Hello everybadyy
Today, we will be reviewing Surrendering and comparing it to taking the damage or combo to the face and losing.
So, as we all know, both actions result in a game loss.
But what factors play into whether you surrender or take the defeat coming your way?
The first factor is time.
Most tournament scenes have a 50 minutes match system, where you only have 50 minuites to finish the match.
Once the match has gone to time, it either ends with one person winning, or a draw.
Now, say you are 1-0 in the current game, and your opponent is windups and doing their OTK.
Take a quick look at your clock. If you still have a good amount of time, surrender the game, giving you more time to side out and make changes and to have more time on the final game, more turns and more time to think.
The going first and extra time just might give you the few turns or seconds it takes to avoid the opponent stalling out for a draw.
However, if you are, say, 0-1 and the opponent is going off, just stall a bit, keep in the game, and pray that you can turn that 0-2 into a draw.
So, obviously it saves time on the round. What else is there?
The next big thing is Information Advantage.
Now, the more cards you play out, the more information the opponent has on your deck.
Information advantage is very big, as we have discussed many many times before.
There are some cards that are played in only one deck and hence playing that card completely blows your entire decklist out of the water
And some cards like Dark hole, MST, etc that everyone plays like and so they shed no light on information on your opponents deck.
Another good time to scoop over taking the full combo is when you have information you want to conserve.
Some cards like Beast King Barbaros seem like versatile cards, but only actually appear in one style of deck(TG Beast Warriors w/ Drain). So, instead of playing that card and trying to stall out your very inevitable doom(you're in a situation where youre contemplating surrender. Come on.), conserve your information advantage to get the edge after sideboarding.
Conversely, if you dont know what your opponent is playing, instead try to drag the game out, to goad out information on what deck they're playing, and the various combos, and work at beating them.
So, say you have a beast king barbaros in your hand with nothing else, and your opponent has a field full of 3.5k power or something impossible like that.
Set your Beast King, and try to goad out more information advantage on what deck theyre playing, and any tech they want to act cute by running.
Then, when they destroy or attack your face down beast king, surrender in response and conserve information on your deck.
Thats all
/sezuaR
Friday, November 30, 2012
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Insect Imitation
Normal Spell
Release a monster. Special summon an insect monster with 1 more level than the released monster from your deck.
What. The. Hell.
Agent of Creation Venus + Insect Imitation + Insector Gullh (Ladybug??(actually hornet also works here) = OTK
Which would sound like a stupid idea until you consider that
1: Both decks are among the contenders for top of the format
2: Light + Dark and we all know what fun that is
3: Each of these cards works super well in the deck without any needed support.
Again, the problem card is Insector Dragonfly.
Much like the Archfiend of Gilfer + Insector Dragonfly + Insector Hornet = 14k+ Power on the board combo
But back on the topic.
The card gives insectors their instant search for Dragonfly.
Imagine opening with Gullh and Insect Imitation.
"Lolololol normal gullh cast imitation make shock master strike bouncer tyrus zenmine and leviair, set starlight road solemn judgement and divine wrath turn"
Ok not so broken but you get the idea.
Its also your search card for Hornet, because having hornet hard to find totally wrecked insectors.
And once again considering the Agents/Insector combination deck
You gain access to Synchros(Earth is a tuner.), and since you're RFPing for Chaos Sorcerer/Soldier anyhows, use Leviair to snatch the Earth back for synchro summons.
So, instead of the 2 card full field combo, you instead have Hyper librarian to draw you like 4 cards before becoming a Shooting Quasar Dragon and summoning more random exceeds at next to no cost.
Totally not OP. Trust me.
Then summon Hyperion, Chaos Soldier, and Dark Armed Dragon.
Still balanced. I'm sure.
/sezuar
Release a monster. Special summon an insect monster with 1 more level than the released monster from your deck.
What. The. Hell.
Agent of Creation Venus + Insect Imitation + Insector Gullh (Ladybug??(actually hornet also works here) = OTK
Which would sound like a stupid idea until you consider that
1: Both decks are among the contenders for top of the format
2: Light + Dark and we all know what fun that is
3: Each of these cards works super well in the deck without any needed support.
Again, the problem card is Insector Dragonfly.
Much like the Archfiend of Gilfer + Insector Dragonfly + Insector Hornet = 14k+ Power on the board combo
But back on the topic.
The card gives insectors their instant search for Dragonfly.
Imagine opening with Gullh and Insect Imitation.
"Lolololol normal gullh cast imitation make shock master strike bouncer tyrus zenmine and leviair, set starlight road solemn judgement and divine wrath turn"
Ok not so broken but you get the idea.
Its also your search card for Hornet, because having hornet hard to find totally wrecked insectors.
And once again considering the Agents/Insector combination deck
You gain access to Synchros(Earth is a tuner.), and since you're RFPing for Chaos Sorcerer/Soldier anyhows, use Leviair to snatch the Earth back for synchro summons.
So, instead of the 2 card full field combo, you instead have Hyper librarian to draw you like 4 cards before becoming a Shooting Quasar Dragon and summoning more random exceeds at next to no cost.
Totally not OP. Trust me.
Then summon Hyperion, Chaos Soldier, and Dark Armed Dragon.
Still balanced. I'm sure.
/sezuar
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Compulsary Escape Device
No, not compulsary evacuation device. Everyone knows how good that is,
Compulsary Escape Device, that bad rare card from REDU
The one that makes each player return one monster to their deck.
What uses does it have?
Well, the obvious one is Madolche. By returning a card to your deck, your ticket allows you to get the advantage lost right back
What about Phantom Skyblaster?
You can either return the skyblaster itself to the deck and re-use the effect, lifting the "Cannot Attack" on the token, or return the token, losing no advantage
And E-Hero Wildman.
Summon him, and target him on resolution to return nothing and have the opponent fly back to the deck
Reborn Tengu.
Have one in the graveyard already? No problem. Return it to the deck, and a new chain triggers as Tengu reborns himself to the field.
So apparently this doesnt work. According to Yugioh, leaving the field to go to the deck does not count as "Leaving the Field".
Thanks Akira.
Core Chimails can use the overpowered Urknight to special summon a card once a turn, then return it to stop it from self destructing.
On the topic of Core Chimails, have you tried using the new Flame Dances with them?
Activate Tenki, search Urknight. Summon Urknight, pull out a Crusader by revealing the Iron core.
You now have 2 level 4s at 2100 and 2000 respectively, at the cost of 1 card.
Not enough Continuous spells in your hand for Ice? No Beast Warrior for Urknight and Crusader?
Overlay! Make a Rank 4 exceed.
/sezuar
Compulsary Escape Device, that bad rare card from REDU
The one that makes each player return one monster to their deck.
What uses does it have?
Well, the obvious one is Madolche. By returning a card to your deck, your ticket allows you to get the advantage lost right back
What about Phantom Skyblaster?
You can either return the skyblaster itself to the deck and re-use the effect, lifting the "Cannot Attack" on the token, or return the token, losing no advantage
And E-Hero Wildman.
Summon him, and target him on resolution to return nothing and have the opponent fly back to the deck
Thanks Akira.
Core Chimails can use the overpowered Urknight to special summon a card once a turn, then return it to stop it from self destructing.
On the topic of Core Chimails, have you tried using the new Flame Dances with them?
Activate Tenki, search Urknight. Summon Urknight, pull out a Crusader by revealing the Iron core.
You now have 2 level 4s at 2100 and 2000 respectively, at the cost of 1 card.
Not enough Continuous spells in your hand for Ice? No Beast Warrior for Urknight and Crusader?
Overlay! Make a Rank 4 exceed.
/sezuar
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Demonic Motor Omega
Have you guys see this thing?
Its english name is Fiendish Engine Omega
it is a rather old card, but Two new cards make this really interesting.
The first is The Charging Emperor.
With this card out on the field, not only can your demonic motor not be targetted by effects, it cannot be destroyed by effects either.
Need I mention this includes its own effects?
Yes, this means that your Demonic Motor can always self pump himself, without being destroyed.
3800 the first turn, then 4800 the next turn, and 5800 after that!
Yes it doesnt say "Until the end phase"
The second card that makes the tokens he creates really useful is the Seal of Orichalchos.
Now, since they cannot attack your weaker monsters, those tokens are chilling out there to be tributed the next turn
/sezuar
Its english name is Fiendish Engine Omega
it is a rather old card, but Two new cards make this really interesting.
The first is The Charging Emperor.
With this card out on the field, not only can your demonic motor not be targetted by effects, it cannot be destroyed by effects either.
Need I mention this includes its own effects?
Yes, this means that your Demonic Motor can always self pump himself, without being destroyed.
3800 the first turn, then 4800 the next turn, and 5800 after that!
Yes it doesnt say "Until the end phase"
The second card that makes the tokens he creates really useful is the Seal of Orichalchos.
Now, since they cannot attack your weaker monsters, those tokens are chilling out there to be tributed the next turn
/sezuar
Friday, November 23, 2012
Making the Cut #1 - Part 1
Hello ladies.
Look at your battle pack deck
Now back to your deck
Now back to me.
Sadly, your deck isnt me,
but you stopped randomly putting cards together and switched to listening and practicing, it could be a bit like me.
So everyone, welcome to our first issue of "Making the Cut".
During this blog post, you will follow me through as I go from 10 un-opened battle packs, my thoughts on each individual pack, the pulls, and the construction of the sealed deck from the pool.
While I know my pulls wont be the same as yours, I will describe each individual cut from the pool to build the deck, so you can use similar thought processes in building your deck.
Additionally, instead of building a 40 card deck, I will be building a 30 card deck, THEN making another 5 cuts, down to 25 cards, to help illustrate the thoughts that go into cutting a card from the deck a bit more, as well as showing what cards would swap out in the side.
For those who just want to skip to the deck Construction, Click Here To JUMP!
Thats part 2, deck construction.
Part 1 is our pulls and preliminary deck construction, just throwing in whats good for a draft deck.
So, on we go!
Before we start, keep an eye on how I lay out my cards to take a good overlook at my deck.
I lay out all the slot 1s together, the slot 2s, slot 3s, slot 4s, and starfoils.
Because each of the slots does a different thing, this lets us take a good look at the focus of powerful cards for each slot, which cards has the most really nice cards, and which slots shouldnt be bothered with really.
Pack 1:
Burden of the mighty
Grave squirmer
Voltic kong
Ducker mobile cannon
Vortex trooper
Burden of the Mighty, I am quite a big fan of. It is an instant combat advantage. Combat is a big part in sealed, and you want to be using high attack monsters to shut out their offensive.
With this out, one high defense monster beats everything. Seriously.
Grave Squirmer.
a removal card. It again is a high pick, taking out some high power and troublesome monsters that you might come up against, as well as destroying some backrow thats giving you problems. Skill drain, Burden of Mighty, anything else continuous.
When I see this card I really want to open a Creature swap.
Voltic Kong
1800 beater. Mill isnt relevant.
DUCKER mobile cannon
This card is useful if you dont have enough level 4s, as it gives the level 4s recursion.
Also, quite the card if you have a good amount of defensive cards, and Rank 3 exceeds.
Vortex Trooper
A similar card to Grave Squirmer, I wasnt expecting to get both in one pack.
This card can help you cycle through some cards if you summon it, or you can set it for a draw when its destroyed.
The on summon ability is really great if: You have a good rank 3 and level 3 lineup, or you have creature swap.
IN: Grave Squirmer, Burden of the Mighty.
Pack 2
Gachigachi Gantetsu
Shadow Spell
Zombyra the Dark
Night Assailant
Offerings to the Doomed
Gachigachi:
Oh god so powerful... If you can summon it. Being an Exceed, its an instant IN for the deck.
Shadow Spell
This card is really great. It chains down an opponents monster for you to kill the next turn, as well as reducing their damage output.
However, you want to destroy the opponents monster as soon as possible, so keep in mind using this on your own turn, just to kill something.
Theres nothing sadder than Shadow spell-ing something, then it being tribuited for a DMOC.
If they have already normal summoned, its a good time to use this.
Zombyra the Dark.
2100 Attack. Kills every other high beater. Then becomes a 1900 high beater.
Cards I really want to see with this card: Skill Drain, Interdimensional Matter Transporter(reset Zombyra), etc.
Night Assailant.
Oh yay more kill monsters when attacked!
Doubles as retieval for flip effects, but I'm not sure if theres many discard outlets in the deck.
Oh, and it isnt limited in sealed, so if I pull more discard effects like Raigeki Break, and a second Night Assailant, wow, he becomes a Killer Snake.
Cards I want to see with him: Cybernetic Magician.
Offerings to the Doomed.
Quickplay. Kills stuff.
I think this is an instant IN, as its 2 cards sacrificed to kill something. You want to be targeting stuff that comes out with 2 tributes or an exceed.
Battle pack isnt as much about card advantage as it is about board advantage, and I think this is a good example.
IN:
Gachigachi, Shadow Spell, Zombyra, Offerings to the Doomed.
Pack 3:
Pot of Greed
Ante
Skileld White Magician
Giant Soldier Of Stone
Goblindbergh
Pot of Greed
Oh god instant in. Not broken, necessarily, but pretty damn powerful.
Ante Match
I want to be using this with cards like Gorz and Tragoedia, to knock out not only their cards and deal damage but to outright make them slow play or have to play around trago and Gorz, severely limiting their options.
Cards I want to see:
Gorz, Trago, Level 8s.
Skilled White Magician.
Not that sold on it, until I can pull a Buster Blader
Giant Soldier of Stone
2k defense, a potential in, but Ill wait on Rank 3s before going for them.
Goblindbergh
If I get a N39 Hope, Instant in. Any card that make Hope easy to make is great IF you have a hope.
IN: Pot of Greed
Pack 4
Numbers 17 leviathan dragon
Spell Shield Type 8
Card Trooper
Gagaga Magician
Skill Successor
Leviathan Dragon.
Instant in, but I mentioned something about Rank 3s with Giant Soldier of Stone, Ducker, and Night Assailant right? Those have a high chance of coming into the deck thanks to this.
How awesome would it be if I pulled Tour Guides? I already have some level 3 fiends (Night Assailant)
Spell Shield Type 8
Counter spells. Protect your monsters. Pretty good.
Card Trooper
More than killing something and getting killed back, Id like to use him to kill a 1900 and get a free card, but he mills ONE TENTH of your deck in one shot. Remember that. Unless we get a Monster Reborn, that is a BAD thing.
Gagaga Magician.
Not sold, as I only have 2 Exceeds so far, and no good level 2s for Gachigachi. If I get more variety of exceeds, he becomes viable.
Especially a Tyrus/Adreus.
Skill Successor
You cant ask for much more than this powerhouse in sealed.
TWO combat tricks in one card? Instant in.
Pack 5
Call of the Haunted
Miracles Wake
Gene Warped Warwolf
Tangrisnir of the Nordic Beasts
Mystical Space Typhoon
Hoh wow! Look at those 2 first cards!
TWO revival cards at once! Both in!
Call of the Haunted makes reviving big high level monsters much easier, while Miracles Wake makes great work for cards that force the opponent to trade, like 1900 attackers.
Miracles Wake is especially great with Card Trooper. Crash into something with 1900, get killed next turn, draw one, at the end of the turn revive him, next turn mill 3 to crash into the 1900, draw more.
Gene Warped Warwolf
2000 Attack.
Instant in.
Goat guy
He spawns 2 tokens, which can be tributed for a tribute summon.
With him around I want to be pulling high level monsters like White Nights Dragon, etc.
As I dont have too many of them around, I'm not sold on running him quite yet.
Mystical Space Typhoon
Because we're not the only ones with spells and traps. In.
So, lets review after 5 packs.
Heres what we pulled, and our "IN" pile so far is:
MST, Warwolf, Miracles Wake, Call of the Haunted, Skill Successor, Card Trooper, Spell Shield, Pot of Greed, Offerings to the Doomed, Zombyra the Dark, Shadow Spell, Grave Squirmer, Burden of the Mighty.
Extra deck: Gachigachi, Leviathan Dragon.
Next 5 packs!
Pack 6
Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
Damage Gate
Ambitious Gofer
Level Eater
Level Eater
Gorz: Instant Win. I mean IN.
This guy... This guy... is everything wrong with the sealed format.
THAT BEING SAID, we are already running burden of the mighty, shadow spell, both of which will stay in the backrow(and shadow spell, without a reason, potentially if they exceed with the target), so not necessarily 100% the best thing to have around
Damage Gate
Not exactly sold on this card.
IF you take damage, you can special summon something... with less attack power from the graveyard. Im not sold on this, but there ARE cards that make this a potential pick.
Namely: Cards that tribute themselves for effects, or cards with "on destroyed" triggers.
Exiled Force, Grave Squirmer.
With this, my 1st pack's vortex trooper is looking more and more viable.
Ambitious Gofer
2400 ATK, potentially outright kills 2 monsters for no reason. I see nothing wrong. In.
2 Level Eaters
As of now, because I dont have... a bajillion Monarchs, no...
Kinda sucks to open 2 of these guys at once @.@
Pack 7
Grenosaurus
Forbidden Lance
Cyber Dragon
Noisy Gnat
Night Assailant
Grenosaurus is an Exceed. Since I already have Leviathan Dragon... No biggie.
Forbidden Lance.
AWWW YEAH
In sealed play, the Forbidden series of cards are just so powerful. As BOTH a combat trick and a protection card, youre looking at a real player in sealed.
Cyber Dragon
I have no qualms about this card. Its just good.
Noisy Gnat
One of the "useless cards" in the set. Kinda weird to see this here, and it is eating up a slot...
That being said, it might have uses to fix up exceeds. Considering I have 3 so far...
Night Assailant
Woo a second copy
I mentioned infinite loop/Hyper powered Killer Snake right?
Thats right. 2 Night Assailants = Infinite hand cost.
I REALLY want to open a Cybernetic Magician now.
8
Skill Drain
Shield Crush
Chiron the Mage
Hyper Hammerhead
Pot of Duality
POWER in a pack man.
Pot of Duality, Skill Drain?
TWO "Bomb" cards at once.
Skill Drain, thought isnt a straight IN pick.
We have yet to decide what cards we WILL be using, and our 1900/2000 power lineup isnt as big as we would like.
However, we DO have: Gorz, Zombyra, Genetic Warwolf, so drain is a possiblity.
Shield Crush is great fun. removes those pesky flip effects.
Chiron the Mage I think is great. Turns any spell into a MST, which can blow up contiuous cards like Metal Reflect Slime, etc. The 1800 isnt too bad either.
Just dont hit Fiendish Chain!
Hyper Hammerhead.
I would prefer a penguin soldier, but this suffices. opening with this guy gives you a good card to set.
9
Ring of Destruction
Half or Nothing
Jurrac Protops
Big Shield Gardna
Fortress Warrior
Ring of Destruction: Free chain destruction, free burn, banned for a very good reason.
In.
Half or Nothing.
Not exactly sold on the card. It doesnt stop an attack unless you have a half decent monster out, so not an isntant in
Jurrac Protops
Err... 1800 in a 1 on 1 battle? Not too great. We're looking for 1900 beaters. Those rule.
Big Shield Gardna
Big. Fat. Defense.
Instant in. I think hes one of the best cards in the whole sealed format, even. The 2700 defense is great for stopping things. They either have to go for a tribute monster, use removal, or have 2 or more monsters to attack, taking some life damage.
Did I mention Shadow Spell?
They attack with one, take damage, turns Big Shield to attack. Activate Shadow Spell on the other guy, and run him over next turn!
Fortress Warrior
I would take him as one of my best picks, for his combat resilience, and with Gachigachi, we have a damn good reason for keeping him on the field, but the lack of other level 2s really makes him less viable...
Seriously. the other level 2 is Noisy Gnat. Not happening.
Final PACK!
Tiras Keeper of Genesis
Exiled Force
Insect Knight
Level Warrior
Gem Knight Pearl
Tyrus!
Oh wow! One of THE best cards in the set... only also one of the hardest to get out.
My chances of getting this guy out are Cyber Dragon and Level Stealer plays... Not quite sold on playing him, unfortunately.
Insect Knight is a great beater.
Gemknight Pearl... Id like a Hope more, but whatever. a rank 4 exceed is a rank 4.
Level Warrior is an intersting one. Similar to Goblindburgh, it gets me my Rank 4 Pearl, but at the same time gives me more level 3s to play around with. It is a high maybe.
Finally, exiled force.
I believe 2 of my recursion traps work with him so far: Damage Gate and Call of the Haunted.
Just by himself, pretty good.
With those 2? Really good.
In.
So, to finish up, These were our second 5 packs cards
And Our cards overview.
Once again, take a look by yourself to the distribution of the better cards in each slot, and see which slots have cards to build around and 2 card combos.
Of these, we preliminarily picked:
14
Gorz
Cyber Dragon
Ambitious Gofer
Insect Kight
Gene Warped Warwolf
Zombyra the Dark
Card Trooper
Big Shield Gardna
Chiron the Mage
Grave Squirmer
Hyper Hammerhead
Exile Force
2 Night Assailant
7
Pot of Greed
Pot of Duality (Winning with 2 pots lol)
Mystical Space Typhoon
Burden of the Mighty
Offerings to teh Doomed
Forbidden Lance
Shield Crush
6
Skill Successor
Shadow Spell
Ring of Destruction
Spell Shield Type 8
Call of the Haunted
Miracles Wake
5 Exceeds
Gachigachi
Grenosaurus
Leviathan Dragon
Gemknight Pearl
Tyrus
Thats it for preliminary picks
Join us in part 2, right below this, for the rest of the deck building!
Look at your battle pack deck
Now back to your deck
Now back to me.
Sadly, your deck isnt me,
but you stopped randomly putting cards together and switched to listening and practicing, it could be a bit like me.
So everyone, welcome to our first issue of "Making the Cut".
During this blog post, you will follow me through as I go from 10 un-opened battle packs, my thoughts on each individual pack, the pulls, and the construction of the sealed deck from the pool.
While I know my pulls wont be the same as yours, I will describe each individual cut from the pool to build the deck, so you can use similar thought processes in building your deck.
Additionally, instead of building a 40 card deck, I will be building a 30 card deck, THEN making another 5 cuts, down to 25 cards, to help illustrate the thoughts that go into cutting a card from the deck a bit more, as well as showing what cards would swap out in the side.
For those who just want to skip to the deck Construction, Click Here To JUMP!
Thats part 2, deck construction.
Part 1 is our pulls and preliminary deck construction, just throwing in whats good for a draft deck.
So, on we go!
Before we start, keep an eye on how I lay out my cards to take a good overlook at my deck.
I lay out all the slot 1s together, the slot 2s, slot 3s, slot 4s, and starfoils.
Because each of the slots does a different thing, this lets us take a good look at the focus of powerful cards for each slot, which cards has the most really nice cards, and which slots shouldnt be bothered with really.
Pack 1:
Burden of the mighty
Grave squirmer
Voltic kong
Ducker mobile cannon
Vortex trooper
Burden of the Mighty, I am quite a big fan of. It is an instant combat advantage. Combat is a big part in sealed, and you want to be using high attack monsters to shut out their offensive.
With this out, one high defense monster beats everything. Seriously.
Grave Squirmer.
a removal card. It again is a high pick, taking out some high power and troublesome monsters that you might come up against, as well as destroying some backrow thats giving you problems. Skill drain, Burden of Mighty, anything else continuous.
When I see this card I really want to open a Creature swap.
Voltic Kong
1800 beater. Mill isnt relevant.
DUCKER mobile cannon
This card is useful if you dont have enough level 4s, as it gives the level 4s recursion.
Also, quite the card if you have a good amount of defensive cards, and Rank 3 exceeds.
Vortex Trooper
A similar card to Grave Squirmer, I wasnt expecting to get both in one pack.
This card can help you cycle through some cards if you summon it, or you can set it for a draw when its destroyed.
The on summon ability is really great if: You have a good rank 3 and level 3 lineup, or you have creature swap.
IN: Grave Squirmer, Burden of the Mighty.
Pack 2
Gachigachi Gantetsu
Shadow Spell
Zombyra the Dark
Night Assailant
Offerings to the Doomed
Gachigachi:
Oh god so powerful... If you can summon it. Being an Exceed, its an instant IN for the deck.
Shadow Spell
This card is really great. It chains down an opponents monster for you to kill the next turn, as well as reducing their damage output.
However, you want to destroy the opponents monster as soon as possible, so keep in mind using this on your own turn, just to kill something.
Theres nothing sadder than Shadow spell-ing something, then it being tribuited for a DMOC.
If they have already normal summoned, its a good time to use this.
Zombyra the Dark.
2100 Attack. Kills every other high beater. Then becomes a 1900 high beater.
Cards I really want to see with this card: Skill Drain, Interdimensional Matter Transporter(reset Zombyra), etc.
Night Assailant.
Oh yay more kill monsters when attacked!
Doubles as retieval for flip effects, but I'm not sure if theres many discard outlets in the deck.
Oh, and it isnt limited in sealed, so if I pull more discard effects like Raigeki Break, and a second Night Assailant, wow, he becomes a Killer Snake.
Cards I want to see with him: Cybernetic Magician.
Offerings to the Doomed.
Quickplay. Kills stuff.
I think this is an instant IN, as its 2 cards sacrificed to kill something. You want to be targeting stuff that comes out with 2 tributes or an exceed.
Battle pack isnt as much about card advantage as it is about board advantage, and I think this is a good example.
IN:
Gachigachi, Shadow Spell, Zombyra, Offerings to the Doomed.
Pack 3:
Pot of Greed
Ante
Skileld White Magician
Giant Soldier Of Stone
Goblindbergh
Pot of Greed
Oh god instant in. Not broken, necessarily, but pretty damn powerful.
Ante Match
I want to be using this with cards like Gorz and Tragoedia, to knock out not only their cards and deal damage but to outright make them slow play or have to play around trago and Gorz, severely limiting their options.
Cards I want to see:
Gorz, Trago, Level 8s.
Skilled White Magician.
Not that sold on it, until I can pull a Buster Blader
Giant Soldier of Stone
2k defense, a potential in, but Ill wait on Rank 3s before going for them.
Goblindbergh
If I get a N39 Hope, Instant in. Any card that make Hope easy to make is great IF you have a hope.
IN: Pot of Greed
Pack 4
Numbers 17 leviathan dragon
Spell Shield Type 8
Card Trooper
Gagaga Magician
Skill Successor
Leviathan Dragon.
Instant in, but I mentioned something about Rank 3s with Giant Soldier of Stone, Ducker, and Night Assailant right? Those have a high chance of coming into the deck thanks to this.
How awesome would it be if I pulled Tour Guides? I already have some level 3 fiends (Night Assailant)
Spell Shield Type 8
Counter spells. Protect your monsters. Pretty good.
Card Trooper
More than killing something and getting killed back, Id like to use him to kill a 1900 and get a free card, but he mills ONE TENTH of your deck in one shot. Remember that. Unless we get a Monster Reborn, that is a BAD thing.
Gagaga Magician.
Not sold, as I only have 2 Exceeds so far, and no good level 2s for Gachigachi. If I get more variety of exceeds, he becomes viable.
Especially a Tyrus/Adreus.
Skill Successor
You cant ask for much more than this powerhouse in sealed.
TWO combat tricks in one card? Instant in.
Pack 5
Call of the Haunted
Miracles Wake
Gene Warped Warwolf
Tangrisnir of the Nordic Beasts
Mystical Space Typhoon
Hoh wow! Look at those 2 first cards!
TWO revival cards at once! Both in!
Call of the Haunted makes reviving big high level monsters much easier, while Miracles Wake makes great work for cards that force the opponent to trade, like 1900 attackers.
Miracles Wake is especially great with Card Trooper. Crash into something with 1900, get killed next turn, draw one, at the end of the turn revive him, next turn mill 3 to crash into the 1900, draw more.
Gene Warped Warwolf
2000 Attack.
Instant in.
Goat guy
He spawns 2 tokens, which can be tributed for a tribute summon.
With him around I want to be pulling high level monsters like White Nights Dragon, etc.
As I dont have too many of them around, I'm not sold on running him quite yet.
Mystical Space Typhoon
Because we're not the only ones with spells and traps. In.
So, lets review after 5 packs.
Heres what we pulled, and our "IN" pile so far is:
MST, Warwolf, Miracles Wake, Call of the Haunted, Skill Successor, Card Trooper, Spell Shield, Pot of Greed, Offerings to the Doomed, Zombyra the Dark, Shadow Spell, Grave Squirmer, Burden of the Mighty.
Extra deck: Gachigachi, Leviathan Dragon.
Next 5 packs!
Pack 6
Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
Damage Gate
Ambitious Gofer
Level Eater
Level Eater
Gorz: Instant Win. I mean IN.
This guy... This guy... is everything wrong with the sealed format.
THAT BEING SAID, we are already running burden of the mighty, shadow spell, both of which will stay in the backrow(and shadow spell, without a reason, potentially if they exceed with the target), so not necessarily 100% the best thing to have around
Damage Gate
Not exactly sold on this card.
IF you take damage, you can special summon something... with less attack power from the graveyard. Im not sold on this, but there ARE cards that make this a potential pick.
Namely: Cards that tribute themselves for effects, or cards with "on destroyed" triggers.
Exiled Force, Grave Squirmer.
With this, my 1st pack's vortex trooper is looking more and more viable.
Ambitious Gofer
2400 ATK, potentially outright kills 2 monsters for no reason. I see nothing wrong. In.
2 Level Eaters
As of now, because I dont have... a bajillion Monarchs, no...
Kinda sucks to open 2 of these guys at once @.@
Pack 7
Grenosaurus
Forbidden Lance
Cyber Dragon
Noisy Gnat
Night Assailant
Grenosaurus is an Exceed. Since I already have Leviathan Dragon... No biggie.
Forbidden Lance.
AWWW YEAH
In sealed play, the Forbidden series of cards are just so powerful. As BOTH a combat trick and a protection card, youre looking at a real player in sealed.
Cyber Dragon
I have no qualms about this card. Its just good.
Noisy Gnat
One of the "useless cards" in the set. Kinda weird to see this here, and it is eating up a slot...
That being said, it might have uses to fix up exceeds. Considering I have 3 so far...
Night Assailant
Woo a second copy
I mentioned infinite loop/Hyper powered Killer Snake right?
Thats right. 2 Night Assailants = Infinite hand cost.
I REALLY want to open a Cybernetic Magician now.
8
Skill Drain
Shield Crush
Chiron the Mage
Hyper Hammerhead
Pot of Duality
POWER in a pack man.
Pot of Duality, Skill Drain?
TWO "Bomb" cards at once.
Skill Drain, thought isnt a straight IN pick.
We have yet to decide what cards we WILL be using, and our 1900/2000 power lineup isnt as big as we would like.
However, we DO have: Gorz, Zombyra, Genetic Warwolf, so drain is a possiblity.
Shield Crush is great fun. removes those pesky flip effects.
Chiron the Mage I think is great. Turns any spell into a MST, which can blow up contiuous cards like Metal Reflect Slime, etc. The 1800 isnt too bad either.
Just dont hit Fiendish Chain!
Hyper Hammerhead.
I would prefer a penguin soldier, but this suffices. opening with this guy gives you a good card to set.
9
Ring of Destruction
Half or Nothing
Jurrac Protops
Big Shield Gardna
Fortress Warrior
Ring of Destruction: Free chain destruction, free burn, banned for a very good reason.
In.
Half or Nothing.
Not exactly sold on the card. It doesnt stop an attack unless you have a half decent monster out, so not an isntant in
Jurrac Protops
Err... 1800 in a 1 on 1 battle? Not too great. We're looking for 1900 beaters. Those rule.
Big Shield Gardna
Big. Fat. Defense.
Instant in. I think hes one of the best cards in the whole sealed format, even. The 2700 defense is great for stopping things. They either have to go for a tribute monster, use removal, or have 2 or more monsters to attack, taking some life damage.
Did I mention Shadow Spell?
They attack with one, take damage, turns Big Shield to attack. Activate Shadow Spell on the other guy, and run him over next turn!
Fortress Warrior
I would take him as one of my best picks, for his combat resilience, and with Gachigachi, we have a damn good reason for keeping him on the field, but the lack of other level 2s really makes him less viable...
Seriously. the other level 2 is Noisy Gnat. Not happening.
Final PACK!
Tiras Keeper of Genesis
Exiled Force
Insect Knight
Level Warrior
Gem Knight Pearl
Tyrus!
Oh wow! One of THE best cards in the set... only also one of the hardest to get out.
My chances of getting this guy out are Cyber Dragon and Level Stealer plays... Not quite sold on playing him, unfortunately.
Insect Knight is a great beater.
Gemknight Pearl... Id like a Hope more, but whatever. a rank 4 exceed is a rank 4.
Level Warrior is an intersting one. Similar to Goblindburgh, it gets me my Rank 4 Pearl, but at the same time gives me more level 3s to play around with. It is a high maybe.
Finally, exiled force.
I believe 2 of my recursion traps work with him so far: Damage Gate and Call of the Haunted.
Just by himself, pretty good.
With those 2? Really good.
In.
So, to finish up, These were our second 5 packs cards
And Our cards overview.
Once again, take a look by yourself to the distribution of the better cards in each slot, and see which slots have cards to build around and 2 card combos.
Of these, we preliminarily picked:
14
Gorz
Cyber Dragon
Ambitious Gofer
Insect Kight
Gene Warped Warwolf
Zombyra the Dark
Card Trooper
Big Shield Gardna
Chiron the Mage
Grave Squirmer
Hyper Hammerhead
Exile Force
2 Night Assailant
7
Pot of Greed
Pot of Duality (Winning with 2 pots lol)
Mystical Space Typhoon
Burden of the Mighty
Offerings to teh Doomed
Forbidden Lance
Shield Crush
6
Skill Successor
Shadow Spell
Ring of Destruction
Spell Shield Type 8
Call of the Haunted
Miracles Wake
5 Exceeds
Gachigachi
Grenosaurus
Leviathan Dragon
Gemknight Pearl
Tyrus
Thats it for preliminary picks
Join us in part 2, right below this, for the rest of the deck building!
Making the Cut #1 - Part 2
Hey yo and welcome back to Making the Cut, where we build sealed deck together
As you know, Making the Cut is a potential series about opening and building your sealed battle pack deck.
In this half, we will be building the deck from the pulls.
Usually, we would only have to build a 30 card deck, but for the sake of exploring how to make cuts, we will make an additional 5 cuts, to go down to 25, so you can use similar thought schemes to make cuts.
First, lets review our pulls
And some of our preliminary picks
12
Gorz
Cyber Dragon
Ambitious Gofer
Insect Kight
Gene Warped Warwolf
Zombyra the Dark
Card Trooper
Big Shield Gardna
Chiron the Mage
Grave Squirmer
Hyper Hammerhead
Exiled Force
7
Pot of Greed
Pot of Duality
Mystical Space Typhoon
Burden of the Mighty
Offerings to teh Doomed
Forbidden Lance
Shield Crush
6
Skill Successor
Shadow Spell
Ring of Destruction
Spell Shield Type 8
Call of the Haunted
Miracles Wake
5 Exceeds
Gachigachi
Grenosaurus
Leviathan Dragon
Gemknight Pearl
Tyrus
Seems like its coming together, right?
After this is our 2nd line picks.
A 2nd line pick is a card that didnt jump straight out as playable, but still has potential.
Level Eater - This alone potentiates Tyrus. But we still lack some level 5s, other than Cyber Dragon, which brings us to...
Gagaga Magician - This card enables Rank 2, 3, 4, and 5 plays. we have each rank, but the weakest rank we have is 4. we want to be making Rank 5 with Tyrus and Rank 3 for Leviathan. This with Cyber Dragon equals Tyrus. Which almost always equals win.
Voltic Kong nad Jurrac Protops - Beatsticks that didnt quite make the preliminary picks
Damage Gate -It means making more Card Troopers, Reviving Exiled Force, and Big Shield Gardna. With some of the cards above, it makes exceeds much easier to play with
Giant Soldier of Stone - If we want to be making leviathan dragon, we need him.
Night Assailant - 2 of them. Although it is a flip effect to kill and a level 3 for Leviathan, we are also considering...
Skill Drain - The best of your "denying effects". Most of the cards work with drain out, with the exception of card trooper and Hyper Hammerhead.
So, lets smash those into the pile and build from that, cutting down to 30 and then 25
Right now, we have 34.
Now, ideally, your main build would want to be something like 14:10:6, of Monsters, spells, and traps.
However, I would prefer to rather have a total of 15 spells and traps, and 15 monsters. With some recursion going, you can even drop to 14 monsters.
So, right now we run 18 monsters, 9 traps, and 7 spells.
So, what we want to be cutting is monsters.
But, before that, we should take some time to review what the deck does well, and more importantly, what it does NOT do well.
So, we run 3 Cards that kill monsters when they get attacked, and one monster that kills monsters when it tributes itself.
For Traps and spells, we have 3 Cards that kill an opponents monsters straight.
Thats 7 Kill Cards, actually a tad bit over.
You want to always have one, so you need about 6. I would cut one Night Assailant. Goodbye infinite combo with non existant Cyber Magician.
Damage Gate and Miracles Afterglow are two cards that do similar jobs: Recursion.
Whilst Miracles Afterglow lets you get your monster back after they use a combat trick to get rid of it, Damage Gate gives more synergy with Card Trooper and Grave Squirmer
I would pick Miracles Wake, as its ability to turn a combat trick to nothing is what we want to be taking.
Now, for the final 2 cuts, I chose Jurrac Protops and Gagaga Magician. While Dropping Gagaga Magician means that I wont have Tyrus, I guess its what my card pool tells me, that I will have to focus on low level monster combat, and use removal on anything bigger.
So now, we are down to 30 Cards.
Monsters
Beaters
Insect Knight
Gene Warped Warwolf
Zombyra the Dark
Chiron the Mage
Cyber Dragon
Voltic Kong
Card Trooper
Ambtious Gofer
Killers
Exiled Force
Night Assailant
Grave Squirmer
Turtlers
Hyperhammerhead
Big Shield Gardna
Giant Soldier of Stone
Broken
Gorz
Spells
Pot of Duality
Pot of Greed
Mystical Space Typhoon
Burden of the Mighty
Offerings to teh Doomed
Forbidden Lance
Shield Crash
Traps
Half or Nothing
Skill Successor
Shadow Spell
Ring of Destruction
Call of the Haunted
Miracles Wkae
Skill Drain
What about if we had to cut another 5 cards down to 25?
So, the cards I would cut out would be:
Night Assailant
Giant Soldier of Stone
Hyper Hammerhead
With less cards in the deck, you need less monsters to fight around, and you need less monsters to turtle. As the monster killer count is much higher rate, you dont need quite as much.
As I dropped Giant Soldier of Stone, Night Assailant would go next, as, well, theres no good reason to make rank 3 exceeds anymore, and so flipping him then going for the rank 3 is gone.
Also, Hyper Hammer Head is also cut.
Note that although I did cut it in the early stages, it was to maintain good tempo, and to one shot kill some exceed monsters. Since I have ring of destruction, a 1st turn Hyper Hammerhead, set a MST, and clear their field and smash through and get ahead in damage racing would put me in the win.
An alternative would to be to drop Voltic Kong instead, as, it is "just" an 1800 beater.
For Traps, I dropped Miracles Wake and Half or Nothing.
Half or Nothing may seem obvious. it was just a stall card that put me in advantage for damage dealt so I can finish with Ring of Destruction
Miracles Wake, however, was because I dropped the Rank 3 Exceeds. The Synergy to make a Rank 3 easily with a Night assailant that got attacked is there because you had some other level 3s with the ability to keep themselves on the board. Drop one, drop all.
So, in the end, this is what our deck turned out like
What about you? What do you think?
How would you build it differently?
And now, we shall do an all important step: Putting the cards back into the packs!
The more you practice with sealed play, instead of throwing away the packs, I keep the empty packs, and record what cards are in what order, returning them so next time, I just have to open the tin, pull out 10 random packs, and build!
It does get much better once you have 30-40 packs to your pool.
And lastly and most importantly, feedback!
What do you think about the way I wrote the post?
What changes do you think could be made to the post, and most importantly,
Do you want to see more of these posts on sealed play/Alternative formats?
/sezuar
As you know, Making the Cut is a potential series about opening and building your sealed battle pack deck.
In this half, we will be building the deck from the pulls.
Usually, we would only have to build a 30 card deck, but for the sake of exploring how to make cuts, we will make an additional 5 cuts, to go down to 25, so you can use similar thought schemes to make cuts.
First, lets review our pulls
And some of our preliminary picks
12
Gorz
Cyber Dragon
Ambitious Gofer
Insect Kight
Gene Warped Warwolf
Zombyra the Dark
Card Trooper
Big Shield Gardna
Chiron the Mage
Grave Squirmer
Hyper Hammerhead
Exiled Force
7
Pot of Greed
Pot of Duality
Mystical Space Typhoon
Burden of the Mighty
Offerings to teh Doomed
Forbidden Lance
Shield Crush
6
Skill Successor
Shadow Spell
Ring of Destruction
Spell Shield Type 8
Call of the Haunted
Miracles Wake
5 Exceeds
Gachigachi
Grenosaurus
Leviathan Dragon
Gemknight Pearl
Tyrus
Seems like its coming together, right?
After this is our 2nd line picks.
A 2nd line pick is a card that didnt jump straight out as playable, but still has potential.
Level Eater - This alone potentiates Tyrus. But we still lack some level 5s, other than Cyber Dragon, which brings us to...
Gagaga Magician - This card enables Rank 2, 3, 4, and 5 plays. we have each rank, but the weakest rank we have is 4. we want to be making Rank 5 with Tyrus and Rank 3 for Leviathan. This with Cyber Dragon equals Tyrus. Which almost always equals win.
Voltic Kong nad Jurrac Protops - Beatsticks that didnt quite make the preliminary picks
Damage Gate -It means making more Card Troopers, Reviving Exiled Force, and Big Shield Gardna. With some of the cards above, it makes exceeds much easier to play with
Giant Soldier of Stone - If we want to be making leviathan dragon, we need him.
Night Assailant - 2 of them. Although it is a flip effect to kill and a level 3 for Leviathan, we are also considering...
Skill Drain - The best of your "denying effects". Most of the cards work with drain out, with the exception of card trooper and Hyper Hammerhead.
So, lets smash those into the pile and build from that, cutting down to 30 and then 25
Right now, we have 34.
Now, ideally, your main build would want to be something like 14:10:6, of Monsters, spells, and traps.
However, I would prefer to rather have a total of 15 spells and traps, and 15 monsters. With some recursion going, you can even drop to 14 monsters.
So, right now we run 18 monsters, 9 traps, and 7 spells.
So, what we want to be cutting is monsters.
But, before that, we should take some time to review what the deck does well, and more importantly, what it does NOT do well.
So, we run 3 Cards that kill monsters when they get attacked, and one monster that kills monsters when it tributes itself.
For Traps and spells, we have 3 Cards that kill an opponents monsters straight.
Thats 7 Kill Cards, actually a tad bit over.
You want to always have one, so you need about 6. I would cut one Night Assailant. Goodbye infinite combo with non existant Cyber Magician.
Damage Gate and Miracles Afterglow are two cards that do similar jobs: Recursion.
Whilst Miracles Afterglow lets you get your monster back after they use a combat trick to get rid of it, Damage Gate gives more synergy with Card Trooper and Grave Squirmer
I would pick Miracles Wake, as its ability to turn a combat trick to nothing is what we want to be taking.
Now, for the final 2 cuts, I chose Jurrac Protops and Gagaga Magician. While Dropping Gagaga Magician means that I wont have Tyrus, I guess its what my card pool tells me, that I will have to focus on low level monster combat, and use removal on anything bigger.
So now, we are down to 30 Cards.
Monsters
Beaters
Insect Knight
Gene Warped Warwolf
Zombyra the Dark
Chiron the Mage
Cyber Dragon
Voltic Kong
Card Trooper
Ambtious Gofer
Killers
Exiled Force
Night Assailant
Grave Squirmer
Turtlers
Hyperhammerhead
Big Shield Gardna
Giant Soldier of Stone
Broken
Gorz
Spells
Pot of Duality
Pot of Greed
Mystical Space Typhoon
Burden of the Mighty
Offerings to teh Doomed
Forbidden Lance
Shield Crash
Traps
Half or Nothing
Skill Successor
Shadow Spell
Ring of Destruction
Call of the Haunted
Miracles Wkae
Skill Drain
What about if we had to cut another 5 cards down to 25?
So, the cards I would cut out would be:
Night Assailant
Giant Soldier of Stone
Hyper Hammerhead
With less cards in the deck, you need less monsters to fight around, and you need less monsters to turtle. As the monster killer count is much higher rate, you dont need quite as much.
As I dropped Giant Soldier of Stone, Night Assailant would go next, as, well, theres no good reason to make rank 3 exceeds anymore, and so flipping him then going for the rank 3 is gone.
Also, Hyper Hammer Head is also cut.
Note that although I did cut it in the early stages, it was to maintain good tempo, and to one shot kill some exceed monsters. Since I have ring of destruction, a 1st turn Hyper Hammerhead, set a MST, and clear their field and smash through and get ahead in damage racing would put me in the win.
An alternative would to be to drop Voltic Kong instead, as, it is "just" an 1800 beater.
For Traps, I dropped Miracles Wake and Half or Nothing.
Half or Nothing may seem obvious. it was just a stall card that put me in advantage for damage dealt so I can finish with Ring of Destruction
Miracles Wake, however, was because I dropped the Rank 3 Exceeds. The Synergy to make a Rank 3 easily with a Night assailant that got attacked is there because you had some other level 3s with the ability to keep themselves on the board. Drop one, drop all.
So, in the end, this is what our deck turned out like
What about you? What do you think?
How would you build it differently?
And now, we shall do an all important step: Putting the cards back into the packs!
The more you practice with sealed play, instead of throwing away the packs, I keep the empty packs, and record what cards are in what order, returning them so next time, I just have to open the tin, pull out 10 random packs, and build!
It does get much better once you have 30-40 packs to your pool.
And lastly and most importantly, feedback!
What do you think about the way I wrote the post?
What changes do you think could be made to the post, and most importantly,
Do you want to see more of these posts on sealed play/Alternative formats?
/sezuar
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Heart Earth post #2
Special Summon Heiratic Tofeni Dragon
Release for Sphere of Chaos.
Simultaneous effects go on chain, Special summon Curse of Dragon from the deck, and search Garbage Ogre in whatever order.
Discard Ogre, search Garbage Lord, special summon Garbage Lord.
Overlay the 3 Level 5s. Heart Earth Dragon!
Special Summon OoParts Crystal Bones
Effect to fish up Golden Shuttle
Golden Shuttle to raise its own level by 1.
Tribute Ooparts Crystal Bones for Sphere of Chaos
Search for Garbage Ogre.
Discard Ogre, search Garbage Lord, special summon Garbage Lord.
Overlay the 3 level 5s.
Release for Sphere of Chaos.
Simultaneous effects go on chain, Special summon Curse of Dragon from the deck, and search Garbage Ogre in whatever order.
Discard Ogre, search Garbage Lord, special summon Garbage Lord.
Overlay the 3 Level 5s. Heart Earth Dragon!
Special Summon OoParts Crystal Bones
Effect to fish up Golden Shuttle
Golden Shuttle to raise its own level by 1.
Tribute Ooparts Crystal Bones for Sphere of Chaos
Search for Garbage Ogre.
Discard Ogre, search Garbage Lord, special summon Garbage Lord.
Overlay the 3 level 5s.
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