YCS London is wrapped up and I would like
to congratulate my good friends Luke Smythe and Richard Thompson on their Top
16 and Top 32 performances respectively. Well done to the pair of you.
Today I’d like to share with you an article
by Claudio Kirchmair, a UnitedGosus stalwart with multiple Premier Tops to his
name. His insight into the current format will no doubt be incredibly helpful
in performing to the best of your potential:
Today
I’ll share some thoughts on the Dragon Ruler mirror match. The main question
being how to approach the match-up - there are a number of different views. The
deck’s standard variant concentrates on maintaining and utilizing Dragon
Ravine.
CENTRAL STRATEGY
Recently,
a number of players have begun using Terraforming to increase their chances of
opening Ravine. The deck thinning this causes improves the chance of drawing
into Mystical Space Typhoon, Raigeki Break and the like to keep Ravine on the
field (when the opponent decides to play his/her own copy). Moreover, the
thinning removes the need for Card Trooper - requiring only one slot for Debris
Dragon fodder in Trigon. Why play Trooper if you can have Ravine, right?
Three
copies of Raigeki Break or Phoenix Wing Wind Blast and the two strongest cards
of the format (Return from a Different Dimension and Sixth Sense) form the
defining part of this deck’s Trap Line. If that’s not enough then the deck’s
draw power in Sacred Swords of Seven Stars and Cards of Consonance allow for
more than enough opportunities to get at them.
In
other words, Dragon Ruler is the new Tele-DAD. If you don’t believe me, then
please go and check out the latest YCS Coverage from London and see how many
Dragon Ruler decks made it to Day 2. The Top 4 consisted solely of Dragon
Ruler, with the deck taking 7/8 Top 8 slots and 14/16 Top 16 slots, showing its
absolute dominance.
So
now the question is: Why did Patrik Rieder win with his particular Dragon Ruler
build? When we look we see that it was a little bit different from the rest (2-4
cards different to be precise), since the remaining 36-38 cards of the main
Dragon Ruler deck are pretty much set in stone - just like Tele-DAD. To answer
this question I will try to explain the game plan for mirror match and how
Patrik achieved it.
THE MIRROR
Personally,
I think the Dragon mirror is all about good resource management. That’s
something most players fail to achieve - you have to think about how to come
out on top both in card advantage and in damage as those are the deciding
factors in Yu-Gi-Oh!. Let’s take a look at how each of our Dragon Ruler cards
interacts with this goal:
Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos
So how
do we deal damage without losing card advantage? One simple rule suggests that
if you summon a big Dragon then you have to deal damage. Blaster is the best
dragon for this - being the biggest one he killed by the others except in
Kamikaze attacks. Consider that when one player initiates the Blaster war, the
other player won’t be able to deal any damage because his Blaster cannot pass his
opponent’s – which has already dealt damage. Blaster is the safe Dragon Ruler
and should not be used mindlessly.
Tidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls
Next up
is Tidal: with enough attack to be dangerous he only gets killed by Blaster. Tidal
is one of the two Dragon Rulers that are risky to summon, as your opponent can
clear your back-row and summon Crimson Blader to lock you out of Dragons for a
turn. It’s worth considering however that this should only happen if you have no
protection whatsoever, and in that case it would not be the best idea to summon
Tidal anyway.
These
two Dragon Rulers (Along with Xyz and Synchro monsters) are the deck’s primary
source of damage - the biggest goal of which is to drop your opponent’s life
total to 3200 or lower. Why? Simple: Star Eater. Star Eater’s effect prevents
it from being affected by Swift Scarecrow – the Dragon Ruler player’s last line
of defence, and we all know how often Dragon Ruler players hide behind Scarecrow.
Redox, Dragon Ruler of Boulders
In
the WCQ Dragon Ruler format, players tended to summon Redox in defence position
to avoid getting OTK’d. This format summoning Redox for defence is detrimental
to your game plan – you lose resources (by way of one potential Dragon summon)
without dealing any damage. Your opponent can now simply establish his field/graveyard
and wait until next turn.
So
when should we summon Redox? Mainly when we have Maxx “C” in the graveyard and
are going to perform a Synchro or XYZ summon. Our opponents are unlikely to
respond to Redox with Maxx “C” because they cannot push on the next turn should
you just stop. They will therefore allow Redox through, and you will have made
a Synchro Summon with no risk of Maxx “C”.
Tempest, Dragon Ruler of Storms
Tempest
is the last of our Dragon Rulers, and the other half of the “Risky to Summon”
pair that Tidal started. Tempest’s WIND attribute means that he’s essentially
another Debris Dragon if needed. Tempest mostly ends up being banished by
Sacred Sword or banished to summon another Dragon Ruler. In doing so he helps
us keep our draw engine consistent.
To
conclude: “A Dragon summon should deal damage”. Failure to follow this rule
will lose you resources, and possibly the late game.
Dragon Ravine
I
want to take a moment to talk about the Field Spell mindset. My opinion is that
I don’t care if my opponent has faster access to Dragon Ravine, as I’ll just
wait with my Ravine until my opponent plays theirs. Why? It is a simple plus
one - if they want to protect Ravine then they’ll lose their Mystical Space
Typhoon, or even key monster removal Traps like Phoenix Wing Wind Blast or
Raigeki Break. In other words, if you play Ravine first, then you’re making a
big commitment to the board. That can be a bad spot in my opinion.
I
also love to summon Debris Dragon and use Trigon or Card Trooper to summon
Ancient Fairy Dragon for the free life gain and my own Field Spell. If you use
your Break/PWWB on my Ravine before then you take the risk that my Debris play
will end you.
Mystical Space Typhoon
Sometimes
I wonder if MST is only there for turn one - to remove opposing back-row before
committing any cards to the field, or to kill Ravine. I think that’s pretty
weak - playing your own Ravine afterward or going into Ancient Fairy Dragon
seems much better. You do not want to MST an opposing back-row if you have set
cards, as you risk them chaining Raigeki Break/PWWB on your Ravine/back-row and
wasting your MST. This again is reminiscent of Tele-DAD, where your push had to
kill your opponent or you lost when they handled your board on the next turn.
Trooper and Trigon
Why
should you run Card Trooper? He’s the best level 3 monster besides Trigon, the
downside being that you can’t send him to the grave with Ravine. When you
summon him with Debris you can activate his effect to mill three additional
cards, which can swing the game heavily in your favour. Yes he can be hit by
Crimson Blader, but you can protect him with Traps and still get to draw a card
if he dies. Trooper is even better during Games Two and Three, where Debunk
creates a Dragon lockdown. Dragons will often not even hit the field and your
Trooper gives you access to free resources – a mill for two or three colours
with Trooper can end the game by itself.
The Trap Game
Now
it becomes obvious how we play our removal Traps: we kill opposing monsters so
we can hit directly with our Dragons. The fact that we didn’t use any of our
Traps on Ravine means that we have more such Traps than our opponent. Conserving
your removal is important - a lot of the time you don’t have to kill something
immediately because it’s not a real threat.
Why
Trap Stun? Because Return from the Different Dimension and Sixth Sense are absurd.
Resolving one or both of these cards often just wins you the game. If you look
through the Dragon Ruler deck lists you will usually see seven to nine traps -
most of which are chainable. Every one of these can be negated by Trap Stun. It
is the only card besides Solemn Warning which can negate Return, and the only
card full stop that can negate Sixth Sense. Trap Stun breaks boards when your
opponent feels safe and helps you to defend if he/she wants to push for the
game. It also creates safe ways to resolve Crimson Blader’s effect. Let’s not
forget that Trap Stun into Black Rose Dragon will seal the deal for you in most
Non-Dragon Ruler matchups.
A
short side note on Solemn Warning: I like this card because it’s strong in the
Spellbook and Evilswarm matchups. It’s also one of the few true removal Traps,
with the 2000 life points cost often being nullified by Ancient Fairy Dragon’s
life gain. Its ability to counter to Black Rose Dragon and Return alone is
enough to warrant consideration for a slot.
The Synchros
The
age-old question: which Synchro monster do I summon? The answer here depends on
the state of the game and on your opponent’s deck. Stardust Dragon with
protection is the choice if your opponent favours Raigeki Break and Mystical
Space Typhoon, Colossal Fighter can prevent a Dragon beatdown and Angel of Zera
can be helpful in the late game for getting over Ancient Fairy Dragon or Redox.
The popularity of Ancient Fairy Dragon has made Orient Dragon a strong choice, warranting
a spot in my Extra Deck simply because of that.
