Banlist reaction

Sorry for the lack of post, but this is my final year, so I just can't afford to write on the blog once a week like before

And, to be honest, I wasn't active in this game for the last format. The whole 4 months I was just toying around with Dragons (Dragunity with Tefnuit + Primus Pilus, Hieratic, Blue-Eyes Drain Ruler with Silver's Cry etc...). No competitive play for me

Now that we have our new ban list confirmed, I'm not sure whether I should get back to this game seriously again, or just remain inactive waiting for something new (pendulum summon anyone?)

The reason is... Basically nothing has changed

For Mermail: Seriously, why hit Gunde? We still have 3 Sphere, 3 Linde, 3 Spike and 3 Teus. And then there's Turge, and even Salvage. So that's 7 cards in the deck which means "you have Gunde", and another six cards that recycle Gunde, and ANOTHER six cards that search for all the above cards. Even though I've been in love with Mermail for so long, I actually wished that Sphere or Teus be hit. Now what?

For Fire Fist: Yeah, for the CardcarD Fire Fist deck that gets popular recently, hitting Wolfbark is quite a pain. But then there's still the mixed Fire Fist, and it isn't hard at all to fit 2 Call of the Haunted in space of the 2 Wolfbarks

Did I mention that I play 3 Call of the Haunted in every deck I play? That card, along with Mind Crush, was so good last format

For Infernity, yeah, seriously, if you think hitting Barriers hurt the deck, you probably never played against the deck. Instead of facing 1 Break 3 Barriers, 3 Breaks and 1 Barriers sound different? No, not at all, except for Mermail maybe. Also, Infernity has a lot more tricks: Beetle + Zone lockdown is annoying enough, not to mention Vanity's Emptiness. And the Beetle version is going to get Beezle soon (that Dragon that cannot be destroyed by any means)

Lastly, I think only Fire King and Laval died because of the list

Aaaand yeah, about the Jars. Serious... I don't even know why. Killing Empty Jar? Hitting Dark World? Or what?

Also, we all want Stratos back, and Geargiagear hit somehow

To conclude, nothing has changed, so don't expect much from my blog, at least until June. Sorry guys :<

Hieratic Ruler - The new Dragunity Ruler

Because everyone's talking about DSummon winning YCS Sydney, I'll just leave me congratulations here, and get to the other notable event of the weekend: the ARG Circuit Nashville

You can check the results by taking a look at ARG Coverage Site

Just need to know that Fire Fist defeated Prophecy in the final (just as any predictions) but the 2 other semi-finalists were all playing Hieratic Ruler, whose decklists can be found here

Also, the famous CoreTCG writer Robert Bojyajan? topped YCS Sydney with the same strategy too

However I don't think this is the optimal build for Hieratic. They're fast enough to create OTK out of nowhere, especially after the addition of Labradorite Dragon/Star Eater

What they need is the faster and more stable combo setup, like Hanzo, Reckless Greed, Card Car D,... Not more power cards like the 4 Dragons

And the 4 Dragons weren't that powerful at all. Just one Blaster in your deck is enough to create OTK with the classic 3-card Hieratic combo, but with a synchro level 8 like Scrap Dragon/Crimson Blader instead of Gaia/M7/REDMD like before

Just like how Dragunity was far better than Dragunity Rulers, imo this trend will just decrease as soon as people playtest more

Hieratic is really good right now, and one Blaster just makes it better (free Grapha!). The 3 other Dragons and those Shrines, Skill Drains just make the deck worse

I'm pretty sure about that

D:

Too long never update - The new TCG Mermails

The inspiration for this deck came from, uhm Jason Grabner Meyer, with his passion for Masked Chameleon

A week ago I realized the synergy between Chameleon and Atlanteans Dragoons. I mean, instant level 8 synchros are never bad at all, right? (If they were, Dragunity - my farorite deck - wouldn't be dead like this)

And then I looked at the spoilers of LVAL, and I see Number 101 in it

That's a good card right? One card out to Ophion when you make it with Chameleon

DN was down at that time, so I downloaded YGOPro, tested a bit

No sooner than this did I realize that Numer 101 is WATER, which triggers Dragoons

Too good right?

Now the first turn is always about setting up with Atlantean Dragoons. Even though we only have 1 Dragoons, having it in graveyard is something that happens every game thanks to the Sphere-Linde-Pike-Undine search chain

I remember reading an article of Simon He, in which he stated that Mermail is very fast but they run out of resource after the Megalo/Moulinglacia drop

This was right until Tidal came into play, and Masked Chameleon just improves the mid-game miraculously. Ark Knight is your best option, followed by the synchro ones, and Exciton Knight is basically a better Black Rose

I play Genex Undine because, yeah, it gets me to Dragoons and Tidal. I considered Hanzo too, and maybe I'll switch between the 2 engines to test out? However I suppose Undine is superior thanks to the synergy with Megalo/Teus (being WATER) and Salvage, and especially Divine Wrath

Divine Wrath is insane right now. It's one of those only traps that's good against Spellbooks, while being never bad against anything else (beside Malefic Drain maybe?) Salvages and Undines give me the hand advantage needed for Wrath, and Armor Kappa...

Which is also a very good card that can be summoned through Bahamut Shark. The Waboku effect, seemingly sub-par as it seems, is actually pretty good in many situations when you need to defend or when you have spare Gundes/Atlanteans in hand. It simply doesn't die, and it evens help Tidal run over Dracossack lol

The modern (but classic) triple Aqua Spirit is there because, yeah, Bahamut + Angineer = insane combination

Meanwhile, the double Calls are just for Dragoons. Pike searches, then Call Dragoons for xyz is cool. Calling Megalo to push is ok too, and chaining it to MST (on Linde) is of course never bad. Call also makes Genex Controller a better card, and, most importantly, Call + Sphere = commanding position, while double Sphere is awkward

I'm not too sure about the side deck. Probably will mostly be s/t hate. Xing Zhen Hu maybe? Being set on the field is the only place that your opponent cannot recycle Spellbook of Fate lol

Also, I think I need Black Rose Dragon (Chameleon + Marksman or Controller + Pike/Turge/Dragoons) but I can't find space. Aaand, against fields that Gungnir cannot deal with, Black Rose isn't usually a better choice anyway

So, that's for today xD See you next time

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