Fabled Main Deck [March 2012]

Fabled monsters are a group of fallen angels and have a mini-archetype, called The Fableds, within it comprised of LIGHT Beasts based on animals in assorted mythologies. The general gimmick of the deck is discarding, though it's more monster based than Dark Worlds. This has caused a negative mindset that anything that discards is good in Fableds among those who play casual decks or are newer to the Metagame.

The deck is themed towards swarming the field and summoning Synchros while using cards like Formula Synchron, T.G. Hyper Librarian, and Fabled Ragin to draw more cards and maintain the advantage spent on the Synchros. They also don't need a Normal Summon to explode in a fair few cases, which gives the deck a lot of speed.

Fableds also have a lot of extraneous members who don't add anything to the group, though a small handful work quite well together. Let's detail those first:

• Fabled Grimro

 Anyone should be able to see the appeal of this card. It's a Reinforcement of the Army for the archetype so it should clearly be run in 3s at all times, right? Wrong. Despite the fact that Grimro is an absolutely AMAZING searcher, she has a tendency to dead draw if you run her at 3. 2 is the optimal number here, because she can still open up huge plays.

Speaking of those plays, it all depends on what card you open with as to how you use her. Open Tour Guide from the Underworld and Grimro? Ganashia. Open Kusha/Tour Guide/Ganashia/Cerb and Grimro and Chawa? Krus or Ganashia. Swap that Chawa in hand with Krus? Chawa. It all depends on the set up you have, and the plays will become more evident to you as you play the deck.

• Fabled Krus

 Next up is Krus, the crying child. She is probably the best combo piece in the deck, given how searchable she is and how easy it is to discard her. She can even revive 2 of the Archetype's Synchros in addition to the plethora of Tuners and non-Tuners you already run. Sadly, she has the same illness as Grimro; Dead drawing in higher numbers. The optimal number for her is 1-2 because you can search her easily, but it is a pain in the ass to draw her without a Fabled in Grave.

Abslutely amazing in tandem with Chawa though it's good in a lot of situations.

• Fabled Kushano

 Now, here's the constant +1 outlet for the deck's discarding. In older formats it was run at 1, but in the past few formats it's found a new place at 2, thanks to Tour Guide. Unlike most decks with cards that serve a similar purpose to this, it's not so bad to draw into it unless you draw both copies. However, it's rather easy to get into the graveyard to avoid those dead draws. It also gives life to Fabled Valkyrus, but that'll be addressed later.

... As a side note, I'm not sure if it's a guy or a girl. No one seems to know...

• The Fabled Cerburrel

 Behold the super tuner of Fableds! This three-headed mutt is the Archetype's lynchpin, giving it a level 2 LIGHT Tuner for almost every situation imaginable that easily fills Grimro's conditions. This is an amazing example of card design- So simplistic, yet it does its job so well. Should be run in 3s.

It has another use... But that'll be covered when we get to Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.

• The Fabled Chawa

 And now it's time for the mutt's little brother. the second best tuner in the deck. Its biggest targets are Krus and Ganashia, but Cerburrel and Kushano do just as well. Like Cerburrel, there's not that much to say as the use is obvious. Run at 2, though 3 is possible.

Well, there is one thing... The discard is an effect, not a cost. Should your opponent tries to drop Maxx "C" or stop Chawa's summon, you can stop or minimize the plays right there, especially if you dropped Kushano for Chawa's effect.

Now, here's this little pooch's big kicker: It can single handedly wear out Light and Darkness Dragon because of it being an effect. All you have to do is have this and a Fabled in hand, and you can kill that behemoth in no time flat and act like nothing happened.

• The Fabled Ganashia

 The elephant from Hindi mythology is the non-Tuner answer to Cerburrel. It's not quite as useful as the mutt, but this has a good deal of interesting qualities to it. Its nature promotes using it either as Xyz Fodder or as a target for Leviair. With Kushano out and about, this thing becomes a lot more live and can allow for all sorts of shenanigans together. Run at 2.

Alright, so that's all the main deck Fableds, techs aside. They all have synergy with one another, though it's really divided into three parts: Kusha + Chawa, Cerb + Ganashia + Krus, and Grimro. The rest of the deck is spent increasing the efficiency with other synergistic cards, such as:

• Doppelwarrior

 Noticed something about how Fableds work so far? They special summon from the grave. A lot. This card is almost never dead and it can set off a combo in no time fast. It can turn a Kusha swapping itself for Ganashia into a Scrap Dragon, or a Grimro combo into Ancient Sacred Wyvern or Black Rose Dragon. Speaking of the latter, you can choose to keep the Tokens alive after the nuke, because of chain resolution. Just set this off then BRD. Easily the best non-Fabled support for the deck... Until Tour Guide came out. Run 2.

• Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

 You know him, you love and hate him, it's Gorz! The use here is no different than any other deck, really, so not much needs to be explained... Just stops many OTKs and gives the deck another leg to stand on.

• Junk Synchron 

Yusei's signature tuner still has a place here, even after the death of plants. His effect is self-explanatory, and it can open up a ton of combos, especially with Doppel. Not much else to say, really, just run at 1-2.

• Sangan

 Another self-explanatory staple to increase the consistency of the deck. It's great for Synchros, and it's amazing if you open Tour Guide without Grimro. The only cards it can't grab are Gorz, Grimro, and Ganashia. The sheer number of combos this can set off are absurd, and the fact that it's level 3 just makes Chawa and Cerburrel love him more.

• Tour Guide from the Underworld 

All aboard the rape bus! The famous walking Rank 3 finds more of a home in Fableds than most any deck. She has 3 targets other than herself and she can set up all sorts of plays, between the three Xyz she can turn into in Fableds. She's a huge combo starter, especially if Grimro is in your hand, and can set you up for the whole duel if you open with her. She's also amazingly easy to topdeck at 3.

There you have it, the monsters that make up Fableds in the current format, which leads us into the spells and traps of Fableds. Most of these are just self-explanatory staples, but some of them deserve an extra word.

• Card Destruction

 A nice card to have for combos. You can easily make it a +0 that wrecks the opponent's hand while setting off your own combos. Rather straightforward card as you how you use it.

• Pot of Avarice

 Fableds absolutely LOVE their pot. When this went to one, many tears were shed by the beasts and demons... But they still utilize the hell out of this one copy. If they draw it, it often means game for the opponent in the same way Future Fusion means GG when Disaster draws into it. If you're not running this at the most you can in the given format, you're doing it wrong.

• Reinforcement of the Army

"But there are only 2-3 targets"... That's really not good logic for the situation. Yes, there are only a few targets, but this card never dead draws. It's a free search for a Doppel or Junk, given the situation. The targets are amazing and it gives the deck a nice consistency boost.

• Fiendish Chain

 DO NOT RUN VEILER. Fableds hate Veiler because of how it clogs the hand more often than it helps. This, however, does everything Veiler does but better for the deck. It also protects your life, unlike Veiler, in exchange for being MSTable. It pairs up nicely with Reckless Greed. Main 2.

• Reckless Greed

 What do you do for an archetype that draws and combos a lot? MOAR DRAWING! This card is wonderful bait and amazing in multiples, given how easily you can explode with even a single copy. Run 3 copies for maximum consistency.

• Solemn Warning

 DO NOT MAIN SOLEMN WARNING. You can side it, but Fableds are a high-risk-high-return deck. The main deck can use the deck space better on things to boost the consistency of the deck and cards to stop the opponent's decks better. In the current format, run Fiendish Chain before you main this.

There you have it. The Fabled Main Deck, staples aside. I'll post an optimal build later, after I go over the Extra Deck and techs as well. Thank you for reading this, and I hope it helps anyone that would like to run Fableds ^^