In Which I Play With My (mystical shine) Balls

One of the bloggers I follow (LightGrunty) posted his result from his weekly local tourney last week.  Located in that post was a link to one of his matches that was recorded and posted to YouTube.  He was playing his Diva Nordic deck against a guy playing an Agent Monster Mash deck.

Grunty has been playing his Nordic deck for a while, so he knows the deck forward and backward and it was a good match.  However his opponent gave me inspiration.

I've had the stuff for Gallis OTK for a little bit but have never done anything with.  I've also wanted to play Agents recently because the addition of the second Agent Earth revitalizes the deck and it plays with a massive amount of boss monsters.  The idea of combining the two clicked with me, so I put Agent Mash together and played it at my local tourney.

The deck is a lot of fun to play and it surprises most people because they don't know how to react.  All of their spell and trap removal are dead (which they side out and then you side in your traps, trollface) and you generally have more threats than they have answers.

Round 1 - Daniel (Sun Dragon God)

Daniel is a kid who we're trying to help improve.  Thankfully, he's willing to learn.  Sadly, he's not a match for me at this point as I use BLS - EotB to wreck any advantage he could get from the Sun Dragon/Moon Dragon engine.  1-0

Round 2 - Birch (HERO)

The first real test for this deck is my friend Birch.  He's been playing HERO variants for a long time and he was playing a Bubblebeat version with two A Hero Lives that I lent him.  He was able to get me in two games by fending off my threats and coming back with Miracle Fusions.

Round 3 - Jacob (Agents)

Jacob is another friend, his build was more of a Lightray Agent build.  I was able to draw out his removal and then lock him down with Archlord Kristya in both games.  Game two was especially interesting as he had a bunch of cards on the field and had a Gachi Gachi Gantetsu and Venus on the field.  I made Witch of the Black Rose and used Venus and Witch to make Black Rose Dragon.  BRD torched his field and I detached a Shine Ball from Gachi Gachi.

That made four fairies in my graveyard and Kristya hit the field for mop-up duty.  After the game, Jacob showed me the Solemn Judgment that he didn't use on the Black Rose because he wasn't sure what my follow up play would be and he didn't think he really needed to protect the other cards on his field at the cost of half his life points.

Round 4 - Jesse (Six Samurai)

Jesse is a guy I've played against a lot in the past.  He's been busy with real life but he stopped in and borrowed some cards to put together a Samurai deck.  Game one, he drew no monsters and I pushed for the win.  Game two, he made a late misplay with Hand of the Six Samurai leaving me with a 3000 ATK Gorz token that wound up winning me the game, even after he activated Rivalry of Warlords.

It was a box tourney with a top four cut, and I was seeded... fifth.  Boourns.  However, the top four split the box and it was complete trash, so I felt a little better about my luck.

I may keep testing this deck for an upcoming regional in November, or common sense might take back over and I'll try to learn how to play my Winderps.  Time will tell.

12-11-11 Gadget Offering

Even though I don't have Tour Guides, I have about eight different decks I can choose from. I've been playing Karakuri, Jurrac, Fabled, Chaos, TG Stun (and that deck will lead to my next experiment, *wink wink*). My favorite deck to play at the moment is Gadget Offering.

I just wanted to write a few things about the deck.

I've seen naysayers online talk about how the deck sucks because it has to get Ultimate Offering on the field to win. That's garbage. The deck has three speeds:

1. It plays like a regular Gadget deck. Simplify the game state with removal like Bottomless Trap Hole, Dimensional Prison, or Smashing Ground. Then lean on the Gadget engine to ensure that you always have a monster in hand to apply pressure.

2. Utilizing T.G. Striker, you can synchro for a small tool box of choice monsters. T.G. Wonder Magician, AoJ Catastor, Brionac, Naturia Barkion, Orient Dragon, and Trishula are some of the powerhouses that you can regularly get out utilizing Striker.

3. Herp derp Ultimate Offering. Make Gadget, pay 500 LP, make Gadget, xyz summon. Continue paying 1000 LP for an xyz monster (or synchro monster). Swarm your opponent and hope they don't have a Battle Fader.

The best part about this deck is that the third aspect of the deck gets even better when Evigishki Merrowgeist, Gem-Knight Pearl, Daigusto Emeral and Lavalval Chain finally get released in the TCG. Especially Emeral. Mmm... miniature Pot of Avarice.

I've also seen people who fall on the old standby "You can't play Gadgets with everybody playing Chimeratech Fortress Dragon to combat Karakuri." If you lose one Gadget to a Chimeratech, it's not a huge loss. Your deck plays enough defense that you can get the Chimeratech off the field.

If I pass my turn with two Gadgets on the field, I deserve to lose. I will always bring out a Utopia or a Steelswarm Roach with two Gadgets, depending on the situation.

I totally expect Tragoedia to be limited back down to one in March. It was moved to semi-limited to give xyz monsters some support, but it's too damn good with xyz and synchro monsters.

Also, note the absence of Solemn Warnings in this build. With Black Luster Soldier: Envoy of the Beginning in virtually every deck in my local meta, Warning is not quite the staple it once was. Even if I had a little more room, I'd rather play a reactive card like Compulsory Evacuation Device to handle xyz and synchro monsters. CED takes care of those nasty Gachi Gachi Gantetsu, Wind-Up Zenmaines, and makes Evolzar Laggia burn their negation effect on a card that normally doesn't make much more of an impact on the game other than tempo.

Here's my current build:

3 Red Gadget
3 Green Gadget
3 Yellow Gadget
3 T.G. Striker
2 T.G. Warwolf
2 Tragoedia

3 Pot of Duality
1 Book of Moon
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
2 Smashing Ground
1 Heavy Storm
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Pot of Avarice

3 Ultimate Offering
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Dimensional Prison
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device
1 Trap Dustshoot

3 Number 39: Utopia
1 Steelswarm Roach
1 Number 10: Illumiknight
1 T.G. Wonder Magician
1 Ally of Justice: Catastor
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Orient Dragon
1 Naturia Barkion
1 Gaia Knight, Force of Earth
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

Your side deck will vary, but it's really easy to side into a potent Stun-style deck. Fossil Dyna Pacycephalo and Breaker the Magical Warrior make a good compliment to this deck.

Tourney Report 12/3/11

There's something to build on with this Jurrac deck. I went 1-3 against four of the top decks in the metagame, but I made them work for their wins. Well, except for the TGU Agent deck I played in round two.

Round one, I played against a Karakuri deck and was able to win 2-1. Good start, even with a few of the Karakuri monsters having a higher defense than the Jurracs' attack. I was able to punish my opponent for trying to use cards like Nisamu and Inashichi.

Round two, TGU Agents. My opponent played four Tour Guides in the two games we played. LOL Yugioh. Even when I mounted some offense, he was smart to not leave a Mystical Shine Ball on the table that I could easily destroy.

Round three, Dark World. My draws were horrible in the first game, opening with two Jurrac Aeolo and the one Flamvell Magician in the deck. Second game, Raioh popped up his ugly head and I draw Bottomless Trap Hole the turn after he hit the field. I didn't draw a Lance, Mind Control, or anything else that would have helped me get him off the field. Yay.

Round four, Machina Gadget. Game one ended with me having a Stardust Dragon and a Evolzar Laggia on the field. Game two, he played the gadget gameplan to perfection, using trap removal to simplify the game state while nibbling away with gadgets. Game three, he gets a Kycoo on the field and (once again) I don't draw any removal to get it off the field. Le sigh.

I think I need to play Smashing Grounds in the deck to help deal with problematic monsters. I wanted to play Dimensional Prisons, but that's too slow. I'm definitely taking the Jurrac Gallim out of the deck. Terrible card.

We'll see what happens next week.

Building JurracVell

Last Saturday, I acquired two Evolzar Laggia. They were basically the last pieces I was waiting for before playing the build of Jurracs that I threw together.

3 Jurrac Guaiba
3 Jurrac Velo
3 Jurrac Dino
3 Jurrac Aeolo
1 Jurrac Gallim
3 Flamvell Firedog
1 Flamvell Magician

3 Fossil Dig
2 Rekindling
2 Forbidden Lance
1 Book of Moon
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mind Control
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole
1 Pot of Avarice

2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Safe Zone

2 Evolzar Laggia
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Steelswarm Roach
1 TG Hyper Librarian
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Orient Dragon
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Ancient Fairy Dragon
1 Jurrac Giganoto
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Using Flamvell Firedog or Jurrac Guaiba to get a synchro/xyz monster with one card is a powerful strategy. Especially Guaiba into Laggia. People who've had the displeasure to play against Rabbit decks may have run into this.

Guaiba attacks a low attack or defense target, sometimes assisted by Book of Moon or Forbidden Lance. Guaiba searches out either another copy of itself or a Velo. Overlay for Laggia. Now your opponent has to expend resources to get Laggia off the field before they can attempt to put their gameplan into effect.

And if they do get rid of Laggia, you have the resources to do it all over again.

You usually see a deck like this max out on Rekindling. I went down to two because Rekindling is terrible in the early game and drawing multiples before you have your graveyard stocked with monsters usually leads to a loss. I replaced one with a Pot of Avarice, because even though it has no synergy with Aeolo and Rekindling, it'll give me a chance to reuse my monsters from my extra deck.

The one card I don't have for the deck is Evolzar Dolkka. Dolkka is a good monster to add to the dino toolbox, but I'm not in a hurry to drop $40 for a toolbox monster. When I do get my hands on one, however, it'll probably replace the Roach in the extra deck.

Also note the absence of Pot of Duality. This deck special summons almost constantly that Duality would hinder the gameplan of this deck too often.

The deck doesn't really miss Duality, though, because of the three Fossil Dig that get you any dinosaur you need at the time from your deck.

Jurrac Guaiba: Natch.

Jurrac Velo: A recruiter for the rest of your Jurracs (if destroyed in battle while in attack mode). He also provides a level four body for Laggia.

Jurrac Dino: Level three tuner with a really solid ability. If Dino destroys an opponent's monster by battle, you can tribute a Jurrac you control during your end phase to draw two cards. Pot of Greed is good, right?

Jurrac Aeolo: Level one tuner that brings the deck together. His 200 defense means that Firedog and Rekindling can special summon him. He also can be tributed to special summon any other level four or lower Jurrac from your graveyard.

The side deck would be a combination of the usual stuff (third MST, Debunks) and two or three Gozen Match. All your monsters are fire and a nice chunk of your extra deck is fire so it won't hinder you too much. Doesn't work as well as with Karakuri, but...

All told, this is a solid, fairly cheap deck to put together that has decent game against the top decks in the format.

Where I ponder the use of Maxx C.

One of the cards that hasn't been used much is Maxx C.  I'm not sure if that's because it's a secret rare or because people just don't think it's good enough to fit a copy or two into your side deck.

Worst case scenario... ok, worst case scenario is that you have to set the damn thing because your opponent is playing a stun deck with no special summons.  Beyond that, you should be able to cycle Maxx C to draw 1 card, at worst.

At best?  Let's say a deck like Junk Doppel enters it's "mega draw" step with TG Hyper Librarian.  Normal summon Junk Synchron.  When Junk's ability triggers, you chain Maxx C.  Junk special summons Ryko and you draw a card.  Your opponent special summons Doppelwarrior from his hand and you draw a card.  Junk and Doppel synch for Librarian and you draw a card.  Doppel makes two tokens, you draw a card.

Here, you're up three cards. 

Opponent uses One for One to special summon Glow Up Bulb, you draw a card.  Synchro a token and Bulb for Formula Synchron, they draw two cards, you draw a card.  Special Bulb from graveyard you draw a card.  They make another Formula and draw two and you draw a card... you get the pattern.

Or after your opponent uses Junk Synchron and the Ryko that they special summoned from the graveyard to synchro for Frozen Fitzgerald, they decide to stop special summoning that turn.  They lose their momentum and you still draw two cards.

The best way to play Maxx C is to have a back up plan for it if you don't use it to draw a lot of cards.

Fili Luna played a Maxx C in his X-Saber deck and one in his side at YCS Anaheim.  Even if Maxx C wound up being a dead card in his hand, it is an Earth monster, so Luna could normal summon it and use it with his Fulhelmknight or Airbellum to make Naturia Beast.

If you play a deck like Junk Doppel, I think it's worth playing one main and one side.  Since it's a level two monster, it provides you with yet another Junk Synchron target.  If you use it to draw cards beforehand, all the better.

Playing Duel Transer

Hey, look another Yugioh blog that will probably die a quiet death after I get tired of writing to it.

So, I picked up a copy of Duel Transer yesterday.  Our local Gamestop had a copy, and I needed another copy of Closed Forest, so I picked it up.  To my pleasant surprise, the game is pretty good.  Cards aren't impossible to get, as is usually the case with the World Championship series.  The character and monster animations are nice, and when you get tired of them, you can shut them off.

And Goyo Guardian is powering me through the early part of the game.  Oh, how I missed you, you kabuki-painted powerhouse.

A little backstory: I played Magic for ten years before I fell out.  I started working full time and I found it harder to justify throwing cash into the money pit that wound up being the Standard tourney environment.  I had recently bought a DS, though, and found myself buying Yugioh WC 2008.

I wound up enjoying the game so much that I found one of our local stores that held local tournaments and started playing.

When I saw the spoilers for Duelist Genesis, I immediately noticed Goyo Guardian.  Yeah, Stardust Dragon was the flag carrier for the set, but Goyo was ridiculously overpowered for his level.  His effect of stealing a monster that he destroyed in battle was also pretty wild.

Three years down the road, and Konami finally realized that Goyo was too powerful.  He takes his place alongside Dark Strike Fighter on the list of synchro monsters too damn good to exist.

Next addition to that list: Tech Genus Hyper Librarian?  Time will tell.

So as I own the crappy decks in the early game of Duel Transer thanks to Goyo, I offer a toast.  Here's to you, too-strong, permanent Brain Control dude.  May your makeup never fade!