Stun (2008)

If you don't want to bother with special summons and fancy big boss monsters then this counter trap heavy stun deck is for you. By the end of the GX era in 2008 special summoning good monsters was becoming easier and easier and the synchro monsters from the 5DS era only added to that. This deck is filled with simple but powerful monsters and traps that will prevent your opponent from doing that or at least make it much harder. If you're willing to forsake Thunder King Rai-Oh then this deck can be build for the GX format before Duelist Genesis got released and be just if not more effective as well.

Notes and strategy: Bountiful Artemis goes without saying here to get free cards every time you activate a counter trap. Best part is if your opponent uses counter traps too they are put in the unwanted position of possibly giving you free draws too. Every other monster has stand-alone utility; simple good effects and in the case of Thunder King and Doomcaliber Knight great attack too. Fossil Dyna protected with a bunch of traps could be a nightmare depending on your opponent's deck and that's why it pairs nicely with the rest of the stun cards here. Plenty of other good effect monsters could be used here so it's up to preference if you want to swap some monsters for Grand Mole or Cyber Dragon for example.

By this time in the game some decks still didn't focus on synchro monsters and this stun decks is an example of that. Even so, since Monster Reborn and Brain Control were in the format it was technically a possible play still, so that's why nearly all decks had some synchro monsters in their extra deck anyway if they were fully serious. You could even go overboard and include Glad Beast Gyzarus for a really rare off chance play but I'm not going that far. However, it is also an option to include some tuners of your own. Krebons and Psychic Commander can work well on their own too and opening another door for you to synchro summon.

A problem with this deck is what your starting hand will be and what you draw every turn afterwards. Unlike other popular decks from 2008 you don't have non generic draw cards or searcher cards. Upstart Goblin can aid you in fixing your hand and making sure you have some counter traps with Artemis for example but it won't always work out. Jinzo and Royal Decree can also be potential problems but you do have answers for them in the deck. It really helps that MST was at 1 back then but your opponent still has option for spell and trap removal cards if they really want to counter you.

September 2008 Format

Alright guys, these are some of my thoughts about a stun deck of this kind. Like every yugioh deck out there it won't be perfect and has its own weaknesses but will also prove very effective and annoying against the most dominant and popular decks from that period in 2008. Have fun destroying those meta decks!