They call me MaJu V. I'm back, I'm back.

Yeah, I'm back! Did you miss me?

*Hears Crickets chirping*

Yeah, I can truly feel the love!

Truth be told, I never thought I would upload anything on this blog again. But yet, here I am again!

Missing in Action?

A combination of things kind of stopped me from posting again on the blog. Busy work schedule, a boring month of June in terms of YGO news, stuff with the harmony band, lessons Japanese I've been following, a few good games I've been playing (Shadowrun and Divinity Original Sin) and that other project I talked about a few months ago...

This is the project I was talking about

Yeah, I bought a house. Lots of stuff to do in that before I can move in there, so that takes up lots of my free time.

And honestly, with a blog like YGOrganisation, I didn't really feel the need anymore to post the latest YGO-news or coverage of events. But yeah, I still love writing (it's my job as well), so it was kind of inevitable for me to return.

Due to time constrictions, the blog won't be updated as frequently as before (an occasional post per week or so). So I'll just cut short the regular Yugi-News. I'll keep my posts only on rulings, analysis, predictions and stories on random stuff I encountered.

Did I do absolutely nothing YGO-related or blog-related in the past months?

Actually... You might've spotted me in the comment section of the YGOorganisation blog, the Y.E.S.facebook group and stuff like that.

Also, I updated my blog posts on my trip to Japan from 2 years ago (added some pictures, made it easier to read, etc). I know, that's not much. But it's something.

Yu-Gi-Oh for me the past few months

I was supposed to go to the European Championship in July (I did get my qualifier quite early), but money constraints (you know, the house) and an angry mother kept me from going.

After the latest structure deck, I shifted from my good ol' Prophecy deck to a Lightsworn Ruler deck (like it a lot). And now I'm busy with assembling a Burning Abyss Deck (I was able to get my Dante's just before the hype started). I do keep Prophecies on stand-by, since it remains a good deck. But I've been playing with that deck for nearly two years so it was time for a change.

For the future year, I won't be attending any more YCS's (you know, the house puts a money-limit on lots of things), but I might attend a few regional qualifiers, just for the fun of it!

Future posts you might expect

I got a post on the latest F&L list coming up, and an analysis post on both the last TCG set (Duelist Alliance) and the stuff that's coming. But the last two still need to be written at this point (lol).

But no promises on what will be posted when. You'll just have to wait and see.

Until that moment, once again, V out.

Primal Origins spoiled on the internet - The details

In the upcoming weekend, the Sneak Peek of Primal Origins will be held. So spoilers for the set should be arriving in the upcoming days, right?

Wrong, they're already spoiled in the past week. This set was not safe from the terror of the internet and was revealed more than a week before players could get a "first glimpse".

TCG World Premiere Cards

Some of them were already shown on the Konami blog, but since last night we got the info on all 10 of them.

• Noble Knight Support: Noble Knight Brothers, Eachtar, Avalon and Noble Knights of the Round Table. And as usual all in bling style. Avalon is too situational, Round Table only becomes good if you have more NK's in the grave (okay I guess?), Brothers is a spam and Pot of Avarice card, and Eachtor special summons itself by banishing Noble Knight cards from the grave and protects any Noble Knight Xyz you make with it.
• Artifact Scythe: A decent Sneak Peek promo for the fans of the archetype. When Scythe is destroyed, it special summons itself and prevents your opponent from using the extra deck (lol).
• Sylvan Princessprout: Prepares your deck for excavating another Princessprout or Cherubsprout and when she's excavated, she can special summon itself and manipulate her level to whatever you desire.
• Bujingi Sinyou: As if Crane wasn't enough, Sinyou boosts the attack of a Bujin monster you control, by giving it the current attack of the attacking monster. Seriously, more attack manipulation? Jeezes.
• Vampire Vamp: more random support for Vampires. It's okay, but it's not like Vampires are competitive or so. So you may as well ignore it.
• Gladiator Beast Nerokius: I don't know what to think of this one. Okay, it cannot be destroyed in battle and your opponent cannot activate card effects when THIS card attacks or is attacked, but it requires 3 GB's and when you send it back to the extra deck you only get two GB's back. Good to finish off certain boss monsters without worrying about card effects. But it's one of those cards you better only use 1 of.
• Escalation of the Monarchs: You can tribute summon a monster during your opponent's turn. And that's a continuous effect? That's both amazing and easy to bypass. Amazing considering you can get rid of problem cards the moment your opponent summoned them (like Exciton Knight or S.H.Ark) or that can only be targetted during specific moments (like Leo). But if your opponent MST's this card, you get no effect at all. Seems good, but I guess we'll have to see whether or not Monarch players are willing to give up their free Treborn Frogs for free Tribute Summons.

OCG Promo imports

And next to the TCG Exclusives, we also know what ten OCG promo cards are being imported. And the most surprising? They've never been this low in rarity.

1 Rare card, the rest is all common. Even the two number cards aren't even in Bling (granted, they're not THAT impressive but you might think they at least deserve a Super Rare foilage or so). Heck, even Hydride (you know, the only tuner that can also be used as a non-tuner) is a common.

What cards are they? There are 6 Monthly V-Jump promo's (but sadly enough they stopped right before Geargiangler and Felice), A Weekly Jump promo (ZW Sleipnir Mail), the Jump Festa promo from last year (Shogi Knight), the bad one from the Valuable Book promo's (Shadow Lich, but no Dragoascencion) and an old Vanilla (Bolt penguin).

To foil or not to foil

Next to the 20 extra cards to the 80 OCG card set, the question that everybody asks themselves, is: what cards are pimped beyond repair? The list can be found here: http://pastebin.com/ZBZbtTYJ

The 8 secret rares are: Majesty's Fiend (oh come on!), Thestalos the Mega Monarch (as predicted), Orea the Sylvan High Arbiter (Sylvan players will cry a little), Bujinki Amaterasu (also in Ghost and Ultimate Rare) and RUM The Seventh one (seriously, the ONLY good RUM card?). Oh, and also Noble Knight Brothers and G.B. Nerokius.

Ultra's are Sylvan Sagequoia and Sylvan Charity (Sylvan players will cry more), Bujin Hirume, Madolche Anjelly (both as predicted), Nr 62 Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon, Artifact Durendal, Artifact Ignition and Artifact Sanctum (seriously, all three good Artifact cards?). Also Bujingi Sinyou and Round Table are Ultra as well.

I'm not going to run over all Super Rares (because it's only Super Rare, you know), but I am kind of surprised that they kept Jackpot 7 as a common. The card is an annoying OTK/FTK enabler and I wouldn't be crying over a secret rare foil for this card. The less it appears, the better.

Hits and misses

I don't like pimps of anti-meta cards like Vanity's Majesty (that should've been Jackpot 7 in my eyes), but it's Konami I guess. We're (sadly enough) getting used to it by now.

I'm kind of disappointed with the OCG imports, though. No Felice or Geargiangler? No Dragoascencion? Still no Gaia Knights? And still no signs of the OCG Gold series cards (like Cybernetic Fusion Support), nor the Geargia's from that OCG Duelist set.

I do like the full circle on Noble Knights. It's clear that this is the end of their support line as well, with cards like the Round Table and Avalon (although... where's Myrddin/Merlin?)

Oh, and I was so LOL'ing with Ghostrick Succubus' name change. Socuteboss? Hilarious.

That's enough venting from me now. Until next time, V out.

Battle Pack 3 - Taste the rainbow

Well, a few weeks ago, Konami announced that they would make another rendition of the by now infamous Battle Pack series, this coming on July 25.

And while the first pack focused on Draft dueling in general and the second one focused on getting boss monsters on the field, this one will focus on monsters with specific type advantages. Therefore it's also named BP3 Monster League!

Ooooooh! Look at the pretty rainbow!

How the hell is this going to work?

If you recognize a few of the monsters in the previous image, you'll notice that the monsters each have a positive effect on their specific monster type, making them kind of bad in regular draft duels where you have a mishmash of different monster types.

But this version of Battle Pack is going to have a specific rule, where all monster types are treated the same. All specific monster types are reduced to "monster".

How does it work? Let me give a few examples with some of the depicted cards:

• Freya, the Spirit of Victory: While you control a face-up Fairy-Type monster(s) other than "Freya, Spirit of Victory", this card cannot be selected as an attack target. All Fairy-Type monsters you control gain 400 ATK and DEF.
• Evil HERO Infernal Gainer: During your Main Phase 1: You can banish this card to target 1 face-up Fiend-Type monster you control; that target can attack twice during each Battle Phase. During your second Standby Phase after this effect was activated: Special Summon this banished card in face-up Attack Position.
• Battlestorm : This card gains 100 ATK for each face-up Winged Beast-Type monster you control. Once per turn, if you control 3 or more face-up Winged Beast-Type monsters, you can destroy 1 Spell or Trap Card your opponent controls.
• Koa'ki Meiru Sandman: During each of your End Phases, destroy this card unless you send 1 "Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru" from your hand to the Graveyard or reveal 1 Rock-Type monster in your hand. You can Tribute this card to negate the activation of an opponent's Trap Card and destroy that card.
• Silent Psychic Wizard: When this card is Normal Summoned, you can target 1 Psychic-Type monster in your Graveyard, and banish it. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard, Special Summon that banished monster.

See how certain disadvantages turn into advantages all of a sudden? Archetypes like the banish psychics and the Koa'ki Meiru's suddenly don't feel that bad anymore, do they?

10 NEW cards!

While Battle Pack 1 had some OCG exclusives printed in here, this battle pack will introduce 10 NEW cards.

New, as in world-premiere cards. And according to what I'm reading, these cards are specifically made for draft play.

There will be 2 monsters, 2 spells and 6 traps. Two revealed card names are Ghosts from the past (a trap similar to ghost of a grudge?) and Quantum Cat (Schrodinger's cat? Rescue Cat V2.0?)

Some Xyz Reprints

The total set will be 237 cards, making it the biggest core draft set to date (not including BP2's reinforcements add-on). And some of those cards will be Xyz. But according to the article they will be as rare as the Egyptian gods in BP2.

Question of course is, what cards will be reprinted? Will it be crap cards like Utopia, the lord of reprints? Or type-specific Xyz (considering types don't matter in this set)?

Oh, yes... almost forgot to mention this. This time, the rarity will not be starfoil, or mosaic rare, but Shatterfoils (the shattered glass foil).

Afterword

I'm looking forward to this set already. This rule change will make it interesting to see how certain older cards can shine in their own way.

Until next time, V out.

The difference between a top event with and without Dragons of Legend legal

The entire post in short: Dragon Rulers have been revived once more and both Kuribandit and Soul Charge are to blame.

"I'll be stealing ya wins, buddy!"

YCS Paris - Dragons of Legend NOT legal - Mermails win

Peter Gross once more proved to be one of the best European players. He directed his Mermail deck and proves that the deck is virtually untouched since the last banlist (seriously, why Gunde and not Sphere/Steus?).

The rest of the top 32 is as follows:

• 13x Mermail (including Peter Gross' deck)
• 1x Evilswarm (Aoued Benabdallah - 2nd Place)
• 10x Geargia
• 3x Bujin
• 1 Prophecy
• 1 Chain Burn
• 1 Fire Kings
• 1 Infernity
• 1 Harpie

Not much to say about this anymore. This was the last YCS in this shape, since Dragons of Legend is legal from now on. And what will follow is somewhat illustrated at the latest ARG Championship Series.

ARGS Richmond - Dragons of Legend Legal - Kuribandit DRulers win

Without any surprise, Goblin Hoban won again. The worst best Yugioh Player (as he's somewhat referenced to) finally quit his Mermail deck to show us what power cards were in Dragons of Legend. And it's quite clear that the combination of Kuribandit and Soul Charge is deadly in the hands of skilled players (especially in Dragon Ruler decks).

The top 16 is as follows:

• 4x Mythic Kuribandit DRuler
• 2x Mermail
• 2x Geargia
• 2x Bujin
• 2x Infernity
• 1 Kuribandit Ghostrick
• 1 Evilswarm
• 1 Hieratic (Pure)

The full decklists can be checked on the ARG Website.

The new Dragon Rulers - Kuribandit DRulers

The most preferred combo is using Kuribandit's effect to excavate 5 cards, which are 4 monster cards (inluding 1 DRuler) and obtaining a Soul Charge. Get the Soul Charge to your hand and dump the rest.

Then, during the next turn, you can use Soul Charge to revive as many cards as you can.

If you didn't excavate Soul Charge, you can just use the DRulers effect to special summon themselves from the grave/hand. If you don't open with either of the two cards, the rest of the spell line-up is draw/dump power (Gold Sarc, Upstart Goblin, Card of Consonance, Trade-In, Dragon Shrine, etc), so it's hard to have an opening hand that sucks.

If you haven't guessed, this version of DRulers is all about dumping cards in the graveyard and reviving them with Soul Charge or by Monster effect (similar to Chaos Dragons), so that you have an overpowering line-up of dragons and Xyz (similar to Chaos Dragons). The trap line-up is small to non-existent (similar to Chaos Dragons) and it doesn't use any other protection cards (similar to Chaos Dragons).

Yes, you heard me correctly, the new version of Dragon Rulers is basically how Chaos Dragons worked when they were at their best. Dumping cards (Future Fusion), spamming the field with overpowering monsters (REDMD, DAD, Lightpulsar, BLS, Chaos Sorcerer), and constantly-reappearing boss monsters (the Lightpulsar-REDMD combo).

Any other Dragons-of-Legend cards?

Looking through the top 16, there were a few other cards (next to Soul Charge en Kuribandit) from Dragons of Legend that were played. Those were the following:

• Wiretap. One of the best counter traps at this point. Negates the activation of a trap and sends it back to the deck. Both Geargia decks and Infernity decks are playing it.
• There were also 3 people in the top 16 trying out the combo of Fire and Ice Hand, but that was only visible in the side decks.

That's it for now, V out.

Cards to look forward to in the Duelist Advent Pt. 2 - Spells, traps and OCG Premiere Cards

Let's continue where I left off in my last post, with the spells and traps from the Duelist Advent, and the OCG World Premiere cards (you know, those ten cards we won't see until the end of this year or so).

Spell cards

• Savage Feast Lv 5: You can special summon 2 Lv 5 warriors from your hand or grave. That's amazing, right? Right? Yeah, it would be if there were more interesting lv 5 warriors out there. But as it stands now, each archetype that could support it, only has 1 or two (mediocre) Lv 5 warriors (not counting synchro's), so the chance of you actually using this card to its full potential is small (unless more support comes out?).
• Metaphization/Imagine Breaker: A great support card for the new Genryu type. Once per turn, you can tribute 1 dragon (cough*hieratics*cough) to special summon a Genryu type monster from your deck with the same level as the tributed monster. The number of Genryu monsters is very low right now, but expect more to be released in the following sets (you know, like Psychics in the 5Ds series).
• Fountain of Magic: Read as: amazing side-card against Noble Knights, Crystal Beasts and Chain Burn. It's a quick-play (so chaining works wonders) that lets you draw as many cards as your opponent controls face-up spells and traps (including those that are waiting to be resolved) and then you can discard a number of cards equal to the face-ups that you control (including this one obviously). But in exchange you can no longer stop/destroy your opponent's backrow until his next end phase. So it does require skill to use.

• The Monarch Storms forth: Amazing support for monarchs and basically any deck that uses high-level monsters (Agents, Chaos Dragons, etc). It's a better version of Soul Exchange, that doesn't cost you the battle phase; but costs you the use of your extra deck that turn. But trust me, in the turn you require this card, you're not longing to use that extra deck anyway.
• Pop-pull-up: A field spell searcher. If your opponent has a field spell and you don't, activate one directly from your deck. Nice side-card if your deck relies heavily on field spells (Prophecy, Dark World, Gravekeeper, etc) and your opponent does as well.

Trap Cards

• Battleguard Howling: If a warrior you control is targeted for an attack or for a monster card effect, you can burn the opponent equal to that monster's original attack (lol) and then bounce it back to the opponent's hand (even more lol). It's more restricted than Compulsory Evacuation Device, but it's soooo much better (and funny) when used.
• Showdown: One of the best counter trap cards to come out in recent memory. Forget 7 Tools of the Bandit and Dark Bribe, this is more interesting. During the damage step, when a spell or trap card is activated (like Forbidden Lance or Fire Formation Tensen), or a monster effect is activated (like Blackwing Kalut, Honest, Bujin Crane, etc), you can negate the activation and destroy that card. This is a good counter towards Fire Fist decks, who use attack manipulation spells/traps; or decks that rely heavily on 1 monster with lots of support (Bujins).

OCG World Premiere cards

Still don't like it, but we're getting used to it by now (I guess). Let's see what the OCG got that we didn't.

• Heroic support: Assault Halberd is amazing. It's a Cyber Dragon-style card that pierces. And when it does damage, you can search a Heroic Card (monster and support cards). Thousand Blade on the other hand encourages Challenger spamming (including more of itself!) that can special summon itself from the grave when you take damage. And Rhongomiant (the Xyz) is another Numbers Xyz that can take up to 5 Xyz Materials that is virtually indestructible if its got 3 or more Materials.
• Star Serpah Support: Now this is interesting. I always thought the Star Seraphs were kind of under-represented and could be more interesting if only there were more. And look what happens? 3 new monsters (awh, no Xyz here?). And similar to the others, these monsters focus on getting more of them on the field.
• Number Hunter: A card version of Kite (somewhat) that's anti-Xyz and Anti-Numbers in General. But with 1600 attack, that's its only feature (thus, situational).
• Onomatopia: A field spell for the Onomatope-cards (Gagaga/gogogo/tralala/etcetera), but since it requires multiple incarnations of Utopia to be good, this won't be used.
• Humhumming the Keyboard Djinn: How cool, another Djinn Xyz. When it's sepecial summoned, you can special summon another Djinn Xyz from the grave (even Queen Dragun Djinn), and attach up to 2 Xyz materials from your hand (even spells or traps, lol). And when you detach a material, a Djinn Xyz can attack your opponent directly. Makes you re-think about making a Djinn deck, right?
• Marshalling Field: Read as: an easy way for machine decks to get high-level Xyz on the field and another attempt to make us use RUM-cards. Good card for machine lovers.

Appearing on your wishlist, but not in your hands for the next year...

My thoughts on the set

Similar to other series starter sets (e.g. Generation Force), this booster is not amazing. But it sets up nice start-support for the new archetypes that Konami will push in the coming year. If you want to play any of the included new archetypes, you better pick up this set. If you're not interested, pick out the few support cards that interest you and leave this set alone.

We'll see if Konami can make this set more interesting with the OCG imports and TCG WPC's, but I think it'll be one or two extra interesting cards at most.

That's it for now, V out.

Note: The used names are fan-interpretations of the translation. All names and effects are a subject to change when appearing in the TCG. Heck, they names are already being altered every few days on the wiki.

Cards to look forward to in the Duelist Advent Pt. 1 - Monsters

As promised, an overview of the more interesting cards that can be used in many decks, from the latest set in the OCG: the Duelist Advent.

Regular Effect Monsters

• Satellaknight Sham: If summoned, you can inflict 1000 damage to your opponent. BLAM! You're dead! Thank god it's effect is restricted to once per turn, or this card would be broken from the get-go. This Light Lv. 4 warrior is easy to search, spam and re-spam each turn. I think Chain Burn fans have already fallen in love with this one.
• Artifact Chakram: Artifacts are interesting monsters overall. This one basically saves a backrow card if a spell/trap is targeted for destruction and special summons itself afterwards. Talk about rendering an MST useless. Oh, yes, and it has the usual Artifact effect (when destroyed in the backrow, special summon it).
• Artifact Longinus: An other interesting Artifact. When a card effect activates that banishes a card you control, you can tribute this card from the field OR YOUR HAND to ensure none of your cards can be banished this turn. That's an amazing side-card you want when facing certain decks (*cough*Prophecy*cough*) that banishes a lot (*cough*Monarchs*cough*).
• Bunborg 001: This is a nifty little tuner that can special summon itself from the grave when you special summon 2 (or more) machine monsters at the same time. And that's something that's easily achieved in machine decks, due to cards like Machine Duplication, Geargiagear, MPB Dracosack (yes the 2 tokens are machines, lol) and the new card from Dragons of Legend, Soul Charge.

Pendulum Monsters

From this point onward, effect monsters can have a pendulum scale, to be used for pendulum summons. Because those monsters have a double effect, I'll split them off from regular monsters. And since the number of Pendulum monsters is rather low at the moment, the effects are mediocre to "nice" at best.

• Foucault's Spellstone Cannon: It's Pendulum scale is 2 and during the end phase of the turn you activate it, you can destroy a face-up spell or trap card (like a field spell or opponent's pendulum zone cards.
• Entermate Tiptoad: This aqua card is easily recyclable and has a fun Pendulum effect (its regular effect is meh). When active in the Pendulum zone, once per turn, you can change the attack and defense of 1 face-up monster. Always interesting to get rid of annoyingly strong monsters. It's got a pendulum scale of 3. Its primary use will be frog decks, who'll keep their summons around Lv 3 anyway.
• Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon: The central monster of this set and the key monster of Yuya, the new YGO protagonist. When active in your pendulum zone, you take no battle damage in a battle involving a pendulum monster (meh), but more importantly; you can destroy it to search for another Pendulum monster. It's a nice "starter" Pendulum monster that's also interesting to use in (Chaos) Dragon decks.

Right now, the number of (really) interesting pendulum cards is low, but considering it's the first set, that's somewhat expected. People still need to figure out how this is going to work in their respective decks (IF it' going to work in their deck) and that will take some time getting used to. I expect the following sets to have more (and more interesting) pendulum cards.

Ritual Monsters

Saphira the Dragon Princess: Here we have a Ritual monster that works amazingly in Hieratic decks. Use Advanced Ritual Art to send Labradorite Dragon/Wattaildragon to the grave and summon this princess. She's a nice 2500 beater with nice defense. And during the end phase of when she's summoned, or when a Light monster is sent from the hand/deck to the grave, you can use one of her three effects. And that is: A: Draw two cards, discard 1; B: discard 1 random card from your opponent's hand; C: Recycle 1 Light monster from your grave. Other options are using this card in a Lightsworn deck to constantly recycle Honest (lol), or using it in a Herald of Perfection deck to recycle fairies for Herald's effect. Interesting card, indeed.

Extra Deck monsters

The number of extra deck monsters is so small. 2 fusions, 2 synchro's and 2 Xyz. It's been ages since there were only so little extra deck monsters.

• Gongfu, Cosmic Dragon of Brilliance: An interesting first Genryu synchro. When summoned, you can bounce cards on the field up to the number of different attributes of the Genryu monsters used in the synchro summon. Next to that, you can destroy 1 card you control (like Scrap Dragon) to revive a Lv 4 or lower monster from your grave (nice). The only downside is the low attack of this card.
• Reincarnation Dragon Samsara: If this card is sent from the field to the grave due to your opponent (battle/effect), you can target any monster (safe this one) in any graveyard and special summon the target. It's a Lv 5 Dragon, so it's very easily summoned with Debris Dragon and a Lv 1 monster/token and it can so easily be revived by cards like Queen Dragun Djinn and Lightpulsar Dragon (for max abuse).
• Stellaknight Deltatheros: Summoning this and keeping Xyz Material to it prevents your opponent from using cards like Torrential Tribute, Bottomless Trap Hole or Solemn Warning on any summon that follows it. Also, you can detach 1 material to pop one card on the field. Nice card, with a little extra twist when used in Tellaknight decks.

Afterword

That's it for now. Next time, I'll cover the more interesting spells, traps and ocg exclusives. Until then, V out.

Note: These are fan interpretations of the Japanese card names. Names and effects are a subject to (possible) change when they come out in the TCG.

Massive Yugioh updates - Masked HERO Structure Deck, Baby Monarchs, new D.D. monsters and more

It's been one of those days where you wake up and spread your eyes wide open because of all the news updates. I'll try to recap whatever I found/noticed this morning.

The HERO structure deck supports masked HEROs

Considering all the variants in HERO cards, it wasn't quite clear what kind of Structure deck we could expect. But I guess most people kind of guessed what effect monster would be in here, right?

The first revelead 2 cards are the long-awaited Elemental HERO Shadow Mist and a new quick-play spell card named Form Change.

• Shadow Mist: has two effects. The first one is "If this card is Special Summoned: You can add 1 "Change" Quick-Play Spell Card from your Deck to your hand (Mask Change or Form Change obviously)". The other is: "If this card is sent to the Graveyard: You can add 1 "HERO" monster from your Deck to your hand, except for "Elemental HERO Shadow Mist". You can only use 1 of these effects once per turn (to prevent abuse, since it's a good effect).
• Form Change on the other end is similar to Mask Change, but while Mask Change required you to keep the current attribute, Form Change requires you to keep the same level instead; AND it sends the targeted fusion monster back to the extra deck instead of to the grave (interesting twist).
• Chaos HERO Chaos and Masked HERO Kouga are also revealed to be new fusion cards in this structure deck, but without effect as of yet (more on that next month around this period).

Other revealed cards are Card Trooper, Honest, E-HERO Woodsman, Bubbleman and Gaia, Masked HERO Acid and Miracle Fusion.

It's not hard to predict, but people are quite excited about Shadow Mist... her second effect obviously. She doesn't miss timing and when sent to the grave by ANY means. And when sent, she searches any HERO (Tele-DAD abuse?). And believe me, with an attack of 1000, reviving her and sending her back to the grave is just as easy as constantly spamming Stratos. Thank god there's a once-per-turn clause, or otherwise this card would become limited/forbidden sooner than you think.

Stratos is gone for good (in TCG). Does this serve as a replacement?

Baby Monarchs, what the...?

Another big uproar is the announcement of baby Monarchs. Well, truth be told, they're not named monarchs (nor princes), but the effect and art of the first revealed card make it clear that they're related to the monarchs.

The first card to be revealed is named Essha, the Forst Vassal. The effect is: "If your opponent controls 2 or more cards in their Spell and Trap Card Zones, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand)."

The art is similar to Mobius and seems (in terms of effect) like the perfect setup to summon Mobius. This card will appear in the OCG Jump Victory Carnival 2014. no idea if more of the "baby monarchs" will follow, but they probably will (considering Konami's pushing the Monarchs lately).

"Perfect spam card?
I don't know what you're talking about?"

New V-Jump Card has new D.D. Monsters

A New V-Jump pack will appear in the OCG, with cards like Entermate Heitiger (Warrior Tiger), Entermate Jinrhino (Thunderhino), DDD Caesar the Conqueror, DD Proud Ogre and DD Proud Chevalier.

No effects as of yet, since they still have to appear in the anime. But more on that next month I guess?

Duelist Advent fully spoiled

The Duelist Advent (the next set after Primal Origins) is being released today in the OCG, so yesterday and last night all cards were slowly revealed. I won't go into detail at this moment, but I'll give you the usual "cards to look forward to" post next week's Monday or so.

OCG's Number Guide 3 promo card revealed

The promo card will be Number 99: Hope Dragun. And it gives people another reason to play a Utopia monster (any Utopia monster)

Because while you can use 3 Lv 10 monsters as Xyz Material, you can also discard any Rank-up Magic spell card to overlay a Utopia monster you control with this boss monster. Its two effects are:

① Once per turn: You can target 1 “Number” monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target in face-up Defense Position. Its effects are negated. ② When a monster effect targets this card: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; negate that activation, and if you do destroy it.

Don't expect this one soon in the TCG, the first Numbers Guide card became a Jump Promo and the second one is only being released this month in Dragons of Legend.

More cards (or card effects) revealed in Dragons of Legend

You know that series of cards in my post about Dragons of Legend that didn't have a card effect announced yet? Well, they all got their effect revealed... together with some new revealed cards!

• Instant Fusion (anime card) became Flash Fusion (because of the obvious naming issues). It's a quick-play spell card that lets you fuse instantly, with the cost that the fusion monster is destroyed during the end phase (unless used as Xyz Material or for Masked HERO transformations.).
• Shooting Star got its effect as predicted: while you control a stardust dragon: target 1 card, destroy the target.
• Rising Sun Slash: Utopia can not be destroyed by effects (including its own, lol); each time a monster is attacked, it gains 500 attack (lol, whut), and you can detach it as an Xyz material (why would you do that, for crying out loud?). Good support card!
• Blackwing – Steam the Cloaked is an "interesting" Blackwing tuner that creates a lv 1 token when sent to the graveyard and which can special summon itself by tributing a monster you control. Though the downside is that both effects can only be used once per duel.
• Number C73: Abyss Supra requires 3 LV 6 monsters and does attack manipulation, similar to Abyss Splash. It does become interesting if Abyss Splash is an Xyz Material, since then it cannot be destroyed by card effects (wich makes it a menacing card). But that's not very likely to happen, right?
• Final Fusion: If two fusion monsters battle it out, both monsters are destroyed and both players take the total attack as effect damage. Massive effect damage, but only usable in limited decks.
• Wiretap: Now THIS is an interesting counter trap: When a Trap Card is activated: Negate that activation, and if you do, return that card to the owner’s Deck. No more allowing your opponent to draw a card (Dark Bribe) or paying 1000 lifepoints (7 Tools). You just send it back to the deck (LOL).
• Mound of the Bound Creator: This is an interesting support card for God Card decks. It protects Lv. 10 and higher monsters from card effects (*cough*REDMD*cough*), causes extra effect damage if a Lv. 10 or higher monster destroys a monster (*cough*star*eater*cough*quasar*cough*) and when this card is destroyed by effect (not game mechanic, you sly weasels), you can add a Divine Beast from your deck to the hand. Amazing for God cards, but I have no idea what other monsters to use it for (*cough*bullshit*cough*).
• Guardian Dreadscythe: You can only special summon it when Guardian Eatos is destroyed (like in the anime) or by its own effect. When summoned, you can instantly equip the Reaper Scythe from your deck to this card (lol, wut?). And if it's send from the field to the grave, you can send 1 card from your hand to the grave to special summon it once more. Downside: no further summons except this card (to prevent abuse with its special summon condition). But whether or not it will be used, will probably depend on the effect of the Reaper's Scythe.

And the newly revealed cards are:

• Amulet Dragon: The Fusion between Dark Magician and the Eye of Timaeus. When summoned, you can banish any number of spell cards in either player's grave (*hint*prophecy*hint) to gain extra attack. And when it's destroyed, you can special summon any spellcaster from your grave. Very interesting card.
• Rank-Up-Magic Admire Death Thousand: Hey, look. Vector's RUM card. And it's a funny card (though very situational). When both players have an Xyz with the same rank in their grave, you can special summon a Number C monster whose rank is 1 higher than the 2 Xyz in the graves. Special summon the Number C card and attach the two Xyz from the grave as Xyz Material. While similar to another nerfed Rank-up Card (you can't special summon other monsters), the fact that you can create a chaos monster out of thin air makes it a little better. If you use it (unlikely), the best bet to use this card is a Rank 5 C card (Utopia Ray V and Heraldry Crest of Horror), because it has the highest chance of success.
• Shadow Impulse: Not from Jump, but from an article on the Konami blog last evening (you'd almost forget it with all the other reveals). When a Synchro you control is destroyed by any means and sent to the grave, you can special summon another synchro from your extra deck of the same Type (e.g. Dragons) and level, but with a different name. It is an easy way to sacrifice decent cards (like Scrap Dragon) to achieve harder-to-get but hella annoying synchro's (like Beelze, Dark End Dragon, Void Ogre Dragon or Infernity Doom Dragon) . Interesting trap card, I have to say.
• Reaper's Scythe - Dreadscythe is announced in the card effect of Guardian Dreadscythe, but no effect as of yet.
• And a certain poster announced that Express Train Trolley Olley will be in this set as well. No effects either, but the anime effect isn't great so... should we care?

"BOW BEFORE YOUR MASTER!"

Afterword

Wow, that was a lot to cover. Hope I got it all. Anyways, that's it for now, V out.

Soul Charge - Oh god why...?

There are many anime cards that people want to see in reality, that's no secret.

But of all the anime cards, why did Konami made Soul Charge into a thing?

Soul Charge - The effect

Target any number of monsters in your Graveyard; Special Summon them, and if you do, you lose 1000 Life Points for each monster Special Summoned by this effect. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase the turn you activate this card. You can only activate 1 "Soul Charge" per turn.

Cost vs gain

So basically, you lose your battle phase, can potentially lose up to 5000 lifepoints and gain a field full of monsters which you can spam Xyz, synchro's or fusions with. And if you pre-counter this card with a Trap Stun, your opponent can only wipe his tears as you take full control of the field. Busted does not even start to describe this card.

But I can hear your argument that it costs a lot of lifepoints and when used incorrect, it'll backfire (torrential tribute). Also, the loss of a battle phase prevents you from doing much damage during the same turn.

But is it worth that cost if you take full control of the field?

The answer to that is: "HELL YEAH!". Control is everything in this game!

In one turn, Dragon Rulers can suddenly have a field with Dragosacks, Felgrand and/or Big Eye, all out of thin air. Gladiator Beasts can pay 3000 LP to go into instant Heraklinos. Agents can get a field with Hyperions and Archlord Kristya. Evilswarm can turn this one card into a field full of hate. Harpies can continue spamming cards like Phantasmal Dragon and Chidori; Lv. 4 decks will be able to go into annoying rank 4s like S.H.Ark, Exciton Knight, Papilloperative, etc; Chaos Dragons can revive BLS and Chaos Sorcerer and banish the living hell of your field; and god forbid what Wind-up decks could do with this card! The possibilities are nearly endless!

Seriously, top decking this card and paying 1000 or 2000 LP basically can help you win the match! People were bitching about Monster Reborn topdecks or Rekinding topdecks, but at least those had its limits. This card just costs a few lifepoints and does so much more damage.

Oh, and did I mention the many (burn) OTK decks that will simply worship this card?

My thoughts

I think my rants make it quite clear. This card is bad news for the game. Cards like this should not exist in general.

Soul Charge will make the set like hotcakes, but you also know that this card isn't going to remain legal for a year (because it's such a broken card). So don't spend TOO much on it, it might become forbidden sooner than you think.

But it makes me wonder why Konami released such a card? The set is already fairly popular with half of the cards revealed and would already sell more than Number Hunters ever did. Did they really need a second Sixth Sense to make this a highly wanted set?

A slightly frustrated V out.

Dragons of Legend, card by card (update 11/04)

In a few weeks, Dragons of Legend will become a fact. It's a set with 50 world-premiere cards from the anime that finally become a reality, together with 1 reprint (#quasarwaitinggame). That makes a set of 51 cards, which the whole world looks at in quite some anticipation.

But the question is, will the set live up to the buildup? That's a valid question, considering Number Hunters didn't quite deliver either (it only had a handful of good new cards).

So far, 27 cards have been revealed, either with or without a card effect.

The THREE Legendary Dragons... or at least one of them

Big Eye-catcher from day one is the reveal that Legendary Knight Timaeus will get a print, together with The Eye of Timaeus, Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight and Legend of Heart. All of these cards were Yugi's cards during the first Yu-Gi-Oh card game anime, in the Legendary Dragons/Doma Story Arc.

And while Legendary Knight Timaeus and Legend of Heart don't have their effect out yet, the other two do.

Legend of Heart is a Fusion card that fuses a Dark Magician (Girl) with basically nothing (lol), to turn into a Dark-Magician related Fusion. That could be DMG the Dragon Knight, but also classic fusions like Dark Flare Knight (lol, as if) and Dark Paladin (okay, now THAT is interesting).

Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight is a fusion of DMG with any Dragon (which is nice). Since it's a dragon, this means it's also a Dragon's Mirror target (always interesting). And the effect is quite decent as well. Once per turn, you can send a card from your hand to the grave to target/destroy 1 face-up card. Oh yeah, you can use that effect during your opponent's turn as well (lol, now that IS funny).

What about Critias and Hermos?

But with the reveal of the Timaeus cards, people obviously wonder what the other two Legendary Dragons will look like in this card game. My thoughts... don't get your hopes up. We might not even see them.

Before you start raging, think about it. HOW is Konami going to apply these fusions? Fuse a Dragon with a Trap Card (Critias)? Seriously? Do you honestly think a card like Doom Virus Dragon (a fusion between Critias and Crush Card Virus) could become reality? Lol, as if...

Unless obviously Hermos will become an Equip Spell Search card and they turn Hermos' fusions into regular equip spells (though seriously nerfed, probably).

Other interesting cards from the first trading card anime

• Kuribandit: The talk of the day yesterday, was this brand-new Kuriboh-variant. It's a lv 3 fiend (Tour Guide target) that can be tributed when normal summoned to excavate the top 5 cards and add 1 excavated spell or trap to your hand (while the rest is sent to the grave). Interesting card for chaos-themed decks as a replacement for Card Trooper.
• Ra's Disciple: While the anime version of this card added more of the same card to the hand when summoned (which is lame), the new effect will special summon them from the hand or deck (that IS interesting, with the drawback that you can only tribute them for an Egyptian God (to prevent abuse).
• The effects are still unclear for Guardian Dreadscythe and Berserker Soul.

Quick Note: I'll update this section when more cards/effects are revealed.

Cards from the other animes (GX, 5D's, Zexal)

Quick Note: I'll update this section when more cards/effects are revealed.

From GX:

• Mathematician: Thé reveal of last night. Mathematician is an interesting mix of Card Trooper and Armageddon Knight. It's a Lv 3 Earth Spellcaster that allows you to dump a lv. 4 or lower monster from your deck to the grave. And when it's destroyed by battle, you can draw 1 card. Oh, the shenanigans you can pull in Plant decks with this card. This already became one of the most wanted cards from this set.
• Final Fusion: This is a wildcard trap. It can be extremely deadly when two fusion based decks face off vs each other. But in any other deck it's virtually useless. When two fusion monsters battle, both players take the total attack as damage.
• Sabatiel - The Philosopher's Stone: Basically, this card is a search card for fusion spell cards, but it only works if you got a Winged Kuriboh in the graveyard. Oh, it also has a secondary effect of attack boost, but it's so unlikely to happen in a real duel it's not even worth mentioning.
• Until now, we only know the anime effects for cards like Instan Fusion (GX) and Mound of the Bound Creator. More info will follow when available.

From 5D's:

• Shooting Star: It's unconfirmed, but the hints given to us, point that this card will be unchanged from the anime. The effect is simple. If you control a Stardust Dragon, you can target/destroy 1 card your opponent controls.
• Blackwing - Hurricane the Tornado: A Friday update from Japan. While unconfirmed, the hint text suggests that it keeps its original effect. Which is: When this card is summoned, it can copy the attack of a synchro monster on the field. So basically, it's a Blackwing variant of Copycat. Well, it's handy because it's a tuner as well. So if it gets Veilered or F-Chained, you can synchro further with it.
• Until now, we only know the anime effect for cards like Black Sonic, BW Steam the Cloaked, Gate Blocker and Wiretap. More info will follow when available.

From Zexal:

• Number C106: Giant Hand Red: This is the Chaos variant of the current YCS winner card. This is one of the 9 OCG promo's that are included in this set.
• Fire Hand and Ice Hand: Both are Gilag's cards and were used to make Giant Hand (how handy that they're all named Hands). Both cards are a new form of searchers, where they basically search each other when destroyed (either by battle or card effect) and sent to the graveyard. How's that for field presence?
• Magic Hand and Prominence Hand: The two other cards from Gilag were announced on April 10. They're not as great as the previous two, but they work in sync with them (so maybe we can see some "handy" decks in the future. Magic hand causes a searched card to be sent to the grave instead and do some burn damage (fun side against Prophecies). Prominence Hand on the other hand can be special summoned if you control any of the other "Hand" effect monsters (easy Xyz).
• Until now, we only know the anime effect for Number C5: Chaos Chimera Dragon, Number C73 Abyss Supra, Rank-up Magic Quick Chaos and Rising Sun Slash. More info will follow when available.

Unconfirmed, but hinted or plausible cards

The following cards are unconfirmed, but have a decent chance of being in here. Let me explain why:

• Number 73: Abyss Splash: With the Chaos variant in here, it would be weird that the original would NOT be in here. It's a card from the OCG Shark Duelist Pack and has a high chance of being 1 of the 9 OCG imports.
• Number 94: Crystal Zero: Less likely than Abyss Splash, but since it's a Legendary Number like Abyss Splash, it would certainly fit in here.
• Number 106: Giant Hand: There's one reprint announced. And seriously, with all the Hand cards getting a print, the situation calls for a reprint of this YCS Prize card (and thus change the price).
• Number 5: Des Chimera Dragon: Des Chimera Dragon is a weird card, considering that its chaos number appeared in the anime, while the master card has never been shown. But since the Chaos Number is in here, there's a decent chance that the real number 5 will be in here as well.
• Shooting Quasar Dragon: Because #quasarwaitinggame. Well, it is possible, considering it's a Legendary Dragon. But realistically speaking, it's not that likely since Shueisha hasn't shown any signs of exchanging the license of this card to Konami (you know, the whole reprint of Jump cards thing).

Afterword

I'll keep this post updated when new information is released on the included cards.

Until next time, V out.

Updates

• 10/04: Added Fire Hand and Ice Hand
• 11/04: Added Magic Hand, Prominence Hand and BW - Hurricane the Tornado
• 14/04: Added Philosopher's Stone

Last day of the format and the Gold (series) Rush

It's the 31st of March, meaning it's the last day of the January format. April will be filled to the brim with YCS's to test out this new format and see what the new top decks are.

No, serious, I doubt there are that many months in a YGO year that have THREE YCS's. This weekend will have YCS Mexico City (Central America), Next weekend is YCS Las Vegas (US) and the 26th of April will be YCS Paris (Europe). Wow, they're really pushing the last YCS's before the Nationals (World Championship Qualifier) period begins in May (or end of April).

And I think everybody will be curious about what decks will top. Are Mermails still thé deck to beat? Can Fire Fists gain tops with only 1 Wolfbark? Will Geargia-style decks dominate everything? Will any new card from Premium Gold actually matter in this new format?

Everybody participates in the Gold Rush!

I think Premium Gold is one of the best-selling sets in Yugioh ever. And is there any reason to think otherwise, honestly?

A pack of premium Gold basically pays for itself. More than 50% of the cards are worth more than €1$, so the chance of you earning the invested money back is close to 100% (unless you have bad luck and pull shitty cards like Utopia Buster and Golld, Wu-Lord of DW). Cards like Effect Veiler, Forbidden Lance, the Egyptian Gods, DAD, DMG, Solar Recharge and Fire Fist Tiger King are great bling reprints that are actually worth some money. And there are some interesting new cards, like Ghost of a Grudge and Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons.

And it shows that this set is very interesting. On Saturdays, two days after the set could be sold legally in Europe, lots of shops were already out of stock and some were already unable to order any new ones. I've never seen a YGO product sell this fast since Battle Pack 1 (remember, with the rush on Tour Guides, Lances, Keepers and F-Chains?).

"Worship me!"

Most interesting new cards from Premium Gold?

Without a doubt the most interesting one is Beelze. Beelzebub is a Philistine deity who's also nicknamed Lord of the Flies and... oh, wait that's another Beelze... ahem.

Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons is one of the best Lv 8 synchro's out there who's VERY hard to get rid off. It can't be destroyed, and when you take battle damage in attacks involving this card or by card effect (like Gagaga Cowboy), it gains that damage as an attack bonus. This seems like a new key card for Infernities, but I think we'll see it a lot in other decks as well.

Grudge? These two seem to be
in good spirits.

Another very interesting card is Ghost of a Grudge. The moment your opponent has 8 (or more) cards in his grave, you can turn the attack of all your opponent's current monsters to 0... permanently. Your opponent spams a field full of Mermails? They can't do much if they're all 0-attack monsters. Reptilliane Vaskii has never been this happy before.

Oh, an important ruling you'll probably wonder: Yes, you can activate it during the damage step, but not during damage calculation. Be sure to time it correctly if you want to use it!

Cute, but deadly when underestimated.

A somewhat underestimated card is Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon. It's a Dragon's Mirror target in Zombie decks! It's a 3000-beatstick that does not destroy the opponent's monsters, but reduces them to a mere 0-attack monster, while also summoning a token on your side of the field (zombie spam decks anyone?).

Another understimated card is Nr 82: Heartlandraco. While you control a face-up spell card (like a field spell, or continuous spell), this card can't be targetted for an attack (which can cause deadlocks if used correctly). Also, this card can attack your opponent directly (for a 2000-beater that's a VERY nice feature).

"Do you feel me, bro?"

And then we have some nice support for the Gimmick Puppets, like Dreary Doll, magnet Doll, Junk Puppet, Humpty Dumpty and Human Centip... err, Shadow Feeler (thank god they made the art less disturbing in tcg). Also, the Chaos versions of the Gimmick Puppets are released, making the RUM-version of Gimmick Puppets very playable in real-life

And last, but not least, a few of the missing key cards in the pure Chronomaly deck are released, namely Tula Guardian and City Babylon. Now only Nebra Disk and Fort Hyuk are missing to make this deck really competitive.

The rest of the new cards are nice for collectors (the Duel Dragons and Numbers), or are just plain bad (because everybody wanted Big Belly Knight and Utopia Buster, right?).

"I am so busted, right? Right? Anyone?"

afterword

I'm very curious as to how these new cards will affect the meta. Nobody really knows atm, since Beelze and Ghost of a Grudge are also brand new in the OCG (released about the same time) and they're also entering a new format.

On a side-note: Yes, I realize I'm posting less than usual in the past months. But that's because I'm busy on a different "project". More on that in May (probably the end of May, but it may be sooner).

Until next time, V out.

The April 1st TCG Forbidden and Limited List - What the...?

So, it's finally upon us, the new list in here. But serious, what the hell's with the Jar-hate?

The Changes

Newly forbidden:

• Morphing Jar (from limited)
• Morphing Jar #2 (from unlimited)

Newly limited:

• Coach Soldier Wolfbark (from unlimited)
• Mermail Abyssgunde (from unlimited)
• Rekindling (from unlimited)
• Infernity Barrier (from unlimited)

Newly semi-limited:

• Necroface (from limited)
• Hieratic Seal of Convocation (from unlimited)

Newly unlimited:

• Magical Stone Excavation (from Semi-Limited)
• Primal Seed (from Limited)

The decks that are hit

1. Empty Jar: Not really a competitive deck atm, but with its key cards gone, it's totally dead now.
2. Fire Fist: With Wolfbark (and Rekindling) Limited, it's up to the Fisters (wait, that sounds too wrong) to make a new mix between 3 and 4-axis (Dragon will return).
3. Fire Kings/Laval/Flamvell: These three decks kind of relied on Rekindling as a finishing card. We saw an occasional Fire King or Laval deck top in regionals from time to time; but I guess those times are over now.
4. Mermail: While I was initially disappointed that those 2 spam cards (Steuss & Sphere) weren't hit, Gunde is a hit that's about just as good. Three Monster Reborns in the deck was kind of a lot. But while I expected the Fishes to be butchered, they're still allowed to play on the top tables.
5. Hieratic DRuler: Called it. Though I kind of expected to see Atum return to 2 as well. Oh well, we'll see if people will still play that dreadfully awkward deck.
6. Infernity: One of the most busted counter traps in the game limited? I can only applaud that choice.

My initial reaction

10 changes is small, but with a list-frequency like this, that's kind of to be predicted. Why the hell is this list until half of July? That's such a random date (unless all continental championships are held just before this date, that would kind of make sense).

But what's with the Jar-hate here? It's been ages since I've seen anyone play those cards (safe a random Jar #2 in the side-deck). So why make them forbidden? That's just an overzealous hit towards "annoying" decks (in this case, Empty Jar) and potential OTK enablers (Jackpot 7 works better with the Dark Scorpian Burglars anyway).

The other hits can be classified as predictable (Wolfbark, Convocation, Stone Excavation), (surprisingly) good hits (Abyssgunde, Rekindling, Infernity Barrier) and a few surprises (the return of Necroface and Primal Seed). Not that 2 Necrofaces or three Primal Seeds will do much...

That's it for now. V is going to cheer up a sad jar.

"All these hits make me
a saaaaaaad jar."

Next European YCS, European Gold Series size debacle and Dark Strike Fighter's return?

I wanted to do a post about Dark Strike Fighter's (possible) return from the forbidden list, but a few extra news flashes came in, so I'll discuss it all!

Next European YCS is kind of hidden

This morning, I glanced over some of the massive updates on The Organisation (ironically, they need to organize that site a little more, those many updates make the news too scattered) an noticed the following link.

https://tcg.konami-europe.net/coverage/ycs-paris-judge-application-form/

So my complaint last time, about not knowing what the last European YCS will be before Nationals season finally resulted in something, even though it's kind of weird.

Due to "internal circumstances" (I guess, it's a "don't ask, we won't tell" situation), the news cannot be published on yugioh-card.com, so all we have is a date at the moment. No venue, no further details. It's been 3 years since the previous YCS in Paris, so I guess many people will be glad to return to the city of Lights.

I'll post more details when they're published online.

Debacle on Premium Gold pack size

So a while ago, a picture was released, revealing that the French edition of Premium gold would have 10 cards, instead of the 15 card-pack in the US. Many Europeans were displeased with this difference in size, considering pre-order prices were based on the price of the US version (which would mean Europeans once again pay more for their cards).

Then, suddenly, yesterday the product page for the UK variant of Premium Gold was published, revealing that the UK variant ALSO has 15 cards.

This makes the situation very weird. Personally this makes me think that the picture of the French edition is a troll/fake, because it would be extremely weird that there's a difference in pack size within the same continent (especially since those cards/packs are created in the same factory).

If true, it would also create weird situations in Belgian shops, were they sell both the French and English cards. Uninformed shop personal will be confused as hell when people ask for Premium gold.

I guess all will be revealed when the product pages for the other languages are updated.

Draft picture or a troll/fake, that's what I call it.

Oh, and for a prediction on what new cards will be in there? Most probably the 3 OCG exclusive Gold Series cards and the cards from Premium Pack 15 and 16 (the "Premium" stands for something, you know).

Dark Strike Fighter returns?

The main point of controversy yesterday on the internet and facebook was the possible return of Dark Strike Fighter (DSF)... since it will receive an errata in the OCG, similar to the errata of Catapult Turtle.

What errata, you might ask? Well, both Catapult Turtle and Dark Strike Fighter can now only activate their effect Once per turn (previously unlimited amounts of times per turn, making DSF broken as f**k).

And if you think "Oh, this is only OCG. Nobody knows if it will be the same in TCG", you're wrong. The Yugioh Card Database already confirmed the change in TCG for Catapult Turtle. So it's only a matter of time before DSF will follow.

So, what do you guys think of a possible return of Dark Strike Fighter? Are you hoarding your DSF's already? Will it become thé Lv 7 synchro that everybody puts in their extra deck?

Take a long look at them. They will no longer be unlimited times per turn.

Well, that's it for now. Until next time, V out.

January-March 2014 format analysis

We're already March! Darn, the time just flies by. And this seems to be one of the shortest formats we ever had in the TCG. By the end of this month, a new F&L list will appear. I presume we'll see the spoiler of this list by the end of next week.

So considering this format is about to end in a few weeks time, it's time to look back at what decks were great and what's going to get hit.

The top tier decks and their most probable hits

When you look back at the big events of the past few months (YCS Sydney, YCS Atlanta, a few ARG opens, a few qualifiers and YCS Berlin), it's easy to determine what the top decks of the current format are. Karakuri (with or without Geargia), Mermails and Fire Fist.

Fire Fist

Fire Fists have been the most prominent deck. No matter what tournament you attended, most people were playing with the Fire Bros. People still try to divide them between the 3- and 4-axis, but seriously, it's been such ragtag combination, that I'm just going to call it "Fire Fists".

No matter what version of the deck that was played, the common ground was: 3 Bears, 3 Wolfbarks and 3 Tenki's. And that's where we have our three most likely candidates to get hit on the F&L list.

But we have to keep in mind that Konami will still be trying to promote Bujins (another Beast Warrior style deck). So if you keep in mind that the average Bujin deck plays Tenki's and Bears, that kind of leaves Wolfbark as the Single Elimination target. If they get hit, Bear and/or Tenki will get Semi-Limited at most.

Thus my prediction: Fire Formation Tenki will become semi-limited again (never should've returned to unlimited) and Coach Soldier Wolfbark will become limited.

Mermail

The deck got out of the loop for a while due to the popularity of Fire Fists, Geargia's and the attempt to make Hieratic DRuler a thing. But Patrick Hoban showed everyone that Mermail is still one of the best decks of the format (and the sheep followed their goblinish shepherd).

And while it's good to see the deck can still succeed with only 1 Dragoon and 2 Diva's, I think we can all agree that the TCG needs to adopt the OCG hits.

In other words, my prediction: Mermail Abyssteus Limited & Abyss-Sphere Limited.

Yes, I realize that these hits will kill the deck; but honestly: do you see any Reason why Konami would keep this deck alive for more than a year?

Karakuri (solo or with Geargia)

Karakuri's were an OTK deck that always kinda flew under the radar. It barely scraped some hits in a top-x. But with DRulers gone this format, it was the moment of the machines to shine. DSummon won YCS Sydney with Karakuri's solo. Many other players topped with either Tele-Karakuri or Geargia Karakuri.

We have to keep in mind that Konami doesn't like that "old" decks win, but rather tries to sell their new stuff. Also keep in mind that in the next few months/year more Geargia support is going to come out. What do you think Konami will do? Yes, they'll cut the strings from the puppets.

So how do you hit this OTK deck? Well, players stated that they only "need" 2 Burei's and 1 Bureido. But if you hit one of the two, you know players will alter the build to focus more on the other one. Solution: hit both synchro's.

My predictions: Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 Burei & Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00x "Bureido" limited and (optionally) Geargiagear Semi-limited.

No more "Hobaning"

If there was one thing that should've bothered Konami to hell, it' the "Hobaning" hype. "Put 3 Upstart Goblins and 3 Reckless Greed in everything!" has truly been thé hype of the past format.

But since not everybody liked Reckless Greed, the sheep followed mostly with Goblins alone. As you know that such deck choices are not welcomed by Konami, guess what might happen at the end of March:

My prediction: Upstart Goblin Limited; Reckless Greed Semi-Limited.

Less likely hits

Hieratic DRulers: The over-hyped deck of the format. Granted, it can steal some tops in several big tournaments. But the most that can happen to this deck is the return of the previous hits to Hieratics: Convocation Semi-Limited & Hieratic Dragun King of Atum semi-limited.

Spellbooks: Fate being hit to 1 hurt the deck. But it can still take a few top spots. It's less likely that they will get hit again, but if they would get hit, it's going to be a semi-limit on Spellbook of Secrets. Hitting Spellbook Magician remains silly (since it's a 500-attack nitwit).

SHARK and "Extinction" Knight: The latest set included some of the most overpowered Xyz to date, Nr. 101: Silent Honor ARK and Evilswarm Exciton Knight. S.H.ARK is an amazing come-back card, able to get rid of annoying XYZ or synchro's. Exciton Knight however, just promotes bad playing... and Infernity players together with it. While it's very likely that these two cards will get hit in the future, I sincerely doubt they'll limit and/or ban (respectively) them two months after they were released.

Any returns?

Magician of Faith will follow the Tsukuyomi path, so she will become semi-limited again.

Reasoning is unlimited in OCG and I don't see any reason why TCG should not follow. Nobody plays the card.

I don't want to see this happening, but with all the Sylvan support, Konami might make Lonefire Blossom Unlimited again. If they really want to push the deck, they will do it. But I know that nobody (safe the plant players) will like it. :-/

The next format

If these changes will be applied, there will be a weird new format coming. Each month, new cards will be released. Heck, even brand-new World Premiere Cards will be released. And that makes it kind of hard to predict how those cards will influence the game (if they have any influence at all).

End of this month will be the new Gold Series, with lots of new cards. End of April will be Dragons of Legends, completely filled with new (unknown) cards. May will have Primal Origins and June will have the unknown GX-themed Structure Deck (HERO or Lightsworn?).

One thing I DO know is that from May onward (Primal Origins), Madolche and Artifacts will be two of the most prominent decks. Anything else is as clear as muddy water.

Those are my thoughts for now. Feel free to disagree with me in the comments.

Until next time, V out.

YCS Berlin - Alpay Engin wins with Mermails

Wow, this YCS kind of went under-the-radar for me. Totally missed the judge calls and there were hardly any big announcements made for it (only the Giant Cards and that's kind of "meh" in my eyes).

So as you might have guessed, I wasn't at YCS Berlin (I was at a Regional Qualifier, for shits and giggles mostly). But 1204 other people were present in Berlin (German YCS's always have over 1000 people attending as it appears).

I won't spend too much time talking about it. The coverage can be seen on the Konami coverage webpages.

Top 32 - Decks used and decklists (if available)

Note: The decknames in bold are links to the respective deck list.

• Alpay Engin (1st) - Mermail
• Besnik Kajtazi (2nd) - Mermail
• Matthew Mills (top 4) - Fire Fist
• Aris Samaras (top 4) - Geargia Karakuri
• Mattia Graziuso (top 8) - Fire Fist
• Luigi Alici (top 8) - Fire Fist
• Ole Wegner (top 8) - Hieratic D.Rulers
• Björn C. Schulze (top 8) - Chain Burn
• Nico Tummler (top 16) - Unknown?
• Florian Hofmann (top 16) - Chain Burn
• Joshua Schmidt (top 16) - Mermail
• Dilan Demongeot (top 16) - Mermail
• Eric Fehr (top 16) - Fire Fist
• Stefano Memoli (top 16) - Mermail
• Benjamin Lin (top 16) - Infernity
• Andrea Giacobone (top 16) - Hieratic D. Ruler
• Anthony Tutu (top 32) - Mermail
• Carl Manigat (top 32) - Hieratic D.Ruler
• Marcel Burri (top 32) - Fire Fist
• Max Hanuschik (top 32) - Infernity
• Kim Just Jensen (top 32) - Mermail
• Baran Tekin (top 32) - Fire Fist
• Federico Zoppini (top 32) - Fire Fist
• Oliver König (top 32) - Fire Fist
• Emre Kizilates (top 32) - Evilswarm
• Kimonas Tsitsiridis (top 32) - Inzektors
• Michael Ciplak (top 32) - Fire Kings
• Merlin Schumacher (top 32) - Fire Kings
• Tom Tubbax (top 32) - Fire Fist
• Giorgio Gallo (top 32) - Unknown?
• Eugen Heidt (top 32) - Unknown?
• Niels Kühnberger (top 32) - Fire Fist

Note: 16/32 are available at the moment. Language barriers and a lack of European "yugitubers" that do deck profiles (Lithium and Duelrock88 are about the only ones) cause this low amount. Any decklists, fixes (or the name of those three missing decks) is always welcome in the comments.

More decklists will be added if I find them (or when provided).

My opinion

Well, with all those recent tops and victories, Alpay Engin appears to be thé European Yu-Gi-Oh star to beat! And Mermails is still one of the best decks of the format (as Goblin Hoban has proven in the US).

It surprised me a little that two Chain Burn decks were able top make top 16 (yeah, that chain burn deck that everybody hates). But then again; this is a good format for Chain Burn and Germans are known to like Chain Burn more than other countries (reference: See last year's German Nationals).

For the rest, it is known that Mermail and Fire Fist are thé decks of this format and thus will get hit at the end of March. Hits on Abyss-Sphere and Abyssteus (similar to the OCG) seem very real at this point and Tenki... never should've returned to three.

Future European Events

Information on all future European events is... on hold. And this is very weird, considering Konami-EU is usually very open about it (and very fast).

We know there's supposed to be one more European YCS before the nationals season start in May (but where or when?).

Neither do we know when the nationals are being held (though I suspect that information should come in very soon). And we still don't have much information on the European Championship (only that it's going to be in Amsterdam - Netherlands).

And that while there's lots of information on the upcoming US events and NA Qualifier. This reverse situation (compared to all previous years) is very weird and makes me wonder what's going on in the KDE-EU office.

Well, that's enough from me now. Until later, V out.