I have been really neglecting the blog because of work and I apologize. Can't keep a consistent crowd if you don't give consistent content. With all that said, I will try my best to keep the pulse of the blog to talk about my take on the T.C.G. and the meta in the states. With Toronto over, a lot of things were cleared up.
1. Are Wind-Ups still good?
Yes.
2. What are the cookie cutter decks right now?
None, although Wind-Ups had a strong showing the differences between each players deck was very significant.
3. How is the banlist?
It's hard to say, Wind-Ups seems to be herp derp at times being able to abuse Shock Master and Rank 5 XYZs like no other, but it is beatable. Unforunately if you want to beat them consistently you need to be maining Maxx "C".
4. Is there ever going to be diversity in Yu-Gi-Oh!?
Well, theres always going to be diversity in YGO is just a matter of how good are the best decks compared to everything else. Jeff Jones continues to stun people with his deck building and has no doubt started a revolution for psychics.
5. Whats the best deck right now??
I would have to say Wind-Ups because they just won Y.C.S. Toronto, but its anyone's game right now.
-E
Showing posts with label Analysis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Analysis. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
What to expect this weekend in North America Nationals
I sincerely believe that the best players are going to be playing Macro Rabbit to offset the popularity of Chaos Dragons and Inzektors. Wind-Ups and all its variants minus the Inzektor one are my sleeper pick. There will be people playing Burn and Countdown so have something prepared so you don't get caught with your pants down. I wish you all the best of luck and feel free to stop any member of the team for some small talk between rounds if we don't look busy.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Expansion on the Previous Post
This is not E for once, its actually Michael and seeing what E had to say I'm just going to expand on that concept of understanding the meta appropriately in meta-heavy tournaments (i.e. Regionals, YCS', or even highly competitive locals).
A great place to start is to find someone you're well acquainted with who runs the deck you have questions about, and ask them to explain it to you from the person playing the deck's perspective so that you can be better equipped to play against it when you see it elsewhere. This is easier if you have a "team" as they have been dubbed and I will be breaking down that concept in an entry on our tumblr page within the next few days.
The next step is maybe building the deck based on a popular build or maybe a build that topped the most recent major event as it will be net decked pretty thoroughly as players will take out a card here and there in favor of another here and there as tech for the meta they expect to experience. I'm not saying go out and buy all the cards, but proxies work fine for test-play amongst friends. And if you can get your friend or someone you know to play your deck against this meta deck you will pilot it can help you to see the strengths of the meta deck and weaknesses of your own deck. Sometimes these weaknesses can't be fixed in the main deck, but a well constructed sideboard can help you turn these weaknesses into strengths within the match-up. This is especially a problem with the way the meta is shaping up. Dino Rabbit, Wind-Ups, and Dark Worlds punish you for leaving too many cards in your hand as you will either not have the necessary negation on field when you need it, lose them to the grave one by one as they loop you, or have your opponent picking and choosing problem cards and taking them from your hand. Against these decks field committing with protection is a good idea. Against Inzektors this is the worst thing you can do. Once they get the combo rolling its pretty much over and you field committing makes it much easier for them to make +1's at every turn. If you don't know what you're playing its tough to know what to do turn one sometimes, and this can cost you, so here's some things I suggest.
1) Play effect veiler in the mainboard!!!!
- If you're asking why its because its still good, and with torrential at 2 it actually got better.
- Example Scenario that I playing 2 Effect Veiler and 2 Forbidden Chalice as well as 2 Torrential run into somewhat frequently. They have Laggia up with materials you say? That's fine. They summon monster, I don't care what activate torrential, if they don't stop it with a spell/trap but rather Laggia's effect you chain veiler and now the laggia trying to negate can not as the chian resolves backwards and Torrential destroys everything. They could chain a lance on top of your Veiler but then they have a 1600 ATK Laggia that may be immune this turn, but next turn its pretty much a vanilla in a deck that already runs too many anyway, so all is good. Seems pretty boss to me, you know just saying. Veiler works very well against Barkion or a Shi-En as well. Not so much against Beast as most times your spells are on your turn instead of theirs.
- People say it sucks against Rabbit, you're wrong. Tour Guide is the win condition of the deck unless they draw double rabbit before they draw 3 vanillas to ruin the possibility of double rabbit without Avarice. Veiler their tour guide and what do you have? A 1000 ATK VANILLA MONSTER! Make their monsters vanillas. The deck plays a pretty good game of protect the vanilla, or Evolzar, and you need to make them burn up those cards when they don't want to to put yourself in a position to win.
- He also ruins the Wind-Up loop when used properly (When Zenmaity Special Summons is the proper time in my opinion as they are now stuck with a simple 1500 ATK monster as lance will not save them, and a Book of Moon will still allow the loop but a smaller version that pulls one less card from your hand.
- Veiler also punishes bad Inzektor players. This deck is extremely hot right now due to its consistency and relatively low price. Its very annoying but knowing your rulings here helps. When they say effect to equip an inzektor to dragon fly (Hornet) don't negate with veiler, just say ok. Then as they bring it down from their hand say the dreaded words inzektor players do not want to hear. "At resolution I use effect veiler." The only thing holding the equip on is the inzektor who no longer can hold it on, so it falls off and neither effect of the inzektors acritvates. Veiler is usually a -1, but in the prior situation regarding using it at resolution, you actually make them lose a card as well as their normal summon due to your veiler if you already have monster presence that can trump their likely tiny monster at 1000 or 1600.
2) Be able to remove cards from the game
- Players don't realize how crucial this is. No current metagame strategy deals with RFG cards very well unless they were banished by their own effects. Yes Shining can add some back, but what about if you take them out of the grave so they never get to make their shining? Its an important thing to think about when you are working on your strategy in both your main and side deck.
- Even in match-ups you think its not great in its better than you think it is. Lets take Rabbit. Seems awful right? Wrong. When they avarice use D.D. Crow on one of their targets probably an exceed monster as it can not be re-summoned by a leviair, and they don't get to recycle their monsters the way they want to. It also goes about negating monster reborn, and I guess that's a good card to negate also.
-Another ruling for the Inzektor matchups. They say effect and you chain DD Crow to that 1 hornet in the grave. If they don't have another inzektor in grave they have to equip something due to the way the cards are worded. If they have any inzektor in hand they have to equip it, if they don't they must show you their hand to prove so and everyone likes knowing whats in your opponents hand.
3) Play Compulsory Evacuation Device
- Its the new Book of Moon for extra deck cards. It gets rid of answers at no cost and very consistently. It kills the shining and zenmaines, without effect. Its a good call for the metagame. Even use it on a dinosaur after a rabbit summon and watch the other one have to pop itself at the end of the turn.
The whole gist here is to be smart and thorough in your preparation and assess the major strengths and weaknesses of the meta and how can lessen their strengths and breakdown their bad matchups. There's a site out there that has a phrase I don't really care for as it gives the game a bad connotation so I'm going to coin my own because I can and that's what I want to do.
Play Smart and Have Fun.
Do the first every time and make sure you still enjoy the game. If you've stopped enjoying the game, step back and make sure you are still playing for the right reasons. Don't get me wrong I love winning and the competitive part of the game, but its important to still enjoy it too so that you don't find yourself fading away as time wears on, but instead growing a deeper bond with the game we all love to play. Don't ever miss an opportunity to learn something new either. Its important to learn the cards that the metagame will try and win with and use against you, and know how best to fight them.
Until next time, play smart and remember to still have fun,
Michael
A great place to start is to find someone you're well acquainted with who runs the deck you have questions about, and ask them to explain it to you from the person playing the deck's perspective so that you can be better equipped to play against it when you see it elsewhere. This is easier if you have a "team" as they have been dubbed and I will be breaking down that concept in an entry on our tumblr page within the next few days.
The next step is maybe building the deck based on a popular build or maybe a build that topped the most recent major event as it will be net decked pretty thoroughly as players will take out a card here and there in favor of another here and there as tech for the meta they expect to experience. I'm not saying go out and buy all the cards, but proxies work fine for test-play amongst friends. And if you can get your friend or someone you know to play your deck against this meta deck you will pilot it can help you to see the strengths of the meta deck and weaknesses of your own deck. Sometimes these weaknesses can't be fixed in the main deck, but a well constructed sideboard can help you turn these weaknesses into strengths within the match-up. This is especially a problem with the way the meta is shaping up. Dino Rabbit, Wind-Ups, and Dark Worlds punish you for leaving too many cards in your hand as you will either not have the necessary negation on field when you need it, lose them to the grave one by one as they loop you, or have your opponent picking and choosing problem cards and taking them from your hand. Against these decks field committing with protection is a good idea. Against Inzektors this is the worst thing you can do. Once they get the combo rolling its pretty much over and you field committing makes it much easier for them to make +1's at every turn. If you don't know what you're playing its tough to know what to do turn one sometimes, and this can cost you, so here's some things I suggest.
1) Play effect veiler in the mainboard!!!!
- If you're asking why its because its still good, and with torrential at 2 it actually got better.
- Example Scenario that I playing 2 Effect Veiler and 2 Forbidden Chalice as well as 2 Torrential run into somewhat frequently. They have Laggia up with materials you say? That's fine. They summon monster, I don't care what activate torrential, if they don't stop it with a spell/trap but rather Laggia's effect you chain veiler and now the laggia trying to negate can not as the chian resolves backwards and Torrential destroys everything. They could chain a lance on top of your Veiler but then they have a 1600 ATK Laggia that may be immune this turn, but next turn its pretty much a vanilla in a deck that already runs too many anyway, so all is good. Seems pretty boss to me, you know just saying. Veiler works very well against Barkion or a Shi-En as well. Not so much against Beast as most times your spells are on your turn instead of theirs.
- People say it sucks against Rabbit, you're wrong. Tour Guide is the win condition of the deck unless they draw double rabbit before they draw 3 vanillas to ruin the possibility of double rabbit without Avarice. Veiler their tour guide and what do you have? A 1000 ATK VANILLA MONSTER! Make their monsters vanillas. The deck plays a pretty good game of protect the vanilla, or Evolzar, and you need to make them burn up those cards when they don't want to to put yourself in a position to win.
- He also ruins the Wind-Up loop when used properly (When Zenmaity Special Summons is the proper time in my opinion as they are now stuck with a simple 1500 ATK monster as lance will not save them, and a Book of Moon will still allow the loop but a smaller version that pulls one less card from your hand.
- Veiler also punishes bad Inzektor players. This deck is extremely hot right now due to its consistency and relatively low price. Its very annoying but knowing your rulings here helps. When they say effect to equip an inzektor to dragon fly (Hornet) don't negate with veiler, just say ok. Then as they bring it down from their hand say the dreaded words inzektor players do not want to hear. "At resolution I use effect veiler." The only thing holding the equip on is the inzektor who no longer can hold it on, so it falls off and neither effect of the inzektors acritvates. Veiler is usually a -1, but in the prior situation regarding using it at resolution, you actually make them lose a card as well as their normal summon due to your veiler if you already have monster presence that can trump their likely tiny monster at 1000 or 1600.
2) Be able to remove cards from the game
- Players don't realize how crucial this is. No current metagame strategy deals with RFG cards very well unless they were banished by their own effects. Yes Shining can add some back, but what about if you take them out of the grave so they never get to make their shining? Its an important thing to think about when you are working on your strategy in both your main and side deck.
- Even in match-ups you think its not great in its better than you think it is. Lets take Rabbit. Seems awful right? Wrong. When they avarice use D.D. Crow on one of their targets probably an exceed monster as it can not be re-summoned by a leviair, and they don't get to recycle their monsters the way they want to. It also goes about negating monster reborn, and I guess that's a good card to negate also.
-Another ruling for the Inzektor matchups. They say effect and you chain DD Crow to that 1 hornet in the grave. If they don't have another inzektor in grave they have to equip something due to the way the cards are worded. If they have any inzektor in hand they have to equip it, if they don't they must show you their hand to prove so and everyone likes knowing whats in your opponents hand.
3) Play Compulsory Evacuation Device
- Its the new Book of Moon for extra deck cards. It gets rid of answers at no cost and very consistently. It kills the shining and zenmaines, without effect. Its a good call for the metagame. Even use it on a dinosaur after a rabbit summon and watch the other one have to pop itself at the end of the turn.
The whole gist here is to be smart and thorough in your preparation and assess the major strengths and weaknesses of the meta and how can lessen their strengths and breakdown their bad matchups. There's a site out there that has a phrase I don't really care for as it gives the game a bad connotation so I'm going to coin my own because I can and that's what I want to do.
Play Smart and Have Fun.
Do the first every time and make sure you still enjoy the game. If you've stopped enjoying the game, step back and make sure you are still playing for the right reasons. Don't get me wrong I love winning and the competitive part of the game, but its important to still enjoy it too so that you don't find yourself fading away as time wears on, but instead growing a deeper bond with the game we all love to play. Don't ever miss an opportunity to learn something new either. Its important to learn the cards that the metagame will try and win with and use against you, and know how best to fight them.
Until next time, play smart and remember to still have fun,
Michael
Monday, April 23, 2012
Misconception
So with all the crazy shenanigans going on in the meta I thought I take a moment and address an issue that affects players transitioning into competitive play. This is something my friend Al brought to my attention and I figured I should shed some light on this lingering phenomenon. Whenever you prepare and playtest for events there is misconception that because you "think you know" how the top decks run that you are aptly prepared for them when you face them. Consequently, you end up losing 9 times out of 10 because you weren't prepared. Playtesting shouldn't be taken lightly when you go into a meta heavy tournament. Being prepared and understand what functions in your deck and what doesn't is the process that allows you sidedeck accordingly and ultimately become the victor of the match. Until you fully understand that, you will never ever be ready to take the next step so keep that in mind when you enter your next premier event. As always thanks for stopping by this is E signing off.
Monday, April 2, 2012
The importance of Mystical Space Typhoon
So there is an ongoing debate about this card, not really I'm just kidding, but people don't see that this card being unlimited has a very important impact on the game. Monsters at this point have built in effects that are inherently a plus 1. The only thing stopping you from gaining that advantage are your opponents backrows. With Heavy storm floating around your opponent usually won't commit more than 3 backrows unless they can protect them. End phase Mystical on an opponent's sole backrow is also very commanding when you have the set up and card economy to push. Don't underestimate the potential of this card with all the decks running around that are negation based. Mystical space typhoon forces thought so keep that in mind when you blindly activate it.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
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.
Monday, February 20, 2012
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.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Wind-Ups, Wind-Ups
The Engine and Card summaries:
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
 |
| Rat |
 |
| Hunter |
 |
| Shark |
 |
| Zenmaity |
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
Monday, February 6, 2012
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! |
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
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 |
Monday, January 30, 2012
The mighty will always fall!
We are approaching the March banlist. There is a lot going on in the game with Inzektors and Wind-Ups popping up everywhere now. So before we continue getting bombarded with more useless banlist predictions remember that Konami doesn't care! We can go on forever with our wishful thinking but at the end of the day they will ban and un-ban whatever they want, that's for sure. And with each banlist an era ends and another begins. Decks will fall and others will rise. Will you be ready?
Monday, January 23, 2012
Dino Rabbit
The Engine
Step 1: Get Rabbit
Step 2: Search 2 Dinosaur Vanillas with different names and exceed into
or
or
If you have a banished Rabbit or a desirable level 4 or lower monster follow the next steps
Step 1: Get Tour Guide ----> Step 2: Search your level 3 fiend target and exceed into
Rabbit specials two level 4 or lower Normal monsters from your deck to the field, Rabbit cannot be special summoned from the deck.
Laggia negates anything that activates or summoned.
Dolkka negates monster effects that activate.
Tour guide specials any level 3 fiend from your deck to the field, the monster summoned cannot be used as synchro material.
Leviair detaches a material to special a level 4 or lower monster from the banished zone to the field.
Concept:
Make Laggia and/or Dolkka with Rabbit and recycle Rabbit with Leviair and make another Laggia and/or Dolkka and win with the crazy advantage you built up.
Counter:
Counter:
You need to disrupt the generic combo of exceeding into Laggia and Dolkka. Black Horn of Heaven, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Bottomless Trap Hole, Fiendish Chain, and other effect and summon stoppers will do work against the match up. Main decking a Maxx "C" will scare off your opponent from special summoning so much. Hoping that they draw normal monsters all day helps too. :D
Thoughts:
The deck is simple. Runs a lot like Six Samurai when they had Shi En at 3. If they manage to recycle Rabbit you will most probably lose.
Disclaimer: All images should be be credited to Wikia
Thoughts:
The deck is simple. Runs a lot like Six Samurai when they had Shi En at 3. If they manage to recycle Rabbit you will most probably lose.
Disclaimer: All images should be be credited to Wikia
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Dear secondary market
Sorry for posting this a week late. Order of Chaos is out and I decided to go through ebay and see what everything in the set is going for and I am still shocked by what I found! Centipedes going for $3, Dragonfly $3, Hornet $20. Don't get me started with the Ninja cards! The prices are not as ridiculous as I thought they would be considering that the pricing is based on hype. I'm seeing a lot of veteran players, more than usual, taking advantage of the new players. Konami needs to hit the secondary market hard and reprint anything worth more than $25 to avoid this all together. The community can be really rough; Yu-Gi-Oh players have a notorious reputation of being trouble makers, cheaters, thiefs, and a lot more things. Until Konami steps in we won't be able to weed out these people.
Side note: I'm plan to add a segment on Saturday or Sunday that will recap my matches of the day/week. I got the idea from the blogger community and wanted to give it a shot in our blog. I finally got a locals up and running in Laredo and we even have a Yu-Gi-Oh page! If you're in the area check it out.
Super side note: Today are the NFL AFC and NFC Championships! Go New England Patriots!!!!
Side note: I'm plan to add a segment on Saturday or Sunday that will recap my matches of the day/week. I got the idea from the blogger community and wanted to give it a shot in our blog. I finally got a locals up and running in Laredo and we even have a Yu-Gi-Oh page! If you're in the area check it out.
Super side note: Today are the NFL AFC and NFC Championships! Go New England Patriots!!!!
Monday, January 9, 2012
Dissecting Inzektors
The Engine:
 |
| Centipede |
 |
| Dragonfly |
 |
| Hornet |
Card summaries:
Dragonfly specials any Inzektor except itself when an equip leaves the field
Centipede searches any Inzektor except itself when an equip leaves the field
Hornet destroys any card on the field when it sent as an equip to the grave
Concept:
Issues:
The deck can not go off if it does not have Hornet in hand or grave. To compensate many builds run Armageddon Knight and Foolish Burial to maximize Inzektor plays.
Counter:
If you have any way of stopping the effect that equips in the initial games, do so. The wording on the cards makes it so that timing is not missed if the effects are allowed to resolve. In games two and three graveyard removal, negating summons, and effect of Inzektors while maintaining a high level of aggressive play will go a long way in defeating the deck; Inzektors function best when the opponent plays passively.
Thoughts:
Inzektors when released are going to compete with all the tier 1 decks, slowly but surely. The question remains though, will they survive the banlist? And are you ready?
Honorary Mentions:
Disclaimer: All images will be updated as they come, credit for images goes to Wikia
Ninjas...
The Engine:
Else.--> Use Upstart exceed into a rank 4.
Ninjitsu Art opens up options that didn't exist, speed, search-ability, and play-ability. It's limitations are your imagination. As of now, the most popular builds in the O.C.G. revolve around exceeding into but not limited to Evolzar Laggia and Evolzar Dolkka for obvious reasons. Rescue Rabbit is in the build to consistency while Jurrac Guaiba and other Normal Dinosaurs are targets for Ninjitsu Art.
Counter:
Your best bet is stopping Hanzo searches and siding into monster and backrow hate.
Thoughts:
This archetype is just a fun deck. It's lack of consistency is this deck's undoing, but give them too much space and they will make you pay with Ninjitsu Art.
Honorable mentions:
Aqua Armor Ninja
Masked Ninja Ebisu
Earth Armor Ninja
White Dragon Ninja
Armor Ninjitsu Art of Freezing
Ninjitsu Art of Duplication
 |
| Ninjitsu Art |
 |
| Upstart Golden Ninja |
 |
| Hanzo |
Card Summaries:
Hanzo is a floater with two different effects when normal, flip, and special summoned. The most common card the this card will search is Ninjitsu Art of Super-Transformation which when properly utilized is game breaking.
Upstart lets you special summon any ninja level 4 or lower from your deck by discarding a trap.
Ninjitsu Art of Super-Transformation is Ninjitsu Art of Transformation on steroids that sends your opponents monster to the grave and a face-up ninja you have monster to special any 1 Dragon, Dinosaur, or Sea Serpent type monster that is less than or equal to the combined levels.
Concept:
Step 1. Normal Summon Hanzo search and set Ninjitsu Art-->Step 2. Activate Ninjitsu Art and target 1 face-up Ninja and 1 face-up monster your opponent controls and send to grave to to make target monster-->Step 3. Exceed whenever possible.Hanzo is a floater with two different effects when normal, flip, and special summoned. The most common card the this card will search is Ninjitsu Art of Super-Transformation which when properly utilized is game breaking.
Upstart lets you special summon any ninja level 4 or lower from your deck by discarding a trap.
Ninjitsu Art of Super-Transformation is Ninjitsu Art of Transformation on steroids that sends your opponents monster to the grave and a face-up ninja you have monster to special any 1 Dragon, Dinosaur, or Sea Serpent type monster that is less than or equal to the combined levels.
Concept:
Else.--> Use Upstart exceed into a rank 4.
Ninjitsu Art opens up options that didn't exist, speed, search-ability, and play-ability. It's limitations are your imagination. As of now, the most popular builds in the O.C.G. revolve around exceeding into but not limited to Evolzar Laggia and Evolzar Dolkka for obvious reasons. Rescue Rabbit is in the build to consistency while Jurrac Guaiba and other Normal Dinosaurs are targets for Ninjitsu Art.
Counter:
Your best bet is stopping Hanzo searches and siding into monster and backrow hate.
Thoughts:
This archetype is just a fun deck. It's lack of consistency is this deck's undoing, but give them too much space and they will make you pay with Ninjitsu Art.
Honorable mentions:
Aqua Armor Ninja
Masked Ninja Ebisu
Earth Armor Ninja
White Dragon Ninja
Armor Ninjitsu Art of Freezing
Ninjitsu Art of Duplication
Disclaimer:All images will be updated as they come, credit for images goes to Wikia
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Inzektors
If you haven't heard by now then I suggest you learn all you can about them. Inzektors are are on the horizon, and if you haven't played some version of them on dueling network, then take my word for it when I say they're really good.
I personally hate the meta. It doesn't really matter what the meta is, I just hate it. It's mindless and takes so much fun out of the game. Netdecking has become an epidemic recently, and when everyone is netdecking the top deck then you kind of have to ask what's the point. Netdecking certainly has a place in the game as it allows newer players to see what other people are doing so they can learn the game faster. Abusing it by just copying exactly what someone else has already done, just seems like a waste of time. My favorite part of this game is the ability to be creative in deck design and do things other people haven't thought of or haven't been able to make work efficiently before. I know I am just stubborn, but what's the fun if someone else just shows you how to win and you win all the time? It seems like a waste of time. Regardless the reason I like to talk about these meta decks is because I spend a decent amount of time breaking them down and doing my best to pinpoint their weaknesses whenever a new idea surfaces.
Sorry about the rant, but if you ask anyone who knows me they know that's how I feel, but back to Inzektors. You use a three card base with Inzektor Dragonfly, Inzektor Hornet, and Inzektor Centipede to keep a constant card advantage making huge pluses. You can also go about using a mini Wind-Up engine capitalizing on Wind-Up Rat, Wind-Up Hunter, and Wind-Up Zenmaighty to go about making you discard their hand in a nice little loop. I think the design that uses the Wind-Up monsters is far more lethal and is certainly the one to watch out for. The idea is to make huge pluses off of card advantage destroying a card and special summoning at the same time, and then methodically eliminating their hand. If I could pick an ultimate strategy it would probbaly include my opponent having no hand and no cards on the field, but that's not very realistic, well at least until now.
Fortunately you are here though and I'm going to shed some light on a couple of nice ways to stop them. They work off of equip effects much like Dragunitys do, so naturally they fall to some shortcomings. I'm going to do my best to highlight those, and then outline a good inexpensive deck that should put up a tough fight.
Weakness #1: Graveyard Reliant
Weakness #2: Effect Reliant
Weakness #3: All of them are DARK attribute monsters
Weakness #4: Relatively low ATK monsters
Despite that low attack they just reload every turn, your best option is to eliminate that ability to reload. It's usually nice to just be able to play your main strategy and beat decks relatively easily, but with decks with potential like this you have to know how to stop the engine from ever starting.
Exploiting Weakness #1.
So think of all our basic removal cards. Those are all good here. When they summon Dragonfly and try to equip Hornet from the graveyard, use a card like D.D. Crow on that Hornet or maybe you use Crevice into the Different Dimension. Whatever option you choose, a good chainable removal card will serve you well in this match-up.
Now the biggest removal card in the game is surely Dimensional Fissure. Decks that can main a
Dimensional Fissure are going to have huge success against Inzektors. All they're effects revolve around sending cards to the graveyard that are equipped to an Inzektor Monster, With Dimensional Fissure up they won't go to the graveyard but will in fact be removed from play.
Also cards like debunk can help you a little as well when they try to use their effect in the graveyard you can negate it and remove it from play. So the Inzektor on the field may still go off, but the one in the grave won't.
Exploiting Weakness #2
They do rely on effects while they are on the field that activate on the field and in the graveyard. So if they summon Dragonfly and try to equip Hornet an Effect Veiler can stop that play and set them back a good turn. However if you don't remove that dragonfly the next turn it will likely come back to hurt you in a big way. So it is a good one turn solution, but something like Skill Drain can make sure they don't continue to equip monsters and build their hand over and over again.
Exploiting Weakness #3
They do fall victim to a major weakness and perhaps their biggest weakness, that they are all DARK monsters. Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror. Welcome to the one card shutdown if you can pull it off and keep it alive. A huge part of why Dark Worlds can't be viable long-term is this card and, it has some more use here. Shadow Imprisoning Mirror is a side-deck must. It really doesn't matter what format it even is because it has so much playability.
Blackwings, Infernities, Dark Worlds, even decks that tech powerful dark monsters like Caius, Chaos Sorcerer, Sangan, and now Inzektors can be crippled by just one card. My suggestion would be to side at least 2 if not 3, it will be worth your while. However expect them to expect this and know how Inzektor players try and combat this option
Exploiting Weakness #4
This can be summed up with about 4 cards that are relatively self explanatory.
Chain Disappearance is good for many reasons. Remove all copies in their hand and deck from play as well as the one they summoned. Potential plus 3 because I say removing anything is a plus 1 regardless, but that's my personal opinion.
Trap Hole may seem kind of like the odd man out here, but I find it to be a very good side deck card. Many decks rely on that first normal summon and trap hole in many cases can be quite disruptive. Now they may recover relatively quickly, but they will be forced to use more cards to do so. A deck that just normal summons Thunder King Rai-Oh a lot can easily be touched up by Trap Hole. When a Blackwing deck normal summons Shura or Sirocco, its a simple one for one. That's all it is at the end of the day, a one for one trade, and if they can't afford that loss at the time then you may be in very good shape.
Doomcaliber Knight is constantly seeing more play these days. With the increased reliance on effect monsters , you can see the reason why. Many players will attempt to draw out the effect and force the tribute via a nonconventional manner. By all means let them. If they have to alter their style of play to adjust the situation you have presented them, then that means you're doing well and if you can keep that up, they won't likely be able to win. It's just too tough to win when you play someone else's game. Work on establishing your game and make them play in such a way that they have to play scared of what you might do.
So What is This Good Deck to Combat Inzektors and the rest of the Meta?
Gladiator Beasts
It seems like they come up every format, and I'm not sure why they surface every format but they do. The main problem with this deck is that many of the elite players choose not to play Gladiator Beasts and thus they get very little hype, and are a deck people know the in's and out's of. I honestly don't care much for the deck, but as I was writing this was the one deck that kept coming to mind. I personally think Inzektor players will dread this matchup and be forced to side heavily and strategically for it because of the following reasons:
Gladiator Beasts remove cards in two basic ways. The first is via Retiari. The little 1200 attack monster who gets to remove a card when special summoned by a Gladiator Beast Effect. 1200 attack may seem low but in this match-up it isn't. Dragonfly and Hornet have lower attacks, while Centipede does not, but Centipede plays are not what an Inzektor player wants to make and forcing him to make a play like this means he is playing in a way that you are forcing him to.
In addition many Gladiator Beast players play multiple copies of Dimensional Fissure. Whether this be a main-deck or a side-deck choice, it has huge serviceability here. It doesn't tend to hurt their general strategy as the cards all return to the deck when used properly, and at the same time can cripple opponents.
Reason #2:
Gladiator Beast War Chariot. Enough said with this card. Most people know exactly what it is. It's a nightmare card. The only cost is controlling a Gladiator Beast monster and that's not very hard for them to do. They can use Gladiator Beast Equeste to functionally recycle the card and use it over and over again. A strategy that would completely eliminate the Inzektor gameplan.
Reason #3:
We all know about Gyzarus. You know when he's coming and when he does you better hope you have an answer. If you don't their goes your two cards you had and then if he attacks you get another one. I'm not a Gladiator Beast player so I actually diagrammed the play on paper and here's what it revealed.
You need a GB monster and Test Tiger. Tag for Darius. Use Darius to get Bestiari, and contact for Gyzarus. Attack and likely kill something. Then tag for Laquari, Darius, and use Darius' eff to get another GB monster and Make Heraklinos. If you have War Chariot down that't the right play, if not use Equeste and another monster of choice to return a used War Chariot which you should then set and Contact for Essedarii. So at the end of the sequence two cards can net you the destruction of 4 potentially while slapping down a big beater with backrow support. Sounds like a situation I'd rather not be in.
Reason #4:
It basically goes off of reason 3. They can pop cards all over the place and get their pluses. They have cards like Respite, Proving Ground, and War Chariot to keep themselves in a constantly threatening position while using cards like Bestiari Murmillo, and Gyzarus to destroy cards and using Equeste to recycle War Chariot until they can throw down Heraklinos which usually ends up meaning game for most players.
Conclusion
The following generic cards have a lot of potential use against inzektors
Comments are always appreciated and if you feel I missed something don't hesitate to point it out, so that other players can benefit from the shared knowledge.
Happy Dueling,
Michael
I personally hate the meta. It doesn't really matter what the meta is, I just hate it. It's mindless and takes so much fun out of the game. Netdecking has become an epidemic recently, and when everyone is netdecking the top deck then you kind of have to ask what's the point. Netdecking certainly has a place in the game as it allows newer players to see what other people are doing so they can learn the game faster. Abusing it by just copying exactly what someone else has already done, just seems like a waste of time. My favorite part of this game is the ability to be creative in deck design and do things other people haven't thought of or haven't been able to make work efficiently before. I know I am just stubborn, but what's the fun if someone else just shows you how to win and you win all the time? It seems like a waste of time. Regardless the reason I like to talk about these meta decks is because I spend a decent amount of time breaking them down and doing my best to pinpoint their weaknesses whenever a new idea surfaces.
Sorry about the rant, but if you ask anyone who knows me they know that's how I feel, but back to Inzektors. You use a three card base with Inzektor Dragonfly, Inzektor Hornet, and Inzektor Centipede to keep a constant card advantage making huge pluses. You can also go about using a mini Wind-Up engine capitalizing on Wind-Up Rat, Wind-Up Hunter, and Wind-Up Zenmaighty to go about making you discard their hand in a nice little loop. I think the design that uses the Wind-Up monsters is far more lethal and is certainly the one to watch out for. The idea is to make huge pluses off of card advantage destroying a card and special summoning at the same time, and then methodically eliminating their hand. If I could pick an ultimate strategy it would probbaly include my opponent having no hand and no cards on the field, but that's not very realistic, well at least until now.
Fortunately you are here though and I'm going to shed some light on a couple of nice ways to stop them. They work off of equip effects much like Dragunitys do, so naturally they fall to some shortcomings. I'm going to do my best to highlight those, and then outline a good inexpensive deck that should put up a tough fight.
Weakness #1: Graveyard Reliant
Weakness #2: Effect Reliant
Weakness #3: All of them are DARK attribute monsters
Weakness #4: Relatively low ATK monsters
Despite that low attack they just reload every turn, your best option is to eliminate that ability to reload. It's usually nice to just be able to play your main strategy and beat decks relatively easily, but with decks with potential like this you have to know how to stop the engine from ever starting.
Exploiting Weakness #1.
So think of all our basic removal cards. Those are all good here. When they summon Dragonfly and try to equip Hornet from the graveyard, use a card like D.D. Crow on that Hornet or maybe you use Crevice into the Different Dimension. Whatever option you choose, a good chainable removal card will serve you well in this match-up.
Now the biggest removal card in the game is surely Dimensional Fissure. Decks that can main a
Dimensional Fissure are going to have huge success against Inzektors. All they're effects revolve around sending cards to the graveyard that are equipped to an Inzektor Monster, With Dimensional Fissure up they won't go to the graveyard but will in fact be removed from play.
Also cards like debunk can help you a little as well when they try to use their effect in the graveyard you can negate it and remove it from play. So the Inzektor on the field may still go off, but the one in the grave won't.
Exploiting Weakness #2
They do rely on effects while they are on the field that activate on the field and in the graveyard. So if they summon Dragonfly and try to equip Hornet an Effect Veiler can stop that play and set them back a good turn. However if you don't remove that dragonfly the next turn it will likely come back to hurt you in a big way. So it is a good one turn solution, but something like Skill Drain can make sure they don't continue to equip monsters and build their hand over and over again.
Exploiting Weakness #3
They do fall victim to a major weakness and perhaps their biggest weakness, that they are all DARK monsters. Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror. Welcome to the one card shutdown if you can pull it off and keep it alive. A huge part of why Dark Worlds can't be viable long-term is this card and, it has some more use here. Shadow Imprisoning Mirror is a side-deck must. It really doesn't matter what format it even is because it has so much playability.
Blackwings, Infernities, Dark Worlds, even decks that tech powerful dark monsters like Caius, Chaos Sorcerer, Sangan, and now Inzektors can be crippled by just one card. My suggestion would be to side at least 2 if not 3, it will be worth your while. However expect them to expect this and know how Inzektor players try and combat this option
Exploiting Weakness #4
This can be summed up with about 4 cards that are relatively self explanatory.
- Chain Disappearance
- Trap Hole
- Doomcaliber Knight
- Deck Devastation Virus
Chain Disappearance is good for many reasons. Remove all copies in their hand and deck from play as well as the one they summoned. Potential plus 3 because I say removing anything is a plus 1 regardless, but that's my personal opinion.
Trap Hole may seem kind of like the odd man out here, but I find it to be a very good side deck card. Many decks rely on that first normal summon and trap hole in many cases can be quite disruptive. Now they may recover relatively quickly, but they will be forced to use more cards to do so. A deck that just normal summons Thunder King Rai-Oh a lot can easily be touched up by Trap Hole. When a Blackwing deck normal summons Shura or Sirocco, its a simple one for one. That's all it is at the end of the day, a one for one trade, and if they can't afford that loss at the time then you may be in very good shape.
Doomcaliber Knight is constantly seeing more play these days. With the increased reliance on effect monsters , you can see the reason why. Many players will attempt to draw out the effect and force the tribute via a nonconventional manner. By all means let them. If they have to alter their style of play to adjust the situation you have presented them, then that means you're doing well and if you can keep that up, they won't likely be able to win. It's just too tough to win when you play someone else's game. Work on establishing your game and make them play in such a way that they have to play scared of what you might do.
So What is This Good Deck to Combat Inzektors and the rest of the Meta?
Gladiator Beasts
It seems like they come up every format, and I'm not sure why they surface every format but they do. The main problem with this deck is that many of the elite players choose not to play Gladiator Beasts and thus they get very little hype, and are a deck people know the in's and out's of. I honestly don't care much for the deck, but as I was writing this was the one deck that kept coming to mind. I personally think Inzektor players will dread this matchup and be forced to side heavily and strategically for it because of the following reasons:
- Removal Ability
- Effect Negation
- Mass Destruction
- Large amounts of spell/trap destruction/support
Gladiator Beasts remove cards in two basic ways. The first is via Retiari. The little 1200 attack monster who gets to remove a card when special summoned by a Gladiator Beast Effect. 1200 attack may seem low but in this match-up it isn't. Dragonfly and Hornet have lower attacks, while Centipede does not, but Centipede plays are not what an Inzektor player wants to make and forcing him to make a play like this means he is playing in a way that you are forcing him to.
In addition many Gladiator Beast players play multiple copies of Dimensional Fissure. Whether this be a main-deck or a side-deck choice, it has huge serviceability here. It doesn't tend to hurt their general strategy as the cards all return to the deck when used properly, and at the same time can cripple opponents.
Reason #2:
Gladiator Beast War Chariot. Enough said with this card. Most people know exactly what it is. It's a nightmare card. The only cost is controlling a Gladiator Beast monster and that's not very hard for them to do. They can use Gladiator Beast Equeste to functionally recycle the card and use it over and over again. A strategy that would completely eliminate the Inzektor gameplan.
Reason #3:
We all know about Gyzarus. You know when he's coming and when he does you better hope you have an answer. If you don't their goes your two cards you had and then if he attacks you get another one. I'm not a Gladiator Beast player so I actually diagrammed the play on paper and here's what it revealed.
You need a GB monster and Test Tiger. Tag for Darius. Use Darius to get Bestiari, and contact for Gyzarus. Attack and likely kill something. Then tag for Laquari, Darius, and use Darius' eff to get another GB monster and Make Heraklinos. If you have War Chariot down that't the right play, if not use Equeste and another monster of choice to return a used War Chariot which you should then set and Contact for Essedarii. So at the end of the sequence two cards can net you the destruction of 4 potentially while slapping down a big beater with backrow support. Sounds like a situation I'd rather not be in.
Reason #4:
It basically goes off of reason 3. They can pop cards all over the place and get their pluses. They have cards like Respite, Proving Ground, and War Chariot to keep themselves in a constantly threatening position while using cards like Bestiari Murmillo, and Gyzarus to destroy cards and using Equeste to recycle War Chariot until they can throw down Heraklinos which usually ends up meaning game for most players.
Conclusion
The following generic cards have a lot of potential use against inzektors
- D.D. Crow
- Crevice into the Different Dimension
- Chain Disappearance
- Dimensional Fissure
- Debunk
- Effect Veiler
- Skill Drain
- Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror
- Trap Hole
- Doomcaliber Knight
- Deck Devastation Virus
Comments are always appreciated and if you feel I missed something don't hesitate to point it out, so that other players can benefit from the shared knowledge.
Happy Dueling,
Michael
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Say it isn't so!?
In Yu-Gi-Oh there is a universal problem with players that just do not know and/or understand rulings. In their defense I will say that some rulings can be very obscure and have to be dealt with in a different manner but for everything else there is just no excuse. I always encourage players to ask for a judge for any questions that arise from dueling whether or not something seems clear or not, there is no reason to leave it up to chance. The proper way to deal with said situation is to simply be reasonable with your opponent and explain the details of the card, how it affects the game state, and why you believe it functions the way it does. You will be surprised how things will turn out when you treat each other equally and respectfully in a duel.
This is a Yu-Gi-Oh! public service announcement brought to you by Rescue Rabbit.
Keep it clean!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Meta-Game Analysis
About halfway through every format, the dust always seems to
clear and a couple of decks emerge as the ones to beat. Last format it was Six Samurai and
Gravekeepers. When your opponent opened up with Necrovalley,
4 set cards and a face down Gravekeeper’s Spy the game was more or less
over. This format the deck that is
taking shape to be that deck is plant synchro.
The opening of Thunder King or a Tour Guide into a Sangan and passing
turn is not exactly easy to get through.
The good news is that there is no real clear second place right now and
that couldn’t be better for the game, as it allows a lot of freedom for players
to implement some creativity into trying to create good matchups against the
rest of the metagame.
Plant Synchro is without a doubt a money deck. If you have the money to build it you either
are working on it, already have, or maybe you have some allegiance to a certain
deck like myself, but if you aren’t going to join them you need to be able to
beat them. The best way to beat a deck with
the potential of plany synchro is to know it thoroughly. The
build seems to have stabilized now and with some preparation you can know
exactly what to expect.
Breaking down this deck you see a couple of things that are
very consistent. There is the 4 card
plant engine, the Tour Guide engine, the Tengu engine, and then there’s also
the constant threat of Black Luster Soldier.
The deck also runs a good amount of anti-meta type cards focusing on
field control and removal such as Thunder King, Caius, Spirit Reaper, Enemy Controller,
and the dreaded Maxx C. The deck
successfully neutralizes your pushes and then pushes back harder the next turn.
Dealing with decks like this either take
a good matchup based on the deck you are using, or knowing exactly what your
opponent is capable of and not letting them go off the way they want to.
The release of Rescue Rabbit has brought about the creation
of the Dino Rabbit decks, and these are poised to take the role of that second place
deck. I wouldn’t put my money on it for
a couple of reasons. They are plenty
good enough to be in the top tier, if not perhaps the most potent deck around
right now, but a couple of things hold them back. The first thing is the most obvious one and
that’s cost. The deck is downright expensive;
perhaps beyond reason as everyone knows Rabbit will be limited in the near
future. It’s not a sure thing but if the
past is any indicator of the future then you have to look at similar cards like
Rescue Cat, which was limited before it was banned. If you don’t know this, then I’ll
explain. Every format you will get a
couple of really overpowering cards and then Konami will go about
banning/limiting them, as it feels appropriate.
For example Shien’s Smoke Signal, Legendary Six Samurai-Shi-En, Fishborg
Blaster, T.G. Hyper Librarian, and Trishula from last format and I could go
back but there really isn’t any need to it’s the same story as far back as you
look. The next thing that hampers the
deck is the potential to dead draw a lot.
If you open up with two Kabazuls in hand you’re really in a bind, and in
big tournaments this is bound to happen and the more consistent decks in the
meta will jump on the opportunity when they sense their opponent is sitting on
a hand they can’t play.
The other popular decks that are running around and competing
at the highest level right now are Hyperion, Dark World, and my personal
favorite Karakuri.
Hyperion is powerful in the fact that it can dump giant
monsters on the field at little to no cost with relatively high consistency,
while using cards like Gachi Gachi to lengthen the game while they get to the
point where they can drop Hyperion and Kristya and swarm you. Agents pack a pretty consistent engine, and are
among the most played and consistent decks being played right now as there are
many attractions to this deck. The first
being its price tag, its just not that expensive. A couple of structure decks and a few cards
from newly released tins, and you have one of the most potent decks in the
game. The problems with this deck lie in
the problems with every deck with a boss card, you can play around it. Similar to Judgment Dragon in Lightsworn
decks, it’s a dead card before they have 4 Lightsworn monsters in the
graveyard. In the same way Kristya needs
4 light, fairy monsters and Hyperion needs 2.
It’s not just some unbelievably easy task, but a well timed Trishula or
saving your negation cards for the right time can amount to very easy and
lopsided wins. Graveyard removal keeps
Kristya and Hyperion off the field and they can only stall so much before you
break through. When you examine the
build of many of the Hyperion-based decks you can’t help but notice that it’s a
deck that runs very few defensive cards.
Just like knowing the ins and outs of any meta deck, this is a huge
advantage, because once you clear the field of monsters the likelihood of you
having to deal with any kind of substantial defense is relatively low.
Dark World is another potent and relatively inexpensive deck
to put together this format. The deck’s
sole purpose is to gain card advantage via monster effects that activate upon
being discarded. A very simple premise, and the ease with which you can bring
out a card like Grapha makes the deck one to fear this format. The deck does have an ability to overwhelm
and with cards like Dragged Down to the Grave, which is Trap Dustshoot and Mind
Crush put together, the deck can put together a lot of very explosive
plays. This being due to the fact that
they either know all of or part of your hand and know exactly what they are up against,
which is a huge advantage. It does
however rely on a large amount of combination plays and two cards are necessary
to make almost every play. Whether that
be with cards like Dark World Dealings or the field spell card, every single
play does in fact need a trigger of some sort to allow the discard to happen. Identifying these triggers and using
effective negation when necessary can really allow you to sidestep the major
threats this deck puts out. Using MST on
the field spell when they activate the effect pulls a card out of their
graveyard while not allowing a discard can set your opponent back for a turn if
not longer and allow you the time to make your push.
Karakuri is a whole different animal in this format. The whole purpose is to dump out the themed
synchro’s allowing you to dig into your deck over and over again, and then by manipulating
battle positions draw a ton of cards with Bureido. The deck has a ton of versatility and can go
into cards like Naturia Beast and Naturia Barkion to make an offensive
impossible, or one can opt to use more traditional level 7 & 8 synchro
monsters instead of their themed ones, such as Stardust Dragon to neutralize
power cards like Heavy Storm and Dark Hole.
The deck relies on monster effects and a couple of search cards to get
started and then the continued use of the synchro monsters to keep the deck’s
engine running. Of all the decks on this
list it does tend to look more like decks of past formats in that the main goal
is to flood the field with synchro monsters, and thus it runs into many of the
same problems. Cards like Effect Veiler
can throw a giant wrench in their gears especially when used on Ninishi. Being able to recognize a play for one of
their Synchro monsters, and rather than negating one of their normal monsters
waiting until they play one of their synchro monsters and using your negation
then will maximize your card advantage.
At the end of the day the game comes down to getting to your
opponent’s life points to 0 before your opponent can get yours there. Whatever method one takes to get there is acceptable
if it does the trick. The meta decks tend
to be the best of getting that goal accomplished, but anyone with enough
creativity and knowledge can come up with a better idea. As far as the rest of the format goes I think
plants will continue to stay on top, and all of the decks listed will remain
prominent. One of the underdogs to watch
for are Heroes. My main reason for this opinion
is Super Polymerization. Its just an
awesome card all the way around, seeing as how it can’t be negated you can turn
your hero monster and their Laggia into your own Fusion monster and their isn’t
anything they can do about it. Also on
the horizon is the release of some of the Laval monsters. All of them won’t come out in Hidden Arsenal
5, but a few will and some competitive builds will be out very soon afterward,
and its definitely a deck worth knowing about in the near future.
If you have any questions you want addressed on this blog
just email the team at 99misplays@gmail.com
and we will be happy to address them for you.
Thanks for reading.
Happy Dueling,
Michael
Happy Dueling,
Michael
Monday, October 31, 2011
Picking up on the subtleties (part 1)
Everyone has habits. Some of us have good ones, others have bad ones. One of the habits you should take a closer look at is shuffling. Yu-Gi-Oh players can be very careless when they are dueling especially when it comes to shuffling. Some shuffle their cards facing their opponent and give away very vital information about what is in their deck, hand, and field. Take a look at this picture for example.
This person special summoned Laquari. He has 3 cards in his hand and a Book of Moon, Monster Reborn, and a Laquari in his graveyard. As he shuffles, he reveals to you that he doesn’t have Starlight Road and Mirror Force in his hand. He also revealed that he had 2 Dimensional Prison in his deck as he shuffled and you might of caught a glimpse of a War Chariot. At this point, you determine what kind of situation you are in and strategize accordingly to capitalize. Now take a look at the next picture.
Same scenario only this time he is shuffling his deck the appropriate way, card faces facing down away from you so not to reveal any cards and you can only guess what he has in his hand. At this point you can only play it out. Information can be game breaking in close games so watch your habits or else they'll lose you games!
The essence of understanding in Yu-Gi-Oh! comes when you start to understand how everything interacts with one another. Once you grasp the concept, you'll be better equipped to win. So don't give up. Keep learning. Keep dueling.
E from The Team Misplay signing off
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Deck Combos: Infernities 1.5
With Infernity Launcher at 1 the deck lost steam when it was initially but the release of new generic support and some upcoming cards has allowed the deck to pick up where it left off. The main focus of the deck is to special summon Infernity Archfiend by its effect, with Infernity Necromancer, Infernity Mirage, and/or anything that can special summon it while you have no cards in your hand to spam synchros and load your spell/trap zone with Infernity Launcher, Infernity Barrier(s) or Infernity Break(s), whichever card(s) that befit the game state.
Hundred Eyes Dragon
With the appropriate setup, Hundred Eyes Dragon can completely shut out your opponent’s moves. Hundred Eye’s effect lets you reuse the effects of Infernity Mirage or Infernity Necromancer, if need be. And repeat the spamming.
Mist Wurm and Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
These two cards are greath whether you're up or down. They help deal with opponents board and seal off any attempt of a comeback. A well timed Trishula and Mist Wurm is a guaranteed win.
Infernity Launcher
Infernity's version of Monster Reborn. Special summon 2 Infernity monsters from the graveyard while you have no cards in your hand and just in case you have a an Infernity monster in your hand you can’t seem to get rid of Launcher says its okay ditch it. Problem solved.
Leviair the Sea Dragon
Leviair, Leviair, Leviair, what can I say that its effect hasn't already told you. This card bring a whole new meaning to hey, I'm going to win this turn unless you stop me. This card lets you reuse any of these removed from play any level 4 or lower monsters you or your opponent have. Being able to reuse Mirage is exteremely important not only would you continue to gain advantange for nothing! Your opponent will probably concede if he can't stop your Leviair push.
Tour Guide
I personally don't run this card but Tour Guide isn't a card to sneeze at. It helps thin out the deck and allows you to push for aggressively with Exceed monsters. Leviair is a one turn combo with Tour Guide so keep that in mind when you play with the deck.
All in all, Infernities are a solid deck. So try it out, you might like what you see!
E from The Team Misplay signing off
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