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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Konami Giveth and Konami Taketh Away(!?) Part 4

Unlimited cards are becoming more and more possible with power creep in Yugioh. As new, powerful cards are created, older ones that aren't seeing any play or are easily countered by cards most people use in their main deck can be taken off of the banlist. This is especially true with XYZ monsters, cards that were based on level or less of a threat than ever and most decks will have some sort of toolbox to place good effect monsters on the field.

Judgment Dragon - No matter what anyone says, having 3 Judgment Dragons in Lightsworn does not make the decks that much more consistent. The cards that make JD live on your own turn are Charge of the Light Brigade, Solar Recharge, and Celestia. We do have 3 Solar Recharge which is nice, and most people don't even like running 1 tribute monster alongside 3-6 special summoned bosses. That leaves Charge of the Light Brigade as the best Judgment creating tool in the deck. As far as the rest of the cards go, we have Ryko that has a flip effect(very predictable), Lyla that can bait out spells and traps(a MST at the cost of a normal summon), and a few other normal summoned monsters that don't do anything too serious. Perhaps their best is Lumina, which can fetch other Lightsworns from the graveyard. Of course she is limited to 1 also, which makes 2 of their best cards limited. Combine this with Dark monsters in order to make a Chaos deck and consistency drops even more. Let it be known that Lightsworns, Twilight, and Chaossworns are not bad decks. It is however always based on luck, more so than other decks. In my opinion, the 3rd JD is a threat when you are able to summon more than 1 in 1 turn (because you were lucky enough to draw 2 and win with your other 4 cards).

Spirit Reaper - Has become less of a card that helps you win, to more of a card that stops your opponent from winning too soon. Many decks do not have a very good first turn summon or set outside of Reborn Tengu. Reaper is one of those cards that will keep you from wasting key components in your deck or not committing to the field. The effect to discard cards from your opponent is nice, but isn't something you will see in every deck. We have also lost another Debris Dragon, so a popular combo with Spirit Reaper is gone. Perhaps the only other good thing about Reaper are its stats: A Level 3 DARK Zombie monster. Remove 1 for Allure of Darkness. Revive it with Zombie Master to discard from your opponent's hand. Overlay it with other level 3 monsters. Nothing too game-breaking here.

Megamorph - Another step to help new players with less expensive cards. To most people, equip cards are not much of a threat. Megamorph may seem dangerous with its OTK potential, but until that moment arises, Megamorph is dead in your hand. If you want to play Megamorph the moment you get it, it is essentially a "1 for 1" just like Smashing Ground if you equip it to your opponent's card. If you equip it to your own monster, it will probably last for 2-3 instances of battle, or until you take your opponent's lifepoints too low. Let's not forget that some of our best boss monsters can destroy or banish cards, some of them care not about battle as they can't be destroyed, negate battle, or remove themselves from battle(and any equip card attached to it). Unless Advanced Ritual Art comes back, this probably wont be much of a threat. (Oh yeah, Avarice is down to 1).

Mystical Space Typhoon - Oh no, MORE backrow destruction. Of course, if anyone needed to hit more spells and traps, they could always side in Dust Tornado. MST is better than Dust, though, as you can play it from your hand! Since Konami says you can use 3, most of our fellow players will be using 3 despite the fact that they didn't main deck something like Dust Tornado. This isn't like Heavy Storm or Monster Reborn, that every deck should run no matter what. It also is not like Solemn Warning, where if we could use 3, then we probably would. Mystical Space Typhoon is one of the select few cards in the game that has a very, very comparable replacement. Some people actually do run the replacement in their main deck, and would gladly replace it with MST. People who only ran the 2 MST should not really feel a need to include a 3rd one in the main deck, especially if they never thought to main deck Dust Tornado.

We do need more reason than that to not run 3 MST. In my opinion, only decks with very strong search, draw power, and monster card effects can run 3 MST. If your opening hand has multiple MST in it, or your next card draw will be an MST, your deck has to be strong enough to survive with less and less useful monsters. Some decks can turn 1 monster into powerful field presence, such as summoning Tour Guide and making No. 17 Leviathan Dragon. Other decks do not make field presence so easily, such as summoning Laquari with a high chance of drawing multiple MST or a MST on your next turn. You may have 1-2 cards to protect your normal summon, or simply not summon a monster at all(and we know how risky that is). Heaven forbid if your opponent has a MST or Heavy Storm to blow up your protection.

I'm sure we could all do a little testing to find out who needs and who doesn't need a 3rd MST in their main deck. Just don't assume that every deck can explode onto the field after clearing all of your facedowns, some monsters just AREN'T that strong. Those that are, you should be siding against anyway.

Overload Fusion - For those who don't know, Overload Fusion is used to create 1 of three monsters:
Chimeratech Over Dragon, a monster with Attack limited only to the number of materials x800 and the more cards you use for it, the more monsters it can attack.
Cyberdark Dragon, a monster whose attack is equally to the number of monsters in your graveyard. It can also survive one instance of destruction.
Gatling Dragon: a card that has a coin flips chance to destroy other cards.
Gatling is made from very bad tribute monsters. Cyberdark has a decent deck made out of the dragunity engine, but (as with any dragunity deck) can be shut out with most side decks. Chimeratech however is pretty deadly. Of course it cannot attack your lifepoints multiple times per battle phase, but all it takes is 1 Future Fusion(a card that should have been banned a long time ago) to make Overload a live card. Until that happens, your most powerful cards are Cyber Dragons, Jinzos and probably Machina Fortress. Two of the three aren't overly threatening but Fortress may be an issue for some players. The 3 Overlad Fusions push these Chimeratech decks into a slightly stronger position with their Future Fusions and Limiter Removal(once again, a card that needs to be banned.) If you are having trouble against this deck, consider running Effect Veiler, D.D. Crow, Gorz, Crevice into the Different Dimension, etc.

Gravity Bind - A great card for control duels, but has lost power now more than ever. Not only are XYZ monsters an obvious cause, but many other decks have awesome level 3 monsters that care nothing about Gravity Bind. Some examples are XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, Tanngnjostr of the Nordic Beasts, Fly Fang, Spirit Reaper, Tour Guide of the Underworld, and many more. Gravity Bind also doesn't help you get rid of level 4 and higher monsters either, unlike Level Limit - Area B. The monsters will stay on the field in face up attack position and overlaying into a Leviathan Dragon is probably the only answer.

Icarus Attack - With all of the crazy cards out right now, Icarus seems pretty fair. Winged Beasts as a whole are the most powerful monsters in the game, and one of their best decks, Blackwings, has lost popularity. We also have more MST to take care of it the turn it is set. Then, we have things like Starlight Road and Chain Whirlwind to punish Icarus Attacks while more cards are on the field. You can even play around Icarus by not playing more than 2 cards until after you have cleared your opponent's Winged Beast. Pretty fair card in my opinion for an archetype that needs all the support it can get.

Hindsight - There usually isn't anything that NEEDS to be unlimited. Contrary to popular belief, the banlist isn't half bad right now for cards that aren't powerful any more. Maybe I can post about what some people WANT to see unlimited even though it may do more harm than good:
Mass Driver - A lot of people will say that Mass Driver is a useless card. It is only as good as your engine to destroy your opponent's lifepoints.
Book of Moon - A necessary evil to stop the "extra deck abuse." Of course, this makes decks like Xsabers, Heros and Koakis 10x better.
The Transmigration Prophecy - You can choose any cards you want, which is the problem. For your opponent, we have Crevice which has a similar effect. For yourself...well why would anyone want to -1 themselves to put 2 Tengu back into the deck?
Magical Stone Excavation - A -2 to get Monster Reborn or Dark Hole to your hand? If your opponent has 2 monsters and your play MSE from your hand(-1) discarding 2 cards(-1-2=-3) to get Dark Hole back(-3+1=-2) and then play Dark Hole(-2-1=-3) you get to destroy 2 monsters (-3+2=-1). In the end, you lose 3 cards in your hand to destroy all monsters, summon anything from the graveyard, etc, so long as your have discards ready.
Bottomless Trap Hole - Some decks don't even play ONE Bottomless and we are allowed TWO. The decks that do play 2 would love to play a third. Let's face it, none of us like not being able to put a monster on the field.


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