Tour Bus will be a key card on the next format

Dark smog, Darkflare Dragon and Tour Bus has one thing in common. They all are the begining of what is coming. A extreme control environment, where everyone will be trying to create a graveyard and stop the opponent to create one for him.

All the meta decks need to control the grave more than before:

1: 4 fairies

2: Grapha

3: Inzektor Hornet

4: Bulb + Spore

5: Dark + Light

Tour bus accomplish two things, fits the hole that Sangan will left when he have gone, and you can send it to the grave with eclipse wyvern to bring back lightpulsar dragon from the grave.

Tour bus will be the next grave control card on the game. But this time is way better that his predecessors because the target will be back to the deck, instead of being removed. So, leviair won't safe you from that.

I mention leviair because rank 3 have become the most important rank on the game, just like lv6 syncro was when brionac and goyo were alive.

Inzektor is the new blackwing

Inzektor Dragonfly works like Shura, Inzektor Centipede works like black Whirlwind, and inzektor hornet works like Icarus attack. However all of them works a lot better than their predecessor. Dragonfly don't need to attack, Centipede can be searched from the deck, and hornet can't be stopped by starlight road.

Like blackwing, all of them are dark, avoid bottomless trap hole, summon a monsters from the extra deck easily, and if you don't use warning on the first inzektor your opponent summoned, you are screwd.

If konami explode all the potential of winged-beast in the past, now is time for insects to be exploded.

Psych-hamster deck

Building a deck on this format have been one of the most difficult things I ever done lately, and building a psych deck without Mind master was even harder that I thought. Before Show you the decklist, I want to explain why almost every psych card on the game sucks.

Esper Girl: The syncro psych strategy is like Karakuri, in both cases the engine and the combo are combined. So if you get the combo, you will get new cards to your hand. Esper Girl accomplish the same purpose than bureido, however esper girl effect is really hard to pull off. Of course you can use serene to bring her from the deck, but if you draw sper you do nothing. You need another monster to syncro with it. You don't want to set this card and pass. This is not the card that you want to use in your first turn.

Silent wizard: This card and Serene, are the best cards to pull of esper girl, and even though this card has 1900 atk points. It doesn't worth to summon it if your graveyard is empty. Also if you can't syncro with wizard, you will have to wait until he dies. And hopefully you will be able to make a syncro summon the next turn. This is not the card that you want to use in your first turn.


Serene: This card is an excellent engine for the deck, finally something useful. This is the kind of card that you want to use in your first turn. Maybe in the next turn Silent can remove it and bring it back.

And that's all. There is nothing else remarkable on the psych cards, and even these cards are not too great. The worst things is that put in a psych syncro monster won't worth the effort, so Silent probably isn't too useful. What this deck needs is some way to put a syncro psych monster on the field easily and another good card to establish a good opening turn.

Monsters 21

3 Hamsters
2 Ryko
3 Tanngnjostr of nordic beast
3 Guldfaxe of nordic beast
3 Silent
3 Serene
2 Esper
2 Veiler

Magic 10

1 Emergency Teleport
1 Heavy storm
2 MST
1 BoM
1 Enemy Con
1 Mind Control
1 Pot of avarice
1 Dark hole
1 Reborn

Traps 8

2 Warning
1 BTH
1 Solem
1 MF
1 TT
1 Prison
1 Evacuation
1 Starlight

And this is how I try to fix the problems of the deck. With Hamster, serene and Ryko I have enough 1º turn plays. Ryko helps to destroy backrows and send psych monster to graves so I can use Silent the next turn. While hamster creates a lot of plays on his own.

1.- With hamster, you can bring Tanngnjostr, then bring guldfaxe and syncro for thought ruler or psych lifetrance. So, this is how you put a syncro psych monster without lose card advantage. This combo makes Silent wizard playable.

2.- Another great thing about this is that almost every monster here is EARTH. So use Hamster, bring Tanngnjostr, and then bring guldaxe. Syncro for stardust, normal summon esper girl and syncro for Naturia beast. You only use two cards, to bring two great syncros, also you put a psych monster in the grave.In fact, this is the main reason to use this build. Now you only need to use a heavy trap line to protect these syncros.

3.- And like all the good decks, you can make trishula easily. Tanngnjostr + hamster + esper girl.

4.- The deck has a lot of lv3 monsters, which means you can summon leviair and bring back esper girl from the RFG to pull off her effect.

5.- The only advantage of spych syncro monsters is life points gaining, and the only way to pull off that advantage is PAYING LIFEPOINTS!! And that is way I use two warnings on this deck.

I Know even when the deck is good, it can't work on this competitive environment. I will make some videos to show you the pros and cons.

Merry Chrismas to all.

About Dragons collide

Since Machina came up, we have been complaining about how konami creates all these broken structural decks. Machina fortress became one of the most easiest ways to kill stardust and shien, while the power of Hiperion makes DAD looks like a joke. Then Grapha was created and everybody started to hate structural decks, put a boss monster on the field never was so easy.

Now Dragons collide have been finally released on the OCG, but this time is not broken. Konami finally listen to the players. The deck is focus on power and floaters, all these combinated on a chaos strategy. However, this time we won't see any kid coming from a store with three of these decks and wining games.

Of course I know the Whole strategy behind Dragon chaos haven't been revealed yet, but is good to know that everything doesn't came out in the structural deck.

only time will tell us if this strategy will be broken or not. I hope it won't.

btw, next post will be Psych deck!!

Lack of inspiration

The game have been going downhill for me (and for many other people i guess). The precense of Tourguide, zenmaines among others make this game looks really awful. In fact, I don't care that all the people is playing the same or all the best cards in the game have a ridiculous price. What piss me off is that you have to play specific strategies if you don't want to play any of those cards. For example if you want to deal with zenmaines, you can remove from game or bounce it to the extra. So whether you play a strategy capable of bring brionac easily or you play a chaos strategy capable of remove zenmaines without loss cards.

Also, with all the boss monsters going around in the game, there is no reason to feel safe behind stardust, which is the core of the whole syncro phylosophy. There is no diversity in the syncros option, that makes obsolete almost 70% of the strategies that I love in this game.

I'm thinking about the next banlist, I know is too early, but I don't think there is nothing else to think about this format.

Tournament Report

No, This is not a usual tournament report because I didn't play. I was one of the organizers and the head judge.

The event was really good according to what the people said. I feel really happy because I recieve almost not complains about anything.

Sorry for the lack of post, I was preparing everything for the tournament. Now that it is finally done, I can keep up with my usual life. (yeah!)

Analisis de Formato

En formatos anteriores, Konami orientó el meta hacia combos de dos cartas. Spore, mind master, formula, kagemusha, kageki, dragunity dux, foolish burial, GK descendant, Karakuri ninishi, etc. Ninguna de esas cartas es capaz de hacer algo por si sola, sin embargo todas ellas fueron parte del meta del ultimo año. Esto se debe a que todas esas cartas eran parte de combos muy faciles de realizar y la ventaja obtenida tras realizarlos era casi instantanea (por ejemplo Formula). Por tanto podriamos resumir casi toda la era de los syncros con 3 palabras: Two cards combo. Todos los decks meta funcionaron asi, y si tu querias hacer un deck nuevo, podias utilizar este concepto y obtener exito (ejemplo de ello fueron las pocas innovaciones de aquella epoca, como Tech genius, water syncro, among others).

Este formato es muy diferente y puede resumirse en otras tres palabras: Floaters and Boss. Dandylion, Sangan, Tourguide, gadgets, Grapha, Tengu, Agent of earth, any T.G., etc. Todos ellos funcionan como excelentes monstruos flotantes o buscadores, de modo que nos dan presencia de campo a la vez que no implican una inversion de cartas en el. Mientras que Hyperion, Gorz, Tragoedia, Chaos sorcercer, BLS, Caius, Tourguide, Kristia, etc. funcionan como boss monsters que pueden poner la partida de tu lado si lo necesitas. De modo que ahora solo necesitas 1 carta en lugar 2 para ganar. De hecho las mejores cartas del formato son aquellas que actuan tanto de floater como de Boss, como TourGuide. ¿Cual es el problema de todo esto?

De hecho hay 2 problemas en este formato. El primero es la cantidad, sin royal oppresion podemos jugar tantos boss monsters como nos de la gana para presionar al oponente incluso si esta tratando de defenderse con veiler. El segundo problema es la presencia de Heavy storm, lo cual significa que tendremos miedo cada turno. No solo es miedo por perder nuestras defensas ante heavy, sino que ademas es miedo de perder una gran cantidad de vida y presencia de campo en el proceso. Existen demasiados boss monsters y muy pocas maneras de establecer una exitosa posicion defensiva.

Este cambio total en la mecanica del juego ha hecho que algunas cartas se vuelvan mas fuertes. Ejemplo de ello es Monster reborn, no era un problema cuando el juego era todo sobre combos, revivir un kageki, o una spore, o un sangan no significa nada si no tienes nada que hacer con esos monstruos. Pero este formato no es asi, ahora se convocan monstruos fuertes con efectos descompensados, uno de esos monstruos puede darte la victoria el solito. JD, Hyperion, Kristia, BLS, grapha todos ellos son extremadamente buenos, y si ademas podemos revivir a alguno del cementerio el juego se vuelve aun mas peligroso. Monster Reborn es, nuevamente, una carta descompensada.

Porque Konami hizo esto? Creo que Konami esta tratando de insertar los nuevos xyz monsters en el juego, para conseguirlo estos tienen que ser capaces de competir (estrategicamente) con lo syncros, pero tal y como esta el juego eso es imposible. De modo que konami ha preferido hacerlo inutiles (destruyendo todas las estrategias basadas en dos cartas al mismo tiempo), y cuando los xyz monsters reciban suficientes cartas, seran capaces de crear una estrategia por si mismos. En ese punto la era de los boss monsters se ira y las estrategias de dos cartas volveran.

Hay algunas pistas en las nuevas expansiones que prueban esta hipotesis: Konami aun crea nuevos arquetipos basados en dos cartas, pero para que sean jugables en este formato, esas estrategias deben ser realizables con una sola carta. Ejemplo de ello es Insektor dragonfly, el cual puede jugarse por si solo para traer hornet, Destruir dos cartas a lo largo de todo el combo para terminar trayendo un xyz de rank 3. Sin embargo el ejemplo perfecto de mis palabras se encuentra en la estrategia de los evol, el cual es un combo de dos cartas increiblmente lento e imposible de jugar. PERO se vuelve totalmente jugable gracias a Rescue Rabbit (un combo de 1 carta).

Boss y Floaters, esta es la nueva clave del exito, y Courtney Waller (el ultimo ganador del YCS) supo verlo con claridad.

Por cierto, con todas esas convocaciones especiales y todo el miedo por setear, este era el momento perfecto para reimprimir duality y warning, dado que ambos se vuelven casi injugables en un ambiente como este.

Konami sabe como ganar dinero, ¿estas listo para ir paso por delante?

Format analysis

(Subire este post en español unos dias)

In the past formats, konami guided the meta into a two cards combo. Spore, mind master, formula, kagemusha, kageki, dragunity dux, foolish burial, GK descendant, Karakuri ninishi, etc. Any of those cards are capable to work on their own, however all of them were part of the meta. That is because those cards were part of combos easy to set up. We can summarize the syncro era with three words: two cards Combo. All the meta decks worked with two cards combo, and if you wanted to make a new deck, you could used that rule and got success (Tech genius, water syncro, among others).

This is format is really different and I can summarize that with three words too: Floaters and Boss. Dandylion, Sangan, Tourguide, gadgets, Grapha, Tengu, Agent of earth, any T.G., etc. All of them work like excellent floaters if you need it. While Hyperion, Gorz, Tragoedia, Chaos sorcercer, BLS, Caius, Tourguide, Kristia, etc. work like boss monsters that can turn the game on your side if you need it. So, now you only need one card to push the game instead of two. What is the problem here?

There are actually two problems on this format. The first is the quantity, without royal oppresion we can play as many boss monsters as we want and push for game even if our opponent is trying to protect himself with veiler. The second problem is the presence of Heavy storm, wich means that we have to feel fear every turn. We have strong boss monsters and few ways to establish a defense position.

In the past, Monster reborn wasn't a problem because the game was all about making combos. But this format isn't. This format is about summoning strong monster with broken effects, we only need one card to win. JD, Hyperion, Kristia, BLS, grapha all of them are extremely broken and if we can bring him back from the grave, everything is more dangerous. So, now Monster Reborn is, again, a broken card.

Why Konami did this? I think Konami is trying to insert the new xyz monster in the game, in order to do that they have to compete against syncro monsters, but they can't. So Konami is making them useless (and the whole two card combo strategy), and when xyz monsters get enough support, they will be able to create a strategy on their own. At that point, the boss monsters era will be gone, and two cards combo come back.

There are some clues on the new sets that proof this hypothesis: Konami is still creating new archetypes based on two cards combo. But in order to fight against all those boss monsters, those strategies most be performed with only card. Like Insektor dragonfly, who can be play it alone, destroy two cards in the process and bring a rank 3 xyz monster. However the perfect example of my words is the evol strategy, which is a unplayable slow two cards combo. But become totally playable with Rescue rabbit (one card combo).

By the way, with all those special summons and backrow fears this is the perfect moment to reprint pot of duality and solem warning, since both of them may be unplayable on this environment.

Konami knows how to win money, are you ready to be one step of ahead of him?

Karakuri and the truth about machine decks

I wrote this post in may on another blog, so I will post it here because I think is interesting.

I tried to build many old strategies that I used to love; one of those is "Roids", a fusion deck where the materials are almost playable. Even though I could have some descent duels, it was really hard to use the deck. The real problem wasn't the build itself, it was on the fact that all of them are machine. Nowadays this game has two strong sidedeck cards against machine: cyber dragon and system down. The field can be clean easily without waste a normal summon or active a destruction effect, also you can loss your graveyard in the process. However, machine decks exist... wait, that's not true. "Machina" decks exist. The question is, why? And why there isn't any other playable machine strategy? ¿What happen with roids, Jinzo, cyber dragon decks? The answers to those questions lie behind the Machina strategy.

Machina is a basic deck, where Solidarity use to be a staple that string the options even more. The main squeleton of the deck is: 6 gadgets , 3 gearframe, 3 fortress. And the key to success is a concept that we all know: Floaters. All the gadgets can search for another gadget, while his key monster is a special summon 2500atk beater capable of destroy card after his dead. So, Machina can create almost 4000 damage any turn and that is what makes the strategy so good. Who cares if you clean the field? The machina strategy can create a new field of 4000 damage and finish the duel. The possibilities increase if we add solidarity and limiter removal to the mix.

This is the future of all the machine strategies: Easy special summon effects, great turns with 4000 damage and a lot of floaters that don't relies on the grave. This is the only way to play a machine deck, and Konami knows it. That's why karakuri have a lot of searchers, syncros with special summon effects, and extra draw effects.

Karakuri is the new "Machina", with more summons, more draws and more resources. But always with the same strategy, great turns of 4000 damage, and without loss cards so you can repeat the process if your opponent use system down. Konami figure out a way to eliminate all the past machine strategy and keep only the new ones, those capable of survive against cyber dragon and system down. Konami have found a way to ban thousand of cards without use the banlist.

I'm not complaining, I just feel sad because I can't play Roids even like a tier2 deck.