The Japan Plan - Counting down (9 days left)

For those not knowing it yet, I'm taking a trip to Japan for 2 weeks. Now the day I'm leaving is getting closer (leaving in 9 days), so I'm getting quite excited about it.

All hotels/hostels are booked, Shinkansen tickets have been ordered, traveling passport is here, etc. I think (almost) everything I need is here.

I've also bought a new phone (HTC One V), so I'm able to download the right Maps, use Instagram, use WiFi in the evening and update my facebook/blog when necessary.

To see where I'm going: More info over here, btw.

Other than that, Yugi-news has slowed down again. Last week Leviair was revealed in the tins (everyone expected it) and the Legendary Collection came out. Next week on Thursday, we'll get the new Structure Deck with Atlanteans. And in December (or end of November), we'll get the new Astral Pack.

With Tewart out of the office (he's on holiday, if I'm not mistaken), Pojo is spoiler-free for a few weeks.

So while we all eagerly await the product page of Abyss Rising, the last revelations of the tins & the first French or German pics of the back of the new Structure Deck, there's not really anything to report.

There also haven't been any local tourney's past week (some free play, but that's it), there's a big chance I won't be able to attend the locals upcoming weekend (busy with last preparations & attending the local fair) and I don't really have time to playtest at the moment. I've been suckered into watching Mushishi. I got the DVD box and I have to give it back before I leave for Japan, so I'm filling my evenings watching anime instead of testing Yu-Gi-Oh! (not that I mind, lol).

So, until there's anything to report, V out.

Edit: Hardly wrote about it and Tour Guide is announced as the last card for the Hanzo Tin!

Card Rulings: FLIP effect monsters Vs Trigger effect monsters

After the many positive comments I got on the Monster Reborn post, I’m going to post more posts about rulings, useful to show to your opponent on Duelingnetwork when discussing rulings. This post is about the word “flip”.

FLIP Vs When flipped face-up Vs When Flip Summoned.

There are three kinds of flip effects known to us.

1. FLIP: When the card text starts with the word “FLIP” (capitalized), you have a flip effect monster in your hands, which has a flip effect. When these cards are flipped face-up (either by attacking them, by card effect, of by its controller flip summoning the card) the flip effect will activate.
2. “when this card is flipped face-up”: When the card text does NOT start with FLIP, but has the text “when this card is Flipped Face-up”, then you have a trigger effect monster whose effect triggers when flipped face-up (by any means). These effects activate on the same occasions as FLIP effect monsters, but they’re trigger effects instead of flip effects (yes, there IS a difference).
3. “when this card is Flip Summoned”: When the card text does NOT start with FLIP, but has the text “when flip summoned”, then that is a trigger effect that only works when the card is flip summoned. The difference with this card is when the card is flipped face-up by other means (card effect, attacking it), its effect will NOT activate.

Ryko: group A, Geargiarmor: group B, Hanzo: group C

Flip Effects Vs Trigger effects (when flipped/flip summoned)

Why making such a fuss about the difference in effects? Well, certain cards have an effect that flips the opponent’s monster with the text “Flip effects are not activated at this time”.

Realize that in this case, the card text only refers to FLIP effect monsters and does not refer to trigger effect monsters whose effect triggers when flipped (group B).

"I negate card effects like Ryko & Hanzo,
but I cannot negate card effects like Geargiarmor."

Also, if you use Nobleman of Crossout on cards of all three categories (when they’re face-down), all three cards will be banished. But the secondary effect (the part of both players banishing all cards with the same name from the deck) will only occur when the banished monster is a FLIP effect monster (group A). It will not occur when the banished monster is a trigger effect monster. (groups B and C).

"When I strike, you're OUT!"

Afterword

Same as on the Monster Reborn article, feedback comments or corrections are always welcome.

Feel free to use this post as a reference to settle disputes on DuelingNetwork or even real-life.

Until next time, V out.

V opened... 2 x Legendary Collection 3

You're reading it right. I just opened 2 boxes of Legendary Collection 3. No video (hard to do when you're alone and you have no place to put the camera to film it).

So I hear you all saying: pics or it didn't happen... Sooooo... Here are pics:

A few words...

At a certain point, I did miss the camera filming this, because of the great pulls I got (for once) and the epic background music (Muse's the 2nd Law).

Book of Moon twice, Bottomless Trap Hole, Torrential, Black Horn, Kycoo, Necrovalley, they just kept coming, pack after pack...

The only yank foil I got was Megasonic Eye. That's a good thing, considering the amount of Vanilla Foils in the set.

So, that's what I got. You can always let me know what you got.

Until next time, V out.

The revelations so far of Legendary Collection

Some people in Europe got their hands on Legendary Collection 3 already. i'm going to get mine tomorrow (at least if the shopkeeper keeps his word :-P).

So far, the news I'm seeing from random pics & Pojo is mixed. Some cards+rarity are great, other cards give me a "WHY THE HELL" feeling. Let's give some examples:

• Kycoo the Gost Destroyer is secret rare (yay)
• Machina Soldier is secret rare (wut?)
• BLS-EOTB has problem solving card text (yay) and is secret rare (yay?)
• Commander Covington is Secret rare (seriously, what?)
• Foil staple spells & traps, like Dark Hole, Card Destruction, Solemn Judgment, Mirror Force,...)
• Random foil spell or trap (Exchange, Horn of Heaven, Swords of Concealing Light, Double Spell,...)
• Breaker Ultra Rare (yay)
• Vanilla Ultra Rares. I've heard people were looking forward to an Ultra Silver Fang & a reprint of the most expensive vanilla ever (Kanan the Swordsmistress), but the amount of Ultra vanilla's is way too high in my opinion.
• Common and PSCT LV monsters, like Horus, Silent Magician and Armed Dragon (yay)
• Common reprints of Dark Grepher, Solemn warning, Gold Sarcophagus, Soul Taker,...)
• Reprints of cards nobody cares about and have nothing to do with the original series (seriously, Earth Chant? Goblin Fan? Stray lambs?)

All in all, I see very good things, mixed with several crap cards, like the previous Legendary Collection.

So, on the end of thursday (or friday morning, I dunno yet), I'll give you an update of what I got

Until then, V out.

"Hey! Now my text is easier to get!
Now if only this new card was easy to get..."

Edit: I made screenshots of what's been revealed so far. (screens are taken from the Yu-Gi-Oh memes page on facebook, I did not make the list).

Them Locals Special Edition: Barbecue-tourney

Yesterday we had a special tournament at one of the places I attend. A Barbecue tournament. First we play, then we eat. Fun & Fun!

Round 1: Vs Kenneth (Gravekeepers):

• Game 1: A little back-and forth game. Necrovalley + Solidarity make powerhouses of those spellcasters. But the game turns over when I bring Lightray Daedalus on the field and I go: “Hey, for the first time EVER I can actually use his effect!” He grabs the card, reads it and swears. He tries to come back, but it’s KO soon after.
• Game 2: The game starts bad when he goes Necrovalley + Royal Tribute on me (my whole hand gone!). But he fails to draw ANY monster, so I get enough time to recuperate and come back. Not exactly the way I wanted to win, but yeah.
• Result: OO

"Hey, that's a nice field spell you have there, buddy..."

Round 2: Vs Miguel (Six Samurai)

• Game 1: So epic we’ll never talk about this game… EVER! <_< (I won one of the most awkward games I’ve played in months).
• Game 2: I open bad, he opens with two SS United and is able to OTK me.
• Game 3: Back-and forth game. After I get rid of his Shi En, he’s able to bring Driven Daredevil on the field (I thought he was going Black Rose, this was a surprise). After thinking for a while, I found a way to beat that bastard. I used my Maestroke’s last material to flip it down. Then I used my Forbidden Chalice on my maestroke to make his attack 100 higher than Daredevil’s defense, therefore bypassing his effect. He’s surprised and can’t come back.
• Result: OXO

"I put that b!tch face-down!"

Round 3: Vs Jeroen (Plant Synchro)

• Game 1: He loops around with his synchro’s and everything I try is being blocked. At a certain point he shows he could easily go into Shooting Quasar Dragon. Am I glad that's still illegal over here. End result: I lose.
• Game 2: I side in some stuff and he scratches in his head, because he doesn’t understand my deck or what it’s trying to do. This gives me some advantage in game 2 as I do know what his tries to do. But when both my Gearfrieds get milled (curses!), we go into time and I block access to my Gorz by having Gozen Match active, I ended up losing a game I should’ve won.
• Result: XX

"Hey, nice party. Can I come over and play?"
"NO!"

Round 4: Vs Carl (Machina Geargia)

• Game 1: Me never having faced Machina decks (I’m not counting DS games with bad AI) put me at a disadvantage, because I tried to counter with things that didn’t work as I thought they did (the Catastor Vs Gear Gigant+Gearframe ruling :-S). I end up losing.
• Game 2: I’m able to do some shenanigans with Chimeratech, but when I revive my Cyber Dragon I realize I don’t have a second one (*facepalm*). That was a stupid mistake that cost me game 2 (though Carl says he could’ve countered my other strategy). I have to admit, Machina Geargia is a good deck.
• Result: XX

"I ain't no Ancient Gear! I'm modern gear!"

End result: No top-4 cut-off and I end up 6th place or so. I can’t remember clearly (didn’t care anymore because of the two losses).

In between and after the duels we do some trades and we’re able to get cheap SE’s of Return of the Duelist (10€ instead of the usual 12,5€). I got 1 Librarian and 2 Acid Golems, together with the crappiest secret (why?), the one Spellbook I didn’t want (Hierophant) and a few good supers. Further trades and friends got me a few other cards I wanted, but getting that second High Priestess is going to be harder than I thought (since I’m not willing to pay a shitload of cash on a deck that’s not going to be a top deck anyway).

After that we got to eat barbecue. And even though the weather wasn’t that great (rain), the food and the atmosphere were great. It was a fun and great day after all.

Until next time, V out.

PS: Oh, yeah... Six Sam won YCS Indianapolis. Check the blogs of LFN for a report and the blog of Team overload for many of the decklists.

Using Monster Reborn (and other revival cards)

After frequently running into people on DuelingNetwork who have issues with Monster Reborn (and other revival cards), I decided to write an article about the card.

About Monster Reborn

Most of you know how Monster Reborn works (I hope). You target 1 monster card in either player’s graveyard and (unless negated or countered) you can special summon the target (either in attack or defense).

But what several people have issues with, is what targets you can pick and what targets you cannot.

Legal targets

The following targets are perfectly legal:

• Any normal monster (no matter what level).
• Any effect monster without summoning conditions (no matter what level).
• Any Lv. 5 or higher effect monster without summoning conditions.
• Any effect monster with multiple summoning conditions. This includes normal or tribute summons (Cyber Dragon, Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, Lightpulsar Dragon, etc…).
• Any Synchro or XYZ monster that was summoned correctly & successfully.
• And a few others, which I’ll describe in detail…

Other legal targets – Semi nomi monsters that were summoned correctly

Semi-nomi? That stands for “Special Summon only monsters”. Those monsters have the following effect:

• Pre-problem solving card text: this card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned etc…
• Post-problem solving card text: Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Special Summoned etc...

The monsters that have either of these card lines can only be special summoned by the description showed in their text (like how you banish 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK attribute for Chaos Sorcerer) and do NOT have any restriction on further summons (they do NOT have “and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways”).

So, if the monster was summoned successfully and sent to the grave or banished area afterwards (yes, even when banished from the game), you can special summon that monster afterwards.

Which monsters fall under this category? Check the following list: List of special summon only monsters.

Note: Ritual monsters are the perfect example of semi-nomi monsters.

Yes, Yes and No. Only Lighray Sorcerer cannot be revived after a correct summon.

Illegal targets 1 – Cannot be special summoned (by other ways)

So which targets can you NOT pick? Well, most of the times, it’s said in the card text.

Does your card have one of the following lines?

• Cannot be special summoned.
• Cannot be special summoned from the grave.
• Must be special summoned by X and cannot be special summoned by other ways (a.k.a. nomi monsters).
• Must be Fusion Summoned and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways (like most HERO fusion monsters).

Then you CANNOT target it for monster Reborn. Easy, no?

No, no and no. Sucks to be you guys. None of you can be revived.

Illegal targets 2 – God says NO!

Did your opponent use Solemn Warning, Solemn Judgment or another card effect that negates your special summon? Then you cannot revive the following targets:

• Cards from the extra deck (fusions, xyz, synchro’s)
• Semi-nomi monsters (see Other legal targets)
• Cards mentioned in “Illegal targets 1”

Illegal targets 3 - (Specific) cards that were sent to the grave

Monsters can be sent/discarded to the graveyard from either the deck, hand or even from the extra deck (Gale Dogra, Dragunity Knight Trident,…).

The monsters described in "Illegal Targets 2" cannot be revived if they were sent/discarded to the graveyard.

"I just sent your Zenmaity to the grave.
U mad bro?"

Illegal targets 4 – Monsters summoned in the wrong way

You think you can't summon monsters in a wrong way? In some cases, you actually can.

There are certain cards out there that allow you to summon a monster from the extra deck without meeting the right requirements (a fusion summon, xyz summon or synchro summon).

However, since you did not meet the right requirements, you cannot target them for Monster Reborn (or other revival cards).

These cards effects are the following:

• Starlight Road (Stardust Dragon)
• Shooting Quasar Dragon (Shooting Star Dragon)
• Miracle Contact (only applies on Elemental HERO Neos Knight)
• Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor (Blackwing synchro’s)
• Psychic Feel Zone (psychic synchro’s)
• Bahamut Shark (Rank 3 or lower water attribute XYZ)
• The Hex-Sealed Fusions (Earth/Dark/Light Fusions)
• Synchro Change
• Summoner of Illusions
• Super Roboyarou / Super Robolady (their effect to summon the other one)
• Metamorphosis (Traditional only)
• Cyber-Stein (Traditional only)
• Magical Scientist (Traditional only)
• Temple of the Kings (Traditional only)

Note: Keep an eye on the monsters summoned through these card effects, because it’s easy to forget how they were summoned when they’re sent to the grave.

New & upcoming XYZ! Beware his effect!

Legal or illegal targets?: Fusion monsters

Fusion monsters have been around since the beginning and have appeared in many forms.

Depending on what fusion monster you get on the field (successfully), you might or might not be able to bring it back to life afterwards:

Fusion type	Yes/No	Why (not)?
Oldschool Fusions	YES	If the summon condition just reads: Monster A + Monster B, then there’s no reason why you could not bring it back. Even if the card says that a fusion summon can only be done with the mentioned Fusion Material Monsters, that doesn’t stop a revival afterwards.
Fusions with the line “This monster can only be Special Summoned by Fusion Summon” (with no further conditions)	YES!	This is pre-problem solving card text and will be corrected in a reprint as “Must first be Fusion summoned”. The new text is already visible on the Gem-Knight Fusions.
Fusion monsters with the line “cannot be Special Summoned by other ways	NO!	The text says so itself. The HERO fusions fall under this category.
Neos TAG fusions	YES!	The ONLY exception on the Elemental HERO’s are the Neos “Tag” fusions, whose fusion materials are returned to the deck instead of the graveyard. They do not have the restriction the “normal” E-Hero Fusions have.
Gladiator Beast Tag Fusions	YES!	Same reason as with the Neos Tag fusions.
Armityle the Chaos Phantom	YES!	After being correctly summoned, he’s free to bring back anytime.
Chimeratech Fortress Dragon	YES!	Though he’s going to be useless, since his effect only works when fusion summoned.
The VWXYZ fusions	YES!	All VWXYZ monster are free to return, except XYZ Dragon Cannon. The last one has the specific line "This card cannot be special summoned from the graveyard".
Incorrect fusion summons	NO!	See “Illegal targets 4” for explanation.

Final notes

A: I tried to be as complete as possible. If I missed anything (or interpreted something wrong), please let me know and I’ll correct it.

B: Black Luster Soldier – EOTB may get a reprint in Legendary collection 3 with the problem solving card text (god, let’s hope so). Let’s hope the issues on reviving him are buried with that reprint.

C: This text is written from the point of view of Monster Reborn. This also applies to other revival cards, whether or not they can be used in advanced format (Call of the Haunted, Premature Burial,…).

Forgive me for the long post, but I wanted a complete guide, so a long explanation is the automatic result of this. I hope it helps you out.

Until next time, V out.

Deck tests September format #2 - Tele-Ninja

This is one of the promised deck concepts. I've been testing a lot, including with ninja's (because I'm a ninja-fan).

Backstory

The main problem with ninja's is that they're not really competitive, so finding a good build that doesn't backfire every few duels has been hard.

• I tried running pure ninja's, but the amount of Transformation & Super-Transformation targets has the tendency to give you a dead hand more often than you like.
• I tried combining it with Hieratics, but for some reason, I just didn't like the result (it's like doing Hieratic-Hanzo the wrong way, it just doesn't feel right).
• And then I thought, why not psychics?

And so came the following deck, which can be named Tele-ninja, but let's just call it "Ninjitsu art of Teleportation", just to stay in the ninja-style.

Here's a little decklist:

Explaining the deck

• Hanzo & Golden ninja are the most known ninja's. Next to them, Earth Armor Ninja is a Cyber Dragon for ninja's & Silver Ninja allows for mass special summoning. White & Blue Dragon ninja are Super Transformation targets, just like White Night Dragon.
• Sazank is one of the secret gems in the deck. He's one of the 3 Karakuri monsters that is also a ninja (together with Kuick & Nanashik), but he's the only useful one in this deck. Sending monsters to the grave bypasses the effect of cards like Zenmaines or Maestroke.
• Outside of the (obvious) Super Transformation, the other ninjitsu art I'm using is Duplication. This TCG exclusive (yes, it is) is an easy way to search for more ninja's and even allows for special setting cards.
• Magic Planter: The downside on most continuous traps in this deck is that they remain on the field, unless removed by force. Rather than Ninjitsu art of Alchemy (which is limited to Ninjitsu art cards), Magic Planter cleans up any used C-traps and allows me to draw more.
• The Psychic Engine in this deck consists of 3 E-Teleports, 2 Psychic Commanders, 1 Krebons , 1 Psychic Witch & 1 Overdrive Teleporter.

The extra deck is kind of experimental and goes along with the test results right now (read: it will change). Though I can say, cards like Blade Armor Ninja, Maestroke, Excalibur, Leviair and Leviathan will remain. Don't mind the side-deck, as it's been acting as the garbage pile for tested cards.

The overall varied test results gave me the conclusion that this deck is good, but won't be top-tier, unless more ninja support comes out or unless someone gets an amazing idea for this deck. For example, I need to play Blue Dragon Ninja, because he's a Super Transformation target, but honestly, a better effect could've worked :-/.

More test results will follow in the upcoming weeks. Next up will be (let's think)... Chaos.

Until next time, V out.