Knowing the difference between broken, ok, and balanced

Light, shadow, and unity combine! I synchro summon myself, GRANT!!!!!!

Hey guys i'm back with another weekly article which happens to be another yugioh post. I'm probably just gonna do these until school starts( when it does, me and cameron may have a hard time doing the blog every week). My main topic this week is the difference between good, power and broken. Keep in mind these are strictly my own opinions. I just want to clear this up because there are some people who don't know the difference.


Power cards are the cards that at any given time can change the game into any given direction. Most people probably know the power cards(reborn, dark hole, heavy, the solemns etc.), but at least half of our current duelist population misjudge several of the power cards. Believe me, the only power cards that NEED TO GET HIT ARE REBORN AND BLS FOR VERY GOOD REASONS. Dark Hole and Heavy storm are those necessary cards that punish overextension and the solemns are skillful for the fact that u pay a lot of life for negation.

Now, good cards can be split into a whole category: never should be at 3 . Never should be at 3 cards can have boss monsters to search cards to cards like tengu and tour guide. Believe me, tour guide got way more balanced when it reached 2. I also agree with cameron on his philosophy that no deck should have their own search card at 3(2=for most cards or 1=search cards that are easily splashable which is why rota, charge, and allure are at 1.) As for boss monsters, i'm in the belief that no boss monster should be at 3, but i judge each one at a different level. I know that boss monsters on DAD(Dark Armed Dragon)'s level should be at 1(Judgment Dragon,Gyzarus, REDMD etc.). Other boss monsters, such as hyperion, that can't be splashed into other decks or aren't borderline broken, can go to 2.

Finally, we get to broken cards. These are the cards which can enable otks, ftks, constant loops, or even unbeatable locks or just create an unfair advantage. I've already declared that BLS and REBORN need to get banned due to unfair advantage, but there's more cards than that. Everybody knows most of the back in the day cards so i would like to touch upon 2 controversial banned cards: Goyo Guardian and Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. I've seen many players talk about how these cards were unfairly hit and that they were balanced, but both of these cards happen to be in the same level as Dark Strike Fighter. Goyo Guardian was banned a year ago in March 2011, leaving Brionac as the last good level 6 synchro. What Goyo did was create a massive tempo swing by destroying your oppenent's best creatures(Stardust, Shi En, Brionac, etc.) and using them once they got to your field. Now, Brionac was banned this upcoming September 2012 format. People think Brionac was banned as part of Konami's eliminate synchro-promote xyz deal, but it was so much more than just money. Brionac enabled otks by shutting off backrow, and allowed atlanteans to get their effects off easier. Now i for one think that no other cards need to come off the forbidden list except for crush card and sinister serpent.

Well with that see u all next time!

P.S Here's my final rough draft for agents for all those agent players out there!

                                               



- Grant a.k.a Shadow a.k.a The Master of Solar(AGENTS)

Plan for next format

Hey guys its grant, the most mysterious admin on the blog(jk). This time, this post is strictly yugioh related. The banlist is officially leaked and i love the list. I do send my love out to inzektor players as your deck got massacred(Wind-Ups quit bitching u are still alive, and chaos dragons are waiting for their new build). The only thing i didnt like was bls not getting hit and that magic cylinder is at 3!

Bls- I hate this card so much, that i want to rip it, burn it, and piss on its ashes. YES, EXTREME HATRED. I now know how all 2005 veteran players feel about this shit now.

Magic Cylinder- I. Hate. Stall. or. Troll. Decks. End of Discussion

Anyhowsels i will reveal my deck for the new format. WAHLAAA!!!!!!!! Actuallly ill post my deck at the bottom just so you will read this entire post. I thought that if i were to change agents, this is how i would do it. I would run a solid monster count, with heavy protective traps, with spells that would secure my plays outside of veiler or maxx c.

EDIT:(I know it says it was published near 9 but i actually published it just now around midnight)

Relationship with Your Deck

Well everybody i'm not showing u my recent frog monarch deck for nothing. It's grant and i decided to do another yugioh-vanguard dual post due to the success of last week. This will probably be a little shorter though since its late(sorry). Frog Monarchs used to be a well renowned meta deck during the Frog/Infernity/Saber format, however recently it has fallen out of favor with duelists. Only those that truly love the deck play it now. However, what people must realize are two things: They cannot underestimate the power of a certain deck AND no matter what always use the deck that you can connect with. In the yugioh anime, yami stated " When a duelist builds a deck, he chooses his favorites from many different types of cards, but sometimes the card can choose the duelist. The two are connected and the duelist can tap into the card's true power because each is bound by the heart of the cards."

Yami 's statement goes back to vanguard but instead of just the cards its the clans and instead of the heart of the cards there is the winning image. Both of these are necessary to win a vanguard fight and its important to choose a clan that you like the most or fits your playstyle. Going with a deck like gold paladin, not because you like the deck or fitting your playstyle, but playing it because its a top tier deck will not get you far in vanguard.

So, that's all folks! Sorry this got put up so late, but i spent the whole day at frank and sons and at cameron's house, and i didnt get home until i was too tired to write.

See ya next time!
-Grant a.k.a Blaster Dark a.k.a The Magnificent Shadow Dragon

Rabbit Sabers Decklist

                                         I had to use this picture, I just had to

I wanted to post this deck before the new banlist was revealed that way I can get all of my current format decks out of the way and look onward to next format! Honestly the deck is really good, didn't have the guts to take it regionals(and I didn't have rabbits). But I was able to take it to a few wins at locals and on DN(if that means anything to anybody). I try to make all of my orignal deck ideas competitive and I think io have succeeded with this one. The rabbit allows for instant fautroll setups and/or being able to XYZ into a rank 4 to get an out to a situation. Boggart + anu pirrana = easy rank 4, the only down side is that the rank 4 XYZ are no where near as utilitarian as the rank 3's but still good none the less. You good take out the dualitys for anything else, I just really like 2 duality in any saber build(I like the consistency it gives to the deck). The same can be said for the mirror force, i like for the chaos dragon matchup. I only added in one torrential because this version of sabers is alot more aggressive and explosive then regular sabers. I always find myself making some sort of combo play so I cut torrential to 1 and I like it alot better. With roach, beast, and barkion its very easy to achieve soft locks and/or total lockdowns. In regards to the D-Prisions I decided to make the dino rabbit and chaos dragon matchup easier while making the inzektor matchup harder. In my testing inzektors were probably my best matchup just because you don't really play any cards until you have a explosive combo(and with rabbit that happens alot more often than normal sabers) so you don't really commit to the field that much besides the usual setting of darksoul or emmersblade. As always though you can choose to run fiendish chains or any other trap that you see fit(or with effect veilers player preference really).

This version of sabers is more aggressive and there is alot less time spent building up advantage so you can make one giant aggressive push(like in regular sabers) in turn though you sacrifice some stability. All in all I really love this deck and if rabbit only gets semied on the upcoming banlist, this deck will also be perfectly viable for next format as well. if rabbit gets limited, then I go back to regular sabers.

Thanks for reading!
-Cameron

Things to pick up for the new format + Anaheim

Hey ladies, germs, dudes and brohams its grant back with another post on this saturday day. Today, im actually gonna do a dual-post on yugioh and vanguard to appeal to not only my new fans for Vanguard but the loyal followers of yugioh that follow cameron's blog. Also, before i start i want to take the time to give a strong message to the yugioh community. HEAVY STORM SHOULD NEVER LEAVE THE LIMITED LIST UNTIL WE HAVE A SUITABLE REPLACEMENT. It doesnt matter if we have 3 mst and 3 night beam we will be right back to square 1 with a monster+ 4 backrow. No skilled player in yugioh wants that again.( Note: Valafar123 not trying to diss you, i recognize you as a true player but i have always been a heavy/1 mst/1 believer).

Well, there is only 1 crucial thing that comes out during this time of the year which is none other than konami's bit.. i mean ban list. The Ban list stumps our brain since their is no real way to determine what konami is gonna do unless your ishizu ishtar and can see the future with your millenium jewelry. However, I do believe there are certain cards that you should pick up to avoid having to drop your life savings or sell yourself just to get the new stuff.

Without further ado here is the list:
Effect Veiler/ Bottomless Trap Hole- Something tells me these cards are gonna become more of a staple
than they already are with decks such as aqua, hieratics, and lavals coming out in the tcg. Being able to stop potential killing plays will always entice players.

Night Beam- Oh, this card may finally accomplish what me and cameron have wanted for a long time. This card's existence may finally put mst to 1. As a result, the limited amount of backrow hate may spike this card's price up.

Forbidden Lance-  This card, along with tour guide, was the card of the format after we lost ignition priority. I expect this card to be useful yet again.

Fiendish Chain- See forbidden lance.

Dark Magician of Chaos/Magician of Faith- These cards + return of the duelist= money for konami

Tribe Infecting Virus- I would hate this card to come back with all the atlantean support but knowing konami's money tactics they just might do it.

I hope this helps you all. Now onto anaheim.

The Cardfight Vanguard Kick-off event was a lot of fun. I got to meet some vanguard tubers, old friends, new friends and even got eliminated from the single tournament in the 3rd round. I say "eliminated" because bushiroad only gives 1 game per match compared to swiss rounds. However, it was no big deal and i finally got to face gold paladins after months of avoidation. Even got to pick up 2 night beam and a gaia dragon for my frog monarchs.

Anyway, thats it for today. I hope you guys liked the dual-post about yugioh and vanguard.
Next week will probably be a set 3 review.

-Grant a.k.a Blaster Dark a.k.a the magnificent shadow dragon