Big Scary Pumpkins are cool? Yes. Yes they are.
Replays:
Strategic Summary:
Today’s CDP features the debut of a new TCG World Premiere theme that centers around the old Continuous Trap, Call of the Haunted [COTH]. By itself, COTH is simple – target a monster in GY, Special Summon it in ATK position, and call it a day – however, the new support has turned COTH into quite the effective combo starter as well. You see, Pumpking the King of Grave Ghosts can reveal itself in hand, set a COTH, then discard a card (including itself), allowing you to then revive it and summon a free Level 6 Zombie from your deck for your troubles. Typically you’ll summon out Changshi the Spiridao, since that sends another Zombie to the GY and starts all your other shenanigans, but you can also grab any of the other new Level 6 Zombies, like Great Mammoth of the Netherworld which destroys a card on the field when Special Summoned. Once you do, both Level 6 Zombies turn into Pumpking the Great Ghost King, a R6NK Xyz Monster that tutors any card that mentions COTH when Special Summoned, plus it can return up to 2 cards on the field back to the hand (including spent COTH on your backrow).
Now all of this sounds cool, but let me add one major clarification – this deck is INSANELY consistent. To get to your Pumpking starter, the theme also has Ectoplasmic Fortification, which can tutor any Level 6 Zombie, and it has Stare of the Snake Hair, which can tutor your Ectoplasmic Spell. Since the latter is searchable by Glow-Up Bloom, yes, that means that Foolish Burial or Uni-Zombie are starters as well. The magnum opus of this theme is their Field Spell though, Call of the Forgotten, which sets up to 3 copies of COTH from your Deck/GY on activation, giving you the ability to flood the board during the opponent’s turn. Personally, I like to be a bit degenerate with this, as you can leverage Eldlich the Golden Lord and his support cards to Xyz Summon Mercurium the Living Quicksilver to access any monster in your deck, such as the copy of Archlord Kristya I’ve included in the decklist.
Now Zombies have a lot of cool cards, but one of the coolest that I don’t get to use enough is Doomkaiser Dragon/Assault Mode, summoned via Assault Mode Activate and Special Summoning as many Zombies as possible from the GY. If you pair this with Nightwinged Cleric, you can even use this as part of your combo on the first turn, but it’s perfectly fine to just let the Assault Mode engine cook with Assault Lich summoning back a Zombie from your GY, like Goblin Zombie, to make a Skeletal Dragon Felgrand along the way. Embrace terrors beyond the GY, with the new Call of the Haunted support cards!
Provided Decklist:
Monsters:
1 Eldlich the Golden Lord
1 Doomkaiser Dragon/Assault Mode
1 Archlord Kristya
1 Army of the Haunted
1 Great Mammoth of the Netherworld
1 Changshi the Spiridao
3 Pumpking the King of Grave Ghosts
3 Stare of the Snake Hair
3 Mezuki
1 Assault Lich
1 Goblin Zombie
3 Uni-Zombie
1 Assault Sonic Warrior
1 Mad Mauler
1 Psi-Reflector
2 Glow-Up BloomSpells:
1 Gold Sarcophagus
1 Foolish Burial
3 Ectoplasmic Fortification
3 Emergency Teleport
1 Vortex of Time
1 Duel Evolution – Assault Zone
2 Call of the ForgottenTraps:
1 Assault Mode Activate
3 Call of the Haunted
1 Assault CounterExtra Deck:
1 Eldlich the Mad Golden Lord
1 Fallen Angel of the Golden Land
1 Skeletal Dragon Felgrand
1 Nightwinged Cleric
1 Doomkaiser Dragon
1 Tsuchigumo, the Poisonous Mayakashi
1 Mercurium the Living Quicksilver
1 The Undying Legion
2 Pumpking the Great Ghost King
1 Pilgrim Reaper
1 Yuki-Onna, the Absolute Zero Mayakashi
1 Vampire Fascinator
1 Vampire Sucker
1 Flying Mary, the Wandering Ghost Ship
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: Crystal Beast, Suship, Rokket, Learning Elf, Artmage, Power Patron, F.A., RDA, Archfiend, Malefic, Chain Burn
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