Agents: The Best Deck?

It seems that Agents are now the "favorite" deck among duelists, both in casual play and high level play. With what used to be Wind-up mirrors in all my wars with the occasional Chaos Dragons thrown in, I find myself playing the Wind-up vs Agent match-up almost every duel. Sure, the deck had a strong showing at Rhode Island, but what caused so many people to run it there? In this article, I'll be looking at Agents as a whole as well as the match-up vs Wind-ups.

Opening

Agents require a strong opening and the best way to do that is start with an Agent on the field. Calculations show that opening with at least 1 Agent in a deck of 40 (assuming you're using the standard line-up of 3 Venus/2 Earth) is about 57.6%!* 

But the deck doesn't look to opening an Agent as its only powerful opening. Card Trooper and Call of the Haunted can be just as powerful and the odds of opening that (assuming you're using the standard line-up of 3 Call of the Haunted/2 Card Troopers) is around 15.3%, which is nothing to scoff at.

There is still one more very strong play for standard Agents and that is opening with their Thunder King. As the standard Agent deck mains 3 Thunder King, we can expect to see one in our opening hand 39.4% of the time.

You also can't forget about Tour Guide, opening with a set Sangan, etc. but I feel as those plays just aren't as strong as the other 1st turn plays this deck has. But you can see the percentages simply sway in the favor of Agents being able to open reasonably strong.

I feel like a strong first turn is very much a part of what sways the decision to use this deck. I honestly see a deck similar to Heroes, in the fact that the deck can create a very strong first turn and then use those pieces later to summon boss monsters. I think it is very clear to everyone that Agents are far superior to Heroes though, as their boss monsters are simply much better and there is much more diversity and variety in the plays that Agents can make. A pretty good segue into my next point.

Bosses

While opening strong on the first turn is a major selling point, I think the main one is exactly why people loved and still love Chaos Dragons. A constant array of boss monsters simply overwhelms any person, especially when that person needs multiple resources to just rid themselves of one of them. This deck has reliable access to Kristya and Hyperion, which are honestly two of the best boss monsters ever. Hyperion's summoning requirement is absolutely absurd and his DAD effect just sweetens the deal. While Kristya is slightly harder to get out, Venus -> 3 Shine Balls -> Dark Mist can end up fueling the grave for Kristya instantly and even better, will fuel up the grave for the final boss monster: Black Luster Soldier.

Now obviously, Dark Mist isn't the ideal play most of the time, but the fact is that this deck can end up creating or setting up just multiples of powerful monsters in a matter of moves. Venus -> 2 Shine Balls -> Gachi Gachi is yet another strong play, and I've even begun to see the idea of summoning the third Shine Ball and maining Creature Swap becoming popular.

The deck isn't limited there either. Tour Guide creates rank 3s while Earth and Herald of Orange Light (which is the best card in the deck as it negates activations, which can be absolutely devastating for Wind-ups) are Tuners who can combo very easily with Venus or Sangan for Catastor or even Black Rose (and a search when used for the latter). And even in worst case scenarios, Card Trooper can mill 3 cards even without a Call of the Haunted, which is very likely to set up the grave for Kristya, BLS, or Hyperion.

So How do I Deal with Agents?

While I'm starting to come around to the idea that the deck is a top deck, I am not entirely convinced it is the best deck. To me, Wind-ups is still the best deck period at the moment. But it doesn't mean you don't have to adapt to a deck as strong as Agents. My Wind-up Deck has gone through plenty of changes now and I am very happy with my current deck for DuelistGroundz warring.

What you probably notice is I now main Maxx "C" at 2, a card I had previously decided was too risky to main. It has been absolutely key in every Agent match-up I have played, usually stopping their Venus plays or, allowing me to draw 4-5 cards on desperation Tour Guide Leviair plays in order to make Hyperions in their hand live. It also has added application for stopping first turn Magician Shark plays from continuing when playing Wind-ups in the mirror. But I think the best card for combating Agents simply lies in the side deck and that is Leeching the Light. This card can be absolutely devastating to any Agent player and allows me to OTK with fields that I normally wouldn't have in ordered to maintain advantage if something goes awry. 

I was talking to my friend Chris yesterday to confirm he thought the same way about Dimensional Fissure as I did. The notion of siding in Fissure for decks that rely on the graveyard is very appealing, but it honestly isn't ideal to side it in for that purpose, outside of playing Dark Worlds. It's real purpose is to combat Maxx "C", Veiler, and Herald which is why I only side Fissure in for when I am going first and I'm usually not quick to lay it down unless I have a follow-up play, or if I need something to lure away MSTs from my important backrow. I think Messenger of Peace is a card that should stay in the side though, after talking to Crljen. While Messenger can stop Thunder King and Venus from beating on you, you simply aren't going to be doing anything in return to a field of King or Gachi Gachi. Do you really want to have your Agent match-ups become waiting games?

Agents are a phenomenal deck, but I simply think the side hate against them is much worse than people realize. The deck already hates dealing with Bottomless which removes Venus and Thunder King before they can do anything, but it certainly doesn't want to deal with Leeching the Light added onto that. While a strong deck, Agents aren't as blazing fast as some people to think, and often times, you'll be sitting on your power cards much like Chaos Dragons, looking for a play to get it set up. I think the best plan for Agents is to simply not side in defensive cards such as Fissure or Messenger with the intent of slowing them down. Hyperion will blow them up or you will simply get beat down. Instead, focus on cards such as Leeching the Light, or even Needle Ceiling to create blow-up situations to their field.

*To perform your own calculations of odds be sure to use: http://stattrek.com/online-calculator/hypergeometric.aspx , an excellent calculator for finding statistics.

Yu-Gi-Oh is no Game for Children

I started playing this game competitively back in 2004 or perhaps even earlier, when Eternal Duelist Soul was released. I played since then until 2007 and when I had stopped playing, I had felt I was the shit, having played on all the video games. I knew about what my cards did and that there was nothing stronger than putting in the high attack monsters and powerful spell and traps.

I was living a Yu-Gi-Oh lie. While the video games I solely played were good for a fun time, they legitimately taught me nothing about the game. When I returned to the game in what I believe was 2009, my friend Chris Crljen (guylaroche5 to the Yu-Gi-Oh community) was quick to play me and I realized how completely outclassed I was. When we played, he would play smart and conservatively, knowing exactly when to push for game and how to play around whatever I had in my hand. Playing with him, I realized the flaw in learning from video games: everything is done for you. When I played against him, I realized I had no real Yu-Gi-Oh experience and couldn't deal with Chain Links, heavy backrows, or even figure out how to turn my ideal hands into OTKs.

I've come a long way since then, and now I realize just how hard this game can be and still in. Maximizing your plays and doing things in the correct order is just something you need to know and if you don't know it, then you're not going to be good. At least, that's what it feels like. But even when I maximize my plays, I still make mistakes. I've found warring on Duelistgroundz.com to be the most helpful because I'm almost always playing a better player than myself. And this is truly the best way to learn.

This blog is going to hopefully be a collection of different Yu-Gi-Oh ideas and thoughts as I track my personal progress and try to give something to the community. Am I a pro or even close to that level? No, but I think this is why I should be making a blog like this. Because if my progress can be tracked and shown to be improved, then any aspiring duelist can improve as well.

- Luke "emblem" Miller