Dragon Ruler: A mirror story

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.