V in japan day 1-4

First update from Japan - tokyo. Text will follow when in home. Bit here are some pictures to get you in the mood.

The Japan Plan - Counting down (2 days left)

Okay, it's now coming REALLY close.

Tomorrow evening we leave for Zaventem and Saturday morning, really early, we're hopping on that plane for Japan

I'll try to post up some pictures in the evening (in the ho(s)tels where I have access to wi-fi).

So, until the first updates on the trip, V out.

Them Locals: Legendary Collection Edition

Last weekend we had another local tourney. This time around, the price was 2 Legendary Collection 3 boxes for first place, 1 box for second place and lots of boosters (ROTD & TU7) for the rest. Yes, this store gives enough price support to keep its people happy.

Before the tournament, I try testing my ninja deck in real life. I play Vs Ruben’s new deck (Agents) and lose horribly, because he opens broken first game and he blocks my moves second game. Okay, enough testing, let’s take that Photon lightray deck and get on with it.

Round 1: Vs Tim (Twilight)

Both games are kind of similar. He tries to mill his light and dark monsters. But in both cases he ends up milling or discarding boss monsters, so he can’t defend himself enough for my boss monsters.

Result: OO

Round 2: Vs Maarten (Inzektors)

• Game 1: I notice that with only 1 Dragonfly & Hornet, it’s harder to get the deck working. I get my field going and negate his monsters at the right moment. That’s game.
• Game 2: I open badly and after a while I feel like just attacking his Sangan so he can search dragonfly and kill me off (yes, I gave up on that one).
• Game 3: Back-and-forth game. At a certain point he has a Centipede with Gigamantis & a Brilliant with 1 material detached. I’m able to summon a light monster and just revived Honest to get it back to my hand. Due to me doubting rulings, I attack Brilliant (I thought Mantis’ effect would go off when I destroy Centipede, I was wrong) and I end up losing a game I could’ve won.
• Result: OXX

Round 3: Vs Davy (Monarchs)

Newbie or someone returning to the game after a while, I’m not clear on that one.

• Game 1: I underestimate him and he gets LADD on the field early (I admit, I did not expect Soul Exchange). I only have spells in my hand, so f**k this game.
• Game 2: For a while, it looks good for him again, but then he attacks into a surprise Gorz and has no monster big enough to get over it. When I activate Gozen Match, he’s in trouble and can’t get his Caius out anymore.
• Game 3: Gozen match in my opening hand. He’s pissed when I activate it (he’s been facing the damn’ card every round, due to the Wind-up Hate (lol). As expected, he can’t overcome the card. He’s stuck with a Caius in his hand he can’t use. And when I mind Control his set Spirit Reaper, I can attack for game.
• Result: XOO

Round 4: Vs Ruben (Agents):

• Game 1: He apparently opens with 2 or 3 Shiny Balls, Kristya and Herald of Orange Light. He’s being beaten easily and is forced to negate the effect of my Crusher (when it goes to defense), because he has to do something. Logically, he loses. He showed his opening hand, it was horrible.
• Game 2: He's able to fend better than first game, but he still a bad opening hand (again, 2 balls in hand, together with 2 D.D. Crows). And trust me, a bad opening hand is not something you want when facing my deck. Yeah, that’s another win for me. I explain to him that D.D. Crow is useless against my deck. It just fuels cards like Lightray Sorcerer & Madoor.
• Result: OO

After that, I end up 4th place and there’s a top-4 cutoff.

Top 4 match: Vs Carl (Machina Geargia):

• Game 1: He starts off with Gearframe to search for Fortress. I mind control his Gearframe to overlay into Maestroke. But he has a second Gearframe, gets 2 Fortress on the field, turns them into Big Eye and steals my monster. With my field open, I can't come back from that.
• Game 2: I try my Cyber Valley + Mind Control trick on his Gear Gigant X, but he has Dark Bribe on the field (curses, foiled again). I fail to draw any of my side-deck and my draws are not enough for his barrage of machine monsters.
• Result: XX

End Result: 4th place

So no Legendary Collection for me, but I get a few boosters, with more yank holo’s (another Hierophant & Gawayn, hurray![/sarcasm]).

It was a nice tourney in a new location (the old place, where we had the barbeque-tournament was not the best location) and it was a nice place. Still needs a bit more decoration, but it’s already better than the other place.

Well, that’s the last locals I play until I come back from Japan (5 days until I leave). Then the first one is going to be the sneak peek of Abyss Rising on November 3rd.

Until next time, V out.

The Japan Plan - Counting down (9 days left)

For those not knowing it yet, I'm taking a trip to Japan for 2 weeks. Now the day I'm leaving is getting closer (leaving in 9 days), so I'm getting quite excited about it.

All hotels/hostels are booked, Shinkansen tickets have been ordered, traveling passport is here, etc. I think (almost) everything I need is here.

I've also bought a new phone (HTC One V), so I'm able to download the right Maps, use Instagram, use WiFi in the evening and update my facebook/blog when necessary.

To see where I'm going: More info over here, btw.

Other than that, Yugi-news has slowed down again. Last week Leviair was revealed in the tins (everyone expected it) and the Legendary Collection came out. Next week on Thursday, we'll get the new Structure Deck with Atlanteans. And in December (or end of November), we'll get the new Astral Pack.

With Tewart out of the office (he's on holiday, if I'm not mistaken), Pojo is spoiler-free for a few weeks.

So while we all eagerly await the product page of Abyss Rising, the last revelations of the tins & the first French or German pics of the back of the new Structure Deck, there's not really anything to report.

There also haven't been any local tourney's past week (some free play, but that's it), there's a big chance I won't be able to attend the locals upcoming weekend (busy with last preparations & attending the local fair) and I don't really have time to playtest at the moment. I've been suckered into watching Mushishi. I got the DVD box and I have to give it back before I leave for Japan, so I'm filling my evenings watching anime instead of testing Yu-Gi-Oh! (not that I mind, lol).

So, until there's anything to report, V out.

Edit: Hardly wrote about it and Tour Guide is announced as the last card for the Hanzo Tin!

Card Rulings: FLIP effect monsters Vs Trigger effect monsters

After the many positive comments I got on the Monster Reborn post, I’m going to post more posts about rulings, useful to show to your opponent on Duelingnetwork when discussing rulings. This post is about the word “flip”.

FLIP Vs When flipped face-up Vs When Flip Summoned.

There are three kinds of flip effects known to us.

1. FLIP: When the card text starts with the word “FLIP” (capitalized), you have a flip effect monster in your hands, which has a flip effect. When these cards are flipped face-up (either by attacking them, by card effect, of by its controller flip summoning the card) the flip effect will activate.
2. “when this card is flipped face-up”: When the card text does NOT start with FLIP, but has the text “when this card is Flipped Face-up”, then you have a trigger effect monster whose effect triggers when flipped face-up (by any means). These effects activate on the same occasions as FLIP effect monsters, but they’re trigger effects instead of flip effects (yes, there IS a difference).
3. “when this card is Flip Summoned”: When the card text does NOT start with FLIP, but has the text “when flip summoned”, then that is a trigger effect that only works when the card is flip summoned. The difference with this card is when the card is flipped face-up by other means (card effect, attacking it), its effect will NOT activate.

Ryko: group A, Geargiarmor: group B, Hanzo: group C

Flip Effects Vs Trigger effects (when flipped/flip summoned)

Why making such a fuss about the difference in effects? Well, certain cards have an effect that flips the opponent’s monster with the text “Flip effects are not activated at this time”.

Realize that in this case, the card text only refers to FLIP effect monsters and does not refer to trigger effect monsters whose effect triggers when flipped (group B).

"I negate card effects like Ryko & Hanzo,
but I cannot negate card effects like Geargiarmor."

Also, if you use Nobleman of Crossout on cards of all three categories (when they’re face-down), all three cards will be banished. But the secondary effect (the part of both players banishing all cards with the same name from the deck) will only occur when the banished monster is a FLIP effect monster (group A). It will not occur when the banished monster is a trigger effect monster. (groups B and C).

"When I strike, you're OUT!"

Afterword

Same as on the Monster Reborn article, feedback comments or corrections are always welcome.

Feel free to use this post as a reference to settle disputes on DuelingNetwork or even real-life.

Until next time, V out.