Ten Simple Ways to Improve at Yugioh - Part 1

So, it’s nearly October, and according to popular-for-reasons-I-don’t-understand band Green Day, it’s almost time to wake up and smell the roses card games. What does that mean? Well, it’s still early in the Septemeber 2010 format, and for many people, it’s a nice way to stop and think for a moment about their lives. The rush of summer and the hustle and bustle of September is nearing it’s curtain call, and with some time left before the end of the year, it’s the perfect time to get yourself reorganized and ready to face the next few months. The same applies for Yugioh.

Stop, and think for a minute where you’re current skill level in the game is. Go ahead, take a moment.

My guess is that most, if not nearly all of you would like to get better to some degree. But how? Do you fell like you’ve reached a plateau? Or is it just the lack of direction that’s slowed your advance? Either way, this three part series of articles may just be what you need to step up your game. I’ve got ten simple ways for you players out there to improve your game. Just to make things fair to newer players, I’ll start with the more basic methods, and work up to the more advanced ones.

1.       Know You Metagame

First things first, in order to succeed at Yugioh, you need to know quite a few things. One of the most elementary of those things is your metagame. What’s a metagame, or meta, you might ask? It’s not as scary of a term as some people may make it out to be. It’s simply what people are playing in the area or tournament you play in.

There are many ways to find this out, but at the same time, there are many different metas to look at. To find the right one for you, simply think of where you’re going to be playing the most, and if you’ll be attending any big tournaments in the future.

To learn your local meta, simply attend a tournament or two, and see what everyone’s play, but more importantly, see what’s winning. Random or poorly built decks, as well as decks that lack proper structure and support shouldn’t be any of your concern. Concentrate more on the becks that do consistently well. With that in mind, you can tailor make a deck to be able to compete with those decks, or beat them outright.

To learn the meta of let’s say, a Yugioh Championship Series tournament, you’d need to learn the nation-wide meta. Surprisingly, this is fairly easy. Read over past tournament coverage and view decks posted on popular message boards to get a good idea of what you’re going to see at the event. Do this, and you’ll do much better than you would of otherwise.

2.       Learn and playtest as many competitive decktypes as possible

Once you know the meta of area you’ll be playing at, then you should immediate start playtesting the decks that are winning consistently in said area. If you having trouble learning how the deck works, watch some videos of people using them online, or look for articles about the deck. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, someone who owns the deck can tell you how it works, and even let you test with it if you’re trustworthy enough.

By learning and playtesting as many deck types as possible, you’re able to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the deck, as well as it’s good and bad matchups. Once you know that, you’ll be all the more effective at taking it out once you play against it.

3.       Make your deck competitive

As much as some people hate to do this, it’s necessary to improve as a player. Without a well built and well structured deck, you’ll be at a disadvantage in a competitive environment. If the deck you usually run doesn’t quite have the support to win tournaments, you may want to consider switching to something else until your desired deck gets enough support to hold it’s own against the best of the best decks.

How do you tell if your decks competitive? It’s easy. Playtest it against the best decks you can, and see how it holds up. Once it starts to lose consistently, you may want to start making changes, or use something else entirely.

If you’re not sure how to make your deck competitive, there are lots of experienced players on the internet that are willing to help whoever they can. Don’t worry as much about people’s opinions. Take their advice into consideration and always ask why they suggest any given card, save for the obvious stuff.

With those three steps, newer and more casual players should be able to get a grasp of what they need to do to improve.  For all your intermediate and advanced players out there, don’t worry, I’ll get to you guys in my next two articles. Until then, take it easy and good luck.

-Dave on the Rock

Two More Videos: YCS First Look and Upcoming Releases

These videos were posted on my youtube account a while back. Now you can watch them here. Go subscribe liek nao plz :P

Back with More Videos! Back Again In General! - Cards That Need Reprints

Hey guys, sorry for the long hiatus on posting here. I haven't been feeling the best lately, and therefore I didn't feel the part for making videos or writing articles. But alas, I'm feeling fine and ready for more.

Here's my most recent video - Cards that Need Reprints:

Hidden Potential: Eccentric Boy

Hey everyone, it's been a roughly few weeks for me lately, with restless, sleep disorderly nights. In fact, that's the very reason why I'm writing this article bright early, about 6:30 AM here in Newfoundland. Now if you're living outside of Newfoundland, it's probably something o' clock right about now. That's because us Newfies have our own time zone. Yes, we're that special.

As much as I'd like to give you random facts you'll probably only ever use in a game of Trivial Pursuit during a power outage sometime, I'd much rather give you some facts about another game, of the card variety.

Hidden Potential, as you may or may not know, is all about underlooked and underused cards that have great potential if used correctly. The card I'll be talking about today fits the role perfectly, er...should I say, eccentrically? Yes, today I'm talking about "Eccentric Boy" from Duelist Pack: Yusei 2.

First thing's first, it's stats and effect:

He doesn't look all that eccentric...maybe they're talking about his outfit?

Eccentric Boy
Wind/Spellcaster/Tuner
Level 3
800/200
When using this card as a Synchro Material Monster, the other Synchro Material Monsters is 1 monster in your hand. The Synchro Monster that used this card as a Synchro Material Monster cannot activate its effects, its effect(s) is negated, and is removed from play when removed from the field.

Right off the bat, you can see that what this card does is unique. In fact, aside from "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor", it's the only card in the TCG that let's you Synchro Summon off the field, and the only one period that let's you use Synchro Materials from your hand.

While it's stats aren't impressive, they don't need to be. This guy will start a Synchro Summon the minute he hits the field, and with only 800 ATK, he doesn't need to worry about anything outside of a Torrential Tribute when he's summoned.

From here, you can use one monster in your hand as Synchro Material to Synchro Summon a monster without it's effect that's removed from play once it leaves the field. Get the idea now? This card is best used in decks that like to dump their cards into the graveyard, or can afford to do so. Some quick mentions are decks like Junk and Debris, Gadgets, and most of all, Macro Cosmos (I'll explain why later).

Being Level 3 means that the most likely card you'll be sending to the graveyard will be another Level 3 or a Level 4, but a Level 2 can also net you an easy beater like "Magical Android". The best monsters to use as pure beatsticks for the other two would be "Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth" and "Goyo Guardian" when using another Level 3, and "Ancient Fairy Dragon" for Level 7 (yeah, Level 7 Synchro's aren't that strong physically...).

However, this card's true potential isn't in the ability to summon a beatstick or wall easily, it's to get Synchro Monsters removed from play easily. That's were this card can shine - in a deck based around "Macro Cosmos" or "Dimensional Fissure"! In those decks, many great Tuners and Synchros, like "Plaguespreader Zombie" and "Stardust Dragon" respectively, just can't function right. In addition to that, the deck wants to use it's copies of "D.D. Assailant" and "D.D. Warrior Lady" for taking out their opponent's tough monsters, not to be used as Synchro Material. That's were Eccentric Boy comes in. He can pop out a big beatstick using a dead monster card in your hand, then when the monster is removed from play, you can use "D.D.R. Different Dimension Reincarnation" to bring it back, even without either of your two Macro cards out. But it doesn't end there, using Eccentric Boy can warrant copies of "D.D. Scout Plane" as well, since you can use it as Synchro Material with Eccentric Boy or as discard fodder with D.D.R. to get some quick tribute fodder out to summon monsters like "Caius the Shadow Monarch".

It doesn't end there! Outside of Macro Cosmos builds, there's also another deck that greatly appreciates Eccentric Boy. That deck is "Assault Mode Activate" decks. You can use Eccentric Boy to easily summon any of the Synchro Monsters that work with Assault Mode Activate, then tribute them with said card's effect to summon a powerful Assault Mode monster from your deck. Since most of the cards needed for summoning those monsters are Level 8, Level 5 monsters like "Cyber Dragon", "The Tricky" and the soon-to-be-released "Vice Dragon" (in Gold Series 2010) are recommended for getting out your Assault Mode monsters quickly and easily. While you wouldn't want to use only Eccentric Boy in those decks, he certainly is an asset.

Lastly, as a neat little trick with this card, you can use the monster you summon with it's effect as Synchro Material for yet another Synchro Summon.

That's all for me now. I'm feeling pretty eccentric myself right now, so I'm off to do some testing with Eccentric Boy. Unlike him though, I'll be wearing my less-than-eccentric, t-shirt and jeans thank you very much.


Keep checking back for more articles and that nice little Nephthys build I promised in my last article. However, it's not what you expect. You'll see that deck on my new Youtube Channel: YugiohontheRock, where I'll be posting video articles in addition to my written ones. Be sure to check it out and subscirbe.

-Dave on the Rock

Yugioh on the Rock: How to Play Deck

My first video article...of sorts. Yeah, I know I'm rambling on a little in certain parts, but it's just meant to be simple and informative for people who don't reall know how different types of decks and different styles of play.

Part One:



Part Two:



Yugioh on the Rock is my new series of videos I'm going to be uploading to my channel. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, you can do so here. Be a pal and subscribe while you're at it.

New Youtube Account

I've got a new youtube account that I'll be uploading videos to. Make sure to check it out and subscribe. Don't worry, I'll still be doing normal articles too.

Here's the intro vid:

Hidden Potential: Widespread Dud

Welcome to the beginning of a new series of my articles: Hidden Potential. In this series, I’ll be taking a look at some often overlooked cards and how you can unleash their hidden potential. Now, if you’re like most competitive players, you only pay attention to the best cards of a set – that is – the most competitive and/or the most expensive. “What’s wrong with that?” you may ask. “I play mostly to win, so I don’t need to bother with bad, cheap cards that I can’t use in my meta deck or trade with.” Well, the answer is two-fold. First off, a good player won’t pay attention to many of the cards I’ll be talking about in these articles. That’s true enough. However, a great player will.

The cards I plan on talking about in “Hidden Potential” are cards that, in the right hands, can be very effective. By “the right hands”, I mean the hands of skilled players playing rogue decks, or teching the cards in everyday decks. Great players, while they may not run these cards, will certainly be prepared for them, especially at a time like this, where rogue decks are literally all over the place (seriously, even Final Countdown decks are topping events right now). So, if you want to be prepared for those players, then get reading, because the first step to defeating these cards is to know how they work.

Absolute Powerforce is a set with many useful cards that many people overlook. While most people focus on the powerhouses and high value cards like the Sun Dragon Inti, Battle Fader and XX-Saber Emmersblade, they pay little attention to cards that can be surprisingly effective, such as this card, which, in my opinion, is one of the better overlooked cards in the set. Take a read:

Tread lightly...

Widespread Dud
Continuous Trap Card
Select 2 face-up Attack Position monsters on the field. When any of the selected monsters are removed from the field, destroy this card. When this card is destroyed, destroy the selected monster(s).

Right off that bat, this card's chainability springs to mind. You can activate it in response to anything, from an attack to your opponent's piece of removal, to just about anything else short of a Damage Step card effect. Now what's interesting about this card is one simple fact - it gets around Stardust Dragon and other destruction negation cards. This is because it's destruction effect isn't triggered upon activation.

In a worst case scenario, you can activate this in response to your opponent's monster attacking your own Attack Position monster. In this situation, after your monster is destroyed in battle, Dud destroys the attacking monster. Advantage-wise, it’s still a -1 for you, except that it puts you in a better position than you would have been normally. Now what’s great about this situation is when you have a recruiter monster (one that summons a monster from your deck when destroyed by battle) that’s being attacked, you end up still getting your monster, since the recruiter’s effect triggers in the Graveyard after Widespread Dud’s destruction effect goes off, meaning your opponent’s monster is destroyed, and you still get your desired monster from that Mystic Tomato, or XX-Saber Emmersblade. The end result is an even 2 for 2 in terms of card advantage, but with you in the better position to start your next turn.

Now, let’s talk about a slightly more ideal situation. Let’s say your opponent uses a Heavy Storm, Mystical Space Typhoon or Breaker the Magical Warrior to destroy this set card. The result here is obvious, especially if your opponent has two Attack Position monsters on the field (a more likely situation if Breaker is used). You can chain the Dud to destroy two of their monsters. In this situation, this card nets you some serious advantage, being a 3 for 1 in the case of a Heavy Storm or Mystical Space Typhoon and a 2 for 1 in Breaker’s case. In a Blackwing match-up, this card can even net you a decent amount of advantage in response to an Icarus Attack. In this case, the opponent will be losing a maximum of 4 cards in exchange for a maximum of your three. However, skilful playing here can easily turn that into a 4 for 2, which isn’t that uncommon, seeing as many good players will try to maintain as few cards on their field as possible when they suspect a facedown Icarus Attack. In fact, Widespread Dud can be the perfect bait on the Blackwing player itching to set off their Icarus Attack and deal some damage. With Blackwings a favourite-to-win in this format, this card acts as a nice piece of tech against the fearsome swarm deck. Lastly, as an added trick, you can even use this card to deter Synchro Summons in some cases. Simply select the Tuner monster and one of your opponent’s stronger monsters when activating Widespread Dud. If your opponent tries to Synchro Summon, their other monster will be destroyed, netting them a -2, which turns into a 2 for 1 trade in your favour.

The last type of situation I’d like to talk about is one where you have a monster out that can replace itself when destroyed. Cards like Sangan instantly come to mind. However, while a combo with Sangan is good and all, I’d like to talk about another card – a personal favourite of mine – Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys. In a format that’s aiming to be very slow (at least for a few months), this card, in it’s own deck (preferably one that can effectively run an Apprentice Magician engine to get out Hand of Nephthys easily), can be devastating. To better understand how this card works with Widespread Dud, you need to read it’s effect first:

 It's Heavy Storm on legs...er...wings...

Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys
Winged Beast/Fire/Level 8
2400/1600
If this card is destroyed by a card effect, Special Summon this card from the Graveyard during your next Standby Phase. If you Special Summon this card in this way, destroy all Spell and Trap Cards on the field.

If you tend to be a duelist full of ideas like I am, Nephthys and Widepsread Dud scream synergy. Not only can you use the Dud’s effect to destroy two of your opponent’s monsters when Nephthys is revived, but you can also use it to destroy Nephthys and an opponent’s monster, then bring her back in your next Standby Phase and wipe the opponent’s back row. In addition to that, a deck that runs Nephthys can also run cards like Mobius the Frost Monarch to further trigger Widespread Dud for even more havoc.

Now, you may have noticed that I’ve been talking about situations a lot. There’s a reason for that – Widespread Dud is a situational card. It’s best used at specific times in a duel, so it takes some skill to make the most of.  While it is situational, the number of situations where it can be useful is far greater than it seems.

I’ll cover a decklist that utilizes the cards I mentioned earlier in an upcoming article, but until then, give Widespread Dud a try yourself. I’ll assure you, it’s anything but a dud.

Impressions: March 2010 Banlist

It's that time of year again, when the harsh winter begins to draw to a close and the warm, refershing spring breaks forth from beneath the snowy drifts and fills our hearts with love and warm...

Well, not really. Here in Newfoundland, it's still cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey (bonus points to anyone who can tell me the meaning of that phrase), it's wet and slushly, and spring doesn't come until sometime in late April to early May.

However, one thing that we all share in common as Yu-Gi-Oh players is that March marks the beginning of a new format that will define how the game is played for the upcoming six months.
Now, I won't post that banlist here, since it's a little long, but I will go over the changes and tell you how I feel about them, and what effect I think they will have on the new format.

First off, these cards were limited to one:

Chaos Sorcerer: Personally, I think this could've still worked fine at two, but no matter how you look at it, it's a somewhat overpowered card that's easily splashable in anything that runs 5+ Light and Dark monsters (each mind you). Having this card back to one will hamper Twilight decks (although Chaos Sorcerer at one is the least of their worries with this list).

Tragoedia: It took a long time for people to realize this was a more useful, more versatile version of "Gorz the Emmisary of Darkness". It's summoned very easily, it can steal monsters with a discard, and it can copy levels for Synchro Summoning. Around the latter half of the Septemeber '09 format, this was mained or sided in well over half of competitive decks that could utilize it. Overall, this was a good choice, since a lot of people played this at two, meaning Semi-Limiting it would've been pointless. It's now resting peacefully at one next to it's cousin Gorz.

Necro Gardna: Yes, it's one of the best forms of Battle Phase disruption in the game, it's highly versatile, and it's reusable with "Burial from the DIfferent Dimension", but I still think putting it to one is a little excessive. Two would've been just nice, but it's not really a card that's all that useful at one. I still expect to see a copy in Lightsworn, but really, whether it's in there or not doesn't make a huge difference on the deck like it does now.

Necroface: One word, er, I mean acronym: OCG. This card would've been abused to the endth degree in the OCG this upcoming format if it was left at one. It should be more managable at one. Doesn't really affect the TCG all that much.

Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier: Ah, the bain of a card that uses the game's "bounce" mechanic to the fullest, and is, by far, the best user of said mechanic in the game. It can dump, and it can mess up the opponent's field. This was at one in the OCG last format, since they got it earlier than us (but hey, what's new?). This format the TCG simply followed suit. In the upcoming format, Brionac will remain an Extra Deck staple, and will be used much the same way it has been this past format. With Zombies taking a hit from this banlist, Zombies need Brionac to still function at a level remotely close to what they did in previous formats.

Mezuki: Putting this to one effectively cripples half of the Zombie deck's engine. It was easily abusable last format, and by rights, it will still be easily abusable, but not nearly as often as it once was. This was a good decision in my opinion.

Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner: Despite common opinions, it is this card, as well as "Charge of the Light Brigade" that makes Lightsworn the top tier, explosive and dangerous deck that it has been all this format past. Putting her to one decreases the chance of a Lightsworn player pulling off their "Charge into Lumina into Garoth" play that was ever-so-common in the past. Not only that, but it makes reusing milling Lightsworn quickly much more difficult. Lightsworn still have Beckoning Light at three, which they will have to use to it's fullest to compete in the new format.

Burial from the Different Dimension: The other half of the Zombie engine (and a few others. I'm looking at you, Vayu Turbo) that got crippled by this list. Putting this card to one was perhaps one of the best choices on this list. It makes the drawbacks cards like "Mezuki", "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor" and "Necro Gardna" actual drawbacks, and not just an easy way to reuse them. Nice work Konami, this will make the new format a lot less focused reusing a select few broken cards.

Foolish Burial: Sure this can be abused and is very useful in a lot of decks, but personally, I think it could've stayed at two. With this card at one now, decks like Hopeless Dragon that need to get specific cards in the graveyard take a minor hit. As always, good players will find alternatives to this card, or more specifically, alternative ways to get cards into their graveyard, which is becoming increasingly important in today's game.

Destiny Draw: Another good choice. With so many other previously fast decks getting slowed down majorly from this list, the D-Hero draw engine would simply be too good to leave alone. A lot of people don't like this choice, but it's for the good of the game.

Charge of the Light Brigade: Arguably the most essential card in a Lightsworn deck (yes, it's more essential than Judgment Dragon believe it or not. If you don't agree, playing a Lightsworn deck without Judgment Dragon, then play one without Charge, you'll see). A free three-card mill and a search effect a la "Reinforcement of the Army", this card needed to get hit, and did. Like any free tutor card, it should be limited in some way, which it is. With this card at one, Lightsworn lose their free answer to any situation three times in one duel, now only getting that answer once (and that's only if it doesn't get milled).

Allure of Darkness: With the advent of new Blackwing and Infernity support, along with the domination of Dark monsters in the current metagame, hitting their staple draw card seems appropriate. With Allure at one, Dark decks lose just enough speed to let them drive on the same stretch of highway right next to the rest of the meta.

Mind Crush: "Trap Dustshoot" and similar cards are what make this card just a little too good. Granted it was an excellent countermeasure against cards like "Honest" and "Blackwing, Kalut the Moon Shadow", it was a little overpowered if you saw your opponent's hand, or if your reading skills were above-par (and I don't meaning reading, as in reading this article). With Water decks on the rise thanks to the recent release of "Codarus" and "Elemental Hero Absolute Zero", their psuedo-Dustshoot, "Spiritual Water Art - Aoi", combined with two copies of Mind Crush would be absolute devastating, since Aoi itself can be ran in threes.

Magical Explosion: The source of many different FTK (First Turn Kill) variants, especially in the OCG (my their a creative bunch, aren't they?), putting this card to one prevents the over abundance of first and second turn kills via this card. A good choice, but not one that affects the TCG all that much.

Now, that covers everything that was put to one. Don't worry, theirs still more. On two the Semi-Limited cards:

Honest: Really, protection from an opponent's attack should come from the field, not the hand, which, I think, was Konami's logic behind putting this card to two. In my opinion, if it were only usable in Lightsworn decks, it would've been put to one, but since it's generic Light support, two works just fine. Again, Lightsworn takes a hit here, but so do other decks that run this card for protection.

Cyber Dragon: With so much Cyber Dragon themed cards coming out, it only seemed natural (and profitable) to bring this card back to two. Really, it should have never went to one in the first place, but I guess Konami figured it would be abused too much in Synchro based decks. With Machines getting a lot of new support cards, this card makes them even more deadly. Expect to see our old friend (or nightmare), "Chimeratech Overdragon" make it's triumphant return to competitive play once more.

Demise, King of Armageddon: Making Ritual decks more playable, one genocide at a time, Demise once wrecked the metagame pre-Phatom Darkness, and may rise up to do so again along with it's partners in crime, "Dark Master Zorc" and Ganondorf "Garlandolf, King of Destruction". Overall, a good choice to make Ritual decks playable again.

Dandylion: Really, this card was never all that broken, but that doesn't mean it's not good, or easily abusable. As an upcoming reprint in Absolute Powerforce: Special Edition, Konami's decision to put this back at two was, I believe, largely to increase sales of said product. Regardless, Plants and any other deck that can put this card's tribute fodder to good use get a nice boost.

Black Whirlwind: The mainstay card of Blackwings, putting this to two hits the deck harder than most will notice at first. Their chances to draw double Whirlwinds decrease quite a lot, meaning that kind of a broken opening play will be seen less (especially since if the Blackwing player drops both Whirlwinds on their first turn, they can lose them to spell and trap removal very easily). A good choice that will bring Blackwings down a notch, and limit their ability to generate easy advantage, especially post-The Shining Darkness.

United We Stand:  This card should've been back to two long ago. Yes, it can give a 4000 ATK boost at it's peak, but if you can pull that off (not counting an odd time when you have one monster and a field of Goat Tokens), you'll probably win with or without. However, it gives swarm decks another tool to play with, which is always nice.

Royal Decree:  A decent choice, which limits the tricks decks like Gladiator Beasts can pull off by siding these (at least for the builds that do so). Two is a nice number for a card that negates, in essence, one third of the game's cards.

Royal Oppression: With the speed of a lot of decks taking a hit from this list, Oppression at three, especially in Blackwings, would've been too good for the format to handle. While a lot of Blackwing players don't play more than two anyway, this choice prevents them from doing so just in case.

Skill Drain: With so many decks that can abuse this card (Stardust/Assault Mode, Inca and a few others), Skill Drain at two fits nicely so that it can't be abused quite as easily.

Almost done, now for the two cards that were unlimited:

Smashing Ground: One time, this card was able to cause massive disruption, but now, when several summons a turn occur extremely often, it's a nice one-for-one removal card that belongs at three, right next to Fissure. Gadgets and Stun variants will enjoy this card at three.

Mask of Darkness: Finally, this is back at three. Traps are slow, and Flip Effects are slow. With Crush Card Virus still banned (much to the baine of many, many players), this card works well at three, and can do what it does best. This won't affect the game a lot, but Counter Fairy decks can reuse their "Solemn Judgment" as much as they want now.

And that's all he wrote folks. You have my opinions on the new list, and you have yours. Feel free to express those opinions as much as you want as comments. I'll try and read them when I get the chance. I'll be back again soon with a review on two new archetypes that Absolute Powerforce gives us. What will they be? Keep checking back to Yu-Gi-Oh Newfoundland with Dave on the Rock to find out.

The Game Within the Game - Defining a Format

While many other Yu-Gi-Oh writers in the dueling community right now are busy reviewing new sets and cards, and speculating about the new March 1st 2010 banlist, I'm going to be going over something completely different that still relates to the topic everyone is raging about - the new format. First off, no, this isn't the umpteeth article about the new list you've read this week. I'm not going to go and reiterate how "Tsukuyomi" and "Magician of Faith" aren't broken anymore, how "Dark Hole" will be a balanced equalizer with "Starlight Road" on the horizon, or how "Plaguespreader Zombie", "Burial from the Different Dimension", and "Judgment Dragon" are broken and need to get hit. No, I'm here today to talk about formats themselves - what defines them, how you can classify them, and what kinds of decks benefit from those different kinds of formats.

To me, there are three major factors that affect a format - the number of Top Tier decks, the speed of the format, and how OTK-heavy the format is. Depending on these three factors, certain decks may succeed or fail competitively. It's not really about what specific cards are legal, it's about how the legal cards change the game state as a whole. If you still don't get it, I'll explain each of the three factors in way that anyone can understand.

The number of Top Tier decks affects three things - what people tech, what people side, and how viable Anti-Meta decks are competitively. The September '09 format for example, is one where people can tech and side deck anything that involves Graveyard distruption, like "Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer" and "D.D. Crow". Because the top decks of that format rely on the Graveyard and Monster effects so much, Anti-Meta is fairly viable. To make things short and sweet, the larger the number of top decks there are in a format, the harder it is to tech and side against the meta, and the less effective Anti-Meta decks are. If we look back to the days of Chaos Return and Goat Control, teching, siding and running Anti-Meta were all very easy things to do, since everyone and their brother was playing the meta cookie-cutter deck.

 

Who ya gonna call?

The speed of the format largely determines what decks succeed and what ones don't. I'll use this current format, September '09, as an example again. To put it simply, it's a fast format. Not as fast as the days of Tele-DAD and the like, but still fast. As such, decks that are very powerful, like, Monarchs, Samurai and even Spellcasters, lose out to the top decks simply because they are too slow to set up against them. Right now, the speed at which Lightsworn, Blackwings and Zombie variants can set up and OTK is crazy. Most decks, while effective normally, can't fight that kind of speed. In a slower format, such as September of '07, when Apprentice Monarchs were one of the top decks, a lot of decks were viable competitive simply because of the slower speed of the format. Picture the metagame like a race. If there are three or four sports cars that can hit 300+ kmph, then the average 180-220 kmph cars just won't be able to keep up. However, without those sports cars, the average car would have a better chance to win the race.

No, not that kind of fast.

The last factor is OTK presence. The reason is this important is simple - the larger the presence of OTK decks, the more every deck needs to tech/side against them, even if they only play against them once in a 8-9 round tourney. This is because not being prepared against an OTK deck can give them an easy win. Think back to the days of Demise OTK. For those of you who weren't playing back then, it was a time when decks running "Advanced Ritual Art" used "Demise, King of Armageddon", "Megamorph" and "Doom Dozer" to easily end games in one turn. Back then, if you didn't main deck or side deck anything against this deck, you could forget going undefeated for a few rounds of swiss, no matter how good of a player you were. It was nothign strange for decks to run multiple copies of "Waboku" or "Threatening Roar" in their side, with some people going as far as to run copies of "Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell" to prevent the use of "Advanced Ritual Art". To make matters even worse, that deck had nothing on the infamous "Cyber-Stein OTK", which used "Cyber-Stein" to summon a monster like "Cyber End Dragon", double it's attack score with "Megamorph" or "Limiter Removal" and attack for game. Overall, OTK really affect a format in a negative way, since they take little skill  to pull off correctly (unless you're talking about decks like Diamond Dude Turbo, but that's a different story), which is why Konami tends to cripple them as soon as possible.

Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell - Showing you just how far people will go to win against rogue OTKs.

Overall, formats can be classified by their speed, and the number of top tier decks, with OTK presence being more of a lingering threat. The current format is a fast one with only three or four top decks. The previous one (March '09) was faster still, but had more top decks. Back when "Chaos Sorcerer" was the single most powerful card running around, the format had only one top deck, and was fairly slow. As you can see, every format is easily classifiable.

Now, the question remains - "What will the next format be like?" Well, since I'm not part of the team at Konami who can sit down and work on the new list, I can't tell you (and even if I was, I'd likely be on a contract that prevented me from telling you anyway :P ). What I can answer though, is "What should we expect from the next format?". Personally, I'm expecting a slower format with a wider variety of top decks. Lightsworn, Blackwing and Zombie variants will still be something to watch out for, but if the new list does at it should and brings these beasts down a notch in terms of explosive power and speed, then decks like Gladiators, Samurai, Monarchs, Spellcasters, Gravekeeper's, Fortune Ladies and many more should be at least a little closer to that ever-elusive Top 16 Decklist position that they've all been craving to see more of.

March 1st is still about three weeks away, but hopefully we'll start seeing some hints about the banlist within the next two. Once that time comes, I'll share my thoughts and opinions on the new list, but until then, be patient, and enjoy the last of this format while you can. Change is coming, and it's going to be big.

-Dave on the Rock

The Frontier - Keep on Drillin'!

Ah, finally, the first article of my first series of articles - The Frontier. Before I get into the cards I'll be discussing int his article, I'm first going to tell you all what exactly this series is about. "The Frontier" is just that. In these articles I'll be discussing cards on the frontier of the North American TCG, that is, cards that are going to be releasing in the newest set. Hopefully you guys can find these articles useful in future, since they're intended to give you a heads-up about those unrated commons or holos you might look over when you  pull them at your local sneak peek event.

Two of the more unrated cards in the upcoming Absolute Powerforce set actually originates from a Yu-Gi-Oh fan in Japan. Any fans of the anime, such as myself, have likely already narrowed it down to a few cards. Well, as the name of this article implies, I'm talking about "Drill Warrior", and it's Tuner counterpart - "Drill Synchron".

Drill Warrior is a new Earth attribute, Warrior-type Synchro monster clocking in at Level 6 with stats of 2400/2000. His effect reads as follows:

"Drill Synchron" + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters. 

Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can halve the ATK of this card. If you do, then this card can attack your opponent directly during this turn. Also, once during your Main Phase, you can discard 1 card from your hand and remove this card from play. During your next Standby Phase after this card has been removed from play by its own effect, Special Summon this card to your side of the field, and then add 1 Monster Card from your Graveyard to your hand.

Just from reading it's effect, you can tell it's a card with potential. Not only can it swing behind enemy lines for 1200 damage a turn, but, after it attacks, you can discard a card to remove it from play until your next Standby Phase and add a Monster back to your hand once it returns. First, I'll get one thing out of the way - the ATK drop doesn't disappear at the end of the turn, which is a big disadvantage for any monster. However, thanks to the wonders of game mechanics, when Drill Warrior removes itself from play, it's stats are reset when it returns to the field, making him much easier to abuse, and much harder to kill.

Now while attacking directly is fine, it's never been something that solely made any card playable since the days of hiding under Gravity Bind and attacking directly with tiny monsters like "Magical Lamp" and "Jinzo #7". It's this cards second effect that makes it worth playing. By removing itself from play until your next turn, it can avoid destruction effects like "Smashing Ground", "Lightning Vortex" and even "Judgment Dragon". This allows you to maintain some field presence when your turn comes around again, making it easier to survive.

"But wait Dave, you need to discard to use it's effect! That's a minus one!"

Sure it is, but only for one turn. On your next turn, providing you discard a monster for it's cost, Drill Synchron let's you get that same card back in your Standby Phase, or, even better, let's you dump that "Plaguespreader Zombie", "Destiny Hero Malicious", or any other card that benefits from being in the Graveyard, in exchange for another live card.

Drill Warrior also has a lot of synergy just from his type, letting all generic Warrior-type support work for him. However, the best of it all, since requires the use of a "Synchron" tuner monster, "Quickdraw Synchron" works perfectly. Just tune it to a level one monster, and go to town.

Speaking of tuners, "Drill Synchron" is the intended tuner for "Drill Warrior", and is a good stand-alone monster and tuner in it's own right. It's a level three Earth Tuner monster, Machine-type, with stats of 800/300 and the following effect:


During battle between a Warrior-Type monster you control and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of that card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent. Once per turn, when you inflict Battle Damage to your opponent using this effect, you can draw 1 card.

Drill Synchron screams potential. A built-in Pierce/Draw effect a la "Airknight Parshath" that can apply to every Warrior on the field is a definite good card. Being a Tuner just makes it all the more awesome. Thinking of what this card can accomplish in any deck that runs a decent amount of Warriors and can swarm easily gives me goosebumps. Decks like Six Samurai quickly come to mind. They lack a non-universal tuner monster (think "Plaguespreader Zombie" and "Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind") to use in their deck, but with Drill Synchron available, the deck suddenly has the ability for monsters like "Grandmaster of the Six Samurai" to inflict damage through the opponent's set "Sangan", and gain a quick plus one, followed by a Synchro Summon in the Main Phase 2. Since Samurai have so many ways to swarm, like "Backs to the Wall" and "Double Edged Sword Technique", Drill Synchron fits in nicely. Imagine summoning Drill Syncrhon and following up with a copy of Backs to the Wall. You now have four piercing monsters on the field and the chance to get a total of a plus five that turn (which is actually viable if the opponent is running something like "Scapegoat"), then tuning for a Synchro monster in your Main Phase 2. The only downside to this card is that the draw effect only works once per turn.

Drill Synchron itself is an awesome card with an awesome effect. However, it does have a downside. Defense position monsters are scarce in this format, and since this card's effect only kicks in when the Warrior monsters inflict piercing damage, you may not get the extra draws you want very often. But, fear not. A new format is just around the corner of Drill Syncrhon's release, so who knows what the future may hold for this card and it's Synchro counterpart.

Until then, keep an eye out for more "The Frontier" articles and remember, Keep on Drillin'! ;)

-Dave on the Rock

Why Yu-Gi-Oh Newfoundland?

Hey everyone, welcome to Yu-Gi-Oh Newfoundland (or YGO-NF, for short). Now, before I even get started in explain why I decided to create this blog, I'll get one thing out of the way first - Don't take this thing too seriously! If you have some kind of underlying grudge against Yu-Gi-Oh or Newfoundland, or you just don't care about either, you'd best just hit that little "X" in the left or right corner of your browser window (hey, gotta account for those Mac users out there ;) )

Now, onto the point. I decided to do this blog for three reasons. One, I was bored. Seriously, if I wasn't, I'd probably have better things to do than blog about Yu-Gi-Oh. Luckily for you readers, I don't, so I hope you enjoy it anyway. The second reason, is that I like the game. Sure it's a children's card game played by adults, but what the heck, it's fun as damn, so I play it. Lastly, I'm doing this blog because the Yu-Gi-Oh community here in Newfoundland is almost completely unknown, and I hope that by writing this blog, I can attract more attention to the community and hope to expand it and allow it to flourish.

Right now, the community here in the city of St. John's (the capital city of Newfoundland for those of you less geographically inclined) consists of about eight to ten consistent competitive players, and at least another twenty or so who only play in tournaments every so-often. Of course, then you have the players who don't play competitively, whose numbers amount several times higher than the ones I just gave you. Our population here is small, so obviously our playerbase is smaller than most places as well. Regardless, we still love the game and have a great time playing.

Now that you know why, I'll tell you who. My name's David, or, as the blogging community will/has/might never come to know me by, Dave on  the Rock. I'm nineteen, and a graphic design student attending college. Outside of Yu-Gi-Oh, I enjoy the usual things, spending time with friends/family, playing games of all sort, and a select few other hobbies that nobody would likely be interested in.

The question of "what" is where this post is actually gonna get interesting. "What" I'll be blogging about is quite a few things, but on two different scales - local, and international. On the local scene, I'll be talking about the local metagame, interesting decks that turn up here, and some other cool stuff like videos and player interviews.

On a large scale, I'll be talking about new sets, new cards, the metagame as a whole, banlist changes, as well as giving you guys some tips, pointers and things to think about when it comes to the game.

Last but not least, you'll be treated to something completely random every now and again. It's so random even I don't know what to expect yet!

And with all that said (or typed, since saying it all out loud would be silly), make sure to check back for updates from YGO-N, cause like momma always said "blogging is like a box of chocolates...only with computers...and no chocolate..."