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.

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...

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.

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?

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.