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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

Gadgets for the next format

Monsters (18)

2 Green Gadget

2 Red Gadget

2 Yellow Gadget

3 D.D. Warrior Lady

3 Doomcalibur Knight/D.D. Assailant

3 Thunderking Raiou/Breaker

2 Cyber Dragon

1 Tragoedia/Gorz/Gale

Spells (11)

3 Smashing Ground

3 Book of Moon

2 Fissure

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Shrink/Limiter Removal

Traps (11)

3 Dimensional Prison

2 Royal Oppression

2 Bottomless Traphole

1 Solemn Judgement

1 Mirror Force

1 Trap Dustshoot

1 Torrential Tribute

Standard Gadgets in my opinion. I think Gadgets have been getting a lot of key cards back since the last format. This time they lose Tragoedia but gain a play set of Smashing Ground.