Do you DW?

This year is a big one for Yugioh. This week is another death trap in the format gauntlet with the release of the Gates of the Underworld Structure deck. Released in Japan in June, we now have a legal Dark World Structure deck to wreak havoc on our fellow players. For those that haven't seen the TCG deck list:

  Monsters: 22
1 Battle Fader
1 Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World
1 Belial - Marquis of Darkness
1 Broww, Huntsman of Dark World
1 Brron, Mad King of Dark World
1 Card Guard (Replaces Giant Germ)
1 Ceruli, Guru of Dark World
1 Goblin King (Replaces Giant Germ)
1 Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World
1 Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World
1 Grave Squirmer
1 Gren, Tactician of Dark World
1 Kahkki, Guerilla of Dark World
1 Newdoria
1 Reign-Beaux, Overlord of Dark World
1 Renge, Gatekeeper of Dark World (Replaces Gaap, the Divine Soldier)
1 Sangan
1 Scarr, Scout of Dark World
1 Sillva, Warlord of Dark World
1 Snoww, Unlight of Dark World
1 Tragoedia
1 Zure, Knight of Dark World (Replaces Darkness Neosphere)

Spells: 9
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Card Destruction
1 Dark Eruption (Replaces Recurring Nightmare)
1 Dark World Dealings
1 Dark World Lightning
2 Gateway to Dark World
1 Terraforming
1 The Gates of Dark World

Traps: 9
1 Dark Bribe
1 Dark Deal (Replaces Demise of the Land)
1 Dark Scheme
1 Deck Devastation Virus
1 Eradicator Epidemic Virus
1 Escape from the Dark Dimension
1 Mind Crush
1 The Forces of Darkness
1 The Transmigration Prophecy

For those who don't know, Dark Worlds are a set of Dark Attribute, mostly fiend monsters. The theme revolves around activating their effects when the monsters are discarded during a card effect. Examples would be Goldd, which summons itself when it is discarded or Broww, which allows you to draw a card when it is discarded. They have a number of themed spells and traps that discard cards in your hand. The Gates of the Underworld structure deck gives DW's the ability to search out key cards in their deck and gives you more options for discarding effects. The Dark World monsters also have secondary effects when your opponent causes the discard; the structure deck comes with a new card that forces this action.

Playability of the structure is a hot debate right now. Grapha is such a despicable boss monster that it alone (well, combined with Snoww) is a win condition. Grapha can be compared to Hyperion, except that Grapha can be searched out of the deck and is summoned from the graveyard for bouncing a monster back to your hand. That additional summoning condition (you can normal or special summon it any way you like) has an extremely low cost. It is almost costless as you keep your monster and maintain the same amount of field presence (if not more since you control a 2700 ATK body). When you put Grapha into the graveyard by the many discard effects, it will destroy ANY card on the opponent's side of the field. It is a deadly boss monster that is hard to keep down with most main deck options. However, it alone isn't the only reason the deck is so powerful. Snoww and the field card Gates of the Underworld are perhaps the deck's greatest cards. Gates of the Underworld is slightly more balanced with the legality of 3 Mystical Space Typhoon. The wording on the card makes it less of a liability than our old friend Dragon Ravine:

All Fiend type monsters gain 300 ATK and DEF. Once per turn: You can banish 1 Fiend-Type monster from your Graveyard; discard 1 Fiend-Type monster, then draw 1 card.

The ATK and DEF buff allow Grapha, Goldd and Silva to attack over most cards your opponent will play. The second effect is obviously the best part, and is similar to Dragon Ravine, a potential -2 to your resources. The Gates also have a cost for using the effect: to remove a Fiend from your Graveyard. That is far less painful when your opponent chains MST to your field spell, as you will not lose any additional cards in your hand. Snoww <3s Gates and gives you an idea of what sort of strategies you will have to outplay:

If this card is discarded to the Graveyard by a card effect: If it was discarded from your hand to your Graveyard by an opponent's card effect, you can target 1 monster in your opponent's Graveyard; add 1 "Dark World" card from your Deck to your hand, then Special Summon that target (if any) in face-up Defense Position.

The new Problem Solving text makes it slightly more confusing to some players, but basically Snoww can add any 1 Dark World card from your deck to your hand. If your opponent was unfortunate enough to hit Snoww with Gottoms's effect, or you forced them to make you discard through Celuri, you can Reborn a monster from their graveyard. The search is fantastic as you can add ANY "Dark World" card to your hand. That means Grapha, Dark World Lightning, or even Gateway to Dark world. That makes Snoww the ultimate searcher and can grab a plethora of effects from your deck.

So why do people say this deck isn't as good as it seems? A lot of players like to compare Dark Worlds to Infernities, a deck that is fairly easy to side against. They are a graveyard based theme, so a few obviously choices are Dimensional Fissure and Macro Cosmos. D.D. Crow, Soul Release and Debunk can throw a wrench into a couple of plays too. Since their monsters are all Dark Attribute, you can use Shadow Imprisoning Mirror to stop effects and Consecrated Light to stop the summons and attacks. Right now, we are siding against Light Monsters and Graveyard effects, so you may have 9 spots to commit to stop Dark Worlds. Let's just hope that it doesn't hurt your match against other decks.

Of course, some of the best Infernity decks used counter-sides in their Side Deck. D. Fissure and Shadow Imprisoning may not be much of an issue as Dark Worlds can run 7 Mystical Space Typhoons. Consecrated Light is a great target for Cyber Dragon or even Smashing Ground. D.D. Crow may stop Grapha for a turn, but at what cost? The fact that Grapha will destroy 1 card when it is discarded keeps both players’ card advantage equal:
Activate Dark World Lightning to destroy your opponent's f/d Solemn Warning, and then discard Grapha.
Grapha activates in the graveyard and destroys your opponent's Consecrated Light.
You can then normal summon a Dark (finally) and use Grapha's effect to try to summon itself.
Your opponent would then chain D.D. Crow.
End Result: Opponent lost 3 cards, you lose 2 cards.

In my opinion, the deck has so many options against typical side deck options, that it cannot be ignored. It even has main-deck cards that will clear sided-in obstacles. Perhaps the only weakness to the deck is player error. Deck construction will also play a large part of the problem (until the deck tops a major event) as Dark Worlds have trouble building momentum from nothing. Dark Worlds even have 2 World Premiere cards to look forward to in Photon Shockwave!

The Dark World deck in the OCG did very well during the Nationals early this year, but is starting to fall off for the ever popular Blackwings, Agents, and new decks. There are a few sides that are growing in popularity, like Gemini Imps and D.D. Crow, but I like to believe the overall answer to beating Dark Worlds is to just out-sustain them. Even looking at side decks, there isn't anything groundbreaking for the OCG. A few sides will definitely help, but the key to beating the Dark World deck mostly relies on how well your own deck plays.