Hey guys! I have a very important update. I was browsing Duelistgroundz when I came upon this thread. Please watch the video. I am not sure if this video has any credability but it sure does look real. and as the guys said konami has never gone against shonen jump when it came to rulings. I have yet to recieve my jump for this month but when I do i will take a picture of that page possibly proving the truth. This all does sound legit as konami has made nothing offcial here in the TCG as of yet. Only Kevin Tewart has said something( and we ALL believe him lol).
If this does turn out to be true I will be very pleased with konami's action and it will posssibly renew my faith in them as a company( now if only they could get a new card design team.) A official announcment will possibly be made by the time the dark world structure deck is out....or YCS toronto again I am not a judge but if konami has made nothing official what will the judges do? Exactly I do expect a ruling from YCS toronto hopefully. Again this is all just a rumor right now but this does seem to have some credablity. I will keep everyone updated. Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
EDIT: If you don't have a duelistgeoundz account for whatever reason then here is the link to the Youtube Video
Also here is a scan of the page
EDIT#2: I do apoligize for the wrong title. I was thinking about the effect on tour guide when i was writing this post so I named this post tour guide ruling revoked, when in reality it was the TCG ruling revoked I do apoligize for the misunderstanding.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Got the new tins, a X-Saber tech(s), and a regional update
Hey guys! So as the title suggests i am going to be talking about a large range of items so lets get to it.
So this morning I woke up and went to my local walmart to see if they had the new tins in. Sure enough they did. So I got 1 levathain dragon tin and 2 wind up zeinmaster tins( cause of kristiya.) So when I got home I cracked open the tins and here is what I got.
Wind up Zeinmaster tin #1: Gladiator Taming out of EXVC
Wind up Zeinmaster tin #2: Scrap Breaker out of STOR and Trishula out of hidden arsenal( Score!)
levathain Dragon Tin: Karakuri Muso( the 2100 beater) out of STOR and Landoise out of hidden arsenal
I was actually quite happy about the trishula and considering i had a walmart gift card( so i got 3 tins for the price of 2) I got my money back. Cool. I just wish that Gladiator taming was a tour guide( don't we all).
So on to the second order of business. In my most recent X Saber discussion post Mike(from Dueling Legacy) commented that he was using Ragi instead of Airbellum. While I didn't like the deck without Air bellum I did like Ragi in the deck. I haven't tested it extensively yet, but in theory in should work. If someone heavy's or mst's your set call of the haunted you could chain which would usually bring back darksoul so you could search but you could also bring back ragi and net a card. Also with emmersblade you could summon ragi to get back emmersblade which is a decent play. Also with gottoms e call you could use ragi in that combo as well. Then there is always the combo that Mike brought to my attention which is summon boggart knight special ragi get back faultroll special faultroll use fautrolls effect to special pashul. Tune pashul faultroll and ragi to summon trish. That is a very solid combo. Of course this all in theory right now and I will tell you the results once I test more.
Also still talking about techs for X-Sabers I was talking to my friend Ed and he was telling me to use Maxx C this format. While I see the use in Maxx C I never really liked the card cause it doesn't actually stop anything, sure it can net you some major +'s if all goes well but at least veiler stops something. Though I might take his advice and tech in one as it does sound very good, but with all things in yugioh proper testing is needed. One last thing while I am still talking about techs is that about smashing ground. I talked about this card in a recent post and how good it was. As an update to that post I still really like the card and am currently running one i want to find room for a second but as of right now there is no room.
On to the last order of business. LightGrunty brought to my attention that the regional that I was planning on attending on September 3rd was pushed back until the 10th. That was fine with me as I still want to do some more testing anyway, I need to feel comfortable with my sabers which I am not feeling right now.
Thanks for reading and I am going to be going to locals on Saturday and I will try to record some duel vids. That is all for today!
-Cameron
So this morning I woke up and went to my local walmart to see if they had the new tins in. Sure enough they did. So I got 1 levathain dragon tin and 2 wind up zeinmaster tins( cause of kristiya.) So when I got home I cracked open the tins and here is what I got.
Wind up Zeinmaster tin #1: Gladiator Taming out of EXVC
Wind up Zeinmaster tin #2: Scrap Breaker out of STOR and Trishula out of hidden arsenal( Score!)
levathain Dragon Tin: Karakuri Muso( the 2100 beater) out of STOR and Landoise out of hidden arsenal
I was actually quite happy about the trishula and considering i had a walmart gift card( so i got 3 tins for the price of 2) I got my money back. Cool. I just wish that Gladiator taming was a tour guide( don't we all).
So on to the second order of business. In my most recent X Saber discussion post Mike(from Dueling Legacy) commented that he was using Ragi instead of Airbellum. While I didn't like the deck without Air bellum I did like Ragi in the deck. I haven't tested it extensively yet, but in theory in should work. If someone heavy's or mst's your set call of the haunted you could chain which would usually bring back darksoul so you could search but you could also bring back ragi and net a card. Also with emmersblade you could summon ragi to get back emmersblade which is a decent play. Also with gottoms e call you could use ragi in that combo as well. Then there is always the combo that Mike brought to my attention which is summon boggart knight special ragi get back faultroll special faultroll use fautrolls effect to special pashul. Tune pashul faultroll and ragi to summon trish. That is a very solid combo. Of course this all in theory right now and I will tell you the results once I test more.
Also still talking about techs for X-Sabers I was talking to my friend Ed and he was telling me to use Maxx C this format. While I see the use in Maxx C I never really liked the card cause it doesn't actually stop anything, sure it can net you some major +'s if all goes well but at least veiler stops something. Though I might take his advice and tech in one as it does sound very good, but with all things in yugioh proper testing is needed. One last thing while I am still talking about techs is that about smashing ground. I talked about this card in a recent post and how good it was. As an update to that post I still really like the card and am currently running one i want to find room for a second but as of right now there is no room.
On to the last order of business. LightGrunty brought to my attention that the regional that I was planning on attending on September 3rd was pushed back until the 10th. That was fine with me as I still want to do some more testing anyway, I need to feel comfortable with my sabers which I am not feeling right now.
Thanks for reading and I am going to be going to locals on Saturday and I will try to record some duel vids. That is all for today!
-Cameron
Monday, August 29, 2011
Okay tour guide has officially made me mad
Hey guys! So you could say I am in a bad mood for two reasons. I will devulge more in the post ( I bet you can guess one of the reasons by the title of the post.)
So I have finished my second testing session ( some of it was with the team, some on DN, full analysis in a later post.) I am not pleased with the results. i was feeling very confident with X-Sabers latley and I guess something needed to bring me back down to earth. in this case it came in the form of a card, but not just any card a card called Tour guide of the underworld.
Everything that plays this card is good. Thanks to this BLS and veiler you now have a explosive play, a boss monster and a way to stop your opponents turn. kinda broken. Without a doubt tour guide is the strongest opening move this game has ever seen. If you are playing a non tour guide deck ( which is quite unheard of, since everyone and their mother is playing tour guide.) and your opponent succesfully resolves tour guide then just say gg. the game has once again became cetrailized by tour guide, if you are not playing it prepare to lose alot. Michael Bonnacini has posted about this as well and we he said on that post I couldn't agree more.
Teledad was like this as well if you were not playing it prepare to lose. i am so tired of konami's bullshit I have almost reached my breaking point. i won't quit infact that hasn't even crossed my mind but I honestly don't know what i am going to do. But this centralization hasn't just been in the TCG the OCG is going through much of the same phase with TG agents. I had high hopes for this format but it seems my optimisim has once again failed me. I honestly should never get excited about any banlist ever again until I see the effect.
I will continue to play X-sabers for this format no matter what i refuse to play Tour guide in anything i play (partly cause my hate is so strong for tour guide and partly cause I sold the two that i had.) All of this centrelization comes from a few things.
1. in the TCG the ruling for XYZ
2. In the TCG the printing of tour guide
3. In both metas not hitting stuff that needed to be hit( like agents and the now apparent sangan.)
I we had the ruling like the OCG about Xyz's then I would't have even written this post as the tour guide play would be good not tier zero. Also I realize why BLS was banned in the first place. i should have realized these things sooner, i am sorry for my ignorance.
But in all honesty I think that this whole tour guide experiance has helped me grow as a person and a player. I stopped being optimistic about konami and saying they have a reason for everything and now i realize that they don't have a reason for even half of the things they do. Also from this point forward I will be extremly critical about konami and their utter incompatence at printing TCG exclusives and cards in general. In the OCG it is not as bad but if they had hit agents it would have benefitted both metas greatly. Like I said before I am not going to quit playing at all. I am still going to be playing competitvley this format just without tourguide. I might as well change the title of this post to konami has pissed me off. And to think that we (players) were arguing over heavy storm coming back or not, that was the least of our problems.
Okay off that note and on to the second point of business. Most of you will disregard this section like it is nothing but for my teamates and freinds that are reading this this will mean something ( I hope lol.) One of the first people that I met when I first started playing competitvely (he was the same age as myself) and he was one of the first people that joined my team has decided to quit. I found this out yesterday, i was sad to say the least. Him and I taught each other new stuff we learned from the game and we were happy to share our new decks with each other and new ideas as well. We each grew as players from our lessons from one another. Maybe you could count this as the main reason as to why I am not quitting playing competitvley: because I want to meet more people like him. It is too bad we will never meet at another regional. or play at another local. But that is why yugioh is a amazing game, because you meet some really great people. Garret if you are reading this I hope the saying hold true that you never truly quit the game of yugioh because if you decide to come back Team CrimsonRaiders will have a spot open for you to join back.
Wow that was quite mushy. I also insulted konami but kinda praised them in the same post....weird. Anyways thanks for reading and give me some feedback on how you feel about tour guide and the metagame as it is know. Thanks!
So I have finished my second testing session ( some of it was with the team, some on DN, full analysis in a later post.) I am not pleased with the results. i was feeling very confident with X-Sabers latley and I guess something needed to bring me back down to earth. in this case it came in the form of a card, but not just any card a card called Tour guide of the underworld.
Everything that plays this card is good. Thanks to this BLS and veiler you now have a explosive play, a boss monster and a way to stop your opponents turn. kinda broken. Without a doubt tour guide is the strongest opening move this game has ever seen. If you are playing a non tour guide deck ( which is quite unheard of, since everyone and their mother is playing tour guide.) and your opponent succesfully resolves tour guide then just say gg. the game has once again became cetrailized by tour guide, if you are not playing it prepare to lose alot. Michael Bonnacini has posted about this as well and we he said on that post I couldn't agree more.
Teledad was like this as well if you were not playing it prepare to lose. i am so tired of konami's bullshit I have almost reached my breaking point. i won't quit infact that hasn't even crossed my mind but I honestly don't know what i am going to do. But this centralization hasn't just been in the TCG the OCG is going through much of the same phase with TG agents. I had high hopes for this format but it seems my optimisim has once again failed me. I honestly should never get excited about any banlist ever again until I see the effect.
I will continue to play X-sabers for this format no matter what i refuse to play Tour guide in anything i play (partly cause my hate is so strong for tour guide and partly cause I sold the two that i had.) All of this centrelization comes from a few things.
1. in the TCG the ruling for XYZ
2. In the TCG the printing of tour guide
3. In both metas not hitting stuff that needed to be hit( like agents and the now apparent sangan.)
I we had the ruling like the OCG about Xyz's then I would't have even written this post as the tour guide play would be good not tier zero. Also I realize why BLS was banned in the first place. i should have realized these things sooner, i am sorry for my ignorance.
But in all honesty I think that this whole tour guide experiance has helped me grow as a person and a player. I stopped being optimistic about konami and saying they have a reason for everything and now i realize that they don't have a reason for even half of the things they do. Also from this point forward I will be extremly critical about konami and their utter incompatence at printing TCG exclusives and cards in general. In the OCG it is not as bad but if they had hit agents it would have benefitted both metas greatly. Like I said before I am not going to quit playing at all. I am still going to be playing competitvley this format just without tourguide. I might as well change the title of this post to konami has pissed me off. And to think that we (players) were arguing over heavy storm coming back or not, that was the least of our problems.
Okay off that note and on to the second point of business. Most of you will disregard this section like it is nothing but for my teamates and freinds that are reading this this will mean something ( I hope lol.) One of the first people that I met when I first started playing competitvely (he was the same age as myself) and he was one of the first people that joined my team has decided to quit. I found this out yesterday, i was sad to say the least. Him and I taught each other new stuff we learned from the game and we were happy to share our new decks with each other and new ideas as well. We each grew as players from our lessons from one another. Maybe you could count this as the main reason as to why I am not quitting playing competitvley: because I want to meet more people like him. It is too bad we will never meet at another regional. or play at another local. But that is why yugioh is a amazing game, because you meet some really great people. Garret if you are reading this I hope the saying hold true that you never truly quit the game of yugioh because if you decide to come back Team CrimsonRaiders will have a spot open for you to join back.
Wow that was quite mushy. I also insulted konami but kinda praised them in the same post....weird. Anyways thanks for reading and give me some feedback on how you feel about tour guide and the metagame as it is know. Thanks!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
The dice roll debate
Hey guys! I am here today to talk about if this format is another dice roll format( I am sorry to say but it is, at least in the TCG.) so lets get right to it.
After testing extensively for my next regional on september 3rd I have come to a conclusion, this is another dice roll format. Even with heavy and effect vieler being staples the dice roll is more important than ever. Allow me to explain: Player A and player B both are are playing a deck with tour guide and they both open with 1 tour guide, neither player opens with effect vieler or any other card that can stop effects. Player A goes first and summons tour guide and summons sangan, then he Xyz's summon into levathian dragon and detaches sangan to search for effect vieler and then ends his turn. Now lets look who is in a better spot. Player B still has the tourguide in hand but since player A searched for vieler that tour guide is now useless. Now try this example ( both players are using a tour guide deck.) player A opens with mind crush and now tour guide, player B opens with tour guide and no mindcrush and both players didn't open with vieler.
Player A goes first and sets mind crush( he could also do other things like summon monster but let's keep it simple.) Player B summons tour guide Xyz's into levathian searches vieler, then player a flips mind crush and calls out vieler and player B loses his vieler. So now all player A has to deal with is a 2500 beater.
Sure heavy storm can solve the backrow problem but in example A no backrow was used and in example 2 player A could have chained mind crush and called out tour guide thier fore enforcing the dice roll.tour guide has single handidly made this a dice roll format. Sure vieler can always stop a tour guide when your opponent goes first but if you always have vieler in your opening hand then I assume you are stacking.
Now what about if the two players facing each other are not playing a deck with tour guide in it, then what happens? Well the dice roll doesn't have as much impact in that case since defensive traps like warning and d-prision are gone thanks to heavy and 3 mst your combos can still go off even on your second turn provided that your opponent doesn't have a vieler. But lets think rationally for a minute here in the TCG almost all tier 1 decks include tour guide( I do not count lightsworn/twilight as a tier 1 deck if I am proven wrong in the future about this than shame on me for my ignorance.) so that means at sanctioned events regionals, YCS) the dice roll will matter and that goes for ANY time you face a tour guide deck.
Now lets look into example 2 a bit more in this example Player A did not have a tour guide but had a mind crush. When the vieler was searched he got rid of it so the tour guide play only accomplished a 2500 beater. ( which isn't bad just not great.) mind crush can either be used to solidify the fact you won the dice roll by getting rid of searched cards or help allivieate the fact that you lost the dice roll by setting and getting rid of vieler. But of couse you have to set it first which pretty much makes you not do any combos on your first turn cause you know they have vieler, so you still lose out by not winning the dice roll.
Of course you could try to play around the veiler but if you are up against a person with the same or better skill level of you then you now that is not possible. That last sentence brings up a good point if two people play against each other and they are both of the same skill level then it really comes down to who drew better.
I am not saying that this format is bad( it sin't good either) but I just wanted to say that winning the dice roll still plays a big part in the outcome of the match. Thanks in part to tour guide. Also I am not sure in the OCG if my statement is true or not as they don't have tour guide but it still could be i really don't know. As always thanks for reading! BTW thanks to all my readers for getting me to 2000 pageviews, you guys are great!
-Cameron
After testing extensively for my next regional on september 3rd I have come to a conclusion, this is another dice roll format. Even with heavy and effect vieler being staples the dice roll is more important than ever. Allow me to explain: Player A and player B both are are playing a deck with tour guide and they both open with 1 tour guide, neither player opens with effect vieler or any other card that can stop effects. Player A goes first and summons tour guide and summons sangan, then he Xyz's summon into levathian dragon and detaches sangan to search for effect vieler and then ends his turn. Now lets look who is in a better spot. Player B still has the tourguide in hand but since player A searched for vieler that tour guide is now useless. Now try this example ( both players are using a tour guide deck.) player A opens with mind crush and now tour guide, player B opens with tour guide and no mindcrush and both players didn't open with vieler.
Player A goes first and sets mind crush( he could also do other things like summon monster but let's keep it simple.) Player B summons tour guide Xyz's into levathian searches vieler, then player a flips mind crush and calls out vieler and player B loses his vieler. So now all player A has to deal with is a 2500 beater.
Sure heavy storm can solve the backrow problem but in example A no backrow was used and in example 2 player A could have chained mind crush and called out tour guide thier fore enforcing the dice roll.tour guide has single handidly made this a dice roll format. Sure vieler can always stop a tour guide when your opponent goes first but if you always have vieler in your opening hand then I assume you are stacking.
Now what about if the two players facing each other are not playing a deck with tour guide in it, then what happens? Well the dice roll doesn't have as much impact in that case since defensive traps like warning and d-prision are gone thanks to heavy and 3 mst your combos can still go off even on your second turn provided that your opponent doesn't have a vieler. But lets think rationally for a minute here in the TCG almost all tier 1 decks include tour guide( I do not count lightsworn/twilight as a tier 1 deck if I am proven wrong in the future about this than shame on me for my ignorance.) so that means at sanctioned events regionals, YCS) the dice roll will matter and that goes for ANY time you face a tour guide deck.
Now lets look into example 2 a bit more in this example Player A did not have a tour guide but had a mind crush. When the vieler was searched he got rid of it so the tour guide play only accomplished a 2500 beater. ( which isn't bad just not great.) mind crush can either be used to solidify the fact you won the dice roll by getting rid of searched cards or help allivieate the fact that you lost the dice roll by setting and getting rid of vieler. But of couse you have to set it first which pretty much makes you not do any combos on your first turn cause you know they have vieler, so you still lose out by not winning the dice roll.
Of course you could try to play around the veiler but if you are up against a person with the same or better skill level of you then you now that is not possible. That last sentence brings up a good point if two people play against each other and they are both of the same skill level then it really comes down to who drew better.
I am not saying that this format is bad( it sin't good either) but I just wanted to say that winning the dice roll still plays a big part in the outcome of the match. Thanks in part to tour guide. Also I am not sure in the OCG if my statement is true or not as they don't have tour guide but it still could be i really don't know. As always thanks for reading! BTW thanks to all my readers for getting me to 2000 pageviews, you guys are great!
-Cameron
Friday, August 26, 2011
Blog update!
Hey guys! Short post today. So I am just telling you that I already have a corresponding youtube account to go with this blog. infact I had the youtube account before the blog, anyways I will be uploading videos from time to time and will put them on this blog. You can expect regional vids, deck profiles and things of that sort. Thanks to all the support I have had thus far and I hope I can continue to provide good content on this blog! And now you can also enjoy vidoes! That is all for today, thanks for reading!
-Cameron
-Cameron
Thursday, August 25, 2011
A nifty little tech card
Hey guys! So today i am going to discuss a tech card that can go into any deck( not just my beloved X-sabers.) The card is Smashing ground!
IRONIC SIDE NOTE: So after testing this card ou for about a week last night I look on ARG's website I see that Jeff Jones discussed this card lol.
I have been testing this card for about a week now and have loved the results. From a X-Saber standpoint it destroys those big boss monsters so you have more time to set up then go off next turn. From other deck standpoints it gets rid of big monsters in a quick and easy way. Now this card isn't good in all decks. Infact it is only good in a select few. x-sabers are a prime example of this statement. a deck that doesn't NEED their protective backrow to win bu has a hard time dealing with big monsters. For decks that already have a easy time shoving boss monsters on the field (agents, lightsworn, etc) they can already just run over their monsters already. sure the card does have faults like not really doing anything to stop your opponent from summoning these boss monsters but it can help you make a comeback next turn.
Plain and simple the card provides an out to just about every monster you can think of ( barring kristyia.) But like I said you need to play this card only in a deck that can maximise the effectivness of this card and build off the one for one that this card provides( X-Sabers, and stun decks that got hurt by heavy coming back) also decks that don't really have a boss monster ( Blackwings, is that all?) I know that this card has its faults but the versatility that smashing provides can not be understated. So try it out and see how you like it!
Lastly don't forget that tour guid first turn provides a 2500 beater and effect vieler, smashing gets rid off the monster pressure so you can focus on the vieler.
Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
IRONIC SIDE NOTE: So after testing this card ou for about a week last night I look on ARG's website I see that Jeff Jones discussed this card lol.
I have been testing this card for about a week now and have loved the results. From a X-Saber standpoint it destroys those big boss monsters so you have more time to set up then go off next turn. From other deck standpoints it gets rid of big monsters in a quick and easy way. Now this card isn't good in all decks. Infact it is only good in a select few. x-sabers are a prime example of this statement. a deck that doesn't NEED their protective backrow to win bu has a hard time dealing with big monsters. For decks that already have a easy time shoving boss monsters on the field (agents, lightsworn, etc) they can already just run over their monsters already. sure the card does have faults like not really doing anything to stop your opponent from summoning these boss monsters but it can help you make a comeback next turn.
Plain and simple the card provides an out to just about every monster you can think of ( barring kristyia.) But like I said you need to play this card only in a deck that can maximise the effectivness of this card and build off the one for one that this card provides( X-Sabers, and stun decks that got hurt by heavy coming back) also decks that don't really have a boss monster ( Blackwings, is that all?) I know that this card has its faults but the versatility that smashing provides can not be understated. So try it out and see how you like it!
Lastly don't forget that tour guid first turn provides a 2500 beater and effect vieler, smashing gets rid off the monster pressure so you can focus on the vieler.
Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Results of testing: Lightsworn are over hyped
Hey guys! So after spending a day to get my new computer up and running I am now ready to post again. Also since my last computer was quite weird in the way that it didn't let me post videos or pics onto this blog now you can expect some picture of the team once I actually get a decent picture with all of us. Okay on to the point here. So in preparation for my September 3rd regional I went to do some play testing with my X-Sabers since it is the first major event I will be taking them to.
SIDE NOTE: I was lucky that most of my team members have different decks right now so i got to test against a wide range of decks.
Agents ( no tour guide): With X-sabers it is a pretty even match. It honestly comes down to whoever draws better is the winner provided that you are of the same skill level. The deck is very consistent and hyperion just keeps coming back, also kristyia is the new oppression and if they have valhalla on the field it is practically invinceable provided that you can't get rid of vallhalla. Vielers are very good here cause if you can stop a first turn venus or earth you are in good shape. Also if you vieler their hyperion and you have a backrow or two set that tricks them into not attacking or attacking into something good.
GB's: I consider this my hardest matchup. Sabers are very battle phase reliant thanks to emmersblade. GB's thrive off of this. With esseardari they can summon a a big beater very fast. But on the flip side GB's can't really go off. They are always that slow tempo deck and this format is not a slow tempo format. So basically once you go off they can't do anything. It is really just the early game where it can be hard.
Karakuri: I have always liked this deck. It is very good this format. Last format it was hard to run the deck because karakuri thrived on exploding and one warning/vieler could ruin them. Now you don't have to deal with warning just vieler and you could always mind crush vieler get it wrong discard a karakuri summon gear gerano and get it right back.( or you could machine duplicate that gear gerano if you have 3 karakuris in your grave.)
lightsworn: this was the deck that I was most wanting to see in action. It did not exceed my expectations infact it lowered my expectations. That's not to say that you shouldn't take the deck into consideration when sidedecking. With lightsworn games go 1 of 3 ways.
1. they do nothing the whole game and just sit there cause they didn't get any good mills or they got a bad hand.
2. They grind out some +'s with celestia and make some minor aggressive pushes with wulf/jain.
3. They mill really good get tons of draws and +'s summon jd and BLS and OTK you.
All in all they are quite inconsistent and can't play out of any situation once they get into one. But you should still side for them and prepare acccordingly for their OTK's.
Blackwings: I also got to test out against Blackwings. I was actually quite impressed with them. They are very consistent and have easy plus 1's. The main problem is that they don't have a boss monster themselves but can handle other boss monsters quite easily. Icarus attack to 3 really helped them out here.
All in all I really like how X-Sabers play and they have pretty good matchups and alot of tech choices. We will have another testing session soon so i will have more results on that testing session as well. Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
SIDE NOTE: I was lucky that most of my team members have different decks right now so i got to test against a wide range of decks.
Agents ( no tour guide): With X-sabers it is a pretty even match. It honestly comes down to whoever draws better is the winner provided that you are of the same skill level. The deck is very consistent and hyperion just keeps coming back, also kristyia is the new oppression and if they have valhalla on the field it is practically invinceable provided that you can't get rid of vallhalla. Vielers are very good here cause if you can stop a first turn venus or earth you are in good shape. Also if you vieler their hyperion and you have a backrow or two set that tricks them into not attacking or attacking into something good.
GB's: I consider this my hardest matchup. Sabers are very battle phase reliant thanks to emmersblade. GB's thrive off of this. With esseardari they can summon a a big beater very fast. But on the flip side GB's can't really go off. They are always that slow tempo deck and this format is not a slow tempo format. So basically once you go off they can't do anything. It is really just the early game where it can be hard.
Karakuri: I have always liked this deck. It is very good this format. Last format it was hard to run the deck because karakuri thrived on exploding and one warning/vieler could ruin them. Now you don't have to deal with warning just vieler and you could always mind crush vieler get it wrong discard a karakuri summon gear gerano and get it right back.( or you could machine duplicate that gear gerano if you have 3 karakuris in your grave.)
lightsworn: this was the deck that I was most wanting to see in action. It did not exceed my expectations infact it lowered my expectations. That's not to say that you shouldn't take the deck into consideration when sidedecking. With lightsworn games go 1 of 3 ways.
1. they do nothing the whole game and just sit there cause they didn't get any good mills or they got a bad hand.
2. They grind out some +'s with celestia and make some minor aggressive pushes with wulf/jain.
3. They mill really good get tons of draws and +'s summon jd and BLS and OTK you.
All in all they are quite inconsistent and can't play out of any situation once they get into one. But you should still side for them and prepare acccordingly for their OTK's.
Blackwings: I also got to test out against Blackwings. I was actually quite impressed with them. They are very consistent and have easy plus 1's. The main problem is that they don't have a boss monster themselves but can handle other boss monsters quite easily. Icarus attack to 3 really helped them out here.
All in all I really like how X-Sabers play and they have pretty good matchups and alot of tech choices. We will have another testing session soon so i will have more results on that testing session as well. Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
Monday, August 22, 2011
X-Saber discussion part 2: Number of copies
Hey guys! So I haven't posted in a while. I have been real busy, I just got a new computer and am going to hook it up so this might be my last post on this computer! Anyways on to relevant stuff I have been testing my x-sabers out for a while now and have much more insight on how they play so today I am going to talk about the number of copies of each card I play. Please discuss and give your views plus advice thanks!
1. Boggart knight: I have seen people use 3 of this and I do see why. it is a beefy 1900 beater with a good effect, but its draw back is it can only be used for a synchro summon of a x-saber monster which until we get souza we can only use urbellum(which is sub par) which only has 2200 atk, at least souza has 2500. But boggarts knight's true purpose is to get faultroll out fast and consistentinly(bad spelling). But with only two faultroll you have to think about the usefullness of three boggart knight. Also darksoul searches everything out so you always have the right x-saber at the right time. I find it just right to include 2 boggart knight, it is never a dead draw at this number and since it synchro ablities are limited the only real jobs it has is to beat face and/or bring out fautroll. Also effect veiler is around.
2. Faultroll: Speaking about fautroll he is my next choice of discussion. At first X-sabers were a fast OTK style esque deck and with gottoms you could make your opponent go handless. Now X-sabers are much more of as set up first then go off type of deck. I have always liked 2 faultroll you get it just when you need it, that is another thing thanks to darksoul you can afford to run 2 of your key monsters cause they are all searchable. Anyways fautroll is rarely a dead draw at 2 and is your signal for going off. Good stuff.
3. Emmersblade: I honestly will always run this at 3 it is very good and adds to the toolbox theme of X-sabers.
4. Darksoul: Do I honestly need to explain this.
5. Fuhelmnight: At first glance you can afford to run 2 of this but once you play the deck and realize what a key monster this is you need to play 3.
6.Passhul: It is very good at 2 bad at 3 and inconsistent at 1. Running 2 allows you to run reinforce truth which is very good card and it's chainable!
7. Airbellum: with cat gone their is no reason to run any more than 1.
8. Hyunlei: This is one of the most interesting topics imo. I personally think 1 is enough in your extra deck. With so much backrow hate in X-Sabers now(2-3 mst, heavy) and people setting alot less because of it the days of you getting plus 2 off of this card are gone. It is now most of the time a one for one. Sure it is very nice to have but I have cut this down to 1 and have not missed the second.
9. Gottoms E Call: I am currently running 2. It is chainable as long as you have a X-Saber on the field. Also the monsters don't die during the endphase so you can summon back a emmersblade for your opponent to attack into, or on your turn you can bring back fuhelm knight and darksoul to get a search. A very versatile card.
So that is all for today I will have much more content on the new format soon including my observations while testing for my upcoming regional next month. Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
1. Boggart knight: I have seen people use 3 of this and I do see why. it is a beefy 1900 beater with a good effect, but its draw back is it can only be used for a synchro summon of a x-saber monster which until we get souza we can only use urbellum(which is sub par) which only has 2200 atk, at least souza has 2500. But boggarts knight's true purpose is to get faultroll out fast and consistentinly(bad spelling). But with only two faultroll you have to think about the usefullness of three boggart knight. Also darksoul searches everything out so you always have the right x-saber at the right time. I find it just right to include 2 boggart knight, it is never a dead draw at this number and since it synchro ablities are limited the only real jobs it has is to beat face and/or bring out fautroll. Also effect veiler is around.
2. Faultroll: Speaking about fautroll he is my next choice of discussion. At first X-sabers were a fast OTK style esque deck and with gottoms you could make your opponent go handless. Now X-sabers are much more of as set up first then go off type of deck. I have always liked 2 faultroll you get it just when you need it, that is another thing thanks to darksoul you can afford to run 2 of your key monsters cause they are all searchable. Anyways fautroll is rarely a dead draw at 2 and is your signal for going off. Good stuff.
3. Emmersblade: I honestly will always run this at 3 it is very good and adds to the toolbox theme of X-sabers.
4. Darksoul: Do I honestly need to explain this.
5. Fuhelmnight: At first glance you can afford to run 2 of this but once you play the deck and realize what a key monster this is you need to play 3.
6.Passhul: It is very good at 2 bad at 3 and inconsistent at 1. Running 2 allows you to run reinforce truth which is very good card and it's chainable!
7. Airbellum: with cat gone their is no reason to run any more than 1.
8. Hyunlei: This is one of the most interesting topics imo. I personally think 1 is enough in your extra deck. With so much backrow hate in X-Sabers now(2-3 mst, heavy) and people setting alot less because of it the days of you getting plus 2 off of this card are gone. It is now most of the time a one for one. Sure it is very nice to have but I have cut this down to 1 and have not missed the second.
9. Gottoms E Call: I am currently running 2. It is chainable as long as you have a X-Saber on the field. Also the monsters don't die during the endphase so you can summon back a emmersblade for your opponent to attack into, or on your turn you can bring back fuhelm knight and darksoul to get a search. A very versatile card.
So that is all for today I will have much more content on the new format soon including my observations while testing for my upcoming regional next month. Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
Thursday, August 18, 2011
The staple that used to be (or still is) Solemn Warning
Hey guys! I am doing a yugioh discussion today about Solemn Warning.
SIDE NOTE: X-Saber posts will start back up next week.
So with a new format comes new ideas and possiblities for different decks and old ones alike. With the return of heavy and 3 MST this format has alot of backrow hate. Where it used to be okay to run 10+ traps and get away with it is no longer okay or wise. Just taking one look at the banlist and you can see that fast aggressive decks take center stage and slower anti meta decks now take a back seat. With all of these aggressive decks running around in the Meta it seems like a no brainer that you run solemn Warning, ah but alas it is not so easy.
Chainable traps are much better in a format with so much backrow hate and solemn warning is by no means a chainable trap. But Solemn warning provides so much control over the board and allows you to set your opponent back and make them play at your pace, all for the cost of 2000 life points. BUT we agin go back to the point of so much backrow hate. you could use starlight road but with 3 MST it is not very probable, no trap is safe in a format like this one. But is solemn warning exempt from this staement? Is it worth running for it to work that one time and win you the game and have it be blown away all of the other times. Lets look at it this way since OTK decks are going to be the meta now solemn warning naturally stops them but since the decks main focus is to OTK they are going to run the full amount of back row hate allotted in this case 3 MST and 1 heavy. And setting more than 2 cards in a format with heavy is a bad idea so...
What could you run instead of solemn warning? Nothing can really accomplish the same goal but some cards can stall an OTK.
1. Threaning roar: This card is chainable, it can stop OTK's for a turnm and give you time to fight back.
2. Compulsary Evacuation device: It is chainable, it can stall an opponent for a turn, but it doesn't really work if the opponent has multiple monsters.
Those are the 2 main replacements for solemn warning. Both don't really do the same thing they really only prolong your problem. But they both are always going to be live because of their chainablity.
Lets look at another factor in solemn warning. The life points. Sure you only need 1 to win but with all decks now having a massive easy to summon boss monster life points now matter. Lightsworns have JD, Agents have hyperion and kristyia, and now every deck has acess to the worst of them all BLS. No matter what happen 1 thing is for certain people are going to find ways to splash BLS into everything they play, the easiness of summon, the free monster removal, the aggressive attack twice ability. BLS has all of that attachted to a 3000 body. If you play 1 warning just 2 BLS strikes will kill you and if you warning their BLS they still haven't normal summoned. Also BLS has a OTK to go with him: BLS + honest can attack into any monster 2000 atk or higher and as long as your opponent only has that one 2000 atk or higher monster on the field you lose. Scary huh. That means late game I can have a good synchro monster and be ready to attack for game next turn only to have my opponent summon BLS and use honest and win. And we go back to our orignal argument with so much backrow hate you have no protection from this.
So lets talk about the amin point of this post to play solemn warning or not to play that is the question. If you play it you have the possiblity to control the tempo of the game but you risk a mst and low life points in a game where 3000 atk is the norm. If you use any of the replacemnts mentioned you only draw out and prolong your problem but you can chain making them use up some back row hate. Discuss in the comments would you use solemn warning in this format. Also this doesn't just go for warning this goes for mirror force and any other non chainable trap. Thanks for reading.
-Cameron
SIDE NOTE: X-Saber posts will start back up next week.
So with a new format comes new ideas and possiblities for different decks and old ones alike. With the return of heavy and 3 MST this format has alot of backrow hate. Where it used to be okay to run 10+ traps and get away with it is no longer okay or wise. Just taking one look at the banlist and you can see that fast aggressive decks take center stage and slower anti meta decks now take a back seat. With all of these aggressive decks running around in the Meta it seems like a no brainer that you run solemn Warning, ah but alas it is not so easy.
Chainable traps are much better in a format with so much backrow hate and solemn warning is by no means a chainable trap. But Solemn warning provides so much control over the board and allows you to set your opponent back and make them play at your pace, all for the cost of 2000 life points. BUT we agin go back to the point of so much backrow hate. you could use starlight road but with 3 MST it is not very probable, no trap is safe in a format like this one. But is solemn warning exempt from this staement? Is it worth running for it to work that one time and win you the game and have it be blown away all of the other times. Lets look at it this way since OTK decks are going to be the meta now solemn warning naturally stops them but since the decks main focus is to OTK they are going to run the full amount of back row hate allotted in this case 3 MST and 1 heavy. And setting more than 2 cards in a format with heavy is a bad idea so...
What could you run instead of solemn warning? Nothing can really accomplish the same goal but some cards can stall an OTK.
1. Threaning roar: This card is chainable, it can stop OTK's for a turnm and give you time to fight back.
2. Compulsary Evacuation device: It is chainable, it can stall an opponent for a turn, but it doesn't really work if the opponent has multiple monsters.
Those are the 2 main replacements for solemn warning. Both don't really do the same thing they really only prolong your problem. But they both are always going to be live because of their chainablity.
Lets look at another factor in solemn warning. The life points. Sure you only need 1 to win but with all decks now having a massive easy to summon boss monster life points now matter. Lightsworns have JD, Agents have hyperion and kristyia, and now every deck has acess to the worst of them all BLS. No matter what happen 1 thing is for certain people are going to find ways to splash BLS into everything they play, the easiness of summon, the free monster removal, the aggressive attack twice ability. BLS has all of that attachted to a 3000 body. If you play 1 warning just 2 BLS strikes will kill you and if you warning their BLS they still haven't normal summoned. Also BLS has a OTK to go with him: BLS + honest can attack into any monster 2000 atk or higher and as long as your opponent only has that one 2000 atk or higher monster on the field you lose. Scary huh. That means late game I can have a good synchro monster and be ready to attack for game next turn only to have my opponent summon BLS and use honest and win. And we go back to our orignal argument with so much backrow hate you have no protection from this.
So lets talk about the amin point of this post to play solemn warning or not to play that is the question. If you play it you have the possiblity to control the tempo of the game but you risk a mst and low life points in a game where 3000 atk is the norm. If you use any of the replacemnts mentioned you only draw out and prolong your problem but you can chain making them use up some back row hate. Discuss in the comments would you use solemn warning in this format. Also this doesn't just go for warning this goes for mirror force and any other non chainable trap. Thanks for reading.
-Cameron
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
September 2011 banlist: what I think.
WARNING: Long post prepare to use your eyes
Hey guys! So I am going to be review the September 2011 banlist. I have had time to sit down and think hard about konami has done so here it is!
First here is the new banlist for those of you who did not read my last post.
New Bans:
Fishborg Blaster
Mind Master
Giant Trunade
Royal Oppression
New Limiteds:
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En
T.G. Hyper Librarian
Debris Dragon
Formula Synchron
Lonefire Blossom
Heavy Storm
Primal Seed
Shien's Smoke Signal
Pot of Avarice
New Semi-Limiteds:
Summoner Monk
Tragoedia
Necro Gardna
Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier
Destiny Draw
Swords of Revealing Light
Mind Crush
Call Of The Haunted
New Unlimiteds:
Judgment Dragon
Spirit Reaper
Overload Fusion
Mystical Space Typhoon
Megamorph
Gravity Bind
Icarus Attack
Banned:
Fishborg Blaster: I have always said that this card needs to go to one. Now that konami has banned it I am very happy, it is to broken of a card and combined with formula it has no cost to sp it. I think this is a well deserved ban.
Mind Master: This card should have been banned a while ago it allows psychics to throw their entire deck onto the field with no setup. This is a well deserved and long overdue ban.
Giant trunade: All of my readers know I feel about this card. This was partically new age cold wave, this card simply ment OTK. we have a much more fitting replacemant as well, more on that later.
Royal Oppression: This is the one ban that I am strongly against. This card punished mass special summoning which is one of the factors that have helped to make this game so sacky. Now outside of solemn warning we really have no answer to mass special summoning and OTK decks can run rampant. Though special summoning a bunch of monsters then flipping this is not good Yugioh so maybe that is why they hit it.
Limited:
BLS: I kinda figured, I don't really agree with this as now any deck that can run light and darks have 4 choas sorcs.
LSS Shein: This was one limit that needed to happen. When this card was at 3 6 sams could just put 2 of these out on the first turn and it was almost an auto win, one is bad enough on the first turn and now players will have to think of when to summon their only shien.
T.G Hyper Librarian: I personally wanted this banned but I figuered that wasn't going to happen so limiting it was the next best thing. Again You should only have to see one of these in a duel and if you can get rid of it you can never see it again, and one is really all you need to win anyway.
Debris Dragon: I agree with the limit. This card was just way to spamable, this plus dandy= b rose and 2 tokens, this needed to go to 1.
Formula Synchron: This card had to go to 1 or I was going to rage. It is bad enough that it is a tuner but you draw a card as well! Sure with fishborg blaster it is less spamable, but we still have dandy, spore, and glow up.
Lonefire Blossom: Another well deserved hit. The plant engine was just becoming way to spamable, and although I would have hit dandy or glow up bulb over this, hitting lonefire will do and will slow down plant decks quite a bit.
Heavy Storm: THANK YOU KONAMI. The setting of 4 backrow and summoning a monster is no more! Sure that this card can lead to OTK's but this game needs this card to survive.
Primal Seed: This has to do with BLS so I guess it should go to 1?
Sheins Smoke Signal: No deck should have 4 rotas. While this does hurt the consistency of six sams they still have united and gateway which are 2 very broken cards.
Pot of Avarice: This will make players think before using their monsters as they can't use them to get them right back. A well deserved limit.
Semi Limited:
Summoner Monk: With Xyz's this really should have stayed at 1 but it really wasn't doing anything either. This card at 2 is a unnesacary risk.
Tragodia: This card should have styaed at 1. All you have to do is look at this list and realize that twilight is coming back and this card is just one of those factors, at least gadgets have a new toy.
Necro Gardna: Just another factor in konamis pursuit to bring back twlight. This card deserved to stay at 1, period.
Dewolren: No more using this and symbols, needed to be done.
Destiny Draw: Finally this card is semi limited, honestly this card is quite balanced as you have to use sub par monsters with this card.
Swords of revling light: Part of konami's agenda to help stall decks, this card hasn't seen play in a long time so I think this semi is okay. If the format is so sacky you could always use this! I really hope it doesn't come to that.
Mind Crush: I like this card at 2 as it does require some skillful play and right calls so it is okay, also it is a good side deck card.
Call of the haunted: I would have been just fine with this if reborn had been banned but since that is not the case the last thig we need more of is generic reivival.
Unlimited:
Judgment dragon: This card should have stayed at 2 period. With this twlight decks just got a whole lot more sacky, in the future I see me having a game winning field only to have my opponent rip this off of the top of his deck and win, bad idea konami.
Spirit Reaper: Stall decks just love this list, I am okay with this at 3 all it really does is stall which is okay.
Overload fusion: another unnescary risk. i understand this card saw no play at 1 or 2 but 3 just seems to be asking for a OTK.
MST: With heavy back and MST at 3 control decks are shadows of their former selves. We went from having to little back row hate to too much, now not even starlight road can save you.But in all honesty MSTis a really balanced card so i am okay with this but I am still worried about this format being very OTK happy.
Megamorph: Read overload fusion.
Gravity Bind: More of konami pushing thier stall deck agenda, but again with so much back row hate and Xyz's I don't see this card being a problem at 3.
Icarus Attack: Finally Blackwings have a reason to go on in the TCG, this won't propel blackwings to tier 1 but it does help them quite a bit.
What This list accomplishes:
1. No more backrow spam
2. Plants are not as fast. still good but not as fast
3. Sams consistency was hurt and their boss monster can only be used once, I expect thier monster count to rise.
4. No more sacky plays with trunade
5. Formula can no longer be spammed so easily and the pot of greed combo with libaraian can only be used once.
6. Mind master is finally gone hopefully forever.
What this list fails to do
1. It doesn't do anything to any of the OCG decks (rescue rabbit, dark world) and once they hit TCG shores they will dominate our meta.
2. It fails to stop tengu the main problem card this format ( in the TCG) so expect decks that revolve around (like plants) to still be good. Tengu spam here we go.
3.Tour guide and sangan will still dominate our meta, and this list changes nothing in regards to that.
4. It fails to hurt agents in any way! This is a major problem hyperion sheniagnas are still well and alive. I expect this deck to completly dominate at least the first half of the format.
What I think about this list:
Overall i apporve of almost every hit( besides oppression) but the semi limited necro, the unrerstricted JD, and the limited BLS, not to mention the unrestricted Choas Sorc, will evolve into somethig much bigger, twlight tier 1, maybe. This list does not hurt Tengu so decks that revolve around him will thrive. Plants will be slower but still good( maybe even still tier 1 but I think tier 1.5). The end of any deck that used fishborg( water synchro, formula monarch) are at hand. Agents are a very viable deck and suffered no hits despite winning worlds. Gravekeepers suffered no hits but with heavy back and MST to 3 Gravekeepers are still very hurt by this list, maybe tier 1.5 but with wonder wand who knows. Six Sams have to run more monsters and with only 1 shien will be a less sacky deck, I will place them at tier 1.5 as well. Tech genus are the same as gravekeeper but perhaps they got hurt even more than GK's, their whole stargety was to set 4-5 backrow and summon a monster. I can tell you right now that way of life is no longer viable. GB's are good at the beggining of every format and I still think they will be good but again all control decks suffer with the return of heavy and mst at 3. X-Sabers are quite frightning. They did not get hit 1 time on the whole list I expect them to return to tier 1 status for at least if not more than the first half of the format. With the OCG just getting darksoul i expect sabers to get hit next format.
The list as a whole is good but they just missed alot of things, I am just holding on to that samll sliver of a chance that tengu will get semi limited by the time the list comes to the TCG. Thanks for reading.
-Cameron
Hey guys! So I am going to be review the September 2011 banlist. I have had time to sit down and think hard about konami has done so here it is!
First here is the new banlist for those of you who did not read my last post.
New Bans:
Fishborg Blaster
Mind Master
Giant Trunade
Royal Oppression
New Limiteds:
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En
T.G. Hyper Librarian
Debris Dragon
Formula Synchron
Lonefire Blossom
Heavy Storm
Primal Seed
Shien's Smoke Signal
Pot of Avarice
New Semi-Limiteds:
Summoner Monk
Tragoedia
Necro Gardna
Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier
Destiny Draw
Swords of Revealing Light
Mind Crush
Call Of The Haunted
New Unlimiteds:
Judgment Dragon
Spirit Reaper
Overload Fusion
Mystical Space Typhoon
Megamorph
Gravity Bind
Icarus Attack
Banned:
Fishborg Blaster: I have always said that this card needs to go to one. Now that konami has banned it I am very happy, it is to broken of a card and combined with formula it has no cost to sp it. I think this is a well deserved ban.
Mind Master: This card should have been banned a while ago it allows psychics to throw their entire deck onto the field with no setup. This is a well deserved and long overdue ban.
Giant trunade: All of my readers know I feel about this card. This was partically new age cold wave, this card simply ment OTK. we have a much more fitting replacemant as well, more on that later.
Royal Oppression: This is the one ban that I am strongly against. This card punished mass special summoning which is one of the factors that have helped to make this game so sacky. Now outside of solemn warning we really have no answer to mass special summoning and OTK decks can run rampant. Though special summoning a bunch of monsters then flipping this is not good Yugioh so maybe that is why they hit it.
Limited:
BLS: I kinda figured, I don't really agree with this as now any deck that can run light and darks have 4 choas sorcs.
LSS Shein: This was one limit that needed to happen. When this card was at 3 6 sams could just put 2 of these out on the first turn and it was almost an auto win, one is bad enough on the first turn and now players will have to think of when to summon their only shien.
T.G Hyper Librarian: I personally wanted this banned but I figuered that wasn't going to happen so limiting it was the next best thing. Again You should only have to see one of these in a duel and if you can get rid of it you can never see it again, and one is really all you need to win anyway.
Debris Dragon: I agree with the limit. This card was just way to spamable, this plus dandy= b rose and 2 tokens, this needed to go to 1.
Formula Synchron: This card had to go to 1 or I was going to rage. It is bad enough that it is a tuner but you draw a card as well! Sure with fishborg blaster it is less spamable, but we still have dandy, spore, and glow up.
Lonefire Blossom: Another well deserved hit. The plant engine was just becoming way to spamable, and although I would have hit dandy or glow up bulb over this, hitting lonefire will do and will slow down plant decks quite a bit.
Heavy Storm: THANK YOU KONAMI. The setting of 4 backrow and summoning a monster is no more! Sure that this card can lead to OTK's but this game needs this card to survive.
Primal Seed: This has to do with BLS so I guess it should go to 1?
Sheins Smoke Signal: No deck should have 4 rotas. While this does hurt the consistency of six sams they still have united and gateway which are 2 very broken cards.
Pot of Avarice: This will make players think before using their monsters as they can't use them to get them right back. A well deserved limit.
Semi Limited:
Summoner Monk: With Xyz's this really should have stayed at 1 but it really wasn't doing anything either. This card at 2 is a unnesacary risk.
Tragodia: This card should have styaed at 1. All you have to do is look at this list and realize that twilight is coming back and this card is just one of those factors, at least gadgets have a new toy.
Necro Gardna: Just another factor in konamis pursuit to bring back twlight. This card deserved to stay at 1, period.
Dewolren: No more using this and symbols, needed to be done.
Destiny Draw: Finally this card is semi limited, honestly this card is quite balanced as you have to use sub par monsters with this card.
Swords of revling light: Part of konami's agenda to help stall decks, this card hasn't seen play in a long time so I think this semi is okay. If the format is so sacky you could always use this! I really hope it doesn't come to that.
Mind Crush: I like this card at 2 as it does require some skillful play and right calls so it is okay, also it is a good side deck card.
Call of the haunted: I would have been just fine with this if reborn had been banned but since that is not the case the last thig we need more of is generic reivival.
Unlimited:
Judgment dragon: This card should have stayed at 2 period. With this twlight decks just got a whole lot more sacky, in the future I see me having a game winning field only to have my opponent rip this off of the top of his deck and win, bad idea konami.
Spirit Reaper: Stall decks just love this list, I am okay with this at 3 all it really does is stall which is okay.
Overload fusion: another unnescary risk. i understand this card saw no play at 1 or 2 but 3 just seems to be asking for a OTK.
MST: With heavy back and MST at 3 control decks are shadows of their former selves. We went from having to little back row hate to too much, now not even starlight road can save you.
Megamorph: Read overload fusion.
Gravity Bind: More of konami pushing thier stall deck agenda, but again with so much back row hate and Xyz's I don't see this card being a problem at 3.
Icarus Attack: Finally Blackwings have a reason to go on in the TCG, this won't propel blackwings to tier 1 but it does help them quite a bit.
What This list accomplishes:
1. No more backrow spam
2. Plants are not as fast. still good but not as fast
3. Sams consistency was hurt and their boss monster can only be used once, I expect thier monster count to rise.
4. No more sacky plays with trunade
5. Formula can no longer be spammed so easily and the pot of greed combo with libaraian can only be used once.
6. Mind master is finally gone hopefully forever.
What this list fails to do
1. It doesn't do anything to any of the OCG decks (rescue rabbit, dark world) and once they hit TCG shores they will dominate our meta.
2. It fails to stop tengu the main problem card this format ( in the TCG) so expect decks that revolve around (like plants) to still be good. Tengu spam here we go.
3.Tour guide and sangan will still dominate our meta, and this list changes nothing in regards to that.
4. It fails to hurt agents in any way! This is a major problem hyperion sheniagnas are still well and alive. I expect this deck to completly dominate at least the first half of the format.
What I think about this list:
Overall i apporve of almost every hit( besides oppression) but the semi limited necro, the unrerstricted JD, and the limited BLS, not to mention the unrestricted Choas Sorc, will evolve into somethig much bigger, twlight tier 1, maybe. This list does not hurt Tengu so decks that revolve around him will thrive. Plants will be slower but still good( maybe even still tier 1 but I think tier 1.5). The end of any deck that used fishborg( water synchro, formula monarch) are at hand. Agents are a very viable deck and suffered no hits despite winning worlds. Gravekeepers suffered no hits but with heavy back and MST to 3 Gravekeepers are still very hurt by this list, maybe tier 1.5 but with wonder wand who knows. Six Sams have to run more monsters and with only 1 shien will be a less sacky deck, I will place them at tier 1.5 as well. Tech genus are the same as gravekeeper but perhaps they got hurt even more than GK's, their whole stargety was to set 4-5 backrow and summon a monster. I can tell you right now that way of life is no longer viable. GB's are good at the beggining of every format and I still think they will be good but again all control decks suffer with the return of heavy and mst at 3. X-Sabers are quite frightning. They did not get hit 1 time on the whole list I expect them to return to tier 1 status for at least if not more than the first half of the format. With the OCG just getting darksoul i expect sabers to get hit next format.
The list as a whole is good but they just missed alot of things, I am just holding on to that samll sliver of a chance that tengu will get semi limited by the time the list comes to the TCG. Thanks for reading.
-Cameron
September 2011 Banlist (mixed thoughts)
Hey guys! The banlist is out and I have mixed feelings about the banlist, I feel like konami did a few things right but alot of things wrong, lets get right to it.
SIDE NOTE: I will have a more indepth review tomorrow.
Banned:
Fishborg Blaster (good job konami)
Mind Master (good job konami)
Giant Trunade (really good job konami)
Royal Oppression (really really bad job konami)
Limited:
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning( I kinda figured)
Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En
T.G. Hyper Librarian (good job konami)
Debris Dragon (good job konami)
Formula Synchron ( good job konami)
Lonefire Blossom ( good job konami)
Heavy Storm ( thank you so much konami)
Primal Seed (kinda random)
Shien's Smoke Signal ( good job konami)
Pot of Avarice ( good job konami)
Semi Limited:
Summoner Monk( kinda iffy on this one)
Tragoedia (shoud have stayed at one)
Necro Gardna ( same with trag)
Dewlauren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier (good job konami)
Destiny Draw ( good job konami)
Swords of Revealing Light ( are they trying to get stall decks to return?)
Mind Crush (kinda iffy)
Call Of The Haunted ( I would have been fine with this, if they banned reborn but since they didn't, bad konami)
Unlimited:
Judgment Dragon( Bad job konami)
Spirit Reaper ( kinda iffy)
Overload Fusion ( kinda iffy)
Mystical Space Typhoon ( with heavy back at 1 this should have also been limited.)
Megamorph ( kinda iffy)
Gravity Bind ( okay they are trying to bring back stall decks)
Icarus Attack ( what? helping blackwings was konami feeling alright?)
Overall what they did put on this list was good. BUT they missed alot of things. First no reborn? Second they did not hit anything that only the OCG had. Dark Worlds are going to be huge as is rescue rabbit, twilight anybody? I feel that almost all of the hits they did were really good, but they should have put a handle on some OCG cards. Also no warning? Alot to discuss, konami did some good and some bad.
-Cameron
SIDE NOTE: I will have a more indepth review tomorrow.
Banned:
Fishborg Blaster (good job konami)
Mind Master (good job konami)
Giant Trunade (really good job konami)
Royal Oppression (really really bad job konami)
Limited:
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning( I kinda figured)
Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En
T.G. Hyper Librarian (good job konami)
Debris Dragon (good job konami)
Formula Synchron ( good job konami)
Lonefire Blossom ( good job konami)
Heavy Storm ( thank you so much konami)
Primal Seed (kinda random)
Shien's Smoke Signal ( good job konami)
Pot of Avarice ( good job konami)
Semi Limited:
Summoner Monk( kinda iffy on this one)
Tragoedia (shoud have stayed at one)
Necro Gardna ( same with trag)
Dewlauren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier (good job konami)
Destiny Draw ( good job konami)
Swords of Revealing Light ( are they trying to get stall decks to return?)
Mind Crush (kinda iffy)
Call Of The Haunted ( I would have been fine with this, if they banned reborn but since they didn't, bad konami)
Unlimited:
Judgment Dragon( Bad job konami)
Spirit Reaper ( kinda iffy)
Overload Fusion ( kinda iffy)
Mystical Space Typhoon ( with heavy back at 1 this should have also been limited.)
Megamorph ( kinda iffy)
Gravity Bind ( okay they are trying to bring back stall decks)
Icarus Attack ( what? helping blackwings was konami feeling alright?)
Overall what they did put on this list was good. BUT they missed alot of things. First no reborn? Second they did not hit anything that only the OCG had. Dark Worlds are going to be huge as is rescue rabbit, twilight anybody? I feel that almost all of the hits they did were really good, but they should have put a handle on some OCG cards. Also no warning? Alot to discuss, konami did some good and some bad.
-Cameron
Monday, August 15, 2011
It's official Tengu has stupified the TCG (review of worlds)
Hey guys! So today I am going to do a review on worlds as a whole. There were alot of questions of North America heading into this worlds, such as: since no established name players made the cut to worlds how would the North America fare? On with the post!
So the cut to top 8 pretty much answered our questions on how North America fared: not good at all. So bad infact not a single person from North America made the cut. Only 2 TCG players actually made the cut. Micheal Gruner of Germany( European Nationals Champion) and Galileo De Obaldia( last years world champion.) I was quite happy to see such established players represent the TCG. But lets look at why nobody from North America made the top 8 cut. Here are a few ideas as to why.
1. The North American reps did not do enough to prepare for worlds and were blinsided by the OCG players.
2.Since worlds used OCG rulings( no priority on monster ignition effects, and when you detach a monster on a Xyz you do not get the effect so no sangan effect.) the TCG players were not familar with this type of play and were once again blinsided.
3. Since the TCG meta is currently dominated by TCG exclusives (Tengu/Tour guide, recruiter) and the OCG was only restricted from using Shooting Quasar dragon which is not absolutley neccasary for junk doppel to have the TCG had to adapt to OCG tier 1.
4. Maybe the North American reps had to play against each other alot lessing their chances of topping.
5. MAIN POINT OF POST ALERT! Since tengu requires so little skill to use and since the TCG meta is so skillless in general the TCG was actually not used to using skillful plays.
The Deck Breakdown
No surprise to anybody junk doppel was the most popular deck with 8 spots, six sams followed next with 6 spots( get it 6 sams with 6 spots lol) and of course it would not be a true premier yugioh event without the now tournament staple: Empty Jar( Paul Cooper and friends rejoice lol) no actually I'm not kidding there was actually a participant using empty jar.
The Top 8
So as I have said before the only TCG reps were Micheal Gruner of Germany and Galileo De Obaldia of Panama. The deck breakdown in the top 8 was:
4 Junk doppel
2 Six Sam
1 Agent
1 Machina
Junk doppel supremacy was no surprise, six sam was also no surprise, I did expect to see at least 1 agent deck in the top 8, and the 1 machina did take for a loop but I guess it is much better than having empty jar in the top 8.
The Top 4
Unfournatley Micheal Gruner did not make it to the top4 beacuse of a game loss because he apparantley took a minute longer than the allotted 3 minutes to side deck. The top 4 consisted of
Murakoshi, Kei ( Japan) with junk doppel
Phanupak, Kongjaroen ( Thailand) with Machina
De Obaldia, Galileo ( Panama) with junk doppel
Ogawa, Takashi ( Japan) with Agents
The Finals
It was Ogawa, Takashi ( Japan) with Agents vs. Murakoshi, Kei ( Japan) with junk doppel
In the end it was Ogawa, Takashi with Agents that won it all. Now there were some people saying that Ogawa stacked, like De Obaldia but from what i understand the judges only gave Ogawa a verbal warning? This seems like a lousy punisment when you are at the most prestigous event in Yugioh. But oh well I will give Ogawa the benefit of the doubt.... for now.
Overall I am pleased with the results. Also take heed of the lesson here: you should not go into any event without aduequate testing and studying of the meta whether it be OCG or TCG meta, the North American reps can tell you all about that if you need to know more. Thanks for reading and if i do find aduqaute facts about Ogawa stacking I will make a follow up post, but for now I do not want to ruin the mood...... for now.
-Cameron
So the cut to top 8 pretty much answered our questions on how North America fared: not good at all. So bad infact not a single person from North America made the cut. Only 2 TCG players actually made the cut. Micheal Gruner of Germany( European Nationals Champion) and Galileo De Obaldia( last years world champion.) I was quite happy to see such established players represent the TCG. But lets look at why nobody from North America made the top 8 cut. Here are a few ideas as to why.
1. The North American reps did not do enough to prepare for worlds and were blinsided by the OCG players.
2.Since worlds used OCG rulings( no priority on monster ignition effects, and when you detach a monster on a Xyz you do not get the effect so no sangan effect.) the TCG players were not familar with this type of play and were once again blinsided.
3. Since the TCG meta is currently dominated by TCG exclusives (Tengu/Tour guide, recruiter) and the OCG was only restricted from using Shooting Quasar dragon which is not absolutley neccasary for junk doppel to have the TCG had to adapt to OCG tier 1.
4. Maybe the North American reps had to play against each other alot lessing their chances of topping.
5. MAIN POINT OF POST ALERT! Since tengu requires so little skill to use and since the TCG meta is so skillless in general the TCG was actually not used to using skillful plays.
The Deck Breakdown
No surprise to anybody junk doppel was the most popular deck with 8 spots, six sams followed next with 6 spots( get it 6 sams with 6 spots lol) and of course it would not be a true premier yugioh event without the now tournament staple: Empty Jar( Paul Cooper and friends rejoice lol) no actually I'm not kidding there was actually a participant using empty jar.
The Top 8
So as I have said before the only TCG reps were Micheal Gruner of Germany and Galileo De Obaldia of Panama. The deck breakdown in the top 8 was:
4 Junk doppel
2 Six Sam
1 Agent
1 Machina
Junk doppel supremacy was no surprise, six sam was also no surprise, I did expect to see at least 1 agent deck in the top 8, and the 1 machina did take for a loop but I guess it is much better than having empty jar in the top 8.
The Top 4
Unfournatley Micheal Gruner did not make it to the top4 beacuse of a game loss because he apparantley took a minute longer than the allotted 3 minutes to side deck. The top 4 consisted of
Murakoshi, Kei ( Japan) with junk doppel
Phanupak, Kongjaroen ( Thailand) with Machina
De Obaldia, Galileo ( Panama) with junk doppel
Ogawa, Takashi ( Japan) with Agents
The Finals
It was Ogawa, Takashi ( Japan) with Agents vs. Murakoshi, Kei ( Japan) with junk doppel
In the end it was Ogawa, Takashi with Agents that won it all. Now there were some people saying that Ogawa stacked, like De Obaldia but from what i understand the judges only gave Ogawa a verbal warning? This seems like a lousy punisment when you are at the most prestigous event in Yugioh. But oh well I will give Ogawa the benefit of the doubt.... for now.
Overall I am pleased with the results. Also take heed of the lesson here: you should not go into any event without aduequate testing and studying of the meta whether it be OCG or TCG meta, the North American reps can tell you all about that if you need to know more. Thanks for reading and if i do find aduqaute facts about Ogawa stacking I will make a follow up post, but for now I do not want to ruin the mood...... for now.
-Cameron
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Does the OCG and TCG need to have different banlists?
Hey guys! So today I will talk about whether or not the OCG and TCG should have different banlists. This format esspecially I have been hearing that since the 2 metagames are so different that it is only natural that they differ. I have always been firm in my beleif that the OCG and TCG do not need to have different banlists. All of my teamates feel the same way. But one of my freinds has always said that the OCG and TCG do need different banlists. I usually just wrote him off but lately I have been thinking that maybe they do need different lists. I am going to weigh the pros and cons of each
SIDE NOTE: Some decks that I consider tier 1 may not be what you conider tier 1 and vice versa.
OCG Tier 1 Decks
Junk Doppel
Agents
Six Sam
Blackwing
Dark World
Tech Genus Gadget
TCG Tier 1 decks
Tengu/Tour guide plant
Agents
Gravekeeper
Six Sam
Tech Genus Stun
See any differences? That's what I thought. Our metas are very different. There is really one big reason for that: TCG Exclusives. The cards that they realese in the TCG that they don't realese in the OCG are usually very overpowered. To name a few: Allure,GK Recruiter, Darksoul, Boggart Knight, Emmersblade,Tengu, Tour guide, all of these cards defined formats and most of them continue to define the TCG as we speak. So basically the TCG banlist would be so that the TCG exclusives would not be over powered for more than a format. There has only been one instance where the OCG hit a TCG exsclusive and that was allure from phantom darkness. Now of course you could just say to konami: stop making these ridiculous overpowered cards and get new card design people. But we all know that is not going to happen. You could also say to Konami: on the banlists pay attention to both metas equally and don't favor one over the other, but we all know that isn't going to happen either, heck both metas having seperate banlists probably isn't going to happen. I will now weigh the pros and cons.
Pros: TCG exclusives would only define our format for no more than a format(provided the people making the banlists have some sense). The formats would be slightly more balanced.
Cons: disorganization such as: what would happen at worlds which metas banlist would we use, who would make these banlists. Also the cards coming out in every set would have a different impact on both metas so no more netdecking( maybe this should go in the pros.)
So as you can see there are 2 sides to every coin. What do my readers think? Discuss. Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
SIDE NOTE: Some decks that I consider tier 1 may not be what you conider tier 1 and vice versa.
OCG Tier 1 Decks
Junk Doppel
Agents
Six Sam
Blackwing
Dark World
Tech Genus Gadget
TCG Tier 1 decks
Tengu/Tour guide plant
Agents
Gravekeeper
Six Sam
Tech Genus Stun
See any differences? That's what I thought. Our metas are very different. There is really one big reason for that: TCG Exclusives. The cards that they realese in the TCG that they don't realese in the OCG are usually very overpowered. To name a few: Allure,GK Recruiter, Darksoul, Boggart Knight, Emmersblade,Tengu, Tour guide, all of these cards defined formats and most of them continue to define the TCG as we speak. So basically the TCG banlist would be so that the TCG exclusives would not be over powered for more than a format. There has only been one instance where the OCG hit a TCG exsclusive and that was allure from phantom darkness. Now of course you could just say to konami: stop making these ridiculous overpowered cards and get new card design people. But we all know that is not going to happen. You could also say to Konami: on the banlists pay attention to both metas equally and don't favor one over the other, but we all know that isn't going to happen either, heck both metas having seperate banlists probably isn't going to happen. I will now weigh the pros and cons.
Pros: TCG exclusives would only define our format for no more than a format(provided the people making the banlists have some sense). The formats would be slightly more balanced.
Cons: disorganization such as: what would happen at worlds which metas banlist would we use, who would make these banlists. Also the cards coming out in every set would have a different impact on both metas so no more netdecking( maybe this should go in the pros.)
So as you can see there are 2 sides to every coin. What do my readers think? Discuss. Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
Thursday, August 11, 2011
X-Saber Discussion part 1: Tech Cards
So I was playing with my newfound deck:X-Sabers. After a few matches I realized that in X-Sabers make a large difference in the play style of the deck and are often the cards that define each persons X-Saber deck. The reason I even bring this point up is beacuse too often you see decks( like six sam) have little to no varience in their main decks. Even tengu/tour guide plants really don't have much varience just on the number of copies of cards that they play. I was quite delighted that X-Sabers are a deck that require quite a bit of thought to put together. So I am going to discuss some possible tech choices I could put in.
SIDE NOTE: Don't be afraid to comment, infact I would really appreciate the feedback as I have just started playing sabers and would love to hear from all of my readers about what they think, thanks!
Side Note#2: In my following paragraphs I am discussing playing only 1 copy of each of the cards.
Debris Dragon: I have tested debris dragon a bit and I have liked the results. It is mainly used for summoning darksoul and synchro into black rose to nuke the field, then search. A simple yet effective play. The reason i really like this card though is because of the level. X-Sabers lack a 4 star tuner and even though debris can't be used with level 4 monsters it is still a good way to get out level 7's. Also it is a very good top deck as the black rose play is at least a plus one and the monster you got is a good follow up play for next turn.
Gorz: Gorz is quite common in X-Saber decks and I like it quite a bit, but there is one big reason that I don't like this card. Since Gorz requires an empty field, it almost requires you to run a smaller trap count. I do realize that you can avoid this problem by using smart playing: to a extent. Though I guess you could just run more chainable traps or enemy controller.
Super Nimble Mega Hamster: I do realize that this card is considered a staple to most playing X-Sabers but I still will discuss it. So with super nimble you get to your darksouls faster which in turn means that you get to your other X-Sabers faster as well. Also X-Sabers lack quality level 4 monsters and super nimble helps that problem, I honestly don't have any neagtive things to say about this card!
Sangan: So sangan is always that one monster to consider when playing any deck and X-Sabers are no exception. In my testing with sangan it was emi helpful but the amin problem I ran in to is that whatever sangan does darksoul does better. What I used sangan for was mostly to get to my tech cards faster. But in all honesty when ever I summoned Sangan i could have just sommend a saber and synchroed for hyunlyi(really bad spelling I know) or another synchro giving me pluses or putting me in a good position.
Effect Veiler: Veiler can pretty much be thrown into any deck and be good and while i was playtesting with my freind that ran X-Sabers he also mained a copy( as do most X-Saber players) so I did as well and it worked out quite good, though I did like it better when I sided it in instead of mained it. It was really never dead it just did what veiler does best negate stuff.
Thanks for reading and please discuss i want to hear from all of my readers thanks alot!
-Cameron
SIDE NOTE: Don't be afraid to comment, infact I would really appreciate the feedback as I have just started playing sabers and would love to hear from all of my readers about what they think, thanks!
Side Note#2: In my following paragraphs I am discussing playing only 1 copy of each of the cards.
Debris Dragon: I have tested debris dragon a bit and I have liked the results. It is mainly used for summoning darksoul and synchro into black rose to nuke the field, then search. A simple yet effective play. The reason i really like this card though is because of the level. X-Sabers lack a 4 star tuner and even though debris can't be used with level 4 monsters it is still a good way to get out level 7's. Also it is a very good top deck as the black rose play is at least a plus one and the monster you got is a good follow up play for next turn.
Gorz: Gorz is quite common in X-Saber decks and I like it quite a bit, but there is one big reason that I don't like this card. Since Gorz requires an empty field, it almost requires you to run a smaller trap count. I do realize that you can avoid this problem by using smart playing: to a extent. Though I guess you could just run more chainable traps or enemy controller.
Super Nimble Mega Hamster: I do realize that this card is considered a staple to most playing X-Sabers but I still will discuss it. So with super nimble you get to your darksouls faster which in turn means that you get to your other X-Sabers faster as well. Also X-Sabers lack quality level 4 monsters and super nimble helps that problem, I honestly don't have any neagtive things to say about this card!
Sangan: So sangan is always that one monster to consider when playing any deck and X-Sabers are no exception. In my testing with sangan it was emi helpful but the amin problem I ran in to is that whatever sangan does darksoul does better. What I used sangan for was mostly to get to my tech cards faster. But in all honesty when ever I summoned Sangan i could have just sommend a saber and synchroed for hyunlyi(really bad spelling I know) or another synchro giving me pluses or putting me in a good position.
Effect Veiler: Veiler can pretty much be thrown into any deck and be good and while i was playtesting with my freind that ran X-Sabers he also mained a copy( as do most X-Saber players) so I did as well and it worked out quite good, though I did like it better when I sided it in instead of mained it. It was really never dead it just did what veiler does best negate stuff.
Thanks for reading and please discuss i want to hear from all of my readers thanks alot!
-Cameron
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
New Deck Project!
Hey guys! Sorry for the double posting and be sure to check out my last post. I just wanted to say that I am currently building X Sabers! I was playtesting with my freinds X sabers and I just fell in love with the deck so yeah expect a decklist up soon, thanks for reading and son't forget to check out my last post about tourguide and tengu, thanks!
-Cameron
-Cameron
Tour Guide=Tengu?
Hey guys! So I lied on my last post. I am posting again! Today I will discuss a idea I have had for a while. Is Tour guide the new tengu? I was looking on the YCS Indy top 16 decklists and I saw that 6 of the 8 Tengu plant decks also used 3 tour guide in their main in addition to the 3 tengu. So this leads to the discussion is tour guide the new tengu? With Xyz's offically out tour guide becomes much better, what used to be a plus 1 and you would have to wait for sangan to die before you got another plus now becomes an instant plus 2 all by just summoning tour guide sp sangan Xyz summmon into a rank 3(usually levair) then detach sangan for another plus, you could potentially go farther in this combo by using levair effect to get back your removed lonefire for another plus. The worst this combo can be is either solemned, warninged, or by using effect veiler. At its best it is a plus 3. Tengu does mostly ther same thing, by always summoning another tengu you take the -1 out of synchro summoning and that leaves the door open for even more synchro summoning.
Now that you see the combos you can also see that both cards share the same major flaw: if you draw multiples of either that means bad news. Also tour guide has the added hinderance of being able to be effect veiled. Also tour guide can't be used like tengu in the way that tengu can be used for a minor push rather that exploding. But maybe that is what makes tour guide and tengu so good in the same deck! It used to be that if you played junk doppel you would either go off or do next to nothing. The same goes for tengu plants you could do very good plays and always be able to do something but you could never explode like junk doppel could. now lets add tour guide into tengu plants with Xyz's being legal. Now in tengu plants you have the ablity to get plus 3or 4 all the while having acess to the best flaoter ever: Tengu. In my view tour guide gives tengu plants the one thing that they lacked: the explosivness of junk doppel. You can now do your minor pushes with tengu or explode with tour guide.
I was talking over this idea with some of my friends and they mostly agreed, but one of them said " but tour guide has a dependancy on sangan where tengu has no depndacy other than itself, and you have to run sangan with tour guide making it a 4 card engine." While that stament is true I started to think about that statement in depth and came to this conclusion: Sure this tour guide engine does have its flaws but that is like saying that you will not run tengu just beacuse you have the chance to draw 2 or 3 in your opening hand, also if you don't have a sangan in your deck then you could just bring out another tour guide with tour guide and summon levair to get back lonefire which is still a decent play, in regards to the second part of the statement, running sangan in your deck is in no way a hinderance to your deck. Sangan is a floater and can search anything in the plant engine. Also we still have hyper librarian in this game to give players tons of draw power, so the tengu/tour guide deck is very frightning indeed.
So to wrap up this post tour guide does NOT equal tengu but instead tour guide complements tengu very well. On a side note I am going to be posting back to my regular schedule, I will post lol( its like an addiction... just kidding) So thanks for reading and stay tuned to the blog, also over 1,000 pageviews thanks to all my readers and continue reading I will try to not dissapoint in my posts!
-Cameron
Now that you see the combos you can also see that both cards share the same major flaw: if you draw multiples of either that means bad news. Also tour guide has the added hinderance of being able to be effect veiled. Also tour guide can't be used like tengu in the way that tengu can be used for a minor push rather that exploding. But maybe that is what makes tour guide and tengu so good in the same deck! It used to be that if you played junk doppel you would either go off or do next to nothing. The same goes for tengu plants you could do very good plays and always be able to do something but you could never explode like junk doppel could. now lets add tour guide into tengu plants with Xyz's being legal. Now in tengu plants you have the ablity to get plus 3or 4 all the while having acess to the best flaoter ever: Tengu. In my view tour guide gives tengu plants the one thing that they lacked: the explosivness of junk doppel. You can now do your minor pushes with tengu or explode with tour guide.
I was talking over this idea with some of my friends and they mostly agreed, but one of them said " but tour guide has a dependancy on sangan where tengu has no depndacy other than itself, and you have to run sangan with tour guide making it a 4 card engine." While that stament is true I started to think about that statement in depth and came to this conclusion: Sure this tour guide engine does have its flaws but that is like saying that you will not run tengu just beacuse you have the chance to draw 2 or 3 in your opening hand, also if you don't have a sangan in your deck then you could just bring out another tour guide with tour guide and summon levair to get back lonefire which is still a decent play, in regards to the second part of the statement, running sangan in your deck is in no way a hinderance to your deck. Sangan is a floater and can search anything in the plant engine. Also we still have hyper librarian in this game to give players tons of draw power, so the tengu/tour guide deck is very frightning indeed.
So to wrap up this post tour guide does NOT equal tengu but instead tour guide complements tengu very well. On a side note I am going to be posting back to my regular schedule, I will post lol( its like an addiction... just kidding) So thanks for reading and stay tuned to the blog, also over 1,000 pageviews thanks to all my readers and continue reading I will try to not dissapoint in my posts!
-Cameron
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Why no posting?
Hey guys! So today I am going to explain why i have not been posting. I had a death in the family. Right to the point huh. Anyway's we are getting everything sorted out( we as in my family) so please bare with me. I will start posting again on a regular basis. There really has been alot of yugioh news lately, with gencon just finishing and Tengu Plants winning. I really don't like how konami calls tengu/tourguide plants synchros, it is just such a horrific name. It was probably the idea of Kevin Tewart and his comment saying it is a misnomer calling a deck Tengu Plants lol. Also Turbo pack 6 is quite good, I am going to get the ulti dad for my blackwings and the ultra sangan looks nice. Also I was reading the new text on armory arm and the way it is worded does infact make the colossal fighter/ Armory arm OTK obsolete. On a final note I hope the banlist is good konami really needs to up their game. Thanks for reading and I promise that I will be back to posting by the end of this week. Thanks for your support!
-Cameron
-Cameron
Friday, August 5, 2011
Ban List Predictions!
WARNING LONG POST: PREPARE TO USE YOUR EYES ALOT
BTW: The sections are color coded for your conveniance(wrong spelling I know)
BTW #2: I was going to talk about turbo pack 6 and the Xyz ruling but most of you guys have already heard about that, okay on with the post.
Hey guys! DRUM ROLL PLEASE! lol just kidding! . So With so many other bloggers giving their view on the banlist I thought well why not make my own predictions. (This is just what i would do for the banlist and this is only my opinion so don't take it to heart if you don't like something on this list thanks!)
BANNED:
T.G Hyper Libararian(however you spell his name)
Dandylion
Mind master
Future Fusion
Limiter Removal
Monster Reborn
Royal Tribute
Giant trunade
Gateway of the six
Limited:
Trishula
Black Rose
Formula Synchron
Pot of Avarice
Shiens Smoke Signal
Solemn Warning
Fishborg Blaster
Lss Shien
mst
heavy storm
Archlord Krystia
Semi Limited
Reborn Tengu
Destiny Draw
Dewloren
Book Of Moon
Gravekeeper Spy
Royal Oppression
Unrestricted
Magical Stone Evacation
Bottomless Trap Hole
Explanations:
T.G Hyper Librarian: As long as this card is around stupid combos will be around as well, too much card advantage is generated off this one card and you only need one to win so that is why it is banned!
Dandylion: Look at T.G Hyper librarian
Mind Master: this is just like substitoad and it just puts your whole deck on the field.
Future Fusion: This card already has an ftk and puts up to 5 monsters in the grave.
Limiter Removal: No card should exist soley for an otk which is exactly what this card's purpose is.
Monster Reborn: When you are winning you shouldn't have to worry about someone topdecking this and winning. Generates a huge swing in your favor much like brain control did.
Royal Tribute: This card simply says if you draw this card first turn you win 99.9% of the time.
Gateway of the six: See royal tribute
Giant Trunade: This card is very sacky and just means an otk.
Semi Limited:
Trishula: OCG has it so should TCG
Blackrose: Blackrose is one of those monsters that you should only have to deal with once much like dark armed dragon if you can get rid of it once then you are done.
Formula: This card enables too many combos, and for the OCG it easily summons quasar.\
Pot of Avarice: In this format people don't care if their monsters get destroyed as they can just avarice them right back and draw 2, that has to stop, people have to think how and when to use their monsters.
Sheins Smoke Siganal: Sams should not have 4 rotas, with this limit they still have 2 rotas which is better than most decks.
Solemn Warning: People need to be able to summon monsters plain and simple. I do understand that warning helps the control aspect of the game but a control deck just won the North American WCQ so that tells us that we have too many answers as it is.
Fishborg Blaster: Some people have limited treeborn on their lists, but i chose fishborg because I have never understood why plaguespreader is limited but this card is not. It is more broken than plague, sure fishborg can only be used with water but plague is only used in zombie decks anyway.
Lss Shien: See black rose.
MST: If heavy is back to 1 and trunade is banned then we need to return to the days of people needing to think about if they set 1 card or their whole hand.
Heavy Storm: Once this card was banned did anybody notice that was when we had luck sacky decks and otks run rampant? Coincidence I think not. Heavy Storm needs to come back.
Archlord krystia: Krystia has made agents to powerful I am okay with hyperion and earth but this card at 2 is really just overkill and when this card is destroyed it is returned to the top of the deck so you just repeat the cycle, one is enough.
Semi Limited:
Reborn tengu: I have a bad feeling that konami will ignore this card but if you have played in a competitive tournament this format then you will know that tengu needs to get hit.
Destiny Draw: D-Heroes have been doing nothing and with mali at 2 and disk commander banned and in order to use this card you have to use sub par monsters I think it is okay to come back, give d- heroes some life back.
Dewloren: This card is a FTK maker plain and simple. This card should have never been put back to 3 in the first place.
Book of moon: in my view it was just plain stupid that konami ever limited this card I personally beleive that this card should be at 3 but baby steps at a time. This card is a -1 so you have to know when to play it to get the most out of this card.
Gravekeeper Spy: I chose to hit this for 2 reasons: 1. gravekeepers need to get a hit just a little( royal tribute really isn't enough I have seen gravekeepers win without it plenty of times, it is just sacky when they do play royal tribute). 2. Xyz's are going to be coming in force to this game and spy is a one card rank 4 xyz. Also in the future I do think that spy will have to go to 1 but only time will tell.
Royal oppression: Mass special summons ruined this game and oppression rectifies this problem, also you can't blindly play this card if you don't have a good field so oppression is needed to keep this game in check. Especially since warning is at 1 we need more answers to summoning in general.
Unrestricted:
Magical stone Evacation: This card is a -2. Also when was the last time this card was used in a tournament winning deck.(Paul Cooper's Empty Jar deck doesn't count.)
Bottomless Trap Hole: This card was never played in 3's when it was at 3, then it wen't down to 2? Also since the meta is made up of alot of small monsters bottomless isn't such a universal answer to everything anymore.
BTW: The sections are color coded for your conveniance(wrong spelling I know)
BTW #2: I was going to talk about turbo pack 6 and the Xyz ruling but most of you guys have already heard about that, okay on with the post.
Hey guys! DRUM ROLL PLEASE! lol just kidding! . So With so many other bloggers giving their view on the banlist I thought well why not make my own predictions. (This is just what i would do for the banlist and this is only my opinion so don't take it to heart if you don't like something on this list thanks!)
BANNED:
T.G Hyper Libararian(however you spell his name)
Dandylion
Mind master
Future Fusion
Limiter Removal
Monster Reborn
Royal Tribute
Giant trunade
Gateway of the six
Limited:
Trishula
Black Rose
Formula Synchron
Pot of Avarice
Shiens Smoke Signal
Solemn Warning
Fishborg Blaster
Lss Shien
mst
heavy storm
Archlord Krystia
Semi Limited
Reborn Tengu
Destiny Draw
Dewloren
Book Of Moon
Gravekeeper Spy
Royal Oppression
Unrestricted
Magical Stone Evacation
Bottomless Trap Hole
Explanations:
T.G Hyper Librarian: As long as this card is around stupid combos will be around as well, too much card advantage is generated off this one card and you only need one to win so that is why it is banned!
Dandylion: Look at T.G Hyper librarian
Mind Master: this is just like substitoad and it just puts your whole deck on the field.
Future Fusion: This card already has an ftk and puts up to 5 monsters in the grave.
Limiter Removal: No card should exist soley for an otk which is exactly what this card's purpose is.
Monster Reborn: When you are winning you shouldn't have to worry about someone topdecking this and winning. Generates a huge swing in your favor much like brain control did.
Royal Tribute: This card simply says if you draw this card first turn you win 99.9% of the time.
Gateway of the six: See royal tribute
Giant Trunade: This card is very sacky and just means an otk.
Semi Limited:
Trishula: OCG has it so should TCG
Blackrose: Blackrose is one of those monsters that you should only have to deal with once much like dark armed dragon if you can get rid of it once then you are done.
Formula: This card enables too many combos, and for the OCG it easily summons quasar.\
Pot of Avarice: In this format people don't care if their monsters get destroyed as they can just avarice them right back and draw 2, that has to stop, people have to think how and when to use their monsters.
Sheins Smoke Siganal: Sams should not have 4 rotas, with this limit they still have 2 rotas which is better than most decks.
Solemn Warning: People need to be able to summon monsters plain and simple. I do understand that warning helps the control aspect of the game but a control deck just won the North American WCQ so that tells us that we have too many answers as it is.
Fishborg Blaster: Some people have limited treeborn on their lists, but i chose fishborg because I have never understood why plaguespreader is limited but this card is not. It is more broken than plague, sure fishborg can only be used with water but plague is only used in zombie decks anyway.
Lss Shien: See black rose.
MST: If heavy is back to 1 and trunade is banned then we need to return to the days of people needing to think about if they set 1 card or their whole hand.
Heavy Storm: Once this card was banned did anybody notice that was when we had luck sacky decks and otks run rampant? Coincidence I think not. Heavy Storm needs to come back.
Archlord krystia: Krystia has made agents to powerful I am okay with hyperion and earth but this card at 2 is really just overkill and when this card is destroyed it is returned to the top of the deck so you just repeat the cycle, one is enough.
Semi Limited:
Reborn tengu: I have a bad feeling that konami will ignore this card but if you have played in a competitive tournament this format then you will know that tengu needs to get hit.
Destiny Draw: D-Heroes have been doing nothing and with mali at 2 and disk commander banned and in order to use this card you have to use sub par monsters I think it is okay to come back, give d- heroes some life back.
Dewloren: This card is a FTK maker plain and simple. This card should have never been put back to 3 in the first place.
Book of moon: in my view it was just plain stupid that konami ever limited this card I personally beleive that this card should be at 3 but baby steps at a time. This card is a -1 so you have to know when to play it to get the most out of this card.
Gravekeeper Spy: I chose to hit this for 2 reasons: 1. gravekeepers need to get a hit just a little( royal tribute really isn't enough I have seen gravekeepers win without it plenty of times, it is just sacky when they do play royal tribute). 2. Xyz's are going to be coming in force to this game and spy is a one card rank 4 xyz. Also in the future I do think that spy will have to go to 1 but only time will tell.
Royal oppression: Mass special summons ruined this game and oppression rectifies this problem, also you can't blindly play this card if you don't have a good field so oppression is needed to keep this game in check. Especially since warning is at 1 we need more answers to summoning in general.
Unrestricted:
Magical stone Evacation: This card is a -2. Also when was the last time this card was used in a tournament winning deck.(Paul Cooper's Empty Jar deck doesn't count.)
Bottomless Trap Hole: This card was never played in 3's when it was at 3, then it wen't down to 2? Also since the meta is made up of alot of small monsters bottomless isn't such a universal answer to everything anymore.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
A look at the WCQ winner's sidedeck
Hey guys! So today I am doing good on my promise and reviewing Hansel Aguero's side deck. Here is the list:
Side: 15
1 Mobius the Frost Monarch
2 Puppet Plant
1 Thunder King Rai-Oh
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
3 Dust Tornado
1 Starlight Road
1 The Transmigration Prophecy
So the whole purpose of the side deck is to be a extension of your main deck and Hansel portrayed that perfectly. The Mobius is quite smart for a few reasons. 1. since alot of the T.G monsters special summon themselves( striker, werewolf) you always have fodder for mobius, also since Hansel runs tengu mobius just fits in even better cause you tribute summon mobius pop 2 backrow, then special summon tengu is a real good play and applies so much pressure to your opponent. The puppet plant is also not very surprising as it is good against sams and gk's.
The rest of the side deck pretty much just maxes out on cards that Hansel could not max out on in the main. 1 rai-oh, 1 mst, 2 compulse. The triple dust tornados insure that warnings can't stop his summons and that six sams can't get off their broke combos that involve gateway, united, and sometimes dojo. Nobleman gets rid of raikos and spys, bottomless well is just bottomless.
Starlight road is a odd choice at first glance but after doing some thinking is good for 2 reasons. 1. T.G's already have a good resitance to the power cards(mirror force, dark hole, and torrential)not to mention blackrose,and with plants being so popular Hansel expected to see blackrose quite a bit.and starlight road just amplifies that resistance. 2. You do get a free stardust to protect your horn of the phantom beast and just like any other control deck T.G's rely alot on their backfield and stardust makes sure that the backfield stays in place.
The transmigartion prophecy is gaining steam right now. With plants relying heavily on the grave transmigration was a smart choice.
So that wraps up this post. Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
Side: 15
1 Mobius the Frost Monarch
2 Puppet Plant
1 Thunder King Rai-Oh
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
3 Dust Tornado
1 Starlight Road
1 The Transmigration Prophecy
So the whole purpose of the side deck is to be a extension of your main deck and Hansel portrayed that perfectly. The Mobius is quite smart for a few reasons. 1. since alot of the T.G monsters special summon themselves( striker, werewolf) you always have fodder for mobius, also since Hansel runs tengu mobius just fits in even better cause you tribute summon mobius pop 2 backrow, then special summon tengu is a real good play and applies so much pressure to your opponent. The puppet plant is also not very surprising as it is good against sams and gk's.
The rest of the side deck pretty much just maxes out on cards that Hansel could not max out on in the main. 1 rai-oh, 1 mst, 2 compulse. The triple dust tornados insure that warnings can't stop his summons and that six sams can't get off their broke combos that involve gateway, united, and sometimes dojo. Nobleman gets rid of raikos and spys, bottomless well is just bottomless.
Starlight road is a odd choice at first glance but after doing some thinking is good for 2 reasons. 1. T.G's already have a good resitance to the power cards(mirror force, dark hole, and torrential)not to mention blackrose,and with plants being so popular Hansel expected to see blackrose quite a bit.and starlight road just amplifies that resistance. 2. You do get a free stardust to protect your horn of the phantom beast and just like any other control deck T.G's rely alot on their backfield and stardust makes sure that the backfield stays in place.
The transmigartion prophecy is gaining steam right now. With plants relying heavily on the grave transmigration was a smart choice.
So that wraps up this post. Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
The beginning of the end
Hey guys! It seems that Rescue Rabbit is living up to its hype of becoming the next broken card. I was just roaming around shriek the other day and I happened to find a very interesting decklist( just scroll down until you see a deck labled Rabbit Ragia.) Now after taking a look at that decklist you know know that konami has made a big mistake and all of those people who said that this card was balanced(myself included) are now wrong. Sure this deck did come in second place but this is only the start. Rescue Rabbit has just come out in the ocg and already a broken deck has come out using its power. In my view this deck is only a prototype of what the "perfect Rescue Rabbit" decklist will look like when we are in the middle of the next format. So you might be asking yourself what is the point of this post? Well the point is quite simple: get ready for rabbit format(in the TCG). We have until november to prepare and look for ways to stop this demented rabbit.
I will admit that I was wrong. When I first took a look at this card I thought is was balanced but after more and more combos started surfacing with this card absolutley breaking this card I realized that Rescue Rabbit is the next broken card more so then its feline counterpart. So prepare cause Rabbit Raiga is coming to a Regional near you.
I will admit that I was wrong. When I first took a look at this card I thought is was balanced but after more and more combos started surfacing with this card absolutley breaking this card I realized that Rescue Rabbit is the next broken card more so then its feline counterpart. So prepare cause Rabbit Raiga is coming to a Regional near you.
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