Worlds- Congrats to Ben!

Beforehand, an extended congratulations to Ben for getting World Champion! Benjamin Hong made Singapore and Asia proud by winning World Championships. He did so by using a Blackwing deck. the metagame at worlds consisted of purely Synchro Cat, Gladiator Beasts, Blackwings and one Lightsworn deck

Basically this is the number breakdown in descending order:

Synchro cat- 10
Gladiator Beasts- 8
Blackwings- 4
Lightsworn- 1

All in all, Worlds was awesome as The Top8 consisted of pure Gladiator Beasts and Blackwing decks! The finals was an all-Asian one and it all came down to GB v.s BWs, and the victor: BlackWings! Thank God the new restriction list is coming out or we will all be raped by birds and cats!

I would also like to congratulate Sam Kee Kian Sim who has done Malaysia proud by getting her into the top8 (even though he is Singaporean now) - ah! but wait! He is actually Malaysian who has moved there to study(if i'm not mistaken, thats what he told me when I asked about him when we went to find Alex at the LRT station).

I'm proud to say I got to know him at the end of last year when he went there to participate in a Christmas tourney (look at december 2008, there was a post about it) and he is memorable because he couldn't speak much English and we still managed to get along.

His album was also memorable because it consisted of threes of every possible meta card, expensive promos and that there were a couple of pages that consisted of ghost rares of Stardust, Black Rose, Honest, e.t.c (apart from Alex's of course =P which is the most crazy- he has more than 25 Stardust and other cards) Alex I still got the photo in my phone so no denying and saying its Sam's :P

Sam made it so far with a BlackWing deck. His other accomplishments are:
1) winning the Asia Qualifiers
2) topping numerous Malaysian events- such as representing Malaysia for Asia Qualifiers, Nationals, and other smaller ones.

To end the post, I read The Perplexed Duelist and got to see the prize for the top 8 duelists:
a binder, deck box, Worlds Mat, lots of sleeves, a small card case, and NEVER-BEFORE-RELEASED boxes of the TCG version of Ancient Prophecy, Stardust Overdrive and the Warriors' Strike StructureDeck.

On a side note: I think mostly kids won the Top8. Perhaps only Roy St Clair, the New Zealand guy and the Austrian guys looked like adults. Look at the picture: all are Asian kids like me. Also, most awesome hair award goes to: Man Man Lai Au! Runner up goes to Lee Hong Kyu.

Banlist Prediction (for September 1st)

Oh dear, I know it has forever since I last updated. I've been busy, and there's been nothing much to update about either. Anyway, to keep up with the tradition, of making Banlists predictions since last year, I shall make mine now.

Note: the real one will probably be coming out anytime this month in the V-Jump magazine. I'm sure Konami has nothing much to change. The game's been pretty balanced out (except for a few things that gotta go :P

First thing's first:

banned:
Nothing. There's nothing worth banning In my opinion for the next format as nothing is overpowered or such. Dark Armed Dragon isn't worth banning because it's not awesome and overpowered now with it at one. Heck, it won't even be seen once in your whole match.

Restricted to 1

In the list, number one to head in is:

Judgment dragon
-Broken effect, and one of the best effect monsters in the game. With Charge coming out in OCG, this card gets worse and worse. Soon we might even see a LS-dominated format like TCG.

Rescue Cat
-Heart and core of Gladial Cat and Synchro cat decks. At 2, it's still good. At 1, too easy to take down. Now with Cat limited, I dont think Summon Priest needs to be limited right?

Dark Strike Fighter
-It sucks bad being hit by 2 DSF for game. Too broken.

BlackWing- Gale the Hurricane
-searchable by Black whirlwind, fast, special summon, decent attack, built-in shrink effect, Icarus attack bait, tuner status. Why not?

Cold Wave
-Annoys just about everybody except the Synchro Cat player. =_= After that, people flip spy, play priest/cat into airbellums, into arcanite magician, boom boom, and attack to discard and then sync into DSF shoot shhot game.

Black Whirlwind
-The main reason BWs are taking the meta by storm. Crazy search effect. Best searching spell ever. Summon a card and nett yourself another BF to put on the field, 2 for one summon =_= Restricting to 2 isnt gonna do much.

Restricted to 2:

Marshmallon
- Doesnt see play so back at 2.

X-saber Airbellum
- At least give Synchro Cat two tuner targets =) decent effect, decent stats, decent type.

Lonefire Blossom
- Debris Hime, fuel for Pot, instant Tytannial princess.

Reinforcement of the army
- Playing one is as good as playing none.

Mind Control
- Minus one for opponent. +1 for you to syncrho, burn, direct attack, e.t.c

Mystical Space Typhoon
- I don't think people wanna spend their deck space to run an extra card that destroys a spell/trap. Its still good but its not even a staple in any deck.

Taken off Restriction list:

Destiny Draw, Green baboon, dol dora (twin headed behemoth), Victory Dragon (I was just thinking why is this card banned???? :O, Megamorph, Magical stone excavation. Nobody plays these cards anymore.

Done.

On a side note, Yugioh blogs are really becoming a trend huh. There are so many new blogs for OCG and TCG. Even experienced TCG players like JaeKim and Claudio Kirchmair and even Audrey Tan ( Dale Bellido's girlfriend) have blogs now. Log on over to the blog roll at the right to view them =)

Ciao/

Exams ending this Friday....!

I cant wait! I'm thrilled that there is alot going on in the dueling world. But, I do wish there will be more cards in StarDust Overdrive to create a new Meta and introduce new competitive Tier 1 decks to the game again.

As for now, I was browsing through the net a while ago and arrived on someone's blog. Sorry forgot the url/link but it had "audio" in it I think. I forgot how i got there as there was too much to do at that time. But I saw something interesting.

Introduce the new concept of Garden Cat:

Black Garden basically gives either player tokens of 800 atk for each monster summoned normally or specially that aren't plant types. Its interesting because u can destroy all plants on the field (meaning only the rose tokens- UNLESS ur opponent is playing plants then you benefit so much!) then Special summon ANY MONSTER from ur graveyard equal to the total attack of plants. Since the tokens are of 800 atk, the monster u choose to summon back must have attack in multiples of 800

meaning :

1) 800*1
2) 1600 (800*2)
3) 2400 (800*3)
and so on...

Immediately a few monsters come to mind:
1) Summoner monk- 800 atk
2) X-saber Airbellum-1600 attack
3) Black Rose Dragon- 2400 atk
and many more which i cant think of now...

An easy combo would be:

1) Play garden and summon Armagedon knight --> dump monk to grave.
2) Token appears on opponent field.
3) Destroy Garden and token and bring back Monk. Free Monster reborn!

If you summon manage to get two tokens out, you can destroy them and call Airbellum in grave. Basically, Garden wants to be used straightaway. So depending on the card you want to choose (most of the time is Monk and Airbellum), you gotta act fast. Its no biggie getting 2 monsters out ( a normal summon and Spy perhaps?) , then put 2 rose tokens, destroy them and garden and bring out Airbelum from grave! Dont forget the monsters special summoned by garden is halved, so unless ur planning to use them as defence or for synchro bait, do watch out.

Its extremely versatile. Truth to be told, I dont know. I just saw it and thought you guys could be exposed to it. Is it good? I dont know! I dont have an AKB deck and I dont plan on making one either. Im too lazy and busy to proxy and testdeck with myself, so I was hoping you guys give it a try yourselves.

BTW, rauzes, I solved your second Duel Challenge. After exams I shall try your first since I shall have all the time in the world after my exams. Brain Research Exploitation Lab with 10 counters to inflict 10000 damage is just too gay and impossible! =D You guys can try it out yourselves too. Go to my blog roll (links) click over to gaijinduelist and take a look. Dont go to comments and cheat as I put my solution there =P
While at that, Hanrui has recently posted a new magical Explosion FTK deck! Too cool. It runs 3 De-synchros to abuse the coming back of Tuning Supporter and abusing it. Click over to retardedpanda.com (HR's blog)...Soon, I shall try making my own version of magical explosion FTK too but I'll do it old style with the Plaquespreaders, and my Burial from Different Dimension

Till next time, ciao

Building A Good Deck For the Current Format

We're at an interesting point in competitive dueling. While OTK's continue to rear their ugly little heads (the upcoming appearance of Synchro Cat won't make that situation any better), we don't have one single dominant deck taking the majority of the top seats at Regionals. Blackwings and Lightsworn are certainly the most popular strategies at the moment, followed closely by Skilldrain variants. But more strategies beyond those three are seeing play in the hands of proven and respected players, and the generous “make Top 32 and qualify” Regional season seems to be encouraging a lot of duelists to take risks and innovate, teching against the expected metagame instead of going along with it.

There's a world of possibilities out there right now, and the predictability of the current top decks permits the opportunity to outwit those strategies and create something new. There are a tremendous number of decks that can win at the moment, and as long as you keep your skills up and a few things in mind, you can create your own winning strategy. The most creative decks I've seen winning lately were wielded by duelists who followed many of the same philosophies, and if you understand a few guiding rules of this format, you'll have the tools to build new competitive decks.

So that's what we'll talk about today – some format-specific guidelines you can follow to make sure your creative deck is a metagamed masterpiece, instead of a one-flop wonder. We're not going to talk about general play tips like the importance of utility or the merits of conservative play. We're going to look at over-arching “musts” specific to this format instead.

1) Beat Blackwings!
As much as Blackwings have become a force to be feared in the North American metagame, the fact of the matter is that a lot of top players don't consider it to be the best deck in the format. Despite the deck's speed it's viewed as being predictable and weak to disruption in the early game. Get that first Blackwing off the field before your opponent can swarm with Blackwing – Bora the Spear and Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind, and you create a big opportunity to capitalize and take control. Cards like spy are often employed to help the deck's shaky opening (and the mirror match), but it's easily argued that additions of that sort just make a duelist more vulnerable to skill drain – an otherwise strong matchup for Blackwings. It's a painful catch 22.

With that said, Blackwings are easy to build and even easier to play. An average duelist can invest minimal time in learning the deck and still perform solidly against more experienced competitors. If you've gone to a Regional over the past few weeks you know what I'm talking about – “best deck” or not, Blackwings are definitely the most popular strategy right now, and will probably be your most common matchup in the Swiss rounds.

That means you have to be able to beat Blackwings. You can build a brilliant deck that trounces Lightsworn, Skill drains, Gladiator Beasts, and anything else you might come up against, but if you don't have a decent win percentage against Blackwings it won't matter. You'll be lucky to Top 32 a Regional if your Blackwing matchup is bad.

Luckily there are plenty of ways to tilt that matchup in your favor, with more strong tech options emerging on a weekly basis. Book of Moon and BTH have been popular in triplicate for weeks now. Both can shut down the first Blackwing your opponent plays, stopping him from claiming cards with black whirlwind and preventing the Special Summon of a fistful of Boras and Gales. Both cards are also extremely high in utility. It's rare for either card to be a bad draw, and their versatility makes them a strong choice for a variety of matchups.

But those two are obvious: go a bit deeper and things get more interesting. The massive popularity of BTH has led some Blackwing players to avoid opening with big monsters like Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame or Bora altogether, instead choosing Gale to lead the charge. A lot of metagames have reacted to this by teching regular Trap Hole, giving more ways to beat the Gale opening while still covering Shura and Bora. This is especially common in a lot of tournaments in the Philippines right now.

Compulsory Evacuation Device garnered a bit of attention when it topped in Maurice Brantley's Counter Fairy build a few weeks ago at Shonen Jump Anaheim, but the card continues to see experimentation today in a variety of decks. Brantley ran two copies of Evacuation Device alongside Neos Spacian Grand Mole, bumping away face-down monsters and Synchros while also having additional defense for when times truly get tough. That gave him an edge against Gladiator Beasts, but in today's environment they're both great cards to take against Blackwings. Blackwing Armor Master and collosal fighter are both powerful walls. The aforementioned tech of spy can also spell trouble for the unprepared, but Evacuation Device and Grand Mole can address both. While losing card presence to remove a face-down monster with Evacuation Device is costly, it'll often spell a win if you have enough followup, and that trend is leading to some serious experimentation.

Gorz is another card seeing a major comeback right now, and it can help you survive those big swarm turns from Blackwings. It can block Blackwings with its sheer size, and it can also give you a free monster to press with next turn. Blackwings aren't at their best when you force them into a simplified game state – as long as you can keep a single beat stick on the field you'll often achieve a win just by launching a flurry of one-for-ones and forcing exchanges. The Token monster Gorz generates is a free piece of card presence to help you do that, trading off for one of your opponent's cards if it can survive the turn.

2) Survive AKB (ArKanite Beat)
Speaking of Gorz, it's going to become even more important in the coming weeks as Synchro Cat starts seeing play. For those not in the know, Synchro Cat seeks to abuse synergy between Spy, Summoner Monk, and Cat with X-Saber Airbellum. Since a single Spy can easily become two Spies, and Cat can fetch you two copies of X-Saber Airbellum, the result is often a field of Spy, Airbellum, and Arkanite (give or take a copy of Summonker Monk). From there you'll lose your defenses to Arcanite, suffer three or four direct attacks, and then get whacked in main phase 2 by DDB.

When this combo is backed by CW there's not much you can do to stop it. If you had the chance to set Threatening Roar you could chain it to the activation of CW and survive. But if your opponent went first, activated CW, then set spy you are officially in trouble.

While beating Blackwings outright was the main concern in the Blackwing matchup, just surviving the enormous plays Synchro Cat can kick out is the big challenge in this one. Synchro Cat will open with GKS, Cold wave, and Summoner Monk or Cat about 8.25% of the time – 10% or more with the addition of simple draw cards. With Cat, Spy, and Wave you'll head into your next battle phase with a field of Arkanite, X-Saber Airbellum, and Spy: Arcanite clears your opponent's monster and you attack for 4200 damage and a discard. In main phase 2 DDB/DSF means an additional 2800 damage, 1000 shy of making game. If you opened with CW, Spy, and Summoner Monk instead of Cat, the Monk fetches Cat and serves as the Synchro material for Arkanite – leaving you free to use your second Spy as an attacker and Dark Strike fodder to claim victory.

Roar is a must, but it won't save you when your opponent draws huge and then goes first. Sorosh Saberian was adamant in his explanation of how that play punctuates what is to him, a simple fact of the format. “Gorz needs to be played, a hundred percent. Unless you're heavy on traps, Gorz is a must: I can't stress that enough.”

He continued: “For people to have access to Airbellum so quickly with Rescue Cat means they can Synchro or just go for huge discard plays [with Airbellum's effect]. Normally when people attack, they attack with their lowest ATK monster first, so chances are Airbellum is going to be the second or third attacker. If you can use Gorz to block the Airbellum attacks you can essentially save yourself and win.” If your opponent leads his attacks with Spy or Arkanite Magician, you can summon Gorz to block X-Saber Airbellum from hitting your life points and stealing a card. Even if your opponent smells a trap and attacks with Airbellum first, you'll at least survive the turn.

The strength of Gorz in a variety of matchups also gives it utility similar to that of Book of Moon and Bottomless. “It's good against Lightsworn” continued Saberian, “because they can get so many monsters to the field so quickly - same with Blackwings. Fighting off that swarm and bringing out a 2700 ATK beater is really awesome.” But the card's revamped potential is owed just as much to the matchups you won't see, as the ones you will. “You don't have to worry about Gorz being bad versus Gladiator Beasts because they're getting cycled out." In the past, the threat of Murmillo kept Gorz from seeing the level of use many thought it would achieve. The threat of CCV was another big reason a lot of players refused to run Gorz. With Crush no longer seeing heavy play, you're now free to run the Emissary of Darkness.

There isn't much that can stop Synchro Cat when it gets on a roll, so you need to make sure you're packing the few defensive measures that actually work. Expect to see a lot of main-decked Threatening Roar and Gorz this summer, and be prepared to fit them into your decks. Surviving those big pushes while summoning a huge attacker will give you the opportunity you need to struggle back and win.

3) Side for Skill Drain
Drain variants based around Dark monsters, Light monsters, and Plants may not be seeing as much use as Blackwings and Lightsworn, but they remain a force to be reckoned with. Plant Drain captured the recent Japanese National Championship, and with Jeff Jones coming off a big win at Shonen Jump Anaheim with Dark Drain, interest in the deck has never been so high. A lot of Regional results are seeing a Drain deck or two making the Top 8, so while it's not something you need to pack a lot of main decked tech for, you need to be prepared for it.

That means siding effectively, in a format where the popularity of simple spell and trap removal like MST is at an all-time low. Typhoon, Dust tornado, and Twister are all versatile and extremely easy to play. As long as you don't forget to include a few of them in your side deck you'll have a much easier time in Games 2 and 3 when you're up against a Drain duelist. Three Solemns and Dark Bribes in Anti-Meta that do not require Drain such as Dimension Forest Gladiators should be used to take down Drain too.

4) Consistency Above All Else
It's important to note the difference between main decked tech and side decked answers. Anything you keep in your side deck won't interfere with your strategy in Game 1, while any card you main deck that isn't directly associated with your central strategy could appear at the wrong time and wind up a dead card.

Jeff Jones just came off a big Regional showing this past weekend, topping with a Debris-hime. Before that he was winning tournaments with Synchro decks that would let him throw down his new Dark End Dragon. What was his catch-all advice for creating a winning deck this format?

"The biggest thing I can think of is consistency. A deck has to be consistent in its draws or it won't be good." Sure, sounds like good advice, right? But “consistent” can mean a lot of different things – it can refer to a deck's average utility across all of its cards, a percentage chance to hit certain combos, matchup win percentages, and so on. I asked Jeff to explain precisely what he meant.

"When I say it, I mean if a deck can draw well, consistently, it will probably win more. The more cards you play that are reliable in the current metagame, the better.” He paused a moment. “Ah! Like cold wave! The card used to be amazing. It still is. But it's not as good as it used to be. You don't want to run cold wave [in decks like Gladiator Beasts or Lightsworn], because it's good against one deck, but awful versus three other decks. It just won't consistently help more than it will hurt, because the metagame is so wild."

If you build a deck with an amazing set of plans, but don't actually execute them on a reliable basis, you won't win. This should be obvious, but it's pretty common to see an ambitious deck builder simply ignoring their testing results because they insist on the strength of the strategy as it exists on a theoretical level. It's even more common to see a duelist ignore the basic math they could've run before they even brought that deck to the testing table. Again – utility is key. Even if your deck is based around putting together big, impressive set-ups like Dragons or Aliens do, look at the individual components and weigh them in two contexts: how they perform as part of a greater whole, and how they perform on their own. Now repeat the process for every matchup you expect to see, and make your decisions from that point. “Previously you just had to know how to play against 1 deck - Dark Armed” detailed Jones. “But now you need to know your matchups more than ever.”

The emerging format is even faster than the current one. Your deck doesn't necessarily have to outspeed Blackwings, Lightsworn, or Synchro Cat, but you need to know that once you start the race, you'll reliably reach the finish line. If you need to sacrifice some of your deck's upper end potential to make sure it works, make them as early as possible in your testing processes. It's better to start with a solid foundation, learn the deck, and then branch out into more adventurous stuff once you've established a preliminary build that works.

5) Stay Diversified
Most of the the top decks right now have easy access to single monster removal, a lot of which comes from lynchpins inherent to the deck's strategy. Blackwings have God Bird Attack and Blackwing – Kalut the Moonshadow to make quick card-for-card trades. Lightsworn have honest and ryko, while Synchro Cat has easy access to Arkanite Magician and its devastating removal effect. Any deck can play simple cards like Bottomless, smashing ground, or book of moon, and the sheer volume of monster manipulation we're seeing makes this a particularly hostile environment for big, singular monsters.

There are naturally some exceptions: Collosal and BW armor master consolidate multiple monsters into one, but they also have protective effects that shield your investment – the same factor that made Colossal and Stardust Dragon hallmarks of the last format. That's largely what makes them format-defining cards. . Even single tribute monsters with compensating effects like celestia or Monarchs can run into major problems if the tribute fodder used to summon them actually cost you a card.

Consolidating multiple cards into one vulnerable monster has always been a dangerous task, but the sheer ubiquity of monster hate like Book and Bottomless, as well as battle tricks like honest and Kalut, make it even tougher to justify in the current format. The opposite is true as well. With a wealth of one-for-one type cards flooding your metagame, strategies that offer proactive diversification are actually quite good. It's also a good reason to max out on wulff, or to take another look at Zombies. Free monsters are always good, but free monsters in a format where so many deck slots are being devoted to one-for-ones? Even better.

Follow these five general guidelines when you create a new deck, and there's a very good chance you'll succeed in developing a competitive strategy. While the number of competitive decks in this format creates some unique challenges, addressing them is as simple as understanding what they have in common, what they do differently, and prioritizing your agenda accordingly.

Remember that the deck alone is only half the battle – your skills as a player plus your familiarity with your deck, as well as the decks you come up against will determine your fate. Jeff had some advice about the latter: “If you don't know what possible plays a deck can come up with, you'll probably be taken by surprise and end up losing because you weren't prepared.” In fact, he even volunteered an example. “[That was] one of the reasons that I believe Blackwings did so well at Anaheim. Most people didn't expect the deck to be played before Raging Battle, and most players had no idea what was going on.”

If you're a creative deck builder, don't shy away from playing more mainstream decks for a while. It's always important to know what you're up against, and in this format that's especially true – there are simply more matchups you need to know in order to be competitive.

The big secret? It's not that hard to do the same thing yourself, and the guidelines I've discussed here are the first steps to achieving that. I sincerely hope they can help you assemble a deck that proves to be the next big thing – this format is filled with opportunity and low on risk, so if you're going to go for it, now is the best time to take a shot at innovation

edited* this is posted by Jason Grebher Meyer (sorry i dont know how his name is spelt). Forgot to state last time >.<

Busy Now- so a rather short update

Second term is coming up. I'm busy cramming. No time to update. Sorry, in one week's time i'll be free though

So, just random updates:

United Kingdom Nationals Decklists:

do go to The Irish Duelist to check it out. Blackwings only one deck =) Lightsworn dominates.

To all the blackwing users: silver wing the isolated effect's is broken. But to summon it requires a tuner, and TWO other monsters. Its rather hard so i'm damn happy about it.

Meanwhile, think ur an expert in Yugioh?

Go to gaijin duelist to look up on one of the hardest problem situations you'll probably ever find in Yugioh.

here's the problem:

It is the World Championships, FINALS, Match 3. You have lost one and won one to this point.

You take a moment to review your current situation.

You:
Life: 2100
Deck: 30(Anything you want)
Hand: Light and Darkness Dragon, Reinforcement to the Army, Mind Control, Terraforming
Field: Blackwing - Gale the Hurricane(Face-up Atk)
Graveyard: Mystical Space Typhoon, Heavy Storm, Blackwing - Vaayu the Large Banner, Crush Card Virus, Compulsary Evacuation Device, Mystic Tomato.
RFP: None
Extra: 15(Anything you want)
Home: 1 dog waiting to be fed
Bladder: Just emptied

As you wonder HOW DID YOU MAKE IT THIS FAR, you look at your opponent's field.
Due to your Crush Card Virus, you know all of the Enemy's cards.

Enemy:
Life: 8000
Deck: 35
Hand: None
Field: Doomcaliber Knight(Face Up Atk), Spirit Reaper(Face up Def.), Book Of Moon (Face Down)
Graveyard: Breaker the Magical Warrior, Dark Bribe, Doomcaliber Knight, King Tiger Wanghu, X Saber Airbellum, Royal Oppression, Sangan, Gold Sarcophagus
RFP: Plaguespreader Zombie
Extra: 15(Unknown)

The Judge gives you a warning for "staring at a bystander's chest", creating an air of akwardness, due to the fact that there are no women around, snapping you back into the game.

It is the end of the draw phase of your turn. Win this turn.

The deck you use(since you can have anything in it), must follow tournament Rules.

Look out for that Doomcaliber Knight.


Hint #1: LaDD
Hint #2: Vaayu
Hint #3: Mystic Tomato

I looked at it, and gave up in 3 seconds- no time to think! Must study.

On a side note, you can still enter for Rauzes' free deck giveaway- one and a half more hours to go till dateline! (in conjunction with his blog's 20000 hits)- congrats rauzes! You can choose 2 of the 3: Warrior strike, Starterdeck, and Spellcaster deck. I hope I get picked =/


As for the nationals in Singapore, Blackwing swept the top 3. Kitty Beat in 4th place

Malaysian Nationals are taking place tomorrow. To all the duelists, good luck and watch out for ANTI META DECKS which are quite annoying. BWs are also another annoying pick. i"m looking forward to see the decklists and hope some new innovative deck can appear. I like Rauzes' take on Junk and Debris in space. Kinda reminds me of Wall-E, but definitely not boring like the movie.

As for myself, i have no time to go -.- every year Nationals take place during my school exam. Crapp =_=

Diversity
my picks on the Big 5 for Malaysia are:

1) Blackwings- undeniably the strongest contender and veteran out here in the OCG meta

2) Gladial Beasts- most likely the Forest dimension version will prevail and succeed or some people will play samnite, cat version ala TCG. But, they will find themselves raped by BWs :-/

3) Lightsworn- the most dominant swarm,surprise force- scary!

4)Cat Beat- May not be so dominant since we lose out the promos, but DDB, spy, and arcanite Magician with cold wave is really annoying! plus it techs koalakko (sea koala), chaos sorceror, and everything. Deck devastation virus stops it dead though.

5) Meta beat- Whether it will be Plant Control, Skill drain variants, light undead, gladial forest anything that has the power to stop something important like card effects, monster attacks or negate everything your opponent throws at you, while backed up with solemn judgment and dark bribe is very, very powerful. If you arent teched or sided against it, you confirm lost. Meta beat usually assures itself the first game of every rubber match.

Hope i can go next year, and to you all going to Nats this Saturday, do break a leg.

TCG : Dragon stun

So i was looking through TCGPLAYER for fun today and this post by Anduril38 about a tourney he joined really caught my eye. He entered the tourney armed with AKB and AKB, skill drain, BFs, LL all swarmed the tourney. In the end, the top 4 was:

4th place- AKB (Anduril himself)
3rd place - Black Feather
2nd place- Light undead
1st place- Dragon stun


(i know WTH right! dragon stun??) Im glad 2 anti meta decks took the glory (oh yeah!) but have a look at the deck: =)

Monsters- 19

3 Koaki Meiru drago (RAWR)
3 Luster Dragon
3 Troop Dragon
3 Masked Dragon
3 Thunderking Raioh
2 Strong Wind Dragon
2 Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon

Spells - 11

3 book of moon
3 soul taker
1 smashing ground
1 mystical space typhoon
1 monster reborn
1 brain control
1 heavy storm

traps - 10

1 mirror force
3 solemn judgment
3 bottomless trap hole
3 dimensional prison



I dont know how a deck like this can work =.= its amazing that it can top a tourney with BF and AKB in it. WOW. I'll try to analyse it and do a champions post tommorow or whenever because i dont know half of the monster lineup's effect and why its played. Except for Raioh and Red Eyes.

If you dont see a champions post, i totally dont know how that deck works and how to play it. Maybe he got damn lucky. Or something. Or its really consistent.

For some of you guys (including me who dont know about some of the dragons' effect and stats), here they are:

Strong Wind Dragon
level 6/ 2400/ 1000/ wind
effect: This card cannot be destroyed in battle with a monster that has the same ATK. When this card is Tribute Summoned by Tributing a Dragon-Type monster, it gains ATK equal to half the ATK of the Tributed monster. During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.

Troop dragon
level 2 / 700/ 800/ wind
effect: f this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard as a result of battle, select and Special Summon 1 "Troop Dragon" from your Deck to your side of the field. Then shuffle your Deck.

And of course...

Core Chimail dragon
level 4 / 1900 / 1600 / wind
effect: During each of your End Phases, destroy this card unless you send 1 "Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru" from your hand to the Graveyard or reveal 1 Dragon-Type monster in your hand. LIGHT and DARK monsters cannot be Special Summoned.

So.. WOAH, eh?

Thats all for today. Im going to bed while wondering and scrathing my head on why this deck can win :-/

Till next time, have fun, play fair, and enjoy the game =)

Morphing Jar

Today's review would be about Morphing Jar. In the Dimensional GB deck and the AKB deck(this is for those TCG players out there.
I've been going around TCGplayer.com today and i see MJ in alot of AKB decks. Truth is it sucks there, and just doesnt belong =/ i hope this post (any TCGplayer ppl reading this pls heed this)

Why? Its obvious. It netts u 5 cards and thats terrible. sure it sounds awesome at first, but think about having 3 airbellums in ur hand. Its a dead draw, and u might as well throw away ur rescue Cat and Summoner Monks. Next reason, it gives ur opponent 5 i repeat FIVE more options to take you out the next turn. Oh wait thats 6 he gets to draw. While ur mopping over ur drawn Airbellums he's taking over. If u were playing against Blackwings, just scoop. If u do win, u either have very good luck, or ur opponent has terrible luck.

While u draw ur Airbellum, dont forget u draw ur beasts, and GRAVEKEEPER SPY. Ur spy on the field becomes useless, and u have a hand full of dead cards. So, just like that ur 5 cards become 2 or 3 (due to useless dead cards) and the on field card just dies. And ur opponent has 5cards. Making u at a -2 or a -3. If its about winning it out in a topdeck and MJ makes n awesome one, u should'nt be in that position. So long as u play carefully, atune yourself to the deck, nothing will go wrong. Dont waste ur deck space playing Jar.

As in Dimension GB, i hope people dont go around running it too. You may say, GB would do great with the 5 extra cards. If ur opponent's cards and field has been controlled by ur deck, why give him more options? It may mean 5 more cards for u, but then it means 5 more things u have to work on taking down. If u fail in doing so, u lost. If u do succeed, ur just lucky and wont get any luckier next time. The deck is about pure control and simplification so dont go running something that will take it away. I mean 5 new cards! gosh. You want to see as few monsters in ur hand in Dimension GB and with 5 new cards you'll probably see about one to two or even 3!

In other words don't make it harder for urself.
Although u gotta admit in some situations, jar can save u if ur running the dimension GB. But it helps ur opponent more. Its a double edged sword. Are u willing to take the risk? The answer is NO for dimension GB. In standard GB (which no one plays in the OCG anymore) it might help but thats a different story.


(gosh he does look creepy doesnt he. Reminds me of urborg the evil eye from Magic the Gathering.)

Thats all for today. Do play fair, and enjoy the game

Tomorrow: I'll explain why people dont play Airbellum n try to mix AKB in a GB deck. If u want to mix, its much better to just play AKB it self. =.= gosh these people.

BTW its damn hot in Malaysia here n presumably in Singapore too (according to HR) Nows the real time we need a COLD WAVE! Dammit! Not only for those AKB decks.

The Champions: Sobbat from the Japan Nationals

Japan Nationals have passed and the winner is: I dont know his name. On Shriek its Sobbat -.- BUT the important thing is what deck won.

Here's the decklist:

deck: skill drain plant
19 monster
3 lonefire blossom
3 beast king barbaros
3 tytannial, princess of camelias
1 Gorz, the emissiary of darkness
3 Doom Calibur Knight
1 Cyber dragon
1 sangan
1 natural rose whip
1 dandylion
1 Plaquespreader zombie
1 card trooper

14 magic
3 cold wave
3 pot of avarice
1 giant trunade
1 mystical space typhoon
1 monster reborn
1 grass fertiliser
1 foolish burial
3 trade in
1 lightning vortex
1 scapegoat
1 enemy controller

10 trap
3 skill drain
2 threatening roar
1 torrential tribute
1 mirror force
2 compulsory evacuation device
1 raigeki break

I think the first thing we can see is that this deck is just crazy. Firstly, its an aggresive deck that plays in an anti meta strategy and a quick synchro beatdown strategy, meaning one thing: it can do a whole lot of thing. Its focus was made for two or three not just one. Most decks like Black Wings just swarm swarm synchro end game. LL just swarm swarm, dump , JD then win. Forest GB is negate, control, tag, game. And AKB is cold wave, cat game.

This deck however reminds me of the old Chaos or Cyber stein deck-it was game changing, and it was certainly unpredictable. Now, in a format like this, most decks have only one aim, as i stated above. You dont find an AKB deck mixing skill drain or oppresion or a forest GB playing cold wave. It simply kills everything. There lies the weakness: with a few cards sided up, u can safely say u got the deck handled and taken care of. AKB dies to Deck Devastation virus, Dimensional Fissure bla bla bla and the list goes on.

Now you can try siding cards into your deck but you just cant kill the deck above. Simply, u could but you would have to side SO many cards till it takes away your own strategy and kills the main idea. That way, ur at a big disadvantage because ur deck cant move.

To start it off, the deck is a skill drain beatdown deck playing on a plant engine- yadda yadda bla..lets look at the monster lineup:

3 barbaros are just so so so good, i could go on about it but there's no need because u guys know it too. Its the main backbone for a skill drain based deck. 3 lonefires speed up the deck , while providing fuel for pot of avarice. It also gives u Camellia Tytannial- something that is hard to be up against. 2800 attack isnt easy to clear and with skill drain active, ur monster effects just dont function so its twice or thrice as hard to kill her. Gorz is simple, and a staple. sangan netts u lonefire so its nice.

Now card trooper is an interesting choice. It mills ur cards, giving you a chance to get skill drain or fuel the grave for Pots or to throw away that zombie carrier. 3Doom Calibur Knight lets you keep the beatdown with its 1900 attack and lets Sobbat negate those pesky rescue cat or synchro summons. It kills the Black wing special summon and stops GB altogther. With its 1900 atk, not even laquari can run it through. Dont forget its not negated by skill drain. It sacs itself and apparently the timing and whatsoever lets it pull through. Same with lonefire.

Dandylion is gold. It gives you two free tokens. Sure you cant tribute them but nothing goes against using them as monsters for synchro. Being level one, its easy to manipulate which synchro u want to call out- be it lvl 6 , 7 , or even 8. It also gives you protection and in the sidedeck lies 3 debris dragon so Sobbat can recycle dandylion. Do watch out for d.d crow though

The last piece of tech in monsters is natural rose whip. In case u guys never heard of it (neither have i) its a 1700 defense earth tuner with the following effect: Your opponent can only activate 1 Spell or Trap Card per turn.

Needless to say: the negation effect is strong. Its like Cold wave- just not as annoying or good_ reminds me of Great Shogun Shien. and his effect just wins out. Your opponent has to consider which spell or trap he or she wants to play, and which will help out more. Some will make mistakes in making decision, and mindplay is always an asset in YuGiOh as it benefits both parties- you as u can win, and ur opponent can learn from his mistakes =) Its a plant too(dont forget) so lonefire is practically a tuner, a token bringer, a big fat flower lady (shes no princess) or another copy of itself.

Spells now =)

3 cold wave stops everything so u can go and attack, so it helps u to win and succeed in attacking. Dont forget that its used as an otk method too. Although its telling AKB : hey! im helping u, come n kill me, pls dont forget that its another mind trick. Let AKB do something and waste his cards, and next turn go in and play around it for the kill. Dont forget Cold Wave doesnt do anything to continuous effects like Dimension Fissure and meaning the Skill drain Sobbat played is still active.

Trade in is fuel for the deck as it discards useless barbaros and camelias for more cards from the deck, needless to say it fuels pot too. Scapegoat is another awesome tech as most decks otk alot. And besides that it is a synchro fuel too. Rose+ goat= DDB or Black Rose dragon

Lightning vortex and e-con is one of those cards that totally susprise ur opponent. Wont AKB and BWs feel bummed when they set up a winning field, stopped by a Roar, and thenkilled by e-con or vortex. Vortex lets u discard a card again- another friend the pot.

What makes me wonder is why there is no solemn judgment in here, and then it struck me. DDBis running too rampant and although this deck finds it very very easy to stand by and survive, if they pay life points for solemn, DDb will just kill through. Black wings whole field swarm n one DDB doesnt even have to attack and although all the tokens, threatenings are good, it doesnt help if u have a whole chunk of ur own life points taken off yourself. Solemn was made for anti meta decks and this deck just doesnt utilise it well enough. The monsters are soon taken care of by the spells, the syncrhos and certainly with skill drain out, what are they to fear of monsters? With raigeki break n C.E.Device u just arent scared of anything. As for the spells and traps, besides trunade, MST n heavy, nothing else worrys sobbat. I mean, Tytannial princess negates any spells and traps for a plant (u got dandy, lonefire, tokens, and lots more crap) and the only thing the deck fears is spell/trap removal. With MST, heavy storm , trunade, the possibility of seeing it is one or if lucky two per game and if tytannial is out u control the game. delta crow doesnt affect skill drain because its face up and the face down spells and traps are mostly chainable.

Now, C.E. Device is played over Dimension Prison for a few reasons. although (quoted by HR) D prison is an anti meta staple, i see that C.E Device has an advantage over d.prison. D. prison requires it theopponent's monster to attack: and that is one monent. C.E device can do it at anytime regardless of step/phase. Do u want a syncrho like DDB, Arcanite magician, Dark End dragon or Brionac to wreck havoc and then ur left with a prison to attack? DDb might have finished u off there already and with Arcanite and Brionac, D prison is gone before u can play it ini the battle phase. C.E.device lets u take it out while their effect is being used (just chain it). And, it can still do the normal things like taking out monsters/ tuners before their effects resolve or just return things that u dont want on the field. As for threatening roar, its just good, it prevents OTK so there will be a next turn. And thats a pretty good deal for me. Its also chainable and stops ur opponent right there.

Sobbat has created a machine of destruction- but it requires pure skill to utilise the deck to know its ins and outs, what not to do, what to do, and to use it to its max potential. This is the deck that took Japan's Nationals. Good day all.

till next time, play fair n enjoy the game =)

Side note: which makes me wonder, what happened to GB forest in the tourney =P

Frog Porridge with Fishballs

I saw this deck in Baha's blog. really good. New FTK to play. Runs Fishborg Gunner. Seems damn consistent. Do see:) www.duelingdays.blogspot.com

Here's the decklist though:
Monster 18

[3] Fishborg Gunner
[3] Substitoad
[3] Death Frog
[3] Dupe Frog
[3] Demon Roar God Ruri
[3] Volcanic Bullet

Spell 22

[3] Seal of Heritage
[3] Pot of Avarice
[3] Hand Severing
[3] Dark World Dealing
[3] Upstart Goblin
[3] One for One
[2] Foolish Burial
[1] Card Destruction
[1] Card of Safe Return

Extra Deck

[3] Ice Barrier King Tiger Dewloren
[1] Dark Dive Bomber
[1] Power Tool Dragon
[1] Ice Barrier Dragon Brionac
[9] Insert any synchro you want here

(thanks to baha's blog)
And, today i got trashed by god bird attack (icarus attack). its really annoying. Never wanna see it again. Baha, i feel ur pain.

On a side story, i saw 2 dead birds today. One gutted by a cat, one lay on the pavement. Hope thats an omen that BlackWings are gonna die soon =P i never did like birds in my life.

Cant wait for Ally of Justice Decisive Arms. Looks awesome, and can be abused. AOJ cycle leader is the new card to side against LightSworn decks.

Im hungry for porridge!

Till next time, enjoy the game. ciao

The OCG: A deck to combat the current meta

AKB and synchro cat has been ruling far too long in my opinion. Even though i've been gone for so long i heard of its prowess and am amazed by how a random deck (it packs gravekeepers, n spellcasters with beast! call me mad!) can be so effective. I ask HanRui online from time to time about the meta and his answers all include Cat synchro Cat sycnchro-it just never ends!

So, i've been gone for a while, my fingers are stiff and my English probably sounds weird so here's to a new deck. A while ago, i was looking through HR's blog and found this deck: Forest GB. I looked through the deck and found out how amazing and powerful the deck was. Lets look through it: (note this isnt HR's build, its mine by changing a few cards :P)

11 monsters
3 King tiger Wanghu
2 GB laquari
1 GB Bestiari
1 GB darius
1 GB Murmillo
1 GB Hoplomus
2 GB Equeste

14 spells
3 Ancient Forest
3 Dimension Fissure
2 Book of moon
2 Burden of the mighty
2 Gladiator proving ground
1 Mystical space typhoon
1 Enemy Controller

15 traps
3 Bottomless Trap hole
1 mirror force
1 Torrential tribute
1 Trap dust shoot
3 Solemn Judgment
3 Gladiator war chariot
3 Dark Bribe

Now, the deck looks awesome doesnt it.

Cat synchro practically relies on 2 cards : cold wave and summon priest. Priest gets out the Cat. If cat dies or the airbbellum or priest dies, the deck dies. Cold wave negates the spells n traps waiting to kill the deck, u could almost say Cold wave is the main reason why the deck is so effective. Cold wave generally kills every anti meta deck 9since it shuts out even the face up spells n traps too)

As for Black wings, it pracically relies on one BW card summoned then the rest come down n swarm n tear us apart. Remember, if u destroy the BW that is summoned, the other Bora n Gales cant be special summoned anymore, unless they monster reborn it. (but wat r the odds to tat). Please, i know alot of people are gonna tell me they ahve Anti Reverse delta crow. let me say delta crow requires two or more blackwings on the field, And it only destroys face down spells/traps. If no BWs exist, there is no way tat delta crow can be activated.

On to the deck: the monster lineup is extremely simple. The GBs and Wanghu. Wanghu is simply amazing, it destroys Priest, Gale, Rescue cat and basically every small fry there is. The deck packs burden of the mighty to futher disrupt the opponent combos. heck even Sirocco and Elphine the Raven dies to it. Its ingenius. Wanghu is one of the best cards as it forces your opponent into that situation where he feels: oh my god, half my hand is shut down what can i do. It also puts your opponent into a feeling of panic and that panic n fear sometimes lead them to making mistakes and stupid n wasteful moves.

Some people may say what about Hoplomus and Murmillo! U have wanghu wont it die! Well the answer is simple, dont tag it out! besides if u set them first, Wanghu cant destroy them because his effects read monsters that are special summoned and normal summoned. If desperate times approach, u can tag out Murmillo let it die and then retrieve back to hand with Equeste's effect.

Now, the spell lineup: consists of 2 proving ground- Personally, i find 3 abit too many, because with 11 monsters in the deck u are guaranteed at least one to two monsters in your starting hand. 3 proving ground is abit too much and we'll have a sick time seeing the GBs in your hand too often. 3 Fissures are the bomb. Fissure stops Vayu the big Flag synchroing, Monster Reborn, Black bomber decks, and certainly it stops Cat. Pot of avarice cant retrive the monsters that were Synchroed. Meaning Airbellum wont be making a second trip back, cat will stay in hell where it belongs, and summon monks that were destroyed will die die die. Furtheremore, to make things merrier, cat requires it to be sent to the graveyard to call out 2 more cards, Fissure's effect stops that because all monsters sent to the graveyard are removed from play (this is a ruling statement) and if Cat cant work, the deck is dead.

2 book of moons are awesome and are just enough. Some people out there play 3 but i think its redundant and 2 are just sufficient. I dont need to blab on about its million uses. Next to Ancient forest! Is this card like awesome n the most compatible card with GB ever! it destroys all monsters that attack at the end of the battle phase! Gb will just tag in and be gone n it escapes forest's cost! While u r enjoying that, ur opponent will think twice about attacking and consider his moves! Another asset to force your opponent into one of those positions! =D and make those mistakes u just love =) Besides that it has a Swords of Revealing Light effect- turn face up effect. And the flip effects arent activated. I guess that makes it better if Gravekeepers Guard and Gravekeepers Spy is on the field. they are rendered useless.

Typhoon is mandatory. U dont wanna play heavy or trunade in this deck so typhoon is the ebst u can get, burden is simple. if u cant draw ancient forest, burden lowers the opponents attack points. and it works with wanghu. I knwo some people consider running forbidden chalice in here, but there's really no use. U already have 3 GB war chariots- what r u afraid of anymore, so i decided to run e-con. E con is superb, it does anything u want! U block out an attacking monster, or sac ur card to take tat powerful card on your opponent field tat can help u win the game!

Now the trap lineup..: 3 BTH is mandatory because it kills Blackwings and certainly kills Natural beast, and alot of otther cards. Sure it cant take out arcanite magician but it can kill those Airbellums that come out. (provided no cold wave- cold wave is the most annoying card ever!) Besides tat, wanghu takes care 0f the weaker monsters, n BTH rids u of the bigger ones:) total simplification of the game

3 dark bribes and solemns are musts. bribe takes out Cold wave! remember in a match against Cat syncrho, always save ur bribes and solemns for cold wave. but if u really need to use it use it! there are other cards u can draw to help u stop opponent next turn. Torrential is good, This deck only runs 11 monsters so the number of monsters on the field will probably be 1 to 2? if ur opponent calls out the whole gang of Blackwings or a whole horde of Airbellums dont hesitate to send them to hell. Mirror force is no different. Its good against anything.

Trap dustshoot is the second best trap card u could play ever! Taking a look in ur opponents hand and throw out a monster? Its broken, broken, broken. Every deck tat can play Dustshoot should play it. If u go up against GB forest or Dimension GB in a mirror match, take out their monsters n leave them with a hand of 5 or more spells n traps =P the last card in here is Gladial war chariot. Its simplifying the game. Remember if u have a hand of wanghu, a GB, and a chariot, dont hesitate to summmon the GB n set the chariot. Wanghu is important, but it can wait. Chariot can destroy a hundred more things tat Wanghu cant. But if u know ur opponent's hand(from dustshoot or if he is stupid enough to play with his hand shown) has Cold wave n at least a cat/priest (retrived from golden sarcophagus i suppose) then Wanghu is the better option. =P

Remember this deck is prepared to combat the current meta. Its success rate is probably 90% against cat synchro n maybe Blackwings. If u have a simple hand, ur opponent has a God hand, u can still win =) BUT. if u have a crappy hand or "one of those hands" then u might as well scoop. Again, ur hand is most likely to come out okay or great so nothing to worry about =) This deck puts your opponent into a situation where he has to think everything through and play conservatively. Everything he puts down, u have an answer. Soon, he'll just be topdecking to stay in the game while you have a consistent control field and at least another spell/trap drawn( 74- 75% chance there)

BTW, this is a budget deck for ppl like me (im a student) who has no money except trying to starve myself and save my pocket money or selling old YuGiOh cards to the lil noob kids. The 3 dark Bribes and 3 Burdens are included in the warrior deck.
Till next time, play fair, and sit back and enjoy the game,