Yu-Gi-Oh! Rogue Report: Spyral Stun
One of the most historically powerful decks of all time, at various points in Yugioh’s history, has been SPYRAL. This amalgamation of non-Hard-Once-Per-Turn swarming effects and topdeck manipulation is a fan favorite, first debuting in The Dark Illusion, but truly coming into its own upon the release of the Link-2, SPYRAL Double Helix. Widely considered one of the best Links of all time, this monster pushed SPYRAL to new heights, alongside the now-banned SPYRAL Master Plan, but since that option no longer exists, the deck has plateaued. That said, SPYRAL did receive a brand-new piece of support in the 25th Anniversary Tin: Dueling Heroes Mega Pack, in the form of SPYRAL Double Agent, and while it seems unassuming, there’s more than meets the eye here. In this article, I’d like to posit there exists a yet-unexplored gameplan for SPYRAL, not one containing mind-bending combos and a million negates, but a consistent, powerful stun strategy that can readily perform going either first or second. Presenting: SPYRAL Stun.
First, let’s touch on the card that pulls this all together — SPYRAL Double Agent. This monster can summon itself to your opponent’s field, and reveal the top card of each player’s Deck, as well as provide a meager bonus to your key monsters’ ATK. As a comparison, I’d like to interrogate a card not present…at all in my list, being SPYRAL GEAR Drone; this monster only reveals the top card when Summoned, with no free condition, but possesses a GY effect on the back end to recur your Super Agent. I feel that SPYRAL no longer has sufficient payoff for playing Drone & Machine Duplication (with the other target being Quik-Fix) given the tremendous amount of hate in the format. Instead, I’m looking to lock my opponent’s board using a number of Floodgates, and occasionally use Double Agent as an extra body for Double Helix lines. By giving our opponent a LIGHT Fiend that notably can’t be used for any summon, or Tributed, we can flip something like a Gozen Match or Rivalry of Warlords and suddenly stop their play entirely.
SPYRAL has been used for combos since its inception, but people forget the strength of the Deck as a midrange strategy, being able to go +1 off of your SPYRAL Resort each turn, grind the opponent out with SPYRAL GEAR - Last Resort and SPYRAL Sleeper, or attack directly, now, with Agent over and over. The deck can very readily break parity in a way few other decks can, and recur its resources easily. Moreover, playing this density of floodgates means we’re able to run a playset of a card not seen in a hot second — Forbidden Droplet, a potent boardbreaker that can relieve us of our own stun effects in a pinch. All told, we’re certainly able to make use of these tools in a novel way.
In general, we’re looking to lock ourselves under EARTH, and theoretically Warrior, and our opponents under LIGHT & Fiend. That means the opposing deck with the greatest potential counterplay would be Unchained, due to naturally being Fiends, but luckily Maindecked Book of Eclipse allows us to flip their key monsters face-down before they make their Link; it’s a similar story for R-ACE, Mikanko, and more, coupling the strength of game-slowing floodgates with disruption. The one caveat is that cards like Lightning Storm are, as expected, strong versus this style of deck, but thankfully something like Barricadeborg Blocker can at least insulate our SPYRAL Resort. We’re generally looking to find a Double Agent & Floodgate in hand, and enough material to make a Double Helix onboard, though ending on something like Linkuriboh+I:P Masquerena is shockingly potent, as you’re able to go into an S:P Little Knight under either lock, with all components being DARK Cyberse.
The main thing this particular list loses compared to traditional SPYRAL is an accessible Spell/Trap negate, though you’re certainly able to play cards in your Sidedeck to make up for that failing. Debatably, you could also include a package for Magicians’ Souls, although unlike previously, you don’t get to plus to infinity by sending a Master Plan. While I am no SPYRAL expert, by any means, I do feel this variant of the deck has legs, and I’ve taken it to success vs things like Purrley & Mikanko, despite the rough Unchained matchup. Classic lines like Quik-Fix into Big Red into Quik-Fix are still present, and while the deck is less explosive, you’re still generating value slowly but surely; in many ways, this operates not dissimilarly to Guru Control, which is hilarious given that strategy was polar opposite to SPYRAL’s Link Swarming for the majority of its lifespan. Another option would be to pivot more heavily into the EARTH side of the deck, with Naturia & maybe even Vernusylph.
The argument for the inclusion of Naturia mostly comes down to the inherent synergy the strategy has with Naturia Mole Cricket, being able to turn on its effect with SPYRAL Double Agent most of the time. From there, you’d be able to Summon Naturia Camellia and your choice of either Naturia Vein or Sunflower, for the negates this strategy craves, sending a copy of Naturia Sacred Tree and searching Naturia Blessing to reborn the Mole Cricket, making Naturia Beast. There’s merit there, and while I couldn’t find ratios I liked for this particular package, exploring ways to use Mole Cricket & Naturia outside of the well-known Naturia Runick is certainly on my list for deckbuilding!
This is my personal list, although there’s a lot which could be changed, given SPYRAL essentially has no locks whatsoever, and invites the use of external packages like the aforementioned Naturia. Cards like Book of Eclipse and Forbidden Droplet carve out our main interactive pieces, in the place of other options for those slots like Dark Ruler No More, and I’ve opted to include the entire 6 of the Type/Attribute floodgates, with the curious exception of There Can Be Only One, which doesn’t really do what we’d like. Geonator Transverser & Reproducus are in the list to offset the inherent issues with Double Agent against something like Unchained, either giving our opponent’s a different Type/Attribute, or manually changing it. Due to the amount of material SPYRAL sets up, that’s not really an issue thankfully, and would be even better insulated if the Naturia package found its way in here, using Vein to help against boardbreakers, or Sunflower against Nibiru.
With that, I’ve concluded my look into a more Stun-oriented SPYRAL Strategy! I wouldn’t count these agents out just yet, as even though their best card sits in the banned section of the Forbidden & Limited List, there’s a ton beyond that to play around with. I’d love to hear your ideas for these super-spies, so be sure to leave a comment below!
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