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Monday, August 29, 2011

Deck Construction: Fiend Comedian is No Joke

A random card popped into my head, and as I usually do, I started thinking of ways to use it in a deck. That card is an old trap from Legacy of Darkness, Fiend Comedian.


Fiend Comedian
Trap Card
Toss a coin and call it. If you call it right, all of your opponent's cards in the Graveyard are removed from play immediately. If you call it wrong, send a number of cards equal to the number of cards in your opponent's Graveyard from your Deck to your Graveyard.

In the upcoming format, this card's first effect looks amazing. You banish your opponent's entire Graveyard. That means your opponent will have a hard time summoning their Judgment Dragon, Black Luster Soldier, or Master Hyperion. One of the best things about this card is that it's chainable, so if your opponent activates any card that targets or effects a card in the grave, they lose out big time.

At first look, risk outweighs the reward. What happens if you mill through most of your deck? Well I'll answer that question with another: What deck thrives on milling? Lightsworns, of course! There are several ways to retrieve your important monsters, such as Beckoning Light and Monster Reincarnation, so going through multiple JDs or your BLS shouldn't be a problem. 

I'm going to go backwards this time and list the Trap cards first. I usually don't like to max out on cards that aren't guaranteed to help, but for the sake of testing, we'll use 3 Fiend Comedian. With so much potential milling, we'll also have 3 Beckoning Light.
As for Spell Cards, we'll include the usual staples and Lightsworn support. A single Monster Reincarnation should suffice since we have 3 Beckoning Light as well.
That's 19 cards so far, but since we'll be milling so much, we can go a little over 40. The monster line-up is pretty standard, except for the Wulfs. I usually don't like the inconsistencies that card brings, but it can be Special Summoned if milled off Fiend Comedian, so we'll max on it. I've also cut out Ryko altogether because it seems a bit too slow for this deck.
And there it is. 45 cards of fast milling, Special Summoning, hinder your opponent sackiness. Trimming it down to 40-42 cards would probably make it more effective, but that's what testing is for. Enjoy :)

Monday, August 22, 2011

Deck Profile: Lucksworn


Lightsworns got a nice boost from the new ban list by unlimiting their ridiculously powerful boss monster, Judgment Dragon, semi-limiting Necro Gardna, and bringing BLS from 0 to 1. These cards don't make the deck any more consistent, like semi-limiting Lumina or Charge would, but they make the deck more explosive and luck based. The earlier you can summon JD/BLS, the sooner you'll win.

Yesterday, before locals, I threw together a quick Lightsworn deck for the September format, just to test some things out. Out of the 16 or so games I played, I won 13 of them, and most of the games ended with multiple Judgment Dragons and a Black Luster Soldier. The deck doesn't even include Tour Guide (due to it being $150+), so just imagine if that were in here.
Lightsworn Monsters
These are (obviously) the main cards of the deck . They knock around your opponent until you can explode with your multiple 3000 ATK monsters. I'm not sure how I feel about the Wulfs. It's always bad when you draw them, but when they're milled, you get free 2100 ATK beaters. I'd replace them with Tour Guides if I could. The rest is the basic LS line up.
Boss Monsters
These are the cards that will end the game. Judgment Dragons are summoned for free, and you can summon as many as you want per turn. Just use your first one to blow up the field, and feel free to swarm.
Filler Monsters
Using so little traps and the explosiveness of the upcoming format makes Gorz pretty essential. Tragoedia is used for the same reason, to stop OTKs. Veiler is necessary to keep the opponent's Tour Guides and such from giving them too much advantage. As the best Graveyard-based Tuners, PSZ and Bulb fit in nicely and gives you access to Synchros like Trishula.
Spell Cards
We have the basic staples, and the LS cards, Charge and Recharge. Avarice helps in the off chance that you mill all your Judgment Dragons and Beckoning Lights, or if you just need to draw something new. Gold Sarc is not only good for grabbing your big monsters, but also for setting up your OTK by grabbing Heavy Storm, or other cards that will help you. I feel there is no reason not to use 3 MST in decks based on swarming with huge monsters.
Trap Cards
 This is the only trap you need. You can dump your unneeded cards, and grab your milled JDs or BLS.


This deck is very easy to use, as long as you open with a decent hand.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A Time for Chaos [Ban List September 2011]



When a new ban list is first revealed, it turns the Yugioh world into chaos, but this time that's a bit more literal. Take a look.

Newly Banned
This card is pretty ridiculous, and used in the right deck, it makes OTKs. Some TCG players might not understand why Fishborg got hit so hard, but we don't have Shooting Quasar Dragon like the OCG does. It just sucks for those who pulled the Super Rare version from Turbo Pack 6.
Another instant Shooting Quasar Dragon. This card was at 1 to deter OTKs, but with Quasar being so powerful, and all the new Psychic cards making it easily accessible,  this needed banned.
You know what this means, right? Trunade is a very powerful Spell card that gets rid of your opponent's Spells and Traps for a turn so you can swarm safely. Since it doesn't destroy anything, the only way to stop it is to have something that negates any Spell card.
Personally, with the way the rest of the list is, I feel this should have stayed at 1. Stun decks won't necessarily miss it since they still have 3 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, but other decks could use this after they've swarmed the field to prevent their opponent from doing the same.


Newly Limited
"OMG WTF SHENANIGANS!!!!!" Is what the entire player base may have cried a few years ago, but we've seen even more powerful monsters come and go since this guy was the boss. The big threat here is that any deck with a few dark monsters and Ryko/Cydra/Veiler can splash this beast. Btw, Chaos Sorcerer is still at 3, so expect to see a lot of banishing going on.
Everyone knows how frustrating it is when your opponent goes first and summons 2 of these guys. You have to waste so many resources to even stand a chance. Samurai players won't have much trouble adapting, as they can easily go into Naturia Beast or Barkion to back Shi En up.
Every deck based around this card is too powerful, so what does that tell you? It was much too easy to make 2 of these and multiple Formula Synchron for seemingly infinite pluses. It's still a great card at 1, but not so overpowered.
Plants is one of the most troublesome decks in the OCG and TCG, and this card makes an instant Black Rose Dragon or Trishula. I think that's enough of a reason to limit it.
With Fishborg and Mind Master banned, Librarian and a lot of Plant support at 1, isn't it a little harsh to limit this card? Absolutely not. As long as there are easily accessible level 1 Tuners, this card with be a problem.
The heart of the Plant engine, this card needed to go to 1. Without the OCG priority ruling, there's nothing to stop this card, besides negating its summon.
When this card was legal, everyone wanted it banned. When it was banned, everyone wanted it legal. The difference between this and Trunade is that you can stop this with cards like Starlight Road, the Stardust Dragon family, and Musakani Magatama. With this and Dark Hole being legal, Starlight Road may just become a staple.
Wait, what? What the hell does that card even do? Oh yeah! It lets you add the Effect Veiler you removed to summon BLS to your Hand. This is actually a smart move by Konami that I'm sure many players wouldn't have thought about.
If RotA is at 1, this should be at 1 as well. Every Smoke Signal is an extra Kageki or Kagemusha that you can use to summon a 1st turn Shi En.
The final nail in Plants' coffin? This also hurts Piper Chaos, Fableds, and other decks that relied on recycling. It also makes Reborn Tengu a smaller threat than it was.


Newly Semi-Limited
With Rescue Cat gone, this isn't the instant OTK it once was, but it's still a powerful card. It's a Level 8 Synchro for the cost of a Spell Card. I would definitely use this in Scraps. It's an instant Scrap Dragon, and gives access to Arcanite Magician.

Not much to say about this. It's easily summoned, can steal your opponent's monsters, and can be used to summon any level Synchro with the right cards in your grave. Gadgets will have fun with this at 2.
Another reason to use Twilight (the deck, not the awful book/movie). This gives Lightsworn a small boost, but doesn't compare what some other cards on the list give them.
There's a complicated OTK using this card. I'm not 100% sure if it's still viable with this list, but I bet that's why this is back to 2.
Give D Heroes a chance! The Destiny Hero engine was what everyone splashed before Plants were cool. D Draw being at 1 killed it. Now with all the new HERO support and the crippling of the Plant engine, maybe we'll see these cards rise back to the top.
Konami sure likes to throw some curve balls at us. With the game currently being whoever wins the dice roll wins the game, maybe this is an attempt to slow it down a bit.
With so much searching in the game, this is a great side deck card.. There's really no reason it should have been at 1 anyway.
Remember what I said about curve balls? I have no idea what to even think about this. I guess putting a lot of important monsters and Avarice at 1, they figured a little extra recursion won't hurt.


Newly Unlimited
Really guys? You took one of the sackiest decks and made it more sacky? Special Summon JD, blow everything up, Normal Summon, Special BLS, gg? This is another reason to main/side Starlight Road.
Whatever happened to "This game should be about monsters destroying other monsters"? Something along those lines was said when Reaper went to 1. Not a big deal, but things could get really annoying really fast.
Heavy Storm, Future Fusion, Overload, gg? Effect Veiler/Battle Fader/Starlight Road/Stardust all exist, so this isn't as likely as it was way back when.
Heavy Storm AND 3 MSTs? What kind of sorcery is this!? The kind that hates you setting 4 backrow on your first turn.
Nobody cares. It wasn't used at 2 anyway.
Oh, Gravity Bind, ok.......WHAT???? I remember a time when all stall cards were getting limited because the game was too slow. Now, we're getting 2 Swords, 3 Reapers, and 3 Binds. I guess that explains the 3 MSTs.
It's about time Blackwings get something back after losing so much to the last few lists. Yet another reason to main/side Starlight Road ;)

So that's it! If we follow the pattern Konami has set, this will be our list, plus Trishula at 1 to match the OCG. There is, however, a chance we'll get our own list, seeing how the TCG and OCG have different rulings on Ignition Effects and Xyz Material Monsters. The only way to know for sure is to wait for Konami of America to post the official TCG list on yugioh-card.com. Feel free to share your thoughts below.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Quick Post: Release Dates

Just popping in quick to list the release dates of all the great products we're getting this year.


August 2 - Hidden Arsenal: Special Edition
August 4 - Turbo Pack 6
August 16 - Generation Force
August 30 - 2011 Collectible Tins: Wave 1
September 20 - Generation Force: Special Edition
October 4 - Legendary Collection 2
October 18 - Structure Deck: Gates of the Underworld
November 1 - 2011 Collectible Tins: Wave 2

I have a few ideas for new posts, but I won't be able to get them out until Monday, so check in then for updates.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Generation Force Sneak Peek: What to Look For


 With the GENF SP just 2 days away,  most players already know what the chase cards are and will be trying to rip everyone off for them. The bulk of this new set doesn't really interest me, but we're going to take a look at the cards that do catch my eye. Feel free to leave comments and tell me which cards you're looking forward to most.


The Wind-Up Archtype
This archtype has a Black Whirlwind that you can run in 3's, and the monsters have varied effects that can either help you, or hurt your opponent. These cards may get overlooked, so pick them up while you can. The aforementioned "Black Whirlwind" card, Wind-Up Factory, is a Super Rare, and that will probably be the highest rarity these cards will reach, except for their boss monster, Wind-Up Zenmaister.


Blue-Blooded Oni (Super Rare)
With the few Zombie support cards in this set, I can see some players trying to bring the deck back to the top tiers. This card will most likely go for around $4, but if Zombies do take off, it could reach around $7-$10.




  
Pain Painter (Secret Rare)
This is what makes Zombies interesting again. If you don't believe they'll make it back near the top, trade this immediately while the hype is up. 




Orient Dragon (Secret Rare)
As a Plant player, this is the card that interests me the most. Currently, the only level 6 Dragon-type Synchro we have is Iron Chain Dragon, and it's milling effect is terrible against decks that revolve around the Graveyard like so many of today's decks do. With most (all) Plant decks using Debris Dragon and either Ryko or Doppelwarrior, this is a 1-card out to cards like Shi En, Stardust Dragon, Shooting Star Dragon, and every other Synchro monster that doesn't negate effects (looking at you, Shooting Quasar). Expect this to reach near Tour Guide prices.




Smashing Horn (Secret Rare)
This card can turn the game around. Don't you hate when you make a big play just to have your opponent use Solemn Warning? This card turns that Warning into a waste of 2000 Life Points. Not only that, but this card can also destroy cards like Thunder King Rai-Oh and Steelswarm Roach when they try to negate your monster summons.


HERO Support 
The Masked HERO and Vision HERO cards finally make their way to the TCG, and they are bound to be sought after by all the HERO players out there. Vision HERO Adoration has the highest rarity at Secret Rare, so watch out for those, and the Ultra Rare Elemental HERO Nova Master.






Steelswarm Roach (Secret Rare)
This is another huge card from this set. It can be used in almost any deck, and can negate 2 of your opponent's Special Summons. This is already looking to be even more expensive than Orient Dragon, so this is definitely the card to look for.