Sometimes, you feel a need. The need for speed. In Yu-Gi-Oh, this usually means running a whole bunch of cards that draw you other cards to let you go through your deck as fast as possible. You might be going all-in on something like Exodia, or you may require a more modest form of acceleration to simply hit your key cards as consistently as possible. Whatever you’re after, Edison format provides many options.
Upstart Goblin is a classic. It’s a spell that draws 1 card, replacing itself. Decks running 3 copies of Upstart Goblin are frequently said to be running 37 cards1 because in many cases that’s just exactly what Upstart Goblin does. Upstart has always seen play in heavy combo decks, but starting around 2013 began consistently seeing play in regular decks too. This was called “Upstart Theory”, and the idea behind it was that your best cards are so good that it doesn’t matter if your opponent has an extra 1-3,000 Life Points, they’re still fucked if you pop off. As it applies to Edison, this theory is questionable. Extra LP often does matter here, since most decks can’t actually go off for 11k damage and/or a near unbreakable lock. So you’ll see your best cards a little more often, but also grant your opponent enough life to often see 1 extra turn, which may be what they needed to turn the tables.
(Ironically, while Upstart is often too modern for Edison, it’s too old-school to be much use in current Advanced format. Hand traps like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring and Droll & Lock Bird can punish effects that add cards to hand, including draw effects. Suddenly Upstart is a lot worse than the 38th-40th best cards in your deck if it frequently risks getting blanked. Upstart Theory is a relic of the mid-2010s, like Nathan for You, or good episodes of Rick & Morty)
If you want deck-thinning but don’t want to give your opponent LP, these two draw traps are more your speed. Legacy of Yata-Garasu2 is technically strictly better, but since Spirit monsters almost never see play in Edison the two are functionally identical. They’re slower than Upstart, since they must be set first and then activated on a later turn, and this restriction makes them more vulnerable (getting a Jar blasted by and End Phase Dust Tornado never feels good). However, they have extra utility too, allowing you to bluff real backrow and bait removal. If that removal comes on the opponent’s turn you can completely nullify it by simply chaining your trap to it, drawing a card and leaving your opponent sputtering.
Reckless Greed can let you draw 2, and is therefore twice as fast. It comes at a cost, however, as your cards now are paid for with no cards later. Reckless Greed naturally finds a home in decks that try and win quickly enough to not have to pay that delayed cost. It’s also a bit better than you may be thinking; if you activate 2 copies of Reckless Greed, you will draw 4 cards, but still only skip 2 draw phases. The skipped phases don’t stack, so if you see multiple copies of Reckless suddenly your greed is looking quite prudent.
An old-school classic. Card Destruction can potentially let you draw a whole lot of cards, and while it’s technically a minus 1 (since you don’t draw a card to replace Destruction itself) getting to discard cards to the graveyard is often inherently useful. This bad boy is limited, and has been more-or-less continuously for over 20 years.
Magical Stone Excavation is a hardcore, all-in combo card. It’s a minus 2, but there are only so many great draw spells in Yu-Gi-Oh and getting to replay one is often powerful enough to be worth it. That goes double if the cards you discard like being discarded; MSE has a home in Dragon Turbo because of that, as Super Rejuvenation can cover for the initial minus of the discard. MSE is semi-limited, despite being narrow, because when it hits it can be quite powerful.
Both of these cards are kinda booty, but if you really need to Always Be drawing (Cards) then these are your next men up. Something like an Exodia deck, which goes all-in on drawing the entire deck on turn 1, would appreciate these cards. Otherwise, they’re simply too inherently negative, letting your opponent enjoy the same effect without having to spend an initial spell card themselves.
And while we’re in “only Exodia decks will care” territory, Royal Magical Library can help pay-off all your net negative draw spells by turning every single spell into 1/3 of an extra draw. Exodia-style decks see a pretty massive split between games where they open a Library and games where they don’t, it’s the linchpin of this all-or-nothing deck style.
Both these cards to more-or-less the same thing, letting you turn bricked hands into a second chance to combo off. Mallet lets you only send back the bad cards, which is usually better, but Reload being quickplay can matter sometimes, especially in Super Rejuv engines. Both cards (Mallet more than Reload) can also be used in combo decks that require certain cards to specifically be in the deck. Magical Mallet is a great way to put your drawn Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode back into the deck so you can actually summon it.
Thunder Dragon and Volcanic Shell are fundamentally the same sort of card. They’re monsters that let you thin your deck, while providing an extra card in hand that, while not innately useful, is still a card in hand, and can be used to offset the minuses of other draw spells. Shell also has utility as part of a small Volcanic package, which we’ll cover another day.
Toon Table is a funky one. Lots of archetypes have their own search spell, but Toons are maybe the only one ever where that spell can just grab another copy of itself. So while Toons as a deck are horribly underpowered, Toon Table of Contents sees play in some combo decks looking for a bit of deck thinning. It also gives 3 activations of a spell card for Royal Magical Library, and the 1 Toon monster you run (for the 3rd Table to have a legal card to search) can sometimes have synergies too. Toon Cannon Soldier is a part of some FTK burn loops, turning Toon Table into an actual combo piece, while Toon Blue-Eyes White Dragon is great for Trade-In Dragon engine decks.
Our final card for the evening is this little guy. Once you’re going this hard in the paint, you likely don’t need your normal summon all that much. (Especially if you aren’t a Royal Magical Library deck). So getting to refresh your hand, AND getting to bank a draw trigger for later in the game, is as good a use as any. Vortex Trooper often sees play in Dragon Turbo, and could theoretically have a home in Chain Burn or Simochi Burn decks.
Next time, we slow things back down, and take a look at Tribute Summons. It’s not just about Caius!
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