Ghastly Malice Demigra has seen a rise in popularity due to one card alone – Demigra, Demonic Overlord. This card helped push this deck to a whole different strategy, aggro/control. It topped the North American National Finals, it came close to winning PPT Las Vegas and it got Russell Cruz his invitation for the Tournament of Power in February. Russell has been playing Demigra for quite some time now and after getting 2nd place he has adapted his deck for the Set 9 meta. I asked him to provide his current decklist and give us some insight for how the new cards interact with this deck:

“Set 9 black cards greatly benefit the new Buu archetype. However, there are a few cards that help Demigra decks. Those cards being “Dabura, Darkness Perfected”, “Bibidi, Primeval Conjure”, and “Demonic Absorption”. Dabura is a great counter play battle card that black leaders needed. When it comes into play, it chooses a battle card, it can’t attack and cant activate it skills. When it comes to your turn, you can play Banisher Fu to remove the threat and continue to apply pressure. The worst matchup that this can be use it for is decks that play SS4 Son Goku a Heartfelt plea, as it’s only outs before is to negate the attacks. Now it has another answer for it”.

“The newest Super Combo for black leaders is “Bibidi, Primeval Conjure”. No life restriction and gives 3k combo power + 1k for each card in the drop and warped area. In my opinion, I would do a 2-2 split of 10k draw Super Combo and the Bibidi because drawing is crucial as Demigra doesn’t have draw power. However, Bibidi is a great closer Super Combo to end games at turn 3-4 when control decks start…controlling the game state”.

“Lastly, Demonic Absorption is the last relevant card coming out of set 9 for Demigra decks. 3 to cast to remove almost any battle card ignoring barrier and send it to Warp. It also has an activate: battle to add 5k power if it becomes a dead card or you’re pushing for game. I would run 1-2 copies, 3 would be difficult to cast and do other plays but if games go long and grindy, you’ll be glad to have this card in hand”.

“There are other generic black cards that would possibly help Demigra decks but I feel these 3 are the most relevant and have the most use. As control decks become more and more relevant, I feel, Demigra Aggro will still have a place in the meta and catching other decks off guard. The deck can go off turn 2-4, having your board wiped will slow down the deck a bit but the deck can still recover as long as you still have “Demigra, Demonic Overlord” in your hand”. – Russel Cruz

Wow, this Demigra deck looks insane. Having the ability to choose between aggression or controlling the board within the same deck is difficult to find. With more and more black cards being introduced into the game, Demigra can take advantage of some of those cards. If you didn’t have a starting point for your Demigra deck, take Russell’s list and give it a whirl. Set 9 is already sparking creativity for older decks to adapt. I am looking forward to seeing Russell play this deck.

With that, I leave you to start using the new cards to adjust your old favorite decks. Be sure to stay tune for more deck profiles.

Sincerely, Krash.

The Doods