CDP: Ancient Warriors Saga – 2024 Edition

Ages ago in the Three Kingdoms.

Replays:

Strategic Summary:

Welcome back for another profile, this time tackling the Ancient Warriors [AW] archetype in 2024. The Ancient Warriors theme consists of Beast-Warrior monsters of various Attributes that are supported by a vast array of Continuous Spell/Trap cards. What makes this theme special is its ability to pivot between going first and second quite well – it can build a board with plenty of disruptions, or break a board with its unique combination of effects. Let’s meet some of the key players that make this possible, and to do that, I’ll start with its innate consistency. First is Ancient Warriors – Masterful Sun Mou. This WATER starter can send any card from your hand or field to the GY to tutor any AW monster. This is often well-combined with Ancient Warriors Saga – Three Visits, which tutors an AW monster when you Summon one, plus when sent from the field to the GY, it allows you to Special Summon an AW from your hand. The WIND consistency booster is Ancient Warriors – Virtuous Liu Xuan, which can send a card from your hand/field to the GY to Special Summon an AW from your Deck, as long as your opponent controls more monsters than you. WIND also offers the theme’s Link Monster, Ancient Warriors Oath – Double Dragon Lords, which tutors an AW card on Summon. Then we have the final consistency booster, the Level 6 DARK Ancient Warriors – Savage Don Ying, which tutors an AW S/T or a Level 7 or higher AW when summoned.

While that’s already 4 cards that tutor across your deck, there are actually even more. Fire Formation – Tenki is obvious, since it can tutor any Level 4 Beast Warrior like Sun Mou or Liu Xuan, but then you also have the GY effect of Ancient Warriors Saga – Borrowing of Arrows, which can place an AW S/T on your field when sent to the GY. Finally, there’s Ancient Warriors – Graceful Zhou Gong, which sends a Continuous S/T you control to the GY to tutor any AW S/T. So I established this has tutoring, but now what? Well, that’s where their disruption effects come in. The primary disruptive option is Ancient Warriors – Rebellious Lu Feng, a Level 8 DARK that can Special Summon itself from the hand while you control the highest ATK Ancient Warriors monster. It carries a Quick Effect to destroy the face-up monster your opponent controls with the highest ATK, but it does come with the side effect of locking you into AW monster effects for the turn. You can combine this with Sun Mou’s 3rd effect, which can return an opponent’s monster to the hand when another AW monster effect is activated, or you can combine this with Zhou Gong who can negate the effects of an opponent’s monster when another AW monster effect is activated. You don’t even need to rely on Lu Feng to trigger these – Their LINK-2 also happens to have a Quick Effect to bounce an opponent’s card, giving you an additional form of disruption. Finally, Ancient Warriors – Ingenious Zhuge Kong can negate a S/T activation by sending an AW S/T to the GY, or if you control it and Liu Xuan, it can also negate a monster effect activation by sending an AW S/T to the GY.

With the consistency and disruption out of the way, let’s talk about the final piece, its ability to OTK. Most of this power lies in the effect of a subtle AW S/T: Ancient Warriors Saga – East-by-South Winds. This Continuous Spell, when sent to the GY from the field, prevents responses to your AW cards and effects for the rest of the turn, plus it gives all AW Effect Monsters you control an effect on attack declaration to destroy a card the opponent controls. There’s very few decks that can stand up to that kind of onslaught, especially backed by the swarming potential of the monsters I mentioned earlier, Ancient Warriors – Valiant Zhang De, and Ancient Warriors – Loyal Guan Yun. Forge your own destiny, with the power of the Ancient Warriors.

Provided Decklist:

Monsters: 18
||| Ancient Warriors – Rebellious Lu Feng
| Ancient Warriors – Valiant Zhang De
| Ancient Warriors – Loyal Guan Yun
| Ancient Warriors – Fearsome Zhang Yuan
|| Ancient Warriors – Savage Don Ying
||| Ancient Warriors – Masterful Sun Mou
|| Ancient Warriors – Graceful Zhou Gong
|| Ancient Warriors – Virtuous Liu Xuan
| Ancient Warriors – Deceptive Jia Wen
|| Ancient Warriors – Ingenious Zhuge Kong

Spells: 18
||| Pot of Desires
| Monster Reborn
||| Ancient Warriors Saga – Three Visits
||| Ancient Warriors Saga – Borrowing of Arrows
||| Ancient Warriors Saga – Deception and Betrayal
||| Fire Formation – Tenki
| Ancient Warriors Saga – Sun-Liu Alliance
| Ancient Warriors Saga – East-by-South Winds

Traps: 4
|| Tri-Brigade Revolt
| Ancient Warriors Saga – Defense of Changban
| Ancient Warriors Saga – Chivalrous Path

Extra Deck:
| Tornado Dragon
| Number 41: Bagooska the Terribly Tired Tapir
| Abyss Dweller
| Underworld Goddess of the Closed World
| Tri-Brigade Shuraig the Ominous Omen
| Tri-Brigade Rugal the Silver Sheller
| Knightmare Unicorn
| Dharc the Dark Charmer, Gloomy
| Hiita the Fire Charmer, Ablaze
| Tri-Brigade Ferrijit the Barren Blossom
| S:P Little Knight
||| Ancient Warriors Oath – Double Dragon Lords
| I:P Masquerena

Note: This is continuing the style of Creative Deck Profile articles, designed to showcase a build through replays and an attached summary. If you wish to see a CDP for an archetype, theme, or strategy you love, feel free to private message me on the YGOrg Discord server, the comments section of any of my YouTube videos, or just post a comment in response to this article on our Facebook page or through the site with your ideas for me to keep under consideration! On most YGO-related communities my username is Quincymccoy, so feel free to reach out. Current pending requested profiles include: Fluffal, Valkyrie, Illusion, Morganite, Shiranui, Agent

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