Bochum Day 1

Quick Post live from Bochum (sorry, atm still at the hotel in Dortmund).

• Enormous amount of players. First number we heard wa 1439, later has been edited to 1455, I heard.
• Went 2-3 and then I dropped
• Most players were cool, but one annoying ruleshark I lost to.
• All my friends dropped to, after similar results.
• English Cosmo Blazer boosters were gone asap, so German it became. Pulled nothing good.
• Did amazing trades. Got nearly everything from my (high/medium/low) wants list.
• Only got to do one side-event (the only one avilable after round 5): win-a-mat. Didn't get one.
• Had a pizza with my friend an talked a lot with all the guys from our team that went to Bochum.
• Today it's side-events day. We'll see what happens next.
• Give you the full report when I'm back home.
• V out. Need to go, time is ticking...

YCS Bochum & new European YCS: Lille

As a European Yu-Gi-Oh player, I'm always happy to announce European YCS's (because they're so scarce compared to the US).

This weekend is the first European YCS of this year (YCS Bochum) and immediately the last one of the current format, which ends next week.

YCS Bochum details

All the info you need will be (should be hopefully) on THIS LINK

From Friday evening, coverage will be posted on the European event coverage page.

Location is: RuhrCongress Bochum, Stadionring 20 in Bochum Germany. More info on how to get there is available at the event site website (wow, that sounds weird): THIS LINK.

You can register on Friday (I will, but I hope you won't. I don't want to wait in a line that's too long :-P ) between 16 and 21 o'clock.

And then from Saturday onward, it's main event (advanced) & many side-events (which Konami Europe forgot to update, so I have no clue which ones).

I hope the Structure Deck event is going to happen, because this has a cool-looking playmat as a price of the Fire Kings. Also, don't forget that the Win-a-mat may now also include the Kite+Galaxy-Eyes playmat.

What decks to expect?

• Wind-up: LOTS of Wind-ups. It's the last YCS they can play at full power, so expect a hellalot of them.
• Macro Rabbit: It's the cheapest top deck.
• Merlanteans: It's the most expensive top deck (lol).
• Fire Fists: Great contender to be the next top deck
• Inzektors: Europe still had a bug-fetish last time, though I think it decreased in popularity in favor for Merlanteans
• Other less popular decks will include: Geargia mash-ups, Prophecies, Fire Kings, Chaos Dragons and Dark World.

New European YCS Announced: YCS Lille

The rumor has been spreading for a few weeks now, but it's finally announced. The next European YCS is in Lille (France). And for once, I'm extremely pleased with his location. It's less than an hour away from my home (in Belgium), so it will be an easy drive (lol).

Since Belgium doesn't have a Konami office (Main office is in Germany, with branches in France, Italy, UK, Netherlands and Spain), the chances of having a Belgian YCS is extremely small. So I'm very happy this event will occur this close to my home.

Details at the moment:

• Date: April 27+28
• Location: Lille, France (event place unknown yet)
• Link: http://www.yugioh-card.com/uk/news/news_ycslille.html

That's it for now. See you at Bochum (if you're going!). I'll try to update while I'm there, but I can't promise too much.

V out.

About the March '13 Forbidden and Limited list

I said I had low expectations, but Konami never fails to disappoint me. The current March list is (as expected) a repetition of last year’s March List. Old archetypes get butchered (not hit, butchered) and the ones they’re making money off, remain untouched.

The changes are visible on this shriek page and list only the changes. By the first of March, the full list will be visible on the Yugioh-card website.

My opinion on the changes

Without further ado, my opinion.

• Sangan: I'm pleasantly surprised with this one. It was on my banlist-wishlist, but I never expected Konami to hit it. But they actually did it. The most annoying searcher of the last few years is finally gone! September will probably bring Tour Guide back to three, because now that this little critter is gone, the only decks that can profit from her ability are Dark World, Fableds and perhaps Evilswarm too (I guess, though I dunno how many fiends they use).
• Wind-up Magician & Wind-up Carrier Zenmaity: Wow… err. Konami might have just killed Wind-ups, dude. The hit on Magician was legit, but Zenmaity? I've already seen people experiment with Wind-up Builds, trying to tell people it's not dead. I hope so, because the Zenmaity thing was a little too much?
• One Day of Peace: Another Finally. The reason why Final Countdown, Exodia, Burn and Gishki FTK decks have become so popular the last year was because of this card. This limit was really justified.
• Solemn Warning: Last year, I would’ve applauded it. But today people are using Bottomless more. This has become somewhat an anti-meta card now. Still not bad that it’s limited. Guess this (and Sangan) is a hit to Dino Rabbit, without hitting the bunny itself.
• Tsukuyomi: Its return from the forbidden status caused a lot of people to experiment with this card… to no avail. The card is slow, is kinda hard to search (without cost at least) and with a single copy, it’s virtually become useless. Card is already a candidate to become unlimited in September.
• Thunder King Rai-Oh: Why?
• Advanced Ritual Art: Interesting Pick. Guess this is their most controversial return this time around, but I don’t find it bad. Maybe we’ll see a return of Perfect Herald decks or Demise decks? Or will we see more ritual monsters released in the future (that can use this card)?
• Spore: Obvious return.
• Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow: Wrong card to return. This does nothing to the status of Blackwings. I keep my statement from my Prediction post: they need a second Gale.
• Lumina, Lightsworn Sorceress: Another interesting Choice. Guess safe Honest & Charge, Lightsworn now have their full arsenal back at their disposal.
• Shien’s Smoke Signal: Meh… Don't like Six Samurai, so I don't like this choice. I know Konami loves the archetype, so it’s no surprise to see it return.
• Mind Crush: Lol, wut? I’d rather see this card become limited again, honestly. Guess it’s a trade-in for Semi-limiting Rai-Oh, I guess? Since all current archetypes search like hell, this card will become popular in the upcoming format.

What archetypes did Konami hit?

• Wind-ups: It’s butchered and they might need some time before they attempt a come-back.
• Dino Rabbit: The Tour Guide Engine died, so the deck now has a harder time searching the critter. I see a possible return of Gold Sarcophagus in this deck. Also, the limit of Solemn Warning will cause a reorganization of the trap line-up.
• Any other deck that used the Tour Guide Engine: Chaos Dragons, Chaos Agents, Inzektors, etc.
• Gishki FTK: Still viable, but harder to achieve with One-Day limited.
• Stall Decks (Exodia, Final Countdown, Burn): Less protection due to One Day of Peace.

What archetypes gained a (small) boost?

Easy to spot: Blackwings, Lightsworn, Six Samurai, Perfect Herald & Demise decks.

What archetypes did NOT get hit, even though they should

• Merlanteans: With its most important competitors hit (Dino Rabbit & Wind-Up) hit, they’ve actually gained a boost. That is, until everyone’s fully armed with Fire Fists (first), Mecha Phantom Beasts and/or Evilswarm decks (after Hidden Arsenal 7 + Lord of the Tachyongalaxy).
• Fire Fist: Well, it was too soon anyway. Nobody really expected this to get hit.
• Evilswarm (Verz): The OCG players will probably regret that this didn’t get hit.
• Dark World: They even got a boost in a third Mind Control (though I dunno if they’ll use all three copies).

What archetypes did not get a boost, even though they should?

Harder to spot, but honestly: Tech Genus, Zombies and Plants. The (fake) Goyo list had me hoping that Konami would do something to boost either Tech Genus (Striker), Plants (Lonefire Blossom) or Zombies (either Mezuki or Plaguespreader Zombie), but nyet. Nothing happened; nothing will change the coming six months that will boost their popularity.

My opinion

At first I was disappointed (even though I had low expectations), but some good cards were hit none the less (could be worse, seriously). At least the Gishki FTK and Wind-ups were stopped.

What decks got hit that I play?

• Piper Exodia deck just died (Tour Guide Engine & One Day of Piece).
• Chaos Dragons took another hit (TGU-engine died, might transform with the Reincarnate Dragons).
• Same to my pure Chaos deck, TGU-engine died (time to re-invent once again, huh).
• Rabbit is a Beast: TGU-engine again, though I’ll work around this one.
• Prophecy deck & Photon Lightray decks (my two main decks) remain unscathed. Photon Lightray will even receive a boost with the Zexal Tin coming out.

So mostly, the secondary/experimental decks I played are hit, rather than my 2 main decks. With the new F&L list and with the full content of Lord of the Tachyongalaxy revealed, I guess it’s time to experiment again (if I find the time, kinda hooked on Marvel Avengers Alliance & X-Com Enemy Unknown at the moment).

Until next time, V out.

Cards to look forward to in Lord of the Tachyongalaxy

Like with previous sets, I've screened the latest OCG set and I picked out all cards that are interesting or are splashable enough to be interesting (even if they’re part of a specific archetype)

Monsters

• Blizzard Falcon: Rio, the sister of Shark gets her first monsters in this set and it’s already more impressive than big brother Shark. Blizzard Falcon is a bird that inflicts effect damage (frostbite, no burn). When its attack differentiates from its original (Field spells, equip spells, Unity, etc.), it inflicts 1500 damage to the opponent (WOW!). Combine this with cards like Stealth Bird and Tsukuyomi and we’ll see the introduction of Burning Birds deck.
• Mecha Phantom Beast Tether Wolf: The Phantom Beast Planes (err, Mecha Phantom Beasts) are a very splashable archetype that works with tokens (synchro time). Tether-Wolf summons a token when it’s normal summoned and it cannot be destroyed while you have tokens (Dandylion, Scapegoat, etc.). And by tributing 1 token, it gains 800 attack during the damage step. Great card!
• Mecha Phantom Beast Ray-Stealth: Yeah, there are a few very splashable cards in this archetype that are perfect for Plant Synchro-style decks. This one is a Debris Dragon target (100 attack), has high defense to lure your opponent into an attack and generates a token when it inflict battle damage (or reflect damage in this case). And once per turn, you can destroy a token (like with Tether-wolf, any token) to destroy a set spell/trap card.

• Void Knight: WIND attribute often goes hand-in-hand with bounce effects. Void Knight has none of the drawbacks its earth and water variant have and activates when a monster (ANY monster) is bounced. Tiger King of the Ice Barrier and Mist Valley Falcon approve this card.
• Windrose the Elemental Lord: The WIND Elemental Lord. It’s Harpie’s Feather Duster in Monster form. Though it won’t be used in Harpie decks (deck already has lots of backrow hate active), it can be a great asset in Dragunities, Gusto or Mist valley decks
• Tidal the Waterfall-Incarnate Dragon: Next to the elemental lord and the Armageddon Knight knock-offs, this set introduces the Reincarnate Dragons. This is the first noteworthy one, Tidal. There are not that many Water Dragons to abuse this guy’s effect, but this card has lots of potential in decks like Lancer Frogs (banish 2 frogs, special summon this guy, attack, tribute for Sea Lancer, equip frogs, repeat for each Lancer you have, profit much?).
• Tempest the Storm-Incarnate Dragon: Next to Tidal, the most notable Elemental Dragon Lord is the Wind Dragon, Tempest. Most non-light/dark dragons are still WIND, thus this makes WIND the attribute that profits the most from this guy’s effect. Most notable archetype that can profit from this effect? Dragunities!

XYZ monsters

• Number 107: Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon: Finally a GOOD Rank 8 XYZ that doesn’t require vanilla’s. 3000 attack, able to negate monster effects, and a potential double attacker. Now this is a cover card worth getting! Might update my Photon Lightray deck for this guy.
• Shark Fortress: Double Attackers in XYZ monsters was limited to Blade Armor Ninja. Shark Fortress makes him look like a wuss. This card can target any of your cards to attack twice. So if you have a Heroic Champion Excalibur (of 4000 attack), then use this card’s effect to let that Excalibur attack twice, making a total of 8000 damage. And don’t forget, this card is also a wall to protect your other monsters (though I doubt your opponent would attack anything else...)
• Sylphine, the Cold Bird Beast: A card based on the 2 nymphs? Funny, but an amazing card. You can negate all face-up card effects your opponent controls once per turn to let this card gain attack (permanently!). Cards, not monsters! This also includes face-up continuous cards like the Fire Fist cards, Fiendish Chain or Macro Cosmos! Thank god this card is restricted to Winged Beasts, otherwise Mermails would have another boss monster in its ranks (will be used in Harpies, Blackwings, Dragunities and Mist Valleys).

• Number C105: Burning Knuckler - Caestus the Comet: Rank-up Magic – Barian’s force can turn any Warrior XYZ of rank 4 in this behemoth (for example, your used-up Excalibur). Due to Barian's force, this card can steal some extra XYZ materials, has great attack power and does burn damage too. Ouch?
• Kingremlin: The King of Gremlins. The Gremlins are no fiends this time around, but Reptiles (guess that makes sense). And it’s GOOD. Detach 1 material, search 1 Reptile from your deck to hand… ANY Reptile monster (Rescue Rabbit into Alien Shock Trooper, search Vennominon?). Great asset for any Reptile deck, because the general support for Reptiles is not that great yet (think of Worms, Aliens, Reptilliane's and Venom decks).

Spells

• XYZ Revenge: Situational, yes. But fun none the less. If your opponent has an XYZ (with XYZ materials) and you have an XYZ in your grave. Special summon your xyz and then steal your opponent’s XYZ materials (lol).
• Rank-up Magic – Barian's Force: I see a potential Ultra or Secret rare in the TCG version of this card. Though there are only a handful of Chaos XYZ out right now, transforming a warrior xyz into Caestus is already a good move. If more of the Chaos XYZ come out, this will be a card you want.
• Treasured Sword of the Sacred Stars: Call this card Trade-in for Lv 7 monsters (but with banishing instead of sending to the grave). Nuff said.

Traps

• Pin-Point Guard: Never enough revival cards, I guess. It is more limited than Call of the haunted, since you can only target Lv 1-4 monsters and you can only activate it when your opponent attacks (MST bait). But in compensation, this card is not continuous (no equip schizzle) and the revived monster is protected until the end phase (and is in defense). This makes this card perfect for tribute style decks, like Monarchs.
• Torrential Rebirth: Your Water monster got destroyed? Torrential Rebirth revives it and does effect damage. With some monsters, it might even trigger their effect (Abysspike and Abyssturge, for example).
• Mental Drain: After Skill Drain (Field), Soul Drain (grave & banished zone), there now is the third effects negating card: Mental Drain. This stops Hand Traps. So no Veiler, No Maxx "C", Gorz, Tragoedia, Swift iron Scarecrow or Battle Fader. Perfect side-deck against Exodia/Burn Decks or just if you want to spam the field and avoid Maxx “C” or Veiler.
• Dragon’s Fang Reincarnation: The Reincarnate Dragons (the Elemental Dragon lords) all focus on banishing monsters, thus this card returns those cards to the hand. Gives an extra boost to the decks where you use the dragon-reincarnates (like Dragunities)… or in Hieratics or Chaos Dragons (a single REDMD is suddenly not THAT bad anymore).

Afterword

This set is going to be big, I can tell that much. Next to the previous mentioned cards and the new archetypes Burning Knuckler and Mecha Phantom Beasts, there’s also archetype support for Prophecies, Fire Fists, Mermails, Geargia’s, Madolche’s, Atlanteans and Fire Kings. And taking into account the 808 blog post I mentioned yesterday, there will also be more support for Noble Knights and OCG imports for Evilswarm and Constellars.

Depending on the 08x card pool (TCG World premiere cards) and the 09x card pool (OCG imports), this might become the best set of 2013! Keep your eyes open.

Near the end of the week, I’ll give another prediction of what could be in the 09x card pool. Until then, V out.

PS: Names are a subject to change when the set comes out in the TCG.

PPS: Edit on March 5: Updated the pictures with the latest available ones.

Lord of the Tachyongalaxy - TCG Release date & info

Short post. Ventus of the No-names blog posted the following link, so I'll share it as well: Open sesame!

The 808-blog shared some secrets for Lord of the Tachyongalaxy for its TCG-release. What you need to remember is the following:

• Release date is May 17th.
• Sneak will thus probably be the weekend of May 4th/5th (I bet, it's always during the weekend I can't attend).
• Phantom Beast Planes will be renamed into Mecha Phantom Beasts
• More Noble Knights
• OCG Imports of certain Constellar and Evilswarm Cards (Omega, Sombres and Kerykeion)

I'm finishing up the post about the cards to look forward to in Lord of the Tachyongalaxy. I'll post it up tomorrow.

Until then, V out.

"Soon..."

Edit: More news (didn't want to make an extra post): Following new releases have been announced at the American International Toy Fair:

• Zexal Card Sleeves (May): Okay, as long as Yuma doesn't stand on them (Emperor Key sleeves would be nice).
• Super Starter Deck (June): Starter deck + 2 packs of 5 cards, similar to the OCG Starter Deck in March.
• Battle Pack 2 (June): Interesting
• NO extra Structure Deck in June, we got the Super Starter instead. So no repeat of the Marik & Six Spams Structure Deck this time around.
• Judgment of the Light (August): Expected end of the month, sneak halfway the month.

Source: Click this way.

Tick tock...

Until half of February, when the next forbidden and limited list will appear in V-Jump (presumably end of next week), the Yugi-news has been kind of slow.

I've been looking around for a few news facts and came up with the following:

Kevin Tewart Reveals what we should expect from the star Pack

In a post on pojo, Tewart revealed that NOTHING in the Star pack would influence the secondary market in the US and is mostly aimed at non-US territories (hence the old/false rumor it was going to be a Europe-only release). He also said that the pack will not be available in big amounts in the US, because all the cards are "easily" available.

Basically that means that the star pack will mostly focus on the reprints of Jump cards. So all those cards in my previous post that could make the pack a bit interesting? Forget about those, they're probably not going to be in there :-(

Content Onslaught of the Fire Kings Revealed

In Europe, the first Fire Kings Structure Deck have been received, together with the decklist. Changes are:

• We do NOT get Jurrac Velo & Jurrac Guaiba.
• We do not get Chain Destruction.
• We get Neo Flamvell Sabre (eeeew), Royal Firestorm Guards (actually works with the deck) and Call of the Haunted (not bad) instead.

I know many fans will be pissed about the face Guaiba isn't in the Structure Deck. But (as Tewart confirmed on Pojo) that's mostly because Guaiba doesn't really work with the other cards in the structure deck.

Zexal tin reveals its cover monsters. Is it real?

God, let's hope it's not real. let's hope it's just a well-made Photoshop. Because of this picture. Giga Brilliant might be nice, but eeeeew, gagaga magician? And Ultra Gagagabolt? That HAS to be fake, right? Right? (*looks uncertain*).

Konami is SLOW with their updates

If you follow the product page of Yugioh, you might have noticed that in the last few months, they're slow in their updates. The so-called "update" of Cosmo Blazer only appeared on the day of the first Sneak peeks (was supposed to be shortly after new Year), and the structure deck page has only been updated this week (also a little late). This has been going on for a while now and has gone so far that in a few cases the European page has become faster than the US version (and that is saying A LOT).

While I was skimming through Pojo on some interesting news, I noticed a post of Tewart that he realizes they're behind schedule on product information and they're "working to fix that".

Let's hope so, because we still have nothing for the Star Pack, the Zexal Tin, the Special Edition of CBLZ, Hidden Arsenal 7 nor the upcoming Starter Deck.

Franken becomes Zombiestein

Kinda missed this one during all the news updates last week. The English name for No. 22: Franken has been revealed. It's now oficially: Number 22: Zombiestein. Release of this card is in Zexal Manga Volume 3, in sale June 4th.

Wind elemental Lord

Its name is Windrose, the Elemental Lord. Has been thoroughly discussed on other blogs and youtube. It's basically Harpie's Feather Duster in Monster Form and it's a Winged Beast.

And that's about itt. All in all, no big revelations in the past few weeks.

One final note. I notice that High Priestess' price is going higher and higher, ever since the revelation of Final Judgment of Prophecy. Europ sites still state prices of 65€ onward, but tcgplayer stores go close to 100$. Interesting trend, to say the least.

Until next time, V out.

Star Pack - Or the Zexal anime produces bad cards

After The 2.5 tin, Cosmo Blazer and The FIRE Structure deck, the first new release (that still hasn't been officially announced btw) is the Star Pack.

The pack will be low-budget (1$ per pack or so), will contain 2 common cards and 1 starfoil card, from a 50-card cardpool.

38/50 cards will be from the first 20 episodes of Zexal, while the others are from the older generations. The pack also includes 7 reprints of Jump / Manga promo's.

God, why?

Not many people are looking forward to it, because of a few reasons:

• The Zexal Tin comes out a week later and has new cards, this consists of reprints only (at this point at least, you never know with lolkonami).
• Safe the few interesting Jump/Manga Promo reprints for legal issues, the announced cards are... not that great (to say it in a nice way).
• And honestly, 38/50 cards reprinted from the 20 first episodes of the anime? Eeeew...

But let's not be all negative. In an attempt to get the best possible out of this pack, I started analyzing what actually could be in the pack that would make people want to buy this.

Step 1: ALL anime cards are bad... or not all of them?

I started analyzing the cards from the announced 20 first episodes. And while most cards used in the show plain suck, there are a few exceptions which could make for a nicer pack. These are the following:

• Wonder Wand
• Black Ray Lancer
• Blade Armor Ninja
• Number 12: Crimson Shadow Armor Ninja
• Number 11: Big Eye
• Number 16: Shock Master (though unlikely, due to the tin reprint last year)
• Number 96: Dark Mist
• Number C39: Utopia Ray
• And let's not forget the much reprinted Leviathan Dragon and Utopia, Lord of Reprints.

So if the above mentioned cards would be in the star pack, this might get a little more interesting. A reprint of Big Eye would be much welcomed by many players, since the card is spiking above 40$ right now.

Want to steal monsters? It'll cost you 40$!

Step 2: Jump & Manga promo cards

There are 12 other cards, right? Including 7 legality reprints. So, let's guess which ones:

• Elemental HERO Escuridao (already confirmed)
• Meklord Emperor Wisel (already confirmed)
• Arkana Force EX - The Light Ruler (already confirmed)
• Barbaroid, the Ultimate Battle machine
• Kachi Kochi Dragon
• Seven Swords Warrior
• Dark Magician (the Jump version)
• Shooting Quasar Dragon
• The Supremacy Sun
• Slifer the Sky Dragon
• Superdreadnaught Rail Cannon Gustav Max
• Troposphere

Gustav Max seems a bit too soon and I honestly don't want Quasar to be a common/Starfoil card in this pack, the card is too "boss" for that.

The last 5 cards?

Outside of the 7 Jump/manga promo reprints, there are 5 other cards from the "previous" generations. I don't really have an idea for those cards, but it might be one of the following:

• Reprints of cards that weren't in any of the Legendary Collections, like E-Hero Nova Master, a HERO lives or the Masked HERO's.
• Reprint of 5D's cards that require a first reprint, like Metaion the Timelord or Mystic Piper.

Afterword

There's actually plenty of room to make this set interesting, if Konami would put the right cards in here. I'm sure many people would be interested in a reprint of Big Eye or Blade Armor Ninja, E-Hero Escuridao or Nova Master, or even Mystic Piper or Merklord Emperor Wisel. Let's just wait until Konami announces what they'll actually put in the darn pack.

Until next time, V out.