Sunday, May 2, 2010

SJC Edison Top 16 comments

SJC Edison has ended and the top 16 decks was actually surprising to me. There is only 1 Blackwings deck but there are 4 Lightsworns deck (including variants). GBs, Gadgets and Synchro Cat contributed 2 and there was 1 Flamvell Synchro and a Gravekeeper Burn deck. There were 3 Quickdraw Dandywarrior (Quick D) decks and the deck was the eventual winner. The Cat and Gadet decks in the 4 top decks that were not Quick D both used Doomcaliber Knights. I'm surprised consistent decks like Blackwings and Gadgets didn't make up a bigger number but those I considered slightly less consistent because of the use of Ryko to make up the bigger percentage of the top 16.

It appears I am wrong; Ryko is a very popular card now and even the loss of milling key spells and traps can be overcome in matches. I think perhaps the advantage generated by Quick D overcomes that problem better, hence they can rely on it for milling better than Lightsworns. Any deck using Ryko most likely also used Hamster, making Nobleman of Crossout good sidedeck choices now. I also didn't think Cat will be as good again but I may probably give it another go with a Rai-oh version of Billy Brake's Caliber Cat! The Cat decks now only use Airbellums and Ryko for Rescue Cat targets now.

All SJC articles, loads of Quick D matchups and reports:
http://www.konami.com/yugioh/blog/?cat=39

Jae Kim's blog article on SJC:
http://go-ygo.com/sjc-edison-recap-what-we-learned/

Favourite Match, Billy Brake's Caliber Cat VS Jeff Jones' winning Quick D:
http://www.konami.com/yugioh/blog/?p=2261

(Billy Brake commented that Jeff Jones' deck was the better one! Notable play was reviving an effect-negated Card Trooper with Debris and using the milling as a cost)

I think Quick D will get even better with Junk Destroyer. Another interesting fact of the deck is that it can only summon Dragon-type and Synchron-type Synchros with its tuner monsters! I wonder if this deck will remain top and cause Dandylion to return to limited status in the next banlist?

Sunday, April 25, 2010

WC2010 deck updates and Quickdraw Dandywarrior!

In WC2010, I manage to get a Machina Mayhem Structure Deck to create the most competitive deck at this early stage of the game. My decks were Tuner Beat, X-Saber Beat and a recent Gemini Beat as I manage to buy the Warriors' Strike deck in the game. Advent of the Emperor, Warriors' Strike and Machina Mayhem are the best decks to build a competitive deck around in the early game of WC2010.

The Shonen Jump Championship at Edison, New Jersey has started and looking through the articles at the Konami Yugioh Blog, one deck has stand out so far: Quickdraw Dandywarrior. It is mainly a plant deck, like Debris-Hime, with Quickdraw Synchron. All the information and some feature matches are listed here:

Deck Article: http://www.konami.com/yugioh/articles/?p=1699

Deck Profile: http://www.konami.com/yugioh/blog/?p=1984#more-1984

Deck Profile (variant): http://www.konami.com/yugioh/blog/?p=2006

Feature Match: http://www.konami.com/yugioh/blog/?p=2037

Another Feature Match: http://www.konami.com/yugioh/blog/?p=2136

One interesting point brought up in the deck article is that Blackwing Shura and Flamvell Firedog cannot get their effects from attacking your tokens! GBs still do, I think.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Improvements in WC2010 over WC2009

- You only have to duel opponent 3 times instead of 5 times to unlock packs
- Your dueling records are available by talking to the characters via their Information option. It is useful to know if you've reach 3 wins for the opponent
- You no longer have to win all structure duels to unlock the sale of structure decks in shops
- You can buy multiple structure decks before completing the game now. Previous game, you could only buy one deck and had to wait till game completion before you were allowed to buy more. (I have Zombie Madness and Warriors' Strike so far after going back to the shop when there was a pop-up for new structure deck and could buy another! I think the number of times to check your menu is after very 10 duels.)
- Racing tracks are more fun and have more items and obstacles

These are some of the few I can think of now. I don't think the Artificial Intelligent (A.I.) is any better though...

One clarification on the Card Password system: To use you need at least to have a copy of the card or 80% of the pack list containing the card, so you don't have to buy multiple structure decks for cards. Password of the card is found on the left bottom corner of the physical card or you can look for the image in the Internet. Looks like it'll be very easy to build Machina Gadget if you can unlock Machina Mayhem structure deck early.

I'll update again as I progress further.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Why Flamvell decks are good

Jae Kim made 2 posts on his blog, go-ygo.com, then indirectly explained why Flamvell decks are good. By Flamvell decks, I refer to Flamvell Cat, Flamvell Monarch and to a lesser extent Flamvellsworns.

This first explains the power of Firedog and also Blackwing Shura. Firedog with 1900 attack is big enough to attack over most monsters while Shura may need help from Kalut:

http://go-ygo.com/yugioh-card-design-plight-small-monster/

This next earlier posted on the powerful first turn play made with Gravekeeper's Spy:

http://go-ygo.com/yugioh-quick-hit-turn/

Ryko is also another not bad first turn play but it pales in comparison to Spy into Descendant, labelled as "probably the strongest opening turn play". Interestingly, Spies are also a very good answer to Firedogs. (Shura can get help from Kalut)

Now, put the 2 blog posts together and they explain the strength of Flamvell decks!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

How to connect your DS to Nintendo WiFi Connection using a Mac

I just figured this out with the help of this article over at macosxhints.com. If you are a Nintendo DS owner, uses Mac OS and want to connect to the Nintendo WiFi Connection:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051119155606277

For the Yugioh World Championship games, you are able to download goodies like cards, duelist, duel puzzles and banlists.

Awesome tip for getting cards in the World Championship games by Reaper of Despair at Pojo forums:

http://www.pojo.biz/board/showpost.php?p=17486867&postcount=934

In short, buy enough packs to get 80% of the set and use password to buy any card you need from the set. This should save a great deal of DP.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Synchro Cat, Dark Leeroy Challenge and Flamvell Monarch

I was checking out the Official Synchro Cat Thread at Pojo and come across 2 European duelist's names, Michel GrĂ¼ner and Claudio Kirchmair, who were both running Synchro Cat (or Cat Synchro, whichever you want to call it) in the Dark Leeroy Challenge Tournament which recently took place at Paris. Surprisely, Blackwings and Synchro Cat topped. A breakdown of the top 16 deck can be found here over at strategyjam.blogspot:

http://strategyjam.blogspot.com/2010/03/dark-leeroy-challenge-top-16-decklists.html

The link to the deck list from that blog post leads to a forum which requires registration but I manage to find an alternative at a Peru forum, Yugioh DuelPeru, posted by francisco96:

http://oficialyugiohperu.foroactivo.net/reportes-torneos-internacionales-f14/paris-dark-leeroy-challenge-t685.htm

I hope I did not get any of the names wrong, I do apologize if I did. The top 2 Blackwings featured 2 Rykos, something which CapitalG mentioned over at the Pojo official Blackwings thread. Rykos make good opening plays for Blackwings. A quick look at the top 2 Synchro Cat and they are both using Hamster and Gravekeepers engine. I tried Flamvell Cat before in a video game but I did not like it... which brings me to another Flamvell deck. (Not Flamvell Lightsworn found at the Dark Leeroy Challenge)

I was checking out Dale Bellido's youtube channel and found his Flamvell Monarch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fwGIJ--quA

Interesting Flamvell Variant but if I run it, I might try cutting the Rekindling and Pot of Avarice so the deck becomes 40 and less possibilities of dead cards early in the game as there are also 3 Caius in the deck. I normally see Pot of Avarice used in ones for Monarch decks. I will test it out in the video game first!

In a Match against Lightsworn:
Game 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJC0C30-Am0
Game 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYSomjSIhHk
Game 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwj--cEJLFE

Flamvell Magician is released in Tournament Pack Vol. 13 as a normal parallel rare! This means Flamvell decks will be seen in Konami OCG Qualifiers tournament! (Don't quote me on this, please check it out if you are entering the tournament)

Updates: Tried Flamvell Monarchs in a video game and it went ok. I even used 2 Rekindling and 2 Pot of Avarice. I have to add that drawing into 2 Flamvell Magicians in the early game is bad too.

Friday, April 2, 2010

My WC2010 Early Game Deck Guide

I've played until the turf battles and thought I share the deck used so far. It has evolved from the starter deck into a Tuner Beat Deck. Rauzes has posted a deck of that sort in his now defunct The Gaijin Duelist blog, based on Road/Hyper Synchron or Trap Eater/Gale with Battle Tuned card.

I build mine in the game based on card availability as the Starter Deck given is not very strong. I spent most of the DP on the DT packs and the best monsters you can get are Synchros like Brionac, Mist Wurm, AOJ Catastor and Goyo Guardian as well as tuners like Mist Valley Soldier and X-Saber Airbellum. Mist Valley Soldier also works well with the Icarus Attack which I recommend transferring over to the main from sidedeck. When your tuners are all 3-4 stars, you need to use weenies that can survive and the starter deck's Nimble Momonga does the job well. Powered Tuner given in the starter deck also works with so many tuners available.

http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Duel_Terminal_-_Synchro_Awakening!!
Notable cards: Cyber Dragon, X-Saber Airbellum, Mist Valley Soldier, Brionac, Mist Wurm, X-Saber Urbellum, AOJ Catastor and Dust Tornado

http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Duel_Terminal_-_Invasion_of_Worms!!
Notable cards: Goyo Guardian and MST

Remember to check for the cards available in the packs before buying as the follow their real world counterpart namesake. I recommend buying half a box each time to see if you already get the cards you require. For spell and trap staples, I get them one of the Structure Deck (SD). Zombie Madness makes a good choice for that lone SD you can buy before completing the game as it contains a good number of staples like Heavy Storm and Torrential Tribute. Check the in-game recipe viewer and you will see the cards available in SDs.

Another tip for the game is to talk to everyone you see at least once like RPG games because some Non-Playable Character (NPC) give useful tips and hints. Move to all corners of the area and look out for yellow arrows showing that some objects that can be checked for treasure. I'll update again when my deck evolves again and I think it should be to Lightsworns when Light of Destruction is unlocked later in story mode!

Updates: I manage to defeat Peko, a girl in Satellite, consecutively 3 times in Structure Deck duels (used Spellcaster's Judgement, Warrior's Triumph and Zombie Madness) to unlock Absolute Powerforce. After buying 1 and a half box of those packs, I manage to form an X-Saber Beat Deck, the second deck after Tuner Beat, with the Saber Holes and Garsem and the DT X-Saber monsters. Unfortunately, I could not get a single Hyunlei.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Infernity Virus

In the beginning of Blackwing decks, their main synchro summon (Armor Master) was usually skipped for Dark Strike Fighter to end games immediately. For Infernity, Trishula (or Mist Wurm or Stardust Dragon) became the main synchro summon instead of the Infernity Death Dragon. I attempt to change that...

In an ideal handless situation where opponent allows you your first Synchro, you synchro your first 8-stars synchro of Infernity Death Dragon and call priority to use Death Dragon's effect on one of your opponent's monster. Your opponent chain a spell or trap to destroy/bounce/flip facedown/negate or does nothing, trying to save that Torrential for the rest of your synchros and you flip...

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

Tribute the Death Dragon and declare spells or traps for destruction and see all your opponent's hand and facedown cards in the spell and trap zone! Choose traps especially if opponent flips Royal Oppression or you predict a saved torrential or choose spells and you will most probably be safe from Lightning Vortex and Heavy Storm for the next 3 turns, achieving a kind of lock. The only problems are Royal Decree, Trap Stun, Solemn Judgement and Royal Oppression. Getting your Death Dragon to the grave also means there is a 3000 atk Infernity waiting to be summoned by Mirage, Necromancer or used as the 3rd Gun's summon because the field is usually cramped filled with Synchros.

Infernity Virus

Monster (18)
1 DAD
3 Infernity Archfiend
3 Infernity Necromancer
3 Infernity Beetle
2 Infernity Mirage
2 Infernity Revenger
3 Dark Grepher
1 Plaguespreader Zombie

Spells (10)
1 Allure
1 MST
1 Heavy Storm
1 One-for-one
1 Foolish Burial
1 Giant Trunade
1 ROTA
3 Infernity Gun

Traps (12)
3 Infernity Inferno
2 Raigeki Break/PWWB
2 Bottomless Traphole
1 Call of the Haunted
1 TT
1 Trap Dustshoot
2 Eradicator Epidemic Virus (EEV)

Extra Deck
2-3 Infernity Death Dragon
12-13 other synchros

Using J-Speed's ISDCS Tournament winning Infernity deck as base, I don't think 2 EEV will disrupt the deck much although it does replace Gold Sarcophagus which speeds up Infernity decks. On the other hand, this deck will be playable for Konami OCG Qualifier Tournaments and using EEV will be so much fun!

Untried and untested.

Update: Solemn and Royal Oppression negates the Death Dragon, meaning you cannot activate EEV as the monster has not reached the field for tributing yet! (No monster effect priority call too)

Monday, March 29, 2010

Let's be honest here...

I'll take a break from all those Infernity posts and share another 2 articles by Jason Grabher-Meyer, over at yugioh.tcgplayer.com. He writes a lot of good and informative articles:

"9 Out of 10 SJC Duelists Are Playing Honest Wrong"
http://yugioh.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?id=2328

Note: Be careful about using this information for Singapore's Qualifier Tournaments. They have card rulings stating that Damage Calculation step is skipped. Read the rules before attempting the above.

"Nine Thoughts On The New Format"
http://yugioh.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?id=2423

Note: No Infernity.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

My Archfiends speak English!

These are European versions of Stardust Accelerator 2009 and they cost about SGD $50 each. I couldn't get the Japanese version so I have to make do with the TCG cards. Unfortunately, my Infernity deck do not qualify for usage in OCG Konami Tournaments, even though I've already planned on playing Infernity without Mist Wurms and Trishula. (Play Revenger and go for mostly 8-stars instead

A little note about the rarity, Europe versions of Archfiends are Super Rare, meaning the card is foil. Japan and US versions are Ultra Rare, meaning the card is foil and the name of the card is in gold lettering.

Another Infernity video: Bahamut84 (2008 Singapore Champion) vs Big Bear (2008 World Champion)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHD0B81vCDA

Ignoring the misplay with using Necromancer twice, there are still 2 cool moves the 2008 World Champion did in the duel:
- Infernity Inferno, putting an Archfiend for Call of the Haunted to defend a Battle phase.
- Synchros a field of monster, including Brionac, and activate a set Giant Trunade on all set spells and traps for fueling Brionac.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

"The State of the Metagame" articles and my comments

I came across this 2 articles by LIGHTNINGBLITZ over at the tcgplayer.com blogs and will like to share them with everyone:

Part 1: http://forum.tcgplayer.com/blog.php?b=2082

Part 2: http://forum.tcgplayer.com/blog.php?b=2097

It talks about most of the current decks and card choices in the new March 2010 banlist not, including Infernity. I agree with most of what is written (especially about the lightsworns) except the Rescue Cat decks. I don't really agree that Kitty Synchro is Tier 1 as the Rescue Cat engine is only 1 of Summon Priest and 1 of Rescue Cat. Limited cards are extremely hard to draw into now, Blackwings players will most probably notice now regarding Allure. I may try the Flamvell variant of Synchro Cat if possible to see if it is true.

Updates: I tried out Flamvell Cat in a video game. It is nice to be able to easily get out a Colossal Fighter and/or Stardust Dragon. However, drawing 2 Pot of Avarice and 2 Rekindling early game leads to bad hands and there is only one Summon Priest to dump them in early games, provided you draw him too. I think 3 Flamvell Dogs (Flamvell's Shura!) and 2 Flamvell Magicians works better than using 3 each.

Using Flamvell, it seems to be the main engine and not the Cat engine. The synergy between Flamvell and Cat will be Rykos can help to mill Flamvells to the grave and the Magicians also can be summoned by Summon Priest, escaping Bottomless, to go for Stardust. I still think GB, BW and Gadgets will be more consistent. Flamvell Magicians are DT cards so you will not be seeing this deck in OCG Konami Tournaments.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Yugioh WC 2010 Reverse of Arcadia: Perfect Duel Game Guide

I just bought this book and 1 main reason was because I found out that only 1 Hellway Patrol is required in Infernity decks.

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

The card art looks very cool with a character looking like the Marvel Super Hero, Ghost Rider. This book is a V-Jump publication so I guess the card cannot be used in Konami tournaments. The book content contains a short portion for the walkthrough and focuses more on the decklist of the opponents as well as all the cards featured in the game and which packs to get them.

Insanity.

This.

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

and this.

Monster (17)
1 DAD
1 Plaguespreader Zombie
1 Hellway Patrol
3 Dark Grepher
2 Infernity Mirage
3 Infernity Beetle
3 Infernity Necromancer
3 Infernity Archfiend

Spells (9)
1 Heavy Storm
1 MST
1 Giant Trunade
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Foolish Burial
1 One for One
3 Infernity Gun

Traps (14)
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Trap Dustshoot
2 Raigeki Break
2 Bottomless Traphole
3 Infernity Inferno
3 Infernity Barrier

GG.

Update: Ok, after calming down and thinking through about it, Konami did leave a weakness in the card, Infernity Barrier. It requires an attack-mode Infernity monster on top of being handless. At first I thought Barrier will guarantee the OTK but looking back at the main monsters played before going into the Gun loop, Grepher and Necromancer (goes to defense mode) does not allow Barrier's activation. The rest of the main Infernity monsters will have to be in attack-mode and protected by traps, except Archfiend because 1800 attack is decent enough. It will still guarantee a victory by the next turn if you filled up your field with Synchros but somehow did not manage to win that same turn. Two things are for sure: this card is powerful and help advocate players to go handless.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Infernity VS Infernity Video! Featuring J-Speed's Infernity Deck

From the 3 games, it just seem that this matchup goes to the Infernity that pulls off the OTK first. The videos come from oyatunozikann's youtube channel featuring J-Speed's Infernity deck in the Blue 5Ds sleeve on the left. I found 2 of his decklist from shriek.twoday.net and will share out the link below the videos. It has been some time since the Blackwing/Dark Strike Fighter days where I've seen a user take such a long turn thinking and calculating for the OTK before executing. (Unlike most OTK decks where the turn is long due to drawing or milling of a lot of cards) Here are my comments and opinions of the match and I must first declare that I am neither a professional player nor used an Infernity deck before!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgRmgWRgsLk

Comments: I'm guessing this is the first game. No Necromancer available so I guessed the goal is to get out Stardust Dragon ASAP to protect. The opponent drew a bad hand was reduced to twirling his Dark Grepher to kill time as J-Speed calculated for the OTK. Even if the opponent could survive, Stardust and Solemn will protect against the impending Heavy Storm and Lightning Vortex.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIV5AKwUTBI

Comments: This video is incoherent but you can make out the details. (Did J-Speed make all his card and card sleeves bend to hide the foils cause the whole deck looks bend?) In the end, J-Speed took a long time to think about stopping the opponent's OTK and he was already down to 4000 LP as he solemn-ed to protect his Raigeki Break. I think the Raigeki Break couldn't help much as his opponent has summoned a Trishula and had an Infernity Gun backup ready to be used. Judging by the Dust Tornado used, this should be game 2 or 3 and he must not have drawn any of his D.D. Crows to save him. I think D.D. Crowing the Archfiend might make a difference to the outcome but I guess the Heavy Storm more or less sealed the match. Otherwise, Solemn-ing the Mirage might have stop the OTK too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x59-duuMabI

Comments: Another game 2 or 3 match as Dust Tornado and D.D. Crows are seen in J-Speed's deck. The turning point of the match is easier to tell if you are watching by the side or if you watch the match play out: The opponent should have saved the D.D. Crow for something other than the Plaguespreader, like the Archfiends to stand a better chance of surviving. Without the Archfiend to search for Gun, J-Speed will most probably end up with 2-3 Synchros on the field. However, J-Speed could also choose to send 2 Archfiends instead of 1. He probably sent 1 thinking he was safe from another D.D. Crow? This is already a sided match and look how fast it ended with 4 monsters and only 2 synchros.

The clips take so long because the players were either calculating OTK or calculating how to prevent OTK. In conclusion, I think Archfiend is the key card and is usually summoned from the grave which means they are D.D. Crows' and Solemn's primary target. Bottomless does not prevent the Infernity card search off Archfiend, I think. A lot of the tournament OCG decks are packing in D.D. Crows (especially Blackwings) and Thunderking Raiou in the main deck to stop Infernity. Dimensional Fissure (Found in both GB and at least one Blackwings too) and Royal Oppression (already mained in standard Blackwings) are useful against them making Blackwings one of the best deck against Infernity.



Let's take a look at J-Speed explosive deck and I think the main reason is due to 3 Dark Grephers and 3 Infernity Inferno! His deck also run a high monster count compared to what is normally advocated in the Infernity Pojo Discussion Threads. He packs in 1 Plaguespreader Zombie (helps lower hand count and is a tuner), 1 Hellway Patrol (can he be used in Konami Tournaments? Game Guide not considered Software product?), 1 Dark Armed Dragon (must be playable unlike what was discussed in Pojo?) and 1 Gorz (Required?) :

1st place: http://shriek.twoday.net/stories/6249922/

5th place: http://shriek.twoday.net/stories/6250974/ (but watch out for Knife's build at 2nd place with the same 3 Grephers and 3 Inferno!)

The main difference between the 1st place and the 5th place is the 2 Gold Sarcophagus and 1 Allure of Darkness in the 1st place deck, which adds even more speed. 5th place deck uses Trap Dustshoot which is also a useful card in Infernity OTK builds to check opponent's hand for any disruption and mainly to send D.D. Crows away, back to the deck.

J-Speed's 5th place deck also uses 2 Royal Decree which I seem to recall seeing in another Infernity Build before. I think it is to help protect your OTK like Trap Stun but also more to "shut up shop" with your field full of Synchros. The most interesting and innovative card choice of J-Speed is the Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon: easily summoned through Necromancer and Beetle and just as easily get its 3000 attack upgrade in Infernity. Another great 5-star Synchro choice for Infernity other than Stygian Sergeants that can gain 3000 but please note that Infernity Revenger is required to synchro the latter. All the OTK in the videos makes me want to forget about my alternative playstyle of simplifying the gamestate with Infernity!

Additional comments: A little early(September 2010 Banlist Prediction for Infernity) but even with
Trishula to 1
Infernity Archfiend to 1 (Judging by the videos, 1 Archfiend is all that is needed as Grepher, Foolish and Inferno searches and dumps it)
Infernity Gun to 2

The deck can still OTK with those changes but will be extremely susceptible to a D.D. Crow to the Archfiend. I really wonder how Konami will stop this madness come September!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Machina Gadgets and GB

Machina Gadgets have tested very well for me and are also winning Regionals around the US. I have tried it against Blackwings, Lightsworns and GB and it did quite well. No Chimeratech Fortress Dragon used tough. It mainly loses to double JD drops (Which deck doesn't?) or a well-timed Royal Oppression. I agree with Gambit01 about using 2 Machina Fortress, it works better this way. My changes:

- 1 Machina Fortress
+ 1 Creature Swap (mainly used with Peacekeeper and Gadgets)

I just found out that Machina Fortress's effect where it gets targeted by opponent's monster effect, will go off if targeted by Brionac or GB Murmillo other than Gale! Some more rulings on the card here:

http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Card_Rulings:Machina_Fortress

Here's an interesting article over at yugioh.tcgplayer.com by Jason Grabher-Meyer on the Machinas:

http://yugioh.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=2432

I've also taken most of the staple spell and traps used in the Machina Gadgets to build into a GB deck, OCG-style with low monster count.

Monsters (15)
3 Test Tiger
2 Gladiator Beast Laquari
2 Gladiator Beast Equeste
1 Gladiator Beast Darius
1 Gladiator Beast Bestiari
1 Gladiator Beast Hopolomus
1 Gladiator Beast Retiari
1 Gladiator Beast Murmillo
2 Cyber Dragon
1 Gale

Spells (12)
3 Gladiator Proving Ground
3 Book of Moon
2 Smashing Ground
2 Fissure
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps (13)
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Bottomless Traphole
2 Gladiator Beast War Chariot
2 Waboku
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Solemn Judgement
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Call of the Haunted

The monsters can be actually be counted as 18, due to 3 Gladiator Proving Grounds. This deck works well too although a difference between it and the Machina Gadgets is that you will not be holding on to card advantages, relying more on the GB toolbox to gain advantage. Both decks are similar in not relying on Synchro but a single Gale is in the GB deck as Gale is still a good card on its own and provide synchro options. Gale can also allow you to try to swap in a third Equeste and tech in 1 Icarus Attack. It is kind of ironic that this GB deck uses 2 Cyber Dragon whereas the other machine deck does not, due to deck space constrains. Overall, I still find the Machina Gadgets actually playing out better than this GB deck.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Machina Gadgets Roll Out!

I was trying out Rauzes and DSummon's Machina Junk and Debris (J&D) built and I find Debris Dragon a dead draw most of the time and I happen to draw into them in the early game a lot. It could be due to bad shuffling but overall I find Junk Synchron to be more playable. The deck is good overall and Machina Fortress makes a great boss card. I think the card makes Machina Mayhem one of the most competitive structure deck. You could buy 3 and add some staples to make a powerful deck, unlike the previous structure decks.

From the Machina J&D deck, you can take out the Junk Synchrons and Debris Dragon and replace them with the standard 6 Gadgets (2 x Red, 2 x Green and 2 x Yellow) as well as replace some spells and traps and you will get Machina Gadgets, which is really close to using 3 of the same structure deck. I just come across this Pojo 13 March 2010 Garden City Regional Report posting by Gambit01 who piloted the deck to top placing:

http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=819366

The thread includes his decklist, his report as well as him answering questions regarding the deck and competition. Here's my take on his Machina Gadget:

Monsters (19)
2 Red Gadget
2 Green Gadget
2 Yellow Gadget
2 Scrap Recycler
2 Machina Force
3 Machina PeaceKeeper
3 Machina Gearframe
3 Machina Fortress

Spells (13)
3 Machina Armored Unit
3 Book of Moon
2 Smashing Ground
2 Fissure
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Limiter Removal

Traps (8)
2 Roll Out!
2 Bottomless Traphole
1 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Solemn Judgement

I intend to keep the deck size to 40. I am missing Oilman, Tragoedia, Starlight Road and the 3rd Smashing Ground. Of the missing cards, I think Starlight Road make the biggest impact as it can be game-breaking. There are no Cyber Dragons and also the choice of 3 Machina Armored Unit which is like an alternate Black Whirlwind for Machines. There are some Pojo forum posts saying that it is a slow card over at the Official Machina Discussion Thread but an interesting note is that having more than one out stacks the effect. Gambit01 should be replying to more queries over at that thread linked above so do check back there.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Infernity Deck Video, Infernity strategy and updates on some decks

I recently came across videos of Infernity vs Blackwings in oyatunozikann's youtube channel, courtesy of Zack Legacy's blogpost:

http://zacklegacy.blogspot.com/2010/03/good-match-between-infernity-and-bf.html

They are all interesting battles and if you navigate to the youtube channel, you will see 1 more latest Infernity-Blackwings battle for a total of 4. However, the newest one has some cuts in between the duel, making the video incoherent. Nevertheless, there are loads of Yugioh Duel videos, mostly Blackwings I think:

http://www.youtube.com/user/oyatunozikann

The most interesting video I wanted to point out is this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4SkkyXPHwM

There were no Infernity Demon/Archfiend used in that duel! (The player had them in other games but just did not draw into them this time.) There is hope for budget Infernity players! The game was played at a slow pace and the Infernity player still managed to swarm the field. I think Heavy Storm was the turning point of the match. If he had Infernity Revenger summoned during that swarming session, he would be able to go for the Colossal Fighter loop as the Blackwing player had a Sirocco on the field. Refer to this alternate version of Infernity OTK:

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

I have another idea on how to play Infernities, other than the OTK versions which we usually see - play it card for card destruction so that both players are down to zero hands. Similar to Gadgets in simplifying the game but instead of holding on to card advantage we try to make both players lose cards to an equal state of handless and resort to top decking. This play style will be slower, controlled and more defensive and the deck will less likely be stopped by Battle Fader/D.D. Crows. This is just an idea and I have not tested yet.

Blackwings
Blackwing Gust and Breeze seems to have increase the synchro swarming ability of the deck, making the deck explosive.

Spore Lightsworns
The deck is tested to be working fine against Blackwings and GB.

Alchemic Fader
I've tested and sometimes the Battle Fader and Dimensional Alchemist does not draw out well: drawing Dimensional Alchemist without Faders or drawing Faders and no Alchemist.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Updates to the Chaos, Spore Lightsworns and GB decks

Chaos
I notice by the end of the post, the deck modification changed from Chaos to monarchs. I'm guessing Chaos won't be as viable with only one Chaos Sorcerer... but on second thoughts, 5 Monarchs are too much for a deck with no Treeborn Frogs/Level Eaters so I am sticking with the lone Chaos Sorcerer. The deck name should be called Alchemic Fader because of the 2 key card combo.
Here are 2 nice reads on Battle Fader by Michael Kohanim from the Konami Yugioh Blog:
http://www.konami.com/yugioh/articles/?p=1525#more-1525
http://www.konami.com/yugioh/articles/?p=1545#more-1545

Spore Lightsworns
I did not always get to use Brain Control to steal monsters and synchro but it did help in matches nevertheless. One for One was not very useful as I usually draw them after or with the 2nd Spore.
- One for One
+ Lightning Vortex
Lightsworns are considerably slow now and losing Lumina and Charge seem to reduce the chances of milling. Spore will have a bigger impact if both were still around. It is now currently only effective during the late middle game or late game where most of your deck has been milled and thus both copies have a higher chance to be in the graveyard. I did manage to synchro a 8-star with Celestia, Ryko and Spore normal summoned.

GB
There is another GB "deck template" from SJC Nashville, by Travis Bibbs:
http://www.konami.com/yugioh/blog/?p=1856#more-1856
It looks almost the same as See Huang Yeem's build except for the Dimensional Fissures. I wonder if they are teammates.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Chaos for the next format

Check out Henry Su's Chaos deck from SJC Nashville (penultimate deck):

http://www.konami.com/yugioh/blog/?p=1856#more-1856

Although the deck was named as Chaos and looked like the old Chaos Return, I think the main engine in the deck is the Battle Fader/Dimensional Alchemist combo to reuse Battle Fader's effect. I first saw this combo from Cliff Richard Georpe in the Philippine Weekly Tournament over at shriek.twoday.net:

http://shriek.twoday.net/stories/6119624/

He named it Perfect Circle. Back to Henry Su's deck, I think the deck suffers quite a bit from losing a boss monster like Chaos Sorcerer in the new format.

Monsters (22)
1 Spirit Reaper/Gale
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness/Raiza
1 Chaos Sorcerer/Raiza
1 Sangan
3 Battle Fader
3 Dimensional Alchemist
3 Cyber Valley
2 D.D. Crow
1 Necro Gardna
1 Plaguespreader Zombie
3 Caius the Shadow Monarch
2 Cyber Dragon

Spells (9)
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Mind Control
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Machine Duplication/One for One
1 Brain Control
1 Heavy Storm
2 Smashing Ground

Traps(9)
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Mirror Force
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Dust Tornado/Dimensional Prison
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Return from the Different Dimension/Dimensional Prison

I've added in Plaguespreader and Gardna although Shinning Angel should still work. I find that the 2 new additions will work with the Alchemist well. I am not too sure about the boss monsters but maybe replacing them with Raiza for a total of 5 monarchs might work. I replace the Scapegoat for Lightning Vortex as there should be more GB now. Lightning Vortex is also good after they commit to the field and you use Fader.

This deck with 3 Battle Faders and 2 D.D. Crows seems dedicated to defending against big pushes, OTKs and Infernities. The Faders are in case the Infernity player do not have Trishula while the D.D. Crows ensure the combo does not go off in the first place. After the big push is stopped, you can counterattack with your monarchs and spells and try to take over the game from there.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Lightsworn: Spore version

Whenever you see a card that comes with an effect that can only be used once in a duel, it is probably a card effect that can be very broken if left unchecked. The latest card from The Shinning Darkness, Spore is a plant tuner card that has a somewhat similar effect to Copy Plant but it works from the graveyard.

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

I got the idea to use the card in Lightsworns from the 2nd place deck by a player, Jess:
http://sg-ygo.userboard.net/rick-shop-ngee-soon-cc-tournament-thread-f21/mar-6th-tournament-khatib-cc-mar-banlist-completed-t2788.htm#44888

His deck is a mix of Zombies, Lightsworns and Spore. I think any card that has effects activated from graveyard should deserve testing with Lightsworns. Notice the art of Spore, it looks like it is glowing in light...

Monsters (24)
2 Judgement Dragon
2 Honest
1 Necro Gardna
1 Plaguespreader Zombie
1 Lumina
1 Ehren
2 Lyla
2 Garoth
2 Ryko
2 Wulf
2 Jain
2 Celestia
2 Aurkus
2 Spore

Spells (10)
1 Charge of the Light Brigade
1 Foolish Burial
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 One for One
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Brain Control
3 Solar Recharge

Traps (6)
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
2 Threatening Roar/Bottomless Traphole
2 Beckoning Light

The deck is mainly modified from the previous Lightsworn deck I posted. Notable additions include One for One and Brain Control as well as Spore. The Threatening Roars are for Infernities. The threat is real. You should find Brain Control to be more consistent with 3 tuners in the deck now. Spore takes the place of the 2 'departed' Necro Gardnas and provide additional synchro abilities to Lightsworns. In this deck, Spore has the possibility of synchro-ing 4-8 stars when summoned onto the field and when there is 2 in the graveyard, it becomes a Plaguespreader Zombies without requiring a card from your hand.

There was once a time where Plaguespreader was unlimited and I think Lightsworn players use 3. Spore acts almost like another 2 Plaguespreaders now. I like this version name too because it looks and sounds like it is made in Singapore!