Introduction
Hello! And welcome to the updated complete guide to Umi Control, I am
, a player of Umi control since its OCG debut and current owner of the Umi discord server and I will teach you about the many ups and downs of Umi control.So what is "Umi Control"? Umi control is a floodgate control deck mainly using the effects of Loading... to control the board in such a way that the opponent cannot properly respond. To do this, the deck aims to have both an Loading... , in this case Loading... , and Kairyu-Shin on the board to leave the opponent with only 1 non-WATER monster on their field, which effectively shuts down a majority of decks as WATER isn't a common attribute.
Core Cards
Ocean Dragon Lord - Kairyu-Shin
Kairyu-Shin itself is what makes this deck so strong, so much so most of the deck consists either of cards that help summon it, cards that help search it and cards that help protect it, its floodgate works nearly identically to the Kragen Gozen set up. When using its search the best thing to search first, if not already in hand, is Sea Stealth Attack.
Electric Jellyfish
Our main way of summoning Kairyu-Shin and also a way to pull an Umi from deck to allow Sea Stealth Attack to pull the card from the GY. Also gives us a negate to stop certain responses and outs.
A Legendary Ocean
This is the best Umi to use in the deck, both because it's the most searchable and because it allows us to Normal Summon Kairyu-Shin. It also has the unintended but surprisingly helpful side effect of making enemy WATER monsters 1 level lower, essentially floodgating some decks like Ghoti
Fish Sonar
Essentially more copies of Kairyu-Shin and Jellyfish. Also has the upside of being free special summon of any WATER Normal Monster from the deck if you control an Umi on the board.
Sea Stealth Attack
Sea Stealth Attack combined with Ocean Dragon Lord - Kairyu-Shin make up the most important pieces of the deck. Sea Stealth Attack lets Kairyu-Shin or any other level 5 or higher WATER monster deal with cards that have more attack than them. Sea Stealth Attack also prevents your opponent from destroying any face-up backrow cards you have and even allows you to dodge certain effects against our monsters through the Sea Stealth Attack's banish. As a bonus, it facilitates more effective use of Electric Jellyfish and Loading... via allowing us to pull an "Umi" from the GY when its activated.
Good Support Cards
While not as important the core cards, these cards can be nice to have in the deck.
Mega Fortress Whale
Though Mega Fortress Whale has fallen out of favor recently due to Umi having gained access to better ways beat the opponent in 1 turn alongside the limiting of several of the deck's consistency cards, it is still pure Umi's best way to otk. You should, however, drop it if you decided to start running one of the stronger off-engines.
Doom Kraken
Doom Kraken is a good form of survivability and destruction but it's also something you really don't want to draw more than one of and something we are completely okay with not seeing immediately. It's nice to have but not super important
Warrior of Atlantis
More copies of A Legendary Ocean, also a monster or Ash bait if you already have A Legendary Ocean.
Sea Stealth II
It's another Umi, provides decent protection. Helps if you are playing Dark Reef as it lets you have a second Umi be on the board. Second effect in combination with Sea Stealth Attack or Doom Kraken allows us to permanently revive a monster from the GY each battle phase.
Dark Reef
Dark Reef is an incredible card with the downside of being really awkward, its best and most common use is to summon a board that will end the game when the opponent ends their turn but can also be used with Sea Stealth Attack to send an Umi from the board and then put it back again to make a stronger board, or if you have Sea Stealth 2 and A Legendary Ocean on the board, as a way to summon a back-up Kairyu-shin. One is generally enough to end the game, two can lead to some powerful highrolls but can be awkward, three requires using Loading... to make practical, which will be explained in the notes as to why she isn't normally used. Isn't as needed in variants that drop mega fortress whale, but isn't bad as a one of even then.
Consistency Cards
Due to how much the deck relies on getting Kairyu-Shin on the board, we naturally want to run some good consistency cards and with the limiting of both Loading... and two of the pot spells more consistency is needed more than ever, here are some of the best you can use.
Foolish Burial Goods + Ice Barrier
Foolish Burial Goods + Ice Barrier allows you to search for any level 5 or higher WATER monster in the deck, it's essentially more copies of Kairyu-Shin. They also have some other more fringe applications such as allowing us to search Loading... or dropping a different card to the GY to get a different WATER monster from the GY. If one uses these cards I recommend using an Icejade Tremora as well for another way to summon Kairyu-Shin even if you didn't draw the others or if the others were negated. Despite having gotten limited, having a 1-1 or 1-2 ratio of Foolish Burial Goods + Ice barrier is still good for consistency, it's even possible to run 3 in some specific variants.
Pot of Extravagance + Pot of Prosperity
Great cards for consistency, even while limited. Pure Umi doesn't really use the extra deck so it's possible to run them without repercussions in pure. Can be used in most variants, even the more extra deck heavy ones with some minor exceptions.
Triple Tactics Talent + Triple Tactics Thrust
Great when going up against hand traps or when going second, has utility outside of just consistency, Thrust isn't as useful as talents unless you're running Dark Reef with a high number of Umi cards.
Reasoning
Since pure Umi lacks consistency cards, reasoning can help the consistency by digging through the deck, it becomes less good with variants but is an option if on a budget.
Upstart Goblin
Not the best consistency card but it is essentially like playing the deck with 37 cards instead of 40, becomes better when you're using cards that benefit from spell usage.