Things Since I’ve Been Away

So, the blog has been dead for most of the summer, mainly because I have been working construction all summer. It’s good money but is seriously taking a toll on pretty much everything I’ve been doing. I’ve got a month of it left, so expect more updates as my time working the summer job comes to a close.

For starters the yu-gi-oh world has changed a lot. We’ve been seeing some incredible stuff, and today sort of marks a historic moment in the games history since the Xyz monsters hit the tcg shores today.

So lets start with that.

Xyz, in a name and cardboard.

So the TCG name was revealed some time ago. To be honest, when I saw the box art for the starter with the new logo and everything I thought it was fake. That’s the thing I like least about the new logo is that it reminds me of the old fake cards you would see at Flea Markets (Dark Rabbi lols). It’s not really the thing I like to be reminded of when I see an official product.

But beyond that, the new logo is decent. I like it better than the 5D’s logo because of its simplicity. While the 5D’s logo looked flashy and kind of cool, I don’t think it was how yu-gi-oh should look, and it was a pretty big change from the original logo we had for a long time. This new logo is new, but it has a familiarity that reminds players of the game’s origin. It’s nice to see that while a lot is changing in the game that there is some comfort in the logo being sort of nostalgic .

Next up that brings us to the name Xyz (pronounced ik-seez). A lot of people were mad that it’s not Exceeds, especially when the new starter was spoiled and we didn’t have the way to say it. Does not really matter now though, since they are pretty close phonetically. Xyz is “how the name has always been,” depending on who you listen to.

I think there has been a lot of downturn on people taking fanlations as literal fact, especially since Kevin Tewart on the pojo forums has been giving us some insight on why the tcg names are what they are. The name is fine for me, the only thing I dislike is the confusion on how it is supposed to be said, that and all the idiots making XYZ Dragon Cannon jokes.

The New Starter

Just a brief review sort of deal. The packaging looks nice, pretty solid design, although I wish there was more of a rulebook in it with something discussing Xyz more since they are new to the game. The black cards themselves have a decent look, it’s a little hard to tell where the boarder is around the card though, I don’t know why this bugged me, it just kind of gives the card a really really black look.

Utopia looks cool, but I think the name could have been longer. The original fanlation was Aspiring Emperor Hope, which even though that wouldn’t have been the name if directly translated, it has been sort-of confirmed that the name was trimmed down in the renaming process. It just doesn’t inspire the same feeling when seeing it for the first time, the name just feels mundane, but that’s no big deal I guess.

Otherwise, it is also one of the new products featuring the new rules text. I really liked this as it made the card text much easier to understand (not that I didn’t know what they did, it’s just nice and concise) and I’m looking foreword to seeing how other cards are handled with this.

I picked up 2 of the deck. Mainly for the Utopia and the Mirror Force (which most people have enough copies by now, I never bought the previous structures with it in it =P)

Duality Confirmed in 2011 Tins

Jizzed.

Towel please and moving on.

League of Legends news?

Leona is still not in the LoL store. Since most people have dying to play her, Riot should probably get their act together. Although it was the right move to delay her rather than having the servers down all the time. I’m expecting that with Leona the new skins will come out as well, and hopefully that will be sometime soon.

Now where the fuck is my Monkey King >.<

Last but not Least

The blog will be getting a makeover soon so the d0j0 can become more 1337. I’m taking a class on HTML, and within a few weeks (probably around the updates start picking up) it will be changed around, hopefully it will attract new readers.

For those of you that have been reading, thanks and expect nicer things soon.

E.P.B.

T.G. Pojo Post

This is a post I made on pojo, it sums up a lot of my thoughts on the new T.G. deck in the TCG. Anyway, enjoy.

My

Late-to-the-Party T.G. Guy.dek

Monsters: 19
2x T.G. Cyber Magician
3x T.G. Striker
3x T.G. Rush Rhino
3x T.G. Warwolf
1x Spore
1x Glow Up Bulb
1x Dandylion
1x Sangan
2x Junk Synchron
2x Doppel Warrior

Traps: 9
1x TG1-EM1
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Call Of The Haunted
1x Solem Judgment
2x Bottomless Trap Hole (Solemn Warning)
1x Mirror Force
2x Seven Tools of the Bandit

Spells: 12
1x Foolish Burial
1x Giant Trunade
2x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Reinforcements of the Army
1x Monster Reborn
1x One for One
1x Dark Hole
1x Book of Moon
3x Pot of Avarice

Extra: 15
1x Scrap Dragon
1x Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barriar
1x Stardust Dragon
1x Ally of Justice Catastor
1x Formula Synchron
2x T.G. Wonder Magician
1x Brionac Dargon of the Ice Barriar
1x Magical Android
1x Thought Ruler Archfiend
1x Black Rose Dragon
1x Armory Arm
1x Recipro Dragonfly
1x T.G. Blade Blaster
1x T.G. Halberd Cannon

So yeah, did a lot of games today...mainly against a plant-synchro deck (But not specifically, most of my games were against that but I did play against some other things).

I wasn't running the third Avarice, Foolish Burial, and the Spore until after those games. After those, I realized how strong Avarice was in the deck, and all of the search effects are really really good. Avarice ended up being a card that I felt I could run three of with the only problem being if I opened with all 3. To explain how much I liked the search effects, there were games where I could just push with the small guys since they just replaced themselves. That effect also made combos really to set up and pretty strong openings and quick Avarice (although, nothing is as strong as a Shi En or Royal Tribute opening =//).

I decided on Foolish since there wasn't a consistant way of dumping Dandylion, and Glow-up Bulb. Previously I didnt want to find room for Lonefires, and since I put in Foolish Burial I figured I could add Spore over the Unknown Synchron I was using, since even though I liked the Unknown's SS effect, I felt like I was normal summoning it too often for it to not just be Spore, and since now there are plenty of ways of putting Lion to the GY I figured I could make better use of it.

Junk Synchron and Doppel Warrior are just amazing cards, and were really strong, just like this thread has been talking about, so I was impressed with those. I had two TG1-EM1 in the deck during these games. Although the card did work, it wasn't used enough to be consistant, I dropped it down to 1 because its such a blowout card.

For the extra deck, during those games I was running a Power Gladiator, which ended up being useless a lot of those times, so he got dumped for the Scrap Dragon, which would have helped me in a lot of games. I liked the Recipro Dragonfly combo, albeit it is probably the most situational part of the deck, it wasn't situational enough to where I was annoyed at it.

Halbred Cannon was just beastly when he came out, and would win games single-handedly. It is one of the things I may end up dropping, even though he will pubstomp the lower-tierd players at my local (although they're usually decent, they don't keep up with the format enough zz).

I play the deck pretty slow, only really exploading when I need to and try to make ample use of the search effects, I don't know how everyone else plays it though.

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the first run through, Hyper Librarian adds a lot to the deck, I don't know if it's enough to compete with what will be in the format during that time, but I can see this deck going places.

The only games that went badly was when I opened 3 Warwolfs and no avarice for miles, back when I was running two.

Side-Decking Card Effects.

Original Premise

That’s the original article, now lets rehash this shit.

The original premise stays the same. You should always map out what your general plan is when side decking, that idea hasn’t changed. The part that I wanted to expand on with this update. Is the idea of what kinds of cards are good in terms of side-decking.

Basically, a lot of the time you’ll see cards in the side-deck that don’t do anything incredibly special, a card like this would something like D.D. Crow or Crevice. Cards that under normal circumstances you would not want to main. So what makes the cards good? If we cant base the cards use on the two general principles of the game being Utility or Card advantage, than what do we use?

The use, or how good a certain card is in the side-deck can be determined by a couple of principles replacing the basic principles of utility and card advantage.

1. How good the card is in the meta (Card Advantage)?

Basically if the card is useless otherwise (Gottoms E-Call in a non X-saber deck) then what can it do in the current metagame? If your local tournament, for example, is all X-saber decks, then Gottoms E-call is probably worth that side-deck slot. Side decking is generally reserved for cards that can squash various match-ups but might become a dead draw anywhere else.

This is part of the reason you’ll see cards that have low Utility or low Advantage output, because they provide something more for against a match up. I’m not saying that cards never provide these two theories, but they both bring something different to the table.

How this theory replaces Card Advantage to me is that it is based off of power. How powerful a card is is usually based on how much Card Advantage a card can provide, the principle being different in this case. Instead of it just being how much raw Card Advantage a card can provide it changes Advantage into a different meaning, thus the idea of power remains, but what provides that power ends up being different.

[For example, D.D. Crow is usually a minus 1. But when played against the ride deck at the right time, the cards power drastically changes, potentially swinging the game, and providing more Card Advantage than what is specifically stated on the card. The basic idea of the cards power being rooted in Advantage remains, but how the card does it is different than the general idea of pluses and minuses]

2. How many match-ups can the card be used against (Utility)?

This is the other reason why cards see play in the side-deck. It’s actually a combination of this and the first reason. If the card in the metagame has multiple match ups that it’ll devastate in then you’ll probably want to invest the side-deck space into using the card.

A great example would be Effect Veiler. This is a card that utilizes both of these theories so well that it has made the move to the main deck. The card could literally used in every match-up and actually hurt a lot of different decks in the meta, to the point where it could shut down a decks game winning play.

How this differs from Utility? Well it actually doesn’t in a way. It’s more broader than the basic “how many times when I draw this card will I be able to use” base of Utility. What I’m saying is that you have to judge the utility of the card multiple times, rather than initially including it into your deck.

Now you have to think about, if the card is worth siding and how many match-ups can I use it in, and whether or not to side it in, and deciding if it will still be useful during that side decking process.

[For example, if you siding D.D. Crow for a match-up like X-sabers. You know when to use D.D. Crow and if you need to use it in your side deck. You decide that you will. Then mid-game against an X-saber deck, you realize that he is not running a standard build (standard enough to be good, but teched enough to stop popular side-deck choices) so you then have to decide whether or not D.D. Crow will be as useful in this specific match.]

Basically if that example was confusing, what I’m trying to say is that there are more points when side-decking a card that you have to know whether or not that card is useful, where as the general utility is decided during deckbuilding. Side-decking utility is decided during building the side-deck and mid match.

So with these two theories, we see that Advantage and Utility take on different forms in the side-deck. While not being completely different the ideas lend each other to different principles encompassing more than just Card Advantage and Utility originally due, since there are extra elements. Now lets take a look at what kind of cards there are when it comes to side-decking.

Originally I presented this idea and this graph…

Macro Effects (Multiple Match-ups)>Macro Effects (singular Match-ups) > Micro Effects (Multiple Match-ups)> Micro Effects (singular Match-ups)

The general theory is again the same as well as the chart, but I want to expand on it since I think the basic principle is more fluid than that. I’ll start with some definitions.

Micro Effects

Micro Effects are card effects that target one thing, and don’t have a huge effect on the board. Examples of Micro Effects would be things like D.D. Crow, and Effect Veiler. These cards only have one general target when it comes to effecting board presence. So they end up getting the label of being Micro, since they’re small target.

Lets move on to Macro Effects.

Macro Effects

These are essentially the opposite. These are cards that effect the overall board in much different ways than just generally one card. For example, these are cards like Dimensional Fissure, Deck Lockdown and Royal Oppression. They effect the whole board and kind of change the way your opponents play.

Now that the basic definitions are down. We look at the chart again. The number of Match-ups depends heavily on the meta, so like right now, D-Fissure would fall under Macro Effects (Singular Match-ups) because the card doesn’t effect much.

There is one thing that I got wrong on the chart that I’ve realized over time. That would be the order of things on there. Instead of how it is, it should be:

Macro Effects (Multiple Match-ups) > Micro Effects (Multiple Match-ups)  Macro Effects (Singular) > Micro Effects (singular Match-ups)

Basically, I’m shifting positions because from what I’ve seen is that Micro Effects that influence multiple match-ups are generally always better than Macro Effects using singular match-ups. All of the signs get changed since pretty much anything is possible.

Now lets look at a divided side deck. For some cards it may be difficult to decide how to divide them up.

Billy Brakes X-Saber Side Deck
Side Deck: 15
1 Cyber Dragon
1 Thunder King Rai-Oh
1 Maxx “C”
1 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
1 D.D. Crow
2 Puppet Plant
2 Chain Disappearance
2 Gozen Match
1 Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror
1 Malevolent Catastrophe
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Closed Forest

I’m using this as an example because it has a lot of cards that we’ve seen sided this format. If we were to divide it up.

Macro Effects (Multiple Match-ups)
2 Chain Disappearance ( I’m teetering between it being a Micro and a Macro)
1 Malevolant Catastrophe
1 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo

Micro Effects (Multiple Match-ups)
1 Cyber Dragon
1 Thunder King Rai-Oh
1 Maxx “C”
1 D.D. Crow
1 Nobleman of Crossout

Macro Effects (Singular Match-ups)
2 Gozen Match
1 Shadow Imprisoning Mirror
1 Closed Forest

Micro Effects (singular Match-ups)
2 Puppet Plant

What we end up with is a good balance. As we can see in the example, Micro Effects (Singular Match-ups) are extremely limited and need to have higher values in the two principles in order to get played. Puppet Plant is really powerful against Samurais so it ends up making the cut.

We see a lot of Micro Effects (with multiple match-ups) for a couple of reasons. For starters, Micro Effects have more cards out in general. There are a lot more Micro Effects than there are Macro Effects. That and good Macro Effects are hard to fine. It’s possible to have formats where a couple of decks just crumple to certain cards in the side, but generally, Macro Effects (Multiple Match-ups) are limited.

When building a side deck it is important to think about these principles and to kind of map it all out. Chances are that your side deck will get better. Also remember that although these principles generally occur, that they are extremely flexible and just because something fits the theory doesn’t mean it will follow it.

To close, I would like to discuss Effect Veiler, because that is one of those cards transcending the theory.

Basically, Effect Veiler dominates because it’s extremely powerful. It has uses against everything in general, which makes it so that it’s possibly something that you would want to main deck due to high utility. Add to that the fact that it can shut down OTK’s and you’ve got yourself a winner.

The card probably never belonged in the side-deck in the first place to be honest, once people realized how flexible the card is we saw that shift. It is a good example of a Micro Effect in the side-deck can transcend the basic chart and becoming better than some Macro Effects (with multiple match-ups).

Another card we’ve seen do this is Royal Oppression. This is probably an article idea for another day so I’m going to end it there.

Peace out.

You’re EXTREME! But not to the MAX.

Extreme Victory’s official release date is just around the corner. The set is good if you like the archetypes that it provides but you might be thinking about skipping out on if you’re not a fan. They’re a couple of cards that I think everyone should be looking for in the set though.

This is a list of what in my opinion, are cards most players should be looking at in this set outside of the archtypes (for example, people hyping the Psychic, T.G. stuff will already have a general idea of what’s good in the set that they’ll want, so I’ll skip over those).

So generic stuff.

Reborn Tengu
WIND/Beast-Warrior - Effect/4/1700/600
When this card is removed from the field, Special Summon 1 "Reborn Tengu" from your Deck.

Reborn Tengu is an amazing card, I don’t think there is any doubt. There are a lot of people that don’t think so, but the card is ridiculous to be honest. We’re seeing the return of the Peten type monster except that it no longer misses it’s timing and has a bigger body. So what decks? Fish OTK is one, Plant decks could splash a play set of this, Monarchs can use it as well.

The card is splashable and does amazing things, anywhere from big combo plays to being a self-replacing beater. It's a simple design but not one I have seen in a while, and I look foreword to seeing this card being played.

EXVC-EN001 Junk Servant
EARTH/Warrior - Effect/4/1500/1000
If you control a face-up "Junk" monster, you can Special Summon this card from your hand.

This is another one of those possibly underrated cards out of the set. The basic idea is that Junk Synchron and this can make a 2 card Trishula. While other decks might be able to do Trishula better (like Fish for example) there’s no denying that if those decks get limited or restricted later we might see a rise in decks like Junk Doppel, and this kind of fits perfectly in them.

You could even combo off with Junk Synchron, bring back a level 2, special summon Junk Servant, make Librarian, revive Bulb, etc. The card has some neat combos. I’ll admit though, this card might end up being boarderline shoebox, with a couple of people trying it out at the beginning.

Unknown Synchron
DARK/Machine - Tuner/1/0/0
If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. Each player can only use the effect of "Unknown Synchron" once per Duel.

Unknown Synchron is probably one of my more favorite cards out of the set. Basically it is a cyber Glow-Up Bulb. The thing is that it combos well with a lot of things, my example is in a deck that uses this, Bulb and Tengu.

Special summon this, normal Tengu, synchro for Librarian, special summon Tengu, bring back Bulb, make another Librarian. I can just see the combos. Even without Librarian (since they aren’t legal for a month) you can still make some spammable level 5 synchros or even level 6. The card is decent, but I can see it being niche and more of a tech choice.

I’ll admit though that the picture is too damn cute.

Mystic Piper
LIGHT/Spellcaster - Effect/1/0/0
You can Tribute this card to draw and reveal 1 card. If that card is a Level 1 Monster Card, draw 1 more card. The effect of "Mystic Piper" can only be activated once per turn.

This is once of my choices that barely makes the cut. I just cant of anywhere where this card is a stunning card to use, but I also feel like it may end up seeing play somewhere. Where that is I have no idea.

I guess it could see uses in decks that have a ton of level 1s (themed Meklords maybe) but for now its something that will not be too expensive, so I can see it gaining some use.

Blackwing - Kogarashi the Wanderer
DARK/Winged-Beast - Tuner/6/2300/1600
When a face-up "Blackwing" monster you control is destroyed by a card effect and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. When you Synchro Summon using this card as a Synchro Material Monster, your opponent cannot activate cards or effects.

This is a Blackwing card that I sort of like. I don’t know if it makes the cut, since I haven’t played Blackwings in a while, but it does seem to be above what we have been seeing in terms of support.

I guess it might just end up being shoeboxed.

Meklord Army of Granel
EARTH/Machine - Effect/4/1600/1200
This card gains 100 ATK for each face-up "Meklord" monster on the field, except this card. When this card is Normal Summoned, you can select 1 face-up monster your opponent controls, and halve its ATK until the End Phase.

This is another card that I actually like. It’s not gale, but there are comparisons between the two. I don’t think this card is that bad to be honest. It is actually pretty solid.

One of my friends plays a deck in locals that he likes called Don no Gale. Basically it’s a control deck that relied on Gale among other things to,; well control everything. The depressing part about this card is that it doesn’t get under Messanger of Peace but it could still see play in variants like that.

This card is also good in the Meklord archtype (which is a lacking archtype) but that isn’t too playable. Basically, I think this is underrated, it’s no Gale, but it has it’s place and might see play somewhere in the future, it’s by no means a bad card in my opinion.

T.G. Halberd Cannon
EARTH/Machine - Synchro - Effect/12/4000/4000
1 Tuner Synchro Monster + 2 or more non-Tuner Synchro Monsters
This card cannot be Special Summoned except by Synchro Summon. Once per turn, while this card is face-up on the field, you can negate the Summon of a monster and destroy it. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard, you can select 1 "T.G." monster in your Graveyard, and Special Summon it.

Okay, so I lied a little bit when I send I wouldn’t go over the cards already known in this set to people that are looking for the advertised set archetypes, but Blade Blaster has it’s uses in other decks.

Basically this card is the replacement for Shooting Quasar Dragon, until that comes out this card will be used in a deck somewhere. Basically it’s a powerful effect on a stick that when the stick dies it will probably bring back a Librarian, which is pretty nifty.

So yeah, it’s part of the T.G. archetype, but fits in a lot of other places.

Debunk
Counter Trap Card
Negate the activation of an Effect Monster's effect that activates in the hand or in the Graveyard, and remove it from play.

Strong possible side-deck choice. Basically, the card is sort of anti-Tengu anti-Effect Veiler. Since Tengu might actually bust the format wide open, this card might be seeing more play, the price of this card will also probably reflect that. Not much more to say about it, since it is pretty straight foreword.

W Nebula Meteorite
Normal Trap Card
Change all face-down monsters on the field to face-up Defense Position. During the End Phase this turn, change all face-up LIGHT Reptile-Type monsters you control to face-down Defense Position, then draw 1 card for each. After that, you can Special Summon 1 Level 7 or higher LIGHT Reptile-Type monster from your Deck.

Again, another card that has been hyped a lot. Worm decks have been seeing rises in play (just like cockroaches), and this card is a dramatic helping hand for the deck. Getting to use all of your flip effects, drawing a card for each, and a special summon is really strong, and I think this card is the most amount of powerful effects we’ve seen a card in this game for a while.

Not only is this card good, but I think it is an excellent example of strong theme support that isn’t too overpowered. It’s not specific to the theme either, since any deck using light reptiles (aliens maybe?) could use this. We know where it’s supposed to work (worms) but it can work in a lot of other places.

Personally I’m a fan of this card just because it’s good game design (unlike Shi En).

Dodger Dragon
WIND/Dragon - Effect/4/1900/1200
The Normal Summon of this card cannot be negated. Your opponent cannot activate Counter Trap Cards the turn this card is Normal Summoned.

The deception with this card is that it seems really generic when it’s not. It’s a Trap Stun on a body that gets around counter-traps. I like to call this thing, the anti-anti-meta, since it seems like it goes best against decks that might specifically struggle against anti-meta (decks using big bodies and strong spell and traps to counter current strategies).

I don’t think it wrecks but it’s certainly nice. It also combos nicely with Koa’ki Meiru Drago, when you think about it.

Tour Guide From the Underworld
DARK/Fiend - Effect/3/1000/600
When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 Level 3 Fiend-Type monster from your hand or Deck. Its effects are negated, and it cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster.

This is a card that’s getting a lot of futurefuture hype, what I mean is that it’s getting a lot of “it has the potential to be good.” Right now, I’m not seeing it, and it might drop down to shoebox secret price ($5-$10) but if the hype stays, then expect this card to be worth something for a long while (doubtful though).

Gladiator Beast Essedarii
EARTH/Beast - Fusion - Effect/5/2500/1400
2 "Gladiator Beast" monsters
This card can only be Special Summoned from your Extra Deck by returning the above cards you control to the Deck. (You do not use "Polymerization".)

Last review, or second to last. Anyway, I’m just going to say that this card will see play in the Gladiator Beast deck. Even if it’s one copy you will see it, because it’s an extra option. Does this mean you’ll see it in game a lot? No you probably wont. But it’s still a card.

Honorable mentions (or stuff that people already know about that I didn’t want to go over):

The Psychic archetype
The T.G. Archetype
Karakuri stuff
Scrap Orthros
Aurora Paragon

Well that’s basically my song and dance. Is this set the best set? No, but I don’t think it’s worth the worst set award it has been getting from some of the players. We’re seeing a lot of strong things in the set, and although it might not drastically shift the game, or make players really rich, it’s by no means a bad set. I think a lot of people can get by on this set by just buying a play set of Tengus and some of the other small things I’ve mentioned.

Anyway, it’s been real. I’ve been thinking of rehashing another old article from the old blog, since it has to do with side decking, and there are a lot of side-deck cards that I think are underrated, probably write a follow-up piece.

Blogpost Enemy #1

Exams are officially over, which means good things, and also means that I am actually going to be able to write some more. Lucky world. My laptop has died which also makes it difficult for me to be able to do all of this.

Basically some interesting things have happened. For starters, Nunu in League of Legends got an awesome new skin. I think it looks really cool but there have been a lot of complaints about the skins legendary status (which basically means it is worth $20).

It has a voice over and a couple of particle changes, which are comparable to Gentleman Cho, but people are still hating on the skin for some odd reason. Maybe it’s the concept of it? I don’t really know. I thought the skin was good but to each their own I guess.

Extreme Victory has come out in the yu-gi-oh tcg. Which basically means I’ve bought a lot of it since it’s a set that has a ton of things for archetypes I really like. The set overall is not as impressive as the previous few sets, but it is winding things down for the next set (GENF) which is probably one of the least impressive sets (barring the Exceeds) that we’ve had in a while. For now, I’m loaded it all into EXCV.

Which leads me to the next thing I don’t have money for. Which is New Phyrexia. This set has a lot of my favorite things in it as well, but I won’t have money for it for about a month, which is a sad day. I’ll give more updates when I actually experience it, I’ll probably be playing drafts most often, I don’t like staying in standard unless I can borrow decks.

Last but not least: I still haven’t played Portal 2 or have gotten around to playing Starcraft 2. Need to do both, wanted to get my new laptop first.

Exceeds Monsters I’m (personally) Excited For

As a player of the Batteryman variety, at least in locals, there is actually a couple of Exceeds monsters, even this early in their release that I can see player in the archetype. Even though this article is more of a wank for myself, I hope this is a decent example of how these new monsters can help archetypes that don’t necessarily have a use for the synchros.

Although my variant is not necessarily the OTK version, I think these cards that I am pointing out in the archetype have a use all the way round.

GENF-JP041
Numbers 34 Densankijuu Tera Byte (No.34 Computer Beast Terabyte)
Dark Machine / Exceeds / Effect
RK3 0/2900
3 Level 3 monsters
Once per turn, you can take off 1 Exceeds Material from this card to select 1 face-up Attack Position Level 4 or lower monster your opponent controls. You gain control of it until the End Phase.

This card is more like a finisher for the deck. If you’re playing the deck and using the Inferno Reckless Summon combo still, then this card has more uses. I’m not saying you’ll want to go out of your way to summon this but it does become an option.

You’ll probably want to use this after you attack, since before hand it’s just not as good, and use it to take your opponent’s monster and use it for other things. If using a mill version of the deck like myself, then using the monster you Brain Control as a Synchro material becomes probably the strongest play you can do.

I don’t think this card means a big difference, it’s just an interesting option.

For other decks, this card doesn’t have a huge use from what I’m seeing, basically it is not what I would go for if I were playing any other deck. This card seems extremely niche in terms of general playability.

GENF-JP043
Kokuu Kairyuu Leviael (Void Serpent Leviael)
Wind Aqua / Exceeds / Effect
RK3 1800/1600
2 Level 3 monsters
Once per turn, you can take off 1 Exceeds Material from this card to select 1 of either player’s removed from play Level 4 or lower monster and Special Summon it under your control.

I think this card is better Exceeds support than Tera Byte for this archetype and any archetype for that matter. Basically, you can use it to bring back an RFG’d AA, probably using 2 AA’s as the material or other things, depending on how you run the deck.



Basically this card is more of a combo generator. And here is my current deck list in case anyone is interested.


Piltover Customs Batteryman

2x Batteryman Industrial Strength
2x Batteryman Charger
2x Batteryman Fuel Cell
2x Card Trooper
3x Batteryman AA
2x Batteryman Micro Cell
2x Ryko Lightsworn Hunter
1x Lyla Lightsworn Sorceress
1x Gorz, Emissary of Darkness
1x Honest
1x Glow-Up Bulb
1x Plaguespreader Zombie

2x Batteryman Charger
2x Inferno Reckless Summon
1x Book of Moon
2x Enemy Controller
2x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Giant Trunade
1x Dark Hole
1x Monster Reborn

1x Call of the Haunted
2x Trap Stun
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Solemn Judgment
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Mirror Force

Go4LoL Tournament

My friend is streaming for the Love and Trolls team on League of Legends. Feel free to watch, I'm not in it but my friends are. Give it a watch.

http://morecowbell.com/

VS Deck: Lists Hero V Hero

With the GX Manga ending in what seems to Koyo playing against Judai, I figured I’d make two decks to commemorate nothing too major, just something fun that I’d figure I’d write. Please note that the decks aren’t actual character decks, if anything they’re just interesting concept variants of hero decks.

“Judai” Deck

Monsters: 15

3x Elemental Hero Ocean
2x Elemental Hero Heat
2x Elemental Hero Wildheart
2x Thunder King Rai-oh
2x Legendary Jujitsu Master
2x Effect Veiler
1x Tragoedia
1x Elemental Hero Stratos

Spells: 14
2x Mask Change
3x E- Emergancy Call
2x Skyscraper 2 – Hero City
1x Reinforcements of the Army
1x Giant Trunade
2x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Book of Moon
1x Monster Reborn
1x Dark Hole

Traps: 11
2x Solemn warning
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
2x Compulsory Evacuation Device
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Mirror Force
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Solemn Warning
1x Royal Oppression

Extra:15
3x Mask Hero Vapor
2x Mask Hero Goka
1x Stardust Dragon
1x Ally of Justice Catastor
1x Tech Genus Hyper Librarian
1x Thought Ruler Archfiend
1x Brionac Dragon of the Ice Barriar
2x Black Rose Dragon
1x Chimaratech Fortress Dragon
1x Trishula
1x Magical Android


For Judai’s deck I really wanted it to focus on the two Masked Hero monsters with Mask Change.

What this deck’s aim is to act like the old Big City decks. Providing tempo control and restricted summoning, old school-style control. I felt like it was the easiest way of incorporating the M-Heroes into a deck when the deck is only going to run Masked Heros.


To be honest, the idea of this concept is cool to me. Vapor is a powerhouse in the deck, and an opening of him and some strong back-row can be pretty devastating. The downside to this is that the variant isn’t as strong attack point wise or huge play wise. What it lacks in power it makes up for with the ability to lock-down the opponent’s options.

The deck is lacking Pot of Duality. Mainly because I couldn’t find room, but then again, the deck isn’t meant to be competitive, and is more conceptual.

“Koyo” Deck

Monsters: 15
3x Elemental Hero Neos Alius
3x Elemental Hero Ocean
2x Elemntal Hero Heat
2x Thunder King Rai-oh
1x Elemental Hero Wildheart
1x Elemental Hero Stratos
1x Gorz, Emissary of Darkness
1x Cyber Dragon
1x Honest

Spells: 16
1x Future Fusion
3x Miracle Fusion
3x E- Emergancy Call
3x Pot of Duality
1x Mystical Space Typoon
1x Reinforcement of the Army
1x Polymerization
1x Dark Hole
1x Monster Reborn
1x Giant Trunade
1x Book of Moon

Traps: 8
2x Solemn Warning
2x Seven Tools of the Bandit
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Call of the Haunted

Extra: 15
3x Elemntal Hero the Shining
3x Elemental Hero Absolute Zero
1x Elemental Hero The Great Tornado
3x Elemental Hero Nova Master
2x Elemntal Hero Gaia
1x Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
1x Vision Hero Adoration
1x Vision Hero Trinity

Again, the deck deviates quite a bit from a standard hero build. This build is pretty straight foreword as a standard fusion variant. It has some nice tricks, and more access to different hero fusions than the standard builds. Pretty much designed to show off the power of fusion summoning. The interesting thing about the deck are the deviations from the standard builds, cards like E- Hero Wildheart while dated in the metagame now, had their place being a powerhouse way back when.


Compared to the “Judai” deck, this version has a lot power behind it’s punches, as it is supposed to. The spell and trap[s then become tailored less towards control but more towards protecting the fusions.

Versus?

The big part of why I am doing this is to show off how Hero decks can be built in multiple variants, and update the older theories and ideas. So how would they stack up against each other?

Hard to say for sure. We can look at each deck and see that both of them are trying to accomplish different things. The Judai deck is trying to push through with control playstyle and keeping the heroes alive while the Koyo version is relying on beating the opponent down through powerful fusion summons.

Both decks have nice tricks to back them up, with the Judai deck having access to Vapor, who has a nice control ability as well as synchro summoning (albeit the only tuner included in the deck being Effect Veiler). Mask Change is also powerful, allowing for a hero to hit and then change out for another hero and hit again.

The Koyo deck just has a wide away of warrior monsters and has bigger set ups in general.

Conclusion…and?

Basically, the GX Manga will be missed. The storyline has given us the cards that make the Hero archetype, which isn’t even an exaggeration. Without the comic, neither of these decks would be possible, and the history of the game would have changed forever, and for that we salute you…

New Stuff - A minor Assessment

A lot of new stuff has been going on.

For starters, Six Samurais winning the last YCS was kind of to be expected. The deck is still incredibly powerful. From what I can see from my experiance of playing against the deck is that an out to Shi En are a must if you want to win. The deck really establishes a powerful lockdown with that opening that almost seems to happen every game.

I'll admit that I wasn't impressed with the deck when I first played against it way back when STOR came out. But that was mainly due to my own skepticism and the deck getting bad hands when I went against it (which seems hard to believe right now). I feel like effect monsters have gotten really power since the deck has been doing well (effect monsters as a counter to cards like Shi En).

I love the diversity of the format, but the one thing I dislike is that Six Samurai keep the metagame from being a slower based metagame. The reason I'm saying this is because, despite the banlist addressing some of the more pressing issues, I think Samurais are still too strong. Shi En is just too powerful of a card in my opinion, especially for a turn 1 opening, which can essentially lock-out your opponent in the pre-sideboard game.

I'm not saying Sams are the best deck (although they might be)but I am saying that what they offer is warping a meta-game to the point where a lot of "instant" speed disruption is required, which just seems funky to me especially since Konami restricted two cards because they were able to do this.

Direct from Hand effects are quickly dominating this game, cards like Puppet Plant and Effect Veiler are just simple better than their spell and trap options, especially in a metagame where shutting down spell and traps seems to be the trend. Powerful synchro-based decks are also not helping this. I'm not saying Dragunities are overpowered or that synchro-based is bad, I just feel like it's speeding up the metagame, coupled with from-hand effects and the inclusion of drastic spell and trap disruption (that and counter-traps being really really powerful).

I'm just saying that the game shouldn't be boiled down to having whoever going second having to fight a huge uphill battle, with a decent portion of their deck shut down. (Spell and traps to Shi En, Monsters to Solemn Warnings or Royal Tribute, you get the idea).

Other Stuff

GX Manga is ending in Japan. The storyline was probably the best spin-off to the original series. I know a lot of people playing the game don't care about it that much, but it does mean that the release of Hero related support will probably cease, although they'll probably get some legacy support here and there.

Card prices are also another big issue. I'm not complaining about prices, even if I find the amount that Dualities and Warnings are going for a bit rediculous. I like the fact that certain cards that I've felt like are worth more than what they were at are going up. Cards like Armory Arm for example.

I don't like the idea of generic cards going up in prices or being too unobtainable, but I don't mind price shifts that involve specialty cards like Armory Arm where the cards seem like they should have been worth something in the first place. With that said I think the price market is pretty stable right now aside from all the rediculousness.

With that said, spoiler cards for Extreme Victory are slowly being released. With Gladiators Training and the new Nordic Alfar monster being the first two shown. Pretty exciting stuff.

Quick Update

Just a quick update. The rules for Exceeds are out.

http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=937399

Follow the link.

~E.P.B.

Interesting Exceeds: that I can see being used

This is just a list of the cards that I think are so far the interesting monsters in the Exceed mechanic. These are followed by short explanations, any translations are borrowed from Shriek.

Underwater Warship Aero Shark
Water/ Fish - Exceeds/ Rank 3/ 1900/ 1000
2x Level 3 Monsters
Once per turn, you can activate this effect by removing 1 of this card's Exceeds Material Monster. Inflict 100 Damage to your opponent's Life Points for each of your removed from play monsters

A card like this isn't very good in terms of actually being good. What I mean by that is that this monster will require a very specific deck to work in, but in all honesty I can see this card having an OTK or some interesting combos down the line. So what ends up happening is the Substitoad phenomenom. I doubt it will happen with this card, since the burn is so small, but you never know.

I would say that I'm less interesting in this one.

Spring Armor Mainspring Meister
Earth/Machine - Exceeds/Rank 4/1900/1500
2x Level 4 Monster
This card gains 300 DEF for each of its Exceeds Material Monster. Once per turn, you can remove 1 of this card's Exceeds Material Monster to select 1 face-up monster on the field. The selected monster is changed to face-down Defense Position. During this turn's End Phase, the selected monster is changed to face-up Attack Position.

Probably my most favorite card that has been revealed so far. The card itself reminds me a lot of Archanite Magician. The card just does a lot of nice things, and in my opinion will find it's home competively in Gravekeepers. Re-using Gravekeeper Spy is just a really strong play, and let's the deck make bigger set-ups and stronger power plays.

The only problem that this card has is in order to be of use, you'll have to overextend your field making it's uses limited, but it's a card thats perfect for decks like GK who have extra deck space.

Protector of the Founders, Tyrus
LIGHT/Angel - Exceeds/Rank 5/2600/1700
2x Level 5 Monster
The following effect is not applied, if this card is without Exceeds Material Monster. This card is not destroyed by card effects. At the end of the Battle Phase this card battled, select 1 card your opponent controls and destroy it. During your End Phase, remove 1 of this card's Exceeds Material Monster.

This is the first Exceed monster revealed that has a Rank above 4. Personally it's hard for me to say if this card is worth it or not. It is an incredibly strong card to be honest, and for the two turns that it will dominate the field, but after that its just kind of a big body and in this game, big bodies don't necessarily last long.

What ends up happening, the card maybe sticks around for 2 turns, kills two of your opponents cards, and then becomes a stick. The problem is the difficult Rank. If this was Rank 4 I could see it becoming the poster child for the mechanic, but sadly it does not.

Vairon Disigma
LIGHT/Angel - Exceed - Effekt/Rank 4/2500/2100
3x Level 4 Monster
Once per turn, you can remove 1 of this card's Exceeds Material Monster to select 1 face-up Attack Position Effect Monster your opponen controls, and equip it to this card treated as an Equip Card. If this card battles with a monster with the same Attribute as a monster card equipped by this effect, skip Damage Calculation and destroy that monster immediately.

Much like the last monster, we look at this as the other direction for the mechanic where it uses more materials than just 2 monsters. The monster is a nice size and a beat-em-up style relinquished. The monster is interesting, and has a good ability, but again, I just can't see it as being strong enough for what it requires.

Still it is one of the stronger Exceeds so it is worth mentioning.

These are most of the Exceeds that I think are worth mentioning. Konami seems to be holding back and testing the waters with the new mechanic this time. All I can say, is that if this keeps up I could see Exceeds ending up more like fusion monsters than anything. Thats not to say fusion is dead, but it is to say that it is a more specialized mechanic than what synchro is. With the way Konami is pushing the mechanic, I'm unsure on whether that is a good thing or not.

Pre-post Format: It's all fun and games until Book gets banned.

A lot of my testing of the new format so far has been interesting to say the least. I haven't been able to focus on the game for a while since college does what it does but recently I have been playing more often and all of that good jazz.

The deck I've mainly been messing around with would be Scraps, it's been fun, but I'm really missing the casual awesomeness of what I am used to. I think my friends can tell at my rage and annoyence as seeming every deck they play just seems to thrash it. I'm fairly new to Scraps, so I'm assuming it's just my lack of knowledge with knowing how to use the deck.

One thing I have been noticing is that the lack of Book of Moon seems to speed up the games. I'm not saying BoM is the sole reason for this, it's just something I have noted.

I don't mean sped up in the 'herp derp' aspect, I mean Sped up in the terms that I (and some of my friends match-ups) notice that the game is over in a couple of terms. Usually resulting in one deck having a complete lockdown over the over, or just flat out OTK'ing (Fish OTK looks really strong, this sort of thing applies to X-sabers).

It's just something interesting I'll pay attention to as the format goes on. I'm probably jsut really out of practice, since the casual games I've played for the past few months aren't exactly the greatest feats of skill.

I may write again later tonight. Depending on what goes on with the LoL group.

~E.P.B.

Exceed Summoning; the new in-thing????

New format means new rules, well not really. But there has been a couple of new developments in the Yu-gi-oh card game, as well as other games. Now Exceeds is coming to the game, which is another new mechanic to the game like synchro summoning.

What exceeds basically does is like an evolution mechanic.



The stars in the upper left side of the card is the Exceed monsters rank.In order to summon an Exceed monster you need to overlay materials on your side of the field equal to the amount required, the overlaid materials have to be the same level as the exceed monsters rank. For example, No. 17 Revise Dragon takes two level 3 material monsters in order to exceed summon it.

When you exceed summon you stack the monsters underneath the Exceed monster. The monsters stacked underneath are more like tokens than anythings else. Most Exceed monsters currently revealed have effects requiring the removal of these materials. When an Exceed monsters materials are removed, they go to the graveyard, strangely enough they apparently don't count as getting sent to the graveyard so effects like sangan don't activate.

Currently, it is unknown what happens to Exceed materials if the exceed monster is flipped face down.

Exceed monsters apparently do not have any level while on the field, meaning they are unaffected by cards like Gravity Bind and LLAB, and can not be used as Synchro materials (at least from what everyone is gathering at the moment).

Also another interesting bit of unconfirmed ruling knowledge is on the Exceed summon being negated. According to once of the video clips floating around pojo, it is fairly useless to negate an exceed summon, because the materials will still be on the field.

Now a lot of the rulings involving these monsters are unknown, but they are an interesting addition to the game. I'm currently divided on whether they are going to be good for the game or whatever. I know a lot of people liked the old school yu-gi-oh, and felt like Synchros were a pretty drastic change, which they were, and they are wary on what Exceeds means for the game.

I think it's good that the game is getting new mechanics that make it unique, and it really feels like the game has come a long way from being considered the simpler version of MtG, but I am worried about what it means for the game in the long run.

I mean, games like Duel Masters (in Japan) apparently get away with introducing a lot of new mechanics, but I don't think yu-gi-oh players are as used to having a constant changing environment. Especially if the change just keeps sneaking up on us every 4 years. I mean I honestly thought synchros would be the last big change, but I was wrong.

Anyway, the mechanic looks interesting, should be fun.

~E.P.B.

Teesting: New Formats

Sooooooooooo...been a while. Still playing League of Legends and all of that stuff. Guess I haven't written in a while because of I've been lazy or something. Anyway, lots to talk about with a new format in ygo, lots to talk about with new and interesting MtG products, and lots to talk about with Magma Chamber still. not. existing. for league of legends yet.

I guess I'm going to try and write more on other things at this point. Keeping up with everything and talk different strategies in said games etc.