Blazing Dominion is just a week away, though Konami of America has been kind enough to debut one entire lineup early: Wave 2 of the GMX archetype! GMX showed promise before, even managing a few meager Regional tops when splashed with Fur Hire, but following these new cards it may have what it needs to properly perform! GMX so far has been a great way to abuse Miscellaneousaurus alongside one powerful Fusion Spell…but that’s about it. This new wave brings two new pivotal Main Deck monsters, a Fusion that greatly assists in the grind game…and a new Fusion Spell to save the entire strategy? As has been said of dino-related mad science, ‘life uh, finds a way’. Strap in for some theorycraft, because I think GMX K9 might be a proper Rogue deck in the Blazing Dominion metagame!
I’ve got a soft spot for TCG-Exclusives, it’s true, but seeing how inventive they tend to be really gets my gears whirring. GMX is centered around GMX Applied Experiment #55, which Fusion Summons using two semi-randomized cards in your Main Deck—essentially, you flip until you hit the requisite materials for a GMX Fusion Monster (usually 1 GMX & 1 Dinosaur), then take damage depending on how deep you needed to dig to see those materials. It’s like a guaranteed version of Adamancipator, but with a little masochism for taste. The new wave actually removes much of that component, as the best card among the new pieces is GMX 55th Experiment Report, fusing normally as a Quick-Play…or with one material from Deck, if your opponent has a body onboard. That helps it be not only an amazing going-second tool, but the fact it’s any Dinosaur also allows it to be used for the prize jewel of the Monster lineup, Evolved Daneen. Not only does Evolved Daneen have the option to add a GMX Spell/Trap, but even come back without banishing itself and retrigger, over and over. It’s very likely you can get one of its effects twice per turn cycle, every turn cycle.
You’ve seen the title though: This is a K9 list. While many people still want to jam GMX pure, especially now that there’s the tools to do so, I believe we’re a bit off from being able to bring Dino pile back with a new name. Luckily, the Main Deck also comes with GMX Partner Selandea in Blazing Dominion, and it’s conspicuously a Level 5 that Special Summons itself from hand. Moreover, if you time its activation correctly, it even gets back a banished Misc, and that can translate into more copies of the original Returned Dino Daneen. Looping Misc and accessing the Xyz toolbox is a huge part of this list, whether that’s taking advantage of Selandea’s status as a Level 5 to make K9-66X “Jacks”, or Misc & GMX Suppression Squad’s Level 4 Dino typeline to go into an Evolzar. Facing down a deck playing board breakers? Evolzar Laggia has your back! Stopping Nibiru? Evolzar Dolkka is here, just like it was 2012 again.
Speaking of Level 5s though, we’re on a small package I’ve come to enjoy in Dino: Doodle Beast. Doodle Beast is only 3 total cards, being Stego, Tyranno, & Doodlebook - Uh uh uh!. That last one is a real card, for reference. Stego is a Level 5 Dino that Specials itself for free, meaning it’s great fodder for Fossil Dig if we have Misc access, and Tyranno is a responsive Tribute that can let us dodge targeted removal and trade. Doodlebook is a bit more strange, searching either of the Beasts or a Level 5+ Dino, something we’re more keen to do in decks that aren’t this one. I’ve seen GMX play things like Ultimate Conductor Tyranno, and I’m unconvinced. What I want to be doing is abusing Daneen’s value loop with things like Cross-Sheep and other midrange Xyz plays. K9 does that, Dino pile doesn’t.
The last two new GMX cards we’re playing are the previously-mentioned Suppression Squad (A free Level 4 that can become a Dino by binning a random one), and GMX Lab #5, which pivots between our two Fusion Spells. We’re not actually playing Noma, GMX - Comprex, or Anti-GMX Final Experiment, because…they all help the deck’s ceiling, something I’ve been less than enthused about. Any time you could search for Final Experiment, I’d sooner want to grab Experiment Report, and Comprex is just worse than other bosses with less investment. Noma shuffling a ton of names into Comprex is awesome, but relies on you having cycled through a ton of options already to be worthwhile, and there’s no lock in the deck so harsh as to invalidate engines like K9.
An ideal end board for this list looks like an Evolzar of your choice, Ripper and/or C104, and 1-2 of the GMX Fusions or Evolved Daneen, maybe a Cross-Sheep for spice. This is a layered, interesting end board, but unless you also have an Experiment Report set, it often loses to two breakers, if Laggia chews through the first.
For as much as I think this deck is awesome, and indeed it is, the GMX part of this deck is going to inevitably come into comparison with Artmage, having also been hybridized with K9 to a YCS-winning finish by the illustrious Coder. What does GMX give you that Artmage doesn’t?
The first is the obvious, for any Rogue strategy: It’s an unknown factor. Sure, Artmage is also unknown, but a prominent member of the community piloting a deck to great success is a great recipe for popularity, and GMX looks to be a true sleeper in that regard. Second, it’s far more reasonable against exactly Droll & Lock Bird, a card you’ll be seeing constantly at tournaments. Evading the worst of this annoying brat and his pet bird is vital, as many turns being shut down after your first search can put a damper on Artmage’s playability. Finally, there’s the elephant in the room: Miscellaneousaurus…is a fundamentally unfair card. Blanket protection for everything relevant is incredible, and being able to flex it on either players’ turn means you can often just ignore the worst of both targeted and non-targeted interaction.
Non-engine slots here are a bit thin, because of the heavy K9 package we’re playing, but if you consider 3 copies of K9-17 Izuna non-engine, it looks a bit better. As many of the Semi-Limited Droll as we can play, alongside triple Fuwa & Ash round out the slots, but I’d love to fit something like a Called by the Grave and/or Triple Tactics Talent in here. Ultimately, in the Side GMX can benefit from the fact that it’s built like a modern strategy, where some cards are just naturally better going second. A third Experiment Report, plenty of board breakers, Forbidden Crown, etc. There’s ample ways to make going second not a chore in modern Yugioh, and GMX gets to use the vast majority of them. Special considerations, however, for Dinowrestler Pankratops, & Dogoran, the Mad Flame Kaiju, as solid swap-ins to expand your Dino line-up and serve as functional non-engine!
This list originally substituted the Doodle Beast mini-package for more non-engine, and ran an expanded K9 Spell pool to include K9-X Forced Release, but there was a problem—I kept dying to my own Experiment #55 in testing. See, there’s not a single GMX that is a Dinosaur in the Deck, and Daneen (while good) isn’t a card you necessarily want to max out on. The deck relies on non-archetypal Dinosaurs to function, and unfortunately there’s not a very compelling package for that. You could run Animadorned Archosaur and a Pill, Tyranno, maybe even triple Soul-Eating Oviraptor and go down on your Selandas, but is that good? GMX’s core gimmick is part of what might hold it back, and that’s both a little poetic, and a little sad. There’s likely some way to calculate, mathematically, the correct number of Dinosaurs to run…you just need good enough Dinosaurs to hit that quota. Spare no expense, as Hammond said.
Ultimately though, I think GMX is a success for TCG-Exclusives. While it’s no Mitsurugi (and indeed, I doubt any deck ever will be), it does have a competitive leg to stand on, and a clear direction in terms of its play. I feel it actually doesn’t need much more to push it over, whether that’s a loosening of Misc’s hit on the banlist, or maybe a new Dinosaur archetype to pair with. Keep an eye out, though, because you will be seeing GMX at your local tournaments!
Are you satisfied with GMX’s second wave? What do they need to be pushed into full competitive viability? Are they already there? How do you plan on playing the strategy, once Blazing Dominion hits storefronts? Let me know in the comments below!
