The surprise of YCS Austin – Electrum OTK

If you’re like me, then your eyes stood wide open when you read that a deck based upon Elemental HERO Electrum not only topped in YCS Austin, but also got into top 16.

Elemental HERO Who?

Elemental HERO Electrum is one of Jaden’s fusion monsters that uses all 4 elements for its fusion: Earth (Clayman), Fire (Burstinatrix), Wind (Avian) and Water (Bubbleman).

Its effect is to return all banished cards to their respective deck (and an attack boost effect, but just like Escuridao's effect, this part is not really used).

This effect is useful, because with Fusion Gate and Miracle fusion, you end up banishing a lot of HERO cards. And unlike Parallel World Fusion, this card has no further restriction (you can keep on fusion summoning if you’re able to).

"By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!"

How does the deck work?

your (extra) deck requires the following:

• The 4 mentioned fusion materials of Elemental Hero Electrum (Avian, Burstinatrix, Clayman & Bubbleman).
• 3 Fusion Gates (and 2-3 Terraforming for consistency issues).
• 3 Chain Material.
• 3 Elemental HERO Electrum (called A, B and C further on).
• 3 Elemental HERO the Shining (A, B and C).
• 1 Elemental HERO Gaia.
• 1 Superdreadnaught Railgun Gustav Max.

The rest of the deck & extra deck is actually free to choose, but it’s best to keep it similar to other HERO decks, just to ensure you have a come-back if your opponent is able to stop your Electrum combo.

To start the combo, you need a set Chain Material ready to activate on your field and a Fusion Gate either on your field or in your hand. The rest actually doesn't matter (yes, it’s that easy).

Then proceed as follows:

1. Activate Fusion Gate.
2. Activate/chain the set Chain material (the effect now lingers until the end phase).
3. Banish from your hand/deck/grave/field Elemental HERO Avian, Burstinatrix, Clayman and Bubbleman to fusion summon Elemental HERO Electrum A.
4. The effect of Electrum A activates, returning all the banished cards back to their deck (Avian, Burst, Clay and Bubble).
5. Repeat step 3 & 4 to get Electrum B on the field.
6. Overlay both Electrum A and B into Gustav Max.
7. Use the effect of Gustav Max to detach Electrum A and do 2000 effect damage.
8. Banish Gustav Max and Electrum A (from your grave) to summon Elemental HERO Gaia (Electrum B is sent to the grave).
9. Banish Gaia and Electrum B (from your grave) to summon Elemental HERO the Shining A.
10. Fusion summon Electrum C and return all banished cards back to their respective decks (fusion materials to main deck, Electrum A & B, Gaia and Gustav to the extra deck).
11. Fusion summon Electrum A again. overlay Electrum A and C to Gustav Max.
12. Detach Electrum A and give your opponent 2000 more damage.
13. Banish Gustav Max and Electrum A (in your grave) for E-Hero Gaia (Electrum C is sent to the grave).
14. Banish Gaia A and Electrum C (in your grave) for E-Hero the Shining B. You now only control 2 E-Hero the Shining.
15. Banish both Shinings A & B, for E-Hero the Shining C.
16. Fusion summon E-Hero Electrum B, returning all banished monsters to their respective deck. (Fusion materials to main deck, Electrum A & C, Gustav, Gaia A, Shining A & B to the extra deck).
17. Repeat steps 10-16 until you give your opponent 8000 damage.
18. You win.

If you want the full deck, check the deck profile TheKeeko made of Robert Boyajian's deck.

"Who needs a battle phase anyway?"

Trap-free reign

Your opponent has a Mirror Force? Bottomless Trap Hole or Torrential Tribute? He can forget it. Even that Solemn Warning isn't going to do you much good if your opponent goes fusion summoning this way (warning doesn't stop either Gate or Material and due to Chain material it’s useless to try use warning on Gustav Max).

The combination of Chain Material, Fusion Gate and Electrum makes it hard to put a stop to this combo once it starts off.

Can it be stopped?

No deck is unbeatable. You can use the following cards:

• Effect Veiler: Use it on Electrum (and ONLY on Electrum). The banished heroes remain banished, their OTK strategy is gone and they have to rely on the rest of their HERO deckbuild now. You can easily replace Veiler with cards like Skill Drain, Breakthrough Skill or Fiendish Chain.
• Rivalry of the Warlords and/or Gozen Match. Gozen match is more preferable since it blocks the entire E-HERO deck (attributes). Rivalry simply stops Gustav from appearing (types).
• Imperial Iron Wall: Renders Fusion Gate useless. The other option is Chaos Hunter (both these cards also work against the 4-dragon deck.
• Seven Tools of the Bandit: Stops Chain material. Since it’s a trap, it needs to be set up. Seven tools can be replaced with any card that can negate trap card activations (Shi En, Barkion, Laggia, etc.)
• Shock Master: Choose trap cards to stop Chain Material, or spell cards to stop the first activation of Fusion Gate.
• Itself: Yeah, the worst enemy of this deck is itself. While Clayman is a decent defender and Bubbleman has become awesome since XYZ, Avian and Burstinatrix are simply useless. And while the combo only requires Fusion Gate and Chain material, it won’t go off if you don’t have both of them. You’re going to need decent protection from the top-tier decks if you want sufficient time to get both cards ready to play.

If it’s so easy to stop it, why did it top?

Honestly? The surprise factor. Wind-ups were predicted to be "gone" and Dino Rabbit saw a decreased use in play. Due to this, people decreased the number of Veilers/Gozen matches in favor of cards stopping Mermails and Fire Fists. And yes, less Macro Rabbit also means less Macro Cosmos/Dolkka/Laggia (Macro Rabbit has a very favorable match-up vs this deck).

This YCS was the perfect time to try this deck out. Everybody played either Mermails or Fire Fists; two decks where this deck as a good match-up against.

You hear my message coming? You can play this deck at its peak now, until Hidden Arsenal 7 comes out. But once that set is legal to play, you can return this deck to the shelves. Rabbit decks will then see a return and Evilswarm Ophion simply blocks the use of all HERO fusion monsters.

"You want to summon Electrum? How cute..."

YCS Austin: Mono Mermails win, but OMG at Electrum OTK

Last weekend was another YCS (the first one of the new format, I guess?), at Austin, Texas. This YCS gave us a look at how the current March format is, before any of the important releases come out (HA7 and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy). This YCS is important, because the next 2 YCS’s will be similar to this one (San Diego & San José). Not to mention, a lot of Regional qualifiers / nationals will be similar as well.

The current format will change from April 19th onward, with Hidden Arsenal 7 becoming legal (first YCS with HA7 legal is YCS Lille (France)) and in May we’ll also have Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy, which will revolutionize the meta.

So, how is the current meta? Well, we all know Mermails (both Merlantean & the new Mono Mermail) is the top deck, with Fire Fists gaining more territory (as seen in Bochum). On the other hand, both Macro Rabbit & Wind-ups took serious hits, but are not down for the count yet.

YCS Austin Top breakdown

Top 32:

• 16x Mermail
• 5x Fire Fist
• 3x Macro Rabbit
• 2x Geargia
• 2x Karakuri
• Wind-up
• Frog Monarch
• Electrum OTK
• Elemental HERO

WOW. I know Mermails was the deck to beat, but 16/32? That’s a LOT! Fire Fists took 5 tops, which was about what I expected. And the rest is just random. The biggest surprises in this top are Wind-ups (still 1 top, considering all cards they lost? That’s great), Frog Monarchs (lol, wut?) and Electrum OTK (Seriously, WHAT THE EFF?).

Top 16

• 8x Mermail
• Macro Rabbit
• Wind-up
• Fire Fist (Rabbit version)
• Frog Monarch
• Geargia
• Karakuri
• Electrum OTK
• Elemental HERO

As expected, half of the Mermails crashed, but 8 decks still survived. 4/5 Fire Fist gangs split up and Only 1 of the Macro Rabbit, Geargia and Karakuri decks survived. But all 9 different decks are still there.

Top 8:

• 4x Mermail
• Macro Rabbit
• Wind-up
• Fire Fist (Rabbit version)
• Frog Monarch

In this top, Mermails got cut in half again, the Machine decks are all gone, together with the HERO deck and Electrum OTK (again, WTF?). What’s more surprising is that the lone Frog Monarch deck is still there!

Top 4 and end result:

• 2x Mono Mermail
• Fire Fist (Rabbit version)
• Frog Monarchs (Monarchs in top 4, for real?)

Mermails cut in half again and both the Macro Rabbit and the Wind-up deck had to yield. After the semi-finals and finals (Feature match), the end result was the following:

• 1st place: Oscar Zelaya – Mono Mermails. Click this link for the decklist.
• 2nd Place: Alfredo Tiznado – Fire Fists. Click this link for the decklist.
• 3rd place: Alexander Reynolds – Mono Mermails (no decklist found yet, but the deck is similar to first place)
• 4th place: Alexander Chavir - Frog Monarchs. Click this link for the decklist.

Electrum OTK

I personally didn’t catch on with this deck yet, but it’s a deck that has been floating around ever since Gustav Max & Cardcar D came out. Due to massive use of Veiler, Warning and Maxx “C” the deck never really got any spotlight. New format clearly changed that, allowing the deck to massively gain territory and catch everyone by surprise.

This week, I’ll give you a look as to why this deck is so powerful (including the deck profile).

Afterword

If you prepare for San Diego or San José, then prepare your side deck mostly for Mermails, Fire Fists and then Machine + Warrior decks (Electrum OTK is now hyped and will get following in the next few YCS’s). But don’t forget, Macro Rabbit and Wind-ups are not dead yet. They will see a further decrease in play, but they’re still there and they’re still good decks.

Note: Credits go to Vexacus4666 for providing all the necessary information on his youtube channel.

The other side of the Cardgame #5: V-Jump Promo's and a Red Hand

Well, we have a new Promotion pack, a new Starter deck and we have more than half of the cards revealed of the next set. Did we forget anything? Actually, yes. There are a few more promo cards coming up:

V-Jump Promo Card June 2013

The promo card attached to the V-Jump June Edition is:

Archfiend Commander: Part of the Archfiend Support that’s coming in Judgment of the Light. This card can be special summoned if you control an Archfiend (and then you blow up an archfiend in the same way Goka Blows up Fire monsters).

But its true colors shine if you tribute summon this card. If so, you can special summon a Lv. 6 Archfiend card (including itself) from the graveyard. Possible other targets are Summoned Skull, Toon Summoned Skull, Skull Archfiend of Lightning and Archfiend Zombie Skull... Wait, what? Aren't those cards all the same monster? The only card missing from this list is Prophecy Destroyer (they might as well have named him Prophecy Archfiend)!

Yeah, no surprise people claim it's just Summoned Skull in another jacket, even his stats are the same! But, you can also revive Archfiend of Gilfer and Beast of Talwar (amazing, isn't it?[/sarcasm]).

OCG Numbers Guide 2

On a regular base, there are guides appearing in the OCG. Last Numbers Guide contained Number 40: Gimmick Puppet of Strings.

This time around, the card will be Number C106: Lava Palm - Giant Hand Red (Get it? Hand-Red, hundred. it’s pun time once again). This card is the Chaos Version of Number 106: Giant Hand (another V-Jump Promo Card from a few months ago).

Due to the fact that it doesn't appear in the same "set" as Giant Hand, it just gets an effect if a Numbers card is attached to it, not just Giant Hand. The effect? This guy is a giant card effect negater. But due to the harsher summon restrictions, it kind of pales when compared to Bounzer, Laggia, Dolkka, Shi En and Lightray Gearfried. In other words: nice try, try again.

V-Jump Subscription Bonus:

Just like in the TCG, when you're subscribed to V-Jump in the OCG, you receive a few promo cards throughout the year. The nex ones in the OCG are the following:

• Rose Archer (from the 5D's Manga): This card is a hand trap that negates the activation of traps, as long as you control a plant monster (ooh, that last part wasn't really in the manga, was it?). Handy, but also kind of silly, since this card still won't be able to stop counter traps...
• Starship Spy Plane (Zexal manga): This card is a Machine that special summons itself when the opponent controls an XYZ monster. This card also bounces an opponent’s spell or trap card. This is a handy card, helpful in Offering Gadget Decks. Its wind attribute also allows for Chidori in Machine decks (not an obvious choice otherwise).
• Hell Centipede (5D's manga): Unconfirmed effect, but in the manga it’s a Lv 7 bug that can be normal summoned without tributes (if you don’t control monsters and your opponent does).
• Galaxy Dragun (Zexal manga): Unconfirmed effect, but in the manga it gains 1000 attack when the opponent controls a Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, also negating its banish-effect. Other than that it’s a 2000-beater Light Dragon. Kind of a weird effect. This might change upon release, I guess...

Note: The last 2 cards have been confirmed to be printed, but are not out yet. Their effects / art may or will be altered upon release.

Afterword

So, that's it for now. all OCG cards that were revealed in the past few weeks have been noted in my blog. Today is also the release for Cosmo Blazer Special Edition, but I don't really care about it (bad SE-promo's).

I guess next cards-update will be in a few weeks, when more TCG cards of Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy will leek and when the full set of Judgment of the Light will be published. Until next time, V out.

"No I'm NOT Summoned Skull! Just look at the monster I can summon!
There's Summoned Skull, Toon Summoned Skull, Skull Arch... ah, f**k it."

The other side of the Cardgame #4: Glimpse at Judgment of the Light

As you may know, both in the OCG as the TCG, 4 boosters come out per year. But they don’t come out each 3 months exactly. In the last few years, the releases have been:

• TCG: January – May – August – November (1-5-8-11)
• OCG: February – April – July – November (2-4-7-11)

As you can see, there’s one period in the year where boosters follow up rapidly (November-January in TCG, February-April in OCG), while there’s also a period where there’s 4 months of waiting time (January-May in TCG, July-November in OCG).

So it’s no surprise that the next OCG booster is around the corner, while we don’t even have Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy yet in TCG. I’ll give my "cards to look forward to" review when the set is officially released, but I’ll already give you a few noteworthy comments right now:

Judgment of the Light

• Judgment of the Light is both LIGHT and DARK: So people saying the set is going to be pure LIGHT were wrong.
• More Fire Fist & Mecha Phantom Beast support. No word on support for the older archetypes yet (Madol, Geargia, Mermail, Atlantean, Fire King nor Prophecy). Still possible, though.
• Several new (anime) archetypes, including Super-Defense Robo (Earth machines, used by Orbital 7), Umbral (dark fiends, used by Vector), Holy Lightning (light fairies, used by Durbe) and War God (Light animals, supposed to appear in the anime?).
• New support for an old famous archetype: Just like last set gave support for Harpies, this set gives support for another old archetype, namely Archfiends (interesting). One of the most noteworthy newcomers of the Archfiends is Trick Archfiend. It’s a Tour Guide target which basically replaces Sangan, and searches for Archfiends (of ANY level). And while tributing this card on the field doesn't trigger the effect, it DOES trigger when sent to the grave from the hand/deck because of a card effect (Armageddon Knight/Dark Grepher/DW Dealings).
• Nothing yet on potential Light/Dark Elemental Dragon or Elemental Lords, also nothing on a Light Armageddon Knight knock-off.
• Synchro monsters return: Yes, the rumors you heard are correct. There will be 7(!) new synchro monsters in this ocg set.
  • Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Kirin: A level 8 synchro for the 4-axis Fire Fist decks.
  • Mecha Phantom Beast Conco-Ruda: A level 7 synchro for the Mecha Phantom Beasts, though this one protects tokens instead of monsters (huh?).
  • Mist Bird Clausolas: A level 3 synchro that’s actually worth summoning (lol). But couldn't they keep the "Valley"? It's the second Mist Valley synchro (after Mist Wurm) whose name is "Mist" only (not much of an archetype this way).
  • Balmung, Fighter of the Demon World: A lv 4 synchro that can finally replace Armory arm (cool). The name is a reference to a Nordic weapon, the art kind of looks like Dark Blade and the effect somewhat reminds me of Colossal Fighter (for card effects instead of battle).
  • Armades, keeper of Illusions: a synchro brother for Tiras and Adreus. An interesting card to fight against Fire Fists or trap heavy decks.
  • Psychiconductor Behemoth: A lv. 6 psychic synchro with the effect of D.D. Warrior Lady. Interesting enough, this card actually works well with the other banished psychic monsters (nice, this was needed).
  • Starform Dragon, a Lv. 11 dragon that can be easily summoned by Karakuri decks (according to DSummon) and is annoyingly hard to get rid of (unless you steal it with Big Eye, lol).
• No less XYZ monsters: Next to the 7 Synchro monsters, there’s also 11 new XYZ (including a few chaos xyz). Their effects and use varies from monster to monster, but they’re nice additions anyway (nice as in: okay, but not super amazing).
• 16 of the 80 ocg cards are still unknown, but those will be revealed when the set is release. Amongst these cards is the usual 03x card pool (the random monsters) and the non-archetype/non-anime spells and traps. So, there's still room for a few unexpected surprises.

My thoughts

Yeah, that’s my preview of the set. Still quite vague, isn't it? But as I said, the full review comes when the set is fully revealed (around April 20th). But at this moment I have the feeling it will not be as great as the last few sets.

Next up: V-Jump’s new promo cards and a red hand. Until then, V out.

"I'm the party girl that will make Tour Guide forget all about Sangan!"

The other side of the Card game #3: Enhancement pack 2013

Yesterday, I talked about the OCG Starter deck and how it's so not worth its money by itself. Well, today I'm talking about the one thing (or two things) that make it a little more interesting.

Included in this year’s starter deck in the OCG (and the Super Starter in the TCG), there will be 2 packs of 6 cards, called the Enhancement packs. Each pack includes both Number C39: Utopia Ray V and Rank-up Magic – Limited Barian’s Force, plus 4 extra random cards (from a 13-card cardpool).

OCG Starter Deck 2013 - Enhancement Pack

The new cards in this pack are the following:

• Number C39: Utopia Ray V: A Chaos monster that can be summoned by overlaying 3 Rank 5 monster (lol, as if) or by the Rank-up Spell cards. When it's destroyed, you can recycle an XYZ (interesting) and when Utopia, lord of Reprints is attached to it, it gains an amazing destroy and burn effect.
• Rank-up Magic: Limited Barian Force: A limited version of the Other Rank-up Magic Card (hence its name). This card can only "promote" Rank 4 XYZ to Rank 5 Chaos XYZ. The positive part is that it doesn’t have the restriction of types, so you can turn ANY rank 4 XYZ into a Rank 5 Chaos XYZ (2 available at the moment, 3 more to come). Right now, that’s not a lot of choice, but I expect more cards will come.
• ZW - Eagle Claw: The most interesting Zexal Weapon yet. You can special summon it if your opponent has 2000 more life points than you do. Making it more interesting: this card can be searched by ZW – Leo Arms (and Claw can summon it with ease). Combining this card with cards like Cyber Dragon or Garbage Lord can turn the game interesting!
• Ganbalancer (or Ganbara Lancer): Hey, it’s another one of those monsters that can be used as 2 XYZ materials (not). Instead, it just special summons another copy of itself from the hand or grave. Third card of its kind and still doesn't impress anyone.
• Pakubagu: AKA Pac-man bug: Special summons itself when your opponent has an XYZ (only requirement, you can have as many monsters you want). Interesting card because it is easy tribute fodder, it’s a Debris Dragon Target and it can be used with Inferno Reckless Summon.
• Crane Crane: A Lv. 3 winged Beast that summons another Lv 3 from the grave (no restriction). Read as Easy Rank 3 XYZ or Lv. 6 synchro (indeed, there’s no synchro restriction). Also, it’s a Debris Dragon target.
• Gentltrooper: A reptile that can special summon itself when your opponent declares an attack. Then it becomes the attack target. Good to protect a monster from being destroyed, but its weak stats are not going to help you a lot in real life.

The other cards in this pack are reprints. Noteworthy cards are OCG-promo reprints of Acid Golem, Shining Elf, Chronomaly Atlandis. And there are also Super Rare versions of Mirror Force, Magic Cylinder, Swords of Revealing Light and Mytical Space Typhoon (nice, considering the OCG players don’t have that many reprints as the TCG players).

Personal opinion

The cards in this pack are more interesting than the Starter Deck itself. But expect this pack to be heavily altered upon TCG release, because:

• The foil reprints in this pack have been printed as foils in Legendary Collection 3.
• The three mentioned promo reprints are either already reprinted (Acid Golem) or are available in regular boosters (Elf & Atlandis).
• There are 2 TCG World premiere cards in the upcoming OCG extra pack, of which we don’t know when they will be released in the TCG. Wanna bet they're going to be in this pack?

Personally, I’m going to buy one Starter Deck, for the Barian Force & Utopia Ray V and a playset of Eagle Claws (the card I'm most interested in).

Next up, a glimpse of what’s to come in Judgment of the Light. Until then, V out.

"Waka waka waka..."

The other side of the card game #2: Starter Deck 2013

Second up in the new OCG cards review is the OCG Starter deck of 2013.

Each year, we get a new starter deck. This time, next to the 42 cards that make up this deck, each starter deck will have 2 extra booster packs (more on that tomorrow).

The starter deck itself is made of 42 cards which include 5 new ones. You should look at the deck list, because the Super Starter that will appear in the TCG upcoming June will be at least 80% the same as this list: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Starter_Deck_2013.

5 New cards

Each Starter deck also introduces a few new cards. This year, they’re the following:

• Gagaga Kid: Another addition to the Gagaga Family, this time it’s another Spellcaster (why aren’t they all Spellcasters, seriously?). You can special summon this card when you control another Gagaga monster and tune its level to that monster, for easy XYZ-ing. But its low attack makes it a bad topdeck.
• Magical Undertaker: A FLIP monster that syncs nicely with Apprentice Magician. If it is flipped, you can special summon a Lv. 4 or lower Spellcaster from the grave (nice).
• Kuro Kuro Kuro: Black, Claw & Crow are three words that are all pronounced as kuro (lol at the word play). This level 2 monster special summons itself from the hand when you control a Dark Monster. This card is a possible tech in Blackwing decks (to get Silverwind). The only thing this card is missing is the name “Blackwing”, so that it could be searched / special summoned by other blackwing card effects. But I have the feeling it won’t be used in other decks.
• Swords of Blazing Light: Stall Decks can rejoice (a little), because after the limiting of One Day of Peace, they get this new card. If you control no monsters and your opponent has a hand of less than 5 cards, he cannot attack you (lol). This card might be on the field for several turns if you activate it at the right moment (if your opponent has 2 or less cards left in his hand and no MST). Not a great card to have multiples of in your opening hand, though.
• Reborn Puzzle: If your opponent destroys a monster by card effects, you can special summon it, no matter where the monster ends up. This card is made to save your monster from a Bottomless Trap Hole. Too bad the restrictions make it so that it’s hard to use when facing a Mirror Force, Torrential Tribute and impossible when facing D-Prison.

My thoughts

A few of these new cards will have limited use, though none of the new cards are impressing (unlike previous starter decks, which had great XYZ).

The rest of the Starter deck is filled with Mediocre cards as usual (unless you're dying to get the first non-foil version of Cosmo Queen). Though, on a positive note: The reprint of Utopia Ray may be nice (if you missed out on the card in Order of Chaos). And I would appreciate a reprint of Wonder Wand any time, but due to its reprint in the Star Pack, nobody's really looking for that one anymore. Oh and of course, there’s also: Utopia, Lord of Reprints, just in case you burned all of his other reprints (same goes to Call of the Haunted & ROTA).

So not much value to buy it, huh? Luckily, Konami realized that and put 2 enhancement packs in this starter deck, to make it a little more appealing. But more on that one tomorrow.

Until then, V out.

"I'm going to break the printings record of Mystical Space Typhoon!"

The other side of the Card game #1: Promotion Pack 3

I’m going to use this new segment to talk about new OCG cards. Last week, a bunch of new cards came out, so it's time to review all of them, day by day.

Today, I'm talking about Promotion Pack 3.

The what-now?

During set periods of time, when the OCG-folks buy for 600 yen (or more) on certain Yugioh products, they get an extra pack of 2 cards from a 10-card cardpool. The previous packs (1 & 2) re-used the cards from the Jump Festa. With Promo Pack 3A & 3B, Konami added 5 new cards per pack.

Last month (February-March), the first half of this promotional pack came out. This A-part contained the younger versions of the Earth and Water Elemental Dragons, a Zexal Character token (Rio), Duckfighter and Interplanetarypurplythorny Beast.

And from this week onward, the OCG-folks can receive the B-part of this year's promo pack.

OCG Promotion Pack 3 Pt. 2

This B-part has the following new cards:

• Burner, Elemental Dragon of Fire and Lightning, Elemental Dragon of Wind: The younger versions of the Fire & Wind Elemental Dragons. They help summoning the big E-dragons. The 4-Dragon deck can now be completed with E-Dragons only! I’m curious on how these two new cards will influence the OCG meta, since the 4-Dragon Deck is already a noteworthy competitor (the only reason why not everybody is running it, is because it’s the most expensive OCG deck at the moment).
• Madolche Pyocolate: Pyo, as the (Japanese) sound that baby birds in their nest (of chocolate) make. Other than the cuteness of this card, it’s not worth remembering.
• Vivit Knight: A Constellar Card that isn't a Constellar Card. Most archetypes have one of these cards, it doesn't have the name of the archetype, but you feel it's part of it. In most cases, since that card doesn't share the archetype name, it's often not worth running. Though, due to recent support for Beast-Warriors, this one might be worth running. Vivit Knight can be searched with Tenki (which Constellar decks are already using) and it can protect a LIGHT Beast-Warrior by temporarily banishing it (Aldebaran, Kaus, but also Hyades and Omega) and then special summoning itself. Can be a nice way to save your monster when you run into a Bottomless Trap Hole or a Forbidden Lance.
• Similar to the A-Part, a Zexal Character token is available, this time: (Ko)Tori.
• The other 5 cards in this pack are cards from the last Jump Festa, like Collapserpent, Kamaitachi, Kujakujaku, Armor Kappa and Token Christmas.

Next up on review: The OCG Starter Deck 2013 and the Enhancement Pack.

"Will you follow ME through the rabbit hole, Alice?"

Guessing the OCG inclusions – Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy edition

In May, Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy will come out in the TCG, bringing us an army of WIND attribute monsters. The promo page on the 808blog told us that there will also be more Noble Knights (TCG World Premiere cards) and perhaps even a few monster correlated with Hidden Arsenal 7.

So without further ado (and this time before there’s an official product page), let’s start guessing which OCG promo’s could be in Lord of the Tachyongalaxy.

Note: Last time I got 5/10 right. Lolkonami remains lolkonami; they can put in whatever they want.

High probability of being in Lord of the Tachyongalaxy

Constellar Omega: Originally I thought we would see this card before Hidden Arsenal 7 came out, but Konami thus decided it will be printed in the set following the last HA-series. This is one of the cards hinted on the 808-blog, so it has a very high chance of being in this set.

Constellar Sombres & Evilswarm Kerykeion: Woops, not Cercyon, but Kerykeion (name changed). Both are linked with the Hidden Arsenal 7 archetypes. These two “brothers” will most probably be printed.

Number 69: Heraldry God, Coat of Arms: Should’ve been in the last set, honestly. Dunno Why It didn’t get printed then, becaue all of the Heraldic beasts were in the last two sets. This card needs to appear for the archetype to be playable.

Number 42: Starship Galaxy Tomahawk: This is a VJump promo and it fits soooooo well in this set, because it’s heavily linked with the Mecha Phantom Beasts. It’s a WIND machine that produces tokens! It’s also a Rank 7 monster, which the MPB’s are easily ranked in to (according to what I hear, haven’t played with them yet).

Harpie Dancer: Harpie support? This one will be involved, definitely. It would be a real shame if Konami would miss the current Harpie Hype that’s going on.

Medium Probability of being in Lord of the Tachyongalaxy

Reactan, the Elemental Dragon of Crags & Stream, Elemental Dragon of Cascades: The younger versions of the Incarnate Dragons which are introduced in this set. These younger "brothers" are quite new in the OCG, so it’s not entirely sure they would already be in this set. But it’s possible.

Duckfighter: From the same promo pack as the previous 2 mentioned cards. It’s a WIND Machine that works with tokens. Nuff said (but also, might be a little too soon).

Sonic Warrior: The last card of the Tag Force 6 promo cards that needs a TCG print. This one is WIND attribute, so it’s a good fit, right?

The Atmosphere: The last of the Sphere monsters that require a TCG print. They’re all WIND, so might be the right time, right?

Kujakujaku (Nine-Snakes Peacock): One of the cards of the Jump Festa Pack of 2012. I mention it, because it’s a WIND attribute monster and fits in this set more than other sets would have a place for it.

Token Christmas: A trap that turns tokens into monsters! I know the timing for this card is totally off (Christmas, lol), but it works with the Mecha Phantom Beasts, so yeah, it’s possible.

Low probability of being in Lord of the Tachyongalaxy

Shuttleroid: The last of the Roid cards to be printed in the TCG. Was originally part of the group of cards that were in Premium Pack 2, but never got a print over here? I have no idea why. And even though it’s a WIND attribute and could be in the set, the absence of this card in both Premium Pack 2 and Legendary Collection 2 makes me wonder if we’ll ever see this card.

All cards of the last V-Jump pack: I’m talking about Fire Fist – Chicken, Fire King Beast Yaksha and the three Enthousiastic monsters. Kevin Tewart mentioned recently that it might take longer to get these cards into a TCG print. So possible, but quite unlikely.

Skullbird: I hope this card will NOT be in here. But considering Crimson Sunbird was in the last set, it’s not entirely impossible. This fusion monster has all its materials released in old boosters and Skullbird is a WIND attribute monster. So it has the same conditions as Crimson Sunbird.

Burner, Elemental Dragon of Calderas and Lightning, Elemental Dragon of Cyclones: Still need to appear in March in the OCG, so less likely to be seen here, but not entirely impossible either.

My 10-card pick:

The previous mentioned cards are the ones that have a decent chance of being in Lord of the Tachyongalaxy. If there are any other cards in the set, which are not mentioned in this list, then those cards are a pure random Konami decision (look at Cosmo Blazer, it doesn't get more random than that).

But if I would have to pick 10 cards, I’d pick:

1. Constellar Omega
2. Constellar Sombres
3. Evilswarm Kerykeion
4. Number 42: Starship Galaxy Tomahawk
5. Harpie Dancer
6. Number 69: Heraldry God, Coat of Arms
7. Sonic Warrior
8. Kujakujaku
9. The Atmosphere
10. Token Christmass

We’ll see how much I get correct this time around.

V out.

Broken as Hell - Spellbook Judgment Day

Lord of the Tachyongalaxy has now been released for a few weeks in the OCG, so the effects of this new booster set should be visible in the OCG tourneys. So I started checking the new tourney lists.

And for crying out loud, everybody’s playing prophecies. Not the Phantom Plane Beasts, PROPHECY. And all this happened because of ONE card: Spellbook Judgment Day (name may vary upon TCG release).

What does the card do?

The effect of this spell goes as follows:

"During the End Phase of the turn you activated this card, add "Spellbook" Spell Cards from your Deck to your hand, except "Spellbook Judgment Day", up to the number of Spell Cards activated this turn after this card resolved, then you can Special Summon 1 Spellcaster-Type monster from your Deck, whose Level is less than or equal to the number of cards you added to your hand this way. You can only activate 1 "Spellbook Judgment Day" per turn."

Error or not?

When the card was first revealed, I suspected a translation error, in the same way Reaper of Prophecy had a fan-translation error (you know, the 5 DIFFERENT spellbook spell cards part).

With the first tournament results being crammed with Prophecy players, I know this is NOT a translation error. The effect does NOT specify SPELLBOOK spell cards. It does NOT specify DIFFERENT spell cards. I'm a Prophecy player and even I can admit: This card is just plain unfair for any opponent to face.

As a result of this Konami BLUNDER (seriously, this is a blunder), a prophecy deck that took some skill to play (because you lose if you make a mistake and your opponent doesn't), now has become a brainless plus-machine.

OCG-Prophecy decks now consist of 3 Toon Table of content + Toon Gemini Elf, 3 Upstart Goblins and any possible spell that lets you draw cards, because during the end phase, for each spell you activated, you can search a Spellbook card from your deck (WTF?) AND Special summon a Spellcaster from your deck (depending on how many cards you activated, you might even summon High Priestess). You can activate cards and effects until your hand is empty and during the end phase, your hand is completely refilled and you get a free monster. And don’t forget, because everyone uses 3 Spellbook of secrets & 3 Spellbook Magicians, this annoying card is so easy to search you can basically activate 1 EACH turn (including the recycle power of Eternity & Fate I literally mean EVERY turn).

Can it be stopped?

Well, first things first. You need to know, Macro Cosmos does NOT stop this deck. Stop trying to side it in, because it’s not going to save you. Seriously, I've faced several opponents trying to side Macro Cosmos against me. While it slows me down or cuts off the book-of-life possibilities, it doesn't stop the terror of Judgment Day.

But what can stop or slow the deck? The following cards:

• Thunder King Rai-oh: Stops all searching, but with the boost of Spellbook of Power & the special summon effect of High Priestess (yeah, Rai-Oh can’t negate it), it’s sooo easy to get over him.
• Number 16: Shock Master: Shock Lock is a bitch. If you can, put it in your extra deck. The only thing that can get over Shocker is High Priestess’s special summon effect. If you're able to protect him, you can have free reign over spellbooks.
• Also, there’s a reason why Mind Crush is at 3 nowadays. Prophecies is the master at searching cards, so their greatest weakness is Mind Crush. If it’s not already main decked, at least side-deck a few copies, because you are going to need it, believe me.
• Droll & Lock Bird: This hand trap is they key in stopping Exchange FTK, Gishki FTK and is thus also the key in stopping the Prophecies' new bomb. It just causes your opponent to stop adding cards to their hand.
• Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell: This counter trap card is becoming more and more live each day. It permanently stops the activation of a certain spell and the opponent can no longer activate cards with the same name (primary targets: Book of Secrets and Judgment Day). Yes, it costs you a spell. But you can block a Prophecy player completely with this card. And hey, it’s a useful side-deck against Fire Fists and Fire Kings as well.
• Anti-Spell Fragrance: Your opponent must set his spell cards and cannot activate them the same turn. Though be aware that this card is a favorite target for High Priestess and Breaker.

Personally, I advice Droll & Lock Bird and Cursed Seal for most decks (unless you can play the shock master+Roach or Beast+Roach combo). But Anti-Spell Fragrance works wonders as well.

"You activated Judgment Day?
It would be a real shame if you wouldn't be able to use its effect, eh?"

What should've been the better card text?

“During the End Phase of the turn you activated this card, add "Spellbook" Spell Cards from your Deck to your hand, up to the number of different Spellbook Spell Cards activated this turn after this card resolved, then you can Special Summon 1 Spellcaster-Type monster from your Deck, whose Level is less than or equal to the number of cards you added to your hand this way. You can only activate 1 "Spellbook Judgment Day" per duel.”

Look, I added/changed 3 words. Still a frigging plus-machine, but it's less broken and easier to stop, since it's only a once per duel-effect.

Afterword

I'm kind of sad with this card. I love spellcasters and I simply love it that a pure spellcaster deck has become competitive. But Judgment Day is broken and wrong on so many levels. It could've been a more balanced card, but now it's just a card waiting to get a permanent ban.

Until next time, V out.

Analysis of YCS Bochum: Very diverse top 16, wind-ups win.

After my experience has been posted, I promised I’d post up an analysis of the event. It took a while, but here are the numbers:

• Players: 1455
• Rounds of Swiss: 8 on Saturday, 3 on Sunday.
• Cutoffs: top 256 at the beginning of sunday to continue the last 3 rounds of swiss.
• After 11 rounds of swiss, there was a top 32 cutoff.

Due to the high amount of players, losing 2 matches was often enough already for you to not be qualified for the top 32. It was harsh, but only 32 were allowed in.

Top 32 players/decks

Top 32 players were playing the following:

Duelist	Deck
Antione Duval	Dino Rabbit
Jan Groenke	Dino Rabbit
Piyal Peiris	Dino Rabbit
Sheik Soegrimsingh	Dino Rabbit
Andrea Zenari	Fire Fist
Anthony Francis	Fire Fist
Franck Bolognino	Fire Fist
Ho-Ming Wong	Fire Fist
Nicolas Petz	Fire Fist
Paul Adler	Fire Fist
Ricki Madsen	Fire Fist
Stefano Memoli	Fire Fist
Matthias Beu	HERO
Phi-Long Ly	HERO
Helio Babo	Mermail
Nick Boulbassakos	Mermail
Raul Wehnge	Mermail
Umut Serin	Mermail
Yannick Siegmund	Prophecy
Sandor Malinowski	Six Samurai
Alpay Engin	Wind-Up
Benjamin Lin	Wind-Up
Dennis Verspeek	Wind-Up
Dominik Kampel	Wind-Up
Felix Berttram	Wind-Up
Julian Kobler	Wind-Up
Michael de Santis	Wind-Up
Nicolai Knuesel	Wind-Up
Ole Wegner	Wind-Up
Thomas Cavaliere	Wind-Up
Valens Leteurtre	Wind-Up
Vitjan Glavicic	Wind-Up

So, that means:

Cutoff results

In the first round of the cut-off, wind-ups had 8 broken toys (12 to 4), Fire Fists lost 3 of their 8 brothers, Dino Rabbits power was cut in half and only one Merlantean player was left of the 4.

This results in the following top 16:

• 5x Fire Fist
• 4x Wind-up
• 2x Dino Rabbit
• 2x HERO
• 1x Mermail
• 1x Six Samurai
• 1x Prophecy

Top 8, this was reduced to:

• 2x Dino Rabbit
• 2x HERO
• 1x Fire Fist
• 1x Mermail
• 1x Six Samurai
• 1x Wind-up

Wow, this top 8 is very diverse. The 7 different decktypes that were in the top 32 were also present in the top 16. And if it wasn’t for the fact that the Six-Sam player was matched up with the Prophecy Player, all 7 might’ve ended up in the top 8. This once more proves that the current format is very diverse.

To continue: Top 4 was:

• Dino Rabbit
• Mermail
• Wind-up
• Fire Fist

4 Players, 4 decks. It happens, but not that often.

The final was (as we know by now) Stefano Memoli (Fire Fist) Versus Alpay Engin (Wind-up), resulting in a win for Engin and marking the final stand for Wind-ups.

And for those that want to know the decklist: it's available on Engin's youtube channel.

Afterword

That’s it for now. Took a while to write this, but I’ve got a few other things lineup for the rest of the week.

A few side-notes:

• Star Pack is out since end of last week. It sucks, as expected. Only a handful of nice reprints (Escuridao, Wisel, Wonder wand), but lots of crap.
• Zexal Tin content is now known and will release the end of this week. This release is better, as it holds the Numbers cards Volcasaurus, Freezerdon and Goldrat, Starliege Paladynamo, Gagagashield (a good trap for Spellcasters), and lots of other nice new cards (if you like Photon/Lightray/Galaxy decks, like me); together with a nice reprint of Giga-Brilliant.
• Edit: And yeah... noticed this youtube clip, revealing that the SE of Cosmo blazer will have Shark & Blade Armor Ninja. That fake picture is apparantly real. Fuck logic, lolkonami strikes again.
• Next up this week: My thoughts on Spellbook Judgment Day (the horror of Spellcasters) and my predictions of OCG cards included in Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy.

Until then, V out.