banned: 0
limited:
sarc
EEV
mind master
jowgen
reju
semi limited:
atlantan dragoons
pollux
effect veler
castor
tenki
dragosack
big eye
abyslinde
rota
batel
secrets
back to 3:
a hero arrives
hieratic rota
duality
torrential tribute
tsukuyomi
Now at first sight this list is retarded.
Why is this list retarded?
1) prophecy isnt touched much. it will still be pretty strong. granted i know reducing it by 2 searchers instantly cuts off its consistency even more, but in this list, if this were to happen, dragins would be not really be a deck so you wont really need to play so many kycoos, and i guess konami is trying to encourage the usage of blue eyes and the girl.
2) jowgen to 1 is stupid
3) EEV to 1 wut
4) torrential tribute to 3?????!!! Bujin killerrrr
5) mind master released??!!
However if you think about it, this list actually seems really legit because it is something that konami would do.
I am in no way saying this list is real, but 1 possible direction konami could take with the banlist is to make it look like something like this.
Dragons just die alot because sarc and reju are cut off. There will definitely be ways to innovate this deck and such. But if it is to continue the current build and direction, it will just die. There will be blowout techs like trooper 3 sword bla bla, and probably some kinky synchro engine incorporated.
I like how pollux and castor are hit. I have always said castor is the problem card in verz because it brings out the 1st turn ophion combo but then again konami released rota to 2 so errr....same access??
Another reason why rota is released to 2 could be to promote the usage of noble knights. NK are a nice archetype mainly because i love their art. Granted most of their support cards are foil or of a high rarity although not worth much now, konami has announced release of 5 new TCG exclusives in the shadow spectres so i will not be surprised if they become meta. Drystand is already a step in the right direction.They seem to be the next prophecy, high rarity cards which seem shit at first but get better and better with more support and suddenly a whole blowout card (jday , but in the case for NK, card(S) not 1 terrible brokefuck)
And finally, what i LOVE about this list:
Dragoons to 2 and linde to 2 literally does shit to mermails, i am already playing with 2 linde, and dropping dragoons to 2 will just let me cut the list down to 40 :DDD
And to people saying angel of zera will be useful in the dragon mirror, yeah, no it wont, kthxbye
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Banlist speculation time
Its been ages since i've touched yugioh, and the closest thing i did to yugioh was play goat control matches intensively (which i learnt alot in a short period of time), but that fad of playing old format diminished as i moved to perth to settle down in a new environment !
TBH, the format itself is aids as anybody would know.
I did get some games in last week heading down to a locals just to meet some players (thanks kosc and co). I played a few dragon ruler matches with kosc (aus nats top 4) and went about equal as i solidified my hypothesis that reju won games. each of our games went the same way. Whosoever went reju won, and the other player did not see a reju. Granted there were times consevring hand traps won you games, but reju put in 95% of the work.
i also played some goat control matches which were very good as they were very different from new yugioh but players who opened 2/3 of the trinity (usually pot and had the faith tsukuyomi recycle loop usually won by a longshot) . Games were not really won by delinquent duo because we conserved it until we knew our opponents had dropped serpent, or when you were in a really simplified game state whereby duo-ing even 1 card (+ serpent) would make a big difference to the game. Charity played a very big part too but most people conserved it unless you had a MOF and a snake (but doing so will risk duo but whatever if you have established a good enough field control)
I found that thousand eyes is a bitch but it wasnt impossible to get rid off. Most of the time, 1000 eyes only lasted 1-2 turns unlike cards like jowgen, kycoo, ophion in which relentlessly stopped you from playing yugioh, and as 1 of my friends once said, no matter how much skill level you have, if you cant get rid of jowgen/kycoo, it doesnt fucking matter.
And that is what the game has become now. The skill level comes from constructing your deck , and choosing the appropriate cards, and pray you draw them as an out. I pray i draw my tsukuyomi/ last day of witch/ eclipse book vs spellbooks, and i pray i sack them with reju. This is why spellbook in the OCG are relatively better than TCG spellbooks because they are more consistent, with the release of blue eye girl while TCG spellbooks give you some blowout hands which are identical to meta beat hands and you just lose coz dragons > metabeat anyway.
With that said, dragons and spellbooks have to go. Here is the banlist i came up with:
Banned:
Burner dragon ruler of sparks
Lightning dragon ruler of currents
Stream dragon ruler of droplets
Reactan dragon ruler of pebbles
Spellbook judgment day
Limited:
Super rejuvenation
Now you may ask what is the significance of the banlist that i have created.
The reason i banned every single baby was because dragons was not a problem until the babies came along. Think about it, if there were no babies, would dragons even exist? Dragons would do what they do best: helping the elements decks respectively such as dragunity mermail firefist machina karakuri etc.
I once thought that dragons were created to help the elements but looking at tempests card design showed that that wasnt the case and konami intended for dragins to be dragons. Tempest is specific for searching other dragons (partially because if it searched anything else, tempest would be broke).
Spellbook judgment day was banned contrary to what people say about batel / secrets being banned. The thing is spellbook was not really much of a deck (still decent) until jday came along. Jday and reju ruined the game because they allowed players to be rewarded for spamming cards and not conserving them. Sure there are certain precautions and orders of playing them but then is that really that hard to learn?
Limited super reju isnt needed in this banlist if the babies are banned because dragons die out, but then i limited it just because it is a degenerate card which is dumb and we dont need so many in this game.
Anyhow banning the 4 babies would be applicable and the best solution but is that really gonna happen? Hmmm..
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Banned:
Super rejuvenation
Spellbook judgment day
Limited:
Mecha Phantom beast dragosack
Glow up bulb
The alternative method people take is to ban super rejuvenation and judgment day, and keep dragons alive.
The flaw here is that dragons are kept alive. The sheer power creep is really overwhelming but the argument exists that the deck will run out of fuel after making a dragosack play and you can easily lock them with iron wall or other cards which dont allow you to play yugioh, thus sort of killing the deck.
The flaw here to that is that to do this, you would have to draw the out, and dragons can still adapt with different techs like psy blocker mst bla bla bla. Granted that i have never liked cards like iron wall, oppression soul drain etc because they stop you from doing anything and you jst die if you dont draw a storm/mst. So, if i were konami i would not propel the game in that direction.
Another flaw is that by doing this, players still have to deal with dragosack. Lets face it, people have made dragosack and rogue decks waste 2 cards+ to deal with it only to meet another 1 or a big eye. The dragon mirror now only exists because of dragosack. If you take dragosack out of the equation what does that leave you? Just dragon-ing around and veiler and maxx c. You cant make master of blades because people just attack with random blaster and you die. So will the mirror come down to master of blades and whoever has the econ? Maybe.
What people are thinking of doing now is to limit dragons power. I have never been a fan of banlists outright destroying a deck (plants :C ) and have always believed the right thing to do is to limit a deck's power and nerf it. However this is not the case for dragons. Dragons need to go because they are entirely different from other archetypes.
By nerfing them and limiting dragosack, people still need to deal with the monstrosity and master of blades, and are forced to maindeck shitty cards like iron wall just to stay in the game. Sure thats do-able but do you really want to play a game which forces you to run iron wall? fk of. mermail ironwall. firefist ironwall. After that all tourney reports become: "fk i nvr see my iron wall so i lost" or "fk never see mst so i died"
Also why did i not limit jday instead of choosing to ban it? because it can still be recycled with eternity and people will just start to run 2 eter 3 fate and revert back to the old build.
Why did i not decide to limit batel/secrets and ban jday instead? idk maybe because jday was the problem all along lol and keeping it at 3 with 1 batel 1 secrets just makes spellbooks retarded to the max.
What do i think konami will do?
Probably follow the 2nd alternative :(
I am seeing konami bring out support for noble knights and vampire and random shit so i have a little faith konami will put dragon/spellbook to an end.
What i am hoping for next format:
1) Glow up bulb to come back and be fun, However i dont think synchro plants will be able to deal with the power creep. Who knows.
Also for those wondering why i didnt limit atlantean dragoons, its because i am a bias bitch and i wanna play mermail next format the end
Also to those wondering if i will play MTG (really want to !), i will if i meet someone nice enough to lend me cards for the game. Have no $$$$ to spend on card games. I am still in the game because i have networking powa and people are saints to lend me cards/decks.
TBH, the format itself is aids as anybody would know.
I did get some games in last week heading down to a locals just to meet some players (thanks kosc and co). I played a few dragon ruler matches with kosc (aus nats top 4) and went about equal as i solidified my hypothesis that reju won games. each of our games went the same way. Whosoever went reju won, and the other player did not see a reju. Granted there were times consevring hand traps won you games, but reju put in 95% of the work.
i also played some goat control matches which were very good as they were very different from new yugioh but players who opened 2/3 of the trinity (usually pot and had the faith tsukuyomi recycle loop usually won by a longshot) . Games were not really won by delinquent duo because we conserved it until we knew our opponents had dropped serpent, or when you were in a really simplified game state whereby duo-ing even 1 card (+ serpent) would make a big difference to the game. Charity played a very big part too but most people conserved it unless you had a MOF and a snake (but doing so will risk duo but whatever if you have established a good enough field control)
I found that thousand eyes is a bitch but it wasnt impossible to get rid off. Most of the time, 1000 eyes only lasted 1-2 turns unlike cards like jowgen, kycoo, ophion in which relentlessly stopped you from playing yugioh, and as 1 of my friends once said, no matter how much skill level you have, if you cant get rid of jowgen/kycoo, it doesnt fucking matter.
And that is what the game has become now. The skill level comes from constructing your deck , and choosing the appropriate cards, and pray you draw them as an out. I pray i draw my tsukuyomi/ last day of witch/ eclipse book vs spellbooks, and i pray i sack them with reju. This is why spellbook in the OCG are relatively better than TCG spellbooks because they are more consistent, with the release of blue eye girl while TCG spellbooks give you some blowout hands which are identical to meta beat hands and you just lose coz dragons > metabeat anyway.
With that said, dragons and spellbooks have to go. Here is the banlist i came up with:
Banned:
Burner dragon ruler of sparks
Lightning dragon ruler of currents
Stream dragon ruler of droplets
Reactan dragon ruler of pebbles
Spellbook judgment day
Limited:
Super rejuvenation
Now you may ask what is the significance of the banlist that i have created.
The reason i banned every single baby was because dragons was not a problem until the babies came along. Think about it, if there were no babies, would dragons even exist? Dragons would do what they do best: helping the elements decks respectively such as dragunity mermail firefist machina karakuri etc.
I once thought that dragons were created to help the elements but looking at tempests card design showed that that wasnt the case and konami intended for dragins to be dragons. Tempest is specific for searching other dragons (partially because if it searched anything else, tempest would be broke).
Spellbook judgment day was banned contrary to what people say about batel / secrets being banned. The thing is spellbook was not really much of a deck (still decent) until jday came along. Jday and reju ruined the game because they allowed players to be rewarded for spamming cards and not conserving them. Sure there are certain precautions and orders of playing them but then is that really that hard to learn?
Limited super reju isnt needed in this banlist if the babies are banned because dragons die out, but then i limited it just because it is a degenerate card which is dumb and we dont need so many in this game.
Anyhow banning the 4 babies would be applicable and the best solution but is that really gonna happen? Hmmm..
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Banned:
Super rejuvenation
Spellbook judgment day
Limited:
Mecha Phantom beast dragosack
Glow up bulb
The alternative method people take is to ban super rejuvenation and judgment day, and keep dragons alive.
The flaw here is that dragons are kept alive. The sheer power creep is really overwhelming but the argument exists that the deck will run out of fuel after making a dragosack play and you can easily lock them with iron wall or other cards which dont allow you to play yugioh, thus sort of killing the deck.
The flaw here to that is that to do this, you would have to draw the out, and dragons can still adapt with different techs like psy blocker mst bla bla bla. Granted that i have never liked cards like iron wall, oppression soul drain etc because they stop you from doing anything and you jst die if you dont draw a storm/mst. So, if i were konami i would not propel the game in that direction.
Another flaw is that by doing this, players still have to deal with dragosack. Lets face it, people have made dragosack and rogue decks waste 2 cards+ to deal with it only to meet another 1 or a big eye. The dragon mirror now only exists because of dragosack. If you take dragosack out of the equation what does that leave you? Just dragon-ing around and veiler and maxx c. You cant make master of blades because people just attack with random blaster and you die. So will the mirror come down to master of blades and whoever has the econ? Maybe.
What people are thinking of doing now is to limit dragons power. I have never been a fan of banlists outright destroying a deck (plants :C ) and have always believed the right thing to do is to limit a deck's power and nerf it. However this is not the case for dragons. Dragons need to go because they are entirely different from other archetypes.
By nerfing them and limiting dragosack, people still need to deal with the monstrosity and master of blades, and are forced to maindeck shitty cards like iron wall just to stay in the game. Sure thats do-able but do you really want to play a game which forces you to run iron wall? fk of. mermail ironwall. firefist ironwall. After that all tourney reports become: "fk i nvr see my iron wall so i lost" or "fk never see mst so i died"
Also why did i not limit jday instead of choosing to ban it? because it can still be recycled with eternity and people will just start to run 2 eter 3 fate and revert back to the old build.
Why did i not decide to limit batel/secrets and ban jday instead? idk maybe because jday was the problem all along lol and keeping it at 3 with 1 batel 1 secrets just makes spellbooks retarded to the max.
What do i think konami will do?
Probably follow the 2nd alternative :(
I am seeing konami bring out support for noble knights and vampire and random shit so i have a little faith konami will put dragon/spellbook to an end.
What i am hoping for next format:
1) Glow up bulb to come back and be fun, However i dont think synchro plants will be able to deal with the power creep. Who knows.
Also for those wondering why i didnt limit atlantean dragoons, its because i am a bias bitch and i wanna play mermail next format the end
Also to those wondering if i will play MTG (really want to !), i will if i meet someone nice enough to lend me cards for the game. Have no $$$$ to spend on card games. I am still in the game because i have networking powa and people are saints to lend me cards/decks.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
The importance of goat control
After a really exhilarating format of dragons and spellbooks where card advantage was not as important as deck consistency, who knows what lies for us in the next format !
Hopefully and i am quite sure Konami will do something about spellbooks and dragons.
And like most trends, setember format is a diverse format, whereby march format is a 1-2 deck battleground.
So, what better way to relearn the concept of yugioh and improve your knowledge by playing goat control, the best format in yugioh!
There are so many concepts to learn or relearn or replay :D
HLG and some other friends are playing the 2005 format seriously and properly now and we have just started 2 days ago (me and Shah 2 days ago), while Wesley, Andrew and LGQ started today.
AND i can safely say.... WE'RE ADDICTED
Its heaps fun and good stuff !
Theres not only goats, theres also:
1) burn
2) soul control
3) empty jar
4) warrior toolbox
5) beastdown
6) Indy chaos (fancy name for goats)
and much more!!
Its gonna be beneficial for next format
So, why not join the fun :D
And play some REAL YUGIOH
Hopefully and i am quite sure Konami will do something about spellbooks and dragons.
And like most trends, setember format is a diverse format, whereby march format is a 1-2 deck battleground.
So, what better way to relearn the concept of yugioh and improve your knowledge by playing goat control, the best format in yugioh!
There are so many concepts to learn or relearn or replay :D
HLG and some other friends are playing the 2005 format seriously and properly now and we have just started 2 days ago (me and Shah 2 days ago), while Wesley, Andrew and LGQ started today.
AND i can safely say.... WE'RE ADDICTED
Its heaps fun and good stuff !
Theres not only goats, theres also:
1) burn
2) soul control
3) empty jar
4) warrior toolbox
5) beastdown
6) Indy chaos (fancy name for goats)
and much more!!
Its gonna be beneficial for next format
So, why not join the fun :D
And play some REAL YUGIOH
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Defender the magical warrior
Just as how dragins are adapting old cards, spellbooks in the tcg are adapting too !
Many of you probably do not know this, because you would have to be on duelistgrounds to know this, or played with someone on dgz on Dnet.
The idea of defender is to be used in conjunction with kycoo and jowgen. Players everywhere are adapting to cards such as last day of witch due to its heavy success in Asia. Defender is a second layer of protection just in case you do not have wisdom (you dont always search this out mostly you take fate).
Defender's effect is a once per turn layer of defence but then the good thing about him is that he serves as a beatstick especially with the TCG's build of 3 starhalls.
The TCG builds basically utilize 3 Batel, 3 kycoo, 1 jowgen, 1-2 defender, 1 droll bird (optional)
In their sides they utilize tsukuyomi for the mirror match to get rid of kycoo, or to disperse of kycoos//horus in dragons (is a card there)
This is an entirely different strategy used than the OCG, mainly because the ocg believe in Blue eyes and Junon. While i am not a prophecy expert at all, i can say junon and maiden are very very good for the dragon matchup helping you make random crimson bladers, invincible walls and big beatsticks which require dragons to waste alot of resources to kill it or make a big eye, only to have the big eye fated/bottomless-ed.
However the main difference between tcg and ocg builds is that ocg mostly do not use 3 starhalls, however it is a common thing in the ocg to make starhall the main objective of the deck solely because they believe it is the best card.
While OCG uses a very effective strategy against dragons., the problem is that the strategy can be easily disrupted by a Book of Eclipse and Last Day.
TCG's strategy will also be easily disrupted by eclipse, but slightly less vulnerable to last day since you can protect kycoo once.
TCG has also decided to try out a very old card which nobody remembers from a structure deck called magical beast cerberus. The idea is to create a fucking big beatstick in the mirror match due to star hall counters, and at the same time get over kycoo and stuff. The only out to it is spellbook of fate!
While spellbooks remain a dominant force, i urge the OCG to test out defender + 3 star hall to see if it really is all that good (i also dunno lol). Why not, since there's almost no big events left for the format.
While it is safe to say that OCG players have an upper hand with access to more cards like maiden and blue eyes silver dragon, the fact that the only 2 reps going to worlds who qualified with spellbooks are from the TCG (kye baker natoli and chris icantrememberhisname from europe). Whether that means anything, is up to your interpretation, but i would like to know your views on this, especially on cards like defender the magical warrior and the TCG's reliance on starhall.
It used to be protect the ophion, now its protect the kycoo.
Many of you probably do not know this, because you would have to be on duelistgrounds to know this, or played with someone on dgz on Dnet.
The idea of defender is to be used in conjunction with kycoo and jowgen. Players everywhere are adapting to cards such as last day of witch due to its heavy success in Asia. Defender is a second layer of protection just in case you do not have wisdom (you dont always search this out mostly you take fate).
Defender's effect is a once per turn layer of defence but then the good thing about him is that he serves as a beatstick especially with the TCG's build of 3 starhalls.
The TCG builds basically utilize 3 Batel, 3 kycoo, 1 jowgen, 1-2 defender, 1 droll bird (optional)
In their sides they utilize tsukuyomi for the mirror match to get rid of kycoo, or to disperse of kycoos//horus in dragons (is a card there)
This is an entirely different strategy used than the OCG, mainly because the ocg believe in Blue eyes and Junon. While i am not a prophecy expert at all, i can say junon and maiden are very very good for the dragon matchup helping you make random crimson bladers, invincible walls and big beatsticks which require dragons to waste alot of resources to kill it or make a big eye, only to have the big eye fated/bottomless-ed.
However the main difference between tcg and ocg builds is that ocg mostly do not use 3 starhalls, however it is a common thing in the ocg to make starhall the main objective of the deck solely because they believe it is the best card.
While OCG uses a very effective strategy against dragons., the problem is that the strategy can be easily disrupted by a Book of Eclipse and Last Day.
TCG's strategy will also be easily disrupted by eclipse, but slightly less vulnerable to last day since you can protect kycoo once.
TCG has also decided to try out a very old card which nobody remembers from a structure deck called magical beast cerberus. The idea is to create a fucking big beatstick in the mirror match due to star hall counters, and at the same time get over kycoo and stuff. The only out to it is spellbook of fate!
While spellbooks remain a dominant force, i urge the OCG to test out defender + 3 star hall to see if it really is all that good (i also dunno lol). Why not, since there's almost no big events left for the format.
While it is safe to say that OCG players have an upper hand with access to more cards like maiden and blue eyes silver dragon, the fact that the only 2 reps going to worlds who qualified with spellbooks are from the TCG (kye baker natoli and chris icantrememberhisname from europe). Whether that means anything, is up to your interpretation, but i would like to know your views on this, especially on cards like defender the magical warrior and the TCG's reliance on starhall.
It used to be protect the ophion, now its protect the kycoo.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Last minute advice to NAWCQ players (edit: drag)
So, i decided im gonna give some last minute advice. Basically i want to see how many people read this blog and follow its content (curious !!)
Of course im not gonna give advice for prophecy player because i know literally horse shit about the deck (likely to know more than the average player but still shit) , so i'd just clarify some things about dragon rulers !
I also have no idea about any other decktype because i am a 1 deck type of player. So no advice to verz/constealler/mermail players.
The first issue has to be the sarco-sword issue.
Approaching the OC period, i was playing 2 sword and 1 sarco because i believed sword was good. This got jeers and shit from many players when i proclaimed i didn't like sarco. Everyone said: NOOO sword is shit i dont play dead cards.
Pre OC DGz trend: errr no sword is shit i like how your build doesnt run sword ;) {slashtap}
POST WCQ period:
My reaction: Fuck 2 sword is actually shit i hate it to balls
Their reaction: Sword is too good, i wish i played more (2-3)
Current DGz trend: OMG sword is so good i cant believe no one caught on to it, its literally the nuts, you can just use it the next turn even if you have 2.
What i have to say to it: There is a reason why Japan decided to increase their sword count at 1 point, and have now decreased it again (for a very long time already)
It took me 1 event to cut sword to 1, to realize more than 1 is bad but then thats all you guys have ! Just 1 event.
Reason why sword is bad is because you will draw hands like "2 sword, 1 veiler, 1 maxc/droll/ 1 baby/big dragon 1 storm" . Then you will curse yourself for playing droll and sword and blame the deck for bad luck, when you should have minimized on situational cards. Real life =/= DNet so please you will not always have big dragons all the time no matter what people think. I made a mistake to conforming to Dnet playtesting and sword was never bad. Why? i always draw good (by good i mean at least have 2 color) on Dnet with drags.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Second piece of advice:
EEV , Horus, and droll & lock bird.
IN case you haven't noticed, droll and eev are bad.
So, if you haven't cut them, you should do so. Some friends from european wcq were complaining how bad droll were and wished they had cut them. <-- .="" 2="" cut="" decks="" dont="" else="" enough="" have="" i="" if="" is.="" is="" it.="" japan="" know="" life="" nbsp="" not="" p="" s="" testimonies="" that="" top="" what="">
Even Gruner didn't use it !
Problem with prophecy in TCG is their insane amount of backrow and control based tactics. They look to boost with starhall kycoo and keep souldrain/mind drain on the field. To do this, they have totally gone anti meta and have actually used the spellbook engine to run the anti meta engine. They have also cut junon/maxx c, for consistency so it makes your droll look bad. Think about it this way: You can stop them from going off, but it doesnt stop them from summoning kycoo , mind drain, soul drain, and a bunch of backrow.
With that said, it is quite obvious how you should approach the matchup. I will not say anymore.
Horus the black flame dragon- i do not know why people are still playing this card. Has it not ever appeared in your hand with card destruction/or a blaster and you have nothing to do with it? Just because Joshua Graham suggested it and you are dickriding it. I bet Josh Graham realized long ago how bad it is and is laughing at all the peoplr who still play it. Also its combo with puppet plant is stopped by infinite backrow and mind drain. This should have been clear long ago.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dragon ruler mirror match !
The dragon ruler mirror is sooooooooooo unique as we have never had a type of yugioh format which required us to change our builts every 1-2 weeks.
Why is this? beecause once a tech becomes good, people will jump on to the bandwagon (eg: chalice), but what you should be actually doing, is finding something different to counter it to go against what other people are doing. That is what makes successful dragon players. If you have noticed:
trend 1: ladd
trend 2: breakthrough to counter ladd. ladd gets cut
trend 3: vanity + stardust radiance + dragosack. usually it is dragosack coz its easier to make
trend 4: people start playing stuff like virus/ econ to take control of dragosack and pop itself and something. vanity gets cut because its easy to play around.
trend 5: since no 1 plays vanity anymore for a very long period, it starts to become good again, this time with big eye instead because nothing gets over it.
trend 6: people are starting to play Ladd again.
it is a prime example like this that shows that dragons are an ever-adaptive deck and the loop has actually come into a full circle. If you are still using the same old tricks (BTS chalice etc), do try to innovate, as it will make your moves predictable !
Well, thats all the basic stufff i have to cover, as there are more intricate stuff but then i have friends playing in NAWCQ too so can't reveal too much ~
Good luck to all the players in NAWCQ this weekend.
Of course im not gonna give advice for prophecy player because i know literally horse shit about the deck (likely to know more than the average player but still shit) , so i'd just clarify some things about dragon rulers !
I also have no idea about any other decktype because i am a 1 deck type of player. So no advice to verz/constealler/mermail players.
The first issue has to be the sarco-sword issue.
Approaching the OC period, i was playing 2 sword and 1 sarco because i believed sword was good. This got jeers and shit from many players when i proclaimed i didn't like sarco. Everyone said: NOOO sword is shit i dont play dead cards.
Pre OC DGz trend: errr no sword is shit i like how your build doesnt run sword ;) {slashtap}
POST WCQ period:
My reaction: Fuck 2 sword is actually shit i hate it to balls
Their reaction: Sword is too good, i wish i played more (2-3)
Current DGz trend: OMG sword is so good i cant believe no one caught on to it, its literally the nuts, you can just use it the next turn even if you have 2.
What i have to say to it: There is a reason why Japan decided to increase their sword count at 1 point, and have now decreased it again (for a very long time already)
It took me 1 event to cut sword to 1, to realize more than 1 is bad but then thats all you guys have ! Just 1 event.
Reason why sword is bad is because you will draw hands like "2 sword, 1 veiler, 1 maxc/droll/ 1 baby/big dragon 1 storm" . Then you will curse yourself for playing droll and sword and blame the deck for bad luck, when you should have minimized on situational cards. Real life =/= DNet so please you will not always have big dragons all the time no matter what people think. I made a mistake to conforming to Dnet playtesting and sword was never bad. Why? i always draw good (by good i mean at least have 2 color) on Dnet with drags.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Second piece of advice:
EEV , Horus, and droll & lock bird.
IN case you haven't noticed, droll and eev are bad.
So, if you haven't cut them, you should do so. Some friends from european wcq were complaining how bad droll were and wished they had cut them. <-- .="" 2="" cut="" decks="" dont="" else="" enough="" have="" i="" if="" is.="" is="" it.="" japan="" know="" life="" nbsp="" not="" p="" s="" testimonies="" that="" top="" what="">
Even Gruner didn't use it !
Problem with prophecy in TCG is their insane amount of backrow and control based tactics. They look to boost with starhall kycoo and keep souldrain/mind drain on the field. To do this, they have totally gone anti meta and have actually used the spellbook engine to run the anti meta engine. They have also cut junon/maxx c, for consistency so it makes your droll look bad. Think about it this way: You can stop them from going off, but it doesnt stop them from summoning kycoo , mind drain, soul drain, and a bunch of backrow.
With that said, it is quite obvious how you should approach the matchup. I will not say anymore.
Horus the black flame dragon- i do not know why people are still playing this card. Has it not ever appeared in your hand with card destruction/or a blaster and you have nothing to do with it? Just because Joshua Graham suggested it and you are dickriding it. I bet Josh Graham realized long ago how bad it is and is laughing at all the peoplr who still play it. Also its combo with puppet plant is stopped by infinite backrow and mind drain. This should have been clear long ago.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dragon ruler mirror match !
The dragon ruler mirror is sooooooooooo unique as we have never had a type of yugioh format which required us to change our builts every 1-2 weeks.
Why is this? beecause once a tech becomes good, people will jump on to the bandwagon (eg: chalice), but what you should be actually doing, is finding something different to counter it to go against what other people are doing. That is what makes successful dragon players. If you have noticed:
trend 1: ladd
trend 2: breakthrough to counter ladd. ladd gets cut
trend 3: vanity + stardust radiance + dragosack. usually it is dragosack coz its easier to make
trend 4: people start playing stuff like virus/ econ to take control of dragosack and pop itself and something. vanity gets cut because its easy to play around.
trend 5: since no 1 plays vanity anymore for a very long period, it starts to become good again, this time with big eye instead because nothing gets over it.
trend 6: people are starting to play Ladd again.
it is a prime example like this that shows that dragons are an ever-adaptive deck and the loop has actually come into a full circle. If you are still using the same old tricks (BTS chalice etc), do try to innovate, as it will make your moves predictable !
Well, thats all the basic stufff i have to cover, as there are more intricate stuff but then i have friends playing in NAWCQ too so can't reveal too much ~
Good luck to all the players in NAWCQ this weekend.
How to Prevent Stacking
This is actually very very easy.
All you have to do is to ask your opponent to shuffle your deck parallel to the table instead of doing the cascade/sideway shuffle (which is how people stack)
Also, if they believe you have been putting cards together you can just tell them "ok just table shuffle my deck", and make sure you dont try to foil stack it. The moment they do some random arrangement, call a judge (obviously they are trying to foil stack or do something retarded.
or you could request them to just cut the deck as many times as they want.
In the OCG, from what i know, in Malaysia last year, you are allowed to request such a thing.
However, in the TCG, in my knowledge, you cannot, because apparently: "your opponent has the right to shuffle however he wants". I am not too sure about this policy but it was stated by a couple of opponents in a regionals/ nationals when i requested them to do so .
Maybe it is only in australia, but not in other places (idk), but i think TCG Konami should just apply that policy, as letting your opponent perform a sideway shuffle is just stacking or potential "looking at bottom of deck to know your deck and open 1st turn shock master and call monsters yes i am still salty"
The end.
All you have to do is to ask your opponent to shuffle your deck parallel to the table instead of doing the cascade/sideway shuffle (which is how people stack)
Also, if they believe you have been putting cards together you can just tell them "ok just table shuffle my deck", and make sure you dont try to foil stack it. The moment they do some random arrangement, call a judge (obviously they are trying to foil stack or do something retarded.
or you could request them to just cut the deck as many times as they want.
In the OCG, from what i know, in Malaysia last year, you are allowed to request such a thing.
However, in the TCG, in my knowledge, you cannot, because apparently: "your opponent has the right to shuffle however he wants". I am not too sure about this policy but it was stated by a couple of opponents in a regionals/ nationals when i requested them to do so .
Maybe it is only in australia, but not in other places (idk), but i think TCG Konami should just apply that policy, as letting your opponent perform a sideway shuffle is just stacking or potential "looking at bottom of deck to know your deck and open 1st turn shock master and call monsters yes i am still salty"
The end.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Yugioh: The devil's card game?
yea im sure some of you have heard of it when you were young:
"avoid yugz ! the monsters on them are evil."
"what are u doing playing card games. its the way the devil tries to manipulate u"
"those blue eyes white dragons will turn into spirits and play around in your room at night"
These comments would usually be made by someone of religious background such as a church pastor or a concerned parent, or perhaps a traditionally-based grandparent.
But wait ! Don't close this page yet. This page has absolutely nothing to do with that.
Being a christian myself, i am not sure how to respond to those allegiated comments above ^ but i am not going to disregard the fact that the game has its ways of bringing out a person's bad side.
Today's topic concerns ethics.
Truthfully there is nothing much left to post on the blog anymore. Or on any yugi-related content page like ARG etc because we have covered all the fundamental basics of yugioh in previous posts, explored and explained decks but then we also cannot post on tech cards or personal lists because it will put us on a disadvantage to future readers. SO, i figured, we had to post something different. Michael Bonacini from Death Aspect posted on how Konami and the game lost its way, which is a very informative read, if you haven't checked it out, you should. And, the rest of the format is stale. Theres only 1 major WCQ coming up, and truthfully, i dont give a fuck! (but i will still continue to explore it because i have friends who are playing it, so must help !) So thats why im posting these random posts these few days.
Yeah you knew for sure this topic was bound to be covered sooner or later. In fact, i had to write a fucking long essay on global business ethics for one of my final papers in uni , and i swore i would never ever write about ethics for a very very long time.
And how wrong i was. Well fuck me right?
The basic category ethics i will be pointing out is :
1) Game ethics
2) Personal ethics
3) Communal ethics
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Game ethics:
Stacking, cheating and sharking.
These are 3 of the main problems with the players. In a game of yugioh, which is just a trading card game, which is just a personal hobby, is there any need to go to this extreme? Why are people so power hungry, that they have to resort to doing such things to destroy their reputation?
Stacking is the most prominent form of cheating. In my opinion, if you stack, you should be ashamed of yourself. Saying being good at stacking and doing it is one of the characteristics of a winner is just plain stupid, and if you are thinking that, you need a reality check. Every player should know how to stack to avoid being stacked, but should you do it? No. It is unfair to the player, and i dont have to continue my paragraph because you know exactly what i am going to say. Claiming you are good because you have stacked your opponent and destroyed him is the most frustrating thing to deal with.
Personally, in my first event, i tried to stack my opponent in round 1 of ACQ MAS 2012. But what happened in the end? I counterstacked myself by drawing a total trash hand in g2 (bad luck on my part, and probably deserved it considering what i did), and in g1 i got topdecked reborn in the late game. To my opponent, joe, if you are reading this, i am coming clean, and i wish to apologize for what happened. I hope i earn your apology, but then, i'd understand if i didn't. But after that incident, i have never cheated or stacked ever again in my history of competitive yugioh.
Simon He's disqualification has caused a very big uproar in the TCG, and the incident could not have come at a better time. As a malay proverb once said, the higher you rise, the further you fall (ok taken from lfn.blog and not the exact 1, cos the malay has some shit about a squirrel but its the same thing). Simon He's success was so large that an allegation like that destroyed his whole career, people have lost all respect for him, and although his personal statement has not arised, we cannot safely say he is neither right nor wrong.
But one thing about Simon and other cheaters is that they had the humility and face to know when they are wrong. There are cheaters who openly admit their mistakes and people are aware of their wrongdoings but they continue to do it without having a single guilty conscience.
Sharking is possibly one of the easiest ways to chalk off a free win. Sharking on correct rulings, or no taking back plays and other things like marked sleeves is legit. It is the duty as a player to know their rulings, or to consult a judge, or to think properly before making a play, or to make sure their sleeves are clean. But, to use it as a last resort is terrible to win the game. This happened to a friend in MAS WCQ2013. After beating him legitly (sacking him lolol but still legit win) , his opponent proceeded to make a commotion and call a judge for marking his cards. When the judge ruled the appeal as null and void, the player gave up and signed the result slip. Different allegations have happened before, as i personally have been sharked for something which was not legit by the same player (although not made into a commotion), and he has tried to make a big fuss in the previous wcq in the top tables.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Communal ethics.
What the game brings out are people who :
1) rip people off
2) bully people who aren't of an elite group
3) destroy reputations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personal ethics.
This concerns bribing of most parts.
TBH im already really sick of writing this article and wish i could just go to the end. Which i will. And which is why i cut the 2 points above short.
You may respond to tell me:
"get over it you cunt , if you dont like it just quit"
or
"get over it cunt, it happens everywhere in life. "
My response to that is:
Nobody is beyond the point of saving. Asking a person to leave or quit a game which they are trying to point out certain flaws is just dumb and ingrateful. And to those who says it happens everywhere in life, all i can say is if you are going to resort to all this in a children's trading card game, you need a reality check.
And as some person said in an Australian Yugioh Group, "It's weird that ill fortuned nerdy people pick on each other too. It would seem to me that we should all just get a long and make a group of super happy best friends."
Thats all for today.
"avoid yugz ! the monsters on them are evil."
"what are u doing playing card games. its the way the devil tries to manipulate u"
"those blue eyes white dragons will turn into spirits and play around in your room at night"
These comments would usually be made by someone of religious background such as a church pastor or a concerned parent, or perhaps a traditionally-based grandparent.
But wait ! Don't close this page yet. This page has absolutely nothing to do with that.
Being a christian myself, i am not sure how to respond to those allegiated comments above ^ but i am not going to disregard the fact that the game has its ways of bringing out a person's bad side.
Today's topic concerns ethics.
Truthfully there is nothing much left to post on the blog anymore. Or on any yugi-related content page like ARG etc because we have covered all the fundamental basics of yugioh in previous posts, explored and explained decks but then we also cannot post on tech cards or personal lists because it will put us on a disadvantage to future readers. SO, i figured, we had to post something different. Michael Bonacini from Death Aspect posted on how Konami and the game lost its way, which is a very informative read, if you haven't checked it out, you should. And, the rest of the format is stale. Theres only 1 major WCQ coming up, and truthfully, i dont give a fuck! (but i will still continue to explore it because i have friends who are playing it, so must help !) So thats why im posting these random posts these few days.
Yeah you knew for sure this topic was bound to be covered sooner or later. In fact, i had to write a fucking long essay on global business ethics for one of my final papers in uni , and i swore i would never ever write about ethics for a very very long time.
And how wrong i was. Well fuck me right?
The basic category ethics i will be pointing out is :
1) Game ethics
2) Personal ethics
3) Communal ethics
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Game ethics:
Stacking, cheating and sharking.
These are 3 of the main problems with the players. In a game of yugioh, which is just a trading card game, which is just a personal hobby, is there any need to go to this extreme? Why are people so power hungry, that they have to resort to doing such things to destroy their reputation?
Stacking is the most prominent form of cheating. In my opinion, if you stack, you should be ashamed of yourself. Saying being good at stacking and doing it is one of the characteristics of a winner is just plain stupid, and if you are thinking that, you need a reality check. Every player should know how to stack to avoid being stacked, but should you do it? No. It is unfair to the player, and i dont have to continue my paragraph because you know exactly what i am going to say. Claiming you are good because you have stacked your opponent and destroyed him is the most frustrating thing to deal with.
Personally, in my first event, i tried to stack my opponent in round 1 of ACQ MAS 2012. But what happened in the end? I counterstacked myself by drawing a total trash hand in g2 (bad luck on my part, and probably deserved it considering what i did), and in g1 i got topdecked reborn in the late game. To my opponent, joe, if you are reading this, i am coming clean, and i wish to apologize for what happened. I hope i earn your apology, but then, i'd understand if i didn't. But after that incident, i have never cheated or stacked ever again in my history of competitive yugioh.
Simon He's disqualification has caused a very big uproar in the TCG, and the incident could not have come at a better time. As a malay proverb once said, the higher you rise, the further you fall (ok taken from lfn.blog and not the exact 1, cos the malay has some shit about a squirrel but its the same thing). Simon He's success was so large that an allegation like that destroyed his whole career, people have lost all respect for him, and although his personal statement has not arised, we cannot safely say he is neither right nor wrong.
But one thing about Simon and other cheaters is that they had the humility and face to know when they are wrong. There are cheaters who openly admit their mistakes and people are aware of their wrongdoings but they continue to do it without having a single guilty conscience.
Sharking is possibly one of the easiest ways to chalk off a free win. Sharking on correct rulings, or no taking back plays and other things like marked sleeves is legit. It is the duty as a player to know their rulings, or to consult a judge, or to think properly before making a play, or to make sure their sleeves are clean. But, to use it as a last resort is terrible to win the game. This happened to a friend in MAS WCQ2013. After beating him legitly (sacking him lolol but still legit win) , his opponent proceeded to make a commotion and call a judge for marking his cards. When the judge ruled the appeal as null and void, the player gave up and signed the result slip. Different allegations have happened before, as i personally have been sharked for something which was not legit by the same player (although not made into a commotion), and he has tried to make a big fuss in the previous wcq in the top tables.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Communal ethics.
What the game brings out are people who :
1) rip people off
2) bully people who aren't of an elite group
3) destroy reputations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personal ethics.
This concerns bribing of most parts.
TBH im already really sick of writing this article and wish i could just go to the end. Which i will. And which is why i cut the 2 points above short.
You may respond to tell me:
"get over it you cunt , if you dont like it just quit"
or
"get over it cunt, it happens everywhere in life. "
My response to that is:
Nobody is beyond the point of saving. Asking a person to leave or quit a game which they are trying to point out certain flaws is just dumb and ingrateful. And to those who says it happens everywhere in life, all i can say is if you are going to resort to all this in a children's trading card game, you need a reality check.
And as some person said in an Australian Yugioh Group, "It's weird that ill fortuned nerdy people pick on each other too. It would seem to me that we should all just get a long and make a group of super happy best friends."
Thats all for today.
Saturday, June 29, 2013
WCQ Discussion
Today, i am gonna be writing what i think would be the most important article i have written this whole year, or probably one of the most in the history of my blogging days.
The title is very very vague and does not go into depth the 2 issues i am mainly going to talk about today.
Today, i am also going to address 2 very VERY sensitive issues, which could be very well regarded as the 'racism' or 'religion' topics of yugioh, if we had any.
Today, i am also going to be as frank as i can be, hence there will be no metaphors in my words, no "hinting" or shooting anybody indirectly. In fact, i will be doing the exact opposite: i will be criticising directly.
The first thing i am going to talk about is the OCG vs TCG argument with regard to the WCQ retrospect.
It first occured a few weeks ago when Yugioh edition Singapore FB page congratulated Irwin Arogo for his victory in the Phillipines.
A loud mouthed German player by the name of Nick J Lloyd (whom some of you may have heard of) instigated an OCG-TCG verbal war when he uttered something similar to the likes of:
1) if i was in OCG I will win everyday.
2) Its so easy to top in the Asia region.
This immediately got various OCG players shooting him down for his words. I can easily find the picture source for this, but i am not going to provide it here.
There are 2 sides to this argument. OCG players have every right to boast because generally, ALMOST every year of WCQ has been won by OCG players. You also have to take into account, most rulings are favoured towards the OCG where rulings which conflict in OCG/TCG follow the OCG rulings in worlds.
It is very obvious that Nick was being a douchebag by saying that. His reason for that is that in Asia (not including Japan) , the player base is so small (less than 200, some are just a little above 100), and that makes it easier to top.
The arguments OCG players brought up was that OCG > TCG and just because he thinks its smaller, does it necessarily mean that he will win all the way? Some comments even pointed out that he cannot make it past round 1/2 because of various reasons such as single elimination format etc bla bla
Now, i am going to give my point of view.
No doubt Nick was wrong to say that, but he had some valid points too. As a person who has played in Asia (Malaysia) and TCG (Australia), i think my opinion will be quite accurate.
So, the first thing i would like to say is : Nick is right !
With TCG events going over 500-1000 players and even 2000 (for USA!), it is going to be very hard to make the top cut. Why?
The variance is so strong that you will very likely meet some randy deck which will sack the shit out of you (thunder family fml), or something else which you will cause you to lose out. Even if you win the remaining matches, the fact that a randy who beat you early who would probably lose out in the remaining swiss rounds, means your tiebreaks will be terrible. So even if you go X-1 or X-2, because you lost to a nobody who probably dropped after round 4/5, there is no way you can make it into the top 16/32/64.
At the same time , even if you do very well as in you do go X-1 against decent opponents, there is a chance that you do not make it in too due to a large number of players, so there will be many X-1/X-2s, and thus, you will lose out coz their other players have good tiebreaks. For example, my friend Jono Ritzau (OC worlds rep 2012) went to 1 of the YCS (the 1 which satoshi topped), and went X-2 but did he top? No. Thus, due to this, luck plays a huge part where you have to meet good players and beat them to get better tiebreaks.
Looking at it from Asia's POV, to go to top 16 or whatever, you just need to go X-1, or X-2 with about 120 players (average). Furthermore the chances for variance drop alot, and you also have to consider the fact that with a smaller playerbase, our players know what the potential opponent is playing before even playing them , so you can avoid certain plays etc. You also have to play lesser rounds in swiss or single eli, (usually 5), however Malaysia had a 7 swiss round for this yr's WCQ which was an interesting change.
So, to go to the top 64, (32 from day 1, 32 from day 2 are seeded), with a playerbase of 90 players, you only need to go 5-2 to be safe , or 4-3 to even qualify. This makes it relatively easier. Is this painful to hear? Yes, as an Asian player (originally) too i have to admit it is, but we have to accept it. Our Asian qualifiers are RELATIVELY EASIER.
However, there is the other fact that OCG> TCG. In my opinion, i would also have to agree. While the qualifiers are easier, so to top you can easily go into top 16/top 8 bla bla, but the cream of the crop in OCG are better than cream of the crop in MOST TCG regions (take note i said most not all). Is this painful to hear? Yes it is, but we also have to accept it.
Back to the point above^: whereby OCG > TCG, however you cannot disregard TCG players (i have come to learn this the hard way), some TCG players are really really good. I am going to bring up 2 instances. For example, i will say that TCG dragon players are better than Asian dragon players. When playing against Chris Mattiske in the final round of Swiss in Nats, i had a shock as he was really good. "Unreal, he had the tuner!". Fellow HLG teammate Wesley Seek also told me, it is funny as the reason why he can breeze through alot of his dragon matchups more easily in his WCQs is because most of the practice he had on DN were with TCG players which were really good. These players include players with the IGN of Crimson Flare, 902, rapture, and many more which i cant rmbr. I also have to admit this, because dragons are a very grindy deck, and we all know TCG players are generally more grindy and conservative in nature compared to OCG players.
I am done with the first issue now and i will talk about the second issue.
The second issue regards the Singapore- Malaysia WCQ phenomenom.
For some of you who do not know, for MASWCQ, many Singaporeans have headed down to MAS for a shot at the trophy!
This has gotten many many complaints from the mas citizens as they felt that they have been invaded with players who do not belong to the country. Naturally, for MASWCQ, its just fair to assume that malaysians should have the right to compete on their own without interruption.
However there is 1 fact that i would need to address. Everybody knows that Singaporean players are generally looked up upon by Malaysian players. MAS players cringe at the sound of a SG pro or if they are paired up against SG players in a match. MAS players feel inferior to their SG counterpart. There is no need to deny it, because its true. Hence, an invasion of SG players usually mean that they are afraid that the singaporeans will disrupt their wcq and knock out some of their chances of winning their matches or topping.
It is true because last ACQ, the top 8 was dominated by Wesley, Putra, Sam, and Alex who are all Sg players, and today in MAS WCQ, about 11-12 players in the top 32 in swiss are Singaporean players. That is a huge chunk considering a little less than 20 players travelled down from Sg to play.
So do i blame my fellow malaysians? no i dont. In their situation, i would hate it if my chances were destroyed by players who were from another country. However, in the TCG, konami has a policy whereby each player can join any wcq of their choice, but only 1. This means disregarding your nationality, you can play anywhere you like but you can only play 1 wcq per year. There has been nothing (to my knowledge) regarding OCG so singaporean players have every right they want if they wanna play in Malaysia.
But then, you have to look at it from the bigger picture. Scrolling through the images of standings, pairings, and just overall the entire tournament in play, i found out 2 very different things which can only be viewed from a 3rd person's POV, without biasedness.
The first is that with SG ppl coming down, its actually a blessing in disguise for our players. In this case, malaysian players actually have to increase their skill in order to win, and this creates a more competitive environment. This basically appeared to me when fellow players like Shahmir, Kyde, Johnson, and many more defeat some very big names and appear in the top tables. Good job to ma bois who topped ! (many which i cannot name all). Does it mean Sg players are all better than malaysian players? Maybe generally, but definitely there are instances which are not the case. Our players have also adapted (slowly adapting) and becoming better and better.
Give them some time, i guarantee the malaysian players will become better. Those who continually give excuses or just give up do not deserve to top. This shows they do not want it badly, and they aren't serious about the game and just want the plate handed to them on a silver platter. If you are serious, you will change for the better.
Its also good experience to play with somebody who is not of your country. You get to see various playstyles, various techs, and its basically just a good eye opener.
Malaysia has often been involved in articles relating to the brain drain, which means many citiziens are moving out of malaysia for a better living environment. Usually they move to Western countries or to more advanced Asian countries commonly, Singapore.
The phenomenom now is opposite to the brain drain. Instead of good resources leaving us, we are having good resources enter the country !
The second thing is how Malaysians and Singaporeans are integrating together and getting to know each other personally. This is good because it can lead to card discussions, bringing out the best of both worlds for both countries' citizens, and it gives malaysians a chance to learn from them. Making more friends is NEVER a bad thing, and its beneficial to both sides. This gives malaysians a chance to talk with them, and establish a calm and cheerful environment. No doubt a little bit of tension will always exist (because they are of a different nationality), but who are we to regard that?
There have been many comments on our FB pages like "is this really MASWCQ looks like SGWCQ to me" but 1 particular comment from Sung Lee showed that there were people who also looked on the brighter side of things. He said something like "its ok, lets all work hard tomorrow, and support each other".
Before i end, i want to say nobody bribed me to write the fucking retarded article, i wrote it just because its fresh off my thoughts and i think it would be a waste not to point this out. I mean every single thing i said in here, and i know it could cause potential arguments or flaming, but i still will post it up.
The bottom line is, if something occurs, you can choose to look at it negatively, or to take it as something positive.
I am not flaming people who dislike the singaporeans coming in, i know how you feel because i was once skeptical of it too, but sometimes you should just have to look at it differently you kno.
Also, check out kanye's new album #yeezus, shit is real.
The title is very very vague and does not go into depth the 2 issues i am mainly going to talk about today.
Today, i am also going to address 2 very VERY sensitive issues, which could be very well regarded as the 'racism' or 'religion' topics of yugioh, if we had any.
Today, i am also going to be as frank as i can be, hence there will be no metaphors in my words, no "hinting" or shooting anybody indirectly. In fact, i will be doing the exact opposite: i will be criticising directly.
The first thing i am going to talk about is the OCG vs TCG argument with regard to the WCQ retrospect.
It first occured a few weeks ago when Yugioh edition Singapore FB page congratulated Irwin Arogo for his victory in the Phillipines.
A loud mouthed German player by the name of Nick J Lloyd (whom some of you may have heard of) instigated an OCG-TCG verbal war when he uttered something similar to the likes of:
1) if i was in OCG I will win everyday.
2) Its so easy to top in the Asia region.
This immediately got various OCG players shooting him down for his words. I can easily find the picture source for this, but i am not going to provide it here.
There are 2 sides to this argument. OCG players have every right to boast because generally, ALMOST every year of WCQ has been won by OCG players. You also have to take into account, most rulings are favoured towards the OCG where rulings which conflict in OCG/TCG follow the OCG rulings in worlds.
It is very obvious that Nick was being a douchebag by saying that. His reason for that is that in Asia (not including Japan) , the player base is so small (less than 200, some are just a little above 100), and that makes it easier to top.
The arguments OCG players brought up was that OCG > TCG and just because he thinks its smaller, does it necessarily mean that he will win all the way? Some comments even pointed out that he cannot make it past round 1/2 because of various reasons such as single elimination format etc bla bla
Now, i am going to give my point of view.
No doubt Nick was wrong to say that, but he had some valid points too. As a person who has played in Asia (Malaysia) and TCG (Australia), i think my opinion will be quite accurate.
So, the first thing i would like to say is : Nick is right !
With TCG events going over 500-1000 players and even 2000 (for USA!), it is going to be very hard to make the top cut. Why?
The variance is so strong that you will very likely meet some randy deck which will sack the shit out of you (thunder family fml), or something else which you will cause you to lose out. Even if you win the remaining matches, the fact that a randy who beat you early who would probably lose out in the remaining swiss rounds, means your tiebreaks will be terrible. So even if you go X-1 or X-2, because you lost to a nobody who probably dropped after round 4/5, there is no way you can make it into the top 16/32/64.
At the same time , even if you do very well as in you do go X-1 against decent opponents, there is a chance that you do not make it in too due to a large number of players, so there will be many X-1/X-2s, and thus, you will lose out coz their other players have good tiebreaks. For example, my friend Jono Ritzau (OC worlds rep 2012) went to 1 of the YCS (the 1 which satoshi topped), and went X-2 but did he top? No. Thus, due to this, luck plays a huge part where you have to meet good players and beat them to get better tiebreaks.
Looking at it from Asia's POV, to go to top 16 or whatever, you just need to go X-1, or X-2 with about 120 players (average). Furthermore the chances for variance drop alot, and you also have to consider the fact that with a smaller playerbase, our players know what the potential opponent is playing before even playing them , so you can avoid certain plays etc. You also have to play lesser rounds in swiss or single eli, (usually 5), however Malaysia had a 7 swiss round for this yr's WCQ which was an interesting change.
So, to go to the top 64, (32 from day 1, 32 from day 2 are seeded), with a playerbase of 90 players, you only need to go 5-2 to be safe , or 4-3 to even qualify. This makes it relatively easier. Is this painful to hear? Yes, as an Asian player (originally) too i have to admit it is, but we have to accept it. Our Asian qualifiers are RELATIVELY EASIER.
However, there is the other fact that OCG> TCG. In my opinion, i would also have to agree. While the qualifiers are easier, so to top you can easily go into top 16/top 8 bla bla, but the cream of the crop in OCG are better than cream of the crop in MOST TCG regions (take note i said most not all). Is this painful to hear? Yes it is, but we also have to accept it.
Back to the point above^: whereby OCG > TCG, however you cannot disregard TCG players (i have come to learn this the hard way), some TCG players are really really good. I am going to bring up 2 instances. For example, i will say that TCG dragon players are better than Asian dragon players. When playing against Chris Mattiske in the final round of Swiss in Nats, i had a shock as he was really good. "Unreal, he had the tuner!". Fellow HLG teammate Wesley Seek also told me, it is funny as the reason why he can breeze through alot of his dragon matchups more easily in his WCQs is because most of the practice he had on DN were with TCG players which were really good. These players include players with the IGN of Crimson Flare, 902, rapture, and many more which i cant rmbr. I also have to admit this, because dragons are a very grindy deck, and we all know TCG players are generally more grindy and conservative in nature compared to OCG players.
I am done with the first issue now and i will talk about the second issue.
The second issue regards the Singapore- Malaysia WCQ phenomenom.
For some of you who do not know, for MASWCQ, many Singaporeans have headed down to MAS for a shot at the trophy!
This has gotten many many complaints from the mas citizens as they felt that they have been invaded with players who do not belong to the country. Naturally, for MASWCQ, its just fair to assume that malaysians should have the right to compete on their own without interruption.
However there is 1 fact that i would need to address. Everybody knows that Singaporean players are generally looked up upon by Malaysian players. MAS players cringe at the sound of a SG pro or if they are paired up against SG players in a match. MAS players feel inferior to their SG counterpart. There is no need to deny it, because its true. Hence, an invasion of SG players usually mean that they are afraid that the singaporeans will disrupt their wcq and knock out some of their chances of winning their matches or topping.
It is true because last ACQ, the top 8 was dominated by Wesley, Putra, Sam, and Alex who are all Sg players, and today in MAS WCQ, about 11-12 players in the top 32 in swiss are Singaporean players. That is a huge chunk considering a little less than 20 players travelled down from Sg to play.
So do i blame my fellow malaysians? no i dont. In their situation, i would hate it if my chances were destroyed by players who were from another country. However, in the TCG, konami has a policy whereby each player can join any wcq of their choice, but only 1. This means disregarding your nationality, you can play anywhere you like but you can only play 1 wcq per year. There has been nothing (to my knowledge) regarding OCG so singaporean players have every right they want if they wanna play in Malaysia.
But then, you have to look at it from the bigger picture. Scrolling through the images of standings, pairings, and just overall the entire tournament in play, i found out 2 very different things which can only be viewed from a 3rd person's POV, without biasedness.
The first is that with SG ppl coming down, its actually a blessing in disguise for our players. In this case, malaysian players actually have to increase their skill in order to win, and this creates a more competitive environment. This basically appeared to me when fellow players like Shahmir, Kyde, Johnson, and many more defeat some very big names and appear in the top tables. Good job to ma bois who topped ! (many which i cannot name all). Does it mean Sg players are all better than malaysian players? Maybe generally, but definitely there are instances which are not the case. Our players have also adapted (slowly adapting) and becoming better and better.
Give them some time, i guarantee the malaysian players will become better. Those who continually give excuses or just give up do not deserve to top. This shows they do not want it badly, and they aren't serious about the game and just want the plate handed to them on a silver platter. If you are serious, you will change for the better.
Its also good experience to play with somebody who is not of your country. You get to see various playstyles, various techs, and its basically just a good eye opener.
Malaysia has often been involved in articles relating to the brain drain, which means many citiziens are moving out of malaysia for a better living environment. Usually they move to Western countries or to more advanced Asian countries commonly, Singapore.
The phenomenom now is opposite to the brain drain. Instead of good resources leaving us, we are having good resources enter the country !
The second thing is how Malaysians and Singaporeans are integrating together and getting to know each other personally. This is good because it can lead to card discussions, bringing out the best of both worlds for both countries' citizens, and it gives malaysians a chance to learn from them. Making more friends is NEVER a bad thing, and its beneficial to both sides. This gives malaysians a chance to talk with them, and establish a calm and cheerful environment. No doubt a little bit of tension will always exist (because they are of a different nationality), but who are we to regard that?
There have been many comments on our FB pages like "is this really MASWCQ looks like SGWCQ to me" but 1 particular comment from Sung Lee showed that there were people who also looked on the brighter side of things. He said something like "its ok, lets all work hard tomorrow, and support each other".
Before i end, i want to say nobody bribed me to write the fucking retarded article, i wrote it just because its fresh off my thoughts and i think it would be a waste not to point this out. I mean every single thing i said in here, and i know it could cause potential arguments or flaming, but i still will post it up.
The bottom line is, if something occurs, you can choose to look at it negatively, or to take it as something positive.
I am not flaming people who dislike the singaporeans coming in, i know how you feel because i was once skeptical of it too, but sometimes you should just have to look at it differently you kno.
Also, check out kanye's new album #yeezus, shit is real.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Sealed Play: Battle Pack 02
WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS POST UNLESS YOUR PLANNING TO PLAY SEALED bp02 OR GOING TO THAT YCS IN EUROPE WHICH IS SEALED
So i managed to have a first hand draft session with 7 other friends at my local store today.
It sounded fun so why not! + i have NOO idea whats in the set besides the egyptian gods (reprinted in original art fuckyessexy) and also some money cards like megalo and breakthrough skill and carcarD
So, im here to blog about the sealed pack on:
1) How you should play it+ what is it really about
2) is it skilled based
3) what is goodddddd inside
4) blowout fuck stuff
so point 1 will be on how you should play it.
Hearing from some friends, the pack was designed to be about beatdown monsters and stuff where konami wants you to focus on summoning some big ass monster and control with it. That means there are less sacky shit and there is no heavy storm, dark hole etc but reborn does exist (some cunt used DMOC + reborn :( on me )
So, im gonna go into it as fast as i can because i hate typing and writing essays
1) how should you play it?
The first thing you should notice is card advantage isnt very important in this game. Sure you know your basics but then the main thing you should have are a balance of :
a) big monsters ! (if you open a pack and open a fkiing huge tribute monster like dmoc, barbaros machine king thingy, and superconductor tyrano, darklord desire take it!! its better than randy lvl 7 weaklings like brain crusher which i got unfortunately :(
b) attack boosters, or attack interruptors such as shrink, mirror wall , ego boost and alot of cards which i cant rmbr the name but you will encounter em.
c) protection+ stallers- this includes stuff such as waboku and shit
d) spellz (which i got none except 1 shard of greed)
e) weeny monsters! these monsters are designed to be exceptionally good where they have recurring effects or they just cant be destroyed by battle. There are some really fucking broken weeny monsters.
Basically you summon monsters and grind and set backrow you exhaust everything. In this set, car carD isnt as good as an attack booster but reborn is still very good.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2) Was it skilled based?
yes and NO. in some points, the skill comes from deckbuilding and choosing what is good and what is not, and then integrating it for deck balance.
Also, the skill comes from how you summon monsters to block and set up for a situation where your opponent cant come back from.
For those who love grindy formats, you'll love this !!
But the contradictory part here is that advantage isnt as important despite it being a grindy format. AND the monsters are the stars of the game.
The part which is skillless involves you having to answer your opponent immediately to his monster, so basically if he summons a big ass and you have 2 backrow and a defence monster, he is forced to attack over you, and you are forced to answer to it immediately. It takes skill to plan your moves but its so autopilot after that since everything just plays out from there.. you cant really read or bluff your opponents set and stuff because you KNOW FOR SURE its a trap etc and you need to answer to it anyway.
It was definitely something fun and felt fun especially when you use blowout cards to win.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3) what is good inside!
1) darklord desire
2) obelisk the tormentor
3) dark magician of chaos
4) reborn
5) premature burial
6) aye iron
7) truckroid
8) ego boost
9) bazoo the soul eater
10) shocktopus
11) barbaros machine king thingy
12) reasoning
13) goblin attack force
14) steamroid
15) magical arm shield
16) cyber dragon
17) graceful charity
18) coth
19) metal reflect slime
20) copycat
21) cloning
what to avoid like the plaque
1) treeborn frog - sux shit with infnite backrow
2) brain crusher
3) airkkinight parshath
4) tiki trap monsters
5) weak monsters
6) magician of faith (unless u have reborn and u used it early game and draw her u sacky shit
7) card trooper - with 20 cards in ur deck, you dont exactly wanna mill your resources and 1900 is not impressive + takes alot of damage when it dies
8) card car d
----------------------------------------------------------------
Blowout cards
1) octopus - im not sure the name of the card but it was an octopus, and when its destroyed, you can equip to your opponents monster and its attack becomes 0 and position cant be unchanged. Pretty sick effect its like removal for any big monster since dark hole mirror force and torrential tribute and stuff doesnt exist. So, if you get it, USE IT.
2) aye iron- this card was given to me as a last card in the pack which no 1 wanted. I didnt read it until i build my deck. When i read it i was like fuck what is this thing its so broke. its a 1600 attack monster which lets u add 400 attack permanently if u didnt attack with it this turn.
what makes this such a blowout is that it is literally the best opener in the entire set especially if u open with it. It is imposibble to deal with it turn 1 because statistically, you would have drawn into some of your backrow cards. 2000 attack on first turn is pretty good + 400 every subsequent turn. If you get this card take it immediately !
3) truckroid- yes you heard me. truckroid. cards legit as fuck. at 1000 attack it doesnt seem much, but everytime it destroys something, the monster is equipped to truckroid and truckroid gains its attack. My truckroid ate 2 monsters and became 4200, and it ate a barbaros maching king, and became 4800 fuck yea.
With all the attack position changers truckroid is crazy!! Card is so good with octopus and no entry. Especially if your opponent overextended with his field and you open no entry and turn all attack stuff to defence. Which comes down to skill. No entry is like the torrential tribute in the set where you cant overextend too much if not all your stuff turns to defence and your opponent attacks over it. Also, most of the attack boosters dont work on your monsters in defence anyway so no entry is definitely a legit card.
4) mecha phantom beast hamstrat- yes thats right ! 2 free tokens is good i heard ! defence + tribute fodder.
This is basically all i can rmbr about this set and im sure all the ocg readers are bored as fuck. There is so much more which we never got to see / explore.
So, short tourney report:
r1: Yi
g1: I summon aye iron and rape
g2: he had infintie backrow where i had none so i just die after he time machine his big monster back.
g3: this was a very back and forth game where i was controlling until he dropped barbaros machine king. He controlled for a while before summoning DMOC + premature on his barbaros. I summon truckroid and with the help of octopus, i made truckroi 4800 attack but next turn he had earthquake to turn truckroid to def and i lost.
x-1
r2: Robin
g1: aye iron is good.slowly controlled + beatdown
g2: he summon a whole horde of monster and i lost
g3: its now my turn to summon monster horde + shard of greed !
x-1
r3: andy
g1- i breakthrough skill his steamroid and truckroid ate it with the help of a trap. next turn it ate his gilasuruas and he scooped
g2- i cant rmbr what happen but i controlled with shard of greed and backrow and some big monsters
x-1
so i went 2-1 in 3 round of swiss and the guy before me picked the obelisk :((
Also egyptian god is 1 per box and i ended up with shitty breakthrough skill (although its worth more money) :((((
farkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
So i managed to have a first hand draft session with 7 other friends at my local store today.
It sounded fun so why not! + i have NOO idea whats in the set besides the egyptian gods (reprinted in original art fuckyessexy) and also some money cards like megalo and breakthrough skill and carcarD
So, im here to blog about the sealed pack on:
1) How you should play it+ what is it really about
2) is it skilled based
3) what is goodddddd inside
4) blowout fuck stuff
so point 1 will be on how you should play it.
Hearing from some friends, the pack was designed to be about beatdown monsters and stuff where konami wants you to focus on summoning some big ass monster and control with it. That means there are less sacky shit and there is no heavy storm, dark hole etc but reborn does exist (some cunt used DMOC + reborn :( on me )
So, im gonna go into it as fast as i can because i hate typing and writing essays
1) how should you play it?
The first thing you should notice is card advantage isnt very important in this game. Sure you know your basics but then the main thing you should have are a balance of :
a) big monsters ! (if you open a pack and open a fkiing huge tribute monster like dmoc, barbaros machine king thingy, and superconductor tyrano, darklord desire take it!! its better than randy lvl 7 weaklings like brain crusher which i got unfortunately :(
b) attack boosters, or attack interruptors such as shrink, mirror wall , ego boost and alot of cards which i cant rmbr the name but you will encounter em.
c) protection+ stallers- this includes stuff such as waboku and shit
d) spellz (which i got none except 1 shard of greed)
e) weeny monsters! these monsters are designed to be exceptionally good where they have recurring effects or they just cant be destroyed by battle. There are some really fucking broken weeny monsters.
Basically you summon monsters and grind and set backrow you exhaust everything. In this set, car carD isnt as good as an attack booster but reborn is still very good.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2) Was it skilled based?
yes and NO. in some points, the skill comes from deckbuilding and choosing what is good and what is not, and then integrating it for deck balance.
Also, the skill comes from how you summon monsters to block and set up for a situation where your opponent cant come back from.
For those who love grindy formats, you'll love this !!
But the contradictory part here is that advantage isnt as important despite it being a grindy format. AND the monsters are the stars of the game.
The part which is skillless involves you having to answer your opponent immediately to his monster, so basically if he summons a big ass and you have 2 backrow and a defence monster, he is forced to attack over you, and you are forced to answer to it immediately. It takes skill to plan your moves but its so autopilot after that since everything just plays out from there.. you cant really read or bluff your opponents set and stuff because you KNOW FOR SURE its a trap etc and you need to answer to it anyway.
It was definitely something fun and felt fun especially when you use blowout cards to win.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3) what is good inside!
1) darklord desire
2) obelisk the tormentor
3) dark magician of chaos
4) reborn
5) premature burial
6) aye iron
7) truckroid
8) ego boost
9) bazoo the soul eater
10) shocktopus
11) barbaros machine king thingy
12) reasoning
13) goblin attack force
14) steamroid
15) magical arm shield
16) cyber dragon
17) graceful charity
18) coth
19) metal reflect slime
20) copycat
21) cloning
what to avoid like the plaque
1) treeborn frog - sux shit with infnite backrow
2) brain crusher
3) airkkinight parshath
4) tiki trap monsters
5) weak monsters
6) magician of faith (unless u have reborn and u used it early game and draw her u sacky shit
7) card trooper - with 20 cards in ur deck, you dont exactly wanna mill your resources and 1900 is not impressive + takes alot of damage when it dies
8) card car d
----------------------------------------------------------------
Blowout cards
1) octopus - im not sure the name of the card but it was an octopus, and when its destroyed, you can equip to your opponents monster and its attack becomes 0 and position cant be unchanged. Pretty sick effect its like removal for any big monster since dark hole mirror force and torrential tribute and stuff doesnt exist. So, if you get it, USE IT.
2) aye iron- this card was given to me as a last card in the pack which no 1 wanted. I didnt read it until i build my deck. When i read it i was like fuck what is this thing its so broke. its a 1600 attack monster which lets u add 400 attack permanently if u didnt attack with it this turn.
what makes this such a blowout is that it is literally the best opener in the entire set especially if u open with it. It is imposibble to deal with it turn 1 because statistically, you would have drawn into some of your backrow cards. 2000 attack on first turn is pretty good + 400 every subsequent turn. If you get this card take it immediately !
3) truckroid- yes you heard me. truckroid. cards legit as fuck. at 1000 attack it doesnt seem much, but everytime it destroys something, the monster is equipped to truckroid and truckroid gains its attack. My truckroid ate 2 monsters and became 4200, and it ate a barbaros maching king, and became 4800 fuck yea.
With all the attack position changers truckroid is crazy!! Card is so good with octopus and no entry. Especially if your opponent overextended with his field and you open no entry and turn all attack stuff to defence. Which comes down to skill. No entry is like the torrential tribute in the set where you cant overextend too much if not all your stuff turns to defence and your opponent attacks over it. Also, most of the attack boosters dont work on your monsters in defence anyway so no entry is definitely a legit card.
4) mecha phantom beast hamstrat- yes thats right ! 2 free tokens is good i heard ! defence + tribute fodder.
This is basically all i can rmbr about this set and im sure all the ocg readers are bored as fuck. There is so much more which we never got to see / explore.
So, short tourney report:
r1: Yi
g1: I summon aye iron and rape
g2: he had infintie backrow where i had none so i just die after he time machine his big monster back.
g3: this was a very back and forth game where i was controlling until he dropped barbaros machine king. He controlled for a while before summoning DMOC + premature on his barbaros. I summon truckroid and with the help of octopus, i made truckroi 4800 attack but next turn he had earthquake to turn truckroid to def and i lost.
x-1
r2: Robin
g1: aye iron is good.slowly controlled + beatdown
g2: he summon a whole horde of monster and i lost
g3: its now my turn to summon monster horde + shard of greed !
x-1
r3: andy
g1- i breakthrough skill his steamroid and truckroid ate it with the help of a trap. next turn it ate his gilasuruas and he scooped
g2- i cant rmbr what happen but i controlled with shard of greed and backrow and some big monsters
x-1
so i went 2-1 in 3 round of swiss and the guy before me picked the obelisk :((
Also egyptian god is 1 per box and i ended up with shitty breakthrough skill (although its worth more money) :((((
farkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Thursday, June 20, 2013
castle of dragon souls
the new card for the mirror match. or for dragons.
Raising 700 attack while giving you a +1 is fucking good in my opinion.
700 does so much in other matchups even for prophecy, and evilswarm.
Castle + chalice + reactan = ophion die.
Its definitely a sleeper card.
If destroyed by dragosack, special summon another dragon to fuel as defence while next turn you get it back in your grave.
Can be used for otk abilities too. Storm field while dragonic is fd, and proceed to summon another dragon.
Whatmore, they think their colosal can whack your crimson blader? Fuck off.
They think you cant kill them with blaster, tempest and tidal? Fuck off
They think their redox is strong? fuck off.
damage step ppl!
Big eye + Vanity? Np Econ + reactan + dragon souls
Has soo much potential in dragons now since its basically a better Returrn from different dimension. Also fuels rftdd
Chalice their dragon in response to Crimson Blader in dmg step? Castle of dragon souls.
FUCKING GOOD CARD DESIGN KONAMI (no pun intended)
Luckily you can only use 1 copy.
Whoever uses 1 will have an edge in the coming Asia WCQs =)
Raising 700 attack while giving you a +1 is fucking good in my opinion.
700 does so much in other matchups even for prophecy, and evilswarm.
Castle + chalice + reactan = ophion die.
Its definitely a sleeper card.
If destroyed by dragosack, special summon another dragon to fuel as defence while next turn you get it back in your grave.
Can be used for otk abilities too. Storm field while dragonic is fd, and proceed to summon another dragon.
Whatmore, they think their colosal can whack your crimson blader? Fuck off.
They think you cant kill them with blaster, tempest and tidal? Fuck off
They think their redox is strong? fuck off.
damage step ppl!
Big eye + Vanity? Np Econ + reactan + dragon souls
Has soo much potential in dragons now since its basically a better Returrn from different dimension. Also fuels rftdd
Chalice their dragon in response to Crimson Blader in dmg step? Castle of dragon souls.
FUCKING GOOD CARD DESIGN KONAMI (no pun intended)
Luckily you can only use 1 copy.
Whoever uses 1 will have an edge in the coming Asia WCQs =)
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