itt: byak does another "address this terrible format in a longass article"

[byak]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UOFwKPLoGE

 

Now, before I elaborate on all of my opinions, let me say something straightforward first.

 

This format is s***.

 

Some of you might want to argue against that, but no matter what you'd be wrong. The current TCG format is absolutely horrible and most of us already realize that. So, where do you go when the format is terrible?

 

A. Don't play yugioh competitively - a lot of people have been switching to Cardfight! Vanguard!! and Magic the Gathering ever since the March banlist. I have no problem with this choice. I personally have decided to stay ever since I started developing Water Synchro and Psychics. Those two ideas will keep me in the game, as well as having access to Inzektors when I tackle upcoming premier events (YCS Philly and the NA WCQ). You don't really need to quit yugioh, though. You can just stop playing people on Dueling Network or at locals or whatever you don't enjoy and play among your friends. With friends, you can test some of the weaker decks or even set up custom formats with larger groups. I am an advocate all of these ideas if you're disappointed with the format, but for those who still want to play competitively...

 

B. Play one of the Power 2/3 Decks - To be honest, the only way you can do well in this metagame without innovation is by playing Dino Rabbit, Inzektors, or Wind-Ups. For those who are unfamiliar, let me elaborate.

 

i. Dino Rabbit - legitimately the best deck of the format. Triple Rescue Rabbit, triple Tour Guide, triple Jurrac Guaiba, etc lets this deck spam Evolzar Laggia and Evolzar Dolkka all day. What makes this deck the best deck is that you cannot stop turn one Rabbit with Effect Veiler, due to the existance of TCG Ignition Priority. This allows the Dino Rabbit user to set up a god field turn one without fear. For now, having Maxx "C" is key, since it gives you an extra card to deal with their hand. The deck also works the best game two and three, because it has the ability to side into Macro Cosmos, and there's not much you can side in versus Rabbit to effectively counter it.

 

When playing against Dino Rabbit, there's no real tips to play around them. If anything, using a mass removal card and following up with Fiendish Chain on their Laggia can kill fields occasionally, but most Rabbit decks play Starlight Road and triple Forbidden Lance is a staple in this deck, which can cripple that play entirely. Another small tip is keep yourself safe from Jurrac Guaiba as often as possible. Every deck might not play it, but the best Dino Rabbit lists use Jurrac Guaiba and if you set yourself up for it there's usually no coming back.

 

ii. Inzektors - the second best deck of the format, right after Dino Rabbit. The deck will destroy any form of overextension with Inzektor Dragonfly and Inzektor Centipede, and will either be able to wall up with Inzektor Sword - Zektkaliber, add another Inzektor Dragonfly for next turn, or even add Inzektor Giga-Mantis for stronger fields later game. The best current Inzektor build uses Inzektor Hopper and Inzektor Sword - Zektkaliber. Inzektor Hopper functions as an additional Hornet(s) and Zektkaliber sets up a simple OTK, as well as lets you recycle Inzektors when your opponent has the answer. Zektkaliber also gives the deck a slightly better Dino Rabbit matchup (though Dino Rabbit is still in favor), since it gives Centipede and Hopper an 800 ATK boost to run over the Evolzars, and can even out exhaust Rabbit fields.

 

As mentioned earlier, this deck's worst matchup is Dino Rabbit. If Dino Rabbit summons Dolkka it's even harder to break through than Laggia, plus Dino Rabbit can side in Macro Cosmos, which shuts down Inzektors entirely. If any other deck wants to beat them, then there needs to be a large quantity of Effect Veilers and Fiendish Chains in the deck. The only problem is, Zektkaliber can make this deck even more annoying due to its recycling capability. However, as long as you can stop their Hornets and Hoppers from doing anything, you should be safe.

 

iii. Wind-Ups

 

Wind-Ups come right after Inzektors and Dino Rabbit, but the gap in strength between this deck and the other two decks is very high. To summarize Wind-Ups, the deck can discard more than half of your hand on the first turn, using Wind-Up Rat and Wind-Up Hunter. The deck is given an obvious boost by Tour Guide From the Underworld, and more versatility with Wind-Up Rabbit and Wind-Up Shark. The problem with this deck is that it can’t do what it is designed to do if your opponent has Maxx “C” or Effect Veiler. On the upside, this deck shouldn’t really be vulnerable to Maxx “C” unless you use Wind-Up Shark and Wind-Up Magician together. While Wind-Up Rabbit gives this deck a lot of strength outside of the hand loop, I personally don’t feel that the deck is too great, especially since the two decks that surpass it have good topdecking potential (Inzektors can top Centipede and Dragonfly, if they have Hornet, and Dino Rabbit can top Guaibas, Rabbits, Tour Guides, etc) to come back from the hand loop. Also, the deck can be pretty weak after the hand loop too, unless it ends with a few protection cards.

 

To beat this deck, you need to make sure you’re maining a good amount of Effect Veiler, Maxx “C”, and Fiendish Chains. Wind-Up Rabbit is a b**** to get around, but if you manage to summon Leviair the Sea Dragon, you can then utilize the Wind-Up Rabbit as much as you want, since it’ll come back to your field if you remove it from your side. Cyber Dragons are also a decent side option for the deck, as well as Thunder King Rai-Oh in some cases.

 

With these decks put out there, there really isn’t anything that can stand up to them, but there’s options that are available now and some in the future that are decent.

 

C. Play something that's almost as good as the Power 3 and be pretty damn good at playing it

 

iv. Six Samurai – what was thought of as a dead deck back at the beginning of the September 2011 format was given a slight boost with recent banlist changes and the addition of Blade Armor Ninja. Gaining a second Shien’s Smoke Signal back makes the deck just as consistent and it used to be, and the deck has no problems opening god hands like it did back in the March 2011 format. Access to Blade Armor Ninja only makes these hands better, giving Kizans a decent use. Despite the deck being explosive, it’s still strictly worse than the control that Dino Rabbit creates, and has a poor time dealing with Inzektors, due to their inability to stop Dragonfly or Centipede without the use of protection that everyone should be playing anyway. The deck can also be butchered with Maxx “C” more than Dino Rabbit. If a Six Samurai player is under Maxx “C”, this prevents them from putting more Six Samurais on the board to establish a commanding field presence or protecting Shi En. Overall, if you’re a sacky player who’s on a budget and can’t afford Inzektor Hornets, then this deck might be ideal for you.

 

v. Skill Drain Decks – To start this off, Skill Drain can legitimately rape this format hard. Shutting down Inzektors and Wind-Ups leaves them with weak monsters on the board to pick off with whatever you want. This includes Hero Stun variants and T.G. variants. Hero Stun variants can make good use of Super Polymerization against Inzektors and especially Dino Rabbit, which can’t negate Super Polymerization. Not only that, but Miracle Fusion is still amazing, particularly versus Dino Rabbit which has a tough time getting over strong monsters. Miracle Fusion is also a good top deck when you get looped by Wind-Ups. T.G. is also still viable, even after losing a Reborn Tengu and two T.G. Strikers. At this point, I wouldn’t recommend playing Reborn Tengu, but you obviously want to play the one T.G. Striker. The idea behind T.G. is that TG-EM1 can be powerful vs the Power 3 in some cases, and generally antimeta cards combined with floaters is a recipe for success. Another notable thing to point out that gives these decks strength are the fact that everyone mains Fiendish Chains, Maxx “C”s, and Effect Veilers, which don’t hinder these decks at all.

 

vi. Evols – this deck in my opinion has the potential to be good really easily. They get a spell card that searches any Evol in Galactic Overload which should push the deck higher, but we can’t tell yet since the card hasn’t been released (it will be available for the NA WCQ, which should be noted). Evols function in the same way as Dino Rabbit, which is put Evolzars on the board as often as possible. The deck brings out the Evolzars differently, though. Evoltile Westlo and Evoltile Najasho combined with Evo-Force are the most important. Unlike Dino Rabbit, this deck can be a bit more consistent and less explosive, outside of drawing multiple Evolsaurs. The viability of this deck is still to be determined.

 

The last two decks I want to talk about require Card-Car D to, in my opinion, be optimal. Card-Car D will not be released until Galactic Overload so we will not know of their viability until later this season.

 

vii. Dark World - Now, this deck may not really require Card-Car D, but I think the best builds will use it. The first perk of Dark Worlds is the use of Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World, who can constantly put itself on the field with a heavy 2700-3000 ATK, something that the Power 3 have a hard time against. The consistency of this deck comes from Broww, Huntsman of Dark World, Snoww, Unlight of Dark World, and all of the various draw cards. The strongest discard engines in this deck are Dragged Down into the Grave and Card Destruction. Dragged Down gives the deck good control points since it can specifically hit the cards that will counter your current strategy and fuel Mind Crush, which the deck should be playing two of to compliment this choice. Card Destruction is essentially autowin with this deck. The amount of advantage Card Destruction can generate is ridiculous and all of the other draw cards just make it more consistent. This is why I like Card-Car D in here. The deck isn’t designed to make an explosive turn one play, but it’s supposed to set up for the big play later in the game. Turn one Dragged Down and Card-Car D does a really good job in setting that up, combined with traps such as Reckless Greed and Skill Drain. Without Card-Car D, the deck can utilize other cards such as Sillva, Warlord of Dark World and Trance Archfiend, which are both really good and can be used in a slower variant of this deck.

 

viii. Hieratic Dragons – this deck will not be available until the release of Galactic Overlord anyway, but that’s all they need to be good (plus Card-Car D!). This deck can perform insane OTKs using an average of three cards in your hand, and they have a card to search them from your deck for more consistency. The key Hieratic Dragons are Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit, Hieratic Dragon of Eset, and Hieratic Dragon of Su. The first two are easily put on the board, and Su can Special Summon himself by tributing either. Once a Hieratic Dragon is tributed, it brings out a normal Dragon-type monster from your deck, namely Wattmeter-Dragon. The goal of this deck is to make Hieratic Dragon King of Atum, which is a Rank 6 Xyz. Atum can Special Summon any Dragon-type monster from your deck once per turn, at the cost of not being able to attack, and the ATK of the summoned monster becomes 0. These two drawbacks aren’t a problem though. You typically bring out Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and use its effect to bring back a Hieratic Dragon. At that point, you can easily turn that Hieratic Dragon into another Atum to bring out the second Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. As for the Atums not being able to attack, you can Xyz Summon Thunderclap Knight – Gaia Dragoon by using them as Xyz Materials. You also use the two Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragons to Xyz Summon Super Dreadnought Cannon Express Gustaph Max, which can deal 2000 damage and attack for 3000. By then, you should have two Gaia Dragoons, a Gustaph Max, and any Dragon-type monster brought out by the second Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon for an easy OTK.

 

Like any deck, this deck is susceptible to hand traps. Maxx “C” can hurt the deck, but Effect Veiler can shut it down pretty easily, which is a problem. The deck also dies to sided Light Imprisoning Mirrors and Mask of Restricts. You may feel safe behind those, but Hieratics can maindeck two or three A Wingbeat of Giant Dragons, which acts as an additional Heavy Storm. That’s just something else you have to look out for when playing against this deck.

 

These aren’t all of the options though. There are some decks like Gravekeepers, Karakuri, and Agents that don’t exactly stand up to these but contain some viability.

 

If you are planning on attending any WCQ, keep these decks in mind. Of course the meta will change once Galactic Overload is released, but it probably won’t change much from what I have here except the Power 3 becoming the Power 4. Who knows?

 

tl;dr:

• This format sucks
  
• If you want to play in this format, use Inzektors, Wind-Ups, Rabbit, and maybe Evols and Hieratics when they come out (or get more support)
  
• Dark World, T.G., Hero Stun, and Six Samurai are all also decent choices
  
• So are Agents, Gravekeepers, and Karakuri, but they’re not as viable
  
• Cardfight! Vanguard!!, Magic the Gathering, and in my personal opinion Pokemon are all good TCGs that are good choices if you want a break from yugioh
  
• Try to innovate a deck to beat the format. In order to beat the format though, the deck needs a good matchup against the Power 3
  

 

That’s all that I’m going to right for now. This article is like 2400 words long or something, but eh. If you want me to write anything else, suggest it and I might do it. If anything, I might elaborate on Psychics, Water Synchro, or Side Decking.

 

Oh, I should include what were to happen if we were to lose Ignition Effect Priority, but I feel lazy and will write about that later

[Greiga]

The thing about this article is that it's 100% correct.

[Guest ⌈Remote⌋]

Evols are godly consistent somehow since last time I tested them A few weeks ago. Odo is a nice safety net card that can get dead saurs out of the hand and still activate them, though You coud just use 2-3 Soups.

 

Also you can play pokemon. You don't need mewtwo to win gaiz .-.

[byak]

You just need Eels and a good Mewtwo counter ;)

[Canadian]

The Evo-Force play is a +2 from Maxx "C" if they go for Laggia, which IMO, makes that area of the deck horrible, yet people still play it anyways.

 

And you never talked about Bubblebeat with the addition of Masked HERO Acid. I feel like that deck will go places, and it is also able to side into the aforementioned Hero Stun.

 

But nice format summary.

[byak]

The Evo-Force play is a +2 from Maxx "C" if they go for Laggia, which IMO, makes that area of the deck horrible, yet people still play it anyways.

 

And you never talked about Bubblebeat with the addition of Masked HERO Acid. I feel like that deck will go places, and it is also able to side into the aforementioned Hero Stun.

 

But nice format summary.

 

I like Heroes with Drain more than Bubblebeat to be honest

[Anbu-of-Sand]

Great format summary indeed. If you don't mind my asking, where would you say Anti-Meta Decks stand? Would you say they're still viable? Or would it be better off just siding to counter the Meta and maining basic things that work for your deck and at the same time can screw over the Meta / Power 3 such as Skill Drain in Dark Worlds?

[byak]

Great format summary indeed. If you don't mind my asking, where would you say Anti-Meta Decks stand? Would you say they're still viable? Or would it be better off just siding to counter the Meta and maining basic things that work for your deck and at the same time can screw over the Meta / Power 3 such as Skill Drain in Dark Worlds?

 

Dark Worlds, T.G., and Hero Stun are imo the best forms of Antimeta right now

[Guest ⌈Remote⌋]

You just need Eels and a good Mewtwo counter ;)

Eel play set is 2$ total (Tynamo + Elektrik)

And http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Drifblim_(Dragon_Blast_25) and http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Sigilyph_(Dragon_Blast_26) can work

But we're not getting them for like a year or something, but it's more fun to play anyway ;_;

Plus, It's overall cheaper anyway.

[byak]

Eel play set is 2$ total (Tynamo + Elektrik)

And http://bulbapedia.bu...ragon_Blast_25) and http://bulbapedia.bu...ragon_Blast_26) can work

But we're not getting them for like a year or something, but it's more fun to play anyway ;_;

Plus, It's overall cheaper anyway.

 

Drifblim seems like it would be good in MessieMew, didn't really notice it until now

[Guest ⌈Remote⌋]

I would put Mew EX but that's also gonna be expensive because it counters it quite well. Like, really good. Unless It's in a Tin <_<

[Legend Zero]

Won't Lavals get all the cool stuff this format, or is that next?

 

I haven't quit on purpose...the format literally made me stop playing DN and pick up CC again, without me even noticing tbh.

[Guest Chris]

I'm just gonna stick with CFV for the most part, and keep to testing different HERO builds and Mist Valley Ninjas, especially when the latter so far has performed amazing against the top 2 decks, idk about Wind-Ups yet though.

[Toffee.]

•Try to innovate a deck to beat the format. In order to beat the format though, the deck needs a good matchup against the Power 3

And this is my problem, right here.

And so far, only my Chaos-Knight.dek can do that :/

 

Drifblim seems like it would be good in MessieMew, didn't really notice it until now

WAIT, WHAT!? A DRIFBLIM CARD BECOMES POKEMON-META!?

Arm = Happy

[Guest ⌈Remote⌋]

WAIT, WHAT!? A DRIFBLIM CARD BECOMES POKEMON-META!?

Arm = Happy

Does 50 for each special in Discard for ONE Energy of anything.

That is godly with 4 Prism and 4 DCE in every deck(Pretty Much) and the Blends and other stuff.

[byak]

Won't Lavals get all the cool stuff this format, or is that next?

 

I haven't quit on purpose...the format literally made me stop playing DN and pick up CC again, without me even noticing tbh.

 

Lavals won't get their foolish burial until Sept 2012 format so they're not really good yet

[Toffee.]

Does 50 for each special-

Despite the fact its 50 per Special in the Opponent's Discard, I'm just going to assume Pokemon's meta uses large quantities of Special Energies.

So more or less, this card just LOLs@the Opponent for using a bunch.

[Guest ⌈Remote⌋]

Despite the fact its 50 per Special in the Opponent's Discard

in Discard

Der...

Though I did omit Opponent's, but meh.

And Theres like 4+ usable specials right now. ITS AMAZING

[Agro]

Do you think that the Sams Deck will somehow boost them into the Big 3? There's always a chance I suppose, after all, they WILL be the budget deck of the format. (cept maybe evols...)

[Guest ⌈Remote⌋]

(cept maybe evols...)

[Agro]

What... you didn't get 3 when it was $20...?

[byak]

it depends on what the Six Samurai Xyz does

[Guest TheFinalFan]

I know we're talking about IRL, because that's where most of the tourneys are, but what about DN?

What's a good deck for beating/keeping pace with the Power 4 (Hieratics are definitely Tier 0) on there?

[NumberCruncher]

I know we're talking about IRL, because that's where most of the tourneys are, but what about DN? What's a good deck for beating/keeping pace with the Power 4 (Hieratics are definitely Tier 0) on there?

 

Lavals, but that's because they're more consistant than Rabbit or Wind-Up in the OCG. Also, a large portion of non-Power 4 playes are Six Sams from what I've seen. In addition, Gravekeepers have been popping up a bit more now.

[El Majishan]

IMO LSS are right under the Big 3...Their god hands are pretty consistent and they can set up an insane fiend first turn like its no body's business...(beast, shien, ninja, enishi, solemn usually means GG)