This is an in-depth guide at Player vs Player battling in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 4.

Competitive duels in this game are focused around Trap cards and Monster removal. There are a few important changes from Dark Duel Stories, which are listed in the section « Novelties from Dark Duel Stories / DM3 ». The game is overall slower than Dark Duel Stories, duels can last for many turns when there are a ton of Traps and Monster-removal cards around. Overall there are nearly no "turn 3 I win" games in DM4, which could happen from time to time in Dark Duel Stories.

This guide will assume you know the basics of the game; although it will cover some important points like Alignment weaknesses, and a few other non-obvious game mechanics.

You should hopefully have a better understanding of the game at a competitive level, have a clear understanding of what the metagame looks like, and how to optimize some of your plays after reading this guide.

Duel Monsters 4's metagame is noticeably slower than Dark Duel Stories / DM3's metagame due to several important novelties:

• There are basic Graveyards. Each player's Graveyard only holds the last destroyed Monster of that player. Very few cards interact with the Graveyard, but one is very important: Monster Reborn. It Special Summons the Monster in your opponent's Graveyard (not your own).
  
• Trap cards stay on the field until they're activated or removed. This completely changes the dynamics of battles, since in DDS/DM3 you sometimes had to guess whether or not your opponent would draw a Monster; and even then you would "only" win a turn in tempo if your opponent opted to not attack (it was still strong enough to warrant their inclusion in decks). Now, if your opponent doesn't have one of the few cards to remove Traps (Harpie's Feather Duster, Heavy Storm and Reaper of the Cards), it is a guarantee your Trap will actually remove a Monster in the field, almost guaranteeing they are not going to be a card disadvantage (except against Heavy Storm), while still getting the tempo advantage and the protection of your Monsters and of your Life Points.
  
• There are no Construction Monsters. No more spamming 2000 ATK Fire Monsters.
  
• Non-Tribute Monsters now have a maximum of 1350 ATK or DEF; 1-Tribute Monsters have a maximum of 2000 ATK or 2030 DEF. This means your Life Points are much safer, you're not going to lose nearly 3000 Life Points in a single attack by an angry Jirai Gumo. Jirai Gumo which btw now requires to Tribute 2 Monsters. The game is now much slower, with Traps staying in play and beatsticks being much weaker than in DDS/DM3. The Monster metagame in DM4 revolves around 1350 ATK beatsticks, and Monsters that counter these beatsticks.
  
• There are 90 new Monsters + 10 new Magics and Traps. Among these, 5 Monsters + 7 Magic and Traps are playable, some as small niches, some as strong staples like Heavy Storm, Monster Reborn or Beckon to Darkness.
  
• God cards are introduced. Slifer the Sky Dragon is useless, Obelisk the Tormentor and The Winged Dragon of Ra have very strong effects. In DM4, God cards do not have their built-in protection that they have in later games, so they are very much susceptible to Trap cards in this game.
  
• Monster cards and some of the best Traps have now extremely high DC cost, while Magic in general have had their DC costs lowered with some exceptions. While this makes the 500 DC, 700 DC and 1000 DC limits devoid of any kind of interest, this makes the 2000 DC decks have access to more removal and recovery (Dian Keto only costs 100 DC rather than 255 DC, giving access to a massive healing card in 2000 DC decks).

The following cards are limited to 1 copy per deck:

• #017 R Leg of Forbidden One
  
• #018 L Leg of Forbidden One
  
• #019 R Arm of Forbidden One
  
• #020 R Arm of Forbidden One
  
• #021 Sealed Exodia
  
• #278 Petit Moth
  
• #056 Larvae Moth
  
• #072 Cocoon of Evolution
  
• #057 Great Moth
  
• #067 Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth
  
• #336 Dark Hole
  
• #337 Raigeki
  
• #348 Swords of Revealing Light
  
• #657 Megamorph
  
• #781 Brain Control
  
• #784 Change of Heart
  
• #785 Multiply
  
• #789 Pot of Greed
  
• #894 Heavy Storm
  
• #832 Obelisk the Tormentor
  
• #833 Slifer the Sky Dragon
  
• #834 The Winged Dragon of Ra

In addition to that list, I recommend limiting the following cards to 1 copy per deck as well, as their effects are very powerful:

• #893 Final Destiny
  
• #895 Monster Reborn
  
• #897 Torrential Tribute
  
• #898 Beckon to Darkness

I also recommend limiting the following cards to 1 copy per deck if you are getting bored with the metagame revolving around Traps:

• #224 Trap Master
  
• #685 Acid Trap Hole
  
• #686 Widespread Ruin

Finally, you may want to limit this card to 1 copy per deck if you want faster duels; it's not broken but it does make duels longer:

• #342 Dian Keto the Cure Master

I would personally ban Change of Heart and Swords of Revealing Light.

Exodia: If you gather all 5 parts of Exodia in your hand, you win the game. Exodia is a bit better than in Dark Duel Stories due to the metagame being much slower, and more focused around control + Traps. The issue is that your hand is restricted to a maximum of 5 cards at all times; and there are absolutely no ways to search your deck for Exodia parts, you have to draw into them. The draw cards in this game are restricted to the broken Pot of Greed, the good Skelengel, and the subpar Goddess of Whim (which has become better than in DDS due to Traps now staying on the field until activated or removed).

In DM4, control decks can make the duel last for 20+ turns with a defensive deck if your opponent doesn't manage to put enough pressure; you can get a surprise victory with Exodia from time to time. Or if all the Exodia parts happen to be in the top half of the deck, you might get a very quick win. But if your opponent plays Final Destiny and you had Exodia parts in your hand and have no backup plan, you can pretty much concede. While not a reliable strategy, if you like the challenge of winning with Exodia, it is more achievable in DM4 than in Dark Duel Stories. And if you're lucky you might get some very quick wins.

Larvae Moth: Evolves into Cocoon of Evolution (2000 DEF), Great Moth (2600 ATK Forest), then Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth (3500 ATK Forest). It has to be protected by a Trap during two turns for it to be an actual threat, which in this game is far too much. In addition, Forest is a pretty useless Alignment on a 500 ATK Monster, as Wind Monsters should be nowhere to be found.

Cocoon of Evolution: Evolves into Great Moth (2600 ATK Forest), then Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth (3500 ATK Forest). It requires a Tribute in DM4, so it's not a great card. However it's not too horrible if you can afford to lose an attacker this turn. There should be a limited amount of Fire Monsters, and 2000 DEF lets Cocoon wall the beatsticks under their field (1755 ATK). On the next turn Great Moth will likely be the biggest Monster on the field, with a rare Alignment weakness (Fire).

Dark Hole: Destroys all Monsters on the field. This is a very strong massive removal Magic, which is best used when you either have no Monsters on your field, or your opponent has an advantageous position (be sure to do whatever attacks you can to land a few extra points of damage before using it, remember there is no Battle Phase in this game), or you have a Tribute Summon in your hand. There is a trick in this last case: you can sacrifice your Monster(s), play Dark Hole, then summon your Tribute Monster with the sacrifices you did earlier. It's one of the fairest limited cards, along with Megamorph.

Raigeki: Destroys all Monsters on the opponent's field. This is the best mass removal Magic in the game. A great way to either save you from an overwhelming board in a pinch, or to let you achieve several direct attacks, or to remove a Umbrella Chimera or Cocoon of Evolution you cannot go through. Very strong limited card.

Swords of Revealing Light: Reveals every monster on the field (including your own), and prevents your opponent from attacking for 3 turns. The difference with the TCG/OCG is that there are no ways of removing Swords of Revealing Light. If you're under SoRL, you won't attack for 3 entire turns; and in this game attacking to remove your opponent's Monsters is very important. This is extremely strong, the technical card disadvantage of playing SoRL is very quickly caught up, as you will likely net a card advantage in these 3 turns by attacking your opponents helpless Monsters in their Alignment weaknesses, or draw a mass removal or stealing card; all while enjoying absolute safety from your opponent's attacks for 3 entire turns, likely earning a big tempo advantage by being the only player able to put pressure on the opponent. It's the 2nd best card in the game imo; feel free to ban it in your duels if you feel it makes the game one-sided and not fun.

Megamorph: Decent. With the non-Tribute Monsters capping at 1350 ATK, this is increasing these Monsters' ATK by 37%. 1850 ATK is enough to defeat enemy beatsticks under their field (1755 ATK), which makes Megamorph more effective than in Dark Duel Stories.

Brain Control: Steals a Monster for 1 turn. You can attack your opponent directly with the Monster, sacrifice it for a Tribute Summon, or sacrifice it without any Tribute Monster just to make this card a removal Magic. This is extremely strong, and should be played in every deck if it isn't banned. If you want to steal a Monster in particular, try to destroy the other Monsters before playing it. Brain Control is broken, but the next card on this list takes the absurdity to a whole new level.

Change of Heart: Steals a Monster from your opponent. That's it. You keep the Monster forever. This card is absolutely bonkers. Steal a Behegon, summon your own, play Umi, boom you just dealt 3510 damage to your opponent with no warning, and your opponent now has to find a way to stay alive quickly. This card is unhealthy for a competitive environment. It is the strongest card in the game; you might want to ban this card in your duels.

Pot of Greed: Draws 2 cards. You have to have 2 free spaces in hand in order to actually draw 2 cards, which is a restriction you have to take into account. You might have to wait a bit before playing it. Aside from that, this card is as bonkers as in every other Yu-Gi-Oh game. 3rd best card in the game, with Change of Heart and Swords of Revealing Light. There are no reasons to not play it, if it is allowed.

Heavy Storm: Destroys all Monsters and Traps. This is a Dark Hole on steroids. Given that Traps are everywhere and stay until either removed or activated, this is extremely strong. This is one of the few ways to remove Traps, along with Harpie's Feather Duster, Reaper of the Cards, and pseudo-removal in the form of Special Summoning cards like Monster Reborn and Monster-steal cards to activate the Traps before summoning a Monster.

Obelisk the Tormentor: Destroys all opponent's Monsters, and deal 4000 direct damage. God cards can be very hard to summon with their 3 Tributes requirement, but two of them have very strong effects. Obelisk can win you the game on the spot, even under Swords of Revealing Light; and if it doesn't it'll have given you direct value by removing a big chunk of your opponent's LPs, and removing their Monsters from the field with its built-in Raigeki.

Slifer the Sky Dragon: Useless.

Winged Dragon of Ra: Special Summons Monsters from CPU's Graveyard and Player's Graveyard, then steals as many CPU's Monsters as possible. If you're not under Swords of Revealing Light, this can win you the game on the spot. Very hard to summon.

The following cards are optional additional restrictions you might want to implement in your ruleset to increase the deck diversity. These are unlimited by default.

Final Destiny: Destroys all Monsters, Traps and cards in hand. It's a big reset button for only 15 DC, which makes you vulnerable to direct attacks if your opponent draws a Monster card in their next turn, unless your opponent is under Swords of Revealing Light (Final Destiny + SoRL is a very strong interaction). Final Destiny can retrieve absurd amounts of card advantage if you're far behind, can make Exodia players lose on the spot (since you're removing their Exodia parts they had in hand from the game), and in general transforms the game in a top-decking contest, which is why I'd advise limiting it to 1 copy per deck, or to outright ban it.

Torrential Tribute: Destroys all of your opponent's Monsters when an enemy Monster attacks. This is simply either a delayed Raigeki which protects your Monsters and/or your Life Points, or yet another Trap that makes your opponent think twice before attacking. And it's allowed in 3 copies by default. And it only costs 60 DC for some reason, while Widespread Ruin costs 200 DC. Its weakness resides in the fact that it's still a Trap card that can be removed by Harpie's Feather Duster, or pseudo-removed by Monster Reborn. A lot of the time, it'll only remove one Monster, but the times where it manages to destroy two or more Monsters is when it really shines. Even though it's often a glorified Widespread Ruin, Torrential Tribute is too strong in 3 copies in my opinion; limiting it to 1 copy per deck is recommended.

Beckon to Darkness: Destroys the enemy Monster with the highest ATK. There are many cases where your opponent will only have a single Monster on the field, or where there's only one Monster your own Monsters cannot destroy by battle. Beckon to Darkness is effectively a mini-Raigeki, often better than Dark Hole, all for a very low 15 DC cost. Monster cards already have a very low lifespan in this game, I advise limiting Beckon to Darkness to 1 copy per deck. Limiting this card to 1 copy per deck has the added benefit of freeing up 1~2 deck slots for additional deck variety.

Monster Reborn: Special Summons the Monster in your opponent's Graveyard. This is obviously very strong; the only restriction is that there's only one Monster in each player's Graveyard at any given time, so you cannot simply play several Monster Reborn in a row. In addition to the potential extra direct damage and extra board presence on the field, Monster Reborn acts as an additional way of removing an opponent's Trap by attacking into it with the Special Summoned Monster, before Normal Summoning another Monster. Or you could attack with your Monster in play, trigger a Torrential Tribute, then play your Monster Reborn. You can also Tribute Summon by offering the Special Summoned Monster, to summon 1-Tribute Monsters and Obelisk / Ra more easily. I advise limiting Monster Reborn to 1 copy per deck if cards from all versions are allowed.

Dian Keto the Cure Master: Recover 5000 LPs. That's a lot of LPs. This card is not inherently broken; it's still a net -1 card disadvantage, which gives your opponent more opportunities to put pressure on your Life Points by itself. The issue is that in DM4, the ATK of most Monsters is lower than in Dark Duel Stories, and that the Traps have been made much more effective, which all of a sudden can make Dian Keto buy you 3 turns. It makes some very slow strategies viable, for potentially very long duels if the opponent doesn't succeed in pushing direct attacks, which may or may not be something you enjoy. The choice is up to you, this card is fine at 3 copies, but you might enjoy your games more by limiting Dian Keto to 1 copy.

Trap Master: Sets an Acid Trap Hole. Trap Master is buffed from its already very strong version in Dark Duel Stories: Traps stay on the field if your opponent doesn't deal with them, and non-Tribute Monsters have much less ATK, so Acid Trap Hole will almost always be enough. Trap Master will be explained in more details in the « Mechanics: Effect Monsters » section, but to offer a quick overview: it is the third best Effect Monster in the game (but it's not broken; the issue is more that it has an overcentralizing effect on the metagame); it offers a great tempo advantage, is pretty much the best possible play on the first turn if you go first, is a very good way to disincentivize your opponent from playing Monster-stealing cards, it can force your opponent to play their Heavy Storm earlier than they would like, and Trap Master is an excellent card to Tribute for a Tribute Monster, should you run some in your deck.

Widespread Ruin / Acid Trap Hole: Destroys an attacking Monster / destroys an attacking Monster with 3000 ATK or less. Both Traps are basically identical in this game; 1-Tribute Monsters under their field with a Megamorph will have more than 3000 ATK and thus avoid Acid Trap Hole, but this is not a common occurrence. Given that Traps have received a significant buff in DM4 by staying on the field until they're activated or removed, these two Traps have become extremely strong. Limiting these two Traps to 1 copy per deck in 9999 DC decks reduces the total amount of Traps in decks (Invisible Wire is strong in this game and can be run in 3 copies), which has the added benefit of freeing free spaces in decks and makes the game more enjoyable, in my experience.

As in Dark Duel Stories / DM3, the game most important mechanic for Monster combat, even more than ATK points, is Alignment.

Alignments are a giant game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, where one Alignment defeats an other Alignment, and gets defeated by another.

If a Fire Monster attacks a Forest Monster, it will destroy it, no matter the ATK or DEF points of either the attacker or the target.

Here is a quick reminder of the Alignment chart:

Shadow > Light > Fiend > Dreams > Shadow

Water > Fire > Forest > Wind > Earth > Thunder > Water

Alignments are not created equal. Some Alignments have much better Monsters than the others. The best Normal Monsters are found in the Shadow (Leo Wizard), Fiend (Clown Zombie, Disk Magician, Umbrella Chimera) and Water (Tongyo, Behegon) Alignments.

As a result, Dreams, Light and Thunder Monsters are played to counter these three Alignments. Earth Monsters see a bit of play as well (mostly due to Beastking of the Swamps being a decent mass removal, and occasionally Minomushi Warrior and Trakadon being two of the best options for Wasteland decks, in addition to defeating Tripwire Beast under Umi or Mountain), but since they do not reach the maximum ATK for non-Tribute Monsters, Wind Monsters are more of a niche than anything (Dragoness the Wicked is fringe playable in the rare Sogen decks, which are already a small niche). Fire and Forest are generally subpar Alignments in this game, which is the complete opposite to Dark Duel Stories / DM3. The only Forest Monsters you might realistically encounter are Tiger Axe (in the rare Sogen decks) and Cocoon of Evolution. Fire is mostly useless (Mavelus is a decent Monster, but there's no good reason to run Fire Monsters since Forest is mostly non-existent, and Tongyo and Behegon are among the best beatsticks in the game).

Overall, the Alignment weakness game is much simpler than in Dark Duel Stories / DM3, due to ATK and DEF of non-Tribute Monsters being more streamlined. Shadow, Fiend and Water have the 1350 ATK Monsters and Umbrella Chimera; Dreams, Light and Thunder have weaker Monsters that destroy the 1350 ATK Monsters by hitting them in their Alignment weakness. Earth has a couple 1300 ATK Monsters which are played in Wasteland decks. Thunder in particular has Tripwire Beast, which is boosted by the two best fields in the game, Umi and Mountain, which boost it to 1560 ATK and defeats all of the 1350 ATK beatsticks.

There are 7 Fields in this game: Forest, Wasteland, Mountain, Sogen, Umi, Yami, and Arena.

Each Field gives a 30% bonus or malus to the ATK and DEF values of Monsters of certain Types, with the exception of Arena.

Here is a quick reminder of the Field chart, since the in-game text is wrong in the original game:

• Arena is the default Field, offering no bonus or malus to any Monster Type
  
• Forest: +30% to Beast, Beast-Warrior, Insect, Plant
  
• Wasteland: +30% to Dinosaur, Rock, Zombie
  
• Mountain: +30% to Dragon, Thunder, WngBeast
  
• Sogen: +30% to BeastWar, Warrior
  
• Umi: +30% to Aqua, Fish, SeaDragn, Thunder; -30% to Machine, Pyro
  
• Yami: +30% to Fiend, Magician; -30% to Fairy

In addition to the 6 Field Magic cards of the same names; 6 Effect Monsters can change the Field: Trent (Forest), Curse of Dragon (Wasteland), Spirit of the Mountain (Mountain), Kairyu-Shin (Umi), Castle of Dark Magic (Yami), Giant Soldier of Stone (Arena).

Curse of Dragon is playable but it's more for its decent 2000 ATK Wind Dragon stat line, than it is for its effect which changes the field to Wasteland (which doesn't boost its own type, but can somehow be useful if you're under SoRL and need to remove the opponent's field). None of the 5 other Monsters are playable in DM4, since they require Tributes to be played, while having subpar stats for Tribute Monsters.

Like Alignments, all Fields are not created equal. Umi, Wasteland and Yami give a bonus to the best non-Tribute beatsticks in the game (Tongyo, Behegon, Clown Zombie, Leo Wizard). Mountain gives a bonus to Umbrella Chimera and Tripwire Beast; and it has the additional use of removing Umi while playing a field which doesn't boost any of the 1350 ATK beatsticks. Sogen gives a bonus to the best Dreams Monster (Oscillo Hero), and has enough decent non-Tribute Monsters to be ok (Tiger Axe, D. Human, Sonic Maid), but it's still one of the weakest fields. Forest is useless in DM4, unlike in Dark Duel Stories where it used to be the best field in the game.

54 Monsters have Effects in this game. To activate them, they must be face down (the "HID" at the bottom of a card's stats on the left). The Monster's effect is activated by selecting the "SPCL" option. After activating its effect, the Effect Monster usually become frozen in ATK position until your next turn (there are a couple exceptions), meaning it cannot attack of be switched to DEF position that turn. Laying a Trap card the turn you activate most Monster's effect helps to protect them and your Life Points during your opponent's next turn; some of the Monsters on this list need it much more than others.

There are about 15 Effect Monsters worth mentioning, one of which has a passive Effect. All the other Effect Monsters are not worth it. I'll list them more or less from the most playable to the most niche.

Trap Master: Sets an Acid Trap Hole. This is the best Effect Monster in the game. It provides you with both board presence and an Acid Trap Hole to protect your Monster, which is very effective, both in tempo and card advantage. There are many situations where Trap Master will be able to net a 2-for-1.

Opening with Trap Master on the first turn when going first is the best possible opening in this game. Your opponent will now be faced with both a Monster with low ATK and a Trap to protect it, which means:

• Stealing it with Change of Heart / Brain Control will only manage to remove your Acid Trap Hole by attacking with the stolen Trap Master
  
• Destroying it by battle will cost a Harpie's Feather Duster, and using such an important tempo resource to destroy a 500 ATK Monster is rarely worth it
  
• Your opponent will likely not be able to have a satisfying way to answer it on turn 1, meaning you will be in control of the board and of the aggression on your next turn
  
• Your opponent won't even be able to take back the tempo by playing a Trap of their own, because you can set it off by attacking into it with Trap Master on your next turn, protecting your actual attacking Monster in the process

DM4 introduces Monster Reborn. It Special Summons the last Monster to have been sent to your Graveyard. In case of a mass Monster-removal card, the Monster the further to your right will be the one remaining in your Graveyard. So in general you should summon your Trap Master to the right side of your board, so your opponent revives Trap Master rather than a 1350 ATK beatstick when they play Monster Reborn after destroying your Monsters.

Trap Master is a staple and should be played in every deck.

Beastking of the Swamps: Destroys all Monsters on the Field. It's much better if you can play a Trap on the turn you activate its effect, since you'll be defenseless during your opponent's turn otherwise. Also a great effect to activate on the second turn of a Swords of Revealing Light.

This card is noticeably better in DM4 than in Dark Duel Stories, mainly thanks to the lower ATK/DEF of non-Tribute Monsters. Beastking of the Swamps reaches 1300 ATK under Umi, and its Earth attribute is relevant in the mirror match as a way to destroy Tripwire Beast by attacking it in its Alignment weakness. Also, if you need to use Beastking of the Swamp as an emergency removal, you will take less direct damage than in the previous game, since the non-tribute Monsters cap at 1350 ATK rather than 2200 ATK.

Skelengel: Draw a card. It replaces itself which is nice, but more importantly it acts as a mini Trap Master if you run enough Trap cards. Activate its effect to either negate the card disadvantage you had by playing a Trap, or try to draw into a Trap. You can also activate its effect as a way to draw into one of your outs, like if you need a removal card. Its Light Alignment is very useful since it hits Clown Zombie, Disk Magician, and Umbrella Chimera in their weakness. Overall Skelengel is better than in Dark Duel Stories / DM3 due to the general lower ATK of non-Tribute Monsters, good Fiend Monsters that it can destroy, and Trap cards lasting until they're activated or removed.

Decks running Skelengel are inclined to play 6+ Traps, since Skelengel loses a ton of utility if you cannot play a Trap on the turn you activate its effect. Skelengel is a good way to soak up Monster-stealing cards, or at least to deter your opponent from playing them early game, especially if you manage to play a Trap on the same turn.

Mammoth Graveyard: Lowers the enemy Monster's level by 1 (-500 ATK/DEF). Mammoth Graveyard is very playable in Wasteland decks, mostly to attack with it (it reaches 1560 ATK in its field), but its effect comes in handy if there's a Trap in front and need to weaken the enemy Monsters, or if there's an Umbrella Chimera you cannot defeat with your other Monster otherwise. It puts the 1350 ATK and 1350 DEF Monsters under their field (1755 ATK) in the KO range for your Monsters with 1300 ATK or more (since Mammoth Graveyard will lower the 1350 Monsters from 1755 to 1255).

Fiend's Hand: Destroys both Fiend's Hand and an enemy Monster. Activating Fiend's Hand tributes it to destroy one of your opponent's Monsters. Although it takes up your Normal Summon of the turn, and lets you vulnerable if you do not have another monster in play, this is a useful card in many situations:

• It doesn't activate Trap cards, so you can ensure the removal of your opponent's Monster if it is protected by a Trap
  
• If you have a Monster that cannot go past a beatstick or Umbrella Chimera, Fiend's Hand is one of the few cards that can reliably remove it
  
• It is a pretty cheap removal card at 37 DC, which is useful at lower Deck Capacity limits
  
• It can always be used as an emergency removal when you have to stop a threat right away

Ideally, you either already have a Monster in play when you drop Fiend's Hand, or you have a Trap in your hand to protect yourself from a direct attack. For that reason, Fiend's Hand is a better draw when your Life Points are still high, rather than when your Life Points are low, since taking a direct attack on the next turn is a possibility when using this card as an emergency removal.

Electric Lizard: Freezes an opponent's Monster. This is an additional Thunder Monster with a bit of utility by providing you an emergency temporary stop to a threat. Whether you prefer Electric Lizard's effect and 65 DC cost, or the extra attack points of Tripwire Beast (which can put pressure on your opponent under Umi field), or play a mix of the two is up to your preference and your deck needs. In lower Deck Capacity limits, Electric Lizard is much easier to include in your deck.

Electric Lizard works well in combination with Torrential Tribute: Freeze their Monster, then on the second turn your opponent will either not summon a new Monster (which means Electric Lizard is safe), or summon another Monster and risk getting giving you a 2-for-1 with Torrential Tribute. It is also a decent Tribute fodder for this reason, if your deck includes Tribute Monsters.

Toad Master: Summons a Slime Toad frozen in ATK position. 1000 ATK is decent, and it can build your board when there is a Trap in front of you that you cannot remove, or if you need to get Monsters to offer as Tributes on the next turn for a Tribute Summon.

Doron: Summons another Doron frozen in ATK position. It only has 900 ATK, but only costs 72 DC, and is Warrior-type instead of Aqua-type. Which of the two you choose to play is up to you.

Goddess of Whim: Draws a card, then Goddess of Whim is removed from the game. While this is obviously mediocre, it is better than in Dark Duel Stories due to Trap cards remaining in play until being activated or removed, and non-Tribute Monsters having much less ATK in general. It makes the tempo loss much more bearable, without being an actual card disadvantage (it's still a 1-for-1). It can still help you draw one of your outs, or help you draw your Exodia if you're crazy.

Nemuriko: Freezes all enemy monsters. It's a better than in Dark Duel Stories thanks to the lower max ATK of non-Tribute Monsters. It's still too weak for 9999 DC decks; but in 2000 DC decks it's very playable. Its Alignment is not great offensively with 800 ATK, though.

Like Electric Wizard, Nemuriko works well with Torrential Tribute: Freeze their Monster, then on the second turn your opponent will either not summon a new Monster (which means Nemuriko is safe), or summon another Monster and risk giving you a 2-for-1 with Torrential Tribute. It is also a decent Tribute fodder for this reason, if your deck includes Tribute Monsters.

Reaper of the Cards: Destroys a Trap. It's a 1-Tribute Monster, but at least you get back the apparent card disadvantage by removing a card from your opponent right away. It can even give you a slight advantage if you removed a Torrential Tribute that way, if you have two Monsters on the field when Tribute Summoning Reaper of the Cards.

Alas, its 1800 ATK on a 1-Tribute Monster is pretty weak, and its Fiend Alignment lets Skelengel destroy it. In general, it's better to simply play another 1350 ATK beatstick as they're less bricky, but Reaper of the Card is still a decent Tribute Monster to include in one copy if you want additional Trap removal which leaves a 1800 ATK Monster on the field.

Cocoon of Evolution: Evolves into Great Moth (2600 ATK Forest), then Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth (3500 ATK Forest). Not a great card, but still fringe playable. While it doesn't put immediate pressure on your opponent, requires a Tribute, and is pretty much mostly going to be played in 9999 DC decks due to its high 255 DC cost where you don't really want a to Tribute Summon a 0 ATK Monster; Cocoon of Evolution has a few redeeming points:

• It's a good card to set in DEF position when your opponent has a Trap up and you don't have anything to remove or bypass it
  
• If your opponent uses a Monster-stealing card, you have one turn to answer it, as your opponent obviously won't be able to pressure you with a 0 ATK monster
  
• If it survives until your next turn, Great Moth is pretty much guaranteed to be the Monster with the highest ATK on the field. With 2600 ATK and Fire Monsters being nearly non-existent, your opponent will have to use Monster-removal cards to deal with Great Moth.

The big disadvantage is that it costs one of your Monsters. If you can remove your opponent's Monsters without attacking, it's okayish to convert your Monster into Cocoon. It's also a good way to wait one more turn for a Trap removal card, and it's also a way to maximize the value obtained out of a Brain Control. All in all, it's probably still better to just stick to Reaper of the Cards or a 2000 ATK Monster if you want a Tribute Summon in your deck.

Obelisk the Tormentor: Destroys all enemy Monsters, deals 4000 damage. This can win the game on activation, even under SoRL; but God cards can be very hard to summon. The difficulty is succeeding in having 3 Monsters to offer as Tributes. Here are cards that can help you reach 3 Monsters quickly:

• Toad Master
  
• Doron
  
• Brain Control
  
• Change of Heart
  
• Multiply (with Kuriboh, but it's unreliable and leaves you vulnerable to attacks)
  
• Darkness Approaches (with Toad Master and Doron)
  
• Monster Reborn

Winged Dragon of Ra: Special Summons Monsters from CPU's Graveyard and Player's Graveyard, then steals as many CPU's Monsters as possible. This can win on activation, but not under SoRL; the trade-off is that you will have a massive board presence that you don't obtain with Obelisk. The same advice for trying to reach 3 Monsters quickly applies to The Winged Dragon Ra.

Tongyo / Behegon: Probably the two most important beatsticks in the game. DM4 in 9999 DC decks revolves around Tongyo, Behegon, Tripwire Beast, Leo Wizard and Trap Master pretty much. Both boosted by Umi to 1755 ATK, which is the one of the two best fields in DM4. Their Alignment weakness to Thunder is specifically targeted by Tripwire Beast and Electric Lizard.

Tongyo and Behegon are staples in both Umi decks and in Goodstuff decks. They should be included in most non-Umi decks, but some decks might prefer to mostly only use Leo Wizard and Clown Zombie to remove all targets to Tripwire Beast.

Leo Wizard: Boosted to 1755 ATK under Yami. Shadow is probably the best Alignment to have for a beatstick, since the best Dreams Monsters, Oscillo Hero, is not boosted by Umi nor by Yami, which means it is a rarer sight than Tripwire Beast that will often be played in 2 or 3 copies. Leo Wizard is a staple which should be played in every deck outside of very stally decks, even in dedicated Umi and Wasteland decks.

Clown Zombie: Strong in dedicated Wasteland decks, and decent in Goodstuff decks as an additional 1350 ATK beatstick. Its Light Alignment weakness is relevant, as it means Skelengel can destroy it. On the other hand, Fiend doesn't offer much offensively, since you already have more ATK than Oscillo Hero. So overall Clown Zombie is worse than Tongyo, Behegon and Leo Wizard. It is still very playable, though.

Disk Magician: The worst of the 1350 ATK beatsticks. In addition to its Light Alignment weakness (which means it gets destroyed by Skelengel), it has the terrible idea to be a Machine-type. Machine-type Monsters are weakened by Umi, which happens to be one of the two best fields in the game, to the point some Goodstuff decks will include a single copy just so their Tripwire Beast wins against all the 1350 ATK beatsticks. So there are games where your Disk Magician will be a 945 ATK Monster, which admittedly is not great, especially since the Fiend Alignment is not very useful offensively either, there's not many Dreams Monsters, and the non-Tribute ones only have 1250 ATK or less, which your other beatsticks can take care of.

Disk Magician is pretty much restricted to decks already running copies of the 4 other beatsticks (Tongyo, Behegon, Leo Wizard, Clown Zombie), and still want additional beatsticks. Such decks must imperatively run non-Umi field spells to remove Umi, since Umi utterly cripples Disk Magician. Usually the field of choice will be Yami, Wasteland, or Mountain (as a field which is neutral for all the beatsticks, but still boosts Umbrella Chimera and Tripwire Beast). In other decks, it is just better to run additional Thunder and Dreams Monsters to hit Tongyo, Behegon and Leo Wizard in their Alignment weakness.

Tripwire Beast / Bolt Penguin: Very much a staple which should be played in most decks, especially Umi ones. Being the best Thunder non-Tribute Monster in the game, hitting both Tongyo and Behegon in their Alignment weakness, and being boosted by the two best fields in the game (Umi and Mountain) makes Tripwire Beast an excellent Monster. It reaches 1560 ATK under Umi which is still enough to defeat all of the other beatsticks.

This is one of the the only two Monsters in the game to have winning match-ups against all the 1350 ATK beatsticks under Umi, the other one being the weaker Bolt Penguin (1100 ATK; 1430 ATK under Umi), which can be used for 4th/5th Thunder Monster if you're in a metagame full of Water Monsters. Tripwire Beast should be included in most decks.

Oscillo Hero / Big Eye / Tao the Chanter: Oscillo Hero's Warrior-type is not great, Sogen is a rare field due to not having any 1350 ATK or DEF non-Tribute Monsters. Oscillo Hero is still very playable despite that, as its one of the only decent Dreams Monsters in the game. Its hits Leo Wizard in its alignment weakness, which makes including 1 or 2 copies of Oscillo Hero in most decks nearly always a good idea. It's clearly not as impactful as Tripwire Beast in the metagame, but it's still worth playing.

Big Eye and Tao the Chanter have a bit less ATK (1200 ATK), but they are boosted by a better field (Yami). The choice is up to your preference and your deck.

Shining Friendship / Sonic Maid / Lady of Faith* / Fairy Dragon: Shining Friendship's Fairy-type is bad, as it's weakened to 910 ATK by Yami. Its main role is to hit Clown Zombie in its Alignment weakness, while having a good ATK (1300 ATK). Sonic Maid (boosted by Sogen), Fairy Dragon (boosted by Mountain), and Lady of Faith (boosted by Yami) are alternative options if you don't want a Monster weakened by Yami. Light Normal Monsters are usually not needed, since Skelengel fulfills their job better overall.

*Lady of Faith is technically an Effect Monster, but its Effect is mostly useless, so I consider it a Normal Monster.

Umbrella Chimera: This is the best non-Tribute defensive Monster in the game. Its 1350 DEF lets it wall all of the non-Light non-Tribute Monsters in the game, as long as they're not boosted by their field or an Equip.

It's played both in dedicated Mountain decks, and in control decks that run Mountain simply to remove the opponent's field advantage (it buffs Umbrella Chimera to 1755 DEF, but doesn't buff any of the 1350 ATK beatsticks). Its most glaring weakness is Skelengel, which is played a bit in competitive decks.

Minomushi Warrior / Trakadon / D. Human / Baby Dragon: Earth Monsters used in their dedicated field decks - Wasteland, Sogen and Mountain. They reach 1690 ATK / 1560 ATK under their field, and are among the few good non-Tribute Normal Monsters to be able to stop Tripwire Beast under Umi by hitting it in its Alignment weakness.

Kamionwizard / Lord of Zemia / Dark Titan of terror: Additional Shadow Monsters for dedicated Yami decks. If you need more Shadow attackers in addition to Leo Wizards in such decks, these are decent 1300 ATK Monsters. Dreams Monsters should not be too common in general, so it's probably ok if you run 2~3 Yami.

Sea Guardian / Gruesome Goo: Additional Water Monsters for dedicated Umi decks. If the metage doesn't have too many Thunder Monsters, then it makes sense to have extra 1300 ATK Water Monsters, as your opponent won't be able to reliably attack all of them in their Alignment weakness.

Horn Imp / Trial of Nightmare: 1300 ATK Fiend Monsters. Fiend is not a good Alignment overall; but if you want some attackers not weak to Dreams in your dedicated Yami deck, Horn Imp and Trial of Nightmare are decent. They both fuse with Job-change Mirror to create Summoned Skull (2500 ATK Fiend, 3250 with Yami); just be aware Fusion Summons can't attack the turn they are summoned in DM4.

Mavelus: 1300 ATK Fire Winged-Beast Monster. Its Fire Alignment is pretty useless, outside of the rare Tiger Axe and Cocoon of Evolution. It's the strongest non-Tribute Monster under the Mountain field, which is one of the two best fields in the game. But it dies to Tongyo and Behegon, so it's useless against half of the good 1350 ATK beatsticks. Fire Alignment is really bad in this game.

Decks in this game should only include 0 or 1 Tribute Monster at max.

Monsters of Level 5 or higher require Tributes to be summoned. Level 5-6 requires 1 tribute, Level 7-8 requires 2 Tributes, Level 9-12 requires 3 Tributes.

To Tribute Summon, you need to manually Tribute the required amount of Monsters on your field before Tribute Summoning, by selecting the "OFFR" option.

A majority of decks will not use any Tribute Monsters in this game. 96.5% of Tribute Monsters are really underpowered. I'm still doing this section since some Tribute Monsters have niche uses, especially in decks playing Umbrella Chimera, despite the card disadvantage and tempo loss.

Tribute Monsters can very easily brick your hand, especially since your hand has a maximum of 5 cards at all times. They cost you Monsters on the field for a not-so great impact, usually. Also, Monsters tend to not last very long on the field early game, so you should save Tribute Monsters for mid to late game, once your opponent has used up their removal / stealing Magic and removal / stealing Effect Monsters. For these reasons, you should only play a maximum of 1 or 2 Tribute Monsters in your deck. Usually playing 0 Tribute Monsters is the correct move, unless playing with additional bans and limitations, or playing in lower Deck Capacity limits.

They must have an immediate impact and put enough pressure on the board to be worth it, since they're a net card disadvantage. For this reason, out of the 377 available Tribute Monsters in this game, only 13 are playable. The 364 other Tribute Monsters are useless in PvP.

As a general rule, for a Tribute Monster to be playable in this game, it must fulfill these requirements:

• It must only require 1 Tribute, with the exception of Obelisk and Ra which can win the game on the spot. Nearly all Tribute Monsters which require 2 or 3 Tributes have no effect that justifies the brutal card disadvantage; they are extremely bricky; they are VERY hard to summon and do not generate any decisive advantage to justify the difficulty to summon these.
  
• It mustn't lose to Tongyo, Behegon, Leo Wizard, Tripwire Beast and Skelengel. This automatically excludes Fire, Light, Water and Fiend Alignments for Tribute Monsters. Wind is an alright Alignment on Tribute Monsters due to their 2000 ATK, and due to Forest Monsters being rare.
  
• With the exception of Cocoon of Evolution and Reaper of the Cards, any Tribute Monster with less than 1900 ATK is useless. The reason is that a 1350 ATK beatstick with an Equip reaches 1850 ATK; a Tribute Monster should be stronger than a non-Tribute Monster with an Equip.

Tribute Monsters in general are more playable with lower Deck Capacity limits, since in DM4 non-Tribute Monsters with high ATK are very expensive, and the lower Deck Capacity cost of Tribute Monsters can be an inexpensive way to have a Monster that pressures the board with its high ATK. A few 1900 ATK Tribute Monsters not listed here are viable in 2000 DC decks.

Trap Master is also a good sacrifice for a Tribute Summon the turn after it sets a Trap.

If you run one or two Tribute Monsters, you should run 2~3 Harpie's Feather Duster, since you really want to attack with the Tribute Summoned Monster the turn you summon it (aside from Cocoon of Evolution and Reaper of the Cards), to get back some value immediately out of the Monster you sacrificed. And use the trick of sacrificing Monster(s) before playing Dark Hole or Heavy Storm, if you have the opportunity.

Flash Assailant: 2000 ATK / 2000 DEF Shadow Fiend-type. It's the best 1-Tribute Monster going by stats alone. It is boosted by Yami which is a decent field; and its Alignment weakness to Dreams is not too detrimental since most decks will run very few Dreams Monsters.

Curse of Dragon: 2000 ATK / 1500 DEF Wind Dragon-type Monster. It's one of the two strongest 1-Tribute Monsters for decks running Mountain. Wind is a good Alignment defensively on high ATK Monsters, since Forest Monsters are rarely played. It also has an effect that can change the Field to Desert. It can very occasionally come in handy if you're under Swords of Revealing Light and need to get rid of Umi. Its effect rarely comes into play, however this is still a 2000 ATK Monster with a good Alignment defensively, which is boosted to 2600 ATK under Mountain.

Rabid Horseman: 2000 ATK Forest Beast-Warrior-type. One of the three best 1-Tribute Monsters for dedicated Sogen decks. Forest is a good Alignment defensively for high ATK Monsters, since Fire Monsters are basically nowhere to be seen.

Panther Warrior: 2000 ATK Shadow Beast-Warrior-type. Another Tribute Monster for Sogen decks. Its Alignment weakness to Dreams is not too detrimental since most decks will run very few Dreams Monsters.

Boar Soldier: 2000 ATK Earth Beast-Warrior-type. The third and last of the Tribute Monsters for Sogen decks. Non-Tribute Wind Monsters suck due to their low ATK, so Earth Alignment is still good defensively on high ATK Monsters.

Turtle Bird: 1900 ATK Wind Aqua-type. Up in the sky! Look! It's a bird! It's a turtle! It's Turtle Bird! Umi-boosted 1-Tribute Monsters have to make do with 1900 ATK, since the 2000 ATK ones are all Water Alignment Monsters, which should be avoided for tribute Monster due to the ubiquity of Tripwire Beast. As said earlier, Wind is a good Alignment defensively for high ATK Monsters; and reaching 2470 ATK under its own field is still strong enough.

Kaminari Attack: 1900 ATK Thunder Thunder-type. Kaminari Attack deserves special mention for being boosted by the two best fields in the game, Umi and Mountain, which means even if your opponent plays the other of these two fields, they won't be able to remove the boost of Kaminari Attack. Earth Monsters, while being played, are not all that common either.

Pragtical: 1900 ATK Earth Dinosaur-type. This is the best 1-Tribute Monster for dedicated Wasteland decks. Non-Tribute Wind Monsters suck due to their low ATK, so Earth Alignment is still good defensively on high ATK Monsters. Reaching 2470 ATK under its own field is still practical enough.

Reaper of the Cards: 1800 ATK / 2000 DEF Fiend Fiend-type. Removes a Trap. Obviously Fiend is a bad Alignment for Tribute Monsters, and 1800 ATK is subpar, but this one gets back the card disadvantage inherent to Tribute Monsters right away by removing the Trap played by your opponent, while leaving a 1800 ATK Monster on the field, rather than letting one non-Tribute Monster attack into it, then summoning another 1350 ATK beatstick. This can occasionally be good, if you already have two Monsters on the field before tribute Summoning Reaper of the Card, if you manage to remove a Torrential Tribute that way.

Cocoon of Evolution: 0 ATK / 2000 DEF Forest Insect-type. Evolves into Great Moth (2600 ATK Forest), then Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth (3500 ATK Forest). Already described it in previous sections.

Obelisk the Tormentor / Winged Dragon of Ra : 4000 ATK Divine Warrior-type / Divine Machine-type. I won't repeat the previous sections. Note that Umi weakens Winged Dragon of Ra to 2800 ATK.

Fusion Monsters are pretty bad for the most part, unless you play with a low max Deck Capacity limit. Fusion Monsters cannot attack the turn they are fused in this game. For random online play on Early Days Collection, you do not need to think about it.

To make a Fusion, you have to play a Monster from your hand onto another Monster on the field. If the Fusion is valid, congrats, you have a Fusion Monster on the field, and you can summon another Monster from your hand the same turn if you wish. But the Fusion Monster will be frozen until your next turn, so this mechanic is very niche and rarely useful. There are some very niche cases where it can be a correct decision (mostly when your opponent has 2 cards or less in their hand, and you have a Trap to protect your Fusion Monster until the next turn, and it is not more beneficial to simply attack with an additional Monster this turn).

The main fusions in Duel Monsters 4 are:

• Job-changing Mirror + Fiend = Summoned Skull (2500 ATK Fiend)
  
• Embryonic Beast + Time Wizard = Summoned Skull (2500 ATK Fiend)
  
• Dragon + Time Wizard = Thousand Dragon (2400 ATK Fire)
  
• Lord of D. + Time Wizard = Thousand Dragon (2400 ATK Fire)
  
• Pyro + Winged-Beast (≥1300 ATK) = Crimson Sunbird (2300 ATK Fire)
  
• Pyro (≥1300 ATK) + Winged-Beast = Crimson Sunbird (2300 ATK Fire)
  
• Dragon + Gorgon Egg = Ryu-ran (2200 ATK Fire)
  
• Dragon + Monster Egg = Ryu-ran (2200 ATK Fire)
  
• Mammoth Graveyard + Zombie = Great Mammoth of Goldfine (2200 ATK Fiend)
  
• Female Monster + Rock = Mystical Sand (2100 ATK Shadow)
  
• Dragon + Plant = B. Dragon Jungle King (2100 ATK Forest)
  
• Dragon + Rock = Stone D. (2000 ATK / 2300 DEF Earth)
  
• Dragon + Thunder = Thunder Dragon (1600 ATK Thunder)

Fusion Monsters would be much better in this game if they could attack the same turn you summon them. But as it is, you should avoid Fusion Summoning in most situations. Just be aware they exist, and that in some very rare cases it can still be a correct decision to perform a Fusion Summon.

For a detailed description of the impact of these cards on the game, check the « Limited cards and recommendations » section. This part will focus on how to best use these 7 powerful cards, and some general tricks with these cards.

Change of Heart: This is the best card in the game; as such, it is important to not waste it. Here are a few rules of thumb:

• It is usually not worth it to use it in the first turn, unless you have a field card and another Monster in your hand to deal a massive hit to your hand, along with a Trap. The reason is that your opponent can play Dian Keto to negate the damage, then play a Monster-removal card or Monster-stealing card to completely stabilize the board and their Life Points.
  
• If you have no Monster in your hand nor on the field, and both you and your opponent are in top-decking mode with near-empty hands, this is a very strong way to change the tide of the battle. Once again, it's much better if your opponent has no Trap on the field, or you have a way to remove it.
  
• If your opponent has set a Trap, and you don't have a Harpie's Feather Duster in hand to remove it, Change of Heart loses in value. If you attack your opponent with one of your Monsters to trigger the Trap, you've basically devolved Change of Heart into a Monster-removal card. It can still be the best decision depending on the situation; especially if your opponent's LPs are low.
  
• If your opponent has set a Monster, chances are it is a defensive Monster, like Umbrella Chimera. Usually these are not very appealing targets, but it can still be the best decision if that's the only way you have to remove these walls. Having a Tribute Monster in your hand also increases the value of stealing these defensive Monsters.

Brain Control: Unless you attack with the Monster, your opponent will never get their Monster back. You can tribute the Monster, even if you have no Level 5+ Monster in your hand to Tribute Summon. This can be used as a Monster-removal card this way, if needed.

You'll get the most value out of Brain Control by either Tribute Summoning using the Monster you've stolen, or directly attacking for game with the stolen Monster. Like Change of Heart, this card gains more value the lower your opponent's LPs are.

It's also good for trading an enemy 1350 ATK beatstick with another enemy 1350 ATK beatstick, netting a 2-for-1 in the process.

Swords of Revealing Light: Preventing your opponent from attacking you has the added effect of making their Monster-stealing cards much less threatening, in addition to protecting your Monsters from being attacked in their Alignment weakness. SoRL provides you an offensive advantage for these two reasons, you can be rather relentless in your attacks (still mind about Raigeki / Dark Hole / Crush Card).

If you find yourself defenseless, but in no danger of dying on your next opponent's turn, try keeping SoRL in your hand for an additional turn. You might be able to draw one of your outs on the last turn of SoRL, buying an extra turn when you can in situations where you are not controlling the board can be crucial.

Be very conservative with your beatsticks when you're locked under SoRL. It's better to protect your Monsters than protecting your Life Points in general in this game; unless your LPs are below 3000. What will usually happen if you summon a 1350 ATK and cannot generate value out of it due to SoRL preventing you from attacking, is that your opponent will either use a Monster-removal card (bad, they got the best 1-for-1 possible), or hit your 1350 in their Alignment weakness (very bad, your opponent just netted a +1).

Pot of Greed: Draw 2 cards, if you already have two free spaces in your hand.
What this means is, if you play Pot of Greed with a 5 cards hand, you'll draw 0 cards. With a 4 cards hand, you'll draw 1 card, and with a 3 or less cards hand, you'll draw 2 cards. There are rare occasions where only drawing one card to keep your other resources can be the correct decision.

Sometimes your hand will be clogged by Traps, while the opponent refuses to attack, and a Pot of Greed that cannot be activated due to having a full hand. Removing one of your Traps in your hand to activate Pot of Greed and draw one card, while still having a free slot in your hand to draw another card on your next turn can be the best decision to take in that situation.

It's a very powerful Magic, but there are cases where you'll have to wait a bit before activating it. Don't forget that you can manually remove cards from your hand if you need to draw 2 cards in an emergency to try to hit one of your outs.

Raigeki: While it is usually less crucial to time your Raigeki than the Monster-stealing cards, it is still a very important piece that should not be wasted, since it is the best Monster-removal card in the game.

Unless you can severely dent your opponent's LP, it is usually best to keep your Raigeki in hand for a better opportunity. If you can destroy the opponent's Monster through combat, it is usually better to keep your Raigeki in hand. If you can get a 2-for-1 (provided one of the destroyed Monsters is not Trap Master), or even a 3-for-1 out of Raigeki, then you're probably not doing a mistake by playing it right away.

Raigeki is one of the very few spells that can deal effectively with Umbrella Chimera, along with Dark Hole, Heavy Storm and Stop Defense. It is also a get-out-of-jail card, which can save you from a threat you have no answer to. Or it can be played offensively when you can deal a lot of damage to your opponent, or even outright win the game. It's important to not waste it and regret not having kept it later in the game.

Dark Hole: Unlike Raigeki and the Monster-stealing card, you have less reasons to be conservative with the usage of this card. When you can net an advantage, remove a threat, or land a direct attack, most of the time it'll be fine to use Dark Hole without thinking twice about it. The reason is that the opportunities to play Dark Hole effectively are more restricted than Raigeki, so you are incentivized to play it whenever a good spot presents to you.

There is a trick with Dark Hole and Tribute Monsters: you can offer your Monsters as a Tribute before activating Dark Hole. Then, after you wiped the board, you can summon your Tribute Monster with the tributes you made earlier. A good way to both clear the board and put a lot of pressure.

Heavy Storm: This one on the other hand is extremely important to try to keep for the occasion where you can at least remove a Monster and a Trap with it, especially since it is one of the very few reliable ways to remove an opponent's Trap in this game, along with Harpie's Feather Duster and Reaper of the Cards. It also removes your own Monsters and Traps, try to make sure you still generate card advantage or board advantage out of activating Heavy Storm.

The same trick with Dark Hole + Tribute Monsters applies to Heavy Storm: you can offer your Monsters as a Tribute before activating Heavy Storm. Then, after you wiped the board, you can summon your Tribute Monster with the tributes you made earlier. A good way to both clear the board and put a lot of pressure.

Beckon to Darkness: It's a mini-Raigeki most of the time. Try to save these for 1350+ ATK Monsters and Tripwire Beast, so you get the most value out of Beckon to Darkness. It's also a way to remove Umbrella Chimera if there's no other Monster next to it (remember that Beckon to Darkness will try to remove one of the Monsters with the most ATK on the field). Also try to save it if you have set a Torrential Tribute, unless your Life Points are low (because there's a decent chance at taking a direct attack there), or you can deal significant direct damage in the same turn.

Monster Reborn: It's better to be conservative with Monster Reborn when your opponent's Life Points are high. It's a good way to play around Traps; you can trigger the opponent's Trap with a Monster, then summon another Monster to destroy the opponent's Monster. This play is a bit less interesting when there is no Monster in front of you from which you could've generated card advantage, but if your opponent's LPs are getting low, or if they do not have many cards in hand, it is still a good play.

Try to not overextend too, in most situations you'll try to keep your board at most 2 Monsters ti avoid getting 3-for-1'd by Raigeki / Dark Hole / Heavy Storm, especially since the non-Tribute Monster's low ATKs and the existence of Dian Keto make an additional direct attack not so appealing in many cases.

Being conservative with Monster Reborn has the added benefit of being able to build back a board from 0 to 2 Monsters in a single turn, after your opponent played a board wipe Magic.

Harpie's Feather Duster: Removing your opponent's Trap is very important in this game, especially since they remain in play until you either trigger them or remove them in DM4. This card is an auto-inclusion in every deck, in 2 to 3 copies depending on your deck. It allows you to remove an opponent's Monster with yours rather than either wasting a Special Summon card or Monster-stealing card to send a Monster crashing into the Trap, or having to wait the next turn for having another Monster to summon after sending the one you have crash into the opponent's Trap, which can let your opponent snowballs, let them summon another Monster, destroying yours, and setting a second Trap, forcing you to wait yet another turn.

The only reason not to play 3 is that in some games those can brick your hand if your opponent doesn't draw into their traps; yet some decks absolutely need to run 3 copies. The fact it only costs 2 DC is even more the reason to include 3 copies in 2000 DC limits decks.

Dian Keto the Cure Master: The best healing magic in the game. 5000 Life Points is a lot, especially with the lower ATK for non-Tributes Monsters in DM4. it negates more three or more direct attacks from your opponents in this game. It puts you back into a safe zone where your opponent cannot defeat you on their next turn. Do not overvalue it though; at the end of the day, it is still a -1 card disadvantage. It can be a pretty stupid draw when your opponent is under the effect of Swords of Revealing light, though.

If your opponent has set a Trap and you don't have Harpie's Feather Duster in hand, try to attack with a Monster below 2000 ATK before playing Dian Keto, if you can. If it doesn't activate the opponent's Trap, chances are, you're facing a Bad Reaction to Simochi. It is a very dangerous Trap card that can make you lose the game on the spot should you activate it, dealing you 5000 damage the instant you play Dian Keto.

Final Destiny: It's the ultimate wipe. No more hands, no more Monsters, no more Traps. While this is a great "come from behind" card, giving you another chance to win the game when you're behind in both materials and board presence, your opponent will be the first one to draw and possibly top-deck a threat you won't have any answer to. It's better to wait to put your opponent under SoRL before activating it for that reason. Some wobbly decks like Sogen decks play it, to revert unwinnable 3 card lead for your opponent, into a top-decking match which has better odds to be won. It also makes Exodia decks concede on the spot. I wouldn't advise playing more than 1 copy of Final Destiny in more consistent decks; but for other decks including 2 copies can be ok (like Sogen decks), if you play with the default in-game ruleset.

Shadow Spell: It reduces the level of your opponent's Monsters by 2. In DM4, Megamorph and a few other Equip Magics are more viable than in Dark Duel Stories / DM3, so the -2 actually can come in handy from time to time. This is obviously better when your opponent has two Monsters or more on the field; else this is more often than not worse than an Equip Magic. It also an additional way to destroy an Umbrella Chimera with the help of this pseudo-removal card. There's no reason to include more than 1 copy of Shadow Spell, and it's generally only if your ruleset has additional bans and restrictions, else you will have a hard time finding a free deck slot for Shadow Spell.

Stop Defense: Stop Defense has much narrower uses than it did in Dark Duel Stories, but it can still force Umbrella Chimera and Cocoon of Evolution in ATK position, at least. Very metagame-dependent card, as quite a few decks do not play either of these cards.

Stop Defense has a neat second effect: it prevents your opponent from switching their Monsters in DEF position on their next turn. You can use it when you're in control of the board to put more pressure on your opponent on your next turn.

Tremendous Fire: Deals 1000 direct damage. It has a niche in very offensive decks. It can put an unsuspecting opponent into KO range, can punish your opponent for trying to hold on their Dian Keto while slightly over 5000 LPs, thinking they were safe. Usually there are no reason to play more than one Tremendous Fire, as it is a straight -1 card disadvantage, and usually only there to score a surprise win.

It is one of the very few ways to deal significant damage to your opponent while being under the effects of Swords of Revealing Light, along with Catapult Turtle and Obelisk the Tormentor.

Darkness Approaches: Sets all of your non-frozen Monsters face down. This can re-activate the effects of Trap Master, Skelengel, Toad Master, Doron, and Reaper of the Cards amongst others. Some decks running 3 Trap Master and 3 Skelengel might want to include one or two copies of Darkness Approaches.

Crush Card: Much weaker than in Dark Duel Stories / DM3, since in DM4 all non-Tribute Monster only have 1350 ATK or less. It still has a niche use for destroying non-Tribute Monsters under their field though, especially Tripwire Beast which can be very annoying under Umi or Mountain, and most of the rare Tribute Monsters.

Multiply: If you have a Kuriboh on the field, summons as many on the field as possible in ATK position, frozen. The fact this card is limited in 1 copy per deck heavily weakens it, in addition to making your LPs vulnerable for one turn. You need to set a Trap the turn you activate Multiply.

Umi: It boosts two of the 1350 ATK beatsticks to 1755 ATK (Tongyo and Behegon), and turns Tripwire Beast into an absolute menace (1560 ATK with Umi, and its Thunder Alignment lets it still destroy Tongyo and Behegon). It also boosts Beastking of the Swamps which completes the RPS Earth > Thunder > Water. Umi is one of the two best fields in the game, along with Mountain.

Mountain: It boosts Umbrella Chimera to 1755 DEF, and also turns Tripwire Beast into an absolute menace (1560 ATK with Mountain; pretty much no non-Tribute Monster outside of Earth Monsters will realistically stop it). It also does not boost any of the 1350 ATK beatsticks, which makes it a good "neutral" field to remove your opponent's field (while still turning your Tripwire Beast into a powerhouse). For this reason, it is highly recommended to run some Earth Monsters in decks running Mountain in order to deal with Tripwire Beast and generate some card advantage.

Yami: It boosts Leo Wizard to 1755 ATK and Big Eye / Tao the Chanter to 1560 ATK. It's also a way to remove Umi and Mountain from the field to have a way to deal with Tongyo, Behegon, Tripwire Beast and Umbrella Chimera. While it is weaker than the two aforementioned fields, it's still very playable thanks to having a 1350 ATK beatstick and a couple decent Monsters being boosted by it, which all can function even without their field.

Wasteland: It boosts Clown Zombie to 1755 ATK, Minomushi Warrior / Trakadon to 1690 ATK, and Mammoth Graveyard to 1560 ATK. It's also a way to remove Umi and Mountain from the field to have a way to deal with Tongyo, Behegon and Umbrella Chimera. While it is weaker than the two aforementioned fields, it's still very playable thanks to having a 1350 ATK beatstick and a couple decent Monsters being boosted by it, which all can function even without their field. Also of note, dedicated Wasteland decks play several Earth Monsters that can deal with Tripwire Beast even without being boosted by their field.

Sogen: It boosts Tiger Axe and D. Human to 1690 ATK, Oscillo Hero to 1625 ATK, and Sonic Maid to 1560 ATK. It's also a way to remove Umi and Mountain from the field to have a way to deal with Tongyo, Behegon, Tripwire Beast and Umbrella Chimera. The issue with Sogen decks compared to the 4 previous fields, is that it has access to no 1350 ATK beatstick. While it has some strong selling points (mainly Tiger Axe having the Forest Alignment makes it very hard to destroy without using a Monster-removal card), the deck becomes much weaker if Sogen is not in play, while decks dedicated to one of the 4 previous fields still function fairly well without their field in play. Not everything is bad of course, Sogen decks plays several Earth and Light Monsters to deal with Tripwire Beast, Clown Zombie and Disk Magician even if Sogen is not in play.

Megamorph: Equip Magics, especially Megamorph, are better in DM4 than they were in Dark Duel Stories / DM3 due to the ATK of non-Tribute Monsters being much lower than in the previous game. The +500 ATK/DEF boost is enough for 1350 ATK and 1300 ATK beatsticks to destroy a 1350 ATK beatstick under its field (1850 ATK vs 1755 ATK), which makes getting a 1-for-1 in addition to leaving your boosted Monster putting pressure on the field is usually very easy. The main issue with Megamorph is that in the default bans and limited cards, decks are already full of staples, we don't have many free deck spaces, and usually these will go to extra non-Tribute Monster cards. If you do manage to find a free space in your deck for it, Megamorph is definitely a decent inclusion.

Other Equips: Same thing than with Megamorph. Type-specific Equip Magic "only" cost 100 DC in this game, which means including one or even a couple of these instead of a Megamorph is realistically possible in 2000 DC decks. Beast Fangs and Dark Energy are the two other best Equips in DM4.

Beast Fangs boosts Tongyo, Behegon, Clown Zombie, Trakadon, Tripwire Beast, and Beastking of the Swamps, amongst others; while Dark Energy boosts Leo Wizard, Clown Zombie, Oscillo Hero, Big Eye, Tao the Chanter, Beastking of the Swamp, and Umbrella Chimera, amongst other. Power of Kaishin is noteworthy for boosting Tongyo, Behegon, Big Eye, and Bolt Penguin; if you wish to include Big Eye and Bolt Penguin into a Umi deck.

Trap cards are set on the slot to the left of your hand. They remain in play until they either activate, or are removed, which is a huge buff compared to Dark Duel Stories.

The only way to remove a Trap without triggering it is by using one of the following cards:

• #084 Reaper of the Cards
  
• #672 Harpie's Feather Duster
  
• #894 Heavy Storm

Traps have very important purposes in DM4: they protect your Life Points and your Monsters, they act as delayed Monster-removal, they can provide a tempo advantage, they provide you with an extra line of defense against Monster-stealing cards, and they can make your opponent think twice before choosing with which Monster to attack, or whether they should activate their Dian Keto right away or wait another turn. Denying these benefits to your opponent is important, this is why most decks include 2~3 Harpie's Feather Duster.

Torrential Tribute: When an enemy Monster attacks, destroy all opponent's Monsters. This is obviously the most important Trap in the game. This Trap is the reason why, when you have to attack into a Trap, you always try to be able to summon a new Monster from your hand, or have a Monster ready in DM4. If the Trap you triggered is Torrential Tribute, all of your Monsters will be subsequently destroyed. And if possible, you wait until the last possible moment in your turn to summon your Monster.

As much as possible, try to keep your Torrential Tribute in hand until your opponent has two Monsters on the field, to try to generate some card advantage out of it. But if you do not have any other Trap to play, and you absolutely have to play one to protect your Monsters or your Life Points, then it's ok to set it like a Widespread Ruin.

Also, if you set Torrential Tribute when your opponent has several Monsters but you're not in immediate danger of losing all your remaining Life Points, it's usually a good idea to think about whether or not you need to play a Monster-removal card in the same turn. Even though it feels safer (in case of a Harpie's Feather Duster for example), any Monster-removal you might play is a potential straight card disadvantage if your opponents happens to trigger your Torrential Tribute on their turn.

And as a general rule, do not set Traps when your opponent has a lone Trap Master on the field. You do not want to waste your Traps on a 500 ATK Monster.

Widespread Ruin / Acid trap Hole: Destroys an attacking Monster / destroys an attacking Monster with 3000 ATK or less. In DM4, these two Traps are pretty much equivalent; the only Monsters Acid Trap Hole realistically won't affect are 1-Tribute Monsters boosted both by their field and by an Equip (3100 ATK).

Single-targeting Traps are a bit less powerful than Torrential Tribute, but they still have a similar role, minus the potential card advantage. There is much less need to be conservative about when to play this card.

Try to not set the single-target Traps like Widespread Ruin and Acid Trap Hole when your opponent has a Trap Master (or another similarly low ATK Monster) on the board, even if there are other Monsters next to Trap Master. If your opponent has no choice but to trigger your Trap, they're always going to attack with Trap Master first, since it is one of the main ways to achieve getting a 2-for-1 with trap Master (1 for setting Acid Trap Hole, one for activating your Widespread/Acid on itself). Do not help your opponent generate their card advantage.

Invisible Wire: Destroys an attacking Monster with 2000 ATK or less. Typically, in 9999 DC decks, you will play between 5 and 9 Traps, in addition to your Trap Masters. So there won't be any room for Invisible Wire, unless your ruleset explicitly limits Torrential Tribute, Widespread Ruin and Acid Trap Hole.

Invisible Wire cannot destroy non-Tribute Monsters boosted both by their field and by an Equip (the 1350 ATK beatsticks reach 2255 ATK under these conditions, for reference). It is a rare occurrence; overall Invisible Wire is still a very solid Trap.

Bear Trap: Destroys an attacking Monster with 1500 ATK or less. You will play it either if you play with a ruleset limiting the best Traps, or if you're playing in 2000 DC Deck Capacity limits.

Bear Trap cannot destroy Tribute Monsters, nor non-Tribute Monsters boosted either by their field or by an Equip. This is a not so rare occurrence, so if you really have to play Bear Trap, I'd advise to only include one copy in your deck in 9999 DC limits. In 2000 DC decks, you will probably include 3 copies, since Bear Trap is much better at these lower Deck Capacity limits.

Bad Reaction to Simochi: Bad reaction to Simochi changes Life gain into Damage. This is a very niche Trap, but can outright win you the game if your opponent is pressured into using Dian Keto the Cure Master, dealing them 5000 damage in the process. This Trap is hard to time properly, but it has a very high reward if it activates. Obviously better when your opponent's Life Points are below or close to 5000, since your opponent would have low incentive to play Dian Keto otherwise. It's also better when your opponent seems to be waiting for a Monster card, when they don't have many cards in hand. If they don't have a Monster, they cannot probe your Trap by attacking to try to trigger it.

This part will be further extended in the future.

Trap Master; the 1350 ATK beatsticks; Thunder, Dreams and Light Monsters to counter them, and some Earth Monsters that hit Tripwire Beast in its Alignment weakness is most of what you will see. Destroying enemy Monsters in combat is one of the main ways to generate card advantage in DM4; it is important that you learn the Alignment weaknesses asap.

Playing your Trap Master correctly is another way to generate card advantage: there are quite a few cases where it will get an effective 2-for-1, although it is not a guarantee.

Be conservative as much as possible with your Monsters: it is rarely a good idea to have 3 or more Monsters on the field at the same time early to mid-game. You do not want to offer a 3-for-1 to your opponent, while having all the extra damage you did just be negated by a Dian Keto.

Without any bans, there are 22 cards that are mandatory in every deck, aside from the meme Exodia deck:

1× Leo Wizard
3× Trap Master

1× Dark Hole
1× Raigeki
1× Swords of Revealing Light
1× Brain Control
1× Change of Heart
1× Pot of Greed
1× Heavy Storm
1× Harpie's Feather Duster
3× Monster Reborn
2× Beckon to Darkness

3× Torrential Tribute
2× Widespread Ruin

So any deck starts from this skeleton, which leaves 18 free slots.

"Umi" / realistically Goodstuff with 1 Umi:
3× Tongyo
3× Behegon
3× Leo Wizard
1× Clown Zombie
1× Oscillo Hero / Big Eye
3× Tripwire Beast
1× Beastking of the Swamps
3× Trap Master

1× Umi
1× Dark Hole
1× Raigeki
1× Swords of Revealing Light
1× Megamorph
1× Brain Control
1× Change of Heart
1× Pot of Greed
1× Heavy Storm
2× Harpie's Feather Duster
3× Monster Reborn
2× Beckon to Darkness

3× Torrential Tribute
3× Widespread Ruin

10 of your Monsters are boosted by Umi, 9 of which absolutely trample all opposition you will face, aside from another Tripwire Beast. This deck works well even without Umi, drawing into it is a bonus. It lets 9 of your Monsters dominate the board, and weakens an eventual enemy Disk Magician so even Leo Wizard and Beastking of the Swamps can destroy it by battle.

Beastking of the Swamps is partly included there to hit Tripwire Beast in its Alignment weakness so you don't have to always rely on Monster-removal cards for it. As a bonus Beastking of the Swamps can be used either as an emergency removal, or to generate card advantage by netting 2-for-1s when you have a Monster Reborn in your hand to attack directly just after the board wipe and maintain a board pressure. It's probably not a card you want to play multiple of though, it only has 1000 ATK (1300 ATK with Umi), and we don't have many free slots in this deck.

Megamorph is included as a pseudo second field, which has the benefit of letting your 1350 beaststicks destroy the enemy beatsticks under their own field, while putting a lot of pressure on the board (likely forcing your opponent to use a Monster-removal card urgently, to not get trampled by your boosted Monster). If you find the space, playing a 2nd copy of Umi is recommended if the metagame has other fields being played (Mountain, Yami and Wasteland are the three main ones you might encounter). You can also replace it by a Dian Keto if you expect a lot of stalling decks, to stay alive over extra turns.

Oscillo Hero has 1250 ATK, Big Eye only has 1200 ATK but is boosted by Yami, both are fine for the Dreams Monster slot.

Other options: Bolt Penguin, +1 Beastking of the Swamps, Skelengel, Dian Keto the Cure Master, Beast Fangs (it boosts most of the Monsters in this deck), +1 Umi, Acid Trap Hole, Bad Reaction to Simochi

Mountain:
1× Curse of Dragon

2× Leo Wizard
2× Behegon
2× Clown Zombie
3× Tripwire Beast
3× Baby Dragon
1× Skelengel
2× Umbrella Chimera
3× Trap Master

2× Mountain
1× Dark Hole
1× Raigeki
1× Dian Keto the Cure Master
1× Swords of Revealing Light
1× Brain Control
1× Change of Heart
1× Pot of Greed
1× Heavy Storm
1× Harpie's Feather Duster
3× Monster Reborn
1× Beckon to Darkness

3× Torrential Tribute
3× Widespread Ruin

9 of your Monsters are boosted by Mountain, 1 Curse of Dragon, 3 Tripwire Beast and 3 Baby Dragon which destroys all of the 1350 ATK beatsticks under Mountain, and 2 Umbrella Chimera which walls most non-Tribute Monsters in the game. Baby Dragon offers an answer to your opponent's Tripwire Beast.

This list includes 2 Mountain to have added odds of removing the opponent's field, but you can replace one by a Megamorph, if not too many players seem to be playing field cards; or add another Monster (Bolt Penguin if you want a 4th Thunder Monster, or Oscillo Hero for a Dreams against Leo Wizard).

This list only plays 1 Harpie's Feather Duster, under the reasoning that Umbrella Chimera can crash into a Trap deliberately after it walled an attack from a beatstick. This lets us include 1 Dian Keto, which works well in a deck with defensive tendencies like this one.

You have to be conservative with your Monsters and mass removal with this deck, try to avoid getting 2-for-1'd, and get 2-for-1s with your mass removals.

Other options: Tongyo, Behegon, Mavelus, Oscillo Hero, Winged Dragon #2, Bolt Penguin, Skelengel, Time Wizard, +1 Beckon to Darkness, Final Destiny, +1 Harpie's Feather Duster, Megamorph, Dark Energy (it boosts most of the Monsters in this deck), Acid Trap Hole, Bad Reaction to Simochi

Yami:
3× Leo Wizard
2× Behegon
3× Clown Zombie
2× Tripwire Beast
3× Big Eye
1× Tao the Chanter
1× Lady of Faith
1× Beastking of the Swamps
3× Trap Master

2× Yami
1× Dark Hole
1× Raigeki
1× Swords of Revealing Light
1× Brain Control
1× Change of Heart
1× Pot of Greed
1× Heavy Storm
2× Harpie's Feather Duster
3× Monster Reborn
2× Beckon to Darkness

3× Torrential Tribute
3× Widespread Ruin

9 of your Monsters are boosted by Yami, including Leo Wizard which will trample any non-Dreams non-Tribute Monster under its field, and 4 Dreams Monsters (Big Eye and Tao the Chanter) to counter the enemy Leo Wizard (or if one of yours get stolen by your opponent). Lady of Faith reaches 1430 ATK under Yami, and it counters Clown Zombie + Umbrella Chimera.

Other options: Flash Assailant, Reaper of the Cards, Tongyo, Horn Imp, Skelengel, Fiend's Hand, Dian Keto the Cure Master, Final Destiny, Megamorph, Dark Energy (it boosts most of the Monsters in this deck), +1 Yami, Acid Trap Hole, Bad Reaction to Simochi

Wasteland:
1× Leo Wizard
1× Behegon
1× Tongyo
3× Clown Zombie
3× Minomushi Warrior
1× Oscillo Hero
1× Tripwire Beast
2× Mammoth Graveyard
1× Skelengel
3× Trap Master

2× Wasteland
1× Dark Hole
1× Raigeki
1× Swords of Revealing Light
1× Megamorph
1× Brain Control
1× Change of Heart
1× Pot of Greed
1× Heavy Storm
2× Harpie's Feather Duster
3× Monster Reborn
2× Beckon to Darkness

3× Torrential Tribute
3× Widespread Ruin

9 of your Monsters are boosted by Wasteland, including Clown Zombie which will trample any non-Light non-Tribute Monster under its field; and 3 Earth Monsters (Minomushi Warrior) to both counter Tripwire Beast even if Umi or Mountain are in play, and simply because they are the second strongest Monster under Wasteland (1690 ATK under its field). It also kind of protects Behegon/Tongyo by revenge killing any Thunder that would have destroyed Behegon/Tongyo on the previous turn.

Mammoth Graveyard (1200 ATK Shadow) reaches 1560 ATK under its field, its Shadow Alignment is alright defensively since it has a decent ATK; its effect weakens the opponent's Monsters by 500 ATK which can come in handy against beatsticks, against Umbrella Chimera, and if your opponent set a Trap that you don't want to trigger.

Skelengel helps us draw into Wasteland or another out in a pinch, and destroys the enemy Clown Zombie (or if one of yours gets stolen), as well as Disk Magician and Umbrella Chimera.

Megamorph is there as a third way to overpower your opponent's beatsticks, and reduce the bricking a bit (since playing 2 Wasteland + 1 Megamorph is less bricky than playing 3 Wasteland). You may want to replace

Other options: Pragtical, +1 Leo Wizard, +1 Behegon/Tongyo, Disk Magician, Dian Keto the Cure Master, Final Destiny, Stop Defense, Beast Fangs (put 3 Trakadon instead of Minomushi Warrior), Acid Trap Hole, Bad Reaction to Simochi

Goodstuff (no field):
3× Leo Wizard
2× Behegon
1× Tongyo
3× Clown Zombie
2× Oscillo Hero
3× Tripwire Beast
1× Skelengel
3× Trap Master

1× Dark Hole
1× Raigeki
1× Swords of Revealing Light
1× Megamorph (or Acid Trap Hole)
1× Brain Control
1× Change of Heart
1× Pot of Greed
1× Final Destiny
1× Heavy Storm
2× Harpie's Feather Duster
3× Monster Reborn
2× Beckon to Darkness

3× Torrential Tribute
3× Widespread Ruin

Not playing around a specific field allows us to run a variety of Alignment to hit the 1350 ATK beatsticks in their weakness, while running our own varieties of beatsticks. The reasoning is that at least some of them will get boosted if our opponent plays a field. We play a mix of Behegon and Tongyo to cover our tracks a bit; if our opponent sees a Tongyo and a Behegon, they might think that we are playing up to 3 of each, which is far from the truth, and thus value their Thunder Monsters far more than they should.

Oscillo Hero destroys Leo Wizard, Tripwire Beast destroys Behegon + Tongyo, and is boosted by both our opponent's Umi and Mountain fields. Skelengel destroys Clown Zombie, Disk Magician, and Umbrella Chimera, while replacing itself with its effect which can give us an additional chance to draw into one of our outs should a bad situation arise, while acting as a mini-Trap Master if we set a Trap on the same turn we draw a card with its effect.

Megamorph is included to destroy the enemy 1350 ATK beatsticks even under their own field. Megamorph is particularly good here as we have no other way to overpower our opponent's 1350 ATK beatsticks otherwise than by hitting them in their Alignment weakness without Megamorph.

Final Destiny is there in case you either fall behind, you're under too much pressure, or simply to make Exodia players lose on the spot after a few turns.

Aside from that the deck is fairly standard.

Other options: Curse of Dragon, Reaper of the Cards, Cocoon of Evolution, Disk Magician, Beastking of the Swamps, Umbrella Chimera, Fiend's Hand, Dian Keto the Cure Master, Mountain, Stop Defense, Acid Trap Hole, Bad Reaction to Simochi

Sogen:
1× Leo Wizard
1× Behegon
3× Tiger Axe
3× D. Human
3× Oscillo Hero
2× Tripwire Beast
1× Sonic Maid
1× Dragoness the Wicked
3× Trap Master

3× Sogen
1× Dark Hole
1× Raigeki
1× Swords of Revealing Light
1× Brain Control
1× Change of Heart
1× Pot of Greed
1× Heavy Storm
1× Harpie's Feather Duster
1× Final Destiny
3× Monster Reborn
2× Beckon to Darkness

3× Torrential Tribute
2× Widespread Ruin

This deck is very unstable. Final Destiny, in addition to being a big reset button, lets you get rid of bricky hand like having multiple Sogen in hand. It also makes any Exodia player concede on the spot. We only play 1 Harpie's Feather Duster because this deck is already bricky enough.

Tiger Axe boosted by Sogen doesn't have any good answers, so your opponent will very likely be forced to use Monster-removal cards on it.

This deck doesn't work well if Sogen isn't in play, hence why there are 3 copies in this deck. You might also want to play Skelengel to help you draw into it, but as you can see it's very difficult to find free spaces for it.

Tripwire Beast are for the Umi and Mountain match-ups; Sonic Maid destroys Clown Zombie and Umbrella Chimera primarily; and Dragoness is decent in this deck as it gets boosted to 1560 ATK under its field, and it destroys Minomushi Warrior / Trakadon / D. Human even without Sogen in play.

Other options: Rabid Horseman, Panther Warrior, Boar Soldier, Tongyo, Clown Zombie, Skelengel, Umbrella Chimera, Fiend's Hand, Dian Keto the Cure Master, Megamorph, +1 Harpie's Feather Duster, Stop Defense, +1 Widespread Ruin, Acid Trap Hole, Bad Reaction to Simochi

Exodia:
5× Exodia parts

2× Beastking of the Swamps
3× Goddess of Whim
3× Skelengel
1× Electric Lizard
3× Trap Master

1× Dark Hole
1× Raigeki
3× Dian Keto the Cure Master
1× Swords of Revealing Light
1× Brain Control
1× Change of Heart
1× Pot of Greed
1× Darkness Approaches
1× Heavy Storm
3× Beckon to Darkness

3× Torrential Tribute
3× Widespread Ruin
3× Acid Trap Hole

It's a bit inconsistent. Basically, you do your utmost to survive until you're close to decking out, and Exodia gives you the win. Due to being limited to 5 cards in hand at all times, it gets more and more difficult to fend off the opponent's attacks as you collect the different Exodia pieces. If you have 4 parts of Exodia in hand, you pretty much are in top-decking mode, since you will have to play with only one card in your hand + the 4 Exodia parts that are clogging your hand. It is a fun challenge to try to win with Exodia though, and from time to time you may get surprise wins. Also, if your last Exodia part is the last card of the deck, you may be playing in impossible mode. Really, Exodia might have had more potential in DM4 if Witch of the Black Forest and Sangan had their effect in this game.

Electric Lizard, in addition to working decently well with Torrential Tribute, lets you hit a Tongyo or a Behegon in their Alignment weakness if you need to reduce the board presence of your opponent in an emergency. Darkness Approaches lets you re-trigger Skelengel, Electric Lizard and Trap Master. Beastking of the Swamps is an additional board wipe.

Also, Final Destiny is an automatic loss. I shouldn't have to tell you this, but don't expect guaranteed wins with this deck. This is more to try to get a surprise win out of an unsuspecting opponent.

Other options: Toad Master, Doron, Nemuriko, Umbrella Chimera, Fiend's Hand, Soul of the Pure, Crush Card (if there are a lot of decks revolving around Field Magics in the metagame), Last Day of Witch, Invisible Wire, Infinite Dismissal