Friday, January 20, 2012

And I was right about holy carved


Holy carved are capable of summon Thunder end Dragon and others Great XYZ monsters. In fact, it looks like an excellent meta deck, but not like we have seen before.

Holy carved is a clearly a Combo Deck since most of the effects active tributing or in sinergy with other monster. A combo strategy at this point of the game is imposible, as I already explain on previous posts. The game right now is based on Boss and Floaters. However, Holy carveds solve that problem because they are not only a combo strategy, they are also heavy beater monsters with drawback so you will be force to go for the combo, or wait behind a strong monster. Holy carved is the break point between Combo and single-card play. This also give us a few more conclusion:

1.- Holy Carved are strong beaters with drawbacks. So if you try to stop them with veiler, you will eliminate the drawback, and will potentially be swarm by the opponent.

2.- Holy Carved can play Skill drain. At this point, there are two meta decks capable of maindecking Skill drain (holy carved and Dark World). So, the presence of Heavy storm and MST at 3 is key to stabilize the Metagame.


Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Holy Carved Dragon


Holy carved Dragon - shiyudragon

You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by Tributing 1 face-up "Holy Carved Seal of the Divine Dragon" you control. Once per turn: You can Tribute 1 "Holy Carved" monster, except "Holy Carved Dragon - Shiyudragon", you control or in your hand to target1 Spell or Trap Card your opponent controls; destroy that target. When this card is Tributed: You can Special Summon 1Dragon-Type Normal Monster from your Deck, hand or Graveyard, and make its ATK and DEF 0.

Holy carved seal of the divine dragon
Normal lv8 monster


Thunder end Dragon
2 Level 8 Normal Monsters
Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card;destroy all other monsters on the field.


Yes, I know there is still no combo between these cards. However I think it will be a combo in the new dragon deck. Also, Thunder end dragon looks a little spherical, maybe it is product of Holy carved seal. Who knows....

Sorry for the lack of posting. I'm having a really hard week and it doesn't look to be better. I guess my next post will be a banlist prediction...



Monday, January 9, 2012

Boss monsters in structural decks

There are a few things in common between Machina Fortress, Master Hyperion and Grapha. Easy special summon, high atk and free destruction effect. Today I want to establish a good comparison between them.

Machina Fortress lv7 = 2500/1600

"You can discard Machine-Type monster(s) whose total Levels equal 8 or more to Special Summon this card from your hand or Graveyard." This part means that you can summon this monster almost at any point of the game, just like Grapha, however you probably will have to spend two or more cards to bring him from the grave (-1). While Grapha means an instant +1 in your game. The best part of the effect is the hand or grave thing, the surprise factor is amazing and it is something that grapha don't have. If grapha is in the grave and DW is on the field, is clear what is going to happen. The surprise factor is present in Master hyperion too, However Hyperion can only be summon it once by his own effect and It must be from the hand. So, you can not abuse of him like Fortress or Grapha.

"When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, select and destroy 1 card your opponent controls." A free destruction effect is always great, however this one is not actually free. You have to die in battle, which means you probably will waste the effect on destroy the other battle monster. The advantage here is that Fortress has surprise factor and a easy special summon ability, which means that you can pontentially destroy 1 card on the field without your opponent be prepare for that at any point of the game. Master hyperion has a better destruction effect, because you only need to remove a fairy, but also because you can do it again the next turn. The problem here is that hyperion can not come back from the grave easily, so if you waste hyperion, you probably won't be able to destroy anything until you get the next hyperion. This problem becomes bigger if we think about Grapha, in fact you can't summon grapha without waste his destruction effect, of course you always have something to destroy... or not?

"When this face-up card you control is targeted by an opponent's Effect Monster's effect, look at your opponent's hand and discard 1 card from their hand." This is something exclusive of Fortress, is a backup effect in case your opponent is trying to get rid of Fortress easily. Great effect but ironically is bad against Dark world.

His 1600 def means that it can be destroyed by tengu. At this point, fortress could be an old fashion boss monster.

Master Hyperion lv8= 2700/2100

"You can Special Summon this card from your hand by removing from play 1 "The Agent" monster in your hand, field, or Graveyard." Totally easy to summon, and the surprise factor is huge, but it can not come back from the grave like Fortress or grapha. When you summon this card, it create any mathematical change on the game like Fortress (-1) or grapha (+1). However the free destruction effect can create an instant +1 for you. His attack is enough to make it a game changer card.

"Once per turn, you can remove from play 1 LIGHT Fairy-Type monster from your Graveyard to select 1 card on the field, and destroy it." Everybody read this effects and think on DAD, and it is true, is just like DAD, however it can only destroy one each turn, and it can not be splashed on any deck like DAD.

His 2100 def means that it can not be destroyed by tengu, but also can not be destroyed by any GK monster. This makes hyperon more prepare for the meta.

Grapha, Dragon lord of Dark World lv8= 2700/1800

"You can Special Summon this card (from your Graveyard) by returning 1 face-up "Dark World" monster you control to the hand, except "Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World"." Totally predictable summon, also, you expose one card of your hand, so your opponent can see what is coming next. In the future, this will become the easiest deck to beat. The main advantage of Grapha is that it is a (+1) 3000 atk floater, something probably unbeatable on battle on this game... ever. This is something that Hyperion or Fortress can not score.

"If this card is discarded to the Graveyard by a card effect: Target 1 card your opponent controls; destroy that target, then, if this card was discarded from your hand to your Graveyard by an opponent's card effect, look at 1 random card in your opponent's hand, then, if it was a monster, you can Special Summon it to your side of the field." Yes, a free destruction effect was never so easy on this game. However, it also means that you have to use it before put grapha on the field. What if your opponent don't compromise any card on the field? Are you willing to waste Grapha effect? Of course you are, because right now the deck has enough +1 to make those kinds of sacrifice, but it won't be capable of do it on the future, and it will be his major weakness.

Monday, January 2, 2012

The meta environment effect


In the past format, many of us thought gravekeeper spy was going to be limited, included me. And of course we fail, we believed the banlist should hit all the meta decks directly to decrease their strength. But that is not the only solution, another important tool to decrease the power of a meta deck is the meta environment. A lot of decks have been smashing by this effect and today I want to talk about it.

Gravekeepers: The absence of Heavy storm and the slow speed of the game gave a lot of power on this deck. After the activation of royal tribute, the opponent was on topdeck mode. And the meta environment worked under a two cards combo, so topdecking LS Kageki or spore didn't make you win. Today we are on a different environment, Heavy storm and the absence of royal oppression make impossible protect a backrow field. While the number of boss monster on the game has increased a lot, now a 2000atk beater is not worth it.

Dragunity: This deck became the best syncro generator of the game. It was fast, consistence, and strong, sadly the deck fail to syncro summon Trishula easily and right now there is not lv8 syncro capable of dominate the field on his own.

X-Saber: Gottoms is not has good has it was due to the great topdecking cards and to the presence of Dark Worlds, while Hiunley doesn't destroy anything right now due to the increase of chainable cards, warnings and veilers. The deck also fail to summon Trishula easily and the main engine (emmersblade and darksoul) is too slow in comparison to others engines (venus and earth).

Any of these deck had touch the banlist on the last format, however all of them have been left behind due to the changes on meta environment and incapacity to abuse of new broken cards (Tour guide for example).

Do you wonder how the meta is going to change on the next list? Which of the current decks could be smash by this effect?