Hey guys, Chief Siddharth here. Today’s post is going to look at Mystical Space Typhoon, it’s usage and how it’s changing our general perception of spell and trap removal.

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Why did we use Mystical Space Typhoon?

The answer to this is obvious. We always used Mystical Space Typhoon (hereafter referred to as MST) because of the danger of floodgates. An Infernity player cannot risk losing simply because his opponent activated Skill Drain and Soul Drain. Similarly, a Lightsworn player cannot risk losing because of his opponent’s Dimensional Fissure and/or Macros Cosmos. Floodgates have become a part and parcel of dueling nowadays, as game 2 becomes the turning point in most matches.  In fact, here are the worst floodgate situations for some decks.

• Malefic deck vs Imperial Iron Wall
• Dark World Deck vs Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror
• Artifacts vs Dimensional Fissure/Macros Cosmos
• Lightsworn vs Macros Cosmos/Dimensional Fissure or Light of Destruction
• Infernity vs Skill Drain
• Most Decks vs Vanity’s Emptiness
• Trap Monster Decks vs Royal Decree

But not every player, and in fact not any player wants to risk losing to these pesky continuous spells and traps. That’s why spell and trap removal became crucial in game 2. But why MSTs? This is because MST is one of the more versatile options when it comes to spell and trap removal. While something like Dust Tornado is useful in its own way, Mystical Space Typhoon can be activated when drawn, or later as a quick play. One of the main reasons MST is so good is because it can down Artifacts without the irritating special summoning taking place as well. With so many versatile options, and floodgate removal ability with no cost, MST was a useful card.

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Why do we use MST so much now?

Enter Qliphorts. Enter Qliphort Scout. Enter searching at low cost. Enter Pendulum summoning. Enter the use of Skill Drain. 

Now the importance of MST is not only limited to floodgates, but getting rid of the infuriating pendulum zone. In fact, having no spell and trap removal is equal to self destruction. Might as well watch your opponent swarm you into submission! And many decks tend to use monster effects quite a bit too, and skill drain hinders them.

All these factors, along with the good old floodgate issue have resulted in more MST usage. A heavy storm-less format doesn’t help.

All these factors mean that now, 3 Mystical Space Typhoons is a staple in every deck.

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MST Fodder

Now, you’ve heard the term tribute fodder. You may have also heard the term Grapha fodder. But then.. the rise of MST has resulted in MST fodder. (Also known as Mystical Space Typhoon Fodder)

I’m sure some of you have heard of the Exodd Flip Deck. One of the few usable cookie decks in existence, the exodd flip deck revolves around flip summoning earth monsters when Exodd, Master of the Guard is face up on the field to deal damage. When I was building this deck, I tried to limit my spells and traps to only MSTs and Stall spells and traps, considering my monsters would be dealing the effect damage not the spells. However, I stumbled upon my three wave motion cannons. Wave-motion cannon is an extremely useful card, but I wanted to limit my spells and traps to stalling cards and MST only. But in the end I decided to keep the Wave-motion cannons.

You may be thinking that I got greedy for all the effect damage I could build up into. But the real reason I kept this card was because it could serve as a suitable target for Mystical Space Typhoon. My deck was filled with continuous spells and traps, and it’s obvious the first thing my opponent would like to do is remove them from the field. On the other hand, with wave-motion cannon around it will become my opponent’s first priority in many situations, leaving my stall cards alone.

This is the concept of MST fodder. Cards that will most likely be targeted with Mystical Space Typhoon. This is quite important in our metagame. All decks need to have multiple MST fodder. For example, Qliphorts use their pendulum zones and skill drain.

But then, what happens to the control deck that uses a face-down back-row more often than not?

Blind MSTing

This is a concept, or a practice which is hated by many yugitubers and professional duelists alike.

Blind MSTing is when a player drops a MST when confronted with a backrow of 2 or more set cards. He does this without any knowledge of what the set cards are, hoping to see a mirror force, or torrential tribute. Hence the name blind. This has become common and is present in almost any duel.

Mirror force will certainly not be limited/semi-limited in january. Nor will dimensional prison. In fact, at this point even bottomless trap hole could be unlimited. That is the case when you look at how blind MSTing easily removes these cards. These condition-based effects, and even counter traps like solemn-judgement can be removed with no trouble.

This can also be used to explain the fall in popularity of decks like Bujins. They aren’t used so much anymore, as their control based backrow is wiped out easily in most instances.

Then comes the concept of a chainable back row, and MST bait.

Chainable Backrow: Refers obviously to a backrow that can be used at anytime, especially when MSTed. Cards like Mind Crush are becoming more important in these backrows, as they can be chained at anytime. These backrows ensure that MSTs don’t affect your game plan much.

MST Bait: The same thing as MST fodder, except you bait out the MSTs early by setting/activating cards(better when MST fodder) that you would have destroyed more than others. (The Qliphort tactic with skill drain)

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Overall, it is important to keep Mystical space typhoon in your mind when designing your deck, as a handful of floodgates and chainable trap cards can ensure MST doesn’t deal too much damage to your strategy. And unless you are a blind MST hater, main-deck 3 of them. 2 is fine too, but it’s not really recommended to diet on MSTs.