YCS Toronto Analaysis Pt. 3 - Tech cards and cards that saw an increase in play

Didn't really have time to place this part last weekend, but here it is.

Techs used in the top decks

Aqua Spirit (Mermails): 3 of the 4 Mermail players that topped main decked THREE Aqua Spirit, instantly hyping the card. Anyone who still has this old card (hasn't been reprinted in EIGHT years), can now make a profit of it, because a playset of this card will fetch you 10$ (if not, more).

Archfiend’s Roar (Infernity): Its effect is similar to that of Call of the Haunted, but it comes at a (small) cost. Positive side is that, unlike Call, this card is a normal trap so the revived monster is unaffected by random MST’s.

Chain Whirlwind: This card was always considered subpar to Storm & MST, but since we’re in a format without either Heavy Storm nor Giant Trunade, this suddenly became interesting. When a card on either side of the field (either monster or backrow) is destroyed by card effect, you can target 2 spells or traps and destroy them. In this format, with lots of backrow play, this card became good stuff!

Debunk: Probably the most hyped card of the new format, and with good reason. It’s a counter trap that stops hand traps and stops monster effects that activate in the hand/grave. It stops your opponent from plussing from Maxx “C”; it stops your opponent’s Veiler if you want to continue looping; it stops those Atlantean effects in the grave; it stops the summon effect of Abyssmegalo and High Priestess (yes, those are effects) and it stops the special summon of a Dragon Ruler (either hand or grave). It IS thé best counter trap at the moment.

Deep Dark Trap Hole: A weaker version of Bottomless Trap hole, that only works for Lv. 5 and higher monsters. Seems a nice tech to counter Return from the different Dimension (lol) and to counter Mermail/Dragon players in general. Other than that, Bottomless Trap Hole remains way better.

Orient Dragon: Synchro's are seeing a massive increase in play, so guess it’s time for this guy to finally shine.

Retort (Prophecy): It was already well known that in certain decks, this card could be very lethal when having a mirror match. Best use for this card today is in the Prophecy mirror match. Your opponent activates a Book of Secrets/Fate? This card says “screw you” if you have one in your grave. AND then you can add that Spellbook back to your hand.

Spiritualism: This card caught my eye, as the description that came along with it was 100% correct. This is THE perfect card when facing Infernities. This bounces a spell/trap of the opponent back to the hand, and your opponent can NOT counter it. It’s a mini-Giant Trunade, but the opponent cannot react, which renders Infernity Barrier, Void Ogre Dragon and Dark Bribe useless. And with a card in the hand, those Infernity barriers are not going to do much if you’re trying to kill your opponent.

The Transmigration Prophecy: If only this card was back at two (or more), it would be even better! This card works wonders against the discard effect of Dragon Rulers and works good against discarded Atlanteans, since all discarded monsters must remain in the graveyard in order to resolve their effects. If they’re sent back to the deck BEFORE they’re allowed to resolve, the effects will be a dud.

May the spirits protect you from those Infernal monsters.

Cards seeing an increased use in play

Black Rose Dragon: Due to the Debris-Dandy engine being massively played again, Black Rose Dragon is seeing a massive return. Many extra decks now have 2 Black Roses.

Dark Armed Dragon: Strange to put this on the list, but last format was all about avoiding Ophion (so DAD was put in the binders). With less Evilswarm players and the ES-players focusing less on Ophion, DAD came back (even IN Evilswarm decks).

D.D.R.: Used as a random tech before, Different Dimension Reincarnation now has become the number 1 staple spell of Dragon Rulers. Discard one (dragon ruler), special summon 1 banished dragon ruler and if the card is destroyed, it’s sent to the grave instead (to abuse its effect again). Yeah, this card just placed a big target on itself for the next F&L list.

Imperial Iron Wall: Best side card this format against both Dragon Rulers and Prophecies. Nuff said.

Malevolent Catastrophe: The obvious Heavy Storm replacement now that this is a format without both Trunade and Storm. Though beware, many players that topped did mention that this card does not always work out the way they wanted it to (read as: it does not fit in/versus every deck you play).

Morphing Jar #2 & Needle Ceiling: The spam punishment cards are back. Jar 2 sends them back to the deck, Needle Ceiling destroys them all.

Raigeki Break & Lightning Vortex: These two are the classic “Discard one to blow stuff up” cards. Since Dragon Ruler don’t care about their hand, these cards have become amazing.

Return from the Different Dimension: Similarly as with D.D.R., this card was a regular tech in the past format, but without Heavy Storm, its true colors are shining as an OTK card (in any deck that banishes a lot, not just Dragon Rulers).

Safe Zone: This card saw an increased use in play, due to Master Key Beetle (the Key Beetle Lockdown).

Scapegoat: Doo-de-maa-maa-maa… (called it).

Skill Drain: The original “drain” card of the Drain Trio; this card saw a return in Dragon Rulers, because they’re massive powerhouses and their “return to hand” effect becomes negated. Yeah, "you can't play yugioh" are still popular.

"You like to spam monsters?
Yeeeessss... I mean, please go ahead."

Afterword

So, that concludes my analysis of YCS Toronto. Next up, I'll take a look at the upcoming OCG products that were revealed in the past week.

Until then, V out.

YCS Toronto Analysis Pt. 2 - New cards in play

YCS Toronto was the first big event of the new format. Safe Bujins (which did nothing at the event), there was not a single "new" deck to be seen at this big event. But while there were no new decks, new cards were being used from both Number Hunters and Judgment of the Light. Some players might not have seen these cards in play yet, so let me point out their uses, one by one!

Number Hunters

Mechquipped Angineer: This fairy XYZ is seeing play in both Mermails and Agent-style decks, but can also be used in Karakuri & Wind-up decks. In the last two mentioned decks, it focuses on battle position manipulation (and plussing because of that). In Agents it can be used (with two Venuses) to keep a boss monster alive (and it's the first Rank 3 fairy, which helps the Agent deck in general).

In mermails, however, it is used to keep Bahamut Shark alive. This combo is basically: Use 2 Lv. 4 monsters to summon Bahamut Shark. Detach 1 to special summon Abysstrite (in defense, obviously); then use 2 Lv. 3's to make Angineer. During your opponent's turn, ensure you detach one material from Angineer to keep Shark alive. Next turn, you can detach the other material to summon another Abysstrite. And Trite is both a wall and allows you to summon another Mermail from the grave when she's gone (a control combo).

Number 74: Master of Blades: Hyped due to it being a cheap rank 7; but it's also considered "less good" than Big Eye and Dracosack (it misses timing). But even with the (dis)hype, it saw a solid place in the extra deck of nearly every Dragon Ruler player, just in case.

"Seek & Destroy? I say NO!"

Judgment of the Light - Effect Monsters

Archfiend Heiress: Used in Infernity decks: Searches out Palabyrinth and Infernity Archfiend. Consistency++!

World of Prophecy: The new boss monster of Prophecy decks: Upon its summon, it recycles 2 Spellbook cards and it can then optionally nuke the field (but no, this effect does NOT bypass Stardust Dragon).

Fencing Fire Ferret: Played in Dragon Rulers. Serves as a Ryko replacement. It destroys a card and deals burn damage. It's also a fire Attribute, which gives it a use in the grave (banish to summon Blaster).

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Rooster & Coach Soldier Wolfbark: Two of the key cards in current Fire Fist decks. Almost forgot to mention these two (lol). I did notice that Wolfbark is a more popular choice than Chick... Rooster.

The new mascot for the Fire Ferrets!

Judgment of the Light - Extra Deck Monsters

Mist Bird Clausolas: With the great number of Scapegoats running around, and with the easy combo of Effect Veiler + a Lv. 2 monster, this card is a very much welcomed addition to the extra deck. Its effect isn't half bad either.

Armades, Keeper of Boundaries: It’s a Lv. 5 synchro that can move between your opponent’s spells & traps. Sees more play than I initially thought it would.

HTS Psyhemuth: Saw play in Blackwings. It’s a D.D. Warrior lady on steroids and the best Lv. 6 synchro out there (as long as Vulcan the Divine isn't shipped yet).

Star Eater: Easy to summon it with synchro decks; hard to get rid of without the right cards.

Number 66: Master Key Beetle: The single most useful card of JOTL. It was seen in a large number of decks as a key protector.

Herald of Pure Light: Mainly used in both Prophecy decks and Agent-style decks. It's a perfect recycle-card for monsters. It helps dead cards to return to the deck and returns a monster from the grave to the hand.

Angel of Zera: A lv. 8 synchro that’s hard to get rid of (permanently), but has mixed results with the people playing it (Crimson Blader & Stardust Dragon are more preferred Lv. 8 synchro’s).

"I am keymaster of Gozer. Are you the gatekeeper?"

Judgment of the Light - Spells and traps

Transmodify: Thé hyped card of Judgment of the Light after the September F&L list was published. It works in Agent/Herald decks and it works in Infernities. Both people that topped with the Herald and Infernity deck had 3 of these (so yes, it works wonders).

Archfiend Palabyrinth: Used in Infernity Decks. Banish Heiress to get Infernity Necromancer; banish Stygian Street Patrol to get Infernity Archfiend and search a card (if your hand is empty). Like Heiress, it helps the consistency of the deck.

XYZ Encore: After the event, this is one of the card that became (over)hyped. Why? because nearly everybody in the top 32 played it in their side. And they all answered the question "why?" with the same answer: "To get rid of Evilswarm Ophion" (or Evilswarm in general). It's quick-play and your opponent cannot negate its effect (like how Super Polymerization works). I think Evilswarm players will now play Rank 3 XYZ as well, just in case (lol).

This TCG exclusive is good!
We want more! We want more!

YCS Toronto Analysis Pt. 1 - Deck Profiles & General thoughts

What's up, youtube; this is your boy MaJu V... woops, err...

Sorry for that intro, but the deck profile intro's start to stick. In order to do a proper analysis of YCS Toronto 2013, I've been watching ALL available decklists around (thanks to Underworld6667, ProWinston and a few others for doing a great job on that).

But while doing the analysis, I've started to breach the 3-word-pages limit for my blog posts, which means I have to start splitting things up to keep it readable. It resulted in a three-parter. This three-parter will have:

1. All the available decklists on youtube (got 30 of the 32 decks).
2. A general analysis of the event (below).
3. A look at what cards of the latest sets (Number Hunters & Judgment of the Light) that made a change in this event (and in what decks) (part 2).
4. A more in-depth look at certain tech cards that were used (part 3)
5. A more in-depth look to cards that return to the main stage (part 3)

Decklists

Duelist	End result	Deck used	Decklist
Edward Kuang	1st	Dragon Ruler	Available
Sorosh Saberian	2nd	Mermail	Available
Patrick Hoban	3rd	Dragunity Rulers	Available
Sehabi Kheiredine	4th	Blackwing	Available
Bobby Barrone	Top 8	Mermail	(same vid as 2nd place)
James Frazier	Top 8	Plant Ruler (LS variant)	Available
Jordan Winters	Top 8	Plant Ruler (LS variant)	Available
Umar Haq	Top 8	Dragunity	Available
Frazier Smith	Top 16	Prophecy	Available
Galo Orbea	Top 16	Plant Ruler	Available
Harrison Perinpanayagam	Top 16	Fire Fist	Available
James Guerrero	Top 16	Mermail	Available
John Valade	Top 16	Dragon Ruler	N.A.
Loukas Peterson	Top 16	Prophecy	Available
Roger Simpson	Top 16	Infernity	Available
Thomas Mak	Top 16	Plant Ruler	Available
Bo Tang	Top 32	Dragon Ruler	Available
Christopher LeBlanc	Top 32	Karakuri Geargia	Available
Dale Bellido	Top 32	Dragunity	Available
David Wu	Top 32	Madolche	Available
Evan Waxman	Top 32	Herald of Perfection	Available
Igor Bijelic	Top 32	Fire Fist	Available
Jack Ran	Top 32	Mermail	Available
James Kim	Top 32	Dragon Rulers	Available
Jeffrey Cho	Top 32	Dragon Ruler	Available
Kareem O'Brian	Top 32	Prophecy	Available
Leo Chan	Top 32	Constellar	Available
Michael Chung-Salamone	Top 32	Evilswarm	Available
Peter Martino	Top 32	Prophecy	Available
Sean Coovert	Top 32	Evilswarm	Available
Sean McCabe	Top 32	Constellar	N.A.
Yuhang (Victor) Li	Top 32	Evilswarm	Available

Note: From top-8 and onward, the players are listed alphabetically (first name) per rank group, not by their individual position in that top.

Note 2: If I made any typo in names, or if you have the two missing deck profiles, please let me know.

General thoughts on the event

As predicted, YCS Toronto ended up being a very diverse event; with the better players participating and many players testing out "new" techs/decks in real life. This of course resulted in a very diverse top 32.

A thing I noticed is that even though 10 toppers played Dragon Rulers, they used different variations on the deck, making even those deck profiles very interesting to see. The different variants were:

• Dragon Ravine variant (focus on searching Dragunity tuners & dumping lots of Rulers from the hand/deck).
• Skill Drain variant (focus on spamming high attack/defense monsters and beating the opponent by force).
• Plant variant (with the Debris-Dandy "plant" engine).
• Mill variant (the "plant" engine + Lyla/Ryko's & card troopers).

Decks like Fire Fist, Mermails and Prophecies did lose a few key cards in the last F&L list, but did not fail to represent themselves again. Fire Fists gained Rooster & Wolfberk; Prophecies are now using World of Prophecy (using Temperance/Book of Life); and Mermails are now using Aqua Spirit (lol, wut?) and the combo of Bahamut Shark/Abysstrite/Mechquipped Angineer (more on that combo this Friday).

Certain older decks made a come-back, like Blackwings, Infernities and Dragunity. But the main decks of last format remain the main decks of this format. Those are Dragon Rulers, Mermails, Prophecy, Evilswarm, Fire Fist and Constellar.

Certain decks were expected to make a come-back (Chain Burn, Final Countdown, D-Hero control decks, etc.) were nowhere to be seen in the top tables. That means that even though the decks regained power, they're no match for the current top decks.

This top 32 will be the template on what other YCS's will become. They will be less diverse and will focus more on the "winning" decks.

The first YCS now will be YCS San Mateo (California, US), the first weekend of October. The only change then will be the availability of the Blue-Eyes Structure Deck. So I expect to see more Hieratic decks and Prophecy/Maiden decks. Other than that, it will be about the same end result as this YCS.

Afterword

Tomorrow (or Thursday), I'll take a look at the cards from Number Hunters and Judgment of the Light that were actually used (read as: useful).

Until then, V out.

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.

YCS Toronto: Jeff Jones' Earth Psychics & Wind-ups

Short update. I've been following the news flashes of YCS Toronto. Normally I ignore them and read all posts the day afterwards. But there was one deck that caught my eye and kept me following all the updates.

The deck that caught my eye is Psychic Grandsoil (Psoil in Short) and the Deck Creator is Jeff Jones. The decklist can be found over here.

Yeah, he posted it himself. No need to wait a week for Konami to get a decklist up.

Jeff made top 32, top 16 and made it all the way up into the finals. That fact alone got me excited. Psychics topping? WOW!

Sadly enough he lost to Wind-ups in an (apparantly) exciting finale versus Joshua Graham.

We knew that Wind-ups would take the crown, as everybody has been talking about possible Wind-up OTK's, but the psoil deck is a dark horse for the next YCS's. And let's just say... I'm a fan of it already.

Until next time, V out.

Edit: Team Overload posted the decklists of all top 4 on their blog. Check it over here.