kei in high-level competition, and banking on it to carry him to a Top 8 finish in Day 1, this deck is definitely worth a look.

 

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​Here's how one of Canada's most outspoken and justifiably acclaimed
players chose to run this excitingly intense strategy.

Tsang's Samurai - 40 Cards

Monsters: 13
3 Armed Samurai - Ben Kei
3 Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu
1 D. D. Warrior Lady
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
1 Magician of Faith
1 Magical Merchant
1 Sinister Serpent
1 Cyber Jar
1 Sangan

Spells: 24
1 Pot of Greed
1 Graceful Charity
1 Delinquent Duo
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Reinforcement of the Army
2 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Smashing Ground
2 Messenger of Peace
3 Giant Trunade
2 Big Bang Shot
2 Axe of Despair
1 Mage Power
1 United We Stand
2 Scapegoat
1 Premature Burial
1 Snatch Steal

Traps: 3
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Ring of Destruction

Side:
1 Mobius the Frost Monarch
2 Wave-Motion Cannon
3 Dust Tornado
2 Book of Moon
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
3 Sakuretsu Armor
2 Threatening Roar

Fusion:
2 Thousand-Eyes Restrict
2 Dark Balter the Terrible
1 Gatling Dragon
2 King Dragun
2 Dark Blade the Dragon Knight
3 Dark Flare Knight
3 Ojama King
3 Sanwitch
3 Punished Eagle
2 Empress Judge
3 Mokey Mokey King
1 Karbonala Warrior
2 Darkfire Dragon
1 Dragoness the Wicked Knight
1 Charubin the Fire Knight
1 Flame Swordsman
2 Fiend Skull Dragon
2 Ryu Senshi 
 
What's the difference between this build and Chad Justice's configuration? While Justice ran Swords of Revealing Light to protect himself and Lightning Vortex to clear the field for his massive attacks, Tsang instead opted to run two copies of Messenger of Peace for added protection. In addition, he dropped Call of the Haunted from the deck entirely, reducing it to a tight 40 cards—a smart decision in a combo-based deck.
 
The deck attempts to win (usually in a single turn) with multiple attacks from Armed Samurai - Ben Kei. Its effect allows it to take an extra attack each turn for every equip spell attached to it, and with a few ATK-boosting equips, the Samurai becomes an absolute monster. Mage Power, United We Stand, and Axe of Despair build up its offensive potential, while Big Bang Shot contributes to the same while lending a breakthrough effect. That's important, because if an opponent can't press a big offensive against this deck in the early game, they're probably going to start hiding behind defense position monsters.
 
Big Bang Shot is also notable for its combo potential within the deck. Think three copies of Giant Trunade might be overkill, even though it represents a chunk of the deck's win condition? Well, remember that Giant Trunade and Big Bang Shot work together to create an excellent piece of removal. Attach Big Bang Shot to an opponent's monster, Giant Trunade the field, and when Big Bang Shot is removed to the hand, the opponent's monsters are removed from the game.
 
Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu hunts out equip spells as needed, usually looking for Big Bang Shot. It's such an obvious move that Tsang's normal way of playing it is to animatedly ask his opponent “Do you know what I'm searching for?” They usually do.
 
The rest of the monsters are a cast of assorted supporters, with Magical Merchant being the only choice worthy of a head cock. Capable of digging out spells as needed, as well as burying monsters in the graveyard once Ben Kai has been drawn into in order to thin the deck, the Merchant interacts with the strategies at play to perform a number of functions.
 
The spells and traps Tsang is employing are standard powerhouse support. Of note is the pair of Scapegoat, which Tsang often uses to fuel United We Stand. Also highly important are the two Nobleman of Crossout: often the one thing that prevents Tsang from winning is a random flip effect like that of Old Vindictive Magician.
 
The deck has good matchups against virtually everything in the environment. It can outpace any other available strategy if it goes off early, and it can stall like nobody's business—especially with Tsang's addition of Messenger of Peace. While it's a race against time in the Lockdown Burn matchup, Burn has been seeing a lot less play lately in major tournaments and Tsang's main deck is already packed to the gills with cards that many would side deck in for the matchup. Three Giant Trunade break a Lock player's set up clean in half and expose them for the all-important one-shot kill turn, while Nobleman of Crossout can blow away the face down monsters that such decks depend on, especially in the early game.
 
While others have pressed this deck even further towards its limits with the addition of Mataza the Zapper (which gave a massive showing at Canadian Nationals last week), Tsang's build works off of a tried and true deck list with just a little bit of ingenuity. Though Zapper is good, it's not universally accepted, and there are no compelling reasons to not run Messenger of Peace.
 
If Ben Kei decks do well at this event, there's little doubt that they will see more play in the future. With Nationals so close, all eyes are on New Jersey today to see one of the final chapters in the global environment's story this year. Trends set here will help form the metagame at Origins, and decks like Ben Kei are set to explode into Worlds-level competition.

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Metagame.com (2005)

This article was originally written by Metagame.com, what was formerly the official website for large Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament coverage.  It has been preserved by GoatFormat.com so that players can learn from this historical tournament coverage.