Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Battle Bred Beasts

Gladiators have been around for a while. They surprised the world at Shonen Jump Minneapolis 2008 by winning the event with Gladiator Beasts and decimating Dark Armed Return. People quickly net decked what was less expensive yet successful. When Light of Destruction hit stores everyone had access to Gladiator Beast Gyzarus. The Prisma spam was used to dominate tournaments everywhere until finally Bestiari was limited. GB's slowed down as Stardust and TeleDad countered it and Lightsworn finally out sped it. Now with the ban list hitting Lightsworns and Zombies, Gladiators can come back.

Monsters:18
3x Gladiator Beast Laquari
3x Test Tiger
2x Gladiator Beast Samnite
2x Gladiator Beast Equeste
1x Gladiator Beast Bestiari
1x Gladiator Beast Retiari
1x Gladiator Beast Secutor
1x Gladiator Beast Murmillo
1x Gladiator Beast Darius
1x Gladiator Beast Hoplomus
1x Rescue Cat
1x X-Saber Airbellum

Spells:11
3x Gladiator Proving Ground
2x Book of Moon
2x Shrink
1x Heavy Storm
1x Giant Trunade
1x Cold Wave
1x Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps:11
3x Gladiator Beast War Chariot
2x Bottomless Traphole
2x Waboku
1x Solemn Judgment
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Trap Dustshoot


Gladiator Beasts are a control deck that focus on slowly grinding your opponents cards while they gain advantage. With cards like Murmillo and Bestiari handling field cards and Retiari dealing with the grave, the opponent loses ground. Airbellum isn't a GB but it works wonders with Rescue Cat and discards a card from your opponents hand and its a tuner. Equeste and Darius are the Garbage Men as they recycle cards out of the grave in two different ways while Secutor and Samnite is the Cheerleader as one brings out 2 GB's from the deck with their effect loaded and the other adds cards with GB in the name to the hand. The spell cards in the deck made the cut because they help you maintain control of the duel. Book of Moon ends Blackwing swarms and ends Lightsworns end phases. Shrink can also help you avoid Bottomless Traphole and shrinking a BW using Black Whirlwind forces them to search for something else. The Spell and Trap removal make sure your GB's can attack safely. War Chariots ensure no effects can mess up your plays and allows you to control what your opponent can and can't do. Bottomless Traphole rids the field of high attackers that can stop GB's like Thunder King and Barbaros. Waboku lets your GB's survive battle and ensures tag outs. Solemn and Dustshoot allow you to control plays on the field and hand. Call ensures you can revive anything you need like solemned Rescue Cat. Torrential clears the field for your attacks to go through. Mirror Force didn't make the cut because Starlight Road is coming real soon and mass destruction effects will be dangerous. Torrential will be removed from the deck once Starlight Road is out. Starlight Road will be interesting in GB decks because it will protect all GB monsters and their Spells and Traps from mass destruction and gives them a one shot Stardust. Who knows what the ban list holds in store. Will Bestiari and Solemn Judgment be semi limited? We'll find out soon.

Tomorrow I'll analyze a Koa'ki Meiru deck.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Synchro Kitty

Synchro Cat was definitely the scariest OTK deck I have encountered during my experience playing YGO(I started playing when Gladiator's Assault was released). I only faced it once at my locals but it OTK'd me both games. Ever since I watched multiple players lose to Synchro to one turn kills. The Cat was heavily hit September 2009 as Summoner Monk, Rescue Cat and Dark Strike Fighter took a blow. Summoner Monk and Rescue Cat, the main combo pieces of the deck were limited to slow the deck down. The deck's key spell cards that made otk's possible, Cold Wave and Mind Control, were limited as well. Dark Strike Fighter the win Condition of the deck was banned. Players were unable to otk as frequently and many people left Synchro Cat behind and moved towards other decks that could possibly take over the new format. Synchro Cat is still a force to be reckoned with. With the right hands it can still otk and while not as deadly as they used to be, the Synchro Cat deck can still outplay any current top tier deck if underestimated. Synchro Cat didn't only win by OTK. It had another kind of victory. It focused on decreasing the opponents card presence and keeping their own advantage. Look at the deck list I have created and tested and see if you can spot the advantage each card in the deck provides.


Monsters:21
3x Cyber Valley
3x X-Saber Airbellum
2x Mystic Tomato
2x Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
2x Gravekeeper's Spy
2x Gravekeeper's Guard
1x Rescue Cat
1x Summoner Monk
1x Dark Armed Dragon
1x Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1x Sangan
1x Blackwing-Gale the Whirlwind
1x Des Koala

Spells:11
2x Allure of Darkness
2x Pot of Avarice
1x Mind Control
1x Brain Control
1x Machine Duplication
1x Heavy Storm
1x Giant Trunade
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Cold Wave

Traps:08
2x Threatening Roar
2x Bottomless Traphole
1x Mirror Force
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Trap Dustshoot
1x Torrential Tribute



Now for my analysis.

First off are the monsters. Cyber Valleys allow you to draw more cards from your deck and allows you to create a slower environment for you opponent if they don't have an answer to it other than attacking it. In conjunction with Brain Control, Mind Control, and Machine Duplication this deck can seriously start grinding away at your opponents cards and allow you to put you combo faster. Airbellums are the heart of the deck as they are a level 3 beast tuner accessible by Rescue Cat. It creates ideal situations when your opponent has no monsters on their side of the field. A direct attack and your opponent is down 1 card from their hand. Airbellum works really well with Mind Control and Brain Control by allowing a possible discard from your opponents hand and a Synchro summon. The Mystic Tomato's allow you to keep your field presence after a massive Blackwing or Lightsworn swarm and counts towards your dark count for Dark Armed Dragon and allows easy access to Summoner Monk. Ryko is the answer to the feared Colossal Fighter and allows you to clear cards on the field that may become a nuisance later on while loading your graveyard for Dark Armed Dragon and Pot of Avarice. Gravekeeper's Spy's allow you to +1 and enables double Synchro summons and allows the deck to go Arcanite Magician for an easy -2 for your opponent. Gravekeeper's Guards also open up the possibilities to an Arcanite Play but also allow you to rid the field of one monster when flipped face up. Annoying Synchro monsters beware and he works well with Airbellum too. Rescue Cat, the Soul of the deck. It allows for a +1 and enables Synchro Summons by searching out Airbellums and any other beasts if needed. Summoner Monk is the body of the deck and he allows you turn any spell card into a level four monster once per turn. With Rescue Cat as a level four it goes nuts and lets loose 2 Airbellums which leads to an Arcanite Magician and Airbellum. Arcanite destroy 2 cards on the field while the extra Airbellum clears a card from the opponents hand or if you had another no tuner monster on the field it would allow for a double synchro summon. Dark Armed Dragon is an instant +3 if he survives his summoning and with a 2800 attack body he will end games really fast. Gorz saves you from a bad situation or allows you to decimate your opponent by walking into your feigned weakness by hitting the field as a 2700 hitter and creating a +1 by creating a token. Sangan searches for whatever you need at any situation. Gale allows access to the unbeatable Armor Master and is a dark so it can easily fuel DAD and Allure and its shrink ability makes Gale an enemy of high attack monsters. Des Koala is a level 3 dark Beast monster that can be searched by Rescue Cat when your in need of a level 6 synchro monster. Its a dark so it also fuels DAD and Allure and its burn damage and high defense is always nice too.

Allure's allow for quick draws and easy deck thinning. The pots recycle fallen monsters and allows for draws and if synchros were used it allows for multiple +'s. Mind Control and Brain Control allow for an easy -1 from your opponent and allows for easy synchro plays and Cyber Valley draws. Machine Dupe allows for the abuse of Cyber Valleys and their effect. Heavy Storm, Giant Trunade, MST , and Cold Wave do what they do best. They allow you to make your plays without interference from decimating back row cards like Torrential or Mirror Force.

Threatening Roars allow you to survive OTK's and set up your combos safely. Bottomless Traphole is your basic monster removal card and can be a +1 if your opponent summoned more than 1 monster at the same time with 1600 attack points or more. Mirror Force and Torrential Tribute are the field enforcers of the deck while Trap Dustshoot allows you to see your opponents hand and hinder their strategy. Call can lead to a multiple Rescue Cats and well you all already know what this does.

Tomorrow I'll do an analysis on a Gladiator Beast deck I created.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

The Aftermath

After the sneak preview was done I ended up with these cards.

1x Consecrated Light (Common)
6x Gravekeeper's Priestess (5 Ultra, 1 Super)
2x Koa'ki Meiru Urnight (1 Ultimate, 1 Ultra)
2x XX-Saber Garsem (Rare)
1x Gravekeeper's Descendant (Rare) I will from now on refer to him as Jack Atlas.
1x Iron Core Specimen Lab
10x Gravekeeper's Stele (Common)
3x Saber Hole (Super)
2x XX-Saber Emmersblade
1x Battle Fader (Ultimate)
1x Dragon Queen of Tragic Endings (Super)
1x Majestic Red Dragon (Ultimate)

I ended up trading my Battle Fader to get my friend a Guardian Eatos and I got me some stuff from the trade as well. Come back later this week as I go over decks that may come back into the tournament scene post ABPF and the March 2010 ban list. It will feature Synchro Cat, Gladiator Beasts, Koa'ki Meiru, X-Sabers, and Gravekeepers.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Sneak Preview

Its only a couple of hours away and I just came up with my wants list.

3x Consecrated Light (Common)
2x Gravekeeper's Priestess (Super Rare)
3x Koa'ki Meiru Urnight (Ultra/Ultimate Rare)
2x XX-Saber Garsem (Rare)
2x Gravekeeper's Visionary (Super Rare)
2x Gravekeeper's Descendant (Rare)
1x XX-Saber Hyunlei (Ultra Rare/Ultimate Rare)
3x Iron Core Specimen Lab (Super Rare)
2x Gravekeeper's Stele (Common)
3x Saber Hole (Super Rare)
2x XX-Saber Emmersblade (Secret Rare)
2x Shield Wing (Secret Rare)
3x Core Transport Unit (Secret Rare)

The commons and rare will be simple for me to get. The supers I can manage. Its the Ultras and Secret rares that are going to be a drag. I probably will have to end up trading my Ultra Chaos Sorcerer and Absolute Zero's for a couple of the stuff.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Cactus Control

With the upcoming release of Absolute Powerforce being this Saturday I have taken time from blogging to look at decks that have been playing at locals and the one that caught my attention was a Plant deck that proxies 3 Cactus Bouncers. I'm not a fan of proxies but the results I saw from the Cactus Control deck made me forget about it. It was beating down Lightsworns, Gladiator Beasts, and Blackwings. Here's a similar deck list I came up with.

Cactus Bouncers are the heart of the deck. Having a similar effect as Archlord Krystia(god I hate that card). Its 1800 attack means it can battle with BW Shura, E-Hero Stratos, LS Jain, and GB Laquari. If However you had summoned Cactus Bouncer and followed up by activation Black Garden you would be in an ideal situation because whatever is summoned by your opponent will have its attack cut in half and Cactus Bouncer's effect will turn online the moment the token hits the field. Mystic Tomato and Lord Poison keep your field full of plants for Cactus Bouncer. Lonefire allows for set up plays with Tytannial or any other card you need. Botanical Lions become the beat sticks for your deck while Violet Witch searches for the Cactus Bouncers. Dandylion is used to keep your field full of plants and allows for the major abuse of Debris Dragon into Blackrose play which leaves the field empty except for 2 fluff tokens. Pot of Avarice recycles your fallen Cactus Bouncers and anything lost that you need back in your deck. 2 copies of the the card MY Body to protect the Cactus Bouncers from destruction effects. Dark Bribes, Solemn Judgment and Black Garden are the control cards of the deck along with the set of Cactus Bouncers. I suggest building a Cactus Control deck if your able to acquire the cards at the Sneak Preview because as annoying as Archlord Krystia(god I hate that card) is, its annoying and brutal to play against and it wins games. Cactus Bouncer has a similar effect and is supported by an amazing cast of plant cards. Plant decks will be a force to be reckoned with come Absolute Powerforce. Whether they will be Tier 1 or anti-meta will be unknown but I do promise you this. Cactus Bouncer will be expensive and beast to play against.

Monsters:16
3x Cactus Bouncer
2x Mystic Tomato
2x Lonefire Blossom
2x Botanical Lion
2x Lord Poison
1x Violet Witch
1x Tytannial, Princess of Camellias
1x Dandylion
1x Nettles
1x Debris Dragon

Spells:14

3x Black Garden
2x Terraforming
2x Mark of the Rose
2x My Body as a Shield
1x Heavy Storm
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Lightning Vortex
1x Brain Control
1x Pot of Avarice

Traps:10

3x Dark Bribe
2x Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
2x Bottomless Traphole
1x Mirror Force
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Solemn Judgment

Chaos Heroes

What's more fun than playing with E-Heroes? Adding Chaos Sorcerer's to throw you opponent off!!!

Monsters:18

2x Chaos Sorcerer
2x Elemental Hero Bladedge
2x Elemental Hero Necroshade
2x Elemental Hero Prisma
2x Elemental Hero Sparkman
1x Elemental Hero Stratos
2x Elemental Hero Wildheart
1x Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
3x King of the Swamp
1x Sangan

Spells:16

1x Brain Control
3x E-Emergency Call
1x Future Fusion
1x Heavy Storm
3x Miracle Fusion
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Reinforcements of the Army
2x Polymerization
2x R-Righteous Justice
1x Super Polymerization

Traps:07

2x Bottomless Traphole
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Mirror Force
1x Return From the Different Dimension
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Trap Dustshoot

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Rise of the Machines

With Absolute Powerforce bringing out Cyber Dragon Zwei as a rare, machine decks may be able to rise to the top spots. The infamous Cyber Twin OTK and Chimeratech OTK are revived with Zwei who becomes a Cyber Dragon on the field by revealing a spell card and while he's in the grave he's instantly turned into a Cyber Dragon. With Cyber Eltanin as one of our win conditions and Return as the second if Eltanin fails this deck has many different otk's lined up.


Monsters:20
3x Cyber Dragon Zwei
3x Cyber Valley
3x Tuningware
3x Reflect Bounder
3x Honest
2x Hyper Synchron
1x Road Synchron
1x Cyber Eltanin
1x Cyber Dragon

Spells:12
2x Evolution Burst
2x Machine Duplication
1x One For One
1x Heavy Storm
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Brain Control
1x Mind Control
1x Future Fusion
1x Overload Fusion
1x Limiter Removal

Traps:08
2x Bottomless Traphole
2x Dark Bribe
1x Mirror Force
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Solemn Judgment
1x Return From the Different Dimension