These segments are far less regular than I would like them to be, but to be honest the game is giving me a headache at the moment. On one hand, cards like Photon Sabre Tiger and Gishkis are giving me new ways to innovate decks, the decks that I come up with are largely hindered by the lack of Tour Guides at my disposal. YCS Brighton went on last weekend, I didn't go (no money, Quelle Surprise, and Sherlock Holmes was better), and it was won by Dino Rabbits, a deck that I ran when the cards were announced in the OCG, but quickly stopped using after the rarities were hiked (thanks Konami, that's another dream shattered). I have, however, been testing Karakuris, another deck that I love playing. So far I haven't lost with this build, and although Maxx "C" is expensive and the extra deck adds up, this is as cheap as winning gets right now:
(Excuse me for not typing the full names, I'm lazy like that)
21
3 Karakuri Komachi "Ninishi"
3 Karakuri Ninja "Kuick"
3 Karakuri Soldier "Nisamu"
3 Karakuri Merchant "Inashichi"
1 Karakuri Strategist "Nishipachi"
1 Karakuri Watchdog "Saizan"
1 Karakuri Muso "Haipa"
2 Cyber Dragon
2 Genex Neutron
2 Maxx "C"
12
2 Instant Fusion
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Limiter Removal
1 Mind Control
1 Forbidden Lance
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Book of Moon
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Heavy Storm
7
2 Solemn Warning
2 Dimensional Prison
1 Fiendish Chain
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Trap Dustshoot
2 Karakuri Steel Shogun "Bureido"
2 Karakuri Shogun "Burei"
1 Naturia Landoise
1 Naturia Barkion
2 Cyber Saurus
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
The monster line up is very similar to what Jeff Jones ran at YCS Toronto, but I think it's important to not what I didn't run. He played three copies of Genex Neutron, Maxx "C" and Cyber Dragon in his deck, Genex Neutron is an awesome card, it helps set up the combos and it beats over Tengu, but with every deck main boarding Thunder King I felt like I wasn't getting his effect off as much as I'd like (at three) so I cut it down. Cyber Dragon is really good in this deck, he is the yin to the Neutron's yang, he beats over Thunder King and helps with the OTK, but I didn't like not being able to summon Merchant or Neutron while he was on the field because I risked losing both of the monsters to a Fortress Dragon. Granted, I can make my own, but I preferred Instant Fusion as a more explosive card.
Maxx "C" is a controversial card to me. On one hand it deters enemy explosions, provides advantage and combo pieces, and can stop Gorz from ruining your fun, but at the same time, I didn't feel like it added to the main focus of the deck enough, which is OTK as quickly as possible or sit behind a Naturia Beast or Landoise until you can OTK, 2 seemed like the right number. It is also my only draw card.
I decided to omit Duality from my deck, as even though it was nice with Komachi, I'd draw my combo pieces off it too much and my opponent could prepare for the on-coming assault. I decided to run Mind Control, which is really good for making Trishula with opposing Sabersauruses and Kabazauls (due to the popularity of Dino Wabbits). I also included Forbidden Lance in my deck, which helps me to get my explosive plays that usually leave me with 3 Monsters on the field and 4 cards in my hand by allowing the first Steel Shogun to be summoned, and consequently allow another + a Strategist to follow.
When constructing the Trap line up I basically learned from Jeff Jones's mistakes. He wasn't happy with the way that Fiendish Chain played at 3, so when I built my deck I started with 2. I saw what he meant, too many decks can just drop a big monster with no set-up now, so Fiendish Chain is either useless or wasted on a Hyperion that is still 2700 (another reason I like Forbidden Lance and Prison). I went down to 0 Chains and ran 3 Prisons, but I wasn't impressed since I kept losing to Leviair/Tour Guide. I finally settled on 1 Fiendish Chain as tech and one in the side deck, for the Synchrocentric-Good Stuff deck. One is enough to help against Tour Guide but not too much so that I lose to big monsters.
The side deck is a work in progress, so I haven't shown it. Until next time (which should be next Monday, because I'm on holiday) have a nice day!
Wednesday 21 December 2011
Friday 28 October 2011
Budget Beater #4 - Hero Beat - I'm back!
To the small number of individuals who read my previous blogs and wondered where a new one was, I apologise, being back at school is harder than I thought. I have a week off, though and I thought I'd shove a new deck at you, one that I will probably be playing until I have enough money to afford an extra deck (and then I'll play something completely different). This week's deck is Hero Beat, a deck that I have a bunch of experience with. Unfortunately there's nothing new or techy about it, but here it is:
14
Gemini Stun
13
3 Elemental Hero Neos Alius
3 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Cyber Dragon
1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1 Honest
1 Crusader of Endymion
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
3 Gemini Spark
3 Pot of Duality
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 E-Emergency Call
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Book of Moon
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
13
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Solemn Warning
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Skill Drain
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Hero Blast
Whereas the Spellcaster deck that I profiled last month has the advantage in Wonder Wand and Magician's Circle, this deck has access to Elemental Hero - Stratos, which really helps make Gemini Spark consistent. Between him, Emergency Call, the 3 Alius and the Crusader pulling of 2 for 2 Spark plays is really easy, and with the increased popularity of Dark World and Rescue Rabbit decks, Bottomless Trap Hole has risen in play. This is important because it allows you to chain Spark, kill the opponent's set monster or spell/trap and Draw a card.
The low monster count is attributed to a simple state-of-mind, one thought of by Luke Mattingly "You lose the games where you draw all monsters" is what he said about T.G.s and the same rule applies here; drawing all monster hands limits the chance of shutting down opposing plays, and your opponent WILL out-speed you.
Another fatal weakness of the deck (at least in the UK, where the Shining is illegal) is the lack of a decent boss monster(s). Decks like Agents and Lightsworn have access to up to 5, so stopping those plays is all-important. For this reason 3 Thunder King is an auto-in. It can stop big monsters under Skill Drain, and slows decks consistency plays down (Like Sangan, Agent-Earth, Snoww and Charge), 1900 isn't anything to laugh at and it's a LIGHT for Honest. Grand Mole is another card that is really, really good this format, it can take big monsters away for no cost, cannot be touched by Bottomless and is usable on either players turn.
If you are playing this deck in America or Canada (or Japan) it's advisable to play 2 Miracle Fusion and 2 Super Polymerization in the deck (either in the main or side). Access to Shining is all important, and cards like Snowman Eater, Gemini Lancer and E-Hero can offer access to Absolute Zero, another big monster.
By defensive core consists of Bottomless Trap Hole, Solemn Warning and Dimensional Prison. These cards ensure that my beat sticks are protected, and that my opponents power plays cannot go off. One of the format's most defining plays is Tour Guide into Sangan. Warning shuts down this play by not allowing Sangan to come out of the deck. Prison also helps, because a lot of players will attack with the pair of Fiends to deal a hefty 2000 damage. Catch players off guard by using Prison.
A card that I chose to omit from my original build is Starlight Road. The reason is, not enough decks play field clearing cards anymore; Black Rose isn't popular, Lightsworns have fallen out of favor and by playing cleverly I can make sure that the impact caused by Heavy Storm and Dark Hole is as low as possible. Starlight Road is inconsistent and a card that I don't suggest running.
Thanks for reading, have a good day :D
Tuesday 6 September 2011
Budget Beater #3 - GeminiCasters
In this week's installment of Budget Beaters I'll be reviewing a deck that I made by accident and turned out to be kick-ass.
The story started on Pojo, where a fellow user was looking for deck advice. He presented a pretty, to be honest, horrible Spellcaster deck that contained mostly 1-of cards like Gemini Elfs and Dark Eradicator Warlock. I presented him with an extremely cheap version of DrainCasters, which basically played 3 Skilled Dark Magician, 3 Crusader of Endymion, 3 Breaker and 3 Cyber Dragon with 3 Chaos Sorcerer for extra muscle and a myriad of 1 for 1 spells and traps like Smashing Ground and Dimensional Prison. He didn't take my advice, but afterwards I went and built a slightly up-market build with Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning as the boss monster, and a couple of Anti-Meta cards such as Thunder King Rai-Oh and Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer. It was at this point I remember that Magical Dimension existed, so I added that in to accompany my 10 Spellcasters. I played around with the deck on the unrated section of Dueling Network and found that it wasn't very good and needed changing, so I went back to square one and started again.
This time, I decided to search on the deck builder "Level 4, Spellcaster, Gemini" monsters. There's only 2; Crusader (which I was already playing) and Tuned Magician. I added 3 Copies of Tuned Magician in and 3 Copies of Gemini Spark; taking out the Magical Dimensions because the Spellcaster has to be in your hand, and as yet there's no "Reinforcement of the Wizard" card. After that the deck all fell into place. Testing with it today, 3 days after it's conception, I've managed to win 6 out of 7 games that I played, all against top decks this format such as TourPlants and Agents. Here's the list:
18
1 Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
2 Chaos Sorcerer
3 Breaker the Magical Warrior
3 Tuned Magician
3 Crusader of Endymion
2 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Effect Veiler
12
3 Gemini Spark
3 Pot of Duality
2 Wonder Wand
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn
1 Book of Moon
10
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Magician's Circle
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Trap Dustshoot
The first thing to cover is obviously the Monsters. Starting it off we have the ubiquitous Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning. 3000 double attack makes it the best card that's legal at the moment. Period. With 7 lights and 7 darks it's awfully easy to summon him and when I do it's usually going to win me the game. Next is Solider's little brother who managed to get out of jail early. Chaos Sorcerer is a smaller, less threatening BLS that is used more as a beatstick that a game-ender. It can be used to win games, but usually it's putting pressure on the opponent.
My Spellcaster line-up consists of 3 Breaker the Magical Warrior, 3 Tuned Magician, 3 Crusader and 2 Kycoo. Breaker is a +1 on Summon, need a say more. Between this and Gemini Spark there's really no need for Mystical Space Typhoon, and dropping my big guys is never a problem because Breaker sucks up the backrow. He does for me what Tengu did for most decks last format; the dirty work. 3 Tuned Magician and 3 Crusader of Endymion function as Gemini Spark targets as well as beatsticks, with the latter being better because he's light and has 100 more ATK points. Kycoo is an awesome meta pick; he's beefy (especially with Wonder Wand), disrupts the graveyard by removing names for Judgment Dragon, Darks for Dark Armed and targets for BLS and Sorc. He also stops the Chaos Duo from being summoned at all, as well as Agent players removing fallen Earths and Venuses to summon Hyperion, because your opponent cannot remove monsters in their graveyard from play. Kycoo is also DARK.
For the Spell there's only 1 that is worth talking about; Wonder Wand. The card got lots of hype when it was announced 6 months ago as the card that would sky rocket Gravekeepers to Tier 0. When it was released in Generation Force under a month ago, the hype had died down because everyone wanted to get their paws on Roach and Leviair. Wonder Wand has two uses; it's first is making small(er) monsters such as Breaker and Kycoo into big(ger) monsters. Kycoo equipped with Wand can run over any monster with under 2200; as well as crashing hands with Brionac. Wonder Wand also makes Sorcerer 2800 attack, destroying Trishula, Scrap Archfiend, Hyperion, Catastor and more! The extra attack also helps him get his effect off more often. The second use of Wonder Wand is making the deck faster. Summoning Breaker, clearing a threat and then equipping it with Wand is technically a +2 play, it gives you more options in your hand and more Dark targets for the Chaos monsters.
The final card to talk about is Magician's Circle, the closest thing to a RoTA for Spellcasters. Magician's Circle let's both players special summon a Spellcaster monster from their deck in face-up attack. Note: it's mandatory; so unless they can't, your opponent is going to have to waste a Veiler. The card is obviously sided out against Gravekeepers because their whole deck is Spell Caster monsters and it gives them the ability to summon whatever they want. The benefits of Circle are keeping the 3 Gemini Sparks alive and putting larger damage on the board, as well as easy access to Rank 4 Xyz monsters such as Utopia (or Roach if you have the cash, or luck).
I hope you enjoyed the deck. Unfortunately I go back to school tomorrow; so updates may be less frequent. I'm also trying to add more variety to the blog, so any ideas are welcome!
The story started on Pojo, where a fellow user was looking for deck advice. He presented a pretty, to be honest, horrible Spellcaster deck that contained mostly 1-of cards like Gemini Elfs and Dark Eradicator Warlock. I presented him with an extremely cheap version of DrainCasters, which basically played 3 Skilled Dark Magician, 3 Crusader of Endymion, 3 Breaker and 3 Cyber Dragon with 3 Chaos Sorcerer for extra muscle and a myriad of 1 for 1 spells and traps like Smashing Ground and Dimensional Prison. He didn't take my advice, but afterwards I went and built a slightly up-market build with Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning as the boss monster, and a couple of Anti-Meta cards such as Thunder King Rai-Oh and Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer. It was at this point I remember that Magical Dimension existed, so I added that in to accompany my 10 Spellcasters. I played around with the deck on the unrated section of Dueling Network and found that it wasn't very good and needed changing, so I went back to square one and started again.
This time, I decided to search on the deck builder "Level 4, Spellcaster, Gemini" monsters. There's only 2; Crusader (which I was already playing) and Tuned Magician. I added 3 Copies of Tuned Magician in and 3 Copies of Gemini Spark; taking out the Magical Dimensions because the Spellcaster has to be in your hand, and as yet there's no "Reinforcement of the Wizard" card. After that the deck all fell into place. Testing with it today, 3 days after it's conception, I've managed to win 6 out of 7 games that I played, all against top decks this format such as TourPlants and Agents. Here's the list:
18
1 Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
2 Chaos Sorcerer
3 Breaker the Magical Warrior
3 Tuned Magician
3 Crusader of Endymion
2 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Effect Veiler
12
3 Gemini Spark
3 Pot of Duality
2 Wonder Wand
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn
1 Book of Moon
10
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Magician's Circle
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Trap Dustshoot
The first thing to cover is obviously the Monsters. Starting it off we have the ubiquitous Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning. 3000 double attack makes it the best card that's legal at the moment. Period. With 7 lights and 7 darks it's awfully easy to summon him and when I do it's usually going to win me the game. Next is Solider's little brother who managed to get out of jail early. Chaos Sorcerer is a smaller, less threatening BLS that is used more as a beatstick that a game-ender. It can be used to win games, but usually it's putting pressure on the opponent.
My Spellcaster line-up consists of 3 Breaker the Magical Warrior, 3 Tuned Magician, 3 Crusader and 2 Kycoo. Breaker is a +1 on Summon, need a say more. Between this and Gemini Spark there's really no need for Mystical Space Typhoon, and dropping my big guys is never a problem because Breaker sucks up the backrow. He does for me what Tengu did for most decks last format; the dirty work. 3 Tuned Magician and 3 Crusader of Endymion function as Gemini Spark targets as well as beatsticks, with the latter being better because he's light and has 100 more ATK points. Kycoo is an awesome meta pick; he's beefy (especially with Wonder Wand), disrupts the graveyard by removing names for Judgment Dragon, Darks for Dark Armed and targets for BLS and Sorc. He also stops the Chaos Duo from being summoned at all, as well as Agent players removing fallen Earths and Venuses to summon Hyperion, because your opponent cannot remove monsters in their graveyard from play. Kycoo is also DARK.
For the Spell there's only 1 that is worth talking about; Wonder Wand. The card got lots of hype when it was announced 6 months ago as the card that would sky rocket Gravekeepers to Tier 0. When it was released in Generation Force under a month ago, the hype had died down because everyone wanted to get their paws on Roach and Leviair. Wonder Wand has two uses; it's first is making small(er) monsters such as Breaker and Kycoo into big(ger) monsters. Kycoo equipped with Wand can run over any monster with under 2200; as well as crashing hands with Brionac. Wonder Wand also makes Sorcerer 2800 attack, destroying Trishula, Scrap Archfiend, Hyperion, Catastor and more! The extra attack also helps him get his effect off more often. The second use of Wonder Wand is making the deck faster. Summoning Breaker, clearing a threat and then equipping it with Wand is technically a +2 play, it gives you more options in your hand and more Dark targets for the Chaos monsters.
The final card to talk about is Magician's Circle, the closest thing to a RoTA for Spellcasters. Magician's Circle let's both players special summon a Spellcaster monster from their deck in face-up attack. Note: it's mandatory; so unless they can't, your opponent is going to have to waste a Veiler. The card is obviously sided out against Gravekeepers because their whole deck is Spell Caster monsters and it gives them the ability to summon whatever they want. The benefits of Circle are keeping the 3 Gemini Sparks alive and putting larger damage on the board, as well as easy access to Rank 4 Xyz monsters such as Utopia (or Roach if you have the cash, or luck).
I hope you enjoyed the deck. Unfortunately I go back to school tomorrow; so updates may be less frequent. I'm also trying to add more variety to the blog, so any ideas are welcome!
Wednesday 31 August 2011
Budget Beater #2: Final Countdown
For this week's Budget Beater I thought I'd put a deck that I've been playing all week and having some of the most fun ever, and for the first time in a while, built in real life. It's Final Countdown, and it's the most rage-inducing deck I've ever built. Here's the list:
3 Battle Fader
3 Swift Scarecrow
3 Zero Gardna
2 Spirit Reaper
2 Effect Veiler
1 Morphing Jar
3 Final Countdown
3 Pot of Duality
3 Upstart Goblin
2 Gold Sarcophagus
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Dark Hole
3 Threatening Roar
3 Waboku
3 Thunder of the Ruler
3 Jar of Greed
1 Torrential Tribute
The first thing to say about the deck is it's price. With the recent release of Pot of Duality as a super rare in the 2011 Collectible Tins, it is really easy to make cheap decks run well. The deck mostly consists of Commons, some of which might be harder to find in real life, but should be a sinch online. The two Effect Veilers make up the bulk of the price, coming in at around £15 each; but the great thing is the rest of the deck shouldn't cost more than that in it's self.
The first three monsters in the deck are invaluable for any Final Countdown deck. Battle Fader and Swift Scarecrow do virtually the same thing; but both have different advantages. Battle Fader Special Summons himself; so he can protect from another attack the turn after he is used. Swift Scarecrow has the edge, however, because he isn't summoned he can't be negated by the likes of Solemn Warning or Judgment. One of the first things I learned when playing this deck is always use Scarecrow first (unless the opponent has an empty backrow). The next monster is Zero Gardna; he works well because his effect can be chained to cards such as Caius and Trishula, stopping them from inflicting damage, especially as my deck essentially makes me start playing on 6000 life points.
Spirit Reaper is the only monster which I don't usually see in the deck, and I can't understand why. It's so difficult for an opponent to get round a Spirit Reaper if they don't have the right cards. Book of Moon doesn't work; and my Effect Veilers stop things like Caius from running circles on my hooded Zombie friend. The thing about him is, if he survives one turn he's already done as much as a Swift Scarecrow would have, and the fact that he can survive permanently means that technically he's infinitely better than Scarecrow. All bogus figures aside, Reaper is a star in this deck, and I'd be hard pressed to find anyone to disagree with me.
The spells that I run are all standard place. Come tomorrow (when the new F/L list kicks in) I will run 3 Veiler over the Swords, just because it's so easy to destroy. I will, however place two in the side deck, for when I side into Burn Game 3. The Gold Sarcophagus and Pot of Duality help me get to my Countdown early, I think 2 and 3 copies of each respective card is enough.
The Trap line-up is also very basic. 3 Threatening, Wabuko and Thunder of the Ruler make attacking me very difficult. The are all chainable, although Thunder can only be used in the Standby Phase, so Heavy Storm and MST don't phase me. Another thing to note about playing the deck is that you shouldn't set more than 1 stall card per turn. If your opponent Heavy Storms you, you can only use one; so remember to hold onto your cards! The final Trap is Jar of Greed; a chainable version of Upstart Goblin with no cost. It helps dig through your deck, but it can be replaced with more stall cards (such as Gravity Bind, Level Limit etc).
Hope you enjoyed the short article about my new favorite deck!
3 Battle Fader
3 Swift Scarecrow
3 Zero Gardna
2 Spirit Reaper
2 Effect Veiler
1 Morphing Jar
3 Final Countdown
3 Pot of Duality
3 Upstart Goblin
2 Gold Sarcophagus
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Dark Hole
3 Threatening Roar
3 Waboku
3 Thunder of the Ruler
3 Jar of Greed
1 Torrential Tribute
The first thing to say about the deck is it's price. With the recent release of Pot of Duality as a super rare in the 2011 Collectible Tins, it is really easy to make cheap decks run well. The deck mostly consists of Commons, some of which might be harder to find in real life, but should be a sinch online. The two Effect Veilers make up the bulk of the price, coming in at around £15 each; but the great thing is the rest of the deck shouldn't cost more than that in it's self.
The first three monsters in the deck are invaluable for any Final Countdown deck. Battle Fader and Swift Scarecrow do virtually the same thing; but both have different advantages. Battle Fader Special Summons himself; so he can protect from another attack the turn after he is used. Swift Scarecrow has the edge, however, because he isn't summoned he can't be negated by the likes of Solemn Warning or Judgment. One of the first things I learned when playing this deck is always use Scarecrow first (unless the opponent has an empty backrow). The next monster is Zero Gardna; he works well because his effect can be chained to cards such as Caius and Trishula, stopping them from inflicting damage, especially as my deck essentially makes me start playing on 6000 life points.
Spirit Reaper is the only monster which I don't usually see in the deck, and I can't understand why. It's so difficult for an opponent to get round a Spirit Reaper if they don't have the right cards. Book of Moon doesn't work; and my Effect Veilers stop things like Caius from running circles on my hooded Zombie friend. The thing about him is, if he survives one turn he's already done as much as a Swift Scarecrow would have, and the fact that he can survive permanently means that technically he's infinitely better than Scarecrow. All bogus figures aside, Reaper is a star in this deck, and I'd be hard pressed to find anyone to disagree with me.
The spells that I run are all standard place. Come tomorrow (when the new F/L list kicks in) I will run 3 Veiler over the Swords, just because it's so easy to destroy. I will, however place two in the side deck, for when I side into Burn Game 3. The Gold Sarcophagus and Pot of Duality help me get to my Countdown early, I think 2 and 3 copies of each respective card is enough.
The Trap line-up is also very basic. 3 Threatening, Wabuko and Thunder of the Ruler make attacking me very difficult. The are all chainable, although Thunder can only be used in the Standby Phase, so Heavy Storm and MST don't phase me. Another thing to note about playing the deck is that you shouldn't set more than 1 stall card per turn. If your opponent Heavy Storms you, you can only use one; so remember to hold onto your cards! The final Trap is Jar of Greed; a chainable version of Upstart Goblin with no cost. It helps dig through your deck, but it can be replaced with more stall cards (such as Gravity Bind, Level Limit etc).
Hope you enjoyed the short article about my new favorite deck!
Friday 26 August 2011
Budget Beater #1 - Worms
Welcome to my first ever blog. I'm Ethan, and I play Yu-Gi-Oh. Like a vast majority of the player base, I am hindered by the money (or lack of) in my wallet. But I've got on with it and managed to surprise a few people, and using my innovation and creativity; come up with some pretty decent, fairly cheap decks. Today's is the build of Worms that I am working on for the current format; it is specially geared to stop plays such a Tour Guide/Sangan and Black Luster Soldier/Honest. Here it is:
3 Worm Xex
3 Worm Yagan
3 Worm Cartaros
2 Evil Dragon Ananta
2 Worm King
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Effect Veiler
1 Honest
3 Pot of Duality
2 Smashing Ground
1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole
1 Book of Moon
1 Monster Reborn
3 W-Nebula Meteorite
3 Threatening Roar
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Mind Crush
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Trap Dustshoot
The first thing worth discussing is the Monster line-up. Most Worm decks I run start with 3 Xex, 3 Yagan and 3 Cartaros. In my opinion, and that of many successful Worm players, the only 3 Worms worth running (not including King). Some may argue Lynx is good because he can help gain advantage, but in practice he's too slow. The play you want to start most games with is; Summon Worm Xex sending Yagan to the graveyard with his effect, then bringing Yagan out in defense for a +1. Cartaros makes this play super consistent and running 3 of each of the Worms also ensures that you get this play every time. The final Worm in the deck is King. King is a card that I run because I have to. I can special summon it off of W-Nebula, and use it next turn to clear back rows for a push, also fueling Ananta. He's decent in that he can be Tribute summoned with 1 Worm Monster, but overall, it's not worth running more than two.
The next monster in the deck is Evil Dragon Ananta; a card that has fallen out of favor recently. What Ananta does is it stops your opponent making plays. While he's there, it's pointless committing anything that won't kill it to the board, because it will be killed at the end of the turn. Ananta can also be used as a Win Condition, since the deck can't Synchro summon without using valuable Effect Veilers, or the Gale in the side deck, any monster that can come out with high Attack-points is very relevant. Thunder King Rai-Oh is a card that can be replaced for another card that might be more effective against the decks at your local tournament. I love Rai-Oh, however, because he's such a tempo shifter. If you can clear the field with Worm King and then summon Rai-Oh and let him sit there, your opponent is stuck. They can't Synchro, because they'll end up going -1 and they can't get anything from their deck to help them out of the situation because Rai-Oh shuts that down too. He's so versatile, I think he's an auto-in for most decks.
The final, and arguably most important Monster of the whole format is going to be Effect Veiler, and it's one card that's worth the £15 you spend on each one. Tour Guide from the Underworld is currently being hailed as the best card ever, and I am starting to understand why. Every deck has monsters below 1500 attack, you name it; Zombies, Lightsworn, X-Sabers, Fabled, Monarch, Plants, and Tour Guide gives them a way to search any of these cards, while also putting
1) A DARK monster in the grave for Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
2) A 2500 beatstick Xyz monster, or a monster than can search any banished card
Tour Guide is broken; which is why every deck needs to play Effect Veiler in order to stop it. Veiler also helps against Trishula, a card that most people throw heaps of card advantage into making, hoping to get a cute +2 off of it's effect. Effect Veiler says "no". It also stops BLS - EotB from attacking twice.
The only Spell Cards that I feel are worth mentioning are Pot of Duality and Smashing Ground, the rest are standard for most decks at the moment. Pot of Duality is a card budget players like me finally get to enjoy. For just over a year it was a "Run this or lose to decks that do" card. In a mirror Match the person with Duality in there deck was way more likely to succeed. Duality is a card that ups the consistency of your opening Xex/Yagan play.
Smashing Ground is a card that I expect to see a lot more of in the coming months. Jeff Jones (2 time SJC/YCS winner) posted an article about how useful this card is over at Alter Reality Games, which pretty much highlights what I'm about to say. With the ever-present Tour Guide/Sangan into Leviathan Dragon play, often times your opponent will end their turn with 1 Monster on the field, Smashing Ground can deal with this. The effectiveness of Smashing Ground is maximized my the usage of W-Nebula Meteorite. Meteorite has often lead me to a situation where I'm drawing 3 Cards during the end phase, summoning a Worm King and bouncing an opposing monster. That's a +4 (or +5 if it was a Synchro/Xyz monster). Using cards like Smashing Ground that are 1 for 1 cards (use one card, destroy one card) help to make sure that the advantage is kept.
There are 3 Trap Cards that I will explain. The first is Threatening Roar. Threatening Roar is a card that I feel has grown massively in potential since the unbanning of Heavy Storm and the introduction of so many boss monsters (some decks having access to as many as 8). The scenario in which Roar is most effective is when your opponent activates heavy Storm and you have it and Nebula face down. You activate Nebula in response to the Storm and then play Roar. Your monsters flip up (at which point Yagan and such can use their effects), and your opponent is unable to destroy them during the battle phase. At the end of the turn the drawing is almost guaranteed.
The next Trap is Mind Crush, a card that recently went to 2 in the September '11 F/L list. Mind Crush is really good right now. Tour Guide/Sangan, as I have previously explained, is probably going to define the format, and Mind Crush is a really good against it. It shines in Worms especially as Yagan is bouncing monsters back to the hand all of the time due to Nebula, Mind Crush allows you to get rid of them and see what else your opponent has (as conformation). A card that goes hand-in-hand with Mind Crush is Trap Dustshoot. Trap Dustshoot is awesome now that the "Heavy Storm frame of mind" is back; people don't set their hands, people hold onto cards. And when they see 2 face-downs they aren't afraid to use Heavy and get a cheap +1. That's where Dustshoot comes in: You set up Xex/Yagan and set Dustshoot and, say, Nebula. Your opponent Storms you, you chain both cards, Dustshoot takes their combo starter (Tour Guide, Stratos, Lumina) and then later that turn you get 2 Draws and a Worm King. That's a +2, off of Heavy Storm. This won't happen always, but when it does, it's sweet.
I hope you enjoyed my deck profile and article about Worms, stay tuned and I'll have another Budget Beater next week.
3 Worm Xex
3 Worm Yagan
3 Worm Cartaros
2 Evil Dragon Ananta
2 Worm King
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Effect Veiler
1 Honest
3 Pot of Duality
2 Smashing Ground
1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole
1 Book of Moon
1 Monster Reborn
3 W-Nebula Meteorite
3 Threatening Roar
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Mind Crush
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Trap Dustshoot
The first thing worth discussing is the Monster line-up. Most Worm decks I run start with 3 Xex, 3 Yagan and 3 Cartaros. In my opinion, and that of many successful Worm players, the only 3 Worms worth running (not including King). Some may argue Lynx is good because he can help gain advantage, but in practice he's too slow. The play you want to start most games with is; Summon Worm Xex sending Yagan to the graveyard with his effect, then bringing Yagan out in defense for a +1. Cartaros makes this play super consistent and running 3 of each of the Worms also ensures that you get this play every time. The final Worm in the deck is King. King is a card that I run because I have to. I can special summon it off of W-Nebula, and use it next turn to clear back rows for a push, also fueling Ananta. He's decent in that he can be Tribute summoned with 1 Worm Monster, but overall, it's not worth running more than two.
The next monster in the deck is Evil Dragon Ananta; a card that has fallen out of favor recently. What Ananta does is it stops your opponent making plays. While he's there, it's pointless committing anything that won't kill it to the board, because it will be killed at the end of the turn. Ananta can also be used as a Win Condition, since the deck can't Synchro summon without using valuable Effect Veilers, or the Gale in the side deck, any monster that can come out with high Attack-points is very relevant. Thunder King Rai-Oh is a card that can be replaced for another card that might be more effective against the decks at your local tournament. I love Rai-Oh, however, because he's such a tempo shifter. If you can clear the field with Worm King and then summon Rai-Oh and let him sit there, your opponent is stuck. They can't Synchro, because they'll end up going -1 and they can't get anything from their deck to help them out of the situation because Rai-Oh shuts that down too. He's so versatile, I think he's an auto-in for most decks.
The final, and arguably most important Monster of the whole format is going to be Effect Veiler, and it's one card that's worth the £15 you spend on each one. Tour Guide from the Underworld is currently being hailed as the best card ever, and I am starting to understand why. Every deck has monsters below 1500 attack, you name it; Zombies, Lightsworn, X-Sabers, Fabled, Monarch, Plants, and Tour Guide gives them a way to search any of these cards, while also putting
1) A DARK monster in the grave for Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
2) A 2500 beatstick Xyz monster, or a monster than can search any banished card
Tour Guide is broken; which is why every deck needs to play Effect Veiler in order to stop it. Veiler also helps against Trishula, a card that most people throw heaps of card advantage into making, hoping to get a cute +2 off of it's effect. Effect Veiler says "no". It also stops BLS - EotB from attacking twice.
The only Spell Cards that I feel are worth mentioning are Pot of Duality and Smashing Ground, the rest are standard for most decks at the moment. Pot of Duality is a card budget players like me finally get to enjoy. For just over a year it was a "Run this or lose to decks that do" card. In a mirror Match the person with Duality in there deck was way more likely to succeed. Duality is a card that ups the consistency of your opening Xex/Yagan play.
Smashing Ground is a card that I expect to see a lot more of in the coming months. Jeff Jones (2 time SJC/YCS winner) posted an article about how useful this card is over at Alter Reality Games, which pretty much highlights what I'm about to say. With the ever-present Tour Guide/Sangan into Leviathan Dragon play, often times your opponent will end their turn with 1 Monster on the field, Smashing Ground can deal with this. The effectiveness of Smashing Ground is maximized my the usage of W-Nebula Meteorite. Meteorite has often lead me to a situation where I'm drawing 3 Cards during the end phase, summoning a Worm King and bouncing an opposing monster. That's a +4 (or +5 if it was a Synchro/Xyz monster). Using cards like Smashing Ground that are 1 for 1 cards (use one card, destroy one card) help to make sure that the advantage is kept.
There are 3 Trap Cards that I will explain. The first is Threatening Roar. Threatening Roar is a card that I feel has grown massively in potential since the unbanning of Heavy Storm and the introduction of so many boss monsters (some decks having access to as many as 8). The scenario in which Roar is most effective is when your opponent activates heavy Storm and you have it and Nebula face down. You activate Nebula in response to the Storm and then play Roar. Your monsters flip up (at which point Yagan and such can use their effects), and your opponent is unable to destroy them during the battle phase. At the end of the turn the drawing is almost guaranteed.
The next Trap is Mind Crush, a card that recently went to 2 in the September '11 F/L list. Mind Crush is really good right now. Tour Guide/Sangan, as I have previously explained, is probably going to define the format, and Mind Crush is a really good against it. It shines in Worms especially as Yagan is bouncing monsters back to the hand all of the time due to Nebula, Mind Crush allows you to get rid of them and see what else your opponent has (as conformation). A card that goes hand-in-hand with Mind Crush is Trap Dustshoot. Trap Dustshoot is awesome now that the "Heavy Storm frame of mind" is back; people don't set their hands, people hold onto cards. And when they see 2 face-downs they aren't afraid to use Heavy and get a cheap +1. That's where Dustshoot comes in: You set up Xex/Yagan and set Dustshoot and, say, Nebula. Your opponent Storms you, you chain both cards, Dustshoot takes their combo starter (Tour Guide, Stratos, Lumina) and then later that turn you get 2 Draws and a Worm King. That's a +2, off of Heavy Storm. This won't happen always, but when it does, it's sweet.
I hope you enjoyed my deck profile and article about Worms, stay tuned and I'll have another Budget Beater next week.
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