Tuesday, December 31, 2013

TCG new format

So, in 3 hours (Malaysia singapore time), the new format will be in effect.

After testing these few days, it became adamant that alot of decks would be very very good this format. There will definitely be more than 1 dominant deck at the start of the format, but as it progresses on, i can see more imbal stuff from Konami (such as inzektor, prophecy, dragon ruler) which will ruin our Nationals/ WCQ again. The deck that seems to give the most cancer would probably be Madolche, or Machines (MPB OLion is good ! unless we dont get the fortress stealth xyz :( )

However, everybody has been relooking and retesting decks of old , such as mermail, FF, Hapries which were rendered useless due to dragons last format.

With dragons gone ( for good, almost every variant tested has been a pile of garbage), its safe to say that its gone for good. Even in a blue eyes variant, the deck still has inconsistent hands which wont last a long round regional/YCS.

So, with all the talk, alot of last format's early theory will be in practice once again. Last format, i said that 3 MST is a must, and Veiler will be a necessity. Once again, until the format is defined, i think this will be the case. MST is good vs all decks, and Veiler (unlike Maxx) hits all decks, no matter what.

So, what do i think are the new top decks this format?

The first deck which came into my mnd was spellbooks. Books which were last format's near equal to dragons will definitely become big again. Although fate is limited, the deck has very explosive plays namely temperaance and world. If the deck would ever become good again, it would be a world-temperance abuse deck. Some players in DGZ have realized that and have included cards like Stoic to help improve the chances of seeing temperance. From testing, temperance and world is indeed the deck's best play and the only way spellbook can win is to resolve a world drop. Therefore, to curb books, the best way is to stop temperance/ world.

So what should we do? Fiendish chain comes into mind but after testing, it is not enough. Wisdom is easily used and even Veiler is unreliable because they can chain their own fiendish to your veiler and render it uselesss and resolve tmeperance. Wrath on the other hand, was pretty good, but its steep discard cost may not make it popular among most decks. Its safe to say that once you prevent world/temperance/life/tower (these are the probem cards), then you can win the game.

From testing, one particular deck which many have written off seems to be books worst matchup. the deck is none other than Verz, because of the deck's beatdown feature, it is naturally an enemy for books. The deck's ability to main Mistake or side it also helps quite abit. Lastly, because books have nothing but a temperance play to win, Ophion helps with that! Verz also has very consistent openings which allow me to believe, that if people put enough hard work into the deck, it can be seen at the top tables again.

Thirdly, is a deck which has retained its power plays since last format, while receiving a tiny boost in consistency (tenki). This deck is incredibly good because it has so many explosive plays that it doesnt even seem fair. The deck now reminds me much of Mermails before Tachyon came out, which made it a really really versatile. Think about it, 3 tenki= 3dragoons, 3 wolfbarg= 3 diva. Bear and Dragon and Gorilla all act like built in Atlantreans with Mermail bodies (lvl 4.less than 2000 attack), and the deck just seems so good. Tigerking is one of the most annoying xyzs around, and the deck has access to kugutsuchi, a 2500 beatstick with Maesltroke effect. If i were to play next format, FF would be my choice of deck. The mirror match would be alot like the past mermail mirror. Grinding and conserving cards so that you win the grind game. It is an explosive deck which can easily take on prophecy early game if they start slow, and destroys every other backrow deck around. The deck's worst matchup will be prophecy and nothing else for the meantime.

IMO, these will be the 3 big decks along with some stuff like Geargia Karakuri (probably just as good as the other 3), and alot of other decks like Mermail and Harpies wihich arent as good as the other 3 but will still exist to catch duelists off guard.

Thats all for today, going for countdown with friends have a good time and have a good 2014 every buddy
ヽ(´ー`)ノヽ(´ー`)ノ ヽ(´ー`)ノヽ(´ー`)ノ ヽ(´ー`)ノヽ(´ー`)ノ 


Saturday, December 7, 2013

Ban List wishlist

so, to mark the new format, which will be known next friday(ish) for TCG, i will post up a banlist wishlist although theres less than a week away.

Prior to the  current list, i think it is very good and honestly quite challenging. It has been one of the best formats so far because dragon format was referred to by most players as a teledad format. I've never played in that format before so experiencing it was pretty good. You needed to make good meta calls to top events because the best deck for that format might not be the best deck for that event.

Sure it may get boring to people after a while but i honestly enjoyed it more than a diverse format.

It may not be healthy since the format isnt diverse anymore but i honestly am not sure if i can enjoy sucha a format anymore. Honestly, it doesnt matter because players should just adapt no matter what the format is. We will still continue to play despite what happens.

The current list put dragons ahead other decks but it is honestly quite a diverse one. It is just that all the good players want to play dragons. When a deck is largely represented, it will top. If most good players run it, it will definitely appear in higher numbers in the top cut, which is simple logic.

With that said, here goes my banlist wishlist:

(assuming that we are following konami TCG's ideology of balancing things out)

Banned:
Limiter Removal- konami loves taking away power cards.
6th Sense- ~~~
Return from the different dimension- Main card which makes dragons broke. In many games dragons outpace rogue because they can access return and win.

Restricted to 1:
E hero Airman- i've no idea why this card was banned. It is not a power card at all in this format because of the power creep. Killing off heroes was a terrible idea.

Imperial Iron Wall- One of the floodgate ygo cards. I think it should be limited because its too unfair.

Gozen Match- Another floodgate card.

Skill Drain- Same card which stops ygo. If dragons were to exist, skill drain should not be at 2/3 because they would be too unfair.

Thousand Eyes Restrict- call me crazy but i dont see TER doing much in this meta. It cannot be incorporated into a top tier deck, and is hard to abuse.

Verz Ophion- another floodgate card.

Solemn Judgment- Solemn judgment, IMO, is a very skill based card. It should not have gone.

Sacred Sword of 7 Stars- One of the main reasons why dragons were the best deck, it put you ahead so far. Allowing you to draw 2 plus choose a dragon of your choice of the same element you gave up?

Spellbook of Fate- If dragons were to go, spellbooks would undoubtly be a beast. Fate, to me, has been 1 of the main problem in books. Maybe you should hit batel or secrets, but the deck already bricks to itself too easily. Not thought over properly so feel free to criticize.

Restriced to 2:
Dragunity Dux- Dragunities would be good in this format. However, 1 card lvl8 is never good.

Dragon Ravine- Another problem with dragons. Unlike swords, i think it should stay at 2 for dragunities.

Book of Moon- Something which i think should come back to 2.

Bottomless Trap Hole- killing more dragons is cool ~

Gold Sarcophagus- If ravine and swords are decreased, its only fair sarcophagus comes back.

** Batel** - maybe
**secrets**- maybe
** Evilswarm Kerykion**- Not thought out properly but nerfing verz sounds good.
**Constellar Kerykion**- forgot the name of this constellar bt its the constellar vers of kerkyion. Same reasoning.
*** ROTA***- Not my wishlist but i added it in because i think Konami might release it to 2 for noble knights.

Restrict to 3:
***unsure***

So basically my wishlist is just to slow down dragons, but still make them playable. They have multiple ways to shine still, including shrine, ddr, sarco, felgrand etc. Removing all the crazy power cards in the deck while keeping them playable.




Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Dragon decklist

http://i.imgur.com/a29aTM4.png

This will probably be my last dragon decklist for this format since i am pretty sure konami will kill off dragons in some way. Hopefully they let them exist still !

The format has actually been pretty diverse naturally, but everybody and their mothers decided to run dragon ruler thus the reason why the top cuts are filled with druler. TBH if a good player picks up a different deck, they can make it work etc (eg : Sam pedigo, Eaton guo and Sean mnccabe), even if they have to resort to maining 21 flood gate cards.

However i dont blame anyone for wanting to play dragons- its easily the best deck since you can also sack with return and 6th, and put free power cards on the board.

So, to explain some choices-

The monsters are extremely standard. I chose scarecrow over fader because some people are starting to run vanity again. And felgrand isnt realistically good in the TCG.

spells !:

2 ddr- this card is a bi-product of me playing the OCG for a while. It is never dead , opens endlesss possibilities, turns lacklustre hands in t1 of maybe only 2 colors into playable ones, recycles your fuel, and puts pressure on your opponent. Furthermore, i'd like to blow my opponents out when i use ddr after siding out return :D

enemy controller- used to be book of moon but am just testing this. Surprisingly good in mirror as stealing your opponent's afd t1 is too good. Activatring your own ravine then using their afd on your ravine destroys their t1 setup, which is an insanely good setup which can win you the game.  Also a 1 card out to pleaides but yeah nvm.

trap stuns- still in the midst of testing. may switch for mst. stun is great with monsters like dragosack where you can summon sack, and opp activates a trap and you chain stun, then blow up 1 of their fds. Clears multiple cards and allows you to push. However unlike mst it is sometimes dead.

sidedeck:

fossil dyna- vanity + ophion out. I wish we had ghosttrick frost :(

e virus- i noticed lately it is getting harder to play around evirus, thus added it in.

dna surgery- books + noble night

tuner scheme- card that was tested out for fun but turned out to be insanely good. If known, opponent will play retardedly to play around it. If set t1, it turns their afd combo against them. If not, you take away some of their resources when they sync a monster, and to deal with the monster they just relinquished to you, they needa expend more resources too. Its harder to play around it then you think because not every situation compels you to make star eater/ colossal/ dragosack

Or i could run debunk XD But debunk has been pretty crappy lately.

Banlist post tomorrow !