Sonic Generations Ranking Attack

There were two things that I was looking forward to with the release of Sonic Generations:
1) Getting the platinum trophy
2) Competing on the Leaderboards.

Compared to Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Team was nice enough to tone down the difficulty of the Generations Platinum. You do have to complete all the challenges, but you do not need S ranks in any of them! If you did, the trophy rating would go from a 4/10 to 7/10, as some of the challenges are a total pain. After getting all of the challenges, each level has ten red star collectibles(five in each Act) that you have to find. Sonic's friends outside of each zone will give you a hint on how to find them, but I do admit that I used Youtube for at least two of them. Finding the red stars is also your first method of finding shortcuts in levels, as MOST stars are found on "pro paths." Once you finish obtaining all of the collectibles, there is nothing left to do for trophies except for some minor clean-up. Learning all of Sonic's skills, clearing levels without touching the water, etc. The worst of those is the trophy for the final boss, but not because of the boss's difficulty. It is especially annoying because you must do it in story mode with whatever amount of extra lives you have stored. When you run out of lives, no thanks to restarting the level, you have to afk the game until Sonic is ready to kill himself.
The trophies are only half the fun, as spamming Zones for your best time in Ranking Attack is where the real entertainment lies. Just as it sounds, Ranking attack is a game mode for performing time trials, with your time being compared to that of your fellow playerbase. It does have some flaws in overall "replayability", but it does exactly what you would expect for time trials. It is important to say that the gameplay for Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic are VERY different when it comes to getting top scores. My Classic Sonic isn't very good, but I do have top 30/50/100 scores in many Modern Sonic levels. I like both Sonics equally, but when it comes to skill, I like to think that Modern Sonic rewards skill a little more than Classic. So how do you get top scores in each Act?
Classic Sonic
Monster layout in Classic levels are specifically designed to propel you through the level. A good example is in Sky Sactuary, Spin jump onto one eggbot and a high momentum will place you on the "pro path." For optimum speed and momentum, you can spin dash and jump shortly after to guarantee that you hit the enemies at the correct speed. Spin Dashing is actually the most important part of Classic Sonic Time Trials, as several levels reward you for it. A good example is Green Hill, there is a small hill in the beginning of the level that can act as a ramp. The PERFECT launch off of this ramp will have you land on an enemy, then land onto the pro path of that area. Even average spin-dash-launches can allow you to skip the ledge that would typically slow you down.

Obtaining the best time for Classic levels usually involves finding these spots where you can spin dash and skip as much of the level as possible. Later levels like City Escape and Crisis City make spin dashing a little more risky, which is when you have to decide it the dash is worth it or not. Casual players can find great shortcuts for spin dashing in every level. Usually, just a few good launches can get you into the top 500 in the world(for now). To get into the top 100, you will have to do quick dashes (Briefly holding the Spin Dash button) to keep your speed as high as you can manage. Hold the dash for too long and you will go too fast to platform reliably. Even at the minimum spin dash speed, you will have to jump VERY early as Classic Sonic's "weight" is more than the speed he can generate (he's pretty chubby after all).

A ramp? Might as well jump!

Modern Sonic
It goes without saying that Boosting is the most important part of Modern Sonic levels. Even across 20' of distance, 1 Boost could be .5 seconds off your overall time. This is especially true if you jump right after boosting, allowing you to jump over gaps without losing as much momentum. Of course, you have to be careful of boosting into the gap in front of you or just losing your meter. When you are on the ground, you should be boosting almost 100% of the time. In "3-d mode" there is almost no excuse not to boost as you can see everything coming at you in almost every level. In "2-d" mode, before you start memorizing levels, the only way to predict what is ahead of you are by signs in the level itself. It is usually a visual cue to jump and could be a path of rings that are above your head (Chemical Plant), or the sound of an Enemy spawning (Crisis City). Some levels will even pan the camera around and show you exactly what is up ahead (Sky Sanctuary, Planet Wisp). If you weren't lucky to get any of that, you will have to rely on memorization.

Modern Sonic pro paths can be just as difficult to stay on as Classic Sonic. As Classic Sonic, you mostly need to jump whenever applicable and be ready to stop on a dime. Modern Sonic is the same way, except you are usually given a choice of direction that involves homing attacks. Just about all flying enemies for Modern Sonic are stepping stones for better paths. If you see a flying enemy, then you are probably in an area where your time could be greatly reduced. Unlike the past Sonic's, Generations has very few areas that use Light Speed Dash (which makes me sad). It may make more sense that once Sonic learned how to Boost(and Air Boost), there was really no need for Light Speed Dash outside of reaching impossible areas(Chemical Plant, Planet Wisp). I do wish that more levels had Light Speed Dash, but hey, that's one less thing to worry about.

So how do you get into the top 100 for Modern levels? I'm playing Sonic Generations on the PS3, and I will say that getting into the top 500 is pretty easy and anyone can do it if you take all of the pro paths without taking damage. Getting into the top 200 is just about the same, except you need to Boost the entire time. Getting into the top 100 takes a bit more skill, but is mostly knowing where and when to do specific actions:

1) Air Boost must be on deck at all times. Air Boosting allows you to skip some of the platforming that would otherwise slow you down. Many of the levels place roadblocks along your path, so Air Boosting over a gap has a pretty high chance of not sending you flying to your death. In certain areas where the game expects you to land on a surface, run for some distance, then jump, you can usually land and then Air Boost. A good example of this is Sky Sanctuary. Just before the Indoor Area is a ledge that you can only reach if you take a pro path about 8 seconds beforehand. At the end of the ledge are TWO rainbow rings, one that sends you to pro path A, and another to pro path Z(the better one). A rank 200 player would do something like this:
-Boost through the triple orange rings to land on the first platform.
-Jump and Homing Attack the 2 sets of enemies, then land on the next platform.
-Run or Boost for a short distance, then jump into the Z ring.
A top 100 player can do this faster by:
-Boost through the triple orange rings to land on the first platform.
-Jump through both enemies with enough momentum to land on the next platform, removing the need to Homing Attack.
- Immediately Jump and Air Boost. If you are at the correct distance, you can hit the Z ring, which is higher that the A ring.
Air Boosting does arc downward, so you can never expect to hit a target directly in line with Sonic unless you are close enough. The farther you are, the higher you will have to jump with Sonic, which can be a .2+ second difference in time.

See the ledge before the Cloud? You have to Air Boost->Stomp to reach that without risking Time

2)Stomp, when combined Air Boost should also be used to clear all large platforming gaps like the moving towers in Seaside Hill. The platforms you land on are so big that it is easy to Air Boost and land on them. If you think you may overshoot the platform, you can Stomp and ensure that you land on it. The Stomp does technically slow you down when used this way, but that difference is made up by the Air Boost you used to clear the gap. One of my favorite examples is the very first cannon in the forest area of Planet Wisp. A high risk/high reward manuever, you can ignore a tedious platforming section by Air Boosting OVER the Cannon (there is almost no way to reliably Air Boost and land on the Cannon) and Stomp onto it. If you aren't Air Boosting, Stomp needs to be used to finish free falls faster. Most of the best paths for Modern Sonic don't even have sections where Sonic must succumb to gravity, but for all other normal paths, each Stomp will save you some Boost power that you may need later.

3) Eventually, you will notice that some ramps, boost rings and springs actually SLOW Sonic down. I'm actually starting to believe that any spring or ramp that doesn't take you to some place you couldn't reach normally, is slower that getting there yourself. I believe we all know of the set of 3 grind rails in the beginning of Green Hill. The pro path grind rail on the far right has a spring at the end that launches you to the middle rail. This spring will slow Sonic down and you can easily jump to the next rail AND keep your Boost up. Timing it correctly will even give you the set of 10 rings as a reward! Another excellent example is the 2nd(?) rail in Planet Wisp. After taking the rainbow ring or destroying the bees to get to the final platform, you will find ramps that launch Sonic to the next grind rail. The ramp is nice because it will take you to the rail no matter what direction you run at it. Believe it or not, it is faster to just jump over the ramp and Air Dash directly to the grind rail. It is just far enough to end your Air Boost over the rail; this means you can adjust your free fall if necessary, but only by small amount. If you hit that rainbow ring to get to the platform, you will be in-line with the rail for an easy landing.

4) As dangerous as it sounds, Homing attack to clear distance will slow you down. top 500 players will use Homing attack in Crisis City to make sure they land on the correct ledge. Luckily for top 100 players, the gaps are spaced out just enough for Sonic to clear with no assistance. At high speeds, Sonic can clear almost any running-jump gap in the game. The chances of you landing on the platform lies solely on your timing. Top 20 players will even Air Boost and Stomp over areas you may have typically used "Homing Dash" to reach.

Keeping these things in mind, it isn't too difficult to get into the top 100 for all levels. This is ultimate goal and I check back daily to make sure I am still there. If you wish to find me on the PS3 Leaderboards, you can see my rank under the name Ealdnarche.

Deep Draw/PHSW Dragons

In anticipation of the new OCG Structure Deck "Dragons Collide"(TCG name), I have been toying with a deck that I saw at my locals a few weeks ago. Obviously, it is Dragon-based, but the cards it relies on are a little different from Hopeless, Disaster, Future, Masked, and all the other Dragon Variants that exist in this game. From a broader look, you can just call the deck "Deep Draw Dragons", which isn't anything new to Yugioh. However, Photon Shockwave has given use a few new cards that replace some of the especially bad cards in your standard Deep Draw build:
Alexandrite Dragon
Rabbi-Dragon
Champion's Viligance

As you can see, we gained 2 Normal type dragons that are easily obtainable (Looking at you Tri-Horned Dragon) and have very good stats. Alongside Blue-Eyes and White Stone of Legend, this allows us to run Common Charity in the deck, removing the need for Toon Table of Contents, Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon and even Super Rejuvenation. Of course, you are welcome to use those cards, and Exodia builds would probably use it anyway as removing 3 Toon Tables could mean Exodia on your next turn. This PHSW Deck is just an average Beat-down deck, focusing on attacking Life Points as a win condition. For this reason, as great as Super Rejuvenation is for replenishing your hand, it is sometimes not ideal to get cards AFTER your turn is finished. In most situations, you can draw into a win on that same turn. If you cannot win on that turn, you can set Common Charity and get more cards on your next turn. Common Charity becomes live once you have any 1 of the 11 targets in this 40 card deck. In any case, I will get back to Super Rejuvenation in a second.

Champion's Vigilance is a fun card to stop pesky traps after the successful summon of a Blue-Eyes or Rabbi-Dragon. It also functions as a Black Horn of Heaven, stopping Black Rose, Scrap Dragon, and Judgment Dragon from hitting the field. The build that I first witnessed used 3 of these alongside Call of the Haunted, Swing of Memories and other similar cards. As fun as Vigilance is, it will often be a dead draw as you cannot use it on the turn you drew into it. Now that Space Typhoon is up to 3, it almost makes more sense to play 3 MST and 1 Heavy instead of (my current) 1 Vigilance, 1 MST, 1 Heavy. When you do get the chance to play Vigilance, it usually results in a game win, as free negation is pretty hard to come by and a lot of people play conservatively. It is also great against decks that either do not run Solemn Warning or didn't use it against REDMD (such as if they had Torrential Set). You get to ignore their Warning, negate the Torrential or Mirror, and usually prevent them from activating Warning for the rest of the duel (after a 5800 LP loss).

Another difference my deck has against the one I saw was the inclusion of 3 Pot of Duality. "Duality in Hopeless/Disaster? Have fun not winning." Disaster and Hopeless decks are inherently inconsistent because of the card lineup that it HAS to include. In this deck, yes I will admit that Duality prevents me from winning on that turn, but Duality turns a static hand into a new one. Now that the deck has a good 1st turn Normal summon (Alexandrite) and 3 Hand Traps (2 Tragoedia and Gorz), AND the removal of most OTK's barring One-for-one, activating Duality and not summoning ANY monsters is even more safe than ever! I like to believe that Duality is the replacement of Super Rejuve in this deck. Super Rejuve cannot do anything until you draw into Trade-in, Card Destruction, etc. Running 3 Duality not only gives me a VERY high chance of making Deep Draw cards live, but it also allows me to dig out other win conditions such as Black Luster Soldier, Heavy Storm, Return from the Different Dimension, Gorz and Tragoedia. Usually, you can keep 3+ cards in your hand even after summoning Trageodia. The deck doesn't "plus" like it would if it ran Super Rejuve(and perhaps I should test an inconsitent 1), but you don't have to lose many cards outside of your big pushes.

Other forms of the deck may opt to use Red-Eyes Wyvern, Future Fusion and even Phantom of Chaos. Now that you can play Duality and Future Fusion in the same turn, running 2 Wyvern in the deck may not be a bad idea. The problem with it, and why I do not want run it in the current build is that Wyvern has no synergy with any of the draw cards in the deck. If it were Dark I would use it in conjunction with Tri-Horned Dragon and Allure. All around, Wyvern is not a good card in this deck without Future Fusion. As awesome as FF is, pitching all of these Dragons can hurt more than help. The usual targets would be 1-2 Wyvern, 1 REDMD, 1-2 White Stones, 1-2 Alexandrite, and whatever else doesn't clash with my hand. Every White stone and normal monster I send to the grave is 1 less Card of Consonance or Common Charity I can play without ALSO running Avarice or Dark Factory in the deck. The reward for Future Fusion?
-Deck Thinning
-Live Trade-In and Common Charity
-Live BLS
-5000ATK Beatstick in 2 turns
-REDMD to defend my lifepoints (If i didn't play Pot of Duality).
The effect to special a REDMD is becomming less attractive as time goes on, as your opponent will have an entire turn to deal with it. It does create a sort of pressure that not many other dragons offer, but it makes Wyvern feel less powerful than ever. In the new structure deck, Konami gives us Eclipse Dragon, which can serve as a replacement to Wyvern, but we will not see that card for a while. Currently, 2 Koa'ki Meiru Drago take up the slot of the 2 Wyvern and 1 Cyber Vari is in place of the Future Fusion. I could easily side these in and out if necessary and it does warrant testing.

PHSW Dragons Pre-pre Alpha
Monsters: 21
x3 Alexandrite Dragon
x3 Blue-Eyes White Dragon
x3 White Stone of Legend
x3 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
x2 Red-Eyes Wyvern
x2 Rabbi-Dragon
x2 Tragoedia
x1 Gorz, Emissary of Darkness
x1 Cyber Valley

Spells: 14
x3 Trade-In
x3 Cards of Consonance
x3 Pot of Duality
x1 Future Fusion
x1 Monster Reborn
x1 Dark Hole
x1 Mystical Space Typhoon
x1 Heavy Storm

Traps: 5
x3 Common Charity
x1 Champion's Vigilance
x1 Return from the Different Dimension

Extra:
x2 Utopia
x1 Zenmaighty(To summon from Drago)
x1 Thunder End Dragon
x1 Magical Andriod
Other assorted Synchro monsters.

Typical plays of the deck including Drawing cards (!) and Summoning REDMD (!). Each Draw is 1 step closer to Heavy Storm, Dark Hole, and other cards that make winning easier. If you are unlucky enough to face excessive backrow with no MST or Heavy, the chances to win are diminished. Super high attack monsters and things like Krystia are also painful.

If anyone has any suggestions or comments, feel free to comment below or on the Facebook page Facebook.com/VeeDotMe

Hidden Arsenal 5

Even though we just entered November and Photon Shockwave isn't out on the shelves yet, it is still fun to look at other new sets that are coming soon. Konami recently tossed Hidden Arsenal 5 on their Product Info page and that has a few of us very excited. Why do you ask? It gives us the chance to make some very, very entertaining decks that have been in the OCG for quite a while.

Hidden Arsenal 5 is made up of the OCG Duel Terminals 9 and 10, and are an introduction to Steelswarms, Vylon, Gishki, Lavals, Gusto and Gem-knights. The story has something to do with Trishula destroying the environment and most of the life of the DT universe. Steelswarm monsters rise up to take control of the planet while the other tribes, adapted for harsh, post-Trishuliptic environments battle against them (or each other, I don't know). Like the past Hidden Arsenal packs, Five is a mere teaser of what these cards can do and the real fun starts in Hidden Arsenal 6 next year. There are enough cards in Hidden Arsenal 5, Generation Force and Photon Shockwave to make a casual version of the decks. I would not recommend trying anything too competitive until next year.

Steelswarm are a series of bug-looking fiend monsters. They have low level monsters that special summon and search cards, then high level tribute monsters that gain effects when you tribute the lackeys. At first glace, you can think of Steelswarm as a new type of Monarchs. You get to choose a tribute engine such as Ultimate Offering, Stygian Street Patrol, Steelswarm Cell's Cydra-esque summoning condition or Steelswarm Scout's Treeborn-eqsue effect. The only single tribute monsters Steelswarm have are Girastag, Mantis and Moth; Girastag being the only one that has a "Monarch effect." You get to simply send an opponent's card to the grave and gain 1000 life points. Moth is usually frowned upon, but with new Xyz monsters in the game, Moth has new targets to send back to the extra deck. Mantis, with its 2200 attack lets you special summon ANY Steelswarm from your Grave at the cost of 1000 LP. With a couple of additional cards (such as Ultimate Offering) you can make some interesting tribute plays in 1 turn. In Dark Grepher builds, you could actually put Mantis in the grave for rank 5 Xyz. The hand investment is a tad strenuous, but you can survive most any turn if you choose the right support cards for the deck.

Speaking of support, any good theme(and many bad themes) have theme-specific support cards. The spells and traps you will find in Hidden Arsenal 5 are designed to combat all of the Bottomless, Torrentials, Mirror Force, and all the other removal effects sans Warning. The idea is to minus your opponent and summon your card all over again.
-You summon Girastag to send your opponent's Stardust to their grave.
-They chain Bottomless Trap Hole to your effect.
-You chain First Step Toward Infestation to get your Girastag back to safety while you draw another card.
So at the cost of 1 card and field presence (you should be running Gorz and probably Trag too) you eat 2 of your opponent's cards. The other support card has a similar effect in the form of a trap card, you get to destroy an opponent's card instead of drawing one. Pretty straightforward stuff in here.

Hidden Arsenal 6 won't give you too much additional support, but instead gives you more boss monsters to choose from. That means you can PROBABLY play Steelswarm if you have enough non-themed cards to back them up. In my opinion, Steelswarm is a bit self destructive as you are restricted to tributing other Steelswarm to power up the bosses. You can make it consistent with Duality and Maxx "C", but your tribute engine will be very basic. Perhaps the best strategy is to stun your opponent while you perform low tier tributes? We will have to wait and see. Steelswarm don't make it to Duel Terminal 12, maybe they weren't as strong as they thought they were? Or do they infect the DT world and create the new Verz(Swarm? Infected?) monsters in DT13? If Verz cards work with Steelswarm monsters, it may be a long time before we see a competitive Steelswarm deck.

Vylon is supposed to be a major toolbox deck. They use equip cards to create advantage and high attack monsters. After that, Vylon have tuner monsters that can create Synchro Monsters with some of the highest technical power available. Just listen to some of these effects:
-When this card declares an attack, equip it with one Equip card from your Deck.
-Send 1 equip card equipped to this monster to the graveyard to target and destroy 1 monster your opponent controls.
And you don't even need to Synchro to win, getting equip cards out of your deck is fairly easy and beating the opponent with just those is entirely possible. Perhaps the best card in the deck, Vylon Vanguard, becomes more deadly over time. If your opponent cannot destroy it by battle as early as possible, they will give you card draws for destroying it. Vanguard lets you draw 1 card for every equip spell that was equipped to it when it is destroyed by a card effect. That condition does make it a lose out to things like Dimensional Prison, but that is why you use Royal Decree, Trap stun or Lance!

And...that is all for Vylons. For some odd reason, Vylons skip DT 10 and aren't seen again until DT 11, which would be in 2012 for the TCG. Did they lose to the Steelswarm and retreat back for a couple of months? Judging by the new cards in DT11 and 12, it seems like they had something more sinister in mind. It is more than possible to make a Vylon deck with 3 Cube and 3 Vanguard, but expect the deck to have a low monster count. Of course, you can splash them into another theme like Morphtronics, Agents, and a few others in the TCG. In Hidden Arsenal 5, Vylons have no way to place multiple monsters on the field at little to no cost. Your win condition will probably involve summoning Vanguard and hoping its high attack will stun the opponent for long enough. To synchro, you may have to rely on things like Cyber Dragon or Ghost Ship. Some have even resorted to Trident Warrior, which can summon Cube from your hand. The hand investment seems like too much, but the plays will replace themselves over time:
-Summon Trident Warrior and special summon Vylon Cube.
-Synchro for 7, Vylon Sigma and search your deck for an equip spell using Cube's effect. Possibly Mage Power.
-Attack with Sigma and search your deck for another equip spell. If you chose Twin Swords of Flashing Light- Thryce, you get to attack again and search out a 3rd Equip card. On an empty field, this could mean an instant loss for your opponent.
In the end, you lose 2 cards in your hand to get a synchro monster and THREE cards from your deck. It would be a lot better if you could replenish your hand outside of Vylon matter(which is a +0) but the plays are there.

Gishki are fast becoming one of my favorite decks, and you guys know I am a huge fan of Ritual decks. Gishki are the first Ritual archetype, unlike Djinns that were Ritual support. The cards are so well designed that it is hard to imagine what balances them out. In my opinion, Gishki are one of the most consistent decks in the game. They have the ability to search out just about any card they like and perform the ritual summon with almost any opening hand. Mostly made of sea life, Gishki get some of the best support cards in the game: Salvage, Surface, Spiritual Art, Deep Sea Diva, or many many others. Without any of these, Gishki can still perform a lot of searching to get out their key cards:
-Vision gets your Ritual Monster.
-Shadow gets your Ritual Spell.
-Abyss gets either of those.
-Erial can get anyone from your deck.
-Beast can get anyone from your grave.
In Hidden Arsenal 5, we only have 2 Ritual Evigishki to choose from: Mind Augus and Soulogre. At level 6, Mind Augus is the easiest to summon without investing as many cards. Its effect has 2 purpose, to disrupt your opponent or to refill your deck. Since Mind Augus can send any cards back to the deck, you can add powerful cards like Monster Reborn, Avarice and Salvage back to the deck, or disrupt your opponent by sending their Dandylion, Doppelwarrior, or even redundant cards like MST and Heavy Storm back to the deck. Soulogre is probably your only out to high attack monsters and has 2800/2800 beefy stats. For any monster you can't attack over, you can discard a gishki to place a target back into the deck. Some people like to focus on Soulogre because of the deck's inherent disadvantage against strong beaters. DT 11 and 12 changes this(Hidden Arsenal 6), but we won't see any of those cards until next year. Fortunately, HA5 will have all the cards necessary for extreme consistency, it will just lack Gustkrake, and awesome level 6 Ritual Lady-Kraken(or is it a boy?).

The plays that Gishki have available are borderline unfair. Barring a 1st turn Thunderking, you can easily keep 4-6 cards in your hand at all times, even with the "-3" from Ritual summons. I like to use Duality in the deck alongside Gorz and Tragoedia, as summoning anything besides Abyss, Erial and Beast are a waste of resources. The loss of special summons is worth the ability to grab Salvage, Surface, or even Pot of Avarice out of the deck. Tragoedia is also an amazing counter to Thunderking. Trag can discard Gishki Beast to take control of Tking, then target Beast to become level 4. Overlay the 2 for Utopia and you can Salvage or Avarice back your Beast at any time. Expect to see more talk about this deck, as it is a LOT of fun.

Lavals love fighting. They purposely throw each other into the grave for the purpose of winning, which is what a lot of us like to do. Similar to their forefathers, they are a synchro theme and will use many of the cards of their fallen Flamvell for their own bloodthirst. Of course, we're talking about Rekindling here. Lavals are extremely deadly in the OCG and will wreck your opponent's lifepoints in 3 turns or less (the OCG even has Maxx C now, though they don't use it). They have access to the best cards Lavals have to offer from DT 11 and 12. Out of Hidden Arsenal 5, you will get a few "boss" Lavals and some synchro fodder, but none of the support that makes the OCG version so dangerous. Similar to the original Flamvells, DT9 and 10 Lavals have a few tricky plays involving damage and setting up the graveyard for future plays. At some point, Laval Judgement Lord decided that these sort of plays just aren't enough to defeat the Steelswarm, and ultimately the Vylon, so they get more cards to set their graveyard for insanely powerful plays.

If you don't mind adding a few cards to your Flamvell deck, there are just a couple of picks like Laval Miller to choose from. If you plan on making a pure Rekindling deck using Laval Sweltering Heat, you will have to wait until 2012.

Gem-knights are another HA5 theme that you may be able to build a deck out of. The theme is much like Hero Beat:
-All of the level 4 monsters have high attack.
-They have their own Hand-trap in the form of a 1000ATK/DEF Kalut.
-In HA5, they have a trap to bait out targetting effects.
-They have a retrievable Polymerization.
So why would you want to use Gemknights over Hero Beat? Despite having very similar monster stats, Gem-knights may take a little more effort to play. You do not have as many responses to your opponent's cards as Hero Beat will, unless you splash in Normal-type support. You may lose some consistency, but alongside Duality and Gem-Merchant(Gem-knight Kalut), you may run cards like Common Charity, Faustian Bargain, Dark Factory or even Symbols of Duty. Gem-knights don't have the luxury of a Miracle Fusion, so each time you perform a Fusion summon, you will eat cards from your hand. Luckily enough, the Fusion card, Gem-Knight Fusion can be added to your hand at the cost of Banishing Gem-knights from your graveyard. Remove enough of them and you can probably flip Return from the Different Dimension for a rather large field.

The following set, HA6 doesn't give Gem-knights more support cards, but instead gives them more monsters to choose from. At some point they develop the ability to Fuse with a monster of particular Attribute. Much like Heroes, you can use their themed fusion card with teched in monsters like HERO Ice Edge for a few new options in your extra deck. At some point, their level 4 monsters evolved into Effect and Gemini monsters, which may be more efficient than running the 1900 Normal attackers. In DT12, they still do not have a Miracle Fusion. Instead, Gem-knight Obsidian joins the ranks with its Mandatory Effect:
If this card is sent from your hand to the Graveyard: You can target 1 Level 4 or lower Normal Monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it.
This allows you to perform Fusions without losing as much of your in-hand resources. Until then, Dark Factory of Mass Production and Return from the Different Dimension are probably your only options.

Gusto are the second synchro theme alongside the Lavals. Where Lavals fall short: maintaining field presence with low level monsters, Gusto take the cake in looping recruiters when destroyed by battle. When Winda is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, she can special summon Gusto Gulldo. When that is destroyed, you can search out Gusto Egul, which will complete the loop after it searches Winda once again. So long as your opponent refuses to play effects to destroy them, it is fairy easy to avoid a loss by beatdown. So what do you do with all of these used Windas and Birdies? Gusto do not have a Rekindling like the Lavals, but the forces of Gusto have a few tricks of their own. Caam and Windaar, the only 2 non-synchro attackers in Hidden Arsenal 5 and use those fallen Gusto as fuel for their effects. Caam lets you draw cards while Windaar will summon any Gusto tuner from your graveyard to the field. Contact with Gusto is a one-for-one Spell that will return Gusto monsters to the deck and destroy any card your opponent controls. Once you're ready to Synchro, the Daigusto monsters are "Contacts" on legs. Gulldos will return 2 Gusto to destroy any face-up monster while Eguls will destroy any face-down by Banishing 1 Wind monster.

In essence, HA5 Gusto are a generic recruit-and-synchro deck without any other strategies barring the non-Gusto cards you run alongside them. Even their win condition is rather basic, just dropping Synchros Monsters and hoping they are enough to out-sustain your opponent. DT11 and 12 give you even MORE recruiters and a new win condition: Daigusto Sphreeze. Sphreeze still isn't a boss monster like Judgment Dragon or even Black Luster Soldier. Instead, it feeds on the amount of beatsticks your opponent tried to throw at you and punishes them for not using destruction effects. Besides this, I'm not really a fan of the Gusto deck so I do not have much to say about it. If we see more DT-themed cards released for the TCG in Order of Chaos, then I may give Gusto another look.

Photon Shockwave World Premieres pt.2

Photon Shockwave is so close I can almost taste it. My binder has been a little empty lately, but PHSW has some great chase cards that many people will want. Exclusives are usually must-haves for any binder (Hello Karood) and PHSW is full of goodies.

PHSW-EN085 Latinum, Exarch of Dark World
DARK Fiend
Level 6 1500/2400
If this card is discarded to the Graveyard by a card effect: If it was discarded from your hand to your Graveyard by an opponent's card effect, target 1 Fiend-Type monster on the field; Special Summon this card from the Graveyard, then that target (if any) gains 500 ATK.
At first glance, Latinum is a 3rd Goldd/Sillva for the deck. Instead of dropping Level 5 2300 attackers, you get a 2400..defender? With 2400 defense, Latinum will stop attacks from most synchro monsters level 2-7. Without the Gates Field Spell in play, Goldd and Sillva can get trampled by your opponent's Hyper Librarian or...Tethys? Not interested in that? Well let's compare his secondary effect to the older cards:
Goldd: Target 2 cards your opponent controls and destroy those 2 cards.
Sillva: Your opponent returns 2 cards to the bottom of their deck from the hand in any order.
Latinum: Target 1 Fiend on your side of the field and increase its attack power by 500.
In order to get the 500 bonus attack, you must already control a Fiend, Latinum cannot increase itself. The practical application of this would be if your opponent controlled a high attack monster like Gorz, Emissary of Darkness and you have a face-up Goldd on the field with no field spell. Your opponent may foolishly activate Duality before attacking(perhaps to get Heavy Storm to destroy your f/d). You can chain Dark Deal to their Duality and force yourself to discard Latinum. Latinum will target Goldd, make it 2800ATK and Latinum will summon with 2400DEF. If the field spell WAS on the field, Goldd would have 3100 attack and Latinum will have 2700 defense, enough to survive combat with a non-fiend monster. Of course, other popular cards like Krystia will stop Latinum from giving ANYONE any attack or summoning itself, so Latinum becomes a tad bit situational. Most of the top Dark World players frown upon running high numbers of Goldd, Sillva, and other similar fiends anyway.

PHSW-EN086 Evolzar Dolkka
FIRE Dragon Xyz
Rank 4 2300/1700
2 Level 4 Dinosaur-Type monsters
When an Effect Monster's effect activates: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; negate the activation and destroy it.
The second Dinosaur Xyz monster, akin to Laggia. Laggia only has 1 activation, but will stop just about anything, ensuring that he always torches at least 1 of the opponent's cards. Dolkka has 2 activations in its lifetime. In some decks, especially if you did not win the dice-roll, Dolkka can stop a lot of important, early game strategies your opponent has. Darksoul, Sangan, Tech Genus, Honest, and most of the Dark World deck all fall to Dolkka and stopping important searchers, powerful hand-traps, and other effects are just as good as Laggia's 1-time use. If anyone tells you that one card is better than the other, they are mistaken, as both cards have their own uses. We talked about how good D Fissure Dino-bunnies are, and there is absolutely no reason not to run this card.

PHSW-EN087 Wind-Up Zenmaines
FIRE Machine Xyz
1500/2100
2 Level 3 monsters
If this face-up card on the field would be destroyed, you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card instead. Once per turn, during the End Phase, if this effect was used this turn: Target 1 card on the field; destroy it.
My response to this card will look very similar to my response to D-Boyz and that is: Why? However, unlike D-Boyz, our "Why?" is the exact opposite: Why is this card so good!? No. 17 Leviathan Dragon is a great card, for the cost of 2 monsters, it becomes a 2500 Attacker. On your next turn, if it survives, you can make it 3000. Thanks to PHSW, you have another choice. You can stack Tour Guides, Airorcas, Marauding Captains, and any level 3 monsters to make this thing. At first glance, it can defend against most common level 4 monsters. At second glance, your opponent will probably not attack it with anything but Stardust Dragon, making it defend against most other monsters in the game. At third glance, it can suicide itself into any monster on your opponent's side of the field. You lose lifepoints, but Zenmaines will not die, instead, you get to destroy a card (usually the monster you attacked) in your end phase. Unfortunately, Wind-ups can not make Rank 3 Xyz very reliably, so you shouldn't expect to pair this awesome effect with Wind-up Factory.

The question is, at what point do you NOT summon Zenmaines and overlay into Leviathan Dragon instead? One would be against anything using Cyber Dragon. Zenmaines makes great food for Chimeratech and instantly removes Zenmaines. Against Gravekeepers, Dark World, Agents, and even X-sabers, you may face Gozen Match. if you aren't using a water or fire deck, the chances are that your Xyz monster will die to Gozen, no matter if it is Zenmaines or Levi Dragon. Interestingly enough, the chances of encountering another Water monster, such as Brionac, is much higher. If your opponent flips Gozen and you are forced to play water monsters, there is a higher chance you can find one SOMEWHERE (such as using Monster Reborn on Brionac). This isn't something to bet on, but this situation is far from unreasonable.

PHSW-EN088 Xyz Territory
Field Spell
When an Xyz Monster battles another monster, that Xyz Monster gains 200 ATK & DEF × its Rank, during damage calculation only. If this face-up card on the field would be destroyed by a card effect, you can detach 1 Xyz Material from a monster you control instead.
Xyz Territory does 1 simple thing, it makes your Xyz monsters stronger than your opponents. Well, it does the same for them too, but Xyz decks are not popular yet. There are many Xyz decks available thanks to PHSW, and more along the way, so perhaps some people will like to play Xyz Territory. Territory will make just about any Xyz monster a threat to your Synchro monsters. The lowest attack you will see is probably Roach at a new 2700 attack power. Other popular cards will range from 2400-2900 and even beyond that. Popular defenders like Gachi Gachi get a defense boost to make them even more annoying than before. The card does deal some pain, but most Xyz decks don't have space for fun cards.

PHSW-EN089 Dark Smog
Continuous Trap
Once per turn: You can target 1 monster in your opponent's Graveyard; discard 1 Fiend-Type monster and banish that target.
Spend a little time on the internet and you will hear a full spectrum of opinions about Dark Smog.
"Dark Smog is awesome because it hits almost every deck in the format."
"Dark Smog is awesome because you can use it on your opponent's turn and your own."
"Dark Smog is awesome because of how scared Ryko looks."
"Dark Smog is terrible because traps are too slow in this format."
"Dark Smog is terrible because it is mostly a -1."
"Dark Smog is terrible because that Ryko is about to get smashed."

While all of those are correct, it is no question that Dark Worlds needed new discard outlets. Smog does that and more, it gives you a discard outlet at little cost while remaining on the field. In order to use Smog, you must already have it on the field for 1 turn and your opponent has to have monsters in their graveyard. Your opponent will put a card in the grave eventually, but it is very common for Dark Worlds to not attack over the opponent's monsters without discarding already. A good example would be against an opponent's first turn Raioh. At 1900, no level 4 Dark World can attack over Raioh without Gates being face-up. When situations like this arrise, Dark Smog is dead until you A) Destroy their Raioh, B) Draw into a discard outlet, or C) Your opponent purposely sends a monster to the graveyard. In my opinion, Dark Smog is a very good card, but hindered by the rest of the cards in the deck. If your opponent refuses to play into your strategy, you will have to rely on topdecking into a spell or trap that WILL put the game in your favor. Unfortunately, most Dark World players refuse to use Duality in the deck, something that I don't necessarily agree with; having dead cards is what makes Dark Worlds inconsistent.

Once you DO make Smog live, it can do serious work. Grapha loves Smog because it is a trap card. Using Smog in the end phase will make Grapha destroy cards that your opponent just set. Using it during the battle phase will destroy your opponent's attackers. Using it after Card Trooper, Charge of the Light Brigade, or chained to Pot of Avarice and Junk Synchron will slow down the fastest decks in the game. Using Smog may also allow you to play more monsters in the deck than usual. The basic skeleton is 3 Grapha, 3 Snoww, 2-3 Broww, and the rest is really up to the player. Since you only really need 1 Smog to make all of your cards live, you can make some really original builds with Smog and Duality.

The next booster pack to be released is Hidden Arsenal 5 on December 6th. If you don't like some of the current decks, take a look Gishki and Gemknights. A lot of new cards are extremely fun to play and worth a test or two.

Photon Shockwave World Premieres pt.1

The sneak peak for Photon Shockwave is days away and the full list of cards is finally out on the internet. Rarity distribution is actually very well done considering some of our last sets. Hardly any secret rares in the set are bad, Most of the Ultras are good and a lot of the Supers are necessary for their decks. This means that PSHW should be well worth the purchase. As with every set, we get 10 World Premiere cards that often dictate how exciting the set will be. Let's take a look at these TCG Exclusive cards:

PHSW-EN000 Alexandrite Dragon
LIGHT Dragon
LV4 2000/100
Many of the czar's lost jewels can be found in the scales of this priceless dragon. Its creator remains a mystery, along with how they acquired the imperial treasures. But whosoever finds this dragon has hit the jackpot… whether they know it or not.
The Sneak peak giveaway card, Alexandrite Dragon is incredibly simple, yet worth keeping an eye on. As a normal monster, with 2000 attack, it has the highest attack available for a level 4 normal monster. As a "vanilla" it can be used with any of the Normal support we have(Birthright, Symbols of Duty) as well as summoned by Rescue Rabbit. After those, we get to the attribute and type, Light/Dragon. It fits perfectly into Chaos Dragon decks and complements your Raiohs. You can use them as tribute material for the new Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon or special any huge dragon from your deck with Dragonic Tactics. The amount of comboes you can do with such a simple card is huge. It may also be important to say that the next structure deck for the OCG "Dragonic Legion" is a Chaos Dragon deck. The chances of us getting it before Envoy Black Luster Soldier is banned are not very high, but if BLS stays unbanned in February, this deck may actually be a threat. Alexandrite won't be the highest priced TCG exclusive in the game, but it will certainly be sought after. If you can hold onto 3 for a few months, try to do so.

PHSW-EN081 Photon Sabre Tiger
LIGHT Beast
LV3 2000/300
When this card is Normal or Flip Summoned: You can add 1 “Photon Sabre Tiger” from your Deck to your hand. If you do not control another “Photon Sabre Tiger”, this card loses 800 ATK.
Photon Sabre Tiger can be called a Floater monster. Successfully summoning it gets a second copy to your hand, so you will not lose hand advantage. If you somehow manage to summon the next Tiger, both tigers will regain their original attack. The 800 attack loss is a continuous effect that remains active so long as the monster is on the field. This means you can Skill Drain your Tiger and bait out attacks.
Furthermore, it is a Beast monster, so you can play Horn of the Phantom Beast alongside it or summon it with Super Nimble Mega Hamster. Konami was nice enough to allow us to search for the next Tiger when you flip summon the first, making Hamster a viable engine. Photon decks are not overly powerful and require you to play cards from your hand if you expect to win(rather than from the grave or the deck). Their support cards further prove this "Marauding Captain" strategy with cards that special summon others from your hand, and Photon Veil which allows you to "Stack your hand" with light monsters at the cost of a -1. Fairly situational, and the boss and Xyz monsters can only go so far. Sabre Tiger is definitely a necessary card for the theme, but the theme is still a little lacking.

PHSW-EN082 Evolsaur Pelta
FIRE Dinosaur
LV4 1100 /2000
When this card is special summoned by the effect of an "Evoltile" monster, it gains 500 DEF. If this card was special summoned by the effect of an "Evoltile" monster, then it is destroyed by battle you can add 1 "Evoltile" monster from your deck to your hand.
Oh no! Another Vanadis! By that I mean, it is a TCG exclusive that could have made or broken its theme, and yet it became extremely watered down. The effect itself is pretty decent, your typical Key mouse effect that can get any Evoltile. However, it is watered down in 2 ways:
1) It has to be summoned by an Evoltile first.
2) After being summoned, it will grow to 2500DEK, making its second effect harder to achieve.
3) It only works when it is destroyed by battle. Looking at #1 and #2, this requires a bit too much time to set up.
A lot of Evol fans on the internet do not like Evolsaur Pelta. Outside of Creature Swap, you probably won't see Pelta's second effect used. So what role does Pelta fill? Stall. Your opponent has a field of Tengu and Thunderking and they attack into your Evoltile Westlo(the best card in the deck). Before, your only option was Evolsaur Cerato, which hits the field at 2100 attack. If you do not wish to summon Cerato, you now have the option of summoning Pelta at 2500DEF. It is also important to note that Weslo is level 3 and Cerato is level 4. Pelta is the only target that can get you an instant Xyz without spending additional cards in your hand. It has come to my attention that Pelta is level 4, not level 3. This makes him much, much less playable outside of stalling your opponent and Creature Swap.

PHSW-EN083 Wind-Up Rabbit
EARTH Beast-Warrior
LV3 1400/900
During either player's turn: You can target 1 “Wind-Up” monster you control; banish it until your next Standby Phase. This effect can only be activated once while this card is face-up on the field.
Effect you can use on either player's turn? Check.
Level 3 for Zenmainnes? Check.
Secret Rare? Check.
Wind-Up Rabbit is exactly what their theme needed, an effect that you can use at any time, and target more than just itself, opening up insane combos. Wind-ups already have competitive eyes on them thanks to their version of Black Whirlwind. Rabbit gives you the ability to activate Wind-Up Factory on your opponent's turn. You will probably eat a direct attack on your life points, but Rabbit is designed to make you "plus" as much as possible. Because it is level 3, the deck can make Leviair with Wind-up Hunter or Wind-up Dog. If you control 3 Windups (easily done with Magician), you can banish a Wind-up with Rabbit, then Overlay into Leviair to get the banished Wind-up back. Rabbit is a key component to the deck and will be highly sought after in 3's. Wind-up Magician makes owning 3 Rabbits a necessity, as you can summon them from the deck using Magician's effect.

PSHW-EN084 D-Boyz
DARK Fiend
LV1 100/1000
FLIP: You can Special Summon any number of “D-Boyz” from your Deck in face-up Attack Position, then you take 1000 damage for each monster Special Summoned by this effect.
I still don't know how I feel about this card. The game always needs more Dark/Fiend support, but this card is extremely painful. Using D-Boyz to mitigate damage is futile, as they are summoned in face-up attack position. At 100ATK, you will be paying 2000 lifepoints to take 200 less damage to your life. This means that the D-Boyz are used to set up plays, rather than extend your LP. You can use them to summon Caius, Obelisk, Archfiend Empress, Destiny-Hero Plasma and many other cards that you could have just offered tokens of some kind as tributes instead. As a Dark Fiend, you have a small amount of boss monsters can profit from a D-Boy outbreak. You can bait out attacks with leftover, face-up D-boyz to summon Darkness Neosphere. Once all 3 are in the grave, you can remove them to summon Dark Necrofear from your hand. Nothing too scary in this format. As level 1 monsters, PSHW introduces Rank 1 Xyz monsters to make up for your 2000 points of life you lost. Baby Tiragon can make a level 1 monster attack directly. Even the combo of making a Tragoedia level 1 to attack directly is very situational, as Tiragon needs 3 level 1 mosnters to summon. Number 83: Galaxy Queen is a bit less situational as she can actually help your other cards. She(usually) cannot be destroyed by battle, and neither will the other monsters you had face-up on the field. Aside from that...she makes your monsters pierce defense. The final verdict on D-Boyz becomes the question of "Why?" Perhaps, outside of level 1 decks, someone will find an awesome utility for the D-Boyz, but for now, we just don't know why Konami would want us to use them.

Next time, I'll talk about the other 5 World Premiere cards:
Latinum, Exarch of Dark World - Ultra Rare!
Evolzar Dolkka - Secret Rare!
Wind-Up Zenmaines - Also Secret!
Xyz Territory - Normal Rare!?
Dark Smog - Secret!

Perhaps the rarities of each can hint on how good the cards are.

Thanks Sonic Team

As most of you know, I'm an advent Sonic fan. I had all the Genesis games, I still play my Sonic Adventures on Dreamcast, Game Gear, I even had shoes with Sonic's face on them when I was 6 and my Soap's at age 13. The recent years of Sonic games have always gotten a lot of gruff from players, despite most of them not actually playing the games. Sonic Team actually had quite a bit of success with the last Sonic game on the Wii, Sonic Colors. We have talked more than enough about the older games in these good game posts.

But this is a good week for games and my wallet is completely overworked. Thanks to some good deals on games(never ever buy a game without a deal. Exclusive costumes are meaningless when you can buy them later for less than the cost of your presell) I was able to pick up a couple of GotYs. Of course, the only one I actually opened was Sonic Generations, and boy am I satisfied.

Contrary to popular belief, Sonic Generations is not a simple collection of remastered levels. Though it does have a simple world hub for Stage Selection, there are storied cutscenes between each stage just like any other Sonic game. Akin to Sonic Adventure 2, you clear a level once and proceed through the story. After completing the level, you can redo them for better ranks and collectible music and art. You will also unlock Bonus missions with varying difficulty. There is everything from racing Sonic's friends, to wacky level layouts and special moves. Perhaps the second best part about the game is going through the challenges and seeing the new layouts. You can change the music in ANY level to any of the 50 additional tracks you can unlock. Some of my all time favorites I have unlocked are Mushroom Hill and Sonic Boom(with the voice over)!


Nostalgia runs rampant in Generations and is hard to escape from. Lucky enough, the level design has a very nice learning curve as you progress through the game, making S ranks more and more difficult to obtain. As I mentioned, there are 5 collectibles(art and music) hidden in each Act, and finding most of them involves traveling through the "pro paths" of the levels. Just getting to the pro paths is tough on its own. Memorization, twitchy muscles, flawless inputs; call it what you want but getting to the best paths isn't as easy as you may think. I like to believe that this is what separates people who love the game from people who played through it and only liked the game. It should go without saying that Generations isn't for everyone, as 80% of all Sonic games is repetition.


Leaderboards are a very important part of Sonic Generations for players like myself. I am by no means the best Sonic player in the West, but I am trying my hardest to get top numbers. Even the most average playthroughs can get you in the top 500 in the world. Once you get to the top 300(for now, soon we will have more people with better grades), the difference in speed becomes more and more exaggerated. The top player may have a level completed in 45 seconds, while you barely get 1 minute and 30 seconds upon completion. If you like being the king of Leaderboards in a game, good luck trying it in this one.

As a Sonic speed junkie, Sonic Team would have to ship me a broken disc to make a game that I wouldn't like. The game does have a buggy moment or two(such as the camera going into "3d mode" while playing Classic Sonic). The Leaderboards appear to have a few issues too. Besides that, I will be playing Sonic Generations a LOT. Alongside Resistance, Dark Souls, Disgaea 4, Dead Island and Resident Evils; Sonic Generations has made my library quite fat. The only way to play through these by Xmas time is to eat, breathe, and sleep games.