Tuesday 31 January 2012

A Meta-Game Check

I know this blog isn't going to take off straight away and so, for this article at least, I will involve a locals aspect. We all know that the Meta-Game/Format is going toward the 'Big 3', much like previous formats. These 'Big 3' decks being;
-> Dino-Rabbit
-> Wind-Up 
-> Inzektor
Each deck has its own potential and combos that can be crippling and generate a lot of advantage for the player piloting the deck. I'm sure anyone reading this article will have had some sort of experience playing against/with one of the mentioned decks, and as we all know the outcome of a particular combo is never pretty.  In this article I will break down these decks and give you an insight into the combos and how to combat them, giving you a higher success rate VS these decks.
Firstly, Dino-Rabbit. The deck people seriously dislike because of bad experiences on dueling network against players who do not own the cards but just want to fit in with the crowd. The deck consists of Tour Guide form the under world, Rescue Rabbit, Kabaluz and Sabersauras in order to fuel the combo for the Evolsaur monsters in the extra deck. Unlike the other two decks that will be mentioned, Dino-Rabbit decks do NOT have a set combo but the deck is open too a huge amount of powerful plays. The deck uses rabbit to fetch 2 normal dinosaurs in order to make an Evolsaur Laggia or Dolkka. The following turn this play can be re-done with another rabbit or a Tour Guide in order to make a Leviair the Sea Dragon to bring back Rabbit. As mentioned, Laggia and Dolkka are the reason this deck is what it is, Laggia is a solemn Jugdment with 2400 attack and so is a powerful card on its own. Evolsaur Dolkka on the other hand, is a divine wrath. This is where shit goes down. Dolkka backed with a forbidden lance or any form of protection means trouble for basically every other deck this format. Personally, I love Dolkka, he's a bad ass troll. The deck has endless plays which is why it is such a strong contender in this format. Although the deck does not always run so smoothly, the possibility of drawing the normal monsters is very much a real one. Playing out of these situations is when the skill of the pilot of the deck is shown.
There are ways to combat rabbit, however this will not always guarantee you the win. The first way is Maxx 'C'. Much like any other deck this format Maxx 'C' puts pressure on that player to either continue with the play or to stop in their tracks to prevent you from drawing. However a rabbit player is most likely going to continue to make an XYZ monster to prevent their normal monsters being destroyed. This is because the input for them to perform that play again is low and the number of cards you are holding is of little importance. Cards like bottomless trap hole are also very effective in getting rid of normal monsters being summoned via rabbit, however Leviair is a problem as he can re-cur them (but for how much longer... is that a spoiler for my next article, who knows?) Finally Fiendish chain as started to see more play and this is mainly why. Take this example, the rabbit player has a face up Evolsaur Laggia in play. You wish to summon your Tour Guide in order to find an answer past it. You also have a set fiendish chain. You summon Tour Guide and the opponent responds with Laggia's effect negate the summon, you can activate fiendish chain negating this effect. This will result in your summon being successful and the Rabbit player having to remove the materials from Laggia as its cost of activation. In other words, get some fiendish chains!
Lastly, Spirit Reaper, I have had bad experiences with this guy, unless you have a smashing ground or forbidden lance to get rid of it then it will just sit there and allow our opponent to dig for an answer.
To wrap up on rabbit, if you are attending an event at any level expect to see this deck in large numbers, anyone who is serious about doing well will want to gather this deck together in order to do so.

Next, Wind-up. Personally, I have not had the opportunity to play against or with this deck but I believe from what I have read and seen of it I can accurately review it. Recently the Wind-up hand loop as being talked about a lot and if you do not know what this is, I will show you, I'm nice like that;
Requirements 
. 1 Wind-up Magician and 1 Wind up Shark in your hand
. 3 Wind-up Rat, 1 Wind up Hunter and 1 Wind up Magician in your hand OR deck
. 3 Wind-up Carrier Zenmaighty, 1 M-X Saber Invoker and 1 Number 39: Utopia in your Extra Deck

The Loop (or at least one method of doing so)
1) Normal Summon Wind-up Magician
2) Special summon Wind-up Shark
3) Through the effect of Wind-up Magician, special summon another Wind-up Magician from your deck
4) Use Wind-up Sharks' effect decreasing it to level 3
5) Using the other Wind-up Magician's effect special summon a Wind-up Hunter from your deck
6) Use Wind-up Hunter's effect tributing a Wind-up Magician to make your opponent discard, dropping them to 4 cards in hand
7) Overlay Wind-up Hunter and Wind-up Shark into a Wind-up Zenmaighty
8) Use Zenmaighty's effect to special summon a Wind-up Rat from your deck
9) Using Wind-up Rat's effect special summon the Hunter from your grave
10) Using Hunter's effect tribute Zenmaighty to make your opponent discard, dropping him/her to 3 cards in hand
11) Overlay the Wind-Up Rat and Hunter into the second Zenmaighty
12) Use Wind-up Zenmaighty's effect in order to special summon another Rat from the deck
13) Wind-up Rat's effect to special summon Hunter from the grave
14) Wind-up Hunter's effect to tribute the Zenmaighty to make your opponent discard, dropping them to 2 cards in hand
15) Overlay the Wind up Rat and Hunter into your third Zenmaighty
16) Special summon Wind up Rat from your deck via the effect of Zenmaighty
17) Wind-up Rat' effect to special summon Hunter from your grave
18) Wind-up Hunter's effect to tribute Zenmaighty, dropping your opponent to 1 card in hand
19) Over the 2 into M-X saber Invoker
20) M-X saber Invoker's effect to special summon Wind up Soldier from the deck
21) Overlay the Soldier and Magican you have into Number 39: Utopia

The end result:
Your field consists of-> 1 M-X saber Invoker, number 39: Utopia
Your hand has 4 cards and your opponent has 1 card in hand
You Like?

So yeah, that's pretty sick if it works, however that is not always the case. Again, Maxx 'C' is a huge problem for this deck, Mathematically if you go through the entire loop whilst under Maxx 'C' you will allow the user to draw a total of 14 cards whilst only losing 4 so play your Maxx 'C' smart against the deck and force them to give you the advantage. I tend to side deck 2 cyber dragon and a have a Chimeratech Fortress Dragon in my extra deck in order to give myself a better topdeck against the hand loop. 
Compulsory evacuation device is a card that I seen grow in popularity and there is good reason for it, with this deck it gets rid of the threat of the loop for at least a turn, and against dino rabbit it can remove one of their normal monsters brought out via rabbit meaning that the player loses the ability to make the threat XYZ monster that turn.
Effect Veiler is just as effective against the deck if you veiler the right part of the combo. I would effect veiler the effect of the first zenmaighty in order to force them to waste one of their key components. 

Finally, Inzektors. This deck was all the hype before Order of Chaos' release. The cards are very good but I feel it is best splashed with another archetype, I have seen this mostly with Wind-up's. This deck also has a loop that once pulled off has the potential to clear your field. 

Requirements
1 Inzektor Dragonfly in Hand
1 Inzektor Hornet in Hnad or Grave
1 Inzektor Centipede in Deck 

Steps
1) Normal summon Inzektor Dragonfly and activate its effect 
2) Equip Hornet from your hand or grave to Inzektor Dragonfly
3) Use Inzektor Hornet's effect to destroy a card on the field 
4) Inzektor Dragonfly's effect activates allowing you to special summon Inzektor Centipede from your deck
5) Inzektor Centipede activates allowing you to equip Hornet from the grave 
6) Use Hornet' effect to destroy a card on the field
7) Use Inzektor Centipede's effect to search your deck for an Inzektor Dragonfly, add it to your hand
8) Overlay Centipede with Dragonfly into a Wind-up Zenmaines or Number 17: Leviathan Dragon.

The end result: 2 cards destroyed and you have a rank 3 XYZ monster and a Dragonfly in hand meaning you can do it again next turn.
Dangerously enough they are all dark meaning cards like Dark armed dragon, allure of darkness and mystic tomato are highly splash-able. 
The deck also has its tricks. When the monster is equipped and sent to the grave it is treated as a spell so cards like dimesional fissure will not work, but banisher and Macro Cosmos will. Keep that in mind.

Ways of countering the deck however are many;
Shadow imprisoning mirror is highly effective against this deck since they are all dark monsters. This card effectively shuts the deck down and they monsters are all pretty small and so from there it is easy to beat the deck.

D.D.Crow, allows you to remove the target if they pick a monster in the grave and so removes it from the game meaning it is no longer a threat to you, but they do run more than one copy of the card. 

Effect Veiler is a seriuosly useful card against Inzektor, this is the only deck in which it is superior to Maxx 'C'. Veiler prevents the effects from going off so you have an extra turn to set up your own combo and get answers. 

I wrote this article to aid people into ways to combat decks they may see at the up-coming Battle of the Kingdoms and YCS Germany that are happening relatively soon. Good luck at all attending.
I hope you all enjoy this article, I know it was long but I hope it gives you an insight into the format we are in/will be in. 
Until my next article take it easy guys, peace.

AJ


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