Quickee Post: Ruling battle!

Rulings on the local level are usually a lot of fun. Everyone is on the same "level" of authority, regardless of your tournament prowess or judging experience. The key here at locals is that most players will only listen to the tournament organizer, or the general consensus. As a tournament organizer, players can feel confident when they come to you for a ruling; especially true if you have a laptop and WiFi! As "just another guy with a 3G phone", your word is only as good as the number of people around you who will agree with what you say. In a game that can be as complex as Yugioh, even the words printed on the cards can't be trusted by some players. The only way to reach these type of players is with cited proof of game mechanics.

Inzektor with multiple equipped cards
Until we receive any notice about the issue; when equip cards leave an Inzektor such as Centipede and Dragonfly at different times, yet on the same chain, that Inzektor will be able to activate it's effect for each instance of a detached equip spell card. However, it is very important to remember that Heavy Storm on those monsters, with multiple cards equipped to them, will only cause 1 search/special summon.

Example: Inzektor Dragonfly is equipped with Inzektor Hornet and Gigamantis. Hornet can be sent to the graveyard to activate the effect, destroying the equipped Gigamantis. Afterwards, a new chain starts between Gigamantis and 2 activations of Inzektor Dragonfly.

Source

Snowman Eater doesn't start a chain!?
This was a heated debated on the internet thanks to the YCS rumor mill. Similar to Hornet and Shi En, this was debunked thanks to Facebook. Snowman Eater's effect starts a chain and applicable monsters can negate the activation of that effect during the Damage Step.

Source

Monsters can not activate effects in the damage step unless they specifically say so...right?
For this, I really tried to turn to the rule book for some clarification. Unfortunately, the rule book didn't actually specify the use of Monster's Quick Effects during the damage step! Even worse, is that I am having trouble finding and ruling questions on the Official TCG Judge Forum about Quick Effects and the Damage Step. I can only trust that most players know by now that Monsters with Quick effects (spell speed 2) that negate effects can activate during the damage step. The (Unofficial) Yugioh Wikia has a nice breakdown of the Damage Step.

The only solace I can give you are some questions to think about:
Can Stardust Dragon negate the activation of Ally of Justice - Catastor?
Can Tytannial, Princess of Camelias negate the activation of Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter?
Can Herald of Perfection negate the activation of Battle Fader from the opponent's hand?

March 2012 Forbidden and Limited List

February is coming to a close and you know what that means. The sun is shining here in New England. Woodland creatures are awakening from their hibernation. Shamrocks are hanging from businesses even though St. Patrick's day is a ways away. Car Dealerships are practically giving away vehicles for President's Day. And Konami giveth and taketh away our beloved cards. If you have been on any website involving Yugioh, you may have heard some angst amongst your fellow players. You may even have friends who are claiming to take a Yugioh vacation until September! They say this every year; don't worry, you'll see them in May. As a relatively new player, this is my first list that actually spun my head around. Question is, is it a good head-spin or bad head-spin?

http://www.yugioh-card.com/en/limited/

Newly Limited:
Glow-Up Bulb
Spore
Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier - was limited
Trap Dustshoot - was limited

Limited:
The Agent of Mystery - Earth
T.G. Striker

Semi-Limited:
Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner - was limited
Marshmallon - was limited
Reborn Tengu
Emergency Teleport - was limited
Level Limit Area B - was limited
Shien's Smoke Signal - was limited
Torrential Tribute - was limited
Ultimate Offering

Newly Unlimited:
Call of the Haunted


So at first glance, you, I and the rest of the internet think of some very specific things:
1) Why weren't Wind-Ups hit?
2) Why weren't Inzecktor hit?
3) Why is the only world premiere card on the list Reborn Tengu?
4) Why kill the plant archetype completely?
5) Why the hit to Tech Genus?
6) Why limit so many cards last year, then semi-limit them this year?

Some people believe that the this list was designed to cripple generic synchro decks (Plants and T.G.) while making Xyz monsters and theme-specific Synchros the focus of the metagame. Some people believe that the current game state, with secret rare prices at an all-time high and the anticipation of reprints drives the  F&L list. Many people actually say that Konami knows more counters to our meta than we do; and with this list, older decks with some unknown technology can actually beat ZeXal decks.  We have a ton of new product being released this year, as well as new technology being uncovered every day. Perhaps the real answer to this list is that, by June, we will have so many potential tier 1 decks and cards to counter Hunter, Tour guide, and Hornet.

Just looking at YCS Atlanta, it is clear that the most popular decks are Wind-ups and Dino Rabbit.  With the new list, a few more decks get a boost in playability:
Six Samurai
Psychic
Lightsworn

Barring Lightsworn, Six Samurai and Psychic are 2 decks that have the benefit of running great tech without losing important card slots. Lightsworn have luck on their side and enough hand traps to stay in the game. No one wants to lose their whole hand or get Raigeki'd on turn 2, but there are sooooooo many cards now that can increases your chances of surviving:

Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror ***
Maxx "C" ****
Effect Veiler ****
Cyber Dragron **
Chaos Hunter **
Royal Prison ***
Skill Drain ****
Lava Golem **
2 Tragoedia ***
Ninjitsu Art of Super Transformation ***
D.D. Crow ****
Gozen Match ***
Rivalry of Warlords ****
Fiendish Chain ****
Compulsory Evacuation Device ***
Prohibition **
Marshmallon ****
Spirit Reaper ****

And that doesn't even include the biggest threat to Dino Rabbits and Wind-ups: Huge and Indestructible  monsters.

As scary as the format looks, I really think the key is in your own tech and side deck. A lot of people forget that, even though Wind-up, Inzektor, and Rabbit all have very consistent, powerful strategies; the sheer number of participates at YCS Atlanta brings the top 32 down to probability. The F&L list doesn't change TOO much about the game except for removing Tengu Plants(and a few Agent decks at your locals) from the equation. I wouldn't get your hopes up about banning Wind-up Hunter and limiting Inzektor Hornet until June, after we get Hidden Arsenal 6, Galactic Overload, Battle-pack epic dawn, a possible TCG Exclusive starter deck, Shooting Quasar Dragon, Slifer(Osiris), and the ton of other products this year.

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.

Konami Giveth and Konami Taketh Away(!?) Part 3

Semi-Limits aren't the most game changing reductions in Yugioh. There are actually a lot of people who don't think Semi-limits are worth implementing into the game at all. To those players, it extends a needlessly long Banlist into embarrassing numbers of cards and doesn't really punish players that lose 1 of their key pieces to their strategy. I believe that when Semi-Limiting a card from 3 to 2, it is designed to make cards with a powerful level of consistency slightly less consistent, without removing that cards usefulness to the game(i.e., Semi-limiting Debris Dragon or Destiny HERO - Malicious).

The list is different though as most of the cards on the list are formerly limited cards! So now players can enjoy using 2 of them in a deck until they are told otherwise.

Necro Gardna - Warrior Monster, Dark monster, and level 3. Those are some decent stats for Yugioh, if it had 500 ATK and was level 2, we would have a different story. As far as using it, Necro's only real purpose is to negate attacks, which it can only do once from the graveyard. There are many, many cards in the game that react to the opponent's attacks, so Necro Gardna's effect isn't anything new. Besides that, it is really only used in decks that can send cards from the deck to the graveyard, which is mostly Lightsworn Monsters. In lightsworns, I like to believe that Konami doesn't mind cool tricks like this while Lumina and, especially, Charge of the Light Brigade are limited to 1. Pretty balanced card effect, for now.

Summoner Monk - Once again, another card that was at 1. This guy however is slightly more dangerous with the advent of XYZ monsters. Summoner Monk can turn any spell card into an XYZ, so long as your opponent doesn't stop you. If you play Heavy Storm or MST, you are now down by 3 cards to your opponent's -2. Yes even though you put a 2500 or double Thunderking on the field, what exactly did it cost? Many decks don't even run Spell Cards that are Monk fodder except for Pot of Duality and Mystical Space Typhoon, further balancing its play. Want to include Genex Ally Birdman to the fray? It is a great combo that you can pull off a bit more consistently. Of course, all you need is a Monk, a Birdman, a Spell Card you don't mind pitching like Duality, and for your opponent to not Warning, Bottomless or Veiler your Arcanite or Blackrose dragon.

Tragoedia - This is one of the very few cards I disagree with changing. With Pot of Avarice gone(limited to 1), Tragoedia is a little less dangerous in late game Yugioh than in early game. The effect to permanently nab opponent's monsters was SLIGHTLY lessened by the fact that your opponent may Overlay their monsters into something with no level. Its effect to change its own level is slightly better now with XYZ monsters in your extra deck. I believe that these are all slightly fair effects with the amount of powerful monsters that exist. What makes Trag worse than Gorz is that Trag can't turn a duel around by itself. Your opponent could have an awesome field of Stardust Dragon, Steelswarm Roach and Junk Destroyer and lose it all to 1 Gorz.

Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier - Once again, (OCG) players found ways to abuse having 3 Dewloren and that was with Fishborg Blaster. With Fishborg gone, we now have Diva and Surface to make our triple Dewlorens. This strategy isn't as powerful, but it can still happen. Better just semi-limit the card now(again) before someone finds a new Dewloren loop.

Destiny Draw - Finally, everyone has been asking for 2 Destiny Draws and Konami is finally ready for you to have it. Why? No real reason I'm sure. It is probably because of new Hero support in GENF and rereleased cards in the Duel Academy Binder in October. Destiny Draw has no other stipulations besides running Destiny HERO monsters. You don't have to skip your battle phase or forgo special summons, you are free to do whatever you like. The only balancing feature of Destiny Draw is the fact that you have to run Destiny HERO monsters in the first place. Of those, the only ones that have good effects are:
Destiny HERO - Diamond Dude
Destiny HERO - Malicious
Destiny HERO - Dasher
Destiny HERO - Defender
Destiny HERO - Plasma
Destiny HERO - Fear Monger
None of those cards have solitary, game changing effects except for Plasma. All of the others require other cards to be useful. There are many low tier decks with draw engines like Boon of the Meklord Emperor and Red Dragon Vase. Decks have to have really good monster cards to limit their drawing options.

Swords of Revealing Light - With Mystical Space Typhoon bumped to 3 and Heavy Storm back AND Giant Trunade gone, Swords is even less of a liability for the opponent. Stall and burn decks can still win against just about anyone, but those high tier decks have to draw pretty poorly to be beaten by a Swords of Revealing Light + Stealth Bird combo. It is a card game however and luck will always be a factor. Perhaps bumping Swords up to 2 helps out our stalling brethren(as well as new players.)

Call of the Haunted - We all wanted Monster Reborn banned in this list. Instead, Konami gave us another Call of the Haunted. Sure, CotH takes a turn to play and it can only get your own cards. Also with as much as 2 additional backrow destroying cards, CotH is even less powerful. What makes CotH pretty cool is that any cards that benefit from being destroyed work very well as revival targets, turning your opponent's MST into a relative loss for them. Sangan and Dandylion don't mind being destroyed after reviving them, and neither do Wisel and Grannel in your hand. CotH also pumps up decks that originally run 1, like my new Wonder Wand deck. It will actually pump up a lot of lower level decks, while keeping High tier decks the same, simply because they never ran CotH in the first place. Just because we have 2 doesn't mean you will see it in every deck. Some people simply don't have room for 1-shot revival on their side of the field.

Mind Crush - Is a good card but will always be down to luck. Hitting the first(and now only!) Smoke Signal with Mind Crush is a great start to a duel. Having 2 in the deck makes these plays a little easier. You can also use it against Agents, Sangan, Nordics, Gravekeepers, and a few other decks, so long as they grab something that you can see. Until that happens, for most players, Mind Crush is a dead card on your field. If you feel like you are lucky, you can call Kagemusha after they special summon Elder. Unfortunately, they may have done Elder so they can Asceticism into Kagemusha instead. Now you lost 1 card and will probably lose the duel because you are down by 2 and they just gained a Shi En.

Hindsight - Not much else is worth semilimiting except for TCG exclusives. Specifically Tour Guide of the Underworld, which is seeing more play in decks than it probably should be. Of course there are plenty of limited cards that I would love to see at 2.
Advanced Ritual Art
Gale the Whirlwind
Necroface
Emergency Teleport

Konami Giveth and Konami Taketh Away(!?)

It is that time of the year already? Holy geez. We just got through Worlds so that really only leaves a couple of months left in August. During our last couple of weeks of freedom we get a new set, Generation Force. There are also the exciting new tins on the 30th. For those who don't remember what the tins include:
No. 17 Leviathan Dragon
-Pot of Duality
-Dark Simorgh
-Beast King Barbaros
-Stygian Street Patrol

Wind up Zenmaister
-Pot of Duality
-Neo-Parshath the Sky Paladin
-Archlord Krystia
-Elemental HERO Gaia

Rounding out the great releases, there is also the new Hidden Arsenal Special Edition that was released not too long ago. For those who need Emmersblade for Xsabers, you now have a reprinted one and a chance to get great synchro monsters. So many back to back releases often shy our attention away from the banlist. Though rapidly approaching, these subsequent releases of awesomeness overshadow the fact that you may not even get to play the cards on September 1st! You guys know how Konami is. YOU REMEMBER SUPER RESCUE CAT. NEVER FORGET 9/1/2010.

Now, this list I am about to show you is about 95% confirmed. The magazine that prints this is almost 100% reliable if not only for that fact that it is an OCG list. It has yet to be different in the TCG, but you can never know what may happen for us and our World Premiere cards. As a forewarning, some viewers may find the card spoiler as slightly disturbing. Some viewers may find the list so good that they want to jump for joy. How do I feel about it? You'll have to wait until the end to find out.



Newly Forbidden
Fishborg Blaster
Mind Master
Giant Trunade
Royal Oppression

Newly Limited
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
Debris Dragon
Lonefire Blossom
Formula Synchron
Legendary Six Samurai Shi En
T.G. Hyper Librarian
Heavy Storm
Pot of Avarice
Primal Seed
Shien's Smoke Signal

Newly Semi-Limited
Necro Gardna
Summoner Monk
Tragoedia
Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier
Destiny Draw
Swords of Revealing Light
Call of the Haunted
Mind Crush

Newly Unlimited
Judgement Dragon
Spirit Reaper
Megamorph
Mystical Space Typhoon
Overload Fusion
Gravity Bind
Icarus Attack

STAR plays!
-Twilight, Lightsworn and Chaos in general is BACK. Two Trags, what?? JDs up the whazoo. BLS! Your cards on the field will never be safe again...Unless you Starlight Road them!
-Summoner Monk to two no way! Wonder Magicians get a huge boost from that.
-Fishborg Banned HAH so much for Turbo Pack 6 Fishborgs. Wait how is this good, Fishborg looked good as a Super Rare...
-Icarus Attack to 3 gives us a reason to fear Winged beasts all over again.

Balls dropped
-Banned Mind Master and didn't bump Emergency Teleport up to 2?
-Call of the Haunted to 2? I understand it is very balanced revival and with no Trunade and triple MST it is much more fair. It just seems like that is a huge hit to the themed revival getting released lately.
-Royal Oppression banned is so painful. Yes it is not fair to lock a deck out of playing the game, but with triple MST if they hate it that much makes it balanced. There are other ways to defend yourself from the special summon explosions of many decks, though.

This has been my 2nd banlist since creating this blog, and I must say this one is the most exciting. As with every list, we do hope that the TCG has some minor differences, such as with Tour Guide, but this list is about as close to reasonable as we can get. Some may say that Twilight is far too strong with 2 monks, 3 JD, 2 Trag and BLS, but time will tell as Lightsworn decks are not the most consistent decks on the planet. Plus they have to compete against the anti graveyard tactics of Gravekeepers, the Negate and Destroy of Heralds in Agents/Fairies, the return of side decked Starlight Road thanks to Heavy Storm and Judgment Dragon, and a few other technically choices against the deck. The banlist also neuters a few decks without giving them something to feel happy about. As much as Mind Master is unbalanced, it was one of the few ways for the new Psychic Deck to actually make plays. They do have several other tricks up their sleeve, and they all require a setup. Mind Master required no setup outside of having another psychic to tribute.

Talking about decks is only half of the story, the actual chosen cards can give us a lot of information too. To conclude this blog post, I want to touch up on the banned cards.

Fishborg Blaster - Fishborg is the main cause of many FTK, OTK, and loop setups in the OCG and TCG. It is not a once per turn effect and the synchros that you make for it usually outweigh the discard cost of the monster. There are multiple ways to get Fishborg into your grave on turn 1, whether it be setting Mother Grizzly, Normal Summoning Genex Undine, or using One for One. Fishborg on its own was great sea-life support, but unfortunately it was not used for sea decks. Perhaps if it had another condition, such as synchroing for water monsters, or only being able to activate the effect if your graveyard only has water monsters in it, then it could exist in our game. It had a great run though. I do feel sorry about it getting the rare treatment in Turbo Pack 6. I will say that this is why Spore is a super rare in GENF Special Edition.

Mind Master - As I said earlier, Mind Master is simply a poorly designed card. It is excellent support for the archetype and it cannot be splashed into other decks. Usually that is the definition of balanced, but there are still some strategies that are just too good to leave unchecked, even if the deck isn't winning tournaments. The effect of killing yourself to make any type of field you can imagine is not enough to balance the card out either. If you are successful at paying 6400 lifepoints to make your field, you can easily put a Thought Ruler Archfiend, Psychic Lifetrancer, or even Magical Android onto the field and suddenly have more lifepoints than your opponent. The card had to go. The sad thing is that most competitive players will never try Psychics without Mind Master. The new Psychic Deck has a lot of plays outside of paying lifepoints for Mind Master. They also have a Mind Master in the form of a floater called Serene Psychic Witch. Witch can also search out one of ANY psychic with 2000 or less attack from your deck by achieving the trigger of Destruction Via Anything. This is your new set-up for psychic decks. During your standby phase summon the tuner from your deck, you then normal summon any of the new Banish Psychics and are free to synchro with them. If you opponent stops the synchro, you can get Witch back because most of the nontuner Banish Psychics will put Witch back onto the field once they leave. I know losing Mind Master and not getting another Emergency Teleport sucks, but test the deck out a little before calling it unplayable.

Giant Trunade - Trunade has been out for a long time and a lot of players, myself included, have only just begun to hate it. Having gone through a format with no Heavy Storm, Trunade has been the insurance that you will probably win the game. In most decks, your only out to trunade is Solemn Judgment, paying half your life just to stop your opponents insured win. If you do that, they can still push for game while having LESS lifepoints to get over. The other option that a few players have gone with is Dark Bribe. Bribe can stop Trunade, Monster Reborn, or Solemns at the cost of granting your opponent a card draw. In most cases, that extra draw was worth your life and you just hope that they didn't draw another powerful card from it. But now, Trunade is gone and Heavy is back alongside three Mystical Space Typhoons. MST is balanced 1 for 1 removal and Heavy can be countered by Starlight Road, in turn delicately hitting a few other decks(Debris Plants, Gladiator Beasts, Lightsworns). For most of us, having Trunade gone and Heavy back in the game is a key part of making the game better for everyone.

Royal Oppression - This one I did not see coming. There are multiple trains of thought about how Royal Oppression affects our game:
1) It punishes players for having only 1 win condition, Special Summons. i.e. Fabled.
2) It creates a line where overextension on either side of the field will be punished. i.e. Blackwings.
3) It locks the opponent out of a win condition after you create a great set up. i.e. Xsabers.
4) It locks the opponent out of the duel while not affecting how you play. i.e. Hero Beat.
I like to believe that Konami banned it for reasons 3 and 4, abuse in decks that use the card as part of their win condition. Many would argue that Skill Drain does the same thing and is used in decks where the Skill Drain player gains an advantage for not having effects. The difference here is that Skill Drain themed decks are still a bit inconsistent. Though they can use 3 now, a field of 1900 attackers with some D.Prisons set is no different than any other deck. It is Especially worse when their hand consists of Gadjiltron, Dark Bribes, or other low threat cards(while in the hand). Royal Oppression in certain decks do not compromise their build. If they don't draw Oppression, the deck will play out as normal, but if they do then their power increases 10-fold. I think I will always believe that 1 Oppression is fair, but we will see what happens in a format where Oppression does not exist. (Good thing we have all those side deck choices from this Hyper post.)

In Hindsight
As with every year, there are cards we wish were put onto the list that Konami did not do. So here were my hopes that were effectively slashed in this OCG list:
-Banned One for One.
-Banned Card Destruction.
-Banned Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Turbo Pack 6 - Rise of the Good Cards

Disclaimer POIDH I know. Sorry guys, but until Konami updates the product page, I have no pictures of the new Turbo Pack. It is orange though if that helps. Search it out on youtube if you want to see it.

Been missing out on some random semi-good cards that some of the best decks are using? Playing Quickdraw Plants(Junk Destroyer is a good card!) and you need 2 more shiny cards to bling out your deck for that extra $100 of net worth? Want some 40 dollar Chain Disappearances? Then Turbo Pack 6 is for you!

Turbo Pack 6 has 2 key features: Cards that needed to be reprinted for updated text, and cards that look awesome as a foil.

Ultimate Rare (1)
Dark Armed Dragon

Ultra Rare (1)
Sangan

Super Rare (4)
Masked Dragon
Fishborg Blaster
Quickdraw Synchron
Chain Disappearance

Rare (6)
Alector, Sovereign of Birds
Zombie Master
Black Garden
Stardust Dragon
Red Dragon Archfiend
Armory Arm

Commons (9)
Greenkappa
Kinetic Soldier
Golem Dragon
Transforming Sphere
Creature Swap
Gemini Spark
Fusion Gate
Magical Dimension
Bountiful Artemis

Some of these are a LITTLE hit-or-miss, but there is also some really, really cool cards to get 20 copies of.
UTR Dark Armed Dragon - Some people still want this card banned. It hasn't seen any top tournament play lately, and I can almost safely say that no Top 4 Player in the TCG played this card in any nationals this year. There were some OCG players with DAD in the deck and it may come back with some key picks on the September Banlist(Mind Master to 0, E-teleport to 2!). Needless to say, it does look pretty cool in Ultimate foil. I do wish they picked something that is seeing more play, like Ultimate Brionac, but this card is still technically a good monster. I think that if I pull one, I will make a Blackwing deck just to run it.

UR Sangan - Ehhhhh. I know some people who will love this card, but I do have to say that I don't. To be fair, most of the cards that would have been Ultra in Turbo Pack 6 ended up as Supers, so they are still in the pack. However, Sangan now has six rarities: Gold Rare from GLD2, Parallel from HL2, Super from DLG2(pretty hard to get this), Rare from MRD, or common from the Joey Starter.

SR Masked Dragon - Did you know that Masked Dragon is a good card? Dragons as a whole may not be wrecking the meta, but they have their own Nova Summoner.

SR Fishborg Blaster - Yesssssssss. This card should be limited in September, but the Super Rare is a great pick. Fishborg isn't doing THAT much in America, but in OCG land it is the basis of many new OTKs(along with Future Fusion). The card probably won't be outright banned, but if you get more than 2, I suggest getting rid of the extras before September rolls around.

SR Quickdraw Synchron - Yessssssssss. Oh wait, no one wants to play Quickdraw Plants anymore? Well tough for them because Quickdraw can do amazing things and once that banlist comes around you may have 1 or 2 spots in your Junk Doppel decks that could easily be a Quickdraw.

SR Chain Disappearance - At the moment I have 4 rare Chain D's. I used to have 6 at one point but I guess I traded 2 off. Now that Super Rares are coming out, I will want to collect these babies too. Chain Disappearance is one of the great disruptor cards in the game and everyone knows this. People who couldn't get the Rare versions because the spike in value may have a more difficult time getting these. If you are lucky, your locals are like mine where everyone has 3 Chains or 1 Chain and no one wants to trade theirs.

The rest of the commons and rares are mostly for new players and the new card text. You would be surprised at how many new players can't get those tins for SR Red Dragon or Stardust, so now they have the chance for some staple Synchro Monsters. Greenkappa is also used in the OCG, especially in heavy warrior decks like Six Sams. With Greenkappa, you can side in Rivalry of Warlords and still have a good first turn set and/or a generic monster that can hit almost any deck. Bountiful Artemis and Gemini Spark are other cards that you would be surprised that some players don't own. I would have liked to see Gemini Spark as a Super Rare with all the new Hero support, but I guess they want it more available to new players. Finally, Transforming Sphere is a very weird card that will probably serve 1 purpose. It is a very situational card effect tacked onto a level 3 monster you can summon with Flying Kamakari #1.

Once per turn, you can select 1 face-up Defense Position monster your opponent controls. Discard 1 card and equip the opponent's selected monster to this card (you can only equip 1 monster at a time to this card with this effect). This card gains the ATK of the equipped monster. If this card attacks, it is changed to Defense Position at the end of the Battle Phase. During the End Phase, the monster equipped with this card by this card's effect is Special Summoned to your opponent's side of the field in face-up Defense Position.

-If you summoned it with Kamakari while your opponent controls a face-up defense monster, you can spend 1 card in your hand and 1 normal summon of a level 3 monster or tuner monster to Xyz or Synchro while removing their monster. In an Xyz deck running Level Limit Area B, you can run a high number of level 3 monsters and remove your opponent's with Sphere's effect.

That is pretty much the only cool play to do with Sphere other than Icarus Attack. If you know any others, feel free to post about it here or on Facebook.

Other than that, the remaining cards have new text. The rulings for the cards shouldn't change, but it is to help us understand them being such problem cards. I for one hope to collect them all! 1 DAD, 1 Sangan, 3 Chains, 1 Fishborg, 1 Armory, and 1 Fusion Gate and I should be good to go!

Problem-Solving Card Text::Special Summons Edition

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