Thought Ruler Archfiend - Viable?

"Thought Ruler Archfiend"

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, today I will be talking about a card that has seen very little play in the past few formats. If you haven't guessed what it is, it's "Thought Ruler Archfiend", or TRA for short.

For those of you who don't know what it is or what it does, I have provided the effect below.

Thought Ruler Archfiend
✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪ DARK
Psychic / Synchro / Effect
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuners
When this card destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard, gain Life Points equal to that monster's original ATK. You can pay 1000 Life Points to negate the activation of a Spell or Trap Card that targets 1 Psychic-Type monster, and destroy it.
ATK 2700 DEF 2300

Previously, TRA had a terrible habit of being stolen by Goyo Guardian. The March 2011 ban list took care of that, considerably boosting TRA's playability. With that threat gone, the only remaining threats to this card are Solemn Warning and Thunder King Rai-Oh.

Most people find this card somewhat inadequate, however, there are many reasons to use this card once more. First and foremost, this card is pretty hard to stop, almost more so than the infamous Stardust Dragon. Full immunity to Compulsory Evacuation Device, Forbidden Lance and Enemy Controller is nothing to ignore, especially considering Book of Moon is now limited.

In addition, this card's life boosting effect is massive. Normally, life point increase is trivial, but when you're gaining 2000 or more life points at a time, it quickly makes you very hard to kill. Additionally, it helps late game. Most of the threats to this card will most likely have been used against its comrades, allowing this card to wreak a path of destruction unopposed. It will quickly restore your life and make your Solemn Warnings active again. This can most certainly spell disaster for your opponent and assure you victory.

I'm sure you can see why I like this card so much. In tandem with Solemn Warning, a card that is prolific in today's metagame, this card becomes a very powerful force.

Speaking of metagame, Psychics will most likely surge in use with the advent of Extreme Victory, which adds to this card's potency. Having a field of very hard to kill monsters backed by a back row of very powerful spell and trap cards seems like a very hard match up to me. That said, we will need to see how successful Psychics will be before we start to get ahead of ourselves.

Have fun trying this guy out again. You may find yourself pleasantly surprised.

~Valafar123

Estuans interius, ira vehementi

Oh, look. A reference nobody has ever done.

To clarify, this article will be about "Kyūkyoku Jikaishin Sefiron", or, has it has been tentatively named, "Ultimate Temporal Machine God Sephiron". While you can read it's effect and statistics here, let me save you the effort.

Level 10 LIGHT Fairy4000ATK/4000DEFThis card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned, except by having 10 or more Monster Cards in your Graveyard. Once per turn, you can Special Summon 1 Level 8 or higher Fairy-Type monster from your hand or Graveyard. Its effect(s) is negated, and its ATK becomes 4000.

Now, I doubt I'd miss the mark too much if I said that most would look at that summoning condition and relegate Sephiron to the unused card pool, where it can shake hands with cards such as Trent, Shapesnatch and Red-Eyes B. Dragon.

However, let us not be hasty. Firstly, let us look at the positive points. Firstly, it does not require a Normal Summon and there is no cost associated with it at all. Even "free" cards such as Chaos Sorcerer have a summoning cost, albeit a minor one. Secondly, it has an equal attack and defence, that of four-thousand apiece - there's no easy way to overcome it through beating it, and it tramples everything in it's path anyway. Thirdly, it's a Fairy and thus can aid other Fairies, most prominently Archlord Kristya and Master Hyperion. Fourthly, it can summon a Level 8 Fairy, negate it's effect and turn it into a 4000ATK beatstick.

No cost. No penalty. Nothing. Entirely of it's own volition, it can hit the field and call forth a 4000ATK monstrosity as a pal. You don't even have to use a Normal Summon. Why, if you cleared the field beforehand, it's a victory.

But now, we must look to that ever-annoying condition. Ten monster cards in the graveyard. This isn't something that can use it's effect on the first turn, before the opponent has set-up. No, this is almost late-game. For most decks, that is.

I'm sure that we are all familiar with the Lightsworn archetype? It's very foundation is based around using it's own deck as a candlestick to burn. I am sure that you see the synergy; the Lightsworns fulfill the summoning condition, and Sephiron clears up. Judgement Dragon can even sweep the field for Sephiron's arrival.

But, ah-h-h-h, the question is how will Sephiron push for game? Even with Judgement Dragon by it's side (something which is not guaranteed), the total falls a thousand short. The answer is, of course, a rather common tech-in for Lightsworns. None other than Archlord Kristya, of course - Kristya's incorporation into the archetype is often given the name "Kristyasworn" (I'd go with "Archsworn", myself...), but is not terribly popular.

With Sephiron, you can achieve an alternate win condition. Truth be told, I doubt you'd run many of them - Monster Reincarnation and Beckoning Light can retrieve Sephiron from the graveyard (the latter can also secure Honest, which would allow you to deal four-thousand points of damage with Sephiron without needing monster removal beforehand) should it get milled, and simply drawing into it puts it in your hand as well. I would think running two Kristya's and Sephiron would be sufficient; it's small enough to fit into the average Side Deck, so you can always keep it as a just-in-case option.

But I feel I'm rambling. Other ideas that occurred to me was the idea of a DARK build focused on Sephiron and a Darklord; the obvious candidate is Darklord Zerato, since it's effect is occasionally of use. To fill the grave for Sephiron's effect, the thought occurs that TeleDAD-esque plays would be advisable. Dark Grepher, Armageddon Knight, Destiny Hero - Malicious - things of that sort. You could also use Dark Armed Dragon, but I feel that the removal would make it hard to achieve that ten-monster requirement - this is also why I think Sephiron might have trouble fitting into Agent Angels, who have Hyperion. While the deck does fill the graveyard easily (Mystical Shine Balls/Agent of Creation - Venus for one), the cards would often be better spent destroying things through Hyperion's effect.

To conclude (at last!), should Sephiron see play, it would likely be in a Lightsworn deck, with an outlying possibility of a Darklord-orientated deck.

-A. Assiduity

Vala-Malefics: First Draft

"Malefic Truth Dragon"

Hello fellow members of the Yu-Gi-Oh! blogging community, today I will be presenting you with a first draft of a Malefic deck. But first, I shall bore you with a little bit of back story. A good friend of mine recently took up Yu-Gi-Oh! again after I dragged him back into it. His Watt deck was... sub par to say the least. So being the remotely kind guy I am, I offered to help him with a Malefic deck. I happily obliged. This is what I came up with.

Monsters [20]
[2] Malefic Truth Dragon
[3] Malefic Cyber End Dragon
[3] Malefic Stardust Dragon
[3] Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon
[3] Malefic Parallel Gear
[3] Beast King Barbaros
[3] Blue-Eyes White Dragon

Spells [11]
[3] Malefic World
[2] Terraforming
[3] Trade-In
[1] Allure of Darkness
[1] Dark Hole
[1] Monster Reborn

Traps [9]
[3] Skill Drain
[1] Mirror Force
[1] Torrential Tribute
[2] Seven Tools of the Bandit
[1] Solemn Judgment
[1] Return from a Different Dimension

Extra Deck [12]
[3] Malefic Paradox Dragon
[3] Cyber End Dragon
[3] Stardust Dragon
[3] Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

As always, suggestions are more than appreciated. Please don't forget to follow our blog if you are not following it already. Also, I wish to thank everyone who is following this blog. It means a lot to us. I hope you enjoyed this post.

~Valafar123

TMW Expands to a more arty side

Yup we're finally moving on into making team banners and whatnot.

Here are some renders that we will be using for the first banner. The next banner will probably be a Solemn Warning and Pot of Duality banner.

This one went pretty well and I'm proud of it.

This one was pretty difficult and has some small errors in it.

Feel free to use them as you please.

~Valafar123

I loathe this card

"Infernity Inferno"

This card has caused me a lot of grief since the start of last format. It's inconsistent, inactive and generally poor as far as cards go. It's extremely fast, don't get me wrong, but in all honesty, that's its only merit.

I'll go into why this card has caused my trouble. Firstly, it's a trap (no obscure internet reference intended). That means it's very easy to stop. Fortunately, all discards from this card are done by effect, so you don't waste resources by activating it. Secondly, you need to discard. Novice Infernity players would think that it good to discard. That, however, is fatally wrong and leads to burned resources.

Back in March 09 format, we had 3 copies of "Infernity Launcher" at our disposal. If we opened with both cards, the chances are we would win. That, however, is no longer the case. The loop takes much longer to assemble, sufficed to say that the loop is the primary goal, which may not necessarily be the case anymore. Consequently, "Infernity Inferno" will probably sit in the back row idle for most of the game. That idle Inferno could be a powerful spell or trap card like "Solemn Warning" or "Forbidden Lance".

Moreover, it's a terrible topdeck. At least the two aforementioned cards could help bide time, Inferno will just sit their doing nothing. I've played matches where I've opened with two or three copies of Inferno. Consequently, I was unable to reinforce my back row properly and my matches were a lot more difficult.

As you can see, I'm not a huge fan of this card. The OCG is a different story, but I really do hate this card in TCG builds and I will be omitting it for the next few months for testing purposes.

Please leave a comment with your thoughts on this topic.

~Valafar123

Σ

That's right, this monstrosity has finally had it's effect confirmed. Vylon Disigma is a LIGHT Fairy, and among the first Rank 4 Exceed monsters. 2500 attack combined with 2100 defence, it's about on par with Aspiring Emperor Hope.

Except this effect is actually very good.

3 Level 4 Monsters

Once per turn, you can remove 1 of this card's Exceed Materials to select 1 face-up attack-position Effect Monster your opponent controls and equip it to this card as an Equip Card. When this card battles against a monster with the same Attribute as a Monster card equipped to this card by this card's effect, destroy that monster at the start of the Damage Step without damage calculation. 

The first thing to note is this: three Level 4 monsters to summon. That's not great, since it makes it harder to summon. But I feel that the rest of the effect makes up for it: it turns Disigma into an psuedo-Catastor which can hit all types. Against decks based on archetypes, this will most likely be a very hard play, as most archetypes tend to gravitate around Attributes. And, thanks to this card, you can "absorb" their monster (preventing it from going to the graveyard) and use it to destroy them.


Interesting note is that as this is Light, I can quite conceivably see a Chaos deck rising up around it. Hm...
~A. Assiduity

A. Assiduity Amasses Amazing Asskicking Automatons

I, for one, welcome our new Machine overlords.

Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"

As several readers may already know, I've been screwing around with Karakuri's for some time. Below is what I currently consider to be my best build of my Karakuri deck. There is some stuff I have yet to test, primarily because it probably won't be that great.

Monsters [22]

[3] Machina Gearframe

[2] Machina Fortress

[1] Machina Cannon

[2] Lonefire Blossom

[1] Spore

[1] Glow-Up Bulb

[2] Karakuri Komachi 224

[2] Karakuri Watchdog 313

[2] Karakuri Strategist 248

[2] Karakuri Ninja 919

[2] Karakuri Soldier 236

[1] Psychic Commander

[1] Mind Master

Spells [13]

[1] Emergency Teleport

[1] Giant Trunade

[1] Book of Moon

[1] MST

[1] Pot of Avarice

[1] One for One

[1] Limiter Removal

[1] Monster Reborn

[2] De-Synchro

[1] Dark Hole

[2] Instant Fusion

Traps [5]

[2] Trap Stun

[1] Solemn Judgement

[1] Mirror Force

[1] Seven Tools of the Bandit

Extra Deck [15]

[2] Cyber Saurus

[1] Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

[1] Ally of Justice Catastor

[1] Naturia Beast

[1] Brionac

[3] Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei"

[3] Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"

[1] Stardust Dragon

[1] Scrap Dragon

[1] Trishula

As for stuff I'm trying out... well, I'm running most of my trap diversity in the Side Deck at the moment, along with CyDra and Dandylion for the occasional match-up where it's warranted (along with generic counter-archetype cards). There's also stuff like Mind Control, which didn't make the cut, but I might put back in. If the Instant Fusions start to bore me, I'll probably put some T.G. Hyper Librarian's into the Extra Deck instead.

So yeah, this is my current build. Thoughts about what I should do with it? 

Deck of the Month [01] - Dragunity

Arceus here with the 1st edition of Arceus's Deck of the month. In these posts I will be discussing some top decks (or soon to be) of the format and giving an example build. For the month of March, I will be discussing the Dragunity deck.

In the coming days, the TCG will be receiving Structure Deck: Dragunity Legion. With its release, the Dragunity deck will have all of its support to finally be a playable deck. I will now dscuss some of the strategies of the deck.

== 1. The Monsters ==

The main combos of the Dragunity deck involve Dragunity Dux and Dragunity Phalanx. When Dragunity Dux is Summoned, you can select 1 Dragunity monster in your Graveyard and equip it to Dux. When Dragunity Phalanx is equipped to a Dragunity monster, you can Special Summon it, and it's also a Tuner monster. You then tune these 2 monsters into a Level 6 Synchro Monster, particularly Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana. Just like Dux, Vajrayana allows you to equip a Dragunity monster to it when it's Summoned. Equip Phalanx to Vajrayana and Special Summon Phalanx. Then tune your 2 monsters into a Levek 8 Synchro monster. This gives you a huge advantage over your opponent if performed on the first turn.

Another combo involves Dragunity Legionnaire and Dragunity Aklys. Legionnaire has the same equipping effect as Dux. However, you can send the equipped monster to the Graveyard to destroy 1 monster your opponent controls. Dragunity Aklys's effect allows you to destroy 1 monster on the field when sent to the Graveyard. Combine Aklys with Legionnaire to destroy 2 of your opponent's monsters.

Another combo you can do is with Dragunity Arma Levyateinn and Phalanx. When you control a face-up Dragunity equipped with a monster, you can remove the Dragunity from play to Special Sumon Levyateinn from your hand. When he's summoned, you can equip any Dragon-type monster to him. If you equip Phalanx, you can Synchro into an instant Trident Dragion and possibly OTK the opponent.

Levyateinn also has a loop with Light and Darkness Dragon. Equip LADD to your Levyateinn when Summoned. When Levyateinn would be destroyed, LADD's effect activates, destroying your whole field, and allowing you to summon 1 monster from your Graveyard. Summon back your Levyateinn and equip your LADD to it again. This combo is very hard to stop and only cards like Trishula, Drafon of the Ice Barrier or Caius the Shadow Monarch can stop it.

== 2. The Spells ==

The Dragunity's main Spell card is a Field Spell known as Dragon Ravine. Once per turn, you can discard 1 card to add 1 Level 4 or lower Dragunity monster from your deck to your hand or send 1 Dragon-type monster from your deck to the Graveyard. Dragon Ravine is the most vitle card in the Dragunity Deck. It is their main engine of using Dux-Phalanx plays. I believe Dragunity's would not be alive without this card. In fact, I recommend using Terraforming's to get this card out as soon as possible.

The deck also has its own draw power: Cards of Consonance. You can discard any Dragon with 1000 or less attack to draw 2 cards. You have 2 different monsters that work with this: Aklys and Phalanx. This also helps set up your Legionnaire and Dux plays by getting your targets in the Graveyard.

Pot of Avarice is also a crucial card in this deck. It helps recycle your Dux's and Vajrayana's. If using the Volcanic build, it also combos well with Volcanic Shell's, as they are also used for Ravine's discard effect and maintaining hand advantage.

The rest of the Spells are standard.

- Monster Reborn
- Dark Hole
- Book of Moon
- Giant Trunade
- Mystical Space Typhoon
- Forbidden Lance

== 3. Traps ==

I can't say much about the Trap cards except that you either you Standard Traps or 3 Royal Decree. You can tech an Icarus Attack but I would not recommend it.

Staple Traps:

- Solemn Warning
- Solemn Judgment
- Bottomless Trap Hole
- Mirror Force
- Torrential Tribute
- Dimensional Prison
- Royal Decree

== 4. Sample Deck Lists ==

Pure Dragunity

Monsters: 17
x3 Dragunity Dux
x3 Dragunity Phalanx
x3 Dragunity Legionnaire
x3 Dragunity Aklys
x2 Dragunity Arma Levyateinn
x2 Dragunity Arma Mysteileinn
x1 Dragunity Brandistock

Spells: 16
x3 Dragon Ravine
x2 Terraforming
x3 Cards of Consonance
x1 Monster Reborn
x1 Dark Hole
x1 Book of Moon
x1 Giant Trunade
x2 Forbidden Lance
x2 Pot of Avarice

Traps: 7
x2 Solemn Warning
x1 Solemn Judgment
x2 Bottomless Trap Hole
x1 Mirror Force
x1 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck: 15
x3 Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana
x1 Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg
x1 Vortex the Whirlwind
x1 Trident Dragion
x2 Stardust Dragon
x1 Red Dragon Archfiend
x1 Scrap Dragon
x1 Colossal Fighter
x1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
x1 Ally of Justice Catastor
x1 Black Rose Dragon
x1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

--

Volcanic Dragunity

Monsters: 18
x3 Dragunity Dux
x3 Dragunity Phalanx
x3 Dragunity Legionnaire
x3 Dragunity Aklys
x1 Dragunity Arma Levyateinn
x2 Dragunity Arma Mysteilienn
x3 Volcanic Shell

Spells: 17
x3 Dragon Ravine
x2 Terraforming
x2 Cards of Consonance
x2 Forbidden Lance
x2 Mystical Space Typhoon
x1 Book of Moon
x1 Monster Reborn
x1 Dark Hole
x1 Giant Trunade
x1 Pot of Avarice

Traps: 5
x2 Solemn Warning
x1 Solemn Judgment
x1 Mirror Force
x1 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck: 15

x3 Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana

x1 Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg

x1 Vortex the Whirlwind

x1 Trident Dragion

x2 Stardust Dragon

x1 Red Dragon Archfiend

x1 Scrap Dragon

x1 Colossal Fighter

x1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

x1 Ally of Justice Catastor

x1 Black Rose Dragon

x1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

--

Levyateinn LADD Loop

Monsters: 18
x3 Dragunity Dux
x3 Dragunity Phalanx
x3 Dragunity Legionnaire
x3 Dragunity Aklys
x3 Dragunity Arma Levyateinn
x1 Dragunity Arma Mysteileinn
x2 Light and Darkness Dragon

Spells: 18
x3 Dragon Ravine
x2 Terraforming
x2 Cards of Consonance
x2 Trade-In
x1 Book of Moon
x1 Forbidden Lance
x1 Monster Reborn
x1 Dark Hole
x1 Giant Trunade
x2 Pot of Avarice
x2 Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps: 4
x3 Royal Decree
x1 Call of the Haunted

Extra Deck: 15

x3 Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana

x1 Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg

x1 Vortex the Whirlwind

x1 Trident Dragion

x2 Stardust Dragon

x1 Red Dragon Archfiend

x1 Scrap Dragon

x1 Colossal Fighter

x1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

x1 Ally of Justice Catastor

x1 Black Rose Dragon

x1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

--

This wraps up this month's Deck of the Month. Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If anyone as suggestions of future decks to review, leave them in the comments.

~Arceus