Sunday, December 16, 2012

Deck Profile: Spellbook of Cake

Ok the name is horrible. but honestly there are so many variants of spellbook decks that can be run (and more to come with future sets) that I needed a way to keep em strait in my head.

Madeleines are very small sponge cakes with a distinctive shell-like shape acquired from being baked in pans with shell-shaped depressions.

"Magic" + "Madeleine" = "Magileine" get it -sigh-

ok so why use magileine? Because in this varient of spellbooks, one of the main goals outside the main win condition is to maintain hand advantage. I feel that hand advantage is extreemly important not just to SS priestess with but because the deck is so defense deficient that hand traps are essential. So as we look at the mechanics of the deck keep that in mind. 


3x Effect Veiler
I like 3 for consistency sake but ill be honest this is one deck that makes good use of a veiler in the grave, and not just to bring out a BLS or sorcerer. With Spellbook of Life you have the opportunity to not only bring back a veiler to the field but to do it as a 2, 3, 4 or 5 star tuner making BRD, Scrap Dragon and everyones favorite Archanite Magician. Truth be told I may cut it down to 2 to make some room for maybe a copycat, strength or stoic. But in most cases veiler will keep you from being OTKed that one turn for you to then pop back in and establish control the next

1x Gorz
With a weak defense game hand traps like Gorz and Trag IMO are not just tech but part of the main gameplay. In this variant  you make some field sacrifices to build hand advantage so gorz is important. The biggest conflict is going to be tower. With tower out you cant drop gorz. But on the plus side gorz is a level 7 can can help you make Big Eye plays

3x High Priestess 
3 is a no brainer its the decks boss card. Is searchable, has that targeting destruction, lets you go into big eye blah blah blah

2x Justice
At first (and still in some builds) Im a big temperance fan. And early game temperance maybe the better play. The thing is that the potential for plussing is huge with justice, its one card that can net you 2 cards, setting up your hand and getting you a priestess ready to go, The thing to remember is that justice is an optional end phase effect. Its a plus and a minus. Minus because if you needed that field this turn its slow, Its a plus though because it gets around Veiler. How you may ask? Simple when you enter the end phase veilers effect ends and justice's is beginning. You must pass to your opponant to ask if they end veilers effect, when they do you may activate justice..... WAIT WAIT WAIT!!!! What if they choose not to end veilers effect? Simple you just pass again, veiler must end at some time, its a mandatory effect and teh double pass automatically forces mandatory effects to happen. Optional end phase effects come after.... So thank them very much for wasting a veiler on you

3x Madolche Magileine
Ok its not impressive based on its stats. a 1400 attack earth spellcaster who is a level 4 is mehhhh. But lets think about the function of this deck... hand advantage. Her effect is amazing, summon her and search for another... This card basically replaces itself and then the fact that if shes destroyed to the grave making her return to the deck means that she has the potential to always search another one. So basically when comboed with wand and power she's a plusing machine. Running 3 is a mandatory 2 is ineffective and at 1 would be asinine :)

2x Maxx C
Ok when you accept the idea that gorz and trag and veiler are essential pieces to how this variant functions you start to see the value of maxx c. Either it stops their combo out of fear or they yolo and let you draw into stuff that can stop them.

3x Magician
Card is amazing, its the only monster that can be searched via secrets. Not to mention that it gets the effect when flipped, so setting this guy is a pretty safe bet unless hes destroyed while facedown.
Some great plays early on are to summon, search, equip with wand, use wand and draw 2 more cards.

1x Temperence
Love the card, just loving justice more right now. It can be a big detractor to not be able to do more SSing. But the shear ease in which it can break out priestess is amazing, plus unlike justice it gives you material in the grave to use with "life"

2x Trag
Next to Priestess this is my fav. monster in the deck. Stops OTKs lets you steal monsters, can help you XYZ, and makes a Priestess that used life to comeback by banishing a level 3 means that you can go into gustav max. Those that go to game 2 or 3 will fear attacking you with those huge hands that you plus into.

1x Book of Moon
Many do not play this card, but It has such multiuse functions that I cant quite shed it yet. Im not gonna give a break down on BOM but Ill mention that its kinda nice that it can also reset a magician to let you search again.

(dont really need to talk about Heavy and Reborn)

2x Pot of Duality
Ive played with and with our POD, Its not the necessity card that it may be in some decks but it does smooth out the rough issues and inconsistencies. In any deck that may find itself completely open due to not drawing the right cards... POD should step in and help
__________________________________________________
(the one off spell books. The cards in this category are not any less important than the other cards its just that due to the recycleing and searching nature of the architype they can be used multiple times and not bog the deck down )

1x Eternity
I really like 2 of these in the deck but space made it go down to. REMEMBER do not remove this card for priestess or Fate's effect if you only run one. Also its the biggest candidate to go to the bottom via towers draw effect

1x Fate
One of the most feared cards of the spellbook line up, its like Book of Moon/eclipse, back row compulse, and card banisher all in one, and for varying degerees of cost. its one of the cards that this deck runs that rewards good skilled gameplay and makes it not auto run.

1x Life
Many run 2... Ive never had issues with not being able to search it or play it due to the qty. But drawing into multiple ones suck. Sure this card makes priestess come back, but it also is a XYZ engine letting you bring back monsters at particular levels. Which is even more interesting when you can bring back veiler as a 2,3,4,5 even a 8 star tuner

1x Tower
Im a big fan of it at 1 not so much at 2. Heres the deal most of the time they just choose not to destroy tower and it sits there. More experienced players will know how to force it and make it miss timing. So untill spellbooks are looked at as a main part of the meta or in a very competitive environment Im ok at 1. Worst case I bring it back with eternity after priestess uses it to destroy.

Things to know about field spell cards
-Spell cards and field spell cards are not created the same. If you destroy a spell on a chain in most cases it's effect will still go off since it doesnt need to be on the field for the effect to resolve. (ex. You flip Book of Moon, they flip mst, the chain resolves with MST first destroying BOM then Moon flipping the card) Field spells however need to be on the field at resolution to get the effect. So if you pay the cost, they MST you will not get the effect.

-Also you can only have "ONE" active FSC on the field at a time. You can have one active on your side and one set on thier's thats fine but as soon as that other one activates and the chain resolves the first FSC gets destroyed.

-Also based on the 2 things I just told you, if the opponant activates a FSC over yours and you chain MST to thier FSC, the chain resolves with MST destroying the new FSC, its not there to resolve the effect, and the first FSC stays on the field since it the only "active FSC

READ THIS!!!!
This field spell's cost is not to send a card to the bottom of the deck... its one of the effects... Soo....
When you go to activate this cards draw effect, the opponant has a chance to chain a MST or what ever to destroy it. The chain resolves first with the FSC being destroyed, then it trys to resolve the effect (which it cant because the FSC is not on the field) since the destruction of the FSC didnt negate the effect activating the last thing to happen was not the destruction of the FSC so the effect to SS a monster misses timing.


__________________________________________________
(the 3 off spell books.)

3x Secrets
its a staple in any variant at 3, searches all the spellbooks and magician, becomes broken with Sefer in the next set.

3x Power
In other variants I like this card at 2, here though powering up some of your weaker monsters and getting that card is ultra important, so the consistency at 3 works really well... ALso becomes rediculous next set with sefer
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Last but not least

2x Wonder wand
The perfect card to make use of some of those monsters you really hate to have to normal summon to leave out in attack (magician and Magileine) not to mention that its nice to help a stonger monster like priestess climb up to 3000 and attack over a 2800. Though this job is better left to power

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Deck Profile: Acid burn (DT-14)

Alrighty It seems that my acid burn deck was pretty well received but most of you have been interested in trying your hand at it before we get goldfish and not on DN. So I thought Id post a build that while may not be as consistent early on as the goldfish variant it is a little harder to stop mid-late game. For the sake of making things easier lets call the one with goldfish the fish varient and this one the beast variant since it capitalizes on Gishki Beast

For me both can easily set up your win condition, but why I prefer the fish one is because its not grave dependent and going into this next meta there is going to be tons of graveyard hate. But first lets look at the beast build


Ok the guys a 4 star water which works with Moray and your shark. Though he is a 1500 meaning he's open to BTH but the reason for beast is to utilize the effect that SS a 4 or lower Gishki from the grave on normal summon. So he can target another beast and also an Ariel that we will talk about in a sec. Often times you may set him so that he can do a turn stall and then be ready for the next beast to come out

Sadly though running 3 Beast is not enough gishki to justify the engine so if you were to look at the other 4 star (for shark) waters (shark and moray) gishiki's (beast targets) you will find Gishki Ariel


So heres a cool one its a flip effect monster that on flip will search a gishki. Meaning you will have a beast now in hand with a gishki in the grave to go right into shark. You really gotta be careful though because its easy to read a set Ariel. So It may be beneficial to adjust your main or side deck to take into account your meta, fissure/macro hurts as does the destruction abilities of inzektors and agents (In which case Giski Avance may work better).

SO heres the build to mess with some with the added Gishkis



Other fun cards if you dont like the Gishki's





Cloudians cant be destroyed by battle so are good ones to stall for a turn Dragon can also be SS by removing a cloudian so it opens up some plays




This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only beSpecial Summoned by removing 1 WATER monster in your Graveyardfrom play. During each of your opponent's Standby Phases, you can change the battle position of 1 of your opponent's face-up Monster Cards. Once changed, the monster must remain in this position for the rest of the turn.

Spirit is cool in that in this deck its easy enough to ss her out like Cloudian Storm dragon it sucks having Monsters that can not be normal or ss unless by special conditions. The blow of this is cushioned by 3 morays but still its not optimum


Those familiar with bubble beat can see where this is going, creature swap and mystic box are both normals so can be set and still used that turn. The monster count is a little high to really make this work but again moray can aid in getting it to work. being able to add a rota too is nice especiall since you can then think about using Skull mariner as a target for Rabbit to go into Blade Armor or Excaliber


Its a funny one if theres a field of monsters and this guy is destroyed  by battle you can keep summoning another out for the cost of 800 LP. SO hes a good stall and if you time it right you can end thier attack phase with your last face up panda so you can normal into a level 4 water and go into shark


Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Nimbles: The Forgotten City Combo

Ok Im probably still one of the few ppl that still morn the passing of our dearly departed substitoad. Every set I look for some kind of card that will let me whip out the froggies and let them Des Croak one more time. (no I dont count frog monarch as a frog deck :P )

With this new set there is huge support for water hijinx that is not mermaid/atlantian related and one of these cards is Nimble Angler

The card is the 3rd of water type nimble cards (Sunfish and Manta being the other 2) so the potential to be able to use his effect more than just once in a water based deck makes it a usable card. And what better guy to get him discarded than work horse of all frogs Swap Frog.

The combo though wont be live till we get the Ouroboros Duel Terminal cards in what ever hidden arsonal that is. In that set we get Constellar Ptolemys Messier 7


Level 6 monsters
You can also Xyz Summon this card by using 1 face-up "ConstellarXyz Monster you control as the Xyz Material, except "Constellar Ptolemys Messier 7". (Xyz Materials attached to that monster also become Xyz Materials of this card.) You cannot activate this card's effect the turn youSpecial Summon this card this way. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to target 1 monster on the field or in either player's Graveyardreturn it to the hand.


So right about now you may be asking how the fuck do you make a grade 6 xyz from all those little level 2 frogs and Nimbles (with out fishborg that is) So insteps another new card from ABYR


So basically if you have a level 2 monster out than you need 4 more levels to make it a 6. 2+4=6 so we need 4 level 2 monsters and we can make 2 grade 6 xyzs. Fun right? Wait go re-read Messier see that part about returning a monster? and if we have 2 messiers we get 2 monsters... so we all know what swap can do with him and another monster in hand... OTKs :))))



combo needs city in play and a swap and angler in hand

discard angler to SS swap, send a ronin, bring out 2 nimbels

Return swap to hand congrats you can extra normal summon a frog monster this turn

normal swap send a swap to the grave (could be a dupe or freeborn too)

remove a frog to SS Ronin. Yeayyyyy 4 level 2s with city in play makes em all
level 6 monsters

4 level 6s can make 2 messiers 

send the swap as material to return an angler


Send a ronin to return a swap

Do it again. SS Swap with angler, send a swap to grave and SS 2 more nimbles


swap sent ronin with the 2nd frog summon

SS Ronin by removing swap

make a second Phoenix and detatch for their effects

Im actually an ass, I mistyped and added an extra 1900 but Im too lazy
to go into photoshop and fix it now, you get the idea
The other thing is that you could go into 2 Gaia Dragons
if your opponent has some defense position monsters


Deck Profile: Acid Burn

I've been playing with an obscene amount of decks lately, my watts got their seahorse as well as support for a bunch of my other fun deck, but most notably Fish and Dragunities which Ill be posting soon as well as some Infernity stuff. But to kick off all the festivities is one of the most trollish decks Ive ever ran. Bahamut Burn

It revolves around one of my more favorite cards from ABYR Bahamut Shark

At first I was like huh??? Then I checked out Mermail Abysstrite and I got it... but I looked up a list of all the other targets and I saw this guy Acid Golem



My first thought was OMG thats horrible with no material I not only cant attack but I cant special summon and take 2000 each turn WHY THE HELL WOULD I EVER DO THAT??

Well because with creature swap or Mystic Box it becomes the most trollish card in yugioh

What if you could basically lock the field down and send this guy to your opponents side. The only way to really play around it is to blow the guy up or tribute over him. SO heres the build



OK So first things first whats the play?

With a creature on your opponents side and rabbit and creature swap in hand you summon rabbit, banish the furball for 2 level 4 normal monsters, XYZ for Bahamut Shark, discard a matierial for Acid then creature swap him for your opponents monster. 

BUT!!!!!!
Unlike most other one trick pony troll decks this one is set up to have that as not the only win condition.  Morey of Greed lets you send those pesky vanillas back to the deck where they belong and Tinplate also makes good use of the vanillas you draw into as well.

When this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 Levelmonster from your hand.

I know right!!!! Broke sauce. If you draw into Kabazauls and this guy you can go right into a grade 4 xyz... maybe not Dolka or Laggia but hell it beats normaling the Kabazuals right?

You will also notice that TGU and sangan are here as well, you can grab you banished rabbit for more hijinx with TGU to Levier plays and sangan puts in that searching work. 

If something was missing from the deck that I may change is the lack of Pot of Avarice, the way the deck runs you can keep a constant flow of grad 4s coming  out and that recycling is probably way needed.


WTF WHY HYDROGEDDON???

Heres the deal with hydro hes a 1600 attack level 4 water dinosaur. He's Guiaiba's weaker younger brother, But heres where he excels. When hes not needed you can send him away with Moray to use later. If you can use him now then break him out and get that effect of for a second one. Dino means Laggia and Dolka, Water 4 means Shark for your acid plays. Hes the reason why theres 3 lances in the build.


The key to running this deck effectively is gonna be backing up your Acid plays with some of that sweet dino action Laggia and Dolka and even in the right moment going into a gagaga cowboy for that little 800 push


WHAT FUCKS THIS DECK UP???
Any deck that tribute summons... Chaos Dragons, Monarchs, That one lonely puddingcess :)
so in the side you should consider.
Mask of Restrict solves half the problems which stem from it being tributed away
Decks that have a lot of destruction are a problem as well, (decks that dont need to special summon to do it and can target cards on their sides, Like Inzektors (Shadow Imprisoning Mirror) or ones that can spam into Scrap Dragon (not that huge of a deal since you should be able to stop a lot of this with the right back row that you already main)



Monday, September 24, 2012

Deck Profile: Grand Stun

I know its been a while and things were kind of Vanguard like around here for a bit but...

Back to my first and true love Yuggz

 For those that have known me for a while may remember that 2 years ago with the release of Koa'ki Meiru Wall I was a Rock Stunner.

If you wanted to peek at my build from 11/4/10 its right here (and thats just the deck before the release of wall I did change it some as I played it more bringing in Gaia Plate etc)

 I love that it had answers to almost every deck, what I didnt like what the cost of that negation and no real way to keep it going. You will notice that I ended up not going the COTH Route back then and instead ran D Fissure with Release (this is still viable in this meta too for those wanting to test) But now with the release of this guy

Shit just got real

It means that you can negate with abandon and keep bringing them back. Theres also more reasons too that this architype is coming into its own but Ill get into that in a second.

First a shot of the deck (still in construction and Ill talk about the varients at the end)


Im not gonna bore you with a long discussion here about the Koa'ki Meirus, just go read the card and view the rulings to familiarize yourselves.

The Cornerstone 
Rock Golem- This card is the keystone to the new play style If you can get him out and you have the cards in the grave you can either set up for locking the field down or XYZ into grade 4s right away. Also in the side is Fossil Dyna and his effect is not hampered by Block Golems negation effect.

So right away he pluses, then if need be you can bring him back via COTH, Reborn, or Release to plus more. The biggest problem you will have will be getting the grave filled with the monsters you need to abuse his effect. The solution are 4 cards. Trooper, Catapult Zone, Jar and even Dark Hole.

The MVP
Card Trooper- is huge in this deck despite not being a rock. To mill 3 means fodder for Rock G. Gaia Plate, Grandsoil, CotH, Reborn etc. Also the 1900 will help you vs TKRO which can hurt the deck someThe level 3 Earth is nice to for xyz summons

Boss Monsters (Grandsoil and Gaia)
Grandsoil- is super easy to bring out and the fact that it can grab Block G., Barbaros @3k, or anything from the opponants grave can be a game ender. But in addition the card has the capacity to die in hand so the level 8 makes it a great Trade In target too as well as making grade 8 xyzs possible. JUST REMEMBER his Battle Phase effect if you use him to XYZ with or if he leaves the field for any reason (compulse will make you sad faced)

Gaia Plate the Earth Giant
Another trade in target and reveal card for your KMs. But even more so he can remove cards to control the grave for grandsoil, set up for Release combos (SS Gaia by removing Block G., Release to SS Block G. tribute for 2x level 4s, normal a level 4 for shock master or just normal a 3rd KM to have spells, traps and Effects covered with Gaia sitting pretty on the field. However this is not a easy card to play you need to think about the costs and which cards to remove, but if done right theres not to many monsters he cant get over and you can always xyz him off for a grade 8

The Pain in the Ass
Revival Golem- Car is a pain when used right for your opponent. He is so under rated in his simplest form you set him and he sits there at 2100 defense and with his effect you can bring him to hand to have a reveal for your KM monsters but  mostly will be sending him to the grave via Trooper, or Catapult and he will be ss for xyz summons. Using one of his effects is mandatory so if you have a grandsoil in your hand and 4 earths in the grave, sadly you gotta ss him or bring him to hand.

The Other Guys
Arguably you could pull granmole and Jar from the line up sure they are rocks for reveals and earths for Grandsoil, mole is even a 3 star earth for some interesting XYZ plays. Jar is in here to fill the grave and or replenish your hand when you need him hes great when you dont he's a reveal for the KMs. But Ill be the first to say that the card may find its way out for cards that will help you in your meta. Granmole is in the same boat, when you need him hes great but not essential to the main theme of this build. You may switch them out for needed spell and traps (even skill drain) or to go for a more control variant with more KMs. Some aggro players may run Giant Rat in here instead to speed up your plays and


The Field Spell
So many rock stun players hate Catapult Zone, and in a big inzektor format I may too. But in all my testing so far the card works wonders. In a lot of instances I have good control of the board with my KMs the most common way out for opponents is to attack over the one that is giving them the most issues. Thats where ppl run solidarity or other such cards that can pump up the monsters or they prematurely XYZ into something bigger giving up control and losing some field presence, or they run cards like D Prison or Mirror force to counter this (a great option and may be the route you decide to go in) For me though I love how it can help me control the grave or get me a free Revival G.

Ex. This guy just attacked into Wall with a 3600 attack E Hero. The  Zone kept Wall on the field, got me a Revival G. Next turn I could go into Shockmaster then use Block G. to help me gain even more control

The Draw Power
Draw power is an issue. Sure we got the Pots in there and Jar and maybe a trooper via effect. But This is where Trade in comes into play. We have 7 targets (6 if you feel 3 gaias are too much) it really does wonders for those cards that can die in your hand or if you need one more earth in the grave for grand soil or Gaia, or for CatH or Reborn.

The Win More
Im a bit undecided on Release from the Stone. In the case of Gaia he's amazing I can abuse Block G. Like mad and it really helps make Gaia a viable card in the deck (along with trade in) But its one of those cards that maybe viewed as "Win More" especially with 3 CotH and 1 Monster Reborn. It may be more effective to keep the monsters in the grave and SS them that way. The reason why I havnt shed it yet is that it gives me a balanced feel to the game play that all the cards can be used and feel that they dont go somewhere to die and not be accessible. I cant tell you how often the grave is overloaded with earths making Soil inaccessible. Gaia summon removes 2, Release brings back Block G. Tribute Block to bring out 2 Monsters so now Im 3 earths less than when I started. If I need more than next turn I remove fro Gaias effect or I go into CotH or Reborn for 1 more earth or into Block to make it 2 less earths. SO for now Im liking the options of having 2 Releases in the deck

Thursday, April 26, 2012


In the on going posting of pre-constructed deck lists from Dr. O (the guy that is the go to expert that helps announce in the championships in the anime) here is the latest installment.

These lists are not necessarily the best builds but a good starting point for taking a look at the future sets and how the decks can be constructed. My advice is to proxy them then change them up some. (especially if your a big CEO fan)

G3(8)
Full moon Tsukuyomi x4
Eurayle x4

G2(10)
Half moon Tsukuyomi x4
Tgitsuhime x3
Promise daughter x3

G1(15)
Crescent moon Tsukuyomi x4
Gemini x4
Hare of Inaba x2
Miss mist x2
Battle sister Chocolate x3

G0(17)
Ichibayashi (FVG)x1
Psychic bird x4
Battle sister Ginger x2
Dream eater x4
Victory maker x2
Lozengus magus x4

Dr. O's Strongest Decks - Kagero


In the on going posting of pre-constructed deck lists from Dr. O (the guy that is the go to expert that helps announce in the championships in the anime) here is the latest installment.

These lists are not necessarily the best builds but a good starting point for taking a look at the future sets and how the decks can be constructed. My advice is to proxy them then change them up some.

Kager
G3(8)
Dragonic overlord The End x4
Dragonic Overlord x4

G2(9)
Striken x2
Burning horn x2
Dragon knight Berger x2
Bellicosity x3

G1(14)
Bahr x3
Gojyo x3
Kinnala x3
flame of promise Aermo x2
Barri x3

G0(19)
Conroe (FVG)x1
Doom bringer Gryphon x2
Tahr x2
Blue ray x4
Genjyou x4
Flame seed salamander x2
Gattling claw x4