Casually dropping a Yu-Gi-Oh banlist like Lolkonami does...

Today in Konami office:
- "Hey, err... when are we going to release that new Forbidden & Limited list again?"
* "Wait, we didn't release it last week? We were supposed to release that last week to..."
- "Didn't get that memo."
* "Oh holy F...."

New Forbidden & Limited list, effective from NOW!

The list

Source: http://yugioh-card.com/uk/gameplay/detail.php?id=1155

Listed are only the changes for TCG.

Forbidden

• Dinomight Knight, the True Dracofighter (from unlimited)
• Grandsoil the Elemental Lord (from unlimited)
• True King Lithosagym, the Disaster (from unlimited)
• Denglong, First of the Yang Zing (from unlimited)
• Daigusto Emeral (from unlimited)
• Zoodiac Broadbull (from unlimited)
• Zoodiac Drident (from unlimited)

Limited

• Ignis Heat, the True Dracowarrior (from unlimited)
• Miscellaneousaurus (from unlimited)
• Zoodiac Ratpier (from semi-limited)
• Dark Hole (from semi-limited)
• Gateway of the Six (from forbidden)
• Interrupted Kaiju Slumber (from semi-limited)
• True King’s Return (from unlimited)

Semi-Limited

• Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning (from limited)
• Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer (from limited)
• Mathematician (from limited)
• Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (from limited)
• T.G. Hyper Librarian (from limited)
• Brain Control (from limited)
• Burial From a Different Dimension (from limited)
• El Shaddoll Fusion (from limited)
• Preparation of Rites (from limited)

Unlimited

• Debris Dragon (from smi-limited)
• Honest (from semi-limited)
• Rescue Cat (from limited)
• Rescue Rabbit (from limited)
• Summoner Monk (from semi-limited)
• Witch of the Black Forest (from forbidden)
• Charge of the Light Brigade (from semi-limited)
• Dragon Ravine (from semi-imited)
• Wavering Eyes (from forbidden)

First thoughts

Oh, jeezes, Konami. Didn't the list get an approval last Friday? This is so friggin' random, casually dropping the list on a Monday and saying it's effective on the day the list drops? That's why we keep calling you Lolkonami.

So since the list just dropped like a few hours ago, so I'm still processing this. Because at first glance, the hits seem... kind of random.

Okay, hits like Broadbull and Drident were to be expected. But I did NOT expect Dino's to get slaughtered this way. And True kings? I think they're somewhat fine. Because even with all the True Draco cards being on this list, Master Peace, Diagram and Heritage did NOT get hit, nor did Terraforming.

Also, on the Zoodiac side, Zoodiac Barrage also did not get hit, making Zoodiac still alive... somewhat (as an engine, rather than a full deck). Most surprising to see not getting hit is ABC.

What I'm also surprised about is the massive push to get re-aligned with the OCG list. A lot of these hits are to make the lists (somewhat) hole again. But then on the other hand we get random hits again, like Grandsoil and Daigusto Emeral. Yes, they're great cards... but OP enough to be forbidden? No way.

What decks are going to be best?

SPYRAL, definitely. Especially after the release of Double Helix this October (*cough*definite secret rare*cough*). Then I assume Invoked to finally take flight (in combination with what's left of Zoodiac or True Draco) and ABC will probably see a return in popularity. And last but not least: Red-Eyes (with the release of Legendary Duelists) + Zombies (with possibly the new Vendread support in Circuit Break).

That's it for now. I'm now going to sit down, take my popcorn and see how the rest of the world is going to process this random list drop.
Until next time, V out.

About the October Forbidden & Limited List for OCG and its impact on the TCG list

Hey, I'm here with another Yu-Gi-Oh update. No TCG Forbidden and Limited list yet, but a new one for the OCG has just been announced.

I'll give you a run-down of what has changed, why some cards have gotten hit or released, the difference between OCG and TCG, and thus also the possible impact on the soon-to-come TCG Forbidden and limited list.

V takes a look at the October 1st Yu-Gi-Oh OCG Forbidden & Limited List

The Changes in OCG

Source: https://ygorganization.com/ocg-october-1st-forbiddenlimited-list/
Date: From 01 October 2017 onward

Newly Forbidden in the OCG

• Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King (from limited)
• Dragonic Diagram (from Limited)

Newly Limited:

• Tribe-Infecting Virus (from forbidden!)
• Aleister the Invoker (from unlimited)
• Dinomight Knight, the True Dracofighter (from unlimited)
• Souleating Oviraptor (from unlimited)
• Babycerasaurus (from unlimited)
• ABC-Dragon Buster (from unlimited)
• Denglong, First of the Yang Zing (from unlimited)
• Terraforming (from semi-limited)
• Spellbook of Secrets (from unlimited)
• True Draco Heritage (from unlimited)
• True King’s Return (from unlimited)
• Trickstar Reincarnation (from unlimited)

Newly Semi-Limited

• Summoner Monk (from limited)
• Windwitch – Ice Bell(from unlimited)
• Maxx “C” (from unlimited)
• Pot of Avarice (from limited)
• Future Fusion (from limited)
• Fossil Dig (from unlimited)

Newly Unlimited

• Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer (from semi-limited)
• Witch of the Black Forest (from semi-limited)
• Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss (from semi-limited)
• Rescue Cat (from semi-limited)
• Burial from a Different Dimension (from semi-limited)
• Fire Formation – Tenki (from semi-limited)
• Preparation of Rites (from semi-limited)
• Saqlifice (from semi-limited)
• Domain of the True Monarchs (from semi-limited)
• Wavering Eyes (from semi-limited)
• Dragon Ravine (from semi-limited)

Thoughts

This list truly feels like an "out with the old, in with the new" kind of list. Almost every Top tier deck gets hit!

True Draco doesn't just get hit, it gets BUTCHERED. Master Peace and Diagram were already limited, but now they're forbidden + an additional hit on Heritage, Return and Dinomight Knight. Ouch.

Also, Dino's get a massive hit with Babycerasaurus, Fossil Dig and Oviraptor (double ouch).

Then also a hit on Aleister (Invoked is now dead, I assume?), ABC-Dragon (necessary), Yang Zing, Spellbooks (booh!) and even Trickstars (wow, that's fast!).

And err... the return of Tribe-Infecting Virus? Not sure what to think of it. No card text update has been announced (yet).

So what decks will survive? SPYRAL (no, really! Did you see the latest OCG weekly list?)! Plus the recently updated classic decks like HERO, Six Samurai and Red-Eyes. We may even see a return of previous hard-hitters like Blue-Eyes and Shiranui. And maybe we'll even see a rise of decks that have flown under the radar like Chaossworn and World Chalice!

It'll be interesting to see how the OCG evolves this coming October.

Possible influence on the TCG F&L list

We've been waiting on the new TCG banlist for a few weeks now. Each weekend us players are looking at each other and expect it to drop anytime. But until the moment of this post, we got nothing.

But looking at this list and the previous list for the OCG, it becomes a little easier to see what is going to get hit in the TCG

• While I expect no butchering of True Draco like in the OCG, it WILL get hit. Master Peace & Diagram will become either limited or forbidden. And I don't know what other cards will take a hit.
• RIP Zoodiacs. You cannot deny it. The OCG has Broadbull, Drident and Barrage FORBIDDEN and Ratpier limited. TCG will follow this example, no doubt about it.
• ABC will see their Dragon (limited) and Union Hangar (semi-limited) take a hit.
• Frogzoic? Yeah, say goodbye to Toadally Awesome (limited in OCG).
• Yang Zing? Not sure it if Denglong wil take the same hit over here. Maybe in a future list.
• Invoked? Doubt it. Kinda flew under the radar here, so I doubt Aleister will become limited like in the OCG. We'll see.
• Dino's? Nah, too soon. Maybe the semi-limit on Fossil Dig will happen, like how Ratpier got semi'd last list.
• Other one-of's? Gofu may become Limited, just like Kaiju Slumber. Terraforming WILL take a hit (became a little TOO good as of late). Card of Demise may become Semi or Fully limited. And probably we'll see a limit to Fairy Tail - Snow as well, just like Psy-Framelord Omega (cards are too good).

And next to those hits, we may also see the return of a few cards, like Chaos Emperor Dragon, Chicken Game (with Terraforming getting hit), Book of Moon, E-HERO Stratos (#FreeStratos), Brionac, Witch of the Black Forest, Rescue Cat, Rescue Rabbit (#FreeRabbit) and maybe even Cyber-Stein. But that's just wild speculations based on the current OCG list.

Will the TCG list hit more cards than its OCG counterpart? Yeah, probably. The TCG F&L list is famous for being more strict than its OCG counterpart. So who knows?

That's it from me now. I'm going to refresh the TCG Forbidden and Limited list page a few more times, just to be sure...

Until next [F5] time, V out [F5].

V does Yu-Gi-Oh - New Anime, New Rules

The third week of the month is V-Jump time and we were expecting news of the new anime, the supposed new summoning technique and the added ruling updates.

And that is exactly what we got. It's study time! Let's get over the biggest changes and I'll try to explain that as clearly as possible!

When will these changes apply for TCG?

Updated Answer: Upon the legal release of the 2017 Starter Deck in TCG. The exact date is July 21st.

The Lay-out changes!

Click on the image, look at it closely and let it sink in. If you have a feeling of what's on there, I'll cover the details

Image created by DSummon for his explanation video.
Follow him on twitter at @DSummon84

1 - Pendulum Zones are gone... but not completely

First obvious change if you look at the new lay-out is that the 2 specific pendulum zones are gone.

Instead of that, the leftmost and rightmost Spell and Trap card zone can now be used as a pendulum zone instead.

What this means that if you play Pendulum monsters, you lose 2 spell and trap zones, while if you play no Pendulum monsters, you can use all 5 spell and trap card zones (just like before).

However, the zones are interchangeable throughout the duel and thus impose no risk for having to chose over the other. In other words, if you open up with 0 scales but have 5 spell or trap cards, you can still use your pendulum scale zones for regular spells and traps.

Note however, that this does not mean that you can now SET Pendulum monsters in these zones. Pendulum Scales can only be placed face-up, just like before!

Also: Cards that target Pendulum zones specifically (for example: Wavering Eyes) can NOT destroy non-pendulum spells or traps that are placed in these zones. If a regular spell or trap are placed in these zones, they are NOT Pendulum zones but regular spells or traps.

2 - Extra Deck monsters now go in the Extra Deck monster zone

Another big change is the two new monster zones that are spread over the two players. These zones are intended for Extra Deck monsters, while the original five monster zones will now be reserved for Main deck monsters only.

The only exception to this, are "main deck" monster zones that are pointed to by the yellow/gold link indicator (printed on Link monsters).

3 - Link monsters:

The new Link monster have a Blue color (similar to Ritual monsters) but are filled with octagon shapes with a darker shading. They also have black and yellow markers on the 4 corners and the 4 sides of the card. The black ones are inactive, while the gold/orange markers are active. More on this later on.

Link monster have an attack, but no defense. This means that defense is not printed and it can be ruled as "0 defense" if somebody would attempt to use a card like "Shield & Sword" (which suddenly seems like a VERY useful card).

Link Monsters can only be special summoned and MUST BE played in face-up attack position. This position CAN NOT change; not by player choice nor by card effect (like "Book of Moon)". It MUST always be face-up attack position.

Where are those link markers?

The Link markers on a Link card are printed on the 4 corners and the 4 sides of a Link card (up, down, left, right, UL, UR, LL, LR).

However, the only ACTIVE Link markers are colored gold/orange (color presumed via screenshots, not by facts). NON-active markers remain black.

The monster zones marked with these active markers are places where players can special summon monsters from the extra deck. Think of it as if Link Monsters are "unlocking" your monster zones for more special summons from the extra deck.

The number of active link markers is equal to the Link number of the Link card. So a "Link 3" card, has 3 active markers. A "Link 2" card has two, etc...

A few things that you need to take in account with these markers.

• Decode Talker (as well as some other Link Monsters) has an active marker pointing upwards. This means that you unlock an extra deck zone for your opponent as well!.
• Link Monsters have effects that can apply to their linked monsters instead of "one" monster, or "all monsters you control". So for example. Decode Talker gives an attack boost to all linked monsters. This means that up to two other monsters that you control and even one opponent's monster gains that attack boost.
• Not every monster has the markers on the same spot. While Link Decoder has a marker on the top and on the two lower corners, the link card Honeybot has active marker left and right side.

How to summon a Link monster? - Updated

To summon a Link monster, you must send a number of monsters from the field to the grave equal to the Link number on the card. In the case you use Pendulum monsters, they will be sent to the extra deck. In the case of tokens, they will just "vanish" after being used.

Update: Yes, I was wrong before (mea culpa). Tokens and Pendulum monsters CAN be used.

Alternatively, you can also use a "lower-ranked" Link monster + one or more effect monsters. The minimum amount of monsters required in this process will be mentioned on the card text.

For example, the depicted monster (Decode Talker) has "Link 3" with a card text that it requires a minimum of 2 effect monsters. This means that it requires either:

• 3 effect monsters of any kind, or
• 1 Link 2 monster (for example: Honeybot) + 1 effect monster of any kind.
• 1 Link 1 monster (for example: Link Spider) + 2 effect monsters of any kind.
• 2 Link 1 monsters + 1 effect monster of any kind.
• 1 Link 2 monster + 1 Link 1 monster

The selected monsters are sent from the field to the grave and the Link monster is played in the Extra monster zone, (or another "linked" monster zone).

So how does this work in reality?

At the beginning of the duel, the 2 "extra monster" zones are not signed to any specific player.

This means that the first player that can perform an extra deck summon, can choose the first of these two zones. The chosen zone will be his, while the other zone will now belong to the opponent.

This one specific zone can only be used for monsters summoned from the Extra deck (Fusion, Xyz, Synchro, Link monsters AND face-up Pendulum monsters summoned from the extra deck).

If the turn player summons a Link monster with one or more active markers, THEN you can special summon other extra deck monsters to the zones indicated by the active markers (as well as main deck monsters).

This ALSO includes other Link monsters. This means that if used correctly, you can still fill your field up with Extra Deck monsters, as long as the Link monsters have the correct markers on them.

However! Take note that it only applies when summoning monsters from the extra deck. This does not apply not when summoning those monsters from anywhere else (like the Banished zone or graveyard). For example: A Stardust dragon that returns from the grave after using its effect? That goes to the main monster zone.

Doesn't that render my decks useless?

Yes, if you have a deck that focuses on summoning as much as possible from the extra deck, your deck will no longer function decently. Does that include basically most of the current meta decks? Yes, as well as most rogue decks. If it can cheer you up, most decks are affected either way, so you're not alone in your "loss".

*shrugs* Oh, well. Learn, adapt and move on. Oh and hey look at the bright side. My old Prophecy deck may suddenly be viable again.

I know my statement is as useful as Tristan's answer right now, but it's all I got.

I have more questions?!

So do I! But at this point in time it's all the information we have.

Specific ruling details not mentioned in V-Jump this time around will become clear when the official rule-book gets updated or when the yugioh Database gets updated.

Keep an eye on the Konami blog, YGOrganization, BeyoundTheDuel and other similar blogs. More specific ruling questions will be answered in the following months, no doubt about that.

Until next time, V out.

Edit on February 21: Correction made due to OCG website updating the Master Rules. Source: http://beyondtheduel.com/new-master-rule-updates/

Edit in July: Corrected a few of my statements with the actual rules now that it's officially part of our TCG rules.

V does Yu-Gi-Oh: Cards to look forward to in Raging Tempest

It's been ages since I made one of these. So let's do this again!

Yesterday, it was the release of the February booster of Yu-Gi-Oh: Raging Tempest. Let's take a look into what's actually worth looking for!

Zoodiac: The cancer of Yu-Gi-Oh.

Yes. If you thought the ABC archetype was not strong enough, or if Frogzoics and Metalfoes have become too annoying for you, it's clearly time to introduce the cancer of Yu-Gi-Oh: Zoodiac's.

Zoodiac (or just plain Zodiac in the OCG) has been dominating the OCG for so long that local shops have been asking players to just STOP playing the archetype. There are even shops banning those decks from their tournaments due to regular players dropping in masses and lowered tournament turnouts. But if you look on the weekly tournament pages, the "ban' isn't really visible throughout the lists. I don't know if YGOrganization filters the tournament results, or if shops just kept it to a "threat" of banning.

Basically, from this booster's release it's going to be: Play Zoodiacs or GTFO (until some cards are put on a future F&L list)!

However, if you ARE looking to join the hype train, look for the following cards:

• Zoodiac Beast Whiptail (effect - Super Rare)
• Zoodiac Beast Thoroughblade (effect - Ultra Rare)
• Zoodiac Beast Ratpier (effect - Super Rare)
• Zoodiac Beast Tigermortar (Xyz - Ultra Rare)
• Zoodiac Beast Drident (Xyz - Secret Rare)
• Zoodiac Beast Broadbull (Xyz - Secret Rare)
• Zoodiac Beast Boarbow (Xyz - Rare)
• Zoodiac Barrage (Spell - Secret Rare)
• Zoodiac Combo (Trap - Common)

In terms of how much, let's put it like this. In a pure build, you require 3x all effect monsters, 2x all Xyz, 3x spell, 1x trap. If you start mixing with other archetypes (like the GreenGrass Build), you will require less of some cards, but it's better if you look up specific builds for your variant.

Sea Monster of Theseus: The LOL-Konami moment

In early January, Konami mentioned there would be a new TCG world premiere card monster whose effect could be filled by your own imagination. You instantly started to see people imagining all kinds of Overpowered BS onto this card.

But people familiar with Lolkonami were obviously more cautious. And with good reason. The "effect that could be filled up with imagination" ended up being true, since that monster (Sea Monster of Theseus) has NO effect (*slow clap* Well played, Konami, well played).

But is it useless? NOT AT ALL!

Sea Monster of Theseus is a Lv 5 Zombie Fusion Tuner that leaves much room for possibilities. It's an Instant Fusion Target (easy special summon), it's a Zombie (Mezuki Target, Book of Life target, etc), it's a Tuner (Many Synchro possibilities, including the more difficult to summon Zombie Synchro's), it has no effect (Daigusto Emeral revival); it has the Water attribute (Ice Barrier Synchro's) and it's Lv 5 (Level Eater target in Synchro Dark). So the "imagination" text was somewhat true. There are already OTK and Total Hand Destruction video's on how to abuse this card.

How viable these decks are is something we are going to see in the first big tournaments after this card's release. But let's just say that IF it's easy to achieve, there's a good chance that Instant Fusion might become limited.

Other cards to take note of:

	That Grass looks greener: If you deck is larger than your opponent's, you mill until you have the same amount of cards. This card immediately turns Pot of Desires into a more double-edged sword. If you use it, you turn your opponent's grass more "green". It also gives lots of power to Lightsworn-based decks... and especially cards like Fairy Tail - Snow.
	Foolish Burial Goods: Card Text: Send one spell / trap card from your deck to the grave (so Foolish Burial for backrow cards). I notice this card is seriously dropping in price and goes further on a negative trend, though that's only because of the Zoodiac hype. If I can give one piece of advice: PICK IT UP while it's cheap. This card text is good by default. And knowing Konami, sone future archetype will definitely abuse this card.
	Switcheroo: This card was hilarious in the Sneak Peek for those that got it. If you and your opponent have the same amount of monsters, switch control of ALL of them (effect does not target, obviously). Want a good way to stop your opponent's ongoing combo? Your opponent just summoned a boss monster to take your one monster out? This is a hilarious f**k you to all of that.
	Symphonic Warrior Guitaar and Miccs: If it wasn't for their awesome combo during the sneak peek, I probably would've glanced over these two pendulum monsters. Guitaar's pendulum effect is to ditch one card from your hand to special summon a Symphonic Warrior from your deck (obviously Miccs, but the other Symphonic Warriors are also possible). And when Miccs is summoned, you get a free normal summon. If you hadn't already used up your normal summon, you can now do that twice. And since Miccs is a Pendulum monster, he can allow this basically EVERY turn he's summoned. Oh, and Guitaar's monster effect allows to revive Miccs from the grave. These two are an engine on their own and noteworthy additions for any deck that focuses on effects that trigger on normal summons. Truly, a guitar and a mic is all you need to play music!
	Rocket Hand: A typical equip trap card that boosts your monster's attack when triggered. But you can also trigger its secondary effect at any time. You can send it from the field to the grave to destroy an opponent's monster. The downside is that the monster it was equipped now has 0 attack. Upside is that you can disrupt the opponent's combo plays.

Personal thoughts and afterword

Yes, I participated in the sneak peeks past weekend. And boy, it's been a long time since so many joined in a sneak peek tournament. The Zoodiac Hype is REAL. Personally, the sneaks were great for me. I got a playmat on Saturday, together with the one card I was really looking for (Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon). And on Sunday, I pulled both a GreenGrass and a Ratpier, which I was able to sell at Sneak prices (hey, I'm a casual. I'm not wasting money on the hype).

From now on, every tournament will have Zoodiac based decks until the next F&L list update. If you really want to qualify right now, Zoodiac is thé deck you must play. If you're a casual like me; better skip this set and wait until everyone has opened tons of boxes (and the other cards thus drop in price tremendously). Then you can pick up the single cards you want at dump prices.

And if you can't stand formats dominated by one archetype? You might want to skip out for the next few months. It's not going to be pretty. It's a sad truth, but this kind of format does happen once every while.

Heck, the reason why I'm putting more focus on writing anime reviews right now is due to this archetype dominating every headline in both OCG and now also TCG (and thus turning the game kind of stale). So after this post, I'm focusing back on anime.

Until next time, 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.

Analysis of the End-of-Year Banlist – The good, the bad and the ug… surprises.

So the weekend has passed and people had some time to let the new list sink in (surprisingly, with not that many #freestratos posts (lol, the fans either don't know yet, or are still in denial).

So now that the initial raging has calmed down a bit, let’s take a deeper look into the new Forbidden and Limited list.

First off, I’d like to add a side-note. I’m not sad or angry that any of the following cards have been hit or have returned. I’ve arrived to the acceptance stage of banlist grieving. So yes, three Tenki’s will be f**king annoying, but we’ll live. Yes, my Prophecy deck will miss that second Fate, but we’ll get on with it. And so on… This post is just me sitting back and thinking about the cards and whether or not the hits themselves are good, bad or rather surprising/interesting.

The Good hits

• Blaster, Redox, Tidal and Tempest limited: This was to be expected and anyone thinking anything else is naïve (and that’s saying it nicely). The Dark Dragon Ruler (DAD) is limited for a few years now; the Light Dragon Ruler (JD) was limited during the peak of Lightsworns. Dragon Rulers had their time and now it’s over. Yes, Dragon Rulers pushed the best duelists to fight at their peak and the better duelists won while the scrubs were weeping in the corner. But Konami has to sell their newer products and let’s be fair: we all want to see different decks topping, right? So let’s call this a good hit and let’s get over it already.
• Return from the Different Dimension forbidden: This card IS an OTK card. I couldn’t agree more than making this card forbidden for eternity.
• Self-Destruct Button forbidden: This makes so much sense it almost shames me I never thought of this card getting a hit. Konami judges HATE this card with a passion. It caused endless discussions and ruling situations. And because of this card the judges created the weird rule that three game ties in a match does not equal a tie as end result. Self-Destruct button is more a troll-deck than anything else, but let’s cut the judges some slack and make this deck disappear.
• Sixth Sense forbidden: Never should've been legal. This was just a marketing trick to sell LC04. Though I heard people say that Konami would keep the card legal because “it’s a bad card mid-game or late-game”. After I explained them the comparison with Future Fusion in Chaos Dragons those idiots people got quiet.
• Spellbook of Fate limited: I’m a Prophecy player and I think this is a good hit (now saying this out loud just feels weird). No, seriously. Of all cards that they could hit in a Prophecy deck, this is the most preferred one. The opponents hate this card (because it doesn’t target and banishes) and the Prophecy deck can still be played with 1 Fate. Better this card than Blue Magician or Secrets.
• Archlord Kristya unlimited: Nobody played this card three times. I’ve said it the moment this card got semi-limited and kept saying it ever since. It was a joke that this card was semi-limited in the first place.
• T.G. Striker unlimited: This card being limited was only because of T.G. Agents being popular in OCG. This is a TCG list now, so I’m glad it’s back.

The Bad hits

• Dragon Ravine Forbidden: Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not sad that this card is gone, I never liked the card. I just think it’s sad that the Dragunity Deck is dead because of this. They could have limited this card instead. Seriously, now nobody will be interested in that Vajrayana reprint.
• Sacred Sword of Seven Stars: Sorry, but this is just overkill on the DRuler part. Again, don’t misunderstand me: I’m not sad it’s limited. I just think Sacred Sword is just as bad as Trade-In or Cards of Consonance. But I think hitting one and not the others is kind of silly. But I guess this is just a signal from Konami to let go of DRulers and play with the new stuff.
• Divine Wind of Mist Valley Limited WITH Constellar Ptolemy M7 unlimited: Wut? I don’t even…? This is just weird. Last list they hit Birdman and M7 in order to prevent the Harpie Dancer OTK. Now that Harpie Dancer is available in TCG, I thought they might hit Valley (or leave it unlimited because who plays Divine Wind, seriously). But this exchange is just absurd. They hit Divine Wind to return an OTK enabler to unlimited status? WHY?
• Fire Formation Tenki Unlimited: Marketing trick to sell Bujins. Next year this time around, this card will be limited (or semi-limited again). Mark my words.
• Final Countdown Limited: Lots of players don’t like this card/deck, calling it a degenerate strategy. I never played it either because I don’t like the deck myself. So yeah, I can guess where they’re coming from (though I never had any problem beating this deck because Prohibition is still my default side-deck card!). In the end, Final Countdown limited or unlimited I don’t care either way. But thinking about it… is it a good hit? NO! Why? Because how many times did Final Countdown decks top anything, seriously? Are YOU seriously afraid of encountering a Final Countdown deck? Or is this because somebody combined it with Ghostricks and created the ultimate annoying deck or so (if so, this argument becomes invalid obviously)?

The interesting changes

• Debris Dragon limited Vs Lonefire Blossom Semi-Limited: These two cards were part of the classic Plant Synchro deck. You can look at Debris Dragon taking a hit as a result of the “Plant” variant of Dragon Rulers, but mostly I think It’s a pre-emptive hit because they wanted Lonefire to return. And we do know that two Lonefires and two Debris at the same time is not a good idea. So Konami did an exchange. And obviously, Lonefire's return is because of the Sylvan archetype.
• The Return of Magician of Faith: This card is old, this card is slow, and most of the broken spell cards are now forbidden. This card will thus fare the same path as BLS/Tsukuyomi (people will complain about its return, try to play it, but leave it out eventually).
• Chaos Sorcerer Semi-Limited: Oh, poor Sorcerer. Konami just doesn’t know what to do with you. You have danced around on the F&L list more than any other card (it's pure chaos!). Now you’re back to Semi-Limited status, but god knows for how long? What will happen when the Chaos Gaia’s come out in TCG?
• Tour Guide from the Underworld Unlimited: Now this is interesting. I said it before: Ever since the Atlantean Structure Deck came out last year, Deep Sea Diva has more interesting targets than Tour Guide ever had. With Sangan on the Tour Bus to Forbidden Realms, this card lost its most important target and got into disuse. Will we see her again next format?
• Mezuki and Plaguespreader Zombie Unlimited: Now THIS is interesting. Last format, Two of each of these didn't do much to Zombie decks (but that’s the fault of Dragon Rulers, mostly). Now this duo returns to unlimited status… in the hopes that Shadow Specters will sell a little more (obviously another marketing trick). But it’s interesting. Will Zombie decks do anything now that they’re back to full force?

Afterword:

Obviously, the first months will be filled with people saying “Dragon Rulers still works”, “Dragon Rulers aren't dead”, but that’s what they say about every deck that gets butchered (remember Inzektors, Chaos Dragons and Wind-ups? Yeah, my point exactly…). My expectations is that they're going to splash all DRuler variants together and see what happens. But that won't last for long (I think).

Next format... Bujins. Next to that, it depends on the TCG exclusives and OCG world premiere cards in the January Booster. Other competitors will be the current top decks: Constellars, Fire Fists, Mermails (why didn't that get hit?), Fire Kings, Evilswarm, Noble Knight, etc.

What will I play next format? I dunno, honestly. But with 3 Tour Guides and 2 Chaos Sorcerers, I might as well rebuild my Chaos Dragons deck and see what happens (lol). or maybe Tele-DAD just for the lolz.

Until next time, V out.

Yuginews collected - Thanksgiving edition

Last Night, Kevin Tewart posted an article on the Konami Blog of Yugioh. It was an article about the stuff they released in the past few months and the stuff they plan to release in the upcoming three months (December-February). You can read it Over here.

I've read through this and noticed the following snippets of news:

• Konami will release more Deluxe Editions. Tewart mentioned they were quite pleased with the Deluxe Edition of JOTL. They're going to rotate Special Editions out of the roster and bring in more of these Deluxe Editions instead. Prime reason is that they can experiment more with what they can put in there, where as they're quite limited in their options with a Special Edition.
• Shadow Specters SE may be the last of the Special Editions we see in quite a while. The SE promo's are Stardust Dragon and Tuning (a reprint that's quite overdue if you ask me). For those participating in the Quasar waiting/drinking game, take a shot.
• Starter Decks Yugi & Kaiba: As predicted, long time players will have no use for these since they're STARTER decks. Stop complainig already. These products are aimed at new players. It's a good way for them to obtain good generic cards like Book of Moon, Call of the Haunted, Dark Hole, Enemy Controller, etc. Each of the Starter Decks will have an Ultimate Rare Key monster (Dark Magician & Blue-Eyes White Dragon).

First revelations of Legacy of the Valiant

But people are the most interested (obviously) in the first revelations of the next TCG booster set, Legacy of the Valiant. It's the first booster of 2014. These bits of information were released:

• Gravekeeper's will have 7 new cards. Yes, 7. The six from the OCG set and 1 TCG WP card(!). And for your info, Saniwa is translated to Oracle; Shrine of Necrovalley will be Hidden Temple of Necrovalley and Royal Tombs will be Imperial Tombs.
• Shinra archetype is renamed Sylvan. I guess that works. Also, their effects will introduce a new gaming term to the card game, named "Excavate". But no telling yet if they talk about the "reveal the top card", "send to the graveyard", or "return to the bottom of the deck" part of the effect. But we'll see another blog post about those effects somewhere in December or January.
• More Noble Knight support. You remember that last unknown Noble Knight picture on the Showcase page, right? That's Noble Knight Perceval/Peredur. Why do I know this? Because Borz and Gallahad are in the background. Those three were the Knights of the Round Table that went on their quest for the Holy Grail.
• Legacy gets the next Deluxe Edition. Release date: somewhere in the beginning of March (I guess around the 7th?).

New Forbidden and Limited List in a few weeks

The last bit of information Tewart shared with us was that the new F&L list will be posted online in a few weeks. What?

Yeah, we've been so used to the fact that February is the usual banlist speculation month, that we almost forgot this is now shifted to December. And ever since the OCG and TCG list split up, there are no more early leaks. Guess we'll have to wait for the blog to update, huh.

I can make up a wishlist for the next list, but we all know what's going to happen, right? They're going to hire some good Dragon Slayers and butcher the best deck of the moment, obviously.

YCS Atlanta Top 16 will switch to Booster Draft

Yesterday, another fun bit of news was shared. In order to promote their new Battle Pack 2 Round 2, Konami decided to switch the top 16 of YCS Atlanta into a booster draft final. That's fun!

Yeah, I like the idea, personally. It's generally known that Sealed and Draft formats bring out the best in the duelists and that only good players will win (and lucksackers obviously). Not to mention, I've always been a fan of Draft/Sealed plays.

Though I understand the frustrations of not being able to see the top decks of the new January Format face off against each other, but at the time the Top 16 starts, you should already know that, right?

Top ranked Cossy duelists get a token

Remember Cossy ranking? Yeah, in the tcg it's hardly being used. But once every so often, the top ranked duelists get a special price for being top ranked. In the past, this was often a special playmat. This time around, it's a special token card.

Well, that's it for now. V out.

PS: on a side-note: If you didn't already do it, don't forget to buy your copy of the latest 5D's manga with Stardust Spark Dragon. Don't forget, only the first print comes with this great card.

Shit is going down - #OCCUPYYGO, ARG ditches Konami and horrible communication towards YCS Toronto

I expected a slow Yugioh news week; but wow: what the hell did I wake up into?

Konami (finally) announces YCS Toronto

As many players speculated, there is an American YCS at the same time of YCS Brussels (take note that the last named has been announced for a few months now). The next North-American YCS takes place in Toronto. YCS Toronto takes place at August 31 and September 1... in Canada obviously. But seriously, is Toronto the only place Konami knows of in Canada? Isn't this the fourth year in a row that the Canadian YCS takes place in Toronto? I'm sure Montréal or Vancouver would love one as well :-P.

All jokes aside, there's a lot of commotion going on. The speculation was going on for a while now, since the venue place has listed the YCS for a few months now on its site, while Konami only confirmed this news on its site... last weekend. And only the date and venue location. No further details are posted, safe a "come back soon for more info" message.

New all-time low level of communication from Konami

Many players are frustrated with this horribly low level of communication and honestly, I can well understand them.

For people not checking the websites of venue place, this is a horribly late announcement to make any kind of travel arrangement. If you know this info months in advance, you can go on the lookout for the cheaper hotels and try not to pay too much for plane tickets and so forth. When everything has to be arranged in less than a month, you're going to be paying a lot more. This situation is turning off a lot of people who intended to go there (especially those tight on budget). Not to mention, for the working people, not everyone is going to get a few days off that easily to go to the event.

Another frustration is how Konami is going to handle this event. August 31 is "old format", while September 1 is "New format". Is it going to be the last YCS of the old format, or the first YCS in the new format? They don't even know if it's a battle pack YCS (like Brussels) or an advanced tournament YCS (the usual ones).

Note: For what that last part is worth, Julia Hedberg (the Judge head mistress of America) unofficially said (on the judge facebook page) that it's an advanced tournament. Again, unofficial and via a source which only a limited few people have access to.

Boycot of YCS Toronto - #OccupyYGO

One of those horribly frustrated people (no disrespect) is Joe Giorlando (an ARG writer). He blew back wind into #OccupyYGO (originally a parody of the occupy movement). He's disgusted by the way Konami treats everyone in regards to this long-planned event. He requests that we all stand up as a community and say "NO" to this treatment. He requests that we all stay away from YCS Toronto, ensuring the attendance of this event drops below 100 people. That is the only signal Konami will understand.

And I personally agree with that point of view. Each time player bases are annoyed by the way Konami treats their customers (secret rare prices, quick reprints, low tournament prices, etc), the product sales and YCS attendances reaches new high records. Konami sees the attendance and sees no reason why they should change their policies. It's like for every player that drops the game out of disgust, two new players pick up the game. And while I am happy that more people play the game, it's sad to see this many good players leave this way as well.

The things that the OccupyYGO movement wants (as copied from their website):

• Better coverage for events (European coverage is already amazing, but I agree the US variant just can't compare).
• Real rankings that reward good players (or the seeding system the OCG uses).
• Cash prices (okay, I don't agree with this one personally, but I do agree the rewards should be better than a mat, a few sleeves and a handful of packs).
• Better feature matches (not just the coverage, but also the people playing it. Nobody likes a feature match of two nobodies that make constant misplays. I notice there's a slight improvement on this one, but I guess the main frustration remains).
• New tournaments (and preferably some decent rules for Tag dueling, like the OCG has).
• New styles of championships, similar to MTG-tournaments (A world cup, a players championship, etc)
• etc.

Edit September 4: All info on #occupyYGO has been removed. The site of Joe has been taken down, similar to his video and the facebook group. I removed all references and the image used, because they were dead ends.

ARG breaks up with Konami

For those that don't know ARG, Alter Reality Games (ARG) is a company that sells cards (packs/single cards/etc), is the main vendor of US-events of Yu-Gi-Oh and hosts many articles from top players on their site (some who are obviously better players than writers, but hey).

No matter how many times bloggers and youtubers have dissed ARG and their (often) poorly written articles, this time they took one for the team.

ARG tried to introduce new types of tournaments (similar to MTG tournaments) into Yu-Gi-Oh, even providing their support to make this possible. For reference, MTG has the best support in terms of tournaments, price support and coverage worldwide. If ARG could make this happen (even if only for the US), this would be an immense improvement for the players.

But frustratingly, Konami is a company whose main seat rests in japan. Japanese management, work ethics and points of view (company / investment wise) are 100% different when compared to those of American. And the US division is only a branch, which MUST listen to the main seat in Japan (when compared to Wizards of the Coast, whose top management is American). Even if the most known Konami honcho's are Tewart and Hedberg, a recent interview at San-Diego Comic-Con revealed that the top managers of the US branch are Japanese.

My point? While ARG might have been able to convince the US department of Konami of their good intentions, they clashed with the main seat in Japan. Due to their ongoing differences (probably not their first clash), ARG resigned its vendor partnership with Konami.

What may have happened...

Consequences of this break-up

What is this going to mean for ARG's support of Yu-Gi-Oh? I honestly have no idea, but probably nothing good. Worst case is that the ARG writers have to resign from their writing "job" and that ARG will be forced to stop selling Yu-Gi-Oh cards/boosters. They will no longer be the main seller at events and god knows who they're going to be replaced with.

Just to give you an idea of the consequences: I don't think we're going to see another scene where in ARG's Billy Brake gives his deck to Pegasus for dueling, like what happened at this year's US nationals.

For Joe himself, this also means nothing good. As a paid freelance writer for ARG, this now seems as a vengeance action; even if his intentions are genuine (call this a case of bad timing). He truly expresses that his actions are his alone and have nothing to do with ARG as a company. And for what it's worth: I believe him.

I support Joe and hope his actions will mean something. Sometimes one person can make a big difference.

To give a comparison, in Europe, event coverage has been amazing for the past few years (thanks to PJ Tierney) and general Yu-Gi-Oh related communications in Europe has improved a lot ever since Konami hired PJ as an official Konami employee instead of just a freelance writer (seriously, PJ rocks!). I think many Europeans can agree that this has been the best move Konami made in the past year.

For the rest, I'll keep following this situation and I will report on what will happen.

V out.

Note: Credits goes to those who deserve it. The occupyYGO logo comes from its facebook group; credits for the meme go to Amanda LaPalme.

TCG-Konami & Duelist Packs

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

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

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

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

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

What about the new cards?

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

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

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

The Zexal Collection Tin

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

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

So WHAT is in it?

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's it for now.

Until next time, V out.

Hits and misses of Return of the Duelist

Return of the Duelist came out (officially) in stores!

Reviewing the whole set is kind of ridiculous. So instead of doing that, I’ll give you my picks and drops from this set.

I tried to avoid archetype-specific cards, unless the cards can be used outside of their mentioned archetype.

Hits of the set

• Heroic Challenger – War Hammer: I kind of underestimated this card, but it’s good. If this card destroys your opponent’s monster and sends it to the grave, this guy can steal it and use its power for its own. If it wasn’t for Effect Veiler and three MSTs, this card would’ve been amazing.
• Temperance of Prophecy: If you’re trying to make a good spellcaster deck, from now on this card should be in it, whether or not its main focus is Prophecy monsters. When activating a Spellbook card, you can tribute this card for a high-level LIGHT or DARK spellcaster from your deck! And because most spellbooks affect spellcasters in general (not just the Prophecy monsters), these cards can be mashed into many decks.
• Madolche Magileine: Like the Gadget effect of re-filling your hand? Then check this card. When normal or flip summoned, this card searches another Madolche card, INCLUDING another copy of itself. With the usual Madolche effect that it’s automatically shuffled back in the deck, this card by itself can instantly make sure your hand is never empty (unless the summon is negated, of course).
• Uniflora, Mystical Beast of the forest: Anybody call for some Beast support? This guy is one of the best beasts I’ve seen in a while. Tribute this card to special summon ANY kind of beast from your grave or hand.
• Silver Sentinel: If your opponent has a fetish to destroy your back row, this card will surprise him. If your opponent destroys this card, it can special summon itself and destroy a card your opponent controls. A surprise about this card: they didn’t alter his sniper rifle! This probably is because the barrel isn’t that visible, but still, an unedited gun in Yu-Gi-Oh!? That’s a first one.
• Illusory Snatcher: Read this card as: Easy XYZ. I’ve looked around on the internet and somehow, this card does NOT miss timing. So, yes, it can be used in monarch (stated by the art), Hieratics, Steelswarm and any other deck that uses tributes.
• Gear Gigant X: a.k.a. the money card from the set! This card supports Geargia’s the most, but is also a generic card searcher in any machine type deck.
• Soul of Silvermountain: One of the more interesting cards. It blocks an opponent’s spell or trap card and when it destroys a monster, you can special summon ANY earth attribute monster from the grave. Granted, its 1800 attack is low, but otherwise this card would be dead broken (similar as how Leviair’s attack is only 1800). Bringing back Naturia Beast, Barkion, Iron Chain Dragon or other high-level earth monster is no joke.
• Sword Breaker: Ally of Justice Catastor for types instead of attributes. Nuff said. This is potentially the only (non-dark) monster that can commit suicide with Catastor.
• Galaxy Queen’s Light: Easy Lv. 7 and higher xyz summoning. Helps to summon monsters like Dyson Sphere, Super Robo Galaxy Destroyer and Gustav Max.
• Impenetrable attack: Remember how you can only use 3 Waboku’s in a deck? Hurray, Konami just re-made the card. Now you can chose whether or not you choose to prevent battle damage or prevent your monsters from being destroyed. But unlike Waboku, this card also prevents your monster being destroyed by card effect! Final Countdown decks will rejoice. Haters will hate, though.

Misses of the set

• Photon Caesar: In the anime, we’ve been introduced with several monsters which are treated as 2 XYZ materials. Those effects are translated in real-life as "special summon another copy of itself when normal summoned". A good example of this effect is Heroic Challenger – Double Lance. The less good example of this effect is Photon Caesar. Caesar was created to easily overlay into Neo-Galaxy-Eyes. But believe me, you will find more use in cards like Lightray Gearfried and Guardian of Order.
• Cold Feet: Every set has its cards that are weird or just simply suck donkey balls. This set has Cold Feet… literally. The card Cold Feet is a watered down version of Cold Wave and affects ONLY yourself. So unless you can combo it with Mystical Refpanel (who the hell would do that), you basically are just skrewing yourself.
• Blue Dragon Ninja: Ninja support FTW… or not? A potentially great card, if they would’ve switched the AND with an OR. Sorry, but discarding 2 cards to negate an effect is just not an option in real life.
• Spellbook Library of the Crescent: Possibly the worst of all spellbook cards I’ve seen. This card has a potential of more than 50% of being a dead card.
• Chew-bone: Of all OCG imports that could’ve made this set good (or better), we get possibly one of the worst OCG promo’s out there. This card represents the support zombies have been getting in the past few years. It’s not just any miss. This is a “three-strikes-you’re-out” kind of miss.
• The absence of Thunder Seahorse: The introduction of the Hunder (why no T?) archetype would’ve been a good deal, but Konami somehow forgot the key monster, Thunder Seahorse. The card has a similar effect like Thunder Dragon (of which the archetype is based upon), but isn’t limited to another copy of itself. I do wonder if they have plans of releasing it in the near future (the special edition or so?)
• The card rarity in general: Name any decent archetype card you want from this set, it will have a high rarity. We noticed it during the sneak. Only a handful of people got a few of the good cards and they were all super, ultra or secret rare.

Next time, I'll give you some test results of DN of the past week

The list

Short post, have been busy with work.

But the "Satoshi list" version of the possible Forbidden & Limited list that has been going around is real.

Credits goes to those who deserve it. In this case, Bahamut84:

http://duelingdays.blogspot.be/2012/08/2012-september-list.html

Banlist RQ analysis Day 4+5: Near done & Beware the fake banlists

After analyzing multiple blogs, youtube channels and forums for possible banlist predictions, I've filled a list with 91 users and their choices/requests/predictions for the upcoming banlist.

Tonight (or tomorrow), I'll round it up at 100 lists and publish the results. Out of those results, I will post the wishlist of the people for the September 2012 format.

Some results may surprise, others will not. I mean, it will hardly surprise anyone to see cards like Future Fusion, Inzektor Dragonfly or Rescue Rabbit getting "top results" on this list.

Beware! The fake lists are coming

Yeah, since a few days, the first fake lists are appearing on the net. Don't let them fool you and take the following tips into account:

• The official V-Jump with the official forbidden & limited list will be in Japanese shelves on August 21. Only in the week before that release, REAL leaked images may appear. So, basically: everything that pops up on the net before August 15 can be considered fake.
• If the hits are too unrealistic, it's fake (cards like Change of Heart will never return).
• If the lay-out/artwork of the page looks old, looks fitting with a previous Yu-Gi-Oh anime or looks too much like one of the previous F&L lists, it's fake.
• If old manga or old cosplay characters appear on the page, it's fake. Only those from Zexal can appear (and even then it's not certain they will appear).
• And never forget. Konami makes the rules, not us. No matter how weird the real list looks like, you'll have to deal with it.
• However, if you do get your hands on that V-Jump early, take a picture of the list, together with the promo card + a picture of the V-Jump cover + the promo card, just to ensure you do have the real deal. FYI: the Promo card is Bahamut Shark, a rank 4 XYZ.

So, don't let some crazy list fool you and be patient. The list only goes into effect on September 1 anyway.

So until next time

V out.

Konami's answer to crazy secret rare prices... reprint 'em faster!

If you haven't been following the Yu-Gi-Oh! news, there have been some revelations in the past week (all thanks to Konami being present at comic-con).

• The wave 1 tins of this year hold secret rare cards like: Wind-up Zenmaines, Wind-up Rabbit, Evolzar Dolkka and... Evolzar Laggia, Scrap Dragon and Genex Neutron. 
• Next to that there was the announcement of Legendary Collection 3, which holds reprints of former hard-to-get expensive Tournament Pack & Championship Pack cards... in the same rarity, together with foil versions of other great cards (Gravekeepers, staple spell & trap cards,...). Oh yeah... and a tournament legal version of the Seal of Orichalcos! (lol, what?)
• The Wave 2 tin cover monsters appear to be Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo and Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis.
• Abyss Rising will have a Special Edition, which is not the ususal habbit of Konami (ROTD will have a Special Edition, normally Abyss Rising wouldn't have one).  

These announced reprints of "recent" (< 1 year)  cards, that are either tournament level or simply high rarity (read: expensive), explains one thing... 

This is Konami's answer to the high prices that Secret Rare cards are getting. 

Konami is apparantly sick and tired of people paying >100$ for a secret rare card. But instead of changing the ratio of 8 secret rares per booster set, they're just reprinting them faster. The old rule they had of waiting 1 year for a reprint has been scratched off the board.

Budget players will cheer, as expensive tournament level cards (like Zenmaines) will be cheap dirt. Buyers/Sellers will go weep in a corner, because every card in their binder now has the chance of being reprinted after a few months.

I understand people who were trying to get money out of the game (and those that spent hundreds of dollars/euros on these cards) are angry at these announcements, but it's generally for the greater good. If Konami holds onto this principle, less people will be paying crazy prices for secret rare cards and the overal price of high-tier decks will drop. 

We'll see what happens in the future

V out.

YCS Sheffield = battle pack YCS

When I returned from Werchter, I noticed a few updates on Yu-Gi-Oh! news.

the tins got their product page (if you didn't get the newsflash, both tins include Wind-up Zenmaines) and the product page of Return of the Duelist appeared.

Another thing that got announced were 2 new European YCS's. YCS Sheffield (weekend of September 8) and YCS Barcelona (weekend of december 1st).

Considering the low amount of YCS's Europe gets when compared to the US, I was quite happy to hear this.

But then I started reading the following :

So the main event of YCS Sheffield is going to be a Battle Pack tournament instead of the usual Advanced Format. Lol, what?

the people I spoke to at my locals could hardly believe what they heard or were simply angry because of this change. this isn't some local Pegasus League tournament or a side-event of a YCS, we're talking about the MAIN EVENT being Battle Pack Sealed.

YCS Toulouse had a little over 400 participants. Wanna bet this one ain't gonna get 200? Because, seriously, who is willing to pay hundreds of euro's for travel & stay to participate in a battle pack tournament?

Konami continues with the reassuring words:

This change does not mean that every YCS from now on will be Sealed Pack – YCS Barcelona will be again played in Advanced Constructed format. However, we do plan to host some of our future YCS events as Sealed Pack

Let's hope not.

V out.

And so... priority is gone

In case you've missed the news in Yu-Gi-Oh!-verse... the thing that people called priority is gone.

Read it here, on the Konami page!

So, all the times where people yelled "PRIORITY!" after you activate a bottomless trap hole or Torrential Tribute is gone!

What is the immediate effect on the metagame of today?

• Inzektors will rule almighty (until september, bring your cans of bugspray)
• People will lose interest in Dino Rabbit (I've chosen the words carefully here)
• Heroes will come back... again, like it's a friggin anime! The heroes always return!
• Chaos Dragons took a serious hit (a lot of monsters used that damn priority)
• The Wind-ups will remain the fifth wheel on the wagon, wondering if they're ever gonna get their turn at the top of a YCS. You'd almost feel sorry for them...
• The rest will suffer a little

Oh, yeah... And this guy is laughing his arse off, because he can't be stopped by mortals anymore (only by gods)

Djinn Vs Devil

With the new Starter deck, we’re getting a few new XYZ monsters. They give support to Djinn XYZ monsters. Because of these Djinns, there now is a clear Djinn archetype, which includes these new monsters, but also older cards, like those Ritual Djinn monsters from the 5D's era.

The conductor of a merry band of musicians	The conductor of a band of fat ritual freaks

All good and well, but one thing you need to know… Djinns aren’t devils, even if they are!
What the f*ck, you ask? Well, to understand what I’m talking about, you need to know a few things.

A bit of history

Konami-US renames Yu-Gi-Oh! monsters when they appear in the TCG. And that’s because (let’s be honest)... sometimes the Japanese card creators are just looking for trouble. For example, the OCG name for the Djinn archetype is Majin, which CAN be translated into Devil.

"You rang?"

Yes, Majin means Devil. Now, how would the average volvo-driving-soccer-mom react if their kid had a few Devil cards that were promoted in a starter deck of Yu-Gi-Oh!?
Yeah, not that great, huh. And it only gets better…

"Hi, I'm Satan. Pleased to meet you."

Meet “Death Devil - Satan”. Yes, this is Satan in the OCG. He looks quite dandy, doesn’t he?

If you’ve seen the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, right now you should be flashing back to the episodes of the RPG world, where Seto was held captive by this guy.

"Do you enjoy being bound to this cross, err... stone tablet?"

Now imagine this guy being named devil, let alone “Satan”, on a kids show on TV. How long before some parents start complaining that their kids are watching satanic Japanese cartoons?

So, yeah, you can’t blame Konami for changing those names a little and turn Satan into a witty phantom. You can, however, point fingers at their inconsistencies in naming every devil card.

Massive inconsistencies in both TCG AND OCG

Up until now, there haven’t been that many problems with this archetype, because all the Djinns were supporting random themes or types. But now that the majin/djinn XYZ are supporting “Djinn” monsters, it will become confusing for a lot of players. That's because some Djinn monsters have been (wrongfully) translated into “The Terrible”, “Fiend”, “Lord”, or nothing at all.

But if you think this is all Konami-US’ fault, you’re wrong. The Japanese card makers didn’t make the job easy, you know? Not every Japanese “devil” card is automatically a Djinn card! Sometimes their cards aren’t named Majin, but simply Debiru (I’m using the phonetic pronunciation).
Debiru’s ONLY translation in English is devil, while Majin CAN be translated into devil (I’ve seen it being translated as demon too, for example).
To help fix this confusion, I’m listing every devil monster that’s either a Djinn, or a real devil. It would help if people out there would start making an actual difference between Djinns and Devils.

Djinn monsters

• Dark Balter the Terrible (Djinn Dark Balter)
• Terra the Terrible (Djinn Terra)
• Infernal Incinerator (Hellfire Djinn Hell Burner)
• Ultimate Obedient Fiend (Exceptionally Obedient Djinn)
• Dragon Piper (Jar Djinn)
• King Dragun (Dragon Djinn - King Dragoon)
• Lord of the Lamp (Lamp Djinn)
• Necrolancer the Timelord (Time Djinn Necrolancer)
• Perditious Puppeteer (Djinn Puppeteer from Hell)
• Viser Des (All Powerfull Djinn - Viser Death)
• Fireyarou (Fire Djinn)
• Witty Phantom (Death Djinn - Satan)

NOT Djinn monsters, but actual Devil monsters

• Blast Asmodian (Blast Devil)
• Stray Asmodian (Stray Devil)
• Vanity’s Fiend (Vanity Devil)
• Legendary Fiend (Legend Devil)
• Fiend’s Sanctuary (the Metal Fiend Token is a Metal Devil Token)
• Flamvell Fiend (Flamvell Devil)
• Evil HERO Malicious Fiend (Evil Hero Malicious Devil)
• Fiend Kraken (Devil Kraken)
• Fiend Scorpion (Devil Scorpion)
• Doom Dozer (Devil Dozer)
• Koa’ki Meiru Doom (Core Chimail Devil)
• Volcanic Doomfire (Volcanic Devil)
• Element Doom (Element Devil)
• Creeping Doom Manta (Stealthy Approach Devil Manta)
• Psychic Nightmare (Psycho Devil)
• Gemini Imps (Gemini Devil)
• Cyber-Stein (Devil Franken)
• The Bistro Butcher (Devil Cook)
• Koumori Dragon (Devil Dragon)
• Bickuribox (Devil Box)
• Abyssal Kingshark (Deep-Sea King Devil Shark)
• Mazera DeVille (Devil Mazera)

A Djinn monster!	A REAL Devil!

The future

Now that there are actual Djinn monsters that support other Djinn monsters, let’s see what Konami is going to do with future releases. I’m curious what they’re going to do with “Dragon Majin – Queen Dragoon”, from the upcoming series “Galactic Overload”. Will it be “Queen Dragun”, or “Queen Dragun, the Dragon Djinn”?

Yes, I AM a Djinn XYZ!

Hope this info helps you out
Until next time,
V out.