Yugioh's Magic Number for Sept 2011 format: 3

I think it all started with Synchro Monsters. In the beginning, Dark Dive Bomber was such a powerful card that can end games and it was a level 7. Everybody had to make one and it was soon banned. Soon after, Brionic was the most sought-after and it is a level 6. Before I stop playing, it was Trishula, a level 9 and it is an absolutely overpowered card. Now, in the XYZ era, I think the magical number this time is 3 because of this card.

It brings back removed from play monsters with their effects unnegated. This combos with Cards for Black Feathers, Cards from the Sky, Gold Sarcophagus, Allure of Darkness, Master Hyperion, Gate of the Dark World, Dark Armed Dragon, Black Rose Dragon (yes it has a second effect), Spore, Plaguespreader Zombie, Mezuki and these are some of the cards I can think of. Particularly in zombies, the TeamPurplePanda build even forgoes Burial from the Different Dimension and I think it is because of it, unless the card was forgotten...

Personally, I think this is the single reason Tour Guide of the Underworld is good. It's probably the number one choice Rank 3 XYZ summon. It has been tested to work well in Dark World by the people in Pojo in TCG before the Structure deck was released but I think the TCG ruling about XYZ material monsters does play a small part in making it even better. It is also fits very well in Agents (check out my previous post), Lightsworns and Zombies. However, in OCG, there are no Tour Guides and also a different ruling about the XYZ materials but I think Leviair is still too good to pass up. There definitely will be ways to summon it but it will be slower compared to Tour Guide who brings it out instantly.

Lightlords have probably the closest instant summon with Lumina and Arkus and a banished Honest is a very good target to bring back. Other ways to summon Leviair are from my guesses after looking at this Dark World deck list by Banebu that came in third. I think he uses Spirit Reaper to stall until a second 3 Star summon like Broww, Sangan or the Fabled Raven and Tragoedia (using their effect). In his side-deck, there is also Snowman Eater which is a 3 Star wall.

In short, I think OCG decks should still try to have some setup to summon Leviair even without Tour Guides for rewarding plays. Beware of leaving your 3 Star monster out for a turn as it might get Mind Controlled...

Side-note: The 2011 Collector Tins are out and they contain Pot of Duality. Those interested in building a TCG Agent deck will want the Zenmeister tin as it also contains Kristya.

Revision to OCG Tier 1 prediction

- Agent Angels

- Lightlords

Cards that I'm consider important:

- 1 BLS

- 1 Sangan

- 2 Effect Veiler (or Skill Drain for Dark World)

- 2 Tragoedia

- 1 Gorz

- Mind Control

- Heavy Storm

- Monster Reborn

- Dark Hole

- 2 Pot of Duality

- 2 MST (3 only if your decktype's cards do not have enough back rows destruction, like Agents)

- Torrential Tribute

- Trap Dustshoot

Update: I check out the Dark World deck from shriek.twoday.net and it states it is 2 Doomcaliber Knight instead of 2 Spirit Reaper... oh well... Konami's official TCG site actually states that Rank 3 are using to XYZ summon and I think it is solely due to Tour Guide.

Edit: Ok, maybe first choice is Revise Dragon if there are no removed from game monsters =p...

TeamPurplePanda's Sept 2011 Banlist Prediction in YouTube

TeamPurplePanda's Sept 2011 Banlist Prediction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ1xtnpRqYM

I still think Six Sams will be hit, just look at Lightsworns.

I also think Mind Control will not be hit because it promotes XYZ summon which is actually one of the points he brought up so it is kinda self-conflicting. This will be a card to look out for if it did not get hit because it is going to be a staple that people do consider to be ban-worthy.

Cards of the same rarity, stick together

Interesting video: Rarity Stacking by TeamPurplePanda

I think it's kinda true because back when Allure was Super Rare, I tend to see them getting drawn and played one after another. I'm going to mix gold cards into the deck to try!

I got my hands on Yugioh WC 2011 and have been playing for some time now. Rental deck dueling is very interesting and definitely a step up from Structure Deck duels. I tried out X-sabers, Dragunity and Six Samurai and felt their power! On a sadder note, there is no easy Lightlord deck creation now that the light of destruction pack is not unlock by story progress.

XYZ Offering Gadgets

I'm just starting to read up on XYZ (Exceeds). It replaces Synchro Summon in the new anime series. The XYZ cards are very cool, coming in a black border. Some of the popular ones that I'm seeing being used are Gachi Gachi Gantetsu, Number 39 Utopia, Steelswarm Roaches and Tiras, Keeper of Genesis. Agents can get out Gantetsu with the Mystical Shine Balls, Gadgets can get Utopia while Dark World can try for Tiras.

One of the most interesting deck based on it will be Gadgets. It gets another Boss Monster in the form of Utopia. Here's a deck from TeamPurplePanda. A useful tip given was that Gravity Bind can be used and XYZ are unaffected by it. One problem I foresee is that you might get hands clog with Gadgets and not draw into the Ultimate Offerings.