Sunday Tourney Report

Today was a good day.

Unfortuantely, like always, I came late. Again.

Yea.

So I took a first round loss in the third week of Pegasus League here at Myth Games.

I hope I'm allowed to say where I play...

On to Round 2.

Round 2: OO vs. Alan

Game 1: I open with Firedog and Magician in hand. I see that he sets a monster, so I pull out a first turn Stardust. Even though he Brain Controlled Stardust, allowing him to tribute it for his Tytannial, double Bottomless Trap Hole allows me to take momentum back in my favour for game.

Game 2: I open with TWO Firedogs, and a Rekindling this time, and I'm was like, "this is my lucky day."

I took early control with Stardust again for game.

Round 3: XOX vs. Dylan

Game 1: What can I say? Gladiator Beasts are always a tough matchup.

Game 2: I open with Firedog and Rekindling again. After I summoned Dog, and heard Dylan let out a sigh, I took advantage and pushed Dylan really hard with Stardust and Raiza.

Game 3: Well, I failed so hard this game. Dylan manages to pull out a Herk, but it was after I Gold Sarc for Rekindling. Unfortunately, I forgot that I had Avariced my Flamvells into the deck. Yea....no coming back from that.

Round 4: OO vs. Tanner

Game 1: Opening with Dog again, I bring out a Stardust. Control afterwards with Stardust and Raiza lets me win this duel.

Game 2: Another Dog, another Stardust. This time, I had sided in my Crows and Kycoos, because I knew he needed his graveyard. Only used Crow on Treeborn though, but I still won through his monsters.

Round 5: OO vs. Nathan

Game 1: He opens with a Future Visions, which hurts me a lot, cause I had to start playing defensively. And then he Storms my BTH and Mirror Force. Ouch. However, that let me bring out Firedog into Stardust, which works to my advantage and for game.

Game 2: Again, he opens with Future Visions, but I opened with my Heavy Storm this time, and Rekindling. So, thanks to me tributing for Raiza, and then using Rekindling, I bring out Stardust.
Thanks to a second in-hand Raiza, I lock his draw, and win the duel.

Overall, it was a rather fun day, going 3-2.

I really need to get to Myth Games earlier to stop getting Round 1 losses.

After the tournament, Albert manages to pull another super Garoth, which he used to get me Gold Sarchophagus.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Also, I played a fun duel with my PL deck for a rare Rescue Cat from a Turbo Pack, and I wrecked him. by sacking Rekindling.

WHOO.

It was still an intense duel.

Fun day man!

Let's have another one next week!

Christmas Break

Lately, there's been a lack of posts by me.

Sorry, but this Christmas Break really makes me feel lazy.

So don't expect many daily posts for the next two weeks.

In other news, Turbo Pack 2 is coming out.

At SJC LA.

January 9 to 10.

Wonder if it will come out in other shops...

Parallel World Fusion EDIT

Apparently, it's even BETTER than it is before.

Parallel Fusion's true text:

Return your removed from play monsters that are listed as Fusion Material Monsters of an "Elemental Hero" Fusion Monster to the Deck and Special Summon that monster from your Extra Deck. (This is treated as a Fusion Summon). You cannot Special Summon other monsters this turn.

Malicious and Deep Sea Diva to the deck for more abuse anyone?

Absolute Powerforce SE Promos

Dandylion and REDMD

Yea really.

Time to get me a slew of flowers.

Sunday Locals Report

Once again, I did not get a chance to enter.

I was a bit lazy, and it was my dad's birthday, so I didn't wake him up early enough.

Oh well.

However, I did manage to catch the final round of Jimmy vs. someone who I didn't really know.

In the end, the other guy won using Metalmorph.

Really? O_O

It's kinda hard to see how this guy beat Jimmy's Synchro Monarch, considering he ran beatdown with equip cards in a 60 card deck.

>__>;;

Better luck next time Jimmy.

Oh yes.

I finally have a rather perfected Extra Deck. Thanks to my traders today.

Sorry for the bitch-out again guys.

-__-

And next week, Symbols Cat is gonna rock the stage!

Or not...

Black Feather Dragon

Just heard from the Gaijin Duelist that's it's Level 7.

And has 2700 Atk.

Sweeeet...

But it has an EARTH attribute.

o_O

What?

Perfect Declarer

TSHD-JP0(??)

Perfect Declarer 「神光の宣告者」

LIGHT/Angel - Ritual - Effect/6/1800/2800

This card can only be Ritual Summoned with the Ritual Magic Card, "Declarer Promise". Activate by sending 1 Angel-Type monster from your hand to the Graveyard. Negate the activation of an opposing activated Effect Monster's effect, Magic, or Trap Card, and destroy it.

New Ritual monster coming out in The Shining Darkness.

Well at first, because of the fact that it requires angels to discard, would make this isn't a good as it should be, given that the Djinns are all fiends, a second look shows that Chaos builds will just thrive off this.

I'm in a sudden urge to make Rituals now.

Especially Quishie.

=P

Cyber Eltanin

It's official.

It's coming out in Shonen Jump.

I love you Konami.

Time to wreck faces with Light Machines.

E-Hero Great TORNADO

PP12-JP007

Elemental Hero Great Tornado

WIND/Warrior - Fusion - Effect/8/2800/22001

"Elemental Hero" monster + 1 WIND monster

This card cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. When this card is successfully Fusion Summoned, halve the ATK and DEF of all face-up monsters your opponent controls.

I decided to take a second look at this card. Actually, it's pretty beasty from a certain point of view.

If you top deck Miracle Fusion, and decide that Absolute Zero, The Shining or Gaia isn't worth it, or have none left of those to fuse for, Great Tornado could be fitted in.

And Tornado's effect basically says "Gale just got used on all your monsters."

That would suck when you have a full field, given that Tornado also has 2800 Atk, enough to match Stardust and go over Goyo, if Goyo is halved.

Hmmm...I think I may start collecting the Elemental E-Hero Fusions. They're pretty cool.

Parallel World Fusion

PP12-JP008

Parallel World Fusion 「平行世界融合」

Normal Magic Card

Return removed from play Fusion Material Monsters of yours that are listed by an "Elemental Hero" Fusion Monster Card to the Graveyard, and Special Summon that 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck. (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon.) During the turn in which this card is activated, you cannot Special Summon.

They are finally releasing this card in the OCG through Premium Pack 12.

V-Hero, anyone?

And variants of decks running the Elemental E-Heros just got a pretty big boost.

IMO.

Sunday Locals Report

And here's the actual report. And as a note, I don't really really my matches much as it's already Monday and not Sunday.

Round 1: XOX vs. Dylan

Game 1: He plays a Gladiator Beast on the field, and I knew what I was up against. It was pretty back and forth until he nails me with Gyzarus and I had no answers afterwords.

Game 2: This time, I set up Treeborn Frog early and constantly dropped my Monarchs on him. Dylan having Retiari in hand really hurt him.

Game 3: I manage to get Treeborn into the grave early, but he Retiari's it out of play. That really hurt me in the long run, and he had answers to the rest of my cards.

Round 2: OO vs. Mark

Game 1: Seeing as how Mark came here right without knowing about the PL, he threw together a quick Pegasus League deck, which was Koaki Meirus, which were pretty weak...

I used my Monarchs to get advantage, as he had a bunch of dead cards in hand.

Game 2: Same as game 1. I dropped my Monarchs, while he had dead cards again.

Round 3: XOX vs Shahid

Game 1: Another Gladiator Beast matchup. Early on, he gets his Chariot loop going, and I didn't have any answers to his cards.

Not drawing Creature Swap really hurt me in the long run.

Game 2: He expended all his resources early game, while I had Treeborn Frog in the grave allowing for Monarchs to flood my field. He also drew Retiari, which sucked for him.

Game 3: An bad play early on (swapping Rat for Sangan) followed by Heavy Storm means I scoop my cards.

Round 4: OO vs Dustin

Game 1: He was running a pretty lulzy deck, so I took control early and won.

Game 2: Same as game 1 really. I quick win.

Round 5: OO vs Alan

Game 1: Early control with Creature Swap, Level Stealer, and my Monarchs secured the game for me.

Game 2: Alan pulls off an early Gigaplant move, but I managed to Creature it away to me, which I used to get out Level Stealer from my grave, not that it mattered...

Either way, he gets it back with Mark of the Rose, and pulls off his crazy special summoning move, leaving me with 100 LP.

Then I managed to make a comeback using Raiza and Thestalos.

Overall, the day was really fun, and like I said, Jimmy pulling his JD was awesome.

Afterwards, we hung out at Taco Bell, as usual. Putting Shahid through the Gauntlet was a pretty funny sight, but he is still trying his best at it.

Well, that's all for today.

Until tomorrow.

Sunday Locals Review

Well, today was the start of this month's Pegasus League. Here we go.

Unfortunately, due to some unforseen circumstances, the deck I had intended to use had to undergo some changes.

Lack of cards such as Mother Grizzly, and UFO Turtle really made me change the focus of the deck up a bit.

After getting a ride with Nathan to my locals, I made my deck, payed for the entry, and got ready for this new league with my Monarch deck.

Maaaan...this league really ain't in my favour. :\

Due to some time constraints, I'll be posting about my tourney results tomorrow.

In the end, Jimmy managed to top with his Synchro Monarch deck, which really impressed me.

It wasn't Synchro Cat, but at least he found some good WIND monsters to work with.

Also, congrats Jimmy on pulling that Ultimate Judgement Dragon. That was really nice.

And good pull with Dark Simorgh, Shahid.

Get some good trades guys.

Lastly, Jimmy, I'm gonna be trying out your deck. It's looks solid.

And it's okay, I'm representing the team. Not just net-decking.

Really.

Maplestory

Well, I haven't posted anything different than YuGiOh in a while now, so here's something.

I'm back into Maplestory.

Like really?

Yeah man. Really.

I play because it's fun, and I enjoy the storyline.

Just a note now though, that I probably won't be able to entirely keep up with YuGiOh as much as I had before.

Still, I intend to keep the focus of this blog YuGiOh-based, so no worries about that.

Also:

1000th Hit!

Well, it seems that last night, I managed to get to my 1000th Hit finally!

YAY!

Thanks to all my current readers for supporting my blog!

As a gift, I would like you, the readers, to tell me in the comments section what my next few posts should be about.

Do you want me to review certain cards, and state my opinion on them?

Do you want me to review the up and coming card sets to be released in the TCG?

Or rather, do you want me to give a deck history of when I began to play competitively?

If none of this appeals to you, list your own!

Thanks again!

Jump Festa Special Card Pack

JF10-JP0??

Koalaccoala 「コアラッコアラ」

EARTH/Beast - Fusion - Effect/6/2800/200

"Koalakko" + "Raccoala"

Activate by sending 1 Beast-Type monster from your hand to the Graveyard and selecting 1 monster your opponent controls. Destroy the selected monster.

This is one of the new cards that stands out to me, IMO.

They actually made a FUSION monster, and a good one at that.

Although you have to use Sea Koala and the new "Raccoala" released in this set, the new fusion monster is still:

1. Level 6 with 2800 Atk
2. Doesn't need to be brought out by Fusion Summon, and is semi-nomi
3. Compatible with The Earth - Hex-Sealed Fusion
4. Other stuff I can't think about

Hopefully, Konami will released some better fusion cards, such as this.

They did bring back Rituals after all...

Pegasus League: Thoughts

While this league does offer a ton of rewards (Turbo Packs) for creativity, I don't really like it all that much.

To be honest...it takes a lot of playtesting and work in order to effectively run a deck consistently of elements that aren't named DARK or LIGHT.

Combine all four of them, and now that's just a pretty big mess.

:\

Just my 2 cents.

Swap Monarchs: Deck Update

Well, after a bit of testing, it turns out that the deck does do the job that I wanted it to.

As I said, both Gorz and Dark Armed Dragon are just too dead in my hand. So in the end, I decided to drop the two of them for both Thestalos and Caius. This means that I am running 3 Thestalos and 3 Caius.

Reminescent of the trip Zaborg, Thestalos format...Haha.

As well, I found that often times, I draw cards that I would prefer to have put into my graveyard through my means of recruiting. To offset this problem, 1 Raigeki Break and 1 PWWB was added to the deck over Call of the Haunted and My Body as a Shield.

Another fix to the deck was that I found that Mobius and Thestalos isn't too hot this format. :\
Monster removal in the form of Caius and Raiza were way more beneficially against the attack of Synchros such as Thought Ruler and Stardust.

To fix this, I dropped one Mobius to fit in one Raiza, maxing him out. However, this means that I now have too many recruiters. Because I am running three Raizas now, I dropped the Kamakiris entirely, and instead put in place a Mother Grizzly, giving me the WATERs I needed, and a teched Vortex Trooper, cause of lack of a good splashable WIND monster.

So the deck is now like this.

Monsters (23):
Mobius the Frost Monarch
Raiza the Storm Monarch x3
Caius the Shadow Monarch x3
Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch x3
Mother Grizzly x2
UFO Turtle x2
Howling Insect
Giant Rat x2
Sangan
Level Stealer x2
Treeborn Frog
Dandylion
Vortex Trooper

Spells (8):
Brain Control
Soul Exchange x2
Creature Swap x3
Heavy Storm
Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps (9):
Torrential Tribute
Mirror Force
Trap Dustshoot
Royal Oppression x2
Bottomless Trap Hole x2
Raigeki Break
Phoenix Wind Wing Blast

The deck now runs more better, due to the fact that more reactive cards have been added to the deck.

However, the lack of proper removal cards still kinda tick me off. :\

Maybe I'll try out Zaborg when I get them...

Well, for as long as this league runs anyways. I still want to perfect my Cat builds.

:p

Recruiter Monarch: Pegasus League

Monsters (23):
Dark Armed Dragon
Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
Mobius the Frost Monarch x2
Raiza the Storm Monarch x2
Caius the Shadow Monarch x2
Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch x2
Mother Grizzly
UFO Turtle x2
Howling Insect
Giant Rat x2
Flying Kamakiri #1 x2
Sangan
Level Stealer x2
Treeborn Frog
Dandylion

Spells (9):
Brain Control
Soul Exchange x2
Creature Swap x3
Heavy Storm
Mystical Space Typhoon
My Body as a Shield

Traps (8):
Torrential Tribute
Mirror Force
Trap Dustshoot
Royal Oppression x2
Bottomless Trap Hole x2
Call of the Haunted

Just a rough version of my deck for the League at the moment.

I'll probably drop Gorz and Dark Armed in the end. It doesn't look like they'll work out too well in this deck.

If in the end, the deck doesn't meet up to my expectations, I'll probably switch my deck to a Insect-Plant hybrid deck with random splahable WATERs.

With this deck though, any suggestion is thanked for. I appreciate it.

Cards I actually need though :

Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch x2
UFO Turtle
Level Stealer
Soul Exchange (Jimmy, I think you have my extra.)

Thanks again!

EDIT:

Yea...Not feeling the Gorz/ DAD.

- Gorz, DAD
+ Caius, Thestalos

Pegasus League

So next week, at my locals, the Pegasus league is slated to begin.

Basically, it's a league where you have to create a deck based on certain rules in order to enter.

Well, I look forward to this...I guess...

I really would like to play Synchro Cat in constructed really, but I could make do somehow.

"Air, Water, Fire, Earth" is this month's theme. I need to make a deck with at least 4 monsters with each of those attributes.

:\

Here I come, Recruiter Monarchs.

Also, I need Thethys! Trade me please!

Duel Videos

So us, known as Team Metronome, has finally gotten some duel videos!!!

:D

It may take a while, but the first two duels are being uploaded onto our Youtube account.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/user/TeamMetronome1

P.S.

Man, did I suck those duels.

P.S.S.

I officaily hate uploading and editing. Jimmy, if you see this, I want to let you know that you're gonna upload them. Because this stuff really confuses me.

Volcanic Cat

This idea came to me after seeing another person's build of Synchro Cat.

Basically, it runs just like my former Volcanic Monk advantage deck, but Shells and Counters are dropped out of the equation.

I use Volcanic Rocket to get my free discard cards for Monk, Raigeki Break, PWWB, etc.

From there, the deck plays like a normal Synchro Cat deck.

However, the use of big beaters means that playing around Oppression becomes a lot easier.

Of course, Flamvell Cat does the same, but that build doesn't main Oppressions...

Fusion Ultra! Bond over time and space

Well, this movie is starting to turn out really good.

From the looks of things so far, Paradox, the antagonist of the movie, has dark versions of 9 key cards from the main characters.

So far, 3 has been revealed. Blue Eyes White Dragon, Red Eyes Black Dragon, and Stardust Dragon.

And what's more, it looks like these cards are going to turn into an archetype! =O

http://shriek.twoday.net/stories/6043083/

It looks like the archetype will be known as SIN.

Cool.

In other news, I saw this really awesome trailer of the movie. Showed the 3 duelists getting ready to fight off against Paradox, as well as their super mystical powers!!!

Clicky here to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqMUlxfS4lo

Judai is just too awesome.

Final Countdown

With Threatening Roar, Thunder of Ruler, Battle Fader, Zero Gardna, and Necro Gardna, stall decks have been more prominent in the OCG.

Think this is a viable strategy to top tournies in the TCG?

Or do you just want to piss people off by stalling? :p

-Ozone-

So, I finally saw a full subbed version of -Ozone-, the 3rd ending of Yugioh 5Ds.

After some googling and looking up stuff on wikipedia, I realized that it references the Qixi Chinese Festival rather strongly in their first...music...section thingy.

Well, I'm not a musician, but that's pretty cool how the song makes allusions to a Chinese festival.

Just saying. =P

When the rain of tears stop,
Magpies, please make our bridge,
And connect us...

Card Sleeves

Apparently, Konami is releasing new "Majestic Star Dragon" card sleeves.Seems it's going to be just like those card sleeves that Japan currently has, like with Stardust, Ancient Fairy, Power Tool, and others.

Will the quality of it be nice? I hope so.

Looking forward to buying some on their release date, January 19th.

Borrowed / Lent Cards

With the past weekend behind now, I've realized that as a team, there's a lot more borrowing of cards within our team now.

Just so I don't lose track, I'm going to make a quick list right here, right now!

Borrowed Cards

Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Boundary (from Steven)

Blackwing Armor Master, Ultra (from team)

Dandylion (from Marlon)

Flamvell Magician x2 (from Marlon)

Dark Eruption (from Steven)
Gold Sarcophagus x2 (from Jimmy)

Lent Cards

Blackwing Armor Master, Ultimate (to Steven)
Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer (to Marlon)
Necro Gardna, Super Rare (to Marlon)
Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner (to Marlon)


If I forgot anything, feel free to let me know in the comment section!

Sunday Locals Report

Well, before heading to the YuGiOh tournament, I had to get my H1N1 flu shot. And I must say, holy ****, that was one big needle. Gave me a ton of butterflies in my stomach, before and after the shot.

After getting my vaccine, I headed over to the YuGiOh shop.

When I arrived, I had very little time to get my bearings straight. The first round had started, but luckily, I was able to still enter the first round without taking a Round 1 loss, due to the fact that 4 people were entering around the same time as me.

Whew.

Getting out Albert's mat, and my deck, I was ready to take on the tournament with Synchro Cat.

Round 1: OO vs Lane

Game 1: After seeing my opponent drop Gigantic Cepholotus, I knew I was agaisnt a Plant deck. However, I must say, it was poorly built. As well, a few misplays from my opponent letting me know his facedown card was Wall of Ivy just put the momentum into my favour.

After dropping Monk into Cat into 2 Airbellums, he just couldn't swing back.

Game 2: I cannot really remember this match, but after I went Monk, Cat, Arcanite, and Ancient Fairy, he Lightning Vortexed my field.

:\

However, he didn't have any follow-up, so I took control and won.

Round 2: XOO vs. Simon

Game 1: Well, against Zombie Synchro, it was a pretty tough fight. He Burialed my Dark Armed Dragon that I searched with Gold Sarc, which was a pretty damaging blow. Even though I managed to nail Simon with a Monk - Cat - Airbellum - Ancient Fairy combo, Simon comes right back at me with Stardust, Chaos Sorc, Doomkaiser, stealing my Plague, and other crap.

He hits me for OVER 9000!!!

Game 2: This time, with my sided cards, I expected to do better. However, I didn't really draw any of them. Go figures. Eventually, the battle becomes a top decking war, with me using D.D. Crow to secure momentum. Then, by dropping Armor Master, I took the game.

Game 3: I really don't remember much of this match. It was all a blur, to be honest. Two D.D. Crows did help against Simon in the long run however. Near the end, I believe I managed to win with Caius or some beatsticking.

Round 3: XX vs. John

Game 1: Early on, he played some messed up ruling on me with Bottomless and Black Whirlwind. That, I didn't really like. However, in the end, I ran out of resources, while he kept gaining his. Man, Black Whirlwind is a beast of a card.

Game 2: Pretty much the same as Game 1. I eventually ran out of cards, and he just kept gaining his.

Round 4: OXO vs. Alan

Game 1: So Game 1, he plays Exemplar with United We Stand equipped. During my End Phase, he flips Royal Decree. However, an overcommitment to the field, followed by Black Rose Dragon wrecked him. I retained control over the duel from then on.

Game 2: Well, somehow, he pwns me bad with Stardust, Defender, and Exemplar with Mage Power. Darn Mind Control! That threw me off badly.

Game 3: Early on, he played Exemplar on me, as well as Secret Village. However, Gravekeeper's Guard managed to save me from losing my spell cards. The next turn, I MSTed his facedown card, Brian Controled Exemplar, summon Plague, synched into Goyo, brought back Guard with Exemplar's effect, top decked a card for Plague, and synched into Uruquizas.

Now that was one good play. Eventually though, he pulls out Colossal with his Night End Sorcerer and my Goyo, but I got rid of it with Lightning Vortex.

He eventuallys brings out Injection Fairy Lily, but with a Monk in my hand, I managed to get rid of his final lifepoints with Dark Panther copying Lily's effect.

To be quite honest, I need better duel memorizing skills. Really. :\

At this point we go to Top 8, and I end up going against Dylan. However, Marlon shows up around this point, and he lets me use his Brionac! YAY!

Top 8: OO vs Dylan

Game 1: Now here is where my memory starts to fail me. I do not really remember the details of this duel, but I believe I won thanks to Dark Armed Dragon on the field with Goyo and Ancient Fairy.

Game 2: Here, I managed to get early momentum thanks to successful Arcanite plays. Drawing into Trunade and Storm truly did help me. However, Dylan soon manages to put me in a bad position with Shura and Armor Master on the field backed by Kalut. However, earlier damage had left Dylan at 1700 lifepoints.

THANK YOU MARLON. I had a Summoner Monk in my hand that turn, and he had no facedown cards. I went Monk into Brionac, dropped two cards, and attacked for game. Brionac is a godsend. Mist Wurm would have done the same thing too. :)

Top 4: OO vs. Gigavise Player

I'm really sorry, but I forgot your name! My bad!

Game 1: Well, he drew really bad, to be honest. No Lonefires at all, and some bad Mark of the Rose plays. We kept passing Brionac back and forth for a while. Eventually, I dealt more damage to him thanks to Caius.

Game 2: Again, he opened REALLY badly. No Lonefire or search cards. Once again, we kept passing Brionac back and forth, but soon, my damge exceeded his.

Top 2: OO vs Simon

Game 1: Well, Diva-Zombies again. Early on, I could tell that Simon was losing resources pretty quickly. With Synchro Cat strong at removing resources, and Simon's deck of -1s, I secured the first duel.

Man, definetely gotta work on duel memorizing skills. :\

Game 2: Siding in my cards, those Crows really did help a lot again. No sign of the Kycoos though. Early Trap Dustshoot let me know of Simon's cards, and I just kept pressuring him with damage. Soon, he was forced to give up his Burials to save his life for a turn, and that just left me in a position to win.

So overall, it was a really fun day. I got 4 packs of Turbo Packs, and pulled a Super Rare Garoth. NICE! So Marlon is borrowing that for the moment. Thanks again for the Brionac Marlon. It really did save my face.

Not a lot of trading over the day, however, as much as borrowing. With the idea that Team Metronome is established, there was a lot more borrowing between me, Marlon, and Jimmy.

But that's what teams are for! :D

I really should make a list of borrowed / lent cards....

Until tomorrow!

XX-Saber Hyunlay

XX-Saber Hyunlay

EARTH / Warrior / Synchro / Effect / Level 6 / 2300 Atk / 1300 Def

1 Tuner monster + 1 or more non-Tuner "X-Saber" monsters

When this card is Synchro Summoned, you can destroy up to 3 Spell or Trap Cards on the field.

This card kinda reads "Destroy all Spell and Trap cards on you opponent's side of the field," doesn't it?

With the upcoming release of Absolute Powerforce in the TCG, X-Sabers are surely going to become a lot better.

Both this card and Saber Hole are strong additions.

However, some flaws with this card.

1. What monsters to use to tune.
2. Lack of good TCG X-Sabers that fit this requirement

Still, good innovation could put this to good use.

Card Choices

Recently, I've noticed that Synchro seems to have three specifice cards that rotate in and out, depending on the build.

Those cards are:

2-3 Book of Moon
2 Gold Sarcophagus
2 Allure of Darkness

In the many Cat decks I've recently of this format, a combination of two of the three above choices are utilized in Cat decks.

However, no build that I've seen has run all three card choices at the same time.

This warrants further testing, and will most likely be seen in my mexy update of the Cat deck.

Slow Day

Other than the fact that I basically got crippled playing soccer today, there is not really much to talk about today.

There hasn't been any really significant new stuff coming out yet, since Absolute Powerforce isn't here until February, about.

Looking through that set again though, I found some interesting cards that could possibly help my LIGHT machine deck.

Break Draw and Rocket Pileder.

Break Draw adds some needed draw power, that's for sure. However, with no what of searching it, hopefully, I'll just draw into it.

Rocket Pileder prevents my monsters from being destroyed by battle, as well as reduces my opponent's monster's attack by the equipped monster's attack after damage calculation.

With an established field, and no backrow from the opponent, Rocket Pileder has the potential to cripple practically every monster in the game.

Still, I need two monsters then. Which sucks. :\

That's really all for today.

Until tomorrow.

And I can't wait for Sunday. Getting my Armor Master back finally. LOL

Yugioh 5Ds

Well, I was just watching Yugioh 5Ds episode 86, and apparently, guns can be used as duel disks.
o_O

Like really?

It really seems like everything can be made into a duel disk now in that anime.

As well, quickdrawing your "gun" decides if you go first or not. LOL

Really now, I need to get me one of these if it ever comes out.

A duel disk acting as a gun. Sweeeeeet.

EDIT: Just finished the episode. ONE TURN, THREE KILL!

Cards for my New Deck

Cyber Twin Dragon
Power Bond
The Light - Hex Sealed Fusion

Looking for highest rarities!

Oppression Cat Decklist

Well, from the suggestion of my teammate, I'll be posting my deck up to show people just exactly what deck I run at the moment.

The current deck I run is Synchro Cat, with teched Royal Oppressions.

And here's the list.

Monsters (19)
Dark Armed Dragon
Caius the Shadow Monarch x2
Gravekeeper's Spy x2
Gravekeeper's Guard
Mystic Tomato x2
Sangan
Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
Plaguespreader Zombie
Rescue Cat
Summoner Monk
X-Saber Airbellum x3
Sea Koala
Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
Neo-Spacian Dark Panther

Spells (14)
Gold Sarchophagus x2
Allure of Darkness x2
Pot of Avarice x3
Mind Control
Brain Control
My Body as a Shield
Cold Wave
Giant Trunade
Heavy Storm
Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps (9)
Royal Oppression x2
Solemn Judgement
Call of the Haunted
Trap Dustshoot
Bottomless Trap Hole
Torrential Tribute
Mirror Force

Extra (15):
Stardust Dragon
Thought Ruler Archfiend
Colossal Fighter
Red Dragon Archfiend
Power Tool Dragon
Black Rose Dragon
Ancient Fairy Dragon
Arcanite Magician x2
Goyo Guardian
Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth
Flamvell Uruquizas
Ally of Justice Catastor
Magical Android
Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

And there's my deck. All 42 main decked cards.


The side deck constantly changes, depending on my local meta.


Explaining this deck is something I would rather do later, so leave a comment, or pm me for questions.

Red Dragon Archfiend

It stops searchers.

Never knew.

Just found out from Stardust Accelerator.

Some trivial knowledge here and there.

Deck Status

While I have been playing Symbols Cat for a while now, I've decided to switch to Oppression Cat for now.

The Symbols of Duty combo, while truly explosive, often resulted in dead draws which I didn't like to see.

Drawing a Symbols, or one of the two normal Beast monsters would often force me to make bad plays, until I was able to get the cards needed to recover.

As well, by dropping the 3rd Symbols, the explosiveness has dropped drastically, as there is no longer a guarantee on Power Tool Dragon's effect.

So for now, I'll be using Oppression Cat. Using Royal Oppression after an overcommitment will usually win me games, as Special Summoing is cut off, and control is established with Catastor/ Goyo/etc.

However, this is still in the testing process, and having only one deck to usually playtest, that being Gladiators, doesn't really help much for the deck building.

Example being the inclusion of Caius. I've been seeing it as a dead card more and more often now, IRL and in-game (WC09).

Further testing will warrant my final opinion on the build.

Flamvell Cat is something that I would like to test as well, but Tragoedias and that lone Brionac will be needed.

Well, that's pretty much it for my deck status.

Until tomorrow.

Sunday Locals Report

Well, again, not a report, but a quick overview.

As I was unable to attend due to my WuShu anniversary demo, credits of this post goes to my teammate and friend, who is also the author of the blog I ♥ Rescue Cat, Jimmy.

From what I know, Jimmy Top 1 today. Congrats to him.

As well, 2 Doomcaliber Knights, 2 Krebons, and a Super Samnite were pulled from the Turbo Packs won.

Again, congrats to those who pulled these really awesome cards.

I really wished I could of been there today. Next week, I look forward to playing with my team.

And I'm looking forward to getting back my Armor Master, STEVE.

P.S. Jimmy, you gotta post what deck you topped with in your blog. Or at least in the comments section here. :p

Stardust Accelerator

This game is really useful, actually.

I managed to make my Synchro Cat deck in-game, and it has really helped me see the potentials that the deck possesses.

Granted, the AI sucks nuts, but still, testing card combos is really useful.

Gold Sarchophagus, for instance, really does speed up the deck, as it lets me add essential key cards I need to wreck my opponent, such as Dark Armed Dragon and Summoner Monk.

Unfortunately, I do miss my Power Tool Dragon and Ancient Fairy Dragon in-game, but they are replaced with Naturia Beast and Dark End Dragon.

Man. Those cards are powerhouses here.

Hidden Arsenal Price

According to my knowledge, Hidden Arsenal costs roughly $150 CDN.

A 4-pack blister of Hidden Arsenal costs $15 CDN.

A box of HA has 36 packs, while 9 blisters would also have the same 36 packs.

Through math, while a box costs $150 CDN, 9 blisters would cost $135 CDN - about $15 less.

In addition, the chance of pulling the "Big 3" from blisters are higher apparently.

Looks like it's better to buy blisters overall.

:\

Machina Mayhem Structure Deck

Time to stop collecting Cyber Valleys.

It's being reprinted in this structure, which is really cool.

Those Dimensional Prisons are nice as well.

The Big Saturn is in this as well.

Awesome.

Ally of Justice - Catastor

Well, this card certainly has a chance of cropping up often in my blog.

Recently, I've found synchroing for this monster in my Extra deck has been increasing more and more often.

While the usefulness of Level 6 monsters such as Goyo Guardian and Brionac is really great, Catastor's effect will serve better in the long run, due to the pressure that Catastor places on the opponent's cards.

Unfortunately, it loses to Book of Moon, Bottomless Trap Hole, and others, but that's why you don't pull it out when the opponent has a facedown card, right?

Of course, don't ever pull this guy out on a Blackwing or Zombie deck. The number of DARKs those decks have would just wreck Catastor.

Ancient God Frembell

DT08-JP038

Ancient God Frembell 「エンシェント・ゴッド・フレムベル」

FIRE/Pyro - Synchro - Effect/7/2500/200

FIRE Tuner + 1 or more Pyro-Type Non-Tuner monster

When this card is Synchro Summone successfully, select a number of cards in your opponent's Graveyard up to the number of cards in your opponent's hand and remove them from play. This card gains 200 ATK for each card removed by this effect.

It seems Konami is trying to improve graveyard management with the new release of NeoFrembell in Duel Terminal 8, as well as this card...

Symbols Cat

Recently, I've been testing the deck around, and I've found that the deck certainly isn't as explosive as I once made it out to be.

However, the controlling features of Arcanite is still there, and my playstyle with the deck has definetely changed, after switching up the style of the deck.

Ally of Justice - Catastor has improved the deck's quality, that's a certain fact.

Now I only require a Broinac and a Mist Wurm to perfect my Extra Deck.

As well as get my Armor Master back from Steven...eventually...

Sunday Locals Report

Well, not really.

There wasn't a tournament hosted on Sunday, so the people there was basically only trading and playing cards for the majority of the day.

There was some good trades, and I manged to get a lot of cards for my brother's FlamvellSworn deck. It being a team deck with Jimmy makes trading a lot easier for me.

As well, I managed to get another X-Saber Airbellum, secret rare. That was nice.

Near the end of the day, there was a lot of playtesting. My Symbols Cat deck did pretty well, and pretty bad at times. But it was fun.

Not a bad day in the end.

Saturday Locals Report

Well, usually, I have a tournament report on Sunday, but today, I went to the more competitive locals down south of where I live.

There were a lot more players than the Sunday locals, but there are also a lot more people to trade with then.

I didn't do a lot of trading before the tournament started, but I managed to get a shiny Shura for a Blackwing deck, completing my playset.

The tournament begins.

Round 1: XX vs. Brandon

Game 1: After Brandon played his first card, I realized that I was playing a Blackwing mirror match. Basically, he opened good, I opened bad. Luck of the draw when in a BW mirror.

Game 2: I sided in some cards, but they don't see the light of day. Eventually though, I get control with Magical Android on the field until he tops a Dark Grepher, dumps his Vayu in his hand, and pulls out an Armor Master. No more resources left afterwards, so I lose.

Round 2: XX vs. Brandon

Game 1: So for some reason, I ended up going against the same person again. The COSSY system is really troublesome. :\ Basically, same thing happened as ound 1, Game 1. He got his cards first.

Game 2: Well, this time I opened stronger, but he double Dust Tornadoed my Mirror Force and Trap Dustshoot, and that makes me QQ. That pretty much wrecked me.

Round 3: XOX vs. Vincent

Game 1: Yet again, another Blackwing mirror. He Brain Controled my Sirocco, pumped his guys all up, and made me scoop. Sigh...a bad day today for me I suppose.

Game 2: He played right into a Dark Armed Draogn move, which works out to my benefit. I win a duel for once that day! YAY!

Game 3: A long duel, so I can't remember the details. I recall Dark Illusion wrecking my deck though. I just know he beat in the end.

Round 4: OO vs. Jeff

Game 1 + 2:

Going against Chaos, I opened strong, while he didn't draw his Chaos Sorcerers both times. In the end, I win.

Well, overall, even though I had a bad day at the tournament, I did do some good trades afterwards.

Getting me Ally of Justice - Catastor, and Mist Valley Soldier, as well as pulling X-Saber Airbellum from my Hidden Arsenal pack made me pretty happy. Not getting any Gold Sarchophagus kinda made me sad, but now I know that they are $30 each.

Afterwards, having some fun games with James made my day. Him using Brain Control on Ancient Fairy to blow up his own field spell was pretty hilarious. XD

Pros:
Getting Catastor
Getting all the cards for my Cat Synchro deck
Pulling Airbellum

Cons:
Going 1-3 :\
Losing to Dark Illusion in Blackwings
Not getting Gold Sarcs

Brionac at 3 @ SJC C-Bus

Well, if you haven't heard the news, it seems Brionac is going to be unlimited at the next Shonen Jump Championship.

Looks like Zombies are gonna win. :\

Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Boundary

DT08-JP042

Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Boundary 「氷結界の龍 トリシューラ」

WATER/Dragon - Synchro - Effect/9/2700/2000

1 Tuner + 2 or more non-Tuner monsters

When this card is Synchro Summoned, you can remove from play up to 1 card each from your opponent's hand, field, and Graveyard.


Kinda broken...don't you think?

Same-esque summoning conditions as Mist Wurm and Ally of Justice - Decisive Arms.

When played right, clearly a 2 for 2 card exchange.

But that added graveyard control is just awesome.

Gladiator Beasts running Shrink

I cannot for the love of me understand why TCG players are not running Shrink in standard Gladiators.

Is it because of the lack of space? Because Glads with Shrink have topped at tournaments in Japan.

Shrink in Glads serve several utilities because Bottomless Trap Holes are no longer a threat to your Bestiari and so on.

Shrink act as a safe key to your tag ins.

Absolute Powerforce

Well, with the unveiling of almost all the cards in the set, all I can say is that I look forward to it's release.

Cyber Dragon Zwei just looks awesome.



Here's the site as well.

http://shriek.twoday.net/stories/5997660/

Mind Control

How many specific cards do you think is neccessary to justify this?

Now that it is limited, it seems to be more of a tech pick in the eyes of many duelists.

I feel 4 cards that work with Mind Control is good enough.

Naturia Beast

After playing my Synchro-Cat deck a while, I've realized how much better Naturia Beast is than Magical Android.

Granted, Magical Android is a LIGHT that fuels Chaos Sorcerer. But overall, Naturia Beast has so many more benefits.

Of course, Ally of Justice - Catastor can not be overlooked as well.

When will you come to the TCG...

P.S.

Naturia Beast

EARTH / Beast / Synchro / Effect / Level 5 / 2200 Atk / 1700 Def

1 EARTH Tuner + 1 or more EARTH Non-Tuner monstersDuring either player's turn, you can send 2 cards from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard to negate the activation of a Spell Card and destroy it.

Wrath of Neos

Someone will try to abuse this card.

I just know it.

Could be me.

Although the deck will probably turn into a Gemini Spark variant.

Symbols of Duty

Is actually a really good card. Like really.

There are so many combos with that card in my new Synchro-Cat deck.

The deck will be revealed eventually.

Consider Symbols in your next deck guys.

Power Tool Dragon and Hidden Armory are bringing back equip cards.

Turbo Packs

Why are they coloured red?

In english class, the colour red represents energy, power, and feelings related to those.

Turbo Packs don't really provide any kind of rush, unless you pull something good from it.

Shiny cards instill the 'rush' feeling. Pulling commons just doesn't cut it, in my opinion.

To be honest, the Turbo Packs should be black. Like those awesome Signer card sleeves Japan has.

Man, are they awesome.

Hidden Arsenal Spoiler

So it seems most of the good cards in DT-01 have been released as Secret Rares in Hidden Arsenal.

Flamvell Magician looks to be the only good Super Rarein the set.

Bummer.

On another note, secret Airbellums would look nice in my new Synchro-Cat deck.

Spiritual Forest

While at first this card may seem to be the new tech card in Gladiator Beasts, it will only stay on the field for most likely one turn.

There are just too many pieces of removal in this game at the moment for that card to strive in this metagame.

And with Gladiator Beasts looking for new tech, while at first it may succeed, Spiritual Forest only benefits half of the deck.

Full SOVR Sneak Preview Report

As yesterday's post was lacking due to time constraints, today's post will be more detailed.

Me and my brother left the house rather early, but unfortunately, we missed the bus still. In the end, we decided to jog all the way to the shop. We managed to make it there around 11:10 am.

Before the tournament began, I tried to trade for a Dark Armed Dragon, but in the end, time ran out.

Around noon-ish, it was time to open our packs for the Sneak Preview event.

I only managed to pull a Fortune's Future, while my brother also pulled a Fortune's Future, as well as an Explosive Magician.

This day started to look down already...

As the decklist is already posted, I'll skip right to the report.

Round 1: OO Vs. Nigz

I know, a weird name.

Remembering tournaments are kinda difficult for me, but I recall that I managed to drop my Reptillianne Medusa, while he had no answers to it both games.

Round 2: OO Vs. Skyler

Going against Skyler, it was a little bit tougher. However, with control from my Gorgons and Medusas, while he had no monsters bigger than Medusa, led me to victory eventually.

Round 3: OO vs. John

Going into Round 3, I started to feel like my deck was actually pretty good, and things would turn out good for me.

Seeing John's Regulus and Spiritual Forest, as well as Spider Web, placed me into a tight spot. But eventually, the number of beatsticks that I had outnumbered his, and I won both games through this method. He also didn't managed to draw his Gemini monsters together with Gemini Spark, so that was a stroke of luck for me.

Before the start of Round 4, my friend Mark had told me that he was suspicious of his opponent, Logan, for cheating, as well as sharing cards during a Sealed Tournament event. When I found out that Logan was my Round 4 matchup, I decided to see if Logan was actually cheating or not...

Round 4: XX vs. Logan

This matchup was a total wreck for me. I didn't know what happened, but at the end of both games, Logan had 2 Reptillianne Medusas on the field, with a grave full of Insects monsters for Insect Neglect. Just..wow...

After the match, I asked Logan if he was borrowing any of his friends cards. He said yes.

"facepalm"

I asked the judge Jimmy, to see if anything would be done. In the end, it was decided that Logan would receive two game losses, for the match against me as well as Mark, for cheating and not following the rules of a Sealed Format event.

It does suck when it happens, but it has to happen. :\

Round 5: XX vs. Mark

After the whole Logan issue was resolved, my mind was a bit distracted. Knowing that I was going 4-0 into this round, my attitude towards winning and losing in this round kinda dissappear.

It showed in my bad playing.

Even though I was 4-1, I still had a lot of fun with Mark.

After the 5 Rounds had passed, it was time to play in the Top 8. I had qualified, so that was awesome.

Top 8: OXO vs. John

Once again, I was up against John. The first matchup was easy for me, I kept drawing into my beatsticks while John had nothing to stop the onslaught of 1800/1900 Atk beaters.

The second round, John decked me out by using Spider Web, as well as Regulus and Insect Neglect. I just didn't have enough answers to all the cards that John played, and eventually, I lost due to deckout.

The third round had em almost decking out once again. His cards overwhelmed me. Soon though, I managed to get a swarm of monsters on the field which were able to do the lot of damage needed to win the duel.

Top 4: XX vs. Mark

Now for these two duels, they were the times when I was always in trouble. Mark's deck ahs a lot of answer to big monsters, as well as a lot of stall monsters in it. Whenver I got out a monster with more than 2000 Atk Points, my opponent would just Gemini Spark my monster away.

In the end, the venture proved too difficult for me to win.

So while I may have only made it to the Top 4, I still received a Turbo Pack, but unfortunately, I did not pull any shiny cards.

At the Top 2 table, which was my brother Albert and Mark going at it, Albert won the final matchup. Getting us....That's right. A giant mouse pad. It looks really nice, to be honest, and I'm happy for Albert, winning his second mat now.

At the end of the day, I did a few trades, managing to get the sought after Dark Armed Dragon, as well as some toher cards, by trading away my super Lumina.

Now it's time for Pros and Cons.

Pros:
Making the Top 4 in Sealed
Getting a DAD finally
Seeing Albert win the SOVR mat

Cons:
Not pulling much out of the SOVR packs
Missing the bus
Seeing Albert win the SOVR mat and not me

That's all for this tournament report. Look forward to the next one.

SOVR Quickie Sneak Report

Well, I don't have a lot of time to talk about this event. Full details will be up tomorrow. Until then, here is the decklist that I used for the sealed event that occurred at my locals on Nov. 1, 2009.

Monsters (19)
Reptilianne Medusa x2
Reptilianne Gorgon x2
Fortune Lady Dark
Catoblepas and the Witch of Fate
Spyder Spider x2
Koa'ki Meiru Beetle
Oshaleon
Swap Frog
Koa'ki Meiru Sea Panther x2
Stardust Xiaolong
Quickdraw Synchron
Tuned Magician
Energy Bravery
Regulus
Infernity Necromancer

Spells (3)
Savage Colosseum
Insect Neglect
Iron Core Armor

I played this deck to a Top 4 finish out of 16 people. Which I find pretty satisfying.

Rinyan, Lightsworn Rogue

This is the new tech in Synchro-Cat decks.

If you decide that you need more Rykos in a deck, use Rinyan.

All theoretical though.

Hidden Arsenal with Blackwings

With Hidden Arsenal coming up right after the SOVR Sneak peek, three anticipated synchro monsters are coming out in the TCG.

They are Ally of Justice - Catastor, Mist Wurm, and Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.

Now Catastor has already been released, but this is it's first mass production form.

The Blackwing Extra Deck will change most likely to incorporate all three synchros, as Blackwings have the most ease in summoning these three.

Blizzard + Kalut; Shura + Vayu = Ally of Justice - Catastor

Blizzard + Shura/Bora; Kalut + Gale = Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Shura + Vayu + Shura/Bora; Kalut + Blizzard + Shura/Bora = Mist Wurm

The relative ease of summoing these new Synchros will open up new oppotunities and combos that Blackwings decks have yet to see.

What are your thoughts on how these new synchros will affect your Extra Deck and/or the metagame?

SOVR Card Feature #3

Come thunder's strike, and rid me of opposition...

Welcome to the 3rd, and final card feature of Stardust Overdrive!

Why final you ask? Because I'm tired of reviewing cards day after day. It makes my head hurt. Now stop wondering and enjoy this final session.

Today's card isGemini Spark
Spell / Quick-Play

Tribute 1 face-up Level 4 Gemini Monster. Destroy 1 card on the field and draw 1 card.

Being a spell card, there are very few ways to add it to your hand. Short of Gold Sarcophagus, nothing will be able to add Gemini Spark to your hand. Utilizing 3 copies, along with ways to thin out your deck is ideally the method of adding Spark to your hand faster.

Quick-Play. Now this is where things get interesting. A quick-play spell card has several advantages compared to normal spell cards, due to the fact that Quick-Play spells are Spell Speed 2, and can be chained to trap cards. In addition, you can play them on your turn, or surprise the opponent on their turn. The quick-play status is brought out fully thanks to the effect of this spell card.

Tribute 1 face-up Level 4 Gemini Monster. Destroy 1 card on the field and draw 1 card.

This effect is amazing. AMAZING. By tributing 1 Level 4 Gemini, the destruction of a card is guaranteed, and you draw a card.

Now, by itself, this card is essentially a card for card exchange. By tributing 1 monster (-1), you destroy a monster (+0), and you lose Gemini Spark (-1) while drawing a card. (+1).

BUT, by chaining Gemini Spark to a form of removal, such as Mirror Force, Torrential Tribute, Bottomless Trap Hole, Gemini Spark can start to give you a lot of card advantage over your opponent.

Eventually, you'll be able to pressure the opponent into a worse position with your extra cards, and win the duel.

~~~~

Finding decks which can use this card effectively usually means that it has to be centralized around Geminis. While the prospect of using Geminis may not be all that appealing do note that with the recent support in the form of Supervise, there are several combos out there available.

First off, I would like to credit Rauzes and BAHA84 for the two ideas presented in this blog. Rauzes built a deck centered around Dark Valkyria, and her destruction effect. BAHA84 built a Gemini build around Another Neos, or Neos Alius for us TCG players.

Both decks set off the abuse the card Gemini Spark. Seeing as how Neos Alius has a ton of support from Hero Blast, Stratos, and Honest, and Dark Valkyria has support from the dark side of Yugioh through Dark Armed Dragon, Allure of Darkness, etc., both decks looked solid, and I believed that both builds were successful in accomplishing the task their creators wanted to do.

Just look through your Level 4 Geminis, and I'm sure a new deck idea will emerge, abusing Gemini Spark to it's full advantages.

That's all for the card previews of Stardust Overdrive. Previewing cards is too much to do on a daily basis.

Look forward to the SOVR Sneak Preview Report.

SOVR Card Feature #2

Welcome the the second card feature of Stardust Overdrive!

From the depths of hell, a black dragon rages...

Today's card isBlack Bulldrago
Fire / Dragon / Synchro / Effect / Level 8 / 3000 Atk / 2600 Def

1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Gemini Monsters

Effect: Once per turn, you can send 1 Gemini Monster from your hand to the Graveyard to destroy 1 Spell or Trap Card your opponent controls. When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, you can select 1 Gemini Monster from your Graveyard and Special Summon it. It is treated as an Effect Monster and gains its effect(s).

It's time to analyze this card.

Synchro. The fact that this card is a synchro monsters is a good indication that the attribute, type, and Level will be of lesser importance compared to the effect that it has.

Fire, Dragon, Level 8. As stated above, due to the card's status of being a synchro monster, it's interactions with other cards in the main deck become limited. However, there are still some strong combos Black Bulldrago has with it's effect.

3000 Atk / 2600 Def. Now these stats are something to be fearful about. Black Bulldrago's high Atk value of 3000 matches to Red Daemon's Dragon, and can get over a majority of cards that people use, such as Stardust, Dark Armed Dragon, and it can tie with Judgement Dragon. With its high Def, few things will be able to get over Bulldrago, unless a card is wasted in order to remove Black Bulldrago off the field.

1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Gemini Monsters.

Now, the fact that Black Bulldrago requires the use of non-tuner Gemini monsters should not discourage you from using this card. There are several combos which can easily pull out this card, such as the combination of Il Blud and Plaguespreader, or Nettles and Gigaplant. With recent support for Geminis coming out, Black Bulldrago should be seeing more gameplay in other decks that utilize Gemini monsters.

The effect : Once per turn, you can send 1 Gemini Monster from your hand to the Graveyard to destroy 1 Spell or Trap Card your opponent controls. When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, you can select 1 Gemini Monster from your Graveyard and Special Summon it. It is treated as an Effect Monster and gains its effect(s).

Now this is where Black Bulldrago truely shines. Its effect is very strong, especially the second one.

Once per turn, you can send 1 Gemini Monster from your hand to the Graveyard to destroy 1 Spell or Trap Card your opponent controls.

Black Bulldrago's ignition effect isn't one of the best, but it still is very good. By sending 1 Gemini monster from your hand to the Graveyard, Drago can destroy 1 Spell or Trap Card on the opponent's side of the field. While the fact that a Gemini Monster has to be discarded is a bit discouraging, there are still times when this effect will become useful.

When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, you can select 1 Gemini Monster from your Graveyard and Special Summon it. It is treated as an Effect Monster and gains its effect(s).

Now this is where Black Bulldrago should be getting it's hype from.

When Drago is destroyed by a card effect, such as Mirror Force or Torrential Tribute, and sent to the graveyard, a Gemini monster can be special summoned from your graveyard, with the Gemini monster already having it's effect. This means that once Black Bulldrago loses in battle, another monster will be able to replace it immdiately. Dying in battle means that you'll just be able to pull out another potentially dangerous monster.

Noting that this part of Drago's effect is optional, Black Bulldrago can miss the timing. However, a majority of times when Drago is destroyed and sent to the Grave, timing should not be missed.

Of course, Bottomless Trap Hole would wreck Black Bulldrago, but of course players should be able to play around that card.

~~~~

The last part of this card review follows suit as the first one. An analysis of which decks Black Bulldrago can go into and which decks will be able to bring out Drago's maximum efficiency.

As stated earlier, both Gigaplant and Nettles and Il Blud and Plaguespreader make the summoning of Black Bulldrago very simple. Both cards also have a recursion effect, so therefore a player can be able to pull out Black Bulldrago without losing ANY advantage at all.

With the recent release of Supervise in the TCG, new card combos are available now. Plants and Zombies will more than likely benefit from Black Bulldrago's release, while rogue Gemini builds will also see success with this card.

If your tuner is already in the graveyard, then bringing out Il Blud / Gigaplant will make several combos available. Supervise into Black Bulldrago into Gigaplant / Il Blud has swarming potential.

Not only that, but if Black Bulldrago gets destroyed, then you'll be able to pull out Gigaplant / Il Blud, get your tuner back, and bring out ANOTHER Black Bulldrago. Now that is impressive comboing.

Black Bulldrago creates some really good loops in Plants and Zombies, and I am excited to see how this card will be used in the TCG metagame.

That's all for today's post. Leave your comments below.

Tomorrow:

Come thunder's strike, and rid me of opposition...

SOVR Card Feature #1

With the up and coming Stadust Overdrive upon us, I have decided to do a few card previews of what to look out for in this coming set.

So this is the Stardust Overdrive Card Feature #1!

Today's Card isLevel Stealer
Dark / Insect / Effect / Level 1 / 600 Atk / 0 Def

Effect: When this card is in your Graveyard, you can select one face-up monster on your side of the field whose level is 5 or higher in order to activate this effect. Reduce the selected monster's Level by 1 and Special Summon this monster from your Graveyard. This card cannot be Tributed, except for a Tribute Summon.

Let's take a good look at this card.

Dark. A dark type monster is always good in this metagame. It's a target for Allure, and can be used to fuel the Dark Creator, DAD, and other dark-based decks.

Insect. While the Insect typing may not be ideal, it still leaves Level Stealer a card to consider for use in certain insect builds.

Level 1. Being a Level 1 means that this card, should you ever need to set it, can act as a chump blocker in times of need.

600 Atk / 0 Def . The low attack means that this card is searchable by many, MANY things. Sangan, Mystic Tomato, Howling Insect, and others. As well, the low Atk means that this card can be used in conjuction with Limit Reverse for recursion. Of course, it's effect more than likely makes up recursion...

The effect : When this card is in your Graveyard, you can select one face-up monster on your side of the field whose level is 5 or higher in order to activate this effect. Reduce the selected monster's Level by 1 and Special Summon this monster from your Graveyard. This card cannot be Tributed, except for a Tribute Summon.

Now this card's effect is something to be amazed about. Whenever a Level 5 or higher monster exists on your side on the field, you can bring back this card for a FREE +1 in card advantage.

As well, this can happen as MANY as as you like. There are no restrictions on the number of times you can use this card's effect, so keep bringing him back as much as you want.

Another key thought regarding this card is the fact that you CANNOT use Royal Oppression to stop Level Stealer's effect.

Reduce the selected monster's Level by 1 and Special Summon this monster from your Graveyard.

A key word here is the word AND. This means that the special summon and level reduciton effect occurs at the same time. Therefore, even if you use Royal Oppression to negate Level Stealer's effect, no level will be reduced, and then you are free to activate it's effect once again.

The last part of Level Stealer's effect doesn't necessarly concern many duelists, including myself. Tributes are most likely done for monsters, and I don't know many cards which tribute monsters as a cost / effect.

~~~~

The last part of this card feature is determining decks which could use this card's effect to maximize it's efficiency in a competitive sense.

First off, a deck which has access to several Level 5 or higher monsters are needed. The first one to come to my mind would be the Monarch archetype.

Monarchs run roughly 5 to 6 of them, all having beneficial effects once Tribute Summoned. Level Stealer can be used for Tribute Summons! And can bring itself back by stealing a Level from a Monarch to be tributed!

It's dark type allows for Allure of Darkness and Mystic Tomato to be played with it, so Level Stealer would fit nicely into a dark-type build of Monarchs.

Level Stealer also loves to be in the grave, and with the vast amount of disruption Monarchs run (IE PWWB, Raigeki Break), Level Stealer will more than likely find it's way into the graveyard more than once every few duels.

In addition to all these benefits, Monarchs that main Royal Oppression will be glad that a card with a Treeborn Frog like effect exists that doesn't allow the opponent to negate it's special summon, so that the reliance on Treeborn Frog/ other tributes is less strained.

Level Stealer has several other uses besides Monarchs, and it's up to you, the deck builders, to find all it's uses.

That's all for today's post. Leave all questions / comments in the section below.

Tomorrow:

From the depths of hell, a black dragon rages...

Blackfeather Side Deck

If you haven't seen my new Blackwing Deck, then scroll down a bit to see.

There was no Side Deck presented on that post.

However, at this time, my side deck is prepared, albeit I doubt its efficiency.

Side Deck (15)
D.D. Crow
D.D. Warrior Lady
Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer x2
Lightning Vortex
Royal Oppression x2
Threatening Roar x2
Skill Drain x3
Mind Crush x2
The Transmigration Prophecy

Standard Blackwing side deck. All comments are welcomed. Just post below.

-MonarchVV

Yugioh tournament Report Status

Every week, I intend to give you a tournament report of my participation in my locals.

If for some reasons that I cannot enter, then I'll try to give an update on the Top 4 at my locals, so that you have a sense of what I'm going against.

Reports will usually occur on Sundays, so be sure to look forward to them.

The first report should be starting next Sunday.

Gorz vs Call of the Haunted

Gorz has several benefits, such as saving your lifepoints before an opponent's final push, as well as giving you a +1 in order to fend off the opponent's monster.

However, Call of the Haunted's recursion effect has several benefits. Bringing back a monster to synchro with it, or even bringing back a synchro monster can turn a turn around.

As you know, both cards can conflict with each other.

Which card do you think is worth maining?

-MonarchVV

DDWL vs Juju

An interesting note of thought I just happened to find.

With the unlimiting of DDWL, people have been suggesting that it should be side decked instead of Legendary Jujitsu Master.

Personally, I would also prefer D.D. Warrior Lady because of its effect to remove the opponent's monster. Of course, Jujitsu Master has the added benefit of higher defense.

What are your thoughts?

-MonarchVV

Blackfeather Playtesting

Playtesting my buddy's Gladiators, I found that I require better Lvl 6 Synchros than just Goyo + filler.

Armed Wing, where are you? :\

-MonarchVV

Solution to Gladiator Beast w/ Shrink

Came across this combo while thinking about how to deal with the above problem since my friend runs Shrink in Gladiator Beasts.

Put Stardust in Defense. :\

Or drop Thought Ruler. :\

YuGiOh Startup

The first post in detail. As said, YuGiOh will be the main idea that I'll be discussing, so feel free to comment below.

Blackwings.

A powerful archetype, with many variations. A while ago, using my Blackwing deck, I placed 9th at my regional. It was pretty bad and cheap, compared to the other builds, but otherwise, I'm proud of this accomplishment.

However, after you play something a while, it gets boring. And so did Blackwings for me. I went through a lot of other decks.

Recently, my friends have been telling me to remake my Blackwing deck, and after a while, I did. I put a bunch of cards together into something called a deck roughly around 7:00 pm 2 nights ago. And here is the build.

Monsters (19)
The Dark Creator
Cyber Dragon
Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame x3
Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn x3
Blackwing - Bora the Spear x2
Blackwing - Mistral the Silver Shield x2
Blackwing - Blazzard the Far North x2
Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow x3
Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind

Spells (13)
Giant Trunade
Heavy Storm
My Body as a Shield
Book of Moon x2
Against the Wind
Black Whirlwind x3
Allure of Darkness x2
Mind Control
Brain Control

Traps (8)
Icarus Attack x3
Bottomless Trap Hole x2
Mirror Force
Trap Dustshoot
Torrential Tribute

Extra (13)
Stardust Dragon
Thought Ruler Archfiend
Colossal Fighter
Red Dragon Archfiend
Black Rose Dragon
Arcanite Magician
Ancient Fairy Dragon
X-Saber Urbellum
Goyo Guardian
Iron Chain Dragon
Gaia Knight, The Force of Earth
Magical Android
Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

First and foremost, lack of Blackwing Synchros in the Extra deck hurt. A LOT. I had to do a lot of improvising without them, and I still am.

Don't ask about the side deck ; it isn't prepared yet.

And Against the Wind instead of Dark Eruption as a temporary stand in.

I don't really feel like commenting more on this deck, so I'll leave it be for now. Thanks for reading the first Yugioh post.

Edit: Props to Rauzes Blog for the Colour Idea. It really helps the eyes. Especially mine. :\

-MonarchVV

An Introduction to...Habits

Well, to begin this new blog, I felt an introduction would be the best way to start.

Of course, you would want to know what this blog is talking about.

Mainly, it'll be about me and my habits. Why? Because I feel like it. There aren't a lot of things to talk about in this world, but I feel that my habits, which are plentiful and weird, are the best ones to chat about.

My list of habits include:

Rubik's Cubing
Yu-Gi-Oh
Battle Spirits
Crossfire
Little Fighter 2
Maplestory
Video Games

And all the others that will be added to this list as they come to me.

Yu-Gi-Oh will be mainly what I post about. The others will come every now and then. I have the most knowledge about YGO anyways, so it seems fitting.

Hopefully, that's a good enough intro. If not, comment. If I have the time, I'll respond.

Thanks for reading this first post.

-MonarchVV

New Blog, New Start

Well, this is the start of my new blog. My old one was, well, old. I disliked the format, and I rarely updated it.

This blog, however, will be new and updated. I'll try my best to blog at least once a day, telling you, the readers, about what I do and so on.

Thanks for viewing this blog and reading this post. Anyways, time to begin!

-MonarchVV