Looking Ahead to HA07

Nothing official has been announced as the second half of DT07 isn't even out yet for us, but I think it's a fairly safe assumption that we will continue to get OCG DT cards via Hidden Arsenal sets. I must say I'm looking very forward to this upcoming Hidden Arsenal and think it will impact the meta quite a bit. I think the last Hidden Arsenal that really had an impact on the game was HA04 which had Trishula in it. 5 and 6 had a few notable cards, but nothing too major in the grand scheme of things. I believe 7 could have as much impact as the very first HA set, if not more. I'll list what cards I'm looking forward to and I'm sure others as well (order is not indicative of anything, at least to me).

1. Tinplate Goldfish

Lv4/Water/Machine
When this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 Level 4 monster from your hand.

The last time I played any sort of Gadget variant seriously was when I was down in Texas. I played the shit out of Machina Gadget but eventually moved on to better decks. For the past few days I've been testing out "Goldfish-Machina-Gadgets" using ideas from OCG builds I have seen, and I must say I really do enjoy playing the deck. Essentially this is Double Summon with a body that lets you go into almost any Rank 4. Not having to wait a turn to set up a Gigant play is pretty sick, and at the very least the 2000 DEF isn't bad at all.

2. Daigusto Emeral

Rank 4 (2 Lv4) /Wind/Rock
Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to activate 1 of these effects.
● Target 3 monsters in your Graveyard; shuffle all targets into the Deck, then draw 1 card.
● Target 1 non-Effect Monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target.

There's no denying that this guy has been anticipated for quite a while by at least those who knew of it's existence in the first place. This is a mini-Pot of Avarice and an enabler to many potential combos. I know there are a few FTK/OTK-ish strategies out there that use this guy as the key recycling component - oh boy lol.

3. Lavalval Chain

Rank 4 (2 Lv4)/Fire/Sea Serpent
Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to activate 1 of these effects;
● Send 1 card from your Deck to the Graveyard.
● Choose 1 monster from your Deck and place it on top of your Deck.

A big part of me feels that if we had this card last format, Inzektors would've won a YCS. This card is basically a Foolish Burial with a body, and in Inzektors has the added application of stacking DAD on top of your deck. Or Dragonfly, or whatever you needed lol. Even outside of Inzektor, any deck being able to tutor a specific monster to the top of their deck has a lot of potential applications (Infernity Archfiend anyone?). Like Emeral, I think he falls into the same category of "degenerate combo enabler".

4. Molten Conduction Field

Send 2 "Laval" monsters from your Deck to the Graveyard.

I know Laval players have just been itching for this card to come out. This allows you to easily dump Lakeside Lady and Handmaiden and what ever else to set up your Rekindling plays. Whether Laval becomes a top tier deck in the TCG, it's hard to say. I don't think I've seen it top anything in OCG since last format. However, one must accept that another sacky deck can be added to our list of ones we already have. *Derp* Shooting Quasar for game? :/

5. Evilswarm Heliotrope

Dark/Rock/1950 Normal beater.

I know you may be thinking "OK, a 1950 beater, so what - Alexandrite Dragon and Gene-Warped Warwolf are bigger", but the Rank 4 Evilswarm XYZ's must also be considered when taking this card into consideration. After all, "Verz Laggia" was a thing in OCG last format. Of course it has the benefit of outright running over TKings.

6. Evilswarm Ouroboros

Rank 4 (3 Lv4)/Dark/Dragon
Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; activate 1 of these effects. Each of these effects can only be used once while this card is face-up on the field.
● Target 1 card your opponent controls; return it to the hand.
● Send 1 random card from your opponent's hand to the Graveyard.
● Banish 1 card in your opponent's Graveyard.

Trish is back, kinda. This guy is key in the Six Sam Hand loop (check Youtube) and who knows how else this could be abused.

7. Evilswarm Ophion

Rank 4 (2 Lv4 lswarm)/Dark/Dragon
Neither player can Special Summon Level 5 or higher monsters while this card has Xyz Material. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; add 1 "Infestation" Spell or Trap Card from your Deck to your hand.

This can potentially shut decks down but may not be as good as it could be in this heavy XYZ era of the game. However, not letting your opponent summon Hyperion, BLS, DAD, Megalo, relevant Synchros, etc, isn't too shabby.

8. Evilswarm Bahamut

Rank 4 (2 Lv4 lswarm)/Dark/Dragon
Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; discard 1 "lswarm" monster, and if you do, take control of that opponent's monster.

This is a true "Snatch Steal"-like monster, and unlike Tragoedia you don't have to match levels or anything like that. I guess it's pretty similar to Big Eye but you can bring it out via a single Rescue Rabbit play lol.

9. Evilswarm Thunderbird

Lv 4/Dark/Thunder
During either player's turn, when the effect of a Spell, Trap, or Effect Monster is activated (except during the Damage Step): You can banish this card you control. During the next Standby Phase, return this card that was banished by this effect to the field, and it gains 300 ATK. You can only use the effect of "Evilswarm Thunderbird" once per turn.

I remember seeing this card splashed into many OCG decks last format as a 3-of, and you can quickly see how annoying it can be with a beater that can keep on coming back, Standby after Standby. I'm not sure if there are any rulings out there that make this card suck now, as I don't recall seeing it in lists all that much right now. I guess Wind-Up and Water are just too good/played in OCG right now.

10. Constellar Ptolemys Messier 7

Rank 6 (2 Lv6)/Light/Machine
You can also Xyz Summon this card by using 1 face-up "Constellar" Xyz Monster you control as the Xyz Material, except "Constellar Ptolemys Messier 7". (Xyz Materials attached to that monster also become Xyz Materials of this card.) You cannot activate this card's effect the turn you Special Summon this card this way. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to target 1 monster on the field or in either player's Graveyard; return it to the hand.

Constellar is a decktype I remember playing against randomly on DN one time a while back. I'm still not sure on what all they "do", or hope to do. This guy specifically, most likely has application in something like Chaos Dragon in that they can actually go into Rank 6. If it survives a turn you can grab back a milled/destroyed BLS or bounce a problem monster or what have you.

I know there are even more cards that are at least somewhat relevant in this set, and that is saying a lot. When was the last time a Hidden Arsenal set had 10+ relevant cards in it? lol. Realistically I probably won't be getting a box of this, more like order 3x Goldfish, 2 or 3x Emeral, 2x Chain, and maybe a set of Thunderbird as singles and call it good. However I'd say buying a box of this sounds a lot more feasible than buying a box of HA2, 3, 5, or 6 when they were new.

The Player Format

By Zach Sharrai
Hello everyone, today I'll be giving my insight on the game state of the format, why certain decks work, why players are starting to play consistent, and why opening a "4 or 5" turn hand can win you the game.

To begin, this is realistically the first format where the skill of the player affects over 60-70% of who will win the game. This being said I will also state that there will always be sacky decks like burn or stall that lesser players will choose to get an easy win with. This of course takes 10-20% of the other percentage. Nowadays players are becoming a lot smarter with knowing how to get synergy with any deck, and with that I feel the last 10% is due to "bad hands".

My next point is the most important. The players. WE have seen many pros come and go but this is really a good time in yugioh where we actually have "pros". Not just kids with money who buy DAD decks and win at locals because no one else can afford it. WE have seen the same players top over the past year or so whom in my opinion have become the "celebrities" to the world of yugioh. Player like the great Billly Brake and Robert Boyaijin are consistent toppers along with Joe Giorlando and Simon He (not to mention the rise of the ARG empire). I see the struggles in the game because of the amount of skill it can take- just goes to shows how hard these guys work. End result: Studying, playtesting and mental toughness are 3 keys to success in this game.

On to my next point, I am starting to see that ANY deck can win, yes that means that Watts, GK, Sabers, ALL have ways that they can win. Hence why I believe this is a player format. Now do I think there is a best deck? No in my opinion there is not a Tier-0 deck nor do I think there will be for a while. With that being said I do feel that Merlanteans is the deck to play if you want the most success. Reason being is because the deck has everything it could possibly need regarding back row destruction, field presence, conservative or slow play and a little draw power. Due to the fact that this is a mostly monster deck makes it a lot easier to know how to play around indecent hands. Decks like Inzektors and Geargia can give you strange hands and confuse the player on how to approach the situation (I.E. decks with consistent hands win games). I am not disregarding Inzektors as I want to build them as well, I just feel that it was fantastic meta call (and the rise of Threatening Roar has begun).

Lastly, going back to the consistency matter of Yu-Gi-Oh! Decks that open hands like that win because they can predict turns into the future. Not saying Yu-Gi-Oh! players are psychic but we study decks enough to know what to expect most of the time. For example I am currently piloting Chaos Dragons. I open up with a Ryko, Trag, Lyla,Light Pulsar, P.O.A. and Veiler. I can set Ryko save my veiler have Lyla next turn etc. The reason this win games is because myself as a player was taught to try and foresee what a player will do and outplay him. This once again all falls back on the consistency of designing your deck to draw well enough hands to get that situation. Because it is then that you get to use skill over luck. And no offense but I'll take skill over luck any day...

My YCS Re-Cap

Better late than never, right? :)
I had wanted to do this a long time ago, but after YCS I was pretty much behind on all my homework and with the holiday coming up I really just didn't have any time.

I won't be going over all my matches or anything like that, I went 4-3 drop losing Round 1 to Geargia who had Armor+3 or 4 backrow opening plays, Round 6 to Heroes that sided into Wind-Ups; in Game 3 - totally blew me by surprise as I had anti-Hero stuff sided in, and he goes Rabbit+Factory, then proceeds to Magician-Shark me ftw. Then in Round 7 lost to Chain Burn, just don't have anything sided for that match-up besides a pair of Dust Tornadoes :/

All in all it was a fun event though, our hotel was sick and Danny met a lot of pros and got to chat it up with them. I met LFN, who's a very cool guy. Besides that, my binder went through Weight-Watchers (ie the vendors) and I got to sell a lot of stuff off. Even though I know basically everything is really under-cut, I didn't really care because a lot of that stuff was just stuff that sat in my binder for many many months.

I think the best thing that came out of this event for us was motivation to go to YCS' across the country. After thinking about it, it's entirely possible to do even in my situation so I'm fairly sure that once the stateside YCS' are announced for the coming year, we will be making plans to go to as many as we can.

YCS-Bound

The time has finally come, and tomorrow we will be traveling to the first YCS of the northwest. The last major we had was 4 years ago with SJC Seattle, and I'm guessing the next one we have will be another 4 years from now lol. I would love to be able to travel to participate in more events like these, unfortunately my situation doesn't allow me to, and the financial returns even if I performed very well, consecutively, doesn't warrant it in my opinion. This event will be so important for me because who knows where I will be 4 years from now or if the game will even still be around by then. Not only speaking on my performance, but being able to go in with my team and doing our best to tear it up; this will be a momentous event.

Good luck to all participating!

The Doldrums

Doldrums [dohl-druhmz]
noun
1. a state of inactivity or stagnation
2. a dull, listless, depressed mood; low spirits

So over the past few weeks it seems that there has been a big divide in the community - half seem to be taking a break or quitting for what ever reason, and the other are still going at it and enjoying the relatively balanced format. I find myself in both places; when it comes to blogging about Yugioh, I find it hard to talk about anything new or what's been going on in the meta, because it feels like not much has been going on. This almost seems contradictory since our newest set was just released. I've noticed this happen among fellow bloggers and various YouTubers. Perhaps Kris Perovic's article put things into perspective for people, with the self-understanding that things probably won't change on Konami's part. On the other side of things, as I prep for YCS Seattle, I am very motivated in tweaking my main, side, and extra to what I think is the best that I can, because I know there won't be a YCS in our area for the foreseeable future. I wish I could playtest more, but it's almost a daunting endeavor simply because you never know what you're gonna play against in such a large field with a brand new set just released. I could test for hours and hours against the popular decks, get my siding strategies down perfectly and whatnot, only to get blind sided by a "random" deck and then get sacked by a sacky deck, virtually eliminating me from the tourney. This factor became very apparent when Carl got 2nd at the Sneak Peek tourney with Six Sams. Not to take anything away from Carl, but when people think of "sacky" deck, the top 3 basically consist of Sam, Darkworld, and Lightsworn. It sucks to know that at any given time, regardless of skill level, you can get sacked. Such is Yugioh.

It just goes to show that regardless of the state of the game, it's impossible to please everyone. When they reprint something, some people will bitch and some people will praise. When something gets rarity-bumped, some people will bitch and some people (profiteers) will praise. I guess you just have to take the beast for what it is, and for God's sake (side rant) people need to open their eyes in regards to patterns. I still see people holding onto freshly pulled Sneak Peek cards because of hype or whatever, when it isn't doing them any good but they refuse to trade it to someone that's only missing that 1 card to finish their deck. The old "I'm not sure why this is good, but I'm going to hold onto it because everyone seems to want it" line. Go ahead and keep your card bro, cuz in a week or two it's value is gonna drop. Happens all the time. Remember Tour Bus? I offered $50 for one when it was new-ish, but they held onto it cuz it was "70 on eBay". What's it at now - 10 to 15? Looks like you plussed hard there. It's the same damn story for new stuff that comes out - if you're not gonna build the damn deck, learn to let it go for a fair value. And trust me, if all you got is that 1 card for the decktype, chances are you aren't actually gonna go all out and pick everything else up especially when it's rarity bumped to shit, just to build it, and still be shitty anyway. I love Sneak Peeks! lol.

Side rant aside, I believe this YCS will be a big factor, in one way or another, for a lot of people when it comes to sticking out the rest of the format or not.

Small Update + What's Been Up

As usual, I apologize for not being able to make blog posts. A lot has been going on in terms of my daily responsibilities and keeping up with YGO at the same time. It's kind of a Catch-22 because I don't like making little insignificant posts, but I haven't had the time to construct a long one so I just haven't posted, if that makes sense. I miss making daily posts like when I first started the blog, but it just seems like there's less to talk about these days. The talk of the online YGO community is Kris Perovic's "State of the Game" article. I'd like to make a post discussing that directly, and when I have the time I'll also be making a "Dear Konami"-esque e-mail to send to Konami, the movement which was started by Allen Pennington on DGz.

Testing for YCS Seattle/Tacoma is starting to go underway, since it seems unlikely that it will be a Sealed event. I've been testing Chaos Dragon as an alternative to Wind-Ups, but I'm still unsure on the matter. I seem to draw and mill so poorly sometimes that I couldn't imagine myself trying to get through 9+ rounds with the deck successfully, so I dunno yet. I seem to mill Reborn, Heavy, BLS, and cards like that like it was going out of style lol. With the rarity-bumps of Mermail (Abysslinde = rare -> ultra, Abyss-Sphere = common(!) -> ultra(!), Megalo-abyss and Moulin-rouge = super -> secret (most likely?)), it seems impossible/too costly to go that route.

I didn't do decklists for Providence because Youtube had that covered very well this time. You should be able to find most of the top 32 by some simple searching.

Oh, on the local scene - Gamer's Haven will be starting Advanced tourneys on Saturdays starting this Saturday, at 2:30 pm. Please check the designated "Spokane YGO Tourney Schedule" tab/link at the top of the page for more info.

Random - it annoys the hell out of me when people ask "when/where are the tourneys?" when people know I run this blog plus I've mentioned that I specifically make and maintain a weekly schedule. Reminds me of LFN's post where he talked about people asking him rulings on DN when it's so simple to just look them up themselves when resources are so easily at one's disposal.

Testing with Mermails

The past few weeks I've been trying to set myself up for the release of Abyss Rising by learning what the good Mermail and Atlantean cards do. I must admit that Dueling Days' post helped a lot! I've been picking up random stuff like Undines, and even a set of German Super Deep Sea Divas. I got to test with Vampire last night, with basically no idea what I was doing besides reading the aforementioned post. In just an hour I was doing some pretty sick things and had a pretty decent grasp of the deck. I can't wait to see what kind of Water exclusives we get for this archetype to be top tier (hopefully not broken, but top tier) and see what the TCG version of the deck may evolve into.

One thing that I'd like to note though, is that it didn't seem necessarily busted even though the deck does do pretty sick things. Getting a +2 off an Undine summon is pretty sweet. It sort of felt like Inzektors with more search capability, boss monsters, but fewer pops. Like I've mentioned before, decks nowadays need to do at least something busted to be competitive. You can see this with the decline of Heroes; they never really did anything busted even though it's still a good deck.

Testing with this deck is particularly important since ABYR will be legal for YCS Seattle. It makes it less than ideal when there's a product release and then a YCS like a week later. I would expect the field to largely be what it is currently, but it will be annoying having to play against new Prophecy and Madolche cards if you have no idea what they do. Not much you can do besides testing with the good ol' DN I suppose lol.