Sea Stealth Attack Guide

Table of Contents

Introduction

Hi there! I go by the name of Built2Tilt and I've been playing Duel Links for just over a year now. I became active in the competitive community about 3 months ago and have written several Duel Links articles for Reddit and Duel Links Meta.

Since my top 8 performance in MCS VI I've become a Deck Expert for Sea Stealth Attack and a member of the Top Player Council. I have a history in the TCG, placing top 16 in UK Nationals 2016 and topping several popular community events such as CCG.

Overview

The meteoric rise of Loading... as the most dominant Deck in the game was swiftly followed by a huge decline in its usage statistics in tournaments. The archetype has had a hard time adapting to the new meta which is now focused more on hard removal and effect negation, and now faces stiff new competition for its spot in the top tiers in the form of Masked Heroes and Geargias. All of this aside, Sea Stealth Attack is still an incredibly strong Deck with many favourable match ups in the meta and if built right it can be a devastating force in tournament formats.

This guide will explain why Loading... is such a strong card, how you can counter it, the different ways you can build your Deck around it, how to build with the meta in mind and how the Deck fares against common match ups.

The Card

Loading... has 3 effects:

1. On activation, you can activate one Loading... directly from your hand or Graveyard. This effect happens only once when Sea Stealth Attack is first activated. Because Loading... is always counted as Umi it synergises with this effect.
2. If Umi is face up on the field (your opponent's field included) then any time a water Monster who's original level was 5 or higher battles, the Monster it battles is destroyed at the start of the Damage Step. This means that face down Monsters will not be flipped face up (Loading... ), and effects that activate in the Damage Step such as Loading... will not be able to activate. If both you and your opponent control Sea Stealth Attack, and your water Monsters who's original level was 5 or higher do battle, both Monsters will be destroyed.
3. Once per turn you can Banish any face up water Monster you control (as a cost) until the End Phase: this turn, face up Spell and Trap cards you control cannot be destroyed by card effects. This effect works similarly to Loading... , allowing you to chain to effects such as Loading... and keep your Monster safe.

It is important to note that for both the second and third effects, Sea Stealth Attack needs to be face up on the field to activate and resolve them. This means that the first time you flip it up, you will not be able to activate the second or third effect in the same chain. This is why many players opt to activate it in the Standby Phase so they can chain the third effect to any removal effects.

The card is so strong because it makes your Monsters very hard to deal with, both in battle and with hard removal, on top of the fact that it has inherent protection from destruction by card effects. When you combine this with the strong control effects of the high level water Monsters that abuse it like Loading... and Loading... it becomes incredibly difficult to stop.

But no card is without its drawbacks and Loading... is no exception.

Dealing With Sea Stealth Attack

1. If you can force your opponent to Banish their Monster with Sea Stealth Attack you can then get a clear shot at their life points. This is best done with cards like Loading... , Loading... and Loading... /Loading... , cards that threaten to remove cards from your opponent's field.
2. As mentioned above, it must be face up and already active to activate the second and third effects of the card. This means that if you can chain a destruction effect (such as Loading... ) to the activation of Sea Stealth Attack, you can destroy the card before it's effect can resolve
3. Cards that do not destroy but remove cards from the field, such as Loading... and Loading... can both bypass Sea Stealth Attack's protection and remove it from the field.
4. As Sea Stealth Attack's battle effect activates in the Battle Phase, it is susceptible to being countered by Loading... .
5. Loading... is a great counter, as it takes priority over Sea Stealth Attack's destruction effect. You will be able to Banish your Monster and protect it from destruction, but this will leave you open for attacks.

The Variants

First I'd like to briefly outline the different directions one can take when building around Sea Stealth Attack, and some of their pros and cons.