Hey guys! So I am having a problem keeping schedule of late but I am trying to rectify this problem. So today I am making quite a bold statement(I think it is bold): YCS Toronto is irrelevant. Why you ask? Well allow me to explain. YCS Toronto merely confirmed my suspicions.
Agents are the best deck of the format.... right now. They have access to the best boss monsters and they are very consistent. So why did I not say that plants were the best deck even though they won the event? I just don't think that plants are a lasting trend. They are still good but they lost alot on the last ban list more than alot of people think. Having only one avarice means that most of the time they can only do their shenaganis once in a duel. Right now the shenaganis are good enough that they only need to be done once in a duel, but later in the format the winds of change are coming, more on that later. Currently boss monsters rule and I don't see that changing any time soon. Kristyia and hyperion, and BLS, all of these cards are very good, and with some people refusing to run generic removal these cards just get better, the hand traps do nothing to get rid of these monsters so those are not an option. But decks coming later in the format have built in removal.... more on that later. Talking about plants winning the YCS decks have a history of winning the first major event in the format after the one they were good in. A recent example of this would be YCS Charlette( I know wrong spelling) where Six sams won right after they had just won YCS Dallas. Sure six sams only lost 2 gateway in between those events, but looking at the base 5 card plant engine plants only lost 1 lonefire, avarice was merely a way to get back that engine so you could do it all over again.
But that last sentence disproves my comment of plants aren't a lasting a trend. But this is where we look to what eventually happened to six sams. For the next few events up until nationals six sams had 4 spots in the top 32 of YCS charlette, 6 spots in YCS Anaheim, and 5 spots in YCS Providence, so actually six sams had more spots in the top 32 then in charlette which was where they won, the reason for this was people were not sure if six sams were still good after they lost 2 gateway, then when they won the YCS they got a slight boost in numbers. Then suddenly at North American Nationals six sams were nowhere to be found, it was all tengu plants and T.G, ( and some GK) people had discovered something far more dangerous than six sams, tengu plants were more explosive and had much more consistency compared to the luck sacky six sam. T.G capitalized the fact that heavy storm was not in the game. the results proved these theories. Only two six sams made it to the top 16 at WCQ Europe, again proving that there were much more dangerous things that that format has to offer(very important sentence alert!). Finally at the very last event of the september format( YCS indy) there was no six sams that topped 16 at the event. The event was dominated by "synchro monster" decks(aka tengu/tour guide deck, lol konami).
So my whole point of writing about this is that plants are not going to last, sure they are still good but this format has so much more to offer than a rehashed deck that was tier 1 last format. In just a few weeks we will have dark worlds, which will change the game, they will be tier 1 this format, also with grapha not only being one of the if not the best boss monster thanks to its ability to turn every dark world into a floater, it also gives the deck generic removal which is so key this format. Also snow allows you to search for this boss monster, and their field spell generates way to much advantage. I foresee agents having a tough time with this matchup, imo whatever agents can do dark worlds can do better, they both have 2700 beaters that pop stuff, but grapha can be spammed and even though hyperion can use it s effect every turn, grpaha can still be spammed. Agents have earth dark worlds have snow, earth searches for venus which allows you to make NEXT TURN a gachi gachi which pumps up venus and fills the grave for hyperion and kristyia. Snow searches gate which immediately makes grapha bigger than any other boss monster the deck has, and it also allows you to search grapha, need I say more?
Later in the format(november) we will get photon shockwave which has Rescue rabbit, I know that some people still doubt the rabbit's power but it is only a matter of time before that card is broke and even so that rabbit is too dangerous to be left alive( lol) it is just plain bad card design. Also I have heard some rumors about dark world tcg exclusive(s) if that rumor is true, knowing the tcg card design team they make dark worlds all the more broken.
All in all my basic point is that plants are not going to last sure at YCS columbus there will be alot of people playing plants but that tend much like six sams will slowly die out. I will make a prediction: by 2012 WCQ: North America plants will have gone off the radar. If I am wrong well so be it but I truly believe that plants will not last, I will stick to my word on this. This format is very young potential is overflowing. On a final note I am not saying that this format is bad just that this format is truly undefined as of right now.
Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Back to regular posting schedule(kinda) and a format discussion
Hey guys! So I am have some free time and I will try to post on a regular schedule. Anyways I have been demoralized ever since I went 1-3 at my regional and 2-2 at my local. I have tested so hard in the past 2 months, so that is such a disappointment to see that record. I do suppose that since it was the beginning of the format I wasn't expected to do great. but still. I actually blame all of this on myself, for some reason I feel like I can't concentrate fully when I am playing. Maybe it is just a passing storm(I sure hope so!) but nevertheless I will continue to push forward in hope of getting out of my rut.
In regards to YCS toronto(full review once decklists are up!) I honestly wasn't surprised in the least. There has been talk of plants still being good recently and agents taking the most spots should be no surprise to anyone.
In regards to my personal deck choice I think for the next few weeks I will return to my roots and play Blackwings. Sure they lost oppression but they gained an icrus. I kind of want to utilize BLS and since I already main 2 veiler that really shouldn't be such a hard goal to achieve. I will have a decklist up once I make a good list. Sabers are good but they are just to slow to be ran in this format(though the same could be said for blackwings).
So this is kind of a half assed post on second glance, like I said I haven't been in tune with the game so to speak so you can't expect my normal quality of posts. Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
In regards to YCS toronto(full review once decklists are up!) I honestly wasn't surprised in the least. There has been talk of plants still being good recently and agents taking the most spots should be no surprise to anyone.
In regards to my personal deck choice I think for the next few weeks I will return to my roots and play Blackwings. Sure they lost oppression but they gained an icrus. I kind of want to utilize BLS and since I already main 2 veiler that really shouldn't be such a hard goal to achieve. I will have a decklist up once I make a good list. Sabers are good but they are just to slow to be ran in this format(though the same could be said for blackwings).
So this is kind of a half assed post on second glance, like I said I haven't been in tune with the game so to speak so you can't expect my normal quality of posts. Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
Sunday, September 18, 2011
About not posting in a while
Hey guys! So I haven't posted in a while. Why? Well school has now started so I am busy busy busy, I have been keeping up with yugioh related manners though, so i guess I will have a YCS recap on toronto, from what i here plants did good. No comment.... yet. Also I have been very demorlaized as of late. At me last regional I went 1-3 before dropping and I have not fared very well at locals either so that can be a reason for no posting. More posts will be up soon I just need to find time. Thanks for reading and I will start posting soon once I find free time. Also 3,200 pageviews wow thanks a alot readers you guys are the greatest!
-Cameron
-Cameron
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Early format review/discussion
Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of posts. School is starting soon and I have been very busy preparing for it. Anyway the main point of this post is for me to give you my observations and review of this format as of right now before YCS Toronto.
I have done extensive playtesting with my teamates and friends and have played in a local tourney(I can't find my notes so don't expect a local report, sorry!) and here is what I have found out.
SIDE NOTE: All of the following paragraphs are taken from my point of view and I was playing X-Sabers so just know that I have taken this info from a X-Saber standpoint.
Currently the best deck of the format is Agent for a few reasons. First they have the most boss monsters of any deck, and those boss monsters can turn the tempo of any game and ruin a setup. On the topic of boss monsters the most important card in that category is kristyia. Once that card hits the field your sole prority is to get it off the field. it can shift games around and is they get back honest with its effect you are restricted to using card effects. Since the only real out to kristyia is to remove it and our remove from play options quite limited ex: d-prision, karma cut(if you really want to.) all of those options either are not chainable or make you lose advantage. so now we turn to destroying kristyia which is not a permanant solution unless you can manipulate the graveyard. This is where the bad players are seperated from the good players. The whole test this format is if you can keep the graveyard clear or a card that restricts your opponents acess to the graveyard. Your opponent could have 6 faries in grave and have a hyperion and kristyia in hand. Your opponent is just a hyperion drop away from dropping kristyia( you remove one fairy to summon then remove another to pop a card 6-2=4). So that leads to the question of how do you control the graveyard? Well playing smart is one thing but having the right cards can help as well. The card that I personally found to be one of the best cards this format was kycoo. He restricts your opponents access so that your opponent can't drop hyperion or any other choas monster(BLS or choas sorc.) al,l the while allowing you to drop whatever monster you want. Other good side deck cards are cyber dragon cause big beaters are good and rai-oh cause big beaters are good and big beaters with good effects are even better. Also getting back to the point of agents being the best deck is because no two agent decks are exactly the same. Some builds might have the tour guide engine some might have the vallhalla engine, some could be just straight agents, I even faced a agent deck that splashed the d-hero engine. Diversity among top tier decks is a very good thing. That is part of the reason that six sam fell out of the picture late last format all of the builds had little to no differenation.
Tech cards are returning to full form this format. In almost any deck now days you are bound to have room for 2-3 tech cards that can often win you games. It is important to test out these tech cards and see is they work or not. The same goes for the side deck choose cards that attack the meta, right now agents are the only deck that is defined tier one so they are the meta right now side alot for them. But never forget to side heavily for rouge matchups, some cards are already good against those matchups rai-oh and cydra are always good. With agents being the meta it all bois down to how fast can your deck ge rid of kristyia and how well can it recover after it has been dealt with. The point of this post is to say that kristyia is a format defining card and a decks viablity will be determined by how well it can utilize it or if it can't utlize it how well can it handle it.
Part of the reason kirstyia is such a format defining card is that when people( myself included) looked at the banlist many thought that all non chainable backrow was dead. That is not true. Some power cards are just to powerful to be ignored. Mirror force is one of those power cards. Sure it can die by mst but this card can generate such huge swings in tempo it is nothing to scoff at. It allows you pick yourdelf back up dust your self off and try another time to comeback from what was thought to be certain defeat. Also it allows you to set up for kristiya since you know that is what your oppnent will draw next turn putting you in a very powerful situation. Also some people will not be expecting it and walk right into it because they think that nobody plays it anymore. Imo the three main traps you should be running are mirror force, torrential, and dustshoot. On occasion a first turn dustshoot can win you the game.
Moving on to the main card of the format. Dark hole. Yes Dark hole. If you draw this card in your opening hand consider yourself very lucky. You cannot underestimate the value of dark hole this format. Never use dark hole as a one for one(the same goes for mirror force) dark hole can get you out of any situation period. This is what also seperates good players from bad, how well they use their power cards. As a final note play conservatlity(really bad spelling lol) never waste any power card and never go aggro until you are 100% sure you can win the game, that is what defines this format. Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
I have done extensive playtesting with my teamates and friends and have played in a local tourney(I can't find my notes so don't expect a local report, sorry!) and here is what I have found out.
SIDE NOTE: All of the following paragraphs are taken from my point of view and I was playing X-Sabers so just know that I have taken this info from a X-Saber standpoint.
Currently the best deck of the format is Agent for a few reasons. First they have the most boss monsters of any deck, and those boss monsters can turn the tempo of any game and ruin a setup. On the topic of boss monsters the most important card in that category is kristyia. Once that card hits the field your sole prority is to get it off the field. it can shift games around and is they get back honest with its effect you are restricted to using card effects. Since the only real out to kristyia is to remove it and our remove from play options quite limited ex: d-prision, karma cut(if you really want to.) all of those options either are not chainable or make you lose advantage. so now we turn to destroying kristyia which is not a permanant solution unless you can manipulate the graveyard. This is where the bad players are seperated from the good players. The whole test this format is if you can keep the graveyard clear or a card that restricts your opponents acess to the graveyard. Your opponent could have 6 faries in grave and have a hyperion and kristyia in hand. Your opponent is just a hyperion drop away from dropping kristyia( you remove one fairy to summon then remove another to pop a card 6-2=4). So that leads to the question of how do you control the graveyard? Well playing smart is one thing but having the right cards can help as well. The card that I personally found to be one of the best cards this format was kycoo. He restricts your opponents access so that your opponent can't drop hyperion or any other choas monster(BLS or choas sorc.) al,l the while allowing you to drop whatever monster you want. Other good side deck cards are cyber dragon cause big beaters are good and rai-oh cause big beaters are good and big beaters with good effects are even better. Also getting back to the point of agents being the best deck is because no two agent decks are exactly the same. Some builds might have the tour guide engine some might have the vallhalla engine, some could be just straight agents, I even faced a agent deck that splashed the d-hero engine. Diversity among top tier decks is a very good thing. That is part of the reason that six sam fell out of the picture late last format all of the builds had little to no differenation.
Tech cards are returning to full form this format. In almost any deck now days you are bound to have room for 2-3 tech cards that can often win you games. It is important to test out these tech cards and see is they work or not. The same goes for the side deck choose cards that attack the meta, right now agents are the only deck that is defined tier one so they are the meta right now side alot for them. But never forget to side heavily for rouge matchups, some cards are already good against those matchups rai-oh and cydra are always good. With agents being the meta it all bois down to how fast can your deck ge rid of kristyia and how well can it recover after it has been dealt with. The point of this post is to say that kristyia is a format defining card and a decks viablity will be determined by how well it can utilize it or if it can't utlize it how well can it handle it.
Part of the reason kirstyia is such a format defining card is that when people( myself included) looked at the banlist many thought that all non chainable backrow was dead. That is not true. Some power cards are just to powerful to be ignored. Mirror force is one of those power cards. Sure it can die by mst but this card can generate such huge swings in tempo it is nothing to scoff at. It allows you pick yourdelf back up dust your self off and try another time to comeback from what was thought to be certain defeat. Also it allows you to set up for kristiya since you know that is what your oppnent will draw next turn putting you in a very powerful situation. Also some people will not be expecting it and walk right into it because they think that nobody plays it anymore. Imo the three main traps you should be running are mirror force, torrential, and dustshoot. On occasion a first turn dustshoot can win you the game.
Moving on to the main card of the format. Dark hole. Yes Dark hole. If you draw this card in your opening hand consider yourself very lucky. You cannot underestimate the value of dark hole this format. Never use dark hole as a one for one(the same goes for mirror force) dark hole can get you out of any situation period. This is what also seperates good players from bad, how well they use their power cards. As a final note play conservatlity(really bad spelling lol) never waste any power card and never go aggro until you are 100% sure you can win the game, that is what defines this format. Thanks for reading!
-Cameron
Friday, September 2, 2011
Effect of the new TCG Xyz ruling
Hey guys! So I am going to be explaining the effect of the new Xyz ruling, here we go!
WARNING: This post merely expresses my opinion so take it lightly!
WARNING#2: Long post alert!
So first I am very happy about this ruling this makes the game much more fair, it makes tour guide a much less splashable card, and it makes the tour guide engine much less broken and no longer tier 0. But make no mistake tour guide is still a very good card but it now becomes a niche card. Tour guide still has a home in decks that run monsters like BLS, choas sorc as it still is the best dark engine in the game. Also dark worlds imo still need to run this card as it really does help the goal of the dark world deck. I was on ebay about an hour before checking tour guide prices the cheapest I could find tour guide was about $150 and the most expensive $200. For playsets it was mostly around $550-$600( all of these values are in USD and are all completed listings) About half an hour after the ruling was announced the most expensive i could find was $147 but that was way above the average. After more scanning the page for prices I found that the average pice of a tour guide was about $90-$100(completed listings). Also I could not find a playset valued more than $300. Going on average prices the price of 1 tour guide fell about $100 and the price of a playset dropped about $300. tour guides are still expensive but for a person that is a good seller and buyer of cards it is now much more afforadble. I am of course still not going to be using tour guides.
Moving on I will now talk about the effect of this ruling on the meta. First of all tour guide will still be seen but decks not running tour guide will show their faces once again in hopes of topping. I do believe that tour guide will still be seen in alot in tournament worthy decks but now I believe the ration is 50/50 where the ration was once 80/20. With the previous TCG ruling you could get a 2500 beater or a 1800 beater than revives your banished monsters, then you could search for "X" card( insert effect veiler here). Now it is still possible to get a 2500 beater or a monster that gets back your banished monsters but you can't search for that effect veiler which would cripple your chances of a comeback. Also tour guide can now also be played like it was before we had Xyz monsters: a way to fetch sangan out of your deck, let your opponent destroy it then search. This is much more fair as it allows your opponent to dictate when you search.
Tour guide now joins the ranks of monsters like deep sea diva, and GK spy: a one card Xyz. The only difference now is that of the versatility of the Rank 3 Xyz's. The diva Xyz combo summons Gachi Gachi Gantetsu which is a good card but since diva only has that one option it is not a very versatile combo. the GK spy can either summon roach or Utopia. Sure that is more versatile combo than diva but utopia really only has one role which is to block attacks, and roach well roach is quickly losing favor in my eyes and will only get worse as Xyz's take more of a prominant role in the game. Tour guide can summon a 2500 beater or a monster that sp banished monsters allowing for more combos. Sure Utopia is a 2500 beater but it also has a bad negative effect that allows it to get run over quite easy while leavthian dragon's only draw back is that it cannot attack directly and that is when it is at 3000 atk, so your opponenet can't just summon kuriboh(lol) and atk and destroy like they can with utopia. Also GK spy takes a turn to set up while tour guide requires no set up. But even with the Xyz's tour guide summons it is still not a broken card cause it still doesn't get the search.(Barring konami making a absolultely broken rank 3 Xyz, I should stop giving them ideas.)
Moving on to talk about deck viablity. Most decks are okay with this ruling, agents are a amazing deck without tour guide so this changes nothing. I did see some lightsworn builds run tour guide but in all honesty that deck has problems that extend far beyond the power of tour guide( like consitency and the fact that it is garbage, yes I am sticking true to my theory of Lightsworn=Garbage). Zombies are really the only deck harshly affected by this ruling. the new age zombies were built on the fact that if you detach goblin zombie you get a search, and the splashability of tour guide to search for combo pieces with sangan. Well with that no longer plausable zombies became meh and the fact that plaguspreader zombie doesn't get banished if detached is little consolation. As mentioned before decks that don't use tour guide are now much more viable than before so don't fret if you can't use/get tour guide.
I have talked about everything except one important subject effect veiler/herald of orange light. I have heard some people talk about it not being a staple. while I guess you could risk not running it I still think that veiler is quite neccasary. It is pretty much good against every deck out there and is never really a dead card. But to sum it up it is less of a tech card and more of a staple.
Another subject is that of mind crush's viablity. With floaters now not getting to search is it really that useful? Imo yes. While I don't run it I still believe that with duality and don't forget just because those floaters don't get their effects when detached doesn't mean that people won't run them! Though from what I understand the main reason people were using mind crush is because of tour guide. Since tour guide was splashed into everything people knew that searching was inevitable but with the tour guide engine becoming less prominant I do forsee a decrease in play for mind crush.
So to sum it up tour guide is still a very good card but it now has a niche to fill it certain decks and it cannot just be splashed into any random deck. The main point I am trying to get across is that you do not need tour guide to win. Also kind of on a side note I personally think that this is one of the best formats we have had in a while( again barring any kind of broken card konami can think of.) The only thing is that I honestly though that we would get the no prority on monster ignition effects ruling, but I guess that is for another time( hopefully in the near future.) Thanks for reading and I hoped this post helped!
-Cameron
WARNING: This post merely expresses my opinion so take it lightly!
WARNING#2: Long post alert!
So first I am very happy about this ruling this makes the game much more fair, it makes tour guide a much less splashable card, and it makes the tour guide engine much less broken and no longer tier 0. But make no mistake tour guide is still a very good card but it now becomes a niche card. Tour guide still has a home in decks that run monsters like BLS, choas sorc as it still is the best dark engine in the game. Also dark worlds imo still need to run this card as it really does help the goal of the dark world deck. I was on ebay about an hour before checking tour guide prices the cheapest I could find tour guide was about $150 and the most expensive $200. For playsets it was mostly around $550-$600( all of these values are in USD and are all completed listings) About half an hour after the ruling was announced the most expensive i could find was $147 but that was way above the average. After more scanning the page for prices I found that the average pice of a tour guide was about $90-$100(completed listings). Also I could not find a playset valued more than $300. Going on average prices the price of 1 tour guide fell about $100 and the price of a playset dropped about $300. tour guides are still expensive but for a person that is a good seller and buyer of cards it is now much more afforadble. I am of course still not going to be using tour guides.
Moving on I will now talk about the effect of this ruling on the meta. First of all tour guide will still be seen but decks not running tour guide will show their faces once again in hopes of topping. I do believe that tour guide will still be seen in alot in tournament worthy decks but now I believe the ration is 50/50 where the ration was once 80/20. With the previous TCG ruling you could get a 2500 beater or a 1800 beater than revives your banished monsters, then you could search for "X" card( insert effect veiler here). Now it is still possible to get a 2500 beater or a monster that gets back your banished monsters but you can't search for that effect veiler which would cripple your chances of a comeback. Also tour guide can now also be played like it was before we had Xyz monsters: a way to fetch sangan out of your deck, let your opponent destroy it then search. This is much more fair as it allows your opponent to dictate when you search.
Tour guide now joins the ranks of monsters like deep sea diva, and GK spy: a one card Xyz. The only difference now is that of the versatility of the Rank 3 Xyz's. The diva Xyz combo summons Gachi Gachi Gantetsu which is a good card but since diva only has that one option it is not a very versatile combo. the GK spy can either summon roach or Utopia. Sure that is more versatile combo than diva but utopia really only has one role which is to block attacks, and roach well roach is quickly losing favor in my eyes and will only get worse as Xyz's take more of a prominant role in the game. Tour guide can summon a 2500 beater or a monster that sp banished monsters allowing for more combos. Sure Utopia is a 2500 beater but it also has a bad negative effect that allows it to get run over quite easy while leavthian dragon's only draw back is that it cannot attack directly and that is when it is at 3000 atk, so your opponenet can't just summon kuriboh(lol) and atk and destroy like they can with utopia. Also GK spy takes a turn to set up while tour guide requires no set up. But even with the Xyz's tour guide summons it is still not a broken card cause it still doesn't get the search.(Barring konami making a absolultely broken rank 3 Xyz, I should stop giving them ideas.)
Moving on to talk about deck viablity. Most decks are okay with this ruling, agents are a amazing deck without tour guide so this changes nothing. I did see some lightsworn builds run tour guide but in all honesty that deck has problems that extend far beyond the power of tour guide( like consitency and the fact that it is garbage, yes I am sticking true to my theory of Lightsworn=Garbage). Zombies are really the only deck harshly affected by this ruling. the new age zombies were built on the fact that if you detach goblin zombie you get a search, and the splashability of tour guide to search for combo pieces with sangan. Well with that no longer plausable zombies became meh and the fact that plaguspreader zombie doesn't get banished if detached is little consolation. As mentioned before decks that don't use tour guide are now much more viable than before so don't fret if you can't use/get tour guide.
I have talked about everything except one important subject effect veiler/herald of orange light. I have heard some people talk about it not being a staple. while I guess you could risk not running it I still think that veiler is quite neccasary. It is pretty much good against every deck out there and is never really a dead card. But to sum it up it is less of a tech card and more of a staple.
Another subject is that of mind crush's viablity. With floaters now not getting to search is it really that useful? Imo yes. While I don't run it I still believe that with duality and don't forget just because those floaters don't get their effects when detached doesn't mean that people won't run them! Though from what I understand the main reason people were using mind crush is because of tour guide. Since tour guide was splashed into everything people knew that searching was inevitable but with the tour guide engine becoming less prominant I do forsee a decrease in play for mind crush.
So to sum it up tour guide is still a very good card but it now has a niche to fill it certain decks and it cannot just be splashed into any random deck. The main point I am trying to get across is that you do not need tour guide to win. Also kind of on a side note I personally think that this is one of the best formats we have had in a while( again barring any kind of broken card konami can think of.) The only thing is that I honestly though that we would get the no prority on monster ignition effects ruling, but I guess that is for another time( hopefully in the near future.) Thanks for reading and I hoped this post helped!
-Cameron
Thursday, September 1, 2011
It's official TCG Xyz ruling has been revoked
Hey guys! Urgent news I was looking at the new 8.0 rulebook on the konami website and it said that Xyz materials are not treated as being on the field! I then find out that other bloggers have wrote about this ): Oh well, the point is this format is now going to be quite good, I have found out that this format is actually much more skillful in the way that of managment of power cards. More on that on another post. You can find a link to the article here. Happy dueling!
-Cameron
-Cameron
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