(Interesting) decklists from Providence, Rhode Island

Nareg Torossian's Zombie (top 4)
Monster [25]
3 Caius the Shadow Monarch
3 Spirit Reaper
3 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
3 Effect Veiler
2 Mystic Tomato
2 Card Trooper
2 Tour Guide from the Underworld
1 Sangan
1 Goblin Zombie
1 Mezuki
1 Plaguespreader Zombie
1 Chaos Sorcerer
1 Black Luster Soldier (not the ritual)
1 Dark Armed Dragon

Spell [8]
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn
1 Book of Moon
3 Mystical Space Typhoon

Trap [11]
3 Call of the Haunted
2 Solemn Warning
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Torrential Tribute
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device

44-card deck with cards mostly from 2-3 years ago. I'll call this a random mess of good stuffs piloted by a legendary player from Goat era who randomly showed up for a random tournament. Every card in the deck can work on its own, and he has 5 mill engines so deck size was not a real problem. That's it. Pro's deck is pro, I can't tell anything else about this.

Justin Ashe's Gravekeepers (top 8)
Monster [15]
3 Gravekeeper's Spy
3 Gravekeeper's Recruiter
2 Gravekeeper's Descendant
2 Gravekeeper's Commandant
1 Gravekeeper's Assailant
2 Effect Veiler
2 Card Car D

Spell [11]
3 Necrovalley
2 Royal Tribute
2 Gravekeeper's Stele
2 Pot of Duality
1 Dark Hole
1 Book of Moon

Trap [14]
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Mirror Force
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Starlight Road
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device

Pretty standard build with the addition of Card Car D. However I often see people playing a full set of Necrovalleys and Commandants, or 3 Commandants and 2 Necrovalleys. This guy's choice was quite... weird considering Commandant is a 2100 beatstick on its own which can be reused by Stele while Necrovalley does nothing as a second copy.

Simon He's Chaos Agent (top 8)
Monster [29]
2 Agent of Mystery - Earth
3 Agent of Creation - Venus
3 Mystical Shine Ball
3 Master Hyperion
2 Spirit Reaper
2 Tour Guide from the Underworld
1 Sangan
1 Thunder King Rai-Oh
1 Archlord Kristya
1 Black Luster Soldier
1 Chaos Sorcerer
1 Herald of Orange Light
2 Tragoedia
2 Maxx C
2 Effect Veiler
1 Gorz
1 Honest

Spell [10]
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mind Control
1 Enemy Controller
1 Creature Swap
1 Forbidden Lance

Trap [1]
1 Treacherous Trap Hole

Pretty much similar to Nicky Lacaille's Agent which finished 2nd (losing to Billy Brake's Tengu Plant) at YCS Toronto in 2011 (a lot of tech cards with no traps). However, Simon had too many tech cards IMO, which can lead to consistency issues when playing a long swiss. He managed to pull it through anyway (through Obelisk with Hyperion, Armory Arm and Gachi Gachi Gantesu. Pro's move is pro, sigh)

Daniel Vrabel's Trooper Agent (top 8)
Monster [26]
2 Agent of Mystery - Earth
3 Agent of Creation - Venus
3 Mystical Shine Ball
3 Master Hyperion
3 Thunder King Rai-Oh
3 Herald of Orange Light
2 Archlord Kristya
2 Card Trooper
2 Tour Guide
1 Sangan
1 Black Luster Soldier
1 Honest

Spell [6]
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Heavy Storm
3 Mystical Space Typhoon

Trap [8]
3 Call of the Haunted
2 Solemn Warning
2 Torrential Tribute
1 Solemn Judgment

Kind of a standard OCG Trooper Agent build. Really nothing to talk about aside from the triple Thunder Kings to help combating Geargia and Wind-Ups.

Nick Amato's Trooper Agent (top 16)
Basically similar to Daniel's decklist, minus the Tour Guides, Sangan, 1 Thunder King, 1 MST, adding in 2 Forbidden Lances, 2 Dualities and 2 Bottomless Trap Holes

Same as above LOL

Kevin Rubio's Guaiba Agent (top 16)
Monster [24]

2 Agent of Mystery - Earth
3 Agent of Creation - Venus
3 Mystical Shine Ball
3 Master Hyperion
3 Herald of Orange Light
2 Archlord Kristya
3 Jurrac Guaiba
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Maxx C
1 Honest

Spell [9]
3 Forbidden Lance
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Book of Moon

Trap [12]
2 Call of the Haunted
2 Solemn Warning
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Torrential Tribute
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Raigeki Break
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device
1 Starlight Road

Another oversized deck that managed to top. It's something innovative in the US (I'm familiar with it in my area but US meta is different), considering people are saying things like "Guaiba is no anymore effective". Still, I doubt it a deck with more than 41 cards can work consistently as the deck's owner wants it to do. Again, he managed to succeed anyway, pro's choice is pro.

William Casaw's Lancer Frog (top 16)
Monster [29]
3 Battle Fader
3 Swap Frog
3 Dupe Frog
3 Poison Draw Frog
3 Ronintoadin
2 Treeborn Frog
3 Obelisk
2 Caius the Shadow Monarch
2 Light and Darkness Dragon
2 Sea Lancer
1 Jinzo
1 Raiza the Storm Monarch
1 Gorz

Spell [13]
3 Soul Exchange
2 Salvage
2 My Body as a Shield
2 Creature Swap
1 Enemy Controller
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn

Trap [0]

Yet another oversized deck (from my point of view) with too many tech cards (from my point of view too). I cannot really understand how he could play with 3 Obelisks and 2 Light and Darkness Dragons. I've been playing Frogs for years, and I keep getting bad hands with dozen of stars when playing with more than 3 monsters requiring 2 (or more) tribute fodders. He even play only one copy of Enemy Controller, the card that I consider the best card in a Frog deck. Or maybe I'm too bad of a duelist LOL. My Body as a Shield is an interesting choice, also. 

Joe Ellis Maddalena's "bunch of Machines" (top 32)
Monster [36]
3 Gallis the Star Beast
2 Witch of the Black Rose
1 Machina Force
3 Machina Gearframe
3 Machina Fortress
3 Genex Neutron
3 Genex Ally Birdman
3 Ghost Ship
3 Cyber Valley
3 Cyber Eltanin
1 Cyber Dragon
2 Lightray Sorcerer
1 Black Luster Soldier
1 Chaos Sorcerer
1 Honest
1 Gorz
2 Tragoedia

Spell [4]
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mind Control

You can read more about the deck here. I have absolutely nothing to talk about. I like the deck, end of story.

Chris DiGregorio's Fish (top 32)
Monster [24]
3 Swap Frog
2 Treeborn Frog
2 Ronintoadin
1 Dupe Frog
3 Light and Darkness Dragon
3 Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth
3 Shark Sticker
1 Friller Rabca
1 Effect Veiler
2 Maxx C
2 Tragoedia
1 Gorz

Spell [16]
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
3 Enemy Controller
3 Moray of Greed
2 Pot of Duality
2 Gold Sarcophagus
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Heavy Storm

I have no idea how he can do OTKs, can you guys tell me? It's a standard fish deck. The only confusing choice is that single copy of Dupe Frog. Swap Frog is the most important thing in this deck IMO, there's no reason to run less than 2 Dupe Frog.

YCS Providence

INSANE.

Was is a real YCS or another kind of random tournament hosted by Konami?

According to Konami's blog, YouTube, DuelistGroundz and more Google stuff, the top 32 consisted of anything that you can imagine in this format: Agent, Geargia, Wind-Ups, Chaos Dragon, Dino Rabbit, HERO, Gravekeepers, Gladiator Beast, Fish, Lancer Frogs, Zombie and a Machine-based deck that I have no idea of how to call it: Genex Neutron, Genex Ally Birdman, Cyber Dragon, Cyber Eltanin, Machina Gearframe/Fortress, Gallis the Star Beast, Lightray Sorcerer, Ghost Ship, Black Rose Witch, everything in one deck.

Cutting down to top 16, there were still 11 different decks staying in competition, with Agents dominated in numbers (5). 4 Gadget/Geargia/Karakuri managed to climbed here, the rest was filled with rogue pick and only ONE Wind-Ups.

As can be predicted, the top 8 consisted of absolutely ZERO Wind-Ups, with Agent and Geargia Karakuri were the only 2 decks which could be seen in double.

The random Zombie things went up to top 4, along with 2 Geargias and Chaos Dragon. Geargia took the win, Chaos Dragon finished second, and Zombie (!) piloted by Nareg Tarossian, a SJC veteran with a Jump Champ. in 2005, was the 3rd.

The interesting thing is that there were too many "black horses" in the tournament, making it the most diverse YCS ever seen (in history?). Aside from the usual top tier decks, there're something we can predict, for now:

• Agent is the Chaos Dragon of this format. It stayed under-radar for the first 3 YCSs, but rose to fame with a whopping 5 spots in top 16. The chance of drawing Earth has doubled comparing to last format, and that makes real differences. Oddly enough, the old (and nerfed) Chaos Dragon climbed to top 4, competing with Geargias and Zombie.
• Good old rogue picks have places in YCS-level tournament, at least before Abyss Rising. Gladiator Beast, Gravekeepers, Sea Lancer, Zombie are all solid decks, but they have the same weakness: speed. YGO is still slow for now, so there're chances for random tops. The Machine-based random deck of Joe Maddalena, and Fish deck of Chris DiGregorio, though managed to survive the Swiss, won't be making anymore YCS-top IMO.
• Geargia is too powerful. In slow formats card advantages win game. It's no different now.

It's quite too early now, I can't collect the decklists for you guys in this post. Will be updating day by day, promise. But I only care about the rogue things (Zombie, GB, GK, Lancer, that mass of Machine, Fish...). Never really care about the champion decklist, just build one Geargia deck for yourself.

On a side notes, Paul Levitin and Nareg Tarrossian were back to the top after years out of Yugioh. I don't know, maybe I don't have anough knowledge to judge, but it SEEMS like duelists nowadays do not have the skills that the old SJC legends had. Without knowledge of the metagame (Nareg even had to read Geargiarmor...), the 2 teenage legends sill managed to fight through a field of new updated duelists, even with the most rogue deck available

“A bunch of good commons!” Torrosian smiled and shrugged.  Tang laughed as Torossian continued.  “No, seriously!  This is what happens when you sell all your cards three years ago and then randomly decide to show up to a tournament!”

Geargia had its first YCS win, Agents came back, rogue picks arose, too enough for a 2012 YCS.

See you guys next time when I have collected some interesting decklists around the Internet!

Peace~

Call of the Haunted

It's too famous, image of the Italian copy just for the post to have an image.

It's one of the few cards in YGO that has been under all Forbidden, Limited and Semi-Limited list (along with Chaos Sorcerer, Rescue Cat and some more I don't remember,,,)

So... What do you guys think about this card?

It's simply a 1 for 1 revival like Monster Reborn, but it requires a turn to be set and it dies easily to a chained Mystical Space Typhoon. However, if you are running 2 to 3 copies of Call in your deck, and all of them get MST'd, you should be feeling good because you've baited all your opponent's MSTs and your other traps are safe (if you have Starlight Road then it's quite perfect, but still Heavy Storm can come out of nowhere).

Aside from those 2 drawbacks, Call is quite good IMO. Special any monster back from the graveyard is quite annoying, especially when you have baited a power trap from your opponent. Scenario: Opponent sets Sangan and Warning; you summon Rai-Oh, baiting out Warning, then simply Call it back to put your opponent in serious trouble. It's just a bad example but I can't really think of anything else. In fact, the deck that abuse Call of the Haunted the most is Inzektor, whose Dragonfly alone can lead to everything. You ever use Warning/Torrential on Dragonfly just to see your opponent Calling it back? That's when the game is almost over.

Today Inzektor is not dead, but not like before anymore. Still, people make good use of Call by combining it with Card Trooper and Sangan. If you have a Trooper/Sangan (or Goblin Zombie, Dandylion, or whatever monster with the same condition that cannot miss the timing), just set Call. If you opponent MSTs it, you get +1 by chaining it targeting one of those card. That's the most common way of using Calls nowadays, apparently.

Because it's a pseudo-Monster Reborn (that only get monsters back from your graveyard, sigh), there're too many ways to use it, and I'm not going to mention them all here. However, in some situations, Call is much better than Monster Reborn.

The fact that it's a trap is very important. It can be chained, can be activated in your opponent's turn or in your battle phase. Opponent Duality's? Chain Call targeting Raioh, put your trollface on. Your on field monsters cannot deal enough damage to finish the duel? Chain Call in battle phase for the extra needed damage, you've just stolen the game. And sometimes things do not need to be that complicated: Call on Stratos is 4000-4400 damage, Call of REDMD is often 5300, Call on BLS is... Yeah.

Recently Alistar Albans topped YCS Indy with an Agent deck that make use of 2 Card Troopers and 3 Call of the Haunteds. Because Calling back Master Hyperion is a +1 (and 2700 damage) and Calling back Kristya is a devastating play against Wind-Up, Geargia,..., it was, in most people's opinions, a good call, LOL

Mmm...

Where to use Call?

In decks that need 1-2 cards to run properly. Hyperion is a big boss, REDMD is a big boss, and the High Priestess of Prophecy too. Inzektor Dragonfly is a small boss, but you know... Any deck that has a semi-nomi or unrestricted boss can make use of this card (Judgment Dragon seems to be the only exception). I don't recommend you to run Call in Wind-Ups: They have no bosses. Salvage could be even better as you can recycle Shark and Zenmaity...

And in decks that can put 6000-7000 damage on the board quickly (that have big monsters). Hieratic, Alive HERO, Inzektor, Fabled... Call is kind of a surprise element that can finish the game when your opponent does not expect some more damage.

And (one more time only), in decks that rely on 1900-2000 beatstick and have a lot of traps (anti decks, to be simple). Calling back Rai-Oh, Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, Beast King Barbaros baiting MST to protect other traps... Just main 1-2 copies of it, you'll see the different.

That's for today, thanks for reading xD

The Nordic Beast Engine

Exams are over, I'm alive again.

As the title said, today I'm talking about one of my favourite engine: Nordics! No I'm not copying anything from Light Grunty LOL, I fell in love with them from the start when they were released in Storm of Ragnarok, which is better known as the Legendary Six Samurai set.

Basically the whole Nordic Beast archtype consists of:

Tanngrisnir of the Nordic Beast (Black Goat)

Tanngnjostr of the Nordic Beast (White Goat)

Guldfaxe of the Nordic Beast

Garmr of the Nordic Beast

And of course, Gleipnir, the Fetters of Fenrir.

Recommended ratio: 3 Black Goats, 1 White Goats, 3 Guldafaxes, 0-1 Garmr. My preference, this is for the ones who will try the deck out.

And also, you should run 3 Super-Nimble Mega Hamsters, 3 Deep Sea Divas + 1 Lost Blue Breaker (or whatever), and/or 2 Tour Guides 1 Sangan 1 Night Assailant (or whatever).

Back in the day when I first saw the cards, the only thing I thought about was Black Goat getting Guldfaxe for instant Black Rose Dragon. Bombing consistently is pretty good, especially it thins your deck a lot, and it takes only 1 card.

Now, the key play is still summon Black Goat in defense (mostly by its own effect or by Super-Nimble Mega Hamster - another favourite card of mine). But when you turn it to attack position, you have more choices than I did before:

First, and most commonly, is to get Guldfaxe to the field, synchro summon a level 7 (Black Rose!), or level 8 if your Hamster survives the battle (or just summon another level 4 monster like Reborn Tengu). I really like going for Scrap Dragon, because the used Black Goat is your free bullet, and you haven't even normal summoned yet.

Alternatively, summon a level 3 non-tuner (Tour Guide or Deep Sea Diva into a level 3 Sea Serpent like Lost Blue Breaker, Spined Gillman...), make Thor. Thor is very good, or even invincible in some match-up like Wind-Up, Six Samurai... He eats the staller for breakfast too, as you can negate the 'cannot be destroyed by battle' of anything.

Secondly, you can get to your White Goat, make a level 3 xyz monster with only 1 card.

Take a look back: with only 1 card (Black Goat) that is search-able thanks to Gleipnir and/or Hamster, you can put a level 4 tuner and a level 3 non-tuner on the field, OR 2 level 3 monsters. What do those things mean? Black Goat is the unrestricted version of Debris Dragon (you can go for Scrap Archfiend with Black Goat and Guldafaxe!), and the engine's own Tour Guide (from the Beasts' World).

Most importantly, you haven't even normal summoned. From my point of view it seems so overpowered right?

Random combos:

~ Hamster get destroyed, special summon 1 Black Goat from your hand, 1 Black Goat from your deck. Do whatever you want next turn: 2 level 7 synchro monsters, or Thor, or a level 8 synchro along with a rank 3 xyz if you run Garmr.

~ Black Goat for Guldfaxe, normal summon Deep Sea Diva for Lost Blue Breaker (or whatever), synchro summon T.G. Hyper Librarian and Scrap Archfiend/Black Rose Dragon/..., draw 1 card. Too many pluses.

~ Assuming Hamster survived the battle, Black Goat gets Guldfaxes, normal summon Deep Sea Diva, getting Lost Blue Breaker. Hamster + Guldfaxe = level 8 synchro. The rest (Diva, Breaker, Black Goat) can be used to make another level 8 synchro, or you can use Breaker's effect to clear a trap, then make T.G. Hyper Librarian (before that level 8 synchro), getting a free draw.

Many, many more.

Most random: Chain Gleipnir to your opponent MST, get +1.

SECRET WEAPON: Ancient Sacred Wyvern. You can make Wyvern without normal sunmoning, so there's a high chances of summoning more monsters, deal more damage before finishing the game with Wyvern.

The good thing about this is even if you get Veiler'd on Diva, Black Goat, you can still make push (with smaller synchro monsters, of course...), unlike summoning Tour Guide alone or something like that...

Invincible? No. Try the feeling of drawing 2-3 Guldfaxes. That's the bad thing about this deck, probably the only bad thing.

Build one deck for yourself. The deck generates a lot of card advantages with the use of only 1-2 cards, which is very good in this fast format where there's almost no Inzektors. They're fun, and they also create advantages from surprise factors - not many people know about Nordics. 

That's for today, thanks for reading xD