The Past and the Future - Card Advantage

A cheesy title, I know. But I didn't just want to make this another Random Stuff post.

In many formats, being able to generate card advantage is key to winning. It should be obvious why this is the case. The idea is that more cards means more options, but that's not the point of this post.

Before the last ban list, Zombie Synchro was the deck that could consistently gain card advantage. Mezuki into Goblin Zombie is a +2, and it was a fairly simple combo to pull off. Zombie Synchro players would just keep gaining card advantage until they were ready to win. But, the deck was usually more reactive, gaining card advantage off of getting their own Monsters killed.

Looking into the future (for the TCG, the OCG already has this...), we see the new Genex support, and we can even look at the Genex cards we already have. Genex Undine (and to some extent, Genex Neutron) give you a +1 on the Normal Summon, adding a card to your hand. This is more proactive, since you get the card advantage right away.

However, Genex don't exactly have a reliable way to OTK, otherwise they'd be meta in the OCG... (They still have the potential to be meta, everyone just gave up on them!) Because of this, decks like Genex, namely Gadgets, have to keep poking for damage while using Monster removal cards. It can be just as effective, and annoying, as a reactive OTK.

On the subject of Gadgets, they could possibly become obsolete in the future, like when the Real Genex (R-Genex) take their place as a better way to gain advantage. Let's take a look:

Let's start with Genex Power Planner. It searches for a Level 3 Genex Effect Monster. Okay, let's get Real Genex Magma. That one searches for a Level 2 Real Genex Monster. So, we can get Real Genex Crusher (not to be confused with Ally Genex Crusher). Real Genex Crusher gets you a Level 4 Real Genex Monster. Why not get Real Genex Turbo? It can get you a Level 1 Genex Monster, like Genex Power Planner. Oh look, you can start all over again!

But wait, there's more! Real Genex Magma can also get you Real Genex Coordinator (R-Genex Overseer). And, Real Genex Crusher can get you Real Genex Ultimum.

You might want to say that none of these Monsters have effects other than searching, and that most of them are weaker than Gadgets. Both of those are true, but, those aren't the only things that are important.

Real Genex Coordinator happens to be a Tuner, which can help you turn extra Genex Monsters into Synchro Monsters. Also, most of the Genex Monsters that you would use are Level 3 or lower. That means that you could also have access to Level Limit - Area B and Gravity Bind as a way to protect your Genex. The only thing keeping Gadgets in play is the ease of getting them and their use with Machina Fortress.

This post is getting really long, so I'll just finish it up by saying that we'll get some cool Genex support in the future (which OCG players could be using right now...) that will give us access to new ways of gaining card advantage. But, we can't count out past ways of getting card advantage, like though recruiters and searchers.