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A Skill Drain Deck uses the Trap Card Skill Drain to remove the negative effects from monsters like Goblin Attack Force, Giant Orc, and Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei and use them for pure power purposes.
Aside from the cards listed above, Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast is a much-played monster and Beast King Barbaros is a high valued monster with Skill Drain. They can be Normal Summoned without Tributes being offered since it has a provision for it in its effect, which in turn, cuts their ATKs. However, Skill Drain would remove the ATK limit, so you'd immediately have their original ATK. A great combo is to also include Beast Machine King Barbaros Ür with the above monsters to surprise your opponent with a high ATK monster. Monsters such as Zombyra the Dark which can be played without skill drain are perfect for skill drain decks for versatility.
Cards like Chainsaw Insect, Mystical Beast Serket, Majestic Mech - Ohka, Mist Archfiend, and Ultimate Obedient Fiend, cards with otherwise questionable advantages, suddenly become very playable with Skill Drain active. Giant Kozaky is perhaps the best to play with this deck, since it has 2500 ATK and 2400 DEF, and will not be destroyed by itself. Armor Exe (If "Skill Drain" is active and "Armor Exe" is Summoned, or if "Skill Drain" is activated after "Armor Exe" is Summoned, in both cases "Armor Exe" CAN attack the same turn it was Summoned. ) and Naturia Spiderfang are nice additions, though are not as usable if Skill Drain is not available compared to other 4-Star monsters of their ATK.
And of course, since Skill Drain will not negate effects that do not resolve on the field, Solemn Judgment and Divine Wrath are very worthy choices. A Cat of Ill Omen and Mask of Darkness may be necessary in order to draw into Skill Drain or to recover them. Berserk Dragon is also a great addition to this deck since this deck has many lvl 8 monsters thats easy to summon like Beast King Barbaros and since its attack decreases, then, you have a great deck.
Other cards to negate with Skill Drain are Yubel, Yubel - Terror Incarnate and Yubel - The Ultimate Nightmare, since their first effects resolve on the field, and Skill Drain also takes care of Yubel's effect of growing into her other forms.
You may consider including Final Attack Orders in the deck as well, as it will negate the effects of many of the cards you will use, such as Goblin Attack Force and Giant Orc.
With the release of Forbidden Chalice in the Raging Battle set, Skill Drain decks have seen a significant increase in power, as this card allows you to negate the effect of one monster, and increase its ATK by 400. An ideal use for this card in a Skill Drain deck would be to activate it on either Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast or Beast King Barbaros if Skill Drain is not on the field, effectively restoring their ATK back to its original amount and increasing it by a further 400.
Recommended Cards
Monster Cards
- Vice Dragon
- Beast Machine King Barbaros Ür x3
- Giant Kozaky
- Mystical Beast Serket
- Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast x3
- B.E.S. Big Core MK-2 x3
- Beast King Barbaros x3
- Armor Exe
- Majestic Mech - Goryu/Mist Archfiend
- Berserk Dragon
- A Cat of Ill Omen
- Ultimate Obedient Fiend
- Mask of Darkness
Spell Cards:
- A Deal with Dark Ruler
- Big Bang Shot
- Forbidden Chalice
- Heavy Storm
- Mystical Space Typhoon
- Gold Sarcophagus
Trap Cards:
- Skill Drain
- Lineage of Destruction
- Call of the Haunted
- Mirror Force
Specific Types of Skill Drain
Dark Skill Drain
Unlike TeleDAD, this deck revolves around the cards Skill Drain, Mystic Tomato and Forbidden Chalice. Because most of the monster effects work in the Graveyard (such as those of Tomato, Destiny Hero - Malicious, and Plaguespreader Zombie), Skill Drain does not hurt the deck - it just just hurts the opponent's deck.
Zombie Skill Drain
Zombie Skill Drain is a viable deck type because of the card Pyramid Turtle. The fact that it searches monsters based on DEF (with a high upper limit) means that it can search out powerful beatsticks such as Ryu Kokki, Malevolent Mech - Goku En, and Paladin of the Cursed Dragon, which other decks simply cannot do.
Plant Skill Drain
Though not as common an option as other types of Skill Drain, Plants have two large assets that still work with Skill Drain. The first is Lonefire Blossom, which will work under Skill Drain's influence if it tributes itself. The other is Tytannial, Princess of Camellias, which also works under Skill Drain's influence if it tributes itself, and has the advantage of having high ATK and the ability to be special summoned with Lonefire. Also of note is Mystic Tomato, which also has an effect that activates off-field.
Light Skill Drain
Light decks have the large advantage of the card Honest to boost their monsters' ATK scores. Thus, LIGHT is a common option for Skill Drain decks, which can dominate in ATK power with that card alone.
Little City
Main article: Little City Deck
Little City uses Skill Drain in combination with Skyscraper, which can boost the ATK scores of attacking Elemental Heroes. This is combined with powerful, level 4 heroes such as Elemental Hero Captain Gold, Elemental Hero Neos Alius, and Elemental Hero Stratos. Honest is also often used in this deck.
Necrofear Skill Drain
This deck focuses on getting fiends in the graveyard to remove from play to special summon Dark Necrofear. Many of the monsters used in this deck have effects that activate in the graveyard such as Giant Germ, Newdoria, and Slate Warrior, so Skill Drain can be very effective & deadly choice for this deck.