This... This I approve of

After taking my occasional blogger scroll, I found this.

http://www.konami.com/yugioh/articles/?p=3111

Wow Kevin, I approve of this. I've not been fond of the TCG rewording so far, but this certainly redeemed it for me. More experienced players will understand why you can't Black Horn of Heaven a Monster Reborn or the monster it summons. However, you would not believe how many times I've had to explain this to people. I've even gotten into some pretty bad arguments with people who don't know this ruling (an they're a judge).

But personal arguments aside, I am so glad that Konami made this obvious to the less educated of the Yu-Gi-Oh! community. For those who don't know this ruling, I'll lay it out here.

Black Horn of Heaven
Trap / Counter
Negate the Special Summon of 1 of your opponent's monsters and destroy it.


Reborn Tengu
Level 4 / WIND
Beast-Warrior / Effect
When this card is removed from the field, Special Summon 1 "Reborn Tengu" from your Deck.
ATK 1700 DEF 600

You cannot negate the summon of a Reborn Tengu through the effect of BHoH. When Reborn Tengu leaves the field, it automatically starts a chain. Even if neither player wishes to respond, Reborn Tengu starts a chain as chain link 1.

The chain then resolves. The effect of the previous Reborn Tengu summons another one. BHoH cannot activate at this time. The chain is still resolving, so no card effects can activate.

After the entire chain resolves (which happens to only be 1 link), all appropriate cards are sent to the Graveyard. In this case, nothing is sent there. This step of chain resolution always happens, even if no cards are to be sent to the Graveyard. After this happens, the chain is complete.

After the chain resolves, Reborn Tengu has already been summoned successfully during chain resolution. BHoH cannot activate at this time. Trying to activate BHoH now would be like trying to activate it 5 turns after the monster has been summoned. You missed any opportunity to activate BHoH.

There are 3 common misconceptions that people have with this ruling.

1.) You CANNOT negate the effect of [Reborn Tengu] with Black Horn of Heaven


People believe that they can negate the effect of a "Summon by effect" card like Reborn Tengu. This is incorrect. Nowhere on BHoH does it say it can negate effects. This literally means that it can't negate effects. Unless a card says it can do something, it can't. Due to the nature of BHoH's effect, BHoH can only ever be Chain Link 1.

2.) Solemn Warning CAN negate the effect of [Reborn Tengu]


Again, this ties in directly with the wording of Solemn Warning.

Solemn Warning
Trap / Counter
Pay 2000 Life Points. Negate the Summon of a monster OR the activation of a Spell Card, Trap Card, or Effect Monster's effect that includes an effect that Special Summons a Monster(s), and destroy that card.


This is why you can chain Solemn Warning to the effect of Reborn Tengu. The ruling that  prevents cards from activating during resolution still applies here. The highlighted text is not decorative, it serves a purpose. BHoH does not have that line of text, meaning BHoH cannot be used in the same way.

3.) Bottomless Trap Hole


Someone once pointed this out to me. BTH does not negate anything. As a rule, negation has to be directly applied to what is to be negated. BTH instead responds to a summon. BTH is activated after the chain that summons a monster, not during or before. Consequently, you can use BTH against the Special Summon of a Reborn Tengu.

A few other things


Special Summons are normally categorized into to categories: Inherent Special Summons and Special Summons by Effect. Inherent Special Summons are built in to the card.

Inherent Special Summons include:
- Monsters like Cyber Dragon
- Synchro Summons
- Exceed Summons
- Some Fusion Summons (like Gladiator Beast Gyzarus)

Inherent summons can be negated by cards like BHoH since they don't start chains.

Special Summons by Effect include
- Monsters like Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness
- All Ritual Summons
- Most Fusion Summons
- All summons not done by the card being summoned, e.g. Monster Reborn

Summons never start chains. The only difference is that the summons are occurring during a resolving chain. It's not the summon starting the chain, it's the effect that special summons. For the above reasons, this sort of summon is immune to BHoH.


So let's summarize today's lesson:
- Summons do not start chains
- Cards cannot be activated during resolving chains
- Card negation must be applied directly to the desired target
- There are two categories of summon: "Inherent" and "By Effect"
- Cards like Black Horn of Heaven can only negate Inherent summons

I'm sure Redshift would be proud (cookie if you know what I'm referring to). Hopefully I didn't butcher that too badly and the information was clear. As always, leave a comment with any questions and rate and whatnot.

~Valafar123

Because everybody is doing it

I got bored on Pojo, so I made a slightly troll-ish list which actually came out decently. This isn't any sort of prediction, though I would applaud Konami for being ballsy enough to do something like this. When I made this list, I had a few objectives in mind:

1.) Reverse all the power creep

2.) Kill all the stuff that Konami failed to hit

3.) Kill off as many FTKs as possible

4.) Hit cards that could become problematic if they weren't hit.

And after a bit of arguing, debating, and some very lulzy feedback, I came up with this.

Forbidden
- Dandylion
- Fishborg Blaster
- Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
- Mind Master
- Morphing Jar
- Royal Magical Library
- Sangan
- Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
- T.G. Hyper Librarian
- Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
- Empty Space Sea Serpent Levaiel
- Foolish Burial
- Future Fusion
- Giant Trunade
- Limiter Removal

- Monster Reborn- One for One
- Life Equalizer

Limited
- Archlord Kristya
- Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn
- Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor
- Debris Dragon
- Grapha, Dragon God of Dark World
- Gravekeeper's Spy
- Lonefire Blossom
- Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"
- Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En
- Pot of Avarice
- Dimensional Prison
- Trap Stun
- Ultimate Offering

Semi-Limited
- Reborn Tengu
- Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier

Unlimited
- Magical Stone Excavation
- Megamorph
- Mystical Space Typhoon
- Overload Fusion

I think I weakened just about everything with this list. Might need to touch Glads, but according to the actual feedback I got (ignoring people QQing about me hitting their decks, people who just don't like me, and randoms wanting HS back) this would be a good list.

I suppose I'd better explain a few things on here.

Dandylion

It's pretty much become Destiny Hero - Disk Commander number 2. If your rectal orifice is not damaged due to floral interaction with it, you probably don't play Yu-Gi-Oh! very much.

Fishborg Blaster

To prevent Baha coming up with another FTK with it. It's been abused for quite some time now. It's also an indirect hit to Monarchs, which is nice. Also hits Bunny.dek.

Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

As much as I want OTK preventing cards in the game, Gorz is a bit too much in my honest opinion. Getting a +1 because you let yourself get into a bad situation is a bit silly. You can also synchro with it or its token.

Mind Master

It's Substitoad's cousin.

Morphing Jar

To kill of any empty jar FTKs. Also an indirect hit to DWs.

Royal Magical Library

Because it should have been banned a long time ago.

Sangan

This got some criticism, but a lot of people are getting fed up of this little *******. It searches way too much in this game and lets people Synchro summon way too easily.

Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

People complained when I banned Limiter Removal, so they recommended this as a sort of trade off. It's fair enough I guess, two less derpy cards in the game.

T.G. Hyper Librarian

Obvious ban is obvious. I see people limit this on their lists and I'm just thinking "Nooooo".

Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Because dropping it normally leads to a game win. Awful card design on Konami's behalf.

Empty Space Sea Serpent Levaiel

Call it a preemptive hit. This thing is screaming abuse.

Foolish Burial

Because its doing a lot more harm than good.

Future Fusion

Because this card is starting to get out of hand.

Giant Trunade

People keep QQing about this card, so I gave it the banhammer. I got responses like "Now there aren't any mass back row clearers", to which I reply"Good". No more OTKs plx.

Limiter Removal

Why is this still lat 1?

Monster Reborn

Because people asked me to.

One for One

Should've gotten the final nail in the coffin long ago. These sorts of "Summon from deck" cards should not be around imo.

Life Equalizer

Because of the FTKs.

Archlord Kristya

Because it's overpowered.

Blackwing Sirocco & Vayu

If the OCG wasn't still obsessing over BWs, I would've given them something back instead of hitting them. Seriously Japan, just let it go.

Debris Dragon

It's also an Exceed spammer. This might be unnecessary, but better safe than sorry.

Grapha, Dragon God of Dark World

If it weren't Virus compatible, it could hang around. Infinite revival is stupid.

Gravekeeper's Spy

Has now become an Exceed spammer too. That, and GKs need a hit. People will go back to them once all the other decks are hit.

Lonefire Blossom

Because summoning an entire type from the deck is silly.

Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"

It's a themed  Librarian. This got some funny feedback. People told me it was unnecessary. I gave them DSummon's build and they went to DN. Afterwards they understood why this thing needs to be hit.

Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En

I didn't feel a full ban was necessary. Once it dies, it wont be coming back.

Pot of Avarice

Obvious hit is obvious.

Dimensional Prison

Random, but why not. You can just shove it in a deck and derp derp control your way to victory.

Trap Stun

Because it enables OTKs. At 1, it's not nearly as strong.

Ultimate Offering

Because everybody else wants this hit. I don't care for it, but I may as well.

Reborn Tengu

I don't care if it's an exclusive, it needs a hit.

Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier

Because of looping.

Magical Stone Excavation

Unless there's something I'm missing, this could happily come back to 3.

Megamorph

Demise OTK is so inconsistent, especially with so few OTK enablers left after my hits.

Mystical Space Typhoon

Because its not unbalanced in any way, shape or form. It doesn't need to be semi, I don't know anyone (aside from maybe scraps) who would main 3.

Overload Fusion

Why not? Future Fusion is banned.

--

Well, that was fun. Comment or rate if you really want. Don't rate down because you disagree with the list though, that's not what the rating system is for. =/

~Valafar123

LIGHT/Hero Beat update

Yes, finally that post I've been promising. Waking up at 3:31 PM after a 14 hour nap does wonders to stop one's tiredness. But enough about my irregular sleeping patterns, here's a post about the LIGHT/Hero Beat deck I've had for such a long time. I've been playing using this deck since Lightsworn/Zombie format via the World Championship games, and I must say I'm in love with this deck. With the remainder of the omni-Heros finally becoming TCG legal, Pot of Duality reprinted and Legendary Collection 2 on its way, I am very tempted to finally pick this deck up.

This deck has consistently impressed me over the years. It did well even during the long reign of Heavy Storm thanks to Starlight Road, which essentially herp negated the opponents derp storm. Luckily that abhorrent nightmare is out of the game. And yes, the only reason I brought that up was because of Death Aspect's recent post. I'm not normally one to disagree with him, he knows what he's talking about and I value his opinions immensely, but I just can't see Heavy Storm being good for the game. I agree with the game returning to Goat Control style, but Storm coming back just does the opposite, doing nothing but promoting OTKs. I'll save you all the grief of the entire argument for another day.

Stalling aside, onto my actual deck list. As always, the deck list will also be appended at the end of the post in text form.

Typically (for me anyway), I run a low monster count. People have questioned this in the past and still do today, but the benefits far outweigh the downsides of doing so. Ideally I want to open with 1 or 2 monsters, and I find 10 to be a solid number to do so with. It gives me the option of going full back row once I assess the risk of doing so. Naturally, any sort of deck with strong back row removal like Blackfeathers/Blackwings and Dark Worlds do pose a high threat to the deck's defensive capabilities, but fortunately enough Consecrated Light can kill two birds with one stone (no pun intended). X-Sabers seem like they could be a problem in the future, possibly warranting mained Effect Veiler.

On the topic of Veiler, I'm not terribly fond of it even with a Plant dominant meta. By biggest problem with Veiler is that it is inherently a -1 and normally retains that advantage. One could side or main it, but in all honesty I'd rather use an old favorite of mine: D.D. Crow. Crow has the capacity to break even a lot easier than Veiler, and is an equally effective (if not superior) counter to Plants.

Snowman Eater was formerly very popular in the OCG, and with good reason. It walls every level 4 or lower monster in the metagame, barring the currently nonexistent Gravekeeper's. I decided to main it after realizing that I lacked enough second turn sets. A second turn set is an excellent way to neutralize the disadvantages that come with going second, provided that your opponent didn't open with One for One. Simply set Snowman (or in some cases Alius), set some back row and end. That evens out the playing field quite nicely, even more so if you want to main Seven Tools of the Bandit. It also makes your opponent wary of attacking your face downs, letting you set bluffs. It also gives you access to Absolute Zero, which is always a good thing.

I decided to drop CyDra to 1. It's still very good despite being something so simple, and I've caught people off guard by dropping it mid game for massive Chimeratech plays. It's beefy enough to run over almost every non-synchro/exceed monster in the metagame, making it a good wall breaker. Enough decks get hurt by it to warrant it being mained, namely GBs and any sort of Machine deck. I keep a second one sided for the above decks.

Rai-Oh is good again, not much else I can say about it. Make PoDs dead, stop Trishula/Librarian, good card is good.

I dropped Miracle Fusion to 2 in favor of running a third PoD. Admittedly, there have been times when I wanted the third copy, but for consistency's sake I dropped it to 2. Miracle Fusion is pretty poor early game, so dropping it to 2 makes it less likely for me to open with it, giving me a much more stable opening hand.

I could talk about Super Polymerization a lot. In my experience as a Yu-Gi-Oh! player, never have I seen such a volatile card. It can be anything from really really bad, meh or really really good. Under normal conditions, it's a -1. Regardless of how powerful it is, lost advantage is lost advantage and I have lost games due to misplaying it. The ideal situations to use it in are: (1) As if it were Gemini Spark. In other words, wait for your monster to be targeted for an effect to break even with card advantage. (2) Fusing 2 opposing monsters. This is rare, and normally only happens in the mirror, against sams, or against some GB variants. (3) As if it were Book of Moon. If your opponent is about to synch, fuse one of the material. This is still a -1, but the follow up play will normally neutralize any advantage lost. Those are the only times Super Poly should be activated. I may be stating the obvious, but it can be tempting to flip it at the wrong time.

I'm still maining 2 BTH and 3 D Prison. That ratio has yet to fail me. It gives you some pretty shocking control power, especially considering how well the deck can support it. It's a fantastic way to punish recklessness and aggression. An inexperienced player will simply die against this deck. More experienced players are probably wiser and will make sure they have the right tools available before trying to go aggro, meaning a slightly different approach is needed when playing.

The last thing of interest that I did was drop a Hero Blast for Compulsory. Hero Blast is a fantastic card, it's like BoM but it almost always nets a +1. However, much like Miracle Fusion, it can be weak and/or dead early game. Compulsory, while less powerful, is active much sooner. It can be compared to the way Infernity mains 1 Grepher and 1 Armageddon Knight; they both do a similar job but work best at different times. I wouldn't attempt this without 3 PoD, however. To pull something like that off, there always has to be a third card to moderate the consistency of running a 1:1 ratio of cards. For Infernity it's RotA, for this deck it's PoD.

That's it for this post. I hope I didn't miss anything. Please leave comments below and rate this rather delayed post.

~Valafar123

--

Monsters [10]

[1] Cyber Dragon

[3] Elemental Hero Neos Alius

[1] Elemental Hero Stratos

[1] Honest

[1] Snowman Eater

[3] Thunder King Rai-Oh

Spells [17]

[1] Book of Moon

[1] Dark Hole

[1] Future Fusion

[3] Gemini Spark

[2] Miracle Fusion

[1] Monster Reborn

[1] Reinforcement of the Army

[2] Mystical Space Typhoon

[3] Pot of Duality

[2] Super Polymerization

Traps [13]

[2] Bottomless Trap Hole

[1] Compulsory Evacuation Device

[3] Dimensional Prison

[1] Hero Blast

[1] Mirror Force

[1] Royal Oppression

[1] Solemn Judgment

[2] Solemn Warning

[1] Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck [15]

[2] Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

[1] Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste

[2] Elemental Hero Absolute Zero

[1] Elemental Hero Escuridão

[2] Elemental Hero Gaia

[2] Elemental Hero Great Tornado

[2] Elemental Hero Nova Master

[3] Elemental Hero The Shining

Radiance of Darkness / Shining Darkness

I was reading Shriek's and DuelingDays' spoiler list for Photon Shockwave, and I was delighted to find this among the list of cards.

Image from DuelingDays

PHSW-JP075
Radiance of Darkness / Shining Darkness 「闇の閃光」
Normal Trap Card
Activate by Tributing 1 DARK Monster you control with 1500 or [more/less] ATK. Destroy all monsters Special Summoned during this turn.
Super Rare

I did double check the translations due to my error with Evolkaiser Ragia. Also, the translation provided for Crimson Blader is correct. I believe the wikia still has the anime effect up, causing some confusion. Dueling Days has the name translated as Shining Darkness. Shriek has its effect as 1500 or more, and ArceusTheOriginalOne from this team has it translated as 1500 or less.

Anyway, with that out the way I can talk about the card itself. As an Infernity player, I am delighted with this card. Which attack boundary it has is totally irrelevant, the deck has been asking for something along these lines for quite some time. As many of you know, Konami has been revisiting banned cards recently, giving them a balanced counterpart (with the exception of Rescue Rabbit, which needs a ban). Due to the nature of its cost and the ways in which it can be used, it's fairly safe to assume that this is the dreaded Crush Card Virus's watered down cousin.

We also have what appears to be Dark Grepher in the artwork (hinting to the 1500 or more translation being correct). Fans of the Yu-Gi-Oh! story lines now have another piece of the story of Warrior Dai Grepher and D.D. Warrior Lady. Quite fittingly, some of the decks that will use Radiance of Darkness will also use Dark Grepher, which will make decks look more complete on the whole I'm sure. Being a rarity freak, I'm pleased that it's a super rare and I hope it retains rarity when it arrives in TCG land.

On to the actual effect. What we have is an infinitely superior Special Hurricane. The ability to spring this on your opponent when they're weakest to it is fantastic. A lot of decks that will be using this are decks that can't utilize Royal Oppression, so this is a very nice way to level out the playing field. In a worst case scenario, this can also be used to dodge something like Dimensional Prison, or Caius the Shadow Monarch.

The one thing I don't like is that Dark Worlds will be able to use this. They already main the 2 legal Viruses, this could begin to make things a little silly. Fortunately, this and the upcoming Crimson Blader will help mitigate the deck a lot, along with the standard anti-DARK brigade.

That's about all I can think of. Tell me what you think of this card in the comments section.

~Valafar123

Crimson Blader

Fianlly, a post. Anyway, I was roaming Pojo and I found this.

Crimson Blader(anime artwork)

Crimson Blader「クリムゾン・ブレーダー」
FIRE/Warrior - Synchro - Effect/8/2800/2600
Tuner + 1 or more Non-Tuner Monster
When this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard, during your opponent's next turn, your opponent cannot Normal Summon or Special Summon a Level 5 or higher monster.

It has been confirmed as one of the three promo cards for Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Tag Force 6 for the PSP. I must say I am very impressed.

This card is fantsastic, possibly a new extra deck staple to replace the long outdated Colossal Fighter. There's an old proverb that says "Prevention is better than cure". This is also true for YGO. What you get with Blader is the ability to really put pressure on your opponent. By cutting of their Special Summons, you cut off most of their ability to reverse the game. They can kill Blader, but they can't reestablish field presence.

For example, you could summon this, attack Grapha, Dragon God of Dark World, and then your opponent will be unable to revive it or make any large monsters at all. This is great. You silenced their most powerful threat and essentially gave yourself a free turn. If your opponent goes on the defensive with monsters, you can continue to starve your opponent of their much needed Special Summons while you have time to anchor yourself on the field and make it impossible for a turn around. No Grapha revives, no Machina Fortess escapes, no Hyperion or Kristya, no Plant synchro spam, nothing. The most they can do is Dark Hole and end.

Crimson Blader also has a lot of physical bulk. 2800 2600 are some pretty impressive stats. Even Burei can't get over it without help, provided that Burei survives. It also stops Book of Moon being a viable strategy just due to the fact that Blader wont die to anything but an even bigger monster, or a card effect.

One of the things I noticed about this card is its "Level 5 or higher" restriction. This means that most Exceed monsters are free from its grasp. This is probably an attempt by Konami to promote them by weakening the effectiveness of Synchros, much like the TCG exclusive Orient Dragon: a card specifially designed to make synchros die as soon as possible, including Shi En.

This card could suffer the same fate as Infernity Archfiend, being a highly sought after VG promo. I'm not sure how staple Blader is, but I'll probably be getting Tag Force 6. I don't have a PSP.

I'm sure there are things about Blader I missed. 5 out of 5 to Konami for excellent card design. Leave a comment with your thoughts below.

~Valafar123

Something interesting

I found Kevin on pojo and I thought I'd bring up bunny:

Valafar123
"Here he is!


I know you get a lot of unnecessary hate and I know this isn't your fault, but please do something about Rescue Rabbit. Make it secret, whatever, just try to make it hard to get or ban it outright. Please just do something about it for its TCG release."

KevinTewart
"I can assure you that we have all of the prison spotlights trained on mr. rabbit and are watching his every movement."

Evidently, they know there's a problem. I don't know what to make of his response, so I wont say much more about it.

~Valafar123

A horrifying revelation...

Remember how I mentioned the horrifying power of Levaiel in a previous post? I was rummaging through cards and I swear this nearly gave me a stroke when I realized it. Instead of making an actual post, I'll just post some cards and their effects and I hope you see what I see. What has Konami done...

Empty Space Sea Serpent Levaiel

Rank 3/WIND

Aqua/Xyz/Effect

2 Level 3 monsters
Once per turn you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower monster that is removed from play.

ATK 1800 DEF 1600

Rescue Rabbit

Level 4/EARTH

Beast / Effect

This card cannot be Special Summoned from the Deck. During your Main Phase, you can remove this face-up card from play to Special Summon 2 Level 4 or lower Normal Monsters with the same name from your Deck. Those monsters are destroyed during the  End Phase. The effect of "Rescue Rabbit" can only be used once per turn.

ATK 300 DEF 100

Reuse through Levaiel.

Genex Controller

Level 3/DARK

Machine/Tuner

ATK 1400 DEF 1200

2x Genex Controller = Empty Space Sea Serpent Levaiel

Genex Undine

Level 3/WATER

Aqua/Effect

When this card is Normal Summoned, you can send 1 WATERmonster from your Deck to your Graveyard to add 1 "Genex Controller" from your Deck to your hand.

ATK 1200 DEF 600

Put combo pieces in grave.

Fishborg Blaster

Level 1/WATER

Fish/Tuner (effect)

If you control a face-up level 3 or lower WATER monster, you candiscard 1 card to Special Summon this card from your Graveyard. If this card is used as a Synchro Material Monster, the other Synchro Material Monsters must all be WATER monsters.

ATK 100 DEF 200

Synchro abuse.

Treeborn Frog

Level 1/WATER

Aqua/Effect

If this card is in your Graveyard during your Standby Phase and you control no Spell or Trap Cards, you can Special Summon it. This effect cannot be activated if you control a face-up "Treeborn Frog".

ATK 100 DEF 100

Easy access level 1 non-tuner.

Kabazauls

Level 4/WATER

Dinosaur

ATK 1700 DEF 1500

Spam through Rescue Rabbit.

Evolkaiser Ragia

Rank 4/FIRE

Dragon/Xyz/Effect

2 Level 4 Dinosaur-Type monsters
When a Spell/Trap Card is activated, OR a Normal Summon or Special Summon of a monster is attempted, you can detach 2 Xyz Materials from this card to negate the activation of the Spell/Trap Card OR the Normal or Special Summon of the monster and destroy it.

ATK 2400 DEF 2000

2x Kabazauls = Evolkaiser Ragia

T.G. Hyper Librarian

Level 5/DARK

Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect

1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
While this card is face-up on the field, each time a Synchro Monster(s) is Synchro Summoned, draw 1 card for each.

ATK 2400 DEF 1800

Kabazauls + Fishborg Blaster = T.G. Hyper Librarian

Formula Synchron

Level 2/LIGHT

Machine/Synchro/Tuner (effect)

1 Tuner + 1 non-Tuner Monster
When this card is Synchro Summoned, you can draw 1 card. During your opponent's Main Phase, you can Synchro Summon using this face-up card you control as a Synchro Material Monster.

ATK 200 DEF 1500

Shooting Quasar Dragon

Level 12/LIGHT

Dragon/Synchro/Effect

1 Tuner Synchro Monster + 2 or more non-Tuner Synchro Monsters
This card cannot be Special Summoned except by Synchro Summon. This card can attack a number of times during the Battle Phase equal to the number of non-Tuner monsters used as Synchro Material Monsters. Once per turn, you can negate theactivation of a Spell, Trap or Effect Monster's effect and destroy it. When this card is removed from the field, you can Special Summon 1 "Shooting Star Dragon" from your Extra Deck.

ATK 4000 DEF 4000

2x T.G. Hyper Librarian + Formula Synchron = Shooting Quasar Dragon

Konami needs to do something about this.

~Valafar123

Deck Analysis: Zane's Karakuris

After getting through a mountain of wires that was more tangled than a bowl of spaghetti, I finally managed to get Xbox live without electrocuting myself too much or burning my house down in the process.

So yes, that's my excuse as to why I haven't made a post in a few days. But on to the actual post I was meant to do a while ago. After the positive response I got from Stitch's worm deck, I also got a request from Zane to do an analysis of his Karakuri deck. Unlike the previous post, I have actually had a little bit of experience on both ends of the Karakuri archetype. One of our previous authors (who randomly disappeared) was a fan of the archetype, so I have a decent idea of how to work the deck. I was going to pick the deck up myself, but after the ban list came, my friend was left deckless so I sold it to him.

So enough backstory, here's the deck list:

Monster [23]
[3] Machina Gearframe
[3] Machina Fortress
[1] Machina Cannon
[3] Karakuri Soldier 236
[2] Karakuri Ninja 919
[2] Karakuri Strategist 248
[2] Karakuri Komachi 224
[1] Karakuri Guard 313
[2] Gear-Gearano
[2] Grow Up Bulb
[2] Effect Veiler

Magic [9]
[1] Monster Reborn
[1] Limiter Removal
[1] Giant Trunade
[1] Book of Moon
[1] Foolish Burial
[2] Pot of Avarice
[1] One for One
[1] De-Synchro

Trap [8]
[1] Mirror Force
[1] Solemn Judgement
[2] Solemn Warning
[1] Trap Dustshoot
[2] Trap Stun
[1] Starlight Road

For those of you who can't tell, this is an OCG build, so I will analyze the deck according to the OCG meta.

This deck is pretty well built, it has many of the key threats of the OCG covered. For those of you who play in the TCG, you will know how important Veiler has become. This is even more true for the OCG. Whilst Plant decks in the OCG don't have access to Tengu, they do have access to the most powerful synchro monster ever to set foot in this game: Shooting Quasar Dragon. If you don't know what SQD is, just rest assured that if it hits your opponent's side of the field, you've almost certainly lost. Veiler also really dents Samurais and Hyperion Angels, so thumbs up to Zane for having those 3 decks in check.

Many of those who play in the TCG may be shocked at the usage of Starlight Road, however, Blackfeathers are still very popular in Japan and having a card that hurts their power plays is always a good thing. Again, Veiler has cards like Sirocco covered. SLR covers Icarus Attack, a nasty card that can hurt a lot of decks. SLR also acts as a pseudo-Trap Stun, removing Mirror Force and Torrential Tribute as threats. It also covers Dark Hole, something I've noticed Karakuri can be troubled by.

I applaud Zane for not using the entire Plant engine. From having used the deck, I can say that having Dandy, Lonefire and Spore don't really do much for the deck. You already have plenty of Synchro power thanks to Komachi, having the Plant engine is just unnecessary and often leads to clogging.

It's hard to criticize the build once you see the reasoning behind everything, and the only massive issues I see with the deck is space issues.

Trap Dustshoot is a great card, but I just don't feel an aggressive deck like Karakuri can utilize it well enough to make it worth the slot. I've only used Trap Dustshoot in 2 decks in the past, both of which have a lot of draw and search power, and one of which died eons ago. I just doesn't seem like the deck can support it well enough to make it worth a slot, so if space is an issue, it seems like it could be a drop.

I don't know if this is intentional or not, but Dark Hole/Black Hole isn't in the main. It may be weak against Samurais and not particularly effective against Plants, it does do wonders against the Agent and Blackfeather match-ups who tend to swarm without much back up. Dark Hole can follow up against a Trishula+Hyperion play, and is one of the few cards that will let you counterattack against Kristya, so I would highly advise Dark Hole even if its just for those situations. You can also use it to activate your own Starlight Road if need be.

In a previous post I mentioned that Gear-Gearano was pretty good. After testing, I noticed I couldn't support it properly. However, I do think Karakuris can support it, and if need be it can be food for Machina Fortress. It seems like the deck doesn't need it though. Whilst it may have a bit of fun with Saizan and Nisamu, it doesn't have much use outside of that due to its strict condition on what it can summon (it only summons level 4s).

I can understand why 2 Glow-Up Bulbs are being mained, but only getting the effect once between them does dampen their effectiveness. Though that said, unlike Plant decks, Karakuris don't main any sort of milling, so the Bulbs will normally be obtained through drawing and their effects will only be used on occassion. They also let the deck hit Natural Beast and Bulb is the best tuner to be used with Fortress, so I could understand why Zane would want to keep both in there.

Aside from that, I must say that I do like his build a lot and obvious thought went into making it. I hope my suggestions have been helpful and I hope you all like this analysis. If any of you want to have your decks analyzed, just leave it in the comments below. Just remember to add an extra deck if you are using one. ^^;;

~Valafar123

I love it when Konami shows us some love

Infernity Knight

Level 6/DARK

Fiend/Effect

If you have no cards in your hand, this card can attack your opponent directly.

ATK 2000 DEF 1000

I love the little things like this that Konami does. The card isn't great, the most use it will ever see is being Infernity Destroyer's replacement (due to Stygian compatibility). But it does have nice artwork and it is always good to increase the size of an archetype. It will go nicely with the holo Infernity Necromancer Kevin said he would get round to making at some point.

This got me thinking; a lot of people don't appreciate the little things (or sometimes even the big things) Konami does. A lot of people have this hatred towards Konami, and I don't blame them. Historically they have done some nutty things, just look at Reborn Tengu. They've also done some pretty nasty things to TCG set rarities, or did they?

Reborn Tengu is the most recent widely available power card. Naturally, almost all of the meta has been overwhelmed by it. That got me thinking, perhaps Konami does things for reasons many of us wouldn't consider. For example, look at Pot of Duality and Solemn Warning. In the OCG, they are super rare and common respectively, and the probability of pulling one in a pack is massively increased due to set numbers.

If you take a gander at Shriek Twoday's event coverage, a massive majority of decks are using 3x PoD and 2x Solemn Warning. This isn't surprising, the cards are amazing and in much higher supply. Now look at the TCG, see the difference?

A lot of decks are reliant on PoD, decks like Gravekeeper's, Gadgets and Agents. Because PoD is so hard to get in the TCG, these decks are pretty scarce. Look at the current metagame (ignoring Tengu). Zombies in first place, Infernity in second place. I highly doubt that they would have gotten there if they had to face a hoard of GK decks.

I think this was reflected in the early days of Dueling Network. The first 4 decks I faced were all GK decks, which resulted in unpleasantness due to lack of side decking. It got to the point where I had to main answers to them,

It's not surprising. It's a quick, efficient win, meaning a lot of people want to play it. The barrier that prevents people doing so in reality is the ludicrous price tag on PoD.

Long story short: set rarities are also used to control numbers. I've never really hated set rarities, if I need something I either get it or I use a different deck. But for the first time I'm actually happy about rarity bumps. I doubt we'd all be so worried about Tengu if it were a secret rare. Holos also look nicer. *glances at shiny Infernity deck*

But that's just my opinion. I think we're a bit too quick to hate on Konami.

~Valafar123

Deck Analysis: Stitch's Worms

Hello there fellow members of the Yu-Gi-Oh! blogosphere. Today I shall be presenting you with a request from Stitch. I shall be analyzing his Worm deck. I hope you all enjoy enjoy this segment. ^^

Stitch's Blog: http://troll-face-of-judgement.blogspot.com/

Monsters [19]
[1] Worm King
[2] Worm Cartaros
[3] Worm Xex
[3] Worm Yagan
[1] Evil Dragon Ananta
[1] Honest
[2] Caius The Shadow Monarch
[2] Genex Ally Birdman
[2] Spirit Reaper
[2] Chaos Sorcerer

Spells [8]
[1] Swords of Revealing Light
[1] Stumbling
[1] Monster Reborn
[1] Dark Hole
[2] Mystical Space Typhoon
[1] Giant Trunade
[1] Book of Moon

Traps [13]
[3] W Nebula Meteorite
[2] Scrap-Iron Scarecrow
[2] Bottomless Trap Hole
[1] Torrential Tribute
[1] Trap Dustshoot
[1] Mind Crush
[2] Chain Disappearance
[1] Solemn Judgment

From what I know, Worm decks are very control based, utilizing WNM as their main source of advantage. It's fairly clear that Stitch has stayed true to this, but I can't help but feel that their are a few things that need work.

But to start with, I'll say what I think was done well. Firstly, Shi En is in check. There are 9 monsters in the main that can kill it without any assistance, which is fantastic. In fact, Synchros in general are kept well in check, which is always a good thing.

Plants are also kept in order with the addition of Chain Disappearance. I don't often see this in main, mostly due to its scarceness. CD is great, it hits Spore, it hits Glow-Up Bulb, it hits Debris Dragon, it hits Dandy and Doppel, pretty much everything barring Tengu. This is pretty good considering Stitch doesn't have access to Solemn Warning, so cookie for finding a solution to plants. Of course, it also damages a lot of other decks like Sams and Monarchs, which is an added bonus.

Next up, he ha great cycling power. Birdman and WNM recycle effects, meaning he should have a lot of staying power once he roots himself onto the field and unleashes his hoard of sticky reptiles.

Now I'll talk about what I think his deck would benefit from.

Firstly, there's no Mirror Force in the main. I don't know if this is intentional or an error, but MF hasn't had its staple status in doubt since September 2009 during the reign of Lightsworn.

Secondly, he's running reptiles, he should be maining at least 2 Offerings to the Snake deity. There's a reason its cousin got semi limited, this sort of card is simply fantastic. It's a 2-for-2 that has the potential to become a 2-for-3, allowing for massive field clearing and advantage generating plays. Unlike its cousin, it isn't a cost. This means that the monster wont be destroyed if OttSD is negated, meaning you never have to fear advantage loss. It also lets you dodge removal like BTH, meaning you wont lose fuel for Sorc or Ananta.

Next, I think he really should be maining Seven Tools of the Bandit. Whilst OttSD deals with most cards, it can't deal with Solemns or even opposing STotBs. STotB lets you make plays safely and efficiently, which is always a good thing. Only 1 or 2 copies would be needed because of OttSD, but it is needed nonetheless because he lacks themed negation.

Whilst Scrap-Iron Scarecrow may have good synergy with WNM, it doesn't actually kill the threat. This could be detrimental in the long run since that monster that wasn't killed is still Synchro material or fodder for other plays. Whilst SIM is a great sponge for MST, I still feel Dimensional Prison would outclass it, especially considering how low on resources the opponent will be after being battered by OttSD and Reaper.

That's it for this deck analysis. I hope that my comments have been helpful and that you all enjoyed this post. I am still taking requests, so if you want me to look over your deck, just leave a comment below.

On another note, Stitch's worms have inspired me to pick up Aliens again, so I may make a post about them after I make a post about Gearano-Synchro. Don't forget to rate and leave comments. :)

~Valafar123