End of the Year 2010

This year was a pretty good year for Yu-Gi-Oh.

The beginning of the year was the end of the Lightsworn/Zombie format. It was actually a comparatively good format, considering that you could side so easily against the top decks.

Anyway, the March ban list brought an end to that, leaving the format open for practically every deck. Synchro Cat, Flamvells, and Quickdraw Plants were fairly popular, but all very inconsistent. It was a slow format, so anything could potentially be good.

But then, The Shining Darkness arrived. This lead to a post-TSHD format, with Infernities receiving all of the hype, because they were doing so well in the OCG. But when people figured out that they weren't as good without Trishula, even with Infernity Barrier, they moved on to X-Sabers and Frog Monarchs. Both of those decks should not have existed, but then an even worse deck came about to ruin the format.

Frog FTK went on to force people to Side Deck silly cards like Hanewata. The deck even won the World Championship.

But then Substitoad was rightfully banned, and Duelist Revolution was released.

DREV brought some of the most expensive cards that TCG players have seen for a while in Pot of Duality and Solemn Warning. Effect Veiler was arguably one of those cards, but it's relatively cheap compared to the other two.

The banning of Heavy Storm and the release of Pot of Duality allowed many decks to be able to compete, making it so that no one deck has dominated any YCS this format.

That's basically it. This year has been relatively uneventful, which makes it kind of good for the game. Starstrike Blast didn't break any decks, although it did give a little too much support to Plant decks.

So yeah, this post is probably pretty boring because nothing really happened this year. Next year will probably be more exciting with Storm of Ragnarok, Trishula, and ZEXAL around the corner.

Gladiator Beasts

They theoretically have a good match-up against practically everything. Remove Dandylions and Treeborn Frogs, destroy Necrovalley, negate Judgment Dragon and Kalut, take advantage of Emmersblade and Scrap Goblin.

The problem is that once something gets past them, they can't do much to get rid of it.

Gladiator Beasts are all about prevention, and they're pretty good at it. Negating effects and destroying cards before they can roll into combos is fairly easy for them.

However, once something big hits the field, they have a tough time destroying it. All of them have fairly low ATK, so they'll even have difficulty getting through a Cyber Dragon.

They would basically have to wait for some Monster removal card or for some way to Special Summon Bestiari to fuse for Gyzarus. The latter isn't going to happen very often, but the former will if they load their deck with those types of cards.

If they do that, then they might not draw Monsters often enough to take advantage of a clear field. Even if they do, their Monsters are still vulnerable to Traps and such.

Essentially, Gladiator Beast decks need to consistently clear the opponent's field (or at least stun their back rows) to be effective. Unfortunately for them, that can't happen as often as it needs to.

The thing that keeps Gladiator Beasts in the meta is their amazing match-up against a few key decks. They thrive against set-up decks like (Quickdraw) Plants, Frog Monarchs, and X-Sabers. However, they lose pretty often to other Stun decks like Blackwings and Gemini Stun.

So yeah, Gladiator Beasts aren't as good as I thought they were. Now I have to find a new deck to take to locals...

Tournament Report 12/26/10

So, I went to locals today with Scrap Anti-Stun. I'm planning on using a different deck next weekend, so I'll see how that works out.

Before the tournament started, I played a few duels with Yusei JB from Yugilo's channel. Yugilo recorded the first two, and they'll be up on his channel sometime soon.

Round 1: vs Scraps

This was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: This duel took 30 minutes. It was really back and forth, but he drew into his Chimeras at more opportune times than I did. I drew the third one when he already had control over the game.

-Duel 2: I rushed him with Scrap Twin Dragon, which he destroyed with Torrential Tribute. So I revived the Scrap Golem I used to summon it, and Synchro Summoned XX-Saber Gottoms. That Gottoms basically won me the game, since I shut down his attempts to get rid of it.

-Duel 3: Since the first duel took so long, we started this game in sudden death. I Dark Holed his Set Scrap Goblin and summoned Scrap Beast. Against his three Set back rows, and with no defensive cards, I declined to attack, playing around a possible Mirror Force or Book of Moon. With that, I Set two Forbidden Chalice. With D.D. Crow in hand, I was safe if he had Scrap Chimera. But, he moved my Scrap Beast out of the way with Mind Control and attacked with a Ryko for game.

Round 2: vs Flamvell Lightsworn

-Duel 1: He dropped three Synchros on the field with Rekindling. However, I had milled Scrap Golem with Ryko, and was also fortunate enough to have a Call of the Haunted Set. Not only that, after I Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon, I used Giant Trunade to reset my Call of the Haunted. Even with Gorz, he couldn't stop me from taking the duel with Scrap Twin Dragon.

-Duel 2: I died to Judgment Dragon.

-Duel 3: I controlled the game with Scrap Dragon, keeping more than enough resources in hand to get rid of a swarm, should he top Judgment Dragon. Either way, he didn't, so I won fairly easily.

Round 3: vs Newbie Quickdraw

This guy was really annoying. I just ran him through with Scraps.

Round 4: vs Watts

This was the same Watt player from this tournament.

-Duel 1: I started with Royal Decree, which was good. Later, I Synchro Summoned Naturia Beast. So yeah, I won.

-Duel 2: I held out and whittled down his back row. Then, with Scrap Beast on the field, I flipped Scapegoat in his End Phase. I Synchro Summoned Naturia Beast and Naturia Barkion, using the Scrap Beast, all of the tokens, and a Scrap Goblin from my hand. So yeah, I won.

Round 5: vs Naturias

-Duel 1: He messed me up with Burden of the Mighty and Naturia Fruitfly. But, he got too greedy and attacked with four Monsters on the field, letting my Mirror Force destroy them all. I used Scrap Golem to Synchro Summon Scrap Twin Dragon to make small pushes each turn, leading to victory.

-Duel 2: He swarmed with Pumpkin, two Hydrangeas, and Cherries. He Synchro Summoned Iron Chain Dragon with the Cherries and one Hydrangea, then pushed through a bunch of damage. However, he misplayed against my Set Snowman Eater, attacking it with Hydrangea, letting me destroy Iron Chain Dragon, and keeping my Snowman Eater alive. After that, I ran over his Naturia Cliff with Scrap Beast, then Synchro Summoned Black Rose Dragon to destroy the field. He was top-decking, and I had a bunch of cards in hand. It didn't help that he drew Naturia Bambooshoot for the next two turns. So I was able to win fairly easily.

Because this was a Sunday tournament, and because I only had one loss, I got a Hobby League Shining Angel. The Turbo Pack 4 didn't have a holo; therefore, it was bad.

I didn't really play against any meta decks, which is what I wanted to happen so that I could test out my Side Deck. Either way, I'm probably going to be using a different deck next weekend. If it works out like I hope, then it'll be pretty awesome...

Upcoming Threats for the TCG

So, the TCG Duel Terminal 4 is coming sometime in January. That means that we'll be getting Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. It won't be usable until next summer, but it's still a frightening thought. It makes Debris Plants a huge threat, since they can summon it so easily.

There's also Genex Ally Birdman, which I'm actually looking forward to. It's not extremely broken, especially since Gallis the Star Beast isn't legal in the US, and it'll be a cool card for me to use in some sort of Dark Turbo-esque deck.

Of course, The Fabled will be coming in the Duel Terminal as well. They actually make Fabled decks viable, meaning that Light-Imprisoning Mirror might be seen in Side Decks again. The Fabled aren't as important as what's coming in February.

Storm of Ragnarok will bring the dreaded Legendary Six Samurai to the TCG, destroying the somewhat diverse meta that has been enjoyed up to this point. I'm legitimately scared of playing against them, since they can effectively make it impossible for you to win, depending on what their starting hand is.

I've been watching quite a few OCG duel videos with Legendary Six Samurai in them, and those players seem to open amazingly all the time. Even if you get a chance to push back, Legendary Six Samurai gain so much advantage that they can just swarm you again.

Maybe Legendary Six Samurai players do open badly sometimes. I just haven't seen it happen. And, there's not much that can deal effectively with a Legendary Six Samurai swarm. I'll have to look into what to do about them. Hopefully they'll just be smashed by the ban list in March...

Random Stuff #22

YouTube's new home page is pretty neat. You can tell when someone you've subscribed to is uploading a new video, because it will say that they've uploaded something, but will only show their previously uploaded videos.

It also recommends quite a few good videos. I've found some worthwhile Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh channels to watch. Also, I've stumbled upon some duel videos from last format. They've reminded me of how great it was when Heavy Storm was still around... Well, between March and May.

This format is somewhat comparable, but now the sackiness of (Quickdraw) Plants has been amplified, which is kind of terrible. Whenever I play against the deck, my opponent seems to draw multiple Debris Dragons and Royal Decree each duel... I suppose that it's not as bad as trying to play against a Six Samurai deck that drew double Gateway, Kageki, and Kagemusha...

I saw a thread on Pojo asking which is better: Thunder King Rai-Oh or D.D. Warrior Lady? When I first saw it, I thought that the answer was obvious, but it got me thinking. Rai-Oh is a horrible top-deck against a Synchro or a Judgment Dragon. Also, D.D. Warrior Lady can be better against (Quickdraw) Plants in certain situations, and is a lot better against Frog Monarchs. So I've pushed one Rai-Oh to the side deck to make room for a tech D.D. Warrior Lady. That Rai-Oh, in turn, pushed one Banisher of the Radiance out of the Side Deck. D.D. Warrior Lady fulfills its purpose well enough.

With my competitive deck ready for locals, which I hope to go to on Sunday, I want to work on a fun deck. I'm considering dropping the Fortune Lady aspect of the Chaos Fortune deck, and I'm also thinking about some sort of Vayu Turbo deck that uses Genex Monsters. I'll probably have to wait for Ally Genex Birdman, which I can start getting next month when the new Duel Terminals arrive! Yay!

Other than that, I can't really think of any new decks to make. Maybe that new Cloudian Synchro deck. It seems like its too dependent on Fishborg Blaster and Cloudian Turbulence, though. Either way, it's another deck to side Power Filter against.

Edit: Riku and I should be able to make videos tomorrow. So expect an upload tomorrow night at the earliest and Thursday at the latest.

Tournament Report 12/19/10

Aki was supposed to come with me, but he wasn't able to. So, that should explain why there might not be any new videos for a little while.

As usual, I went with Scrap Anti-Stun. I might consider changing it, since most of the people at my locals have stopped playing Stun decks... I'll see what happens...

Round 1: vs Hopeless Dragons

This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He dropped me down to 1000 LP, so I had to play cautiously. I eventually was able to destroy all of his Monsters and deplete his hand, allowing me to push with Scrap Dragons.

-Duel 2: He didn't draw many Monsters, which helped me win. After he took an attack from Scrap Beast, used Solemn Judgment, and then used Seven Tools, he was down to 2200 LP. I attacked directly with Cyber Dragon and activated Forbidden Chalice for game.

Round 2: vs Frog Monarchs

-Duel 1: I lost to generic Frog Monarchs shenanigans, such as double Caius.

-Duel 2: He didn't get to his Treeborn Frog, so I just kept pushing with Scrap Dragons.

-Duel 3: I removed his Treeborn Frog with Banisher of the Radiance, so I worked to keep Monsters off of his side of the field so he couldn't summon Monarchs. I was successful, so I won.

Round 3: vs Debris Plants

-Duel 1: I lost to generic Plant shenanigans and Royal Decree.

-Duel 2: I pushed through a bunch of damage with Rai-Oh and Brionac. But then he summoned Lonefire Blossom to go for Tytannial to kill my Brionac. I waited out for a good opportunity to take control, and when that arose, I did with Dark Hole and Monster Reborn. He stalled behind Enemy Controller and Book of Moon, after which he topped Debris Dragon three turns in a row. I couldn't come back from that.

Round 4: vs Debris Lightsworn

This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He built up a field of Lumina, Garoth, Iron Chain Dragon, Stardust Dragon, and Judgment Dragon. Scrap Goblin held him off for a turn, but he eventually destroyed it with Judgment Dragon.

-Duel 2: I thought that I would be more conservative with my Spells/Traps, so I only Set a Bottomless Trap Hole. He opened with Charge of the Light Brigade, milling Wulf and Glow-Up Bulb, searching Lumina. Next, he used Foolish Burial for Dandylion. He Synchro Summoned Formula Synchron using a Token and the Glow-Up Bulb, then Tribute Summoned Celestia using the Wulf. He destroyed my Set Scrap Goblin, and I Chained the Bottomless. However, he milled the second Dandylion, so he had three Tokens with which to Synchro. As such, he Synchro Summoned Catastor and attacked directly. The following turn, he destroyed my Mirror Force with Lyla, and I was doomed. I was even more doomed when he dropped Judgment Dragon.

There was one more round, but I decided to drop and watch other people play. So I didn't win anything, and my Turbo Pack 4 was bad.

I can't really do much more to combat Lightsworn, since they're based entirely on luck and don't have one central weakness that I could abuse. However, my Round 4 opponent from this tournament suggested Power Filter to combat (Quickdraw) Plants and Frog Monarchs. I still like Zombie World because it destroys Necrovalley, but Gravekeeper's aren't as bad as a match-up as those other two decks, oddly. I'll have to see how they fit into my Side Deck; I'll probably drop some Anti-Stun cards...

Effect Veiler vs D.D. Crow

Generally, both of these cards are what people would call, "Side Deck staples."

They both have good "drop-hand" effects that disrupt common plays. They are also both Level 1 Monsters, meaning that they could be used for Synchro Summons or just Set as a defense.

While Effect Veiler can stop almost everything that D.D. Crow can stop, D.D. Crow stops the things that it stops better, if that makes any sense. Basically, D.D. Crow gets rid of the problem, while Effect Veiler just stops it, generally.

D.D. Crow removes Monsters from the Graveyard, so your opponent can't just get them later with another effect. It also hits stuff like Treeborn Frog, Fishborg Blaster, and Pot of Avarice, which Effect Veiler does nothing against.

On the other hand, Effect Veiler stops effects that don't use the Graveyard, like Machina Gearframe, Monarchs, and Gladiator Beast Gyzarus. Unfortunately, Effect Veiler only works during your opponent's Main Phase on their face-up Monsters (Book of Moon can stop it, basically).

There are other aspects of these cards that are often ignored. Effect Veiler is a Light Tuner and gives access to Ancient Sacred Wyvern, in addition to all generic Synchro Monsters. D.D. Crow is a Dark non-Tuner Winged Beast. It can be used for Icarus Attack, which is fairly common.

D.D. Crow can also be helpful in decks with too many Tuners. There usually aren't decks like that, but Scraps and X-Sabers can fall under that category. It would often help those decks more to have a non-Tuner rather than another Tuner.

However, the most important things to consider are the match-ups your deck is weak against.

Against Machina Gadgets, Gladiator Beasts, and Gravekeeper's, Effect Veiler is almost always the better option. D.D. Crow can work on some of the cards that those decks play, but it's more situational. This is the same case for Perfect Herald, for those OCG players that have to deal with the new Lost Sanctuary Structure Deck.

With X-Sabers, Frog Monarchs, and (Quickdraw) Plants, Effect Veiler and D.D. Crow can be equally useful. There are some situations where Effect Veiler is better (XX-Saber Boggart Knight, Monarchs, Ryko), and there are some situations where D.D. Crow is better (XX-Saber Faultroll, Treeborn Frog, Pot of Avarice, Glow-Up Bulb, Spore).

Against those decks, though, D.D. Crow is better than Effect Veiler when they use some sort of effect that involves the Graveyard. While Effect Veiler stops Debris Dragon, D.D. Crow removes the Dandylion from play. That's HUGE in that match-up, since (Quickdraw) Plants rely on Dandylion.

So, the ultimate deciding factor is whether or not you can give up the increased utility of Effect Veiler to play a more effective counter to Graveyard-dependent decks. Basically, if your match-ups against Machina Gadgets and Gravekeeper's are good, then you should be playing D.D. Crow over Effect Veiler, unless you want/need the Tuner for Synchro Summons. Either way, you're generally not going to summon Effect Veiler when it can protect you from the hand.

Regionals Report 12/11/10

I went to Regionals again with Scrap Anti-Stun. If only this format wasn't so weird, then I could actually play something a little more creative.

So, I met up with Yugilo, Yusei JB, and some of their friends before the tournament started. I pulled another Ultimate Rare Glow-Up Bulb from the entry packs, and I promptly traded it (and some other stuff) for two Super Rare Royal Decrees (and some other stuff). I decided to replace the two Seven Tools of the Bandit (one in the Main Deck and the other in the Side Deck) with the two Royal Decrees. They worked out quite well.

Round 1: vs Newbie E-Heroes - OO

-I felt bad for the little kid and my tiebreakers...

Round 2: vs Debris Plants - XX

-In the first game, he milled Dandylion and Glow-Up Bulb with Card Trooper, and drew into two of his Debris Dragons. In the second game, he started with Dandylion in hand, and drew into all of his Debris Dragons. The only reason I was able to live in the second game was because he kept misplaying while I had Zombie World out. He tried to do Plant stuff, like use Lonefire Blossom's or Spore's effects.

Round 3: vs Frog Monarchs - XOX

-I lost the first game because he kept drawing Caius and such. I won the second game because of Zombie World. I lost the third game in time, as I couldn't get through his drop-hand battle protection cards (Battle Fader, Gorz, Tragoedia).

Round 4: vs Perfect Herald - OO

-He didn't get Herald of Perfection out even once. He could have gotten it out in the second duel if I hadn't had Naturia Beast on the field...

Round 5: vs Infernities - OO

-I just rushed him in the first duel with Scrap Dragons. In the second duel, he thought he had game, but he didn't, and misplayed.

Round 6: vs Debris Plants - XOO

-He OTK'd me in the first game with Dandylion, Debris Dragon, and Spore shenanigans. I pushed through a mess load of damage in the second game with Rai-Oh and Scrap Beast over two turns, using Compulsory Evacuation Device to bounce his Set Monster. He didn't draw well at all in the third game, and I rushed him with Scraps and such.

Round 7: vs Blackwings - OO

-This guy wasn't exactly very good, so it wasn't hard to win.

Round 8: vs Stun - OXO

-This duel was another example of how knowing rulings can win you games. I resolved Forbidden Chalice on his Stardust Dragon, and he tried to negate my Mystical Space Typhoon. The floor judge ruled it incorrectly, so I appealed to the head judge, who ruled correctly that Stardust Dragon's effect would still be negated. He was in control, but losing his Stardust Dragon lost him the first duel. Royal Decree was also very helpful in locking down his back row.

Round 9: vs Blackwings - OXO

-I rushed him with Scrap Golem in game one, so it was practically impossible for him to come back. He OTK'd me in the second duel with the help of Dark Armed Dragon and Vayu. I forced the third duel into a top-decking contest and won.

Round 10: vs Lightsworn - OO

-This guy was really cool, so we were joking around throughout the match. I was in control for all of the first duel, having multiple outs to his Judgment Dragons. He thought that he was in a good position with a Judgment Dragon on the field (his only card) and four cards left in deck (with one being the second Judgment Dragon). I had Cyber Dragon and Scrap Chimera in hand, and drew into Solemn Judgment. So yeah, I won the first duel fairly decisively. Expecting me to have Forbidden Chalice, he threw his Judgment Dragon down early in the second duel, only to lose it to Bottomless Trap Hole. So I beat him down with Rai-Oh from there.

In the end, I went X-2, which is fairly decent, getting 23rd place, which is also decent. I won four packs, one of which had another Formula Synchron. So that was nice.

I did a lot of trading during the event, contrary to what I expected to be doing. I traded away quite a few cards I didn't need, while getting stuff like Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragons and R-Genex for new decks. I still need some more cards for those two decks, but I should be able to make a Kinka-byo deck.

So yeah, it was a pretty fun Regional.

Regionals Tomorrow, Again

Once again, I shall be going to Regionals. It's quite nice to be able to go to a Regional almost every month.

I was considering skipping this one so that I would be able to go to the Event Extravaganza or whatever next month, but it doesn't seem all that great. It's like what went on at the World Championships, except you have to pay to play in the events.

So, I ultimately decided to go to Regionals tomorrow. I decided to test out both Dust Tornado and Compulsory Evacuation Device. Dust Tornado in the Main Deck, and Compulsory as a Side Deck choice. Compulsory would be best against decks like (Quickdraw) Plants, X-Sabers, or even Gladiator Beasts. It's also more versatile than Effect Veiler, which has been failing me recently.

Dust Tornado is an obvious choice, with Gravekeeper's and such running around. I also hate how Seven Tools of the Bandit doesn't hit Book of Moon, so I'm going to see how Dust Tornado works. If it does well, I might just end up maining two and siding the third, which is what I used to do with Seven Tools.

There's also the fact that Hidden Arsenal 3 is now legal in the TCG, meaning that this Regional could be full of people trying to abuse Gungnir or Dragunities. Neither is worth it at the moment, so I'm not worried too much. There is the dilemma of whether or not I should find room for Naturia Barkion in my Extra Deck or not. I don't think that it's worth it, but Red Dragon Archfiend might not be worthy of his spot anymore. I'll probably end up trying Barkion out, in one way or another.

I think that's it. I've kind of given up on the Kinka-byo deck for now. I'll come back to it later, most likely. With Gungnir out, I'll probably be working with Aki on a TCG-legal Zero Debris deck for him to play at locals. There's also the Koa'ki Meiru deck I hope to make eventually.

Oh, I almost forgot about the Genex. I'll be trying to trade for the Hidden Arsenal 3 Super Rare R-Genex Monsters and Recycled Genex. The main ones would be R-Genex Turbo and R-Genex Oracle. And I might also pick up some Worm Yagans. So yeah.

Statistics

Before I start the post for today, the reason behind the lack of posts is Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. I'm not into the super-violent games generally, but it's a really good game in all respects.

So, statistics. They're important when it comes to children's card games. Knowing how often you'll open up with a card/combo you want can help you decide if you want to play a deck that depends on said card/combo.

For instance, Flamvells. They rely entirely on Firedog, and opening with it often leads to victory. The chance of opening with a card that you have three copies of in a 40-card deck in your starting hand is a little less than 40%. That's fairly low, but it's a good enough card at most times during a duel, so you wouldn't mind drawing into it a little later. It can also be searched by Flamvell Poun.

The main example I wanted to address today was Gravekeeper's. First is Necrovalley. Assuming that a Gravekeeper's deck plays two Necrovalley, three Commandant, and three Recruiter, there's a little over 76% chance that a starting hand for that deck would open with a way to access Necrovalley. Pot of Duality and/or Upstart Goblin would increase this chance, of course.

As for the amount of Monsters commonly played in Gravekeeper's (14), there's a lot more to look into. So, here's a little table to show the percentage of opening with a certain amount of Monsters in the starting hand, as well as the chance that a Monster would be drawn as the seventh card if specified number of Monsters had been drawn in the starting hand. Note that these percentages are for a 40-card deck with 14 Monsters.

Number of Monsters	Starting Hand	Next Draw
0	6.00%	41.18%
1	23.99%	38.24%
2	35.44%	35.29%
3	24.66%	32.35%
4	8.48%	29.41%
5	1.36%	26.47%
6	0.08%	23.53%

So, there's about a 94% chance that a Gravekeeper's player would open up with a Monster in their first six cards. That's pretty good. That is, until you realize that Descendant and Assailant aren't exactly amazing on their own, and Commandant is used as a way to get to Necrovalley.

You would also notice that the chance of drawing a Spell/Trap far out-weighs the chances of drawing a Monster. That's how the deck is built to run. There's a problem with that, though. Once your Monster dies, you can't really do anything, except hope to draw into another Monster.

This is the fundamental flaw with Stun decks. Monsters do not last very long at all in this game. They can die the moment they're summoned, and would be lucky to live a few turns. Playing so few Monsters is risky, since they are the cards that win games.

Moreover, this leads into explaining why certain other decks are so inconsistent. Hopeless Dragon decks win when they draw Future Fusion, right? Well, even with two Gold Sarcophagus, they would barely get to it half the time.

Hopefully, this will help you make better decisions when it comes to playing more consistent decks or figuring out what an optimal Monster/Spell/Trap ratio would be, or something.

Tournament Report 12/4/10

I had no time at all to fix up my Scrap Anti-Stun deck, so it was the same as last week. I was considering taking Seven Tools of the Bandit out for Dust Tornado for various reasons. In hindsight, I probably should have...

Before the tournament started, I played a few fun duels with Yusei JB from Yugilo's YouTube channel. Those videos should be up on Yugilo's channel soon.

Round 1: vs Blackwings

I was playing against Riku. I didn't notice he was there before since I was dueling with Yusei JB.

-Duel 1: We both opened up with a bunch of Traps. I had to Dark Hole his Shura so that he couldn't Delta Crow or Icarus Attack on my first turn, and I was able to keep Monsters off of his side of the field with my Traps and Rykos.

-Duel 2: He opened with Shura, Black Whirlwind, Giant Trunade, and Dark Armed Dragon. I dropped down to 950 LP over the course of the duel, but I was still able to win by using Black Rose Dragon to destroy the field and even out our card presence. We each had two cards each, so he couldn't pull off his Blackwing stunts, and I was able to win.

Round 2: vs Rock Stun

-Duel 1: He kept drawing his Koa'ki Meiru Rocks (Guardian, Sandman, and Wall), and I couldn't get through them all.

-Duel 2: He got a bunch of Traps, two Burden of the Mighty, and Morphing Jar. I lost a bunch of advantage, but I was still able to control the game until I could drop Brionac for game.

-Duel 3: Same as Duel 2, except he didn't have Burden of the Mighty, and I won with Scrap Dragon.

Round 3: vs Gravekeeper's

I had to play against Yusei JB, who was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He went first, and dropped Necrovalley and Royal Tribute straight away. I saw why he didn't Set any cards first, since he had two more Royal Tributes, Monster Reborn, and Book of Moon in hand. I only lost a Scrap Beast, and I had Scrapyard in hand, so I didn't care. I was able to beat him down with Scraps and keep the few Monsters he drew off of the field.

-Duel 2: He didn't have Necrovalley for a while, so I didn't have to worry much about it. He had to put up with my Banisher of the Radiance, wasting Book of Moon on it to prevent his Monsters from getting removed. By the time he did get Necrovalley, I already had the set-up to Synchro Summon Scrap Twin Dragon without the use of my Graveyard (Cyber Dragon + Scrap Beast). I was able to bounce his Set Spy and Necrovalley. He only Set the Spy next turn so I couldn't bounce anything, but I topped Monster Reborn, reviving Scrap Golem to dump Scrap Goblin on his side of the field. That was just enough for game.

Round 4: vs Burn

-Duel 1: He started with Tremendous Fire, three Set back rows, a Set Giant Germ, and Chain Energy. I had to keep paying to play my cards, and he drew into Lava Golem to get rid of my Monsters. I got burned out.

-Duel 2: I started by Setting five cards to my back row, so I wouldn't get Chain Energy'd to death. He Set four back rows. From there, we just kept drawing and passing. I drew into Summoner Monk, so I flipped my Giant Trunade and Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon. I stole the Giant Germ he Set next turn with Mind Control, and Synchro Summoned Catastor using Scrap Goblin. He conveniently had Lava Golem again, but it was too late. I was able to push through the last bit of damage with that Lava Golem.

-Duel 3: He opened with a bunch of Traps, including Skull Invitation and Chain Energy again. I Set Ryko so I could deal with it without losing too many LP, but ended up losing a bunch to Skull Invitation. I pushed through some damage with Brionac and Scrap Twin Dragon, but he had Lava Golem... again... He didn't really need it though, since he had so many burn Traps in his hand, so I couldn't have bounced them all to attack safely. I got killed in the end by Tremendous Fire.

So, I went 3-1 and got 2nd place. I agreed to a split with Yusei JB, since we knew that we would both be able to top after seeing the rest of the undefeated players at the start of Round 3. So, we both got a decent amount of store credit. I used mine on a second Psi-Blocker (Aki pulled and traded me the first) and a rather disappointing pack of Duelist Revolution. I should have just gotten more sleeves...

The Turbo Pack 4 was nice, though. I got a King of the Skull Servants and the Super Rare Compulsory Evacuation Device. It's not like I plan on using it, but it's nice to have. Actually, the tactical advantage of being able to play it at any time and bounce face-downs may warrant its use. I'll have to see.

To finish with what I said in the beginning, Dust Tornado would have been pretty helpful. It doesn't require a LP cost, and it can prevent stuff like Book of Moon and Necrovalley. I might consider using that as well.

Kinka-byo

I was able to pick three of these up last weekend, so I've been trying to figure out a deck to use them in.

The obvious application is to revive Level 1 Tuners to abuse Formula Synchron. Summon a Monster to draw a card, it's like you're playing Duel Masters!

The other application is in Fortune Ladies. Revive Fortune Lady Light with it, let Kinka-byo jump back to your hand and remove Fortune Lady Light. Then, you can Special Summon a Fortune Lady from your deck, and you're set for Fortune's Future, which is a card I've been trying to find a way to abuse.

Those two strategies could be combined into one deck. There would just be a few problems I need to figure out.

First is the fact that it would be hard to get the right Level 1's in the Graveyard. Sure, I could discard Effect Veiler for its own effect, and I could dump Water Monsters with Genex Undine. But Fortune Lady Light would be fairly hard to get in the Graveyard without Setting it and letting it die.

There's also the problem with getting Kinka-byo in hand consistently. Sure, using it with Fortune Lady Light lets you reuse it later, but Synchro Summoning Formula Synchron uses it up. Izanami can get it back to your hand at the cost of a discard, but it's not exactly very efficient.

Lastly, what would the win condition be? Drawing a mess load of cards isn't exactly a solid win condition. What cards would I want to draw into that would actually help me win...? They would have to work with the Kinka-byo/Fortune Lady theme, too...

Besides Chaos Sorcerer, I can't really think of anything off of the top of my head, and Chaos Sorcerer isn't exactly a win condition. Maybe Miracle Synchro Fusion and Supreme Arcanite Magician. Fortune Ladies are Spellcasters, so that could work.

It's an interesting concept, so I'll see if I can make the deck sometime soon.

Tournament Report 11/27/10

So, I was going to go with the Chaos Debris deck that's been on my channel recently, but that deck it terrible, like Quickdraw Plants. I tried a Karakuri deck, but the theme itself is terrible. Then, I was thinking about using a Monarch deck that will be featured on my channel next week sometime, but Monarchs are meh right now. I considered a Quickdraw Plants deck like dubkdad1's, but I realized that Quickdraw Plants are still bad. With all of the Gravekeeper's hype, I actually considered Gladiator Beasts. I eventually just went back to Scrap Anti-Stun, since I couldn't really figure out anything else. So yeah.

There weren't many people there today. There were only a few of the better duelists there, which made the tournament pretty easy...

Round 1: vs Six Samurai

-Duel 1: He gained too much advantage off of Gateway of the Six and kept drawing more Six Samurai to use with it.

-Duel 2: I don't remember much, but I just controlled the game and such. So yeah, I won.

-Duel 3: Same as Duel 2.

Round 2: vs Skill Drain

-Duel 1: He dropped Battle Fader when I attacked with Scrap Twin Dragon. On the next turn, I revived Scrap Golem with Monster Reborn, and used it to dump Scrap Goblin on his side of the field. I Normal Summoned Rai-Oh, and punched a mess load of damage through the Goblin. During Main Phase 2, I used Scrap Twin Dragon to bounce it to my hand and remove his Battle Fader. He scooped on my next turn.

-Duel 2: He Monster Reborned my Scrap Twin Dragon, and I kept drawing random Spells/Traps that were no help.

-Duel 3: He wasted half of his cards to summon Jinzo, and I just dropped Cyber Dragon to go for Chimeratech Fortress Dragon. He wasn't too happy about that.

Round 3: vs Gravekeeper's

This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He didn't use Royal Tribute, but he locked me down with Necrovalley and a bunch of Traps. It also didn't help that I stopped drawing Spells/Traps a few turns into the duel.

-Duel 2: This time, he did use Royal Tribute, taking my Effect Veiler and my Scrap Beast. It didn't matter much, though, since I was able to pull through with Nobleman of Extermination to remove our Bottomless Trap Holes and Rai-Oh (which I conveniently drew for my turn) backed by Forbidden Chalice to get over his Descendant. I basically controlled the duel from there.

-Duel 3: He used Royal Tribute, again, and I lost two Monsters, again. I was waiting behind an Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy his Necrovalley, but I had to waste it on his Zoma the Spirit; it was his only Monster at the moment, and I wanted to save my Banisher of the Radiance. I was so desperate that I had flipped Book of Moon to protect Banisher from Bottomless Trap Hole. He was so desperate that he used Solemn Judgment to destroy Banisher on its Flip Summon. But, I had just drawn Scrap Beast, so it was okay. I also drew into Zombie World a little after that, so I could get Necrovalley off the field. It also functioned as good fodder for Scrap Dragon, which I was able to summon against his Set Gravekeeper's Spy. I tried to destroy the Spy, but he used Effect Veiler to stop me. He used Book of Moon on my Scrap Dragon when it attacked, but I used Forbidden Chalice on the Spy when he Flip Summoned it. He was left in a terrible position, so I destroyed the Zombie World with Scrap Dragon to clear his Set back row, and he couldn't stop me from going for game.

Round 4: vs Machina Geartown

I was in the finals once again with Yugilo. He recorded the second and third duels, so they'll be up on his channel sometime tomorrow, I assume. As for the first duel, I just ran him through with Scraps and Rai-Oh, which he couldn't get over. I won't ruin the result of the match, but we split the store credit.

Using that, I ended up getting a Shooting Star Dragon tin, but I didn't pull anything worthwhile. The Super Rare E-Hero Ocean and Stardust Dragon are nice, though.

The Turbo Pack 4 that I got was also lackluster. I pulled Swallow Flip, but I gave it to Yugilo since I didn't need it.

So yeah, good tournament today, but it wasn't all that challenging, besides Round 3. I would consider going on Sundays, where there are more and better players, but I would rather get store credit than a booster box.

Additional YCS Atlanta Analysis

Now that the deck lists are up, I can do more in depth analysis.

So, after seeing the Gravekeeper's decks that topped, I see that my initial view of the deck wasn't completely correct. These were Trap-heavy builds that only ran 14 Monsters, three of which were used to search Necrovalley. Of course, Stele helps to get Monsters back, but I'm still surprised that the Gravekeeper's players didn't find themselves constantly running out of Monsters. Yes, Recruiter searches additional Monsters, but the searches run out eventually in a deck like that.

Apparently, "Royal Tribute Control" is a better name for the deck, since Royal Tribute basically did all of the work. Tearing apart your opponent's hand, then knowing what they have left over is a devastating opening play that it's nearly impossible to recover from. Looks like Gemini Imps and Reign-Beaux might see some play again.

That's enough about Gravekeepers, let's discuss (Quickdraw) Plants. Apparently, 13 Plant Synchro decks (which may or may not have used Quickdraw Synchron) topped. That's more than a third of the Top 32. Whether that's because the deck is good/consistent or because so many people played it will have to wait until the Konami Event Coverage Team decides to post the deck spread for the event, which usually occurs the day of the following event. So yeah...

I generally don't like (Quickdraw) Plants. It's just a personal thing, and also because I used to draw terrible hands all the time. So, I'm inclined to hate the deck. But, I just saw dubkdad1's take on the deck, and it looks very solid. I would actually consider making one like it.

Plant Synchro decks are usually too slow, and they can't really fill the Graveyard that quickly. Still, I'm hesitant to use a deck that relies on Dandylion too much. I mean, every play in the deck revolves around Fluff Tokens, so not getting Dandylion means an auto-loss. Sure, there are quite a few ways to search for Dandylion, but if it gets removed, then you can't really do anything about it.

So yeah, besides the four Gravekeeper's decks and 13 Plant Synchro decks, the field was fairly diverse. There were six Blackwing decks, three X-Saber decks, two Lightsworn variants (one straight Lightsworn, the other Zombiesworn), and the rest were one-ofs: Machina Gadgets, Dimensional Eatos, Infernities, and Frog Monarchs.

With that spread, it becomes apparent that Gravekeeper's were able to take advantage of the Graveyard-dependent decks to take the top three spots. Oh, and Royal Tribute probably helped a lot, too.

YCS Atlanta

Before I start talking about Atlanta, let me say that YCS Milan was as expected. The deck that everyone expected to win did win. So yeah.

YCS Atlanta, on the other hand, was a huge upset. Gravekeeper's took the top three spots, as you probably already know. Although Gravekeeper's Recruiter gave them a boost, no one thought that it would be that powerful.

In theory, Gravekeeper's would be a perfect meta call. Necrovalley halts Graveyard-dependent decks, while turning all of the 1500 ATK Gravekeeper's into 2000 ATK beaters. That means that practically all of the prominent decks in the TCG have a bad match-up against Gravekeeper's. The only one that I can think of that doesn't have a bad match-up is Frog Monarchs.

Gladiator Beasts, Blackwings, and Gemini Stun can't get over 2000 ATK very easily, and if they can, it's just a temporary solution. They all can destroy Necrovalley somewhat consistently, but it's easy for the Gravekeeper's player to just drop another one on their turn.

X-Sabers, Debris Plants, Scraps, and Absolute Zero decks lose access to their Graveyards. Half the time, they use Royal Decree over Mystical Space Typhoon, so they can't get rid of Necrovalley without wasting a bunch of cards or finding a way to protect their set-up. The latter is unrealistic, because Gravekeeper's Descendant can rip through a field pretty easily.

Machina Gadgets and Quickdraw Plants don't rely on the Graveyard as much, since they can Special Summon big Monsters from the hand, essentially. They aren't hurt as badly by Necrovalley, since Gadgets don't care if they die, and Quickdraw Synchron gives easy access to Junk Destroyer or tribute fodder for Caius. Dandylion also helps.

Basically, decks that drop big Monsters from the hand have a good chance against Gravekeeper's. Their Trap line-up is generally thin, since they devote a lot of the deck to the Gravekeeper's Monsters. That gives decks like Six Samurai or Karakuri a good match-up against them, theoretically, of course.

Or, it could have just been a fluke. Either way, it's time to start Main Decking Mystical Space Typhoon again, if you were silly enough to take them out in the first place.

2K Tournament Report 11/20/10

There was a 2K tournament today, so I decided to go. I met up with vadangchoinga and kisforkapono pretty early, and we took some duel videos, so those will be uploaded in a few days or so.

Anyway, I was using my Scrap Anti-Stun build. I changed it a little, running Royal Decrees in the Main Deck. I still have mixed feelings about them.

Round 1: vs Scraps - XOO

-This was my Round 3 opponent from this tournament. That meant REVENGE. So yeah. He drew the Golem/Goblin loop first game. We both drew all-Monster hands second game, but mine was better. The only Scrap Monsters he drew third game were Scrap Golems.

Round 2: vs Macro Stun - XOO

-This was my Round 6 opponent from this tournament. He drew his perfect set-up first game, but I beat him down the next two games, with the help of Forbidden Chalice. The universe always seems to make it so that I beat him.

Round 3: vs X-Sabers - OXX

-I just controlled him in the first duel, but he drew broken Faultroll combos all three games. This guy ended up getting into the Top 8.

Round 4: vs Six Samurai - OO

-He didn't draw Gateway first game, so I won. He drew two Gateways (not at the same time) during the second duel, but I destroyed them with Scrap Dragons.

Round 5: vs Debris Plants - XX

-He drew amazingly both games. I actually drew my sided cards in the second game, but he had outs to all of them.

After that round, I went out to the vendor to buy some Starstrike Blast packs. My Round 4 opponent claimed that the top pack on the right side of the box had a Glow-Up Bulb in it. I bought it, and sure enough, it did. I pulled an Ultimate Rare Glow-Up Bulb. That made my day.

Round 6: vs Stun - OO

-I play Scrap ANTI-STUN. Enough said.

Round 7: vs Blackwings - OO

-In the first duel, he had complete control with four back rows. I topped Summoner Monk with Cyber Dragon on the field. I played Giant Trunade, putting his field back into his hand, then I summoned the Monk and used its effect to discard my last card (Mind Control) and get Scrap Beast. He was at 5100 LP, so I Synchro Summoned Red Dragon Archfiend for game. I usually lose the first game to Blackwings, but pulling a win out of nowhere was a pleasant surprise. Oh, and Forbidden Chalice stopped his Dark Armed Dragon play in the second duel.

So, I went 5-2 and got 12th place. Even though I didn't win any money, I won three Starstrike Blast packs. One of them had a Formula Synchron, so that was nice. The ironic part was that I traded for two Formula Synchrons beforehand, so now I have four.

The reason why I traded for them is because I'm starting to get bored of Scraps. So, I picked up some cards for new decks. The Glow-Up Bulb was the last card I needed for a Debris Plant deck, and I picked up some Karakuri stuff, since I'm considering making a Karakuri variant. I'm not sure what else to make, though. Nothing really stands out.

So yeah. Even though I didn't Top 8, it was a pretty good day overall.

Scrap Zombies

I've been bogged down with stuff for the past few days, but that's all over for about two weeks. So, yay.

I'm planning on attending a big tournament this Saturday, and I've been trying to fix up my Scrap deck to cover its main weakness (lack of non-Tuners) and to enable it to fight against the new decks that Starstrike Blast will bring.

So, I was thinking about Zombies. Mixing the old Zombie engine from a year ago with Scraps could potentially work well. Goblin Zombie is a great Level 4 non-Tuner that's also a floater, enabling +1 Synchros and such. Moreover, it's searchable by Mystic Tomato, which was the main concept back in the day.

Although it would seem pointless, there is a good reason to use Scrap Beast as the primary Tuner. It would allow for free Scrap Dragons through Scrap Chimera. It also makes Scrap Dragon a bigger threat, because it can revive a Scrap when it's destroyed.

The problem I have with this idea is that Zombies are generally weak by themselves and die really easily. So, it'll be hard to keep them on the field. Sure, Mezuki and Book of Life can revive them, but I'm probably not going to get that opportunity more than once per duel.

Also, I don't like the fact that some of my Monsters (Mystic Tomato) have to die in battle to get their effects. Sure, it was good two years ago when Shura and Flamvell Firedog didn't exist. But now they do exist, so yeah.

I'll still look into this idea, though, since it seems like it's worth trying. But, I probably won't be able to refine it in time for this weekend.

Tournament Report 11/13/10

So, I took my Scrap Anti-Stun deck to locals, again. I'm trying to make it so that it's not Anti-Stun anymore, but the fact that half of the people at my locals play Stun makes that hard. Maybe after Starstrike Blast, I'll make the deck a little faster.

Speaking of which, this was the last week before Starstrike Blast is legal. So, I couldn't use my Scrap Twin Dragon, yet. But, it also meant that (Quickdraw) Plants didn't have Glow-Up Bulb and Formula Synchron. Even so, my first match was against...

Round 1: vs Quickdraw Plants

This was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He milled a bunch with Card Trooper, but it didn't help much against my Scrap Dragon.

-Duel 2: He top-decked Debris Dragon when I was at 2600 LP. He used Giant Trunade to clear my back row, then Synchro Summoned Black Rose Dragon using Debris Dragon and Dandylion, and Brionac, using Spore and the tokens. He switched my Scrap Goblin to Attack Position and attacked through it for game.

-Duel 3: Zombie World prevented him from using Lonefire Blossom or Caius, as planned. He finally got rid of it after Cyber Dragon beat him down to 2100 LP. Time was called, and he was down to his last turn. He dropped Lonefire Blossom, but Effect Veiler negated its effect (he tried to tribute a Fluff Token). He scooped, since his hand was Tytannial, Caius, Card Trooper, and some random Spell.

Round 2: vs Lightsworn

-Duel 1: He started with Charge of the Light Brigade, searching for Garoth, meaning that he had Lumina in hand. Sure enough, he summoned them both, milled a Wulf, and drew a card off of Garoth. I was able to hold him off with Scrap Goblin, Scrap Dragon, and Forbidden Chalice for a while, but he dropped Judgment Dragon and killed me. And he only had one card left in his deck, too...

-Duel 2: He drew badly, and I controlled the game with Scrap Dragon and Rai-Oh.

-Duel 3: Same as the previous duel, except he actually got to drop Judgment Dragon. It was okay, though, since I had Scrap Dragon out and a Bottomless Trap Hole Set.

Round 3: vs Scraps

This was the Scrap player from these videos.

-Duel 1: He dropped Scrap Dragon on the first turn with Summoner Monk. I tried to use Mind Control, but he used Scrapstorm. I Normal Summoned Scrap Beast, he used Bottomless Trap Hole, and I activated Scrapstorm. On my next turn, I Synchro Summoned Naturia Beast. "That's a slap to the face," he said, since his hand consisted of mostly Spells, including Giant Trunade, Monster Reborn, and Mind Control. I Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon a little later to seal the game.

-Duel 2: He drew a bunch of Traps, and I had sided out my Anti-Stun cards. Moreover, I drew all Monsters, so I couldn't go on the offensive.

-Duel 3: I had control of the duel with Rai-Oh, but he dropped Gorz and Giant Trunade to get rid of it. Later, he dropped Tragoedia, and I had a tough time getting rid of the Goyo Guardian he Synchro Summoned. I had to waste a Book of Moon to turn it face-down and attack over it with Cyber Dragon. However, he Special Summoned his own Cyber Dragon to fuse for Chimeratech Fortress Dragon. I got beat down by it for a few turns, but I finally top-decked Monster Reborn to steal his Goyo Guardian. Unfortunately, he he killed it with Divine Wrath, and top-decked Scrap Beast to take out the rest of my LP.

It was disappointing to lose, since I had been winning for the past few weeks. But, no one can win all the time. Besides, I still had a chance at some store credit.

Round 4: vs Watts

This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: I got killed by double Honest. I also drew pretty badly.

-Duel 2: I drew badly again, but I kept pushing through damage with Scrap Beast and Cyber Dragon. I was able to win without Synchros, which happens more often than you'd think.

-Duel 3: My hand was actually good, so I was able to mow him down with Scrap Dragons.

That ended up being the last round, so I went 3-1 and got 4th place. Because of that, I got enough store credit to get an Infernity Avenger and a pack of sleeves. I'm planning on making a deck with an Infernity engine, like I referenced to in my last post, so that's why I got the Avenger.

So yeah, today was pretty good. I was planning on getting a Shooting Star Dragon tin if I got 1st place, but that'll have to wait.

Random Stuff #21

Storm of Ragnarok is out in the OCG, so everyone's going crazy over the True Six Samurai. I'll post on them later, once I actually see what they can do. I just have a feeling that they'll be terrible without Gateway, so I'm not going to hype them up too much, yet.

Being a TCG player, I'm more worried about (Quickdraw) Plants now that Starstrike Blast has been released. The deck isn't that good, but when it draws well, it wins. Kind of like Infernities, except better.

So, I'm going to be siding Zombie World and Vanity's Emptiness against them. They also work against Frog Monarchs, which may pick back up again, due to Formula Synchron.

Speaking of which, I'm trying to find a way to abuse Formula Synchron outside of (Quickdraw) Plants. I'm thinking about an Infernity engine with Dandylions or something. I just need to figure out some good Level 1 Tuners and non-Tuners that could work together. Usually, it's Glow-Up Bulb and Fluff Tokens, but I'd rather not play (Quickdraw) Plants. I do like the deck, it's just really susceptible to terrible hands.

Scrap Twin Dragon is a lot better than I thought. I might try to find room for a second one, but it doesn't seem like more than one is necessary for my Anti-Stun variant. It's too bad that my area is full of Stun decks. If it wasn't, I could actually play a faster Scrap variant.

Lastly, I've been thinking about running a deck with ten "draw 1" cards (Legacy of Yata Garasu, Jar of Greed, Upstart Goblin, and Pot of Duality). It essentially makes the deck 30 cards, but it can lag for a turn or two because a bunch of those "draw 1" cards are Traps. Either way, it would make the deck more consistent. I'm going to try it out and see what happens.

Starstrike Blast Sneak Preview

Aki wasn't able to come, which was sad. Riku was there, though.

The holos I pulled were Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana, which will go into Aki's Dragunity deck, and an Ultimate Rare Supreme Arcanite Magician, which was nice. I like Miracle Synchro Fusion, so I might find a way to use it.

Anyways, I scoured the area for Scrap Twin Dragons. The only person who had it was planning on making a Scrap deck, so I couldn't get it off of him. So, I gave up and decided to duel someone.

He was running Hopeless Dragon, and we played one match without siding. I lost the first game since he swarmed me too quickly. I was able to win the other two duels, though. During the first duel, someone pulled a Scrap Twin Dragon and offered to sell it to me since he knew I needed it. I bought it off of him for a price higher than I would've normally paid, but other people were trying to get it off of him, and it was an Ultimate Rare.

Then, I was able to trade an extra Scrap Chimera to the guy who was planning on making a Scrap deck. I wanted his Formula Synchron, but he only had one. He traded for another one a few minutes later, and traded it to me for the Scrap Chimera.

Next, I played a match without siding against the guy who sold me the Scrap Twin Dragon. He was running straight Flamvells. He kept drawing only Tuners and no Flamvell Firedogs, so I was able to win pretty easily.

I then played two matches against the guy who was planning on making a Scrap deck. He was running Naturias with cards from Duel Terminal 3. I won the first match 2-0, since I kept drawing Scrap Chimeras and got up my Scrap Golem loop. I wasn't as lucky in the second match, but I still won 2-1. The end of the second match was pretty cool.

I had bounced his Naturia Pineapple earlier with Scrap Twin Dragon. He Set it and three back rows. On my turn, I Normal Summoned Scrap Chimera, but he negated its effect with Royal Oppression, paying down to 2600 LP. So, I used Mind Control on his Set Pineapple and destroyed it with Scrap Twin Dragon to bounce his two Set back rows. I can see why Scrap Twin Dragon is good.

Next, I played against someone I met at this Regional. I hadn't played against him before, but I knew him because I had traded him a Solemn Warning. Anyways, we played six duels, three without siding and three with. He ran Lightsworn, and we each won three duels. After that, he left, but he came back after a little bit, and we dueled another match. That time, he used Machina Gadgets with Solidarity and Ultimate Offering. I was able to win that one 2-1.

That was all I did at the Sneak Preview. All of the duels were fun, and using Scrap Twin Dragon for the first time was pretty cool. Most of all, I'm glad that Starstrike Blast didn't break any decks, so the meta should be the same as it is now, more or less.

Starstrike Blast Sneak Preview... Preview

I stopped by the card shop to get some Starstrike Blast packs, and hopefully Scrap Twin Dragon(s).

Out of my packs, the holos I pulled were Karakuri Ninja mdl 339 "Sazank" and Power Giant. Sazank is nice, and I wouldn't mind keeping it. Power Giant was so prevalent from what I was seeing; half of the people I talked to had one. It's not surprising that the worst Ultra Rare in the set was the easiest to get...

I got a Scrap Searcher, Scrap Lube, and Scrap Soldier. They're nice to have, not that I plan on using them. I also pulled a decent amount of Karakuri stuff, so I might eventually make a Karakuri deck.

Apparently, only two people there pulled Scrap Twin Dragon. The person I saw who pulled it said that he needed it for his deck. Why are so many people playing Scraps now?

I was able to trade two Common Watt Monsters for a Vanity's Emptiness. That was pretty nice. No one even knows what it does, so no one knows how good it is, yet... I'm planning to use it in my Scrap deck when it becomes legal, so I'll see how that works out.

I was only there for about 15 minutes, so I didn't really do much. I'll be going there tomorrow with Aki, though. So, yeah.

Scrap Searcher...

...cannot activate its effect during the Damage Step.

Therefore, it cannot activate when another Scrap is destroyed by battle.

Therefore, it can only be used in situational combos with Scrap (Twin) Dragon, Scrap Mind Reader, or Scrapstorm.

Therefore, it should not be used outside of a deck that abuses Scrap Mind Reader.

Therefore, it should not be used in a good Scrap deck.

Therefore, it is bad.

Starstrike Blast

I think that it's a great set, overall. More on that later.

Anyways, I'm discussing the set today because the rarities have recently been confirmed. So, onto the cards I'm looking for:

-Glow-Up Bulb (I could try it out in various decks...)

-Scrap Searcher (see the above post...)

-Supreme Arcanite Magician (it's nice to have)

-Formula Synchron

-Red Nova Dragon (no Shooting Star, how sad)

-SCRAP TWIN DRAGON!

-Koa'ki Ring (it's a Koa'ki Meiru card...)

-Red Screen (lame name change...)

-Vanity's Emptiness (it's good in decks that can't use Oppression)

-Scrap Mind Reader (only if I pull it or get a good deal)

-Gravekeeper's Recruiter (it's nice to have)

-Psi-Blocker (again, nice to have)

-Koa'ki Meiru Wall (makes Rock-based Koa'ki Meiru decks viable)

-Genex Ally Duradark (it's a Genex)

-Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana (awesome in the Dragunity deck)

-Genex Ally Axel (a nice option to have for a Genex deck)

Besides those cards that I would like to have, I wouldn't mind pulling some of the other cards in the set, like the Karakuris or some of the stand-alone Spells.

So, the best thing about Starstrike Blast is that it has some nice cards for everyone, but nothing is broken, which will keep the balanced meta that we have right now relatively the same. Quickdraw Plants and Lightsworn decks might become slightly more popular, but they're still not all that great.

This set helps my Scrap deck a little bit, with Scrap Twin Dragon. I hadn't really known it before, but Scrap Twin Dragon can help a lot. I might even find space for two of them in my Extra Deck.

It's quite lucky that nothing that I need is going to be too expensive. Scrap Twin Dragon won't cost more than $15, and I'm not exactly dying to get the other holos. Also, much of the stuff I want is Commons and Rares. The only thing I'm worried about is Formula Synchron, since it's really hyped right now. Still, it's a Rare, so it shouldn't be too hard to pull.

Scrap Mind Reader

It's decent, but it's not all that great. So, it's not surprising that all of the people who don't play Scraps are hyping it up.

The most referenced combo is the one that ends with Scrap Chimera in hand plus a draw from Formula Synchron. You're supposed to have a Scrap Tuner on the field to destroy with Scrap Mind Reader, allowing you to revive it and Scrap Searcher. You would use the Scrap Tuner's effect to get Scrap Chimera back to your hand, then Synchro Summon Formula Synchron.

That requires a completely filled Graveyard, with Scrap Mind Reader, Scrap Searcher, and Scrap Chimera. Having a Scrap Tuner in hand or on the field isn't very hard, so I'm excluding that. But setting up the Graveyard without wasting a bunch of Normal Summons or drawing into the cards you want in the Graveyard is hard. Sure, Scraps have Scrapstorm, but you normally don't put Scrap Searcher or Scrap Mind Reader in the Graveyard with it. It also requires a Scrap to throw away.

Honestly, if you're lucky enough to be able to fill your Graveyard that quickly, just play Flamvells. You'd get more Synchros out of one Rekindling.

The second argument for why Scrap Mind Reader is good is that it's Level 1, so you can pair it with Scrap Golem. Yeah, you can revive it with Scrap Golem's effect and go for a generic Level 6 Synchro or Naturia Barkion, but wouldn't you rather have a Scrap (Twin) Dragon? When that Scrap Dragon is destroyed, you get to revive Scrap Golem and start the whole thing again. Scrap Synchros are the top priority in a Scrap deck, so you don't want to break your loop just for a Goyo Guardian or Brionac. Besides, if you are going for game, Scrap (Twin) Dragon would most likely be a better way to accomplish that.

Scrap Mind Reader is a nice option to have, but it's nothing more than a weaker Scrapstorm that requires a Graveyard set-up. The only upside is that it leaves you with a Monster on the field.

While I'm talking about Scraps, I might as well say that if you find yourself running out of Scrap Dragons in your Extra Deck, you're doing something wrong. It shouldn't take that many Scrap Dragons to win.

Random Stuff #20

I'm not sure where to start. I guess that works.

I've realized that Pot of Duality is much better than I thought. On the other hand, every time I drew the card was in the first two turns of the duel. That's generally when Special Summoning isn't necessary. Either way, it's a better top-deck than Gold Sarcophagus when I'm about to lose.

Some people I know are starting to use Forbidden Chalice. It's kind of weird, since now I have to watch out for it. And, it's such a versatile card that it's hard to play around it completely. At least it's easier to read than Effect Veiler.

I decided to forgo getting a Scrap Mind Reader at the Sneak Preview, since it's probably a Secret Rare that will cost a mess load of money. If it turns out to be good, I'll get it afterwards. I also realized that Scrap Searcher isn't as amazing as it could be. I e-mailed Konami for a ruling, since the OCG rulings didn't cover whether or not it can activate in the Damage Step. If it can't, then it's almost worthless. I'll have to see if I get a response. Either way, it's hard enough to get them into the Graveyard consistently without drawing them...

Since I'm going to be saving money on those unnecessary Scrap cards, I decided to go out and get Kirby's Epic Yarn. It's a bit underwhelming in the beginning, but it looks like it's be worth the money I spent on it.

The only card I'm completely set on getting at the Sneak Preview is Scrap Twin Dragon. Once the rarities are revealed, I'll make a post on what exactly will be worth getting.

Tournament Report 10/30/10

I went to locals today with my Scrap Anti-Stun deck. The only change I had made was taking out Gold Sarcophagus for Pot of Duality.

Since it was a Saturday, there were only about 20 people there. Before the tournament started, though, Yugilo and I played a match under his budget format. The videos he took will be uploaded tomorrow.

Round 1: vs Anti-Meta

This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He drew pretty badly, but he had Morphing Jar to reset our hands. Even so, he couldn't play around my Scrap Dragons.

-Duel 2: He had Cyber Dragon and Breaker the Magical Warrior out with 2300 LP left. I summoned Scrap Golem, dropped Scrap Goblin on his side of the field, and attacked through it for game.

Round 2: vs Machina Returner OTK

This was my Round 5 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: I was afraid that I could get OTK'd at any moment. But, he had to play defensively, since I had gotten out Scrap Dragon early.

-Duel 2: He killed me with Machinas and Dark Armed Dragon.

-Duel 3: He dropped Future Fusion, and I thought I had lost. He Special Summoned two Jinzos by dropping two Jinzo Returners, but he didn't have any follow-up. I took control of the game, but he got Overload Fusion off of Magical Merchant. He desperately tried to win by Synchro Summoning Brionac to bounce one of my three back rows. He hit my Call of the Haunted, so my Bottomless Trap Hole was free to deal with his Chimeratech Overdragon.

Round 3: vs X-Sabers

This was my Round 3 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: I Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon to destroy his XX-Saber Emmersblade. He had to stall for a turn, but then he dropped XX-Saber Boggart Knight, X-Saber Pashuul, XX-Saber Faultroll, and XX-Saber Fulhelmknight. He Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon to destroy my Scrap Dragon, but I revived Scrap Goblin and held out for the turn. I Synchro Summoned another Scrap Dragon on my turn and destroyed his field. He drew Mirror Force, but it was no use against my Scrap Dragon.

-Duel 2: He started with XX-Saber Fulhelmknight and a back row. I dropped Cyber Dragon and attacked, but he flipped Book of Moon. On his turn, he dropped Boggart Knight and a second Fulhelmknight. I stopped his Boggart Knight's attack with Book of Moon, and his Fulhelmknights couldn't get over Cyber Dragon's 1600 DEF. I played Giant Trunade and Mind Controlled a XX-Saber Fulhelmknight. I Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon, and Normal Summoned Scrap Chimera. It attacked his Fulhelmknight, and Scrap Dragon attacked it after the first attack was negated. I re-Set my back row and ended my turn. He flipped XX-Saber Boggart Knight and attacked Scrap Chimera, but I used Forbidden Chalice to give my Scrap Chimera a boost. He scooped after that.

So, I was going into the last round undefeated, which meant that I was in the finals.

Round 4: vs Flamvells

This was my Round 1 opponent from last weekend.

-Duel 1: He beat me down with a Card Trooper and Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress. I used Mind Control on Card Trooper and Normal Summoned Scrap Goblin to Synchro Summon Goyo Guardian and steal Lyla. He played Rekindling to Special Summon the Flamvell Firedog and Flamvell Magician that he milled previously. He Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon and used its effect to destroy Goyo Guardian. I stalled for two turns until I could draw into a Spell Card for Summoner Monk. Once I did, I Synchro Summoned Colossal Fighter to attack his Scrap Dragon. From 600 LP, I made a huge comeback, getting him down from 8000 to 0.

-Duel 2: I was stalling behind two Snowman Eaters for a while. He built up his front row while I built up my back row. He made a push after a while. He had Flamvell Firedog and Dekoichi on the field, and he Normal Summoned Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind. He tried to halve the DEF of one of my Snowman Eaters, but I flipped Forbidden Chalice to negate Gale's effect. He played Mind Control to steal one of my Snowman Eaters, but I played Book of Moon to put Gale face-down. He was forced to use Rekindling to revive Flamvell Magician, but he opted to Synchro Summon Stardust Dragon using it and Flamvell Firedog. After he attacked over my Snowman Eater, he gave my other one back. I used my own Mind Control to steal his Gale, using its effect to halve Stardust Dragon's stats. I Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian to take it, then Normal Summoned Scrap Goblin. I Synchro Summoned XX-Saber Gottoms with the Goblin and Goyo Guardian to rip the last card out of my opponent's hand. His last card was a spent Dekoichi, while I had his Stardust Dragon and a Dark Hole in my hand. He destroyed his Stardust Dragon after a couple turns with Mirror Force, then topped Rekindling to Synchro Summon Scrap Dragon. I still had the Dark Hole, and his last card was that Scrap Dragon. I topped Monster Reborn, which wasn't necessary. However, he said that if I had Monster Reborn he would scoop, I showed him my hand of Dark Hole and Monster Reborn, and that was it.

So, I went undefeated again and got first place. I won some store credit, and used it to get two Marik Structure Decks and a pack of sleeves.

Pot of Duality was actually a lot better than expected. I can see why it's so expensive. Since the person I was going to sell it to won't have the money in time for the Sneak Preview, I might consider getting another, since it helped a lot.

Pot of Duality

I've been busy this week. Even today, I shouldn't have the time to post, but this is going to be a short one.

Anyways, if you read my most recent tournament report, you'd know that I pulled a Pot of Duality. I'm going to try it out this weekend, replacing my Gold Sarcophagus with it, as I have said before.

Afterwards, I will sell it so that I can have money for the Starstrike Blast Sneak Preview. I'm expecting it to cover all of the Scrap cards I plan on buying, maybe except Scrap Mind Reader, depending on what it does and its rarity. So, I can use the money I have currently to buy Kirby's Epic Yarn! But that's besides the point.

I have both high hopes and low expectations for Pot of Duality. Yes, it's like a really nice generic draw card. But, it reveals to the opponent your plans, and it prevents you from making big plays that turn. It is better in some decks than others, of course, but in a deck that it's good in, it's best in threes.

Tossing one in a deck doesn't guarantee that you'll draw it, and it doesn't do that much to boost consistency. However, running three gives you a very good chance of seeing it, which improves the consistency of your deck to a much greater extent.

This is probably why Lazaro and Dale Bellido were able to do so well with their Scrap decks at their Regional. Not only did they run three Pot of Duality, but they ran a full play-set of Upstart Goblin. I assume that that was meant to assure that they would see Royal Decree.

Royal Decree is a very good card this format, but the problem is drawing it consistently. Running three Upstart Goblins made their decks essentially 37 cards (I didn't count, but I assume that they ran 40 cards, otherwise Upstart Goblin is pointless). Pot of Duality gave the ability to "search" for Royal Decree, which is important for a deck that depends on them.

However, I had to admit that my view of the meta is skewed. At big tournaments, decks like (Quickdraw) Plants and X-Sabers do well. However, at my locals, and also at the Regional I attended, Stun decks are the most prevalent. So, seeing Royal Decree consistently may not have been as important for the Bellidos as it would be for me, since they might have faced less Stun decks.

By the way, I might go back and do an episode review on 5D's Episode 133, but I'm not sure if I care enough about it.

Tournament Report 10/24/10

I didn't think I'd be able to go to locals today, but I ended up going anyway.

Of course, I went with my Scrap Anti-Stun deck. I took out the third Book of Moon for a second Forbidden Chalice. It worked out quite well.

Round 1: vs Anti-Meta

I don't know what to call my opponent's deck. I watched him duel a few matches before the tournament started, so I knew what he was running. Also, he was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He dropped Burden of the Mighty, but I didn't mind. I pushed through his defenses and won with multiple Scrap Dragons. I also topped a Monster Reborn right when I needed it.

-Duel 2: I don't remember how I won.

Round 2: vs Blackwings

-Duel 1: I could tell that this guy wasn't very experienced with Blackwings when he tried to Normal Summon Sirocco on the first turn of the duel. I baited out all of his Traps and took control with Scrap Dragon. He bounced it with Blizzard, but I had a Scrap Chimera in hand to bring it back next turn.

-Duel 2: We were just Setting cards for a few turns. He finally attacked, I flipped Malevolent Catastrophe. He Chained Solemn Judgment, but I flipped Seven Tools. I later baited out a Solemn Warning with Ryko, and he was down to 400 LP. I destroyed his last Set card with Mystical Space Typhoon and flipped my bluffed Scrapyard for game.

Round 3: vs Machina Gadgets

I remember playing against this guy when he was playing Lightsworn, but I can't find the tournament report with him in it. Oh well.

-Duel 1: I took control with Scrap Dragon, destroying his back row. He just couldn't get rid of it.

-Duel 2: I lost in a few turns, since I drew pretty badly.

-Duel 3: I don't remember exactly how I won, but I'm pretty sure that I used Brionac to win.

Round 4: vs Machina Gadgets

-Duel 1: I took control with Scrap Dragon and Catastor. He also messed up with his Gadgets. He summoned Green Gadget, searching a Common Red Gadget, but he summoned a holo Red Gadget on the next turn, revealing to me his entire hand, essentially.

-Duel 2: I lost too much advantage and couldn't recover. Same as the second duel from the previous round.

-Duel 3: I summoned Rai-Oh first turn and Set a few back rows. He tried to Special Summon Machina Fortress, but I flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to remove it from play. From there, I attacked with that one Rai-Oh turn after turn to win. He couldn't get over it, basically.

So, I was undefeated going into the final round. Coincidentally, Yugilo was the other undefeated player. We agreed to the same split that we did a month ago. He had one of his friends record our match, so he's going to upload that sometime in the near future. Because of that, like last time, I won't spoil the result of the duel.

Either way, we each got half of a box of Duelist Revolution Special Editions. I pulled a few decent cards, including a seventh Scrap Chimera, a seventh Scrapyard, a third Ultimate Axon Kicker, and a second Psychic Nightmare. Basically what I'm trying to say is that I didn't need any of those cards. I also gave away the three Drill Warriors I pulled, since I already have five...

The most notable card out of those packs was POT OF DUALITY! Yaaaaaaaaaaaay! Now I can replace my Gold Sarcophagus with it. So yeah, that was a pretty good card to pull.

Overall, it was a really good day for me. I came to a realization about a huge weakness that Trap-heavy Machina Gadget decks have, and that helped quite a bit. Also, playing a pressure-free final round was nice. The only thing that wasn't good about today was the fact that I couldn't play any fun duels with my Genex Hero deck.

Scraps Post-STBL

There are three cards from Starstrike Blast that can give a major boost to Scraps that I want to discuss. Unfortunately, Scrap Mind Reader has not been revealed yet, so I'll have to settle for talking about the other two.

Scrap Searcher is amazing, but it's hard to effectively use it. It's easy to put it in the Graveyard with Scrapstorm, but that costs you a Scrap Monster. It's also easy to put it in the Graveyard with Foolish Burial, but that won't happen too often. Sure, you can run Rykos to mill it, but that's inconsistent. Drawing it shouldn't be as bad as expected, though, since you can use it for Scrapstorm.

If you know what you're doing, you can revive Scrap Searcher multiple times per duel, provided you can get it into the Graveyard early enough. Combined with Scrap Beast, it makes Naturia Beast. It also gives that extra level you might need if you want to make a higher level Scrap Synchro.

Of course, using Scrap Golem and/or Guts of Steel, you can dump it on the opponent's side of the field to blow up all of their Monsters. You could also destroy your opponent's Monsters if you use it with Icarus Attack. I doubt anyone would do that, but it's an idea.

Scrap Searcher also makes cards like Spiritual Earth Art - Kurogane playable in Scraps. Your Scrap Golem got killed by Torrential Tribute? Just revive it by tributing the free Scrap Searcher you just Special Summoned.

Unfortunately, there's the Missing the Timing issues that most Scrap players take for granted. Scrap Tuners' effects don't Miss the Timing, so they'll probably assume that Scrap Searcher works the same way or they don't even know how Missing the Timing works.

As I said before, it's biggest problem is how hard it is to effectively get it into the Graveyard. You could run multiples to see it more often, since you are allowed to activate multiple Scrap Searcher's effect on the same Chain if another Scrap is destroyed, but that seems somewhat pointless. If someone could find a way to get it into the Graveyard effectively early game, it would have the potential to make Scraps a very powerful deck.

The other card is Scrap Twin Dragon. Conveniently, Scrap Searcher helps you summon it. But, it can shine on its own.

Scrap Twin Dragon gets past one of Scrap Dragon's weaknesses: the fact that it can only hit one of your opponent's cards. Scrap Twin Dragon can effectively clear your opponent's back row, so you don't have to guess at which one is that Dimensional Prison you fear. Unfortunately, Scrap Twin Dragon only bounces them to your opponent's hand, so you'll need to win quickly if you use it.

Of course, Scrap Twin Dragon revives another Scrap when it's destroyed, allowing you to recycle your Scraps. It allows you to loop with Scrap Golem when your only on-hand Tuner is Scrap Beast. So, it might be useful to play more than one. Regardless, you should still use that one XX-Saber Gottoms, since it's quite handy to have.

I do have time to briefly mention Scrap Soldier and Scrap Crash. They're terrible, don't use them. Scrap Oil Zone, on the other hand, has potential. If a Scrap Tuner is destroyed by Scrap Oil Zone, then you get its recycling effect. Still, it's not very good; it's too situational.

5D's Episode 132

Placido goes in for Team New World to duel against Jack. Thankfully, the whole episode consists of dueling.

Placido summons Wise Core and destroys it with Speed Spell - Lightning Rod. It basically just destroys one of your own Monsters. So, the five Level 1 Wisel pieces are Special Summoned. Placido activates Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity's effect, but Jack removes Red Nova Dragon from play with its effect. Placido responds with a Trap Lucciano Set, Infinity Shot. It deals 400 damage for each Monster he controls (five) if he gives up his attack for the turn and the opponent has no Monsters on the field.

Placido Sets two Traps, and Jack brings back Red Nova Dragon. Jack attacks, and Placido uses Wisel Guard's effect to make it the attack target. Jack flips a Continuous Trap, Burning Strike, giving Red Nova Dragon a piercing effect. With that the pierce damage would be able to drop Placido's LP to 0, but he activates Wise G3, switching his Level 1 Wisel Guard for Wisel Guard 3, which has more defense and cannot be destroyed by battle once per turn.

Even so, Placido takes 3500 damage, and the weird Continuous Trap Lucciano played (which has been translated to "Infinite Spirit Machine") gains 35 more counters. Placido then flips an unimportant situational burn card, hitting Jack for 900 damage. Jack Sets a Trap and ends his turn.

Jose, the last Machine Emperor guy, reminds Placido of their evil plan, so Placido just Sets two Traps and ends his turn. Yusei, being the only smart character in this show, has Lua/Rua/Leo send Jack a message, "Break M2." I'm assuming that the "M" comes from Infinite Spirit Machine's Japanese name, "mugen reiki."

So, Jack Sets a back row, then activates his Trap, Synchro Sonic. For each Synchro Monster he controls, he can destroy one face-up card in the Spell/Trap Zone on the opponent's side of the field. He tries to destroy Infinite Spirit Machine, but Placido activates Infinity Guard Formation. It negates his Monsters' effects to prevent the destruction of his Continuous Trap for the turn. Jack doesn't care and just attacks Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity to defeat Placido.

As he's dying, Placido activates the effects of both of his face-up Continuous Traps. Infinite Spirit Machine gains 5 counters, and Placido uses the other Continuous Trap (which has been translated at Infinite Prison) much like Lucciano did. He discards a card to Set his Wise Core as a Spell Card.

So, Jose takes Placido's place and merges with his D-Wheel like Placido did during the crazy Battle Royale thing. The Infinity symbol appears beneath his and Jack's D-Wheels when the duel starts, which implies that Jack will take real damage from the duel.

Of course, Jose starts with Grand Core. He destroys it with Bomb Blast, which destroys up to three Machine-Type Monsters that had not battled that turn to deal 400 damage for each one destroyed. Grand Core being destroyed means that the five Level 1 Grannel pieces are Special Summoned. Machine Emperor Grannel Infinity's ATK and DEF are equal to its controller's LP.

Then, Jose activates Speed Spell - Take Over to destroy Infinite Spirit Machine and gain LP equal to 100x the amount of counters on it. While he's doing that, though, he drives up to Jack and pushes his D-Wheel for some reason... Anyway, Grannel's stats rise to 12000, Jose Sets a card, then attacks. Jack tries to negate the attack with Red Nova Dragon, but Grannel Top's effect negates the opponent's Synchro Monsters' effects when Machine Emperor Grannel Infinity attacks. So, Grannel destroys Red Nova Dragon by battle and uses Grannel Attack's effect to absorb it, since Grannel destroyed it in battle. As usual, a Machine Emperor's ATK increases by the ATK of the Synchro Monsters it absorbs.

Also as usual, Jack crashes when he is attacked. He somehow makes it back to his team, and Crow switches in. So, we'll see Crow get owned next episode and/or make some broken new Blackwings to help him win. Fun fun.

Random Stuff #19

It's been a while since I've done one of these.

With my shiny play-set of Genex Undines sitting on my desk in front of me, I can't help but think of ideas for a Genex deck for December. Why December? That's when the R-Genex become legal, so I'd be able to use my shiny new R-Genex Synchros. Right now, I'm thinking about another Genex/Hero hybrid. Using D-Hero Malicious gives access to Locomotion R-Genex, and that gives more synergy to the whole Hero engine. I'm not sure if Vindikite R-Genex is worth using, though.

Also, I can't wait for the new Scrap cards from Starstrike Blast. Scrap Searcher and Scrap Twin Dragon will be some nice support. I'll probably make my deck in a way so that I can abuse Scrap Searcher readily. As for Scrap Twin Dragon, I've decided that it's not all that important. It has a nice effect, but the current OCG ruling can be a hinderance, if people know it. Moreover, using its effect is usually a minus. However, I will use at least one so that I'll have another option in my Extra Deck.

Speaking of my Extra Deck, it's going to be extremely cramped once December rolls around. I'm planning on adding Ally of Justice Decisive Armor, Scrap Twin Dragon, Naturia Barkion, and possibly Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (Scrap Beast + Snowman Eater) to my Extra Deck once Hidden Arsenal 3 is officially released. I can only think of taking out one card (one of two Scrap Archfiends), so I have no idea of how I'll be able to fit anything in there. I might have to take out Thought Ruler Archfiend and/or Stardust Dragon to make room...

I'm also trying to decide whether or not to include Decisive Armor in every Extra Deck like a Synchro staple, but I'm probably opting against it. It's only good against Lightsworn and Light Gemini Stun. Lightsworn decks aren't even good anymore, and Light Gemini Stun won't let you even summon it.

The Starstrike Blast Sneak Preview is three weeks away, or so. I can't wait to see what the exclusives are, since that's basically all the TCG players have to wait on. I hope that Scrap Mind Reader is going to be worth the cost of its inevitable rarity hike...

I'm thinking about making a deck profile for the Scrap Anti-Stun deck I used at Regionals. If I do make one, it would probably be up on Wednesday. I might even put my Side Deck in the video, but I'm still considering it. Since there are more people at my locals who are watching my videos now, it would give them a big advantage when they duel me...

Lastly, for a non-Yu-Gi-Oh-related thing, I just found out about Kirby's Epic Yarn yesterday. It looks really cool; it seems challenging even though the whole dying aspect of video gaming was taken out. I would have gone out an bought it yesterday, but I need to save my money for Starstrike Blast. I'm planning on buying two Scrap Twin Dragons, two Scrap Searchers, and maybe Scrap Mind Reader(s).

Regionals Report 10/16/10

As I said in my post yesterday, I decided to go to Regionals with Scrap Anti-Stun.

In the packs I received for entering, I pulled Scrap Dragon and Scrap Archfiend. I ended up trading the Scrap Dragon for two Scrap Chimeras. I also met up with vadangchoinga, and it turns out that he pulled a Pot of Duality.

Before the tournament started, I was able to trade for a third Ultimate Rare Scrap Dragon, so I could use an Ultimate Rare play-set.

Round 1: vs Scraps - OO

-I pulled off the Golem/Goblin combo in the first duel, and I ended up using XX-Saber Gottoms three times in one duel to discard a bunch of his cards.

Round 2: vs Flamvells - OO

-This guy's build was weird, since he ran Wattgiraffes. Regardless, I was able to Mind Control his Super-Nimble Mega Hamster and flip it to Special Summon my own Ryko. I also pushed through 3900 damage against his field of two Stardust Dragons and a Scrap Dragon to take the match.

Round 3: vs Absolute Zero (D-Hero variant) - OO

-He dropped me pretty low with Catastor and Absolute Zero, but I used Smashing Ground on AbZ and Special Summoned Cyber Dragon to fuse for Chimeratech Fortress Dragon.

Round 4: vs Middle City - XOX

-This guy was playing that deck that used three Burden of the Mighty and King Tiger Wanghu. He kept drawing Monsters after I kept getting rid of them, which helped him win the match. Also, he started off with Royal Oppression all three games...

Round 5: vs Machina Gadgets - XOX

-My hand in the first duel was terrible, and he picked it apart with Spirit Reaper.

Round 6: vs E-Hero Stun - OXO

-This guy ran a mix between Gemini Stun and an Absolute Zero variant. I pushed through a bunch of damage with Scrap Dragon and Scrap Archfiend in the first and third games. He won the second duel by drawing a bunch of Traps and three Gemini Sparks to go with his multiple Neos Aliuses.

Round 7: vs Blackwings - XOX

-He won the first and third duels with Dark Armed Dragon. He was a really cool guy, though.

Round 8: vs Gladiator Beasts - OXO

-This guy was running the E-Hero (Prisma) variant with Gladiator Beast's Respite. That means that he had a minimal amount of Traps, which was good for me. He Torrential Tributed his own summon to destroy my Scrap Dragon, but I ended up reviving Scrap Beast to go for game on the next turn.

Round 9: vs Machina Gadgets - XOO

-He was running a Solidarity build with less Traps and more one-for-one removal Spells like Fissure, both of which were good for me. In the second and third duels, most of his hand consisted of Gadgets, which allowed me to beat him down with Scraps.

So, I ended up going 6-3, which is meh. I got 67th place, which was three away from winning packs. I didn't mind much, though, since it would have only been two packs.

I was able to do a lot of trading, getting lots of Duel Terminal cards, including Ally of Justice Decisive Armor, Locomotion R-Genex, Vindikite R-Genex, Gungnir, Naturia Barkion, and two Dragunity Phalanx! That means we'll be able to greatly improve the Dragunity deck as well as make a new Genex deck. I was also able to trade for other stuff like Goyo Guardian, Forbidden Chalice, and more Duel Terminals cards including Smashing Ground, D-Hero Malicious, a play-set of Worm Xex, and a third Genex Undine!

As for videos, I got about five duels between the Light Gemini Stun player from before and kisforkapono of YouTube. I'll be uploading them starting Monday.

So yeah, it was a pretty good Regional in general. I was able to trade stuff I didn't need, like Dark Grephers and Dark Simorghs, for amazing Duel Terminal Synchros. I also got to play against a wide variety of decks to test out my Scraps.