Dark Synchro Lives! (Jonathan's Deck Fix.)

Beatdown Synchro Deck:
Monsters : 18
Flamvell Magician 3
Rose, Warrior of Revenge 2
Mist Valley Soldier 1  (I WOULD have more, but this dude is hard to get)
Summoner Monk1
Tragoedia 1
Gorz 1
Stratos 1
Defender 2
Diamond 1
Fear Monger 2
Gravekeeper's Spy 3

Spells : 15
Brain Control 1
Mind Control 1
Gold Sarcophagus 1
Cold Wave 1
Heavy Storm 1
Scapegoat 1
Lightning Vortex 2
MST 1
Reinforcement of the Army 1
Book of Moon 2
Smashing Ground 2

Traps : 6
Solemn 1
Torrential Tribute 1
Call of the Haunted 1
Bottomless 1
Mirror Force 1
Royal Decree 1

What Synchros should I put in?

New Format DARK Synchro

A lot of people have converted from using the D-Hero Malicious stuff that used to be so effective for Synchros into stuff like this. However, D-Hero Malicious is still an incredible guy and even though you only have 1 D-Draw, you can always just bring him out with Tomato in order to Synchro. The guy made no mention of a budget, and he's including some fairly high-end cards like Gold Sarcophagus, Mirror Force, and Solemn Judgment. I'm going to assume a middle budget for this deck fix (being that he can spend an extra 150 on this deck.)

Why is Malicious still good?

People are assuming that Malicious is no longer good because there's no reliable way to dump him with Destiny Draw. However, tributing for Malicious, although rather crude, still works and gets off the +1. So does bringing him out with D-Draw. This format, the most effective way to use Malicious is in conjunction with a DARK Monarch style deck, running Caius the Shadow Monarch, Mystic Tomato, Krebons, and Malicious himself.

A Monster Analysis.

It seems to me that either Jonathan took out his Malicious for this inferior engine, or he never had them. In my opinion, they should be easy to get because of their low price now (I picked up a playset of this and a D-Draw/Stratos to trade for just 20 bucks today. All lowest rarities though.)

Fixes:
-2 Flamvell Magician
-2 Rose, Warrior of Revenge
-1 Mist Valley Soldier (Don't need to worry about getting more.)

4+4 isn't nearly as good as Monarch + 2 or Malicious + 2. The first way is a -1, the second way is a trade off that has been paid off. It should be obvious which one is better. Teching 1 Flamvell Magician doesn't seem too bad, so I'll keep it. The other LV 4 Tuners are far inferior - they fall to Bottomless before they can make Stardust.

-2 Destiny Hero - Defender
-1 Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude
-1 Destiny Hero - Fear Monger

I'm keeping 1 Fear Monger to act as Malicious stuff and also as tribute fodder for Monarchs. It should work out nicely.

+3 Caius the Shadow Monarch
+2 Krebons
+2 Mystic Tomato
+2 Destiny Hero - Malicious
+1 Plaguespreader Zombie/Dark Armed Dragon <-- Replace with Psychic Commander if not possible.
+1 Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind

This new monster line-up is looking much more vibrant. It can get off much more damage as well as being able to make Synchros that are already paid for, allowing advantages pushes.

Backrow Analysis.

First cuts are Royal Decree for being not very good in here, and Gold Sarcophagus for not being really needed in this type of deck. There's nothing we really want to search that always remains relevant. I'm also cutting 1 copy of Lightning Vortex. I'm keeping in the other copy so that he has ways to dump Malicious and to recover from a swarm. Otherwise, it's not that great.

-1 Royal Decree
-1 Gold Sarcophagus
-1 Lightning Vortex
-2 Smashing Ground (Straight 1-1 is NOT what this deck needs.)

We now have 20 monsters, so there can only be 3 new Spells and Traps. The first Spell is Destiny Draw. It's still good with 5 targets (2x Malicious, 1x Stratos, 1x RotA, and 1x Fear Monger.) The next card is Book of Moon which provides excellent defense in this deck. The final new card is Emergency Teleport/Royal Oppression depending on what Jonathan wants - more defense or a quick offense.