Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year + riddle!

Happy New Year to all my readers and also to everybody who doesn't read this blog(everyone needs something to be happy about!)

This blog's now has its first new year and I wanted to take the time to thank anyone and everyone for letting the blog make it this far and I hope this blog and everybody else has a prosperous new year in life and in of course everybody's favorite card game!

My resolution: To go to Locals more(I only went like 5 times this year, school eats away at all of my time!)

Before I go though I have a little New Years riddle! Can you guess the deck with these 3 clues?



Friday, December 30, 2011

Netdecking

Hey guys! I hope you all had a good Christmas, and are ready to take on the new year in both yugioh and life! I personally had a great Christmas and am getting some restful sleep on my time off from school. The topic of the post today is netdecking.

Netdecking has a bad rap. Many people categorize the netdeckers as unimaginative and mindless drones that don't have any creativity. But imo if netdecking is done correctly it can be very beneficial to the player doing the netdecking. I was always the kind of person that when I read a complicated sereis f card texts( ex. inzektors) I didn't see the combos right away, in all honesty it looked like a shit ton of words to me all of which I didn't see how they worked together. Some may call that the sign of a bad player if you can't theoretically "put the puzzle together", but I think it is just the opposite. Some people learn better by doing rather than someone just telling them and that is exactly what netdecking is about: thinking and interacting.

For the purpose of this post the deck that I will use as my netdeck example is wind up inzectors or as I like to call them "winzektors" quite frankly because that is what they do: win(more on that another day). So the first thing I did was go to tcg player and netdeck from Jason Grabher-Meyer's build of winzektors. Then I went to DN and proceded to play games with it. I wasn't playing so that if I obtain the deck that I would know what to do with it, instead I was paying the deck so that way I knew what it was capable of. Knowledge is power and especially in the game of yugioh knowing is half the battle, this knowledge then moves on to your other matches, and once you know how a deck operates side decking becomes a less daunting proposition. Sure I could have a theory-oh(however you spell that)  session in order to hash out some good tech picks and card choices but instead I went with the netdecking route and here I say that the netdecking route is better why?

Theroy-oh is useful when you are preparing for a major event and need to hash out the details of what cards are good and bad. In the netdecking example the work was done for me and I was all ready to go. In many people's eyes I took the lazy route. In my eyes I took the realist route. Most of us are not the trailblazers and the mavericks that come up with these strategies, if I added a tech it would just screw up the deck and make it work less, in all of my games that I played the orignal deck I won, sure you can make a one card change, I added a dustshoot but that card is proven to be good. I realized that all of this careful planning had gone into this deck so why should I tinker with it. The people who netdeck are not unimaginative and mindless zombies they are realists. They realize that their little tech is not good, they realized that there synchro version of TG is subpar compared to the stun version, they realized that their inferinty deck doesn't hold a candle to the awesome power of tengu/tour guide decks,  They want to win and get better at this game so they netdeck and I guarantee they learn twice the knowledge than if they would have been "creative".  Oh but they only realize all of this if they netdeck correctly.

How do you netdeck correctly? Allow me to use a real world example, in school you are taught to use your critical thinking skills and not just think about what is in front of you. If you netdeck a tier 1 deck that deck is tier 1 for a reason. A example would be the infamous tengu.tour guide decks. Those decks are not very skillful but they do have a enormous amount of combos that you must know about. Also with Maxx C being such a driving force in the game(or hand traps in general) you must know correctly when to drop the hand traps. I remember Robert Boyajian talking in his article on arg fresh off of his win in YCS indy and he said that in one of his games he "pulled off a devastating combo with a debris dragon a dandylion and a one for one that allowed me to make a TG Hyper librarian and a stardust that allowed me to draw 5 cards" at the end he added that he didn't even know that combo existed until he pulled it off. To the normal player that really doesn't seem important as what are the chances of you getting all of those cards in your hand, I used to think that way to a few years back but that is what amkes all of the puzzle pieces fit in your head, Jeff Jones also quoted on arg said that he never has to think about what cards go with what and that it all comes together in his head. I wanted to play like that and am still trying to achive that level of play but i must say with me netdecking all of the tier 1 decks I have become a better player not a worse one because I wasn't creative, Netdecking requires critical thinking on your part as you are thrown into a unknown environment but this allows for interaction and critical thinking which in turn makes us all better players. I learned that you have to be able to justify your every move over another and realize why you can't in some situations(misplay!) While netdecking I analyze every move and interact with the game immensely. I try and set up for future plays. All of this is critical thinking/analyzing.

I do realize that many people(myself included) so not have the money to take these netdecks  away from DN and transfer them to the competitive scene. That is okay with all of this knowledge you can than transfer that to another deck, I guarntee you will see flaws that you didn't think existed. Also netdecking has one other big plus one that I have benefited most from. When you netdeck you realize why things work and what cards are good instead of just saying "well the pros made that move" or "well the pros played it so I am to" its okay to question some card choices while netdecking if you cut them you will realize you will miss them and found out why they are good or you won't miss them and think about what cards are good in that slot. So while I do say that you shouldn't add all of your little techs into the netdeck, you should question them and ask yourself why. You aren't just accepting a known fact. Getting back to the benefiting part, when you netdeck you play with the  best cards the format has to offer and in turn realize what makes a good card good and a broken card broken. When your guide was only $45 I picked up 2 and when it s price skyrocketed I sold and got some nice cash!

In conclusion netdecking is not a bad thing is done properly, you ask questions, relaize your misplays and analyze the game, even if you can't take that netdeck off of DN you realize what game mechanics are good and what makes them good. I still have much to learn and I am in no way a "pro" I can give people a good game though(when I get some sleep first!) I made this blog to share what works for me in regards to becoming a better player, i want to get better at this game and I want to grow as a player and I believe netdecking done the healthy way is a nice place to start. Using my knowledge I have gained from net decking I have made plenty of innovative decks that are quite good imo, I am using sabers which I try to make to the best of my ability, and currently I am testing out a deck that I have a "history" with so you can say I have a bit of nostalgia(thats for a later time though). I hope this post was a good read.
SIDE NOTE: Woot! 8700+ page views my readers are awesome!
-Cameron

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas and Tour bus's effect revealed


Well well look at what we have here. Konami has finally revealed  the effect of tour bus:


When this card is sent to the Graveyard: Target 1 monster in either player’s Graveyard, except “Tour Bus From the Underworld”; shuffle that target into the Deck.
The effect works even if it is detached by a XYZ or discarded from the hand or brought back into the graveyard if it was removed from play. 

At first I thought this card sucked but then I read the little "christmas rhyme" about it here. The card allows for a continues stream of monsters to be put back into your deck and for a little disruption since you can send a monster from your opponents grave.  In the early game you can summon tour guide get bus then detach tour guide, next turn detach bus and get tour guide back to your deck so you can use it again. This really doesn't accomplish anything but in the mis to late game you can use tour guide to get bus XYZ with bus put sangan back into your deck so that way you still have tour guide(s) that can summon sangan and search again. 

I can definitely see people teching 1 of this card in decks that use tour guide(aka every tier 1 deck), you could put back a tengu, a normal dinosaur so that third rabbit is live and lonefire so that you can use the effect again. Bus does have alot of utility which scares me, the thing I hate most about this card is that it says: screw the rules. Bus completely disregards the XYZ materiel not being on the field ruling and returns to the kevin tewart ruling of them being on the field. If cards just override these key rules we have in place then why do we even have rules?

All in all tour bus is good and I think most people will tech 1, not insanely broken as tour guide but good this card would not urk me so much if it just didn't override withholding rules in this game. I personally will be testing this out on DN. With this effect I fully expect a tour guide reprint.

Since this is not broken but good, this makes ORCS a good set with good but not broken cards.

Thanks for reading
Oh and before I forget Merry Christmas to everybody!
-Cameron


Saturday, December 17, 2011

What have I been up to?

On a random note does anybody else just sometimes sit there and listen to the tranquil christmas esque music on DN? Probably not but I do! Hey guys! So I have been very busy lately hence why i am not posting on a regular basis, but I am getting some time off from school ver soon as my exams are next week then I am finally free!

Anyways I have been recently playing around with a few different decks on DN and have been having alot of fun. Some of the decks are using cards from ORCS(which I think is a stellar set not counting the most likely broken TCG exclusives.) To name a few decks: Blackwing, a new varient of X-saber and TGish deck that is really kinda weird but somehow works, and to round it out darkworlds with the new cards from ORCS.  I know this is kinda quick post but I wanted to put something up and let you guys know that I am still here, I will be posting soon but I just nned to finish my exams so bear with me!

Thanks for reading and see you in a week!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

The Tech Card

Oh where oh where could it be! Hey guys as the title implies I am going to have a discussion on the tech card, on to it!

The tech card has been a fundamental part of this game since the game began. It allowed you to make a deck that was highly played your own. In goat control format games were often won by the players tech card and who chose the better tech card. This trend continued all throughout the game's history. Perfect Circle(oh how I love that deck!) and etc. Gradually however cards were beginning to become so powerful that no "special tech" was needed instead the combos of the said deck were already so powerful that the tech was most likely going to get in the way. Imo tele-dad was the bane of the tech card. The deck was already so powerful and the complete and utter terrifying things it could pull off were something of a card game nightmare, it was not uncommon to be top 32 at a regional and look down at the other tables and see everyone playing the exact same deck. There was no reason not to play the deck(unless you couldn't afford it!) it was the absolute best deck of the format.

Tele-dad deck lists had very little if any variance at all in the deck. Like I said before there was no point in running a card that could just get in the way. I am not here to give you a history lesson though what I am here to tell you is this: the tech card is largely dead. Fast forward to today's meta where you have BLS, Hyperion and other ridiculous over powered cards(tengu, tour guide, the list goes on). Decks that special summon all the time, ridiculous effects that must be stopped, combine all of this and you have a ton of threats to deal with. In order to combat the rampant special summons you main Maxx C and in order to stop the over powered effects you run effect veiler. You want some more protection against all of these threats so you main bottomless and d-prsion. Then of course you add in the meat of your deck: the staples and the monsters. You now have a complete deck! But wait where are the tech cards? Gone you say! Yes unfortnatley that is what our game state is. With all of the overpowered cards you have to compensate for them and then some. Also when you have tour guide that can make ridiculous XYZ's and sangan can search out your combo pieces what is the point of running a now considered sub par card?

My point is this: Back when tele-dad was around people stopped playing techs because the cards were just so good, now days people stop playing techs because the cards are overpowered and you don't need a card that can be situational when you have a easy out and because with all of the stuff you must deal with, you must also have a answer for all of the situations you face. Sure the new definition of a tech card seems to be oh I teched in a D-prision or I teched in a effect veiler. Sorry to say but it is not teching when 80% of top tier decks play those cards. With all of the space that is consumed with staples(that tearm is very broad now and reaches across the board) there si no room for inovation. Konami is suffocating us and we all know it. Of course this all stems from the fact that they print over powered cards but that is for another time.

The >tier 1 decks have been hit especially hard by this troubling trend. Since they don't have the speed and power of a tier 1 deck they must make up for that by compensating with even more preventive cards like Maxx C , veiler, and/or more traps. The place where tech cards used to find solace is now a palce where they are non existent. Creativity and skill play go hand in hand. You used to have to playtest for days on end with different tech cards to see which ones were the best across the board. Now when you palytest you focus more on deck speed and strength and synergy than anything else. Maybe this is why Magic is so appealing( not saying I like the game of magic, just trying to prove a point) since you can add a card in the right deck and have it work(sorry if I sound like a magic moron, I don't know anything about the game!)

The one thing that I want you to realize from this post is that the tech card has fundamentally changed to the point of how many copies should I run instead of should I tech in 1 copy of this card. The former is not a true tech card which could explain why yugioh as a whole has seen better days.

Thanks for reading!
-Cameron

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Updated Saber deck


Yes that is my updated saber list it went 4-1 at locals(didn't top 8 because of bad tie breakers). It has a good matchup against agents and karakuri. Strong rouge matchup as well, I haven't tested extensively against plants, dark world, or dino rabbit. Still I won a match against plants so the matchup isn't to bad. The main difference from the last list to this one is the rai-oh's. In my testing the problem that occurred the most was that I had no way to grind for advantage and everything was more set try to set up or summon boggart and go for a aggressive play. The rai-ohs allow me to hold resources until i need them. Plus rai-oh is good lol.

Maxx C was cut down to 2, it clogged to much at 3. You might be asking why no e-con, reason is that in my testing is was quite underwhelming. It never really helped me and I alwys wished it was something else, sure I know that it has utility but traditionally I never really play e-con in my sabers because I never find it helpful. I instead opted to play D-prsion and that card puts in work. I was never sorry I drew that card infact it worked so well I am considering swapping bottomless for another prision. The bottomless is still good though it all really depends on player preference. Also I could only fit 1 mst in the main(I side the other 2) I kinda wanted to main 2 mst but alas I wasn't able to but it hasn't really hurt me, I have never missed that second mst(except in dark world macthup, but then again dark worlds almost always have a stellar game 1 and a lackluster game 2-3). All in all the deck is good and if you like sabers give the deck a try.

It may seem like I rushed this post and indeed I did. I wanted to get this post out there since I have some exams coming up this week and I am unsure of my ability to update the blog as much as I would like to in the coming week. I do still have a few things planned and some interesting discussions I wish to talk about so hopefully I can find some free time in my busy school schedule.

Also thank you for the 7,000+ pageviews that 10,000 mark is ever closer! Thanks for reading!
-Cameron