Ban list incoming!!! Wishes and prediction oh my!

Friday the 13th… ominous hmmmm? As konami stated, barring a batteryman rebellion the new list will be here soon. Now what does this mean for the game? It means that people will rejoice or whine for a week until there is a new meta for everyone to hate and argue over. As for it’s contents, here’s my predictions.

Banned

Return From the Different Dimension: I’m not going to say that everyone wants this card gone. I’m also not going to blame konami and say it should have never been a problem this format. It has always been a problem child and drulers gave it all the more reason to act out. It’s a bit unbalanced and is such a final play it’s not even funny. I have 100 LP? I will pay 50 to double Draco for the win. No thanks.

Sixth Sense: hasn’t caused as much of a stir as I thought it would due to consistency of getting it into the hand quickly. I do feel that as a card it is incredibly unbalanced even for when it was conceived in the OCG. I don’t like it, and feel that it was purely to generate cash flow for konami in Joeys World. It will be a fun card in traditional though.

Limited

Vanity’s Emptiness: A card that has truly shined this format as one of the best ways to control the field. It’s an amazing card that was overlooked for quite a while. It’s a perfect example of a star that shines twice as bright burns out twice as fast.

Trishula Dragon of the Ice Barrier: I know… but hear me out. After a few months legal in the OCG, it would seem that trish isn’t causing too much of a stir. Plus it’s ability partially fuels opposing dragon decks. Don’t like it, but It could come back and not ruin the game. Let it be known that I think it will be a mistake but could see konami doing it anyway.

Solemn Judgment: more of a wish than a prediction. I’m only saying this card could be if they keep flood gate cards at 3. If they lower those cards to 2 then I can see solemn staying banned.

Drulers: konami will shape the next format by deciding how to deal with the druler problem. If they knock them to 1 then we can expect to see the flood gate cards come down as well to inspire diversity. However if they want to knock them to 2 then I expect that the flood gate cards will stay at 3. If they keep them at 3 and choose not to address the problem at hand, I truly expect interest in yugioh to fall and thus dealing a major blow to sales and the game in general.

Debris Dragon: this card has only become a bigger problem because of drulers. With their ability to spam from the grave, debris dragon is essentially a black rose nuke followed by a potential 9400 attack if all 4 drulers are revived. If the dragons are hit then I can see this card escaping a more severe hit.

Spellbook of Fate: I see this getting hit. Maybe it will only go semi but I think it will go to 1. It’s a powerhouse removal card exclusive to what will most likely be the next tier 1 deck if drulers get hit enough. Not broken but it’s exclusivity and searchability make it a slightly unbalanced card.

Dragon Ravine: if drulers go to 1 then this will be on my semi-limit list or possibly fall off completely. If they go to 2 then I think this needs limited status.

Sacred Sword of Seven Stars: same as ravine. The +1 that drulers get from this is a major factor in it’s consistency.

Semi limited

Grand Spellbook Tower: searchable, recycler that pluses every standby phase… even with fate at one, this card makes it at unlimited.

Gladiator Beast Bestiari: Not causing much of a scene in OCG at 2 and will make glads semi competitive. They need it to continue to be a valid deck.

Evilswarm Kerykeion: this will tone down the evilswarm recovery engine. I hate ophion but it’s when I get rid of him to simply be replaced by another because of Kerykeion that I’m truly infuriated.

Thunder King Rai-oh: I hate this card… but unless they hit dragons and Spellbooks hard… This will come back to 2.

Royal Decree: many people think that this card will go straight to limited because it causes hell in a format that is without heavy storm. I personally think it will simply go to semi-limited first to see if it eliminates the consistency of it.


Compulsory Evacuation Device or Bottomless Trap Hole: one of the two will be back… personally I’m thinking Bottomless but hoping compulsory.

Reinforcement of the Army: don’t like to think about this one. But with tenki at two and some warrior decks lacking archtype search support, ROTA to 2 could help them more vaiable.

Unlimited

Tour Guide from the Underworld: with sangan gone, rank 3 xyz’s aren’t dominating and I think that TGftU will find itself unlimited.

Advanced Ritual Art: I think that it will become unlimited and then immediately be regretted as demise decks start showing up at tournaments and along with Dark Armed Dragon start raising hell. Won’t do that great but will stir the scene up a bit…

That’s about it. Most people think mermails will be hit bit I personally think they won’t. Maybe sphere will but that would be it.

Feel free to hate/love it. I tried being reasonable so let me know what you think.

Hero FTK success!!!!

Just a quick video of my hero ftk deck. Veiler shuts it down but only if you know when to use it! Here it is! Let’s hear what you think about it!

A dissatisfied gamers rant

Well it’s finally been announced and it is a huge let down on many levels. The release date for “Final Fantasy X HD Remaster” in the U.S. is march 18th 2014.
      Quite a while into 2014 if I may say so. Remember at E3 they happily announced that it would be in 2013? Well apparently SE doesn’t like to keep their promises with customers. Then the rumor mill churned out a bit of info pointing to an early 2014 release time frame. This was only a rumor for a while until recently when they released a trailer stating that it’s release would be this winter. Well they kept true to their word… barely. according to the calendar, winter ends march 19th. This is only a day after the release of the game. Hold on it gets worse…
         The worst part of it all for me, is that in japan both the PS3 and Vita versions are getting a side by side release but apparently the news on the vita release is quote “We’ve received a press release from Square Enix Europe, and it notes: ‘Full details of the PlayStation Vita version and release timing will be revealed at a future date.'”
This news is ridiculous and it just goes to show why this article is all too true for square enix. In it, it states they reported a 1.6 billion yen loss in the 1st fiscal quarter. I wonder why… it probably has to do with constant disappointment after disappointment.
Here is a tip to square enix. We don’t care that it takes so long. We get disappointed because you tell us one thing and then constantly change what you say. This game was announced in 2011… and finally in 2014 it will come to the light. Please don’t EVER give us a Kingdom Hearts 3 release date unless you know for sure…

P.S. please release Final Fantasy 12 on the Vita.

This card had better get banned in January

I have been pretty depressed about Yu-Gi-Oh since I saw that this card was being printed. As common going for 40+ dollars on the market currently, I cannot believe people pay that much… I cant lie, it’s an amazing card. Amazing along the lines Spellbook of Judgment in that it could result in a plus 5/6 or possibly send 1-4 cards to the grave from the top of your deck. Drawing 6 cards is simply obscene. Cards like pot of greed are a simple pure +1 and it is banned. KONAMI seems to think that in today’s format, sending cards from the top of your deck is a bad thing for all decks… well they are wrong…
       This card was put into this set to boost sales and only to boost sales. Lightsworn, dragon rulers, zombies, chaos… the list goes on and on. This card will change the game for the rest of the format and in my opinion leave a scar in everyone’s memory that doesn’t play a deck that this card helps. Honestly, I think konami will ban this card in January after they sell all they think they can sell of Joey’s World and that this card was one of the main reasons that they decided for a 4 month ban list.
       Tell me what you think… I for one am rather disappointed and until this get banned, I will most likely only play with friends. This card is an abomination and completely insulting to non-meta players.

Card of the week! Imperial Iron Wall!

Ahhhh those pesky dragon rulers… what are we going to about them. As they become more and more of a problem on DN Nd YGOPRO who don’t want to use them, we also try and find ways to shut/slow them down. Imperial Iron Wall can really help and should be side decked in any deck that doesn’t use remove from play alot.
Dragon ruler decks rely on removing cards from play to make most of their major plays. Requiring the removal of a mixture of 2 dragons or 2 monsters of their corresponding attribute to special summon from the hand or graveyard can allow insanely easy rank 7 plays. Start removing rulers and you also retain hand advantage a fodder for future plays all at the cost of… well in some cases… nothing.
Then Konami went and made things even worse and promoted the sales of their Dragon Ruler cards even more by printing Sacred Sword of Seven Stars.

Wow… really its like a Pot of Greed plus an elemental dragon of your choice… seriously Konami? You banned Statos who is a 0+ (and I guess maybe a near Heavy Storm) but made this? Its like graceful charity only you don’t have to discard and the third card Vnois toolboxed not just a random draw…
On top of that it shuts down the entire chaos engine. BLS, Chaos Sorcerer, Lightpulsar Dragon, etc.
On the other side of the coin, it allows for a number of offensive plays. It can be used to continually summon Plaguespreader as long as you have cards in hand. It can also be used to summon Quilbolt Hedgehog as lonf as you have a tuner. Combine the 2 and a Cannon Soldier to perform an effect damage OTK. Or combine with Little Swordsman of Isle for an infinite ATK combo.
Thats all for the card for now! Let’s here all of your thoughts on the card as well!

Nice win on YGOPRO

So I was playin 1v2 vs a crystal beast deck with a random partner and it ended pretty oddly when I took an 8000 ATK Rainbow Dragon with my Big Eye and swung for the win. Poor guy worked hard to get it out and it just so happened I got Big Eye out right at the right moment. Here’s the link so go check it out. It will keep this guy smiling!

Final Fantasy X HD possibly delayed until 2014.

Well I can’t say im surprised… Square Enix is famous for ruining thousands of peoples Christmas Wishes in the past and I think I know why. Recently they had a change of management due to heavy fiscal loss late 2012. I think that what happened is that they hired this guy.

This is the Burgermeister and he hates toys and happy Christmases.

Seriously though, SE has been churning out let down after let down and lie after lie to the point that I seriously am starting to doubt that Kingdom Hearts 3 is even really being made. I love old SE and was hoping with the real management change that they would get their crap together… but alas it would seem they want to harvest our tears and sadness for a more diabolical plan.

Get your shit together Square Enix… even I am losing faith… Everytime you push back this game, a ronso dies.

Decks I really want to complete

I have a few decks that I have been building for quite some time but have been unable to find a very few certain cards for a good trade. Here are just a few and what I need to finish them.

Ninjas: This deck is probably one of my favorites and on YGOPRO has proven to be consistent and game changing. It’s an inzektor splash with Dark Simorgh field control. Here is what I need.

1 White Dragon Ninja: This guy can be a real nuisance once he hits the field. Equip him with Safe Zone or the soon to be released Dragon Shield, and he will stay for quite a while. Play an Imperial Iron Wall and your only worry is him being bounced.

2 Dragon Shield: This card is coming out in Shadow Specters and will be a pre-release card in the JOTL Monster box as a super rare. This is actually a neat little card that I forsee getting alot of play in budget Evilswarm decks as it protects just like Safe Zone but doesn’t have the risk associated with it. It’s only drawback is that all battle damage involving the equipped card is reduced to 0.

2 Safe Zone: If I can find some Safe Zones for trade I will use 1 or 2 of them instead for a number of reasons. The first is Safe Zone doesn’t require a dragon as the target. This means I can give it to Simorgh if I need him safe for a turn. The second is that it can be used as a very offensive card. I already plan on using Mist Valley Falcon and when you combine his bouncing effect with Safe Zone, it means a 2000 beater that can kill a monster every turn before he attacks.

The next deck I want to finish is Aliens. Along with a few of their commons and rares, I recently aquired my second Cosmic Fortress Gol’gar and now only have a few cards I would like to complete the deck.

2 Code A Ancient Ruins: This card is truly one of the keys to the alien engine. It feeds Gol’gar by storing counters every time an alien is destroyed and after it has been emptied, it can be bounced back by Gol’gat to feed him even more counters. It is also one of the easiest ways to get Alien Hypno on the field and gemini summon him in the same turn.

1-3 Shooting Quasar Dragon: Yes thats right Quasar in an Alien deck. With a great hand, I can put 1 out pretty quickly and I’ve almost had 3 at once. Plus I think it fits well in the whole space theme.

Fire Fist Exodia: alot of people are perplexed by this idea because Fire Fist decks have a hard time with hand advantage as it is let alone with exodia takin up spots. But keep in mind that Exodia is a back up and can easily be sided out as it’s accumulation is based off of Fire Fist’s ability to thin, swarm and the 4-axis field control.

Another exodia set: self explanitory

3 Fire Fist Gorilla: I have my 3 bears from the tins but am now in need of 3 gorillas to finish up the 4-Axis field control.

2-3 Coach Captain – Bearman: This guy is the key to giving the draw power I need to speed up the Exodia play and to keep my hand advantage as high as possible. Using cards like Fire Formation – Tensu, I can fuel plays to give me level 4 Beast-Warrior type monsters on the field and then use Bearman to raise them to level 8. I can then rank 8 summon Coach King Giantrainer to give myself 3 cards and a card that isn’t exactly easy to kill in battle. Between Fire Fists thinning and Coach King Drawing, Exodia should come to my hand pretty quickly.

This guy here speeds up thinning even more! Chances are that Bear and Gorilla have both thinned a card or two with their effect and then we XYZ them together to thin again. On top of that, this guy really is a Dracossack killer. When combined with his own effect and a Fire Formation – Tensen, he boosts up to a whopping 3200 when you opponent attacks.

Theres a few decks I’m workin on and what im needing to finish. Unless Quasar gets a reprint, I’m gonna have to factor him out of my Alien deck. Safe Zone is too expensive currently and I hope thay it’s price drops when Dragon Shield comes to the TCG. Besides that, the rest of the cards are obtainable with a little patience. Tell me what ya think and shout out an idea or 2 of your own!

Ah konami… wasting cardstock…

Well Konami is at it again! Printing more cards that we don’t need and and some cards that we don’t want. Following the release of Joey’s World in early October, Konami has decided to shamelessly cash in on nostalgia and re-release “Duelist Pack: Yugi & Kaiba Special Edition”. Typically I encourage special edition reprinting as it usually lowers the cost of current cards in the pack and gives a chance a 1 or 2 Promo cards that are usually hot in the current meta. This release is quite far from the trend… The hook of this product isn’t an awesome promo. It is simply 6 packs for the price of 5. A normal special edition is already 3 for the price of 2.5 plus a promo so this extra pack may seem like it’s better than just 1 card. Typically this might be true but these duelist packs are full of cards thay we can’t use in the advanced format and cards that we already have. Cards like “Pot of Greed” and “Crush Card Virus” have been banned for quite a while, and I don’t see them EVER coming back to the advanced format. So unless I’m gonna hit up the Traditional format soon which I don’t plan on doing, we can assume that many won’t be buying these when we are anticipating both Shadow Specters and Wave 2 tins shortly after.

If you are excited please leave a comment as to why and validate Konami’s move.

An archetype that needs more love.

Too often in Yu-Gi-Oh do I bump into an archetype that I absolutely love but it never received the support it needed to make it a competitive deck for more than a format. Decks brandishing powerful cards that remain incredibly hard to summon or are just too prone to destruction/removal.

In my opinion no deck better fits this description than the “Alien” archetype. Released at the end of the GX era and the beggining of the 5d’s era, this deck was doomed to fail from it’s conception. Competing with decks like Lightsworn and Gladiator Beast’s speed it was like crawling on your face comparatively.  Also with the release of Stardust Dragon in the Duelist Genesis, it’s only synchro monster’s destruction effect was often hindered by the the then spammed Stardust Dragon.

Being a deck that relies on field control, it was cursed with incredibly low speed at the start. Each monster in it’s archetype benefited from the Alien exclusive “A-Counters”. Any opposing monster would lose 300 ATK for each A-counter attributed to said monster when battling an Alien Opponent(barring a few exceptions).

Until the release of Crimson Crisis, thats about the best they could do. They had a minor lock involving Alien Psychic and Alien Mars that if an opponents monster had an A-counter on it, it would not be able to attack and it’s effects would be negated. These monsters however conflicted with the main strategy of the deck which was to steal opponent’s monsters through “brainwashing”. Their effects were indiscriminate and would prevent your own monsters from acting as well.

In Crimson Crisis, Aliens finally aquired some powerful support in the form of their synchro monster “Cosmic Fortress Gol’gar”.

This card finally gave Aliens the boss monster they needed. 5 star synchro with 2600 ATK is crazy good. Plus it’s effect that supports field control by being able to bounce any face-up spell or trap to generate an A-counter for each card bounced. This includes opponent cards as well. Meaning continous spells and traps, equip cards and cards like “Swords of Revealing Light” can be removed from your enemy’s side or even recycled on your side. On top of this ability, once per turn you can remove 2 A-Counters from anywhere on the field to destroy 1 card you opponent controls. Thus allowing for even better field control.

This monster has 1 drawback however. It has to be summoned using “Alien Ammonite” and 1 or more non-tuner Alien monsters. Just as zombie synchros were given an amazing tuner but then held back by it being the only tuner available for their synchros, so were Aliens. The tuner is quite good in that when its normal summoned, it can special summon 1 LVL 4 or lower alien from the graveyard. It is destroyed at the end phase, but by then you will have synchro summoned Gol’gar or another synchro monster.

Even aftet their amazing synchro and tuner, it wasn’t enough to push this archetype into the Tournament scene for very long. In recent packs they have been quasi – supported by Kagetokage and King of Feral Imps. Kagetokage helps summon King of Feral Imps which allows you to search any alien in your deck to your hand.

I really wish that this archetype would have recived more love and support because I love the art, love the theme and think that if Konami had not messed up by making support affect both sides and not only the opponent that it would have done much better.

Leave you opinions and tell me what archetype that you would like to see get more support.