The Deck Garage: Exodia, Underdog of Dark World

Ah, Exodia. The big bad monster that Yugi used to kick Kaiba's a** way back when Yu-Gi-Oh started. Ever since, it's been something of a celebrity, with duelists everywhere trying (and often failing) to make a viable deck based around summoning it. Nowadays, Exodia has fallen into ruin, being something of a novelty. Even recent exodia support (in the form of Exodius, the Ultimate Forbidden Lord) has failed to raise it from the ruins of its former popularity.

Right, enough reminiscing. Today I bring to you a deck that is still somewhat in the early stages, but has a very interesting combo making it one of my more intriguing decklists. This deck takes the old 'Exodia Underdog' theme and takes it to an entirely new level. Presenting to you: Exodia, Underdog of Dark World! (I know, it sounds a bit corny)

Monsters:
1 Exodia the Forbidden One
1 Left Arm of the Forbidden One
1 Right Arm of the Forbidden One
1 Left Leg of the Forbidden One
1 Right Leg of the Forbidden One
2 Simorgh, Bird of Ancestry
3 Molten Zombie
3 Sacred Crane
3 Luster Dragon
3 Gene-Warped Warwolf
3 Gemini Elf

Spells:
3 Heart of the Underdog
3 Hand Destruction
3 Dark World Grimoire
3 Magical Mallet

Traps:
3 Solemn Judgment
3 Compulsory Evacuation Device

The trick to this deck is combining Heart of the Underdog and Dark World Grimoire. With the eighteen normal monsters in the deck (including the two Simorgh, Bird of Divinity which counts as a normal monster while in your hand) you'll almost always have to discard during the end phase. This is where Dark World Grimoire comes in: when you discard, you use the effect of the Grimoire to special summon a monster you discard during the end phase. So, when you use Heart of the Underdog and come up with several normal monsters, you can normal summon one, then special summon another during the end phase.

Molten Zombie and Sacred Crane are here to take advantage of the special effect of the Grimoire. You discard them in the end phase, the Grimoire brings them back to life, and they give you a free draw.

Simorgh, Bird of Divinity doesn't serve much of a purpose, apart from being a huge beatstick with something of a special summon ability. You can tribute a Luster Dragon for a quick summon.

You won't always get the cards you need on the first turn, so Magical Mallet and Hand Destruction are here to help mill faster through your deck, and get the cards you need.

Finally, Solemn Judgment is essential for protecting your key cards, as it's too easy nowadays to destroy cards. Even a single spell could mean doom for this deck, so Solemn Judgment protects your cards.

This deck has many flaws, so you want to try and get your combo going as soo as possible, to reduce chances of interferance.

Here's a little trick to remember: while Dark World Grimoire only lets you special summon one of the discarded monsters, if you special summon a Sacred Crane or Molten Zombie, you will draw using their effects and exceed the hand limit again. Then, you can reuse the effect of Dark World Grimoire. In this way, it is possible to use its effect several times during one end phase.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this article. I'll be back next time with some more card analysis!

Duel with Honor!
~Geno