To Hell and Back - A Vendread Guide
Introduction
A man has fallen into a river in Raccoon City
Hello people of r/yugioh. My name is Nurse and for a while now I have been a fan of the guide style posts I see getting posted on here, where someone explains the ideas and theory they have for a lesser known strategy in the game, and as such I wanted to share the theory and ideas I have been brewing for a long-term favourite of mine: Vendread. A deck whose lore is a crossover of Spawn and Resident Evil, its cards tell a story of a lone hero, searching for redemption after having lost his lover and having fallen into the pits of hell, only to re-emerge and fight off the zombie hordes that have ravaged his city.
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TLDR; Vendread works better as a combo deck than as a Towers style deck.
Vendread is a ritual based zombie strategy that relies on using the floating effects of its ritual monsters along with its main deck monsters who upon being tributed on field stack effects to create highly powerful ritual boss monsters. However in practise this tends to not be the case, in fact their floating generally lends them well to combo as it allows the deck to constantly have material to extend with. This was relevant back when the archetype had recently come out due to its ability to loop Goblin Zombie with Firewall Dragon to make an extra link. So following this idea I wanted to share my theories for Vendread Combo using the newly unlimited Phantom Knights of Rusty Bardiche as a centrepiece. That having been said before we cover combos and deck ideas it is best we learn who the key players are in this zombie apocalypse.
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The Characters:
The Plot:
Though there is much more to the story of our hero, for the sake of brevity I will be sticking to the key cards, though you are welcome to research the archetype yourself to read its full story. Though out of respect to Slayer and his struggle I will be giving each of these cards a short overview:
Revendread Slayer: The hero of this story and one of the two main ritual monsters in this deck. Though his on field effect is somewhat lacking, he plays a key part. When he is sent from field to grave he will search any ritual spell and send a Vendread monster of our choice to the grave. Which makes him phenomenal link and synchro material, by providing us additional extenders and searching. Being a dark, level 6 also provides us with access to a great synchro pool, allowing the deck the easily synchro summon level 8 monsters. Namely Borreload Savage Dragon and Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons. He can be run at 2, though for consistency I recommend 3 copies.
Vendread Battlelord: Leader of the zombie hoards, this ferocious enemy provides great support to the deck and is arguably its lynchpin. Battleloard on field allows you to lock your opponent out of activating either monster, spell or trap effects for the remainder of the turn at the cost of banishing a Vendread card from grave. The is an incredible effect to have access to as it insulates your plays against handtraps such as Nibiru and Ash Blossom that could ruin your day. Furthermore when he is sent from field to grave, he will add any ritual monster from deck to hand (Usually Impcantation Chalislime.) and send any Vendread monster from deck to grave. So he makes for great link material just like Slayer as he too sends more extenders whilst searching resources. You run no less than 3 copies.
Revendread Executor: This is what happens when Slayer chooses to go even further beyond in his fight against the zombie hordes. Though Executor makes for a very solid boss monster with his targeting protection, providing you can stack further effects on top using the non-ritual Vendread monsters. However to do this you must build a deck around him and such he serves more as a fun alternative to the combo strategy I am piloting. Run 0 in combo, but 1/2 in dedicated builds.
Avendread Savior: Our hero has evolved and reached the end of his journey. The zombie hordes are gone and he has come to terms with his loss, now a guardian over his city. This link monster provides immense support for the deck, adding any Vendread card from grave to hand. Allowing us to recycle ritual spells whilst also being a niche use foolish burial, and just to top it off he is a dark link 2 meaning he is prime material to pivot into Bardiche. All builds should run 1/2.
Vendread Core: The cause of the zombie outbreak that ravages the city, this card makes for a strong extender in the deck. Combined with it being level 1 makes it useful for Revendread Evolution. Its ability to revive itself form grave by banishing is a zombie is invaluable to the deck. Additionally its tribute effect can be combined with Executor to make a fully untargetable field, though this effect will not often apply in the combo build. Run 1 due to the rituals being able to send it.
Vendread Striges: This pesky poultry makes for one of the decks strongest extenders, once it hits grave at the cost of revealing any Vendread card in hand it can revive itself. Something which both Battlelord and Slayer can fulfil on their own. This card is necessary in all builds. Run 1 due to the rituals being able to send it.
Vendread Houndhorde: To round off our trio of terror are the hounds. Much like the other two cards this card makes for a great extender in the deck by reviving itself for the cost of discarding a Vendread card. However unlike the previous effect its tribute can be very useful, allowing its respective to act as a Cosmic Cyclone on legs. All builds must run this card. Run 1 due to the rituals being able to send it.
Vendread Anima: The fated beloved of Slayer, now a zombie among the horde. This card falls into a rather precarious place, it can be a very useful extender reviving banished Vendread monsters, at the cost of locking you into zombies. Whilst it can provide very useful setup for following turns, its restriction can also prove detrimental. Its place in the deck often fluctuates. Run 0/1 copies of this card.
Vendread Revenants: The last of the Vendread tribute fodder sticks out like a sore thumb. Having objectively the worst floating effect, but the best tribute effect make it hard to gauge this card. Those that play it, build their entire turn around normal summoning this card to give Executor a karma cut effect, but I personally do not feel it is worth the brick. Run 0 in combo and 0/1 in dedicated builds.
Revendread Origin: All comic book hero's must have a tragic origin story, Slayer is no different. Through his tragedy one of the strongest archetypal ritual spells the game has ever seen was birthed. This allows you to ritual summon any Vendread monster from hand or grave by tributing levels from hand/field and/or banishing zombies from grave whose level equal or exceed the ritual monster. Whilst providing protection in grave for any Slayer on field. In addition to this, there is no hard once-per-turn clause on this card, meaning we can use it to ritual multiple times a turn, and it also lists Slayer in its card text meaning we can search it using Pre-Preparation of Rites. This card allows you an unparalleled freedom other ritual decks would beg for and as such is a key combo piece. All builds must run 3 copies.
Revendread Evolution: Following up the strong display that Origin has put on Evolution once again ups the ante for what ritual spells are capable of doing. This card much like Origin allows us to ritual summon any Vendread ritual monsters from hand or grave using material on field or in hand, but in addition can send a Vendread from deck to grave to match the level of the ritual monster. This in turn allows us to dump Vendread extenders or bypass the ritual material entirely by sending another copy of the ritual monster from deck to grave. This card is an invaluable extender and playmaker in the deck. All builds must run 3 copies.
Vendread Charge: Vendread charge is a unique card that can be useful in certain cases. It allows monsters like Battlelord to dodge negation from cards such as Infinite Impermanence whilst loading the field with more Vendread extenders ands till triggering the ritual grave effects. It has good usage in the deck though requires a little setup. If you have room it is worth testing. Run 0 or 3 copies in a build.
Vendread Nights: The city ravaged by the zombie hoards. It is simple consistency boosting, though since it requires a discard cost and searches only monsters its usage can be limited. Though it pairs nicely with Striges. Run 0/1 copies.
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The Deck:
Now that we have all the necessary information out the way I believe it is time to look at a deck list. This list is by no means gospel, it is something to build from and try your own ideas.
This list has been built for this format and is designed to combo using Bardiche and either Halqifibrax or I:P Masquerena. It is using several generic zombie support cards in addition with a small Impcantation package to provide consistency and extension.
Techs:
Shiranui Solitaire/Uni-Zombie: the quintessential zombie package this dynamic duo should be in any zombie deck worth its salt. (Ignoring Eldlich of course.) Uni-zombie lets us foolish our rituals whilst also being a tuner allowing us access to Halqifibrax.
Samurai Skull/Gozuki: Both of these cards allow us to foolish any zombie from deck to grave and both have individual benefits. Gozuki allows us to also special summon zombies from hand if necessary. However I have chosen Skull due to how common Psy-Frame Gear Gamma is currently. If Samurai Skull leaves the field due to an opponent's card effect, he special summons a level 4 or lower zombie from deck. So if we do get hit by Gamma, Skull can tutor out Uni-Zombie and we are back in business.
Impcantations: Impcantations are fantastic ritual support and can help in places where Drytron cannot. In this case since this deck wishes to special summon zombies so often, the Drytrons would lock us out of this. Ratios for the Impcantations are very fluid and can be changed as you see fit so I encourage experimentation with them all. I have chosen to run 2 Candoll as I prioritise access to Evolution above all and fear god. But this is most certainly up for debate.
Bardiche and Friends: Bardiche is a very strong generic boss monster for dark decks allowing for 2 free monster negations and extension if necessary. He is the end goal of the deck.
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How to Play:
Now having shown you all everything about the deck I think it is important to establish what the end goal of this is. Typically it aims to go first and aim for an end board of Bardiche, Slayer, Halqifibrax and 2 set Fog Blade. Then during the opponent's turn the aim is to tribute Halqifibrax to special summon Formula Synchron and synchro summon Borreload Savage Dragon using Formula and Slayer. Which in turn gives us an additional negation and triggers Slayer's effect in grave to trigger searching us a ritual spell for next turn and sending a Vendread monster. Meaning we have used Slayer's grave effect twice before we have even had our second turn. It does not rival the likes of the boards of the current meta but can provide decent pressure if established whilst providing follow-up for the next turn with the threat of an Accesscode OTK.
Halq End Board: Opponent's Turn
Should we fail however to make Halqifibrax our secondary end board is to make the exact same field but instead of Halqifibrax we use I:P Masquerena, and link the Slayer off into Knightmare Unicorn or Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess using the Plaguespreader Zombie still in grave as additional material.
*Please note that the Fog Blade in hand is just a proxy to represent the discard for Knightmare Unicorn.
The Combos:
Having written all of this I will now show some combos the deck can do to achieve these boards. Since you have been so kind to read this far, I will not force you to read combo trees, instead I have provided links to Duelingbook replays showing the individual combos and the required pieces you need. I trust you can all fast forward or slow them down as necessary. The combos in this deck can be rather fluid at times due to it being a ritual deck and as such sometimes its necessary to improvise and make do. So these are not set in stone combos, but more guidelines for you to follow, and as such will not extend past the point of the required end board. Whilst it is possible to extend further I have purposely left it open ended in the hope that some of you kind souls are willing to push the combos further yourself and show me.
Battlelord Combo 1: https://www.duelingbook.com/replay?id=643081-27212588
Battlelord Combo 2: https://www.duelingbook.com/replay?id=643081-27212742
Slayer Combo 1: https://www.duelingbook.com/replay?id=643081-27212867
Slayer Combo 2: https://www.duelingbook.com/replay?id=643081-27213021
No Tuner or Sending Zombie Opener Combo: https://www.duelingbook.com/replay?id=643081-27213141
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I hope at the very least this has been an interesting read, that I have been able to enlighten you along the way. I greatly enjoy this deck and will continue to try and improve my work in the future, hopefully now with some of you too.
Special thanks goes to Team NDL for listening to my Vendread theory non-stop and for even adding ideas to it where possible. Here is a link to their YouTube if you wish to check them out.
Team NDL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkWTXb1rD8Xm3qNFH6ttr3Q
Thank you to everyone who has read this far. You fill me with joy.
Bye bye for now!