TCG Ghostricks and How to Play Them

[Mehmani]

I've seen a number of Ghostrick guides as of late and thought I would contribute one of my own. I've been playtesting them for a while and today at the Sneak finally had the opportunity to get copies. I managed to get playsets of all of them except Lantern and Alucard (I got 2 Alucards). They're a delightfully tricksy deck and great fun to play and play against compared to conveyer belt top tier decks, and with five support cards confirmed for Legacy of the Valiant (including Mary, which rectifies speed issues and Dullahan, which gives Ghostricks a genuine threat beyond Alucard) they look like they can only get better. Here's a mediocre guide on playing TCG Ghostricks. 

 

 

What are the problems with the deck? For starters, you will never have any first turn presence unless you tech in Tour Guide, and even then you'll be relying on drawing a Semi-Limited card. For the most part, you will filling up your backrow and setting a Ghostrick monster on your first turn. If this bothers you, don't play the damn deck. Ghostricks are a lot slower than most decks this format. Slow they may be, but Ghostricks are not a stall deck. That's a pretty big misconception - their strategy is disrupt and whittle. That is, you destroy their backrow with Alucard(s) and use Ghoul to rack up damage, gradually. You will likely not OTK with Ghostricks. You aim to stop your opponent from even starting moves - before Ghostricks really work their magic, you have to extinguish your opponent's options. You can always bail yourself out with Scare when your opponent is bearing down on you, in any case. 

 

Level 3s

 

[spoiler=Ghostrick Stein]

 

Stein is arguably the most important card in Ghostricks. It tutors Mansion, which is absolutely essential for Ghostricks to do anything, but more importantly to protect you from damage, as Ghostricks don't put up much of a fight without Mansion halving damage. Stein has decent ATK and goes into Level 3 Xyz. He's great to have around for Ghoul's effect, as with Ghoul and him you can get a 2700 beater. I run Stein at 3.[/spoiler]

 

[spoiler=Ghostrick Ghoul]

 

Ghoul has not really got a good press, with many people saying that it should be run at 1 or 2, or that it is at odds with the deck goal of Ghostricks. They are wrong - Ghoul is an essential card if you want Ghostrick to have any beating power whatsoever, and for that reason alone it should be run at 3. It has the second-highest non-Xyz DEF of any Ghostrick, which means that it won't always get killed when Mansion's not up. It's a Level 3 for Alucard. It turns Stein into a 2700 beater that grabs you a Spell or Trap and Alucard into a 2900 beater that can take out a set card. Good card.[/spoiler]

 

[spoiler=Ghostrick Jiangshi]

 

Tutor of the archetype, although as archetype-specific tutors go it's no Darksoul. Put simply, if you've only got Jiangshi out, you can only tutor Specter and Lantern, while if you have Jiangshi and two Ghostricks out, you can get Ghoul, Stein or another Jiangshi (I don't mention Jiangshi + one Ghostrick because Witch is really the only L2 Ghostrick you should run). It has reasonable DEF in the event you get caught without Mansion up. Hey, it's the tutor. Run it at 3.[/spoiler]

 

Level 2s

 

[spoiler=Ghostrick Witch]

 

Witch lets Alucard destroy any monster and enables Djinn Buster plays. It has very good ATK for a Level 2, which helps if you have Ghoul out. It's flipping effect is decent, but Witch is pretty dull in the context of the deck. It's not a vital card. I would suggest playing it at 2, although if you (for some reason) need a bit more Ghostrick Witch in your life, add another. [/spoiler]

 

[spoiler=Ghostrick Yuki-onna]

 

If you want to play a more stall-oriented Ghostrick deck then Yuki-onna is the card for you. It leaves cards sitting ducks for Alucard is good for mind games when you Set a Ghostrick monster. It's not a particularly proactive card in the deck, though - if you want something more aggressive, then play Witch. If you're running Witch, maybe play Yuki-onna at 1. If you're not running Witch, play it at 2 or 3.[/spoiler]

 

Level 1s

 

[spoiler=Ghostrick Lantern]

 

A really useful card to have around. It's less limited than Specter in that it can stop attacks when you have Mansion up and give you reinforcements for next turn, plus extra material for Ghostrick Scare. 800 isn't too bad for Ghoul, but once Dullahan comes out, Lantern will have a far more important role in the deck. Run at 3.[/spoiler]

 

[spoiler=Ghostrick Specter]

 

Specter adds some much needed draw power to the deck and replaces a fallen Ghostrick like-for-like. It frustrates opponents that have got rid of Mansion and are trying to break through. Specter is a useful +0 for bailing yourself out of a tight spot and it will get even better when Dullahan is released. Run at 3.[/spoiler]

 

Spells and Traps

 

[spoiler=Ghostrick Mansion]

 

You will be relying on this card to keep you alive a lot of the time. It enables Ghostricks to do some damage without having to clear the field and prevents you from getting OTKed. It allows you to instantly attack directly with Ghostrick Scare and will stem the flow of a dynamic meta deck at full pelt by halving all the damage you take. There is no reason not to run it at 3.[/spoiler]

 

[spoiler=Ghostrick Scare]

 

I initially thought that Scare might be a bit cloggy and was only worth running at 2. I was wrong. It can turn the tables on an attacking opponent looking to exploit Mansion when activated defensively and leave them open to "death by Alucard" come your turn or be activated in your turn with Mansion up to leave your opponent open. I run it at 3.[/spoiler]

 

[spoiler=Ghostrick Vanish]

 

Put simply, Vanish is useless. You could be running far better generic Traps than this. Give it a wide berth.[/spoiler]

 

Xyz Monsters

 

[spoiler=Ghostrick Alucard]

 

When going for Rank 3s, you will be going for this most of the time. It's ATK isn't much, but it's supplemented healthily by Ghoul. It draws attacks to itself to protect your face-down Jiangshis and can kill 2 face-down cards. When it dies, you get back another Ghostrick from your Graveyard. Of course you should run it at 3.[/spoiler]

 

Other Cards

 

For interesting techs, I would suggest Recurring Nightmare, Swords of Concealing Light and Dark Armed Dragon, to be run at 2, 2 and 1 respectively. I've tested a bunch of weird techs, like Dark Mirror Force, but for the most part they're all illogical or situational. Recurring Nightmare is important as Alucard is the only Ghostrick that can get stuff back from the Graveyard, so you need more Graveyard recycling. Concealing works with Mansion and allows you to attack directly, as well as leaving your opponent prey to Alucard. It's a tad slow, though, not to mention cloggy at 3. DAD is self-explanatory, it's just a bloody good card. It's only obstacle is control of your Graveyard - to rectify this problem, run Call of the Haunted at 2 or 3. If you find three too cloggy, still side the third one. If you find yourself overwhelmed and defenceless it's a real lifesaver. It speeds up the deck too. 

 

Another card that should probably be run (and can always be sided if you find the deck too monster-heavy) is Tour Guide. It's an instant Alucard/Rank 3 and like CotH adds a little bit more speed to the deck. Run it at 2. Morphing Jar #2 has been mentioned as a fun tech and to me it's no more than that - yes, it's fun and doesn't obstruct the deck goal, but it relies on luck a great deal. If you've got a couple of Ghouls or Jiangshis face-down, they could get replaced by Specters and Lanterns, ruining your chances of going for an Xyz other than Slacker Magician (which should be run at 1 or 2 in your Extra) as well as preventing you from drawing the Level 1s, which are really useful to have in the hand. By all means play it if you like it, but for me it's just a gimmick.

 

With Ghostricks, you will need to play a large backrow all the time. Ghostricks are not very good at defending themselves and need substantial backrow support to function properly. 

 

[spoiler=Decklist]

COMING SOON[/spoiler]

[Sora1499]

What are your thoughts about TGU and Morphing Jar #2 in this deck?

[Mehmani]

I'll add something about those two; I already mentioned Tour Guide's usefulness in passing in one of the introductory paragraphs.

[Maeriberii Haan]

Is witch really necessary at 2? I found Yuki-Onna to be better due to its ability to remove an important threat quite reliably, eventhough witch is instaneous, I really like the permanent f\d effect from Yuki-Onna.

[Althemia]

Don't see the appeal to Yukionna. It conflicts with the point of the deck being to stun your opponent under House and swing at them directly constantly. I wouldn't bother playing it because you have to actually ram with it and for that reason Witch is better because it's better stats and basically already does what Yukionna does. Even then, I'd only play 1-2 Witch.

I don't think I'd play 3 Ghoul mainboard either. You'll want 2 in the Main because the point of the deck atm is to make Alucard a boss actually worth using and Ghoul will pump him up to the point where he's indestructible, but I don't think I would play any more than 2 main. Play a 3rd in the side so that you can side Deck Dev / Eradicator in against bad match-ups.

Also I would never play Call in this deck, a slow card in an already slow deck imo.



This is what I would play, with it being tailored to counter against the metagame. (Though I'm still testing Morphing Jar #2, unsure as to whether I like it or not.)

[Mehmani]

A fun variant I've been working on has 3 Leviair and Macro Cosmos/Dimensional Fissure for an anti-meta spin, it tests sort of well. Koko's right to play 3 MST and PoD, so I'll drop the DAD and one of my Witches for extras of those.

[Maeriberii Haan]

How reliant are Ghostricks to their Field Spell?

[Mehmani]

Like Rulers with Dragon Ravine - it really, really helps but the deck can still function without it.

[Delibirb]

Morphing Jar 2 can actually be pretty decent if you combine it with a Skull Invitation while your opponent has more field presence. It would be smart only to do it while you have no other monsters so as not to kill yourself, but it can really do some massive burn damage.

[werewolfjedi]

with the new era of support for them with doll and succubus, I would suggest this gets an update.