16 December 2013

Analysis of the End-of-Year Banlist – The good, the bad and the ug… surprises.

So the weekend has passed and people had some time to let the new list sink in (surprisingly, with not that many #freestratos posts (lol, the fans either don't know yet, or are still in denial).

So now that the initial raging has calmed down a bit, let’s take a deeper look into the new Forbidden and Limited list.

First off, I’d like to add a side-note. I’m not sad or angry that any of the following cards have been hit or have returned. I’ve arrived to the acceptance stage of banlist grieving. So yes, three Tenki’s will be f**king annoying, but we’ll live. Yes, my Prophecy deck will miss that second Fate, but we’ll get on with it. And so on… This post is just me sitting back and thinking about the cards and whether or not the hits themselves are good, bad or rather surprising/interesting.

The Good hits

  • Blaster, Redox, Tidal and Tempest limited: This was to be expected and anyone thinking anything else is naïve (and that’s saying it nicely). The Dark Dragon Ruler (DAD) is limited for a few years now; the Light Dragon Ruler (JD) was limited during the peak of Lightsworns. Dragon Rulers had their time and now it’s over. Yes, Dragon Rulers pushed the best duelists to fight at their peak and the better duelists won while the scrubs were weeping in the corner. But Konami has to sell their newer products and let’s be fair: we all want to see different decks topping, right? So let’s call this a good hit and let’s get over it already.
  • Return from the Different Dimension forbidden: This card IS an OTK card. I couldn’t agree more than making this card forbidden for eternity.
  • Self-Destruct Button forbidden: This makes so much sense it almost shames me I never thought of this card getting a hit. Konami judges HATE this card with a passion. It caused endless discussions and ruling situations. And because of this card the judges created the weird rule that three game ties in a match does not equal a tie as end result. Self-Destruct button is more a troll-deck than anything else, but let’s cut the judges some slack and make this deck disappear.
  • Sixth Sense forbidden: Never should've been legal. This was just a marketing trick to sell LC04. Though I heard people say that Konami would keep the card legal because “it’s a bad card mid-game or late-game”. After I explained them the comparison with Future Fusion in Chaos Dragons those idiots people got quiet.
  • Spellbook of Fate limited: I’m a Prophecy player and I think this is a good hit (now saying this out loud just feels weird). No, seriously. Of all cards that they could hit in a Prophecy deck, this is the most preferred one. The opponents hate this card (because it doesn’t target and banishes) and the Prophecy deck can still be played with 1 Fate. Better this card than Blue Magician or Secrets.
  • Archlord Kristya unlimited: Nobody played this card three times. I’ve said it the moment this card got semi-limited and kept saying it ever since. It was a joke that this card was semi-limited in the first place.
  • T.G. Striker unlimited: This card being limited was only because of T.G. Agents being popular in OCG. This is a TCG list now, so I’m glad it’s back.

The Bad hits

  • Dragon Ravine Forbidden: Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not sad that this card is gone, I never liked the card. I just think it’s sad that the Dragunity Deck is dead because of this. They could have limited this card instead. Seriously, now nobody will be interested in that Vajrayana reprint.
  • Sacred Sword of Seven Stars: Sorry, but this is just overkill on the DRuler part. Again, don’t misunderstand me: I’m not sad it’s limited. I just think Sacred Sword is just as bad as Trade-In or Cards of Consonance. But I think hitting one and not the others is kind of silly. But I guess this is just a signal from Konami to let go of DRulers and play with the new stuff.
  • Divine Wind of Mist Valley Limited WITH Constellar Ptolemy M7 unlimited: Wut? I don’t even…? This is just weird. Last list they hit Birdman and M7 in order to prevent the Harpie Dancer OTK. Now that Harpie Dancer is available in TCG, I thought they might hit Valley (or leave it unlimited because who plays Divine Wind, seriously). But this exchange is just absurd. They hit Divine Wind to return an OTK enabler to unlimited status? WHY?
  • Fire Formation Tenki Unlimited: Marketing trick to sell Bujins. Next year this time around, this card will be limited (or semi-limited again). Mark my words.
  • Final Countdown Limited: Lots of players don’t like this card/deck, calling it a degenerate strategy. I never played it either because I don’t like the deck myself. So yeah, I can guess where they’re coming from (though I never had any problem beating this deck because Prohibition is still my default side-deck card!). In the end, Final Countdown limited or unlimited I don’t care either way. But thinking about it… is it a good hit? NO! Why? Because how many times did Final Countdown decks top anything, seriously? Are YOU seriously afraid of encountering a Final Countdown deck? Or is this because somebody combined it with Ghostricks and created the ultimate annoying deck or so (if so, this argument becomes invalid obviously)?

The interesting changes

  • Debris Dragon limited Vs Lonefire Blossom Semi-Limited: These two cards were part of the classic Plant Synchro deck. You can look at Debris Dragon taking a hit as a result of the “Plant” variant of Dragon Rulers, but mostly I think It’s a pre-emptive hit because they wanted Lonefire to return. And we do know that two Lonefires and two Debris at the same time is not a good idea. So Konami did an exchange. And obviously, Lonefire's return is because of the Sylvan archetype.
  • The Return of Magician of Faith: This card is old, this card is slow, and most of the broken spell cards are now forbidden. This card will thus fare the same path as BLS/Tsukuyomi (people will complain about its return, try to play it, but leave it out eventually).
  • Chaos Sorcerer Semi-Limited: Oh, poor Sorcerer. Konami just doesn’t know what to do with you. You have danced around on the F&L list more than any other card (it's pure chaos!). Now you’re back to Semi-Limited status, but god knows for how long? What will happen when the Chaos Gaia’s come out in TCG?
  • Tour Guide from the Underworld Unlimited: Now this is interesting. I said it before: Ever since the Atlantean Structure Deck came out last year, Deep Sea Diva has more interesting targets than Tour Guide ever had. With Sangan on the Tour Bus to Forbidden Realms, this card lost its most important target and got into disuse. Will we see her again next format?
  • Mezuki and Plaguespreader Zombie Unlimited: Now THIS is interesting. Last format, Two of each of these didn't do much to Zombie decks (but that’s the fault of Dragon Rulers, mostly). Now this duo returns to unlimited status… in the hopes that Shadow Specters will sell a little more (obviously another marketing trick). But it’s interesting. Will Zombie decks do anything now that they’re back to full force?

Afterword:

Obviously, the first months will be filled with people saying “Dragon Rulers still works”, “Dragon Rulers aren't dead”, but that’s what they say about every deck that gets butchered (remember Inzektors, Chaos Dragons and Wind-ups? Yeah, my point exactly…). My expectations is that they're going to splash all DRuler variants together and see what happens. But that won't last for long (I think).

Next format... Bujins. Next to that, it depends on the TCG exclusives and OCG world premiere cards in the January Booster. Other competitors will be the current top decks: Constellars, Fire Fists, Mermails (why didn't that get hit?), Fire Kings, Evilswarm, Noble Knight, etc.

What will I play next format? I dunno, honestly. But with 3 Tour Guides and 2 Chaos Sorcerers, I might as well rebuild my Chaos Dragons deck and see what happens (lol). or maybe Tele-DAD just for the lolz.

Until next time, V out.

13 December 2013

The F&L List - End of Year Edition

Listed are only the changes:

Forbidden

  • Dragon Ravine
  • Return from the different Dimension
  • Self-Destruct Button
  • Sixth Sense

Limited

  • All FOUR Dragon Rulers
  • Debris Dragon
  • Magician of Faith (from forbidden!)
  • Divine Wind of Mist Valley
  • Final Countdown
  • Sacred Swords of Seven Stars
  • Spellbook of Fate

Semi-Limited

  • Chaos Sorcerer
  • Lonefire Blossom

Unlimited

  • Archlord Kristya (finally)
  • Mezuki
  • Plaguespreader Zombie
  • T.G. Striker
  • Tour Guide From the Underworld
  • Constellar Ptolemy M7
  • Fire Formation - Tenki

Short analysis

Decks that are butchered: Dragunities, Dragon Rulers, Final Countdown en Self-Destruct decks.

Decks that took a hit: Prophecies, Harpies (Mist Valley OTK version)

Decks that got boosted: Constellars, Fire Fists, Zombies, T.G. stun, Plants

Deeper Analysis will follow...

For now, V out.

11 December 2013

And the series keep on coming - New Yu-Gi-Oh anime next spring

If you've been following the Zexal anime, you'd notice that the series is reaching its climax right now (if you don't watch it, I don't blame you).

The new series will be named Yugioh Arc-V (pronounced "Arc Five").

First details

Rumors are spreading fast, together with the latest W-Jump (and the next V-Jump (next week) might have more details). But right now, the following is known:

  • The main character (see previous image) is named Yuuya Sakaki
  • The series will be launched in the next Spring season of anime (April presumably, but no fixed date yet). This ends the three-year run of Zexal.
  • The series will introduce yet another way of summoning monsters from the extra deck (who would've guessed?). Current rumors say that the new "Arc" summoning is based upon the "Champion" summon/ability(?) from Magic the Gathering. But more on that when rumors are either confirmed or wiped from the table.
  • Primal Origins will most likely be the last booster from the Zexal Series. The OCG April booster will be filled with cards from Arc-V. For evidence, just look at the launch date of the Zexal Series and Generation Force. Final Boss monsters will most likely be released as promo cards, similar to those from the 5D's series (Shooting Quasar and the Timelords).

I could rant for hours about how I don't like the Zexal anime (even though Vector is the best YGO villain since Bakura), but let's just keep it at: "Glad it's over." After the series ends, I'll probably do a few analysis (rant) posts about the series and its boosters/promo's.

That's it for now. Friday the 13th is coming... V out.

5 December 2013

Ghostrick Frost: Is Book of Moon set back to 4?

A few days ago, I’ve seen Bahamut’s deck for the latest AsiaPlus Singapore team Tournament and one of the tech cards he used was a card from the latest ocg booster set, which caught my eye. It was the following:


“I’m the abominable cute snowman!”

Meet Ghostrick Frost. Its effect?: "Cannot be Normal Summoned, unless you control a "Ghostrick" monster. Once per turn: You can change this card to face-down Defense Position. When an opponent's monster declares a direct attack: Change that monster to face-down Defense Position, and if you do, Special Summon this card from your hand in face-down Defense Position."

What’s so interesting about this card? Well, if your opponent declares a direct attack, you can put that monster face-down (Book of Moon anyone?) and then special summon this card in face-down defense position.

Basically, this is what happens when Battle Fader eats Book of Moon (let that thought sink in for a while).

Yes, its effect is limited to direct attacks only, but since you can activate it from your hand, it’s harder to get rid of (unlike book of moon). Also, it doesn’t end the battle phase.

So, that makes for an interesting, yet balanced effect which can help you get rid of annoying boss monsters like Stardust (Spark) Dragon (/Assault Mode), Shi En, Dracosack, Wind-up Zenmaines, etc. They can’t stop anything while they’re face-down (lol).

Is this card better than Book of Moon?

No. While this card mimics the effect of Book of Moon, it is not better. Okay, you can use it three times, that does make it kind of better (lol). But all in all, Book of Moon can be used in both players’ turns, in any sort of Phase and on any monster, including your own. This card just puts the opponent’s attacking monster face-down. That’s very limited, but still very annoying for the opponent (that’s what signals a balanced card).

What decks can run this card?

Any deck, basically. But if you want to pick a few decks where this card can flourish, here’s a few:

  • Chaos / Chaos Dragons: If you didn’t like Battle Fader’s side-effect of banishing itself, you might consider using this card. It’s Dark and gets send to the grave after it’s gone.
  • Dark World: I'm not a fan of Dark Worlds, but this IS a DARK Fiend. That makes it a good defender in Dark World decks to protect them when they have their consistency issues.
  • Monarchs: A Book of Moon that works as Tribute Fodder and doesn’t consume backrow? Do I even need to say anything else?
  • Dragon Rulers: Yeah, Bahamut played Frost in his Dragon Ruler deck and it worked very well in there. If you need to grind your way to victory, this can become a very useful asset.
  • Piper decks: The Piper Eninge (Piper + Kinka-Byo + as many Lv. 1 monsters as possible) requires good Lv. 1 monsters. This is a good Lv. 1 monster. Nuff said.
  • Lightsworn: Follow-up Frost with Lightsworn monk Ehren and watch your opponent rage.
  • Ghostrick: Duh!

Afterword

Even if the Ghostricks end up being another dud-deck, there are already some interesting cards in the archetype.

  • Yukki-Onna is a nice Lv. 2 Spellcaster that works in spellcaster decks that use Apprentice Magician.
  • Dullahan is the key card in that awesome Lv. 1 deck I posted a while ago. And he’s now basically the best Rank 1 monster.
  • And now Frost is a new, good hand trap.

And seriously, I like that. Konami focuses too much on archetype-specific cards, so I can only applaud it if Konami releases some cards that can work outside of their box (like how Tenki works for all Beast-Warriors).

Let’s just hope Konami doesn’t pimp it to Ultra/Secret rare foil in TCG, because this is now one of the few interesting cards I’m looking for.

Until next time, V out.

2 December 2013

YCS Turin - Geargia Karuri wins the 125th YCS

Kinda overlooked this one (probably because I couldn't attend), but past weekend was the 125th YCS, YCS Turin (Italy).

Let's do a quick sum-up of the event:

  • 1325 attendees, which all received the Artorigus playmat.
  • 521 attendees played (some form of) Dragon Rulers, making it (obviously) the most popular deck of the moment.
  • Second most popular deck was Evilswarm, once more confirming that Europeans in general like Dark decks.
  • The standings at the end of Swiss. It's on this page.
  • Several Americans attended the 125th YCS, including the winner (Sam Pedigo) and other famous (ARG) people like Patrick Hoban. Last mentioned one won the YCS trial, gaining a free trip to the next European YCS.
  • All coverage articles can be read on The Coverage site of YCS Turin.

The top cut

The top 32 consisted of:

  • 21x Dragon Ruler (all variants)
  • 5x Evilswarm
  • 2x Geargia
  • 1x Fire Fist
  • 1x Prophecy
  • 1x Bujin

After that, it got cut further down as follows: Top 16 play-off chart.

  • An interesting side-note: I heard Michel Gruner got a game-loss due to slow play, which caused him losing the match versus Pedigo (who then ends up being the winner).
  • And the final was ... Samuel Pedigo (Geargia Karakuri) Vs Konrad Grunewald (Dragon Rulers). With Samuel becoming the winner!

    Some deck profiles

    I'll try to find some more deck profiles (let's see if Lithium uploads any). I'll post (and update) them here:

    A side-note, the YCS Sydney Playmat

    European YCS's always hold a surprise or two. This time, on Fridays, the announcement was that YCS Sydney would hand out a playmat to all attendees (to boost non-Australian players' motivation to attend). What mat could do that? A frigging Dark Magician Girl playmat! Check it out!


    Is it just me or is this slightly less censored?
    It looks amazing!

    That's it for now. V out.