6/3/12

The future of TRB...

...seems to be rooted in Vanguard. All of us have taken the plunge, and we're also all a bit sick of YuGiOh and the direction it's been going in. As of right now, we're all still playing both, but I'm thinking about selling off my stuff and buying up Vanguard here before it gets TOO popular. I am gonna hold on to one deck for shits and giggles (also because YCS Seattle is in November and I've never been to one before), and it's something I've played variants of in the past: Frog Monarchs.

Or, to be precise, Lancer Frogs. A hybrid, actually.

Monsters: 27

3x Sea Lancer
3x Light and Darkness Dragon
2x Caius the Shadow Monarch
1x Obelisk the Tormentor

3x Swap Frog
3x Ronintoadin
2x Poison Draw Frog
2x Dupe Frog
1x Treeborn Frog

1x Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
2x Tragoedia
2x Battle Fader
1x Effect Veiler
1x Maxx "C"

Spells: 11

3x Enemy Controller
2x Creature Swap
2x Salvage
1x Book of Moon
1x Monster Reborn
1x Dark Hole
1x Heavy Storm

Traps: 2

2x Compulsory Evacuation Device

Extra Deck: 3

3x Gachi Gachi Gantetsu

Basically, I'm running it because a) it's consistent-ish, b) it usually has an out and it's kind of fun to bash Inzektors into the ground with LaDD, and 3) it's CHEAP. Super fuckin cheap. I think the whole deck (minus Maxx "C") cost about 40 bucks.

Anyway, there are some choices in here I feel need some explanation.

3x Light and Darkness Dragon

This shit fucks the meta hardcore. Nothing really has an out besides chaining Fiendish Chain or Forbidden Lance to its negation, and opponents usually eat up resources trying to get rid of it only for me to just drop a second one next turn. 3 of these is mandatory. Not too sure how I feel putting it against Lyla, but it's just too good.

1x Obelisk the Tormentor

Funny as hell to drop, and easy to boot. Doesn't hurt that you can blow the field for virtually no cost using Ronintoadins as food.

1x Effect Veiler/1x Maxx "C"

I know Veiler does a lot more against the meta but I don't have more than one and I happen to have two Maxx "C" so it felt like a shame to not put in at least one. Also helps stop Hieratic/Wind-Up plays and lets me draw into the Faders.

2x Compulsory Evacuation Device

Just too good not to run this format. Stops everything, especially with the new priority rulings. REDMD? Fuck that shit. Dragonfly? Fuck that shit too. Fuck all the shit. It also doesn't interfere too much with Treeborn because it's so versatile.

That's about it, the rest of the choices are standard/preference. Can't wait for Daigusto Phoenix to come out, this deck will be fucked after that. Don't see it getting hit in September either... freakin' sweet. Expect to see a few more Vanguard posts, but not from me because I don't understand that shit at all yet. Picked up Gold Paladins today, we'll see how that goes. Peace out.

/fugglor

3/17/12

BubbleBeat

E.HERO Stratos
E.HERO Alius Neos x3
E.HERO Bubbleman x3
Photon Thrasher

Emergency Call x3
RotA
Duality x3
Super Poly
Miracle Fusion x3
Monster Reborn
G Spark x3
Dark Hole
Warrior Returning Alive
Mask Change
MST
Heavy Storm

Warning x2
Judgment
Hero Blast x2
Mirror Force
Compulse
BTH
Torrential Tribute x2
Fiendish Chain
Starlight Road

I was actually writing this down to keep a copy of the deck but I accidentally posted this instead. Oh well...might as well follow up.

WHAT'S UP YUGINERDS, CHOW UP IN HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! AND TODAY WE'RE GOING OVER BUBBLEMAN BEATTT!!!!!

Hahah sorry, I haven't done one of these in a while. I've gone through a lot of decks lately (Wind-Ups, Blue Eyes Control, Chaos Dragons) but I decided I'm selling away all my excess cards for money so I can start up Cardfight!! Vanguard. Hopefully it picks up around here because I am dying for some competition >:D

Anyways, today I'm gonna quickly go over a deck that has been running wild for the last two months. Inspired by no other than Bahamaut himself, who I swear breaks archetypes (i.e. Bahamaut's Divine Performance), I present to you guys with BubbleBeat! Bubblesssssssssss.

...My bubbles.

So I've been playing this deck for almost more than a month and I've got to say, I love it. Gemini Beat was kinda boring but adding the Bubblemans really gives it more plays than summon Alius and setting G-Spark. Since this deck is old news, I'm not gonna bother going over the strategy when Bahamaut and GQ have already done so.

Another thing I really like about this deck is how good it runs against the meta...although I can't really say that for a fact. I've only played against a lot of Inzektors with this deck but this deck wrecks Inzektors. Hero Blast, G Spark, and Torrential kills their attempts to plus with Hornet. Most of the time, I don't find myself the need to side out against them. Still need to test out against Dino Rabbits and Wind-Ups.

The one thing I don't like though is how I occasionally find a hard time to get over big monsters. Blade Armor makes most of the finishing plays in this deck but dropping a Gorz on him kills your momentum.

And yeah that's pretty much it. Oh, I feel like a lot of the times, the only thing we post on here is deck profile. I wanna spice things up here so if we have any readers out there, I wanna hear what you guys want to read about. So leave a comment in the box below ;D

Oh and visit my eBay account! I'm trying to get rid of my Wind-Ups :3
http://www.ebay.com/itm/220975545374?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_500wt_1287

That's all for now I guess. Take it easy Yuginerds :)

Gotcha~
          Chow

Orgymaster Chaos Dragons-34 monsters


So in case anyone was wondering, Fugglor, Chow and I are all running chaos dragons, and all finding it fairly fun (and relatively cheap) to run. While I am still not entirely convinced of the deck's competitive potential, I'm slowly discovering ways to make this deck more consistent. My version was influenced by some of my interactions with Chow's and Fugglor's builds, but there are a number of things that set mine apart. Here's my 34 monster Chaos Dragons

Monsters: 34
3x Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
3x Lightpulsar Dragon
3x Darkflare Dragon
3x Eclipse Wyvern
3x Divine Dragon Apocralyph
2x Alexandrite Dragon
2x Axe Dragonute
1x Dark Armed Dragon
3x Breaker The Magical Warrior
3x Dimensional Alchemist
3x Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
1x Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
2x Effect Veiler
2x Chaos Sorcerer

Spells: 4
2x Gold Sarcophagus
1x Monster Reborn
1x Future Fusion

Traps: 2
2x Torrential Tribute

Side:
3x Neko Mane King
3x Thunder King Rai-oh
2x Cyber Dragon
3x Mystical Space Typhoon
2x Smashing Ground
2x Shadow Imprisoning Mirror

Extra:
1x Brionac, Dragon Of The Ice Barrier
1x Five Headed Dragon
1x Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
1x Black Rose Dragon
1x Number 39: Utopia
1x Wind Up Arsenal Zenmaioh
1x Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon
1x Ally of Justice Catastor

First I will skim over the obvious. You run 3 REDM, 3 Wyvern, 3 Lightpulsar, and at least 2 Darkflare in any pure chaos build like this. Another fairly obvious addition I think was the 3 Divine Dragon Apocralyph, which is ridiculous in this deck. It allows you to reuse or reverse toolbox your dragons, while simultaneously filling your grave with chaos food. Dark Armed is thrown in mainly because it is another target for Wyvern's effect, but it has obvious merits in any deck that runs darks and can regulate the number in the graveyard. 2 Chaos Sorcerers provide some removal, though I would take out one or even both if I had a Black Luster Soldier, which you should obviously run if available. Then, 2 Effect Veilers are essential in any deck nowadays (3 if you have room), and with their recent reprint there's not much of an excuse not to have them.

Now for some of the stuff that defines this build: you may notice that it has exactly 17 dark and light monsters. This should help ensure that you mill both lights and darks, and end up with fairly even numbers of both for chaos food. To help mill are the 3 Rykos and single Lyla, which is one of the reasons I run 2 Gold Sarcs. My main problem with old builds that ran more spells and traps was that the lightsworns would end up milling spells and traps instead of monsters, which obviously hurts, especially when every spell and trap could help you win. Here I ran the bare minimum with Monster Reborn and Future Fusion. The 2 Gold Sarcs not only ensure that you can get either to hand, they also allow you to mill freely without having to worry about losing Future Fusion, which is a HUGE win condition for this deck. Anyways, the lightsworns also provide destruction, which you may recall was one of my main problems with the deck. However, I don't run Charge of the Light Brigade because I don't believe the lightsworn engine is essential to this deck.

Another thing that sets this build apart is the beaters. 2 Axe Dragonute and 2 Alexandrite allow you to get over the increasingly common Thunder King Rai-ohs, which can cause problems for just about every boss monster due to their summons being inherent, and negatable. Even besides taking out Thunder King Rai-oh, having 2000 atk beaters can help in a lot of situations, especially since they are both chaos food as well as dragons, which allow them to be brought back by Apocralyph and discarded with Darkflare. Breaker is another beater that provides some backrow destruction. In old builds, I would often mill MSTs, which not only prevented me from using them, it also made it so that I had cards in grave that weren't chaos food. Running Breaker solves half of that issue by being dark, meaning it's okay to mill him most of the time. The 3 MSTs are in the side deck instead, for use against a number of matchups.

The last "beater" is Dimensional Alchemist, which I believe is essential to this and other chaos dragon builds. He can speed up the deck with his milling, which also gives him 1800 atk for one turn. Most important is his second effect, which allows you to bring back banished monsters when he's destroyed. The massive amount of banishment in this deck ensures you will always have useful targets to bring back with this effect. I hate myself for not realizing sooner how perfect this guy is for this deck.

The 2 Torrential Tribute provides some control, and works great against both rabbit decks and wind ups (after turn 1). They also have immense synergy with Lightpulsar and Dimensional Alchemist, allowing you to potentially plus while you derail your opponent's plays. Most decks nowadays should run the maximum, as it is one of the best ways to prevent the big decks from getting out their bosses, but in Chaos Dragons it's just too good to not run.

This brings me to some of the omissions in the spell and trap lineup. You may notice that I don't have Heavy or Dark Hole in my main or side deck. I felt Dark Hole was inferior to the Torrentials here since it can't be used to prevent your opponent's plays. Heavy was left out due to the massive amount of spell removal (Breaker, Lyla, Ryko, and MST in the side) already available in more useful forms. Another problem with Heavy and Dark Hole is that they can both set off Starlight Road, which I believe will be fairly common tech in this format. Torrential also sets this off, but I decided that its benefits were too good to disregard. Also left out were the more generic control traps, such as Solemn Warning, Bottomless, Dimensional Prison, Safe Zone, and Compulsory, as well as Call of the Haunted. These were fairly easy ones to take out since they don't particularly contribute to the consistency of the deck, which depends on the high monster to S/T ratio.

This format, the side is just as important as the main, because of the range of strategies you may come up against. 3 Rai-Ohs are fairly obvious, and your opponents are fairly likely to run it against you anyway. He's simply too good to leave out. Against wind-ups, the main sides are 3 Neko Mane King and 2 Cyber Dragon. Neko Mane King can help end the wind-up loop prematurely, and is MUCH CHEAPER than the obvious alternative, Maxx C (for those of us who don't have 300 bucks to spend on a playset of cockroaches, or awesome friends to borrow theirs from like Fugglor has). Cyber Dragon is great at cleaning up after the wind-up loop, when their field is likely to be littered with Zenmaighty and/or Zenmaines. It can also attack over most of the monsters that deck can produce. Obviously, it is a good side against any deck that runs machines or simply lacks large beaters.

Against inzektors, Shadow Imprisoning Mirror stops basically everything they could do. The 2-3 Effect Veilers in the main deck should help supplement these. Also, MST can possibly help, though this has its obvious downsides against Dragonfly.

While wind-ups and inzektors have some scary plays, the big deck to worry about this format will be Dino Rabbits. I believe the main deck could do fairly well against a rabbit deck. However, the 2 Smashing Ground will likely help tremendously. Smashing allows you to get rid of Dolkka quickly, and it can force Laggia to use its negation. Besides this, it could be sided against any deck that may require non-monster removal to deal with, such as skill drain decks. The 3 MST will also likely be helpful against Dino Rabbit, since they love to set backrow.

Finally, we get to the extra deck, which is not particularly important to this build. Obviously, you need Five Headed for Future Fusion, and Fortress Dragon for Cyber Dragon. Fugglor's Gallis, Birdman, and Tragoedia allow him to go into rank 3 xyz and synchros fairly easily, but my build has more or less opted out of that. The only tuner is Effect Veiler, which is not likely to be used as a tuner unless absolutely necessary. If required, Veiler can synch with Darkflare or Cyber Dragon to make level 6s (Brionac, Orient, Gaia Knight, whatever), or Lightpulsar to make level 7s (primarily Black Rose). Level 8s are fairly difficult here, since the only direct combination possible is Veiler and DAD, which is not likely to pop up at an opportune moment. Obviously, you should still run the staples (Scrap, Stardust, Colossal) if you have room for them, though they are fairly low priority.

More likely to come out are the xyz. Cyber Dragons and Darkflares can make Zenmaioh or Adreus (or Tiras) fairly easily, and the many level 4s available make rank 4s like Utopia or Zenmaister attractive prospects. One flaw with this build is that it has no feasible way to go into Leviair, which has immense synergy with this deck, one thing that Fugglor's build addresses quite easily.

The best extra deck pieces are not yet out in the tcg. First is Queen Dragun, a generic rank 4 xyz that provides some nice support by bringing back dragons, mainly Lightpulsar, which would still get its effect if destroyed. A monster that many are looking forward to is Lavalval Chain which in most cases will be used as a Foolish Burial, though without the minus one. This deck thrives on cards in the grave, so this has some obvious combo potential. Lastly is the Hieroglyph Dragon King Atumus (its name seems to change all the time, so I won't even bother writing it right). He can be made with 2 Lightpulsars, and allows you to quickly get out any dragon from your deck (except DAD of course) for MASSIVE combo potential. Then, because this deck can get out level 10s so easily, a cool idea would be to run Super Duper Dreadnought Cannon Giant Gustaph Max Railroad Cannon, who has a huge burn effect and a huge name that can help you make the final push for game.

So I hope this was helpful, and at least gives you guys some more ideas on how to run this deck. I'm really sorry I haven't been posting more, but college life has been pretty hectic lately. Honestly, I shouldn't have posted this now with finals coming up but I felt bad, especially since I now have 2 teammates trying to challenge me as a dragon playa. I'd like to mention some other ideas in future posts, but I wouldn't expect anything too soon. For now I think I'll just badger Chow to put up his list. Please leave some comments or suggestions below. I apologize if this build doesn't work as well as I think because I haven't spent much time play testing it yet.

Blazers finally won a game, and against Chicago, no less. Nolan Smith is the next Jeremy Lin.
-Orgymaster

3/14/12

Deck Profile - 35-Monster Chaos Dragons

Monsters - 35

3x Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
3x Lightpulsar Dragon
3x Darkflare Dragon
1x BLS - Envoy of the Beginning

3x Eclipse Wyvern
3x Divine Dragon Apocralyph

1x Dark Armed Dragon

2x Tragoedia
1x Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1x Effect Veiler
2x Maxx "C"

1x Zephyros the Elite
3x Gallis the Star Beast
3x Genex Ally Birdman
2x Card Trooper
3x Dimensional Alchemist


Spells - 5

1x Future Fusion
1x Dark Hole
1x Heavy Storm
1x Monster Reborn
1x Mind Control

I'm really brain-dead right now but I'll try to explain a bit. Ignore typos or poorly worded phrases.

The Chaos Dragons (Lightpulsar, Darkflare, Eclipse) are the main engine. First two SS themselves, third adds REDMD to hand so you can swarm harder. Apocralyph is in here not only because it's a Dark Dragon but allows you to fill your grave with Lights/Darks and get back REDMD or a Chaos thingy. It's also NSable which has always been a slight problem for Dragons.

Dark Armed is standard for decks that run both Darks and GY control, and the hand traps (Trago, Gorz, Veiler, Maxx) are in here for protection.

Gallis/Birdman make cool plays with Leviair, and also allow for a bit of Synchro shenanigans. Zephyros lets you mill again with Gallis while also grabbing a +1. There are five level 10 monsters in here too, which means a 1 in 7 chance to deal 2000 damage first turn with a Gallis.

Trooper's in here to fill the Graveyard while killing stuff like Rai-Oh and Roach, and D-Alc's here to pull used cards to hand late game and to pull together a strategy early game. Doesn't hurt that he's a Light.

Spells are standard, opening Future Fusion and a single Chaos Dragon usually means game and on the second turn, if they don't set anything, it DOES mean game.

This was sort of a warmup post, trying to get back into blogging more since Epicake's the only one posting lately. Look for something else coming up soon.

/fugglor

2/28/12

Deck Profile - Scrapvells


Epicake's back with another deck profile.  Not sure whether or not to run Crystal Beasts or Scrapvells this format, but I'll probably go with Scrapvells.  Chow and I also recently opened up a box of Ra-Yellow Mega Pack and good god.  That was fun.  The set is worth the money if you enjoy opening packs :3  This shit's like drugs.  
Anyways, here's the decklist:

Monsters x16:
Thunder King Rai-Oh x2
Cyber Dragon x2
Scrap Chimera x3
Scrap Golem x1
Scrap Beast x3
Flamvell Firedog x3
Flamvell Magician x2

Spells x12:
Scrapstorm x2
Scrapyard x1
Rekindling x2
Dark Hole x1
Monster Reborn x1
Mystical Space Typhoon x2
Heavy Storm x1
Pot of Duality x2

Traps x12:
Horn of the Phantom Beast x2
Bottomless Trap Hole x2
Solemn Warning x2
Solemn Judgment x1
Mirror Force x1
Compulsory Ejaculation Device x1
Starlight Road x1
Dark Bribe x1
Call of the Haunted x1

 Most of my choices are pretty obvious.  The only thing that sets this deck apart from others are the 2x Cyber Dragons.  Drawing into Cyber Dragon and Scrap Beast is an instant Scrap Twin Dragon.  Whenever I whip out my Scrap Twin, I fuckin' win.  Even if you don't draw into the Beast, you can still use Cydra as a beatstick and protect him with all the traps.  Honestly, if I had the money for 2 Maxx "C"s I'd definitely be running them.  The sideboard is something in progress, working on it for the new format.

I'll try to get a locals report to you guys on Sunday :)

~Epicake~

2/19/12

Epicake's Banlist OCG Banlist Reaction

Even though all of you probably already know the banlist by heart by now, I'll post it anyways:

Forbidden:
Glow-Up Bulb
Spore
Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
Trap Dustshoot


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

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

Unlimited:
Call of the Haunted

So first off, I hate the looks of this list, and hope to GOD that Konami decides to break the tradition and give the TCG a completely different list than what they gave to the OCG.  I doubt it'll happen though.  The reasons I hate this list is mainly because it isn't going to be healthy for the game, but rather healthy for Konami's wallet.  Konami is attempting to sell Exceeds by fading away from Synchros.

Lez break it down:

Forbidden:
Glow-Up Bulb/Spore: I don't believe that the issue with the plant engine should have been handled this way.  I would've liked a banning of Dandylion instead, and putting Lonefire Blossom to 2.  It would be more skill based because now Dandy is going to hang around and be derpy for ANOTHER format.

Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier: Trish just wasn't healthy for the game, being so easy to bring out.  I think they did this to add on to the hitting of Agents since Trish is their main play.  I like Trish, but I saw this coming.

Trap Dustshoot: I agree with this completely, if someone draws into Dustshoot first turn they end up winning the game a majority of the time.

Limited:
T.G. Striker: WTF?  If Konami felt like hitting the T.G. engine I believe they should have limited T.G. Warwolf.  I also never saw the T.G. engine as much of an issue, so again... WTF Konami?

The Agent of Mystery - Earth: Okay, something had to happen to Agents and this was the correct decision to make.

Semi-Limited:
Marshmallon: Hell, why not?  Card is less broken and far too slow for the Inzektor/Wind-Up format we'll be seeing.

Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner: This might be the lift that Lightsworns need to get a boost in consistency.  Lumina is pretty much THE best Lightsworn there is, so we'll see what happens.

Reborn Tengu: Foreshadowing much?  Looks like the OCG will be getting Tengu soon, and Konami feels like it'd be too much of an issue.  I hated Tengu personally... so good riddance.

Emergency Teleport: What's this for?  Gustos?  Tele-Dad?  Who cares?  I like the card and it'll give a boost to a underpowered deck.  Good call by Konami to ban Mind Master and bring this back.

Shien's Smoke Signal: I've never had an issue playing against Samurai, I don't believe I've ever lost to Sams in a tournament (even during the derpy format).  Just add a little consistency to Six-Sams, why not?

Level Limit - Area B: Nobody will give a fuck about this, MST has stayed at 3.

Torrential Tribute: Wow, didn't see this one coming.  This card ALWAYS generates me plusses, but I guess it will teach players not to try to overextend their field.  I don't know how this will turn out, but it might actually be for the better.

Ultimate Offering: Okay? DGAF.

Unlimited:
Call of the Haunted: I'm pissed about this.  Call of the Haunted is a ridiculous card for Inzektors, and any deck that can plus from the graveyard.

So overall, we'll see how the list turns out but I hate it.  Doesn't matter, I'm switching to playing casually until Konami gives us a decent banlist and releases better sets that DON'T introduce a new, broken archetype.

I guess I'll run Crystal Beasts or something.

~Epicake~

2/16/12

Banlist's confirmed.

http://shriek.twoday.net/stories/64975791/

I'm out. Peace, everyone.

EDIT: Shriek fucked up, which is in and of itself post-worthy. The list may or may not have been fake (90% sure it's fake, no unbanned cards? Really?) but Shriek, known for being factual and accurate, fell for it due to a photoshopped magazine.

Ignore this post, banlist is NOT confirmed.