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?

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

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

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!

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

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

My thoughts on Yugioh and the impending doom of Tour bus of the underworld

Hey guys! I just wanted to talk about yugioh and me and stuff that has been happening lately.

So I was exploring new deck ideas for sabers, since I am such a saber whore lol. Since they do have anu pirhanna I decided to try a rabbit varient of the deck. I actually have had a rabbit saber deck that has seen use on DN for a while now but since the for mat has finally revealed its secrets I optimized it for the new format aka adding in Maxx C. It did pretty well it was a combo machine that had pretty good plays, the anu's were never dead in my hand as if if they got into my hand I just used boggart to XYZ into a rank 4. Really the main strength of the deck is that it has a lot of stability as when it is not doing combos it usually has a roach or utopia on the board. The rabbit is never dead at any point of the game, if it is early I use it for a rank 4, if it is mid or late game I can use it to bring out 2 anu pirannha for a instant setup for fautroll. Then I do all the usual saber stuff. I had a good time playing with the deck and I should really do it more often as I haven't played a completely new deck idea in a while and the time I spent with the deck was time that I spent having fun which is why i love this game! For the cons of the deck It doesn't really pack much protection which I usually use in my decks, I could only fit 2 maxx C in and I couldn't tech in any bottomless or D-Prision, I was able to use the usual stuff like the solemn brigade and the staples but I still wanted a slightly more protective trap lineup or at least a third Maxx C


On to another subject I am happy that this saturday I am finally going back to my locals after a prolonged hiatus from there. The last time I was there was at the photon shockwave sneak peak. Locals really don't provide a good testing ground for decks but is still good to see what latest decks people are playing. Also now that tier 1 decks are very expensive people at locals have just completely strayed from tier 1 status, which proves my theory of if you want to test, don't do it at locals.Then again the last I played at locals out of the 5 rounds of swiss I played 4 agents and 1 six sam, I smashed 3 of the agents and lost to 1 agent and the six sam(I know sad). Karakuri is really proving to be the best cheapest deck through. But even the cheapest deck is not that cheap considering Maxx C which imo is a complete staple no matter what. In general though I just like hanging out with my friends at locals, they are really cool.

Talking about the yugioh meta, the new dragon structure deck is quickly proving its validity in this game. It basically embodies what konami wanted this format to be: throw out a shit ton of boss monsters that come back and keep attacking. Dragons do need some help though and maybe just maybe future fusion will be banned next format seeing know that even if future fusion goes dragons won't entirely die out(it will still hurt though). It is a good thing that combo decks still have a place in this game, as they are my favorite kind of deck!

I am actually looking forward to YCS Brighton, I think it was a really good idea to put it on a normally dead time of the year for yugioh. Sure the results for this YCS won't be terribly different from the last YCS but I have just always liked YCS's in Europe, the coverage team does a great job and maybe since the UK is a saber hot spot(at least I think it still is) another saber deck will top. The saber deck that topped YCS KC wasn't really my playstyle and I prefer regular sabers over the build that topped, not to say that build isn't any good I actually tested it out and really like the stuff it could pull off, in fact I even went a step further and added some T.G monsters( a striker, werewolf, and a rhino) and tengu and the build was really good(it screws over your opponent so bad!). I am of course still trying to perfect the build and might post the list after I am done and plus creature swap is always fun to play especially when you trade emmersblade for a BLS! Still space is tight. Anyways back to the main point YCS Brighton is something that I am looking forward to.

In my last little discussion I want to talk about ORCS, in the OCG the set seems to be balanced, with royal prision and other good but not broken usable cards. The ninja archetype looks to be very good and will likely be tier 1 with their art of transformation trap card(or whatever it's called). More support for windups also ooks to be promising and now that deck has a sliver of hope, but probably not while tengu/tour guide decks rule the game. Moving on to the last point is tour bus of the underworld. When I saw this card I felt so disappointed, the last thing we need is more broken tour guide support. Sure we do not know the effect of the card(which is why I saved this discussion for last) but konami doesn't really have a stellar track record with printing non broken cards and anything with the "tour guide name cannot be good for the game, I love this game but konami is testing that relationship. I will update you more when I have more information on this card.

I should do more posts like this, i like talking about my thoughts, thanks for reading and keep your fingers crossed for a balanced tour bus of the underworld.
-Cameron

X-Saber decklist

20-10-10 The Golden Ratio lol

Hey Guys! So Today I am brining you my X saber deck I have been using as of late. It is pretty good, I just have one dielmma, I have been going back and forth between +1 Bottomless, -1 veiler, or -1 veiler and +1 D-Prison I honestly don't know which is better and I have tested them out and they all seem to work. On a lighter note the deck is very consistent and can be set up by turn 2. Naturia beast and brio are boss in this deck. It has a good matchup against karakuri and agents and bad matchup against dino rabbit and a even matchup between DW and tengu/tour guide decks. Overall I am pleased with the results this deck brings and of course sabers will be my deck for this format! Yes Short post but hopeully a good one!

BTW: No video for this deck, I was to lazy maybe I will have one at a later time.
-Cameron

Mid Format Review/Discussion

WARNING: LONG POST ALERT PREPARE YOUR EYES!


So many changes in a relatively short amount of time. Hey guys! My mid format discussion is here! This is a follow up on my early format discussion. This post will not only discuss the differences between the early and mid format but I will also discuss what the format is currently like, if you didn't read my early format discussion you can check it out here


The passing of the Torch
In the early format boss monsters were key. Whoever played the last big boss monster often won the game. More importantly the most important boss at the time was archlord kristyia, this card single handidly won games. If you didn't have a answer for it right away you lost the game. This in turn leads to agnets being a tier 1 deck and a top contender for the best deck of the format.

What Has Changed: Boss Monsters are still key, but they are slightly less important than before. Now in the mid format it is who ever does the last big combo wins the game. Sure a deck with a lot of big boss monsters still does good but a deck like tengu/tour guide which has almost unlimited combo potential is better than a deck with many boss monsters. With this slight shift in boss monsters<combos comes a change in what boss monsters are good. While kristyia has some clout in the meta and you should never forget it exists(that will lose you games!) kristyia is not nearly as important as it was before. There is one main reason for this: tengu/tour guide is the best deck of the format hands down which makes agents less than a stellar pick when matched up against plants. It really is a vicious cycle since tengu/tour guide decks are better than agents, agents see less play and since tengu/tour guide is a combo deck this makes boss monsters slightly less powerful, which makes kristyia less powerful, to sum it up agents got the short end of the stick. Building on the point of boss monsters<combos in YCS kansas about 20 decks that topped were combo based decks(depending on if you count rabbit lagia which would make it 24 combo decks). Theme decks like Dark World continue to under perform and not live up to their hype and decks like agents continue to trend down. This change is subtle and did not happen over night and I expect to see this subtle change grow even larger.


The Hand Trap Switch
In the early format effect veiler was a mandatory card to run at least 2, all in order to stop tour guide from going off and other key monster effects.
What has Changed: Like I said before the change from boss monsters to combos has been a subtle one but it has far reaching effects. Effect Veiler is returning to its "tech card" status and has for the most part lost its staple status. Effect Veiler was not very good at handeling boss monsters and can stop some critical combo plays but Maxx C has mostly replaced it. Maxx C is a combo stopper. It is this formats royal oppression. Again the subtle changes are impacting what we play, there is less of one card being the enabler(tour guide is the exception) and more off multiple combo pieces that go off and give a massive end result. Maxx C thrives off of this it attacks these combos and nets card advantage. Combos have changed the way we play hand traps it is very common to see people main 3 Maxx C and none or 1 effect veiler, the truth is veiler is not a dynamic card it can stop critical monster effects, but Maxx C can stop these card effects by stopping the combo, netting card advantage off of the combo, or discouraging a combo that woud not have won the game but made a minorly aggressive push all in fear of card advantage. Summary: Maxx C can adapt to the ever changing situation of yugioh while veiler cannot.

The Return of Control
When Heavy Storm came back many people were predicting the end of mass backrow and said that backrow was dead and setting any backrow at all was suicide. Some even said that control decks were dead.

What has Changed: While setting mass backrow has mostly died(there are always some T.G decks that still top with mass backrow) saying that setting any back row is suicide is completely wrong. Sure Backrow has decreased in many decks especially decks like agents and tengu/tour guide where most decks don't exceed 5 traps, the staples are all still there, warning, judgment, dustshoot, mirror force, and torrential proving that even non chainable traps are still too good not to run. Instead these decks opted to use a new way of control. Thunder king Rai-oh is fast approaching if not already at staple status because of its ability to slow the game down. Many of the newer tier 1 decks(karakuri and dino rabbit) have opted to use cards like bottomless and d-prision to gain better control over the game. So while pure control decks might have died another subtle cahnge has taken place: the return of control. Whether it is incorporating control in the monster form or a slighly heaver trap lineup control still plays a large role, larger than you might think in today's meta.

The Power Cards
In the early format power cards were everything, If you played your power cards too early and wasted them you would lose the game and conserving them and playing them at exactly the right time was of the upmost priority.

What has Changed: Another subtle change has occurred power cards are even more important than ever. Also it is much easier to waste them than before thanks to the return of control. A first rai-oh can be game ending and finding a out is very important. At that point playing dark hole could be your only viable option, at that point your opponent has got a major threat out of the way and only has to worry about mirror force and torrential. With combo decks taking center stage playing mirror force against a large field could seem like a good play until they combo again next turn by playing reborn and other combo enablers. Torrential quickly falls into the same category. Maxx C could also be considered a power card as knowing when to play it correctly is the difference between a loss or win. Players then started to play bottomless and d-prision in order to combat this. You could say the return of control  influenced this as it made players play more control in order to fight the control. Combo decks also helped this change, in order to not waste that clutch dark hole on rai-oh you could instead play bottomless and keep that dar hole in hand. In essence we are are fighting control with control and combos also with control, yugioh is a complicated game!

Tour Guide's influence
In the early format tengu/tour guide decks made full use of tour guide and agent decks made the occasional use of tour guide some players opting out on tour guide.

What has Changed: Tour guide has achieved staple status in 90% of tier 1 decks. The power it provides has only gotten better after the releases of diverse and good rank 3 exceeds. Tour guide is the one card tool box engine. Summary: Tour guide influences almost all of our meta and has warped it around tour guide(unfortunately).

Thanks for reading! Also if you read my last post you might have noticed the error of me saying that there were no more YCS's this format, apparently I should never write when I am tired as we still have YCS Brighton, Mexico, and Atlanta(Thanks to LFN for pointing this out!) Please leave your feedback and discuss!
-Cameron

YCS Kansas Analysis

Pretty good coverage this time around, good job konami! Hey guys! So today I am going to be talking about YCS kansas and its implications on the meta!

This is the YCS that dictates the rest of the format(barring anything too broken comes out of order of chaos). The top 32 was as follows
16 Tengu Tour guide decks
5 Agent decks
4 Rabbit decks
3 Dark world
2 Karakuri
1 X-saber
1 Chaos

So this YCS was slightly more diverse than the last. Dark worlds have finally got the tops they deserve and it seems that dark smog really was a necessity though apparently it doesn't outright kill tengu/tour guide decks(just look at those numbers). Agents continue to fall out of favor, in fact rabbit decks almost equaled them in number, and I expect by the next YCS the Rabbit will have more tops than agents. Honestly tengu/tourguide decks is without a doubt the best deck of the format, it combines the two best cards in yugioh and the best engine in yugioh and puts them in a super powered deck. Karakuri decks continue to show up proving that they are a legitimate contender. I have a bias towards sabers so I am very glad that they topped, I am very interested in seeing what his build was. Not to mention Chaos topping which I was extremely glad about as this format is screaming chaos but they really haven't made a impact.

On a side note doesn't it always seem that the non big deck of the format always play eachother. Example: Top 4 the karakuri and chaos players play each other and the tengu/tour guide players play each other  How about if we have Chaos vs. Tengu/Tour guide and karakuri vs. Tengu/tour guide, but I digress this happens every YCS and every time I complain.

The eventual winner was(ironically) Courtney Waller with his Chaos deck. May I point out that this wasn't a deck with chaos in it it was a chaos deck with other cards in it(like Maxx c) the difference is the latter is a "true" Chaos deck and not some impostor with 2 rai-ohs and effect veiler with the plant engine + tour guide. His deck focused on the meta with dd crow and such and it was a solid list. I was happy to see a non tengu/tourguide deck win but it really doesn't change much as tengu/tour guide is still outright the best deck. and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Dark World while they topped, still imo haven't lived up to their hype, they didn't top at their debut YCS and now have only topped 3 times. Part of the problem is tengu/tour guide decks are so good it makes everything else look underwhelming. Still Dark Smog did help them but their refusal to change with the dynamic meta will only continue to hurt them. Also if you have the tour guides you might as well use them for a better deck like tengu/tour guide which is also part of the problem, it's almost a gravekeeper esque problem where GK's did not change so people got bored and moved to other decks, only this time its tour guide and it being in other decks that are better than dark worlds.

Dino Rabbits did very well, to be honest I wasn't sure about the deck in my testing as it was so reliant on either opening with rabbit or tour guide and if you didn't draw into either  fast the deck would fall flat. I said this before it is a deck entirely reliant on how good your early game is. That and the fact that it has to run 6 sub par monsters 3 of which are terrible(Kabuzalus) as it is a neg one for you if tengu runs  into it. Alas dino rabbits had a good showing and the odds are in thier favor as you have roughly a 39% chance of drawing into either a rabbit or a tour guide(80% if you count both of those cards). Still the deck is very expensive and while that is not a problem for big time players it is a problem for the average player, which is why the deck is continually going to be underrepresented at regionals and such.

All in all this is the most important YCS of the format, this is the best our format has to offer and it tells you what you need to side, there are really no secrets left. That is why this YCS is important not because of who won or how many pro players made it into the top 32 but because this was the cahnce for all decks to shine and show if they lived up to the hype, from now to march your side deck should have no problem reflecting meta trends.

Thanks for reading!
SIDE NOTE: Thanks for the 6,000+ page views lets get that number up to 10,000 by march(which is this blogs 1 year anniversary for those not keeping track) keep on reading and I hope I helped, I will have a mid format analysis up in the coming week so look out for that!
-Cameron

The X-Saber discussion part 3: Rabbit!

Wait I'am doing this segment again, but I haven't done this segment in over a month (actually I haven't wrote anything for a month). Hey guys! So as you have known my favorite deck of this format is X-saber, I really believe the deck has some potential, and my deck list will be up soon. But I will be discussing certain match-ups and you must combat these certain challenges . Moving on!

It takes X-Saber roughly 2 turns to set up decently. Rabbit decks pride themselves on getting in on the early game and resolving a first turn rabbit. The worst possible situation is a first turn dolkka, not lagia, dolkka. Lagia can be baited dollka screws over your entire early game and ruins everything. It is honestly very hard to combat this and there is no ace in the whole that gets you out of that situation. But there are certain cards that can get you out of that situation, bottomless trap hole is honestly a staple in sabers I have come to find out, the solemn brigade really any good defensive trap can help you stop rabbit from ever going off. Unfortunately though if you do not have any of the said cards you might just have to take a loss.

There is a bright side to all of this! The rabbit player has about a 39% chance of getting rabbit on his/her first turn, other than that tour guide is another viable option for a first turn play. Luckily sabers have a nice time dealing with her. It gives a extra turn to set up, like I said the first two turns are the most critical  for the saber player. By turn 2 you could be able to sycnchro or use emersblade or darksoul to establish a hand or field presence and from there it is all over. ( I am assuming that you know what to search and can play the deck correctly). Even that rabbit that they searched with sangan cannot help them. If they opened with nether of those two cards the game is parcticaly yours as long as you play right, rai-oh really isn't that hard to handle, boggart crashes and with the monster you special summoned you can make up for the loss of boggart.  Of course it can hurt some time, but remember as long as you draw a decent hand you should be able to deal with rai-oh heck I even side rai-oh in sabers.

A slightly heaver trap lineup goes a long way for sabers, 2 bottomless, the solemn brigade, torrential, mirror force, dustshoot, 2 gottoms e call, reinforce truth really that is the whole trap lineup with a more defensive orented trap lineup and a less combo oriented one you can handle most threats and still not be vulnerable to heavy. In reality this is the worst matchup for sabers but it can be winnable some good tips to victory in this matchup are:
1. Go aggro early: even if that means a loss of set up, but don't attack right into a sangan if you cannot deal with rabbit, its like gorz if you can't deal then don't attack. Once you have sycnchroed then fo a little more aggro
2. Focus on sycnhro summoning: It really does work, but don't compromise a won game for you to run into a bottomless, if can get a good early game then the rest is history,

You might be asking how do you get a good early game well: Maxx C is good for this role, sabers are king in search power and maxx c can net you cards which gets you to your powwer cards early, effect veiler is just as important, infact hand traps are precious to a saber player if have a emmersblade or a darksoul and you have a hand trap you are in a good position, sabers can adapt sure Maxx C is good when sabers go for that push but it is very bad when they are setting up it is very useless, so your opponents are not good all of the time and usually by the time they are good it is too late. NEVER WASTE A HAND TRAP.

Use wind up zenmaines! I know budget players cry but this card puts in work, if your opponent won't attack into a emmersblade then summon a another level 3 (sabers have tons of them) and XYZ into this guy, don't worry it will make up for the setting up that you lost by putting alot of pressure on your oppeonent, use that time to grind for advantage with darksoul or you could go a little agro with boggart, but don't over due it.

All in all practice wityh this deck you have to know when to do things at the correct time when piloting sabers, these are some general tips when playing sabers and what action to take when you know the time is right, play conservative but not so conservative that you don't know when to go off, when playing a rabbit deck it is a battle of early game andwhosever is better usually wins so make it be yours!

I hope this helped, more discussions like this coming soon and a decklist coming soon!
-Cameron

Monster Reborn

I use it to special summon Cameron. Hey guys! I haven't wrote that in a while. Anyway yes I was away from the blog for quite a while, school is very hectic and life is busy and my interest has faded in the past few weeks. There is a bright side! School is getting less hectic, life is hopefully going to get less busy and my intrest in the game has spiked coming off from a few minor victories but victories nonetheless. I have been keeping up with the meta and with YCS Kansas coming up I plan to do coverage on that, also I have a new sereis of posts coming up. It is time to breathe some life back into this blog again. I hope to have my meaningful posts start tomorrow so keep fingers crossed! Thank you so much for your continued support even though I have been gone. I cannot promise that this won't happen again but I will try to keep it to a minimum! Main Point: I am back and ready to blog! So lets get to it!
-Cameron

Just trying to make sense of all this

Yes this is going to be a rant, a hopefully very interesting rant but a rant nontheless.

So YCS Columbus happened this weekend...... oh I was just waiting for all of the people reading this post to go check out the coverage of the event which you can find here. After you have done so can somebody please explain to me this page. WTF not a single dark world, in round 9 there were 10 or 11 dark world decks at the top tables(I say 10 or 11 because I still can't understand what konami meant by that one post they did at round 9) fast forward to top 32 and there is not even 1! I don't play dark world as my main deck so its not like I am butt hurt or anything but I guess what i am more upset about is that 20 spots of the top 32 were tengu/tour guide synchro! 20 SPOTS! Call me ignoarnt but i can still not understand how that deck is tier 1 material and judging by the results of this event possible even tier .5. Agents only had 6 slots and the rest were randoms. So agents are slowly being pushed off the scene and tengu tour guide deck continues to dominate. Sure the decks nimber were bolstered after winning the last YCS and judging by the results of this YCS netdeckers are having fun to say the least. My mind is spinning was dark world over hyped? Is it truly a bad deck? Is the september 2011 format any different then march 2011? I am so disappointed by the results of this YCS. Don't get me wrong I am not butt hurt over dark wolrds losing, I truly angry at the fact that tengu/tour guide synchro continues to dominate, worst part about it is that I don't see it changing, agents are obsivouly losing strength, dark worlds are apparently not a strong contender for tier 1 status. The game is slowly but surely approaching  the tele dad format again. I am so angry this game is heading down a horrible path one that I am not sure I can continue to follow for much longer, something needs to be done fast, i don't now what but at least last  format we had some diversity this format we are losing that precious item of the game. I have to gather my thoughts, I don't think this post properly conveys what I am feeling right now, I in fact don't know what i am feeling right now.
-Cameron

The Dark Worlds debunked!

Hey guys! So today I am going to talk about Dark Worlds. This is basically a post on what I have learned thus far with my testing. Enjoy!

SIDE NOTE: These are my play experiences with dark worlds, your time with them might be slightly different!

So if you played during the infernity era you would know that infernity players liked to have no hand because then most of their cards's combos would go off. Dark Worlds are ver similar except for one key difference. Dark Worlds like their hand they just don't like yours. When dark worlds know you don't have a hand then they can do most of their plays. Dragged down into the grave symbolizes this. Through all of my testing against and with dark worlds I have noticed these things:

1. Maxx C is dead if you main deck it you can wait for the tour guide play in which you would get a plus one, problem is tour guide is played in a very problematic way in this deck. It is mostly used mid to late game. Get broww bounce ss grapha get sangan search the game winning raven. It takes a bit of set up to get grapha into grave(if you don't have a immediate discard outlet(or foolish) which most games you don't, card destruction is too risky to play currently, same with morphing jar, dwd could be teched at one copy but that is still not enough discard outlets.) and once that setup has been achieved then your plus 1 with maxx c when they play tour guide is laughable. Effect veiler is a little more useful as it actually stops that play and doesn't give the game to the dark world player. I am not teling you to run out and cut all maxx c copies from your deck but just know it will be dead in dark world and the days of people maining 3 are over.

2. Meta resistance I touched on this last paragraph but all hand traps don't really have a use in the dark world matchup. Another large factor is that warning is so sub par in this matchup but still stellar in other matchups, bottomless is vice versa, you could play both but then space becomes a issue. This leads to the bigger picture which is:

3. Game 1 matchup: Since dark worlds are not the only tier 1 deck and because the hand traps are so critical in all of your other matchups most people are still going to run the hand traps(rightfully so I might add) but this puts you in a worse position sure effect veiler can stop that tour guide that would in turn lead to the game winning play but dark worlds can very easily recover and just resort to grapha spam which is powerful in in its own right. Tour guide is very good for the deck but my point is if you are playing a tour guide dark world deck, tour guide helps the deck along but dark worlds function fine without it. My point is the deck is: dark worlds with tour guide and not tour guide with dark world. If you don't have the money to buy tour guides(like me) don't take this the wrong way you need tour guide in order for dark worlds to be tier 1. Sad fact of yugioh but just bite the bullet and move on.

4. Your hand is either a shadow of what it used to be or not a secret at all: Dragged down into the grave is the culprit of this. Thanks to dragged down that good hand is now crappy. Dark worlds love to rip into your hand and get rid of any possible threats or hope of a comeback. Playing against 4 dustshoots in one game is now reality. Also against a good player this allows them to play around what you have in your hand and see any possible threats to their combos. Another reason why hand traps are so meh in this matchup.

5. If hand traps are bad then just use regular traps right? Wrong: Cards are like bottomless are good but when dark world imprsioning s have mst, heavy and their own boss monster with a built in mst/ smashing ground that makes non chainable traps no good. Dark worlds have a lot of destruction built into them which is another reason why they are so good as even if they hate a card on the field 9 times out of ten they can get rid of it.

With all of this I make it sound as if dark worlds are unbeatable that is far from the truth.

1. Game 2 and 3: Dark worlds have worse game 2 and 3 matchup then game 1(not to say they are bad in game 2 and 3, its just that they aren't as good.) Gemini imps allows you to stop the hand ripping and get plus ones, shadow mirror, contrary to popular belief is amazing in this matchup if they do not have a out for it right away they by all means should lose that game. D.D crow is one of the few very effective hand traps for dark world it allows you to get rid of that grapha and generally just keeps the grave clean. Throughout my testing I also found out that cards that remove cards from the grave are good, but stopping the hand ripping is the main priority, if space is tight in the side(when isn't it!) focus on stopping the dragged down, also never underestimate the power of shadow imprisioning mirror I cannot stress that enough, when that card is on the field dark worlds can do next to nothing save a possible raven play. Dark worlds will likely side dealings and destruction if they know that they are not in the mirror again this falls under the category of stopping the hand, don't let it happen(Gemini imps ftw)

The early game: Dark worlds do take a little set up and if you can somehow disrupt that setup you are in good shape. Whether that be using veiler on tour guide to stop that critical sangan search. They don't main alot of discard outlets in fear of the mirror, use that to your advantage and capitilize on making strong early game plays that will allow you to be ready fro the late game, whther that means setting up( X-Sabers) or making early game attacks( blackwings) or just having a strong play waiting(like a venus play) just be ready and out speed them in the mid to late game.

Debunk: Yes this card gets its own section. I have actually always loved this card but it is finally getting its time in the limelight. Single handily this card can ruin dark worlds and put you in a very powerful position. Jeff Jones said that this card is like the new effect veiler and he couldn't be more right. Try it and you will be satisfied, you either side this = Gemini imps or shadow imprsioning mirror+ Gemini imps, your choice but just make sure to try out both, debunk is more of a disruptive card and helps take back the mid to late game that you thought you had lost.

So there are many other things that I could talk about like boss monsters and techs but this is less of a deck building session and more of a: here is dark world and this is what I used to beat them mind of post. I hope that this post has been very informative and helpful and hopefully you are ready for Dark Worlds! Also thank you for the 4500+ page views keep on reading and I will keep on writing! Thanks for reading!
-Cameron

Dark Worlds, bad card design, dragons oh my!

I just had to do another title like that again. Hey guys! So I realize that I was out of blogging for a while but I am back to give a roundup of the things that I missed. Also I will do a segment all about dark worlds soon(hopefully tommorrow) so look out for that. On with the post!

Dark Worlds:
As all of you know the metagame is going to be changing drastically come tuesday. People have been talking about dark worlds for a while now but now is the time to get some very solid testing done on them via DN. In short(like I said tomorrow a more in depth review) if you can keep dark worlds from ripping into your hand, then you should be fine. Stopping that hand ownage is the problem. Dragged down to the grave is very powerful, having 4 dustshoots in one deck is too good. Minimizing the impact of those cards is your main priority.  I'll leave it at that until my next post.

Evolzar Dolkka: When a effect monster effect is activated you can detach one Xyz material to negate the activation and destroy it.
Lfn made a very good post on this that you can find here. he really said everything that needed to be said. The fact that his effect can be activated twice and not once is just broken. Lagia was at least balanced in regards to only being able to solemn judgment once, but Dolkka can negate a monster effect twice! Konami Logic: Since negating monster effects is less powerful than using a solemn judment we can make it so that it can be used twice and every deck needs a herald of orange light just with 2300 attack! Wait another revelation since Dolkka can only be made with dinosaurs that should balance it out, oh wait no it doesn't we have rescue rabbit to tie the deck together and make it tier 1! What are we waiting for go to the printers and make it secret rare so we make a crapload of cash!   My logic: Since this format is so monster heavy and this format especially we rely on monster effects to win being able to negate monster effects is too powerful. Also don't we have effect veiler for this reason. After this demonstration can we even call konmai logic, logic at all? So to review yes the rabbit is officially broken, but not because of the players but because of konami's card design team.

Light Pulsar Dragon: You can banish 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster from your Graveyard;Special Summon this card from your hand. You can send 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster from your hand to your Graveyard; Special Summon this card from your Graveyard. If this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: You can target 1 Level 5 or higher DARK Dragon-Type monster from your Graveyard; Special Summon that target.


So this card is pretty good, it is not the main card out of the upcoming structure deck ( I scares me to think what the main monsters effect will be.) It is an easy way to get redmd onto the field and since it is light it allows dragon decks to run BLS. Also there is a OTK with this card and cannon soldier. You need to have this card and cannon soldier on the field, and redmd in the grave. You then tribute Light pulsar, ss redmd use his effect bring back pulsar tribute redmd then tribute pulsar and repeat. Now I don't really know how good this OtK will be but the last thing we need is a OTK in this game no matter how inconsistent. 


That is all for this post, again this was just a recap more in depth review later. Thanks for reading!
-Cameron

YCS Toronto Deck Analysis Part 2

Hey guys! So before I get started on this post, I just wanted to say to Michael Bonacini: good luck in your future endeavors and also thanks for all of the wonderful articles that you have written, and I hope you see great success in Magic. With that out of the way lets get into the post!
SIDE NOTE: Due to me seeing alot more decks that I would like to review I must push this deck analysis into a three parter, sorry!

Anthony Alvarado (Top 16 – Karakuri)Monsters: 20
2 Cyber Dragon
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
3 Genex Neutron
3 Karakuri Ninja mdl 919 “Kuick”
1 Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 “Saizan”
1 Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 “Nishipachi”
3 Karakuri Merchant mdl 177 “Inashichi”
3 Karakuri Komachi mdl 224 “Ninishi”
2 Effect Veiler

Spells: 12
1 Pot of Avarice
3 Pot of Duality
1 Dark Hole
1 Mind Control
1 Heavy Storm
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Monster Reborn
1 Book of Moon

Traps: 8
1 Mirror Force
3 Fiendish Chain
1 Trap Dustshoot
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment

Extra Deck: 15
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
3 Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X “Bureido”
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Black Rose Dragon
2 Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 “Burei”
1 Naturia Landoise
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Naturia Barkion
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Naturia Beast
1 Steelswarm Roach

Side Deck: 15
2 Maxx “C”
2 Closed Forest
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Dust Tornado
2 Royal Decree
1 Torrential Tribute
2 Leeching the Light
2 Debunk

The reason that I choose to review this deck is because karakuri's are finally getting their time in the spotlight and even if it took Dale Bellido to say that he was playing karakuri's then so be it. One of my team members has been using this deck for a while now I have personally found out it is capable of doing some pretty amazing things. Anthony though sacrificed some explosivness for some control and consistency, with all of the hand traps we saw at this event that was a smart call. The contuning trend of rai-oh being a mini ant-meta engine also continues here. The genex neutron are also very good allowing  you to search out your game winning tuners alot faster. If karakuri decks are to survive then they need to become much less of a otk deck and more of a consistent less explosive kind of deck, which was anthony did and he did a good job at that, I expect karakuri's to top at Ohio as well.

Chris Bowling (Top 32 – Chaos)Monsters: 27
3 Tour Guide from the Underworld
2 Effect Veiler
1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
1 Dandylion
1 Spore
1 Glow-Up Bulb
1 Lonefire Blossom
2 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
1 Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
2 Tragoedia
1 Battle Fader
3 Chaos Sorcerer
2 Card Trooper
1 Sangan
1 Debris Dragon
1 Dark Armed Dragon
2 Maxx “C”

Spells: 13
3 Gold Sarcophagus
2 Solar Recharge
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Charge of the Light Brigade
1 Foolish Burial
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole
1 Mind Control
1 Heavy Storm

Extra Deck: 15
1 Formula Synchron
1 Armory Arm
1 Ally of Justice CatastorT
1 T.G. Hyper Librarian
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Orient Dragon
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Arcanite Magician
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Dark End Dragon
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Leviair the Sea Dragon
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon

Side Deck: 15
1 Maxx “C”
1 Effect Veiler
2 D.D. Crow
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Smashing Ground
1 Trap Dustshoot
2 Light-Imprisoning Mirror
3 Royal Decree

These next two decklists were both imo the best 2 choas decks that topped. Choas decks are really just the  plant engine with a bit more milling brought into them so they can throw some big boss monster's into them. Chris excluded tengu probably because of th all of the milling his deck could do. Also Chris chose to run into any traps which meant he took his deck into a very aggressive minded approach. If you want to run a otk based choas deck this list is close to perfect.

Paul Blair (Top 32 – Chaos)Monsters: 20
3 Reborn Tengu
3 Tour Guide from the Underworld
1 Debris Dragon
1 Sangan
1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
1 Spore
1 Dandylion
1 Maxx “C”
2 Effect Veiler
1 Glow-Up Bulb
1 Chaos Sorcerer
1 Lonefire Blossom
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

Spells: 12
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Book of Moon
1 Mosnter Reborn
1 Heavy Storm
1 Foolish Burial
2 Enemy Controller
1 Dark Hole
1 Pot of Avarice
1 One for One
1 Mind Control

Traps: 8
1 Mirror Force
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Call of the Haunted
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck: 15
1 T.G. Hyper Librarian
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Formula Synchron
1 Orient Dragon
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Armory Arm
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Leviair the Sea Dragon
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Ancient Fairy Dragon
1 Arcanite Magician
1 Steelswarm Roach

Side Deck: 15
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Debunk
2 Light-Imprisoning Mirror
2 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Leeching the Light
2 D.D. Crow
2 Cyber Dragon
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

This chaos deck shows the opposite side of the pendulum. Paul included tengu which allowed him to make minorly aggressive pushes, this reminds of last format when you would play junk doppel or tengu plants, junk doppel was more explosive but less consistent, and tengu plants was less explosive but more consistent. Also rai-oh agains makes a appearance, the constant theme here is rai-oh is a very good card, in case you didn't know. Again if you want to make a slower more consistent chaos deck then this list is near perfect, but I honestly believe that chaos decks are just regurgitated chaos plant decks.    

Logan Djuricin (Top 32 – Monarchs)Monsters: 26
3 Light and Darkness Dragon
3 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
3 Raiza the Storm Monarch
3 Caius the Shadow Monarch
3 Battle Fader
2 Tragodia
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
3 Swap Frog
3 Treeborn Frog
2 Effect Veiler

Spells: 14
3 Pot of Duality
1 Dark Hole
1 Foolish Burial
3 Soul Exchange
3 Enemy Controller
1 Heavy Storm
2 Mystical Space Typhoon

Extra Deck: 15
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Gachi Gachi Gantetsu
1 Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth
1 Formula Synchron
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Ancient Fairy Dragon
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend
1 Scrap Archfiend
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Armory Arm

Side Deck: 15
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 System Down
2 Crevice into the Different Dimension
1 The Transmigration Prophecy
1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
3 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch
3 Vanity’s Fiend
3 Swift Scarecrow

So LFN first brought it to my attention that monarch decks were still quite good. This proves it. Logan included 3 of each of the big monarchs, really this brings me back to the days of when monarchs were tier 1(before we had fishborg and all of that stuff) and the main premise was to steal your opponents monster and tribute it off, or tribute off your own monsters and slowly grind for advantage, that is a good play style and is healthy for the game to see such a balanced play style top at a premier event. Really other than that everything is standard, though lately at my locals people playing monarchs have been using kristyia(since it is easy to get 2 tributes) with it being such a good card and all, Logan did not use kristyia(maybe inconsistent) and I don't play monarchs so if someone with experience in the monarch field could explain that to me I would appreciate it!

So that is all for today, on tomorrow's post I will have 2 more deck lists and then a overall recap of YCS Toronto so thanks for reading and stay tuned!

-Cameron 

YCS Toronto Deck Analysis part 1

Hey guys! So I was going to post a post that I have been thinking about doing for a while now, but then konami finally posted the top 32 decks for YCS Toronto so I have to put off that post in order to do this one(don't worry post is worth the wait!)  Also since there were so many decks I wanted to review I had to split this post up into 2 parts! On with the post!

Billy Brake (1^st Place – Synchro Summon)Monsters: 22
1 Spirit Reaper
1 Dandylion
1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
3 Tour Guide From the Underworld
1 Debris Dragon
2 Maxx “C”
3 Reborn Tengu
1 Glow-Up Bulb
2 Effect Veiler
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
1 Sangan
1 Caius the Shadow Monarch
1 Lonefire Blossom
1 Spore

Spells: 13
1 Scapegoat
1 Monster Reborn
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Book of Moon
2 Enemy Controller
1 Foolish Burial
1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole
1 One for One
1 Mind Control
1 Pot of Avarice

Traps: 6
1 Call of the Haunted
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck: 15
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Orient Dragon
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Formula Synchron
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Leviair the Sea Dragon
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Scrap Dragon
1 T.G. Hyper Librarian

1 Steelswarm Roach
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Armory Arm
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Ancient Fairy Dragon
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Side Deck: 15
1 Chain Disappearance
1 Debunk
1 Dust Tornado
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Mind Crush
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Leeching the Light
2 D.D. Crow
2 Cyber Dragon
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

So first up is of course the winners deck list Billy Brake. To call this deck a plant deck would be misleading infact konami's name of synchro summons is much more fitting. But in all honesty it is still a tengu/tour guide deck. The inclusion of rai-oh and caius, shows how versatile this deck can be and probably why this deck survived the banlist. I also like the tech spirit reaper, it provides stall and is very hard to get over now days. The full complement of hand traps are also in full swing here. Basically this deck can go on the defensive very easily all the while setting up, thanks to how versatile tengu and tour guide are. Anyway you look at it tengu is a amazing card, it allows you to go for some minor aggressive pushes and some defensive options all the while having a rai-oh on the field. Judging by the sheer numbers of tour guide in the top 32 decks you would think that the tour guide ruling never happened, at the very least it hasn't hurt the playability of the card at any rate. For the spells nothing really jumps out, except for the scapegoat. Again it is a very versatile card it is mostly used for synchroing and allows for some odd levels to be made, the key in this whole post is versatility. The e cons are a given given the synergy with tengu and being able to tribute sangan to get that game winning lonefire or effect veiler. I don't need to explain any of the traps.

Nicky Lacaille (2^nd Place – Master Hyperion)Monsters: 30
3 Tour Guide From the Underworld
3 The Agent of Creation – Venus
3 The Agent of Mystery – Earth
3 Mystical Shine Ball
3 Master Hyperion
3 Effect Veiler
2 Tragoedia
2 Genex Ally Birdman
2 Archlord Kristya
1 Honest
1 The Agent of Miracles – Jupiter
1 Chaos Sorcerer
1 Sangan
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning

Spells: 9
3 Pot of Duality
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Heavy Storm

Traps: 1
1 Trap Dustshoot

Extra Deck: 15
1 Gachi Gachi Gantetsu
1 Leviair the Sea Dragon
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Armory Arm
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Magical Android
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Ancient Sacred Wyvern
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Ally of Justice Decisive Armor
1 Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth

Side Deck: 15
2 D.D. Crow
2 Cyber Dragon
3 Thunder King Rai-Oh
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Dust Tornado

Konami and their "creative" names, master hyperion if they want to name it after a monster they should have called it archlord kristyia,  or agents would have sufficed. Anyway moving on the trend of tour guide being a format defining card continues here and I don't see that stopping anytime soon. With all of the added dark support(like birdman and tour guide, tragodia) Nicky was able to add more of a choas lineup then just BLS, he also added sorc.  Also interesting is that he played 3 veiler and no herald of orange light, I am not a agent player so I am guessing he didn't like having to discard a possibly critical fairy? Also he used 3 venus instead of the normal 2 but I can see why he did this as with two bridman instead of just making a gacchi gacchi and having a dead shineball he was now allowed a extension of that play: bounce shinball then make a levthian dragon or levair. Looking at the spells I can see why he wanted to max out on copies of critical cards: he only ran 3 pot of duality for consistency, the days of running 3 copies(or nay copies for that matter) are gone, it allows the deck more explosiveness all the while sacrificing little to nothing in the process. I can see why cards from the sky was excluded from nearly every agent decklist, it just doesn't do for the deck as it once did, tour guide has taken that role. The  trap is self explanatory.

Tyler Nolan (Top 4 – Tech Genus)

Monsters: 14
3 Reborn Tengu
3 T.G. Rush Rhino
3 T.G. Striker
3 T.G. Warwolf
2 Beast King Barbaros

Spells: 6
3 Pot of Duality
1 Book of Moon
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn

Traps: 20
2 Starlight Road
2 Solemn Warning
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Skill Drain
2 Call of the Haunted
3 Horn of the Phantom Beast
2 TG1-EM1
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Dimensional Prison
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Mirror Force
1 Dark Bribe

Extra Deck: 15
1 Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth
1 Naturia Barkion
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 T.G. Wonder Magician
1 Number 39: Utopia
2 Stardust Dragon
1 Gachi Gachi Gantetsu
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Scrap Archfiend
1 Orient Dragon

Side Deck: 15
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 D.D. Crow
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 The Transmigration Prophecy
2 Mind Crush
2 Liberty at Last!
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Dimensional Prison
2 Chain Disappearance
1 Closed Forest

Well it seems that all of our predictions about the summon set 4 lifestyle were all wrong. We found out how strong backrow was last format and your opponent doesn't always have heavy. With 2 starlight and 2 bribe Tyler insured that he had a small chance of getting stormed. If you have heavy and he has 4 set you know he has bribe or starlight but don't know which one, if he has bribe you get a card if he has starlight he gets a stardust, if he has nether you win, good mind games are good.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for part 2 coming very soon(probably tomorrow)

-Cameron