Creative Deck Strategy: World Legacy Revisited

Remember the casual build of every World Legacy archetype? Here’s how I turned that concept into a competitive strategy.

Reintroduction to the World Legacy:

Almost a year ago, I posted a fun article focusing on combining all of the World Legacy archetypes to make the best lore deck ever. If you missed it or need a reminder, feel free to check it out by clicking HERE. At that time, I really just wanted to rise to the challenge of seeing if you could combine such diverse playstyles meshed only by link summoning, and for the most part it was successful. In a vacuum, you could cycle through all of the archetypes, but that’s not how competitive dueling works. The competitive meta, at least here in the TCG, requires at least some element of consistency and ability to play through disruption. Additionally since March, many of the World Legacy archetypes have been significantly affected by the Forbidden/Limited lists. So, it was time to strip down this complex hybrid and make it tournament worthy, which would eventually lead to multiple tops at my local shop which can range from 40~70 people depending on the day. So let’s dive into how I refined a fun deck into a streamlined threat.

 

Terminology Primer:

In this article, I’ll be referring to a number of technical terms related to deckbuilding/gameplay, thus I wanted to take a second to define them upfront for those who are unfamiliar. To dive into discussions on more of the technical side of the game, consider requesting the Student role on our Discord server. Additional information can be found on our “Rules-You-Read-First” Channel.

• Starter – This term refers to cards that initiate your combos. You can identify these cards by wanting one of them in your perfect opening hand. Of these starters, a limited number should require your Normal Summon to function properly, as you only get one of those per turn.
• Extender – This term refers to cards that let you continue your plays, especially in the case when your main combo is disrupted. These cards gain this name because they ‘extend’ your play before you have to pass the turn over to your opponent.
• Removal – Options that can remove barriers or floodgates to allow for you to play the duel. These cards should be selected to best support your deck in getting over its worst obstacles.
• Garnet – This term was coined by Gem-Knight Garnet for its use alongside Brilliant Fusion as a monster – that doesn’t benefit your strategy – that you need to play to unlock another powerful effect or combo.
• Brick – Cards that you draw that are more useful in the deck than in the hand are referred to as bricks. This also is the origin for a ‘bricked hand’, or a hand where you cannot play because your draws did not yield a usable starter with enough extenders.
• Chainblock – This term refers to building a chain of simultaneous effects so that your most important effect cannot be responded to or negated by your opponent. To do so, you would place your important effect as CL1 and a less important effect as CL2. Note that this action can only be taken with Trigger effects that are all mandatory or all optional. For more information on Simultaneous Effects Go On Chain (SEGOC), check out the Yugipedia article on it: HERE.

 

Winnowing the Lore ‘Fluff’:

I’ll be blunt with you – a lot of the World Legacy cards are extremely situational, and that may be putting it nicely. As a result, it is important to immediately remove most of the cards that function as Garnets for this sort of deck, or usable in only one combo string. Looking back at my prior build, there were a ton of niche sets of cards that served exactly in that function. For example, I used a Level 9 engine to make use of World Legacy Monstrosity, I used a World Chalice engine just to make full use of World Legacy – “World Chalice”, and I had to include a ton of extra dragons to make the Guardragon engine reachable. As a result, the deck frequently could run into problems where I drew multiple pieces of each engine, but not enough to get any truly functional. So all of these were chopped from the island, leaving us with the primary core archetypes of Crusadia, Mekk-Knight, and Orcust that still remained untouched by the carnage. So see if you can imagine how each of these archetypes might play a pivotal role for both the lore deck and this competitive strategy:

Crusadia:

Crusadia were the first archetype to make the cut, simply because they have the greatest inherent consistency of the World Legacy archetypes. Any two Crusadia monsters can lead into a combo, giving you multiple searches and a long string of Link Material. They also provide additional side capabilities that are absolutely necessary in a competitive setting, such as giving you the ability to chainblock certain effects. For example, summoning Crusadia Draco to the zone Crusadia Magius points to lets you chainblock Magius, making it CL1 and Drago CL2 so your opponent cannot negate Magius with Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. So, this archetype serves as both a starter and extender for our competitive variant. Also, note that Crusadia are one of the most focused OTK-themes in the game, so it ensures you have a solid win condition of going for game early in the duel.

Mekk-Knight:

Unlike the Crusadia archetype, the Mekk-Knight archetype has two distinct roles depending on if you are going first or second. If you are going first, all of your Mekk-Knight monsters must act as extenders for your play, because they cannot be summoned without 2 cards being in the same column. If you are going second, Mekk-Knights turn into excellent starters, since they can easily be inherently summoned from hand and can force your opponent to waste valuable removal or disruption on them instead of your primary plays. But what makes the Mekk-Knight even more valuable here is that they offer valuable disruption to your deck. With the inclusion of World Legacy’s Secret, you can disrupt your opponent’s monster effects simply by having Mekk-Knights on the field. Thus, this helps build your resilience, even if you are forced to go first in the duel, giving you the best chance of getting to that second turn to deploy your Crusadia-based OTK.

Orcust:

Yes, this archetype will never truly die. Orcust have been a competitive mainstay for a while, with effective disruption options to stop the opponent during their turn. They also enable OTKs of their own, primarily through reliance upon Borrelsword Dragon, but they remain a complex multi-faceted deck. Since the addition of Orcust Harp Horror to the Forbidden list, the Orcust engine has certainly taken a hit, but a limited engine centered around Orcust Cymbal Skeleton, Orcust Knightmare, and World Legacy – “World Wand” is still effective. By keeping Orcustrated Babel and Orcust Crescendo in the mix, you can continue to have aggressive pressure while maintaining disruption options, going first or second. Keeping the size of this engine low is key to minimize bricks, but additional tech options will mitigate the potential for bricks even further.

 

Balancing the Composition:

Now that we’ve identified the key archetypes that will serve as the centerpiece to this competitive variant, we now need to determine the best ratios of each. Now, a standard 40-card deck should be running ~12 starters if possible for maximum consistency; however, this is not a linear strategy. With the dual-nature of the Crusadia and Mekk-Knight monsters, you have a ton of versatility to work with. I ended up settling on 8 Crusadia as their primary core, with 2 Arboria, 2 Reclusia, 3 Draco, and 1 Maximus. This spread minimizes the downside and chances of opening too many Crusadia with the same name, which maximizes their extender potential when you do draw multiple Crusadia monsters. In terms of support cards, you really only need to add in 1 Crusadia Spell/Trap to benefit from Crusadia Regulex‘s search, so I chose to retain the theme’s World Legacy searcher, Crusadia Krawler. For the final starters of the deck, I’m including 1 copy of Armageddon Knight, since it is a starter for all Orcust plays, and similarly 1 Reinforcement of the Army, since it searches Armageddon or Arboria depending on what is needed.

While this only puts us at 10 ‘starter’ cards, this is enough when you factor in the other half of the starter/extender hybrids, the Mekk-Knights. For this engine, we want to maximize the monsters that generate advantage for us. Thus, I settled on running 7 Mekk-Knight for the extender core: 1 Blue Sky, 3 Purple Nightfall, 1 Indigo Eclipse, 1 Yellow Star, and 1 Red Moon. This spread gives you the versatility of their effects in addition to the utility of grabbing whichever you need with a Purple Nightfall. For each turn you survive, your Purple is going to continue generating advantage for you! Similar to the Crusadia, there is really only 1 support card that is absolutely mandatory for the Mekk-Knights and that is World Legacy’s Secret. The ability to lockdown monster effects is just too good, especially when it is searchable by Mekk-Knight of the Morning Star. This play gets even better when you discard Indigo Eclipse, because Secret can bring it back to block one monster, then Indigo can switch columns later in your opponent’s turn to block another effect! Seems like a great deal for one trap card!

The last portion to solidify is the Orcust engine. Since the monsters chain together rather well, you only need 1 copy of each, so I chose to run 1 Knightmare, 1 Skeleton, and 1 “World Wand.” However, the Orcust also benefit from a variety of support cards, which is the bulk of their contribution to the build. So, as far as support cards go, I’m also running 1 Babel, 1 Crescendo, and 1 Return. This covers your bases, giving Galatea, the Orcust Automaton a variety of options to search for whatever situation, as well as giving you the quick-effect disruption offered by Babel and Dingirsu, the Orcust of the Evening Star. Since the Orucst engine can be both a disruption option as well as a late-in-the-turn extender, your cards have to be versatile to adapt to the situation on hand as you see fit.

After these three engines are compiled, this leaves us with 15 slots left to fill. So let’s talk about tech options to support the goals of each core archetype.

 

Assembling the Core Composition:

Before anything else, we are talking about combining World Legacy archetypes so let’s talk about other World Legacy cards that can support these themes. The first is the ubiquitous recovery spell, World Legacy Succession. Since your deck continuously revolves through the hand, field, and GY to generate link material and field presence, you can end up using this as a rather effective extender to assist your plays. Since this card is also searchable by Morning Star when going for an OTK play, you don’t need to run a full 3 copies, so 2 copies of this works best. Then, in place of the third copy, I chose to run the tried and true Monster Reborn. This is a great foil to the second recovery extender, World Legacy Guardragon, which only requires 1 copy. This continuous spell is great when it works with Crusadia Draco. But if you don’t have it in the GY, it is a dead draw, thus it should be your primary option to search with Crusadia Krawler for a follow-up play (when you are forced to take multiple turns to end the duel).

While those round out the best World Legacy options, let’s talk about other support cards that support each of the engines in doing their job. First up, we have to include Foolish Burial due to the obvious synergy with the Orcust suite. In a similar fashion, it’s also a great idea to always include at least 1 copy of Gizmek Orochi, the Serpentron Sky Slasher, just as another extender option that is unlocked with Knightmare, Foolish, or Armageddon. To support the Mekk-Knight side, the best card is Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones. The play chain goes as follows: Summon a token, then use the Token to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Kagari, recover Drones with Kagari, then set Drones to the same column as Kagari. Voila – you now have 2 cards in the same column to bring out Mekk-Knight monsters! Lastly, we should include another inherently-summonable monster to trigger Crusadia Magius‘s effect, so that role falls to a copy of Jester Confit.

This gets us closer, but we still have 7 slots left to fill. If we want to ensure as good of consistency as possible, we should probably include a couple draw options. In my case, I choose to include a copy of Upstart Goblin and a copy of Performapal Popperup. Upstart just reduces your functional deck size to 39, and Popperup lets you get rid of bricks (like unwanted Orcust cards) that want to be in the GY for additional draws. While it comes at a LP cost, that is worth it for an OTK-driven deck that has no problems generating advantage. Next, I made a personal metacall, and chose to run 3 copies of Cosmic Cyclone to have a Main Deck out to Mystic Mine as my removal option. It also serves in a decent role against a couple other top decks, such as Shaddoll-Invoked and SPYRAL, for banishing their Field Spells or other set backrow, thus I gave it greater weight over monster or GY removal. This leaves the final 2 slots to a great board-breaking support card that can also act as an extender, Mind Control. Not only does it disrupt your opponent’s board, but it can also extend your own plays.

Since this rounds out the Main Deck, I’ll just write briefly on the Extra Deck. When combining archetypes, space is always tight in a limited 15-card Extra Deck. It is important that you prioritize cards that round out your main strategy, but you also have to keep in mind utility options that can win you duels. This is why I chose to include Linkuriboh, Borrelsword Dragon, I:P Masquerena, Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax, and a Knightmare suite over multiple copies of your Orcust or Crusadia links – each of these choices adds utility and versatility to give you options. That is what is most important, especially with a competitive variant. While I do wish I could fit in a copy of Abyss Dweller somewhere simply for its ability to shut down entire strategies, even options like that just aren’t in the cards sometimes for a primary Extra Deck, so as a player, you need to prioritize what is most important to you.

 

Side Decks are Mandatory:

In a competitive setting, every choice for your side deck should be deliberate. You should focus on including cards that can affect as many of your primary matchups as possible. You should also have a good sense of the scenario in which each card in your side deck is designed for. For example, I personally include 3 Dark Hole and 1 Raigeki in just about everything (if only I could afford Lightning Storm). It’s overall a good option for forcing negates out of an opponent’s board, plus they have minimal investment, but these are only great options when going second. This however is not a solid response to certain strategies like Orcust, so in the case I need a less destruction-based boardwipe, I turn to 3 copies of Cyber Dragon and a copy of Chimeratech Megafleet Dragon. This is another board-breaking option, but primarily against decks that focus on setting up an important disruptor in the Extra Monster Zone, like Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess.

To break boards against decks like Altergiest that can be more backrow-dependant, I chose to include 3 copies of Hey, Trunade! Combined with my Cosmic Cyclone in the Main Deck, this gives enough options to handle most trap-based strategies. Next up on my side deck list, I chose to include 1 copy of Dinowrestler Pankratops simply because it is one of the best cards in the game when going second. Remember, Orcust, Mekk-Knight, and Crusadia all have inherent OTK capabilities, so you don’t need to be running options like Dark Ruler No More to facilitate the breaking of an opponent’s board. You just need to enhance your inherent capability. For the final side deck slots, I have 3 Called by the Grave due to its versatility, especially against opponent’s that still run a ridiculous number of hand traps.

 

Bringing Us Home:

With that, the build is complete. In totality, the list combines the OTK power, consistency, and dual-nature of starter/extender of three separate World Legacy archetypes to get the most out of each archetype. But that was also the point of this exercise – by running so many differently named cards, I rarely run into a situation where hard-once-per-turn effects get in my way. If going second, the gameplan is to simply cycle through Crusadia, then Mekk-Knight, then close with Orcust to break a board. Since so many cards are extenders, it is very easy to play through my opponent’s hand traps or Infinite Impermanence. Plus, each archetype offers such unique capability, such as the protection or non-targeting removal offered by a well-timed Dingirsu, the Orcust of the Evening Star.

Even in the event when this build is forced to go first, you still have some disruption options to give yourself a fighting chance to get an OTK opportunity. It may be Orcust Crescendo, it may be a Mekk-Knight focused disruption board with World Legacy’s Secret, it may be sitting on a Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax link summoned using I:P Masquerena, or it may just be a Crusadia Equimax with a set Crusadia Krawler ready to try and stop your opponent’s key card. But oftentimes, it will be a combination of these things, giving you the best chance to win a duel.

 

Decklist:

Click here to view the decklist in the Official Card Database.

 

Looking Forward:

Looking to the future, my list will definitely be changing, for we have a couple of cards on the horizon that will completely overturn World Legacy variants. Here’s just a few I think are noteworthy that will probably appear in my future World Legacy hybrid strategies:

• Mekk-Knight Orcust Girsu (YGOrg Translation):
  • This card is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Not only does this act as a superior starter to Armageddon Knight, but it lets you place a token on your opponents field to work with to ensure you can always summon a Mekk-Knight monster from the hand. While its ability to be treated as a tuner is less important now that Ib the World Chalice Justiciar is Forbidden, that still could have an impact on additional tech options this strategy can employ. This also re-opens the opportunity to run World Legacy’s Mind Meld with a Deus-X Krawler to negate all of your opponent’s monster effects, but that power play would introduce some inconsistency into the build.

• Lib the World Keymaster (YGOrg Translation):
  • Say hello to a new World Legacy searcher! This one can just be summoned using any 2 monsters, plus it offers non-targeting monster removal when it is used for a Link Summon. While Girsu is an amazing starter that pushes the strategy to the next level, this extender makes any strategy featuring World Legacy cards to be feared. Lastly, Lib is a fully generic Link Monster with a downward facing arrow – this is great when working with Crusadia, Mekk-Knights, and Orcust, as each of their extra deck monsters come with different material requirements. Also, it lets you chainblock for your Knightmare effects!

• Parallel eXceed (YGOrg Translation):
  • This Cyberse and Link Summoning support card is pretty crazy in that it supports Crusadia super well. Not only does it allow you to chainblock your Crusadia links, but it also gives you two extra material to work with for future summons. This lets you rise up to a Crusadia Equimax with minimal investment, giving you the fuel to continue plays further into the turn.

Conclusion:

I hope you all enjoyed a return to one of my most popular articles on the site – I definitely had fun rebuilding this deck with a deliberate competitive mindset, and I think the end result is definitely something worth sharing! The triple threat of starters, extenders, and disruptions that each of our main archetypes provides helps to solidify an awesome strategy, one that can break boards as well as stall long enough to be in a position to break them. It can play through disruptions, as well as chainblock your most essential effects. But most of all, you get to claim you are playing a competitive lore deck, then watch the faces of your opponents as their chuckles of confusion turn into disbelief at their loss to what some would consider a fun deck. After all, creative strategies are not always causal ones. Catch you all next time!

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Reminder, I also take suggestions for future CDS articles! I really want to see some input from you! If you wish to see a CDS article about the archetype, theme, or strategy you love, feel free to private message me on the YGOrg Discord server, the YGOrganization Forums, or just post a comment in response to this article on our Facebook page with your ideas to keep under consideration! On most YGO-related communities my username is Quincymccoy, so feel free to reach out. As of now, I have a couple of outstanding requests that I am looking at: Ballpark Insect/Battlewasp, Cyberse, Shaddoll, and Speedroid.