Combo decks are like a puzzle. You start with a bunch of pieces, but when you put them together you have something greater than sum of its parts. This is why I like combo decks; I love solving puzzles! Don’t get me wrong though, some combo decks are easy mode as far as the puzzle goes. Remember Demise OTK from 2007?

This was a deck where you didn’t really have to rearrange your combo pieces. They easily snapped into place. Your opponent was just dead. That’s not my kind of combo deck.

Frogs were the first combo deck that I really got a lot of enjoyment out of playing. For more information on why I decided to use Frog OTK and my successes with the deck, see: Next Level Frogs. Frogs were a deck that might seem very easy on the surface, but were actually very hard to play. The deck evolved greatly throughout the format, and opinions on the deck quickly changed as the deck continued to prove itself.

Solving the puzzle that was Frog OTK was a very long arduous for me. It started with goldfishing a bunch of hands on YVD and trying to figure out the FTK percentage. Not only was I playing many of the hands wrong, but I was focusing on the wrong thing. Whether the FTK rate was 50%, 80%, or 90% wasn’t as relevant as figuring out what to do with the hands that clearly didn’t have an FTK (or the games where I open FTK but my opponent goes first and sets four backrows). After conducting my YVD testing, I concluded that Frog FTK was a deck that could only do well at a tournament with lucky hands and lucky die rolls.

Flash forward to a couple of weeks before US Nationals 2010. Frog OTK took 2nd place at Canadian nationals, causing everyone to reconsider their opinions on the deck. Oh, I conveniently got my X-Saber deck stolen as well. I no longer had the deck that I had championed as the best of the format. Given that Frogs were basically a $30 deck, so I figured I’d throw it together and see how things go. If the deck tested well, I’d play it at nationals; if not, I’d shell out the money for another X-Saber deck.

My playtesting during the week before nationals consistented of meeting up with Jake Mattern everyday at The Game Academy. He was planning on taking Gladiator Beasts to nationals (no surprises there). I figured that Gladiator Beasts were one of my hardest matchups, so the testing would be very useful. For our testing, I choose to play second every game in order to give myself a handicap. I won around half of my games. This made me feel really good. Gladiator Beasts were one of hardest matchups, Jake was one of the best Glad Beast players that I knew, and I was going second every game. If I could win half of games under those circumstances, I figured that my other matchups were quite favorable. That settled it; I was taking Frogs to nationals.

I started the day 1-2, both of my losses involved less than optimal play on my part. While I have a tendency to go on tilt if I start out an event with more losses than wins, I surprised myself. I went 6-0 for the rest of the day and finished 7-2, making day2. On day2, I lost out to the Herald of Perfection lockout deck, a deck that consisted of a very small percentage of the meta. Although I was 8-3 at the end of the tournament, I was still very happy with my result. I was going to commit myself to perfecting the deck. I ended up winning The Game Academy’s 2K, and the rest is history. I’d solved the Frog FTK puzzle!

When Fish OTK became viable after the release of Formula Synchron (November 2010), many of the former Frog OTK players were eager to try out the deck. “It’s a new OTK deck, and it plays Swap Frog? Sign me up!” On paper, Fish OTK had some striking similarities to Frog OTK: It had Frog monsters, and a 23:17:0 ratio (monsters:spells:traps). However, in testing, it played a lot different. It usually killed on turns two through five and played very passively (Frog OTK was very proactive). I decided that Fish OTK was not a puzzle that I wanted to solve, not yet at least.

Now flash forward to the present. Two weeks ago, a 55-step guide was posted on Duelistgroundz.com explaining how to create a Fish FTK deck utilizying T.G. Hyper Librarian, a card being released in about a month and a half. I was quite intrigued to say the least. I put the card together, proxied up everything that wasn’t released yet, and started goldfishing. About ten solid hours of testing and refining later, I had a pile of cards that was FTKing around 80% of its games. I’m starting to get a bit ahead of myself though. I should probably explain how the deck works, so you too can solve the puzzle.

The easy way to FTK is using Star Beast to make Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth (who will for the rest of this article be referred to as “The Big Fish Guy”) a LV1 monster and normal summoning it. Use it’s effect to bring out two copies each of Oyster Meister and Fishborg Blaster. The fact that The Big Fish Guy is LV1 is very important, because now you synchro it with Fishborg for a Formula Synchron and draw a card. Then synchro Formula with Oyster Meister for T.G. Hyper Librarian, get a token from Oyster Meister.

Field: Hyper Librarian, Oyster Meister, Fishborg Blaster, LV1 token.

Synchro the token and Fishborg for another Formula and draw 2. Synchro with Oyster Meister for Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon, draw a card, get a token. Discard to bring back Fishborg, synchro for Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier.

Field: Hyper Librarian, Dewloren, LV1 token.

Our next goal is to put 3 Dewloren’s into the grave, and here’s the easiest way to do that. At this point you need to have a Level Eater (or a Foolish Burial to put it in the grave). Level Eater is a very important combo piece, and I find it helpful to use dice to represent the level of my monsters so I get confused while I’m comboing out. At this point, you discard Level Eater for Fishborg, Eat your Dewloren (to LV5), use Dewloren’s effect to return Level Eater back to the hand, and Synchro for another Dewloren, drawing a card. Repeat the process to back out a 3rd Dewloren, netting a card.

Now at this point we need a Symbol of Heritage to abuse our three Dewlorens. If you’ve already drawn into one, you can skip this next step. Back Fishborg and Synchro it with Dewloren for Power Tool Dragon (draw a card). Reveal three copies of Symbol of Heritage from the deck, and get one to your hand.

Activate Symbol of Heritage to get back Dewloren. Bounce back Symbol of Heritage (and Power Tool Dragon if you had to synchro for it). Note that because of the way that Symbol of Heritage is worded, the monster stays in play if Symbol is bounced to the hand. Bring back Fishborg, Eat your Dewloren (LV5), and synchro for Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (draw a card). Synchro for the last Formula Synchron with Fishborg and the token (draw 2).

At this point, you can preform a loop that allows you to synchro for Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier an indefinite amount of times, removing your opponent’s entire hand from the game first turn! Symbol Dewloren into play, bounce Symbol back. Synchro Dewloren + Formula + Level eater for Trishula (draw a card). Then Symbols Dewloren back into play, Eat Trishula, and use Dewloren to return Trishula and Symbol. Symbol Formula into play (remember we just put the third Formula in the grave). Use Brionac to bounce back Symbol, make Trishula again using the same materials as last time. With each interation of the loop you gain one card with Hyper Librarian’s effect and lose one card for Brionac’s cost. You break even, but your opponent loses a card.

You can also do an infinite draw combo. Simply Symbol Dewloren into play, Eat your Dewloren (LV5), use Dewloren to bounce Level Eater and Symbol. Then Symbol Formula Synchron, Brionac bounce the Symbol discarding Level Eater, and synchro for Power Tool, draw a card. You lose no cards (you bounce back Level Eater each time to pay Brionac’s cost), and gain one. You have to bounce back Power Tool each time, similar to the scenario with Trishula. After this loop is done, you should have around 20 cards in hand. Just Eat your Librarian (LV4), Symbol back Formula Synchron, and synchro for Tempest Magician. Discard your entire hand and kill your opponent.

Are you feeling overwhelmed? I know I did. The kill combo starts with only a few cards, but you end up synchroing more times than I can count and eventually killing your opponent. The deck has tons of other plays that weren’t even mentioned above. It’s possible to FTK without Star Blasting your Big Fish Guy (say for example you have Foolish Burial + Monster Reborn). Other possible plays open up by Star Blasting your monsters on the field mid-combo giving you more control when synchro summoning. You can also special summon Swap Frog mid-combo for more synchro material.

Here’s my current list. The puzzle is far from solved, so I’m sure the list will change as the meta further develops and I do more testing.

Monsters: 20

3 Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth

3 Oyster Meister

3 Fishborg Blaster

3 Level Eater

3 Swap Frog

2 Treeborn Frog

1 Ronintoadin

2 Phantom of Chaos

Spells: 20

3 Hand Destruction

1 Card Destruction

3 Upstart Goblin

3 Moray of Greed

3 Star Blast

3 Symbol of Heritage

1 Monster Reborn

1 Giant Trunade

1 Dark Hole

1 Foolish Burial

Extra deck: 15

3 Formula Synchron

1 Armory Arm

2 T.G. Hyper Librarian

1 Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon

3 Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier

1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

1 Tempest Magician

1 Power Tool Dragon

1 Colossal Fighter

1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

The main card that’s in my decklist that I haven’t seen in other Fish FTK decklists is Phantom of Chaos. It’s tested extremely well, acting as Monster Reborn #2 and #3. I’ve realized that any time The Big Fish Guy’s effect resolves, it’s game. Using Phantom of Chaos maximizes the chances of that happening.

I hate to say it, but reading my article is not enough to properly understand the deck. Sleeve it up, proxy it up, and start testing. The deck has an unbelievable amount of plays. The best way to understand a combo deck is to see the combos first hand. If you have any questions about the deck, or need help on a particular step of the combo, just leave a comment and I’ll help you out.

As I’m writing this, the top32 decklists for YCS Charlotte have just been posted here, and there were definitely some surprises.

Top32 Breakdown:

9 Gravekeepers

4 E-Heroes

4 Six Samurai

3 Fish OTK

2 Dragunity

2 X-Sabers

1 Anti Meta Stun

1 Blackwing

1 Chaos Plant

1 Morphing Jar

1 Flamvell

1 Frog Monarch

1 Karakuri Machina Plant

1 Plant Synchro

I would argue that Gravekeeper’s and Six Samurai are the decks to beat in the post-Charlotte meta, but I’m going to look at individual cards for this article rather than decks.

Pot of Duality: 62 copies maindecked, 0 sidedecked. Pot of Duality is roughly $150 right now, and for a good reason. Pot of Duality improves the consistency of many of the top tier decks. If you haven’t figured out why Pot of Duality is good yet, there is probably something wrong with you.

Mystical Space Typhoon: 59 copies maindecked, 11 copies sidedeck. Mystical Space Typhoon saw more play between maindeck and sidedeck than any card combined. I am not surprised in the least. This is one of the best cards against the field overall, destroying Necrovalleys, Future Fusions, Dragon Ravines, Six Samurai Uniteds, Black Whirlwinds, set Solemn Warnings, and so much more. There was only one player in the entire top32 who wasn’t using Mystical Space Typhoon. I expect this thread to continue for awhile.

Solemn Warning: 49 copies maindecked, 0 sidedecked. Solemn Warning is an extremely good way to take care of threats like synchro monsters and Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth. Being a counter trap means that there are very few outs to it. One of which is…

Dimensional Prison: 37 copies maindecked, 6 sidedeck. Wow! That’s a lot of Dimensional Prisons. Considering how many Gravekeepers, E-Heroes, and Anti-Meta variants topped, it’s no surprise to see so many copies of Dimensional Prison. Dimensional Prison isn’t the nuts by any means, but it’s certainly staple in any kind of Anti-Meta deck.

Bottomless Trap Hole: 25 copies maindecked, 7 sidedecked. It looks like Bottomless is officially one of the cool kids again. Anyone will tell you that Solemn Warning is better, but who says you can’t play both? There aren’t any decks that Bottomless is awful against, although it’s not particularly strong against Six Samurai and Plants.

Seven Tools of the Bandit: 23 copies maindecked, 1 sidedecked. Trap Stun was expected to see a lot of play going into this event, which seems to have sparked a surge in play of Seven Tools, being an out to devastating traps like the aforementioned Trap Stun as well as Solemn Warning, Solemn Judgment, and Royal Oppression.

Enemy Controller: 17 copies maindecked, 0 sidedecked. This card mainly saw play in various Treeborn Frog related decks, but can be a good choice in X-Sabers as well. There’s a lot of trap hate in the format, which makes quickplay spells even better than usual. Book of Moon this is not, but Enemy Controller still has a lot of utility.

Effect Veiler: 13 copies maindecked, 14 sidedecked. This is another card that I believe saw a rise in play due to expected increase in maindecked Trap Stuns. 27 copies between maindeck and sidedeck is quite a lot. The card is pretty good against the field and against X-Sabers in particular. Given that X-Sabers didn’t preform as well at Charlotte as most people expected, I think Effect Veiler may see a slight decrease in play.

Gold Sarcophagus: 12 copies maindecked, 0 sidedecked. I’ve been talking to pro players, and opinions on this card seem fairly divided. Some people consider the card staple in decks like X-Sabers, while others think it’s too slow. It’s a great inclusion in combo-oriented decks like Fish OTK and “Empty” Jar. I like Gold Sarcophagus in decks with “sick 1-ofs” such as Giant Trunade, Future Fusion, and Black Whirlwind. How does the card compare to Pot of Duality? The amount of tempo lost from the 2-turn wait is something that is hard to evaluate.

Gorz the Emissary of Darkness: 9 copies maindecked, 3 sidedecked. I have mainly been playing Six Samurais this format, and Gorz is one of the cards that I fear most. Luckily, only a third of the field seems to be playing Gorz between the maindeck and sidedeck. I think Gorz is very good right now and expect it to see an increase in play. Gorz can give a player huge blowouts when timed correctly.

Trap Stun: 7 copies maindecked, 1 sidedecked. After recieving so much hype going into Charlotte, it seems that people adequately prepared for it, preventing players from relying on Trap Stun to put forth a good showing. I have never liked Trap Stun, although it is possible to steal games with it if your opponent doesn’t have a Seven Tools of the Bandit, Solemn Judgment, Book of Moon, Effect Veiler, or in some cases Enemy Controller (look at how many outs that is!)

Miracle Fusion: 7 copies maindecked, 0 sidedecked. I would have never guessed that none of the E-Hero decks that topped would be playing 3 copies of this card. The more anti-meta variants of this deck seem to be going for consistency and don’t want hands clogged with multiple copies of Miracle Fusion. Makes sense when you think about it.

Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter: 5 copies maindecked, 0 sidedecked. Here is a card that’s definitely on the decline. People previously called Ryko “the best flip effect in the game” which is still debatable. As a whole, I think aggression is a better strategy than camping on defensive monsters like Ryko.  I would argue that Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress is an overall better card (also saw 5 maindecked copies).

Chaos Sorcerer: 3 copies maindecked, 0 sidedecked. Probably one of the most overrated decks going into the event, I believe Chaos to be too slow in a format with Legendary Six Samurai – Shien, X-Saber Faultroll, Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth, and Dragunity monsters. I don’t expect Chaos decks to do well in upcoming events unless the meta takes a very weird turn.

Forbidden Lance: 1 copy maindecked, 2 copies sidedeck. Definitely one of the bigger sleeper cards in Storm of Ragnarok. As I stated previously, quickplay spells with some utility are very good right now. I personally like Lance as a 1-of in Gravekeepers, and I think a lot of decks could make good use of it. Lance is also quite strong as a 3-of in Gladiator Beasts, which failed to break into top32 at Charlotte.

Puppet Plant: 0 copies maindecked, 21 copies sidedecked. I’m not sure if we’ll ever see the day that Puppet Plant becomes a viable maindecked choice, but it’s certainly one of the best sidedeck cards right now. Remember when I said that Six Samurai and Gravekeeper’s were the decks to beat? Puppet Plant happens to be great against both!

Closed Forest: 0 copies maindecked, 2 copies sidedecked. This was one of the highest demand cards at Charlotte. This is a great sidedeck card against Gravekeepers and Dragunity. Many vendors didn’t even bring it to the event (the card had just been released and most people considered it unplayable), and the vendors that did bring it sold out at $30 each. The fact that only 2 copies made top32 raised some questions. Is it not as good as people had thought? Or did the card not see more sidedeck play because it was impossible to find? I know personally that I wanted to play the card in my sidedeck, but simply could not find any.

Closing Thoughts

Congratulations to  Sean Coover, winner of YCS Charlotte with Six Samurais! I played Six Samurais at YCS Charlotte as well, but my record was less than spectacular (7-2 on day1, dropping after losing round 10 on day2). I’ve noticed there is a high correlation between summoning Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En and winning, which means I will probably continue playing Six Samurais for awhile.

Due to this correlation, I have decided that Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En will now be known as Legendary Six Samurai – Charlie Sheen. Note to Six Samurai players out there: Whenever you manage to summon two copies of Legendary Six Samurai – Charlie Sheen, be sure to mention to your opponent that you are bi-winning.

All my prior battles had been won, but would I lose the metaphorical war? Suspense was building as I waited for my opponent to draw his card. The tension I was feeling could not possibly be greater, and adrenaline rushed through my body. Today was supposed to be the day, right? Failure at this point would be miserable. I thought back to Tampa; so close, but yet so far. Why can’t they just cut to top nine anyways?

Fights happened quite a bit at my high school (that’s what you get for going to a magnet school in the middle of the ghetto). Every time a fight broke out, a crowd of students would instantly form a perfect circle around the fighters, eager to see who would be victorious. These fights were always started over petty things, nothing worth getting physical over.

What were these kids really fighting for? Fights always had a winner and loser, but no one ever received a prize for winning a childish high school skirmish. They were fighting for their reputation, verification from their peers. It wasn’t about the fight itself, it was about the circle.

My opponent was quite the slow roller, and the seconds that it took for him to draw his card felt like hours. I inhaled deeply and took a look around me. A perfect circle had formed around my match. If I was claustrophobic, I probably would’ve died of fear by now. I didn’t recognize most of the people in this circle, but I wanted them to watch me win. Somewhere in that circle I knew that members of Team Legion of Doom were observing my match. They recruited me because they thought I had good potential; I was eager to prove to them that their decision had been a wise one.

My mother and sister were in the circle too. My mother knew how passionate I was about this game just as well as anyone else; if she wasn’t willing to drive me to tournaments out of town, I might not even be here right now. I wondered who else was in the circle. Local players from MOSI? Pro players from down south? Whoever they were, I wanted them to be impressed. Like the kids throwing fists at each other, I was fighting for the circle.

***

“You know who I am, right?”

“Yes, you’re Donald Kiss.”

“And you know how many regionals I’ve topped?”

“Six?”

“Right, and how many have you topped?”

“None.”

“And that’s why I’ll always be better than you.”

We had this same conversation after every match. Every match we played had the same result: I was the winner. So what if he was ranked second in the state? He still couldn’t seem to beat me! I hated Donald Kiss. He was the Gary to my Ash. I’ll show him! I’m going to be world’s greatest Yu-Gi-Oh! master!

Donald was a member of Team Legion of Doom, the most skilled group of Yu-Gi-Oh! players in the Tampa Bay area. As a whole they were a decent group of guys. I was even friends with one of them, Richie Ashley. Why couldn’t Donald be more like Richie? Richie never had any negative things to say about me.

Despite hating Donald, I secretly wished I could be like him. He was on a great team, had access to every good card, and was ranked second in the state. Most importantly, he had the respect of his peers. No one could deny that Donald Kiss was good. Success speaks for itself. I wanted people to feel that same way about me.

I hadn’t done too well at prior regionals, but I knew this would all change soon. I was consistently doing well in tournaments at MOSI, placing in the top every week and beating some of the best players in the process. It couldn’t be just luck; I was getting better at this.

***

In high school I was one of “the smart kids.” I had the desire to learn just about anything. I studied many different subjects, and my studies of each of them helped shape my perspective on life as a whole.

I was surprised to learn that it’s fairly common knowledge in the field of psychology that children who are abused by their parents are more likely to become child abusers themselves. When I first became aware of this study, it seemed completely counter-intuitive. While I was certainly thankful that my parents were not abusive, I had never thought about how I would be different if my parents had abused me.

How could the act of being abused cause someone to become abusive? Any decent human being would hate the treatment that he is receiving and vow to never inflict that kind of suffering on another human being! It just doesn’t make any sense. I learned that the human brain works differently than I had previously thought. Children who are abused are inclined to view abuse as “ok” and therefore don’t see a problem with abusing someone else later in life. What a strange world we live in.

***

It was the middle of August, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Nationals had just finished. In Florida, it wasn’t uncommon for the temperature to be nearly a hundred degrees at this time of year. Florida summers usually aren’t that enjoyable, but this one was. I too was on a hot streak.

I had achieved my first regional top only four months ago in Orlando, which qualified me for nationals. I flew all the way out to Columbus, Ohio for nationals, and I was ready to win. That didn’t go as planned, and I soon found myself eliminated from the competition.

However, I entered a regional the day after nationals, hoping to get an early jumpstart on the next season. Despite taking an early loss in round three, I placed in the top 8 of the largest regional I had ever attended, only to lose to Theeresak Poonsombat, one of the best players in the world. Losing my top 8 match meant that I had missed one of my chances at getting an invitation to 2008 nationals; I had to try again.

Now I found myself in Jacksonville, where I planned to earn my third regional top 8 and my second regional top 4. I sat down at table one and started writing my deck list. This was the table I wanted to be at for the rest of the day. After I had completed my deck list, I began to daydreaming, “Man, getting invited to 2008 nationals and being able to relax for eleven months, what’s that like?”

David Pratt sat down at my table. He was one of the better players in our area and a regular attendee of the local tournaments at MOSI. He was a cheerful guy but seemed to be in an even better mood than usual.

“Hey Allen C. Pennington, what’s up?”

“Huh?”

“Can I see your deck list?”

“Oh, sure.”

“Wow, three maindeck Pulling the Rug? Nice.”

“Uh, thanks.”

“This deck is amazing. Allen C. Pennington, you’re the best duelist!”

The best duelist? I’d never heard anyone call me that before. He said that last statement in one of those half-serious, half-sarcastic tones that leaves it completely up to the audience to decide how it should be interpreted.

The best duelist? I like the sound of that. I grinned. Yeah, that’s right, I’m the best duelist. Maybe what I needed was to be a bit more confident in myself. I was going to make sure that everyone knew I was the best duelist. Soon, I would be winning so many events that there would be no denying it. I’d start with this one.

I felt invincible; this tournament would be easy. I won my first match. Then my second, and my third, and my fourth, and my fifth. Then I was in top 8. Then I was in top 4. Look out 2008 nationals competitors, because the best duelist will be in attendance!

***

Nearly a year ago I had made it my goal to top 8 a regional, a goal I had still not accomplished. Maybe today would be the day. Shrink had just been released, a card that would almost certainly improve my Gadget deck. I was either going to win big or learn from my losses.

“Round two pairings are now being posted!”

The excitement in the room rose as everyone rushed to see the pairings board. I’d won round one handily, and I was eager to see who I would be facing in round two. I pushed my way through the crowd and found my last name on the sheet. No… freakin’… way…

Pennington, Allen vs. Kiss, Donald

This match was going to be important. I had thrashed Donald countless times at MOSI, but I had never played against him at a regional. With hundreds of players in attendance, what are the odds? This match would be symbolic, I knew it. After this match was over, someone was going to be very disappointed.

The match had completed, and I was the one checking the winner’s box. Something wasn’t quite right. Donald was checking a box too, the drop box. Who drops from the tournament with only one loss? What thoughts could be going through his head?

“Yo Allen.”

“Hey Richie.”

“There’s something I gotta tell you.”

“Sure, is something wrong?”

“Donald’s quitting Yu-Gi-Oh!”

“Wow… really?”

“Yeah, he sounds pretty serious. Oh, and there’s something else.”

“What?”

“We want you on Legion of Doom.”

“That’s awesome. I’m in!”

This was a plot twist that I had never expected. To this day I cannot fathom how one loss can cause someone to quit the game forever. I had never guessed that Legion of Doom would recruit me this early. Everyone on the team already had multiple regional tops; what do I have that makes me a valuable asset?

I was off to a good start at this regional, but I picked up two losses shortly after. No, it looked like today wouldn’t be the day. But I was certainly feeling good about tomorrow!

***

“You’re honestly trying to say you know Gadgets better than me?”

“Allen, the last time you played them at locals you did awful.”

“Do you know who I am?”

“Come on Allen…”

“The best duelist.”

“Seriously…?”

“Yeah, and you’ve topped how many regionals with Gadgets? ‘Cause I’ve topped five.”

What fuels drive? What could cause one’s insecurities to be displayed in the form of arrogance? For me, both of these questions had the same answer: the circle.

But some questions still remained unanswered. Had the abused become the abuser? Was using the circle as my source of motivation a good thing? Maybe I needed a change in perspective.

***

My opponent slid his final card across his mat and added it to his hand, his poker face concealing the card’s identity. Was it just me, or was my opponent literally taking forever? Maybe I was living in slow motion? The table judge broke the silence.

“I’m giving you a slow play warning.”

Finally, my opponent set down his hand and extended the handshake. It was over; I’d won. I could now say that I had top 4ed a regional. I was going to 2007 US Nationals. If only Donald Kiss were here to see this.

There were lots of congratulations and pats on the back. Richie was there too. He had been part of the circle.

“Yo Allen, you excited about nationals?”

“Of course!”

“I know this meant a lot to you, but there was something I wanted to mention.”

“Sure.”

“You had game a turn earlier?”

“What do you mean?”

“You had Ultimate Offering on the field. You could’ve summoned an extra monster.”

“Wow, you’re right. I guess I just missed it or didn’t realize I had enough life points to use it.”

I hadn’t played my match perfectly. I clearly had much to improve upon. Did the circle approve of my performance? I suppose it didn’t matter.

Not everyone can be a master (sometimes even Allen Pennington).

Brewing for Sunrise

It was the night before Yu-Gi-Oh regionals in Sunrise, Florida, and it was time to choose a deck. The first deck I was considered was Gravekeepers (after all, they are the best deck). There were a couple of reasons that I decided against Gravekeepers. The first is that I had no idea how to win the mirror match. Ironically enough, I actually found out how to win the mirror match a day later, Solidarity (you heard it here first!)

I also decided that I was going to try to avoid a deck with three Pot of Dualities. I currently only own one copy of the luxurious secret rare, and while I do have friends who can lend me Pot of Dualities if I really need them, I feel really bad about asking people to lend me cards. A lack of Dualities mean that Gravekeeper’s, Fish OTK, and Blackwings would most likely not be good choices.

I considered Gladiator Beasts, mainly because War Chariot, Bestiari, and Gyzarus are still really good. Gladiator Beasts can also afford to play a low monster count in order to make Royal Tribute a non-issue. I decided against it due to the fact that even when Gladiator Beasts seem “good in theory,” it’s very easy for their gameplan to be disrupted in some way. Gladiator Beasts also tend to have problems with high attack monsters backed by removal, which is existent in pretty much any meta. Also, if Jake Mattern isn’t playing Gladiator Beasts, they can’t really be that great.

I eventually decided to play a deck with E-Heroes and Miracle Fusions. Because if there’s one thing that makes me feel really good, it’s splashing Elemental Hero Absolute Zero into an already established strategy (for additional reading, see “Next Level Frogs”). I basically drafted up a list, put the deck together at 10 PM Friday night, and decided I was going to roll with it. Due to poor time management, I was not able to test or fine-tune the deck at all. My first game with the deck was round 1 of regionals.

“Blue City” – Top8 at Sunrise Regional 1/29/2011 by Allen C. Pennington

Monsters: 12

2 Cyber Dragon

3 Elemental Hero Neos Alius

2 Elemental Hero Ocean

1 Elemental Hero Stratos

1 D.D. Warrior Lady

2 Snowman Eater

1 Morphing Jar

Spells: 17

3 Miracle Fusion

1 Future Fusion

3 E – Emergency Call

1 Reinforcement of the Army

2 Book of Moon

1 Dark Hole

1 Monster Reborn

1 Pot of Duality

2 Skyscraper 2 – Hero City

2 Gemini Spark

Traps: 11

3 Dimensional Prison

3 Solemn Warning

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Mirror Force

1 Solemn Judgment

1 Starlight Road

Extra deck: 15

3 Elemental Hero Absolute Zero

2 Elemental Hero Gaia

1 Cyber Twin Dragon

1 Superalloy Beast Raptinus

1 Dragon Knight – Draco Equiste

2 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

3 Stardust Dragon

1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

1 Black Rose Dragon

Sidedeck: 15

3 Mask of Restrict

2 Nobleman of Crossout

2 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Starlight Road

2 Super Polymerization

2 Genex Ally Duradark

1 Mobius the Frost Monarch

1 Trap Dustshoot

I feel that brewing in general is an art that receives little appreciation in Yu-Gi-Oh! “Brewing” is building a rouge deck for a specific event, usually designed to tackle a specific element of the metagame or win using unconventional tactics. I elaborated on this a bit in a previous article, The Merits of Playing Bad Decks. This deck actually wasn’t bad at all; I feel it was a very good choice for the metagame that I expected. I think it’s fair to say that I like to build my own decks from scratch rather than netdecking an already-established deck. I feel that if I use something that is my own creation I will make better plays. In addition, I just like the feeling of playing an unusual card and my opponent having to pick it up and read it.

Starting with the monsters, my E-Hero lineup is 1 Stratos, 2 Ocean, and 3 Alius, which proved to be the correct ratio for me at the regional. Elemental Hero Ocean is a multi-purpose card, being able to fulfill either requirement for Elemental Hero Absolute Zero. It is also a good source of card advantage, especially when you have Elemental Hero Stratos. Don’t forget that Ocean can not only get back E-Heroes from the graveyard, but it can bounce ones on the field to your hand as well. The idea here is to repeatedly keep playing Stratos and use either of its effects. I decided to play more copies of Alius than Ocean due to the fact that 1900 attack goes a long way. Alius is one of the main beaters in the deck, and maximizing the chances of Gemini Spark being a live card was important to me.

Cyber Dragon is a very good card right now. 2100 is a solid attack stat against Gravekeeper’s. It’s also good for the usual reason, the fact that it’s a great beater than doesn’t waste a normal summon. Throughout the day I managed to make Chimeratech Fortress Dragon a few times using Formula Synchron or another Cyber Dragon.

D.D. Warrior Lady is included as a 1-of removal target for Reinforcement of the Army. It ended up doing its job well. I considered playing Exiled Force instead (you can Miracle Fuse Exiled Force with an E-Hero to make Elemental Hero Gaia). I found that D.D. Warrior Lady was more versatile overall due to the fact that it functions better as an aggressive monster.

Morphing Jar is good in decks like these that can set their whole hand and flip Morphing Jar for a +4ish. I only resolved Morphing Jar’s effect twice during the regional, both times during the same game! I set my whole hand, flipped Morphing Jar, then played Book of Moon next turn and did it again. Morphing Jar is very good against decks like Frog Monarch, Fish OTK, and Plants that tend to keep cards in hand rather than commit them to the field. I sided out Morphing Jar against decks like Gravekeepers and Gladiator Beasts that tend to have low hand counts.

I figured I’d go over all three fusion spells at once and the different interactions that they have in the deck. Future Fusion is going to select Absolute Zero 90% of the time, and I usually dump Alius and Snowman Eater. However, there are different situations where it would be correct to select other fusions or fusion materials. Suppose you’re staring down a field full of machines and your hand is Future Fusion and Monster Reborn. You can select Cyber Twin Dragon, send both Cyber Dragons to the grave, Monster Reborn one of them, and make a giant chimeratech fortress dragon. Another play that I did was summon E-Hero Ocean first turn and use Future Fusion to put Stratos in the grave so I could get it back with Ocean next turn.

I figure it’s worth noting that Miracle Fusion can get Gaia if there’s a Morphing Jar in your grave . It’s not going to come up too often though. With Miracle Fusion you will also use monsters on the field very often. The more I played throughout the day I realized that it was usually the correct play to Miracle Fusion monsters on the field rather than waiting for them to die first. This style of play is very different from the traditional style of Miracle Fusion decks that play Destiny Heroes rather than Elemental Heroes.

Super Polymerization is a tricky card to play, and I well timed Super Polymerization can easily catch an opponent off guard. Against X-Saber decks you will fuse their earth monster with your E-Hero to summon Elemental Hero Gaia. Against another Gemini deck, two Alius’s make a Superalloy Beast Raptinus. Against a deck with lots of water monsters, (Fish OTK, Frog Monarchs, or even a mirror match) fuse for Absolute Zero. Every once in awhile you can even fuse your opponent’s Stardust Dragon with your warrior to make Dragon Knight – Draco Equiste. Props to the guy who manages to pull this one off…

(Your opponent has a face-up Cyber Dragon and no set spells/traps.)

You: “Summon Cyber Dragon.”

Opponent: “Make Chimeratech Fortress Dragon and attack for 2K?”

You: “Nope.”

You: “You’re at how much?”

Opponent: “5600”

You: “Hm. Super Poly for Cyber Twin Dragon, attack for game.”

Opponent: “Aw man. What a beating!”

Skyscraper 2 – Hero City is the MVP in the Gravekeeper matchup. It sets up a lot of swingy plays. You will usually summon Elemental Hero Stratos first turn. The Gravekeeper play will summon a 1500 beater, activate Necrovalley, and attack over Stratos. Then next turn, activate Skyscraper 2, destroy Necrovalley, bring back Stratos (and activate its effect), then attack over their vulnerable Gravekeeper monster. Skyscraper 2 takes advantage of players that have the mentality, “I’d rather attack over a Stratos than use a removal card on it.”

There’s nothing too unusual in the sidedeck, but I would cut Mobius for something else (I don’t know what). There were never any matches where I felt that siding in Mobius would be a good decision. I’d like to remind everyone that Genex Ally Duradark is still an amazing sidedeck card. A 1800-beater that kills stuff for free is exactly what this deck wants.

I expected to mainly play against Frog Monarch, Plants, Gravekeepers, and Blackwings. The deck was primarily built to beat these decks. I didn’t play against Plants, but I went undefeated against the other three. I lost to X-Sabers, which seems like a hard matchup. This deck was built in a pre-Samurai meta, and I assure you that the 6 Samurai matchup is nearly unwinnable (already tested it). In the upcoming weeks I’m going to focus on perfecting the Six Samurai archetype. Unfortunately, the upcoming meta is one that I believe will highly favor netdecks over brews.

Who’s Winning?

The question, “Who’s winning?” is one of the greatest mysteries in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh! Not just Yu-Gi-Oh! actually, but games in general. Just for the sake of clarity, saying, “Who’s winning?” is actually a short way of saying, “Based on the current state of the game, which player has a higher probability of winning the game?” The longer version of the question certainly sounds a bit more complicated. The question itself makes a rather strong implication: The “current state of the game” correlates with “winning the game”.

I first started playing Yu-Gi-Oh! back when Magic Ruler (nowadays known as Spell Ruler) was the most recently released set. Virtually no theory had been developed at this point, so one could say that everyone was quite bad at the game. I occasionally attended local tournaments, and there would be spectators who would walk by and ask, “Who’s winning?” Can you guess what the common responses were? “I’m winning by 1000 lifepoints.” “I’m losing by 3000 lifepoints.” “The game is tied at 4000 lifepoints.” The Yu-Gi-Oh! rulebook clearly explains that lifepoints are used to keep score of a game. So whoever has higher lifepoints is more likely to win, right?

Your friends are off watching the Super Bowl in another room. In your room, you’re on the computer doing something much more entertaining (we’ll say you’re playing a game of Yu-Gi-Oh! Virtual Desktop). You’re still waiting on your opponent to take his turn, so you shout to the other room, “Hey, who’s winning the game?” They tell you that the Packers have 17 and the Steelers have 14. Which team is more likely to win? Based on the information you were given, the Packers are more likely to win; they have a higher score. However, your friends failed to mention that the Steelers have possession of the ball, it’s 1st and goal, and they’re on the three yard line. Given this new information, which team is more likely to win? There’s a strong chance that the Steelers score a touchdown and pull ahead. It’s easy to make the assertion that the Steelers are in fact winning despite currently holding a lower score.

Although in most sports we assume that the team with the higher score is more likely to win, there’s more to any sport than just a score. You have to consider other factors such as how close each team is to scoring additional points, which team was favored to win initially (the “matchup” as we call it in TCGs), and which players were injured during the game. When attempting to predict anything, whether it’s the stock market, the result of a political election, or what’s your mom is making for dinner tonight, more information results in a more accurate prediction.

“When attempting to predict anything, whether it’s the stock market, the result of a political election, or what’s your mom is making for dinner tonight, more information results in a more accurate prediction.”

All of what I just said is fairly intuitive, yet no one had really considered any of this when the game was young. We were stuck in the foolish mindset that lifepoints were the dominating factor in determining which player was going to win the game. What we needed to do was invent a new scoreboard, one that better predicted who was more likely to win the game.

The theory of card advantage was first proposed as a mindset for deckbuilding and optimal play for Magic: The Gathering. Brian Weissman is considered the pioneer of this idea his creation “The Deck” in 1995 (before Yu-Gi-Oh! had even been created).

Eventually card advantage was imported from Magic: The Gathering to Yu-Gi-Oh! Few players resisted this new system; they enjoyed seeing a new outlook on the game. The theory of card advantage taught players that using a Raigeki on one monster was usually a bad play; wait until you get that 2-for-1 or maybe even a 3-for-1. Divine Wrath and Monster Reincarnation both had good effects, but was the card disadvantage worth it? For most players, the answer was a resounding “no”. Competitive players built decks entirely focused on the concept of gaining card advantage.

Goat Control was a deck centered almost entirely on the theory of card advantage: Count up the number of cards that both players control (field + hand). Whoever has more is winning the game.

“Take that card out, it’s a -1.” “That deck is bad. You have no card advantage.” “How do you expect this deck to out-card-advantage goat control?” These were common posts on the forums several years ago. When looking at what cards did (and didn’t) see play during this era, I’ve realized that it’s not just as simple as card advantage is good, card disadvantage is bad. Magic Cylinder was a common maindeck choice despite being card disadvantage. Three Thunder Dragons aren’t a good choice despite being card advantage and food for Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning. Supercharge is straight up card advantage, but does it matter if the rest of your deck is filled with bad cards?

Card advantage was highly valued, but so were aggressive monsters. Berserk Gorilla was a very popular maindeck choice being noted as the highest attack no-tribute monster with negligible downsides. Some players decided that Enraged Battle Ox was a good complement to Berserk Gorilla. Enraged Battle Ox by itself was a 1700 attacker with trample, which made it good in field full of Scapegoats, Magicians of Faith, and other small defenders. The fact that it gave Berserk Gorilla trample as well was just icing on the cake. Gigantes started getting added into the mix as well as a way to add damage to the table without expending a normal summon.

This “Earth Rush” deck of sorts was yet another perspective on Yu-Gi-Oh! theory. When constructing an Earth Rush deck, outside of staples like Pot of Greed, there would be little concern for filling out your deck with inherent card advantage like Chaos Sorcerer or combos like Tsukuyomi + Magician of Faith. But it’s not fair to say that the Earth Rush player didn’t care about card advantage. During gameplay, it was certainly a priority to make sure than the control player did not acquire too many cards.

The fundamental difference becomes apparent when you look at the battles being fought. Conventional control decks were fighting a battle over card advantage. Cards were the only scoreboard, whoever had more was winning. The Earth Rush deck made them fight a war on two fronts; they had to gain card advantage without taking too much damage as well. The theory of card advantage had become so popular that players were only used to playing control vs. control matchups. This made playing a highly aggressive deck like Earth Rush a solid option.

Smarter players began to question whether switching scoreboards was really a good idea. Lifepoints weren’t the best way to keep score. Card advantage wasn’t the best way to keep score. The best way to keep score is to consider both. Both cards and lifepoints are relevant in pretty much any matchup.

Earth Rush was one of the first decks to incorporate two scoreboards into its gameplan: lifepoints and card advantage.

The next deck to value cards and lifepoints in a new and innovative way made its debut at 2007 US Nationals. Some of Justin Womack’s choices were common. Card Trooper and Machine Duplication was the killer combo of the format. Three Brain Controls were frequently used as a way to get free tribute fodder or just attack for game. Cyber Phoenix was the latest technology to render opposing Brain Controls useless. However, three Injection Fairy Lily, a small Dark World package, and three Dimension Walls were unheard of at this time.

Justin Womack’s “Aggro Burn” – Top4 at 2007 US Nationals

Monsters: 17
3 Card Trooper
3 Cyber Dragon
3 Cyber Phoenix
3 Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World
3 Injection Fairy Lily
1 Jinzo
1 Morphing Jar

Spells: 17
3 Brain Control
1 Card Destruction
3 Dark World Lightning
1 Heavy Storm
1 Limiter Removal
3 Machine Duplication
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Nobleman of Extermination
1 Premature Burial
1 Snatch Steal

Traps: 7
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Ceasefire
3 Dimension Wall
1 Magic Cylinder
1 Ring of Destruction

This deck could best be described as Aggro Burn. While these decks are commonplace in Magic: The Gathering, Womack was the first to create a similar deck using Yu-Gi-Oh!’s cardpool. This deck valued lifepoints far more than cards and looked to damage the opponent in the most efficient way possible.

Card Trooper + Machine Duplication was just what this strategy needed (two cards for three attackers and 5700 damage is quite the deal). Unlike other decks however, Womack went all out and maxed both pieces of the combo to maximize the chances of drawing it, despite Machine Duplication being a potential dead draw.

Consider Dark World Lightning and Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World. This mini combo is an even exchange of cards that will usually result in the opponent taking 2300 points of damage, exactly the trade this deck wants to be making. In addition, Dark World Lightning can be used to discard dead cards or a Jinzo that you plan to resurrect with Premature Burial, and you can even tribute an opponent’s Brain Controlled monster for Goldd if necessary.

The most common opening move during the format was to set a monster, set a spell/trap, and pass the turn. One of the advantages to Womack’s deck is that it had the best answer to this play. Dark World Lightning + Goldd + Card Trooper + Machine Duplication is a guaranteed 8000 points of damage asssuming you have another removal spell (Heavy Storm, Mystical Space Typhoon, and either “Nobleman” is fine). Of course this “nut draw” wasn’t likely to happen, but Womack’s deck was more likely to draw OTK hands than most other decks at the time.

Womack choose to play the most efficient burn spells that were printed, Magic Cylinder, Ceasefire, and three Dimension Wall. All three could be 1500 points of damage or more for only one card. Brain Control could also easily be classified as a “burn” card, which in this deck represented damage (whereas in most other decks it represented card advantage in combination with a monarch). Brain Control could be used to steal Card Troopers for duplicating, or just to deal the finishing blow. Indeed, one of the most feared scenarios at the time was the “topdeck Brain Control for game”. The Womack deck put itself in position for good topdecks better than any other.

“[Womack’s] deck valued lifepoints far more than cards and looked to damagethe opponent in the most efficient way possible.”

After realizing that lifepoints and cards were both resources that needed to be valued, players began to ask themselves, “How do we equate cards and lifepoints?” If players start with 8000 lifepoints and five cards, then can we reason that one card equals 1600 lifepoints (8000/5=1600)? Well wait, during a normal turn each player acquires an additional card and no additional lifepoints, so we can’t simply compute a ratio based on the starting totals. So if you Magic Cylinder a 1600-attack monster, is that an even exchange, a favorable exchange, or an unfavorable exchange?

It’s entirely situation dependent. There’s a running joke in Yu-Gi-Oh! that when your opponent is at 200 lifepoints and you’re topdecking, you’re supposed to say, “I hope I topdeck Sparks right now.” If your opponent is at 200 lifepoints (with no way to gain lifepoints) Sparks is strictly better than Pot of Greed. At this point in the game, virtually any source of damage would be more valuable than all of the card advantage in the world. However, it’s obvious that we’d all rather have a Pot of Greed than a Sparks in our opening hand (when both players are at 8000 lifepoints). The values of cards and lifepoints (relative to each other) change depending on the matchup, the stage of the game, and the current values of both (that is, we value lifepoints a lot more when the life totals are low, as in the Sparks example). So why is we can’t just find a simple ratio between cards and lifepoints?

If I asked you how many pounds are in a meter you would likely be confused by this question. Pounds and meters are two different units; that is, they measure two different things. Pounds are used to measure weight, whereas meters are used to measure length. Likewise, cards and lifepoints are two different units. Someone trying to equate cards and lifepoints has the wrong mindset. Cards DON’T equal lifepoints! Understanding which is more important in a given situation in the correct mindset. A good players knows to value cards against a monarch deck and lifepoints against a chain burn deck.

“Likewise, cards and lifepoints are two different units… Cards DON’T equal lifepoints… A good players knows to value cards against a monarch deck and lifepoints against a chain burn deck.”

Lifepoints and cards aren’t the only scoreboards however. You shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that a Lightsworn player is losing just because he has less cards and lifepoints. Lightsworn uses its graveyard as a scoreboard as well. It’s often the case that you should alter your gameplan against Lightsworn to be more concerned about how quickly cards are going to the graveyard than anything else. Each mill (sending a card from the deck to the graveyard) represents a potential Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, Necro Gardna, Plaguespreader Zombie, or Glow-Up Bulb (all effects that activate in the graveyard). More importantly, four Lightsworn monsters in the graveyard with different names is the summoning requirement for Judgment Dragon, a card that can end games on its own.

If you are playing against a Lightsworn deck and trying to figure out who’s winning, the graveyard is a resource that you need to pay attention to.

In every matchup there are different resources that need to paid attention to. By valuing the wrong resources, you are setting yourself up for failure. Some decks will value resources that you may have never even considered. Playing against a Crystal Beast deck? The amount of Crystal Beasts in the spell/trap zone is a resource. Pay attention to how many they have; it is key in answering the big question, “Who’s winning?”

Historically speaking, there have been several decks centered around Return from the Different Dimension as a win condition. The game-breaking trap has been paired with Bazoo the Soul Eater, Strike Ninja, Chaos Sorcerer, and Dark Armed Dragon. These decks used the removed from game zone as a resource as well. Burial from a Different Dimension became the “hot sidedeck tech” as a counter to the Return deck. A card that decreases your opponent’s resources is a good card to sidedeck; the trick is to figuring out which resources you need to decrease.

D.D. Crow is good against a Lightsworn deck. Burial from a Different Dimension a good against a Return deck. They are both good for the same reason: They restrict your opponent’s resources. Lifegain effects are good against burn decks for a similar reason: They increase your resources.

I promise this article is going to end soon, but first I need to explain one last theory. The theory of card advantage fails to take into account cards that you can’t use. You can’t use multiple Solemn Warnings if you don’t have more than 4000 lifepoints. Thunder Dragon’s effect nets you a card in hand, but if Thunder Dragon doesn’t make an impact on the game, what difference does it make? Is having two Red Gadgets in your hand really much better than one?

The theory of virtual card advantage is simple: If you can’t use it, it doesn’t exist. You most likely take virtual card advantage into account all the time without even realizing it. You get upset when you topdeck a Pot of Avarice while Necrovalley is on the field. You get happy when your opponent “wastes” a card to destroy your face-down Solemn Warning when you have only 1800 lifepoints. This is all because you are thinking about virtual card advantage.

Virtual card advantage applies to deckbuilding as well. You probably think of this as “adding situational cards to your deck is bad”. But why do we think this way? Say you have decided to maindeck Chain Disappearance as a counter to Plant and Frog Monarch decks. Round 1 you play against Gladiator Beasts and open with Chain Disappearance. You are virtually down a card (because Chain Disappearance cannot be used in this matchup except in rare circumstances). Chain Disappearance would be better suited for the sidedeck so you can side it in for the appropriate matchups and not have to worry about virtually losing a card.

But look at virtual card advantage from the opposite perspective: Why not try to base your deck around making your opponent virtually lose cards? The first deck to employ this as a major strategy is commonly known as “Stun”.

Anthony Meier’s “Stun” deck – 1st at 2010 YCS Indianapolis

Monsters: 17
2 Cyber Dragon
3 Thunder King Rai-Oh
3 Doomcaliber Knight
3 Banisher of the Radiance
3 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
2 King Tiger Wanghu
1 Spirit Reaper

Spells: 10
3 Book of Moon
3 Smashing Ground
2 Enemy Controller
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps: 14
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Starlight Road
2 Royal Oppression
2 Magic Drain
2 Sakuretsu Armor
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
3 Dimensional Prison

Take a look at some of the card choices. Thunder King Rai-Oh for example isn’t card advantage, but it can represent virtual card advantage in several matchups. It stops the effect of XX-Saber Darksoul, so for each XX-Saber Darksoul in hand (or Reinforcement of the Army, Black Whirlwind, etc.) it’s like they have lost a card. However, if they manage to remove Thunder King Rai-Oh from the field, your opponent has virtually gained those cards back. This is why most Stun decks tend to play several cards that can be used to protect monsters. This particular deck used Book of Moon, Dimensional Prison, and even Sakuretsu Armor.

The concept of Stun is centered around making the opponent’s cards virtually useless through effects like Thunder King Rai-Oh.

Royal Oppression works a similar fashion. When you first flip it up to negate a special summon effect, it creates a 1-for-1 in terms of card advantage. In addition however, all of your opponent’s other special summon effects are virtual losses assuming that you have a reasonable amount of lifepoints to pay the cost of Royal Oppression.

It’s pretty easy to recognize the pattern here; King Tiger Wangnu works the same way (all monsters with 1400 attack or less are virtual losses). Banisher of Radiance make graveyard-based cards virtual losses. Today, Gravekeeper’s operate on the same concept. Necrovalley makes Pot of Avarice, Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North, and many other cards into virtual losses.

When determining your gameplan for a particular matchup, taking into account virtual card advantage is very important. When I am playing a Plant deck against Gravekeepers, I make sure that all of my removal is pointed towards Necrovalley. In this matchup, each Necrovalley represents potential dead draws in my deck, virtual losses. I’ll rid the field of a Necrovalley with an effect like Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter or Caius the Shadow Monarch whenever I get the chance.

This might be a longer article than what you’re used to, and I covered several different theories that are relevant to the game. If you take away anything from this article, it should be not to lock yourself into one perspective. Use ALL of the information that is available to you. New ideas lead to new innovations, new decks, new technology, and new strategies. Staying inside the box won’t get you anywhere.

Not Another Best Deck Article

About six months ago, I entered The Game Academy’s 3K using what I believed was the best deck: Infernities. At the end of the day, I had 1-2ed dropped and decided to grind out some 8-man side events for the rest of the day. By the end of the day, I was 100% convinced that Infernities were not the best deck.

The best article I have ever written for The Game Academy was “When is Earth-Imprisoning Mirror Being Released??” The article was very universal; anyone who played competitively would get something out of it. It also had really awesome pictures (who couldn’t love “pair of dice > frogs”?) More importantly though, I made a ballsy statement that most good players wouldn’t have agreed with at the time, “…the raw power of the [X-Saber] deck, combined with the fact that it has very few weaknesses and a lot of flexible sidedeck choices, makes it the best overall deck right now.” Not only was I right, but I was way more right than I thought I would be. X-Sabers went on to completely dominate the format, achieving higher finishes than any other deck. X-Sabers came to be regarded as having the best overall matchups; they had explosiveness and OTK ability combined with disruption and card advantage. Infernities, Gladiators Beasts, Frog OTK, Blackwings, Herald, and Frog Monarch all had one or more very difficult matchups and were easily sided against. The same could not be said of X-Sabers.

Maybe it was just a lucky guess, but I think I have a good track record at predicting the best deck in terms of overall success, confirmation bias aside. Prior to SJC Orlando 2009, I was also one of the few people to recognize that Lightsworn was a much more powerful deck than Gladiator Beasts. There was a heated debate during this time about which deck was better, and many regarded Lightsworn as being too inconsistent to do well. Lightsworn took the majority of the slots at SJC Orlando, and Gladiator Beasts captured zero spots in the top16, despite being the most popular deck. Gladiator Beasts continued to see very little success and were eventually thought of as the fourth best deck (after Lightsworn, Zombies, and Blackwings).

Looking the current meta, the most popular decks are clearly X-Sabers, Plant variants, Blackwings, and Gravekeeper’s. The big question remains: Which one is the most powerful? Plants is my favorite of the four, but I believe that there’s a better choice available: Gravekeeper’s. Most people recognize that the archetype is very powerful, but the consistency of the deck is often debated. The main advantage that Gravekeeper’s have is they have most lines of attack.

Line of Attack #1: Oops, there goes your hand!

The most notorious maneuver that Gravekeepers can pull off is Royal Tribute, a card with the potential to end games before they even start. Most Gravekeeper decks only play around 15 monsters, one of which can turn itself into a spell (three copies of Gravekeeper’s Commandant). When a Royal Tribute resolves, the Gravekeeper player is usually losing no monsters while the opposing player may lose three or even four.

Royal Tribute keeps deck builders from being too greedy when designing their monster lineup. Before the reign of Gravekeepers, I didn’t feel bad about playing 23 monsters in my Plant deck, but Royal Tribute is making me second guess that decision. Look at Frog Monarchs for example, a deck that normally plays 26-29 monsters. Monarchs would normally beat Gravekeepers with all of their pure card advantage, but Royal Tribute completely cripples their strategy.

One of the best strategies to playing around Royal Tribute also happens to be one of the simplest: Play spells that search for monsters. Reinforcement of the Army, Gladiator Proving Ground, and E – Emergency Call are all fine cards, and they give you an excuse to drop your monster count. In addition, Pot of Duality can usually find a monster (in three cards, there will be a lot one monster more often than not). All of these cards can give a deck builder an excuse to drop their monster count.

People have speculated on whether anti-discard, Goldd, Wu-Lord of the Dark World and Gemini Imps, are an effective way to attack Gravekeeper’s. I don’t like either unless your deck can utilize them in some way. For example, I like siding Goldd in Frog Monarch due to the fact that you can easily tribute for it if the Gravekeeper player never uses Royal Tribute or sides it. Quickdraw-based decks can also take advantage of Goldd by discarding it to Drill Warrior.

Although Royal Tribute is the easiest and least-skilled way that Gravekeeper decks can win a game, some players make the mistake of believing that it’s the only way that they can win a game. There is much more to worry about than just losing all of the monsters in your hand, and having a gameplan for beating Royal Tribute will often not be enough to beat the whole deck.

Line of Attack #2: …And also your grave

Yu-Gi-Oh! has a long history of being graveyard-based (since the release of Invasion of Chaos), and Necrovalley has a long history of shutting down graveyard-based strategies. Necrovalley by itself is a very powerful card, turning off a significant chunk of cards in mainstream decks: Monster Reborn, Pot of Avarice, Debris Dragon, XX-Saber Faultroll, Gottom’s Emergency Call, Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North, Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor, Gladiator Beast Equeste, and Gladiator Beast Darius.

“Necrovalley: Denying access to graveyards since 2003.”

Necrovalley is the highly accessible centerpiece of the Gravekeeper deck. It can be searched out by Gravekeeper’s Commandant which is in turn searchable by Gravekeeper’s Recruiter, making the Gravekeeper deck very consistent at getting its important field spell. Debris Dragon and Pot of Avarice are the two most important cards in a Plant deck. Without them, Plants simply cannot win the game. This factor alone makes Plant decks an easy matchup for Gravekeepers.

Necrovalley is a great tool for beating X-Sabers as well, due to the fact that X-Sabers are primarily a combo deck focusing on XX-Saber Faultroll. Unless X-Sabers can pull off a well-timed XX-Saber Hyunlei, their combos will be easily shut down. It doesn’t help that most X-Saber variants choose to play Trap Stun rather than Mystical Space Typhoon, giving them very few ways to destroy Necrovalley.

Virtually every deck plays cards that interact with the graveyard, meaning that Necrovalley will be able to blank multiple cards in every deck. This is probably the most overlooked aspect of Gravekeeper’s: the fact that Necrovalley is a damn good card by itself. When playing against Gravekeeper’s, getting Necrovalley off of the field should be a top priority. It can get very frusturating though, because as soon as Necrovalley is destroyed they can search up another one.

Line of Attack #3: Card Advantage, Floaters, and Winning Attrition Battles

Look at the monster’s in a Gravekeeper deck. Ignore Gravekeeper’s Commmandant for a minute (its main purpose is to search for Necrovalley rather than being an actually monster). They all either gain card advantage, replace themselves after dying, are have a special effect to destroy monsters that the opponent controls. These are all great abilities to have in a deck like Gravekeeper’s, one that prefers to function as an anti-meta deck. Gravekeeper’s are by far the most resilient deck in the game.

Gravekeeper’s Spy has seen play for years just due to the fact that it’s a solid 2000 defense wall that can search up another wall. I would argue that Gravekeeper’s Spy is the best defensive monster in the history of the game. Having a card that searches for whatever monster you need has shown to be an essentially component of top tier decks (look at Reinforcement of the Army, Black Whirlwind, Charge of the Light Brigade, and XX-Saber Darksoul). Gravekeeper’s Spy does that and more. It searches whatever you need while being a relevant monster on its own. With Necrovalley on the field, it has 2500 defense, which is too much for almost any monster to get through. In addition, 1700 attack is enough to go aggressive as well.

Gravekeeper’s Recruiter is the deck’s newest addition, and it’s quite a card. It instantly replaces itself when it’s sent to the graveyard in any way, making it a solid combo with Gravekeeper’s Descendant. While Necrovalley’s on the field, you can go on the offensive with Recruiters without having to worry about the consequences. If they destroy your Recruiter, you can just get something else to replace it.

Graveyard’s Descandant is a key card in the deck as well. By combining Recruiter and Descendant, you can essentially destroy one card for free every turn (tribute Recruiter, destroy a card, use Recruiter to search another copy of Recruiter, and keep repeating the process). Descendant is a great utility card, getting rid of any problem cards. Gravekeeper’s Assailant functions as pseudo-removal as well. Since most monsters have a weak stat, changing the battle position will be enough to kill most monsters in the format. Switching a monster to defense also helps get around combat tricks like Honest and Blackwing – Kulat the Moon Shadow.

Gravekeeper’s Steele is probably one of the most underrated cards in the deck. Steele is very good at turning the tide in a close game. It provides mid-game instant card advantage, similar to the role of Pot of Avarice in Plants. As stated previously, all of the Gravekeeper monsters are very good, so getting back two at the cost of one card is infinitely valuable.

Gravekeeper Matchups

Although many people refuse to believe that Gravekeepers are the best deck, I’ve observed that no one has been able to come up with a deck that consistently beats Gravekeepers. This in itself says a lot about the power level of the decktype. It’s just too hard to beat the Royal Tribute draws, Necrovalley itself, and the endless card advantage that the Gravekeeper monsters provide.

As stated previously, Plants and X-Sabers, two of the most popular decks currently, have their main strategy shut down by Necrovalley, meaning that they will always be fighting an uphill battle against Gravekeepers. Blackwings would be a difficult matchup for Gravekeeper’s due to the power and versatility of Icarus Attack, but Gravekeeper players have chosen to solve this problem to maindecking Starlight Road, often even multiple copies.

Frog Monarchs have picked up a lot of popularity lately, and this is favorable matchup for Gravekeepers as well. The monarch deck’s main disadvantage is that it’s a slower strategy, and it instantly folds to a Royal Tribute. Gravekeeper players can even make the matchup better post-sidedeck with Mask of Restrict.

I would argue that Gladiator Beasts are the hardest matchup for Gravekeeper’s, but that deck is virtually nonexistent in the current meta. Gladiator Beasts can repeatedly tag out for Bestiari to keep destroying Necrovalleys, and Gladiator Beast War Chariot is an effective card at stopping all of the awesome effects that Gravekeeper monsters have. Even this matchup is winnable for Gravekeepers however as they play a lot of defensive spells/traps that can kill Gladiator Beast monsters before they get the chance to tag out.

Conclusion and Author’s Note

Unfortunately the next YCS scheduled is after the release of Storm of Ragnarok, so I may never get to find out how right or wrong I am about Gravekeeper’s. Storm of Ragnarok will be quite meta changing set, giving Six Samurai new explosive power. To players attending a regional in the next month or two, I would recommend sleeving up Gravekeeper’s. The deck has everything needed to win in the current meta.

This article was quite a change of pace from my last one; I went directly from discussing the worst decks to discussing the best one. I know Gravekeeper’s are one of the hot topics right now, and you as a reader might be tired of hearing about them. It seems that no one ever wants to go out on a limb and say what they believe the best deck is. People often say “Everything has potential to succeed” and “Play what you know best”. While both of these statements are true, determining the overall most powerful deck (all other factors remaining equal, “ceteris paribus”) is a puzzle that every good player should try to solve.

The Merits of Playing Bad Decks

At this point, the three new Yu-Gi-Oh! article writers will have each posted one article, and I honestly think they’re all doing a good job. I am happy to say that I will enjoy being the worst player writing for The Game Academy! “Worst” is being in terms of Yu-Gi-Oh! accomplishments here, and the only accomplishment I have is being able to say, “So I’ve top8ed a few regionals, and this one time, I almost day2’d a Shonen Jump!” Being the worst player, it seems only fitting that I write about the worst decks.

Yes, this article is not a joke (if you want to read a joke article, check out my last one). Here’s one sentence that sums up this entire article: Good player trying to convince other good players to play bad decks.

By bad, I don’t mean decks that are tributing Battle Ox for Summoned Skull or setting Harpie Lady and passing the turn. I mean non-tier decks (described as “everything else” in this article). Just because these decks are far from optimal doesn’t mean that you can’t mess around with them a bit and even win a few tournaments. I bet even Ganondorf wins a Brawl tournament every once in awhile, right?

Reason #1: Improve Your Deckbuilding Skills

In any TCG, the best players in the game are usually known for both their exceptional in-game skills as well as deckbuilding skills. For every awesome, game-breaking deck that the pros build, think about how many decks that they built that completely flopped. Building bad decks is a necessary step to building good ones.

I’ve decided to call this month “casual December”. In the Tampa/Orlando area, there aren’t any premier-level tournaments during the entire month of December, so I decided I would build non-tier decks during this month and win local tournaments at The Game Academy with them. When a good player building a non-tier deck, he’s typically building around some sort of unexplored concept and trying to utilize it as much as possible. For example, here’s the first decklist that I came up with…

3 Cyber Valley
3 Tuningware
3 Machine Duplication
31 Yu-Gi-Oh! cards

With this simple list I had outlined the concept that my deck would be based around using only three different cards. My train of thought here was to abuse Machine Duplication and draw a lot of cards. Machine Duplication is a card that’s been on everyone’s radar since early 2007 when we saw the game dominated by its interaction with Card Trooper to make 5,700 points of offense, 9 cards milled, and potentially 3 cards drawn. Since then, every time a low-attack machine monster is printed with a decent effect, everyone screams “Machine Duplication alert!” This of course begs the question, which card was actually the problem, Card Trooper or Machine Duplication? It was obviously Machine Duplication. Simply put, combining Machine Duplication with any decent target always leads to good things.

Next I needed to figure out else I would use to draw cards. De-Synchro had gotten some hype due to its interaction with Tuningware and Formula Synchron, so it seemed like it was worth trying. It was a virtual Pot of Greed in many situations, albeit a situational one. Due to it’s inconsistencies, I figured that two copies was the correct number. I decided to run two copies of Pot of Avarice as well to give me some mid-game card draw. I like playing a full set of Pot of Avarice in a lot of decks, but I figured that it wouldn’t be optimal in this deck given that I didn’t think I was going to play any mill cards like Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter.

It seemed only logical that I should play Shining Angel in this deck; it had the ability to search both Tuningware and Cyber Valley. I could even get Effect Veiler if I desperately needed a tuner. I was already starting to have visions of searching Tuningware with Shining Angel, playing Machine Duplication, and then summoning Glow Up Bulb to “go off” and draw a million cards.

3 Cyber Valley
3 Tuningware
2 Shining Angel
2 Effect Veiler
1 Glow-Up Bulb
3 Machine Duplication
2 De-Synchro
2 Pot of Avarice
22 Yu-Gi-Oh! cards

Royal Decree seemed like a really good fit in this deck; it would stop my opponent from using traps to interact with me as I’m setting up my combos. Having no defensive traps would mean that I would need quickplay spells, so I decided that a full set of Book of Moons would also be necessary even though I didn’t have any flip effects. Scapegoat was the next quickplay that came to mind. It could be used as synchro material, Cyber Valley fodder, or a set of chump blockers.

3 Cyber Valley
3 Tuningware
2 Shining Angel
2 Effect Veiler
1 Glow-Up Bulb
3 Machine Duplication
2 De-Synchro
2 Pot of Avarice
3 Book of Moon
1 Scapegoat
3 Royal Decree
15 Yu-Gi-Oh! cards

At this point I started to have a problem because I realized that I can’t win games just by drawing a billion cards and not doing anything with them (“Hey I have +6 on you, so you obviously can’t win, scoop?”). I would need to convert my hand into damage at some point. Tragoedia seemed like just what I was looking for, as it’s a card that rewards players for having a billion cards in hand (I recall attacking with a 4200 Tragoedia in my SJC Orlando feature match).

In my first draft of the deck, I anticipated using Tragoedia with several other darks to fuel a Chaos Sorcerer, which could be used as both another card advantage source and a win condition. Junk Synchron was a dark monster that I thought would work well in this deck. Its primary use would be to bring back Tuningware, synchro for Armory Arm, and draw a card. Sangan was an obvious staple as well given that it could search basically anything.

At this point I ran into a roadblock however, because I couldn’t find additional dark monsters that I wanted to use, and I would need more than four darks in my deck to consistently power out two Chaos Sorcerers. I decided that Chaos Sorcerer was not where I wanted to be and looked elsewhere for a win condition.

I noticed that other decks featuring Tuningware were often playing Quickdraw Synchron, which gave the deck the potential to pull off strong turn one plays involving special summoning Quickdraw Synchron and normal summoning Tuningware (hopefully with a Machine Duplication as well). I decided that Quickdraw Synchron would be my method of choice for converting hand advantage into field advantage in the form of synchro monsters. Now that I had two different synchron tuners in the deck, this made Tuning a natural fit as well. It improved the consistently of the deck, which was certainly something that I wanted. I assumed that Dandylion would have good synergy with Quickdraw Synchron as well, for many reasons. It allowed me to pull off Drill Warrior loops (by repeatedly discarding and recovering Dandylion to net two tokens each turn). Tokens are also good with Cyber Valley and tuners as mentioned earlier.

1 Tragoedia
2 Junk Synchron
2 Quickdraw Synchron
2 Dandylion
3 Cyber Valley
3 Tuningware
2 Shining Angel
1 Sangan
2 Effect Veiler
1 Glow-Up Bulb
3 Machine Duplication
2 De-Synchro
2 Pot of Avarice
3 Book of Moon
1 Scapegoat
2 Tuning
3 Royal Decree
5 Yu-Gi-Oh! cards

The main thing left to do was fill out the spell lineup, which was easy to do since I had not yet added the staple spells Dark Hole and Monster Reborn. I reasoned that One for One would be a necessary inclusion as well given that the deck plays a whopping nine LV1 monsters. I figured Mind Control would be ridiculous in this deck as well due to the fact that I played tuners as well as Cyber Valley. I would always have things to do with my opponent’s monsters after I stole them.

I had one slot left in the deck, which is currently Genex Neutron. I’ve contemplated making it a third Shining Angel or a copy of Dimensional Alchemist, but I like the role that Genex Nuetron fulfills in the deck. 1800 attack points is pretty solid in the current format, which is nice because most of my monsters don’t have high attack points. I’ve also come to realize that Quickdraw Synchron is very important in the deck, so having another way to search it out is always appreciated.

Deck Name: Quick-draw Quickdraw (Get it? This is a deck featuring Quickdraw Synchron that draws cards at a fast pace!)

Monsters: 20
3 Tuningware
3 Cyber Valley
2 Shining Angel
2 Quickdraw Synchron
2 Junk Synchron
2 Dandylion
2 Effect Veiler
1 Sangan
1 Glow-Up Bulb
1 Tragoedia
1 Genex Nuetron

Spells: 17
3 Book of Moon
3 Machine Duplication
2 De-Synchro
2 Pot of Avarice
2 Tuning
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole
1 One For One
1 Mind Control
1 Scapegoat

Traps: 3
3 Royal Decree

Extra deck: 15
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
2 Formula Synchron
1 Armory Arm
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Drill Warrior
1 Turbo Warrior
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Nitro Warrior
1 Junk Destroyer
1 Road Warrior
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon

Reason #2: Making Heads Turn at Locals

Using my newly brewed deck, I decided that it was time to see how it would do at a local tournament. I played it in a total of three tournaments, two of which were Swiss style and one that was single elimination. In the two Swiss tournaments I had the same reason: 4-1 to make top8, followed by a win in the top8, and then a prize split in the top4. In the single elimination tournament, I started off 3-0 and then lost two successive matches to Gravekeepers due to some bad beats. My combined record with the deck is 13-4, which I feel is a decent record.

As much as I love crushing my locals with ease using a top tier deck like Plants or Blackwings, there’s something refreshing about winning with a deck that most people have never seen before. Yes, I play to win, but when I’m at the point where my above average play-skill can make up for my suboptimal deck choice, why not have fun while winning? Having a bunch of spectators watching how my awesome deck works, drawing ten cards on the first turn of the game, and looking at my opponent’s face when he attacks into a set Shining Angel has a value too.

Reason #3: Understanding Why Bad Decks are Bad

As fun as it is to tell my friends how, “This one game, I drew ten cards in the first turn!”, I don’t want to be sharing my awesome story with my friends after I proceeded to go 2-3 drop in a YCS. I really like this deck; it suits my playstyle more than any other deck this format. Nevertheless, I still have to realize at the end day that I’m better off playing something else if I want to win. More importantly though, I need to understand why this is the case.

Anyone can tell you that Aliens, Spellcasters, Skull Servants, and Naturias are all not top tier. It gets more complicated when you consider why they aren’t top tier. Sometimes, there just exists a deck that’s the same thing, only better (compare the current incarnation of Six Samurais to X-Sabers). Sometimes, the deck can do very powerful things, but not a consistent basis (I found this out while testing High Monster Beat). Sometimes, the deck has a gameplan that is great if the pieces fall into place but is easily disrupted by cards that commonly see play (this was an issue with my Worm Linx deck). Sometimes, the deck simply doesn’t have enough good support cards to make it a contender (Jose Alcaz, I’m looking at you, “Mr. Spellcasters”). Sometimes it’s a combination of these factors.

In the case of my Tuningware Turbo deck, inconsistency is a minor issue. The deck can get clumped hands without much action. De-Synchro can easily be a dead draw, especially if the opponent is playing a deck that doesn’t synchro. My deck’s nut draw is really good; it involves drawing a significant portion of the deck and immediately putting myself in a position to win. However, the bad draws are pretty bad, and with average draws I won’t “go off” until a few turns into the game, at which point the opponent may have already taken control of the game or have ways to disrupt my combos.

The deck’s matchups are pretty average overall. I think the Blackwing matchup is favorable, mainly because Royal Decree is very powerful against them. As a sidedeck card, Consecrated Light is far more helpful than one might expect. It can be searched with Shining Angel, Sangan, and One For One, so it’s very easy to put a Consecrated Light on the field at the most convenient time. As powerful as Royal Decree and Consecrated Light are, they’re even better together, virtually locking the Blackwing player out of the game.

I believe the Plant matchup is favorable as well, although I haven’t played many matches against it so I can’t be certain. Not only is my deck faster overallthan Plants, but I have more sources of card advantage. Plants try to grind out card advantage slowly, making passive plays and setting monsters. On the other hand, I’m proactive, which I feel gives me the advantage. Their combo puts a Shooting Star Dragon in play whereas mine draws me an unspecified amount of cards (that means my combo is better). I’m waiting for the day when I get to use De-Synchro on a Shooting Star Dragon. I know it’s going to feel so good. Despite these matchups being favorable however, they’re not byes. I’d estimate that both Blackwings and Plants are around 60% in my favor. There will be games where I draw the nuts and win, but usually I have to work for my wins.

X-Sabers are still X-Sabers, and unfortunately my deck doesn’t have tons of ways to disrupt their power plays. Drawing ten cards is nice, but X-Sabers just attack for game instead, which is significantly better. Beating X-Sabers is usually dependent on comboing out before they do and hopefully draw into disruptive cards, Book of Moon and Effect Veiler. There’s not much that this deck can sidedeck that can change the X-Saber matchup, so I just have accept X-Sabers as an uphill battle.

Gladiator Beasts are the other hard matchup; they just have all of the tools to beat this deck. Despite running a lot of traps, Royal Decree is often not very effective, as they can just tag into Bestiari. Gladiator Beasts have a lot of disruptive options, such as War Chariot, Book of Moon, and Solemn Warning. Cyber Valley is good at buying time; shutting down all combat for the turn and drawing a card is a pretty sweet deal. If the hand has Book of Moons and Cyber Valleys, “protect the Royal Decree” can be a valid route to winning. While Decree is online, it’s possible to synchro and take control of the game. I also try to take advantage of Gladiator Beast hands that have a bad ratio of monsters to spells/traps. It happens a lot and is very easy to get a read on.

The jury’s not in on Gravekeeper’s yet, but it’s harder to beat than I originally thought. Royal Tribute is a tough card to deal with. Rather than using Tuning immediately to thin the deck two cards, I usually hold it back so I don’t get destroyed by Royal Tribute. Necrovalley only stops five cards in the deck (2 Junk Synchron, 2 Pot of Avarice, and Monster Reborn) but is an annoyance nonetheless. Gravekeeper’s Descendant is great at stopping my early-game plays and can be hard to deal with. I want to test this matchup more, but I think it’s around 50/50.

Understanding why bad decks are bad can help you better visualize why good decks are good. It makes sense, right? It’s teaching by counter-example, “Don’t do this!” Good decks usually have the whole package, both power and consistency. Bad decks are lacking in some areas, and other decks in the meta can easily poke holes in their gameplan. An important thing to realize regarding the power level of decks is that it’s partially dependent on what other decks are big players in the current field. When I’m working on a new idea, an important factor that I take into consideration is how my deck will tackle the top dogs in the metagame. Overall, I view building non-tier decks as a great learning experience; I will always learn more about the game regardless of how well my new deck performed.

Reason #4: Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

As good players, we have to learn how to adapt. That’s how we evolve. If you’re used to always playing the consensus best deck, it would probably do you some good to play something off the wall for a change. There’s potential to learn about new plays, new game mechanics, and obscure card interactions. I guarantee that your friends at locals will be surprised to hear that you decided not to play Blackwings for the sixth time in a row.

More importantly though, it also gives you some experience in case of the off chance that you’re paired against someone who decided to play the same bad deck that you once played. The only thing that I hate more than being forced to read all of my opponent’s cards is losing to that pile of cards. When you play against the random Naturia deck at regionals you’ll be thankful that, “This one time at locals, I decided to play Naturia’s because I felt like it”. You’ll feel prepared and relaxed instead of frantically trying to read every card your opponent puts on the table.

Closing Remarks

The feedback I got on my last article was very mixed. Everyone either thought it was the best article ever or a huge waste of time. An interesting complaint that I received is the fact that I failed to include a rival into the story; for this I truly apologize. In hindsight, a rival should’ve been an auto-include. My last article has also caused me to doubt the reading comprehension abilities of some of my readers. There were several people who read the article and afterwards asked, “So wait, did you really get $9000? I’m confused!” (Hint: Read the “Authors Note” at the end you ding-dongs!)

I know I didn’t go into a lot detail how about my Quick-draw Quickdraw deck actually works; I just mentioned that it “draws ten cards” a lot. The article wasn’t really about this specific deck; it’s looking at non-tier decks as a whole (hence the title of the article). For those curious though, the main combo is Tuningware + Machine Duplication + Quickdraw Synchron, synchroing into Road Warrior and searching out Cyber Valley after drawing three cards. Slap on another Machine Duplication of De-Synchro and then it just gets ridiculous. Oh, at it also leaves exactly five monsters in my graveyard for Pot of Avarice. Not all of my games play out that way though. I’ll often just make a Drill Warrior and beat face while recycling a monster every turn. I plan to make a Youtube video detailing some of my deck’s sick plays, so look forward to that in the next few days!

How I Made Over Nine Thousand Dollars at YCS Atlanta

So here I was, getting ready to write my article for this week. What would aspiring duelists want to hear about? People loved my Spotlight on Plants article; maybe I should elaborate more on my plant deck? Should I give out my sidedeck and explain how to sidedeck for each matchup? Or maybe a standard tournament report of “give a breakdown of each match” would be the most appropriate. Whatever my article was, I knew it would essentially be a story about what happened at YCS Atlanta. But there’s never one way to tell a story. There are nearly infinite perspectives, and every plot has a sub-plot.

While I was pondering over what to write about for this week, just for fun, I figured I would make a facebook post showing my stack of cash that I had accumulated after YCS Atlanta was over. I mean I honestly don’t like to brag. However, every once in a while my ego gets the best of me and I want to show the world what a master I am.

Fan it out? Ok, whatever you say…

Clearly the public was very interested in newly acquired funds to the point that they could hardly believe that I actually had them. I knew the story I was going to tell. I had never discussed how to make money through Yu-Gi-Oh! in my articles before. I figured I would mix things up a bit this week. Rather than focusing on Yu-Gi-Oh! gameplay and strategy, I’m going to give you my YCS Atlanta story from a pure economic perspective.

On Friday I left home sweet home with only the cards on my back, $300 in cash, my iPhone, and The Game Academy’s Yu-Gi-Oh! Buylist. After all of my business was finished on Tuesday, I had $9,200 in cash. How did I do it? You’re in for a long and exciting tale! Thanks to my photographic memory, I remembered virtually every transaction that I made over the weekend.

First, let me go over my costs for the trip. Gas cost me about $25 (props to Michael Lux for funding most of the fuel expenses). The hotel room for two nights cost me $30 (props to Victor Nolen for sick deal). Then it cost me $20 to enter the tournament. Oh, I also spent $3 on a new pack of sleeves (I managed to find 5 Ultra Pros to have 55 sleeves).

Food:

$10 Friday lunch/dinner

$7.50 Saturday lunch

$15 Saturday dinner

$8 Sunday lunch

Money after expenses:

+$300

–$25

–$30

–$10

–$7.50

–$15

–$8

–$20

–$3

=$181.50

I spent only $120 on the entire trip. Sick life! This was honestly the least I had ever spent on any out-of-state trip in my entire life. Thanks to awesome friends who helped me out! Clearly I didn’t make nine grand by “only spending $120”. However, it did contribute.

Friday

First, I need to explain something very important to this story. There is a very mysterious figure in my life; he likes to be referred to as “Master Ginger.” Since I’m a ginger, I have the ability to telepathically communicate with him (using my long red hair as an antenna). When I go to major Yu-Gi-Oh! Events, Master Ginger sends me on missions, all of which yield a monetary reward. I can choose which missions I want to accept, and some are very perilous. Some of the missions don’t even make sense, but it’s not my role to question the Master!

Anyways, Master Ginger contacted me early Friday morning. He said he would have a lot more missions for me than usual, which would mean I would have a lot more opportunities to make money!

While driving to Atlanta there was a lot of traffic. Luckily for me, a mission popped up to relieve my boredom…

Mission Name: Tick-Black-Toe

Mission Description: Find three cars in a row with an African American driver.

Reward: $100 for each time mission completed

I completed this mission twice (currency: $381.50). This mission was easy yet tedious. I knew there would be harder missions in store for me however.

The guys went to the venue to preregister. I usually don’t preregister for these type of events, but I’m glad I did. It saved me a lot of time on Saturday that I would have been waiting in line. There were a lot  of people at the venue. Where most people see a bunch of duelists, I see potential missions!

Mission Name: Ignorant Duelists

Mission Description: It’s getting late at night, and Konami is trying to get duelists to the evacuate the venue. However, Konami doesn’t have enough gym badges to control the duelists, so the duelists are ignoring them! Can you make the duelists do as they’re told?

Reward: $400

A strange battle screen popped up…

What will Allen do?

>FIGHT (Fight duelists with a variety of attacks)

PKMN (Play pokemon instead. Everyone loves pokemon!)

ITEM (Use a item in your bag)

RUN (Run away and ignore the mission. Basically, if you click this you’re a huge pussy.)

I decided that fighting the duelists would be my best option. I had the perfect attack for this occasion…

SWEET SCENT: Everyone knows that duelists enjoy being as dirty and smelling as possible. Use this attack, and all duelists will flee in fear of smelling pleasant!

After using sweet scent, all of the duelists were out of the building before you can say “deodorant”. Konami thanked me for my noble efforts and I was rewarded with $400 (currency: $781.50).

After the events at the venue, we were all back at the hotel. I collected the item “SUITE KEY” which I put into my bag of items. We playtested quite a bit. I was winning quite a bit, and some of my friends had taken an interest to the deck that I was playing.

Mission Name: Get Netdecked

Mission Description: Title says all. Convince your fellow duelists to netdeck you.

Reward: $50 per duelist

I convinced three duelists to use my Plant deck in some form (Michael Lux, Sam Jones, and Victor Nolen). Sam Jones actually used my maindeck and added 5 cards to it, so his deck would be bigger than everyone else’s. I’m not sure what it is with Sam Jones being insecure about the size of his deck. I collected my $150 from Master Ginger, and he also gave me a $10 bonus for completing the mission three times (currency: $941.50). My plant deck that I used at the YCS was the exact same one that I had posted in my Spotlight on Plants article. Here was the sidedeck that I decided to play:

Sidedeck: 15

2 D.D. Crow

2 Royal Decree

2 Thunder King Rai-Oh

2 Cyber Dragon

2 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Mind Control

1 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Starlight Road

1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

1 Genex Ally Duradark

Saturday

I woke up early in the morning, ready to go to the convention center and give it my all! I was determined to show everyone that I could be the best that no one ever was. I soon as I got to the convention center a mission popped up:

Mission Name: Locate Chris Pittao

Mission Description: Chris Pittao is trying to find you! You must find him in the sea of duelists.

Reward: $50 with a $10 bonus if he does not call you “Penisfag”

I pressed the Start button, and this menu popped up:

YUGIDEX

YUGIOHs

>ITEM

Allen

SAVE

OPTION

EXIT

I went into my bag of items and found the perfect one…

CANADIAN RADAR: Locates hidden Canadians in the room. Requires 50 steps to charge.

I walked around for a bit, used the Canadian Radar, and found him in no time. Pittao was playing Decree plants. I completed my mission and got the bonus! Currency: $1,001.50.

Immediately another mission popped up. I guess Master Ginger wasn’t kidding when he said that I would have more missions than usual.

Mission Name: It Doesn’t Matter(n)

Mission Description: Jake Mattern is emo because he had his Gladiator Beast deck stolen on Friday. Give him a confidence boost so he can make top32.

Reward: $5,000

Allen: “So Jake, what deck are you playing?”

Jake: “Frog Monarch.”

Allen: “That deck looks terrible. There’s no way you’ll top with this!”

Unfortunately Master Ginger said that I had failed the mission. I don’t really get why. I did just as I was told! He gave me a new mission since I had failed the last one.

Mission Name: Defeat the Gyms

Mission Description: There are 8 gyms that you must defeat on Day 1. Each gym awards a gym badge for defeating it. You need at least 6 badges to advance to Day 2. At the end of Day 2, you need to have 8 gym badges to face the Elite 32.

Reward: $1000 per gym

Before I was able to enter the gyms, I had to listen to a bunch of announcements during the player meeting. There was some confusion regarding Master Ginger and the “Bounty Duelists.” He thought that they were bounty in the literal sense (i.e. I was supposed to assassinate them). After I clarified that this was not the case, it was time for me to enter my first gym.

Gym #1: “Noob Sauce Gym”

This gym was playing Decree Plants (with Quickdraw) but he made some inefficient plays. Despite the fact that he drew ridiculous hands in both games, he didn’t play them very well, and I 2-0ed him.

And with that, I collected my Noob badge and $1000. Currency: $2,001.50.

Gym #2: “Blackwing Gym”

He was playing a pretty standard version of Blackwings. If I recall correctly he had some number of maindecked Mystical Space Typhoons. This was a popular choice for Blackwings at this event. He defeated me in game 1, but I used a Max Revive and got game 2. Then I won game 3 in time.

I was glad to earn my Feather badge and collect another $1000. I was feeling pretty good about this tournament. Currency: $3,001.50. There was some guy doing yo-yo tricks so I watched him to pass the time until round 3 was posted.

Gym #3: “Mirror Gym”

He was playing Decree Plants (no Quickdraw). I smashed this guy 2-0; the games weren’t close. My Yugimons were just too strong for him to handle.

I got the Mirror Badge and another $1000 in my pocket. Currency: $4,001.50. Pretty much all of my fellow trainers were doing well at this point. They had all earned either 2 or 3 badges. But I knew that I had trained harder than my friends and I would be able to surpass them all!

Gym #4: “Local Gym”

This was someone from my locals named Sean Snipes. He usually did well at our locals with a Macro Cosmos deck, but he was not a master like myself. Game 1 I destroyed all of his RFG cards and I won fairly easily. Game 2 I didn’t really draw any monsters. Then game 3 I wrecked him with a turn 1 Scrap Dragon.

This victory earned me a Snipe Badge and $1000. Currency: $5,001.50

Master Ginger wanted me to find someone else for him, The Cloaked Duelist (reward: $200). I found the Cloaked Duelist (he’s pretty easy to find), passed go, and collected $200. Mission accomplished! The Cloaked Duelist currently had 3 gym badges and he seemed in good spirits. Currency: $5,201.50

Currency: $5,201.50

Gym #5: “Lucksack Gym”

This guy was playing Blackwings. Game 1 was close. Until I did a Cold Wave + Black Rose combo. He plays Dark Armed, blows up my Dandylion tokens and attacks for game. Game 2 I win fairly easily with my sidedecked Royal Decrees. Game 3 he plays Deck Devastation Virus and gets everything out of my hand. Then he beats me in with Boras.

I didn’t really remember this match very well. I woke up in some weird hospital. They said that I blacked out after I had lost my match. That’s a bit weird…

I was upset that I was not able to obtain the Sack badge. There were only 3 gyms left for today; I just wanted the day to be over already! I figured if I defeated the last 3 gyms I would be in a good position to face the Elite 32 tomorrow.

Gym #6: “Gravekeeper Gym”

The gym leader’s name was Sean McCabe. From what I understand, he did quite a good job at taking down the Elite 32 on Sunday. I got one game using my sidedecked Genex Ally Duradark, but his Royal Tributes in games 2 and 3 were too much for me to handle.

I woke up in the same hospital as last time for the same reason (I blacked out after losing). I wondered if I had a concussion that was causing this or something. The pressure was on now; I couldn’t lose another match!

Gym #7: “Shooting Star Gym”

In game 1, this duelist played a Shooting Star Dragon right into my Solemn Warning. Game 2 I got some Lonefire Blossom combos going and beat him pretty easily.

I got my Star badge and another $1000. Currency: $6,201.50. All I had to do was defeat the last gym leader and I would advance to Day 2.

Gym #8: “Slow Gym”

He had a team of all Slowpokes. We went into time almost as soon as game 3 had started. I barely beat him. In the last turn of time I was down by 1700, and I made a Black Rose Dragon and attacked for game.

I finally got the last badge that I needed to make Day 2, the Slow badge! Currency: $7,201.50. We went out to dinner afterward at some sports bar. It was so great to get back to my room. I took a long rest and healed my team.

Sunday

Recall from Saturday that I currently had 6 badges and needed 8 to play the Elite 32. I decided that I would need to buy some items. I visited the YugiMart and purchased a pack of sleeves and a YugiBall. I was stocked up on items and ready to take down the last two gyms!

Gym #9: “Droo Gym”

This guy said he knew me from DuelistGroundz. His name is DrDroo on there. He was playing Gravekeeper’s but I managed to 2-1 him with the help of my trusty Genex Ally Duradark. He seemed a little off/tired/tilted. For whatever reason he wasn’t playing as well as I thought he should have.

I collected by Droo badge, and I was pretty excited. One more gym, one more badge, and I would have my chance to face the Elite 32! Currency: $8,201.50 I talked to all of my friends, and most of them only needed one more badge as well. I wanted to see my friends do well, but I knew that I was also competing with them.

Gym #10: “Gigaplant Gym”

I have a plant deck teched to beat the mirror match (I had 2-0ed three plant decks so far), but his deck was even more teched to beat the mirror. I Effect Veiled his Lonefire Blossom, but he got me good with a Super Solar Nutrient. Game 1 ended up taking awhile, and he ended up winning game 2 in time.

I missed out on getting my Giga badge, so I only had 7 badges! Close but yet so far. I blacked out yet again, but this time I woke up in my bed at home in Tampa. There was $1000 on my nightstand with a note attached: “You’re the best duelist Allen!” A little creepy, but I’ll accept the money nonetheless… Currency: $9,201.50

And this ends the tale of how I acquired over nine thousand dollars at a Yu-Gi-Oh! Tournament. Thanks to anyone who actually read all of this.

Author’s Note

Next week’s article “How To Fool All of Your Facebook Friends With a Stack of $1s and Good Photoshop Skills.” The title seems a bit long though, so I might just write about something else.

Also, for the most adventurous types out there, re-read my article and turn it into a drinking game. Every time I make a reference to Pokemon, take a shot.

Pre-YCS Atlanta Tier List

Starstrike Blast just became legal for play only a few days ago, and people have been speculating a great deal on what will win YCS Atlanta. Despite the fact that my last tier list article was not received particularly well, now seems like a great time to write another one! Those preparing for a YCS should always have a clear perception of what the decks to beat are. If you don’t even know what you’re trying to beat, how can you expect to win?

I’m going to reiterate the concept of a tier list and what factors I take into consideration when creating it. First of all, the tier list is based on a general worldwide meta (as opposed to what people are playing locally). I get an idea on what the meta is based on what decks have been doing well and also any statistics that are given after a YCS has been completed. Those doing event coverage will often give a meta breakdown, saying what percentage of the meta each deck controlled. Note that this means if your meta (for locals, regionals, etc) drastically differs from what is seeing play in large-scale worldwide events, you might be better off playing different decks than what the tier list recommends.

Public opinion is taken into account when creating the tier list. If everyone thinks that decks X, Y, and Z are the best decks, those decks will be played the most, developed the most, and probably will end up winning the most. To a degree, this a self-fulfilling prophecy. Of course there are exceptions. Before SJC Orlando 2009, everyone expected Gladiator Beasts to be the second best deck. After zero Gladiator Beast decks cracked the top16, people quickly changed their minds.

“Jason Meyer is now taking Deck Profile submissions for YCS Atlanta! If you’ve got a [creative] deck list … shoot it to me Monday with some notes on your matchups against Blackwings, X-Sabers, Quickdraw [Plants], and Gladiator Beasts.” – Via Facebook

Jason Meyer has been a part of the Yu-Gi-Oh! coverage team ever since I can remember, and he usually handles feature matches and deck profiles. Why do you think he is so interested in hearing about how you are beating Blackwings, X-Sabers, Quickdraw/Plants, and Gladiator Beasts? He didn’t pick four decks at random. What he was implying was, “I expect these to the be the most played decks. These are the decks to beat. Tell me how you are going to beat them.” A facebook post such as this one is just one element of public opinion.

In addition to the meta and public opinion, I also have to look at results; which decks are putting up the best numbers? It’s hard to make an argument that X-Sabers aren’t the best deck when they are consistently winning more than any other deck. There are usually threads on Pojo/Duelistgroundz tracking which decks are winning at regionals/YCSs the most, so that makes it more convenient for me.

The final tiebreaker after I’ve looked at the meta, what everyone else thinks, and what’s been winning is my own personal experience. Note the word “tiebreaker”. For example, shortly after The Shining Darkness was released, there were two very hyped up decks: X-Sabers and Infernities. They both occupied roughly equal shares of the meta. Public opinion was divided on which deck was better. They were both winning equally. I wrote my “Earth-Imprisoning Mirror” article explaining why I believed that X-Sabers were the better deck (less weaknesses). This is a case where I used my own opinion as the tiebreaker. In this case, I turned out being right, but I’ve certainly been wrong many times in the past.

A tier list is not meant to tell you what deck to play; it’s saying “On average, these decks will do the best in the current meta.” Clearly, there will be other factors that will influence your decision of what deck to use: experience with the deck, playtesting, what cards are available for you to use, and preference.

Here’s the tier list that I have come up with as well as a brief description of each decktype for those aren’t familiar.

God Tier: “Good matchups against nearly all of the competitive field”
1. X-Sabers – Also known as “Faultroll combo”
2. Plants – Also known as Dandylion.dek
3. Blackwings – Self-explanatory

Good Tier: “A good choices in most fields, but has one or more very poor matchups”
4. Gladiator Beasts – Self-explanatory
5. Anti-Meta Variants – Includes Gemini, Stun, Gravekeeper, and RFG strategies
6. Scraps – Self-explanatory

Almost There Tier: “Has many coin-flip matchups, some bad matchups, and a few favorable ones”
7. Machina Gadgets – Also known as the “I hope you don’t have Cyber Dragon” deck
8. Infernities – If your name is Dale Bellido, this deck gains two tiers.
9. Lightsworn – Did you almost forget that Judgment Dragon still exists?

Mediocre Tier: “Has a hard time against all of the decks in the upper tiers”
10. Monarch Variants – Most of these decks are based around Treeborn Frog.
11. Black Salvo Decks – Card-advantage based decks utilizing the Dekoichi and Black Salvo interaction.

Uncompetitive Tier: “Also known as the ‘everything else’ tier. Any deck that wasn’t listed above has topped little or no major events.”

I feel that most good players will agree with my opinion on the best three decks. How do competitive players feels about X-Sabers? The same way we felt about Lightsworn in 2009!

Person A: “I hate playing X-Sabers. The deck takes no skill. I feel so dirty every time I win.”
Person B: “Yep, but it still wins more than everything else!”

Every deck obviously requires skill (every time I think that a deck takes no skill to play, a huge idiot quickly proves me wrong). However, X-Sabers are not what I would call a very skill-intensive deck. From an expected value standpoint, X-Sabers are without question the best deck. I’m actually very thankful that only a few players in my area use the deck. There really aren’t any decks that can consistently beat X-Sabers. X-Sabers just have too many unbeatable hands.

X-Sabers play a bit differently after the banning of Rescue Cat. It’s no longer “summon ze cat and win.” The deck tries to play an uncontested X-Saber Faultroll after using Cold Wave, Giant Trunade, Trap Stun, or Royal Decree to stun your opponent’s spells and traps. The deck usually plays Pot of Duality or Gold Sarcophagus to find its combo pieces quickly. Yes, X-Sabers are basically a combo deck. After you land an X-Saber Faultroll, it’s pretty hard to lose.

Plants are on lock for second best deck with the release of Starstrike Blast. The X-Saber matchup is still tough, but it’s certainly winnable. If you’re curious about Plants’ new plays after the release of Starstrike Blast, I highly recommend that you read Spotlight on Plants. Plants are my style more-so than X-Sabers, and they are most likely what I will be playing at Atlanta.

From a historical standpoint, Blackwings are a very interesting deck in the way that they have evolved. When the deck became competitive we could use 3 Black Whirlwind, 3 Gale, and 3 Dark Strike Fighter. The format shifted and we were down to 1 Gale and 0 Dark Strike Fighter. “Clearly Blackwings aren’t good anymore.” And then they won SJC Orlando, picking up some new tech: Royal Oppression. Then Konami told us only 2 Black Whirlwinds and 2 Royal Oppressions. “Could Blackwings still be good?” The answer was yes. “Ok, screw you guys. Now you can only use one Black Whirlwind and one Royal Oppression. How are you supposed to win now?”

No matter what restrictions Konami gives us, Blackwings always find a way to remain competitive. At the beginning of this format, I was definitely in the “Blackwings suck” boat. With only 1 Black Whirlwind, I felt that Blackwings would not be able to get as much card advantage and would simply run out of gas. I slowly realized I was wrong, and then I was playing Blackwings myself. I almost top8ed a regional in Orlando, and then I top8ed a regional in Tampa. Blackwings were primarily an OTK deck in the summer of 2009 but are now an aggro/control deck today. The deck is mainly about having answers to everything your opponent throws at you. Early incarnations of Blackwings played only two copies of Icarus Attack, whereas now three Icarus Attacks are a key element of the deck.

I almost wanted to include Gladiator Beasts in the God Tier. Almost. If you look at the past few YCSs Gladiator Beasts have simply not been winning despite putting forth a strong showing at the beginning of the format. However, most good players, including myself, agree that Gladiator Beasts are one of the best decks. Gladiator Beast War Chariot is still really good at stopping pretty much every monster effect. The weaknesses of the deck haven’t really changed; it’s very hard to win with monster-heavy hands. Blackwings are still a tough matchup. Gladiator Beasts are very annoying and hard to play against. Getting a good read on their set spells/traps is key to beating the deck.

Players will often make the assertion that it’s impossible for Anti-Meta to ever be top tier, but they are simply wrong. Anti-Meta has been top tier in the past, and it’s top tier yet again. The Gemini Spark, Elemental Hero Alius, and Hero Blast interaction is very good. Gravekeeper’s have gained some new options with Recruiter. Thunder King Rai-Oh is still good at what it does. However the deck’s matchups aren’t amazing and it suffers some of the weaknesses as Gladiator Beasts.

And the winner of most underrated deck post-Starstrike Blast is… Scraps! There aren’t a lot of people playing this deck right now, but from what I’ve seen it’s good enough to be a competitive option. There are some consistency issues that need to be worked out, but I feel it’s only a mattern of time before someone creates the optimal build.

I honestly wish the card Chimeratech Fortress Dragon didn’t exist, because I would love to play Gadgets competitively again. The fact that everyone has an easy splashable answer to the momentum that Gadgets provide is very unfortunate. This deck can still pull wins out of nowhere with cards like Ultimate Offering, Future Fusion for Jinzo + Returner, and Limiter Removal. If you do play this deck though I would highly recommend 2 Bottomless Trap Hole, 3 Solemn Warning, 1 Solemn Judgment, 1 Royal Oppression. The more answers to Cyber Dragon the better! This deck has some solid game 1 matchups, but after sidedecking it goes downhill a bit.

The banlist changes compounded with the fact that people are still siding a considerable amount of graveyard hate have prevented Infernities from having many good showings this format. Setting up big plays usually involve a lot of cards and effort. Infernity Barrier is still a powerhouse, but it alone is not enough to make the deck one of the top competitors.

Some Lightsworn variants have seen moderate success this format, ranging from Twilight and ZombieSworn to FlamvellSworn. Judgment Dragon is still good at cleaning up big fields, but I think it’s going to have some problems dealing with Shooting Star Dragon.

I’ve tested Frog Monarchs a bit this format, and the printing of Solemn Warning and Effect Veiler really hurt the deck’s viability. The deck has gained some new hype with Fishborg Blaster into Formula Synchron combos, but I don’t think it’s going to be enough to propel the deck to top tier status.

Black Salvo based decks seem like a strickly worse version of Plants. If your goal is to be Black Rose’ing the field, I think you’re better off sticking to Debris Dragon. It’s also harder for this deck to utilize Formula Synchron compared to the Plant variants. You can try Battle Fader + Glow Up Bulb, but that’s about it. I don’t see this deck having any great matchups at the moment. Maybe next format.

That sums up my thoughts on the current format. Hopefully when I’m back next week I’ll be writing about how I won YCS Atlanta. I’m looking forward to seeing all of my friends at this event, and I know it will be a blast.

Didn’t Win Anything

Everyone knows the prize support at regionals. For getting top8 at a regional, you get a special mat. For top4, a special binder. They both have little trade value; neither the mat or binder are very relevant from a value standpoint. Back in the UDE days, if you wanted to go to nationals you had to get top4 at a regional (with pass-downs). Nowadays, you only need to get top16 or top24 at most regionals to secure an invitation. Everyone who’s decent will get one before the year is over. Packs were usually awarded to top16, with top4 getting a box. Oh, and top8 still got a mat. So to compare…

Two years ago:

- Battling for packs

- Battling for a trip to nationals

- Battling for a mat

Now:

- Battling for a mat + binder

When I top8ed my first regional, and then won in the top8 to get my “nats invite” it felt like a huge accomplishment. Then I got a box and opened it up when I went home. And then I had a mat as a status symbol, so everyone at locals would know that I had finally top8ed a regional. “Back in my day” top8ing a regional was a much bigger deal.

To a degree, the glory of top8ing regionals has been taken away from us. Did you ever play sports as a kid? Were you ever in a league that gave every team trophies regardless of how well you did? It’s the “everyone wins” attitude. Unfortunately for the competitive player like myself,  organizers would rather make sure that everyone who shows up at regionals gets packs instead of giving out packs to the top8. They would rather give out invites to the top 14% instead of the top 4%.

Maybe someday a TO in Florida will spice up the prize pool and give away a box to each player who top4s and bring back some glory to this game. I mean, it’s pretty unlikely that it will ever happen, but a man can dream, can’t he?

There isn’t really much at all to be gained from top8ing a regional, but players such as myself put in a lot of effort in doing well at regionals anyways. Why do we want to top8 regionals so badly? It’s simple: To say we did it. I’d top8ed ten regionals already, but isn’t saying that I’ve top8ed eleven sound a little more impressive? Not really, but hopefully in a couple of years I’ll be able to say I topped fifteen or twenty.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein

Like I said, I worked very hard to ensure that I would top this regional. So after long hours of hard work I decided to… not change anything? I came to the conclusion that my main deck from the Orlando regionals (in which I went 6-2) was optimal.

Monsters: 19

1 Dark Armed Dragon
3 Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn
3 Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame
3 Blackwing – Bora the Spear
3 Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow
3 Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North
1 Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind
2 Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor

Spells: 10
2 Pot of Duality
2 Cards for Black Feathers
2 Book of Moon
1 Black Whirlwind
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Allure of Darkness

Traps: 11
3 Icarus Attack
1 Royal Oppression
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Solemn Warning
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
1 Delta Crow – Anti Reverse

To put it simply, there was really nothing that I wanted to take out from the deck or add to it. I like the way the deck currently played. The only card I would consider cutting from the deck is Mirror Force. I like the card because it kills Tytannial, Princess of Camellias. I thought that the sidedeck probably needed some work though.

Sidedeck: 15

2 Cyber Dragon

2 Banisher of Radiance

2 D.D. Crow

2 Nobleman of Crossout

2 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Skill Drain

2 Starlight Road

1 Seven Tools of the Bandit

I thought that this sidedeck would cover all of my key matchups: Blackwings, Gladiator Beasts, Plants, and X-Sabers. Here’s how I would usually side for those four matchups.

Blackwings:

–1 Royal Oppression

–1 Mirror Force

–1 Cards for Black Feathers

+2 Starlight Road

+1 Seven Tools of the Bandit

Starlight Road was my gameplan post-sidedeck, because I found that people would simply not play around it. I was very confident in my Blackwing matchup because I felt my patience and superior sidedecking would pay off in the mirror.

Gladiator Beasts:

–1 Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North

–1 Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor

–1 Cards for Black Feathers

+2 Cyber Dragon

+1 Seven Tools of the Bandit

Depending on Gladiator Beast player’s build and playstyle I could bring in Mystical Space Typhoon or Skill Drain. The Gladiator Beast matchup is favorable, but it can be a grind if the Gladiator Beast player has a lot of experience against Blackwings and it teched to beat it. For example, a trend in this area has been to play two copies of Gladiator Beast Hoplomus in the maindeck because of its strengths in the Blackwing matchup.

Plants:

–1 Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North

–1 Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor

–2 Cards for Black Feathers

–2 Book of Moon

–1 Delta Crow – Anti Reverse

–1 Torrential Tribute

+2 D.D. Crow

+2 Mystical Space Typhoon

+2 Nobleman of Crossout

+2 Skill Drain

The sidedeck plan can change a lot after game 2 when I see what they bring in. Most of the good Plant decks pre-Starstrike Blast will be either maindecking Royal Decree or siding it in, which is why I side in Mystical Space Typhoon. D.D. Crow stops Pot of Avarice and Debris Dragon. Skill Drain and Nobleman of Crossout have the same goal of disrupting the Plant player’s flip effect gameplan. In addition, if he brings in Consecrated Light I will probably bring my Cyber Dragons because it’s a non-dark monster.

X-Sabers:

–1 Blackwing – Bora the Spear

–1 Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor

+2 Banisher of Radiance

Admittedly, I decided not to side against X-Sabers because they are not popular in our area (despite the fact that they are popular basically everywhere else). My decision paid off because I didn’t play against X-Sabers all day! There was only one build of X-Sabers at the top tables, which was a Royal Decree version being piloted by Michael Lux.

During the day, I played against, in order: “Vayu Turbo” Blackwings, Gladiator Beast Beasts, Monarchs, Dragons, Gravekeeper’s, Infernities, Blackwings, Blackwings. I went 7-0 in the swiss rounds and lost to the Blackwing deck in the top8. I expected to play against a diverse field, which made Blackwings a good choice. Blackwings is a deck that isn’t built to tackle a specific element of the metagame; it has solid matchups against the entire field. The fact that I played a very standard and a consistent build helped me in the long run I believe.

I had a few “lucky breaks” throughout the day. My round 2 and round 3 opponents both got gamelosses, and I was paired down in rounds 3 and 5. There were only 106 players at this regional, and there weren’t many great players in the event. I’d say that regional was a bit easier than average.

My match against the Dragon player in round 4 was probably the most interesting. It was the only match that I played with a 2-1 result; everyone else in the swiss I 2-0ed. I played against him right after I eaten lunch. My body was digesting food, so I was a bit less focused than usual. I had Dark Hole and Monster Reborn at the best possible moment which was helpful. For the record, I don’t think Dragons is an outstanding deck, but for whatever reason it was my closest match.

Something that I thought it was be interesting to mention is the fact that I got no hours of sleep the night before the regional. I spend the night playing Magic Online (I did very well by the way, I won two 8-4 drafts). I also got no sleep the night before the 2K that I won. I’m not trying to say that a lack of sleep will give anyone better results at an event (confirmation bias, low sample size, correlation doesn’t imply causation, etc.) At both events I decided not to sleep because “zero hours of sleep is better than three.” I’ve discussed this with several players and there is theory that no sleep can be better due to the reverse psychology concept, “I know that I got no sleep and am more like to misplay. Therefore, I will concentrate harder than usual to not misplay.” I usually plan on getting a good amount of sleep before every event, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen due to my weird sleeping habits.

Blackwings will still be top tier following the release of Starstrike Blast, but I’m going to start focusing on fine-tuning my Plant deck (no pun intended). That deck is the real deal. The deck has a lot more potential than people think, and hopefully I’ll be able to prove that at YCS Atlanta. Expect an article next week and a YCS Atlanta tournament report the week after.

Despite not really winning anything, I was still glad that I made it to the top. No one really gets excited or surprised when I make top8 at a regional, but I like to do it to remind myself, “Hey, you’re still decent at this game.”