How to win a YCS

Play Dragon Ruler

Or play 3 Imperial Iron Wall in your main deck

https://tcg.konami-europe.net/coverage/finals-samuel-pedigo-geargia-vs-konrad-grunewald-dragon-ruler/

I personally think this final match was one of the most... interesting YCS final ever

The best deck of the format, in 2 games, was countered by 2 of its foreseeable weakness: Speed and lack of outs to anti cards

-------------------------

On a side note, have any of you guys thought of siding Traptrix Myrmeleo and Deep Dark Trap Hole in Dragon Ruler mirror match?

Tourney report (no Return or Sixth Sense)

I was dead tired of the format, so I didn't have any intention of playing

But when the organizer announced that Sixth Sense and Return were banned for the event (it's 90% competitive but not official Konami tournament), I decided to give a shoot

Tested all builds of Dragons for 2-3 weeks, ended up with this

Taking mathematics into consideration, the deck size of 40, 41 or 42 didn't matter much about how you draw your cards, especially when there're no retarded limited cards that everyone wants to draw asap. With 42 cards I have space to main deck all the cards I want to without having to cut anything. This was actually my best decision during preparation. I have no "winning card" in this deck, and versatility is never bad at all. Had I have to cut the deck down to 40, I think I would drop a Card Trooper (Patrik Rieder's style) and Solemn Warning. 2000 LP = too much cost sometime, and once in the tournament I was taken down to 1500ish and top deck Solemn Warning, but luckily I had Thought Ruler Archfiend to gain my life back and Warning was actually the game definer

Some other reasonings:

Trooper: Milling and drawing is good. Despite not playing Scarecrows, I had enough traps to protect myself from Crimson Blader

Book: Book followed by Crimson Blader = mad good

MST with Trap Stun: Hitting Ravine is crucial, and 2 anti-trap cards is not enough for me. This is just my personal preference, but I don't like playing one-of, so 2 MST and 2 Trap Stun seemed to be good

Bottomless Trap Hole: Just like PWWB, this card makes your opponent lose one colour. The cool thing is that everyone tends to summon Blaster/Redox first to play around a possible Maxx "C", so if I had a BTH set, I was more likely to hit the 2 more important dragons than the 2 other

No Sarcophagus: Enough draw engine to get to all colours I need, also I have traps to buy time

No Scarecrow: Yeah as I said, I have enough traps. The deck sometimes didn't work like Dragon Rulers at all, I just summon a level 8 synchro and back up with 2-3 defensive cards for the win. Stardust Spark + Emptiness win them all, and I never really missed Scarecrow

Red Dragon Archfiend: Because I didn't have my 2nd Crimson Blader or Ancient Fairy Dragon. An alternate tribuet fodder for DDV and EEV too, because I don't like tributing my Thought Ruler or Colossal

Fencing Fire Ferrets: I hate Ophion

DDV: Side against Mermails or Dragons. I actually hit 2 Debris, 1 Card Trooper and 1 Scarecrow with this thing over the course of 3 turns once during the tournament

Now onto the quick report

Round 1: Dragon mirror
G1: Was back and forth. At one point I hit him with Crimson Blader, he flipped Raigeki Break, I chained Trap Stun and put him under the lock. He had to leave the field open, and I had a chance to finish off with Star Eater but I misplayed and make Scrap Dragon instead. He had Scarecrow, and Blaster effect, ended his turn with a monster I didn't remember. I pushed back, he flipped Emptiness, I showed my 2nd Trap Stun and that was GG. I didn't have enough damage, but he was locked under his own Emptiness and couldn't turn it off
G2: It went into time. I had a slow start, took damage so I had to make Thought Ruler to gain some life back and set DDV. Next turnI hit him with DDV (just like mentioned) but he had 4 colors to my 2. I hit for 5200 with Blaster and Tempest, had nothing left, and made Dracossack with Bottomless set. His turn, he summoned Redox and Tempest, thought for like 5 minutes, then made... Dracossack? I know I win at this point, so I just let it go. He realized his misplay and condeced
Actually had he made Gaia, I'd have Bottomelss'd it right away. Since he took too much time for game 1, game 2 went into time and I was sure to secure the win with traps

1-0

Round 2: Dragon mirror (but not actually mirror)
G1: He passed. I summoned Trooper, milled shit, attack into... Gagaga Gardna? 1 turn later I realize Gardna is too good (discard 1 to protect itself from battle = no Crimson Blader allowed), and fucked up all my plays. Next turn he hit me with Mythic Wood, Mythic Water, Queen Dragun Djinn and whatever
G2: He activated Charge of the Light Brigade for Lyla, milling 2 colours in the process. I have 2 colours and nothing else, so I just summon Colossal Fighter I think. Next turn he showed 2 DDR and a bunch more things to finish me off

1-1

Round 3: Dragon Dragunities (with Tidal)
G1: I was outpaced. Having no draw or mill engine is bad against Dragunities
G2: I started with Stardust Spark and set 5 traps. He passed, I just summon Blaster and attacked. He was stopped by the traps, and I secured my game with Trap Stun
G3: At one point he had 2 set and 2 Dragons in hand, 5600 LP left, locked down under my Crimson Blader but he had Blaster for it. My turn, I Ravine'd Poki Draco, Debris it back but the Debris was Raigeki Break'd. So I Redox'd my Blader, summon back my Blaster (2800 + 2800 + 200 = 5800) but Blaster was Raigeki Break'd again. I had to pass. He was left with 2 Duxes, a Tempest and a Tidal. He topped Flamvell Guard, make Colossal Fighter and locked my under Blader. I drew blank and scooped

1-2

Round 4: Blackwing

Yeah with this score...

G1: I had few dragons, he had too much protection and Whirlwind + Shura to push for enough damage before I get my deck going
G2: I beat him down with Card Trooper, Fencing Fire Ferret and Blaster
G3: He started with Zephyros, Bora into Master Key Beetle, targeting Emptiness. I looked at my hand: Tempest, MST, 2 Fencing Fire Ferrets, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast and Cards of Consonance. It's typically bad, but against the lock, the 2 Ferrets suddenly seemed so broken. I rammed one Ferrets to clear Emptiness, and the 2nd cleared Beetle. He drew no monster after that, and once I got my draw engine together, I win

2-2

Round 5: Ninja? I think it was White Dragon lockdown.dek
Needless to say I win game 1 with Trap Stun and game 2 with Skill Drain

3-2

Top 8: Dragon Dragunities (same guy from round 3)
G1: Was outpaced yet again
G2: Stardust Spark + Emptiness. I could have MST'd my own Emptiness and push for game but I feared Scarecrow so I decided against it. He didn't have Scarecrow, but instead he had 2 Blasters, combined with his top-decked Dark Hole, he cleared my Emptiness and Torrential Tribute. Luckily when he pushed (including Electric Virus on my Stardust Spark) I have my last trap, PWWB, to secure the win
G3: We both started slow with 4 set traps on each side. I had double Swords, so 3 turns after I was ahead thanks to a top-decked Tidal. I established the lock ofStardust Spark + Emptiness yet again. This time he formed a huge chain link including Book of Moon and 2 MST to clear my Emptiness, then hit my Stardust with Blader. I took the hit, but had enough defense to survive. And then I Big Eye'd his Blader, hit him. He was under the lock, summoned Dux, equip Phalanx just to survive. I read a top-decked Veiler but couldn't do anything about it, so I just attacked then set MST. I hit with Ravine with MST, leaving him with Tempest and Redox as his only 2 colours. I had Debunk for the Redox and I win

Headed to top 4 but decided to split as it was late

Thoughts after the tournaments:

1. Trap Stun and DDV are so good
2. Everyone should have 2 Crimson Blader. Many a time I could have put 2 Blader on board to secure the game, but I couldn't, and my lone Blader was stopped by trap. Had I have the 2nd one I'd have went like 5-0 instead of 3-2 after swiss
3. Castle sucks
4. Different approach to Dragon Ruler (Spark set 5) is cool. Emptiness should be mained again, I swear

Mythic Dragons in... Dragunities!

First up, decklist:

[19]
3 Blaster
3 Tempest
2 Redox
2 Tidal
3 Dragunity Dux
2 Dragunity Phalanx
2 Dragunity Arma Mystletainn
1 Mythic Wood Dragon
1 Mythic Water Dragon

[14]
3 Swords of Seven Stars
2 Cards of Consonance
3 Dragon Ravine
2 Terraforming
3 MST
1 Gold Sarcophagus

[7]
3 Reckless Greed
2 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
2 Fucking retarded limited card that need to be banned right now

Extra:

Usual
1 Hieratic Sun Overlord Heliopolis
1 Felgrand the Divine Knight

So...

The idea is basically same as the usual Dragunities: Set up Stardust for defense first, then push on turn 2-3

The Mythic Dragons are for explosiveness, which the deck originally lacks due to not having access to Debris Dragon/Trigon. Heliopolis + Dragon Ruler is really sick, and should have never existed. You simply destroy 3-4 cards on your opponent's field for FREE. Yep

I don't mind much about normal summoning Mythic Wood, simply because I pull him from the deck through Atum more often. My game usually goes as:

1st turn set up Atum and something something (preferably Stardust Radiance to protect Atum)

2nd turn Atum gets out Mythic Wood, also searching Mythic Water (via Ravine/Tidal), summon Water Dragon, clear field

Then summon Dux. Most of my opponents became frustrated at this point, realizing I haven't even normal summoned

Also, the Mythic Dragons give access to Felgrand too, is a tool to play around Swift Scarecrow perfectly, even better than Star Eater does (and Hoban.dek had no access to Star Eater either)

The weakness, for any combo decks, is of course Maxx "C". Still working on it, but I don't like putting more traps because traps suck

So, that's for today...

Techs for Dragons

So, in a period when everyone's playing the same deck with some variations, tech cards make your deck different, win you games, and give you spaces for side decking

For Dragons, the core engine has always been

12 Dragons
1 Dragunity Corsesca
1 Flamvell Guard
3 Swords
2 Ravine
1 Return
1 Sixth Sense

Addtional (optional)

2 Card Trooper
2 Derbis Dragon
1 Trigon/Poki Draco

Those are... 26 must-have cards. One may have variations (Dragunities, Blue-Eyes, non-Trooper,...) but the standard thing is like this

So we have around 14 cards for modification. Staples are:

3 Maxx "C"
3 MST
2 Vanity's Emptiness
2 Raigeki Break/Phoenix Wing Wind Blast

Now there're 4 slots left. I've got some good tech (tested) here

1. Dragoncarnation

So you banish Tempest to search Debris Dragon. Next turn you need Tempest. Realistically Dragon Ravine isn't a reliable tool for feeding Dragons in mid game due to MSTs, so...

Dragoncarnation recycles everything you have used, without wasting a Dragon in your deck

It's chainable, no fear of MST

It sets up double Tempest or double Tidal plays in early games, double Blaster and double Redox late game (just banish to search for another copy then set Dragoncarnation)

It gives you your 3rd Debris Dragon

Sometimes it recycles power card  like Black Rose Dragon

Enough?

2. Castle of Dragon Souls

700 ATK boost - game breaking in mirror matches. Blader + Castle = fuckeverything, Scrap Dragon + Castle (with REDMD banished, ideally) = more than GG, Black Rose Dragon + Castle = a lot of pressure for decks that actually fear Black Rose Dragon

3. Dragunity Darkspear

Trident Dragion, instant 9000 damage, just like a search-able Return. Yeah?

4. Karma Cut

In Dragon mirror match, around late game, this card actually says: Fuck colors

Just like... you have 1 Blaster, summon it, it goes away and never comes back

5. Waboku

Protect Card Trooper, which is the best card. Your argument is not valid at this point

Yeah that's it. Dragon is surely the best deck, and choosing techs is another art of YGO during this period of the format.

Hope you get the luck that I never had =3

Sometimes things are just so simple

Months and months and months of testing every possible variants of Dragon Ruler (Debris/Dandy, Plant, Dragunity driven, Dragunity added, Blue-Eyes, pure beatdown shit,...) and watching people doing their tournaments with different nice techs, I finally come to a conclusion of...

...

..

.

People keep making things much more complicated that it really is

Like, having 2 colors = no chance of OTK?

Let's say you only have access to Tempest and Blaster because you banished Redox for Swords. You summon Blaster, then Tempest, then run out of monster. You are afraid of being Blader'd next turn

Why not just add a DDR into the mix? In many scenarios DDR acts simply like another 2800 beater. If you banish REDMD for a Dragon then call it back with DDR things are even more sweet. In this case you can just summon Blaster by banishing REDMD, DDR it back, then use REDMD to summon Tidal or Tempest. This makes a lot of difference if you banish one of those 2 for Swords earlier in the turn

Another problem, Card Trooper

It's a real common knowledge that Card Trooper is a really important card in Dragon Rulers. He mills Dragons, replaces himself after dying, and himself being a target for Debris Dragon

But people are cutting Card Trooper because they don't want their best monster being Blader'd

So, instead of cutting your best card, why not just protect it? You can always play Mirror Force, or even Threatening Roar or Waboku. Using Card Trooper for 2 straight turns often result in a victory, and people don't like it for some reasons

One more thing, Swift Scarecrow

So, again, everyone knows that being stopped by Scarecrow is no good feeling, at all. Being Scarecrow'd = loss in momentum, being open to Blader, and more...

So they use RAIGEKI BREAK on THEIR OWN MONSTER to play around Swift Scarecrow (this comes from a random tourney report on DGZ)

I was like, what the fuck? Why not just Divine Wrath? The same discard cost, the far better outcome

And people still haven't realize that the pure Dragunity build is far more consistent than the homo Dragunity with 2 Phalanx and 8 Dragon Rulers (2 Redox, apparently, what the fuck)

To conclude, I think finding the best way to work with your current cards is a good things to improve your result, but you should also dig for "rogue" solutions for your common problems out there. Just like Merlin Schumacher, who piloted a quite weird Dragon Ruler build to win the whole YCS. Castle of Dragon Souls is busted because it works with the 3500-ATK Scrap Dragon like a real boss, and also helps your Crimson Blader run over Redox or even Star Eater

Just like that

Until next time buddies =3

Dragunity 4Dragons

Monster [26]
3 Blaster
3 Tidal
3 Redox
3 Tempest
3 Dragunity Phalanx
3 Dragunity Dux
2 Dragunity Arma Mystletainn
1 REDMD
1 Blackwing, Zephyros the Elite
1 Garuda the Wind Spirit
1 Flamvell Guard
2 Maxx "C"

Spell [14]
3 Sacred Swords of the Seven Stars
3 Cards of Consonance
3 Dragon Ravine
2 Terraforming
3 Mystical Space Typhoon

Trap [1]

1 Return from DD

Extra [15]

2 Dragunity Knight Vajrayana
1 Dragunity Knight Gar Dearg
1 Crimson Blader
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Queen Dragun Djinn
2 Hieratic Dragon King of Atum
1 Photon Strike Bounzer
1 Gaia Dragon, Thunder Charger
1 Dracossack
1 No11: Big Eye
1 No74: Master of Blades


I started building this like... 1 week after the OCG ban list was announced, so don't ask why this isn't identical to Patrick Hoban's build. In my opinion Hoban's (and Dale Bellido's) deck is REALLY bad. It lacks the true power of 4Dragons (3Dragons < 4Dragons no matter what), while also lacks the true power of Dragunity (1 Mystletainn? No Zephyros or Garuda? What the fucking duck? This is not March 2011 when SDLS was just released and the game went as Dux -> Vajrayana -> Stardust all day long)

I usually end my first turn with Atum, REDMD, Queen Dragun Djinn and 2 level 7 Dragons (xyz for Master of Blades or Big Eye, depends on the opponent's deck)

The set up of Gae Dearg + a level 6 dragon is so good. I mean the best thing that can happen to a YGO deck. If you want it to taste more delicious, make room for Mist Valley Baby Roc, Arma Leyvaten, Trident Dragion and (optionally) Gustaph Max

It goes like... Dux, Mystletainn, Phalanx -> Gae Dearg (search + discard Zephyros). Go for Atum, REDMD, get back Dearg, search Garuda and discard a dragon. Use Zephyros, use Garuda, make Queen Dragun Djinn, banish the first Atum for REDMD

Now you can go for the second Atum, or Bounzer, or if you have colors (and you usually do), you can go for some level 7 things

Some reasoning:

Gold Sarcophagus: I don't like unsearchable 1-of

Leyvaten, Baby Roc, 3rd Mystletainn: Space :<

Flamvell Guard: When you need to pop with Blaster, or have Blaster + Tidal + Redox + Cards of
Consonance without Phalanx, and, most frequently happens, when you run out of Dux/Vajrayana but you need your level 8 synchro

Garuda: Queen Dragun Djinn with Zephryos

Zephyros: Bouncing back REDMD = OP

Master of Blades: When you do not have enough spaces for 2 Dracossack tokens (which actually happens a lot)

No traps: People like Vanity's Emptiness but I prefer Maxx "C" because it's harder to stop and it has synergy with Redox

Tehys OTK?

Even though the idea is purely stolen from a friend of mine, this project is so incredible that I can't help posting it here

Just a way to share the idea with the whole YGO community, right?

/feels ashamed

So the idea here is:

1. Summon Tehys, Goddess of Light
2. Draw
3. OTK

A little more detailed:

September format

YCS Toronto just ended and Dragon Rulers, piloted by an Asian, took the champion

Honestly I am not surprised with this at all. Going deeper into the format with more and more testing people will soon realize how easily Dragon Rulers can be beat (Soul Drain rules them all). But this is just the start of the format, and it takes time to define a real top tier deck

The champion's decklist isn't even the "Dragon Ruler Plant" thing that has been floating around for quite some time. It's just Dragon Rulers, with some synchro elements like Debris Dragon/Card Trooper and Dragunity Corsesca. To be honest this is quite similar to my build when I first heard about the OCG ban list (my build was more about summoning Trishula but fuck it lol), aside from Card of Consonances

And, to be honest (again), I really think that Dragon Ruler Dragunity thing is a real joke. You can look at how Patrick Hoban played in the semi-final: It's not about Dragunity after all, and all those Duxes and Mysteletainns just make things worse. Dragunity is a good deck, Dragon Ruler is a good deck, Tempest is a good card and Tempest in Dragunity is broken. That's all. If you want to make more use of Dragon Ravine, play Eclipse Wyvern/LADD instead

Blackwing in top 4 is quite a surprise, but it's still reasonable because that kind of deck with heavy traps and a little aggression never wins but will top a lot. There was also Psychic Madolche in the top 32 (go on Youtube for decklist, I'm lazy now) and in my opinion that mix is another joke. Madolche is good, Psychic is good, but combining them into a deck sucks. I've tried myself, and I realize there're better cards that fuel the graveyard for Hootcake than Serene Psychic Witches

However the things that caught my eye the most was Sorosh Saberian's Mermail and Evan Daniel Waxman's Transmodify Herald Agent. Sorosh has been my favourite player for quite a while (the first time I really netdecked was "building" a Fabled Ragin turbo deck just like his) and Mermail has been my favourite deck for a shorter while. The interaction between Abyssocea, Mechquipped Angineer and Bahamut Shark is quite interesting and I've promised myself to spend some time working on it

That Herald Agent with Transmodify concept isn't new (Robert Boyajian showed us on CoreTCG blog weeks ago), but seeing such control deck in the top is really interesting. Advanced Ritual Art finally made it to the YCS tops

That's just some little talk about what I've seen after YCS Toronto. After some more testing I'll bring you a little more information about how I think the format will proceed. Until next time :D

Deck that will rape you next TCG format

Check my blog roll for more information

Karakuri
Hieratic
Machina Gadget
Blackwing
Infernity
Dark World
Agent

And the list goes on

And this is for K'yde, LGQ and anyone who loves Hieratic: How will you build the deck next format?

The awesomeness of Deep Sea Diva

Let's say we run 3 Deep Sea Diva, 1 Atlantean Marksman and 1 Atlantean Dragoons in our deck

Summon Diva equals:

*Herald of Pure Light:  Recycle basically everything you want to recycle with minimal cost. Getting back BLS/Dark Armed Dragon/Master Hyperion/... while returning a useless card to your deck? Too good

*Trishula: Marksman attacks calling out Dragoons, make Trishula. 1 card Trishula without required setup? Too awesome

*Daigusto Phoenix: 3000 damage

*Gachi Gachi: Classic wall

*Armor Kappa (in case you run Heavy Infantry): Clear 1 face-up card, even Dimensional Fissure, while gaining 1000 ATK permanently

*Catastor: Classic crusher

I'm wondering why Konami decided to release Trishula but not hit Deep Sea Diva. Because they think people would still main deck Imperial Iron Walls? So retarded

Confirmed September ban list

Source here


Forbidden Cards 「禁止カード」:

Burner, Dragon Ruler of Sparks 「炎征竜－バーナー」
Stream, Dragon Ruler of Droplets 「水征竜－ストリーム」
Reactan, Dragon Ruler of Pebbles 「地征竜－リアクタン」
Lightning, Dragon Ruler of Drafts 「風征竜－ライトニング」
Spellbook of Judgment 「魔導書の神判」

Limited Cards 「制限カード」:

Genex Ally Birdman 「Ａ・ジェネクス・バードマン」
Wind-Up Shark 「ゼンマイシャーク」
Mermail - Abyssteus「水精鱗－ディニクアビス」
Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Rooster 「立炎星－トウケイ」
Number 11: Big Eye 「Ｎｏ．１１ ビッグ・アイ」
Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier 「氷結界の龍 トリシューラ」
Super Rejuvenation 「超再生能力」
Divine Wind of Mist Valley 「霞の谷の神風」
Abyss-sphere 「アビスフィアー」

Semi-Limited Cards 「準制限カード」:

Chaos Sorcerer 「カオス・ソーサラー」
Gladiator Beast Bestiari 「剣闘獣ベストロウリィ」
Neo-Spacian Grand Mole 「Ｎ・グラン・モール」
Gorz the Emissary of Darkness 「冥府の使者ゴーズ」
Fire Formation - Tenki 「炎舞－「天キ」
Black Whirlwind 「黒い旋風」

No longer limited 「準制限」:

Wind-Up Magician 「ゼンマイマジシャン」
Tsukuyomi 「月読命」
E - Emergency Call 「Ｅ－エマージェンシーコール」
Advanced Ritual Art 「高等儀式術」
Pot of Duality 「強欲で謙虚な壺」
Scapegoat 「スケープ・ゴート」
Reasoning 「名推理」
Mirror Force 「聖なるバリア－ミラーフォース－」

Almost the same as the leaked list, with the addition of  Chaos Sorcerer (now semi-limited), Tenki (now semi-limited) and Reasoning (now unlimited)

The list that people are crazy about

Newly Forbidden:
Burner, Dragon Ruler of Sparks (炎征竜－バーナー)
Lightning, Dragon Ruler of Drafts (風征竜－ライトニング)
Reactan, Dragon Ruler of Pebbles (地征竜－リアクタン)
Stream, Dragon Ruler of Droplets (水征竜－ストリーム)
Spellbook of Judgment (魔導書の神判)

Newly Limited:
Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Rooster (立炎星－トウケイ)
Genex Ally Birdman (Ａ・ジェネクス・バードマン)
Mermail Abyssteus (水精鱗－ディニクアビス)
Wind-Up Shark (ゼンマイシャーク)
Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (氷結界の龍　トリシューラ)
Number 11: Big Eye (Ｎｏ．１１ ビッグ・アイ)
Divine Wind of Mist Valley (霞の谷の神風)
Super Rejuvenation (超再生能力)
Abyss-sphere (アビスフィアー)

Newly Semi-Limited:
Gladiator Beast Bestiari (剣闘獣ベストロウリィ)
Gorz the Emissary of Darkness (冥府の使者ゴーズ)
Neo-Spacian Grand Mole (Ｎ・グラン・モール)
Black Whirlwind (黒い旋風)

Newly Unlimited:
Tsukuyomi (月読命)
Wind-Up Magician (ゼンマイマジシャン)
Advanced Ritual Art (高等儀式術)
E – Emergency Call (Ｅ－エマージェンシーコール)
Pot of Duality (強欲で謙虚な壺)
Scapegoat (スケープ・ゴート)
Mirror Force (聖なるバリア－ミラーフォース－)

That's quite a few changes...

And if this is true...

Would definitely go for the rank 4-based deck then. Constellar, Evilswarm, Wolfberk Fire Fist,...

Mermail comes back to the original form of Genex Undine, with the addition of Tidal

Spellbook comes back to the original form of pre-LTGY (still a good deck though)

Dragons then can only be splashed into attribute-themed deck, or mixed into one with the help of Lightsworn and/or Card Trooper engine

It's quite doubtful who would even run Trishula right now. What deck can make it without difficulties aside from Infernity?

Worlds

The champion is Taiwan rep Shin En Huang IIRC

Decklist:

Source: Yugioh Edition Singapore

Quite a weird deck: No Gold Sarcophagus, Dragon Ravine replaces them all, then LADD, then no Ancient Sacred Wyvern. The lack of Master of Blades is understandable because there would be absolutely no Evilswarm or anything that targets at Worlds

Spoiler: I don't hate this guy for being fat, I'll just be reporting the duel a little bit

So, in the final duel, when David Keener had double Starhall Jowgen, Blue Magician AND Solemn Judgment set, it was Huang's turn. He summoned Tsukuyomi, and Keener let it go? The moment I saw him nodded, I immediately knew who would be the Worlds Champion 2013.

Moving on, Huang pitched Blaster for Stream, calling out Tidal, then pitched Redox for Lightning, calling out Tempest. He made Dracosack, which got Fate'd to face-down. Huang called back the discarded Redox, killed Jowgen and Magician with Tsukuyomi and Redox, finally Rejuvenation'd for 4, into another Rejuvenation for 4 (what a lucksack)

Keener fought back, cleared the Dracossack with Jowgen + Power (Judgment included), ending the turn with quite a strong position consisting of Jowgen in ATK position, double Starhall (total of 12+ counters) + Spellbook Tower face-up, Spellbook of Fate + Solemn Judgment + Phoenix Wing Wind Blast set, adding 4 Books during the End Phase, with the Wind Blast getting MST'd

Strong position?

Huang summoned Tsukuyomi (yet again), and this time Keener chose to Solemn Judgment it

It still seems like a good lock for Keener, of course. The seemed-to-be only out of Huang was cleared

BUT

Huang followed with Card Destruction, trading his just-refuelled hand (due to double Rejuvenation from the previous turn) for a new hand consisting of Blaster and Burner...

This was Huang's feeling expression after pitching Blaster and Burner, taken from the live stream

Of course Huang called back Tempest, Tidal and Redox, attacked into Keener's clear field to wipe out his 3900 life point left (due to Solemn Judgment)

Had Keener not conserved his Solemn Judgment, the championship would have definitely gone to US team

I really didn't/don't understand what Keener was saving the Judgment for. If Huang had Heavy Storm, there wouldn't be Keener's extra turn anyway

And, double Rejuvenation for 8 into Card Destruction into Blaster + Burner is skill

Luck is a part of this game, especially this format. I don't blame Huang for having luck at the right time, but it's still a pity how the US team lost this competition. They're really strong, but due to the overpoweredness, Keener had to face Aaron Riker (rapture) in top 8. I guess luck stood by his side during the top 8 :<

Earlier, Hiromi Kodou and Thai rep faced each other in the 3rd/4th place match. The first game was REALLY slow, which lasted for more than one hour. Thai rep resolved 3 Threatening Roar and 1 EEV on spell to secure the win. In game 2 Kudo won it quick, and in game 3 Thai rep (I can't remember his name, sorry) had a combination of Book of Moon and Threatening Roar to push through Kudo's Scarecrow, then flipped the Roar during Kudo's last turn to secure the win (in time)

His deck didn't have any hand traps at all (wtf). Instead he played 3 Threatening Roars, 2 EEVs and Return from DD. That helped him in the Dragon mirror, but I guess his weird choice cost him the Spellbook match vs. Keener. Kudo played it out really well, but Thai rep's deck is too good for playing in time

And that's it. Until next time guys xD

Transmodify (Transturn) is awesome

Summon Karakuri Merchant 177 Inashichi, search your deck for Karakuri Ninja 919 Kuick
Transmodify the Merchant into Karakuri Komachi 224 Ninishi, effect normal summon Kuick, then go into Burei into usual Karakuri stunts

Activate The Sanctuary in the Sky (yes, I know it sucks). Summon Agent Earth, search Master Hyperion. Transmodify into Agent Venus, pay for 3 Balls. Stack 2 Balls for Herald of Pure Light, use its effect to detach a Ball, add that Ball (you have Earth as a legal target, don't worry) to your hand, and return that Ball to your deck. Venus pay 500 more, get that Ball again, stack with the other remaining Ball for Daigusto Phoenix. Then drop Hyperion, banishing the Earth. 600 + 1600 + 3000 + 2700 is 7900 lol

Summon Infernity Necromancer, summon Archfiend. Transmodify Necromancer into more Archfiends, enough said

Summon Spellbook Magician of Prophecy, search Judgment/Secret, Transmodify into Justice/Temperance (in case Spellbook/Prophecy gets hit somehow)

Summon Treeborn Frog, Transmodify into Swap Frog, start the Frog stunts

Summon Diva for Marksman, Transmodify into double Marksman, attack, calling out 2 Dragoons, attack (total 6400), xyz Bahamut Shark in MP2 then search Diva + summon Abysstrite and a rank 3 of your choice

...

..

.

Summon Red/Yellow/Green Gadget, Transmodify into SPELL CANCELLER

That's for today xD Will be attending one last tournament of the format by the end of August. 99.999999% play Dragons, and after that my final year begins :<

Fuck YGO, let's play Solitaire

Play Solitaire, then either scoop or force your opponent to scoop

Side deck may include Mind Drain for sweetness. Just side out 3 EEV for 3 Mind Drain, for fuck's sake

No Dragged Down because the point is to dig deeper and deeper and deeper into your deck until your find EEV/Mind Drain with Grapha and (ideally) a Malefic Cyber End on the field

No Skill Drain because there's no space, and EEV is often enough to force Prophecy players to quit, whereas Drain does nothing against Dragons. Dracossack can tribute itself

I really need a ban list right now :< Ironically we've all been desired to have an "emergency" banlist of June for the recent 2-3 years, however the only June banlist was applied when the game was at its best :<

About the banlist, and the state of the game

*Beware: Wall of texts

Everyone's discussing the F/L list for September now

In my opinion, no matter how skillful the Dragon/Prophecy mirror matches are, this format is still shit. Matches depend too much on the coin toss, and on the starting hands

Just like any other year, the March formats (National formats) were full of shit, and the September ones were always better

Wandering around some blogs and forum threads, I've seen various possible options for the banlist to make the game "balanced" (from the point of the banlist speculator)

Ban/limit Judgment Day
Ban/limit Rejuvenation
Ban the Baby Dragons
Limit Secret and/or Magician
Limit Gold Sarcophagus
Semi-limit the Big Dragons
....

The whole point of all those things were to hit Dragons and Prophecies. I'm not saying that's not needed. Of course Dragons and Prophecies should be hit, but how?

Let's consider. Just a little behind Dragons and Prophecy, there're a lot of good/decent decks out there. Mermail (top 8 Europe), Evilswarm (of course. Anti-meta, or just 2550 body pressing with free Lances), Constellar (Pleiades is good, Paladynamo is good, Shock Master is good), Fire Fist (Chicken/Rooster and Wolfberg confirmed), Dragunities (check my older posts)...

Going more rogue, there're also: Infernities (Lavalval Chain is a bitch, and now there's Transturn to turn used Necromancer into brand new Archfiends), Karakuri (Transturn Merchant into Ninishi, start the drawing whore, Iron Calls and Redox abuse,...), Hieratic (there's a new normal dragon monster which is tuner, DARK, level 6, and Dragodrad whatever, to pair with the former for Trident Dragion), and more

So, if there's no more Dragon and Prophecy (or assume Konami nerfs them into something like the non-Zenmaity version of Wind-Ups), what will be the top deck?

Obviously Mermails. They have Stream, Tidal, Abyssgaios, the rank 7 access (Abyssteus, Abyssmegalo, the Dragons, Abyss-Sphere) while also have access to rank 4, though less often (Aqua Spirit banish Tidal search Stream, normal summon it and xyz - totally legit combo. Bahamut Shark is quite good, in addition)

After a format dominated by Dragons and Prophecy, people may think Mermail is just normal. NO! The use of 6 hand traps in Dragons, as well as Spellbook of Fate and Jowgen, prevented Mermail from going to top. When there's no more Dragon or Prophecy, the trend would be over, and Mermail, being the fastest deck right now, can easily crush everything on its way

BUT, we have had a Mermail format, and Konami rarely does something that boosts the old deck. Six Samurai and Dark World were exceptions, while everything else just kept being hit (Plant, Dino Rabbit, Wind Up, Chaos Dragon,...)

BUT, again, Mermail is not likely to be hit. Why? Why should you hit a deck that does absolutely shit in the recent months? That creates a paradox, hitting the whole 3 meta decks seems stupid, but letting any of them survive is even more stupid

Evilswarm (and, to some extent, Constellar) are the anti-meta picks for the format. I don't see any problems with the 2 decks though. They're doing stuffs in their own way: not too fast, not too aggressive, not too consistent. They're just... good. But still Ophion is bad for the game, obviously

To sum up, I don't think Konami would hit everything. And if they ever hit anything, they wouldn't kill them, just yet. Following Konami's trend of making the banlist really short, I'd PREDICT something like this:

Banned: 
Super Rejuvenation

Limited:
Spellbook of Judgment
Spellbook of Secret
Dracossack

Semi-limited:
Mermail Abyssteus

Unlimited:
Who cares?

Some reasoning:

The banning of Rejuvenation: Because with 3 Swords and 3 Sarcophaguses, Dragons are still consistent as ****. Just don't let them be too broken, and make things a little more... fair. Dragons without Rejuvenation = grind game (it's not easy to OTK with Dragons, especially in game 2-3). Without Rejuvenation, Dragon will be a Mermail-like deck. Lots of card advantages, sometimes pulling off an OTK with a good/god hand, most of the time will be about summoning big monsters (Dracossack or Master of Blades) and protect the field. In short, Dragons don't need Rejuvenation to be a good deck

The limited: Because Konami likes hitting searcher. Secret or Magician is 50:50, but Magician is easier to stop (Effect Veiler, Breakthrough Skill,...) so I'd pick Secret to the limited list. Requiring a normal summon is also a disadvantage for the Blue Magician at times. Judgment is obvious choice: for the whole last format, the first Judgment is just a preparation for a bigger Judgment next turn. Judgment also serves as a stupid way of protection in the Spellbook mirror matchs, so goodbye!

The same thing goes to Dracossack: People don't have too much problem dealing with the first Dracossack, but the second and third are too much to handle. Big Eye is the same, but TCG people don't use Big Eye that much, so I guess hitting 1 of them is enough. Not to mention now me have Master of Blades

The semi-limited Mermail Abyssteus: Because it's what makes Mermail so consistent during the pre-LTGY era. It even replaces the ultimate search engine Genex Undine/Atlantean Dragoons. And if you're still playing Mermail now, you know having Abyssteus makes us feel much better than Abyssmegalo, because the whole point of the Mermail deck in this meta is Abyssgaios. The Megalo/Diva OTK is still broken, but it's much easier to stop (Book of Moon, from my own experience) and requires more cards than a Gaios setup, especially with Sream/Tidal engine

Also, the reason for not hitting any Dragons is: the deck should remain for a little bit more (look at Plant, Wind-Ups,...) and the Dragons also serve in various single-attribute decks (Karakuri, Gadget, Plant (the new one with Tree Spirit coming soon) Dragunity, Mermail, Fire Fist,...). If the Dragons weren't able to summon themselves by banishing Dragons, I'd appreciate Konami for bringing in such balanced elements for single-attribute decks. It sucks we cannot change the text, but I haven't seen anyone putting 2 elements in a deck

There's one last topic to talk about: hand traps. From my experience, Maxx "C" is a really good card design, and so is Effect Veiler. The problem is, the 2 hand traps should never ever have co-existed. There're a number of more balanced hand trap: the limited Gorz, Tragoedia, Swift Scarecrow, Trifortressops. In that case, if people decide to push through Maxx "C", the risk is high, but still not like deciding your game in a coin toss. Have you ever tried to push through Maxx "C", and on your last key move you're hit by Veiler? To stop a combo, people should be required to have more than just a single monster which helps you digging for another single monster. Herald of Orange Light is balanced, so as Trifortressops, Tragoedia, which are easier to play around. However Scarecrow is quite broken too, if you haven't realized

On the other hand, without Maxx "C", everything's alright. You need to conserve your hand traps, read your opponent possible combos, or in short, be more skillful

But we can't do anything to it but to face it. I really don't like the existence of hand traps from the start, but that's another topic that we'll talk about later

So, that concluded my article for today. It's been quite long since I last wrote a real article for this blog, I hope you still appreciated it xD

Until next... format

Peace

Fish

Format is not over for worlds' people, but for me it is

Which means it's time for cancerous decks

Today, as the title says, Fish!

First up, decklist:

Monster [29]
3 Stream
3 Tidal
3 Aqua Spirit
3 Coelacanth
3 Mermail Abysspike
3 Mermail Abyssgunde
3 Mermail Abyssteus
2 Mermail Abyssturge
2 Mermail Abysslinde
1 Mermail Abyssmegalo
1 Mermail Abyssdine
1 Fishborg Archer

Spell [9]
3 Gold Sarcophagus
3 D.D.R
1 Storm
1 Reborn
1 Foolish Burial

Trap [5]
3 Call of the Haunted
2 Abyss-Sphere

The point is: Gaios and some good rank 4 xyz monsters

You have a lot of ways to summon the fish: banish (for Gold Sarc/Tidal) then revive with DDR, or Burial/Tidal it to grave then Call, or just tribute summon it thanks to Linde into Dine, or into Pike/Turge discarding Gunde, also there're always Stream, Teus, Fishborg Archer, Tidal, Aqua Spirit and such

Once you have it, bring out all your fish Mermail and start your xyz summoning. Gaios + Dweller/Shock = GG Dragons, Gaios + Shock = GG spellbook. You can even side EEV and No 85 Crazy Box for the Books

Of course Fish + double Dweller = OTK, or Bahamut Shark into Abysstrite/Nightmare Shark/whatever for controlling the board. You have many ways to operate your combos once Coelacanth is on the field, and the extra deck is also up to you

So, what if you cannot get access to the big fish?

Just play like normal Mermail. With Teus/Tidal/Stream, you still have a good chance of making Gaios against Dragons, or some rank 4 against other deck. Prophecy is cancerous though

Tempest Dragunity (broken) combos

Assume you have Phalanx in graveyard, Dux and Mystletainn/Garuda the Wind Spirit in hand, another random WIND monster in hand, there're gazillion stuffs you can do

Basically, make Gae Dearg and 1 other level 6 Dragon

Atum + REDMD + Shock Master: This is the combo I pulled out the most during tournaments. Shock Master is the best option against Dragons and Prophecy. Of course it gets Veiler'd at times, but I don't mind it lol. Combo decks die to Veiler and "C"s, so YOLO

Combo: Summon Dux, get Phalanx, now either tribute Dux for Mystletainn to bring back Phalanx, or tune for Vajrayana bringing back Phalanx then banish Dux for Garuda, finally make Gae Dearg

Gae Dearg searches and discards Zephyros. Make Atum with Gae Dearg and Mystletainn/Vajrayana, get REDMD, get back Gae Dearg (detached from Atum), search Garuda and discard the random WIND monster (field Atum + REDMD + Gae Dearg)

Zephyros bounce REDMD, REDMD banishes Atum, gets back the discarded xyz material (Mystletainn or Vajrayana), make another Atum with Gae Dearg, calling out Debris Dragon or whatever level 4 Dragon you have. Banish someting for your in-hand Garuda, then Debris + Zephyros + Garuda = Shock. This wins me a lot of games, trust me (one of them due to my opponent decked out)

REDMD + Queen Dragun Djinn + Strike Bounzer/any rank 6 + Stardust/whatever level 8. Devastating combo against Evilswarm or any other non-meta decks which don't really die to Shock Master

Combo: Do the same thing until you bring out REDMD and get back Gea Dearg, now search and discard Mist Valley Baby Roc, summon it back to the field. Bounce REDMD for Zephyros, tune Baby Roc and Gae Dearg for Stardust, then banish Atum for REDMD, get back Gae Dearg, search Garuda and discard the random WIND (field REDMD + Zephyros + Stardust + Gae Dearg)

You should get the point now. Summon Garuda, make Queen Dragun Djinn with Zephyros, calling back a dragon, xyz with Gae Dearg for whatever rank 6 you have (M7, Gauntlet Shooter or Exa-Beetle)

Alternative: If you don't have the extra WIND to discard when you searh Garuda, then just don't search it. First Atum calling out REDMD, get back Gae Dearg, get Baby Roc. Zephyros bounces REDMD, banish Atum for REDMD, get back the other material (field REDMD + Zephyros + Baby Roc + Gae Dearg + level 6 dragon)

Make another Atum, calling out Debris Dragon, make Queen Dragun Djinn with Zephyros, calling back whatever you detached with Atum, tune with Baby Roc for a level 8! (field REDMD + Atum + Queen Dragun Djinn + level 8 synchro), still solid, especially if you have any kind of protection (traps or Veilers/"C"s), next turn you have Atum ready, REDMD ready, Dragon Ravine ready for whatever your opponent throws at you

REDMD + Queen Dragun Djinn + double Gaia including Exa Beetle: Clear Dracossack and pierce through 2 tokens!

Combo: Do the same start, having Atum, REDMD, Gae Dearg on field with Zephyros in grave. Gae Dearg search Garuda discarding the random WIND (again). Bounce REDMD with Zephyros, banish Atum for REDMD, summon Garuda, make Queen Dragun Djinn with Zephyros, summon back the other material, xyz for another Atum, detach Gae Dearg to summon Mystletainn (field REDMD not using effect, Queen Dragun, Atum, Mystletainn)

Now use REDMD effect, get back Gae Dearg, send Dragunity Aklys to graveyard. Xyz Gae Dearg and Mystletainn for Exa Beetle, equip Aklys, pop 2! (Aklys even sends stuffs to graveyard, not destroying anything, so Dracossack or Zenmaines or Gachi Gachi is not a problem). Upgrade Exa Beetle and Atum for double Gaias, then REDMD + Queen + 2 Gaias attack~

Alternative: If you don't have an extra WIND to discard for Gae Dearg to search Garuda, there's still a way for it:

Same start until you make the first Atum. Call REDMD, get back Phalanx. Bounce REDMD for Zephyros, tune with Phalanx for Vajrayana, get back Phalanx once more, then banish Phalanx for REDMD, get back Gae Dearg

Now Gae Dearg send Aklys, then xyz with Vajrayana for Exa Beetle (field REDMD + Exa Beetle + Atum)

...

..

.

And many more stuffs! If you play Leyvaten, you can always call out Leyvaten with Atum, get back Phalanx, tune for Trident Dragion for sweetness

Or make Thought Ruler Archfiend and set EEV

You can even Debris back your Phalanx, tribute for Mystletainn getting back Phalanx and tune for Trident Dragion tributing the Phalanx yet again

And stuffs I never think of but you will!

So, if you want to have fun at NAWCQ, or locals, or just casual plays, try the deck out xD

This is not my competitive deck so I don't mind sharing all the combos of it :3

How Dragons beat Prophecies

This is a short advice post to summarize what I've experienced at nationals

Cards that you should side: Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, Psi Blocker

Cards that you should never side: Fusilier, EEV, Droll and Lock Bird

If you ask me why, then they're all horrible cards to have in your deck. Fusilier does shit, but EEV without Fusilier is even more shit. Droll Bird is good to have in your hand, but after a Judgment is played you'd wish you had a Kycoo or Psy Blocker instead

Cards that you should consider: Divine Wrath (yes), Last Day of Witch (yes), Skill Drain

The former one deals with Blue Magician completely, and if Rodrigo Togores can play Raigeki Break, why can't you play a similar trap?

Last Day of Witch do a better job of avoiding Spellbook of Fate. Fate is the only reason why people considered Book of Eclipse, but in Prophecy match-up, Last Day of Witch is much much more better that Eclipse

Skill Drain seems pointless due to Fate and Wisdom, but chaining it to a Magician is still good as fuck, and you can also side this against Ophion. They can get past Drain for 1-2 turns, but in the long run you'd be the one who had advantages. Jowgen + Fate = GG, and Drain deals with that, at least baiting out the Fate

Cards that you should think of when you're completely desperate: Spell Canceller, Light and Darkness Dragon

Because people are cutting High Priestess and Breakthrough Skills, these card are good again

And, be careful about Dimensional Fissure. It seems harmless at first, but in the long run you'd wish you could have your graveyard full of baby dragons

And, you should play 2 Swords and 2 Gold Sarcophaguses. In game 1 whatever you play is not so important, but Swords will net you crucial advantages in game 2-3, when you need to dig for side cards

The last thing is not recommended, but if you side like 9-10 cards for a deck like Prophecy, just side out Rejuvenation. Your deck is completely ok without it (have you ever won a duel not using Rejuvenation?), and Swords help you draw too

Painful, salty tournament report (final part)

So, continuing last week's report, here is this week's

There were 6 players left, 2 in the winners' bracket and 4 in the losers' bracket

I faced the guy with 5 Spellbook decks again

Match 1: Dragunity vs. Spellbook

G1: I started with a Shock Master hand. However he had a Veiler, so I could only end up with Queen Dragun Djinn, Atum. Stardust Dragon and REDMD at full ATK. On his turn he used Judgment, then the Blue Magician to get Secret, then Power, then used Fate to flip Queen face-down. Blue Magician attacked over it, getting him another Fate. He get Justice in his endphase. On my turn I was left with only Stardust (and Ravine) courtesy of Fate and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast I think. That was a misplay from his side: I could use Ravine to get Dux and made Trident Dragion to end the game. But I'm a noob, so I made Crimson Blader and called back Tempest to attack for damage. Fortunately he had shit in hand, and scooped the following turn with High Priestess stayed dead

G2: He started dead due to my Droll & Lock Bird. I had a hand of Phalanx, Mystletainn, REDMD, Monster Reborn, and something irrelevant. Plan was: Phalanx and Mystletainn into Stardust, reborn Mystletainn, banish for REDMD, get Phalanx, made Trident Dragion and tribute that "something irrelevant" to attack for 8800. He had that fucking Veiler on Mystletainn, and I ended up with REDMD and Trident Dragion with 1 attack, and 5800 damage was dealed. He started his next turn with Library of Crescent, reveal Life, Secret, Fate. I picked him the Fate, and he scooped because he need a spellcaster on the field to get things going

OO

Match 2: Dragon vs. Spellbook

G1: I had Veiler for his Blue Magician, and that didn't matter because he locked me down with Jowgen + Fate + shit

G2: After some hard-fight turns, I had Dracossack with Book of Moon set, 3-color grave, and he had full hand and no field. He summon Blue Magician for Secret, activate Judgment, and I chained Book on the Magician. He couldn't start his Spellbook shenanigan, and I won

G3: I started with double Tempest, Tidal, Lightning, Stream, Super Rejuvenation. Normally that could be playable, but he went first and started with Dimensional Fissure + Jowgen + Fate + ...

XOX

Match 3: Dragon vs. Spellbook

G1: After sometime I had double Dracossack and 2 tokens with advantage in LP. He had Judgment, summoned Blue Magician, High Priestess, cleared 2 tokens with battle, cleared 1 Dracossack with High Priestess's effect, endphase cleared the last Dracossack with Fate, calling out Jowgen at the same time. GG

G2: I had 2 EEV and Fusilier. He Secrets for Master, summoned Kycoo, and I EEV'd, he revealed Jowgen wtf. Kycoo attacked. I drop Burner and Tidal for Blaster, stood there and ended. He top decked Blue Magician like a boss, summoned Jowgen, used effect discarding Blue Magician and attack. I cleared Kycoo with Blaster's effect, and had Lightning attacked the Jowgen (lol). He top decked that field spell for more Kycoos (like a boss), and hit me hard. I had only Swords in hand, then top decked Tidal, drew 2 cards which were another color and monster Reborn. Made Big Eye, stole his Kycoo, attacked, set the second EEV. GG

G3: We both started dead. He set 3 ended. I had Sword Stream double Tidal Blaster EEV or such. Banished Blaster for Sword, drew 2 more Blasters like a boss, searched Burner, banished it and another Blaster for Tidal, Stream for another Tidal, attacked for 2600, then made Big Eye. In my endphase he flipped Phoenix Wing Wind Blast on Big Eye, then passed. I drew stupid cards like more Swords and Rejuvenations and Reborn with only 1 Blaster in hand and no other colors to work with. So it came to a point when I was holding Blaster with Reborn and Psiblocker in hand and ONLY 2 Tidals in grave, he had a Veiler in attack position and 1 set card with Dimensional Fissure, Star Hall and La Masion. So, I banished 2 Tidal for Blaster, searching the 3rd copy, summoned Blocker calling Dimensional Fissure. Original plan was attacking over Veiler, Reborn it, tune for Scrap Dragon, destroy my set Rejuvenation and whatever he had. That last set card was Solemn Judgment, so I lost painfully.
Looking back, I should have Reborn Tidal to attack Veiler, and next turn banish Tidal and Blaster in hand for the other Tidal in grave. I suck. And that Warning was really hard to read. I still think Scrap Dragon is an okay move because I could banish it for something if he drew something like Life for Priestess. GG

So I'm out :<

Something I learned:

If you're playing an OTK deck, spend more than a month on it. I've played Dragunity REDMD for months but still lost due to not preparing the mid-game

Droll & Lock is a horrible card to have in your deck, but you still must play it in triplicate just because it was so good vs. Prophecy. Look at Library of Crescent :< I only sided Birds in Dragunity, drew it once and it saved my life

Super Rejuvenation is unreliable (at least for me). I always resolved it for nothing when I was dying. Swords and Sarcophaguses are much better

Forbidden Chalice is good. I kept 2 in my main deck after siding and wished for it all the time. Never appeared though

Compulsory Evacuation Device should be included in anything

Never mised Breakthỏugh Skill at all

REDMD is never used, not even once. I kept it in my main deck for easy EEV and it didn't work

I wanted LADD sometimes

But Reborn is still a card

...

..

.

And that concluded my tournament report. Thanks for reading xD

Also, I'm out for the rest of the format (maybe longer)

Meta calls

When you don't want to play the meta because you're trolling people, you do something called meta calls

Basically you gather a pile of anti-meta cards together, put it in an anti-meta deck, and go to tourney

This strategy is only good if you're playing a tournament full of top tier decks

So, for the Dragon and Spellcaster meta, just auto include: 3 Imperial Iron Walls, Book of Moon, Effect Veiler/Breakthrough Skill/Forbidden Chalice/whatever that hates monster effects

So, for some solid choices for the meta, this is a basic list:

1. Gravekeepers: Royal Tribute is a good card to open against Dragons and Mermails. And even though it does basically no damage to Prophecy, you have Necrovalley to handle Fate, and Priestess at some extent. Your monsters are bigger than Kycoo which is a good thing. So watch out for the Star Hall ATK boost.

And the deck can side Malefic Cyber End Dragon, Fuslisier, Skill Drain and EEV too

And if you're on DN, you can easily summon No 66 Master Key Beetle and protect Necrovalley/Iron Wall/Vanity's Emptiness

Aren't those advantages enough?

2. Gadget/Hunder/Fire Fist (teched with Kycoo and such): Which can make Shock Master/Abyss Dweller easily. Enough said lol. Gadget is a better pick thanks to the ability to push for damage and make Dweller with 2200 ATK thanks to Goldfish, and the generally better match-ups against the rogue deck

3. Infernity: For fuck's sake, Infernity Brick Break and Infernity Barrier are too good cards. The only disadvantage of the deck is itself: Draw 4-5 monsters anyone? I tried the deck my self, and those kinds of hand sucked. You can also list Dark World here, you can EEV everyone, and Grapha is bigger than anything

4. Piles of good cards: I'm serious, because top tier decks now often die to 1 card

Just make a deck that consists of: Thunder King Rai-Oh, Fossil Dyna Phachycephalo, Banisher of the Radiance, Macro Cosmos/Imperial Iron Walls/...

I'm deadly serious

And you can also consider Dragunity/Hieratic/Karakuri/any other OTK-based deck. Maxx "C" is a thing, Effect Veiler is another thing, but there're good cards like Debunk and Mind Drain

However I'm not gonna list those decks for meta calls, because I played them all and scrubbed. Guess that's because I suck, however

So, until Sunday, for the second part of the tourney report

For the Europeans: Good luck this weekend ;)

Tourney report part 1

Format: Double Elimination (which is basically, going home after losing 2 rounds)

Each players prepare FIVE decks, and a round versus another player would consist of 3 MATCHES, the winner of 2 matches remains in winners' bracket, the other is kicked out of the tourney, or at least kicked down to losers' bracket

16 participants

So, I play 2 Dragons, 2 Mermails and 1 Dragunity (yes, Dragunity)

Round 1:

Match 1: Mermail vs. Spellbook
Game one: He opened Judgment Secrets whatever. I tried to OTK with Megalo and Diva, he flipped Book of Moon. GG
Game two: I open Gaios, Undine, Pike. He summon that blue magician, eats Gaios, then simply Judgment Secrets for some more. I tried to OTK with some Deep Sea Diva tricks, he flipped Book of Moon again. GG

XX

Obviously Mermails die to Spellbook. But dying to a staple spell card sucked.
And apparently he had only 1 deck (all 5 of his decks were Spellbook), fml

Match 2: Dragon vs. Spellbook
Game one: I got destroyed, because Spellbooks suck and I started with 2 Chalices and irrelevant cards
Game two: I started with Dracossack, generated 2 tokens. He asked for LADD, I reveal Psi Blocker on Secrets. He Judgment and played bad spell cards to get a blue guy to the field and 2 Spellbooks to hand. I OTK'd him next turn after Psi-Blocking Book of Moon (I really feared it lol), and he revealed a set Secrets. wew
Game three: Neither of us had a good hand. But Dragon's bad hand is better than Spellbook's bad hand, so I won with Gaia Dragon, Tidal, Tempest and Reactan beatdown by turn 4-5

XOO

Of all my decks, Dragons have the best Spellbook match-up. So we didn't change decks

Match 3: Dragon vs Spellbook
Game one: He started dead. I had full colors hand, and OTK'd with Dracossack, Tidal and a tribute summoned Blaster
Game two:  He Judgment for 2, ended with a blue guy, a Star Hall and a set s/t. My hand was 2 Tidal, Monster Reborn, 2 EEV and Forbidden Chalice. Seemed dead? I pitched 2 Tidals for Fusilier in graveyard, revived it with Reborn, attacked for damage, and set some EEV. He didn't die, but the other EEV was a good bluff for my key Forbidden Chalice, which I used on his blue guy for game (like 4-5 turns after the EEV). The finish move was Big Eye his Gachi Gachi, tribute both for Blaster, then Tempest + Dracossack + Blaster attacked for game

OO-

Round score: XOO

3 consecutive Spellbook matches emptied my mind, and I felt like shit after. Fortunately the last pair, winner of which played me, lasted for so long (like... 150 minutes) so I had some time to relax


Round 2:

Match 1: Dragunity vs. Six Samurai
Game one: I started with Stardust Dragon, Queen Dragun Djinn, Photon Strike Bounzer and REDMD. He drew his sixth card, and scooped
Game two: He started with Shi En, Vanity's Emptiness and Macro Cosmos. I drew my sixth card, and scooped
Game three: I started with Hieratic Dragon King of Atum, REDMD and Shock Master calling spell. He set Macro Cosmos, Vanity's Emptiness, double Bottomless, Kageki and ended. He chained Cosmos and Emptiness when I declared traps with Shock Master, so I summon Debris Dragon and just attacked for 6200 damage (Shock Master attacked Kageki). He drew his seventh card, and scooped

OXO

His deck is kind of built for Dragons. He mained Dimensional Fissure, Vanity's Emptiness and Imperial Iron Wall. Luckily I won the roll... The whole match lasted for 5 turns, but still took 30 minutes due to our side-decking lol

Match 2: Dragons vs Six Samurai
Game one: At one point I had ridiculous advantage over him, but he had Kizan + Dimensional Fissure + Vanity's Emptiness + Compulsory Evacuation Device. I had double Rejuvenation, double Forbidden Chalice and a gazillion dragons. However I didn't realize I could have crashed Reactan into Kizan, so I scooped. Whether he Compul'd it or not, the Emptiness is still destroyed. I suck, I guess...
Game two: I started Dracossack 2 tokens. He cleared with Catastor + Kizan + Zanji, set Fissure, Cosmos and Emptiness. I MST'd the Cosmos, Psi-Block the Fissure, and did my stuff. He couldn't win, of course
Game three: I just destroyed him like any usual Dragon vs Samurai match

XOO

Round score: OO-

Round 3:

Match 1: Dragons vs Spellbook
He just did his stuff like a boss. I never had any chance to win. Quick 0-2

XX-

Match 2: Dragunity vs Spellbook
Game one: He won the roll, did stuff. I managed to established a field of Atum, REDMD, Shock Master on spell after Dux attacked to clear his Jowgen.  However, he just summon Priestess, then a second Jowgen, for game
Game two: I started with a better hand, which can even play through Effect Veiler. However, he had DOUBLE FUCKING EFFECT VEILERS

XX-

Round score: XX-

So, I lost and dropped to losers' bracket. It sucked to lose to that DECK, not that PLAYER

Next Sunday we'll play the remaining rounds. I just hope those Spellbook players won't have the same luck again...

Also, playing 5 Spellbook matches (11 duels) really, really sucks. Just like playing a tier 2 deck against a tier 0 deck all day :<

Until next... week

Peace

Dragons, the sick tricks

1. Ancient Sacred Wyvern

Drop Dragosack, normal summon Veiler, tune for the Wyvern, attack. You deal 7300 damage, which means even Forbidden Chalice on Dragosack can end the game. The damage is too much for anything to handle, because opponent won't be confident summoning any monster with 2100 ATK or less in ATK position

2. Armory Arm

Drop Dragosack, make tokens, summon a tuner, make Armory Arm. Now Dragosack can attack over anything at 3500 or less, dealing a guaranteed 3600 damage.

Sicker: Equip Armory Arm to opponent's monster with 2000 or more ATK. Summon some more dragons and ram into it. Armory Arm will deal damage to YOUR OPPONENT, so 2600 (Dragosack) + 2800 (Blaster) + 2600 (Tidal) can end the game quickly

And you can also equip Armory Arm to Trident Dragion. It's a little hard to do (you need Reborn or Redox effect to summon the second tuner), but it's just like BLS + Armory OTK

3. Colossal Fighter

Opponent Maxx "C"? Make Colossal Fighter, then use Armory Arm (yes, Colossal-Armory OTK) or Forbidden Chalice on opponent's monster. From there just ram Colossal Fighter into that monster, let your opponent draw until he/she loses by game mechanic

And he can also bring back your/your opponent's Crimson Blader. However, this rarely happens because with Blader in graveyard, Colossal will be at 2900 ATK, quite hard to be destroyed by battle

4. Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei" and Gaia Dragon the Thunder Charger

They have the same primary use: Chopping through the Dragosack tokens. 2600 damage is respectable, trust me. Dragons can easily put 5000ish damage on board, so some early damage may change the tempo of the game

So, that's some of it! I'll come back to this later on

Until next time xD

Scrubbed Hieratic Report

It's late, but still... I'm a lazy man

Because I wasn't confident of neither Dragons or Mermails (I'm not so familiar to Dragons, while drawing Genex Controller is sweet), I decided to pick Hieratic for the tournament. The reason for this is that the deck has pretty much auto-win match-up against Dragons (unless people Maxx "C" into Veilers, which happens a lot during testing lol)

Basically it's Hieratic with 12 Hieratic dragons, 3 normal monster (including Curse of Dragon), Genex Ally Birdman (for Crimson Blader), and of course Maxx "C"s and Effect Veilers. Side deck was 6 Brain Controls (3 Electric Viruses and 3 Puppet Plants), along with 3 Vanity's Fiend, Mystical Space Typhoon, and that Droll and Troll Bird

I was really confident with the deck. The only thing I'm really concerned about was Evilswarm, but 2 main-decked Breakthrough Skills and 3 Electric Virus (then tribute Ophion for a random dragon) gave me confidence

Onto the report!

Round 1: Evilswarm...

G1: I got destroyed fast. Not to mention I'm too desperate to forget dropping Tragoedia when he attacked with a non-material Ophion and 2 other Evilswarm. Of course a second Ophion appeared and I scooped with my OTK hand. Actually I only looked for Breakthrough Skills, so after I saw no pink cards, I didn't even look at my hand from there lol

G2: He start with Heliotrope, attacking into Tragoedia. I OTK'd him next turn, Gustaph Max involved

G3: He start with Ophion and I cleared it somehow, but ate Torrential. I was low in life, having Breakthrough Skill in grave, but he didn't even summon another Ophion. He beat me down with Thunder King Rai Oh, and I scooped after drawing Vanity's Fiend to pair with my in-hand Wattaildragon

XOX

This round is so important because after losing round 1, I had less chance of meeting Dragons, which is my auto-win matchup. Instead, I faced all the stun-based decks that scrubbed to Dragons in round 1

Round 2: Evilswarm/Gravekeepers/Dark Gaia mix

This deck is hilarious. He played Rabbit for Ophion, then Dark Calling with Tour Guide and Doomcaliber Knight for Dark Gaia lol

G1: He won the roll. Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, set Bottomless Trap Hole and Breakthroush Skill, holding Gorz in hand, lol. I break through all of them, recycle my Su with M7, having Atum beside it, then attack into Gorz. He summon Tour Guide for Acid Golem, beat over M7 and Atum, direct'd with Gorz. I was low in life (again), then made Gautlet Launcher to shoot Gorz and Acid Golem, sitting behind the 2800 wall. He Dark Calling, banishing Acid Golem and Gorz for a 5700 Dark Gaia lol. I see my top deck (prolly Solemn Warning), and scooped

G2: I drew 3 normal monsters

XX

So, with 0-2 record....

Round 3: No show

Of course I have to face another scrub lol. Free win but it hurt my tie-breaker much

Round 4: Malefic

G1: He started with Gearframe, ate Veiler, set a trap. I Night Shot'd the trap, then OTK'd

G2: He started with Card Car D, ate Veiler, summoned Fortress, set a trap. I Night Shot'd the trap, then OTK with Electric Virus on Fortress

OO

2-2. I still had a chance to top, or at least push my teammate to the top

Round 5: Herald Agent

G1: He started with Earth/Manju. I OTK'd, involving Crimson Blader

G2: He started with Prohibiton on Atum, then summoned Earth. I did my job, he Maxx "C", I went on. Tried to clear Prohibiton with Su, he dropped Herald of Orange Light. I made M7, he drew his second Orange Light. He pushed with Venus, Balls,... I drew nothing next turn, died

G3: I Cardcar D, then passed. He summon Earth/Manju, ate Breakthrough Skill, ended. I proceeded to set up an OTK field, attacked into Swift Scarecrow (wut!?). He dropped Dark Hole, lol

XOX

Later I found out he sided 1 Scarecrow, and he got it to his hand along with Dark Hole. Perfect counter to Hieratic, hnng

Overall score 2-3. Scrubbed

I WILL PLAY DRAGONS FROM NOW ON. META CALLS? FUCK THEM

Dilemma

Going to a big tournament in 48ish hours, and I still have no idea of what to play

The local big 4 (Mermail-Dragon-Prophecy-Evilswarm) are all at full power. I won't play Evilswarm because I don't like them, and I was left with 3 choices

I have access to my friend's Prophecy, but I have no idea what to do against "pros". If you can open Secret Judgment 9/10 games then there's nothing else to say. I can't, and I found myself in very awkward positions when I got hit by Droll and Lock Bird (or even worse EEV) during testing. The deck is hard to play if things doesn't go right. That does not happen too often, but I find it really boring...  Prophecy can't really OTK, and doesn't have so many tricks, so... not my type

Dragons are basically the same. A lot of powerful plays, but when you cannot gather the 4 elements early enough, it's not that good anymore. Also, getting hit by Spellbook of Fate or Maxx "C" is no fun at all. It can't OTK either, so...

Mermail, the deck I'm most confident with, is also the weakest of 4 decks. I play Undine Mermail with Tidal, but Ophion is still a real bitch. Also, Spellbook of Fate is just too overpowered. The deck has a 50:50 Dragons match-up due to the incredible speed, but it cannot recover once everything is spent. Abyssgaios is big and powerful, but Spellbook of Fate is overpowered, really

Some stupid rogue decks also came to my mind. Infernity, Gadget, HERO (ShockMaster.deck). However, when you do not draw good enough with those decks, you die

...

See ya after the tourney. Prolly write a report (haven't done it for quite long)

Revisit: Abysscale of Mizuchi

http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Abyss-scale_of_Mizuchi

Boost Megalo to 3200, attack 2 times

So, not talking about negating spell cards here (that sucks, opponent can always activate a random Book of Wisdom)

A single Megalo drop (with Undine searching for it previously) = 6400 damage

So, Megalo + Abyssteus/Abysspike/Tidal = game

Imagine: People attack Abysslinde, you get Pike, discard something, search Undine

Next turn, summon Undine, search Megalo, drop it, get Mizuchi, equip, tribute Undine

At this point, if you can somehow clear opponent's monster (most likely discarding Infantry/Tidal for Megalo previously), you win

Of course this means nothing vs Dragosack + 2 tokens, but against everything else, it's still notable (facing Blue Spellbook guy?)

Right?

Getting back to competitive play

Now it's all about Dragon vs Prophecy lol

After talking to Mike from Dueling Legacy, I realized praying is a pretty good way to counter Prophecy (and I'm playing Dragons)

/sad

When trolls become serious

Everyone's hyped about the Big 4 (Mermail - Evilswarm - Spellbook - Dragon), some even consider Fire Fist a good contender (including me)

When I first saw those deck, me and some of my friends made a lot of funny jokes about the card. Months later, when we realize none of the usual side deck choices against those deck are good, the "jokes" become something to consider

Mermail is too easy to side against, let's just say that

Evilswarm? Side Electric Virus and 1 Pandemic (whatever Infection card, I don't even remember the name). Steal Ophion, search something, go all-out and OTK, or at least make a board of big monsters (bigger than 2550)

Spellbook? Side DNA Surgery LOL Stop all the Spellbook of Master, Power, Fate

Dragons? Side Gozen Match, ideally when they use a second Baby Dragon's effect, 2 cards wasted for nothing. Just don't let them summon 2 Tempest into Dragosack. Also in Karakuri you can always side Electric Virus and 1-2 Watchdogs. Steal Dragosack, make tokens, summon Dog, summon a lot of Burei, win

That's for today xD

New project

I just decided to train myself into a more control player. Being aggressive is fun, but I want to win tournaments more than being a troller in those

So, can anyone show me a good aggressive deck but still can play traps and do the "control" aspect?

I've been thinking of Fire Fist, but I hate deck with boring artworks...

Recently I've tweaked my Karakuri into a 12-trap build (with 14 monsters, 2 of which are Thunderking Raioh). Doing good for now, so I want something REALLY different

Anyone has an idea about Madolche? Please show me. They look so cute. The inclusion of Hootcake is ok too, as LTGY will be released very soon

Thanks in advance xD

Elemental Dragon in everything

Quick post, as I'm still waiting for LTGY

• Tempest: It needs the deck to have WIND monsters and Dragon monsters, so it's not too hot (discard Red-Eyes Wyvern for Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon anyone? Or discard Luster Dragon #2 for a random Hieratic) Dragunity is an obvious choice if you like Tempest (Gold Sarcophagus for a free Phalanx/Mystletainn), Harpie is decent too. However, I rate this card as "average" overall (2400 ATK). Aside from the Elemental Dragon deck, you'll rarely see this card in play except in Dragunities.
• Blaster: Laval, Fire Fist. The destruction effect of Blaster is much more useful than Tempest's restricted search. He can also feed the graveyard for Rekindling/Brotherhood of the Fire Fist Spirit. I suppose this card will make Laval much better than the old version, considering a single Rekindling + Blaster in graveyard = madness (Librarian + 1 level 5 synchro + 1 level 8 synchro and you haven't normal summoned), AND the destruction effect may work as a pseudo-MST, which is really needed for the deck. Other than that, Blaster is not too useful either, since there're not many good FIRE-based decks out there
• Tidal: It's for the WATER deck (and recently people usually call Mermail WATER deck). It's pretty much design for the WATER-based deck. Even though Tidal's effect is the only -2 effect of the 4 dragons, it's very useful in WATER decks as most of them rely much on the graveyard. Tidal + Abyssgunde = any Mermail from your deck, and Megalo discarding Tidal will immediately put 2 level 7 WATER monsters on the field for Big Eye or Abyssgaios. Speaking of Abyssgaios, it's one of those reasons why Tidal is so good. Abyssgaios is too good (until people switch back to Undine build, like I have). Frog-based deck also gets some boost because you can kick Swap Frog and Salvage it back, or kick Nimble Angler for mad summoning
• Redox: the best of all IMO. It turns every explosive EARTH decks out there (Karakuri, Geargia, Gadget) into really really fast-paced deck. In Karakuri, you have Iron Call for the same purpose, but Redox can summon the discarded monster which is great in many situations. In Gadget, Shock Master is now easy to make, and Big Eye + Dragosack will be 2 continuous threats as the deck can literally summon 2 level 7 monster (the other being Machina Fortress) for free. In Geargia, if you have Geargiarsenal, Redox and a random EARTH monster, you can set 2 Geargiarmor in your first turn (for a -1). Dark Hole is now cut from many competitive decks, so the 2 Armors set would be scary as fuck. And you can always discard Nishipachi to summon it, trigger the effecr to flip Arnor and all the madness begins. 3000 DEF is respectable too, at least Abyssgaios won't be getting over it

YGO will be very fun (but fast) after these things (and the baby versions) are released. However, the Dragon deck and Prophecy are real pain in our ass. It's simple as 2 best decks and a million good decks, which is a good part for the format. You'll need to make meta calls, finding random tech cards and such. Personally I'd prefer this to the all-Mermail format. Facing 1 deck in a whole tournament is no fun at all

Until next time ;)

3v3 tourney report

It's basically 3v3 team tournament with the teammates sharing one banlist (1 Heavy Storm for all 3 people, 2 have to play without it, etc)

Team line-up was:

Player A: Banisher Thunderking Fossildyna etc.dek

Player B (me): Undine Mermail with Teus and all the "Mono" engine

Player C: Spellbook

Round 1: Free win as one of my opposite team's player did not attend

The anti-meta player faced Karakuri, which is of course free win too lol. I know all the in and out of Karakuris, and all he had to do was summon Fossil Dyna and backed it up with Forbidden Lance and Safe Zone

The Spellbook player had to play a mirror match. In duel 2 he was lucky enough to pull off a Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell against opponent's Spellbook of Secrets. GG lol

Team: OOO

Round 2: Chain Energy Volcanic Counter... Burn deck

This was stupidly hilarious. I was really confused of Volcanic Counter's MANDATORY burn effect. I thought it was like Necro Gardna so I didn't find a way to play around it. 

And the deck was cool. Onslaught of the Fire King for the Fire King Kirin, which in turn kicked Volcanic Queen to the grave

Game 1 I barely won thanks to the super duper fast rush. 

Game 2 he burned me to 600, then rammed Marshmallon into Megalo with Volcanic Counter in grave 

Game 3 I had a Decree face-up, Pike and Megalo attacking (into double Volcanic Queen). He flipped Magic Cylinder and Dimension Wall for nothing, I went dumb and rushed Megalo into Gorz lol. And then I realized I sided out my only out against Gorz and the 2400 token (Abyssleed), gg

At the same time, the anti meta player died quickly and badly to Malefic beatdown (Banisher no match Malefic Cyber End), while the Spellbook player somehow pull off a 2-1 win against Six Samurai. He was holding a dead Spellbook of Life and a High Priestess on field against Zanji, Irou and Grandmaster. Zanji killed Priestess (Grandmaster died in his place), Irou hit for 1700. Next turn he topped Justice, set and ended. The Samurai player topped United lol, attacked and ended. The final turn, the Spellbook player ripped Spellbook Magician of Prophecy, which makes Life live, also some Power trick involved and won

Team: XXO

Round 3: Dark World

Game 1: Got OTK'd with Grapha, Goldd and Beiige with Gates face-up. He hit some damage previously so I died bad

Game 2: I think I OTK'd him, like any usual Mermail does

Game 3: He hit me with 2 Dragged Down, 2 DDV but I managed to survive thanks to Pike + Dragoons + Moulinglacia to make a good Megalo play (forgot to side out Moulinglacia). He was under Reckless Greed and I killed him before he saw any draw

The anti-meta player faced Chaos Dragon which should be an auto win match-up thanks to Banisher, Fossil Dyna and such. However game 1 he died to Return from DD after everything was banished, and game 2 or 3 he ran into Aurkus (lol) and cannot killed the opponent right there. He ripped Dark Hole or Heavy Storm or something and that was GG

The Spellbook player played a mirror match again lol. The other deck had 2 Spellbook Magician, 3 Spellbook of Eternity and all the bad cards. Somehow he died to a Temperance into Priestess play after Cursing Spellbook of the Master

Team: XOX

Round 4: Hieratic

I know everything about Hieratic so everything was fine.

Game 1: He cannot go off soon and fast enough. I killed him like any other Mermail does

Game 2: He made an OTK board of Gaia, REDMD at 2800 and Scrap Dragon. I survived thanks to Sphere, then next turn make Big Eye, take Scrap Dragon, drop Moulinglacia, summon Linde, popped Linde and REDMD, called out Leed. GG

The anti meta player opened Banisher of the Radiance all 3 games against Mermail lol. Wasn't any easy game, but in game 3 when he was ready to die (facing Royal Decree, only had Spirit Reaper face-up against Marksman and Dragoons), he ripped BLS with exactly 1 LIGHT 1 DARK in grave lol GG

Team: OOO

However with the score 2-2 we didn't managed to get into top 4. It ended there D:

Sided heavily for Evilswarm, met none

Only used Dust Tornado, Decree and Maxx "C"

D:

See you next time xD

Evilswarm Ophion

...

is a bitch

Because there're around 700-720 level 5 or higher effect monsters in YGO right now (normal monster not counted since they aren't special summoned usually, maybe Wattaildragon, Luster 2 or Curse of Dragon but whatever)

Excluding Vanity's Fiend, LADD and the 8 monarchs and some more, let's say, 20 monsters which must be tributed summoned for the effect. Who really tribute summon monster anymore?

The release of Ophion spell the end for ~700 monsters in YGO, which is obviously not a good thing

However, considering the meta is really fast and Ophion is one of a few way to stop the mass summoning effectively (Megalo :<), Ophion is good for the meta

Bad for the game but good for the meta, so where did thing go wrong?

Ans: since they started releasing high-level but easy-summoning monster, starting DAD

5 years after that, things have changed a lot, but the game is always about mass summoning (except the Wind-Up Loop format)

So..

Too bad :< And won't be getting any better anytime soon

Mono Mermail and Undine Mermail

Everyone knows that Mono Mermail is getting hyped for the past month, after Billy Brake's success at YCS Miami

From there everyone is calling it the best Mermail, the standard Mermail, etc. I was impressed too. But after a month, let's take a deep look

What is the difference?

The classic Mermail plays 3 Undine, 2 Controller, 1 Moulinglacia and all those standard Mermail cards. The new Mermail plays 3 Abyssteus, 2 Abyssgunde in those slots, along with more Abysspikes and Abyssleed

First thing in sight, the Mono Mermail doesn't have to play any vanilla, which is classic Mermail's worse disadvantage. Drawing Genex Controller is really, REALLY painful. Mono Mermail also seems (SEEMS) faster, more explosive because of the ability to drop everything into the field (mainly thanks to Abyssteus and Abyssgunde).

The access to Abyssgaios is also Mono Mermail's advantage over everything else. 2800 ATK Skill Drain is too much to handle for some decks out there

Really that good?

Something that Mono Mermail lacks:

• The ability to search Abyssmegalo to hand. People say Linde can bring Megalo directly to the field and that's enough. I prefer searching the Abyss traps, and everyone does
• The access to Atlantean Dragoons: This is really important. Looking back, Dragoons is the card that everyone wanted to get restricted when the March banlist came (even I did). No Dragoons in hand = no Megalo, no Moulinglacia, no Deep Sea Diva. You have to draw those power cards yourselves, which is obviously not ideal because the searching ability is what people fear the most
• Moulinglacia: the game-finisher. Too good when you are ending the game, don't need to argue
• The use of Abysspike: Mono Mermail doesn't have really good target for Abysspike. Abysslinde and Abyssgunde can be searched with Abyssteus, leaving Marksman as the only decent target
• Salvage: I don't have a freaking idea why Billy and Jeff hate this card. Too good when you need to drop your hand to the field, better during late game when a Deep Sea Diva can change the whole tempo of the game, and 2 Divas can finish the game. 

I'm not saying Mono Mermail is worse than classic Undine Mermail. However, the weaknesses cannot be unseen

The (new) power of Mono Mermail mostly comes fom Abyssteus and Abyssgunde. But why can't Undine Mermail play the 2 cards? That takes 3-5 slots in the deck, which means you can simply take out your tech cards for the "Mono" elements

The fix?

This is one of those typical Mermail deck at YCS Seattle, when CBLZ wasn't released (Source: http://elbrarian.blogspot.com.au/)

To add the "Mono" elements to the deck (2 Abyssteus, 2 Abyssgunde, 1 Abyssmegalo 1 Abyssleed, 1 Abyssquall, 1 Salvage) let's take out:

1 Genex Undine (you have Abysspike/Abysslinde/Abyssphere for that)
1 Allure of Darkness (not really needed)
1 Mind Control (same reason)
2 Mirror Force (as above)
1 Ultimate Offering (really nice tech card, can make Undine become a 1-card OTK, but space is tight)

The ultimate searching power can afford the deck size of 42. To me, I don't play Dark Hole and Pot of Avarice

It's just me, I prefer it. Everything is up to the player of course. But after all the testing I came to the conclusion that this is the best Mermail variant that I've played

See you next time ~

Power card

I'm talking about Gorz, Effect Veiler, Maxx C, Dark Hole, Heavy Storm, Monster Reborn, Pot of Avarice, Solemn Warning, Solemn Judgment

I've been practising my Mermail without any of those cards. The 3v3 team tournament is coming soon (the whole team shares a banlist, which means 1 Heavy Storm for 3 people), and I'm the one who play the deck that doesn't need staple

I'm playing the pure TCG version of Mermail. No Tidal, no Fishborg, no Dragosack, no Abyss-scale of Mizuchi etc.. I submitted the deck on DN, and starting playing

My rating is quite high (1300 at the moment) so I faced a lot of Incarnate Dragons, Evilswarm (with Kerykeion) and Spellbook (with Judgment Day). I felt sad not having access to good card (especially Armor Kappa) but I'm not playing for the win. I play to test my skills

And I realized the deck is even better without those cards lol. It's pure Mermail, just Mermail that gives you the win. No sick top deck, gotta work with the deck completely, which brings me to another point that all these decks are so overpowered that super awesome cards like those above are not anymore irreplaceable

I don't know whether I should feel good or bad lol

It's no goodbye

I won't quit

Even though there's pretty nothing interesting for the TCG, I still want to play for fun.

Mermail is the best deck, and also the easiest to side against deck, which means every deck that can play Dimensional Fissure/Macro Cosmos has a chance (oh my Chaos Dragon D:)

I tried literally every good deck that people have been reminding me of (except Wind-Up, I just hate them for no reason lol). Kakakuri is still one of the best, simply because of the ability to dig the deck for Dimensional Fissure/Macro Cosmos. Roy St Clair's build, which included Genex Ally Remote, Karakuri 7749 Nanashick, Machine Duplication etc seems stupid at first but it really has potential. I'm saying this from the perspective of a long-time Karakuri players (I was playing KMP for 1 year, has everything ready for something big then Konami annouced the prohibition of Bulb D:)

Prophecy, being one of the most hyped deck after LTGY, is one of the most ignored deck right now lol. No Judgment = no goodness. I say "fuck it" and play Reaper Turbo, which has really good results thanks to DDV and EEV

...

..

.

Looking towards the near future (24 days to go), people are talking much about Evilswarm. Surely Ophion is a bitch, but without Kerykeion everything is still handleable. The eagerness for Evilswarm from people has made other good decks from HA07 seem underestimated

Let's not forget about the uninfected side, Constellar. Pleiades, just like Ophion, is a bitch. The Constellar theme is hyped like one year ago, and now with the help of Tenki that deck is just so good that the lack of Sombres isn't as bad as the lack of Kerykeion. Constellar plays 3 Sheratan 3 Algedi, 3 Pollux and 6 Kaust (Tenkis!) and ROTA and Xyz Reborn and some more shit which makes it the deck to expect in my opinion. They have just like 3 Stratos, 6 Kageki and 6 Kagemusha, 1 Monster Reborn, 3 Xyz Monster Reborn and their very own boss monster and also the hidden boss monster with the ability to reuse everything. Too good

Hieratic is also something good to expect thanks to the release of M7. Along with Volcasaurus, the ability to OTK opponent by turn 2-3 with 2-3 cards is scary as fuck

Giski, getting their Zeal Gigas, should be prepared for too. OTK combos that involves 2 Zeal Gigas only is exceptionally good considering Zeal Gigas has the ability to clear his path to do the 3200 damage. Even if you're unlucky enough to fail to pull the combo off, 3200 is still a big body and Salvage and Aquamirrorare bitches that can reuse everything

And Laval, one of a few synchro summoning themes left. Getting Molten Conduction Field is something huge, and Lavalval Chain is a good card. No matter how dominating Xyz monsters are, Shooting Quasar Dragon is still... incredible

Also Infernity. Thanks to Lavalval Chain, all the stupid earnings seem so easy to pull off. Top decking Archfiend is still sweet as fuck

Do you ever hear about Gem-Knight? Gem-Knight Fusion is a good card, and Gem-Knight Zirconia from HA07 opens a lot of combos for the deck

Good old decks also get some support. Gadget finally has Tin Goldfish so that they can make first turn Gear Gigant X/Shock Master more, also Abyss Dweller with 2200 ATK is annoying for Mermail people. Karakuri has Iron Call, which is basically a free synchro material (obviously better than Emergency Teleport)

You may say that the high-level themes die to Ophion. The only thing I can say is that I expect Fiendish Chain and Breakthrough Skill will have their price increased a lot soon. Let's not forget: If you target Ophion with Fiendish Chain and your opponent respond with Lance, the Chain still applies after the turn is over. And Evilswarm won't be having Kerykeion anytime soon, which means the ability to immediately make a second Ophion should be in doubt

Basically that's it, which means almost every card of HA07 is a good card

So every deck has a chance. Don't quit, people xD

(Don't talk about LTGY or JOTL here)