And we're back. This article will cover a rather cheap and annoying deck, the Ojamas. This trio of speedo wearing aliens debuted in YuGiOh GX as the deck Chazz Princeton dug out of the ice.
Originally they weren't much and were better off being ignored. After all they're just normal monsters with no atk and subpar def. Then came the release of their brethren, Blue and Red.
So let's start with the trio:
Ojama Green, Yellow, Black
Light/Beast/2/0/1000
He's one of the Ojama Trio. It's said that he butts in by any means necessary. It's also said that when the three are together, something happens.
That "something happens" would be Ojama Delta Hurricane!!
Normal Spell
You can only activate this card while "Ojama Green", "Ojama Yellow" and "Ojama Black" are face-up on your side of the field. Destroy all cards on your opponent's side of the field.
Now how do we go about summoning the trio?
Ojama Red
Light/Beast/2/0/1000
When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon up to 4 "Ojama" monsters from your hand in Attack Position.
But how do we get Ojamas in hand for that?
Ojama Blue
Light/Beast/2/0/1000
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can add 2 "Ojama" cards from your Deck to your hand (this can include "Ojamuscle").
Ojamagic
Normal Spell
When this card is sent from the hand or the field to the Graveyard, add 1 each of "Ojama Green", "Ojama Yellow" and "Ojama Black" from your Deck to your hand.
Ojamagic provides great bluff or discard fodder. Blue provides another Ojama for Red to summon but has no affect on Hurricane.
Now let's cover a great recruiter in the deck.
Super-Nimble Mega Hamster
Earth/Beast/4/1100/1800
Flip: You can Special Summon 1 Level 3 or lower Beast-Type monster from your Deck in face-down Defense Position.
Your most often target will be Blue.
So the skeleton should look like:
2 Black
2 Green
2 Yellow
3 Blue
3 Red
3 Mega Hamster
2 Hurricane
3 Ojamagic
No reason to run a complete playset of the trio plus we have Ojamagic and Blue to grab em.
Now what makes this a good deck? The exceed mechanic and Ojama Country.
Ojama Country
Field spell
Once per turn, you can send 1 "Ojama" card from your hand to the Graveyard to Special Summon 1 "Ojama" monster from your Graveyard. While you control a face-up "Ojama" monster, switch the original ATK and DEF of all monsters on the field.
So first you can dump an Ojama card to revive an Ojama. Second as long as you control an Ojama all monsters switch their stats. Now what's that mean? Our Ojamas become 1000 atk instead of 0. Not much to write home about but that's where the exceed mechanic comes in.
Summon Red>special up to 4 Ojamas>overlay and summon X Gachi Gachi Gantetsu.
Gachi gives all monsters 200 atk and def times the number of materials it has. This effect stacks so 2 Gachis with 4 materials means 2600 atk or def depending on Country. Add a third and you get 3 3000 Gachis. Those Gachis will be pesky to get rid of. The only concern is the Ojama. Once that goes down, and it won't be hard since it'll only have 1800 atk if you managed a full field off Red's effect netting you 2 Gachis, all stats revert to normal. The good thing is that most monsters tend to have high atk and low def or vice versa.
The deck has many directions to go in. There's using Junk Synchron to revive a fallen Ojama to summon Ally of Justice Catastor or Frozen Fitzgerald. You can even use Genex Ally Birdman after a Red play to summon a higher lvl synchro. Bounce an Ojama to summon Birdman>synch into lvl5-9>toss the Ojama in hand to revive an Ojama if you have Country out.
There's using entirely beasts and Solidarity.
There's using a number of high def monsters alongside the Ojamas and Country to get high atk, ie: D Hero Defender.
You can even go the fusion route and lock up your opp's field.
Here's my current build on DN:
20
2 Ojama Black
2 Ojama Green
2 Ojama Yellow
3 Junk Synchron
2 Snipe Hunter
3 Ojama Blue
3 Ojama Red
3 Mega Hamster
17
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
Monster Reborn
Mind Control
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
3 Ojama Country
2 Ojama Delta Hurricane!!
3 Ojamagic
2 Pot of Duality
3
3 Royal Decree
Ally of Justice Catastor
Black Rose Dragon
2 Frozen Fitzgerald
Mist Wurm
3 Gachi Gachi Gantetsu
There's the basic Ojama skeleton plus staples and some tech choices.
Junk opens the door for synchro monsters.
Snipe Hunter gets rid of trouble cards plus it'll net you the trio if you chucked Ojamagic.
Mind Control let's you nab opp monsters for exceeds or synchros.
Duality grabs a key piece if you're missing it.
The deck runs a lot of monsters and spells so Decree shuts down troublesome traps.
Other tech choices:
Honest; all the Ojamas are light so if you want some def if your opp tries to knock down the Ojama keeping Country active here you go.
Pot of Avarice; you'll likely end up having a fair amount of monster go to the grave if you synchro often. I myself wouldn't mind having one in the deck but I haven't really found the room. I may cut a MST for it.
Future Fusion; dump the trio and summon King or dump a pair to summon Knight.
Creature Swap; there's a ton of low/nonexistent atk in the deck so steal an opp's monster. Use it with Blue and get more advantage.
Hand Destruction/Card Destruction; both can toss cards you don't want to speed the deck. Both will activate Ojamagic, increasing your hand size but Hand beats DW since it says sends and not discard.
White Elephant's Gift/Common Charity; both let's you draw 2, one at the cost of sending an onfield normal monster, the other by removing a nilla from your hand.
Hope you enjoyed the article. Until next time this is the Island of Lost Cards, taking care of the eccentrics.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Aquatic Zeal
First off Gishki; they are a water archtype that focuses on rituals. The ones currently out are interesting but not all that great.
The money's at Evigishki Zeal Gigas
Water/Aqua/Effect/Ritual/10/3200/0
Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Ritual Summoned. You can Ritual Summon this card with any "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card. Once per turn: You can pay 1000 Life Points; draw 1 card, and reveal it. If it is a "Gishki" monster, shuffle 1 card on the field to the Deck.
It's a rather nice beatstick with a nice effect. For a mere 1000 lp you get a draw. If that draw happens to be a Gishki monster your opp loses a card to the deck.
Now Zeal Gigas isn't due out until HA07 so we have some time til then to gather the deck pieces.
The key ritual spell is Gishki Aquamirror.
Ritual Spell
This card can be used to Ritual Summon any "Gishki" Ritual Monster. You must also Tribute monsters from the field or your hand whose total Levels equal the Level of the Ritual Monster you Ritual Summon. You can shuffle this card from the Graveyard into the Deck to target 1 "Gishki" Ritual Monster in your Graveyard; return that target to your hand.
There are 2 other ritual spells but they aren't nearly as good as Aquamirror.
Forbidden Arts combines a ritual spell with Soul Exchange while cutting the summoned monster's atk in half. Not worth it.
Duplicate Soul Mirror costs a minimum of 2000 lp to summon a ritual. Also not worth it.
Now that we've covered the rituals, let's cover the engine.
Gishki Shadow
Water/Sea Serpent/4/Effect/1200/1000
If you Ritual Summon a WATER Ritual Monster, this 1 card can be used as the entire Tribute. You can discard this card; add 1 "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card from your Deck to your hand.
Grab Aquamirror and if need be tribute it for a ritual.
Vision Gishki
Water/Sea Serpent/2/Effect/700/500
If you Ritual Summon a WATER Ritual Monster, this 1 card can be used as the entire Tribute. You can discard this card; add 1 "Gishki" Ritual Monster from your Deck to your hand.
Same as Shadow but for a monster.
Gishki Abyss
Water/Fish/2/Effect/800/500
When this card is Summoned: You can add 1 "Gishki" monster with 1000 or less DEF from your Deck to your hand, except "Gishki Abyss".
The deck's Manju. It'll either grab a Shadow or Vision which will then grab its respective target.
Gishki Ariel
Water/Spellcaster/4/Effect/1000/1800
FLIP: You can add 1 "Gishki" monster from your Deck to your hand.
The deck's recruiter, very similar to Worm Cartaros. Rather nice def so it'll have a chance to sit on the field.
Gishki Beast
Water/Beast/4/Effect/1500/1300
When this card is Normal Summoned: You can target 1 Level 4 or lower "Gishki" monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target in face-up Defense Position.
Beast opens the door for exceeds or grabbing a Shadow/Vision for a desperate ritual summon.
Gishki Chain
Water/Sea Serpent/4/Effect/1800/1000
When this card is Normal Summoned: Look at the top 3 cards of your Deck and if there is a Ritual Monster or Ritual Spell Card among those cards; you can reveal it to add it to your hand and return the remaining cards to the top of the Deck in any order.
Allows for stacking and can grab a missing ritual piece. Cuts luck out of Gigas's effect.
So the skeleton should look like this:
3 Evigishki Zeal Gigas
3 Gishki Shadow
3 Vision Gishki
2 Gishki Abyss
3 Gishki Ariel
3 Gishki Beast
2 Gishki Chain
3 Gishki Aquamirror
Non theme support covers a fair amount of cards, most notably Salvage and Surface.
Salvage grabs Vision and Shadow for more deck thinning or that necessary ritual tribute. It'll also grab Beast and Ariel if you need walls (Beast into Utopia).
Surface works well with Abyss and Vision. Summon Abyss>grab Vision>dump for ritual>Surface to revive Vision>overlay for Gachi.
Next is staple spells/traps.
Here's my current build I've enjoyed on DN:
21
3 Evigishki Zeal Gigas
3 Gishki Ariel
3 Gishki Beast
2 Gishki Chain
3 Gishki Shadow
3 Vision Gishki
2 Gishki Abyss
2 Tragoedia
16
3 Salvage
2 Surface
Monster Reborn
Heavy Storm
Dark Hole
Book of Moon
Mind Control
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
3 Gishki Aquamirror
3
3 Royal Decree
The extra is up to you but I'd include:
2 Number 39: Utopia
Gustaph Max, Super Dreadnought Cannon Express
Gustaph Max is a lvl10 exceed that deals 2000 damage by detaching a material. It also has 3000 atk and def. Summon and atk with 2 Gigas then overlay into Max for 2000 more damage. If done right it'll be game.
Trag provides a bit of def should you get hit plus it's lvl10 for Gigas.
Triple MST allows the deck a chance to be more aggro.
Mind Control steal lvl4s for Utopia.
With the heavy monster and spell count, Decree helps shut down the traps that'll get in the way, most notably Warning.
Quick note for summoning the rituals: Using actual monsters to add up to 10 or whichever lvl you need is not all that efficient. The optimal play is to grab an Aquamirror and 2 copies of the ritual monster. Tribute one copy to summon the second and then use Aquamirror's effect to add that first copy to your hand and shuffle Aquamirror back into the deck.
Hoped you enjoyed the article. This is the Island of Lost Cards, saving all the Gishki supers from Hidden Arsenal. We'll be right back after these commercials.
The money's at Evigishki Zeal Gigas
Water/Aqua/Effect/Ritual/10/3200/0
Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Ritual Summoned. You can Ritual Summon this card with any "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card. Once per turn: You can pay 1000 Life Points; draw 1 card, and reveal it. If it is a "Gishki" monster, shuffle 1 card on the field to the Deck.
It's a rather nice beatstick with a nice effect. For a mere 1000 lp you get a draw. If that draw happens to be a Gishki monster your opp loses a card to the deck.
Now Zeal Gigas isn't due out until HA07 so we have some time til then to gather the deck pieces.
The key ritual spell is Gishki Aquamirror.
Ritual Spell
This card can be used to Ritual Summon any "Gishki" Ritual Monster. You must also Tribute monsters from the field or your hand whose total Levels equal the Level of the Ritual Monster you Ritual Summon. You can shuffle this card from the Graveyard into the Deck to target 1 "Gishki" Ritual Monster in your Graveyard; return that target to your hand.
There are 2 other ritual spells but they aren't nearly as good as Aquamirror.
Forbidden Arts combines a ritual spell with Soul Exchange while cutting the summoned monster's atk in half. Not worth it.
Duplicate Soul Mirror costs a minimum of 2000 lp to summon a ritual. Also not worth it.
Now that we've covered the rituals, let's cover the engine.
Gishki Shadow
Water/Sea Serpent/4/Effect/1200/1000
If you Ritual Summon a WATER Ritual Monster, this 1 card can be used as the entire Tribute. You can discard this card; add 1 "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card from your Deck to your hand.
Grab Aquamirror and if need be tribute it for a ritual.
Vision Gishki
Water/Sea Serpent/2/Effect/700/500
If you Ritual Summon a WATER Ritual Monster, this 1 card can be used as the entire Tribute. You can discard this card; add 1 "Gishki" Ritual Monster from your Deck to your hand.
Same as Shadow but for a monster.
Gishki Abyss
Water/Fish/2/Effect/800/500
When this card is Summoned: You can add 1 "Gishki" monster with 1000 or less DEF from your Deck to your hand, except "Gishki Abyss".
The deck's Manju. It'll either grab a Shadow or Vision which will then grab its respective target.
Gishki Ariel
Water/Spellcaster/4/Effect/1000/1800
FLIP: You can add 1 "Gishki" monster from your Deck to your hand.
The deck's recruiter, very similar to Worm Cartaros. Rather nice def so it'll have a chance to sit on the field.
Gishki Beast
Water/Beast/4/Effect/1500/1300
When this card is Normal Summoned: You can target 1 Level 4 or lower "Gishki" monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target in face-up Defense Position.
Beast opens the door for exceeds or grabbing a Shadow/Vision for a desperate ritual summon.
Gishki Chain
Water/Sea Serpent/4/Effect/1800/1000
When this card is Normal Summoned: Look at the top 3 cards of your Deck and if there is a Ritual Monster or Ritual Spell Card among those cards; you can reveal it to add it to your hand and return the remaining cards to the top of the Deck in any order.
Allows for stacking and can grab a missing ritual piece. Cuts luck out of Gigas's effect.
So the skeleton should look like this:
3 Evigishki Zeal Gigas
3 Gishki Shadow
3 Vision Gishki
2 Gishki Abyss
3 Gishki Ariel
3 Gishki Beast
2 Gishki Chain
3 Gishki Aquamirror
Non theme support covers a fair amount of cards, most notably Salvage and Surface.
Salvage grabs Vision and Shadow for more deck thinning or that necessary ritual tribute. It'll also grab Beast and Ariel if you need walls (Beast into Utopia).
Surface works well with Abyss and Vision. Summon Abyss>grab Vision>dump for ritual>Surface to revive Vision>overlay for Gachi.
Next is staple spells/traps.
Here's my current build I've enjoyed on DN:
21
3 Evigishki Zeal Gigas
3 Gishki Ariel
3 Gishki Beast
2 Gishki Chain
3 Gishki Shadow
3 Vision Gishki
2 Gishki Abyss
2 Tragoedia
16
3 Salvage
2 Surface
Monster Reborn
Heavy Storm
Dark Hole
Book of Moon
Mind Control
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
3 Gishki Aquamirror
3
3 Royal Decree
The extra is up to you but I'd include:
2 Number 39: Utopia
Gustaph Max, Super Dreadnought Cannon Express
Gustaph Max is a lvl10 exceed that deals 2000 damage by detaching a material. It also has 3000 atk and def. Summon and atk with 2 Gigas then overlay into Max for 2000 more damage. If done right it'll be game.
Trag provides a bit of def should you get hit plus it's lvl10 for Gigas.
Triple MST allows the deck a chance to be more aggro.
Mind Control steal lvl4s for Utopia.
With the heavy monster and spell count, Decree helps shut down the traps that'll get in the way, most notably Warning.
Quick note for summoning the rituals: Using actual monsters to add up to 10 or whichever lvl you need is not all that efficient. The optimal play is to grab an Aquamirror and 2 copies of the ritual monster. Tribute one copy to summon the second and then use Aquamirror's effect to add that first copy to your hand and shuffle Aquamirror back into the deck.
Hoped you enjoyed the article. This is the Island of Lost Cards, saving all the Gishki supers from Hidden Arsenal. We'll be right back after these commercials.
Lapse
Sorry for the lapse in articles. I've been a lil busy jumping into a new game and designing playmats for said game. I've also been lacking ideas for decks and cards to write about. And lastly I had a large portion of my collection stolen. Seven decks and every good extra/fusion deck card I've had.
The new game is Cardfight Vanguard. It came out last year in Japan and was imported late last year to America, mostly on the west coast I believe. It's quickly jumped to the forefront in Japan and many like it here.
The anime is rather interesting and can be found on Crunchyroll for those interested. It's one of the few, if not only, animes that actually follows the real rules of the game. Just by watching the first few episodes you'll learn the basics.
I've spent the past week testing a pair of decks on DN. The other week at local casuals a duelist had a Gishki deck he was trying to get an oldschool player to use. He didn't succeed but he did spark my interest in the archtype. On top of that a team member on Pojo has also been playing Gishki. Add that together and I had an overwhelming urge to try em out.
The other deck was Ojamas. It's something I've wanted to try before but kept forgetting to make it on DN while I've had trouble gathering the pieces for an actual deck.
I'll post separate articles for each deck shortly.
The new game is Cardfight Vanguard. It came out last year in Japan and was imported late last year to America, mostly on the west coast I believe. It's quickly jumped to the forefront in Japan and many like it here.
The anime is rather interesting and can be found on Crunchyroll for those interested. It's one of the few, if not only, animes that actually follows the real rules of the game. Just by watching the first few episodes you'll learn the basics.
I've spent the past week testing a pair of decks on DN. The other week at local casuals a duelist had a Gishki deck he was trying to get an oldschool player to use. He didn't succeed but he did spark my interest in the archtype. On top of that a team member on Pojo has also been playing Gishki. Add that together and I had an overwhelming urge to try em out.
The other deck was Ojamas. It's something I've wanted to try before but kept forgetting to make it on DN while I've had trouble gathering the pieces for an actual deck.
I'll post separate articles for each deck shortly.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Returner's Beatdown
For any returning players out there, here's a simple beatdown deck for you.
17-18
3 Dark Elf
3 Slate Warrior
3 Giant Orc
3 Goblin Elite Attack Force
2 Penguin Soldier
1-2 Dark Necrofear
2 Caius the Shadow Monarch
12
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
3 Smashing Ground
Allure of Darkness
2 Pot of Duality
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
7-9
Mirror Force
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
0-2 Ultimate Offering
Plenty of beatsticks with lots of removal.
For anyone wary of Duality, try this: pick up the top 3 cards and see if adding one of them to your hand helps. In this particular deck, the special summon clause won't be an issue. In others, it's more about gathering combo pieces for later in the game.
Offering simply allows the possibility of a swarm. It's up to the player's preference to use it or not. If anyone's interested in trying to use Offering for exceeds, stick to Offering Gadgets. They're far better equipped to do it.
17-18
3 Dark Elf
3 Slate Warrior
3 Giant Orc
3 Goblin Elite Attack Force
2 Penguin Soldier
1-2 Dark Necrofear
2 Caius the Shadow Monarch
12
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
3 Smashing Ground
Allure of Darkness
2 Pot of Duality
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
7-9
Mirror Force
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
0-2 Ultimate Offering
Plenty of beatsticks with lots of removal.
For anyone wary of Duality, try this: pick up the top 3 cards and see if adding one of them to your hand helps. In this particular deck, the special summon clause won't be an issue. In others, it's more about gathering combo pieces for later in the game.
Offering simply allows the possibility of a swarm. It's up to the player's preference to use it or not. If anyone's interested in trying to use Offering for exceeds, stick to Offering Gadgets. They're far better equipped to do it.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Magical Retreat
Today we'll look at an easily disregarded and underestimated common from Photon Shockwave.
Sound the Retreat!
Normal trap
Return all monsters you control to the hand.
Now at first appearance why would anyone run this? After all the hard work you did to get a few monsters on the field why put yourself back to square one? Some people use Compulsory Evacuation Device in response to the opp's removal effect to save their monster. This would do it largescale in response to mass removal like Dark Hole and the freshly semi limited Torrential Tribute. But then you'd have to summon them all over again.
Now here comes the ingeniousness someone brought up on Pojo the other day about the card. Use Magical Hats.
Magical Hats
Normal trap
Activate only during your opponent's Battle Phase. Select 2 non-Monster Cards from your Deck and 1 monster you control. Shuffle those 3 cards and Set them on the field in facedown Defense Position. The 2 cards selected from your Deck are treated as monsters (ATK 0/DEF 0) and are destroyed at the end of the Battle Phase.
A favorite of Yugi's, this card has seen play a few times, largely in Geartown decks. Grab a pair of Geartown, make your opp choose either to atk em or end the battle phase and out pops Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragons.
Now with Sound the Retreat we have an instant Gold Sarcophagus that'll net you 2 spell/trap cards.
As with most combo decks, this one will need the help of Pot of Duality. The only issue is that these cards take up almost a quarter of the deck if you use em in full quantities. Try out different numbers on DN and see what works for you. Aside from this being a rather ingenious engine the deck can be anything you'd like.
Sound the Retreat!
Normal trap
Return all monsters you control to the hand.
Now at first appearance why would anyone run this? After all the hard work you did to get a few monsters on the field why put yourself back to square one? Some people use Compulsory Evacuation Device in response to the opp's removal effect to save their monster. This would do it largescale in response to mass removal like Dark Hole and the freshly semi limited Torrential Tribute. But then you'd have to summon them all over again.
Now here comes the ingeniousness someone brought up on Pojo the other day about the card. Use Magical Hats.
Magical Hats
Normal trap
Activate only during your opponent's Battle Phase. Select 2 non-Monster Cards from your Deck and 1 monster you control. Shuffle those 3 cards and Set them on the field in facedown Defense Position. The 2 cards selected from your Deck are treated as monsters (ATK 0/DEF 0) and are destroyed at the end of the Battle Phase.
A favorite of Yugi's, this card has seen play a few times, largely in Geartown decks. Grab a pair of Geartown, make your opp choose either to atk em or end the battle phase and out pops Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragons.
Now with Sound the Retreat we have an instant Gold Sarcophagus that'll net you 2 spell/trap cards.
As with most combo decks, this one will need the help of Pot of Duality. The only issue is that these cards take up almost a quarter of the deck if you use em in full quantities. Try out different numbers on DN and see what works for you. Aside from this being a rather ingenious engine the deck can be anything you'd like.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Solitaire
As I mentioned before I'm an active member of the Pojo forums. I'm also a member of three of the theoretical and support teams on there.
Over a year ago, a pair of members worked together on an antimeta deck, trying to improve and spread some awareness. The deck still needs work but is generally fun.
Let's start with the key components and then I'll add my little spin.
Timeater
Dark/Machine/Effect/6/1900/1700
If this monster destroys a monster on your opponent's side of the field in battle, your opponent skips his/her next Main Phase 1.
A low atk tribute monster that most players would glance at and ignore. While it does skip the first main phase of your opp, it simply sends them into their battle phase from standby.
Next is Thunder of Ruler.
Normal trap
You can only activate this card during your opponent's Standby Phase. During the turn this card is activated, your opponent cannot conduct his/her Battle Phase.
This shuts down the battle phase and has been seen in numerous stall decks. Used with Timeater, your opp is left with draw, standby and end phase. Cutting main 1 and battle phase stops your opp from entering main 2. Threatening Roar has a similar effect but will let them enter main 2.
Now we cut off their second main phase.
Terminal World
Continuous spell
Activate only during Main Phase 1. While this card is on the field, both players skip their Main Phase 2.
Now the turn will be draw, standby, end.
Now the hard part. Thunder of Ruler and Threatening Roar are only 6 cards with limited retrieval choices. Another issue is that Timeater must constantly kill a monster to make the opp skip their first main phase. And then there's always the consistency issue.
Now during the think sessions that were held by the two members, atleast one person tried Mask of Darkness to retrieve Thunder and Roar. Another person used Creature Swap to hand off battle recruiters (Mystic Tomato and the like) to the opp to deal with Timeater. Another option is Black Garden.
For consistency we have Duality. For Time edible monsters there's Wall of Ivy and Ojama Trio. To deal with Timeater's low ATK there's Solidarity in pure machine builds and Burden of the Mighty in all others. There's also Shrink and Forbidden Lance.
To help with Timeater's tribute there's Psychic Shockwave.
Normal trap
Activate only when your opponent activates a Trap Card. Discard 1 Spell/Trap Card to Special Summon 1 Level 6 DARK Machine type monster from your Deck.
The card was meant to be a way to summon Jinzo but it works here well enough.
Another card that helps is Safe Zone to keep Timeater alive as well as safe from bothersome Veilers.
Now for the actual deck. As I said, I put my own spin on the deck, making it a little less focused on Timeater.
16
3 Timeater
3 Victory Viper XX03
2 Falchion Beta
2 Jade Knight
3 Lord British Space Fighter
3 Blue Thunder T-45
16
2 Solidarity
2 Enemy Controller
2 Burden of the Mighty
3 Terminal World
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Limiter Removal
United We Stand
Book of Moon
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
8
3 Thunder of Ruler
2 The Huge Revolution is Over
Mirror Force
2 Torrential Tribute
I took Timeater's need to eat monsters and combined it with Spaceships' same need.
E Con allows for easier snacks while making use of the tokens.
United makes a single ship into a boss, especially if used on Viper.
Huge Revolution was discussed in an earlier article and works well here.
The rest is self explanatory.
Enjoy the solitaire when you get the lock off and enjoy the beatdown otherwise.
Thanks for reading. Until next time this is the Island of Lost Cards, taking care of the ignored and unwanted.
Over a year ago, a pair of members worked together on an antimeta deck, trying to improve and spread some awareness. The deck still needs work but is generally fun.
Let's start with the key components and then I'll add my little spin.
Timeater
Dark/Machine/Effect/6/1900/1700
If this monster destroys a monster on your opponent's side of the field in battle, your opponent skips his/her next Main Phase 1.
A low atk tribute monster that most players would glance at and ignore. While it does skip the first main phase of your opp, it simply sends them into their battle phase from standby.
Next is Thunder of Ruler.
Normal trap
You can only activate this card during your opponent's Standby Phase. During the turn this card is activated, your opponent cannot conduct his/her Battle Phase.
This shuts down the battle phase and has been seen in numerous stall decks. Used with Timeater, your opp is left with draw, standby and end phase. Cutting main 1 and battle phase stops your opp from entering main 2. Threatening Roar has a similar effect but will let them enter main 2.
Now we cut off their second main phase.
Terminal World
Continuous spell
Activate only during Main Phase 1. While this card is on the field, both players skip their Main Phase 2.
Now the turn will be draw, standby, end.
Now the hard part. Thunder of Ruler and Threatening Roar are only 6 cards with limited retrieval choices. Another issue is that Timeater must constantly kill a monster to make the opp skip their first main phase. And then there's always the consistency issue.
Now during the think sessions that were held by the two members, atleast one person tried Mask of Darkness to retrieve Thunder and Roar. Another person used Creature Swap to hand off battle recruiters (Mystic Tomato and the like) to the opp to deal with Timeater. Another option is Black Garden.
For consistency we have Duality. For Time edible monsters there's Wall of Ivy and Ojama Trio. To deal with Timeater's low ATK there's Solidarity in pure machine builds and Burden of the Mighty in all others. There's also Shrink and Forbidden Lance.
To help with Timeater's tribute there's Psychic Shockwave.
Normal trap
Activate only when your opponent activates a Trap Card. Discard 1 Spell/Trap Card to Special Summon 1 Level 6 DARK Machine type monster from your Deck.
The card was meant to be a way to summon Jinzo but it works here well enough.
Another card that helps is Safe Zone to keep Timeater alive as well as safe from bothersome Veilers.
Now for the actual deck. As I said, I put my own spin on the deck, making it a little less focused on Timeater.
16
3 Timeater
3 Victory Viper XX03
2 Falchion Beta
2 Jade Knight
3 Lord British Space Fighter
3 Blue Thunder T-45
16
2 Solidarity
2 Enemy Controller
2 Burden of the Mighty
3 Terminal World
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Limiter Removal
United We Stand
Book of Moon
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
8
3 Thunder of Ruler
2 The Huge Revolution is Over
Mirror Force
2 Torrential Tribute
I took Timeater's need to eat monsters and combined it with Spaceships' same need.
E Con allows for easier snacks while making use of the tokens.
United makes a single ship into a boss, especially if used on Viper.
Huge Revolution was discussed in an earlier article and works well here.
The rest is self explanatory.
Enjoy the solitaire when you get the lock off and enjoy the beatdown otherwise.
Thanks for reading. Until next time this is the Island of Lost Cards, taking care of the ignored and unwanted.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Dark Magic
I'm an active member of the Pojo forums. I try to help new players, either in the newbie section of Pojo or at locals.
Recently I've been seeing atleast three people try to make a Dark Paladin deck. While it's always easier to make a pure Dark Magician deck, I thought I'd give Dark Paladin a shot. Now the key card to a Dark Paladin deck and even a regular DM deck is Elemental Hero Prisma. A walking Foolish Burial is always nice.
Now let's look at ways of summoning Dark Paladin. With no special fusion cards for such an old card like Miracle Fusion, Gemknight Fusion and the likes all we really have is Fusion Gate and the original Polymerization. Both are lousy in requiring the cards in hand and/or on field. Again we go back to Prisma which helps us in this. There's also King of the Swamp with really helps as it's a fusion substitute that can tutor Poly.
That leaves us with:
2 Dark Magician
3 Skilled Dark Magician
2 Elemental Hero Prisma
Buster Blader
3 King of the Swamp
2 Polymerization
2 Dark Paladin
I didn't mention Skilled Dark before but it's always good to have in anything DM related.
Now with only 11 monsters we need to fill some slots. Let's add the good ol Apprentice engine.
2 Apprentice Magician
2 Old Vindictive Magician
Now we can add Sangan with 7 targets.
Now let's focus on the spells. First we'll add the staples.
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
For those capable we'll add Dualities. Otherwise it'll be Upstarts.
2 Dark Magician
3 Skilled Dark Magician
2 Elemental Hero Prisma
Buster Blader
3 King of the Swamp
2 Apprentice Magician
2 Old Vindictive Magician
Sangan
2 Polymerization
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
3 Pot of Duality/Upstart Goblin
2 Dark Paladin
And now the traps. Along with the staples, we'll add 2 copies of Call since the deck will be dumping DM or Buster quickly.
Final deck list:
16
2 Dark Magician
3 Skilled Dark Magician
2 Elemental Hero Prisma
Buster Blader
3 King of the Swamp
2 Apprentice Magician
2 Old Vindictive Magician
Sangan
12
2 Polymerization
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
3 Pot of Duality/Upstart Goblin
Book of Moon
Allure of Darkness
11
Mirror Force
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Call of the Haunted
2 Dimensional Prison/Sakuretsu Armor
2 Solemn Warning/Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
15
2 Dark Paladin
+13 random exceeds/synchros
The deck is currently 39 so add whatever piece of tech you'd like for the last slot.
Enjoy the dark magic.
Recently I've been seeing atleast three people try to make a Dark Paladin deck. While it's always easier to make a pure Dark Magician deck, I thought I'd give Dark Paladin a shot. Now the key card to a Dark Paladin deck and even a regular DM deck is Elemental Hero Prisma. A walking Foolish Burial is always nice.
Now let's look at ways of summoning Dark Paladin. With no special fusion cards for such an old card like Miracle Fusion, Gemknight Fusion and the likes all we really have is Fusion Gate and the original Polymerization. Both are lousy in requiring the cards in hand and/or on field. Again we go back to Prisma which helps us in this. There's also King of the Swamp with really helps as it's a fusion substitute that can tutor Poly.
That leaves us with:
2 Dark Magician
3 Skilled Dark Magician
2 Elemental Hero Prisma
Buster Blader
3 King of the Swamp
2 Polymerization
2 Dark Paladin
I didn't mention Skilled Dark before but it's always good to have in anything DM related.
Now with only 11 monsters we need to fill some slots. Let's add the good ol Apprentice engine.
2 Apprentice Magician
2 Old Vindictive Magician
Now we can add Sangan with 7 targets.
Now let's focus on the spells. First we'll add the staples.
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
For those capable we'll add Dualities. Otherwise it'll be Upstarts.
2 Dark Magician
3 Skilled Dark Magician
2 Elemental Hero Prisma
Buster Blader
3 King of the Swamp
2 Apprentice Magician
2 Old Vindictive Magician
Sangan
2 Polymerization
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
3 Pot of Duality/Upstart Goblin
2 Dark Paladin
And now the traps. Along with the staples, we'll add 2 copies of Call since the deck will be dumping DM or Buster quickly.
Final deck list:
16
2 Dark Magician
3 Skilled Dark Magician
2 Elemental Hero Prisma
Buster Blader
3 King of the Swamp
2 Apprentice Magician
2 Old Vindictive Magician
Sangan
12
2 Polymerization
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
3 Pot of Duality/Upstart Goblin
Book of Moon
Allure of Darkness
11
Mirror Force
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Call of the Haunted
2 Dimensional Prison/Sakuretsu Armor
2 Solemn Warning/Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
15
2 Dark Paladin
+13 random exceeds/synchros
The deck is currently 39 so add whatever piece of tech you'd like for the last slot.
Enjoy the dark magic.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Invading Worms
This week we'll look at Worms. This deck has been compared to Gravekeepers and Blackwings. It's also rather cheap.
We'll start by looking at the two main monsters: Worm Xex and Yagan.
Worm Xex
Light/Reptile/Effect/4/1800/1000
When this card is Normal Summoned, you can send 1 Reptile type "Worm" monster from your Deck to the Graveyard. If you control a faceup "Worm Yagan", this card cannot be destroyed by battle.
Worm Yagan
Light/Reptile/Effect/4/1000/18000
If the only monster you control is "Worm Xex", you can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard in facedown Defense Position. If you do, remove it from play when it is removed from the field. When this card is flipped faceup, select 1 faceup monster your opponent controls and return it to its owner's hand.
They're quite the pair. Summon Xex, dump Yagan and you get a free monster. That would be the BW similarity with Xex acting as Shura.
Next we'll cover the searcher.
Worm Cartaros
Light/Reptile/Effect/4/1200/500
FLIP: Add 1 Level 4 or lower Reptile type "Worm" monster from your Deck to the hand.
The archtype's Reinforcement of the Army.
Next is the deck's boss. Up until now, the cards have been Hidden Arsenal 1-3 supers, generally cheap.
Worm King
Light/Reptile/Effect/8/2700/1100
This card can be Tribute Summoned in faceup Attack Position by Tributing 1 Reptile type "Worm" monster. You can tribute 1 Reptile type "Worm" monster to select 1 card your opponent controls and destroy it.
The archtype's Gravekeeper's Descendant. Don't worry about his lvl. It's actually a benefit for our next card.
W Nebula Meteorite
Normal trap
Change all facedown monsters on the field to faceup Defense Position. During the End Phase this turn, change all faceup LIGHT Reptile type monsters you control to facedown Defense Position, then draw 1 card for each. After that, you can Special Summon 1 Level 7 or higher LIGHT Reptile type monster from your deck.
Now let's look closely at the wall of text.
First all facedown monsters are flipped faceup. This will activate flip effects and "when this card is flipped faceup" effects (Cartaros & Yagan respectively). Note that there has to be a facedown monster on the field for this card to activate.
Next, during the end phase, all faceup light reptiles you control are flipped facedown. Once they're facedown, you draw a card for each reptile.
Now we get to special summon a lvl7+ reptile from the deck (King). But if no Worms were flipped facedown you don't get to special summon a lvl7+ reptile.
This card makes the deck run and usually creates quite a bit of advantage. But it can be stopped by Solemn Warning.
Now let's look at what we have so far.
3 Worm Xex
3 Worm Yagan
3 Worm Cartaros
2 Worm King
Worm Linx, Worm Apocalypse and Worm Tentacles are tech choices. With the right protection, Linx can survive and net you a fair bit of advantage by letting you draw each turn but first it must be flipped and stay flipped. Apocalypse is currently beaten by 3 Mystical Space Typhoons and Heavy. Tentacles is rather fun as a double attacker.
Another tech choice is Evil Dragon Ananta.
Dark/Reptile/Effect/8/?/?
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by removing from play all Reptile type monsters from your side of the field and Graveyard. This card's ATK and DEF are each equal to the number of monsters you removed x 600. During each of your End Phases, destroy 1 card on the field.
Here we have a nomi monster meaning it can only be summoned by the means described in the effect. Generally you'd want atleast 3 Worms to get removed so it'll survive with 1800+ ATK. Now the key reason it's used is for its destruction effect. But be careful as it is mandatory and doesn't specify which side of the field the card must be on. Smart players will leave minimal cards on the field so you'll be left with only your cards to destroy. It's generally run at one or none.
However there is an OTK (one turn kill) deck that uses Ananta, Future Fusion and Worm Zero. But it's inconsistent and often ignored for the control variant.
Another card the archtype loves is Offering to the Snake Deity.
Normal trap
Target 1 faceup Reptile type monster you control and 2 cards your opponent controls; destroy all 3 targets.
Another similarity to BWs as Worms have their own Icarus Attack. Now the difference between them is that Icarus tributes a winged beast while Offering destroys. Before Konami's problem solving text and the card's reprint in LCGX it was a matter of knowing which card could do what. Icarus can tribute facedown winged beasts while Offering can't destroy facedown reptiles.
With the whole archtype being light they can use Honest. And to battle the meta they can easily play around Thunder King Rai-Oh with Cartaros, Duality and Sangan the only cards that don't draw. With the Ra Yellow mega pack out Rai-Oh received another reprint so it should be cheaper than before. The deck is a combo deck so it will generally run Pots of Duality to gather the pieces. Those will be the only truly expensive card in the deck. If you can't get em try Upstart Goblins.
Now let's look at a fully built deck. Budget options will follow the expensive stuff.
16
3 Worm Xex
3 Worm Yagan
3 Worm Cartaros
2 Worm King
3 Thunder King Rai-Oh
Honest
Sangan
10
Monster Reborn
Heavy Storm
Dark Hole
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
3 Pot of Duality/Upstart Goblin
Mind Control
Book of Moon
15
Mirror Force
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Mind Crush
2 Dimensional Prison/Sakuretsu Armor
2 Solemn Warning/Bottomless Trap Hole/Compulsory Evacuation Device
3 Offering to the Snake Deity
3 W Nebula Meteorite
The extra should have whatever you can fit but you should really have Number 39: Utopia and Wind-Up Zenmaister. The game mechanic of exceeds avoids the removal of Worm Yagan and Zenmaister allows you to reuse a couple Worms.
Book stops synchro/exceed plays.
Mind Control grabs a monster you can use to your advantage. If it's a tuner your opp foolishly left on the field you can synch. However you'll be looking for lvl4s to exceed with Yagan.
With all the bouncing the deck does (Yagan & Evac) and searches that go on in meta play Mind Crush adds some disruption.
The rest of the cards are self explanatory and while the deck is 1 card over the preferred and often considered "magic" number the deck has a lot of thinning to make up for it.
This deck by nature is control oriented so be prepared to wait on your optimal moves.
Now invade and conquer your locals.
We'll start by looking at the two main monsters: Worm Xex and Yagan.
Worm Xex
Light/Reptile/Effect/4/1800/1000
When this card is Normal Summoned, you can send 1 Reptile type "Worm" monster from your Deck to the Graveyard. If you control a faceup "Worm Yagan", this card cannot be destroyed by battle.
Worm Yagan
Light/Reptile/Effect/4/1000/18000
If the only monster you control is "Worm Xex", you can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard in facedown Defense Position. If you do, remove it from play when it is removed from the field. When this card is flipped faceup, select 1 faceup monster your opponent controls and return it to its owner's hand.
They're quite the pair. Summon Xex, dump Yagan and you get a free monster. That would be the BW similarity with Xex acting as Shura.
Next we'll cover the searcher.
Worm Cartaros
Light/Reptile/Effect/4/1200/500
FLIP: Add 1 Level 4 or lower Reptile type "Worm" monster from your Deck to the hand.
The archtype's Reinforcement of the Army.
Next is the deck's boss. Up until now, the cards have been Hidden Arsenal 1-3 supers, generally cheap.
Worm King
Light/Reptile/Effect/8/2700/1100
This card can be Tribute Summoned in faceup Attack Position by Tributing 1 Reptile type "Worm" monster. You can tribute 1 Reptile type "Worm" monster to select 1 card your opponent controls and destroy it.
The archtype's Gravekeeper's Descendant. Don't worry about his lvl. It's actually a benefit for our next card.
W Nebula Meteorite
Normal trap
Change all facedown monsters on the field to faceup Defense Position. During the End Phase this turn, change all faceup LIGHT Reptile type monsters you control to facedown Defense Position, then draw 1 card for each. After that, you can Special Summon 1 Level 7 or higher LIGHT Reptile type monster from your deck.
Now let's look closely at the wall of text.
First all facedown monsters are flipped faceup. This will activate flip effects and "when this card is flipped faceup" effects (Cartaros & Yagan respectively). Note that there has to be a facedown monster on the field for this card to activate.
Next, during the end phase, all faceup light reptiles you control are flipped facedown. Once they're facedown, you draw a card for each reptile.
Now we get to special summon a lvl7+ reptile from the deck (King). But if no Worms were flipped facedown you don't get to special summon a lvl7+ reptile.
This card makes the deck run and usually creates quite a bit of advantage. But it can be stopped by Solemn Warning.
Now let's look at what we have so far.
3 Worm Xex
3 Worm Yagan
3 Worm Cartaros
2 Worm King
Worm Linx, Worm Apocalypse and Worm Tentacles are tech choices. With the right protection, Linx can survive and net you a fair bit of advantage by letting you draw each turn but first it must be flipped and stay flipped. Apocalypse is currently beaten by 3 Mystical Space Typhoons and Heavy. Tentacles is rather fun as a double attacker.
Another tech choice is Evil Dragon Ananta.
Dark/Reptile/Effect/8/?/?
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by removing from play all Reptile type monsters from your side of the field and Graveyard. This card's ATK and DEF are each equal to the number of monsters you removed x 600. During each of your End Phases, destroy 1 card on the field.
Here we have a nomi monster meaning it can only be summoned by the means described in the effect. Generally you'd want atleast 3 Worms to get removed so it'll survive with 1800+ ATK. Now the key reason it's used is for its destruction effect. But be careful as it is mandatory and doesn't specify which side of the field the card must be on. Smart players will leave minimal cards on the field so you'll be left with only your cards to destroy. It's generally run at one or none.
However there is an OTK (one turn kill) deck that uses Ananta, Future Fusion and Worm Zero. But it's inconsistent and often ignored for the control variant.
Another card the archtype loves is Offering to the Snake Deity.
Normal trap
Target 1 faceup Reptile type monster you control and 2 cards your opponent controls; destroy all 3 targets.
Another similarity to BWs as Worms have their own Icarus Attack. Now the difference between them is that Icarus tributes a winged beast while Offering destroys. Before Konami's problem solving text and the card's reprint in LCGX it was a matter of knowing which card could do what. Icarus can tribute facedown winged beasts while Offering can't destroy facedown reptiles.
With the whole archtype being light they can use Honest. And to battle the meta they can easily play around Thunder King Rai-Oh with Cartaros, Duality and Sangan the only cards that don't draw. With the Ra Yellow mega pack out Rai-Oh received another reprint so it should be cheaper than before. The deck is a combo deck so it will generally run Pots of Duality to gather the pieces. Those will be the only truly expensive card in the deck. If you can't get em try Upstart Goblins.
Now let's look at a fully built deck. Budget options will follow the expensive stuff.
16
3 Worm Xex
3 Worm Yagan
3 Worm Cartaros
2 Worm King
3 Thunder King Rai-Oh
Honest
Sangan
10
Monster Reborn
Heavy Storm
Dark Hole
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
3 Pot of Duality/Upstart Goblin
Mind Control
Book of Moon
15
Mirror Force
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Mind Crush
2 Dimensional Prison/Sakuretsu Armor
2 Solemn Warning/Bottomless Trap Hole/Compulsory Evacuation Device
3 Offering to the Snake Deity
3 W Nebula Meteorite
The extra should have whatever you can fit but you should really have Number 39: Utopia and Wind-Up Zenmaister. The game mechanic of exceeds avoids the removal of Worm Yagan and Zenmaister allows you to reuse a couple Worms.
Book stops synchro/exceed plays.
Mind Control grabs a monster you can use to your advantage. If it's a tuner your opp foolishly left on the field you can synch. However you'll be looking for lvl4s to exceed with Yagan.
With all the bouncing the deck does (Yagan & Evac) and searches that go on in meta play Mind Crush adds some disruption.
The rest of the cards are self explanatory and while the deck is 1 card over the preferred and often considered "magic" number the deck has a lot of thinning to make up for it.
This deck by nature is control oriented so be prepared to wait on your optimal moves.
Now invade and conquer your locals.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Rogue Thievery
For this installment, we'll be looking at an oldie but a goodie. This is again for the rogue decks but far more selective.
Falling Down
Equip spell
Destroy this card if there is no faceup Archfiend card on your side of the field. Take control of 1 of your opponent's faceup monsters. Inflict 800 points of damage to your Life Points during each of your opponent's Standby Phases.
An archtype specific Snatch Steal. This game has seen multiple cards that steal monsters come and go. Change of Heart was the original with Snatch following. There's also Relinquished and his banned evolution Thousand-Eyes Restrict. Currently we only have Mind Control as the only "free" stealer. I use quotes because in card advantage theory it's not truly free. Any other stealer has a cost. Brain Jacker must flip meaning he has to survive a whole turn facedown and can't die in battle. Creature Swap is an even trade though it's generally a -1 (again card advantage theory). Enemy Controller requires a tribute.
Now what can we do with an archetype specific Snatch? Sadly Archfiends are a dead archtype and are rarely seen anymore. That does not make Falling Down dead though.
Thanks to some translation snaffu we had a handful of cards printed that are considered Archfiends before Archfiends debuted in Dark Crisis. The most famous being Summoned Skull, the original tribute beater. There's also Axe of Despair. Both of these cards are seen in the hands of new players often. Well why not give them a card that saw it's generic twin banned? Let's toss together a quick newbie friendly Archfiend deck.
18
3 Archfiend Soldier
2 Summoned Skull
3 Flamvell Firedog
2 Flamvell Magician
2 Summoner Monk
Gorz, Emissary of Darkness
Sangan
2 Tragoedia
2 Breaker the Magical Warrior
14
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
2 Rekindling
2 Falling Down
2 Axe of Despair
Pot of Avarice
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Mind Control
Book of Moon
8
Torrential Tribute
Mirror Force
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
2 Dimensional Prison/Sakuretsu Armor
2 Solemn Warning/Bottomless Trap Hole
15
2 Red Dragon Archfiend
2 Stardust Dragon
2 Thought Ruler Archfiend
2 Dark End Dragon
Black Rose Dragon
2 No. 39: Utopia
4 open slots
Now the deck should be able to hold any big monsters off with the traps or you can steal them with an Archfiend enabled Falling Down. The main deck has 7 Archfiends with 4 more in the extra. That should be plenty to activate and keep Falling Down.
Key combos:
Firedog>Mage>synch>RDA/Thought Ruler/Utopia
Monk>Mage>synch>RDA/Thought Ruler/Dark End/Utopia
Axe on your/opp's monster>Falling Down. If you Axed an opp's monster steal the Axed monster.
Be wary of Typhoons and other cards that'll chain to Axe and/or Falling Down. Be careful when you Axe an opp's monster. Falling will often go down before Axe.
Cards to consider:
Hidden Armory.
Normal spell
Send 1 card from the top of your deck to the Graveyard. Add 1 Equip Spell Card from your Deck or Graveyard to your hand. You cannot Normal Summon or Set the turn you activate this effect.
Grab Axe or Falling Down from wherever.
White Elephant's Gift
Normal spell
Send 1 faceup non effect monster you control to the Graveyard to draw 2 cards.
This is generally only good in decks that can spam vanilla monsters like Hieroglyph (Holy Marked Dragons) decks and the occasional Agent deck that doesn't want to synch/exceed. If it was quickplay it'd be that much better as well as worthy of a rarity bump.
Dark Necrofear
Dark/Fiend/Effect/8/2200/2800
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by removing 3 Fiend type monsters in your Graveyard from play. When this card is destroyed by battle or by an opponent's card effect while it is a Monster Card, equip it to a monster your opponent controls during the End Phase of this turn. Take control of the equipped monster.
The deck has 9 fiends in the main. It can be used as a wall with its 2800 DEF. It also fits rather nicely with the stealing theme. Notice that it is a semi nomi monster. If summoned properly through the means described in its effect it can be revived later on unless it was returned to the deck or hand.
I hoped you enjoyed this spotlight and subsequent deck. Until next time, this is the Island of Lost Cards where the unwanted and ignored find homes.
Falling Down
Equip spell
Destroy this card if there is no faceup Archfiend card on your side of the field. Take control of 1 of your opponent's faceup monsters. Inflict 800 points of damage to your Life Points during each of your opponent's Standby Phases.
An archtype specific Snatch Steal. This game has seen multiple cards that steal monsters come and go. Change of Heart was the original with Snatch following. There's also Relinquished and his banned evolution Thousand-Eyes Restrict. Currently we only have Mind Control as the only "free" stealer. I use quotes because in card advantage theory it's not truly free. Any other stealer has a cost. Brain Jacker must flip meaning he has to survive a whole turn facedown and can't die in battle. Creature Swap is an even trade though it's generally a -1 (again card advantage theory). Enemy Controller requires a tribute.
Now what can we do with an archetype specific Snatch? Sadly Archfiends are a dead archtype and are rarely seen anymore. That does not make Falling Down dead though.
Thanks to some translation snaffu we had a handful of cards printed that are considered Archfiends before Archfiends debuted in Dark Crisis. The most famous being Summoned Skull, the original tribute beater. There's also Axe of Despair. Both of these cards are seen in the hands of new players often. Well why not give them a card that saw it's generic twin banned? Let's toss together a quick newbie friendly Archfiend deck.
18
3 Archfiend Soldier
2 Summoned Skull
3 Flamvell Firedog
2 Flamvell Magician
2 Summoner Monk
Gorz, Emissary of Darkness
Sangan
2 Tragoedia
2 Breaker the Magical Warrior
14
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
2 Rekindling
2 Falling Down
2 Axe of Despair
Pot of Avarice
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Mind Control
Book of Moon
8
Torrential Tribute
Mirror Force
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
2 Dimensional Prison/Sakuretsu Armor
2 Solemn Warning/Bottomless Trap Hole
15
2 Red Dragon Archfiend
2 Stardust Dragon
2 Thought Ruler Archfiend
2 Dark End Dragon
Black Rose Dragon
2 No. 39: Utopia
4 open slots
Now the deck should be able to hold any big monsters off with the traps or you can steal them with an Archfiend enabled Falling Down. The main deck has 7 Archfiends with 4 more in the extra. That should be plenty to activate and keep Falling Down.
Key combos:
Firedog>Mage>synch>RDA/Thought Ruler/Utopia
Monk>Mage>synch>RDA/Thought Ruler/Dark End/Utopia
Axe on your/opp's monster>Falling Down. If you Axed an opp's monster steal the Axed monster.
Be wary of Typhoons and other cards that'll chain to Axe and/or Falling Down. Be careful when you Axe an opp's monster. Falling will often go down before Axe.
Cards to consider:
Hidden Armory.
Normal spell
Send 1 card from the top of your deck to the Graveyard. Add 1 Equip Spell Card from your Deck or Graveyard to your hand. You cannot Normal Summon or Set the turn you activate this effect.
Grab Axe or Falling Down from wherever.
White Elephant's Gift
Normal spell
Send 1 faceup non effect monster you control to the Graveyard to draw 2 cards.
This is generally only good in decks that can spam vanilla monsters like Hieroglyph (Holy Marked Dragons) decks and the occasional Agent deck that doesn't want to synch/exceed. If it was quickplay it'd be that much better as well as worthy of a rarity bump.
Dark Necrofear
Dark/Fiend/Effect/8/2200/2800
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by removing 3 Fiend type monsters in your Graveyard from play. When this card is destroyed by battle or by an opponent's card effect while it is a Monster Card, equip it to a monster your opponent controls during the End Phase of this turn. Take control of the equipped monster.
The deck has 9 fiends in the main. It can be used as a wall with its 2800 DEF. It also fits rather nicely with the stealing theme. Notice that it is a semi nomi monster. If summoned properly through the means described in its effect it can be revived later on unless it was returned to the deck or hand.
I hoped you enjoyed this spotlight and subsequent deck. Until next time, this is the Island of Lost Cards where the unwanted and ignored find homes.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Salvation and Protection
Within Order of Chaos there is a little purple common that has or will create a ruckus regardless of its name.
The Huge Revolution is Over
Counter trap
When a Spell Card, Trap Card or Effect Monster's effect is activated that destroys 2 or more cards on the field; Negate the activation and destroy it.
What we have here is a new version of Starlight Road.
Starlight Road
Normal trap
Activate only when an effect is activated that would destroy 2 or more cards you control. Negate the effect and destroy that card. Then, you can special summon 1 Stardust Dragon from your Extra Deck.
Both cards protect the destruction of 2+ cards. That's the similarities.
Road gives you a 2500 beater that can save your cards once. But it can be negated by Solemn Warning.
Revolution disregards where the cards are or who controls them. What does that mean? You can stop Dark Hole/Torrential even when you only have 1 monster but your opp may have multiples. You can also stop Scrap Dragon. Judgment Dragon. Light and Darkness Dragon if you don't want your opp to get something back.
Make your choice and enjoy the salvation.
Until next time, the unwanted and ignored find care on the Island of Lost Cards.
The Huge Revolution is Over
Counter trap
When a Spell Card, Trap Card or Effect Monster's effect is activated that destroys 2 or more cards on the field; Negate the activation and destroy it.
What we have here is a new version of Starlight Road.
Starlight Road
Normal trap
Activate only when an effect is activated that would destroy 2 or more cards you control. Negate the effect and destroy that card. Then, you can special summon 1 Stardust Dragon from your Extra Deck.
Both cards protect the destruction of 2+ cards. That's the similarities.
Road gives you a 2500 beater that can save your cards once. But it can be negated by Solemn Warning.
Revolution disregards where the cards are or who controls them. What does that mean? You can stop Dark Hole/Torrential even when you only have 1 monster but your opp may have multiples. You can also stop Scrap Dragon. Judgment Dragon. Light and Darkness Dragon if you don't want your opp to get something back.
Make your choice and enjoy the salvation.
Until next time, the unwanted and ignored find care on the Island of Lost Cards.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Proof of Powerlessness
For those rogue decks that drop high level monsters, do you hate when your opponent swarms the field for a synchro summon to take down your beast? Well now you'll have an answer.
I introduce Proof of Powerlessness.
Normal trap
Activate only while you control a Level 7 or higher monster. Destroy all faceup Level 5 or lower monsters your opponent controls. Monsters you control cannot attack this turn.
Now let's see what decks can use this.
Dragons with Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and FGD/Five-Headed Dragon. Decks using Flamvell Firedog and Mage. Heroes with their fusions. Malefics. Machina. Any deck that can regularly drop a lvl7+.
Now some of you may notice the last line. It can easily be disregarded. Now if the card was a spell, that line would mean something. As a trap, you're free to activate it during your opp's turn where your monsters can't even declare attacks.
The only concerns with this card are exceeds. They have ranks instead of lvls making them immune to all cards that specify lvls such as Gravity Bind and Level Limit Area A or B so watch it.
Now let's talk uses. Worried about an impending synchro/exceed summon? Just flip Proof and your opp has lost their material. Got a pesky Agent deck that just spammed Shine Balls? Flip Proof and make them powerless. We have a conditional, free Lightning Vortex. And best of all it's chainable so if your opp tries to destroy your high lvl monster, drag theirs down too.
Now let's see those rogue decks wreck.
Until next time we on the Island of Lost Cards take care of the unwanted and ignored.
I introduce Proof of Powerlessness.
Normal trap
Activate only while you control a Level 7 or higher monster. Destroy all faceup Level 5 or lower monsters your opponent controls. Monsters you control cannot attack this turn.
Now let's see what decks can use this.
Dragons with Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and FGD/Five-Headed Dragon. Decks using Flamvell Firedog and Mage. Heroes with their fusions. Malefics. Machina. Any deck that can regularly drop a lvl7+.
Now some of you may notice the last line. It can easily be disregarded. Now if the card was a spell, that line would mean something. As a trap, you're free to activate it during your opp's turn where your monsters can't even declare attacks.
The only concerns with this card are exceeds. They have ranks instead of lvls making them immune to all cards that specify lvls such as Gravity Bind and Level Limit Area A or B so watch it.
Now let's talk uses. Worried about an impending synchro/exceed summon? Just flip Proof and your opp has lost their material. Got a pesky Agent deck that just spammed Shine Balls? Flip Proof and make them powerless. We have a conditional, free Lightning Vortex. And best of all it's chainable so if your opp tries to destroy your high lvl monster, drag theirs down too.
Now let's see those rogue decks wreck.
Until next time we on the Island of Lost Cards take care of the unwanted and ignored.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Deck Profile: Budget Dark World
For our third installment, we have our first deck profile.
Last October we received a Dark World structure. Since the Machina Mayhem structure, structures have generally been good enough where you can buy 3, toss em together and have a nice deck to play with for ~30$. The exception would be Dragunity since it needs an extra deck and is easily countered as a deck.
Back to DW; the archtype first came out in Elemental Energy. People tried the deck but it lacked consistency and was ignored. News of the structure sparked interest in this dead archtype and the new cards found in the structure makes the deck quite playable. A standard deck will only use 19+ cards total from the 3 structures. For this reason people will often advise others to just go online and order singles. TCGplayer.com, trollandtoad, ideal808, alterealitygames are just a few of the numerous sites out there. TCGplayer hosts multiple stores so be careful how many stores you order from as that will result in multiple s&h.
The core of a DW deck from the structure is 3 Grapha, 3 Snoww, 3 Broww, 3 DW Gate, 3 DW Dealing and 2 Mind Crush. 2 Beiige are generally teched (tech=preference cards) and some may use the Virus cards (Deck Devastation Virus [DDV] and Eradicator Epidemic Virus [EEV]).
New players, either to the game or the deck, will try Ceruli, Goldd/Sillva and Reign-Beaux. Ceruli may be a nice tech at 1 but isn't all that worth it. Goldd and Sillva are lvl5 monsters that need tributes if normal summoned. They are often overlooked by Beiige and sometimes Brron simply because they can be normal summoned without requirements. Reign-Beaux only gets its effect when discarded by the opponent's effect so unless you're in the mirror match (a game where both players are using the same deck/archtype) it's useless.
Dark World Lightning is playable but it's generally best in the side deck. The reason for this is DW Lightning is easily countered. The selected facedown card must be destroyed. If the opp chains the selected card, it will resolve first and be sent to the grave as part of the game's mechanic leaving Lightning with nothing to destroy. Without destruction, you can't discard.
Players will also tech Skill Drain in the deck. It will wreck most of the top decks which rely on their monster effects. It generally has no effect on DW since they activate in the grave, not on field. Ceruli is the only one that will be useless under Drain since its discard effect upon summon will activate on field. It will also conflict slightly with Trance Archfiend and Fabled Raven, to be discussed below.
Shortly after the structure came out, Photon Shockwave released and with it the TCG exclusive Dark Smog. There was also Latinum but it is wisely disregarded.
Dark Smog
Continuous trap
Once per turn: You can target 1 monster in your opponent's Graveyard; discard 1 Fiend type monster and banish that target.
Now the key word there is "and." That one word determines that the discard is part of the effect rather than a cost. This allows DW to activate. Those who have this card will generally include Goldd/Sillva because they become easier to discard with the "once per turn" clause and the fact that it's a trap.
Players will also use Fabled Raven to open the doors for synchros and exceeds.
Fabled Raven
Light/Fiend/Effect/2/1300/1000
Once per turn, you can discard any number of cards from your hand and increase the level of this card by the number of discarded cards, until the End Phase. This card also gains ATK equal to the number of discarded cards x 400, until the End Phase.
Again the word "and" signifies the discard as part of the effect and not a cost. Sadly both these cards are expensive for the average player and not always accessible. But with the release of Order of Chaos we get a new shining star for the deck.
Trance Archfiend
Dark/Fiend/Effect/4/1500/500
Once per turn: you can discard 1 Fiend type monster, and this card gains 500 ATK until the End Phase. When this card you control is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard: You can target 1 of your banished DARK monsters; add that target to your hand.
Notice "and." Now the added bonus of this card is that it gives you an instant DDV target after discard as well as allowing you to reuse banished DW monsters. It's also common so it's easily accessible to the average player.
This is my current build:
16
3 Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World
3 Snoww, Unlight of Dark World
3 Broww, Huntsman of Dark World
2 Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World
2 Brron, Mad King of Dark World
3 Trance Archfiend
17
3 The Gates of Dark World
3 Dark World Dealings
2 Dragged Down to the Grave
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Book of Moon
Foolish Burial
Card Destruction
Allure of Darkness
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
7
2 Call Of The Haunted
2 Mind Crush
Trap Dustshoot
Torrential Tribute
Mirror Force
Brron is still an 1800/2100 beater and enables a Grapha summon.
Dragged Down allows you to see your opponent's hand, feeding you info on what they're playing and have while disrupting their plays.
Foolish quickly sends Grapha to the grave where he can be revived at will.
Mind Crush allows you to discard from your hand if you're desperate by calling a card unlikely to be in your opp's deck. Otherwise you can disrupt plays after your opp searches or used Pot of Duality.
Dustshoot saw a rise in play when Heavy was unbanned. While it was banned, players often set most of their hand and used traps to control the board/field. With Heavy's return, players generally keep most of their hand, relying on "hand traps" such as Effect Veiler and Maxx C. Dustshoot also feeds you info while stripping the opp of a monster.
I've tried different cards in the Call slots from Smashing Ground to Compulsory Evacuation Device. While Grapha does destroy cards, I found the deck needed a lil extra destruction. Smashing helped but it's not reactive like Evac. Now, the reason I switched to Call is because I noticed a trend when I used Reborn. I'd revive a lower DW and then bounce it for Grapha, resulting in an extra card in hand to reuse. Escape from the Dark Dimension may be used instead to allow more targets late game and for retrieving banished Graphas.
The deck runs much smoother with the inclusion of Trance.
For those worried about the mirror match, the trick is to avoid using Dealings. Rely on one sided discards like Dark World Lightning, Trance and DW Gates and use Dragged Down to pick non DW cards from your opp's hand.
Be careful what cards you set when limiting your losses from Dragged Down, Card Destruction and the occasional self inflicted Mind Crush. Some people have teched a copy of Starlight Road to protect their set cards.
You should also keep an eye out for Different Dimension Ground as that, Macro Cosmos and Dimensional Fissure will wreck your DW plans.
Now go forth and enjoy the spoils of war.
Last October we received a Dark World structure. Since the Machina Mayhem structure, structures have generally been good enough where you can buy 3, toss em together and have a nice deck to play with for ~30$. The exception would be Dragunity since it needs an extra deck and is easily countered as a deck.
Back to DW; the archtype first came out in Elemental Energy. People tried the deck but it lacked consistency and was ignored. News of the structure sparked interest in this dead archtype and the new cards found in the structure makes the deck quite playable. A standard deck will only use 19+ cards total from the 3 structures. For this reason people will often advise others to just go online and order singles. TCGplayer.com, trollandtoad, ideal808, alterealitygames are just a few of the numerous sites out there. TCGplayer hosts multiple stores so be careful how many stores you order from as that will result in multiple s&h.
The core of a DW deck from the structure is 3 Grapha, 3 Snoww, 3 Broww, 3 DW Gate, 3 DW Dealing and 2 Mind Crush. 2 Beiige are generally teched (tech=preference cards) and some may use the Virus cards (Deck Devastation Virus [DDV] and Eradicator Epidemic Virus [EEV]).
New players, either to the game or the deck, will try Ceruli, Goldd/Sillva and Reign-Beaux. Ceruli may be a nice tech at 1 but isn't all that worth it. Goldd and Sillva are lvl5 monsters that need tributes if normal summoned. They are often overlooked by Beiige and sometimes Brron simply because they can be normal summoned without requirements. Reign-Beaux only gets its effect when discarded by the opponent's effect so unless you're in the mirror match (a game where both players are using the same deck/archtype) it's useless.
Dark World Lightning is playable but it's generally best in the side deck. The reason for this is DW Lightning is easily countered. The selected facedown card must be destroyed. If the opp chains the selected card, it will resolve first and be sent to the grave as part of the game's mechanic leaving Lightning with nothing to destroy. Without destruction, you can't discard.
Players will also tech Skill Drain in the deck. It will wreck most of the top decks which rely on their monster effects. It generally has no effect on DW since they activate in the grave, not on field. Ceruli is the only one that will be useless under Drain since its discard effect upon summon will activate on field. It will also conflict slightly with Trance Archfiend and Fabled Raven, to be discussed below.
Shortly after the structure came out, Photon Shockwave released and with it the TCG exclusive Dark Smog. There was also Latinum but it is wisely disregarded.
Dark Smog
Continuous trap
Once per turn: You can target 1 monster in your opponent's Graveyard; discard 1 Fiend type monster and banish that target.
Now the key word there is "and." That one word determines that the discard is part of the effect rather than a cost. This allows DW to activate. Those who have this card will generally include Goldd/Sillva because they become easier to discard with the "once per turn" clause and the fact that it's a trap.
Players will also use Fabled Raven to open the doors for synchros and exceeds.
Fabled Raven
Light/Fiend/Effect/2/1300/1000
Once per turn, you can discard any number of cards from your hand and increase the level of this card by the number of discarded cards, until the End Phase. This card also gains ATK equal to the number of discarded cards x 400, until the End Phase.
Again the word "and" signifies the discard as part of the effect and not a cost. Sadly both these cards are expensive for the average player and not always accessible. But with the release of Order of Chaos we get a new shining star for the deck.
Trance Archfiend
Dark/Fiend/Effect/4/1500/500
Once per turn: you can discard 1 Fiend type monster, and this card gains 500 ATK until the End Phase. When this card you control is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard: You can target 1 of your banished DARK monsters; add that target to your hand.
Notice "and." Now the added bonus of this card is that it gives you an instant DDV target after discard as well as allowing you to reuse banished DW monsters. It's also common so it's easily accessible to the average player.
This is my current build:
16
3 Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World
3 Snoww, Unlight of Dark World
3 Broww, Huntsman of Dark World
2 Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World
2 Brron, Mad King of Dark World
3 Trance Archfiend
17
3 The Gates of Dark World
3 Dark World Dealings
2 Dragged Down to the Grave
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
Book of Moon
Foolish Burial
Card Destruction
Allure of Darkness
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Heavy Storm
7
2 Call Of The Haunted
2 Mind Crush
Trap Dustshoot
Torrential Tribute
Mirror Force
Brron is still an 1800/2100 beater and enables a Grapha summon.
Dragged Down allows you to see your opponent's hand, feeding you info on what they're playing and have while disrupting their plays.
Foolish quickly sends Grapha to the grave where he can be revived at will.
Mind Crush allows you to discard from your hand if you're desperate by calling a card unlikely to be in your opp's deck. Otherwise you can disrupt plays after your opp searches or used Pot of Duality.
Dustshoot saw a rise in play when Heavy was unbanned. While it was banned, players often set most of their hand and used traps to control the board/field. With Heavy's return, players generally keep most of their hand, relying on "hand traps" such as Effect Veiler and Maxx C. Dustshoot also feeds you info while stripping the opp of a monster.
I've tried different cards in the Call slots from Smashing Ground to Compulsory Evacuation Device. While Grapha does destroy cards, I found the deck needed a lil extra destruction. Smashing helped but it's not reactive like Evac. Now, the reason I switched to Call is because I noticed a trend when I used Reborn. I'd revive a lower DW and then bounce it for Grapha, resulting in an extra card in hand to reuse. Escape from the Dark Dimension may be used instead to allow more targets late game and for retrieving banished Graphas.
The deck runs much smoother with the inclusion of Trance.
For those worried about the mirror match, the trick is to avoid using Dealings. Rely on one sided discards like Dark World Lightning, Trance and DW Gates and use Dragged Down to pick non DW cards from your opp's hand.
Be careful what cards you set when limiting your losses from Dragged Down, Card Destruction and the occasional self inflicted Mind Crush. Some people have teched a copy of Starlight Road to protect their set cards.
You should also keep an eye out for Different Dimension Ground as that, Macro Cosmos and Dimensional Fissure will wreck your DW plans.
Now go forth and enjoy the spoils of war.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Gaping Ice Hole
Thanks for returning to the Island of Lost Cards. For our second installment I'll cover a card I've seen some use to shocking results.
Is Master Hyperion popping your monsters? Scrap Dragon? Zenmaines? Well send em through a gaping ice hole.
Enter Icy Crevasse.
Normal trap.
When exactly 1 monster you control is destroyed and sent to the graveyard by an opponent's card effect: Target 1 monster your opponent controls; send that target to the graveyard and inflict damage to your opponent equal to the original ATK in the graveyard.
True it's rather conditional but people still run Solemn Warning, Bottomless Trap Hole and Dimensional Prison regardless of 3 legal Mystical Space Typhoons and Heavy Storm not to mention all the monster effects roaming the game.
Now the experienced player will generally use Scrap Dragon, Hyperion and Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World to destroy backrow (the spell and traps on the field) rather than monsters.
Regardless of that Icy Crevasse deserves some awareness. I'm among the few that still use Smashing Ground in most of my decks. Then there's always the players who Torrential Tribute, Dark Hole or Mirror Force a single monster.
Now after you've had a single monster destroyed, what do you get? A one sided Ring of Destruction. It's banned for a reason kiddies. Now the new text of original ATK in the grave is a little troublesome as it won't do squat against those 0 or ? ATK monsters so choose wisely when you pick a target.
Hopefully this card will see some play at locals and can leave the Island.
Until next time we take care of the unwanted and ignored.
Is Master Hyperion popping your monsters? Scrap Dragon? Zenmaines? Well send em through a gaping ice hole.
Enter Icy Crevasse.
Normal trap.
When exactly 1 monster you control is destroyed and sent to the graveyard by an opponent's card effect: Target 1 monster your opponent controls; send that target to the graveyard and inflict damage to your opponent equal to the original ATK in the graveyard.
True it's rather conditional but people still run Solemn Warning, Bottomless Trap Hole and Dimensional Prison regardless of 3 legal Mystical Space Typhoons and Heavy Storm not to mention all the monster effects roaming the game.
Now the experienced player will generally use Scrap Dragon, Hyperion and Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World to destroy backrow (the spell and traps on the field) rather than monsters.
Regardless of that Icy Crevasse deserves some awareness. I'm among the few that still use Smashing Ground in most of my decks. Then there's always the players who Torrential Tribute, Dark Hole or Mirror Force a single monster.
Now after you've had a single monster destroyed, what do you get? A one sided Ring of Destruction. It's banned for a reason kiddies. Now the new text of original ATK in the grave is a little troublesome as it won't do squat against those 0 or ? ATK monsters so choose wisely when you pick a target.
Hopefully this card will see some play at locals and can leave the Island.
Until next time we take care of the unwanted and ignored.
My History
Call me Bikou. I have been playing this game since 7th grade back in 2002 with a few breaks here and there. In 05 I started attending tournaments at the local card shop. In those days I had very few cards that could make a proper deck. In those days, the game was much different to what it is now. In 7th grade my deck was based on raising Shadow Ghoul's atk as much as possible, much like Rebecca from the anime. I quickly learned this was not the smartest of strategies. By the time I started playing in locals, I'd managed to turn my deck into a beatdown burn deck using 18-1900 atkers such as Mad Dog of Darkness and Archfiend Soldier along with Ookazi and Just Desserts. With the Kaiba Evo starter I implemented Lava Golems and Shadow Spells, the TCG's real version of the anime's Spellbinding Circle. My deck was fun and managed to work fairly well even though I kept it on the thick side (I ran 60 card decks back then, continuing on through the first few ban lists).
IOC came, sending my deck running from the Envoys, Black Luster Soldier and his hated brother Chaos Emperor Dragon. The special edition (SE) helped quite a bit simply for the Gemini Elves that helped beef up my deck as well as Ring of Destruction that provided great removal and burn as well as trade bait. I managed to turn my deck into a psuedo Chaos deck by adding some lights to my existing darks, such as Thunder Nyan Nyan, and used Chaos Sorcerer long before others did since they were all focused on the Envoys. I'd also used Sakuretsu Armor long before others simply because I didn't own a Mirror Force until I traded a Ring for one.
I did manage to get a Black Luster Soldier and quickly turned my deck's core into a warrior/spellcaster one. I didn't manage to top during these days until the first ban list came and slayed Chaos Emperor and his annoying little bird friend, Yata Garasu. That ban list was great and allowed me to top locals consistently. My deck ran Zombyra the Dark (I still liked beatdown and Zombyra was a beast before Cyber Dragon came out), Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke as the core dark/light targets for Painful Choice. I also used Warrior Returning Alive so I had many ways to search and retrieve Black Luster. My Painful Choice combos always involved the same core: 2 Zombyra, 2 Grandmasters, Sinister Serpent, Black Luster, Warrior Returning Alive and Magician of Faith. If I had Magician in hand or on field I'd dump everything needed for Black Luster, including himself and Warrior Returning Alive and retrieve everything when I could. GKs saw play during the time but no one ever stuck with em. Recruiter didn't exist and the opponents (opp) had numerous ways to take down Valley (MST, Breaker, Heavy).
Once the ban list slayed Black Luster, I tried to maintain a warrior deck but eventually had to move on. For locals I used Rat box with zombies, eventually turning it into a Tomato box, still with zombies. The local shop closed and moved beyond my traveling capacity but a local sports memorabilia shop held tournaments every other week so I maintained connection with the game. I even jumped on the Zombie Master bandwagon. Those were fun times. After the sports shop closed, I fell out of the game for approximately a year around 07-08. I'd also moved towns during this time. I managed to get a Stardust, Red Dragon Archfiend (RDA) and Goyo Guardian tin which started me back in the game.
One weekend the local FYE had a mini anime con. I managed to run into some fellow duelists and we started a weekly gathering either at the mall food court or the nearby Barnes & Nobles. Both places eventually gave us trouble for hanging out there and our gatherings diminished while FYE still had occasional cons every 2-3 months, now including YGO tournies. The majority of the locals had decks that were on par with my beatdown burn deck from a few years ago while I'd kept up with the game, making my deck more trouble for them. Though there were a few who would give me trouble there were also others who'd heard about the con, came and wiped out most of us.
I'd missed out on Gladiator Beasts (Glads) and Lightsworn (LS). I know LS made a showing at atleast one FYEcon but the player didn't stay long for me to play him. I missed LS and TeleDAD at its peak but I spose that's a blessing. Around this time I'd come across an article by GeneralZorpa and managed to build a nice Monarch deck that fit my playstyle. I still have it to this day and enjoy playing with it but it's a little slow for the speed decks of today's meta.
I also managed to make a psuedo X-Saber deck as well as a Flamvell Cat deck at Rescue Cat's peak thanks to a few lucky pulls from a Shining Darkness box including Infernity Barrier which was promptly traded for the majority of cards that let me finish the Cat decks. Sadly the next ban list neutered the decks, leaving me scrambling to obtain Faultrolls to properly build Sabers and turning my Flamvell deck into a zombie hybrid.
While the Saber deck survived, the Flamvell deck didn't.
I've gone through many decks over my career. Gravekeepers (GKs) (original Chaos days and now), A Legendary Ocean (ALO) deck, Rat Zombie box, Tomato Zombie box, 60 card Chaos, Monarchs, Flaming Merchant Zombie Pot (FMZP) and a few others.
My current decks consist of Monarchs, Sabers, Agents, Dark World, Blackwings, Nordic Zombies, GKs, a partially complete Deep Draw Exodia missing the Rejuvenations, Junk Dopple and Machina Gadgets. On DN I have these decks along with Hopeless Dragons, Batterymen and Hieroglyphs (Holy Marked Dragons).
On this blog I'll try to shine some light on unsuspecting commons and combos along with the occasional deck profile.
Welcome to the Island of Lost Cards. Taking care of the unwanted and ignored.
IOC came, sending my deck running from the Envoys, Black Luster Soldier and his hated brother Chaos Emperor Dragon. The special edition (SE) helped quite a bit simply for the Gemini Elves that helped beef up my deck as well as Ring of Destruction that provided great removal and burn as well as trade bait. I managed to turn my deck into a psuedo Chaos deck by adding some lights to my existing darks, such as Thunder Nyan Nyan, and used Chaos Sorcerer long before others did since they were all focused on the Envoys. I'd also used Sakuretsu Armor long before others simply because I didn't own a Mirror Force until I traded a Ring for one.
I did manage to get a Black Luster Soldier and quickly turned my deck's core into a warrior/spellcaster one. I didn't manage to top during these days until the first ban list came and slayed Chaos Emperor and his annoying little bird friend, Yata Garasu. That ban list was great and allowed me to top locals consistently. My deck ran Zombyra the Dark (I still liked beatdown and Zombyra was a beast before Cyber Dragon came out), Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke as the core dark/light targets for Painful Choice. I also used Warrior Returning Alive so I had many ways to search and retrieve Black Luster. My Painful Choice combos always involved the same core: 2 Zombyra, 2 Grandmasters, Sinister Serpent, Black Luster, Warrior Returning Alive and Magician of Faith. If I had Magician in hand or on field I'd dump everything needed for Black Luster, including himself and Warrior Returning Alive and retrieve everything when I could. GKs saw play during the time but no one ever stuck with em. Recruiter didn't exist and the opponents (opp) had numerous ways to take down Valley (MST, Breaker, Heavy).
Once the ban list slayed Black Luster, I tried to maintain a warrior deck but eventually had to move on. For locals I used Rat box with zombies, eventually turning it into a Tomato box, still with zombies. The local shop closed and moved beyond my traveling capacity but a local sports memorabilia shop held tournaments every other week so I maintained connection with the game. I even jumped on the Zombie Master bandwagon. Those were fun times. After the sports shop closed, I fell out of the game for approximately a year around 07-08. I'd also moved towns during this time. I managed to get a Stardust, Red Dragon Archfiend (RDA) and Goyo Guardian tin which started me back in the game.
One weekend the local FYE had a mini anime con. I managed to run into some fellow duelists and we started a weekly gathering either at the mall food court or the nearby Barnes & Nobles. Both places eventually gave us trouble for hanging out there and our gatherings diminished while FYE still had occasional cons every 2-3 months, now including YGO tournies. The majority of the locals had decks that were on par with my beatdown burn deck from a few years ago while I'd kept up with the game, making my deck more trouble for them. Though there were a few who would give me trouble there were also others who'd heard about the con, came and wiped out most of us.
I'd missed out on Gladiator Beasts (Glads) and Lightsworn (LS). I know LS made a showing at atleast one FYEcon but the player didn't stay long for me to play him. I missed LS and TeleDAD at its peak but I spose that's a blessing. Around this time I'd come across an article by GeneralZorpa and managed to build a nice Monarch deck that fit my playstyle. I still have it to this day and enjoy playing with it but it's a little slow for the speed decks of today's meta.
I also managed to make a psuedo X-Saber deck as well as a Flamvell Cat deck at Rescue Cat's peak thanks to a few lucky pulls from a Shining Darkness box including Infernity Barrier which was promptly traded for the majority of cards that let me finish the Cat decks. Sadly the next ban list neutered the decks, leaving me scrambling to obtain Faultrolls to properly build Sabers and turning my Flamvell deck into a zombie hybrid.
While the Saber deck survived, the Flamvell deck didn't.
I've gone through many decks over my career. Gravekeepers (GKs) (original Chaos days and now), A Legendary Ocean (ALO) deck, Rat Zombie box, Tomato Zombie box, 60 card Chaos, Monarchs, Flaming Merchant Zombie Pot (FMZP) and a few others.
My current decks consist of Monarchs, Sabers, Agents, Dark World, Blackwings, Nordic Zombies, GKs, a partially complete Deep Draw Exodia missing the Rejuvenations, Junk Dopple and Machina Gadgets. On DN I have these decks along with Hopeless Dragons, Batterymen and Hieroglyphs (Holy Marked Dragons).
On this blog I'll try to shine some light on unsuspecting commons and combos along with the occasional deck profile.
Welcome to the Island of Lost Cards. Taking care of the unwanted and ignored.
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