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.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Monday, November 18, 2013
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.
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.
Friday, November 15, 2013
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.
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.
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