Ranking Every GX Era Structure Deck In YGO

Summary

• Yu-Gi-Oh! GX era introduced more archetypes with different play styles than Duel Monsters.
• Structure decks in the GX era contained necessary cards for specific strategies, an improvement from Duel Monsters.
• Some of the best best structure decks from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX era included Machine Re-Volt and Structure Deck: Warrior’s Triumph.

The Yu-Gi-Oh! GX era introduced some subtle changes to the format introduced in the Duel Monsters era. While Duel Monsters mostly revolved around having specific cards that were just good to have in your deck, GX offered more archetypes with a wide range of play styles.

Some decks focused on reviving monsters from the graveyard while others revolved around swarming the field. To make things easier for newer players, structure decks were introduced that contained cards necessary to make those strategies work. This proved to be a vast improvement over the starter decks released in Duel Monsters.

12

Lord Of The Storm

A Wind Monster Mashup

There’s nothing more painful than ending up with a copy of Lord of the Storm. It’s got Wind monsters galore and some Harpie Lady cards, but there’s nothing in this deck that surpasses what the other structure decks of the time had to offer.

The boss monster for this is also the type that only hurts you. It has a restrictive Summoning condition and will burn you for 1000 before it ever gets the chance to burn your opponent. On the bright side, it includes a copy of Icarus Attack which would become useful later.

11

Structure Deck Blaze Of Destruction

Burn Cards Aplenty

The entire gimmick of Blaze of Destruction revolves around burning your opponent’s life points until you win. While not the greatest GX era structure deck, it did contain some excellent cards, such as Thestalos The Firestorm Monarch.

The most notable combo that this deck enabled is the double Solar Flare Dragon lock. This would entail getting two Solar Flare Dragons on the field at the same time. Due to their effects, this would lock out your opponent from attacking either of them. This allowed you to stall the game while burning your opponent.

10

Machine Re-Volt

Ancient Gear And Gadgets Collide

Like any machine, some decks are just meant to be stripped for parts. Machine Re-Volt worked best due to the cards that it included rather than any particular strategy that it enabled for itself. Ancient Gear cards wouldn’t become better till much later. The Gadgets, on the other hand, were great.

Gadgets are the highlight of this deck. Green, Red, and Yellow Gadget could all fetch a different Gadget from the deck whenever they got Summoned. Limiter Removal could also beef up all your Machines for one final push.

9

Dinosaur’s Rage

Before Dinosaurs Ruled Yu-Gi-Oh!

Dinosaurs were pretty barebones before you could endlessly pop the Babycerasaurus. In fact, this deck included a single copy of it. Dinosaur’s Rage wasn’t great, but it did include some cool cards that had plenty of tricks up their sleeves.

Gilasaurus could Special Summon itself for free on the first turn or when your opponent’s graveyard is empty. Hyper Hammerhead could send those face-down monsters back to the hand, and Big Evolution Pill could let you get bigger monsters out easily.

8

Structure Deck: Spellcaster’s Judgement

Spell Counters Are A Failed Mechanic

Unfortunately, Spellcaster’s Judgement wasn’t particularly great. It mostly revolved around getting Spell Counters on the field to perform actions. Luckily, the deck included some cards worth collecting, just not enough to warrant making a deck out of it.

Breaker The Magical Warrior could be used as a 1900 attack beatstick or to remove cards from the backrow. With Raigeki gone, Lightning Vortex was the next best thing. Possibly the best card in this deck is Chaos Sorcerer, which could banish face-up monsters instead of attacking for the turn.

7

Structure Deck Dragon’s Roar

A Bad Boss Monster But A Good Deck

Dragon’s Roar has some genuinely solid card selections that could support each other well. The strategy for this deck revolved around having your Masked Dragon destroyed in battle so you could bring out your other dragons straight from the deck.

In particular, you could bring out Armed Dragon LV 3 during your opponent’s turn. Then, you could have easy access to Armed Dragon LV 5 by the time your next turn arrives. This is much better than trying to Summon out the deck’s boss monster, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon.

6

Invincible Fortress

Tough As Stone

Invincible Fortress’s main strategy is setting things face down then flipping them back up for some effects. There are plenty of high-defense cards in this deck, such as Sand Moth and Stone Statue of the Aztecs.

At Level five, Guardian Sphinx is one of the earliest monsters that could send cards from the field back to the hand. Another card of note is Gigantes, which has 1900 attack, can be easily Special Summoned, and could destroy all Spells and Traps on the field if your opponent it through battle.

5

Structure Deck Warrior’s Triumph

Beef Up Your Warrior Collection

In Yu-Gi-Oh!, there are some monster types that get more love than others. Warriors are one of them. With cards such as Ben Kei, Reinforcement of the Army, and Marauding Captain, it is possible to achieve high levels of consistency as well as otk strategies.

Warrior’s Triumph can work as a standalone deck, but it’s even more useful for stripping it for parts. Regardless, it has good synergy, which made it better than some of the other less cohesive structure decks released at the time.

4

Rise Of The Dragon Lords

Dragons Just Keep Coming

Felgrand Dragon is one of the coolest looking Dragons in Yu-Gi-Oh!. Unfortunately, it isn’t much of a boss monster since it not only need tributes to get it on the board the first time, but a revival card to bring it back for its secondary effect.

This deck may not be a Zombie deck, but it focuses heavily on reviving them. Darkblaze Dragon gets twice as strong when revived and The Creator can bring them back in exchange for card discards.

3

Structure Deck Zombie Madness

Zombies Offered Plenty Of Revival Options

While Vampire Genesis is the boss monster on the front of the box, it pales in comparison to every other card included in Zombie Madness. The deck included not just one, but three copies of Pyramid Turtle.

Pyramid turtle is fantastic because it gives you access to every single important zombie in the deck. This includes Vampire Lord who just keeps coming back, and Ryu Kokki, which provides plenty of attack power. Book of Life is also an incredible card in this deck since it acts as free Special Summons from the graveyard.

2

Structure Deck Fury Of The Deep

A Terrifying Boss Monster

Fury of the Deep has a pretty neat theme. It is also pretty cohesive for a structure deck. A Legendary Ocean could bring down the Levels on your monsters, allowing you to reduce the number of tributes needed for a Summon.

This worked great for summoning Levia-Dragon Daedalus which could board wipe your opponent by getting rid of an Umi. Ocean Dragon Lord Neo Daedalus was also a great boss monster since it could not only board wipe, but get rid of all cards in the hand.

1

The Dark Emperor

Instantly Meta During The GX Era

The Dark Attribute is one of the best in the game. With Caius the Shadow Monarch being the best Monarch in the game, this deck is already instantly amazing. The entire structure deck focuses on banishing cards, making it one of the most relevant decks.

Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, Macro Cosmos, Reinforcement of the Army, and Return From The Different Dimension are all great additions for this deck to have. This is the best structure deck from the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX era whether you wanted to use it as is or simply take the cards included in it.