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.