Restricted:
Chaos Sorceror
Tragoedia
Necro Gardna
Necroface
Mezuki
Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
Burial From Another Dimension
Foolish Burial
Destiny Draw
Charge of the Light Brigade
Allure of Darkness
Mind Crush
Magical Explosion
Semi Restrict:
Honest
Cyber Dragon
Demise the King of Armageddon
Dandylion
Treeborn Frog
Black Whirlwind
United We Stand
Royal Decree
Royal Oppression
Skill Drain
To 3:
Mask of Darkness
Smashing Ground
First off WTF! They didn't weaken Lightsworn. They murdered it. With Lumina, Charge, and Gardna limited the LS crew is out of power. To make things worse Honest was semi-ed as well making LS nothing but a joke. Zombies were hit as expected with Mezuki back in the limited list and both Burials joining it on the list. Chaos Sorcerer, Tragoedia, and Allure at 1 weakened every dark deck out there and ruined LS chance at a revival in the form of Twilight. Chaos is dead. D-Draw and Allure at 1 makes the D-Hero engine obsolete. Necroface and Magical Explosion at 1 ends the possibility of the OCG otk's from setting foot in TCG territory. Mind Crush at 1 doesn't make sense to me but whatever I don't mind. Cyber Dragon at 2 revives the dead machine archetype and gives Monarch decks hope along with the extra Treeborn frog and Dandylion now accessible to them. Black Whirlwind at 2 was the only hit Blackwing took aside from Allure but I'm pretty sure they'll suffice with Reckless Greed. Royal Oppression and Skill Drain at hit all the anti meta decks and makes GB's scream with joy. Royal Decree at 2 really doesn't do much but I don't care about this one either. Mask of Darkness at 3 makes Trap Heavy decks better in reusing their traps while an unlimited Smashing Ground will deal with all the annoying big defenders and will most likely replace Fissure.
Its finally confirmed by Shriek so everyone who held on their D-Draws and Lightsworn cards tough luck.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
The Perfect Side pt.2
Welcome back. Today I'll continue going over side decks for certain decks. Lets look at Zombies and Blackwings.
Zombie decks are a conservative deck that goes nuts once it has all the pieces in store for the OTK. Heavily focusing on searching cards from the deck and recovering cards from the grave makes Zombie decks easy to side against. Kycoos, Banishers, D-Fissures, and Thunderkings tear this deck apart. Here's what a standard Zombie decks side should look like.
3x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2x Dust Tornado
2x Legendary Jujitsu Master
2x Royal Oppression (If not main decked)
2x Traphole
2x D.D. Crow
1x Malevolent Catastrophe
1x Lightning Vortex
The Kycoos protect the ever important Zombie graveyard and decimates Lightsworn and other Zombie decks graveyards. The Dust Tornado's deal with the annoying War Chariots and anything else your opponent is attempting to hit you with. JuJu counters anti meta decks and forces Gladiators to wait until they have an answer to it. Royal Oppression stomps Lightsworn and Glads while controlling the mirror match. The Trapholes are brought in against Blackwings and GB's who are very reliant on their normal summoning. D.D. Crows deal with Necro Gardnas, Plaguespreaders, and anything else in the grave. Malevolent Catastrophe is brought in against anti meta decks, Blackwings, and GB match ups because both decks rely on heavy back row support. The Vortex controls the size of the opponents field and helps deal with problems your monsters cant handle.
Blackwings are straight beasts. Winged Beasts to be more specific. It can deal damage real fast and is very flexible when it comes to synchro summoning. It can focus on swarming the field with the help of Whirlwind or it can be controlling with Icarus Attack. Blackwings are the most flexible side deck users since most of the cards sided don't hurt the Blackwings at all. Blackwings only weakness is decks that are faster and hit harder than they do. Here's what I think the perfect side for Blackwings is.
3x Light Imprisoning Mirror
2x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2x Skill Drain
2x Royal Oppression
2x Delta Crow-Anti Reverse
2x Trap Hole
2x Tragoedia
Blackwings were able to handle Lightsworns before Gale was limited. Now Lightsworns are able to out speed Blackwings. Light Imprisoning Mirror, Oppressions and Kycoos are sided in against them to help slow them down while dealing with their graveyard (Skill Drains work too as they stop the continuous effects of Aurkus and Jain, 2 cards Light Imprisoning mirror cant stop). Kycoos, Oppressions and Trap Holes help deal with the Zombie threats while Skill Drain, Royal Oppression, and Trap Hole deal with the Glad deck. Delta Crows help deal with anti meta decks and decks that set too much back row. The Tragoedia's are brought in during the Mirror Match. Stealing monsters that work with your deck is always nice and not to mention Whirlwind adds card to the hand increasing Tragoedia's attack.
Well that's all for right now.
Zombie decks are a conservative deck that goes nuts once it has all the pieces in store for the OTK. Heavily focusing on searching cards from the deck and recovering cards from the grave makes Zombie decks easy to side against. Kycoos, Banishers, D-Fissures, and Thunderkings tear this deck apart. Here's what a standard Zombie decks side should look like.
3x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2x Dust Tornado
2x Legendary Jujitsu Master
2x Royal Oppression (If not main decked)
2x Traphole
2x D.D. Crow
1x Malevolent Catastrophe
1x Lightning Vortex
The Kycoos protect the ever important Zombie graveyard and decimates Lightsworn and other Zombie decks graveyards. The Dust Tornado's deal with the annoying War Chariots and anything else your opponent is attempting to hit you with. JuJu counters anti meta decks and forces Gladiators to wait until they have an answer to it. Royal Oppression stomps Lightsworn and Glads while controlling the mirror match. The Trapholes are brought in against Blackwings and GB's who are very reliant on their normal summoning. D.D. Crows deal with Necro Gardnas, Plaguespreaders, and anything else in the grave. Malevolent Catastrophe is brought in against anti meta decks, Blackwings, and GB match ups because both decks rely on heavy back row support. The Vortex controls the size of the opponents field and helps deal with problems your monsters cant handle.
Blackwings are straight beasts. Winged Beasts to be more specific. It can deal damage real fast and is very flexible when it comes to synchro summoning. It can focus on swarming the field with the help of Whirlwind or it can be controlling with Icarus Attack. Blackwings are the most flexible side deck users since most of the cards sided don't hurt the Blackwings at all. Blackwings only weakness is decks that are faster and hit harder than they do. Here's what I think the perfect side for Blackwings is.
3x Light Imprisoning Mirror
2x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2x Skill Drain
2x Royal Oppression
2x Delta Crow-Anti Reverse
2x Trap Hole
2x Tragoedia
Blackwings were able to handle Lightsworns before Gale was limited. Now Lightsworns are able to out speed Blackwings. Light Imprisoning Mirror, Oppressions and Kycoos are sided in against them to help slow them down while dealing with their graveyard (Skill Drains work too as they stop the continuous effects of Aurkus and Jain, 2 cards Light Imprisoning mirror cant stop). Kycoos, Oppressions and Trap Holes help deal with the Zombie threats while Skill Drain, Royal Oppression, and Trap Hole deal with the Glad deck. Delta Crows help deal with anti meta decks and decks that set too much back row. The Tragoedia's are brought in during the Mirror Match. Stealing monsters that work with your deck is always nice and not to mention Whirlwind adds card to the hand increasing Tragoedia's attack.
Well that's all for right now.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
The Perfect Side
Side decking is a difficult art to master since there are so many decks out there and you're only allowed to 15 cards to help combat them. The side deck should include cards that cover your decks weaknesses and help take down others. With only 15 slots lets look at some decks and see what they're staple side should look like.
Lightsworns/Twilight: They rely heavily on milling their deck and focus on their graveyard while summoning huge monsters. Anti Meta decks like Skill Drain and Fissure their them apart. Here's an average side for them.
3x Royal Decrees
2x Breaker the Magical Warrior
2x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2x Bottomless Traphole
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Giant Trunade
Those 11 cards are pretty much standard for the LS/Twilight builds. The extra four cards can be tech cards of your choice. My body as a Shield and Fairy Wind work well too. The decrees completely shut down Light and Shadow Imprisoning Mirror as well as the feared Skill Drain. Breakers make sure they clear Light Imprisoning Mirrors and Fissures while counting as dark's for DAD and Chaos Sorcerer. Kycoos are usually brought in against Zombies to completely shut them down and can be sided against other decks to prevent Soul Releases and opposing Kycoos from damaging your strategy. The Bottomless Trapholes are sided in against decks that carry large monsters like Dimensional Eatos and makes the LS/Twilight more aggressive and dangerous as the Bottomless are usually not expected. MST and Giant Trunade are sided in against GB's and every anti meta deck that uses Skill Drains and Fissures.
Gladiator Beasts are one of the most feared decks around because they can easily shut down your opponents strategies with their multiple tag ins. The GB's rely heavily on special summoning and effects so when the opponent sides in Oppressions and Skill Drains the GB player is in trouble. Here's their usual side deck strategy.
3x Banisher of the Radiance
3x Trap Stun
3x Dust Tornado
2x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2x Dimensional Fissure
2x My Body as a Shield
Banishers, Kycoo, and Fissures are sided in against Zombies and Lightsworn decks. Even though GB's have an even match up against Zombies it can still be out sped by Lightsworns. It evens the playing field and makes both decks strategies fail. The Trap Stuns and Dust Tornadoes are sided in against anti meta decks and any deck that sided in Mirror of Oaths. My Body as a Shield are sided in against the dreaded Stardust Dragon, Bottomless Traphole, and Mirror of Oaths.
I'll go over more decks side deck tomorrow. Peace.
Lightsworns/Twilight: They rely heavily on milling their deck and focus on their graveyard while summoning huge monsters. Anti Meta decks like Skill Drain and Fissure their them apart. Here's an average side for them.
3x Royal Decrees
2x Breaker the Magical Warrior
2x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2x Bottomless Traphole
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Giant Trunade
Those 11 cards are pretty much standard for the LS/Twilight builds. The extra four cards can be tech cards of your choice. My body as a Shield and Fairy Wind work well too. The decrees completely shut down Light and Shadow Imprisoning Mirror as well as the feared Skill Drain. Breakers make sure they clear Light Imprisoning Mirrors and Fissures while counting as dark's for DAD and Chaos Sorcerer. Kycoos are usually brought in against Zombies to completely shut them down and can be sided against other decks to prevent Soul Releases and opposing Kycoos from damaging your strategy. The Bottomless Trapholes are sided in against decks that carry large monsters like Dimensional Eatos and makes the LS/Twilight more aggressive and dangerous as the Bottomless are usually not expected. MST and Giant Trunade are sided in against GB's and every anti meta deck that uses Skill Drains and Fissures.
Gladiator Beasts are one of the most feared decks around because they can easily shut down your opponents strategies with their multiple tag ins. The GB's rely heavily on special summoning and effects so when the opponent sides in Oppressions and Skill Drains the GB player is in trouble. Here's their usual side deck strategy.
3x Banisher of the Radiance
3x Trap Stun
3x Dust Tornado
2x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2x Dimensional Fissure
2x My Body as a Shield
Banishers, Kycoo, and Fissures are sided in against Zombies and Lightsworn decks. Even though GB's have an even match up against Zombies it can still be out sped by Lightsworns. It evens the playing field and makes both decks strategies fail. The Trap Stuns and Dust Tornadoes are sided in against anti meta decks and any deck that sided in Mirror of Oaths. My Body as a Shield are sided in against the dreaded Stardust Dragon, Bottomless Traphole, and Mirror of Oaths.
I'll go over more decks side deck tomorrow. Peace.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Keepers of the Dead
Gravekeeper's Descendant aka Jack Atlas is a Hand of the Six Samurai for the Gravekeeper archetype except he can destroy any card on your opponents side of the field. He makes Spy more valuable as he can be searched out by it. I would run 2-3 of these.
Gravekeeper's Visionary is a boss in Gravekeeper's as he gets powered up for each Gravekeeper in the grave by 200 and he can prevent his destruction. I would run only 1-2 of this card.
Gravekeeper's Priestess is the promo from the set and she makes cards like Royal Tribute more viable. She also grants some of the Gravekeepers effects. Good effect and I suggest 1-2.
Gravekeeper's Stele is a good card to run because it recycles extra Gravekeeper cards and makes Visionary from running out of protection. It makes using Royal Tribute less risky since you can recover your fallen Gravekeepers.
Gravekeeper's Visionary is a boss in Gravekeeper's as he gets powered up for each Gravekeeper in the grave by 200 and he can prevent his destruction. I would run only 1-2 of this card.
Gravekeeper's Priestess is the promo from the set and she makes cards like Royal Tribute more viable. She also grants some of the Gravekeepers effects. Good effect and I suggest 1-2.
Gravekeeper's Stele is a good card to run because it recycles extra Gravekeeper cards and makes Visionary from running out of protection. It makes using Royal Tribute less risky since you can recover your fallen Gravekeepers.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
My sword Versus your Saber
X-Sabers have been out for a while and haven't topped in a major event because they were too inconsistent and were crushed by faster decks like Lightsworn and Blackwings. With the release of Absolute Powerforce the X-Saber archetype gets the much needed support they needed to be able to handle other decks.
Saber Hole is a counter trap card that negates the summon of a monster as long as you control an X-Saber. Saber Hole makes X-Sabers a lot better because now X-Sabers have a counter to monsters they didn't have answers too before like JD and DAD. It becomes a staple in the deck and should be run in threes.
XX-Saber Garsem is a Goblin Zombie for X-Sabers but only if he is destroyed by a card effect and sent to the graveyard. He also gains an extra 200 attack for each face up X-Saber monster on your side of the field. Since X-Sabers swarm the field with Faultrolls and E-Calls, Garsem should have no problem getting pumped up. His other effect is useful if you can bait a Torrential Tribute or Mirror Force. I would only suggest 1-2 Garsems.
XX-Saber Emmersblade is a searcher for the X-Saber monsters. Giant Rat was good but he couldn't search out Airbellum and Giant Rats in the grave didn't benefit Gottoms E-Call and Gardestrike. Emmersblade pulls the deck together and makes it more consistent. As good as they are only 2 Emmersblade is recommended. Three is overkill.
XX-Saber Hyunlei is a level 6 synchro monster that requires a non tuner X-Saber monster as its requirement. Its effect allows it to destroy up to three spell or traps on your opponents side of the field when its synchro summoned. Do I need to go on. X-Sabers had problems getting rid of spells and traps outside of Heavy Storm. Saber Slash was nice but it didn't hit face downs. Hyunlei is a welcome to any X-Saber deck. 1-2 in the extra deck would be nice.
Tomorrow I'll review the new cards for Gravekeepers and how they'll improve Gravekeepers.
Saber Hole is a counter trap card that negates the summon of a monster as long as you control an X-Saber. Saber Hole makes X-Sabers a lot better because now X-Sabers have a counter to monsters they didn't have answers too before like JD and DAD. It becomes a staple in the deck and should be run in threes.
XX-Saber Garsem is a Goblin Zombie for X-Sabers but only if he is destroyed by a card effect and sent to the graveyard. He also gains an extra 200 attack for each face up X-Saber monster on your side of the field. Since X-Sabers swarm the field with Faultrolls and E-Calls, Garsem should have no problem getting pumped up. His other effect is useful if you can bait a Torrential Tribute or Mirror Force. I would only suggest 1-2 Garsems.
XX-Saber Emmersblade is a searcher for the X-Saber monsters. Giant Rat was good but he couldn't search out Airbellum and Giant Rats in the grave didn't benefit Gottoms E-Call and Gardestrike. Emmersblade pulls the deck together and makes it more consistent. As good as they are only 2 Emmersblade is recommended. Three is overkill.
XX-Saber Hyunlei is a level 6 synchro monster that requires a non tuner X-Saber monster as its requirement. Its effect allows it to destroy up to three spell or traps on your opponents side of the field when its synchro summoned. Do I need to go on. X-Sabers had problems getting rid of spells and traps outside of Heavy Storm. Saber Slash was nice but it didn't hit face downs. Hyunlei is a welcome to any X-Saber deck. 1-2 in the extra deck would be nice.
Tomorrow I'll review the new cards for Gravekeepers and how they'll improve Gravekeepers.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
I Fight for the Core
The Koa'ki Meiru are an interesting archetype. They mostly all have good effects and some can be splashed in other decks. However running a successful pure Koa'ki Meiru deck has been difficult in the past because you would run out of cards too quickly. Absolute Powerforce fixed that problem by releasing Iron Core Specimen Lab, Core Transport Unit, and Koa'ki Meiru Urnight.
Instead of going over the whole deck like I have with the other 2 lets just look at these new cards and how they make Koa'ki Meiru more reliable.
Iron Core Specimen Lab allows a Koa'ki Meiru player to let their monsters die and thin the deck by searching extra Koa'ki Meiru monsters. A good combo when you have 2-3 monsters on the field with all different costs is to let one die and search out the remaining ones cost cards.
Core Transport Unit is what makes Koa'ki Meiru decks more reliable since most of the cards in the deck rely on Iron Core of the Koa'ki Meiru. This allows you to search the core faster and lets you toss extra copies in the grave loading up effects for some of the traps.
Koa'ki Meiru Urnight makes Koa'ki Meiru decks faster and more brutal. It used to be rare for Koa'ki Meiru decks to be able to swarm the field. Urnight makes it simple and his high attack of 2000 makes him nearly invincible against other level 4 monsters.
All right that's it for today. Tomorrow I'll be going over the new X-Saber cards and how they'll affect how X-Sabers play from now on.
Instead of going over the whole deck like I have with the other 2 lets just look at these new cards and how they make Koa'ki Meiru more reliable.
Iron Core Specimen Lab allows a Koa'ki Meiru player to let their monsters die and thin the deck by searching extra Koa'ki Meiru monsters. A good combo when you have 2-3 monsters on the field with all different costs is to let one die and search out the remaining ones cost cards.
Core Transport Unit is what makes Koa'ki Meiru decks more reliable since most of the cards in the deck rely on Iron Core of the Koa'ki Meiru. This allows you to search the core faster and lets you toss extra copies in the grave loading up effects for some of the traps.
Koa'ki Meiru Urnight makes Koa'ki Meiru decks faster and more brutal. It used to be rare for Koa'ki Meiru decks to be able to swarm the field. Urnight makes it simple and his high attack of 2000 makes him nearly invincible against other level 4 monsters.
All right that's it for today. Tomorrow I'll be going over the new X-Saber cards and how they'll affect how X-Sabers play from now on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
