Sunday, August 3, 2014

Vanity Emptiness

So, a while ago there was a joke about me and Vanity Emptiness which was started by the Singaporeans mainly because I posted a status on my YGO FB account saying that players in OCG should sell Emptiness at its peak price because Qlipoth format is not one where Emptiness will thrive in.

However, I think emptiness will be crucial again soon thanks to DDD!!!

Watching the video posted by YES showcasing the DDD deck, emptiness will definitely see play again soon. I have not read much of the ddd's effects but from the video it seems to have alot to do with special summoning and gaining advantage everytime something is special summoned/ sent to grave etc. Although it will definitely be a format with multiple MSTs, emptiness is too good not to run against DDD because it relies on DDD to have an out to emptiness to be able to play yugioh.

Jokes on me !!!
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Monday, July 14, 2014

Of Tongue Twisters and Format Change

When I first started keeping up with the OCG, the decks had just started playing breakthrough skill and vanity emptiness, because breakthrough was the best answer to a delteros summoned from the star seraph monsters and emptiness was a insane vs any deck relying on star seraph as an engine.

But as Heroes were introduced into the format, people decided that breakthough was subpar and they rather just dealt with the monsters themselves with cards like bottomless/ torrential/ prison. Vanity still stays as a staple card (although quite a number of the decks have reduced from 3 to 2 ) because it isn't terrible against heroes and is overall a very solid card in the current meta. 

As of now, more and more japanese players on devpro are siding gorz as an out to heroes because having 2 monsters is incredibly hard for heroes or any beatdown deck to deal with. 

Just this afternoon, a friend of mine asked me to read up on Qliphoth, a new archetype which will be introduced in the next set (i think). It took me a while to read through every single card and till now I have no idea how to pronounce the name. 

So, first an introduction to qlipot: 

Qlipots are the first deck that revolves around pendulum summoning to be considered competitive. Each and every single monster is a pendulum monster between the scales of 1-9. Most of its monsters are of level 5-8 so they all fall perfectly in between the scale ranges of the qlipot monsters. 

Each of the qlipots have a special clause in the pendulum zone which is : Only Qlipot monsters can be special summoned. This is a good restriction clause because if you could summon anything else, as you read on on, it would be totally insane. 

They also have additional clauses which increases your monsters attack points or your opponents monsters depending on which card you have.

The first card to think of when it comes to pendulum would be odd eyes dragon. This card acts as a ROTA for any pendulum monster, however it is slightly slow because you have to wait till the ep which is sorta like kuribandit. Odd eye's main flaw all this time was never its design - its insane , but that no pendulum monster was worth playing and the overall mechanic just sucked badly. 

Qlipots have a themed odd eyes, known as qlipot tool. This is the best card in the deck ATM because you can pay 800 to add any qlipot card (including s/t) to your hand. The best thing? Its a rota not a kuribandit and you dont have to wait until the ep to use its effect. 

The whole point of these monsters is that they toolbox themselves, and they get effects based on tribute summoning. 

The rest of the qlipots that have been introduced are level 6,7,8 respectively. Both the level 6 monsters act like atlanteans. These are the 2 main qlipots you want to pendulum summon out. When tributed, these monsters return a monster to their owner's hand or destroy a spell/ trap. Both of these monster have 2400 attack. 

Then there are the other 2 qlipot monsters. One is a level 7 monster which has an effect whereby if you tribute summon at least 1 qlipot monster to summon him, you can summon any 2 qlipots from the deck (but they will be destroyed in the ep). The 2nd one is just a random beatstick which has an attack twice effect and piercing damage. 

So, lets debunk each qlipot card one by one.

http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Qliphoth_Archive
http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Qliphoth_Genome

Archive and genome are the level 6 monsters. These monsters let you get effects based on the pendulum summoning methods. Being 2400 attack and 1000 defence is also extremely handy because both these monsters resemble monarch's special effects.

Take note that you can tribute them for anything like caius also and they still resolve. 

http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Qliphoth_Disk

Qlipot disk is your level 7 2800 attack monster and the otk monster in the deck. By tributing at least 1 qlipot, you can summon 2 out. Luckily you cant special summon any other monsters besides qlipot if any of your pendulum scales are qlipot monsters. If not you can easily just use this as a rescue rabbit and summon 2 monsters to xyz summon a felgrand/ dragosack etc.

There are people trying to run entermate purple cat to bounce a pendulum monster to the hand. So the idea would be to have maybe a cat and a qlipot, and after pendulum summoning and resolving disk, you can bounce the qlipot in the pendulum zone to bypass the restriction clause. This lets you summon felgrand/dragosack at will. By running cat and odd eyes, its also possible to have those 2 cards in your pendulum scale and not have to use a qlipot (although that would take a god hand)

http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Qliphoth_Shell

Shell is the last revealed qlipot and seems to be the worst among the other qlipots. However being able to inflict huge amounts of damage is pretty gamebreaking. However, having qlipot disk summon 2 shells to otk, doesnt seem so bad does it, considering the shells will just go to the extra deck and return after your next pendulum summons. 

Overall, these cards are incredibly insane as they just tutor each and every single copy and have good otk capabilities. 

But wait!, theres an additional clause which lets each monster become level 4 and to be normal summoned as an 1800 vanilla (which still gets sent to extra deck when destroyed). This gives the deck extra leverage when you brick without being able to pendulum summon. 

And as icing on the cake, each qlipot cant be affected by monster effects which have lower levels/ ranks. 

Support cards in the deck include return of the monarch. It was clear that qlipots were meant to be abused with the card as they fit the stats on the return perfectly. 

You could also play storm forth monarchs to clear annoying monsters and make sure your level 6-s arent dead. Heck, if you tribute a level 6, and then tribute 1 of your opponents monsters for disk, you can just summon another 2 monsters from deck and potentially otk. 

And the best thing about pendulum summoning? The pendulum monsters are like dragon rulers ! They recur ery turn as long as they arent BTH-ed/ wing blast/ space time trap holed (insane pendulum stopper card).

This leads us to think why cards like vanity emptiness will become obsolete. It would seem pretty good considering emptiness can stop pendulums.

1) Vanity stops the special summoning but nothing is actually done to the monsters, they remain in hand/ extra deck and doesnt cause any economical card loss. In TCG dragon ruler format post rejuv, people started cutting emptiness because it doesnt deal with an established field, and if you had emptiness, any other trap would do the exact same thing, with the ability to actually deal with the monster summoned (such as warning, compuls/ BTH/ torrential)

2) storm forthof the monarchs, With this card in qlipoth, it seems extremely easy to just tribute whatever monsterthey were protecting with vanity and just summon a caius/ qlipoth level 6 etc and deal with the board.

3) last but not least, when pendulum becomes a thing, and odd eyes/ qlipot tools being the toolboxers of the deck, you can bet your ass everyone and his dog will run 3 mst to slow down the deck. And MST is the best answer to emptiness. 

The worst part is that pendulum is a new mechanic introduced by Konami, you will definitely see more support for the mechanic to make it more imbal. ATM, KOnami is on the right track as they are introducing more rotas as it seems to be the best way to make pendulums a thing. Qlipots are just the tip of the iceberg, and lets not forget that the cards we know are only the ones leaked, we dont know any of their themed spell traps and there is a chance that there are more qlipot monsters in the set.


DISCLAIMER: EVERYTHING WRITTEN HERE IS JUST A PREDICTION, AND A META CALL. I WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY TRADE LOSSES YOU MAKE DUE TO FOLLOWING THIS ARTICLE AS IT DOES NOT IN ANY WAY, REPRESENT PROFESSIONAL ADVICE WITH THE INTENTION OF AIDING BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS.

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Saturday, July 12, 2014

Japanese Hero Lists

So quite alot of cool hero variants have popped up in Japan. These lists are all translated by the org and can be found here: http://www.ygorganization.com/ocg-07112014-japan-decklists/

Just a short post today although I will debunk some of the techs that they are using, as i've tested most of them.

RANK 4 TOOLBOX HERO 
MONSTER CARDS (13):
1 Elemental HERO Stratos
3 Elemental HERO Shadow Mist
1 Elemental HERO Bubbleman
3 Goblindbergh
2 Summoner Monk
3 Tin Goldfish
Techs:
1) Goblin bird- I used to test one of this card as a one-of in pure heroes because it made in-hand shadow mists live and instantly nets you a dark law. It can also make a 1 card rank 4 with either mist/airman as both cards replace themselves. Very solid card however its drawbacks are that if you arent using it for a rank 4, placing it in defence means you lose 1 card (usually itself) to a monster, and using a trap to protect goblinbird is a terrible strategy.
2) Tin Goldfish- cool overall and a better goblinbird. However not ROTA searchable. 
Techs: 
1) E Hero Ocean- bad card end of story.
2) Warrior returning alive- never tested it. seems cool. Another r4 centric deck since returning bubbleman is the main strategy. This deck seems like it would clog with monster hands.
techs:
1) Trap trix mermelo- tested this as a 1-of in the beta stages of the deck. Being an MST / ROTA seemed really really solid and its clear that this card was designed after airman. However at times it could get really really underwhelming past turn 1.
STAR SERAPH HERO 

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As VERZ returns into the meta with its ability to play floodgates and its monsters being inherently bigger than heroes/ tella's, it seems that hero hands could be a good meta call going into any event, as hands are a huge power play and the deck having an easier time placing monsters in the grave to abuse with soul charge. Its disadvantages would be a first turn dark law which relies on you having to draw a trap to deal with it, or to pray your opponent doesnt have a trap to deal with your r4 combo to out dark law.

Destiny Heroes are really solid atm too due to the speed the deck has, however its main problem is playing cards like destiny draw + diamond dude. Its a 2 card combo which is equivalent to trade in+ blue eyes, or consonance + tuner whereby drawing 1 or the other results in a dead draw. Luckily the deck searches the dheroes quite efficiently, and its saving grace is that diamond dude alone isnt as bad of a terrible draw like bewd without ravine, or dragon tuner without a ruler, as you can pair it off with a bubbleman, or HC halberd etc. However, would you really rely on this strategy since its flaws are fairly obvious? 
Most of the sidedecks resembled what i have been testing for a while being 2-3 dprison, 3 royal commands, 1-2 s/t destroyers, and a combination of either super poly/ maxx c / raiou etc.  
It also really peeves me how some of those decks can play hero alive together with soul charge, they conflict way too often to prove to be a consistent strategy, altho hero lives can be conserved as a last resort power card to get out a dark law, but regardless, it still conflicts way too often. 
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Friday, July 4, 2014

OCG: Heroes in the current meta

So, I'm pretty free during the holidays so thought i'd pen down my thoughts on Heroes.

Heroes currently receive huge support in the form of Masked Heroes. What was a slower version : Gemini Spark is now replaced by Masked Change, a new quick spell which is searchable, and doesnt require a specific monster, and can be used on any hero monster you possess.

So, let's discuss the cards individually:

1) Dark Law- I won't go into depth with dark law because by now, everybody knows what it does. Konami made it quite balanced in the sense that 2400 attack is really weak and can be outted quite easily. It doesnt have any built in protection like Felgrand, and can be outted with Compulsory, BTS etc. However, it is still a really good card, and if theres anything we've learnt from YGO, its that just cos a card can be outted by a trap, doesnt make it any less good of a card.

Dark Law makes it particularly good vs satella knights going first, as they need to draw a trap to out it. If you can protect the dark law, you win quite easily. However, as good as it seems vs shaddolls, its actually not, a simple shadoll fusion clears it, and it doesnt prevent shadolls flip effects from happening. This would not be the play I would make if i am versing a shaddoll opponent.

Note that drawing a card (like from upstart) is counted as adding and will cause dark law's effect to trigger.

2) Kamikaze- Another decent monster. Its effect to prevent battle, and that it cant be destroyed in battle is hardly relevant as its easily outted by honour ark, castiel etc. Its main function is a wind mask hero so that you can abuse airman with. the draw effect is very very good in heroes you need cards to thin the deck. Well timing your kamikaze can be very devastating for your opponent and its effect makes it a threat in the mirror match if you go against a Mask hero Kouga

3) Kouga- The last monster and at first sight probably the worst. However, its probably one of the most useful mask heroes because its effect can be chained to, and acts like a pseudo honest. Kouga can put huge damage on board, which is very important in the hero deck. However, its downside is having to run E hero Alias, a bad card, a brick, and a card which hardly contributes to your comboes. If the meta turns out to be hero mirrors, you can bet its well worth maining one Alias. Alias however isnt that terrible backed up with Vanity Emptiness, particularly against Tella Knight etc. However its still a subpar card.

4) Mask Change 2- At first glance this card seemed crazy. But, its actually not as good as you think it is, mainly in Heroes. Opening with it is terrible , because its a bad investment, its cost is too steep, and the fact that you had to summon a monster with a higher level reduces its versatility. In a pure hero deck, you would never want this card, because Mask change does the exact same thing but much better. However, it is good for other decks which want to abuse mask heroes like infenity, shadolls etc.

5) Form Change- And dont get me started on form change, its dead most of the time, a horrible card to draw all around and only good for otk-ing, which translates to you being in a winning position so you should already be winning anyway. Bad card bad design.

6) Mask Charge- A very nifty card. Acts like salvage, and a 1 card of any mask hero you choose. You can return fusions too, and overall very good card. Card advantage and options are always welcome.

7) Contrast hero Chaos- Sweet card in general, with a very good effect (Solemn Judgment anyone?) but its requirement is pretty steep. It is very very rare that you will be summoning it because to have 2 Mask heroes in grave and to have miracle fusion is very unlikely and can only be good in late game. Most of the time your go to card for Miracle is Absolute Zero.

8) E HERO Core- The one card I never tested. No comments about it (i dont even know its effect)

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Matchups across the board:


1) Tella Knight - Tella is one of this deck's worst matchups because the other deck just puts a steady stream of beatsticks that Hero cant deal with. They gain alot of advantage very very easily and churn monsters out. Heroes, having naturally lower attack, and playing lesser monsters in the deck just lose out. In theory , heroes would have to draw mask change or a trap to be in a commanding position, thus making it the inferior deck. The best way to play against tella would be to pray you went first and make dark law, or just going for the OTK, depending on the circumstances. A very cool tech to deal with tella would be to main/side 2 copies of the hands. This makes going 2nd much more favourable.  Alot of the time, Hands put alot of pressure on tella, and you can easily blow them out, as well as cause 2 for 1 trades. If they refuse to set traps to play around the hands, you are in a really strong position. Their only out is probably castiel, as nobody extra decks dweller anymore.


2) Shaddolls- Another matchup which is very very risky. It is abit hard game 1 because shadolls will stall the game out and its hard for you to otk, but siding g2/3 makes it much easier. In theory you just have to deal with their face down monsyers, and you can do so by siding, because Shadools would have to draw their fusion spell or a trap to out dark law. Furthermore, Heroes can easily otk out of the blue if they have the right hand or if the facedown monster is not a lizard. Heroes also pressure shadolls because shadolls are a reactive deck and is usually quite slow. Having emptiness + dark law out is very hard for shadoll to deal with.

These 2 are probably the most relevant decks in the OCG meta. Anything else like yang zing, dragon rulers, are probably irrelevant. Infernity is a scary deck, but after playtesting it, deck is prone to monster hands but having first turn dark law makes it really hard for infernity to get going.

So, what cards should be in a hero list?

Here is an example of a core:

1 Airman
X Bubbleman
X Shadow Mist
2 Summon Priest
X Alius

X Miracle Fusion
X Mask Charge
3 Mask Change
1 ROTA
1 Foolish Burial
X Emergency Call
X Hero Alive
1 Reborn
1 Storm

3 COTH
X Traps to deal with the format- Emptiness is probably the most important card in the current meta.

Other cards to consider also include:
E Hero Voltic
HC Halberd Challenger
Maxx C
Super Poly
Form Change
Mask Change 2


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Various versions of heroes:


1) Pure E Heroes (sample of the deck core is given up there)- This list focuses on the mask change + hero focus of the deck. It is generally solid, but can lack monster power.


2) Destiny Heroes- Clarence's list is a very good example, and some decklists mixed with some dhero cards have appeared on Japanese sites. Easy access to key beetle and faster than the pure hero build. Focuses less on the mask change aspect and more on the rank 4 plays.

3) Star seraph heroes- Probably the most popular version of heroes in Japan. Very explosive if you draw the right cards. However, it has consistency issues. Call me a sceptic, but I do not believe this is the right way to play Hero ATM. The reason tellaknight star seraph is good is because tella is a separate reliable engine to have even with dead star seraph cards in hand. Heroes however are not, because the only cards you wanna play are mist, stratos and perhaps 1 bubbleman, along with monk and the star seraph engines. Shadoll star seraph is also alright because you can just stall out with the shadolls or utilize the fusion spell to get rid of dead thrones.

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Overall thought on heroes:

It is fun and very consistent. But it lacks really strong power plays like what the star seraph engine can do, or soul charge. This makes it slightly weaker because it relies on a decent setup backed up by vanity emptiness. However, the best decks this format are ones that utilize the star seraph-soul charge engine. They usually end up with 1-2 dead in hand cards (usually a throne or a soul charge early game) if their seraph engine doesnt get going. This makes it slightly less explosive. Heroes could capitalize on that and put pressure early.

Pure Heroes' main downfall is that it cannot make use of soul charge.


However, that seems like a risky strategy to take going into a tournament. They could be tier 1.5 ish but will not really hit tier 1. Having consistency is one thing but also being blown out by decks that draw really well is also another factor to consider. The strongest power play of Tellaknight > strongest power play of Heroes, and the same can be said for the average play for both decks. Until Soul charge is limited, Heroes will never be the best deck.




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Thursday, July 3, 2014

It's been a while

What's up guys, its been a while since i made my last post. Yugioh blogging has been dead for quite a while. I've decided to come back to posting a little bit for the fun of it. It will serve like a personal diary, to record what i've come across/ seen/ think of cards/ comboes/ decks/ formats etc.

So, I think i should let you all know what's been up for the last few months in my yugioh life.

First of all, I haven't been playing much Yugioh, besides attending a regionals and nationals, which i will go into detail later in the post. I have played 1 local for the fun of it just so that me and my friends could go to pool after.

So, here goes:

Regional:

I played dragon ruler at this regional. It was just a few days after Alex Juneja nearly topped some american regional with dragon ruler. The list was really hyped, and I was fortunate to be in contact with Chris Welch and Josh Graham as they built the deck. Similar to a list i was tested at the beginning of the format (i ran silver's cry back then in mine), I thought it was interesting to bring it to a regional and see how I could pilot the deck. I came 5-2, losing 1 game to hieretics, which OTK-ed me in game 1, and in game 3 i bricked with 2 blue eyes in hand. This was before Dragons of Legends, so the deck wasn't as good (Its still horrible now), and losing the second match to bujin where i just bricked and game 3 my opponent topdecked Honest for the win. I came 9th, narrowly missing out on the top, as my tiebreaks were pretty good (I beat 1 or 2 people in the top 8, and my other loss was also in the top 8)

Nationals:

Fast forward to nationals, as i have been testing the deck for ages. I was back and forth on alot of cards, especially with the bandit vs trooper issue. Chris convinced me to play Trooper, which sounded great as 2 nights before, I played Trooper vs the mirror and completely savaged my opponents during playtesting. I was completely sold on troopers, and since it was just a week after Hoban won an ARG with dragons, I was pretty sure my nationals meta would be full dragons as the deck wasnt expensive and relatively easy to pick up.

The night before in Brisbane, I playtested, and was extremely satisfied with my list, except i wanted to find 2 metaions to sidedeck, which i eventually found the next morning.

So, here's a short recap of my games:

R 1) Firefist- win. It was a fast win. i saw dragon shrine game 1 and had a playable hand, and game 2 i sided in hands and skill drain to win.

R 2) Zombie Soul charge.dek- He summoned dark grepher and sent mezuki and I was so glad and was like yes a bye, I sent trooper into it, and set a wing blast. In my turn he completely savaged me as he wombo-combo zombie master and friends and made a field of Infernity doom dragon, Beelze and something else, and I used PWWB on the beelze as he was setting his backrow to prevent doom from negating. I was sure I would survive and be able to mount a comeback next turn but he dropped Dark Arm and crushed me.

Game 2 I managed to win, but it took me a long time as dragons were grindy. I managed to attack for game as time was called. It was unfortunate but i was 1-0-1 at this point.

Reminescing here, I made a mistake at one point. I let him take back a play in G1 which might have caused him to win. However, he was the nicest guy I have ever met in a YGO tournament, and we had a very very good chat, and I thought he was a nigga (i've a soft spot for niggas they dope as hell and really cool people to talk to, although Bodan told me he was actually maori after LOL). The whole day, if we met, and even on the next day, he would greet me and chat, and was just a nice person all around. I felt bad, and let him take back the play.

R 3) Mermaids- I drew playable but abit slow, but he completely otk me next turn with tidal, megalo and lots of other shit. I win the next game, and in game 3 i bricked so hard I could build a house. So, I took my first loss for the day, and was 1-1-1

R4) Geargia- My opponent was some weird ginger kid who was horrible at the game. G1 he comboed and my only trap i drew to stop him he had wiretap for it. I lost in 2 turns as my hand was slow and he had geargiagear, armour, wiretap, and accel in hand. Nice hand.

Game 2 he started his plays and I had PWWB to deal with his GGX but i wasnt sure if I should PWWB it as he had a lvl 3 in grave (the one that specials another lvl 4 by tributing itself). I scanned the guy overall and decided he probably didnt know GGX had another eff to revive and just went for it. Lo, and behold, he didnt know ! I drew my combo pieces eventually and it was a long hard grind and I managed to win. However, at one point he read GGX and asked if he could special summon off it (I destroyed it in battle but had proceeded to my MP2). I said hell no LOL you passed priority long ago. As I was attacking for game, the game went to a draw as time was called. We wanted to play game 3 in time with 5 rounds but just my luck, as a judge walked by behind us, looked at the game and (with people watching it), we could not lie and just signed the slip.  I was 1-2-1 and had almost given up hope at this point.

R5- Constella - I savaged him game 1, and game 2 I savaged him too. He had soul charge and electric virus my star eater (???) and swung for game. I reminded him about soul charge and he scooped. 2-2-1

R6- Mermaids- I win pretty fast as I saw dragon shrine etc. 3-2-1

R7- Hands deck- It was interesting vs-ing a hands deck before HAT became popular. I win g1 with ease with stardust, and game 2 i sided in my hands and destroyed him in the mirror LOL. 4-2-1

R8- At this point I had climbed back up pretty high, and if i won the last round I had a chance of topping (we found out later that this was not true , as my opponent ended up only in 22nd place). I was seated next to Jono Ritzau and we chatted and I watched him get savaged in the Infenrity mirror while he kept showing me his hands. I was vsing mermail, and my opponent was a bit of a douche, and it was funny how he kept trying to talk to Jono but kept getting ignored (SMH fanboy). Game 1 he combo-ed off and had the warning for my play (I opened really bad and could not get anything going till about turn 3).

Here's the interesting part as Game 2 approached and I get random deckchecked. They came back telling me I had a game loss because I used the duelist kingdom cards as a token. This was literally just unreal as you guys should know that the duelist kingdom cards are the tokens included in the Japanese pegasus starter deck. I ended up in a long debate at the event as several people watched. I told them ,:

1)  on a balance of probabalities, it was reasonable to infer that my intention was to clearly use those cards as tokens, and they could not be included in my deck so obviously I had 0 ways to cheat with it.

2) People like Hoban and americans use it all the time, and it was fine.

3) I had asked a judge before the event and showed him my token list (included my Malaysian IC and driving license and several other membership cards) and he said it was fine.

It was beyond absurd and I was so pissed off that I had gotten the game loss. Their reason was that below, on the left hand corner, there was a japanese clause stating this card cant be used in a duel. Well, no shit sherlock, its a fucking token not a card to be played in the maindeck. I smoked up, and went to dinner with friends.

So i ended up 4-2-2 losing 1 to judge OTK, 1 to bricking, and drew 2 games. It was clear my deck choice for the event was wrong as dragons clearly sucked and I had completely forgot about the time factor. I also made a wrong meta call thinking everyone would be running dragons and cut bandit and skill drain out of my maindeck.

I will not be attending Oceanics this year because I am not spending 900$ on return flights to play in a terrible format where lightlord is probably the best deck. Quoting one of my friends, this format is just picking the deck you hate the least. Most of my Aussie friends (progressive team) arent even using the same decks, mainly because there is no clear cut best deck and everyone is just using what they're most comfy with.
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So, overall, i decided to take a break from Yugioh TCG as it was pretty bad experience during nationals. The metagame right now is mostly sylvians/ lightlord and geargia, and basically anything has a chance to win. The game is very very linear, as the comboes and plays are mostly fairly obvious and there are no lines of thoughts/ and is impossible to plan multiple turns ahead.

Recently I had started to look at the OCG again when Heroes got released, and started testing and playing. I tested a little bit of tella knight and shadolls but stopped, and decided to go full throttle after heroes became available on DNET. The last time I played a proper game of OCG was with dragon rulers around. Naturally, after a few games with some friends, I started getting savaged badly because my thinking had become too linear playing TCG. I soon got used to it again, and am now getting better and more used to OCG. I am learning to play Hero like i used to, and playing control / tempo based decks again, and not just dragon ruler/ combo decks.

The OCG overall is much better. There are times you still get outdrawn but its a card game for God's sake these things happen, but you are in a much better position to control your fate. There are times where your opponent can still outdraw you but lose if they waste their cards and play unoptimally, while you draw your combo cards later in the game.

The game over in Asia is much more complicated and more skilled due to the abundance of options. Hoban once mentioned that a game with a high power creep isnt neccessarily bad, as dragon format was skillful because of the availability of resources and how you had to manage them in different ways.

I will have a post up in the next few days about Heroes in the OCG in general, and how competitive it can be and whether it can survive in the metagame.

Also if you have not known, I have set up a multi FB account for YGO (ting tong which you can freely add as I shall accept every YGO player friend request) . Take heed that its an account for me to go spazzy and at this point, its probably the 2nd most annoying FB acc, after Cordero Vexacus Spencer.



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Friday, March 14, 2014

TCG banlist wishlist

As of now everybody should be aware that speculations are not possible since its very hard to predict Konami's actions, and even if it is easy, its not something we are gonna accept easily, so i think its easier to just have a wishlist.

This is what i would want done to the format:

Banned:
Royal Tribute

Limited:
E- Hero Stratos
E- Hero Bubbleman
Verz Ophion
Rekindling
Fire Formation Tenki
Dragon Ravine
Mystical Space Typhoon
Kaiser Colosseum
Skill Drain
Abyssphere
Reckless Greed
Royal Decree
Solemn Judgment

Semi-limited:
Thunder King Raiou
Gorz
Judgment Dragon
Book of Moon
Bottomless Trap Hole
Compulsory Evacuation Device
Torrential Tribute

So, my explanations for the list:

Royal tribute- spooky card which auto wins hanttttt

E-Hero Stratos- Should have never have been banned in the first place, IDK what they were thinking

E-Hero Bubbleman- with airman limited, this card can be at 1 just for the option and the luls.

Verz Ophion- Annoying floodgate which shouldnt exist. I can see Konami keeping it around for artifacts so..

Rekindling- another crazy boogy card, I like how Konami TCG is banning boogy cards, and leaving us with a playable game.

Fire Formation Tenki- card should never have been at 3, its at 2 in ocg.

Dragon Ravine- Personal wishlist to have more dragonss

Mystical Space Typhoon- With all the floodgates gone, and playable traps backed up to 2 in this list, it just makes sense that MST doesnt need to exist at 3 anymore. MST can be considered a floodgate in some sense since alot of plays revolve around spells/traps, for example dragon ravine, tenki, abyssphere etc.

Kaiser Colosseum- annoying floodgate which need not exist

Skill Drain- ^

Abyssphere- Card that makes mermails super strong. Hitting tues will totally kill off the deck. Sphere is the card which generates alot of advantage which ep sphere into pike into gunde and bringing back linde again. Basically a deck thinner, attack protection and fills their grave which fuels their play.

Reckless Greed- Drawing multiples is very strong in TCG with the power creep being low. In fact, resolving reckless once is an auto win cz its hard for your opponent to keep up with the advantage  generated. In a deck like mermails, you churn out advantage and the draw phase doesnt matter. At the end of the 2 turns you usually find yourself having the same number of cards as opponent/ or more, and with a stronger board.

Royal Decree- ^

Solemn Judgment- OK to see at 1. Its not an annoying floodgate or a boogey power card and adds more variety in the game.

Semi-limited:

Thunder King Raiou- With more traps, this can exist at 2.

Judgment Dragon- Powerful card. To 1 would kill Lightlords definitely, and at  3 seems too many, 2 seems to be the optimal number.

Gorz- not doing much actually, the formats for Gorz has totally passed us by :(

Book of Moon
Bottomless Trap Hole
Compulsory Evacuation Device
Torrential Tribute

^ Im gonna sum all of these in 1 post since they're effectively the same thing. I think we have all learnt that a format with Solemn warning as your best trap, and having to main 3 fiendish chains in everything was horrible.

Thats all for this post. As i've advocated, more power traps in the format is healthy, and less floodgates/ less boogey cards is the way the game should be heading. The power creep exists, we should get over it, and just adapt to it, and enjoy the game as it is by eliminating as much of the luck factor and the floodgates which stop us from playing the game.
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