Merry Christmas

Wait, what?

Yeah, merry Christmas, everybody! And no better card to show this holiday celebration, than by the new card: Token Christmas.

Or, to say it in another way: the new Jump Festa Cards are out and for once, they do NOT suck. Each new card from the Jump festa has its use, even if it's just as a holiday card (lol).

Jump Festa

For those that do not know, Jump Festa is an annual party or exposition in Japan, all about anime and manga, sponsored by Shueisha, creators of the various Jump anthologies [/Shameless copy of Wikipedia].

And since Yu-Gi-Oh! is part of Shueisha, they always release two variants of card packs, with reprints and several new cards.

Why did you never hear of it until this point? Because most new cards in these packs are hardly worth playing. And when they get a print in the TCG, it's as a common in the 09x card pool, because the effects are not good enough.

What makes this year different? Well, all of the new cards are actually kinda good, or have a good use...

The new cards

Bright White Dragon Wyrbuster and Dark-Winged Dragon Collapserpent: You can call these two the younger versions of Lightpulsar Dragon and Darkflare Dragon, because they can only be special summoned by banishing either a LIGHT or DARK monster from your grave (sounds familiar) and they search each other when sent to the graveyard. Biggest use for them: Chaos Dragons!

Komodo Dragon: Also known as: "Thank god Future Fusion is Banned". When this card is sent to the grave, you can special summon a dragon from your hand (and it does NOT miss timing)! Dragon decks will rejoice with this card. Also, it's a Debris Dragon target!

Fishborg Archer: Broken as hell in water decks. Special summons itself from the grave by discarding a water monster (Atlantean Dragoons) when you control no monsters and it's friggin tuner, allowing for easy synchro-ing in water decks.

Fire God Vulcan: A Fire Beast-Warrior? Doesn't remind me of anything..... A level 6 that bounces cards back to the hand? Basically it's a watered-down version of Brionac in Fire form, but severely restricted.

Secret Sanctuary of the Spellcasters: Secret Village of the Spellcasters got its private sanctuary, because the two cards work so well together in locking down your opponent it's not even funny (for the opponent). After Secret Village locks down spells, this card locks down monster attacks AND effects. Combine that with Sorcerer of Dark Magic and your opponent can go straight to the scoop phase.

Fire Dance Longsword: A Fire Beast that works well together with the Fire King archetype and works well with Diawolf. Random destruction gives this card its power.

Nine-Snakes Peacock: A searcher for WIND attributes. This card works amazingly with Icarus Attack and Swallow's Nest, because it triggers when tributed and it DOES NOT miss timing.

Armor Kappa: If you want a replacement for Gachi Gachi Gantetsu, you can try this card instead. Same summoning conditions, can gain attack up to 2400 (unless Veilered) and can (during one battle phase) protect your monsters (all of them) from being destroyed and protects your lifepoints at the same cost (a discard cost).

Token Christmas: That's the intro card of this post. The card tributes 2 tokens (of the same level) to summon monsters from your grave of the same level. This card will work great in the new Phantom Beast Plane Archetype that will be in Lord of the Tachyongalaxy (more on that in a later post, somewhere in 2013).

Afterword

In short, these new cards are good and should not be looked over. I can't tell when they will be printed in the TCG (I expect from Lord of the Tachyongalaxy onward?), but I expect that all these cards (safe a few perhaps) will be played in their respective archetypes. So, if that happens, I think this Jump Festa will be a success.

Next time, I will post more about the fire archetypes, I will...

V out.

The Apocalypse is here... Analyzing the FIRE archetypes #1

In the first months of 2013, we’ll be flooded with a new structure deck with FIRE monsters and a booster set filled with FIRE monsters. A total of 3 new archetypes will spawn with those releases.

Upon request, I've analyzed the three archetypes and I’ll give you my results in the upcoming posts.

Analyzing the FIRE Archetypes #1: Splashable cards

No matter how good or bad an archetype is, almost each archetype has one or more cards that can be splashed into other decks. Hieratics have Tefnuit and Atum, Blackwings have Gale and Zephyros, Inzektors have Exa-Beetle, Madolche's have Magileine, etc…

So the question for today is: "What cards of the new archetypes can be splashed in other decks?"

Haze Beasts

Haze Beasts are the secondary FIRE archetype from Cosmo Blazer. And though the support for the theme is not that great compared to the other new archetypes, they do have one of the most remarkable xyz cards attached to their name: Haze Beast Basilicock

Basilicock is a Rank 6 XYZ that requires FIRE monsters, but is the first one that can use 2-5 monsters. Its effect gets stronger, the more XYZ materials you put underneath it.

Not mentioning the boosted powers (which are harder to achieve), the basic effect is already amazing. "Once per turn: you can detach 1 XYZ material to target 1 of your opponent’s monsters (either his field or in his grave). Banish it."

No further restrictions; no limits; it can even attack afterwards or before! It’s like Black Luster Soldier being reborn into a flaming bird. If the summoning conditions of this card weren't so limited, this card would be dead broken and banned asap.

Can you splash it in other decks than Haze Beasts? Yes, you can. Volcanics can use Volcanic Queen, Jurracs can use Jurrac Herra, Hieratics can use Tyhone #2 (or DNA transplant), Monarchs can use Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch (or DNA transplant), Lavals can use Laval Lancelord, etc.

So, by tweaking your deck a little, you might find a spot for Basilicock.

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist

Fire Formation – Tenki: Even if you don’t like the Fire Fist archetype, you DO want this card.

What it does? Simple. Upon activation, it searches a level 4 or lower Beast-Warrior (ANY Beast-Warrior).

Next to that, after the search, it remains on the field, boosting all your Beast-Warriors with 100 attack, which can make a difference if there’s a 1900-beatstick slugfest on the field.

Notable cards to search are: Gladiator Beast Laquari or Darius (not Andal, but he should remain in the deck for Rescue Rabbit), T.G. Warwolf, (X)X-Saber Boggart Knight or Ragirura, Wind-up Hunter or Rabbit, Koa’Ki Meiru Urnight or Crusader, or Fire King Beast Yaksha or Barong.

The other spell and trap cards are less splashable, since they’re the most effective in pure Beast-Warrior decks and how many pure Beast-Warrior archetypes are there nowadays? Two, to be exactly. Fire Fists and Phantom Beasts.

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist- Tiger King: If you are going to splash Tenki in your deck, you might want to consider this XYZ as well. Tiger King requires 2 Lv. 4 Beast-Warriors, searches out a Fire Formation card (Tenki) and sets it on the field. And next to that, it’s also able to negate all other monster effects on the field.

Next to the Fire Fist decks, this XYZ can prove its use in Phantom Beasts, Gladiator Beast, Fire King and even Koa’Ki Meiru decks.

Fire Kings

The third archetype in this series of articles is Fire Kings. These cards are not part of Cosmo Blazer (unless Konami puts Yaksha in the set or makes a TCG world premiere card). But we’ll have them when the structure deck “Onslaught of the Fire Kings” reaches our shores in February.

And, even if these new monsters don’t strike your fancy, you should not neglect the included spell cards.

Assault of the Fire Kings: When you don’t control a monster, you can special summon a FIRE Beast, Winged Beast or Beast-Warrior from your deck, but it’s destroyed at the end phase and its effect is negated.

This fits in each of the new FIRE archetypes introduced, since they’re either Beast, Beast-Warrior or Winged Beast. But it also supports Flamvells (Poun, Firedog) or even Gladiator Beasts (Laquari) or Ninja's (Red Dragon Ninja).

Fire King Fire Cycle: Even more splashable than the previous card is the quick-play card Fire King Fire Cycle. It destroys one fire monster you control to special summon another fire monster from your grave.

This is a great card to chain if your monster is being targeted for a card effect or if you want to exchange a low-attack monster for a boss monster.

And if you ask in which decks you can use this, you're being silly...

In ANY FIRE deck, duh.

Afterword

There’s no use talking about the Enthusiastic archetype, since there’s only a slim chance we’ll see them in this set (see previous post) and there’s only 3 of them (2 monsters, 1 XYZ).

Next post will go more in-depth with the archetypes itself.

Until then, V out.

Guessing the OCG promo inclusions – Cosmo Blazer edition

Originally, I intended to post this before the product page of Cosmo Blazer came up, but then I got sick last week and Konami was faster than I thought... but enough excuses.

It’s December. In a month, Cosmo Blazer will get its sneak peek in TCG land and since last week, the product page is up. So, it’s time to do some random guesses as what the OCG promo cards (cards 90-99) could be that are integrated in the set (lol).

The product page revealed 3 cards already, of the Fire Fist archetype (I thought they had a high probability of being in the set anyway), so there are 7 cards left.

Since Konami has a tendency to release some random cards in that card pool, guessing only gives me a 60-70% accuracy. But still, it’s fun guessing.

High probability of being in Cosmo Blazer:

• Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Horse Prince, Spirit and Lion Emperor: I originally put them on the “high probability list” and Konami placed them immediately on the product page, confirming my guess. My original reasoning: These three cards are part of the Fire Fist Archetype (these three started it). So there would be no reason for Konami NOT to put them in the set
• Ignition Beast Volcanon: I notice this card is on the Wiki page of Cosmo Blazer, but I can’t spot it on the product page. Anyways, it’s FIRE attribute, so it has a decent chance of being in this set. And it fits Konami’s description of a card of the era before XYZ summoning.
• Number 69: Heraldry deity, Coat of Arms: Key monster of the Heraldic Beast Archetype. Since the last Heraldic Beasts are in this set, it would make sense if this card is in the set (presumably as secret rare).
• Constellar Omega: Somewhere in February or March Hidden Arsenal 7 will be released (at least I hope so). As with previous Hidden Arsenals, there will be a card in the booster set before its release, linked to the archetypes in that Hidden Arsenal. Constellar Omega fits that bill 100%.

Medium probability of being in Cosmo Blazer:

• Constellar Sombres & Evilswarm Cercyon: Like Constellar Omega, these two are also linked with the archetypes of Hidden Arsenal 7, so it has a good chance of being part of Cosmo Blazer. But they’re the a few of the latest promo cards in OCG, so I wouldn't be surprised if they’re in the following set (Lord of the Tachyongalaxy) instead. But still, it’s possible.
• Crimson Blader: Oh, I would so LOVE it if this card would be in this set (I like it). It’s a FIRE attribute, so it goes along with Cosmo Blazer. It also fits the description of cards from the previous era on the product page of Cosmo Blazer. Cross your fingers that this card will be in there.
• Mono Synchron & Steam Synchron: Advanced Dark & Neo Space were part of the Duelist Edition reprint sets in the OCG and were secret rares in Return of the Duelist. Mono Synchron & Steam Synchron are also part of the Duelist Edition reprint set, so I kind of expect these two cards to get a TCG print soon somewhere. Konami might hold these cards until Legendary Collection 4, but who knows?

Low probability of being in Cosmo Blazer:

• All cards of the last V-Jump pack: I’m talking about Fire Fist – Chicken, Fire King Beast Yaksha and the three Enthousiastic monsters. All of them are FIRE, all of them are linked to the fire archetypes that will appear… but all of them appeared on the last Jump Alpha poll to decide the next Jump Promo Card. In other words, Konami does NOT have the rights to publish them yet. So, there’s a big chance these cards will not appear in the set, sadly enough
• Haze Beast Hippogriffo: At first, I thought this card would be a sure hit in this set, but the revelation that this card is going to be in the upcoming OCG structure deck changed my mind. There’s a near 100% chance this will be in the TCG version of the structure deck and thus not in Cosmo Blazer.
• Alpaca, the Holy Beast of the Forest: Together with Hippogriffo the last cards from the Jump Festa 2012 card packs to be released in TCG, so it has a (low) chance of being in this set. I kind of expected this card in Return of the Duelist, together with the other “Beast of the Forest” cards. But yeah, Konami likes to be unpredictable, huh.
• Power Tool Mecha Dragon & Ancient Fairy Dragon (manga): Two new cards of the latest Premium Pack in Japan. They’re the manga interpretations of Power Tool Dragon & Ancient Fairy Dragon. These two cards will not be printed in the Zexal Tin in March, so they’ll have another release, somewhere else. Cosmo Blazer may be a little too soon, though. They’ll probably appear in Lord of the Tachyongalaxy instead.

My 10 card picks

The previous mentioned cards are the ones that have a chance of being in Cosmo Blazer. If there are any other cards in the set not mentioned in this list, then those are a pure random Konami decision (like how Magician’s ape and Electromagnetic Bagworm were totally random in Abyss Rising).

If I would have to pick 10 cards, I’d pick:

1. Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Lion Emperor (already confirmed)
2. Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Spirit (already confirmed)
3. Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Horse Prince (already confirmed)
4. Number 69: God Medallion, Coat of Arms
5. Constellar Omega
6. Constellar Sombres
7. Evilswarm Cercyon
8. Crimson Blader
9. Explosive Beast Volcannon
10. Alpaca, Holy Beast of the Forest

TCG Exclusives?

Harder than guessing the OCG promo’s would be the TCG world premiere cards. Safe for the Sneak peek card, nobody has ever heard or seen those cards (except Konami employees and the card artists). Guessing would be silly, so just wait and see.

When the set comes out, we’ll see how right (or wrong) I am.

From tomorrow, the armageddon starts (lol), so expect lots of fire...

Until then, V out.

Card Rulings: Thunder King Rai-Oh!

Been a while, hasn't it? Well, I have been sick and I've been preparing a series of posts about the upcoming fire archetypes (a request). Those aren't finished yet, but another request came for a card that has been nicknamed “probably the best card in the game” in several formats. The card I'm talking about is the following:

Thunder King Rai-Oh is one of the best cards the GX manga gave us and has been a staple in many decks ever since (safe the March ’12 format, but let’s forget about that horrible period).

But the card text has caused much confusion and judge interventions in both real-life tournaments and DuelingNetwork. So here’s a post to clarify a few things about the thunder king.

Latest card text:

When understanding a card, it’s obviously you look at the LATEST card text.

"Neither player can add cards from their Deck to their hand except by drawing them. During either player's turn, when your opponent would Special Summon a monster: You can send this face-up card to the Graveyard; negate the Special Summon, and if you do, destroy it."

Adding cards to your hand

“Neither player can add cards to their hand, except by drawing them.”

As long as Rai-Oh is face-up on the field, all card effects that state “add x from the deck to your hand” are negated. So, cards like Sangan, Reinforcement of the Army and even Pot of Duality are stopped by Rai-Oh. Also, card effects like those of Atlantean Dragoons, Mermail Abysspike, Geargiarmor, Spellbook of Secrets, Madolche Magileine and Fire Formation Tenki are completely stopped.

As you might have noticed from the card names, the most recent archetypes are all about searching the deck, ensuring Rai-Oh to get a second life after he got in disuse previous format.

One thing that players tend to forget is that this effect applies to BOTH players.

Negating special summons

"During either player's turn, when your opponent would Special Summon a monster: You can send this face-up card to the Graveyard; negate the Special Summon, and if you do, destroy it."

Negating special summons? Nice, isn't it? That’s like a walking Solemn Warning!

One of the most common mistakes made with Rai-Oh is that people think it works like Solemn Warning. But it does NOT work that way. If you want to compare it to a trap, Black Horn of Heaven is the closest thing, really.

You’ll understand it better if I give a few examples:

Rai-Oh can negate the following:

• Special summons, because the field/grave/hand is as required on the card text. I’m talking about cards like Cyber Dragon, Photon Thrasher, Dark Armed Dragon, Grandsoil, Moulinglacia, Geargiaccellerator, Judgment Dragon, E-HERO Bubbleman and Lightray Gearfried.
• Built-in special summons, even if they have a cost. Cards like Machina Fortress, Lava Golem, The Tricky, or Grapha Dragon lord of Dark World (you still pay that cost!).
• Synchro Summons
• Xyz summons
• “TAG” Fusion summons (Neos fusions, VXYZ fusions, Armityle the Chaos Phantom & Gladiator Beast fusions)

Rai-Oh can NOT negate the following:

• Monsters special summoned by spell or trap cards (Monster Reborn, Call of the Haunted, etc.)
• Fusion Summons (Polymerization, Miracle Fusion, etc.). It cannot even stop fusions resulting from Fusion Gate
• Special summons that happen during the damage step (Gorz & Tragoedia, Searchers like Giant Rat, Mystic Tomato, Pyramid Turtle, etc.).
• Special summons caused by monster effects (Rescue Rabbit, Gravekeeper's Spy, Inzektor Dragonfly, Deep Sea Diva, Tour Guide, Goblindbergh, etc.)
• Ignition effect summons, like: Mermail Abyssmegalo, High Priestess of Prophecy, Destiny HERO – Malicious, etc.

Ignition effect summons Versus Built-in summons

The problem most players have with Rai-Oh’s negation is that they can’t differentiate between summons that use chain links and summons that do NOT use chain links (or Ignition effect summons vs built-in summons).

Konami has made it easier to differentiate between with the Problem-Solving Card Text (PSCT). I’ll give you the examples of Grapha (built-in summon) and Abyssmegalo (Ignition effect summon).

Notice the difference in the text? There’s a semicolon (a ;) in Megalo's special summon card text, while there is no such thing in Grapha's card text. Because of this, Rai-Oh can negate the summoning of Grapha, but cannot negate the summoning of Megalo. It’s actually that easy to spot!

It's harder to spot the difference on older cards, so I strongly advice using cards with PSCT, if possible

Afterword

If you run into ruling issues in real life, or on DuelingNetwork, feel free to link to this page.

Always ready to help out with ruling issues.

V out.

TCG-Konami & Duelist Packs

You might have noticed it's been a while since the TCG got their last Duelist pack. The last one that was released over here was Duelist pack: Crow and was quite a success, due to easy-to-get Blackwing monsters & Zephyros the Elite being one of the most splashable Blackwings ever.

But Kevin Tewart (the most known honcho of Konami) never made a secret of it that TCG-Konami does not like Duelist packs. The appearance of the Duelist pack Yuma last year made his point completely.

This 30-card set was something that the TCG didn't want. Out of the 30-card set, Volcasaurus was the only new decent card. Any Marketing student (with a specialization in card games) could see that this Duelist Pack would remain in store shelves for years to come.

So, until further notice, Konami will never again release a Duelist Pack.

"Come on, you do WANT one of my "amazing" cards
to make a Yuma deck, don't you?
Trust me, it's competitive!"

What about the new cards?

But stopping the line of Duelist Packs brought a new problem along with it. In each Duelist pack, there are a few new cards. Duelist Pack Yuma had 5 new cards. This year's Duelist Pack Kite/Kaito had an incredible amount of 12 new cards (lol, as if OCG-Konami was laughing in the face of its TCG-counterpart). But those cards need to get a TCG print sometime.

Kevin Tewart once said on Pojo that they were brainstorming a lot about a decent way to release this.

And then finally last week, after a long period of silence, the 808blog posted an announcement that 2013 would see the release of a new Premium Tin (the Zexal Collection Tin), which includes these cards.

The Zexal Collection Tin

In short, each tin will have 3 fixed Ulimate Rares (reprints), 4 random new Ultra Rare cards and 7 random new Super Rare cards. That's a total of 14 cards in each tin.

Also, the random cards will come from a card pool of 21 (new) cards, including the cards from the Duelist Packs.

So WHAT is in it?

The reprints? There's a great chance that these will be reprints of Jump cards (so non-US players can play them), like 7-Swords Warrior, Barbaroid, E-Hero Escuridao, Catapult Warrior or Shooting Quasar Dragon. Though I wonder which ones they'll pick, since all of the cards I just mentioned are NOT Zexal-related (lol).

And the new cards? Well, the tin art revealed cards like Volcasaurus and Photoknight Paladios, so I bet your ass most of the new cards from the previous mentioned Duelist Packs will be in here.

I so feel like a TV-shop salesman right now... <_<

But if you can count and you read all of the previous sections, you'll notice that the numbers don't match. 5 new cards from the Yuma Duelist Pack, 12 new cards from the Kite Duelist pack... that doesn't match the 21 new cards in total!

So, I guess there's still some speculation on what OTHER cards will be in here? Will there be cards from the upcoming OCG-premium pack (which includes Zubaba General)? Or will it be random OCG promo cards (like Number 56: Goldrat)?

Anyway, I'm looking froward to this release, since my main deck right now is a Photon deck and cards like Volcasaurus & Paladios are good XYZ monsters in general.

That's it for now.

Until next time, V out.

How to beat #2: Facing Macro Rabbit

Macro Rabbits have won YCS Barcelona, probably picking up a hype around the world. Facing a good deck backed with macro Cosmos can be a pain, but there are a few tricks to counter them.

Royal Decree, Trap Stun & 7 Tools of the Bandit

What's the most annoying thing about Rabbit decks? The defensive style of playing (boss monsters that negate, macro cosmos & enormous back row). But you can get a Rabbit player on his nerves with a mere face-up Royal Decree. If they're out of luck (and don't have materials left on Laggia or a set Solemn Judgment), they have to wait until they draw a MST or Heavy Storm to counter you. With a trap-heavy deck like Macro Rabbit, that can cause a game loss...

But if you don't want to make your own traps useless, a well-timed Trap Stun or Seven Tools of the Bandit can do the work just as well. Just make sure you don't use your Trap Stun on the activation of Macro Cosmos, because it remains on the field, even if it IS stunned for a turn.

Say, That's a nice Macro Cosmos you have there. What does it do?...
Nothing, that's right.

Forbidden Chalice

Forget Effect Veiler or Maxx "C" when facing a Macro Rabbit deck. Most of the times Macro Cosmos is going to be active when the opponent summons the bunny, effectively putting a stop to your hand traps. What card can save you at that point? Forbidden Chalice is the only thing, really. Neither Skill Drain or Fiendish Chain can stop Rescue Rabbit, but Forbidden Chalice can.

Also, since Chalice works both turns (unlike Veiler), a well-timed Chalice can negate the effects of Laggia and / or Dolkka, allowing you to active your spell/trap or monster effect.

This card may be the holy grail you're looking for...

Solemn Warning

This sounds weird, right? Why would I promote Solemn Warning during an age where everyone shifts to Bottomless Trap Hole?

Actually, it's pretty simple. Solemn Warning can counter both Starlight Road AND Macro Cosmos!

Starlight Road allows you to summon Stardust Dragon, while Macro Cosmos allows you to summon Helios - The primordial Sun. While Stardust Dragon is somewhat used nowadays, nobody uses Helios. Therefore, that secondary effect kind of gets forgotten. But if a trap or spell has an optional special summon effect, Solemn Warning can negate it, even if you don't use the monster mentioned on the card.

You use my trap, but not me? That's not fair!

Again, no deck is unbeatable. You just have to find the right tricks to face it.

Until next time, V out.

Macro Rabbits win YCS Barcelona

YCS Barcelona Was another successful European YCS with 820 attendees. All Saturday there were 7 rounds of Swiss, with the last 3 rounds being held today, on Sunday.

This was the first REAL European YCS the new format, so I was kind of curious how people all over Europe adapted with the new format. Will Dino Rabbit still be the most popular deck? Will people jump on the Inzektor-bandwagon of YCS Seattle? Will Mermails win? All questions that will be answered in this weekend.

Deck diversity was enoumous, spouting decks like Agents, Inzektors, Wind-ups, Chaos Dragons, Mermails, Rabbit decks (both classic & macro), Chain Burn, Geargia variants, Prophecy, Flamvell, Dragunity, etc.

At the start of day 2, 159 duelists kept on going for that top 32 spot. PJ Tierney analyzed what the top players played and concluded that it was very diverse.

Wind-ups were clearly the most popular deck of the day, as near 50% of all duelists left on Sunday played the deck.

After 10 rounds of harsh fighting came the list with the final standings. For your eyes too, this list can be found The following page.

Out of these duelists, there came the following top-32 cutoff.

Top-32

Decklists aren't out yet, but at least we know who played what on This page

In short:

13 tops of the 32 spots? That's near half of all the top spots! I know they were heavily represented, but this still is a LOT! They're certainly a force to be reckoned with.

PJ Tierney gave us a quick analysis of the topped decks and compared them to YCS Seattle. Check it out on: This page

Known people that topped were Simon Hé, Stephan Sluis, Peter Gross, Jack Bruun, Paul Clarke and several others.

These brave 32 duelists fought and only 16 remained. The Feature match was Simon Hé (Agents) Vs Frederico Zoppini (Mermail). A match that Frederico won btw.

The Top-16

16 people lose, including 2 agent decks, the sole Chain Burn, 3 Rabbits, 2 Inzektos, 5/6 mermails and 3 wind-ups, resulting in the following lineup:

• 2 Agents
• 2 Rabbit Variants
• 1 Inzektor
• 1 Mermail
• 10 Wind-up decks

With their continuous loop power, Wind-ups conquered the Mermails, leaving a sole survivor.

The top 16 had the following feature match: Peter Gross (Inzektors) Vs Jack Bruun (Dino Rabbit)

Only 8 survivors could continue into...

The Top-8

This time, the Wind-ups took a serious hit, being cut down from 10 to 4. Also, the last Bug was squashed (Peter Gross) and only 1 Agent was left alive.

So that resulted in the following Top 8:

• 4x Wind-ups
• 2 Dino Rabbit variants
• Mermails
• Agents

The profiles of the top 8 duelists can be found: On this page

The feature match in the top 8 was: Ali Fawaz (agents) Vs Luca Chetoni (Wind-up)

Final rounds

After being cut down to 4, all variation is still left. 4 completely different decks survive:

• Agents (Ali Fawaz)
• Mermails (Frederico Zopponi)
• Macro Rabbit (Jack Bruun)
• Wind-up (Stephan Sluis)

In the semi-finals, Jack Bruun had to face two-time YCS winner Stephan Sluis, while Ali Fawaz had to face off against Frederice Zopponi. How the second match went, I have no ide (but Frederico won). The match between Sluis & Bruun however, was Covered on this page.

In the finals, Jack Bruun (Macro Rabbit) faced off against Frederico Zopponi (Mermails) in an exciting finale. The match was covered here.

And the winner is

Congratulations to Jack Bruun! After a weekend, you rose above 819 other duelists and took this championship title with Macro Rabbit!

During this weekend, the next European YCS has been announced. It will be in Bochum (Germany) on February 23+24. Note the date, boys!

The Full Top-32 is:

• Winner: Jack Bruun - Macro Rabbit
• Runner-up: Frederico Zoppini - Mermail
• 3rd Place: Stephan Sluis - Wind-Up
• 4th Place:Ali Fawaz - Agent
• Top-8: Luca Chetoni - Wind-Up
• Top-8: Alpay Engin - Wind-Up
• Top-8: Rocco Tamburlini - Wind-Up
• Top-8: Robin Wetzel - Dino Rabbit
• Top-16: Paul Clarke - Wind-Up
• Top-16: Tolga Erkoc - Agent
• Top-16: Peter Groß - Inzektor
• Top-16: Nikos Hadjiioannou - Wind-Up
• Top-16: Sean McCabe - Wind-Up
• Top-16: Kristoffer Nielsen - Wind-Up
• Top-16: Alexis Payet - Wind-Up
• Top-16: Tony Vetuli - Wind-Up
• Top-32: Denis Bequiri - Inzektor
• Top-32: Leeroy Bitbol - Mermail
• Top-32: Thierry Cyganek - Wind-Up
• Top-32: Noel Garde - Mermail
• Top-32: Soner Güngör - Mermail
• Top-32: Simon He - Agent
• Top-32: Andrea Ippolito - Wind-up
• Top-32: Urh Kovacic - Agent
• Top-32: Sebastien Ma - Mermail
• Top-32: Felix Oberst - Dino Rabbit
• Top-32: Samuel Oliva - Dino Rabbit
• Top-32: Leonardo Pavone - Wind-Up
• Top-32: Piyal Peiris - Dino Rabbit
• Top-32: Sarimento Rafaelo - Inzektor
• Top-32: Joahua Schmidt - Mermail
• Top-32: Marcus Schultze - Chain Burn

So, that is all for now. Until next time, V out.

Quick Update - Astral Pack 1 Content all revealed

Weeks without updates on Yu-Gi-oh news, and then suddenly everything comes at once! After a bit-by-bit revelation, we finally know the full content of the first Astral pack (the new Booster Packs).

Top about this pack: No jank rares, no ultra rares, only commons, supers and ultimate rares. Each pack has 2 Commons and a Super (or an Ultimate Rare if you're lucky). And each Astral Pack will have a "new" card like the good ol' Tournament & Champion packs.

Content of the pack

• Tsukuyomi - Ultimate rare (cool!)
• Debris Dragon - Ultimate Rare (very cool!)
• Photon Thrasher - Ultimate Rare (amazing!)
• Flamvell Firedog - Super Rare (that card deserves it!)
• Genex Undine - Super Rare (well-timed, Konami, well-timed)
• Kagemusha of the Six Samurai - Super Rare (Fanboys will love this)
• Inzektor Centipede - Super Rare (with Inzektors winning YCS Seattle, this has great timing)
• Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit - Super Rare (cool!)
• Terraforming - Super Rare (meh)
• Moray of Greed - Super Rare (cool)
• Mask Change - Super Rare (meh)
• Hidden Armory - Super Rare (Nice, this has become a rare find)
• The Gates of Dark World - Super Rare (again, fanboys will love this)
• Chain Dog (Good for that "Rabbit is a Beast deck of mine")
• Dragon Ice (first reprint of a Secret Rare)
• Cyber Shark (First reprint of a Secret Rare)
• Swift Scarecrow (reprint with problem solving card text! Hurrah!)
• Elemental HERO Ice Edge (meh, Hero fans will keep the Super Rare)
• Mystical Sand (This is the new card! The fusion of Giant Soldier of Stone & Ancient Elf! Cool!)
• Spiritual Forest (hmmm, might consider this now, in my beast deck)
• Closed Forest (a reprint I wanted for a while now)
• Shrine of Mist Valley (why?)
• Thunder of Ruler (was a hard-to-find common, I guess)
• Fuh-Rin-Ka-Zan (again, why?)
• Astral Barrier (they had to make a reference to Astral, I guess :-P )

Note: if no rarity is noted, it's a common

Prophecy Destroyer destroys the weekly tease

In case you haven't been looking at the Yu-Gi-Oh! site yesterday, the content of the Prophecy Destroyer tin (tin 2.5) has been revealed (no weekly tease, all the cards immediately)!

And if the Hanzo tin was the best tin of the year and the Heliopolis the worst tin of the year, this one is a mix of both.

What's in it?

• Prophecy Destroyer (duh)
• Endless Decay (good zombie support and legal reprint for non-US TCG territories)
• Steelswarm Roach (yay!)
• Photon Strike Bounzer (yay!)
• Infernity Barrier (a little late, but I now people that will like this)

I've noticed some dissapointing looks amongst fans, since there's No Cardcar D (will be for next years tins, I guess) or Shooting Quasar Dragon in this tin, but I generally have no dislikes about this tin.

Until next time, V out.

Details and predictions for YCS Barcelona

It's been ages, but this weekend, there's finally another YCS in Europe (not counting Sheffield as that was a Battle Pack YCS). Prepare for: YCS Barcelona.

Me? I'm not going, I already used up all my days off :-P. But I'm posting this for all the people that might be interested in the YCS, or are going there.

The Event

YCS Barcelona will take place on December 1st + 2nd at the following address:

• Fira Barcelona – venue “Recinto Montjuic”
• Avinguda Reina Mª Cristina s/n
• 08004 Barcelona
• Spain
• Website of the venue is: www.firabcn.es
• Route description is available on: The firabcn site.

Also, if you pre-register at the venue on Friday, you get a limited promotional "item" (as its vaguely described on the Konami site).

Further details of the event can be found on On THIS Konami Page.

Side-Events

Sometimes more interesting than the main event, is the number of side-events.

Most surprisingly is that Konami Europe continues its "win a trip to the next YCS" event. At the beginning of the year, that event was the 100th YCS at Long Beach.

On Sunday during YCS Barcelona, the winner of this YCS Trial (as they've officially named it) will get a free trip to the next European YCS (free travel & accommodation). Now that is an exciting price to win, don't you think?

Other than the YCS Trial, the other side events are the usual ones (Giant Card, Battle Pack, regional qualifiers, win-a-mat and Dragon Duel).

Meta

I expect a LOT of Mermail decks to be there. Abyss Rising is now officially out for something close to a month, so most players going to Barcelona will have picked up their Mermail deck by now.

Other than that, I guess we'll be seeing the same variety of decks that we see in the US YCS's: Geargia mixes, Chaos Dragons, Agents, Wind-ups and Inzektors.

I expect Mermails to win this, personally. The Mermail players now have a bit more experience playing it, while the others are not always used to playing against it in real life.

Card Legality

Since ROTD:SE and the November tins, the cards with the most impact that were exclusive to OCG and the US have been reprinted (Shock Master and Acid Golem). So now, the most notable differences between US & Non-US territories are gone (for now).

The only key cards we can't use right now are Gustav Max (Hieratic), Shooting Quasar Dragon (Junk Doppel/Plants), Slifer the Sky Dragon, Kachi Kochi Dragon and E-Hero Escuridao.

The other (less notable) cards we can't use can always be found on the Konami site.

Final Notes

From Friday evening / Saturday morning, coverage will be posted on: The Coverage Site of Konami.

For those going, good luck and have fun!

Until next time

V out.

Deck Tests - Rabbit is a Beast!

Ever since Rescue Rabbit came out, I wanted to do something with it; something that was no classical Dino Rabbit.

With Rabbit coming out in the tins and the release of Abyss Rising in the TCG, I came up with the following EARTH Rabbit deck (or Beast Rabbit, whatever floats your boat).

Deck Choices

There may be some weird choices in here, but each card has its purpose.

• Chain Dog: Ever since XYZ came out, this card has become a Beast (and not only literally). When you use Rabbit to get 2 Beasts out, you can revive Chain Dog and turn an XYZ with 2 materials into an XYZ with 3 materials (Shock Master, Vylon Disigma). And since his effect is unlimited, you can revive him as many times, as long as you have 2 Beasts (Daigusto Emeral helps with this).
• The Vanilla picks for this deck are Mad Dog of Darkness (DARK Beast) and Soul Tiger (EARTH Beast), together with Sabersaurus (EARTH Dino). Mad Dog can be overlayed for Evilswarm Nightmare if necessary; Sabersaurus needs no explanation and Soul Tiger has value because its attack is below 1000...
• Tannhauser Gate: 2 monsters with 1000 or less attack become pimped. 2 Tour Guides can be turned into Photon Strike Bounzer. 2 Soul Tigers are turned into Thunder End Dragon.
• Naturia Cherries: When popped by your opponent, you get two more! And if you follow that up with Rabbit, you can sync into either Mist Wurm, or a Hyper Librarian + Naturia Beast/Catastor. Both ways out give you an advantage.
• Spiritual Earth Art - Kurogane: Nothing says surprise more than Kurogane. The moment you figure out what monster your opponent has, you can swap it with another monster from your grave. Did your rabbit get Solemn'd or veiler'd, swap it back, because it's EARTH!

Still playtesting with it, so the deck might end up changing a bit. But this is how I like it at the moment.

When I have more time, I'll give you some more deck tests :-)

Until then, V out.

Cards to look forward to in Cosmo Blazer

Now that Cosmo Blazer has been released in the OCG, let’s take a look at the cards worth looking forward to. I’m mostly ignoring archetype specific cards, unless they could be splashed into other decks.

And G-dammit, this set is amazing in terms of useful cards for everything (unlike the last two sets).

Effect monsters:

• Amarylease: Plants finally have another Lv. 1 monster to use (One for One). Its effect makes it easier for plant players to get Gigaplant or Tytannial on the field. Though its preferred use would be plants, it’s of course not limited to plants, but to all tribute style decks (Egyptian Gods, Steelswarm).
• Garbage Lord: This card is quite interesting. You can special summon this card (at the cost of 2000LP) and then use Inferno Reckless Summon on it to multiply. Or first summon Cyber Dragon/Ghost Ship and then this one. Enough fodder to get that Adreus or Crimson Shadow Armor Ninja on the field. And with its 0 attack, it’s a Sangan target.
• Aster Drawn: Hey, this looks a bit like Maxwell from Scribblenauts! Lol, Konami has gotten the license to release Scribblenauts in Japan and therefore releases the guy as a Yugioh Card! Its effect isn’t half bad either. It’s a lv. 4 spellcaster that can be treated as either a Rank 4 or Rank 5 material and gets you a plus-1 when used as xyz material. Combine this card with Garbage Lord or Photon Thrasher and you can get both an XYZ first turn + a free draw!

• Prominence Knight: Guess us complaining about Dust Knight and Shore Knight worked off. Here’s the fire variant of Armageddon Knight and at least this one is decent enough. Both when another fire monster or this card is destroyed (card effect or battle), you can dump another FIRE attribute monster from your deck to the graveyard.
• Valkyrie Knight: A great card for Warrior style decks. When destroyed, you can banish this card and another card from your grave to revive a high-level warrior (For example: Shi En or Colossal Fighter).
• Pyrorex the Elemental Lord: After The Earth lord & the Water lord, we get the Fire lord. Same as before, this requires exactly 5 FIRE attribute monsters in your grave (Laval anyone?) and is basically Ring of Destruction in monster form (eek).

XYZ monsters:

• Haze Beast Basilicock: A pyro chaos monster? My eyes went past this card because it’s an archetype card, but then I stopped to read its effect. This card is amazing! Once per turn, you can banish a monster your opponent controls (or in his grave) and then you can still attack!. This is also the first XYZ monster that allows you to use more than 2 xyz monsters (or use Spirit Convertor), with a maximum of five. Its basic effect is the banish effect, but the more monsters you use as XYZ material the better the effect becomes (attack boost, no effect target, destruction protection). The fire attribute makes it harder to summon, but mixing Haze beasts or Tyhone #2 in Hieratics will give the deck a boost!
• Terror Fang Wolf, Dire Wolf: They might as well have named this card Scrap wolf and admit it is Scrap support. Summoned by 2 level 4 monsters (Scrap Chimera/Beast/Orthros), allowing to destroy Beasts/Beast-Warriors or Winged Beasts (most Scrap Monsters fall under this category) and an opponent’s monster (similar to Scrap Dragon).

• Lightning Plover: This is the first Thunder XYZ and it’s amazing. Bouncing both a set card and a face-up card to the deck? That’s powerful. The wind attribute makes it a little harder, but there are enough decks that can use it (Harpie Ladies, Dragunities and Mist Valley decks).
• Shyneet Magician: A shy NEET? Lol, Even Konami’s laughing at neet’s now :-D. And look at that: The first Rank 1 monster that ONLY requires 2 materials. You’d start wondering if Konami would ever get the clue that its rank 1 monsters are f**king hard to summon. And it’s actually a good defender, so she’s not half bad!

Spells

• Zerozelock: It’s a rare sight to see Yuma use a decent spell. This is one of them and protects monsters with 0 attack. This can be handy in certain decks. Reptilliane decks focus around monsters with 0 attack, Hieratics spawn monsters with 0 attack and Fortune ladies have 0 attack when their effects are negated.
• Charging Emperor: Tribute summoned monsters cannot be targeted or destroyed by card effects? That turns your Steelswarm or monarch deck (as the name/artwork suggests), or your Obelisk / Slifer basically immortal. I bet we’re going to see this card a lot in the future.

• Quick Booster: Quick-play Spell support: It’s a way of getting back a limited quick-play spell card (Book of Moon), or adding one from your deck to your hand when destroyed by your opponent. Enough targets out there, like MST, Book of Moon, Forbidden Lance or Chalice, etc.
• Vestige of the war: Oh, an aftermath card of the Hidden Arsenal war:-O. And it’s a good one too. it’s like The Warrior returning alive or Dark Eruption, but less limited. Think about its use in HERO decks (Returning Stratos or Bubbleman), Plant Synchro (Debris Dragon), Junk Doppel (Quickdraw Synchron), Dragunities (any card) or Mermail/Atlantean decks (any card). This card is good!

Traps:

• Dimension Gate: Good card is good. You can banish your key card when your opponent tries to get rid of it and you can special summon It when he declares a direct attack. Though being careful is a trick, because this card does not return the monster, it special summons the monster!
• Breakthrough skill: What’s better than a card that negates an effect once? A card that can do it twice! This card is good and makes your opponent worry about when you will use it. It is near impossible to stop a trap that activates in the grave, right?

Yeah, these are the cards to look out for if you’re not interested in the included archetypes.

Of the included archetypes, I’m kind of interested in Gogogo Ghost (going to try mixing Rocks and zombies together), Orbital 7 (for my Photon Lightray deck), the Prophecy cards (Fool, Reaper & Sepher) and the Haze beasts (due to their XYZ).

With all the interesting cards in here, I’m going to testplay a few decks (not telling yet, first need some time to put together a deck and try it on DN ;-).

Until next time, V out.

Note: These are the OCG names from the Yugioh Wiki. These names and the names on Duelingnetwork are subject to change when the cards become released in the TCG.

The hits and misses of Abyss Rising

The report about my trip to Japan is over, so back to Yu-Gi-Oh! Related content!

Just like with previous set, I’ll give you the hits and misses of the new TCG set, Abyss Rising (according to my own opinion).

Hits:

• Water attribute gets great support and it’s not limited to the included archetype (Mermails). There are many cards in here that generally support water archetypes like Penguins or Ice Counters. Together with the structure deck, this can give fruition to a few nice water-style decks.
• Gagaga Cowboy: This card was a sleeper hit in the OCG, making it one of the most wanted cards of the set. Cowboy’s burn effect can be a sudden surprise. Those last 800 lifepoints you held on to, might be gone faster than you think. And honestly, I’m glad this card did not become a Secret Rare (sigh of relief), or this would’ve become the money card of the set.
• Magic Deflector: I mentioned it in my last post about Abyss Rising(Click here to read it), but Magic Deflector is a hidden gem (and it’s a frigging common card). It’s virtually a spell stun card, that cancels the effect of field spells, continuous spells and (most importantly) quick-play spell cards. This is the first card that can jam an MST, Book of Moon, Forbidden Lance or Enemy Controller WITHOUT A COST!
• That Wacky alchemy!: Didn’t realize the potential of this card until the Konami Blog pointed it out for me. Click here to read the powers of this card.
• Interesting twist to old cards: Giant Soldier of Steel? Attack the moon? It’s like watching the original Yu-Gi-Oh! Cardgame anime all over again. Props to Konami for introducing old classics with a new twist.
• Slushy: Safe having a hilarious name (lol, a slush monster) this card is a hidden gem in this set. I strongly advice getting a playset of this card while nobody realizes the potential (the card is dirt cheap). Getting 3 of them in your grave is easy. And honestly, having 3 Monster Reborn cards that activate in your grave for Sea Serpents is a god’s gift. The only downside is that right now, there aren’t that many great targets to revive available right now (Poseidra, Abyssmegalo or Divine Dragon Aquabizarre). But if we get some more high-level Sea Serpents, this card will pop up a lot.
• Electromagnetic Bagworm: This is an old card and the only effect monster left of the old OCG boosters and expansions that wasn’t introduced in a TCG set. People started wondering if Konami would ever get to it. It’s not the greatest of cards, but still I’m glad it’s in our hands now.
• Bahamut Shark: I hoped this card would be in here and it is! This is the key card of Shark in the manga and god, it’s way better than Shark Drake Veiss (his key card in the anime). This card (A) is a 2600 beat stick that can get over most other XYZ monster and (B) can special summon other water XYZ. Preferred targets are Leviathan Dragon and Aero Shark (2 beaters) or the new Mermail Abysstrite (from the upcoming set Cosmo Blazer). Abysstrite is a mighty defender (2800 defense) and special summons a Mermail monster when destroyed (by any means) and sent to the grave (bringing back Spike or Megalo). Combo’s with sharks and mermaids has never been so advantageous.
• Thunder Seahorse: (Notice how he DOES get a T I his name) The card was absent from the last set, but its honor has been restored in this set with a secret foil. Thunder fans (Watt & Batteryman) will love this card, as it gives a much needed boost for this type of cards.
• Balance: For a few sets now, the full set is balanced. There are good cards, but there are no clear overpowered cards, only introducing the Mermails as the next tier-material archetype (like how last set introduced Geargia’s) and giving more support to Prophecies and Madolche’s.

Misses:

• Some anime cards should better be left in the anime. Have you read the card text of Heroic gift? You must be really desperate for those draws, if you want to let your opponent gain 6000+ life points. Even in the Anime it wasn’t that much.
• The worst card in the set. Last set had the awfully bad card Cold Feet, this set has an equally bad card: The Humble Sentry (as opposed to the forbidden card “The Forceful Sentry”). This card forces one of your cards back in the deck. Why would anyone ever do this? Yeah, I know, there’s that combo with Mystic refpanel. But honestly, will you ever use that combo in real life? There are better ways to get rid of your opponent’s cards.
• Worst Armageddon Knight copy: Armageddon Knight > Dust Knight > Shore Knight. The usefulness of the carbon copies is decreasing with each set. Thank god, the fire one in Cosmo Blazer will be better again.
• The secret foil of Abyssmegalo & Spellbook Tower. Granted, they look pretty in that foil, but the prices for those two cards have gone up in a crazy way. And seriously, releasing a field spell in Secret Rare? This never happened before! Jeezes, they’re really turning Prophecies into a bling deck (like Lightsworns a few years back).
• This set might not be for you: If you’re not interested in the Mermails, Madolche’s, Prophecies or any of the included anime cards, there’s not really many cards in here for you. Outside of a few good cards (I think Gagaga Gunman, That wacky Alchemy and Magic deflector are about the only generic good card in this set), there’s not much to get in here. Thank god, this gets better in Cosmo Blazer.

That’s about it for this set. Next up, I’ll give you the cards to look out for in Cosmo Blazar.

Until then, V out.

V in Japan - The overview

This post serves as a clear line-up of my journey log. Click on one of the following links to see the post about the respective day

• Day 0 and Day 1: The Trip
• Day 2: Arrival in Narita, Visiting Kuramae en Harajuku
• Day 3: Visiting the Ghibli Museum & Shinjuku
• Day 4: Exploring Akihabara
• Day 5: Exploring Kamakura
• Day 6: Visiting the Senso-Ji and the trip to Takayama
• Day 7: Visit to Kamikochi
• Day 8: Exploring Takayama and the trip to Kanazawa
• Day 9: Exploring Kanazawa and the trip to Kyoto
• Day 10: Exploring Kyoto and experiencing the Kurama Fire Festival
• Day 11: Visiting Yodabashi and the Kurama Hot Springs
• Day 12: Exploring Nara
• Day 13: Kyoto Sightseeing
• Day 14: The Return to Tokyo, visiting Shibuya and Narita
• Day 15: The Return to Europe
• Day 16: The unexpected extra day

Note: Every link should work now! It's all written!

Update July 2014: I've updated all posts to fix several grammar issues, add links to everything we visited and upload pictures from Francis' share (still ongoing).

Enjoy the reading material.

V out.

V in Japan - Day 16

Day 16: The return

• Date: October 28
• Weather: Cold and clouded, with a bit of rain (look at that, real Belgian weather)
• Mood: Longing to go home

The early morning

Since my biorhythm was still set to Japan time, I woke up around 4 in the morning (which would already be noon in Japan) and couldn't sleep any further. I checked outside and see the taxi’s already lining up to bring the stranded tourists back to the airport.

Since it was still very early, I played some games on my phone (Triple Town, you should try it out as well), washed myself and got an early breakfast (buffet, yeah). Around 6.30, we got together, checked out of the hotel and got back to the airport by taxi.

We went through the same security procedures again (a necessary evil, I guess) and got a good cup of coffee in the check-in-zone (I wonder if Francis took a picture of that gigantic cup of coffee I got). We spotted our flight and saw that it was NOT cancelled this time (hurrah)! We waited around, as we spotted some delay in our flight, but in the end we were able to take off for Belgium.

After a rough flight (compared to the smooth A380 flight) we landed in Zaventem and got our luggage. I said goodbye to my friends as I took the train home instead of the car we took to get here (I needed to go to another place).

Japanese railways: order; Belgian railways: utter chaos

I quickly snapped back to reality with our "excellent" Belgian railway system (don't fall over the puddle of sarcasm here). The first train was a train that stopped at all stations on the road. But since it arrived at the first station with more than 10 minutes delay (the first station! At what time was it going to arrive in Ghent anyway?), I decided to jump off at the first stop.

The second train (and first one to Deinze, my destination) is cancelled since somebody committed suicide on the tracks between De Pinte and Deinze (seriously? Now of all times?).

And the third train (a fast one) leaves nearly an hour after I arrived in Zaventem only goes to Ghent (*grumbles*). I phoned my parents to pick me up in Ghent instead of Deinze. I arrived at Ghent at 12.30 (which was apparently before the arrival time of the first train) and quickly reunited with my parents.

After a half hour drive, I finally got home, ready to eat some good home-made cooking and then I could start to unpack everything.

After unpacking, I started to catch up to all kinds of news (I've been out of the loop for a while). News as in: local news (local elections and resulting conspiracies), national news (the big Ford factory closing in Belgium), Yugioh news (Abyss Rising revelations) and world news (the Sandy tornado).

Well, that was my log about my two-week trip to Japan. I truly enjoyed it and I can’t wait to go back already. But first, I’m going to save some money and learn some Japanese. Because there’s so much more you can do if you can make yourself understandable in the native language.

We've seen many things on our trip, but there’s a lot of things we haven’t seen yet (Hiroshima, Osaka, manga museum in Kyoto, Odaiba & Ueno Park in Tokyo, etc…), so a second trip there is almost inevitable. But that will be for in a few years.

And from next post onward, it's back to Yugioh-related posts!

V out.

V in Japan - Day 15

Day 15: The trip back home

• Date: October 27
• Weather in Japan: Nice and sunny.
• Mood: “Wishing I could stay”-mood in Japan, frigging tired when in Frankfurt

The flight to Frankfurt

We woke up, checked out of the hotel and took the free shuttle bus to the airport. We went through the check-in procedure (dropped off luggage, went through immigration, got our hand luggage checked, etc.) and got on the plane (A380 again) for Frankfurt.

Our ride back home.

No screaming children on the plane, though we held our hearts when a family comes on board with a kid that cried. Luckily, the kid calmed down quickly afterwards and they sat on the other side of the plane.

We noticed quickly on the TV-screen that he plane had the same movies and TV-series as during the trip to Japan (gosh darn’ it). But we browsed through the menu to find some things we still didn’t see yet and keep us amused.

Time went by faster than we realized. We get two meals (lunch & dinner), snacks and drinks and tried to sleep a little (even though sleeping on a plane is not that great).

The Frankfurt weather report: snow

After a 12-hour flight (2 hours longer than on the flight to Japan), we landed in Frankfurt with a comment from the pilot that certain flights might have been cancelled due to snow in the sky (uh-oh). We went through customs and tried to find our flight for Zaventem (around 3.30 PM). And yes, we were screwed. Our flight was cancelled due to bad weather conditions. We found the service corner of Lufthansa and after a few minutes waiting in queue, we heard that we've been re-scheduled on the 5.30 PM flight. So we waited again.

When it’s 5 PM we heard that our flight has been cancelled again (oh, come on!), so we walked back to the service corner again. But we had to stand in line of a gigantic waiting line. I spotted lots of cancelled flights on the bulletin board and we quickly realized we’re not the only ones who were screwed. Dozens of flights had either been cancelled or delayed due to the bad weather.

After waiting in line for 2 hours (your read that correctly, TWO HOURS), we finally got to an office where we explained our situation. And it was about time, because we almost were dragged into a fight between people that waited in line and others that tried to skip the line and other fights with people that have 0 patience (some people are apparently really, really aggressive when they're tired).

At the counter we get a few options for rebooking our flight. The proposal of the 9.10 PM flight is rejected quickly, since the Lufthansa people could not ensure that the flight would be able to take off.

My “take the train, since we’re so close” alternative was quickly rejected after the Lufthansa lady mentioned that it would take 10-12 hours to get to Brussels (hell no!).

So we were instead booked at the 9.10 AM flight the next morning and got a free room in the Sheraton hotel (fancy). We also received vouchers for dinner and breakfast over there and a taxi to and from the hotel.

We quickly accepted it, since we were frigging tired at that point (it’s past 7 PM at this point, which equals to 3 in the morning in Japan).

After we walked away from the service desk, we saw that the waiting line behind us did not decrease. We feel that the poor guys/girls would still have to wait for hours.

We found a taxi that accepted the Lufthansa voucher (some of them only wanted cash, apparently) and we got checked into the hotel. We explained the situation at the guy behind the desk and I warned the poor sap that he’ll probably get a lot more customers this evening.

We ate some dinner and then saw an even longer line of tourists waiting to get checked in as well (as predicted). Honestly, at this point I didn't gave a f**k anymore to read into their situation. The three of us decided to check out at 6.30 AM. I got to my room and I quickly fell asleep.

V in Japan - Day 14

Day 14: Return to Tokyo, Shibuya & Narita

• Date: October 26
• Weather: Sunny & nice
• Mood: re-energized

Saying goodbye to Kyoto

I woke up, fully re-energized. I take a shower and pack my things. While the others have more trouble with packing, I finish mine quickly (I came with a bigger suitcase just to avoid this kind of trouble, lol). I go downstairs to have another breakfast at the Zen café.

After breakfast, I go up the elevator, meeting up with the other guys (who just finished packing and are going for breakfast themselves). Since I have a few moments, I decided to take a trip to the roof, for sightseeing. There’s a nice terrace on the roof of K's House, so I took some pictures of the environment.

After that I met up with the others downstairs, we grabbed our luggage, checked out of K’s House and walked to Kyoto station. There we took the Shinkansen to Tokyo.

Back in Tokyo - Shibuya Crossing and splitting up

In Tokyo Station, we tried to find some lockers for our luggage. But we noticed all the good ones (that are big enough for our luggage) were all taken. So we walked to the north entrance to get to the luggage delivery. First we asked the personel for a drop-off at hotel Nikko (our hotel for this evening), but they said that this would take at least one day (eek, that’s not an option!). Then we asked them to store our luggage until the evening, which is not a problem (500 yen per case).

Outside of the delivery service office, we took a good look at this wing of the station. This side of the station is very pretty and worth seeing it. A lot of people were taking pictures of it (including us).

We then took the train to Shibuya to spot the famous Shibuya Crossing. Again, it’s one of the things you have to see by yourself, even with pictures it’s just not enough to pass the feeling.

We walked down one of the shopping streets and ended up splitting with each other (we all wanted to do different things on our last afternoon, so…).

I found one more anime related shop and found some Persona 4 trading cards for a friend, some sake for my brother-in-law and for my father.

Then I took the train back to Kurama station and ran to that local pub I thought I forgot my vest in an attempt to get it back (without avail, I only realized at home that I left it at a totally different place). Then I went to Akihabara to buy some original art Yugioh cards for another friend.

I met up back with the others at 5 PM at Tokyo station (exactly at 5, I’m a master of timing if public transportation works along) to get our luggage back and take the Narita express to Narita.

Narita

After arriving in Narita, we walked out of the train station and easily found a shuttle bus that took us to hotel Nikko for free (seriously, top notch organization. If you would try this in Belgium, your best luck is to try a taxi :-S).

We checked in into the hotel and dropped our stuff in our room. I took a look around and realized: this really is a good hotel and an (amazingly) good bed for our last day.

After that, we took the elevator to go to the restaurant floor, but quickly traced back our steps when we spotted the overpriced menu (yeah, this hotel was a little more luxurious than the previous ones).

Instead, we got to the Lawson's on the first floor and bought some instant noodles, beer, snacks (and breakfast for the next morning) with our last yens. We went back to our room and chilled out for the last night and had some fun as well (the leftover 1-yen coins flew all around the room).

We fell asleep after setting our timer. Tomorrow, we would return to Europe.