Classic fun - Koa'kis

I have been waiting for this format and certain key reprints for a while. Pot of Duality, Heavy Storm, emphasis on monster cards and their effects; all of these are good reasons to run beatdown decks and anti-meta. Of course, this is me we are talking about. I had to give Koakis their long-awaited retry.

The last time I played Koakis at locals was in 2010, back when Six Samurai were the prevalent deck. At that time, I only had my 1 Duality, so getting off Urnight plays were heavily dependent on my opening hand. Some builds resorting to using Morphing Jar, others used 3 Gold Sarcophagus. If I was lucky enough to get Shi En off the field and survive Trishula, I could usually win. A lot of the matches weren't in my favor, so that is what we call an inconsistent deck. My current build seems to respond fairly well to other decks, so here is hoping we can improve upon it.

Monsters: 19
3 Koa'ki Meiru Urnight
3 Koa'ki Meiru Crusader
2 Koa'ki Meiru Boulder
2 Koa'ki Meiru Guardian
2 Genex Ally Birdman
1 Summoner Monk
1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
1 Koa'ki Meiru Maximus
1 Koa'ki Meiru Sandman
1 Koa'ki Meiru Wall
1 Koa'ki Meiru Tornado
1 Maxx "C"

Spells: 12
3 Pot of Duality
2 Gold Sarcophagus
2 Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn

Traps: 9
2 Call of the Haunted
2 Solemn Warning
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Bottomless Trap Hole

Extra: 15
Your choice of Synchros
1 Arcanite Magician
1 No. 39: Utopia

Side Deck: 15
3 Leeching the Light
2 Soul Release
2 Light Imprisoning Mirror
2 Shadow Imprisoning Mirror
2 Koa'ki Meiru Drago
2 Cyber Dragon
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
1 Mystical Space Typhoon

Cards that work well:
Call of the Haunted is probably the best answer to Solemn Warning this format. Even with all the Mystical Space and Heavy Storm, Call can bait out their spells, help you survive the turn, or even allow you to win the game. Koakis aren't built to mill monsters, or to needlessly expend resources because you have survival tools (there is a Koaki build that can do that!). Call is always meant to be an answer to your opponent's destruction effects.

Summoner Monk creates amazing combos if you have 1 Iron Core and 1 of any other spell card in your hand. I am only running 1 in the deck, or perhaps I should say that I only own one. The typical play for Monk is to discard a spell card and summon Urnight. You can then use Urnight's effect to summon another Koaki from your deck. If your opponent has no response, you will have 3 monsters on the field for the cost of 2 cards in your hand. Monk and Urnight cannot attack, so you can overlay them into a Utopia if necessary. A lot of the time, I will keep them both of the field. It really depends on the matchup, as some decks will resort to effects to clear your monsters rather than attacking. Most people say that Summoner Monk is not good because of the spells you have to pitch. I like to believe that the Koaki Deck solves this problem with Iron Core, Duality, and Gold Sarc. Anyone can easily discard a Pot of Duality to summon an Urnight. The most fun however is using Boulder, Duality, or Gold Sarc a turn prior to the Monk play in order to get 2 Iron Core into your hand. Two Iron Core, 1 Monk, and any card to protect your invest (such as Compulsory) is a very powerful play. If your opponent cannot rid you of the Summoner Monk, you can add the discarded Iron Core to your hand during your next draw phase and have 5 monsters on the field without normal summoning.

Koa'ki Meiru Guardian was ran in 3's in the VERY beginning, and then it was bumped down to 2. When I remade the deck a week ago, I originally had 1 Guardian and 2 Sandman (which makes no sense at all). It is obvious that Effect Monsters are very important in this format. Some people run 3 Effect Veiler, some run Fiendish Chains, and so it is only natural to play Guardian in 2's or 3's. It may be ideal to Run 2 in the main deck and side in a 3rd when playing against low trap-count decks. Like Doomcalibur, Guardian forces plays out of your opponent. Be it wasting powerful spells and traps to destroy 1 monster or forcing you to use the effect prematurely. Many of the top decks rely on key effects to "get their ball rolling" and to keep them from using them is very important.

Perhaps the best part about the Koaki deck is the ability to side against any other deck. If you look at my side, I appear to have a major grudge against Light decks. You may opt for a more universal side. In my opinion, the main decks to beat are Chaos Synchro, Agents, Hero Beat, and TG variants. The first 2 are handled by the heavy amount of anti-light cards and soul release. The latter 2 are handled by Cyber Dragons and an additional Space Typhoon.

Now this isn't the end-all beat-all version of a Koaki deck. There are many routes to choose from if you want to give it a try. You can add a Synchro element using TG Striker and TG Warwolf. You can put in a miniature Miracle Fusion in the form of Gaia Plate. Some people also want to run Effect Veiler in the deck, alongside Guardian; it locks out many effects without the need to play Skill Drain. There are many Koaki themed cards to choose from too. Just be very careful as many of them have lost power in this format (Reckoned Power). There more you try to fit in, the less consistent the deck will be, so if anyone wants to try out Negaton or Overclock, I suggest not running too many other themed spells and traps.

Happy Beating!

The other ways to "Hero Beat"

The Hero Beat deck, Neos Alius, other 1900 attackers, maybe a cyber dragon or 2 or 3, plus lots of spells and traps is very popular right now. Even with such fast decks on the market, Hero Beat can do what it does very well. The deck is designed to slow the opponent down to your pace. You often always have an answer to what your opponent tries to do, and eventually, they will get frustrated enough at never being able to play out their combos. This war of attrition works very well with how the decks has monsters that can be summoned immediately(so long as its a normal summon). Many versions of the deck use Miracle Fusion, this way, if your normal summon doesn't work as planned, you can pull the moment back in your favor. It is pretty cool, but what is even cooler is that MANY decks can play exactly like Hero Beat! And to be honest, I hate Light Gemini/Little City/Hero Beat/Alius.dek or whatever you want to call it, but there are definitely some fun alternatives out there.

Chaos Stun is equally as responsive as Hero Beat. The "Stun" part means that it focuses on answering what the opponent does, rather than having its own proactive combos. The best Chaos Stun decks use monsters similar to what you would find in Hero Beat: Thunder King Raioh and Doomcaliber Knight. Not everyone has Doomcals (myself included) and T.kings are on the rise in popularity. Once Gold series 4 is released, I know that Stun will make a come-back. As I was saying, it does a lot of the same things that Hero Beat does, it may even have MORE answers to tough situations. The deck has 2 boss monsters that Hero Beat won't/can't have, Chaos Sorcerer and Dark Armed Dragon. Most decks have 3-5 outs to monster cards in Chaos Stun - Bottomless, Warning and Judgment. If they don't use those cards, there is a good chance that the T.king, Doomcal or Chaos Sorc you summon will at least pay for itself. Put Dark Armed behind these cards and your opponent will run out of resources very quickly. Of course, you can expand the deck with synchro abilities. The popular one right now is Dekoichi and Black Salvo. Running these alone takes a bit of the stun away from the deck, but the cards aren't bad at all. It give you the ability to destroy the field with Black Rose Dragon or attack over Stardust Dragon. You just have to be careful because with every extra card you add in, the more you move away from a controlling deck to a combo oriented deck.

Koakis are supposed to be the real anti-monster deck. The deck has Doomcalibur knights in the form of Rock monsters and one can negate traps and the other can negate spells, all by choice. In fact, when you combine the Koaki rocks with other Stun monsters, you can make a Rock Stun deck that is almost as suppressive as Hero Beat. The rock lineup includes Neo Spacian Grand Mole, that can bounce some of the WORST monsters you can pit against the deck - Thought Ruler Archfiend, Scrap Dragon(in scrap decks), Heraklinos(without war chariot). Another rock is Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, which is a great anti-monster monster. So great that I wish I had 10 of them, but there is still hope with Gold Series 4. If you don't want to go with Rock stun, you can still build pure Koakis. Probably the biggest selling point to the pure version of the deck is that the monsters are even BIGGER than Hero Beat. You still get the koaki rocks and a few tech monsters, but you also get Urnight and Crusader. So long as you have the iron core in your hand, which is easy with gold sarc and pot of duality, you can toolbox ANY rock out of your deck. Excessive backrow? Use Sandman. Gorz in hand? Use Guardian. Opponent has to topdeck to win? Use Wall. Opponent is losing? Use Crusader. You are losing? Use Boulder. The monster lineup is just as skillful as Hero Beat. The other big deal about the koaki deck is the broken spell and trap support. By broken, I mean their effects are VERY good, you just have to have that iron core in your hand to use them. The deck gets a war chariot that is fairly easy to use. There is also Iron Core Luster, that will negate any spell or trap so long as you have the iron core in hand. Perhaps the best card, that has one me many games last format, is Reckoned Power, which will Delta Crow all of their face-down spells and traps. I say it was good in the last format because there are a lot of decks you may face now where Reckoned Power should have been MST. The simple solution is just to side deck Reckoned Power. In fact, Koakis have the best side deck options because they can run any spells and traps after your 2 Iron Cores, 2-3 Gold Sarcs and Pot of Dualities.

Pure Gemini Beat is my new toy. I haven't gotten all of the kinks out of it, but is a lot of fun. It takes a key feature in Hero Beat and expands it across multiple cards, and that is replacing your cards after your opponent gets rid of them. In Hero Beat, you have Gemini Spark, Hero Blast, and Honest. In the pure Gemini deck, you also have Gemini Spark that you can use with ANY card in your deck(and there are plenty of 1900 geminis to choose from). They also have access to Supervise, which is the best Gemini support in the game right after Spark. Supervise does 2 things: 1) It replaces your monsters with other monsters when your opponent responds to you. If they destroy your field, you will get 1 monster back from your grave yard. If you attack into an Honest, you will get a monster back. If you lose your monster to Mirror Force or D.prison, you can summon another and attack again. 2) Supervise gives you access to the gemini monster effects, some better than others. Evocator Chevelier can destroy 1 card by sending Supervise to the grave. After that, you get to summon a gemini from the grave. Blazewing Butterfly can tribute itself with Supervise to get a gemini from your grave, then Supervise will get you another, turning your 2 card investment into 2 monsters. Tuned Magician, equipped with Supervise becomes a level 4 tuner. You can synchro for a level 8 Synchro Monster like Black Brutdrago, then use Supervise to get a gemini back.
The gemini deck can also run a boss monster, the 2800 ATK Phoenix Gearfried. Gearfried's effect is pretty nasty, but shouldn't be used as the primary function of the deck. Each time your opponent activates a spell card, Gearfried activates and summons a gemini from your graveyard. It may not sound like much, but the key idea is that Gearfried grants you "pluses" while it is on the field. With every extra summon you get, that is 1 more resource your opponent has to spend to get rid of it. If you summoned Gearfried without spending a lot of resources (such as Featherizer and Birthright) then you did even better!

There are other decks that play similarly that don't require insane combos to win the duel. I picked these 3 because they are my favorites and because I have seen them do very well. Feel free to leave comments about other decks that work this way. The idea is to have as few dead draws as possible, with a monster-lineup that can still destroy your opponent. Then you need a system that can replace your cards when your opponent responds to them, wasting away their resources.

Pure Core Chimairu

Recently, a guy on one of the forums I frequent was able to top his local regionals with Koakis. Not just a rock stun variant though(he did use 12 rocks), but it was a pure Koaki deck. So congratulations to him, and today we'll talk a little about Moshpit's regional build.

DISCLAIMER : As I have said many many many times, Koakis are a very skillful deck. In my opinion, with 3 Pot of Dualities, it is a Tier 1.5 deck, meaning that in the right hands it can be most other decks(Tier 1 meaning that the cards are so good, it can beat most other decks even in the WRONG hands.). Upon posting this deck(with his permission), I want 1 fact to be known. Do NOT shoot down the deck if you try it and it does not work. If the deck does not work for you then you need to practice the overall strategy of the koaki build.

The build I top locals with is only slightly similar to this regional build. As seen in my Koaki build earlier in the format, the deck excels in a Trap-heavy set-up. The same is true in the regional deck, as it runs 11 trap cards, 13 spells and a whopping 17 monsters.
Monsters: 17
3 Koa'ki Meiru Urnight
2 Koa'ki Meiru Crusader
3 Koa'ki Meiru Sandman
3 Koa'ki Meiru Guardian
3 Koa'ki meiru Wall
3 Koa'Ki Meiru Boulder
Spells: 13
3 Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru
3 Pot of Duality
1 Monster Reborn
2 Core Compression
2 Book of Moon
2 Core Overclock
Traps: 11
2 Bottomless
2 Solemn Warning
2 Dimensional Prison
1 Call Of The Haunted
1 Royal Oppression
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Seven Tools of the Bandit

Let's talk about his monster lineup because this is the main distinction between my version of koakis and other's. I used to run 12 rocks, but now I feel like that is so excessive when you're using Urnight to put 1 on the field. Knowing which rock to play is extremely skillful and I must admit that I've played the wrong one plenty of times. I also always figured that opponents play around The Rocks, rather than losing a card to get it off the field. That point has always made me think that overloading on all 3 Rocks is detrimental to the deck. However, since he did so well, they must be doing something right. I still feel like Wall is the weakest of the trio and(until I actually try it) I will probably never use 3 in a deck. So my only changes to the monster list would be:
-1 Guardian
-1 Wall
+1-2 Maximus or Rooklord
+0-1 Morphing Jar

The spell list is pretty spot on though. I'm still a big fan of Dark Hole, even though others aren't. A lot of people aren't even playing Torrential any more because you could hit cards like Sangan and Darksoul and "give your opponent pluses"(while they lose field presence??). I can't see myself playing a deck with no Torrential and/or Dark Hole in it, the chance to expend your opponent's hand is just too high for the cost of 1 card. Next, Overclock is another card that has fallen out of my radar, but it has earned a spot in the side deck! Overclock really is a good card, I just HATED topdecking it. Next to Tornado, it is one of the worst topdecks in the entire Koaki build. But, when you combine it with Duality and Compression, it is much easier to get it in turn 1. Even if you don't play it, digging it out of the deck is pretty beneficial. Even if your opponent MST's it, they hit something that's NOT Oppression or Warning. The card can win games even! Wow, maybe I should put it back in the main deck...

Traps are the real asset in this deck. Since each monster has 1 main purpose (unlike Xsabers, Lightsworn, etc that do multiple things during their lifetime) you need traps to pick up the slack of "Monster Hate". I've never been a fan of Dimensional Prison, and have and will always advocate Compulsory in place of it for Koakis. D.Prison can't stop Hyunlei, it's wasted against BRD, it can't hit facedown monsters and it can't be used during your turn. Compulsory can do all of those and still hit every monster that D.Prison can. The only difference is that Compulsory can't do much against level 4 attackers like Shura, and D.Prison shines in that aspect. I'm also a little sad not to see at least 1 Reckoned Power in the deck, especially over 7 tools. Don't get me wrong though, Seven Tools of the bandit is an awesome card and can stop annoying things like Royal Decree. I'd definently side it in, but I believe in a deck with Duality, I would rather run Reckoned. That's personal preference though. Solemn Judgement I used to run when the card was first released. It really is good and can stop any last ditch effort your opponent can throw at you. I wish I still owned mine.
-1 Bottomless
-2 D. Prison
-1 Seven Tools
+2-3 Compulsory
+1 Torrential
+1-2 Reckoned Power

Side Deck:
2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
1 D.D. Crow
2 Prohibition
2 Smashing Ground
2 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Skill Drain
1 Starlight Road
1 Mind Crush
According to Mosh, Fossil Dyna won him quite a few games against decks like Debris. And for good reason, its a Vanity Fiend without the tribute! Backed by the Monster hate that koakis have, its an awesome force to be reckoned with (especially when their strongest normal summon in the main deck has 1000ATK?). Skill Drain is another "hot tech" that can shut down many decks. Not sure how he runs it without compulsory (say, if an opponent drops Gyzarus for a 2400 attacker) but I guess thats what Overclock is for. D.D. Crow on the other hand I am not a fan of. Crevice? Sure. Chain Disappearance? Even Better. But I guess the luster of Crow comes from the fact that it is near-unpredictable. I still wish he could put Cyber Dragon and Chain Disappearance in the side deck though. Cyber Dragon to play against Machina(who uses those anymore?) and Chain against...well anything. The card is so good I'm not sure why it isn't in the side besides being limited to 15 cards lol. I'd also like to see KM Drago in the sidedeck too, as it can shut down infernities and lightsworn almost completely. But really, there isn't enough space. I wonder how is match-ups are against those decks...
-2 Smashing Ground
-0-1 D.D. Crow
+2-3 Chain Disappearance


All in all, the deck is fantastic and makes me wish even more that I had Pot of Duality. Yugioh packs are on sale again this week and I have free money to put towards it, I'm just so tired of buying DREV.....I'm sure I've spent enough on duelist Revolution that I could have bought 3 Pot of Dualities. I just don't understand why the game hates me so much lol. There has to be at least 1 Pack of Duelist Revolution in New England that has Pot of Duality in it!!

Can i have exclusives? + Northy!

Another popular thing to talk about for exclusives is for the Koa'ki Meiru theme. What's interesting is that Koakis have some of the MOST cards in its theme compared to any other in Yugioh. There are also some exclusives already, such as:
Beetle
War Arms
Ghoulungulate
Gravirose
MAXIMUS
Core Transport Unit
Koa'ki Meiru Prototype
Core Overclock
Now, let it be said that Koakis were thought to be finished after YGO "series 6", But with Starstrike Blast having a single Koaki card in it(Koaki Ring), there is hope that we may still get 1 more exclusive. But out of what Konami has made, only a few of them are useful in a pure Koaki deck. So everyone(me) wants them to make just ONE more card that can tie the theme together. Here are a few things that can work:
-A card that relieves koakis of EP costs altogether.
-A card that special summons itself with a useful "pure core" effect.
-A card that relieves the cost of using the core (or replaces the core).
-A card that allows you to search the deck for koakis more quickly than Lab and boulder. (A ROTA style effect)
-A card that can negate spells.
Out of these, I believe that special summoning, searching, and an effect that can tie the cards all together. Relieving us of end phase costs or reveal costs would be nice an all, but It would also be nice to have a card with it's own ability, rather than a card that only enables use of OTHER cards.

For example, a new continuous spell card "Iron Core MK. II" with the effect: While this card is in your hand, its name is treated as "Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru". While this card is face up on the field, card effects that require an "Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru" for activation no longer require it(all other costs must be met). In theory, this is an awesome card. With it, you can spam Luster, Negaton, or Core Blast. But the problem is, cards that dont do anything else can become just as dead as the core itself. Sure it ENABLES use of cards, but until that happens, it will be dead.

So I would much rather have a new monster(I feel the koa'ki monster lineup is lacking) that has its own empowering effect. Crusader and Urnight are great because they are instant field presence, so long as you can get over the opponent's monsters. Sandman and Guardian do similar, but not as well. So a monster that searches the turn it is played, or a monster than creates such a presence rivaling crusader and urnight. This is one of the funny effects i came up with:
Koa'ki Meiru Engineer, psychic, earth, level 1, 1000/1000. You can Reveal an iron core to SS it from your hand, or maybe if you control a Koaki you can SS it from the hand. While you control a Koaki it can not be selected as an attack target. Then it gains effects based on the type of monster on the field. Beastwarrior= When you Destroy a monster by battle you can SS a Koaki from the grave? Rock= You can remove 1 Koaki from the grave to negate a spell card activation and destroy it? Warrior= When a Koaki attacks a level 4 or higher monster, place it at the bottom of the deck without applying damage calc(or maybe just make them Ehrens)? Any other= Light and Dark monsters can not be summoned(idk, maybe just stop at the warrior effect).

In other news, mah girl is back in bl....ue! And this time she's paired up with Demise! I'm trying to stray away from the generic Northy lock build, that involves 5 cards to win the game (Decree, 1 Spellcaster on the field, Village, Northy and Ritual of Grace). Now, I'm trying the old school JP version of the deck, where Northy and Demise both share the stage. And though Northy really has no targets besides Demise himself, the deck has many many cards to generate field presence far greater than your opponent's, and force them to topdeck very early. The deck I used to use with Demise was all about the OTK. You win with cards like Geartown, Megamorph, and Limiter Removal. With this new build, you play a war of attrition(similar to playing Yubel). Destroying your opponent's resources with back to back Black Roses and Demise. All until you win because you have bosses and they dont. I is still a little incosistent because of the triple preps used to recycle ARA, but the addition of pot of avarice in the deck is simply amazing.

Koakis Pt. 3 Traps

The Koaki trap line-up is a fair size. For the most part, they all have outstanding effects, but we already know that not every card can be used in the same deck. You are forced to choose between certain ones or else the deck will be too theme-heavy and many draws will become dead. This is of course speculation, but my testing pretty much says this is the case. There really is a learning curve to the deck though, so perhaps I should test a themed-trap-heavy deck today.

Koa'ki Meiru Shield - Many archetypes now have themed mirror forces. Most of them involve having the themed monster on the field and it will destroy all attacking monsters your opponent controls. Shield goes a different route, instead of penalizing your opponent, it rewards you for having 2 cores in your graveyard by destroying your opponent's attack monsters. Is this good? Well, yes and no. There's lots of ways to dump cores. The main way would probably be dropping them for your reveals. The second way would be running TWO TO THREE immediate disposals in the deck. Mirror Force is still far superior, Shield takes at least 1 turn to set-up before you can actually use it. Running it in twos would probably be ideal, but then you would almost have to run immediate disposal, which means 1 or less CTU, which means no instant cores...

Nega-Ton Corepanel - My favorite of the themed traps, though I don't use it. One of the top decks now, Glad Beasts, have a similar card to this, though most would consider it superior. Corepanel, just like shield, rewards you for putting a core in the grave, but then it also requires you to have a monster on the field. In many cases this would be a very easy card to run. Just play 3 and you'll most like use it at LEAST once. The problem we run into though is having a monster on the field. If we play one of our 1900 attackers, your opponent will PROBABLY use a S/T card on it. If we play Boulder, then it may get attacked before the opponent activates an effect. Gladiator Beast War Chariot is a very powerful anti-effect card and it's surprising that Negaton can't be as effective. Either way, I believe Negaton would be more effective in a build with a s/t lineup like glads. Cards that ensure your opponent will try to fire off an effect.

Reckoned Power - Currently running this in 3's. If you get Reckoned and a Core in your first hand and go first, your opponent will be severely hurt unless they draw a card to destroy it. It destroys all the opponent's face-down spells and traps, and would have been SUPERB if it destroyed all of them. Still, at its worse its a "1 for 1", at its best your opponent will probably lose the match. Running the card at 1 makes it a rare draw like Heavy Storm. By then your opponent may have used most of his most powerful trap cards so Reckoned isn't as great of a draw. Running in 2's is a little better. Running in 3's makes it a lot easier to get 1 in the opening hand, and that is the best time to draw it.

Iron Core Luster - Themed Dark Bribe. Reveal a core and stop any spell or trap. So why am I not running this one? Well, it should be said that most people run Luster at least once in the time they have their KM deck. Usually in the beginning. Triple no-drawback dark bribes is very painful to anyone you might be facing. We just run into that issue with deck space again. Running it in 1 sounds like a complete waste. Two may be ideal since 3 kills the rest of your deck space, but I can't say that for sure. After enough practice, anyone should be able to use Luster. The worst timing for the card(not including not having a core at all) is when you force yourself to discard the core, then all you're left with is a useless trap card. This might be the time to accept the hit you're going to take from your opponent and wait out that 1 turn to get a reveal for the monster in your hand. I've personally had Luster set and summoned a monster without a reveal. Discard core, opponent's turn, they kill the monster and set a trap then pass. My turn comes around and I draw into a useful monster, maybe even with a reveal in my hand; summon it and your opponent uses his trap. It sucks, but that doesn't make luster a sucky card, it just makes the plays you make more important. I'll try running 2-3 again soon, but not until I get more practice in with Reckoned.

Koakis Pt. 2 Spells

It's been said before on this blog and elsewhere, the Koaki Meiru deck does has a learning curve to it, and it is slightly steeper than other decks. With so many themed cards to choose from, not only do you have to know which ones to put into a deck, you also have to know how to use them effectively. A lot of the current decks have pretty simplistic goals in mind. "Summon xxx, win the game." In Koaki meiru decks, there are bosses that can fit the "summon xxx, win" criteria, but you can't get there as easily as with other decks. So Koakis have a more fulltime strategy requirement, whereas other decks may only need to focus on the "early game" or "late game" to fire off their game winning combos. So let's take a look at the type of cards we will be playing along the way.

Spells:
Core Compression - the Koaki Meiru draw card. You discard 1 monster and draw 2, after you reveal the iron core in your hand. I have yet to determine if this card can be ran in 3's or not. Other decks that had draw engines ran them in 3's, so why can't koakis? If the problem is having a core in hand, then the answer may be to use Immediate Disposal along with CTU, draw the core into your hand on your draw phase, then use the compression already in your hand. I also thought that using Core Reinforcements in the deck with this card would work, but that seems to be too many themed cards. Then, unlike other decks with draw engines, koakis dont necessarily need to draw into something specific do they? Hand advantage and resources are important for any deck, but the decks that shined from draw engines, drew into game winning combos and bosses. This isn't to say that KM has no boss or combo, I just haven't found the ideal build that would shine from these draws. This still requires more testing, but I'm sure that the card should be ran in 3's if it is to be ran at all.

Core Overclock - When this card was released, it was a godsend. Five-hundred extra attack puts the majority of KKM at 2400 and Urknight at 2500, enough to generate massive field presence from every summon. I personally used to run this card at 3, then 2, then 1, and now 0. It is not a bad card in the slightest, and can OTK when combined with the right monsters, I just had trouble with drawing dead copies into my hand. For this reason, people believe Burden of Mighty is a better card, which turns boss monsters into normal monsters. I feel Overclock is better for field presence, burden just becomes an annoyance to the opponent a lot of the time and the focus isnt on removing your monster, but rather destroying burden. A lot of my gamelosses do result from me not being able to attack over a certain monster, Overclock would make it possible to attack over monarchs, stardust, and many other bosses.

Core Transport Unit - instant core in the hand. Best KKM support outside of the core itself? Maybe. Discarding cards in your hand is often painful for KKM decks. What CTU does, is it allows you to take a small hit for the chance at running the deck at optimum potential. It took me a while to get 1 of these, then 2, and I will continue to main 2 for a long time. A lot of people believe that the core really only benefits Urknight, which is partially true. Discarding cores instead of revealing monsters is usually a bad play. With this in mind, you would think CTU should only be required in decks using other themed support such as Reckoned Power or Iron Core Luster. This may be true, taking out CTU would make room for generic S/T cards in exchange for not using cards that rely on the core. Some people call that blasphemy to the deck itself, but I honestly am not sure what to think of it.

Iron Core Armor - Any monster that battles with a Koaki loses 400, 700, or 800 ATK, depending on what you equipped it to. The effect is not negateable since it does not make a chain. Also, for 1 time only, it stops the endphase destruction of a Koaki if you choose not to reveal. I have yet to test this card, but I did think about using it with Hidden Armory in a recursive build. The problem with Iron Core Armor is that it only prevents destruction in the endphase. If it stopped destruction at any time it would have been MUCH better. The attack deduction is also a bit lackluster, and can not put you over boss status monsters with a level 4 Koaki. If it returned to the hand it may have also been good, but unfortunately it does not.

Iron Core Immediate Disposal - Option 3 for grabbing iron cores. You wont have the core in hand until the next turn, but if you have a reveal in your hand, or a monster that doesnt require it, this card allows more easy use with Negaton Core Panel. Essentially, with Negaton and a monster on the field, your opponent will have trouble activating effects until your next turn, when you get your core. When compared to CTU, you lose 2 cards(1 for playing ICID and 1 for not drawing a new card) instead of losing 2 cards (1 for playing CTU and 1 of your in-hand resources). Which is more painful is debatable. Until I test ICID more, I will continue using CTU over it. CTU also becomes 3 cores while ICID will always be 1.

Iron Core Speciman Lab - Awesome card, but why did I stop using it? This is one of the only cards that can put a Maximus in your hand. It requires a core reveal to stay alive, which isn't difficult at all, and if you do have a reveal, it becomes a target for your opponent. If you don't have a reveal, you can still activate it in your end phase before it blows up, how great is that? I think the main reason why I stopped using it is the fact that A)Losing field presence in exchange for hand resources is not always a good trade off. B) When not done purposely, your goal should be to have a reveal. C) Drawing multiples suck. Aside from that, the card really is good, and I wish I could use it. But alas, we know using too many themed cards will kill your consistency.

Koaki Meiru Initialize! - As of right now this card is garbage. I think this card is only playable in decks that use neither CTU or ICID, the card goes to your hand instantly. In essence, you lose the same amount of resources when using Initialize!, it is almost better if your card was going to be destroyed anyway, so why is this so bad? The answer is, during the time your card is not being destroyed, you will want an iron core. This makes Initialize a dead card, unless you want to sacrifice your monster. In my head, that is a bad play. Noone should sacrifice field presence for a core, using it when the card will be destroyed anyway is the only acceptable option. Though, with triple Reckoned Power and Labs and other cards that require Iron core reveals, Initialize is one of the fastest things around.

Koaki Ring - The newest KKM card, being released in STBL. It's a NORMAL spell that targets 1 FACE-UP monster, DESTROYS it and deals 1000 points of damage to BOTH players. The Capital text is what makes this card bad. Don't get me wrong, I would have loved it if it was slightly powered up, but right now it's half of a ring of destruction that only works on your turn. What makes Ring of Destruction so good is that it can deal any amount of damage and can be used on the opponent's turn. Perhaps thinking of this card has a more balanced Ring would make it more appealing. Still, I wish it was at least quickplay. When STBL comes out I will try running 3 of these, just for testing. That is up to 3000 additional damage done to the opponent (and myself) that could have won me the game (or cause me to lose).

Urgent Synthesis - Instant recursion. The monster stays on the field permanently and all you lose is the core. Getting a level 4 monster back from the grave is never a bad idea, and can even win you the game, so why is THIS not being ran? Main issue is deck space, that whole problem with using too many themed cards. I think Urgent Synthesis does require more testing, I'm not even sure how many to use in the deck. Using 1 makes it a lucky draw, and that 1 monster needs to really prove its worth. Using 2 makes it more consistent, but not something to rely on. You could get back 1-2 monsters per game, to do who knows what with(considering you drew themed support and lost a core, rather than drawing generic cards). Using 3 would make it part of the strategy of the deck. You will no longer be drawing s/t support, you are now using monsters more often, so a deck that uses Rooklord or Valafar may benefit from Synthesis. Other than that I don't see too much point in the card past just 1.

Next time we'll talk about the KM trap lineup. When I first started playing KM's I was using SIX themed traps cards, then 4, then 3, then 0 for a long time, now 3. So it should be an interesting descussion. After that I may talk about my deck as a whole, why i stopped using as many generic monsters, and why i'm not using specific cards.

DREV sneak peak is this weekend, so live testing may not happen. We'll see lol

Koakis Pt. 1 Monsters

I haven't been posting like I should, so let's talk about Koaki Meiru cards. Koakis at the moment is my main deck, it's what I'm using in tournaments(locals) right now. It is generally complete, I just tend to change up certain cards every now and then. The theme is said to be one of the most supported theme in yugioh history, and yet it is not topping any big tournaments. Why is this? Well first off I think it's important to remember the kind of decks that are topping right now. We have decks that can win with 2-3 cards, we have decks that lock all possible plays so long as they have cards in their hand, we have decks that have a near-infinite monster supply, and decks that synchro into some of the most powerful synchro monsters available. So what does KM do? KM has A)a slight control aspect, B) a slight swarm aspect, C) a high "beat" aspect, D) a high "boss" aspect. So the idea is, that a deck with so many options, a "toolbox" as we call it, can be very good. And it can! Some people believe that 1 more good TCG-exclusive card is all KM's need to move to tier 1.5+, some people believe that the banlist in september will move them up, and some believe that the ideal deck build is out there, it just has not been found out. Now, I'm not going to talk about the obviously good cards like Urknight and Guardian that MUST be ran in 3's, but let's talk about some of the other themed cards that can be good. Keep in mind that about half of the top tier decks use mostly if not all generic support. About 2 of the top tier decks require their themed card to be so powerful. Koaki's have, arguable, the MOST themed cards in the game, so which are actually playable?

Monsters:
Drago - Used in dragon decks already. Sided in most KM decks, ran in 1's in others. In the deck it's mostly a toolbox monster. If you know your opponent plans to special summon dark or light monsters, Drago's effect will stop it. Useful, but not enough to fulltime unless you need dragons.
Ghoulungulate - Boss Status. Underused mostly, but why? If a koaki is going to be destroyed you can remove one from your graveyard instead, how is that not good? Well, in essence it is, but the card itself has a couple of limitations. One tribute, requires a zombie reveal, and requires fuel(your graveyard). So you will need to find a way to keep ghoulgulate on the field and it's own effect won't protect it from its reveal cost.
Hydro Barrier - Stops effects until the stand-by phase of YOUR next turn. It's a skill drain for your opponent, how is THAT not good?? It requires no reveal, and has 1900 defense, so it will stay in defense while you control the game. Possible side against Quickdraw? This may require testing. Topdecking a core is never a great play, but if you know you can win by using Urknight to play Hydro Barrier, then maybe it should be done. Only issue is that a real power play would also involve sandman. If you have no cards on the field, then you will risk backrow response to your normal summon and/or attack.
Ice - Most believe that tornado is a superior monster. With triple Overclocks the reveal cost probably isn't too difficult. A 2 for 1 effect on it's normal summon is not very good though unless it is your only out. The discard cost is just too painful, there would have to be cards that you want to discard in order for Ice to be better (and unfortunately his text reads to "send 1 card" so discard effects wont fire off.)
Powerhand - Ran in 1's in many builds. Ran in 0's in many builds. Negates the effect of lights and darks it battles, 2100 ATK, and has a relatively easy reveal. Unfortunately, unless you're fighting a deck with Ryko's or a Fiend deck, you won't see his effect fire off very often, which may be the reason why he isn't ran. But with such high attack he generates field presence. Being a machine he can be combined with Cyber Dragon to make Chimeratech Fortress Dragon.
Prototype - Ran in 1's in many builds. Ran in 0's in others. Ran in 2-3's in a select few. In theory, prototype is a great card. He makes your koaki's self destruction work for your, or stops it himself. Unfortunately, in a deck that isn't based on that fact, this is mostly a ruse. If you needed to negate your effect, then you may have needed to make a better play. If you blow up a monster and gain an 1800 ATK token through Prototype's effect, then you lose a possibly great effect monster and gained 2 "vanillas". On the other hand, if you can make a play with prototype that left you with greater presence than you would have had then Prototype is great. With Iron Core Specimen lab, if you blow up your monster, not only do you get to search for a new one (Maximus) you get that 1800 ATK token if Prototype was on the field. Very debatable card.
Rooklord - Boss Status. Destroys 2 cards the moment he is normal summoned, requires only 1 tribute, 2800 ATK, why is he not in everyone's pure KM build? In builds using Bergzak he sees a lot of play, that reveal of a warrior type is impossible for a lot of pure builds(and I don't even own a bergzak). One tribute is good, but you have to normal summon him to use his effect. That means he has no synergy with an in-hand Urknight, yet has game winning syngergy with an on-field Urknight. In a deck with a lot of backrow hate, I'm sure Rooklord would shine. Bottomless, Starlight Road and torrential tribute all hurt...and yet, don't at the same time. If they bottomless, then Rooklord was an even exchange in card resources. This is another highly debatable card.
Valafar - Boss Status. Immune to trap destruction, requires 1 tribute, 3000 ATK, 2100 def so book of moon isn't as painful. He even pierces defense, that is a serious threat to the enemy. He suffers in speed the same way that rooklord does, but is slightly more protected, his only major counter is D. Prison, which goes for most monsters in YGO. Good card but the reveal cost is even MORE difficult than rooklord. I believe he may benefit more from a recursion deck to fire off his piercing effect as much as possible, so long as he is not D. Prisoned.

Next time I will look at Koakis slew of magical support. There's a lot and there is a LOT of discussion on why and why not to use each one.

Stillpoint Report

Before bed I might as well make my report on the 1 dollar tournament at Stillpoint. Surprisingly we got 10-11 people to play, despite it being pretty spontaneous. Before the tournament Chelsea and I kind of sat around not doing much. I dueled 1 person with the Northwemko deck which is still under construction, but is so close to completion that I needed to try it. Game 1 I didnt know I could Gorz before it gets discarded from X-saber battle, and that lost me the duel. After that though I didnt draw into anything and lost promptly lol. But anyways, after that we took out the Koa'kis and did the tournament.

Results 2-2, didn't top...Again.
But hey, this tournament was a lot of fun. I feel like the Koa'ki build is a LOT more consistent now than it was when I first entered tournaments in June. The theme as a whole has a lot of potential, and I'd love to see more cards, but we can save that discussion for later. For now let's try to discuss(remember) what happened today.

Round 1 vs Quickdraw 0-2.
Man oh man do I have trouble with quickdraw decks. What's nice about them is that they are very backrow lite, so I can summon guardians and not have to worry about getting sandman. The main issue I seem to have with the deck is that I feel you have to stop the fluff tokens or else they will synch into goyo and pretty much win the game without triggering Guardian. I need to somehow figure out how to stop the cards played AFTER dandylion is destroyed, rather than trying to stop the dandy play in the first place. First duel went really well. I had something along the lines of cold wave, urknight, core, maximus, and a crusader on the field to his set monster. If i summoned maximus and destroyed his set card, I could have had the OTK and won. Unfortunately, this is called "overextending" nowadays. My field ended up being Urknight, Maximus, Crusader, and Guardian and I end up blowing up a dandylion. So now my OTK goes up in smoke and because I overextended, I lost my hand and lost the match shortly after. Next match wasn't too much different. I didnt overextend and made some very good plays. What I lost to was a topdecked Lonefire->Tytannial with no Guardian on the field. I also only had Tornado n the field for the longest time, which happens more often than I would like. Tornado attacked into a hamster which got Ryko. Topdecked the core....Then he sets dandylion, attacked into that, he gains more monsters and I couldnt topdeck the core again. If he drew ANYTHING to tribute with, he could just do it with Mega Hamster. No point in "Tornadoing" tokens if he still has tribute fodder afterward.

Round 2 vs Xsabers 2-0
Same thing as most saber fights I've had. Only the synchros and Faultroll can swing over a koa'ki so a lot of this (and the next xsaber matchup)is won by set boulders. Xsaber players dont usually set monsters, and often attack into stuff to bait out your S/T cards. I didnt get saber holed today, trunade, cold wave and MST did it's job. There are many outs for the KM deck to deal with sabers. If you think about it, they have, maybe, a 5% chance to draw both Rescue Cat and Cold wave. They have an even higher chance to draw cold wave while they have faultroll in their hand(from darksoul). But we have 2 Oppressions, 3 Compulsories, 3 Urknights, 3(I added 1 today) Boulders which increases out chance to get iron core, so the raw % of me drawing cards to stop their game winning play is just higher. Theres really only so much they can do with such low attack monsters. Stop the synchros before they start and try your hardest to stay in control

Round 3 vs Machina 1-2
Another deck I have serious issues with. Joe showed me his side for Machina, which is System down, Fortress Dragon, Proto Cyber Dragons, and Limiter Removal. Me being a new player, shows that I have 0 of these cards. So my side against Machina is just +1 compulsory... First game I control the match. Urknights, Crusaders, the only monster threat in the deck is Jinzo, Cyber Dragon and Fortress. Until, and this is when match 2 started, the Machina player draws Solidarity. This puts gadgets at 2000-2200, which is VERY painful. Luckily I drew up core overclock, but "hey, let's play a 2nd Solidarity." Thanks game. I lost that match, It was just too difficult to deal with a 2800 monster, all the while knowing your opponent is building towards a 4100 atk monster. Essentially I need to rethink my strategy against Machina. Either put in trap holes for gadgets(they gain a monster while you lose a trap card), put in dust tornadoes for solidarity(machina decks use a very small amount of S/T cards from what I've seen. A lot of them are 1-for-1 removal, so is dust tornado worth it for 3-4 targets?), or put in something unexpected like Core Blast and Core Reinforcements. I'll continue trying to figure this out.

Round 4 vs Sabers again 2-1
This was pretty similar to the above match. I don't believe I was able to starlight road Steve, perhaps I did. I know for sure I did against my first Saber round. Today I actually didn't get to Oppression much of anything. So what won me the game? I would have to say 1st turn(and in round 3 1st AND second turn) boulders won the game. Of course getting things like Trunade and Cold Wave help too, but saber players often attack your set monsters. And when they dont, they set darksoul, in which now you have a chance to gain the field. What's awesome about darksoul is you can search out a game winning combo at the end of the turn. But while you're doing that, I'm already controlling the field. In my opinion, Darksoul puts you either 1 turn ahead of your opponent or 1 turn behind. It really depends on what I'm able to keep on the field. They need 2 monsters to essentially do ANYTHING in that deck. Synchro? 2 monsters. Faultroll? 2 Monsters. This is where I use compulsory like a maniac. I HAVE to stop the play before it happens, or else I can't get field presence back.

All in all, I had fun. Monday I'll play more people with Northwemko if I can help it. I'll try to post the deck too.

Diehard games report

This is a copy paste from another YGO forum. I'm a little too tired to give a better report. I may elaborate on it in the morning.

Round one vs FroggyMonarchQuickdrawDandyWarriorSillyness 1-2
This dude always comes to our locals with an original deck. I have a lot of respect for him. Round 1 I was fighting he did nothing but quickdrawmonarch generic crap. I won first round with ease, and decided to side in some stuff (compulsories, something else too, basically I took out overclock and lab) Round 2 he opens up with Swap->treeborn->quickdraw->some other frog-> drillwarrior and I was like crap. Drew into nothing both rounds.

Round two vs Anti Meta Gadgets 2-1
This is the kid that beat me last weak. Antimeta is hot and all and does win games, but I think the big problem with it is its SO focused on hand advantage amd your only field advantage is Rai-oh, Cyber Dragon and a bunch of One for One S/T. I was able to win with that, he had to make me get a ruling on crusader vs doomkaiser suicide but I assured him that crusader still fires off, and i added Urknight for the win.

Round three vs Xsabers 2-0
Royal Oppression and Compulsory wins games. I think I say this every time I post in this thread. Compulsory as stopped so many Cat plays and Faultroll plays for me is crazy. He even had fullhelmknight on the field and opened Cold Wave, in which I compulsory fullhelm which completely ruined his play. I had Oppression both games and did the ole trusty Trunade Oppression->Urknight->Guardian->Re-set oppression. I also won the final hit with compulsory on Pashull.

Round four vs Six Sams kid with a "buy" 0-2fejwiojfow
He wins first dice roll. Opens: Gateway->Gateway->United->United->Union Samurai->Draw four->Search Grandmaster->Union equip and I was like wowwww. Granted I lasted for a while with double maximus in my hand, eventually I lost because he got to search basically every turn/ He even drew his 3rd Gateway which was pretty much auto win. Round two wasnt as bad.....But....I drew 5 turns after my first draw(Guardian) of no monsters. 2 Dust Tornados(sided in) 2-3 Compulsories, Torrential, Lab(i think? Some KM magic card) and Bottomless. Really REALLY wish i could have draw at least 1 playable monster but nope, I dont get to play monsters in yugioh lol.