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