Yu-Gi-Oh! Rogue Report: Mimighoul Earth Stun
There are strategies in Yugioh that seem to provoke a special kind of seething in the playerbase that are rarely replicated, and often lurk around the wide midsection of competitive play; these are the Stun decks, aiming to close out the game in a single fell swoop, through “degenerate” gameplay designed on creating a floodgate (Magic players might call this ‘Stax’), and breaking parity (being less negatively affected by this effect than ones’ opponent). How a deck breaks parity, or sets up a lock like this, can be broad — We see it in castling strategies alongside Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, or even more combo-centric Rogue decks adding in a Nemeses package against a specific meta strategy.
In The Infinite Forbidden however, the TCG-exclusive allows one to combine so many disparate facets of Rogue stun that it almost feels intended. Many pro players tested this at Tacoma, the most recent YCS, but I feel their performance reflects a lack of going far enough with this gameplan. If you want to play Mimighoul, brand-new to the TCG in INFO, I’m of the opinion that Stun is course 1 on the menu. Presenting: Mimighoul Earth Stun.
Before we talk about the stun cards that allow this odd archetype to find a footing, we should cover the deck itself, as it’s debuted to relative acclaim in INFO; unlike a few of the past TCG-Exclusives, this strategy has had a presence in competitive Yugioh, and some of the game’s best players have at the very least attempted to see if it has legs in a cutthroat context. Mimighoul is a FLIP strategy comprised of EARTH monsters, aiming to summon their monsters to the opponent’s field, and flip them up for negative consequences. The key difference with Mimighoul compared to other strategies employing a slow, gimmicky gameplan, is that they possess a few “workhorse” mechanics that help the deck actually enable its sillier side — in contrast to something like Ashened, the soft combo lines provided by your Maindeck actually fully set things up, rather than relying on perfect draws of wholly archetypal cards. Moreover, there’s not really any locks you need to worry about with Mimighoul, assisting in its splashability.
Mimighoul allows itself to be splashed alongside other Flip strategies with relative ease, and cards like Mimighoul Maker even enable Tindangle lines of some merit, but here we’re playing them solely for the advantage provided, and their capability to lock down the opposing board. Mimighoul Dragon is the key starter, as it provides access to your potent Spell/Traps, which we’re maxing out on for the time being, and Mimighoul Archfiend is your main card to foist upon the opponent, giving both a discard from the foe, and a card to you. Notably, Mimighoul Dungeon prevents opponents from Normal Summoning while they control a Set monster…so if you were able to stop them from Special Summoning, or perhaps give them a monster on their side of the field, a floodgate piece might be impossible to Infinite Impermanence on their turn, and Effect Veiler would have no effect. This is where the uglier side of Mimighoul raises its head, as there’s perfect synergy here with Barrier Statue of the Drought. Everything you want to play is EARTH, including the powerful Kashtira Fenrir, and the two best decks right now are bereft of EARTH monsters to rely on.
In an ideal world, we’re ending on Barrier Statue (Or Gozen Match, or There Can Be Only One) alongside some Mimighoul tools and/or Fenrir, which certainly isn’t shabby! You do remain weak to wipes, such as the Raigeki and that sort played by Tenpai, but you’ll crush midrange under this setup. Mimighoul Room is a fantastic means of securing a Set monster on the opponent’s field, and if we don’t yet have access to Barrier Statue, we can actually go through a line for our own Mimighoul Cerberus, and try to summon a copy from the top 3 cards of our deck to the opponent’s field. In an ideal world, they won’t be able to out their own Statue, and we can easily bypass the worst of its effects ourself.
Mimighoul is one of those rare decks with so many potential starters and so few overall cards that you’re kind of forced to max out on everything good, and still play the flex cards regardless. One card I’m not actually all that excited about is the “boss”, Mimighoul Master. Searching a Mimighoul monster doesn’t really do all that much, as the power is concentrated in the Spell/Traps, and we have better things to be doing with our Normal Summon, such as Dragon or Barrier Statue. He’s still there because he has to be, but broadly I think lists playing too many of Master (for now) aren’t aiming to do enough. Mimighoul is at its best when you’re making your opponent’s life miserable, and given we can play various floodgates, and even Dimension Shifter, that’s very easily done.
The flex slots are also noteworthy; as I said, Mimighoul can potentially play alongside other Flip packages, such as Tindangle, Subterror, or Prediction Princess, or lean harder into the EARTH angle with copies of Vernusylph of the Misting Seedlings and Vernusylph of the Misting Seedlings to dig deeper and find your Dragons & Barrier Statues. Indeed, that might be a better version of the deck than pure stun, but it remains to be seen, and likely will take until the next wave to truly know.
The Triple Tactics cards also shine here, as you can force the opponent to use monster effects of the Mimighouls you give them, and we’re on a small Field Spell suite to make the most consistent use out of our collective engines. One final piece of tech that ended up being too cute was Top Share, which could combo with Cerberus for impressive disruption or access to Barrier Statue, as well as Sol and Luna, which ended up just barely not being good enough as an enabler. Perhaps in time, the latter might find a slot here.
One of the main lines in the Extra Deck that is afforded to us while we’re EARTH-locked is that of G Golem Stubborn Menhir and Transcode Talker, which can help us accrue advantage and solidify a board state, all while remaining EARTH only. That would be further supplemented by access to the Vernusylphs, and part of why I’m so conflicted as to whether they should be included. That said, another key piece here is Subterror Behemoth Fiendess, and wow, what a card now that we’ve got a great deck to make use of it. Fiendess allows us to rip through our Mimighoul monsters, and access all three with relative ease, although it’s important to clarify that we only really want to be activating Cerberus on our side of the field, if we can manage it.
Aside from those, the deck is sparse beyond its core engines. Mimighoul paradoxically has so few cards in its first wave, but needs to play such a high density thereof. My sincere hope is that the second wave allows the deck to play pure, the first TCG-exclusive archetype in literal years that can do so.
Frankly, I haven’t had as much fun playing as rude a strategy as this in a while — Mimighoul is never trying to do something fair! This is the exact kind of silliness that a TCG-exclusive needs to employ in order to break parity with more meta strategies, and as per usual, I’m hopeful for its second wave. That said, I felt the same about Tistina, and Ashened…so really, who knows?
I hope you enjoyed this look into Mimighoul in INFO! Do you think this archetype might have the teeth to compete, somewhere down the line? What have you been pairing the deck with? I’d love to hear what you’ve been brewing in the comments below!
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