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Red Eyes Zombie (Rez) deck has been the longest top tier deck around for more than half a year
now. its strengths come from easy and quick summoning of powerful boss monster, rez,
swarming potential and its suitability with any effective techs against any meta decks.
Furthermore, the recent emergence of one deck with side deck format for major tournaments has
benefited the rez deck the most. This is because it enables rez to specifically side deck against
more troublesome decks such as Hazy and Ancient Gear. On the other hand, it is arguably very
difficult to snipe side deck against Rez , making the format relatively more favorable for Rez in
general.
This is a guide for both new and more experienced rez players collaboratively written by
DrBluePepper and Cpt.Insano, which takes into account of the recent bans, nerfs occurred in
January 2018.
2-3 Rez
2-3 Gozuki
2-3 Samurai Skull
2 Red Eyes Spirit
2-3 Red Eyes Insight
0-1 Red Eyes Wyvern
1 Bacon Saver
Bacon Saver: never play more than one because its skill is once per duel. It is basically a sphere
kuriboh that activates from the graveyard. This will win you duels, especially in mirror matches.
Rez: ideal number 2 currently.
Rez is a 2400 zombie beater, which can special summon a zombie monster it destroys. In the
current meta, it is the 2nd strongest monster after ancient gear golem (3000 attack) if you
discount cyber angel dakini due to its recent nerf (however, they were shown to be strong in the
1 deck format). This attack can go up to 2700,3000,3300 attack with beatdown depending on the
number of rez on the field, one to three respectively. Its attack can be boosted to 2500,2600 or
2700 with The Ties that binds (TTTB) depending on the number of monsters on the field.
Straight to the grave skill, which starts the game with wasteland boosts the rez to 2600 attack.
Rez can be tribute summoned with one zombie which can be useful against flood gates. Rez can
special summon opponents zombie monster when destroyed by rez on your side which becomes
an important factor in mirror matches, which will be discussed further later.
1) One is to send a zombie from the deck to the graveyard once per turn and
2) the other is to special summon zombie from hand when gozuki is sent to the graveyard by
banishing a zombie from the graveyard other than gozuki, once per turn.
The first effect is important as you can send rez to the graveyard if you only have spirit in
hand/set (a trap which summons red eyes from graveyard) in order to summon rez next turn .
Gozuki can also send a zombie to the graveyard such as samurai skull or bacon saver.
Gozuki can send another gozuki from deck to the graveyard and banish a non gozuki zombie,
triggering gozuki's second effect, which allows special summoning of rez or other zombie from
the hand. This is an important swarming effect, which is crucial in rez's deck. This effect can be
pulled off in one turn if you send rez to graveyard using insight then banish rez to summon rez
from hand using gozuki’s effect, all in one turn even if you didn’t have any zombie fodder
before.
Gozuki can also send bacon saver to the graveyard which provides a great defensive measure as
bacon saver can be banished during any battle phase (except in damage step), which can either
stop your or opponent's monster's attack. This can also play around SRH, econ.
As you can see, gozuki is a central card therefore you would need at least 2 gozuki for it to be
tier 1.
You would need at least 2 gozuki for the deck to be successful in tournament settings. You may
be able to reach KOG with 1 gozuki and 2- 3 Samurai skull, however as tier 2 with great
difficulty.
Samurai skull (SS): Ideal number 1-3
This is another zombie monster with 1700 attack which enables you to send a zombie to grave
upon normal summoning. This effect cannot be repeated, unlike gozuki. However, as the effect is
upon summoning, the effect goes through even if it gets floodgated, which allows you to send a
rez or bacon or other zombies to grave. This is a useful advantage over gozuki as gozuki won’t
be able to use its effect when floodgated. Samurai skull’s 2nd effect is also very relevant in the
current meta.
Its 2nd effect is that when samurai gets removed from the field either by effect destruction or
banishment, it can special summon level 4 or lower zombie(except samurai skull) from the deck.
This essentially counters the opponent’s defensive SRH, as that would enable you to summon
gozuki from the deck. Due to the reasons above, samurai could be played up to 3 if you wish
with 2 gouzki.
Red eyes Spirit/ Insight: you need 2 of each ideally for 20 card deck.
You can run 3 insights in 20 card deck or 21-22 card decks as well. 3 insights give you roughly
48-50% chance of starting your hand with an insight. 2 insights will give you 30-33% chance in
your starting hand.
If you want to summon rez quickly, 3 insights is recommended. However, 2 insights is more
popular currently as the pace of the game is slower compared to the previous meta with cybers
and ninjas.
Wyvern has become quite popular recently. Most decks play 1 wyvern with 2 Rez, which acts as
‘3rd spirit’ as it enables to summon rez from grave by banishing itself from the grave at the end
phase if you did not normal summon in that turn.
Optimal Skills
Straight to the grave: start the duel with field spell wasteland. This is probably the best skill for
the current meta because there are so many decks that are popular and powerful. Being able to
use a storm in conjunction with your set spirit and other cards, to clear all three backrow at once
is very useful in this meta, and very powerful vs our toughest match up, gladiator beasts. You
will not have the advantage in the rez mirror however, but with side decking you can over come
that.
The ties that bind: great skill for the rez mirror and vs other decks as well your monster gains
100 atk times the amount of monsters on the field.
Beatdown: ah old reliable, the original dominant skill for rez decks. Your field increases by the
number of level 5 or higher monsters on your field times 300. No longer optimal now that CA is
less popular in the current meta but that can change in the near future.
The REZD Player’s Toolbox:
With side decking being such a popular format for recent and future tournaments, let's talk about
popular and not so popular tech options for the REZD deck, keep in mind that techs can be used
in your main deck, or in your side deck and switched in and out between duels of a match. There
are a few key techs out of these tech options that should be in your main deck. I will single out
the key tech options.
TECH OPTIONS
Key: TRAP SPELL MONSTER KEY TECH*
- Anti-Magic Arrows*: can be used at the start of the battle phase, no traps or spells can be used
or chained after this card is used, is very useful as a win more card, helps clear monsters of the
board without worrying about backrow.
- Storm*: the key to any rez deck imo, if you aren’t using this in your main deck be sure to put it
in your side.
- Super-Rush Headlong*: great to counter gbs and hazy as well as a strong all around card,
especially when opponents think they are playing around MW and they switch your gozuki or
samurai into def mode.
- Forbidden Chalice: great to counter all of the super powerful effect monsters that you will run
into.
- Blast Held by Tribute: can be a great surprise vs Hazy players.
- Floodgate Trap Hole: versatile in every match up except the REZD mirror, because rez
players for the most part play around it, although it can really hurt them if you use it on their
gozuki early.
- Wall of Disruption: great tech vs Hazy and rez, really any deck that floods the field with
monsters.
- Xing Zeng Hu: locking down back row in this meta is very useful, especially because we may
be seeing more mill.
- Enemy Controller*: if you are not already running them in your main deck, they are the most
versatile card in the game and are useful in any match up expect hazy.
- Straight Flush: slow but amazing against GB decks as well as Burn decks. -
Divine Wrath: make use of your side bacon, Rez and wyvern early draws by discarding them
and killing off a hazy or gb with ease.
- Forbidden Dress: pretty sweet side tech for bonz players, protects your Rez from murmillo
and srh effects as well as useful in mirror matches to get over rez.
- Rush Recklessly: nice tech for bonz players allows you to get over or kill other Rez including
beatdown boosted Rez also helps Rez over take a ag golem.
-Fire formation: Very useful tech in mirror match as well as vs control decks.
-Disappear: allows you to banish a card from your opponent's graveyard at no cost. This is a
great situational tech in the Rez mirror match as well as vs hazy decks.
-Foolish Return: a quick play spell that allows you to return a card from your opponent’s
graveyard back to their deck. Another great mirror match tech for rez. I would argue that this
card is better than using e-con in the mirror match.
-Lava Golem: such a versatile tech, can be helpful vs glad beast, hazy and Rez decks.
-Red-Eyes Wyvern*: can be used as a third option to revive your Rez as well as being a
powerful 1800 beater.
-Zombie World: a field spell that completely wrecks hazy decks and has an effect that makes all
monsters on the field and GY zombies so essentially your Rez can steal anything.
-Cosmic Cyclone: a quick play that allows you to pay 1000 lp and banish any spell/ trap on the
field.
-Powerful Rebirth: essentially a red-eyes spirit for your four star monsters.
-Curse of Anubis*: great card for this meta switches all effect monsters to def position until the
end of the turn.
-Mirror Wall: great for the mirror match as well as dealing with high attack monsters.
-Magical Arm Shield: this card is very useful in the Rez mirror match if you are in a bad spot,
let's say your opp has 2 rez on the field, you can steal one when the attack and force the other to
crash, sending both to the GY.
-WasteLand: field spell that boosts your monsters to get over larger monsters and can also be
used in conjunction with storm to clear three backrow.
- Kunai with Chain: can be useful in most situations you can use it as a 500 attack boost equip
card or as a sphere kuriboh or as both in one activation.
-4-Starred ladybug of doom: can be used to clear the field of all level four monsters your
opponent controls. In a electro and glad beast heavy meta, this can be useful.
-Sphere Kuriboh: can be useful in many different situations, can even save a duel for you in
some instances.
-Double Cyclone: useful quick play allows you to destroy a spell or trap on your side of the field
then destroy a spell or trap on your opponent’s side of the field.
-Snipe Hunter*: amazing tech for cancer, gb and control matchups.
-Skill Successor: great tech for the mirror match if you use straight to the grave skill.
- Trunade: spell card that send all face down spells and traps on the field back to the player’s
hand.
Matchups
The Gladiator Beasts Matchup
Dominant skills: Balance, Mind Scan and Shadow Game
Ah the dreaded gb matchup, this is the main reason why we must main deck cards like, Anti-
Magic Arrows and Storm. The GB deck is the best control deck currently in the meta, it consists
of monsters that have tag out effects that can destroy your field. Murmillo tags in to destroy face
up monsters, Beastiari tags in to destroy spells and traps, laquari tags in to become a 2100 atk
beater and demicari tags in and is able to attack twice per turn. GB decks also run Sgt.Electro to
further make Rez players blood boil, and they lock down our backrow defenses with it. The good
news is with the mindscan nerf, the dominate glad beast deck skill is balance, which is a more
favorable matchup for Rez. Now the way to approach this matchup is to preserve your resources
while forcing the gb player to burn through theirs while you wait to pull your AMA or storm so
you can blow away their back row and swing over their gb monsters. You want to stop the gb
player from tagging out and using their effects before you can deal with it and remember
whenever you want to use a spirit to bring out a rez, chain it to another card or monster effect
because all GB decks run 2-3 floodgate trap hole and chain I g your spirit to a monster effect or
spell/trap effect will bypass the fgth effect. Now, if you can survive the tag effect go ahead and
let them do it, if it will put you In a very dangerous position, use your resources to stop them,
curse of Anubis, enemy controller, bacon saver and super rush headlong are all good cards to
protect your field. Keep in mind when using super rush or econ, turn toggle on and do it during
the battle step. When you are ready to use your anti-back row cards your your opponent will
almost always read your ama from your hand, you can set it the turn before to trick them but
make absolutely sure they cannot tag in a Beastiari to destroy your ama before you get the
chance to use it. If you are using storm the great thing is your opponent can play around it and if
you are using the straight to the grave skill variant, you can destroy all three backrow sets in one
turn, keep in mind that your opponent may chain their srh to your storm in order to preserve their
gb monster for their next turn, also try your best to not storm until your can bring out a Rez along
with another monster, if you can, be sure to econ chain and take their monster for your weaker
monster so you can then use your spirited Rez and their monster to swing for game if your are
able to, if not be sure to chain an srh as well, you as the turn player will get the priority and you
will get the kill. If they chain srh and you cannot do an econ chain or a srh chain of your own
you still cleared their entire backrow and have a Rez on the field in attack position, maybe even
some backrow support as well, if you are lucky. If you are able to clear their field, even if they
have one monster left and have to rely on a top deck, you are in a good position. Ama is best to
use when you can go for game, because even if you are able to clear their gbs off the field, they
still have full backrow or two backrow cards, all it takes is for them to draw one gb monster and
they can get their engine running. Lastly try your best to stop your gb opponent from bringing
out glad beast fusion monster Nerokius, he is trouble to deal with he cannot be destroyed by
battle and when he attacks or is attacked, no card effects can be used, also if he does attack, your
opponent has the option to tag him out for two gb monsters. Your best bet against this big boy is
to stop him from attacking and then use this in an econ steal on your turn to go for game (do the
Econ steal during your main phase) or stop him from attacking and use an srh on one of your
monsters in your main phase and then attack him to send him to the graveyard. Gladiator Beasts
is the hardest matchup for Rez players but with the addition of side decking in tournament play
and with smart play by the pilot of this deck, you will overcome them.
Dominant SKILL: MIDDLE AGE MECHS: start the duel with ancient Gear castle, soon to be
nerfed but will only stall the ag player from getting out their golem one turn. This card can be
used to bring out a tribute monster once it has 2+ counters on it and it raises the atk of ag
monsters by 300.
Ancient Gears are a very strong deck which wields the best boss monster in the current meta,
Ancient Gear Golem a 3000 atk/def beast that ignores backrow when it attacks and also does
piercing damage. Even with the annoying Sgt. Electro, strong gemini ag knight and the common
tech monster, Heavy knight of the flame as Staples in this deck, ag golem is still the biggest
problem for Rez players. We cannot get over it with our monsters unless we are using beatdown
skill and have three Rez on the board which is a rare occurrence. Our best options are:
1. Win the duel before they have the chance to get their boss out. This is not easy because
all ag decks run two ag golem and they have a skill in which they start with ag castle, this
card gains a counter every time a monster is summoned, once it has two counters they
can use it to bring out ag golem without tributing. If you can try and get this off the field
ASAP using either storm, cosmic cyclone or double cyclone. After than clear their
monsters off the board if you can or do not let them have two monster out, doing this will
make the two ag golem dead cards for your opponent.
2. Use helpful techs such as curse of Anubis, srh and econ to eliminate the ag golem threat.
Use curse of Anubis on your turn BEFORE you put your monster out, this will switch
their golem to def position and make it's def 0, now you can sent out any of your Rez
deck monsters to take it out, even bacon saver. Try to use this when the ag player has no
backrow. Use srh on your turn as well because when it is not your turn, you will have to
activate it before the battle phase and your opponent will just not attack and end their turn
rendering your srh useless. Econ can be used to steal your opponents golem and go for
game or a ton of damage while ignoring your opponent's backrow. I would advise you to
do this only when you are going in for game. As for the rest of this matchup aside from
ag golem, you must treat it as if you are playing any control deck, force your opponent to
waste their resources, use ama and storm smartly, to take out backrow and swing over
their monsters. You also want to be sure to not let your opponent Gemini summon there
heavy knight of the flame, it can banish your special summoned monsters.
All of the cancerous decks tend to have the same motive, stall the opponent with backrow and set
facedown monsters that have flip effects that kill, banish or steal your monster until the end
phase. They also will have effects that send your cards to the graveyard. The key is to not panic,
get to your insight asap, set up your spirit and use your gozuki to get out your anti backrow
cards, ama, storm, xing etc. Try not to use more than one monster at a time because your
opponent will most likely be using lava golem, also, if you draw a rez, keep it in hand incase you
need it to tribute off a lava golem. Don’t be afraid to attack into their monsters and force them to
waste backrow unless you are waiting for a tech that will allow you to deal with multiple set
monsters. Once you have your anti backrow, set xing and prepare to lockdown backrow so our
monsters can go to work, storm and chain your rez so you can destroy their backrow and bring
out your rez or get three monster on the field, your rez being one, use ama and go for game.
Conclusion
Rez is a very versatile deck it will always be relevant and can adapt to almost any meta. We both
strongly suggest investing in this deck. Another great aspect of running a rez deck is that it is not
a very hard deck to pilot and once you build your deck, you will not have to buy through all the
new boxes if you do not want to, you just fish through them for tech cards to side or to use one of
in your rez build to adapt it to any new powerful decks that make their way into the meta. I will
not be adding rez deck pictures in this guide because I encourage you to visit myself and the
other rez experts (drbluepepper and Kaito) in rez tips. We post many different successful rez
builds in that channel. We also have a wonderful rez enthusiast community full of helpful players
in the red-eyes-zombies and rez- learning channels in the duel links meta discord. Feel free to
come their and ask me and questions you would like, I am a major rez nerd and love to talk about
the deck.