The Great Librarian Conundrum

If you look at the internet forums for Yugioh and and my fellow blogger sites, you will see that a lot of people are talking about the same thing. As we approach August, our final days before the September banlist are numbered. You will see threads about what should be banned, what should be taken off the banned list, arguments on how Konami ignores TCG exclusives, links to Konami employees saying things AREN't Imbalanced, and then "TELEDAD TELEDAD TELEDAD TELEDAD." Luckily, I wasn't around when Tele-DAD was, so you won't hear me mentioning that same, tired comparison.

What I do want to talk about today is the very hot debate on Tech Genus Hyper Librarian.

How do we fix this?

Ban it.
A lot of people want Hyper Librarian outright banned. It has only been legal in the TCG for a couple of weeks, but it has been tearing up the East with Junk Doppel decks. Here in the West, we use Plants and Reborn Tengu(and Junk, Doppel, TGs, Diva, etc) to make our Hyper Librarian decks. So, as you see, Librarian is pretty popular. What is interesting is a card that is very similar to Hyper Librarian that our frien at YGO-Outstanding Innovations posted about. Hyper Librarian is a lot like the now banned Card of Safe Return. Actually, it is a CoSR with 2400 ATK that you can draw out of your extra deck. CoSR is banned because if you build a deck around a certain strategy, the reward for doing your strategy was imbalanced. Since CoSR rewards graveyard summoning, you can build whole decks based on Yusei cards, Plant Cards, or Zombies and draw 3+ cards in a turn. Librarian can do that too. Since a lot of the best tuners to make level 5 synchros can put ANOTHER tuner on the field, each Hyper Librarian in your synchro strategy will probably get you 1 additional card draw in the same turn it is summoned. Combine it with cards like Formula Synchron and you're suddenly drawing 3 cards from your deck for the cost of whatever you used for synchro summoning. Of course, like any other card, Librarian is vulnerable to spells and traps, so a well timed Giant Trunade or trap stun should enable your "broken" card. But wait, doesn't Giant Trunade followed by multiple synchro summons usually spell disaster for your opponent anyway? The extra draw do cement your win a lot more easily, but any deck that can synchro more than once in one turn could drop 4000+ damage on the opponent with the same backup as a hyper librarian. Perhaps it isn't the cards that clear the way for Librarian that are the problem, for all we know, the tuners and synchro material that are designed for multiple synchros per turn that could be the problem.

Limit it!
There are a LARGE variety of cards that are meant to annihilate the Synchro Strategy.
-Desynchro disassembles 1 target synchro monster. If it is controlled by the opponent, the synchro material doesn't come back to the field.
-Intercept Wave puts all face up synchro monsters in defense position and will return them to the extra deck at the end of the turn(doesn't negate their effect)
-Sound Proofed is a cold wave for synchro monsters. If you control no synchro monsters, then neither player can perform synchro summons until your next turn.
-Synchro Control can take control of an opponent's synchro monster for the cost of 1000 life points. And its Quickplay. They make Librarian, then proceed to make Formula. You take control of their Librarian and now you both draw 1 card!
-Tuner's Scheme does the same thing as Synchro Control, except in Continuous Trap format. Also, there is no cost aside from keeping Tuner's Scheme face-up.

Of course, if your opponent clears your backrow with 1 card(Trunade/Heavy Storm/Trap Stun/Full House) then you probably have no chance of stopping their victory push. In fact, the only cards that would probably save you in this situation would be Effect Veiler, D.D. Crow, Shiny Black "C", Maxx "C", or a similar card that could preemptively hit one of their key cards, Gorz, Battle Fader, Tragodeia, or hope you have a good monster on the field and they don't make Brionac, Stardust or Scrap Dragon. With 1 Hyper Librarian in their deck, they have 1 chance to do "Librarian Shenanigans" and that is it, until they draw Pot of Avarice. If you look at it this way, it isn't too far of a stretch to imagine Konami banning and limiting other cards while simply limiting T.G. Hyper Librarian. I mean come on, there are tons of cards out there that you can side against Synchro Decks if that 1 Hyper Librarian is really a problem. Don't forget that they have 14 other cards to choose from, it is a "Synchro Deck" after all.

Semi-Limit it!
This changes nothing. Most people would never run 3 copies of 1 Synchro monster except for Formula Synchron.

Ban all the OTHER overpowered cards!
We can't do this, but there are some choices you could make. In the above examples, things like the 1 Giant Trunade in the deck can win you the game, simply because of how defenseless your opponent will be. Trap Stun does the same, but at least it is vulnerable for a turn. Some Tengu Synchro users actually use 2-3 Pot of Duality in their deck, just to increase their chances of getting Giant Trunade and winning on the next turn. We have been without Heavy Storm for a long time and have seen the rise of backrow-heavy fields. Even with this, Tengu Plants are still topping most events, so that goes to show that, a lot of the time, those backrow cards aren't strong enough to stop that Synchro push. We also have Tuner monsters and non-tuner monsters that enable multiple synchros per turn. Things like Glow-Up Bulb, Spore, and Doppelwarrior are the fuel to the these decks, and getting them onto the field is easy. We have things like One for One, Lonefire Blossom and Reinforcements of the Army that can pluck those cards from the deck(and ultimately onto the field) for little to no cost at all! Even with the existence of Hyper Librarian, these are very consistent ways to drop Synchro Monsters out of your Extra Deck and onto your opponent's lifeless body.

Some people want to take it a step further if we keep Librarian in the game but remove field clearing effects like Trunade. The next step would be to return 1 or 2 Book of Moon to the player, the 2nd best anti-synchro card available. In my opinion, Book of Moon makes decks like Hero Beat and Xsabers a little too strong, as their main counter are better monsters. Book of Moon is the 1st line of defense against the synchro strategy, stopping your opponent in their tracks and wasting the resources dedicated to their set-up. If they get past Book of Moon, you can Solemn Warning their Synchro Monster. If they get past Solemn Warning, you have Bottomless Trap Hole. If they get past that, you have Gemini Spark or Dimensional Prison. Book of Moon is just annoying to have to deal with. It just isn't fun not being able to play a monster onto the field.

So what do I want to do about Hyper Librarian?
I would actually like to see Hyper Librarian limited to 1 and Giant Trunade banned. With Trunade banned, Mystical Space Typhoon can go up from 2 to 3. In my opinion, banning fun strategies isn't good for the game. Limiting them and removing the over-generalized cards that prevent your opponent from defending themselves is a better way to go. Either way, there is no way to really predict what Konami will do about it since the card has equal chances of being banned or limited.

Problem-Solving Card Text::Special Summons Edition

Kevin Tewart posted on today's Yugioh Strategy Site article some new Problem-Solving card text details for Generation Force. It is the 5th post but this one is the most entertaining of them all. It is all about Special Summons, those done by effects and inherently, which has not been dealt with in a very, very long time. In fact, when LON was first released and I played Necrofear Fiends, I was one of those un-informed players that tributed 2 monsters to Set his Necrofear in face-down defense position. Eventually, cards like Dark Necrofear received new text: "You can not Normal Summon or Set this card. This card can only be special summoned by..." The new text makes it bluntly obvious on when you can play a monster and how. Here is a copy-paste of it for your enjoyment!

Proving Internet Duels are usually bad

All of these duels are using the prototype version of "Better Storm," A competitive Nordic build. It is still going through a lot of testing and will hopefully find its way on the Deck Pages soon.

Duel 1:: Versus Malefic Skill Drain?
The Opponent goes first. He activates Fusion Gate. Removing a Cyber End Dragon from his Extra deck, he summons Malefic Cyber End Dragon (4000/2800). He sets 1 f/d card and ends his turn.

I start with Book of Moon, Monster Reborn, Super Nimble Mega Hamster, Ryko Lightsworn Hunter, Pot of Duality and draw into Trap Dustshoot. Activating Duality, I chose Gleipnir, the Fetters of Fenrir out of Tengu and Trunade. For some reason, the opponent uses Mystical Space Typhoon on my Duality(I may as well quit now) so we can already tell that this duel is going to be worthless for testing. I set my Dustshoot, Fetters and Book and pass.

The opponent draws a card and I use Dustshoot during his standby phase. Dustshoot reveals Meteor of Destruction(really?), Magical Mallet, another Malefic Cyber End and Fusilier the Dual Mode Beast. I send Fusilier back into his deck. In his main phase he uses Meteor that deals 1000 damage to my LP. He then uses Magical Mallet to shuffle in his 1 M. Cyber End and draw into a 1-card hand. Next he attacks my set Ryko with M. Cyber End. I flip Fetters to search out Tanngjostr of the Nordic Beasts. The attack goes through and Ryko is flipped. It destroys Fusion gate, milling a Reborn Tengu, Pot of Avarice, and a Mega Hamster. M. Cyber End is destroyed by its own effect. Then Ryko is destroyed and sent to the grave, in which I can special summon Gnjostr from my hand. The opponent ends his turn with no field and 1 card in his hand.

7000::8000

I draw into Mind Control. Switching Gnjostr to attack mode activates the effect and searches out my level 4 tuner Guldfaxe of the Nordic Beasts. After that I can use Monster Reborn to summon the Tengu from my graveyard. 4+4 = Colossal Fighter(in case he can drop another Cyber End on his turn) and Tengu replaces itself with another copy. I then attack with all 3 monsters and end my turn.

The opponent draws into his 2nd card. He sets it and ends the turn. During his end phase I use book of moon on my own Gnjostr.

On my turn I draw Giant Trunade(game over). I activate it, returning his 1 card. I can then flip Gnjostr and synchro for 8 again, but the opponent forfeits the duel.

Duel 2: Versus...Monarchs?
I go first with an awesome hand of Tengu, Horn of the Phantom Beast, Gnjostr, Solemn Warning, Duality, and Mirror Force. First thing I do is Duality for Mystical Space Typhoon, shuffling in a Fetters and Sangan. I normal summon Reborn Tengu, then set everything but the Tanngjostr.

The opponent draws a card and sets 1 Monster and 1 spell/trap. During the endphase I Space Typhoon it, his own Space Typhoon.

I draw into Giant Trunade. without playing a card I attack with Reborn Tengu, revealing a...Marshmallon? Marshmallon deals 1000 damage to me. I set my Gnjostr and end the turn.

7000:8000

He draws a card, Even though I have 3 set cards, he tributes Marshmallon for Mobius, the Frost Monarch. I promptly Solemn Warning that. He sets 1 spell/trap and ends his turn.

5000:8000

I draw Fetters. The first card to play is Trunade, getting rid of whatever that f/d could have been. Then I flip Gnjostr to summon Guldfaxe. Guldfaxe and Tengu cluster together into a Stardust Dragon, and summons my next Tengu from my deck. I attack with all 3 monsters to deal 5000 damage. I set my final card, Fetters and end my turn.

5000::3000

The opponent summons D.D. Warrior Lady! Monster Reborn my Guldfaxe, oh no! D.D. Lady and Guldfaxe make a Thoughtruler Archfiend. The opponent attacks my Stardust with Thoughtruler and eats Mirror Force. Good Game.

Duel 3: Versus True Six Samurai
I lose the dice roll and the opponent goes first in classic Six Samurai Style.
1) Shien's Smoke Signal for Mizuho.
2) Activate Shien's Dojo. Activate Six Samurai United.
3) Normal Summon Mizuho. Special Summon Kizan.
4) Activate United, Draw 2 cards.
5) Special Summon Grand Master. Special Summon Kizan.
6) Send Dojo to the grave and special summon Kagemusha.
7) Mizuho and Kagemusha are sent to the grave for a Shi En.
8) Reinforcements of the Army to search out Kizan.
9) Special Summon Kizan.
10) Turn ends with 3 Kizan, 1 Grandmaster, 1 Shi En, 2 cards in hand and no spells or traps.

My opening hand is 2 Fetters, a Ryko, Guldfaxe and Bottomless trap hole. I then Draw another Guldfaxe on my turn, but that's okay. Guldfaxe special summons itself to the field. Then I normal Summno Ryko. 4+2 = Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. I use Brionac's effect to send Shi En back to the extra deck, discarding a Fetters. Then Brionac can attack over Grandmaster. I set my bottomless and Fetters and end my turn with just a Guldfaxe in hand.

The opponent forfeits.




Not all duels are great ones.

The Side Deck

In the last thread, I mentioned a few interesting points that Jason Greber-meyer brought up on TCG-Player.com. The side deck is nothing new to YGO, but it is one of the most important pieces of the game. It can fulfill many different roles:
1) To punish your opponent for using certain cards in their deck.
2) To remove barriers your opponent places that make it difficult for you to play.
3) To psych out your opponent, such as by siding out key strategies and incorporating new ones.
4) To outspeed your opponent.

Most player's side decks are the same on the local level. Or perhaps it may be better to say that a majority of players who don't put as much thought into their side deck, use similar cards. If they aren't playing Tengu Plants, you would probably see:
2 D.D. Crow
2 Chain Dissappearance
1-2 Gozen Match
2 Thunder King
1-2 Puppet Plant
2 Kinetic Soldier
2 Cyber Dragon
Chimeratech
If you ARE using Tengu Plants or a similar low trap count deck, you may see something like this:
2 D. D. Crow
2 Malevolent Catastrophe
2 Thunder King
2-3 Cyber Dragon
Chimeratech
2 Puppet Plant
1-2 Nobleman of Crossout
1-2 Smashing Ground

That is a pretty generic side that can hit a number of problem cards in the game. For Yugioh in 2011, the strength of this side is questionable, as there are more decks out there than ever. There's Light and Shadow Imprisoning Mirrors, Maxx "C", Rivalry of the Warlords if your deck can use it, Level Limit Area B, Dust Tornado, Trap Dustshoot, and many many more to choose from. There's no way you can fit all of it it, right? Well, I think it is important to take a GOOD look at your side deck, especially the cards that you run multiple copies of, and decide if you really need 2 of those in the deck. Just like Jason's topic, let's take D.D. Crow for example. Drawing 1 in your opening hand is awesome against Tengu Plant. It can hit Dandylion, Glow-Up Bulb, Spore, or whatever else. Now, most people run 2 in their side deck to increase the chance of getting the 1 in your first hand. As awesome as that is, what is the reward for drawing into both D.D. Crow? Sure it can deny a Pot of Avarice or a Spore after you hit Dandy and Glow up, but now, D.D. Crow has turned itself into a one for one, or possibly even a minus one, just so that you could use it twice. Don't forget that using a spore that was milled to the graveyard doesn't really cost the opponent much, but rather stuns their play for the cost of 1 card out of your hand. If you have been holding that 1st(or 2nd) Crow for a few turns, then it was technically dead in your hand. Most players wait for the right opportunity to shut down a play with Crow that could have been something else in the long run. Let's take a look at a few choices for that SECOND D.D. Crow:
1) Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer - Tengu Plants don't use many monsters over 1700 ATK. Kycoo is at 1800, so it is already a beater that they have to synchro to get over it. If your opponent has milled even 1 monster to the grave, then Kycoo has fulfilled its role of the 2nd D.D. Crow. Even removing something like Tengu or Lonefire blossom from the graveyard means that they're in-hand Debris or Avarice could be dead. While on the field, Kycoo also prevents the activation of Spore, giving it a 2nd stun if you summon it at the right time. The key here is to not summon Kycoo to swing over a ryko. If Kycoo was a D.D. crow in your hand, you wouldn't use its effect unless you knew it was going to work. Finally, in a topdecking situation, Kycoo could be a better draw than a Crow. Topdecking D.D. Crow while your opponent is in the same situation relies on your opponent to draw a card to make your Crow break even. If it was a Kycoo, you could have simply removed 2 key cards now and hopefully deny your opponent use of their graveyard-based effect.
2) Maxx "C" - Seen in tons of side decks in the World Championship Qualifier in Europe, Maxx "C" is another great option for that 2nd Crow's spot. Whenever you play Maxx "C", it will replace itself with a new card, causing it to break even. After that, it gives your opponent 2 choices, to either let you draw into more cards(i.e. Dark Hole, Monster Reborn, Solemn Warning, or D.D. Crow #1) or stop their turn now and take the hit. Maxx "C" can also work against decks that you usually wouldn't side a D.D. Crow into such as against Venus in Agents. I believe the key to using Maxx "C" in a deck is dependent on the number of good draws you have in your deck versus the number of bad ones. For example, if you're playing Hero Beat, most draws can be turned into something - a Spark, a Miracle Fushion, etc. In X-Sabers or Nordics, where you have a few dead traps, you may have to side out some of those dead draws to make Maxx "C" more efficient.

The idea here is to decide if siding in 2 copies of the same card, just to get one sooner, is better than having a side deck of MULTIPLE cards. That way you don't have to side in 1 strategy(that your opponent may predict), you could be siding in multiple. I believe that the only time that 2 or even 3 cards are justified for a side deck is when the cards are instantly playable. A great example is Gozen match and Rivalry of the Warlords against(almost any) decks that are hurt by it(Plants and Frogs with Gozen, Scraps with Rivalry). In many situations, you can flip Rivalry or Gozen on the first turn after it is set and instantly stun your opponent. If you drew into your second one, then it isn't TOO bad as destroying your first will be a priority for your opponent. Cyber Dragon does this too for many decks, as it is rarely a dead draw if you happen to get it. Bumping that 2nd copy up to 3 is necessary for some. The reasoning is either A) If I draw any of these, I will instantly win the game, or B) My matchup against Deck XX is so bad, that I need 3 copies of this card so I can compete. It is hard to say whether or not those are sound arguments to make, especially with how many decks one may have to face with only 15 cards to switch out.
Michel Grüner - Tengu Plants
1 Dust Tornado
1 Thunder King Raoih
1 D.D. Crow
2 Cyber Dragon
2 Puppet Plant
1 Kinetic Soldier
2 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
1 Dimensional Prison
1 Ally of Justice Core Destroyer
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dagon
1 Debunk
1 Black Horn of Heaven

Sami Sekkoum - Gravekeepers
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Cyber Dragon
2 Kinetic Soldier
2 Gozen Match
2 Caius the Shadow Monarch
1 Deck Devastation Virus
1 Rivalry of Warlords
2 Mystical Space Typhoon

Liu Hoi Ki “海狗” - Darkworld (OCG)
Side: 15
2 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2 Cyber Dragon
3 Puppet Plant
1 Kinetic Soldier
2 Chain Disappearance
3 Skill Drain
2 D.D. Crow
William Sy - Six Samurai
1 Greenkappa
2 Puppet Plant
2 Cyber Dragon
1 Dark Hole
2 Light-Imprisoning Mirror
1 Musakani Magatama
2 Dust Tornado
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Rivalry of Warlords

Jose Carlos Ubilla Grijalva - Machina Gadgets
2 D.D Crow
2 Effect Veiler
1 Malefic Cyber End Dragon
3 Gozen Match
2 Kinetic Soldier
2 Light-Imprisoning Mirror
2 Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror

I suggest all of my readers to take a good long look at your side deck and the number of copies of each card. Ask yourself, which cards give you an advantage over your opponent? What are you lacking in your main deck that has to be sided in for certain matches? If you think you don't have room to side certain cards in, try to find the most redundant cards in your deck after you decide on what cards simply don't work against your opponent. Running Six Sams and getting nailed by Anti-Meta Skill Drain? Consider dropping a smoke signal for something more important. If all else fails, you could always run a 41 or 42 card deck, with those spots dedicated to your side. A random seven tools, smashing ground, or even Dark Bribe as your 41st card can be easily taken out without removing key components from your deck.

LoL get's me giggling

I haven't played PC games on my computer in a long time. I believe the last one I played was Nexon's Vindictus. While that is a fun game, we farmed the same missions over and over again and that grew stale pretty fast. I didn't think I would get into any other PC game until TERA is released for North America, but I think I have found one!

The initial install.

Friend of the blog Kavy T. and Johanny S. have gotten me into League of Legends, an online game from Riot. If any of you have played the Warcraft 3 mod "DotA"(Defenders of the Ancients? I don't remember what it stands for.) then you would know how LoL works. In League of Legends(LoL), you have 2 opposing teams of champions, each one controlled by a different player. They have 1 camp on the map for each team, in the bottom left and top right of the map. Along the 3 roads to the camp are turrets that must be destroyed in order to advance. To help you along, minions(known as creeps in DotA), are spawned periodically and automatically advance towards the enemy base, fighting whatever is along their path. The objective is to destroy the enemy's base before they destroy your own.

Killing bots is nothing to be proud of.

So LoL is a pvp based game. There are a few maps to choose from, and the objective is the same on every map. The minions and turrets don't really change either. The only real thing that changes in the game is the part that makes it fun in the first place, the champion roster. As I am typing this, I believe the roster is up to 79 playable champions. Each one has their own set of abilities. It can be generalized however as your tank, burst mage, melee DPS, ranged DPS, stealth assassin and support with lots of little variants of each one. There are also tons of items to buy for your character, as you gain gold throughout a fight. Each game you play has you to start from scratch, so you build your character the way you want it each time you play the game. Because of this, many of the characters have different builds you can play them with. Tied to your main account is a "Summoner Level" and IP which is game currency. You can use that IP to buy things like new champions(you don't have access to all the champs at the start of the game), skins for your champions, and best of all runes for your champions. Runes are "account buffs" that give you additional stats to any character you choose, like HP+1%, Armor Piercing +2%, and other neat things. Adding to that is the Summoner Level again, which gives you 1 Mastery point per level. Those points go into even MORE account buffs, making your character's build more and more customizable. Think about it, instead of having a high Attack Speed character that is focused on damage, you can buff his natural HP with your account buffs, increase his natural Armor and Magic Resistance, then toss Life Stealing items on him so that he attacks at a fast rate and steals a large chunk of his already big HP pool with every hit. Or if you like one of his skills, but it is designed to not be spammed with a long recast and high mana cost, you can buff that too to make an "AP"(Ability Power) version of the character.

Perhaps the most fun, tied into how many characters there are, is the amount of skill required to be successful. I started the game with Vayne and Cassiopiea. Vayne is your typical crossbow DPS champ and Cass is a poisoning harasser. Cass is a tough character for me because I couldn't burst down opponents very easily(which Cass can do if you build her correctly). Vayne was awesome though. She gains bonus damage on every 3rd hit, and she can tumble around to close the gap on enemies or run away. Toss on ASPD gear and you have a character that can whittle away life pretty quickly. Once I got enough IP I bought Leblanc. Leblanc is a "Burst caster"(meaning that she does skills in succession to kill her enemies) with a high skill curve. Her abilities are simple - single shot high damage bolt, Teleport to hit enemies then teleport back to your original position, chain enemies which slows them and ultimately roots them to the ground for a couple of seconds, and Mimic your last spell with bonus damage. The part that makes her difficult is figuring out which skill to use most efficiently. If you Teleport to an enemy and Bolt->Mimic, you may not kill them. Worse yet is that now your Teleport is on recast and so is Bolt and Mimic. You could Chain first, then bolt, then mimic instead. If they don't die, You stomp on them with Teleport. If they STILL aren't dead, Bolt should be ready to cast again. If they don't die from that, well, you may not have wanted to initiate fights with super high HP characters.

I have more kills than anyone on either team and 0 deaths. We still lost this match.

My current record for the game is 10 wins and 15 losses. That sucks but the worse part is that it is almost never my fault. The most recent game I played gave me a 9::0 kill::death ratio. That is 9 kills without even anyone stopping me. When I get to that point, Leblanc can kill just about anyone with all the equipment I bought with the bonus gold from mowing down other players. However, when the rest of your team has 1 kill and 5+ deaths each, they will surrender and you lose the game. "Farming" is when a character dies repeatedly to another and "feeds" them gold and experience. Really, any champ that was fed will be a force to reckon with, so playing with bad players can end in disaster. Luckily, Kavy and Johanny aren't bad at the game. In fact, they are too good; walking away with over 15 kills per match shows skill. They even play with multiple champs, whereas I have my two(for now).

There are many champs to choose from, and that makes the game a lot of fun. My next champ will probably be Sona or Orianna. If you like pvp games and the kind of strategy that revolves around knowing all character's strengths and weaknesses, then give League of Legends a try. It's free anyway, so why not?

Yu-Gi-Oh 2011 Part 3

There are more things to hit the game this year than last year. We have a lot of awesome reprints that many, many decks can use. There are new cards and a brand new monster type that give decks more options than ever before to how they want create field presence and obtain resources. New information has been dropped to distributors by Konami for a new Product scheduled in October 2011. Remember how I said 2011 will be major? Yeah, Konami isn't done yet.

The hottest news in Yugioh today is the new Legendary Collection 2, that focuses on the GX era. If you bought the first Legendary Collection binder like I did(mostly for the binder), then you are familiar with the contents. In LC-EN, we got 3 unplayable versions of the Egyptian God cards. After that we got 3 Ultra Rare Alternate Art cards for Blue-Eyes, Red-Eyes, and Dark Magician. Finally, it included the first 6 packs, all from the original Yugioh series. It was a fun little piece of history that was mostly intended for the casual player. LC-EN02 would change that, as it has enough content for any sort of player. Well, that is according of the poorly leaked set of information. In fact, I was tempted not to post this at all until there is a product page on Konami's Product Site. In the interest of time and all things hype, I included it in this post.

Only Available as a Secret Rare from Tactical Evolution

Legendary Collection 2: the Duel Academy Years (LC02-EN) has only these confirmed cards: Uria, Lord of Searing Flames; Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder; and Raviel, Lord of Phantasms. Those aren't too game-impacting, but the other contents are. According to the info leak, there is 5 9-card packs or a hand selected 266 card set. Each pack will have 1 Secret, 1 Super, 1 Ultra, 1 Rare and 5 common cards. The cards to be included are supposed to be "some of the top cards of the GX era (2005-2008)." I for one neither played or watched Yugioh GX, so I am unsure of what kind of cards to expect. Obviously there are lots of HERO cards(already confirmed Elemental HERO Tempest) and a few popular cards like (confirmed)Ultra Rare Instant Fusion. A lot of people around the internet are expecting Venomiga, Neos Wiseman, Dark Armed Dragon, Crystal Beasts, and other cards at assorted rarities. The impact this has on the game is that a lot of these cards are brand new for new players. They also finish off a number of deck types that got support recently, so your friends who wanted to make Hero Beat or a Six Sam hybrid, may now have the chance to do so. Expect this product to sell very well once more of the cards are confirmed.

Yugioh 2011 Part 3.5
The name of the game right now is consistency and the more consistent your deck is, the easier time you will have. Consistency isn't just running multiple draw cards and multiple search cards, it also has to do with
-The number of each copy of a card in your deck.
-The number of cards in your deck with similar effects.
-The number of cards in the deck that cannot be used until certain conditions are met.
Back in the day, the only real consistency you got was from running 3 of each 1800 ATK normal monster. Some man-eater bugs, and assorted spells and traps. If you look at a lot of winning decks nowadays, the same holds true. Glads for example use a very, very small monster pool and spells and traps that do mostly the same thing. The deck could easily run more monsters if the owner wanted, but that will decrease the deck's ability to perform the same actions every duel. Some people think that that ability can be too strong. I read an interesting point the other day from Jason Grabher-Meyer's posts on TCGplayer.com that talked about certain really, really good cards that are out right now. The article eventually points back to how this relates to our banlist. A very, very good strategy right now is running a low monster count in Legendary Six Samurai decks. With 3 Smoke Signal, 1 Reinforcement of the Army, and 3 Six Samurai United, it is pretty easy to get to the cards you want the most in your deck. A lot of decks have(or once had)this ability to go deep into their deck and pull out extremely consistent strategies. Another example that Jason gave was Nordics, which have 3 Fetters, 3 Mega-Hamster, and Sangan for most people, all for a very consistent way to get Tanngjostr. This is another sound strategy that gives you extremely high chances of doing what your deck is meant to do.

Not the worst part of the deck, but 3 is a little excessive

So how does this relate to the banlist and ultimately Yugioh in 2011? Well, in a couple of ways. Consistency isn't bad for the game at all, but sometimes it goes a little too far. Here's a list of examples of how bad it can go:
1) Nordics can flip Fetters anytime to get any Nordic out of the deck. The best nordic is summoned during your opponent's battle phase, and/or requires protection for 1 full turn. The 2nd best nordic is a 3-way tie between 3 of them that do mostly the same thing. You normal summon them, then synchro. Either way, nothing that is actually "ridiculous."
2) Frog Monarchs have Multiple Swap Frogs, Dupe Frog, and One for One. If you get even 1 of those in your opening hand, your frog engine becomes alive. The engine itself doesn't do anything. When you combine it with other cards, you create a system that is almost self-sustaining. For now, it can't win the game on it's own, but it will be able to once we get a few more legalized cards.
3) Psychics had 2 extremely consistent cards that could fetch almost ANYTHING from your deck. If you had either one, you can play any card your heart desired. Even if you don't draw into Mind Master, there used to be multiple Emergency Teleports that could Fetch Mind Master out. Teleport provides the deck great consistency, but when combined with Mind Master, it becomes a game winning play, only really needing Mind Master.
4) Six Sams have FIVE spell cards to get monsters from the deck. Perhaps the least powerful is Shien's Dojo, then Asceticism, then Shien's Smoke Signal, then Reinforcement of the Army, then Gateway of the Six Samurai. Only 2 of those are limited to 1. Dojo is considered weak because it can only really pull Shien's Squire from the deck with ease. However, Squire+Kizan makes Shi En. Not the most consistent strategy in the game, but pretty balanced. Asceticism is a step up, and can pull better monsters from your deck in almost the same way Dojo does. Smoke signal has a limitation of being for level 3 monsters so that does in fact weaken it. It doesn't become a serious problem until you realized that there are 3 of them, 1 ROTA and 3 Six Samurai United that turns those searches into even more of an issue.

On the Flipside of consistent strategies that are still legal, there are ones that are not (as)legal anymore.
1) Blackwings had multiple whirlwinds and multiple Kaluts. Unlike Gateway, Black Whirlwind requires normal summons to work, meaning that it will most likely only activate once per turn. Almost similar to Six Sams, Blackwings could search out cards that could be summoned easily. From there, they are rewarded with either 2 Monsters on the field, or 1 new Synchro Monster. Kalut is also searchable by Whirlwind which provides competitive support for the deck. The deck itself has a lot of support, but none of it is so dangerous or consistent that it can turn a 5 card hand into a completely committed field. On top of that, the 2nd support card, Icarus Attack was limited to 2. So here we have a deck with a less consistent strategy that was tamed.
2) Rescue Cat is cute and fun. Hey, you may as well call it Rescute Cat. In Flamvell Cat Synchro, you could use Summoner Monk to get Cat out of your deck. Then you could synchro an Airbellum and Monk together to make Arcanite Magician. From there you could attack for 2400+1600(or whatever other card you summon with Cat) or blow up 2 cards on your opponent's field for the price of 1 Normal summon and 1 spell card. Seems pretty solid if you ask me. In X-sabers, you could pull Darksoul out of the deck with Airbellum. That makes Hyunlei, the best level 6 monster Rescue Cat can make in my opinion, which destroys your opponent's spells and traps. If you lose Hyunlei to Bottomless Trap hole, its okay because Darksoul will get you another X-saber monster. Cat was banned before pure beasts could make a debut. With Rescue cat you could pull our Elephun and Mine Mole and make Naturia Beast, Mole activates letting you draw a card! You could search out Cat with Giant Germ, use the effect on your turn, then Gold Sarco for Dark Desertapir and do it again. This combo never worked because Cat was banned before Duelist Genesis was released. Also, compared to more consistent strategies, Rescue Cat was a boss monster for your deck. That means your strategy can revolve around it yes, just as much as preparing your graveyard for Judgment Dragon. The difference here is that there are stronger cards that are Limited, Semi-Limited, and even unlimited.


I believe that the real way to decide what will be changed on a banlist is to figure out what strategies are just too consistent for their own good. It isn't the boss monsters or "power crept" effects(like Fullhelmknight) that make things bad, it is the potency of their consistency. Believe it or not, Konami probably actually likes cool combos that can secure you the game. But the power cards don't become an issue until the strategy is just too easy to perfom. Cards like Stratos(which can search for more copies of itself.) are limited to 1, Dandylion was too easy to mill at 2, and so on. What is scary is that a few cards we have now are pretty consistent and there is no real way to say how dangerous they are to the game. A great example is Pot of Duality, which provides a way for decks to attempt to grab cards out of their deck. It may not go as deep into the deck as RotA, or provide you with additional resources like Charge of the Light Brigade, but it does accelerate your strategy at least a turn or 2 in advance. If you look around the internet, some players think that Duality will be part of the September banlist, ESPECIALLY after the reprint. If anything, I could imagine it going to 2, but the card isn't as dangerous as some of the consistent strategies I listed above. I'm sure we will get at least one format where everyone can use that Super Rare Duality until Konami tells us that it is too much at 3.

In any case, if overly-accessible strategies is the problem to fix, then I expect to see something happen to Smoke Signal, Six Sam United, Miracle Fusion, Mind Master, Formula Synchron and Monster Reborn. In all honesty, most of our other cards are okay. Try to remember that having awesome cards isn't a bad thing, even in 2011 when we get a LOT of awesome stuff. We're all supposed to be exciting about powerful cards, right?

Yu-Gi-Oh 2011 Part 2

Remember how I said that the way we see the game will be changing a lot this year? Well, with Generation Force announcements, it is becoming more and more clear that this is true. More people will have access to better cards and more decks that you did not expect to face against will be in front of you. The announcement of the GENF collector tins are evidence.

These tins, releasing on August 30th(2 days before the September banlist) only have 2 cards revealed for each, but it is already created a stir on the internet. Old news to some, but the tins both come with Super Rare Pot of Duality. The Leviathan tin comes with Dark Simorgh and the Zenmaister tin comes with Elemental HERO Gaia.
The tins are noted to have great cards at a great price, so we would hope that more cards will be reprinted as Super Rares. Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo? Archlord Kristya? Darklord Asmodeus? There is no way to know until the cards are revealed. Either way, more cards for more people equals out to more decks you as a player have to face. On the other hand, it also means more decks that you can build. Always wanted to try Bambooshoot control, Agents, Gravekeepers, Simorgh Ninjas, or HERO Beat? Even my Koaki's will get a competitive boost thanks to owning more Duality cards.


There is a lot more to look forward to in 2011 besides a Pot of Duality reprint. It is July, the start of the 2nd half of the year, and there is another reprint set to look forward to. That would be Turbo Pack 6. The North American National World Championship Qualifer is this weekend(I won't be there) which just about marks the end of this tournament season. Turbo pack 5 was fun for shiny cards moreso than needed reprints. Turbo pack 6 has the advantage of a great season with a great variety of cards to give rarity bumps. For super rares, there are cards like Spore, One for One, Scrap Beast, Future Fusion, Formula Synchron, and other goodies that could use rarity bumps. Formula Synchron could honestly get any form of rarity bump and make the set hot, hot, hot. The Ultra could be a number of things that are really popular right now. Giant Trunade has never been higher than Super Rare, and it is used in every deck. That could make it a prime choice for the Ultra Rare. As far as the Ultimate goes, I wouldn't mind seeing Ultimate Gorz, as nothing else really screams out at me except for Formula.

Well...one card does. It isn't available in the TCG yet, but it is tearing up the OCG with its 100% broken power.


Shooting Quasar is the epitome of ridiculousness in a single card. Previously seen as difficult to summon, you can make a Shooting Quasar with 2 cards minimum. Perhaps the most trouble free way to summon it is with 3 cards - TCG exclusive Reborn Tengu, Glow-Up Bulb, and a Level 1 monster on your side of the field. For those who don't know what a Shooting Quasar does, it is a synchro using 1 Synchro Tuner Monster and 2 Synchro Monsters.
A) It has 4000ATK and 4000DEF
B, C, D, E) It can Attack a minimum of 2 times per turn. (Up to the number of non tuner synchro monsters you used to make it.)
F, G, H, I, J-L) It can negate 1 Spell, Trap, or Monster effect activation per turn and destroy it.
M-Z) When it is removed from the field, you can Special Summon a Shooting Star Dragon from your Extra Deck.

The card is completely unreasonable, but in Japan, you can get it out of a cool Yugioh book. Here in the TCG, it is unconfirmed when or how we will access it. I am hoping that it is released in ONE way. As the new Championship card for the 2011 (GENF) Season. See what I mean by this year being a very important one? If it is released as a Championship card, it will blow all other Championship cards away in turns of playability. Dark End Dragon had its time when Blackwings were popular, but unless the September banlists makes some serious hits, then SQD will be the best prize card ever. Reborn Tengu alone makes the card more powerful in the TCG than in the OCG, and even with a possible limit on T.G. Hyper Librarian, the TCG can still make SQD without committing too many cards to its summon.

Tomorrow(hopefully) I'll talk about the September Banlist. I know we are only half way through July, but it is important to think about it if you can't finish off a deck by September 1st. See you guys tomorrow.

Tera Online - The True Action RPG

Most my readers probably do not know this, but I used to play MMORPGs religiously. My very first was Final Fantasy XI at its NA PS2 launch. At that time, FFXI had a very, very narrow fan base as the game was pretty difficult to just pick up and play. Shortly after, WoW came out and the population for FFXI remained steady for a number of years. Currently, it has received a number of great updates and the fans that are playing are having more fun than ever before. FFXI will always be an amazing game to me, despite its age starting to show(no thanks to PS2 limitations). But even in 2011, the PC version of FFXI has great environments, great music, and iconic monsters.

I'm the one in the middle. I'm directly under the flag with the swirling blue around me, denoting Level 99.

The next MMO I picked up in early 2006 was Ragnarok Online. RO is one of the masters of the old fashioned Korean Grind. The first private server I played had experience rates that were 3x the official rates, and back then, that was a very small increase. If I remember correctly, it took me 7000 stings(Giant glove monsters that are made of mud) to get from level 98-99 for my first class. It is a cute, easy game with a lot of replay value. It even has a very competitive PVP mode that I haven't really seen in any other game. Unfortunately, PVP in RO is a war of numbers, where the guild with the most bodies to lose will USUALLY overpower the smaller guild. Believe it or not I was the Guild Leader for our little group for a long, long time(after the original one stepped down in 2007. My time as leader took us across multiple servers and left a HUGE impact on each one. Ragnarok also holds a special place in my heart for other reasons, as it is where I met my significant other. Needless to say, I feel like I have "beaten" that MMO, so the chances of me going back(despite Chelsea asking me every 3 months) are slim to none.

So that brings us to what this post is really about, MMO's in 2011. WoW is still going strong, and I did give it a try. The solo grind of quests is pretty entertaining, but you can't do the "fun" raids with just an Orc Warrior and a Blood Elf. Aoin looked cool for a while too! I didn't get a chance to try it, but the game is gorgeous and definitely cutting edge. Our friends on BlueGartr do say that the grind is just like all the other Korean MMOs, depressing. After that, the entire story, much like WoW, is based on PVP. Chelsea and I are sort of burned out on PVP at the minute.

Author: Cloudius

What is this awesomeness??

Author: Cian

FAIRY WOODS ARE YOU KIDDING ME??

TERA is still a Korean MMO, but it goes in an entirely new direction. First off is the Mature Rating. The game has a big storyline, and there is blood and gore. After that, there is the lack of clothing that you will see on a few of the characters. Don't worry, they aren't naked. Its just that the game has evolved beyond "stand there and get hit while you judge your DPS versus the monster's." TERA is all action, so you move around and dodge attacks. Your attacks are non-targeting also, so just like the coolest action games, you simply attack in the direction you want. With all the dodging, who need's a full set of body armor anyhow? But characters aren't the only things that look good, many enemies are huge and all of them have great detail to them.

I believe that TERA has a full game in Korea now, with a Japanese Closed Beta coming soon. There will be a NA release, and everyone is waiting for a Beta of that. The developers believe that TERA's localization for Western Audiences is very important, and it seems like they are taking in a lot of feedback. There are many interviews on the web that can give you a good idea of what to expect from this game. One thing that is focused on in a lot of interviews is how easy "Western" MMOs are, and how that makes us want to play them(Such a slap in the face I know, but they are right lol). David Noonan from En Masse has an interview on the official Tera website, that explains how TERA already feels very Western. He says that all players should be able to solo if they want to, and group leveling is also an option. Some skill is required to play, even for healers, but even those who aren't fully committed(for example: those without fully upgrade gear only dropped from instanced fights), can still play the game and help out their friends. There are PVP zones in the game and a whole "Political System" made out of it.

There seems to be a lot of choice in TERA too. As of right now, there are 8 playable classes and lots of races to play them. Besides the scantily clad women and Cat-girls, there are huge beast/rock things, demonoid looking people, even small racoon looking things. There is a bit of choice in the classes, as each "staple of combat" can be done with more than 1 class. Range combat has always been split between magic users and rangers, but things like Healing isn't just restricted to "Healer." I'm actually unsure of what class or race I would play in TERA, everything just looks awesome. Keep an eye out for this game though, I feel like it will be the next big thing. I for one, need a new computer for these games. I couldnt run FFXIV higher than 1 FPS, and I know that TERA will murder it too. So sad, I want to play this game lol.

Author: FriskUni

Marvel Vs CAPcom! How do I Jill for $$$

So despite all the cool new games that are out, I am still trying to practice at Marvel vs Capcom. There are a few characters I like, but the only one I am willing to use as a point character is Jill. I talked a bit about my MvC 3 gaming in the last post about playing competitively and this Mahvel vs CAPcom post. Since those posts, I have taken a bit of a vacation from the game(Playing Dead Space 2 and Yugioh), so I haven't gotten much better. I have improved slightly, and playing online can be worse than having teeth pulled with the lag. Jill doesn't like laggy matches.

You guys may not be able to tell, but I'm about to get PUNISHED for missing this kick.

I've been doing a bit of experimentation for my team. As of right now, most people online agree that Jill on points with Wesker as an assist is the best team available for her. The 3rd slot is often set as a beam assist to allow Jill to cover ground more safely. Wesker gives Jill multiple advantages.
1) His OTG(off-the-ground) assist is one of the easiest and fastest in the game. Jill only has 1 OTG normal move which is a command throw, so using a character that has an assist like this helps to extend her combos.
2) You can DHC(Delayed Hyper Combo) her Raven Spike into Wesker's counter combo. When this is done(consider a glitch by most), the Damage scaling and hit stun is reset. This means that unlike a normal combo that gets increasingly less powerful on each consecutive hit, the damage resets to its original percentage. Not only that, but the hit stun, that degrades over time, gets a bit of a boost. "Resets" are ways that a lot of players one-shot full characters.

There are other assists that are OTGs.
Akuma
Chris Redfield(relaunches opponent after a ground bounce)
Crimson Viper (close range)
Deadpool
Hulk (doesn't launch them very high if I remember correctly)
Iron Man
Sentinel
She-Hulk
X-23

There are also a few Hyper combos that you can DHC into.
Amaterasu
Arthur
Dante
Deadpool
Felicia
Hsien-Ko
Morrigan
Phoenix
Sentinel
She-Hulk
Taskmaster
Thor
Trish
Tron
V.Joe
Wesker
Wolverine
X-23
Zero

I'm becomming a big fan of Trish and Tron, though I can't use them all that well. Morrigan is a character I already know how to play, so using her on the team should still be pretty decent. Even though it looks different in tournament play, the assists should probably not be spammed. If you go online, people will spam all the Sentinel assists and Akuma assists they want, which is sometimes okay because they can't be punished too easily(except Sentinel). Assists are only 1/3 of the game though, being able to hold combos is very important so I would like to direct your attention to this great video.

Author: pulsr

So after Step 1, which is finding 2 characters to play with Jill, I have to learn how to do combos with her. There are a few basic combos with Jill that are easy to do, but the problem is doing her full combo strings. She has a few of them and they involve doing her Flip Kicks and Feral Cancels. Over the course of time that I have been writing this SINGLE blog post, I have been practicing and practicing with Jill online. Though I still lose to cheap tactics, I have just about gotten her "magic combo" down. The "magic combo" is the most basic combo that pretty much all characters do: Low attack, Medium attack, High attack, S attack(launch). The combo I have been doing with Jill sucks and is so basic that I had to go make new ones.

That is Low, Medium, High, QCF-Low(Flip Kick), Hold L, QCF-Med(Cartwheel Kick), H(Somersault Kick), then miss in the air.

I have the Flip->Low->Cartwheel down, but at mid range, I found out that I will always miss the Somersault Kick. So I went to the training room to find some Mid-screen combos that I could do with Jill. What is nice about her as a character is that she has a pretty customizable combo string. You can Feral Cancel mid combo and do a Somersault Kick, allowing you to go into her Air Juggle. You can extend the ground combo by doing a Carthweel Kick, Feral Cancel, dash up, then drop down on their stunned character with an Air S. The 2 basic mid range combos I decided on were these:

That is Jill's Mid-Low mixup, QCF-M(Cartwheel Kick), Feral Cancel, Jump, Air S, Low-Mid attacks, S Launch, Air Combo, Fallen Prey

That is Jill's Mid-Low mixup, QCF-L(Flip Kick), Feral Cancel, M, Dash Forward, Mid Combo(starting with M), S Launch, Air Combo, Fallen Prey

The wall bounce in the second video can actually be expanded upon. You can catch them off the wall after the Feral M, start a short combo string, then immediately Cartwheel Kick them for the bounce. That can lead to a launch with S, or the Cartwheel Cancel combo in the video before it. I don't have a video of that because it is a little difficult for me to do, but feel free to give it a try. Once you get the opponent in the wall, you can do the first combo with the Flip Kick and Held L, or even the Air Juggle that everyone likes to do with Jill.



Jill's moveset leaves little room for error. A lot of her attacks are punishable unlike some of the "top" characters right now. What makes her fun is that her moves don't feel like exploits to me. Characters Wolverine or Akuma have moves that close the gap and will break through your opponent's defenses unless they know about those characters themselves. Most of Jill's attacks are very fast, and I know I keep getting punished for them because I don't change up my attack string. Once I get those strategies down, I will be more confident at playing online.

Quickee Post - Fabled Play Part 2

Another reason to ban Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.

Opening hand was
Tengu, Reborn, Grimro, Karma Cut, Mirror Force, Fabled Krus.

I set Cut and M.Force, normal summon Tengu and pass.

Opponent summons Prisma. Makes an Ehero Fusion out of it and Mircale Fusion, attacks into my Mirror Force. They pass the turn with no backrow.

Draw Card: Fabled Chawa.
1) Normal Summon Chawa.
2) Grimro for another Chawa from the deck.
3) Discard Krus, Special Chawa. Krus effect special summons Grimro.
4) Set Monster Reborn, no cards in hand now.
5) Synchro Tengu and Chawa to make Ragin. Draw 2 cards(Space Typhoon and Ganashia), then special summon Tengu from the deck.
6) Synchro Ragin with the 2nd Chawa to make Brionac.

Current Field: 1 Tengu, 1 Brionac, 1 Grimro, 1 Reborn, 1 Karma Cut. Current Hand: 1 Ganashia and 1 Space Typhoon.

7) Set Space Typhoon.
8) Discard Ganashia to return Grimro to my hand. Special Summon Ganashia.
9) Discard Grimro to add Cerberrul to my hand. Discard Cerberrul to bounce Space Typhoon, then Special Summon Cerberrul.
10) Set Space Typhoon.
11) Synchro Cerb and Ganashia for Ragin, Draw 2 cards (Mind Control and Grimro.)
12) Discard Grimro to add Krus to my hand.
13) Discard Krus to bounce Space Typhoon again with Brionac. Krus activates and Special summons Cerberrul from the graveyard.
14) Synchro Cerb and Ragin to make Ancient Sacred Wyvern.
15) Attack with Tengu. 8000->6300. Wyvern goes up to 3800.
16) Attack with Brionac. 6300->4000. Wyvern goes up to 5100.
17) Attack with Wyvern for game. 4000->0.

Yu-Gi-Oh 2011

I started this blog last year when I wanted to get back into the game. I re-started at the Shining Darkness pre-release and have been playing ever since. The Shining Darkness is a the last pack in 1 "season" of Yugioh 5d's, with Duelist Revolution being the start of the next season. Extreme Victory, of course, marks the end of this era and we are slowly coming into the Shonen Jump Yugioh season, and things are changing whether you are ready for it or not.

Before Generation Force and after Storm of Ragnarok, the TCG scene will go through a series of intense gameplay changes. Many of which have already happened.
1) We have the TCG exclusive monster Reborn Tengu. As I mentioned in the YCSPVD Part 3, Reborn Tengu has launched quite a number of decks into playability. Tengu Synchro decks being the top winner in the most recent National events around the world. It may not be getting every 1st place win, but Tengu-based synchro decks are definitely taking a chunk of the top 8-16.
2) A new fun and seemingly powerful deck has emerged in the form of Agent Fairies. It isn't winning as much as many more popular decks, but it is a bit more consistent(and probably more fun to play) than Dragunity. The addition of these cards add yet another deck that players have to prepare for in a tournament.

Reports from Nationals around the world have all kinds of decks in the top 4.
Scraps
Antimeta
Agents
Gravekeepers
Heroes
Gladiator Beasts

Gladiator Beasts are really good right now. Don't let anyone tell you any differently.

There are many great decks to play now for nationals, until the Shonen Jump season starts. Yugioh in 2011 is going to change even more with the advent of Hyper Librarian, Xyz monsters, and new support to be found in the Zexal booster packs.
1) T.G. Hyper Librarian is easy to summon and, if you plan it correctly, will net you at least 1 card draw. Whether it is from your next synchro, or the synchro your opponent makes in order to attack over it, Hyper Librarian "puts in work." In decks like Tengu Synchro, you can create multiple Librarians in 1 turn using things like Reborn Tengu, Zephyros, Glow-Up bulb, Spore, or even Junk Synchron and Tuningware! What Librarian will do to the meta is that it can propel a player a few turns ahead of your opponent. If Synchro Summons are based on accelerating your mind and soul into the future, Librarian is a great example of that. To an average player, card draws are just more cards you can spend over your opponent. If you think about it, each additional card you draw is not only thinning your deck, but putting you additional "turns" ahead in time, by allowing you to play cards you would have normally needed to wait to add to your hand.
2) Xyz monsters, according to Konami, are the 4th generation in monster evolution. From Fusions, to Contact Fusions, to Synchros, Xyz are the next step in turning field presence into pressure. In Six Samurai, you can use a dead Asceticism into a rank 4 Xyz monster like Steelswarm Roach. In Hero Beat, you can use the new Ghost Ship alongside your Cyber Dragons to make either Xys Keepers. They let you swing over Shi En or destroy a Thought Ruler Archfiend without wasting your Gemini Spark or Dimensional Prison. A lot of weaker archetypes actually have the ability to summon monsters from the deck with little to no effort. Even Amazoness monsters can take advantage of Xyz to create pressure on your opponent.
3) With the new support in Zexal packs, older themes are becoming more powerful than ever, and that is going to make Shonen Jump Yugioh a bit more difficult than Yugioh 5d's. Support for old decks and themes is always nice to see and I'm sure everyone can agree with me with that. New Masked HERO and Vision HERO cards are going to make Hero Beat even more powerful, almost scary-powerful. For those who don't know, Masked HERO Vapor is a 2400 ATK Fusion monster that can not be summoned except by Mask Change. Mask Change itself is what makes the card an issue for your opponent, as it summons Vapor by sending ANY Water HERO to the graveyard. What makes it even worse is that Mask Change is a quick-play magic card! This allows you to punish your opponent's Torrential Tribute, Smashing Ground, and basic attacks. Masked Change(if released in GENF) is probably one of the top cards of the set in terms of support for current decks. There are plenty of other cards such as Wonder Wand for Exemplar Spellcaster decks, Surfacing for fish/aqua/serpent, Flame Swirl for Lavals, or even Thunder Bottle in Watt Decks. Let's not forget all the World Premiere cards in GENF either.

This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. You can banish 1 LIGHT monster from your Graveyard to Special Summon this card from your hand.

I think that 2011 will be a lot more interesting in terms of gameplay. You will still see a few of the typical decks and plays, but I can guarantee you that more and more cards will be playable this season than many of the other seasons. Everyone will have to learn how to adapt or get lost in Shonen Jump Yugioh.