How to Play Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel's Limit One Festival Free Decks Effectively

Another event, another Loaner Deck Guide! We take a break after the last two Extra Deck limitations and get to find out what would happen if a robot was in charge of the banlist. (Get it? Because it's all 1s and 0s...)

Now that everything is "limit 1" or banned, a coherent strategy will have to resort to piles of standalone good cards or some creative crossbreeding to fill the gaps. Of course the Loaners did neither! So join us as we make the most out of these glorified new pack promotions that were forcibly turned into decks.

We are still thankful for their existence though, especially this time around. This harsher deck-building process is distant from Yu-Gi-Oh's usual 3-of rule, forcing a wide selection of singletons to be crafted. Personally, I'll be interchanging between Fairies and Reptiles to budget my way through the event. 

For a banlist and rewards overview check out our previous article.

Every Card is Unique, right?

Well, kinda. Being assaulted with 55 new cards to read can be quite overwhelming, so let's start with what all 3 loaners have in common. Whether that is a considerate move meant to keep the event accessible, or a lazy practice of deck creation is up for debate. Regardless, all decks share 15 Main Deck cards and one Extra Deck Monster.  

Monsters 

• Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit - As a refresher on Ghost Ogre, keep in mind that Continuous Spell/Traps and Field Spells resolve without effect when destroyed in response to their effect activation. Other than that, make sure to not land it on an opposing playmaker that benefits from getting destroyed.
• Dinowrestler Pankratops - A monumental card to opening when going second. Ideally you'd want to attack something before using the tribute effect. There's a reason why it's limited even outside this event!
• Archfiend Eccentrick - Spot removal. Would you play Raigeki Break over this? The fact that this comparison is feasible shows how mediocre it is.

Spells + Extra Deck

With a plethora of staple Spells, it's a tough world for duelists going first out there. Board clears as far as the eye can see. Raigeki, Lightning Storm, Harpie's Feather Duster, and Dark Hole. This far outweighs the meager amount of negations these loaners can produce. Starting out, all of these equalizers are useless, so going second is a generally valid strategy and should be the default for all three decks.

The other Spells (Monster Reborn, Desires, and Called by) are more or less self-explanatory, with the exception of the rarely played Scapegoat. This Quick-Play Spell is still on the banlist due to its utility for Link Summons. Just make sure to activate it in the opponent's End Phase to avoid the Special Summon restriction.

This also brings us to the Extra Deck Monster, Tri-Brigade Shuraig the Ominous Omen. "Beasts? In my Fairy Deck!? How'ma supposed to Summon this??"  We hear you already scribble in an angry letter heading straight to Kazuki Takahashi himself. Well, be at ease, since this is the main purpose the Beast Type Scapegoat Tokens.

Traps

Again, just some decent staples to fill out the decks with. Notably Ice Dragon's Prison can double up as either a simple revival Trap, or non-targeting + non-destruction removal. Infinite Impermanence is flexible negate that can catch people off-guard, just remember not to activate any other Spells in the column you set it in.

For Crackdown, a common source of confusion is how the card exactly functions. Being a Continuous Trap, the effect only applies as long as it remains face-up on the field. Once that's no longer the case, or a random Jinzo hits the field, the stolen Monster will return to the owner.  

Heavy Storm Duster is similar to Scapegoats, as you don't want to miss out on your Battle Phase. Meaning it's best used during the opponent's End Phase. Especially so that they can't chain their newly set Traps yet!

Rokket: "A Benevolent Force to Be Reckoned With"

Ever wondered why Dragon Link is called exactly that and not just Rokket Link? Well, it's probably because most Rokkets don't do much on their own. They like to explode a lot, which is rather counterproductive when building up a board of Monsters is your goal, not pre-celebrating July 4th.

Assuming you draw 3 Rokket Monsters(including Rokket Tracer/Quick Launch and a Level 4 non-Tuner) you can end on a Borreload Savage Dragon that has two once-per-turn omni-negates. The line would look something like this:

• Normal Summon any Rokket.
• Link Summon Striker Dragon to search Boot Sector Launch.
• Activate the Field Spell to Summon two more Rokkets, including Tracer.
• Use Tracer to destroy the Field Spell and Summon a 4th Rokket.
• Use Striker Dragon and a Rokket to Link Summon Quadborrel Dragon.
• Quadborrel's effect: Discard a card to destroy itself and bring back 2 Rokkets.
• Use Tracer and another Rokket to Synchro Summon Borreload Savage Dragon, which equips the Quadborrel in the GY.
• Use the remaining two Rokkets for either Dillingerous Dragon or Borreload eXcharge Dragon.

Is that reason enough to go first? Well, based on my napkin-math that opening hand is expected every eighth game. The seven other games you will Normal Summon a 1600-1900 ATK Monster and sit on removal Spells.

Heavy commitments to a combo are better leveraged throughout the later parts of the game. Our win condition is to Link Summon either Borreload Dragon or Borrelsword Dragon to OTK the opponent. To help with that, Dillingerous Dragon for example can revive itself once on a later turn. It's slow, but effective. Also consider to save up a Feather Duster or Lightning Storm for when the time is right. 

Furthermore, the two Level 7 extenders Absorouter Dragon and Noctovision Dragon are great at extending your Link Monster plays. They even have great follow-up in the form of Rokket Synchron to bring them back and create Savage Dragon that way. 

The Agent: "Stargazing Fairies"

Alright, let's first clear up some facts so we're all on the same page.

• The Agent of Creation - Venus is useless if you draw the Shine Ball first.
• Rebirth of Parshath is useless if you don't draw exactly Divine Punishment.
• Diviner of the Herald's only real function is to dump Elder Entity N'tss for removal.
• Every. Cupid. In. This. Deck. Is a mistake.
• Victorica, Angel of Bravery is only there for the second effect. The only way to Special Summon it is Monster Reborn.

So what the deck actually does is care all about the Hyperions, Master and Majesty. Step one for that is ideally to use The Agent of Mystery - Earth to search them.

Unfortunately, that requires The Sanctuary in the Sky to be on field. As replacements/searchers for that we have The Sanctum of Parshath, Fallen Sanctuary, The Sacred Waters in the Sky, The Agent of Life - Neptune, and Protector of The Agents - Moon. 

Once that's done, we can use The Agent of Mystery - Earth or The Agent of Entropy - Uranus and preferably Majesty Hyperion to Synchro Summon Masterflare Hyperion. From there onward, we can copy the effect of Celestial Knightlord Parshath. If we control Sanctuary in the Sky, Divine Punishment is a great search. Other decent targets would be Honest, or Protecting Spirit Loagaeth. In case there's no Sanctuary, Master Hyperion and Fallen Sanctuary are fine choices as well.

Reptilianne: "The All-Seeing Reptilian Eye"  

More than the prior two decks, this one is dead set on going second, since debilitating the opponent's Monsters is Reptilianne's main win condition. Now, to put into perspective just how old this archetype is, Reptilianne Vaskii still says "select" instead of "target". At least that doesn't affect its usefulness. In fact, it might be one of the main swing cards the deck has in store to win games with.  

The line to success would be something like the following:

• Use Reptilianne Lamia or Reptilianne Nyami to set an opposing Monster's ATK to 0.
• Link Summon Reptilianne Echidna to reduce another Monster's ATK and search Reptilianne Vaskii.
• Tribute both of their Monsters.

Amazing! Special Summons to use as material for the Link Monster can include Danger!? Tsuchinoko?, Reptilianne Lamia, and Reptilianne Coatl. The 0 ATK debuff on the other hand can also be accomplished by Yamorimori, Reptilianne Naga, Reptilianne Gorgon, Reptilianne Medusa, Reptilianne Poison and Reptilianne Ramifications.

It might seem shallow, but that's just about all this deck is capable of. One last ace can be pulled off with an immensely buffed up Evil Dragon Ananta, which, in addition to not actually being a Dragon, comes with a mandatory destruction effect. It would be absolutely mortifying to find that out when you pass with nothing else on the board, forcing it to self-destruct. Not speaking from experience or anything like that. 

An alternative Extra Deck Summon for this situation is Reptilianne Hydra, though most of the remaining Extra Deck can be ignored. One last advice: Be careful which card has the heavy restriction line "You can only use 1 'Card Name' effect per turn, and only once that turn.". Also, yes, this is an Anime deck. That's why so many bad cards like Earthbound Immortal Ccarayhua are in this list.

Which Loaner Deck will you give a try? Share your opinion in the comments below!