Moving forward...

Let's take a moment to reflect.  We've seen the Konami do a lot of things for the game, both good and bad. We've seen the evolution of Yu-Gi-Oh many times. First with the introduction of Fusion monsters, then Synchro monsters, and now Exceed monsters. Soon Battle Packs will be released to promote a new aspect to the game as well as the introduction to Galactic Overlord.  The banlist phased out Plants, T.G.s, Agents, and all their variants to make room for Inzektors, Dino Rabbit, and Wind-Ups. It is time to adapt and take charge by looking forward and preparing for whats to come.


p.s.

We now have a Tumblr account, http://www.tumblr.com/blog/teammisplay! It will be used for anything and everything Yu-Gi-Oh related by the team! The regular blog schedule will continue.

News Fridays

R.I.P Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. We had a good run.

Phases

Calling out phases in games is a great tool to use to get reads on your opponents and reduce your margin of error significantly. Your opponent, believe it our not, responds to interaction. By naming phases, you condition your opponent to associate each phase with a reaction that will divulge information about the game state. Understanding the phase interactions plays an important role in your perception development and bring your game to the next level.

Just play

For those of you that did not know, 16-year-old Georgia native Marquis Henderson BEASTED, literally, on all the competition with T.G. Stun this past weekend in Y.C.S. Atlanta. Henderson main decked Skill Drain and Beast King supported by Horn of the Phantom Beast. He effectively used his floaters, Tengu, Rush Rhino,etc., to thin out his deck and win without Maxx "C"s or Effect Veilers in a dominant Rabbit, Wind-up, and Inzektor tournament. After a rough start Henderson proved once and for all that the META doesn't dictate the outcome, the PLAYER does. Congratulations Marquis Henderson!

Credit for all information goes to Konami.

Tournament Report 2/18/12

I hadn't played in a tournaments since January and decided to play this week to show the crowd that judges are good players too.  The Laredo meta is what you would expect anywhere else with good competition.  I couldn't decide whether to run Prisma Lives Glads or Infernities.  I flipped an imaginary coin and went with the latter because I got a Leviair. I saw a kid without a deck that wanted to play so I lent him my GB deck.

Round 1:

X-Sabers - OO

Game 1

Opened Trap Dustshoot.

Game 2

Opened Trap Dustshoot again.

Round 2:

Chaos Dragons - OO

Game 1

Infernity Launcher + Monster Reborn = Game.

Game 2

Zero-Max + Necromancer  + Archfiend + Beetle = Trishula.

News Fridays

News
Really getting tired of all the fake banlists that keep popping up every time a new list is about to get introduced. Check out this fake one, http://sunetto.blog100.fc2.com/blog-entry-1677.html. It's so annoying to see posts and posts of useless speculation and bickering about how all the decks are broken and how Konami needs to fix it to make the game more "balanced" for everyone, and I'm over here thinking, umm no, sorry that's just not how it works. Konami will do whatever they want to the game and I can't think of a better example than the unbanning of Black Luster Solider - Envoy of the Beginning. The only thing remotely important during these times is the fluctuation in the secondary market, just look at eBay and you'll see.  Come on Fiendish Chain is going for 20+ dollars right now, really!?! Moving on, Ra Yellow Mega-Packs comes out next week and I'm having mixed feelings about it. Sure it has a lot of good things in it but I don't see it selling well past the banlist and the release of the Order of Chaos SE not to mention buzz around Galactic Overlord with the new archetypes and support.

Regional recap
I'm a little late on my regional recap cap and my judging experience in San Antonio from the past weekend but better late than never. So 1st place was T.G. Agents, not really surprised, it's all about matchups and T.G. Agents have amazing matchups against the meta! At the regional the top cut was really diverse Wind-Ups, Inzektors, Wind-Up/Inzektors, Dark Worlds, Dino Rabbit, and Agents. I would like clarify that Shi-En and Naturia Beast DO NOT NEGATE the equip of Hornet to an Inzektor because the equip becuse of a monster effect! Not much else to report than the usual attempts at rule sharking and cheating. People need to be patient and give opponents enough time to respond to anything and everything otherwise you are cheating and we don't like cheating! Many people from my hometown and some friends from central Texas topped. It was a really good day to see old friends while judging. Hope to see more come March!

Wind-Ups, Wind-Ups

The Engine and Card summaries:

Rat

Hunter

Shark

Zenmaity

Hunter can tribute a Wind-Up but itself once per turn to discard a card the opponent's hand.

Rat can special 1 Wind-Up monster in the grave once per turn.

Shark can special summon itself when a Wind-Up is normal or special summoned. Can increase or decrease a monster's level by 1 until the end phase.

Zenmaity can detach a material to special a Wind-Up from your deck or hand. It can remove a material to keep itself from being destroyed.

Concept:

Discard your opponents hand as fast as possible and attack! Exceed accordingly and keep advantage!

Counter:

Maxx "C" and Effect Veiler can and will stop them in there tracks. Having stronger monsters will turn the tide if they don't have an answer to it.

Thoughts:

The loop and field presence of the deck is undeniable. If taken lightly, the deck will destroy you! I think Inzektors are still a better archetype.


Honorable mentions:
Wind-Up Rabbit
Wind-Up Zenmaines
Wind-Up Factory
Disclaimer: All images will be updated as they come, credit for images goes to Wikia

News Fridays

Konami Europe posted the Hidden Arsenal 5 Special Edition information on their site, Six Sams won Y.C.S. Guadalajara this past weekend, The Dragons Collides structure deck came out this week, and the Team Misplay will be in San Antonio for regionals on the 11th.

Card tech talk part 1 (pre-March)

Going against the grain is never an easy task when the decks that are running rampant are Inzektors and Wind-Ups! You need cards that will stop them in they're tracks and keep you alive for that turn. There are many viable options to work with but Effect Veiler is the stand out!  Even with its drawbacks Veiler says NAH UH no effect to they're Centipede, Dragonfly, Hunter, Rat, and Zenmaity!  No loop, no win.

Trust me I'm a doctor!

Weekend Wrap-up

For those of you that didn't know, Sack Sams, a.k.a Six Samurai, took Y.C.S. Guadalajara in Mexico. Proving time and time again that Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En and Naturia Beast backed by Fiendish Chain and Musakani Magatama win games! Seriously ban these cards! I will finish up the wrap-up when more information is made available, for now I'll leave you this quote every player should live by.  Decks don't make the player, the player makes the deck! Congratulations Oscar Zavala, http://www.konami.com/yugioh/blog/?p=7809!

I'm just TOO GOOD!

Side note, this year's U.S. Nationals will be in Columbus, Ohio!

News Fridays

I learned my lesson last year about the secondary market while DREV Pot of Dualities were valued at $120 and have begun to trust Konami in what seems is an attempt to stabilize the market. I am amazed with the idea of Battle Packs and the reprints Konami confirmed. In short,  Battle Packs are similar to Magic: The Gathering sealed drafts and to be perfectly honest I think it's a great idea! It will bring in a different crowd of players and could even get old players back into the mix. We'll see how this will progress but I'm giving it two thumbs up! Next week, on February 11th Team Misplay will be going to Heroes & Fantasies in San Antonio, Texas for regionals.  I am hoping to judge under head judge, Ontario Durgan.  The rest of the team will be going to play, trade, sell, and buy.  Hope to see you there!!!!

Reprints!

The importance of shuffling

In today's segment, we will be going through the basics of shuffling. In events and tournaments that drag on forever shuffling can get very tedious.  Some even make it a habit to just tap, not shuffle, their opponents' deck and without realizing it you invite cheating, intentional or not. Shuffling is the act of randomizing a deck and/or hand to prevent alterations to the game state. Anytime you search through your deck you must shuffle unless specified. The same goes for card(s) that are returned to deck(s).  While shuffling you are not allowed to look or arrange cards. It's easy to remember by touch where cards are during shuffling. It is you and your opponent's responsibility to shuffle and/or cut each other's deck to put equal footing between each other to prevent all levels of cheating.

If not I'll draw this on you all day!!! :p