Welcome to the Ritual Territory
With the new recent skill, card support, and being really cheap to build, you might be wondering "is the deck any good now?" and I'm here to answer this question, give you an idea on how to play the deck with this new skill and talk about its weaknesses.
Skill
Released on February 17th, Nekroz of Dragonflame aims to help Nekroz players by "fixing" their hand, which is really good for 2 reasons: 1-making the first effect of Loading... worth to be used and abused and 2- giving consistency to the deck, which it desperately needs.
- Nekroz Ritual Monsters
- Nekroz non Ritual Monsters
- Nekroz Ritual Spells
- Nekroz Trap Cards
- More Main Deck Cards
- Extra Deck Monsters
Nekroz Ritual Monsters
These cards are the heart and soul of the deck, they're responsible for your offense and removal. They all have effects on hand and on field, so pay attention to both.
Nekroz of Areadbhair
This is the card to build your deck around. Notice that you can use Nekroz of Dragonflame by activating any effect of Loading... as long as you have a Loading... on your graveyard for your skill to put back on your deck, meaning you can activate the skill by negating monster effect and if you have a Loading... on graveyard, you can get 2 cards back to your hand. 99% of the time you'll be activating the skill using Loading... on hand effect, so do plan your plays around that.
Besides being responsible to activate the skill, you don't need me to convince you how good a non target negate that banishes is, right? Loading... is really good on many turn 1 boards, but it does require some investiment, so it's not always worth it. Also, notice how the negation effect tributes for cost, meaning you won't be getting advantage from monsters that searches other cards when tributed (more on at later).
At first I believed this card should be played at 3 copies, since, as said before, it is the most important card of the deck and you want to see it as much as possible. But now I'm experimenting with 2 copies and running more searchers and I'm finding the deck more consistent and with a higher ceiling, but also it's more susceptible to an Loading... ending my whole turn, so it's up to you to decide how you want to build your deck.
Nekroz of Brionac
This is your searcher. Loading... can get you to any Nekroz monster including Loading... , so it is a must have.
The bounce effect doesn't come up very often, but it's always a good option to have.
Nekroz of Trishula
This is one of the best cards in your deck. It's non target banishing from hand, hand and graveyard. It's so good most of your opponents will be playing around it by either having no cards in hand on the end of their turn or having a way to discard them, so always remember that Loading... must banish from field, hand and graveyard and if there is no card to banish on at least one of those places at the end of the chain, Loading... 's effect fizzles.
Loading... is a card that you won't be summoning in your first turn, but you might want to have him on your hand for the targetting protection.
Nekroz of Unicore
This is the card you want to summon on your turn 1. It negates ALL effects of monsters special summoned from the extra deck, which some decks (like Lyrilusc) have a hard time outing. It is also one of the few monsters that can be summoned using a monster with the same level, so it's not hard to summon it.
The recycling effect can be pretty useful, hence why you can play it at 3 copies. But thing is, the skill can recycle stuff for you and it's not very likely that you'll play a grind game, so it's up to you how many copies you want to run.
Nekroz of Clausolas
Loading... used to be really important to search your ritual spells, but with the new skill, you can just get them yourself. The quick play extra deck monster negation with the attack debuff was pretty good too, but Loading... is better in 99% of the time. I don't think I used the on field effect, but I did use the hand effect a couple of times, so I can't recommend more than 1 copy.
Nekroz of Valkyrus
Loading... is your assurance of having a next turn. Ending your opponent's Battle Phase is really good and there aren't many ways of stopping this effect. A board with Loading... and Loading... is good enough for some decks and if you can search a card but don't know what to decide, Loading... is a safe pick.
The on field effect can be pretty good, specially if you have monsters that search cards when tributed to get you even more advantage. There is a world where you acivate the skill, get Loading... summon it and use the effect to draw more cards, but there aren't that many hands that allow that play and you'd probably be better summoning Unicore and keeping Valkyrus in hand.
How much you want to run depends on how much you think you must stall, but I think 2 is a good number.
Nekroz of Gungnir
Loading... most used effect is the on hand effect to protect a monster from destruction. Unfortunately the destruction effect isn't that good anymore, there aren't many decks that stops at 1 pop, so the most use you're getting out of it is protecting a Loading... or Loading... , so it is only recommended at 1 copy.
Nekroz of Catastor
Loading... isn't commonly used in most builds, but it can have a home in your deck if you want to get back non ritual monsters from the graveyard. Most of the time you already must've used their effects when tributed, so I don't think there's much you can do with that effect. The on field effect depends on actually going into battle and we're way past effects like that being relevant.
Nekroz of Decisive Armor
Loading... can be pretty good, the facedown pop effect is one of the few ways Nekroz can deal with backrow. Unfortunately it isn't a quick effect, so you're probably going to be stopped before you activate the effect. It has good stats and the on hand effect to buff a Nekroz monster's attack can be quite good, but it is too situational in my opinion.
Nekroz non Ritual monsters
Many of them weren't on many decklists before Nekroz of Dragonflame , but now some of them are pretty important to generate advantage.
Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz
Until the new wave of Nekroz support on the OCG, Loading... was the best non ritual Nekroz monster. And since Konami probably will take their sweet time until bringing them to Duel Links, Loading... is the best non ritual Nekroz monster in Duel Links, as it can serve as the whole tribute for a ritual summon and search a Warrior monster when tributed. So, as you can imagine, it will be part of most of your plays, you can play it at 2, but playing it at 3 is the safe option in my opinion, since you can even use Loading... as a tribute for a ritual summon, search Loading... and activate the skill to fix your hand if needed.
Ariel, Priestess of the Nekroz
Loading... can be tributed for Loading... effect and Loading... ritual summon, but most importantly, Loading... is here to be tributed for Loading... 's effect and search Loading... . You don't want to play 3 and brick on it and playing only 1 makes it so you're not likely to have it on your first turn, so playing 2 seems to be the perfect amount.
By the way, even though Loading... looks like a spellcaster, it is actually a Psychic monster, so don't be surprised if your opponent targets it trying to banish your Loading... .
Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz
Loading... can be tributed for Loading... effect and Loading... ritual summon, but most importantly, Loading... is here to be tributed for Loading... 's effect and search Loading... , Loading... or Loading... .
The effect on being banished is actually really good, as it can set up a Loading... play and can insulate you against a Loading... effect trying to cut off your Loading... Battle Phase ending effect.
Dance Princess of the Nekroz
Loading... requires some set up to get the effect off, but it can be pretty good for stall decks (more on that later). The on field effects are really good against disruption, but it takes a normal summon that could and probably will be used to search more Nekroz cards (you would think that, in this meta and at this stage in the game, Konami would give the ritual deck a form of protection and set a Loading... if we're going second, but life isn't so easy for ritual players).
Exa, Enforcer of the Nekroz
Loading... it's ok if you pair it with Loading... , but I can't recommend it. Special summoning a non ritual Nekroz monster from the banish zone can be good on some situations, but overall I don't think it's worth running it.
Zefrasaber, Swordmaster of the Nekroz
Loading... can be a good target of an Loading... search, specially if you know your opponent is running spell negation, but it is pretty situational.
Zefraxa, Flame Beast of the Nekroz
Loading... just isn't useful. Having a card float from your hand when you could've been holding better cards instead isn't very smart.
Loading...Nekroz Ritual spells
Not much changed, you're still running the same ritual spells. Only two things you have to know is: 1- now you have more good options to send from extra deck using Loading... ; 2- you can get your ritual spells much easier using the skill. That being said, I recommend running 1 copy of each so you minimize the chances of bricking with them, but running an extra copy of one of Loading... or Loading... is fine, specially if you fear losing them on the banish zone.
Nekroz Trap Cards
Someday... I still believe...
More Main Deck Cards
They mostly work as searchers. You want to open with at 1 Loading... or Loading... going second because they're easy targets for Loading... and having that out of the way you can play with one less disruption. In case they don't negate them, you can sense if they still have some form of negation and play accordingly or just play knowing there's no opposition coming from your opponent.
Having more than 1 of them in hand means you'll pretty much have a dead card until your next turn (if even get there), so good luck with that.
You can draw as much copies of Loading... , as they're not once per turn, and you can send a ritual spell using Loading... 's effect, get 2 Nekroz monsters using the skill and use Loading... to get a low level ritual and get that ritual spell on your hand, so you're always happy to see Loading... .
Loading... can be pretty good, specially when all of your ritual monsters on hand effect involves discarding them, so you can easily fill up your graveyard and recycle those monsters and get 2 cards on top of it. It is a brick on your starting hand, so I can't recommend running more than 1 if you want to run it at all.
Extra Deck Monsters
Nekroz doesn't rely much on summoning from your Extra Deck, so most of these cards are here to be sent from your Extra Deck to you graveyard so you can get their effects on graveyard. There are a bunch of other combination of high level Extra Deck monsters that serves to summon more than 1 Nekroz ritual monster using Loading... , so you can get any of them. I didn't use them very often, but it can come up. The most important high level monster, in my opinion, is a level 9 monster that can summon both Loading... and Loading... .
With Loading... on our deck Loading... finally gets a home in Nekroz decks. Being sent on the graveyard just gives you any ritual card you want, so most of your plays will involve using Loading... to summon Loading... and get a card best suited for that match, sometimes being Loading... so you can summon him, some other times being Loading... to protect Loading... and some other times Loading... to end your opponent's Battle Phase.
The fossil cards are still pretty good, but with Loading... in the game, that means we a more flexible way of removal that can be recycled with Loading... and is an easy answer to Loading... .
Abyss Dweller is crucial in some match ups and you can summon it using Loading... and a level 4 monster (Loading... , Loading... , Loading... , Loading... etc).
Running a Knightmare package can be pretty good too, specially if you find your boards clogged or you want more removal, so running Loading... and/or Loading... can be pretty good.
Gameplan
It is hard to recommend a single line of play because your hand dictates what you can do and your match up dictates what you should do. And while I could waste your time listing about 50 match ups that are important right now, those match ups will be irrelevant in 2 months when Konami powercreeps every deck, so I'll just give you a general direction of what you should do so you can adapt with whatever match up you find yourself into.
If your opponent is playing a deck that chokes on 1 negate - Invest on summoning Loading... and ways to keep it alive (Loading... , Loading... , Loading... ). You can send another Loading... with Loading... 's effect, activate the skill, get 2 cards and summon it. Loading... can tribute any monster, so if you have a Loading... or Loading... , that helps with unclogging your hand while keeping a big body on field.
If your opponent is playing a deck that relies on effects from Extra Deck monsters - Invest on summoning Loading... and ways to keep it alive (same as above). If you know they have a main deck monster that can remove your Loading... , invest on summoning Loading... if you can. Loading... is easy to summon with Loading... and that play can give you protection, follow up or the extension you need to summon Loading... . Sending Loading... with Loading... , getting 2 cards back with the skill and using Loading... to search for Loading... and get back Loading... is almost always a good play.
If your opponent is playing a deck that relies on graveyard effects - Invest on summoning Loading... , having a Nekroz card in graveyard and Loading... in hand.
If you don't know what your opponent is playing - Invest on summoning Loading... and ways to keep it alive as most decks rely on Extra Deck monsters effects. Prioritize getting Loading... as your main form of protection.
If you suspect you're in a mirror match - Invest on summoning Loading... and Loading... and negate your opponent's Loading... 's effect with your own Loading... . Use Loading... so they can't get any advantage from non ritual Nekroz monsters.
Variants
As of now there aren't many successful Nekroz variants, but I'll give you the standard variant people are playing in ranked and a stall variant I'm cooking. Since there aren't any summoning locks on limitations from the skill and cards, expect to see a Dogmatika variant as soon as we get more Dogmatika cards.
Standard Variant
There's nothing new here, every strategy and play said above applies to this deck.
Stall
This was made just to annoy people. It's not invincible, as it still suffers from all of the archetype weaknesses, but it can still be fun to annoy people with this.
The point here is execute the following loop - negate a Battle Phase with Loading... banishing a Loading... , use Loading... 's effect tributing Loading... , send anything (preferably a non ritual monster), use Loading... effect to get Loading... back, use the effect to get both Loading... and Loading... and use Loading... searching Loading... .
Use the traps to disrupt your opponent on key moments/monsters. Loading... serves as an annoying negate and can be made using 2 Teva, that can be tribute summoned using any other non ritual Nekroz monster not involved on the loop. Loading... can make your opponent's plays really difficult and can be made using Priestess of the Nekroz and Loading... , just like the other rank 4s. There is a small OTK package just to surprise your opponent.
This build isn't by any means finished, so if you have any ideas of improving this, feel free to comment or mention me on your decklist.
Weaknesses
This deck has too many counters. A single Loading... on the field means the on hand effects of your Nekroz monsters are off. Loading... is a turn ender most of the time. Spell negation can be devastating against your ritual spells, specially Loading... . Negating Loading... can also just end your turn on the spot. There are many combinations of hands that just do nothing and too many unoptimal combination of hands. Abyss Dweller can cut you off of getting advantage. Many decks are getting too much advantage because of the skill and you only have a conditional "fix your hand". And finally, all of your boards can be stopped by a Loading... and there's no Nekroz card that will protect you against that.
Conclusion
Nekroz is a really fun deck and capable of really explosive plays. But thing is: it got their support 2 years late, when skills are too overtuned. As of now, it is very much KoG worthy, just don't expect an easy KoG run. Hopefully we'll get the new OCG support soon hopium.
If you're thinking about how I never bring up Loading... , it's because there's no way they are releasing this card on a format with only 1 Main Phase.
Thank you for reading! Leave any questions, suggestions, compliments and criticisms on the comments, I'll read them all.