Machina Phantom Beast Planes

As I promised yesterday, here's my take on the new archtype Phantom Beast Plane

Monster [25]
3 Phantom Beast Plane Tether Wolf
3 Machina Gearframe
3 Machina Peacekeeper
3 Machina Fortress
2 Machina Cannon
1 Machina Force
2 Card Car D
2 Card Trooper
2 Maxx "C"
2 Effect Veiler
2 Tragoedia

Spell [9]
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Pot of Duality
1 Limiter Removal
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn

Trap [8]
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
2 Roll Out!
2 Call of the Haunted

Extra deck
2 No11 Big Eye
2 Phantom Beast Plane Drago-Sack
1 Super Cannon Gustaph Max
1 Hieratic Dragon of Heliopolis
1 Gigant X
...

..

.

Before the Phantom Beast Planes (PBP) were announced to be released, the deck is as simple as Fortress beatdown.dek. It's like a newbie deck which operates kind of automatically. Peacekeeper searches Gearframe, if you have Fortress, then Gearframe searches Fortress, otherwise Gearframe searches Cannon or Force to summon Fortress and beatdown

Card Trooper is a Machine, it feeds Fortress to the graveyard and trade off with Thunder King aka Gearframe's worst enemy

Card Car D is also a Machine, and it digs the deck for Troopers, Gearframes, Peacekeepers,...

Because the deck is incredibly good at maintaining card advantage, Tragoedia is a no-brainer here. He's often 3000-3600 ATK, and the variety of level this deck has also boosts Tragoedia's stealing effect to a different level. That's why Machine Force is in there: Tragoedia discard Machina Force (searched from Gearframe) to steal opponent's Tragoedia, REDMD,... to make Gustaph Max and deal 6800 damage, then you can equip Gearframe to Gustaph Max in Main Phase 2

This deck is not Machina Gadget. It deals heavy damage in 1 turn, so Limiter Removal often spells OTK

The trap line-up is all about Gearframe and Fortress. Call of the Haunted for Fortress, Roll Out targeting Peacekeeper in grave to protect Fortress, then search Gearframe with Peacekeeper's effect for more advantage

Torrential Tribute works with Peacekeeper, and Compulsory Evacuation Device deals with Effect Veiler on Gearframe or Bottomless Trap Hole/Dimensional Prison on Fortress

Now we have a new star: Phantom Beast Plane Tether-Wolf, along with Phantom Beast Plane Drago-Sack in extra deck. Tether Wolf's effect can boost itself to 2500 (equal to Fortress) for beatdown, or getting him to level 7 to make Big Eye or Drago-Sack with Fortress. Drago-Sack is too good, he's a self-protected version of Scrap Dragon, and he can also make Tether Wolf become level 10 to make Gustaph Max

Most importantly, Tether-Wolf is a machine so that you can discard him for Fortress

Overall the deck is suitable for you when you're tired and don't want to think too much. In fact, the only thing you need to notice is how many Fortresses you have in graveyard

~~~

So, that's for today. Thanks for dropping by and I hope you'll follow my blog for long

I'm celebrating my 10,000th views. That's unbelievable considering I started the blog in September (the first day of the new format). Thanks all of you for visiting my blog that frequently

Shout out to LFN, LightGrunty, Kyde from Digital Mortal for putting my silly blog on their blog list for the early days!

YGO March 2012 wishlist (second, probably last part)

1.Rescue Cat released

What does the cat do after all?

Instant rank 3? We have Tour Guide

Instant rank 2? We have Deep Sea Diva

Instant rank 1? LOL

Instant synchro level 4-5? Diva does it all aside from Naturia Beast? (which is very easy to get over)

Instant synchro level 6? What synchro level 6 is worth making except Barkion? (which is only effective when your opponent has Mirror Force/Dimensional Prison)

Double Airbellums chopping? Yeah it's probably the only good thing about the Cat. However I don't ever think that it's consistent enough when you put the Cat, Airbellums and some random beast in your deck. X-Saber is a different story, and I want X-Saber back

From here I'll talk about more general stuffs. It's probably in stupid order but I hope you understand me

2. More backrows can be played

In the mean of limiting Mystical Space Typhoon and maybe Night Beam, stopping printing broken backrow-hate cards like Zenmaioh, Marksman, the new Firefist,... The game should be more interactive between the 2 players. I don't like the simple game of clearing backrows and push for game. Stupid

3. Fewer and more difficult, complicated OTK combos

Wind-Ups, Mermails, Geargia (Karakuri), Hieratic,... can easily put 8000 damage on board in 1 single turn with different ways of doing it. The game should be more about thinking for every specific situation, not about learning combos by heart

4. Maximum of +1 for each card

Diva, Tour Guide, Rescue Rabbit is pretty broken, but still acceptable considering how Garunix, Tenki/Bear,... create advantages. I like the way HERO Beat plays, every card is one-for-one or +1, not that kind of decks when drawing the one (or the two) card (ex. Genex Undine, Magician Shark, Ultimate Offering + Gadget,...) means winning. Yeah Stratos + Reborn is also lame, undeniably

5. Draw more, search less

You say you don't want to lose to good hands so search cards should be released so that anyone has an equal chance of doing his own combos? I disagree, simply because skills in YGO mean playing it out in any given hand, situation,..., not learning combos by heart (yet again). A card with effect like "Discard a Hieratic monster to draw 2 cards" should be more rewarded than the straightforward Seal of Convocation

6. Less searching/summoning massively from deck

Because your deck is the only place that does not need any setup. The recent bad formats are bad because everything comes out from the deck (Tour Guide, Rescue Rabbit, Carrier Zenmaity, Inzektor Dragonfly/Centipede, Deep Sea Diva/Abyssphere,... Doing that once or twice a duel is okay, but doing that for the whole game is stupid

...

..

.

I know nothing in this post could ever become real, but this is my wishlist so...

Sad

But I'm still stick with YGO, until forever

Again I'm looking at the OCG for new ideas, and I have something to show you about those Phantom Beast Planes. Say tuned!

Peace

YGO March 2013 Wishlist (first part)

Let's get right into it.

Note that it's my wishlist, not my predictions

1. Glow-up Bulb to (at least) 1

By the time Bulb was banned (one year ago), it's pretty overpowered.

It can be used for any synchro summon (unlike Debris Dragon or Quickdraw Synchron), can easily be searched/summoned from the deck (Sangan, Lonefire Blossom, One for One), can be reused without any cost, and has synergy with everything

But now, when ALL the good staple synchro monsters are banned (aside from Scrap Dragon, TG Hyper Librarian, Catastor), what will you use Bulb for? You really think the +2 combo of Librarian and Formula Synchron is still as powerful as before? Nope. Who wants to draw 2 random cards when that one can search directly for the cards he wants anyway? And that combo is rarely pulled out. What synchro monster do you really want to make?

The only good use of Bulb that I know is in Karakuri Machina Plant (which was/is my favorite deck LOL). Otherwise, double synchro summoning does not mean much anyway. Reborn Tengu anyone?

Now take a look at Deep Sea Diva. She can be used for any synchro summon, can be easily searched (through Undine, which can be searched with Abysspike, which can be searched with Abyssphere, which can be searched with Megalo), can be reused consistently (Salvage, Abyssturge) and create plus(es) on its own. One Diva against an open field can be a massive 3800 damage and become Stardust Dragon in Main Phase 2, OR 3400 damage and become Dewloren, which reuses Marksman, in Main Phase 2. Take a fucking look Konami, Deep Sea Diva = Dewloren + Marksman in hand, plus 3400 damage. SO FUCKING BALANCED

2. T.G. Striker to 2/3

After all what does this card do outside of T.G. Agent? T.G. Strike + Gadget = Barkion anyone? LOL

Sure T.G. Striker + Agent of Creation Venus = 7600 damage or 5800 + Gachigachi or double Gachi Gachi. However, considering a combination of Tour Guide, Venus and Hyperion is an OTK (500 + 1500 + 1800 + 1800 + 1600 + 2700 = 9900), is T.G. Striker that good anymore? Especially when Agents have equally powerful combo, and the Tech Genuses can be dead late game. I know that those combos are pretty broken, but just take a damn look at Mermails, or Wind-Ups, or the Fire Fist, or the Fire King Garunix whatever

3. Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier to 1

What's the best way to make Trishula? You have to use at least 2 cards (Lonefire + Monster Reborn, Debris + Doppelwarrior/Foolish Burial, Dragon Ravine + Zephyros the Elite, Unknown Synchron + Rescue Rabbit,...), and you clear 1 card from your opponent hand, 1 card from the field and 1 card in the graveyard. The graveyard banishing part is quite important before, but now? What do you want to banish from Wind-Ups, Mermail's, Fire Fist's... graveyard? It's not against Garunix, Chaos Dragon, but what else?

So let's say Trishula creates a +1 (lose 2 cards, clear 2, get Trishula on field). 2 cards for a +1 is a bad combo, comparing to Shark Magician, or Genex Undine, or just 2 Deep Sea Diva, or even a lone Tenki into Bear. And are you confident that you'll resolve Trishula successfully? Eating Warning is an instant -1, getting Veilered is and one-for-one, and Maxx "C" exists

4. Allure of Darkness to 2/3

"Who wants 2 random draws when everything can be searched anyway?". Also the DARK theme is getting worse and worse, whereas the "elemental" themes are getting more supports from Konami. Do you really thing Allure of Darkness speeds the game up a lot? I don't. I don't want to banish Tour Guide, Gorz, Tragoedia,... either

5. Deep Sea Diva to 1

Mentioned above

6. Atlantean Dragoon BANNED

Because it makes Genex Undine too strong. You can search for, maybe the whole Mermail deck with Dragoon. You say Abysslinde and Abysspike cannot be searched? They have Abyssphere.

And the whole Atlantean theme is stupid. The mechanic of YGO has "paying cost" as something we have to lose in order to gain benefits from other cards. Now being paid for cost is the way to trigger their effects? FUCK YOU KONAMI

7. Tenki, Bear to 1

Look at Reinforcement of the Army. And Tenki can be searched with their monsters, AND the exceed

About the Bear. You lose an useless spell (most commonly Tenki), clear a monster and get a good new spell. 1-card "combo" for a +2. So balanced

8. Fire King Garunix to 1 

Because getting Raigeki'd every Stand By Phase is so balanced.

9. Rescue Rabbit to 1

Instant exceed summoning is not good. Instant overpowered xyz summoning is stupid. Yes I'm talking about Laggia, Dolkka and Ophion.

...

..

.

You say the reasoning for the hated card is too simple? Because they are obviously overpowered and bad for the game

That's for today, let's wait for another format to come and hope it will be better

Now I'm seriously thinking of playing only in the early part of each format, where overpowered things are gone and more overpowered things are not released yet

"Synchro monsters are outdated", said people

Now I started to love Infernity

With the synchros and exceeds available now (only Lavalval Chain is non-TCG) Infernity reminds me of YGO's golden era, when you could do what you wanted but you still won

I set up the field of 3 synchros and Starlight Road without any Archfiends, hence the level 5s

The previous game I won with a field of Lavalval Chain, Shock Master, Leviair and Infernity Doom

I'm not claiming Infernity is the best or something like that, but I recommend all of you to play Infernity, at least on DN, to feel the real YGO that we used to enjoy.

Overpowered? Yes. But that's how we combat the meta

Hieratic - Slow it down

If you've followed my blog for long enough you probably know that I'm an aggressive player.

I can't really play control deck like Machina Gadget, HERO Beat, Dino Rabbit, Wind-Up (yes, at least to me),... My favourite decks are Chaos Dragon, Karakuri and Hieratic.

You can take a look back at this post to see how I'm in love with Hieratic. It's the deck with the best (and also the most) OTK combos, and I simply love it. Another reason is that the meta is too fast that if I can finish my opponent, he will kills me when I'm defenseless. That's why I've not done anything about Karakuri: They're cool and able to put around 6000 damage on board easily. But they stop at that, I can't come back if my opponent goes explosive after my explosive turn.

But today I want to create another direction for Hieratic. Slow controlling game and finishing in 2-3 turns

Monster [20]
2 Cardcar D
1 Gorz
1 Ghost Ship
1 Divine Dragon Apocralyph
1 Wattaildragon
1 Luster Dragon #2
1 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
3 Hieratic Dragon of Su
3 Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit
3 Hieratic Dragon of Nebthet
3 Hieratic Dragon of Eset

Spell [12]
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn
2 Pot of Duality
2 Seal of Convocation
2 Enemy Controller
3 Mystical Space Typhoon

Trap [9]
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Fiendish Chain
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment

Extra [15]
3 Gaia Dragon Thunder Charger
3 Hieratic Dragon King of Atum
2 Constellar Ptolemys Messier 7
1 Photon Strike Bounzer
1 No25 Force Focus
1 Inzektor Exa Beetle
1 Queen Dragun Djinn
1 Adreus Keeper of Armageddon / Volcasaurus
1 Constellar Pleiades

If you're playing TCG then you should consider Sword Breaker, and add more copies of Bounzers/Force Focuses. They're are really cool in this deck.

The deck look weird right? Random monsters, Enemy Controllers and heavy traps

So what it does?

Basically the deck is meant to take advantage of Su's and Nebthet's destruction effects: Destroy something and get a vanilla for a plus, or Enemy Controller's stealing effect and get a plus too.

Basic play: Make Atum + REDMD (0/0) + Wattaildragon like usual. Attack with the vanilla, set traps and end. Now if you opponent can break through, he'll be killed next turn.

Cool play I've made: Summon Eset/Tefnuit, tribute for Nebthet, tribute from hand to destoy something, exceed the vanillas into Atum, get out Su, tribute Nebthet to destroy something, get the vanilla and make Bounzer/Force Focus. Of course you can make another Atum if you have good stuffs in hand and it's still an OTK combo anyway but the deck has traps to protect Atum. You'll find yourself using Atum's effect 2 times a lot, and not many people can survive after you resolve both REDMD's and Atum's effect again one turn after the combo.

Ghost Ship is there when you are going explosive and you need 1900 damage more, or you need something to go with Eset/Nebthet. Usually I make Adreus (or Volcasaurus if you play OCG) for clearing field and cool damage.

Divine Dragon is for late game: Make Atum, get out DDA, get back REDMD, remove DDA for REDMD, get back something. It could be an OTK (2600 + 2500 + 2800)

Enemy Controller is cool when you're against monsters that you hate. It's like... summon Tefnuit, tribute for Su, tribute Su to take opponent's Zenmaines/Gantetsu, get another vanilla, make Exa Beetle and send Zenmaines/Gantetsu to grave, or make Atum, get out a Hieratic and go for a cool tribute summon. That's why Queen Dragun is there: Enemy Controller takes a level 4, make Atums, get DDA, xyz Queen Dragun, get back a Hieratic and tribute it for more combos. And of course sometimes you just need to clear the way for an OTK (most likely getting Tragoedia out of the way)

Remember it's more like a control deck with the ability to pull out OTKs sometimes.

So what do you think?

P.S. For Kyde from Digital Mortal and LGQ from YGO 0th Theory, if you randomly look at this can you express your opinions?

Gravekeeper's Spy

Everyone should be familiar with Gravekeeper's Spy (who has been played for like 8 years or more)

I personally think this card is currently getting better and better as the future sets will be released soon

Similar to Tour Guide from the Underworld, Spy provides you another Gravekeeper instantly. At least you get a plus for whatever you are going to do. In fact the summoned monster (usually another copy of Spy) will be used for an xyz summon right away. The difference is: Tour Guide gives rank 3 while this card gives rank 4

A few months ago in the TCG, almost every good staple xyz monster belonged to the rank 3 party: Zenmaines, Leviair, Temtempo, Acid Golem, Leviathan Dragon, Muzurhythm,... We had good rank 4 xyz too, but Maestroke, Utopia, Papilloperative are not as good toolbox, while Shock Master, who needs 3 level 4 monsters, is too hard to be summoned. The rank 3 army is a very versatile toolbox which gives you out to anything: Zenmaines (defense), Temtempo (anti xyz), Leviair (abuse banished monsters), Giga Brilliant (attack boost for others), Muzurhythm and Acid Golem (beatdown)... I'm not saying the rank 3s are better, but in most duels I found myself using more rank 3 than rank 4 monsters

But now it has changed

Gagaga Gunman (or Cowboy, but I prefer the OCG name) has just been released in the TCG, which really makes some impacts in the game. He has a very annoying game-finishing effect, and also can take down any monster with 3000 or less ATK. And we have No50  Blackship of Corn, which should be called Zenmaines-Gachi haters, just like Temtempo. More weapons, more reasons to run rank 4s

Looking at the OCG, they have Lavalval Chain which is very broken no matter how you look at it. Just imagine you have a guaranteed Black Luster Soldier on the top of your deck. They have Daigusto Emeral which can somehow replace Pot of Avarice, and can summon a big beatstick in an eye blink. They also have Terrorfang Diawolf which has a Scrap Dragon-like effect, and Verz Ouroboros (which is more common than Shock Master in the OCG) which has a Trishula-like effect

That means when we have access to them, having access to rank 4 monsters would be just as good as having the ability to make Stardust Dragon in the early synchro format

So why not try a Spy trinity? Or the Geargia engine, but it takes more space

Gishki deck

Another decklist! I've been very busy lately and the result is the lack of post on this blog. I'm trying to keep myself writing at least 1 post per week so here's another deck that I came up with lately

Gishki deck [40]

Monster [23]
3 Evigishki Zeal Gigas
3 Gishki Abyss
3 Gishki Vision
3 Gishki Shadow
3 Gishki Beast
2 Gishki Ariel
2 Card Trooper
2 Maxx "C"
2 Tragoedia

Spell [13]
3 Gishki Aquamirror
3 Salvage
3 MST
2 Night Beam
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn

Trap [4]
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
2 Bottomless Trap Hole

Extra
2 Gustaph Max
1 Wind-Up Zenmaister
All the good rank 4 xyz monsters
(don't take the extra deck on DN seriously because I have some OCG cards in there)

The deck is pretty simple: Summon double Zeal Gigas, clear opponent field if you have better luck than mine, then attack for 6400 and finish game with Gustaph Max

It's also very easy to play. First you need Aquamirror, Zeal Gigas and a copy of Vision/Shadow/Zeal Gigas. After summoning the first Gigas, you have a lot of option to continue: Salvage, your normal summon (usually Gishki Beast reviving Gishki Abyss). I can't explain here but once you take the deck into action, you'll find it no complicated at all

Some tricks here:

• Beast revives Abyss. Read Gishki Abyss, it has a Stratos-like effect, not Gearframe-like
• Card Troopers dumb stuff for your Beast, clear Rai-Oh for your 9 searchers
• Ariel searches Beast. It helps you access Shock Master (flip Ariel search Beast, normal summon Beast get back another Ariel/Shadow, make Shock). Also Beast leads to good rank 4 xyz plays, notably Zenmaister to abuse your Ariel
• Tragoedia steals opponent's REDMD or Tragoedia by discarding Zeal Gigas. Zeal Gigas could be returned to hand right then thanks to Aquamirror. Sometimes Tragoedia can act like a ritual tribute for Zeal Gigas because it's level 10
• Gustaph Max is a bitch, considering the huge amount of damage Zeal Gigas can deal
• Daigusto Phoenix is a hidden bitch. Tragoedia + Gishki Abyss/Vison can become 3000 damage.
• Abyss Dweller (easy access thanks to Beast) + Zeal Gigas = 5900 damage. This looks stupid but damage is really important

Some people do not play Ariel. It's slow considering you need your normal summon for Abyss, but the goodness of rank 4 xyz monsters is too good to exclude Ariel. It can also search what Abyss can search for.

And don't try to add Warning/Judgment, because Zeal Gigas pays a lot. It's no uncommon paying 2000 damage a turn. And within 2 turns you'll find yourself paying more than a first-turn Solemn Judgment.

The deck can OTK easily, but if you fail you may die just as quickly because your life point is always pretty low. The deck needs setup, and you have to take damage during this process.

About match-ups. Nothing is too bad except for Macro Cosmos. Because Zeal Gigas is too big, most decks out there are not a problem. Of course Shock Master is always a bitch, that's why Maxx C is included in the deck.

That's for today. Thanks for reading xD