Successful Troll was Successful!

Innovation is born out of necessity!  If you don't possess the expensive meta defining cards, then you MUST INNOVATE in order to be successful.  So many people are still up at arms about the price of Tour Guide.  If I didn't own them then I would be running something that either did not need them or find a suitable replacement and alter the deck accordingly.
Does anyone remember the RaiDa or Perfect Circle format:

3 Raiza
3 Light and Darkness Dragon
3 Destiny Draw
3 Card Trooper
3 Malicious
1 Stratos
1 Disc Commander

At the time, that deck was the meta and it was considered way too expensive for card board.  Raiza was $30, card troopers were $30, Destiny Draw was $50+, Stratos and Disc were both $20+... There was no way in HELL I was gonna shell out for all of that shiny cardboard.  So you know what I did?  I fucking designed a deck that could compete at a respectable level and even WIN vs the Meta.  I don't remember exactly what the list was, but I remember many key components:

Exiled Force
3 Giant Rat
Injection Fairy Lily
2 DD Assailant
2 Gigantes
2 Granmarg
2 Creature Swap
3 Smashing Ground
3 Bottomless
3 Trap Dustshoot

Now take a look at how devastating a deck like that is to Perfect Circle.  I made sure to include plenty of chainable cards to rapidly deplete LiDas atk/def rendering it useless most of the time.  Also, Gigantes was just  insane for having 1900atk AND daring other monsters to kill it in battle for the Heavy Storm effect.  Gigantes murk'd opposing Stratos and other top beaters of the day.  The Giant Rat toolbox was able to get me out of so many situations that I was able top 2 Regionals during that format.  One in Tulsa and one in St Louis.  So you see, I really don't give a damn about how you can't afford to buy whatever the most meta defiining card is at any particular time.  What I really want to hear is how are you going to Adapt and Overcome.  Because being successful in this game is not about what cards you own, but how well you use those cards!