My Take on the March 1st List

So, my lovely reading people of who read this writing that I write, y'all good?
I going to take this opportunity opportunity to thank you all for your support and comments on my articles, it's all been great and I will gladly continue writing until I receive no more support and even at that, I'll probably still write because I like what I do.
Now onto the bad stuff, the dreaded March 1st Yu-Gi-Oh! Limited and Forbidden list. Just to refresh your memories on this, if you have stopped having nightmares about it, here it is;
Banned;
. Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

. Trap Dustshoot

. Spore

. Glow up Bulb

Limited; 
. The Agent of Mystery- Earth

. T.G. Striker

Semi-Limited;
. Marshmallon

. Level Limit Area B

. Emergency Teleport

. Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner

. Shien's Smoke Signal

. Torrenital Tribute

. Reborn Tengu

. Ultimate Offering

No Longer Limited; 
. Call of the Haunted

People who say they will quit because of this list, they wont and they know they wont because you can't. You just can't. After you have a little bitch fit you'll settle down and continue to play. So the quicker you do that, the better.

But before this rant continues, people must understand this, Konami has no part to play in the secondary market or the prices of our cards, so yes the ban list does mean this game is expensive but they are a business and this game leads to huge profits. I want this article to be as fair as possible but I will express my views as I normally would regardless.
I will start by taking each card in turn and explain why in some form of logic why the cards got moved around the this in the manner that they did.

Trishula--> This card <3. This card is game changing, as you can tell if you have played this game for any decent amount of time. People who say this card is a 3 for 1 are very wrong. If you think about it, what ways did you make Trish? One for one discarding dandylion then Debris dragon. So many tokens plus the tuner in your grave after you make a formula synchron and draw a card. So you net so much advantage from  making the Trish AND this is BEFORE Trish actually resolves, which can banish your opponents Plague, Necro Guardna, Dandylion, 4th Lightsworn monster, Hornet, Wind-up Hunter etc, etc. So in fairness, this card was not balanced in the previous format, but coming into this format when the usefulness of danylion and one for one have pretty much gone, I see little point in Banning Trish seeing. For a marketing point of view for Konami, Banning the the best synchro in the game forces people to start using XYZ monsters. This is NOT going to make MIST WURM rise in price because you have to start becoming more XYZ focused.

Trap Dustshoot---> I like this card, every Yu-Gi-Oh player likes this card... when they get to use it, not have it used against them. This card was stupidly one sided and gave the user so much advantage, it was basically one card and if you could resolve it you basically got to cheat. The odd time you didn't hit anything with dustshoot was so slim that it was worth taking the risk in order to run the card. Going first and opening with this turn 1 was possibly the strongest opening play in the game. The only thing that made this card better  was the possibility of your opponent blind Mystical Space Typhoon-ing it then you chaining it meaning its a 2 for 1. Silly card, hard to believe that this card was once at 3.

Spore ---> I found this part of the plant engine to be the less broken of the two tuner's as a general card, just because it has more attack and defence than Glow up Bulb doesn't make it better. Spore was reliant on there being another plant in your grave, obviously that being lonefire blossom the majority of the time and so it could be a level 1, 2 or 4 tuner in most cases. This obviously made it good but banning it, really? I don't see the need, I don't remember the last time some one used a spore effectively against me. In any case Spore was easily stopped by cards like Book of Moon and enemy controller. In most cases if you were using Spore then you were playing plants, by banishing a plant you are leaving yourself vulnerable to a Leviair play against you. So all in all, a poor choice.

Glow-up Bulb ---> About Fucking time. I have called for this card to be banned for so long. This was possibly the best tuner in the game. Unlike Spore, it had no requirement in order to be used apart for having a card in your deck, I mean at what time do you not have a card in your deck? And it's a level 1 tuner meaning it was another option for your One for One plays. Ok, so you can mill your power cards lie Heavy Storm, Dark Hole, Monster Reborn, But we all played Lightsworn in which you milled like 8 cards in a turn. So milling 1 is no big deal. Anyways, plain and simple this card was very good and so its a very long over due good-bye little plant.

Limited to 1
The Agent of Mystery- Earth--> This card was causing havoc all over the Japanese Meta BEFORE the realise of Inzektors, Wind-up's and Rabbit and even after that it was still a deck. Agents have the ability to summon Big Monsters in due course of playing their game. So after expending your resources getting rid of a turn 1 or 2 Gachi, you then have to handle a Zenmaines or a Hyperion and after that a Kristiya or a Black Luster Soldier. So the onslaught is endless with the deck and all that can happen with so little resource expenditure for the Agent Player. Earth was also a tuner, making it even more ridiculous. All those Stratos-y type effects should be limited to one for example, ROTA and Stratos, they are too good and so need hit, and finally Earth is in it's place.

T.G. Striker--->  This Guy was like a mini cyber dragon who is also a tuner. You know the play, Stiker, Warwolf, Rhino--> Trish---> GG. Striker was also a key part of the T. G. Agent decks in Japan and so now its gone, not much more to say on that.

Semi-Limited to 2

Marshmallon-->  Here you go stallers and time waster's who like to win games in the slyest was possible. You now have 2 Marshmallon and 3 Reapers. What more do you want? In my opinion, however you may not agree, this is a reason that Book of Moon isn't at 2 in this list. I like book of moon, not Marshmallon. Probably Konami Logic to combat the amount of abuse they will get about not hitting Dino-Rabbit.dek.

Level Limit Area B---> Same as above, time waster's and stallers. Triple Typhoon format. Never sees play. No point. That's about it.

Emergency Teleport---> I like this card, as Robbie Kohl would say " TeleGaget Format". A format with teleport at 2 will not see the return of Tele-DAD so don't worry. Its a fun card be I seriously doubt it'll have much of an impact on the Game but I'm thinking of using it again so keep your peeled for a fun deck corner on my youtube.

Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner--> Lumina, Lumina, Lumina. How I have missed you so. I loved the Lightsworn deck. This is not going to bring the deck back to the good old days. In fact it won't do much Lightsworns only benefited from multiple copies of Lumina when it was a pure Lightsworn build, but no-one runs that's any more. It's all Twilight (no gay vampire reference), or Chaos-Sworn. So multiple Lumina isn't going to raise Lightsworn back from the dead. Looking at it realistically, this move have no marketing Value for Konami and has no impact in the meta, this won't help defeat the top 3 decks.

Ultimate Offering---> Down from 3. No impact at 3. No impact at 2. Simples
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtTaH8z9aeaB4rESIcKUVVn1bdh-7ksntjqcXPpvdlz3J29yXl6IyxS4V13ugb32871JS8NwvXuxdXudBxJJ8QQzohYIVjlUCoeZHx5broENfMEeyH9FDNJ4b_w5JZaYBYH-u0mkcgnNVv/s1600/simples.jpg

Shien's Smoke Signal---> Me personally, I love this. I love Samurai's. Great deck and this gives it a much needed boost and at a lovely time when it starts to gain favour again. Cannot wait for this. It will have a bigger impact than the rest of the stuff going to 2, asides from maybe torrential tribute. Be prepared to see more of this. Make a Shi en, set 3/4 to the backrow, pass. =)

Torrential Tribute--->  This Card started to lose favour with players playing Dino rabbit and Wind-up's especially because they didn't want to lose field presence once they set up. It's certainly an interesting choice, normally I would check my opponents graveyard for outs these being;
Mirror Force
Torrential
Dark Hole
Storm
Reborn
With TT at 2 player's will have to be more careful when playing out their cards and their big plays. Will Starlight Road see more play? Only time will tell. Having 2 TT will be able to punish bad players. Once the format settles and players start getting used to it, it will be easy to play around.

Reborn Tengu---> This is possibly the strangest card on the list in my opinion. It's one of the only cards in the TCG meta that has that being limited without being in the OCG meta, that last example that springs to mind is Allure of Darkness, and we all know that was during the Dark Armed Return Format (silly format). Silly Reborn Tengu needed limit, at 1 it would be completely useless. At 2 it's usable but no-where near as powerful as it was. No more herp derp plays with plant combos.

Unlimited to 3

Call of the Haunted---> Didn't see any play at play, maybe in Inzektors only but triple call is pretty poor, no deck has room to play 3 call of the haunted's anyways. There are better cards in my opinion.  

To summarise
In the Player's view, the list is grim and we all agree with that but you also have to see it for a business perspective. Also the fact that the list is based on the OCG meta.
We all know in the next ban list, all the stuff we wanted to get hit will get hit then, will it be relevant at that point? Who knows?
Knomai Care so little about the players, once you realise that the sooner you will understand the banlist, they do want to make money for selling stock to hobby shops. But you have to realise that this is a business, and businesses are there to make money. Simple Logic.
Konami made this list because of the OCG meta, well that' how they should make it, but at some point they will have realize that here in the TCG we have a completely different game than that of the OCG. Here is a clear example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5FoKImUjks&feature=g-vrec&context=G2f7b8bfRVAAAAAAAAAQ    OCG
I mean c'mon, what White man in the TCG have you seen shuffle like that. TEHE!


But if you seriously think that this is the real banlist you are very wrong---> this is the actual list EXCLUSIVE to the TCG metagame
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0


Hope you Enjoyed this article guys Give me feedback and what you what me write about/ Do videos on. Until next time

AJ



My Youtube---> http://www.youtube.com/user/Ajlikesbananas?feature=guide


My Facebook---> http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1166076377

Sorry Guys, enjoy the Format

http://www.yugioh-card.com/uk/limited/

Said list that everyone, was hoping was fake, is not. It is the actual list that will be in effect come March 1st. Good Luck to y'all if we all don't quit....

Battle of the Kingdom's Tournament report

Please Note---> I did NOT intend to place with this deck, I played Samurai Last year in the same event and came in the Top 8. 

Hello readers, I'm back with another tournament report, this time a little closer to heart than the Irish Open. This one will cover my experience at my Battle of the Kingdoms Qualifier in Portadown. 

I stay at Jordan Gill's house <3 <3 (jaylikescookies) and I get there at around half 8 on the Friday night. We do the same thing as last time, stress about not having a deck to play so we look on the Internet for some inspiration. I really want to play wind-up but I haven't anywhere near the stuff I needed to build the deck so that goes out the window. I look at the previous YCS and we joke about Samurai. I decided to build the deck for a bit of a laugh, unsleeved like a boss, holo's and all. Jay plays my rabbit deck and we play a few games. The Samurai's give the deck a hard time and now i'm starting to seriously consider the deck. I sleeve  it up and look at a side deck for it. The build begins to get tweaked and testing begins. I like playing against Jordan, he's a good testing partner and it's good to play against someone with a high degree of tournament level play. 

I really enjoy the deck and decide to go for it, seeing as it's 3a.m on the Saturday morning and we have to get up at half 8 =(. We go to bed and I continue to look on-line for some strange builds off the deck, I even consider putting Tour Guide's in to go with the M-X-Saber Invoker. I write the build down and decide to build it on the train down in the morning. This, as you will come to read, did not work out. 

We wake up fairly late and rush to get ready to get the train down, we go to central station on the off the train passed through there, and it did. This took a huge amount of pressure off us and we just sit down and wait to head to board the train. Once on board, bags down, jackets off and cards out, editing our builds and looking over them to make finally edits. I build the Tour Guide version of samurais and draw a few hands with it. The synergy between the Tour Guides and the Samurais just wasn’t there and so I decided against and finalise my build. We play a few games and we see that the decks have a good game against each other, feeling confident we headed onward.

We got to our stop and walked round to the store holding the event and noticed there was a pretty good turnout. I started chatting to a number of people and picked up the last 2 cards I needed. Jay and myself had decided to side deck Obelisk for a bit of a joke and we said to a group of close friends. Next thing I realise when I step outside is that everyone was talking about it, news travels fast it seems and everyone was asking me to show them my side deck. I found this pretty sick. The event was meant to start at 12 with registration being at 11, it got to half 11 and we were still stood outside the shop. Everyone found this frustrating, particularly those who had work that night (me -.-). Eventually we got the go-ahead to move round to the venue and decklist sheets were handed out to those who didn’t have one. We started filling out the deck list sheets, I havd to do mine away from everyone else because only one person barr me knew what I was playing, that being Jay. We all handed up our sheets for registration and the event finally got underway at half 12/1. This was possibly the worst part of the day, finding out the rounds were going to be called out and not printed out and posted up. This really ate into the time and it almost took the time of a whole round to do and it happened every round.

Anyways, Round 1 and I was paired against Chris Deering playing Darkworlds, this was the only match-up I didn’t want to play against, of all the decks it had to be this one.

Game 1 I get the heavy storm off getting a 3 for 1 destroying 2 set upstart goblins and a reckless greed. He set these because he needed to get ensure that his dragged down to the grave went off successfully, which it did he ended up discard snoww in order to search out a Grapha. The play was back to be and I ended up making Shi en with 3 backrow and a spirit of the six samurai equipped to mu Shi en, he is under reckless greed so he can’t draw into an answer.   

Game 2 I make a Shi en quickly and play dimensional fissure. His hand is Gates of Darkworld, Grapha, Silva and a Gates on the field. He can’t discard due to dim fissure and so he has to scoop due to his lack of outs.

So I’m X-0

Round 2 I play against another guy I know, James Quinn playing Chaos. Game one I open the nuts, I have 8000 life points to his 0 by turn 3. I opened Gateway, united and Dojo, pretty sick.

Game 2 is very close, we end up playing back and forward each of us making good plays and good reads. I end up on 250 life points. The last turns go like this. He summons sorcerer that he gets back with alchemist. I effect veiler it. He tributes it for a set monster, I joke about saying it was millennium shield because I only had 500 life points left and I only had shi en. He summons another chaos sorcerer and I had to solemn judgment it. Dropping me to 250 life points. Next turn I go off which ends up winning me the game.

I’m X-0

Round 3, probably my favourite match of the whole day against Mo Teko, my foreign brother from another mother. He was playing dino rabbit. I was confident about this match-up because it was all I had tested against. Game one, I start and am able to make a Shi en backed up with a fiendish chain and a solemn warning. He summons Grand Mole and attacks, I fiendish chain it and he use Forbidden Lance and for some reason I don’t negate it. This is because I am seriously out of practice with the game. This costs me the game because I can’t build up enough momentum to gain advantage again.

I win game 2 by swarming the field and pushing for so much damage.

Game 3 was really close, I was holding the nuts but I needed another samurai monster. I was about to make my comeback but he was able to make a laggia and stop my summon and so it cost me the game, Good game all in all.

Im X-1 in round 3 so I know I have to win out from here in order to be in a chance with topping, I was thinking about dropping if I lost the next round but I stuck by it and round 4 was paired.

I played yet another guy who came up from Dublin to play. He was playing Lightsworn which I seriously did not expect to play.

I win game one by hime milling all his outs and have a spirit of the six equipped to Shi en and having it put in some serious work.

Game 2 He has the nutssssss, so I decide to go to game 3.

Game 3 plays out in his favout for the most part. We go to time and his field is face up royal decree, Chaos sorcerer, card trooper, Celestia and Black Luster Soldier. I take all the attacks but I book his BLS dropping me 1500, I draw the Six sam monster I needed. I drop Gateway and dojo, reborn my Kageki and special summon GrandmasterI search for Kizan and special it and do that again, I make M-X-Saber invoker to special another Kizan, then pop my dojo to search for Kagemusha. I make Trish and Banish his facedown BLS, JD in hand and Necro guardna in graveyard, lastly I play dim fissure so his trooper can’t net him a draw. I use the last 2 counters on Gateway to pump my Grandmaster to 2600 so it can beat celestia and then I make my push, getting rid of his field. He draws glow up bulb sets it and then scoops.

I’m still X-1 after Round 4, things are looking up.

Round 5 and I’m paired against Steve Man the Disco Ape. Yet another guy I know and am very good friends with. He is playing plants and I was feeling confident against this match up as I was able to get a few test games in against this deck before hand. I win game one fairly fast. Game two my hand and next play I planned out was ALL about the special summons, I mean ALL about the special summons. He discards Maxx ‘C’ and I decide to just go to game 3, I wasn’t winning that game. Game 3 was pretty interesting. We both opened our turns with a monster and 3 backrow. He makes a poor play by summoning Doomcaliber Knight after I had attacked his tengu he brought out a second in defence the turn before. One of my backrow was heavy storm accompanied with a solemn and a starlight road. I storm he has no response, his backrow are pulling the rug ( I only play 1 Kageki which I sided out hehe) torrential tribute and another card. At this point I have a Shi en in play, if he had a compulsory at that point I would have lost the game because my hand was pretty poor. He didn’t and I move to attacj his tengu in order to make Doomcalibar force it’s effect, in turn clearing his field. He has no cards in hand and I pass. He sacks a Black Luster Soldier -.- and summons it killing my Shi en then hitting me Directly. I have dark hole to get rid of it. I summon a monster after playing a dojo and from there continue to beat him down, he can’t draw an answer and so I win.

So I’m X-1 going into the last round and I get placed at the top tables so I would have placed in the top 8 at that point. I have to win this game in order to make top because my tie-breakers are pretty poor.

Round 6 comes about and I’m paired against David Boyd, again another friend of mine and he is playing Wind-up. It’s the first time playing against the deck properly and so I kind of know what to expect but not overly. I Kill him quickly in game one because I have 2 copies of Maxx ‘C’ to shut him down. He tries to go off on the second on to kill be but I have Mirror force to kill his Utopia, Leviair, Zenmaighty, take a material off Zenmaines and do nothing against Tiras. Drawing for my turn I have 17 cards in hand, needless to say I win. Game 2 I win in time by 50 Life points, rivalry of the warlords puts in some serious work here =)

So at the end of swiss I’m X-1 so I make top 8 and for doing so I get a Big Adreus the Keeper of Armageddon. Yay!!

Top 8 comes around and I play against Inzektors. Plain and simple I get wrecked, I was going to drop because I need to head home in order to be in time for work but Matthew Beattie offered me a lift home so I play the game out but I don’t focus at all so I end up losing.

The finals are Dino-Rabbit V.s Wind-up With Wind-up winning.

All in all it was a good day I really enjoyed the most of it except for calling out the rounds. Other than that it was pretty sick topping with samurai’s again. Next year I will play something different trust me.

Until next time folks

AJ

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Possible March 1st Banlist

http://shriek.twoday.net/


I noticed this seems to be the most popular Ban-list that is going around, however it does not tackle any of the major decks meaning the format is going to be exactly the same but plants are literally gone, spore and Bulb getting hit, I can't see it

Anyway tell me what you guys thing about

Banned

• Trishula
• Glow-Up Bulb
• Spore
• Trap Dustshoot

Limited to 1

• TG Striker
• The Agent Of Mystery Earth

Semi Limited 2

• Marshmaron
• Level limit area B
• Lumina
• Emergency Teleport
• Smoke Signal
• Torrential Tribute
• Reborn Tengu
• Ultimate Offering

Unlimited to 3

• Call of Haunted

Konami Official Decklist Sheet

http://www.brgrim.com/images/frontpage/KDE_Deck_List_2009August27.pdf

Here is the link to the Official Konami Decklist Sheet. I am posting this here so that it is easily accessible to everyone.

Enjoy

AJ

The Art of Siding-Decking

Please note, this article is very important.

In my experiences in this game, siding-decking has proved the most difficult concept of the game, even I am still fully getting to grips with it. It is not easy to do properly or effectively. What's worse is that the way I have seen people side-decking in this game is, in my eyes horrible.
I have seen some stupid things done and some stupid reasons have people have decked certain cards. In this article (that will not be very very very very very long) I will attempt to explain the concept of side-decking and how it should be effectively done.
To start, more than 50% of your games you play at a tournament level you will not be playing with your main deck, keep this in mind because when it comes to play-testing you will get mixed results at best with you do not test correctly. This statistic comes from this example: Say you play 6 rounds of swiss and in each of those rounds you play all 3 of the games. You will only be playing 1 of 3 games with your main deck and the other 2 with your side deck. This means that your side deck is of vital importance to your success inn any tournament.


The first step to creating your perfect side-deck to aid you in your tournament level Yu-Gi-Oh! career is a serious meta evaluation (read my previous article on this). Once you know the meta your side deck should begin to slot into place.

If you are travelling to large events the single worst thing you can do is only bring a 15 card side deck. Most seasoned players will bring 20-25 cards with in them  (or in some cases a commons binder) and have a wander around the event checking what people are playing before finally concluding on their side-decks. This seems like a fairly poor sportsman thing to do, but if you have spent £X in getting to an event you want to do anything that is not actual cheating in order to well. You should already have the major decks prepared for but you should scout for the rogue decks you didn't expect to play. , for example Frog Monarch or Burn.

Your next step in choosing which card to use to get the job done. The most obvious example I can think of would be D. D. Crow Vs. Crevice from the Different Dimension. Both perform a similar task but which one gets it done more effectively and which is more flexible. Crow can used from your hand and so it is very difficult to stop it from resolving in that case. Crow can be used as soon as you draw it and can add to your dark count for cards such as Dark Armed Dragon, and you can set it as a form of defence if worst comes to worst. Crevice from the different Dimension removes 2 cards from either player's graveyard, whilst Crow only removes 1. However, Crevice has to wait until there are 2 targets in the grave before you can activate it, it can be stopped by cards such as royal decree or trap stun, and with a format including 3 mystical space typhoons it is a danger to set it. In this case you can see that the more obvious choice for your side-deck would be D. D. Crow. Critical evaluation of cards is a very important concept when designing a side-deck.

Next, be sure not to over-do it when you are side-decking. This is when you side in too many tech cards against a particular match-up and you take away from the consistency of your perfectly balanced main deck.  Realistically, you shouldn't need to side deck any more than 4 or 5 cards in a game. You may think this seems like a small amount but don't be afraid to leave in a card or two against a match-up you think it may be poor against e.g. monster reborn against a removal deck as you will be siding in the 3rd mst or other S/T destruction and so it balances out.

The thing I find most important and most obvious about a side deck is that when you are siding you should have a routine when you are siding e.g. a set number of the same cards to take out and to bring against 'X' match-up. This is the formula followed by many of the professional players and I think it is a solid basis to work from when actually side-decking. Take this example;
You are playing against Frog Monarch whilst you are playing Dino-Rabbit. You have 3 Dimensional Fissure in your side-deck along with the 3rd fiendish chain. You have 3 Maxx 'C' in y our main deck along with Trap Dustshoot. These cards are a clear swap and you would do this in every standard match-up facing this deck.

The last thing I wish to say on side-decking is this. You MUST take account if you are going first or second going into game two. If you are going second, the favourite cards to take out are Trap Dustshoot and Pot of Duality. This is because drawing these cards in your opening hand going second puts you at a disadvantage in comparsion to you opening them going first, this can be the same for caius the shadow monarch in some cases as well.

The only way you can truly master the art of side-decking is to practice, you can spend months preparing the perfect main deck, but if you do not give the same dedication to your side deck then the best thing I can say to you is Good Luck!
I hope that this article helps you in some way, shape or form. Stay tuned for more articles.
Prior to Order of Chaos the format was fairly diverse and it was pretty difficult to create a side-deck as there were so many decks floating around. Every card had to bring the user benefits against multiple match-ups, not just 1. Nowadays this is not the case, or at least not to the extent it once was.
The side-deck is a seriously undervalued thing, however players who take full advantage of this will do exceptionally better than those who do not, so next time you design a side-deck keep this article in  mind.

Until next time

AJ

My Youtube----> http://www.youtube.com/user/Ajlikesbananas?feature=guide

My Facebook----> http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1166076377

Dark Worlds: Fading into Shadows, or Not?

As much as I do not want to admit it, a lot of people are underestimating Dark World right now, and I'm not sure that's justified. Since the event coverage from YCS Brighton only published the deck lists of the Top 16 finishers, at least one Dark World deck made Top 32 at that event, only to slip beneath the radar of the general public. That wouldn't be a big story on its own, but the Duelist that built and played the deck makes the situation pretty interesting: Claudio Kirchmair.


Some of you just noticed your ears perking up. Others may not be familiar with the name, so let me bring you up to speed: Claudio Kirchmair is one of Europe's most recognized and successful Duelists. If you ask any informed competitor to list the Top 3 players in Europe, Claudio will always make that list. If I were to summarize all of his accomplishments we'd be here far longer than I'd be comfortable with, but we can certainly run down a few of the highlights. In 2008, Kirchmair took second place at the European Championship, which at the time was inarguably the most gruelling and competitive tournament in existence. He'd go on to make Top 4 at the World Championships. That same year, he became one of the first-ever European Duelists to top an SJC when he made Top 8 at Shonen Jump Championship Seattle. He was the 2009 National Champion of Austria, and stormed the US once again in 2010 to take a Top 16 finish at SJC Los Angeles. He topped YCS Paris and YCS Brighton last year, achieving the latter accomplishment with an innovative, heavily controlling version of Dark World, and here is said build:

Monsters

3 Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World

3 Snoww, Unlight of Dark World

3 Broww, Huntsman of Dark World

3 Tour Guide of the Underworld

1 Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World

Spells

3 Dark World Dealing

3 Dragged Down to the Grave

3 The Gates of Dark World

3 Upstart Goblin

1 Allure of Darkness

1 Heavy Storm

1 Monster Reborn

1 Dark Hole

1 Card Destruction

1 Foolish Burial

Traps

3 Reckless Greed

2 Deck Mind Crush

1 Deck Devastation Virus

1 Trap Dustshoot

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Solemn Judgment

Extra Deck

2 Wind-Up Zenmaines

2 Leviair the Sea Dragon

1 Steelswarm Roach

1 Number 39: Utopia

1 Number 20: Giga-Brilliant

1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon

1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

1 Stardust Dragon

1 Scrap Dragon

1 Black Rose Dragon

1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

1 Ally of Justice Catastor

1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

Side Deck

Now that would be telling, you will see this as a re-curing trend in my articles. I seriously dislike giving out people’s side decks as it is the most important part of the build and the player has spent a lot of time on it. Comment if you want but I will only give away a side deck via private message.

Now I could take this deck card by card and explain why I believe he chose to play it and then at the end give you lovely readers my opinion on why the deck worked so well. And to be honest I think I will. I love detail and giving as much insight as possible, it’s something you cant really do in youtube videos which is why I wanted to blog in the first place, so let’s take the deck apart and see why it is what it is.

We’ll take the monsters first.

Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World: The boss monster of the deck and his 2700 attack is enough to prove so. He enables free destruction and so you can free up spaces in your maion deck as you do not need to run copies of Mystical Space Typhoon in game 1. He makes your weaker Dark World monsters a constant threat because each one is a potential Grapha until he is banished from your graveyard. As long as you have a Dark World monster in hand Grapha is live in your grave. This can lead to plays where you can use the monster in your hand for plays such as dark world dealings on The Gates of Dark World. Even if your opponent banishes one copy of Grapha, you still have 2 more, so the pressure isn’t easy to get rid off. Also he has the ability to write articles on the American coverage on the official Yugioh site, which is pretty impressive.

Snoww , Unlight of Dark World: Snoww is probably the most versatile search card that any archetype has, I could only compare it to a card such as Reinforcements of the Army (which is at one). Snoww is able to search for every key card in your deck, even the spells… I hate that about it. But it adds a great deal of consistency to the deck and allows to deck thin a huge amount if you search for another copy of Snoww.  There is rarely much need to search for cards other than other copies of Snoww as the draw power allows you to key for key pieces so quickly anyway. With Gates on the field Snoww becomes 2000 and so beats problem cards like Thunder King Rai-oh, which would prevent you from searching with any other copies of Snoww you may be holding. And, in being a 2000 attack point monster it can be tributed for Deck devastation virus… devastating right?

Broww, Huntsman of Dark World: If you are holding a Dark World Dealings or have a Gates of Dark World in play, broww becomes much like a destiny draw. More draw power is never bad in any deck so why not put it in a deck where it combos so well for more than just draw power. Broww can be searched out with Tour Guide, yes card other than Sangan and other copies of Tour Guide can be searched via Tour Guide’s effect- shocking I know but true. After doing this you can use the Broww to bring back the Grapha in your grave then use the Broww at a later time. He’s good and annoying.

Beiige Vanguard of Dark World: Beiige is the weakest Dark World monster in the deck, but you need to run at least one in my opinion. He lets you draw every turn with Gate even if he's discarded, while Snoww and Broww will stay in the grave, and that means you won't be able to bounce them back to your hand with Grapha. Beiige also gives you the option to summon two Grapha from the Graveyard if you first normal summon him, and then discard him for an effect. 5400 to 6000 ATK is a lot of attack power to field in one turn... That's the biggest reason why I would play Beiige over Goldd and Sillva: because he can be normal summoned. I wouldn't like to run more than one Beiige, because I have the feeling that he's not that great if you activate Dragged Down to the Grave. He's the weakest choice in the eye of my opponent, and will always be chosen to be discarded over Grapha, Snoww and Broww. 

Tour Guide of the Underworld: This card is insane, plain and simple. Most players have to design their decks to counter this one card, mostly with the increased used of hand traps. Cards like Effect Veiler and Maxx ‘C’ have become staples in basically every deck and this has pushed the price up (Woops I’ve said too much). Tour Guide again acts like a reinforcement of the army, searching out your Broww allwing you to bounce for Grapha and gain a plus one from it. Tour Guide is a fiend type monster as well; this means it fuels your Gate of Dark World making plays very quick and easy. Tour Guide allows you to make Leviair plays (fuelled by both Gates and allure) which can net you a plus one by returning a banished monster then bouncing the monster for Grapha. If you don’t have a Grapha in your grave you can always make a Zenmaines or Leviathan Dragon, sometimes they are just as useful.

You can tell that the deck only runs 13 monsters, I believe this because as soon as you draw one of the draw/search monsters you can get the combos rolling very easily. If you don’t you can easily control the field with Grapha until you do get a Snoww or Broww.

Upstart Goblin: I actually really like this card, a lot of people do but find it difficult to fit into non- combo decks. The main reason I like this card is because it allows the user to run a 37/38 card deck depending on whether they run 40/41 cards in the first place. This means the user can dig for their power cards quicker than their opponent. If I’m playing a deck and I can get to my power cards faster than my opponent I wouldn’t complain, would you? Okay so your opponent gains 1000 life points per Upstart. If you think about it, how easy is Grapha to summon in this deck? If you have a Gates in play and make a direct attack with Grapha that’s 3000 damage, simples.

Dark World Dealings: Dark Worlds was an extremely hyped deck upon realise but we all know it is difficult to get a working build of it that is consistent, so running this card during the beginning stages of Dark World was a poor choice, but now it is a more viable option. This is because it is a great draw card to add to the deck and it triggers the effect of the Dark World monsters. It is difficult though, when playing the mirror match with this card you must play it very very smart or else hold back from using it. If you choose to hold it is means that you have 3 dead cards in your deck and if you choose to play it and your opponent has a dark world monster you card lose a great deal of advantage. Decisions decisions.

Dragged Down to the Grave: This is a little bit like Dark World Dealings, but more dependent on your hand. The big difference is that Dragged Down allows you to see your opponent's whole hand and choose the most annoying or strongest card, and get rid of it. This is something that I would call “informational advantage over your opponent,” and it's pretty strong for a good Yu-Gi-Oh! player. With full knowledge of your opponent's hand, you can predict all of your opponent's moves and outplay him with the information you gained. That will usually result in a win. The downside of Dragged Down is that you have to set your spell and trap cards in order to leave your opponent with no choice but to discard a Dark World monster. I believe he tried to play only a few monsters and a lot of spell cards to make this card work as efficiently as it could. By running very few monsters, you can control your opponent's choice about what to discard. That's something you have to think about if you build this deck: you should always try to play your cards as efficiently as possible. 

Card Destruction: This card is the MVP of Dark World. If you have enough Dark World monsters in your hand you should win after the resolution of all their effects. Also, it's pretty strong in combination with Deck Devastation Virus, because you see the opponent's entire hand when Card Destruction resolves, and you can cost them a few cards if they draw the wrong monsters.

I am not going to review cards that are considered staples here, if you don’t know what heavy storm does or how good Gates of Dark World is in a Dark World please stop reading and follow this link

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyhpszGmQk1r57mwbo1_500.jpg

Now onto the trappy traps

Reckless Greed: This can is pretty sick in this deck. Most of the time you don’t even need to draw because after you execute 3 reckless greeds in one turn you will have drawn a huge amount of extra draw cards from them anyway. I think this card was used as the deciding factor as to whether or not to ‘go off’ and attempt to gain control of the game, if not win that turn.

Mind Crush: You take their best card again, like Dragged Down, and you have also the chance to hit more than one card since many decks run at least triple Tour Guide. Most times you take their Dimensional Prison to protect your Grapha, or their Heavy Storm to protect your static backrows or at least one of their power cards. You run enough cards that give you the informational advantage you need to make the right call with Mind Crush, but it helps if you know the core deck list and first turn plays of the popular strategies. Mind Crush is a skill based card where you have to guess sometimes, and it's easy to misplay with it. You can also activate it and call a card you know you won't hit, just to discard a Dark World monster from your hand and get his effect, with a big surprise factor for your opponent. You will receive informational advantage and be able to discard. Profit?


Trap Dustshoot: Dustshoot is the best card to open with in a format dominated by Heavy Storm. Your opponent will usually have the minimum of four cards in his hand because he will always be afraid to set too many spell or trap cards. Dustshoot takes their best monster, gives you informational advantage, and you will open with it a lot more often than other decks because you have superior draw power in the early game. The synergy with Mind Crush should be obvious.


Deck Devastation Virus: This card acts like Crush Card did back when it was legal. Everyone runs Tour Guide, Maxx "C", Effect Veiler, Spirit Reaper, and other small monsters: you will destroy many of your opponent's most important monsters with it. You also get 3 turns where you see every card your opponent draws. That's a big deal! Devastation Virus can even be used to play around Bottomless Trap Hole or Dimensional Prison, tribuing away a monster that would be banished otherwise, and you will draw it very fast in this version of Dark World. The only problem is that it can be difficult to set up, but with our fast and easy Grapha access (Snoww is also a possibility) we should be able to activate it whenever we draw it. Three turns of informational advantage, and maybe even card advantage, is a great deal!

I think this build of Dark World has a kind of Destiny Hero level of draw power, which means that it's the fastest deck in the current format. There's no other deck with that many draw cards, and that's why I think that this strategy is kind of ahead of a lot of others. Being frequently able to draw the whole deck if you want, and that's something that's rarely seen in Yu-Gi-Oh. Dark World also has the ability to search their boss monsters! What other deck can do that? 


I will say something that not everyone may agree with, but I think that this deck has similarities to TeleDAD and Infernities. It takes control over the game in one big turn, and it gets to its key cards very quickly. You have a very good first game match-up and should be able to side into a much slower control version for games two and three. You have a nearly infinite amount of big monsters, and that will put constant pressure on your opponent. 

Anyways, it’s late and I think that’s a fairly in-depth breakdown into the deck, again I hope you enjoy it and stay tuned for more interesting articles.

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AJ 

Tour Bus from the Underworld

In this article I will discuss just how good/useful Tour Bus from the Underworld really is.

Upon its realise a lot of people debated this card---> http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Tour_Bus_From_the_Underworld , asking just how good it is, or isn't.

Before its effect was confirmed there was so many speculations and rumours going around about its effect. One I heard that I can remember off the top of my was " When this card is normal summoned, special summon one level 3 fiend monster form your graveyard, its effects are negated and it cannot be used as a synchro material."
So basically, the original effect of Tour Guide but from the Graveyard. I mean imagine that, not only would that card be just as stupid as Tour Guide from the Underworld but it means you would need 3 of those as well and it would provide you with a constant loop of rank 3 XYZ monsters (well perhaps not a loop but a hell of a lot of ways to make rank 3 monsters). If only I could remember who said, that wouldn't be fun for them, idiots.
But anyways, before I start ranting, Tour Bus from the Underworld ended up not being that broken, which is always good AND you certainly don't need 3 of them.

I have my own opinions on Tour Bus, which I will share and I will also evaluate it from multiple perspectives in order to give a more well rounded view of the card.
Firstly, Tour Bus from the Underworld has the major advantage of being a secret rare in Order of Chaos. This automatically makes it desirable in the eyes of the majority of the Yugioh playing community, however don't be tempted to fall into this trap, please please please realise that this card can only be utilised if you own Tour Guide(s). Of course picking them up as trade bait is never a bad idea, but be sure not to over-trade if you only intend to move it on, this make prove to be a poor choice on your part.

Next, Tour Bus from the Underworld has the effect of returning any monster card from EITHER player's graveyard back to their deck. This is a fairly good effect, it allows you to put back power cards in your grave back to your deck, how times have you wanted to draw a Black Luster Soldier to be able to get rid on a problem card on the field but you have already used it? Tour Bus solves that issue for you. Another example would be being able to get rid of problem cards in your opponent's graveyard in order to simplify the game, in turn making it easier for you to play strong plays. By problem cards I mean cards like Grapha, Dragon lord of Dark World or Necro Guardna which are most effective in the grave.
The way in which Tour Bus is worded means it will get its effect it is used as a material of an XYZ material and sent to the graveyard. This alone makes it such a powerful resource. Take this as an example, it is your turn 1, you summon Tour Guide from the Underworld and fetch Tour Bus from your deck. You make a Wind-up Zenmaines and pass turn. Your opponent uses Dark Hole forcing you to use Zenmaines' effect, in doing so you detach Tour Guide, your opponents passes the turn and so you HAVE to you the effect of Zenmaines to destroy a card on the field, you target Zenmaines and detach Tour Bus. The effect activates and you return Tour Guide to your deck, this means you still have 3 Tour Guides and a Sangan left in deck leaving all of them live and you have forced your opponent to delete a powerful resource, being Dark Hole. As you can see (if you don't please read it again... Slowly) you have optimised of one card, a low input, for an extremely high output.

It's that time of year again when the Yugioh community, particularly Yugi-tube, tries to predict the up-coming banlist, and to a high degree they do it poorly. I will have article on the ban-list for March so stay tuned if you want to see that ;). But, as much as I don't want to I have to agree with one card that is being mentioned, Sangan. Well, I agree and disagree, it's good here because we have Tour Guide, but as a whole the card is good and so you also have to consider the OCG meta and how 'busted'/'broke' Sangan is in that format. But, as said before, much of the Yugioh community tends to listen and follow trends and other's opinions, and so just as a precaution to cover everyone's thought I will mention the card's potential ban and this will have a knock on effect on Tour Bus. With Sangan banned, the game (mainly TCG players) will scramble to find a 'replacement', the most effective and useful being Tour Bus. This will increase its price and it's demand since its playability will go up in the eye's of Yugioh players.

However, like most cards, it is a 'dead' draw. In this case it is not unusable if you draw it, it just is no-where near as usable/versatile if you do. I drew it a few times during the Irish open and I seriously disliked seeing it, but I was able to hold it and make it act like a 'floater' on the board (like sangan would be) and forced my opponent to think it was a threat. It's all about how you can make the card seem. My favourite play using Tour Bus was as follows;
-Summon Rescue rabbit and use it's effect
- Summon 2 normal monsters, leaving one of the same name left in your deck
- Make a Dolkka
- Use its effect, gaining you advantage anyways and detaching on of the normal monsters
- Next turn summon Tour Guide and fetch Tour Bus
- Make a Leviair the Sea Dragon with them
- Use its effect and Detach Tour Bus, fetching back Rabbit
- Use Tour Bus effect putting back the normal monster
- Use Rabbit and fetch the 2 normal monster, one of which you put back

This leaves your other Rabbit live in you deck and reduces your chances of drawing a dead Normal monster monster.

I didn't want this article to be as long as the others because it may be being used as a submission article, but I hope you enjoyed it and I hope it gave you an insight into the uses and drawbacks
 

What do you think of Tour Bus?
Post here or comment in the forum/ in the comment section where this is posted. Or pm me. I'm easy =)

'Til next article, Peace readers

Aj

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