The Upstart Goblin Discussion: What do the best think?

                                                   
So, if you've kept up competitively with the TCG for the past few formats, you will know about the theory of the Upstart Goblin article. To keep it short, it was  lately popularised by an American player named Patrick Hoban whose theory was running 37 is better than 40 in the TCG because you see your core /combo cards more. Hoban is one of the best players in America and is also one of the best theorists whereby his explanations on cards, theories are very good. One of them was the theory on the skill curve, where skill is highest at the beginning of the format, and decreases exponentially as the format progresses. Although it has been very widely received in America especially, it has never showed much influence on the European meta or even anywhere in the OCG. Granted this is because OCG has a different meta with much better power cards and more powerful strategies to consider, I have decided to gather the thoughts of various players from Asia and Europe.

I chose 2 players from each respective region : Europe, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore.

I handpicked the players based on a couple of factors which are:

1) Accessibility. You wont see me interviewing HK or Taiwanese players because i cant really speak chinese, neither can i write in chinese, or even get in contact with them.

2) Number of tops/ relevance in the respective countries. Basically i will interview the best players who have made an impact over the past few years. To be 100% results oriented is wrong, but tops are a decent way to measure how relevant/ good a player is, without much bias. Hoban was always shunned but after he started his winning spree, everyone started accepting his theories.

3) How well the player knows the TCG meta. For example, some of the players in X country may be good, but IMO they may not keep up with the TCG as much. So, to avoid outliers, i decided to make sure that most of the players i interviewed have some background knowledge about the TCG.

PS: dont be offended if i didnt interview you ! I have only 2 players which is very few, so that the article isnt too long. Also, i may not be as close to you or even know you so. Also do note player preference exists in the OCG and is a widely accepted concept. So, do not be alarmed to see people mentioning on player preference.

So, basically, i asked every candidate what they thought about the upstart theory based on the TCG format, and whether they think running 37 cards is optimal/ and worth cutting other cards/techs out for the chance to draw more combo pieces. Also, i asked them to comment based on different decks in TCG such as otk-combo-grind deck like HRuler, straight otk decks like karakuri, and grind-combo decks like firefist.

Also, there's a written article here talking about the math of Upstart Goblin:

http://duellikeanidol.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/the-difference-of-upstart-goblin-in-six-samurai/

IDK if its accurate or not or the correct math can be found in some DuelistGroundz thread.

Here's what they have to say:

Malaysia:

C1: Shahmir Roshidi- Shahmir has been incredibly consistent last year and have finished in single digit tops in every single tournament in Malaysia that he has gone to, meaning a 100% top ratio. To top it all, he occasionally keeps up with the TCG , and he knows his stuff so what better candidate !

(Take note some of these interviews were conducted on whatsapp, and FB messenger)

" It depends on the type of decks that use it. The best deck to use Upstart will be a combo deck, if not, i don't recommend running it. They need to get to their pieces faster. It also depends on what decks you view as combo decks, and how you wanna play those decks. Eg: TCG plays FF/ Mermail as combo decks but OCG doesnt. In DRuler Hieratic, i think Upstart isnt bad as the lp cost is negligible since the deck is more grindy and doesn't attempt to otk as often. I honestly dont get why players use upstart in decks like Windups and Firefists. There seem to be better choices. It depends on the decktype and the player's preference. All it does is make your deck 37 cards."



C2: Zack Teoh: Zack has been the most consistent player last year winning 2 whole events and topping every single sanctioned Malaysian event. I do not know how much he keeps up with the TCG but i decided to give him a brief overview of it beforehand so he has a clearer image. Here's what he has to say:

" My opinion on Upstart is that Upstart is good , but not all decks have the space/chance to play Upstart. Based on the TCG, i think Upstart should be run because the game play is slower so you need to access your cards more and the 1k is negligible unlike in OCG."

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Phillipines:

C3: Irwin Arogo: Irwin is the best player in the Phillipines now winning nationals back to back, winning Asia Plus, and winning every single other card game tourney like VG (he's represented Phil in multiple events), and has been successful in other games such as MTG.

" I think Upstart should be used in decks that only need to draw their key cards early, or benefits from spell card activations such as Prophecy in the previous formats. I don't like it because its like giving your opponent 1000 lp extra for no reason at all. For the part about cutting the deck to 37 to mitigate bad draws and drawing unnecessary cards by running less cards, i think that while deckbuilding, the player will not include cards that are situational or  useless for their deck strategy. I don't think it improves consistency as much because its just a 1:1 spell, and it doesnt make too much of an impact. Its far different from Pot of Duality which can fix your draws and give you 2 extra options to choose from."



C4: Karlo Bonillo: Karlo is one of my closest Asian buddies and he has in depth knowledge about the game. He has several accomplishments in the past winning 1 or 2 events and topping at least 8-10 others, before he started slowing down and committing less to the game recently. He also has been keeping up with the TCG so he seemed like a suitable candidate. To Edsel and Jun (Elvis Agoto) i wish i could interview you guys too but i only could interview 2, and to Jun, i don't know you that well personally and I didnt know how much you kept up with TCG, and as for Edsel, i think you're busy with UNI and pilot training so yea.

" I prefer to play other useful cards compare to Upstart Goblin. IMO, cutting Upstart means you will reduce space on cards which could be helpful for your matchups. I value card space alot. 40 is the minimum for me and i wish to put other cards in my deck. I think Upstart is player preference, as it depends on what the player values more. Some players value consistency, but i value utility and having more options rather than just having my combo pieces. Since Hoban like it and it works for him well, then good for him. But for me its not worth the space"

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Europe:

C5: Alpay Engin: Alpay has shown consistency over large events in the past formats, and has shown exceptional performance in the last format. The 3 big players last format was Alpay, Joshua, and Michel (with Michel out of the competitive scene with an unreasonable ban #FreeGruner) .

PS: Alpay didn't talk much with me because he was driviung to school at the time of interview and he only said a few words. Furthermore, it was pretty obviuous his first language is not English so he may keep the interview short. Also, dont really know him very well personally.

" Yes , i think Upstart is quite good. I personally run it in Firefists. You need it to get to Tenki and resolve the 1st turn spirit play ASAP. Sorry, i'm driving to school now, hard life. Will I see you at Berlin?"



C6: Joshua Schmidt: Joshua needs no introduction along with Alpay. He topped every YCS in the past format, and finished top4 at worlds 2 years ago.

" Alright. i'm not a big fan of playing Upstart in every deck, playing 37 sure is nice, but its not as if its for free. I consider LP as a resource too and playing a game against more LP could lead to you losing in the long run due to having to spend more resources. Generally, i like it only in decks that need it like Geargia to get to their armour asap without much ways to accelerate. Or decks like heiratics which dont have many ways to get to their key cards aside from Upstart. Most of the time, I would rather just pick 3 other cards which can be good in various situations, and i think that is better most of the time as well."

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Singapore:

C7: Wesley Seek: Wesley aka Lambyseries is a teammate and close friend and has shown himself to be one of the best players in Singapore (whether you like it or not) by being consistent in the last few events. Despite having a few months hiatus from the game due to army commitments, Wesley returned to competiive play and went top 4 at Singapore Open ; an impressive feat for someone who has taken a long break from the game for almost 4 months. He has always been like the Asian Hoban, having interesting and strange theories which he believed strongly in, some of them which can cause controversial discussions because it's different from the norm (such as maindecking red eyes, reborn in every single variant of druler, and siding Dprison VS Hanzo Hieratic in the 2012 March format), and some which are so accurately explained and thought of, you would just apply it straight away.


Here's what he has to say: (and it might be the best response out of the entire 8 players. He also wrote a fking thesis , and it took me a lot of time to type out what he had to say, so i hope you guys enjoy the response)

"In no way is Upstart a staple in everydeck because not every deck has the same purpose. By purpose, i mean the way it functions, its win condition, its playstyle etc. Its hardly a negative to thin the deck but not every deck should run it, why?

Firstly, is purpose: If we use otk as an example, you clearly wanna put 8k dmg on board ASAP with as much ease as possible. Considering the 1k gain, can u consistently get an extra 1k-3k dmg in with that extra thinning?

What are you intending to draw that justifies you drifting slightly further from your purpose to warrant running Upstart? With that said, i dont think Hieratics should be running Upstart. For Druler in OCG now, i think its viable because thinning for another colour, or obtaining the Dragon shrine is very crucial as your win condition and beginning of your resource pool resolves around utilizing your edrags and that is only obtainable when you have access to all of your colours ASAP.

So onto more popular decks like FF. Can you realistically otk with FF not consistently, or even hardly? Whats your win condition? To me, it is resolving Bear, getting those hits in, putting the pressure on opponent and generating advantage. So, yes FF should play Upstart since you wanna see bears, tenkis, tensus etc to pressure the opponent. 

Upstart in geargiakarakuri? Well you dont wanna draw your karakuri tuner engine or the geargianos and MK2 early to fuel geargiagear. Sure drawing arsenal/armour t1 is important, but weighing the random 1 more draw to something precise like Duality, I would rather go with Duality because in this case, simply because theres the option of not choosing something that shouldn't be drawn early or not drawn at all.

Tldr; i believe Upstart shouldn't be played in outright OTK decks. It should be played in decks that can combo off or start winning with the early access to 1 or 2 cards (edrags, bear, nebradisk in OOparts, medraut, leopard, tenki, kaust + pollux, castor + verz, Yamato, Inzektor Damsel etc)

To conclude, dont run a card because someone runs it , run it because it makes sense. If someone runs it and it makes sense to you, then run it. Learn to doubt, and learn to question and not to follow blindly, know why things are done for certain reasons, then make the best decisions."



Last but not least we have :

C8) Anders Koh (DSummon)- Fresh off his win from YCS Sydney, i could not think of anyone else better to interview better! DS piloted an otk version of Karakuri to win the event. Karakuri, known as a combo deck should theoretically run Upstart.... right? Or maybe not? See what he has to say:

" Technically, the math involving Upstart makes sense. However it still depends on the deck build and what is is built to do. If its a deck like darkworld, Upstart is viable cos you need to see key cards and its meant to grind out for game with advantage. In my deck, i think upstart isnt viable since I need to deal damage quick and otk. 

The main point i didn't run Upstart was because the deck was designed to end the game ASAP before your opponent starts to farm and make a comeback. (He attributes it to the slow pace format in TCG).
In a typical deck like Firefist which sorts of grind but doesnt really otk, it depends, but its all up to player's preference and build.

Personally, i think if you have to cut stuff for space in your maindeck, it makes no sense to cut on real traps or techs just to try to build consistency through your draws. Plus anyway, YGO is about lifepoints, and makes no sense to give your opponent free LPs just to obtain a little bit of consistency.

Also, there are cards like Exciton Knight which exist. If all you do is obtain consistency, and you have less answer to opponent's plays, doesn't make sense if your opponent can just clear your board and gain a massive lead just through an explosive play. Thats about all the thoughts in my head for now"


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Like i mentioned in the previous post, blogging and articles are almost a dead trade because almost everyone knows about the theory etc and the important part of YGO is applying it in your games, and players should look to Youtube duel wideos as the way to go to learn YGO, observe plays and techs etc.

But i decided to make this post because it was interesting to see what people think about a certain theory. Hopefully you enjoyed the post.

As of now, i would like to make a conclusion and give my opinions, but its late and i wanna head to bed, but let me know what you think in the comments below ~

That's all for today.

ANW A FRIEND TOLD ME TO GIVE A SHOUTOUT TO HIS FRIEND'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL SO CHECK IT OUT http://www.youtube.com/user/YGOEscapade?feature=watch

THERES ALSO A GIVEAWAY SO JOIN IT~

Post OCG banlist thoughts and comparison with TCG

2 days ago, the OCG banlist hit us really hard with many unexpected card choices springing up.

What do i think of it?

Awesome tbh, the list keeps dragons alive and doesnt hit ravine, something which was a right move, and very very big mistake on Konami TCG's part, because it destroyed the playability of decks like dragunity.

TBH, the banlist was very good because it introduced more options and more interesting things into the game compared with how stale the TCG format is. Cards like Cyber Stein prove to be extremely interesting, because playing a high risk high reward card seems to add a new element into the game. Being tutorable through Gear Gigant X, we can easily see this card appear in gadget decks, and even karakuri geargia decks.

So, lets debunk the banlist !

Banned:

return 

Restrict 1:

Verz Ophion

E Hero Bubbleman

Devil Franken (Cyber Stein)

Atl Dragoon

7 star sword

Gold Sarc

Restrict 2:

Honest

Zombie Carrier

Lonefire Blossom

4 dragon rulers

Unlimited 3:

GB Besteri

Agent Angel Earth

Debris DRagon

Raiou

Gorz

NS Grand Mole

For Return to be banned was long overdue , and the represents the only thing stealing dragon ruler mirrors.
You'll lose to blowout cards less. IMO dragon ruler mirrors will be even more skillful as less luck elements are removed.

Verz Ophion- this is good on Konamis part. I have always called on Ophion being unhealthy for the game and 1 of the best floodgate cards and it was something the TCG should have done. GJ OCG.

Ehero Bubbleman- Similar to Patrick Hoban's article he mentioned how bubbleman made eheros degenerate with otks, loops, etc. Konami japan identified this problem, and limited it, instead of touching airman. Also precaution for next format, so less people make 1st turn shock ruler and lose. Another very good call, which Konami TCG should learn from.

Cyber Stein- Now this is interesting and i have no idea how this will affect the meta. IMO, it adds a new element to the game and it definitely should return. Its gonna be very hard to get otk-ed with 3 gorz, swordsman of revealing light and rainbow kuribiohs running around. However, isit a degenerate card which will win you the game automatically? No it isnt. 5000 lifepoints isnt cheap, and dealing 3000 lifepoints damage has been so fking easy ever since old formats like GB formats, so dealing 3k in 1 turn nowadays after the power creep is a joke.

atlantean dragoons- way overdue. sphere limited, tues limited. RIP mermail. However it will still be tier 2 ish due to 3 diva, 2 tidal.

7 Star sword- Now sword was arguably one of the best cards in druler aside from return and ravine. Sword puts you ahead of the mirror by resolving 1, and like mentioned above, limiting sword to 1,  greatly reduces the luck element of the mirror match- which is to open sword and dig deeper in your deck while your opponent is only stuck at his 1st 6 cards. I've won so many more games resolving sword in mirrors compared to blowing my opponent out with return.

Gold sarc- To greatly reduce the consistency of dragons. Good call.

Honest- Now this move is just to give lightlords more power. Bujins get a slight bump but not as much of a difference. Honestly (pun), the difference between 1 extra honest (4~5) is not so much of a difference since they have 3 searchable honests anyway. It definitely gives Lightlord a big boost, and a larger win condition. IMO a very dangerous move. Very sacky. This might be the worst decision they made in this list, but is certainly not an abomination.

Zombie Carrier- For zombies i guess. Konamis plan to increase the power creep and then unlimit old cards which are severely weakened by the power creep is working. Notice cards coming off the banlist like mezuki etc.

Lonefire blossom- shinra boost i guess. As mentioned with zombie carrier above, they are returning old cards. I dont think Plants will be as strong as they used to be.  I wont be surprised if they decided to kill off dragons, and return glow up bulb in the future.

4 dragon rulers- good call. Dragons will still be viable, severely weakened and need to look for other alternatives.

Other stuff: Not very relevant. As i mentioned 2 formats ago in my banlist discussion that Gorz to 2 would not make any impact, many people called me crazy, but now it is going to 3, and will not make much impact either :) except maybe in lightlords but there are so many better alternatives like swordsmen of revealing light and rainbow kuribou.

Overall, this banlist is quite good and the game will be quite healthy until madolche anjelly and artifacts come out. The top decks are easily, in no particular order:

1) dragons

2) Bujin- Bujin Asuka makes a big difference and people in  TCG are dumb to hype over bujin hare and peacock, when bujin asuka is so much better adding a searchable kagetokage into their deck.

3) Chronomaly- One of the best toolbox decks in the game right now. The aeroplane is actually fking dangerous shit.

4) Heraldics- Tutoring monster reborns and miracle fusions is cool, and a r4 toolbox which has extremely overpowered spell cards but underwhelming monster cards make the archetype balanced but just good enough to be competitive.

5) Madolches- This deck seems extremely imbalanced with a +5 combo but its actually not. The deck is nothing like windups because the +5 combo doesnt work turn 1 if your opponent has no field, and the deck is easily beaten if you MST their chateau and ticket. Also, despite having 6airman in the deck, 3 lonefire, and other stuffs, deck remains weak because the monsters are small and have a hard time overcoming big monsters early game. But it will remain good undoudbtly. The speed variant with TG engine is definitely not the way to go and a more stable control based approach seems to be the better build.

6) Last but not least is Firefist a deck which was untouched by the banlist. Firefist remains a very strong option and i will not be surprised to see it in the top tables once again

7) Geargia Karakuri. Lets face it. The Auger card is nuts. This deck will remain under the radar and quite unpopular IMO because for some reason people dont like the idea of playing machines and probably never will, unless its like cyber dragon toolbox but fuck that.

8) Lightlord- good deck with 3 judgment dragons. The skill in the deck comes from perfecting the deck and making it as consistent as possible. Has extremely powerful plays but will lose to itself and floodgate cards like macro, Light mirror etc. Lightlord assailant riden is extremely powerful on its own.

Anything else seems Tier 2 ish or just weird or i may not have taken it into consisderation. Despite everything else, the banlist paves the way for more decks to be competitive. The 8 mentioned here may not all be tier 1, but will horde the top part of the tier list.

All in all, i think the OCG list seems very good and the TCG seem to have taken the game in the wrong way. Any TCG Konami staff reading this article should think twice about it. The ones who have control of the game is Konami Japan as they release all the cards in the upcoming sets etc. They will increase the pwoer creep however they want and to curb the power creep is the wrong way to go. The sets and the cards designed are designed to suit the OCG meta and not the TCG's which is extremely underwhelming.

Let me bring up a few examples:

1) Why did they ban ravine ? Because dragunity would be good if it was allowed to remain at 3 in the current format and may be one of the best decks due to its consistency etc. But dragunity is not even strong in OCG. Why? because the formats are so different.

Patrick Hoban mentioned that power creep is not necessarily bad which i agree with. The dragon formats have shown to be extremely skill reliant. Konami Japan is currently trying to create a more "fair" format despite all the power cards. its true decks are more imbal nowdays, but if all decks have equal power? Then it would not be too much of a problem.

Why dragons would be a disaster if they were left in TCG for another format? Because the format is too slow and it will just eat every other deck up. In OCG, they will still be very good this format but they will also be alot fair-er and easier to deal with because cards like Bottomless Trap hole and Compuls are left in multiples.

Banning cards like Heavy storm and limiting all good traps is a terrible way to go. It makes strong openings like Firefist opening or spellbook opening with 5 backrow extremely overpowered. Its true that with more strong traps around, it solidifies the openings in OCG, ie: a strong power play backed up by BTH and compuls very good, but one must also consider that with the power creep in OCG, its also easier to deal with those backrows. Having Heavy storm is also good because people will only set 1-2 anyway. 2 card probably because they generated a plus 1 in opening turn, and they can survive a heavy storm.

Plus with good backrows around, it makes games more exciting and less about vomiting your field out. IMO, the notion of letting your opponent play Yugioh by limiting the floodgate cards like Skill Drain, Ophion, etc is the way to go. Not limiting all the traps, solemn judgment and heavy storm. Because those cards are part of the game as much as other cards are.

Lets look at TCG. With lesser backrows, how are tier 2 decks even having the chance to compete? Lets say INzektor sets a hornet or summons a Armagedon Knight with shitty backrow, how are they gonna deal with Firefist etc? The approach that Konami TCG has taken is obviously wrong.

When the new cards come out, people will scream broken? Why? Because the power creep in TCG has been severely reduced, and introducing cards of a higher power level suited for OCG meta which is of a higher power level will make things worse. In the end, Konami TCG will just limit everything. As Allen Pennington has predicted, if they continue this stance, there are gonna be more cards on the limited list than the banlist itself.

How is Hoban topping with hieratics in TCG? Is it because he is the best player? No. It is because the power creep has lessened so much that a deck like Hieratic can suddenly win/top events in TCG. Is this a good thing? Yes, and no. But its another illustration of how a deck which is tier 2-3 in OCG suddenly becoming a force to be reckoned with in TCG.

To prove another point, i urge TCG players to go play OCG for a few games. You will notice you suddenly have so much more decisions to make, so much more moves to take into account compared with TCG. Every time i finish testing OCG with my team, and if i proceed to test TCG after with TCG friends, the game suddenly seems so much easier. If you dont believe it, try it out for yourself. If the Worlds format is in favour of OCG and follows their format, i guarantee TCG players will all scrub out again. And why? Because Konami TCG decided to "fix the game".


Thats all for today. I am extremely envious of the OCG banlist :)

Cards royale YouTube channel shoutout

Hey guys, last post I wrote about how yugioh blogs are not the best source of information any longer and how videos on YouTube especially competitive duel videos have become the best source of information and learning yugioh effectively.

I also wrote about a store hosting tourney series in Singapore and how they should record feature matches.

The next day baha told me that the store actually does feature matches and has a YouTube channel where they post the recordings.

Check out the channel Cardz royale on YouTube. I would link it but I'm on my iPad now.

Go subscribe to it ! Much better to watch those videos than ppl like Cordero or other yugi tubers.
The channel has a very measly number of subscribers so it would be good if you guys supported them.

They may not have updated the latest videos yet and are still a few weeks behind due to editing or being busy , but hey quality over quantity !

That's all for today.

The death of yugioh blogging

Sorry guys but someone has to bring this up sooner or later.

Yugioh blogs  are more or less dead.

Why ?

Because everything is concentrated on social media whereby FB or forums like DGz are the popular choices. An extremely underrated option is twitter, where OCG players and Japanese players share techs and decklists. IMO, every player should set up Twitter and follow baha! and many jap players like joker, jspeed, nana, chariot etc.

Furthermore yugioh isn't exactly the most complicated thing in the world so why would people need to read blogs about its strategy?

Most of the things I have noticed myself writing is why card choice A > card choice B or why I did that instead but it's not really relevant because any idiot can test it himself and come to the same conclusion.

The only stuff which I can actually write about is about good decks at the start of an undefined format. Which in this case is irrelevant because the meta will shape after 1 or 2 ycs.

Cool stuff like techs shouldn't be shared, I mean seriously if you have a cool tech which you found which puts you ahead, obviously you won't share right, you'd rather use it to your advantage at a high level tourney.

Ygo now should concentrate on one thing - bringing more coverage and feature matches as well as duel videos . IMO this are the new best ways to help people improve. Joshua Graham's YouTube channel is doing a very good job and I commend him for going in that direction. Having commentary is good too. Granted his duels aren't top quality, but it's a step in the right direction.

Malaysias yugioh community had decided to do some thing similar by recording duels of locals finals at the official store weekly or something like that.

1 of the stores in Singapore which runs a blog called active card series has decided to give mini coverage in the form of pic and matchup charts on fb and blogs. I feel that if they record the videos or even just 1 video feature of the finals for their tournament series (weekly) , that would be extremely beneficial to the entire Ygo community. Singapore has extremely solid and consistent Ygo players, which many are of world standard, and no other country except maybe Japan, could be in a better position to do this. However, it may be too much to ask or be too inconvenient to the tourney organizers, but if they do happen to read this, think about it ! Any Singaporeans reading this, please convey this msg to them :)

That's  all for today. I will update the blog from time to time , and have a happy new year !

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 

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.

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 !

The Merits of Card Trooper

So, another dragon article- i hope you guys aren't bored with the content :3

First of all everybody knows that trooper is pretty relevant in TCG Druler but some choose not to play it because of the fact that you will mill your spell/trap cards if you have bad luck with it.

Well, this article hopefully changes your mindset on Card trooper's flexibility.

A while ago, i had been testing different ratios of card troopers from 0 to 2 in standard dragon and found that 1 is a pretty good number so that you don't draw too many vs your mirror match which is where its 50-50 most of the time. Generally 2 would be the right number but i found 6th sense to have the same useability of Card Trooper (another reason why i think 6th sense is absolutely staple!)

So, if you look at it from a different POV, you will almost always be summoning card trooper only when you are without colours. If you have a dragon hand, and a trooper. then yes trooper is an added liability but only if your opponent has a nutty hand with fuel + traps ! But not everyday is a sunday so thats the only situation where its bad.

If you have a spell/.trap hand and you summon trooper and mill spell/traps, at first it may seem bad, but you are generally discarding the possible dead draws you have for next few turns and turning it into live dragons from your deck (hopefully!), plus if your hand is full of traps, and you milled more, then its fine because you still have your hand to abuse. You can then proceed to waste their resources so that you can put pressure on them so that they cannot make a comeback.

In the above situation, if your opponent is in a good position, you'll almost be losing anyway. Having trooper at least lets you sift through your decks for plays next turn with the possibility of milling dragons. So, its a card which lets you do something and improve your chances over the upcoming turn.

Worse comes to worse, late game, trooper acts as redox monster reborn fuel when you have no dragons left in your deck (you dont wanna mill your traps and power cards!)

Thus, i think in almost every situation , trooper is never bad in the mirror except when you open colour hand and they open perfect, which was pointed out that your already losing anyways, so why not play a card which increases consistency overall? Its similar to the mindset of playing ryko in junk doppel , whereby even if you mill power cards, and not combo cards (which was an added benefit), you'll still be closer to your combo pieces in your following draws.

Patrick Hoban talks about Upstart Goblin, card trooper is an upstart goblin on roids which generate more and more advantage as long as it stays on the field.

In fact, i have had so many situations where i summoned it and blaster just to put pressure against an opponent's s/t board in the mirror. A card which puts added pressure is almost always good.

Added benefits include using it vs retarded rogue decks or playing the resource game vs your opponent if you know he still sides debunks (sucks in TCG) or if he runs fossil dyno.

Alot of people are terribly bored with the format as of now, so i would advise them to learn OCG mermail mirror because the deck is incredibly fun ! Its a whole different format with whole different card interactions, and for some reason i feel that the OCG and TCG might just merge back together next format. (call it 6th sense)

That's all for today.

Carl Manigat's Mythic Ruler

Yesterday ARG Worcsdfzdnfsjdfq just finished and i managed to take a look at some of the decklists. Granted most of them were horrible and established my stance on why American YGO shouldn't be taken too seriously at times, 1 particular deck stood out very much to me which was Carl manigat's mythic ruler.

3xBlaster Dragon Ruler of Infernos
3xRedox, Dragon Ruler of Boulders
3xTidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls
3xMaxx “C”
2xMythic Tree Dragon
2xMythic Water Dragon
1xMontage Dragon
1xBattle Fader
1xFlamvell Guard
0xSpells : 15
3xForbidden Lance
3xSacred Sword of Seven Stars
3xUpstart Goblin
2xDragon ravine
2xTrade-In
1xBook of Moon
1xGold Sarcophagus
0xTraps: 6
1xReturn from a Different Dimension
3xReckless Greed
1xCompulsory Evactuation Device
1xBottomless Trap Hole

This was his main deck list.

First of all you will notice is that it has absolutely no tempest and meaning you only run 3 dragon rulers.

Secondly is the upstart and reckless engine which bears so much resemblance to Patrick hobans's dragunities.

The idea of this deck is to use those 2 colours to summon a rank 8 usually felgrand, or draggluong or even galaxy eyes comparable to a level 8 that hoban's deck focuses on summoning.

It also runs montage dragon as a searchable level 8 to abuse together with mythic water. Montage dragon is a beast being able to considerably put game on board makes it an incredibly interesting monster. However i think its used just for synergy with trade in and mythic water. Lance + montage is crazy because putting 4k damage is insane since it bypasses scarecrow and fader.

The 2 trade ins represent the consonance engine in regular dragunities.

The merits of the deck is that it doesnt rely heavily on ravine which can be considered an asset since field spell wars wont be a problem for this deck.

I think it is very very interesting and is definitely worth testing out.

Is it good? Probably, he had to be doing something right to make it to the finals or a glorified regionals. However, it may not be good because of consistency issues etc but its definitely worth a try.

The event also showcased fossil dyna pachyphealo's entrance to the druler sidedeck similar to what japan has been doing.

Fossil dyna is very neat with stardust radiance. Backed up with a debunk and a trap stun, its incredibly powerful. However it wont be as effective in TCG compared to OCG where traps arent very prevalent.

Its ability to kill orphion and many other decks is neat too , an has alot of weightage to how versatile it might be.

The Upstart Goblin Conundrum

Its late now so i'll keep this short.

A few days ago, dgz dragon ruler thread had a very heated discussion about Upstart Goblin in standard dragon rulers TCG.

The idea was that you would run 37 cards thus making it easier for you to get to your key cards.

You would mostly use upstart after you thinned your deck though dragon searches/ravine mills or only when you need to, or when you could deal your opponent some damage to mitigate upstarts costs.

The pros of upstarts are:

1) 37 cards - cool stuff.
2) Easier to get to your key cards
3) Most standard rulers will cut consonance for this (which is probably better)
4) Implied consistency

The cons are:

1) 40 is tight space. Playing upstart cuts you from 3 other cards which could be useful combo cards or relevant traps for mirror.
2) 1000 life points gain sucks balls.
3) Having it in your hand when you wish it was a trap is worse.
4) Using it and drawing another dragon.
5) Much more

So, i was pretty against the card cos it sounds terrible and 1000 lp means its harder to kill your opponent.

But i was very wrong when i started testing some hands. The card did give the deck consistency and you saw sword, colours, maxx c etc more often than you should.

So, with both sides of the theory being equally convincing, the last thing you had to do is test the theory. So, from my deck i cut 3 cards which i found unneeded which are terraforming (to add consistency for ravine. Being at 37 means you will see ravine more), and 1 trap and 1 mst.

I tested a number of games with a friend. I found out my loss rate increased by 30% (from 30% on average from past scores to a whopping 60%) after testing with upstart.

Here are my conclusions:

upstart goblin is definitely not worth maining as the cons outweigh the pros. The reasons are as follows:

1) Holding upstart after you can thin down the deck sounds like it would work. However it doesnt work that way, You need to activate it immediately alot of times and it will just brick. This is not goat control where you can wait for a card to be good. You need cards you can use immediately effectively.

2) The 1000 lp cost matters alot more.

3) The 1000 lp cost after they resolve the ancient fairy combo turn 1 will make it worse. At that point even if you drew into 6 sense it wont necessarily help you. In that position, in 1 of the games, i found that if i had a trap instead of upstart, i would have grinded the game out and probably won.

4) After i took out upstart, and he continued using them, i went up to 12k lp in 1 game and took no damage lol

5) Increasing your trap count will let you see more traps compared to reducing your trap count and reducing deck count. Eg: running 8 defensive cards in a deck of 40 nets you a 20% chance of drawing the defensive cards after 1 draw- im not counting opening hand cz the math would be different there) If i were to run 37, the chances of drawing a defensive card , provided you cut 2 defensive card (and 1 other card) is 16.2%. Why run upstart if it only decreases your chance of seeing traps. You can argue "oh but theres swords too". Lets add sword to a pool of cards you wanna open with including maxx c. Thats 8 defensive cards 3 swords, 3 maxx c, so 14- 35% without upstart, and 32.4% if you cut 2 defensive cards for the upstarts.

6) drawing upstart after upstart sucks or opening with 2.

Overall i wouldnt run upstart. However, according to your playstyle, if you feel that you need more draw power and feel like consonance is being a drag, id much recommend upstart over consonance from testing (prefer uostart over consonance).

However i just prefer card trooper and traps.

Was my sample space (from testing) large enough to warrant an accurate conclusion? (approximately only 10 games). Maybe not since as sample size increases your results differ and variance decreases. Although i think if i tested more, i would just be more disappointed. Upstart is not a card you can throw in any deck just to reduce your deck size.

 Standard dragons are definitely not suitable and even in dragunity im not a fan of it because although you are increasing consistency, you are sacrificing many important comboes and plays and disrupting synergy in the deck. Overall i think the dragunity build in TCG is very weak because they spend too much space on upstarts and stuff and disregard comboes with zephryos, redmd and garuda. Their average strong play is set up 1 rank 8 with backrow which is so easy to do in dragon ruler also. I think if dragunity are to become strong again, they need to take a different approach. Their strongest play needs to have mysteltain to get a combo off and even the end product doesnt seem all that appealing.

Thats all for today.