My Top 2 Hieroglyph deck list!!

My trophy!

monster (21):

3 Tfeni Dragon

3 Shuu Dragon

3 Aset Dragon

2 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon

1 Emerald Dragon

1 Watt Dragon

3 Card-Car D

3 Effect Veiler

2 Koaki Meiru Drago

spell (12):

3 Pot of Duality

3 Mystic Space Typhoon

3 Seal of Gathering

1 Heavy Storm

1 Monster Reborn

1 Book of Moon

trap (8):

3 Call of the Haunted <--- shouldn't have played 3 since I side them out almost every match

3 Raigeki Break

2 Torrential Tribute

side (15):

2 Maxx C <--- useless

1 Koaki Meiru Drago

2 King Tiger Wanghu <--- good but it does the same thing as Drago, could be something better

2 Ryko Lightlord Hunter

1 Dark Hole <--- useless

1 Mind Control <---useless

3 Macro Cosmos <--- MVP

2 Bottomless Traphole

1 Chain Disappearance <--- I wanna have 1 more of this

extra (15):

2 Gaia Dragoon

2 Atumus

1 Photon Streak Bouncer

2 Exa-Beetle <---only need 1

1 Tiras, Keeper of Genesis <--- never once made this

1 No 12 Crimson Shadow <--- never once made this

1 No39 Hope <--- same as above

1 CNo39 Hope Ray <--- made it once but it did not do anything

1 Queen Dragoon < --- not once

1 AOJ Catastor < --- not once

1 Brionac < --- useless

1 Black Rose Dragon < --- once but doesn't stop me from losing

So most of the cards in my side and main are absolutely useless.

I still think Maxx C is bad, even thou I lost to it, its still bad in our format.

...

Mike Ting took alot of the videos of my matches including my match with Sam, so check out for updates on his blog.

Asian Qualifier 2012 Report

Shout out to cookie for being an awesome judge!

Deck played : Hieroglyphs

1st match vs Andrew Ang - Inzektors

1st duel : I misplayed and my OTK fall short of the mark. He OTK'ed me back.

2nd duel : I open with Macro.

3rd duel : I open the most offensive hand of my deck. He sets 2 and summon Centipede, attacked. I MST a Judgment and proceed for an OTK.

XOO

2nd match vs Samurai

1st duel : My opponent was a newbie, he made Shi-En and Catastor with his whole hand, but not attacking for some reason. I drop REDMD on him and win from there.

2nd duel : My opponent actually negated MST with Shi-En, summoning Kageki and getting Torrential.

OO

3rd match vs Machina Gadget

1st duel : I rush him with Hiero OTK.

2nd duel : He killed me with Fortress because I have no combo.

3rd duel : Open double MST and an OTK.

OXO

Proceed to 3 rounds of swiss and cut to top 8.

Swiss round 1 vs Inzektor

1st duel : I rush him with the OTK.

2nd duel : He actually let me start and I open Pot into Car, too much advantage.

OO

Swiss round 2 vs Sean - Inzektor

1st duel : I got off a slow start and his Inzektors just keep gaining advantage.

2nd duel : Drago wins games.

3rd duel : He open Mask of Restrict and I have no removal. (edited thanks to Clover)

XOX

Swiss round 3 vs Long Zhai - Inzektor Wind-Up

1st duel : He wind-up loop my hand.

2nd duel : I manage to clear his back row and rush for an OTK.

3rd duel : He side in Jogen, but I top Wanghu.

XOO

Squeezed into top 8!

Top 8 vs Allen Chiew - Gravekeepers

1st duel : His massive backrow was just too much for me to handle. (Andrew pointed out at the end of the match he made an illegal move of summoning 2 monsters in his first turn.)

2nd duel : I found an opening and went for it, luckily, the OTK works.

3rd duel : I have 1800 life,Ryko set, TT and BTH set. My opponent has Decendent and Sin Cyber on the board. He played Dark Hole for some reason, use his monsters just got killed by the traps. Then he made a second misplay of getting Recruiter instead of Decedent with Duality, and left me at 100 life. The next mistake he made was not searching when I destroyed his recruiter. His 3 misplay gave me a chance to turn the tables and won.

XOO

Top 4 vs Sean - Inzektor - revenge match

1st duel : We both just set and play card car. I eventually gather my pieces first and kill from there.

2nd duel :  I was able to force and early OTK on him because he was lacking in his backrow.

OO

Finals!! vs Sam - Inzektors

1st duel : I couldn't do anything because his Wingblast keeps hitting my cards.

2nd duel : I tried to go for an OTK even after he drop Maxx "C", he had Trag.

XX

...

Top 2, so close yet so far. Overall I think I did very well, seeing that I'm THE only Hieroglyph player in top4. (edited)

If your wondering what build I took, just scroll down :)

Hieroglyph Dragon version 2.2

monster (22):

3 Tfeni Dragon
3 Aset Dragon
3 Shuu Dragon
2 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
3 Card-Car D
3 Effect Veiler
3 Koaki Meiru Drago
1 Wattmeter Dragon
1 Emerald Dragon aka Luster Dragon #2

spell (11):

3 Seal of Gathering
3 Mystic Space Typhoon
3 Pot of Duality
1 Monster Reborn
1 Heavy Storm

trap (8):

3 Raigeki Break
3 Call of the Haunted
2 Torrential Tribute

I'm expecting a lot of mirror matches so I tweak the build to be an anti-Hieroglyph build, which, unless God hates me, I would take game 1 in a mirror for sure.

Thats it for today, back to work.

Asian Championship Qualifiers Malaysia

This Saturday. The first major event for the Malaysian YGO community in 2012.

Sorry I've been posting exceedingly less (no pun) this month. My assignments are taking 90% of my time and I've only been to locals once 2 weeks ago with Mike. A few more weeks and I'm free again since most of my assignments are deal two weeks from now.

BUT, I still got the weekend off for Asian Qualifier, thanks to my wonderful course mates.

The major power house or the TOP deck of this tourney, would be, without a doubt, Inzektors.

With no cards from their deck being promos and a boost from GAOV. This deck means business. Not to mention the deck is basically made out of commons and rares, minus Mantis and the extra deck. Prepare to see at least 50% of the players playing Inzektors.

The other 50% would be made out of Hiero, Laggia, Dark World and randoms.

I don't expect Hiero would be played in numbers because its main OTK card, Gustav Max! is a promo and not allowed. But, with the consistency to pull out big moves, and being a new and powerful theme. But mostly because the organizers forces us to crack GAOV boxes to enter, I say Hiero would have a powerful showing and hopefully, its debut in Asian Format Malaysia would be a good one.

I would be playing Hieros if Sharmir could get me my Bouncer by this weekend.

Despite what people are saying, and not being TCG-level gay, Laggia or Dino Rabbit seems to be the next best deck to Inzektors. The major reason why I say this deck would do good is that, like Inzektors, the deck doesn't have promos. Being able to play at 100% is a major factor in winning big tourneys like this.

With Agents out of tier 1, DW replace them as the number 1 Structure deck theme. Grapha is amazing, and Gate is one of the best field spells we've seen for a while. BUT, I don't see the deck winning. People are siding Dark Imprisoning Mirror and Macro Cosmos for the Inzektors match up, and most players have 3 copies of MST for their disposal. Although the Hong Kong Qualifier result shows a DW getting into the finals might be proof that they don't matter, since DW is one of the best deck against Inzektors.

All the other decks are fillers. This tourney is basically an attempt by the 3 Tier 1's to overthrow Inzektors as the Top deck.

Wish me luck, I hope I don't end up playing some random deck again, like what I did for almost ALL of my official tourneys.

Now, Back to work!

Hieroglyphs in Asian Format

For those of you who don't know whats so different bout the deck in or out of Asian format, heres a little update.

The main deck is EXACTLY the same, if you don't play Gorz. But, the extra deck ... isn't.

We don't have Gustav Max! in Asian format, basically meaning we don't have excess to one of the most important card in the Hieroglyph OTK.

So, is Hieros still good in Asian format, not nearly as destructive, thats for sure. But, not to say they're no longer good.

I've been playing the deck for 2 weeks now, not rely on the promos because I know I won't have them in my country's official tournaments. I don't wanna make a misplay in tourney because I'm too used to Gustav Max!'s overkill.

Firstly, I would really like to remind Hiero players, Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon is a boss monster in itself. Its more than just ammo for your OTK. If your playing in Asian format, most of your OTKs will be based on this Dragon's 2800 base attack.

Trinity in Asian format (GQ's version) :


REDMD, Shiyu, Aset//Tfeni or 2 copies of Gathering will do the trick.

Do the normal Hiero stunts. Get Atumus and REDMD(from your deck) on the board. Now, bring back one of a Hieroglyph and banish REDMD for REDMD.

Get the second Dragon back onto the field. Make Exa-Beetle. Beetle will get rid of an opposing card for FREE. And we now overlay those 2 rank 6's into 2 copies of Gaia Dragoon.

2600 + 2600 +2800 = 8000

While this is very very basic, it shows that we don't need Gustav Max! to win, contrary to what I'm hearing people say.

Is getting a copy of REDMD to your hand harder than a third Hiero? Not really, sure, you have 3 Gatherings to get your pieces, but we main 3 copies of Pot of Duality and Card Car D respectively. Digging into the deck is fairly simple.

Even if you don't have your combo, just don't over commit to the board and you would be fine. There are tons of good Rank 6s that can hold their own. Namely Photon Streak Bouncer and Exa-Beetle.

Just don't go all out when you don't have game and you would be fine.

Call of the Haunted :


Slow? Maybe. Unreliable? I beg to differ.

The card is amazing as it effective let you reuse those REDMDs. Say you have a copy of Call set and trying to go for game.

Now you can. You can send REDMD to the grave with Exa-Beetle and bring it back.

Or you can use this to bring your combo back, or just your beaters may be enough to change the tide of the game.

Inzektors aren't the only deck that would benefit from this. While I do agree setting cards against Inzektors can be dangerous, BUT, we have 3 Card Cars, 3 Pot of Dualities and 3 copies of EFFECT VEILER, their odds of opening a Hornet aren't exactly as high as yours with Veiler. Based on statistics.

Tragodia :


Good against most match ups aside from Inzektors (although this can save your ass from a OTK). Trag normally comes down onto the board at 3000 in this deck, since you won't be committing much to the field with Card Car D if his in your hand.

People aren't playing Mirror Force and Prison anymore, and Fiendish Chain are generally bad against Hieros. This card is gonna do some real damage against a non-Inzektor opponent, and thats IF they have access to Hornet.

This card is godly in Mirror Matches (prior to the siding of Dragos), drop it on the field and if your opponent leaves any non-rank monster on the board, take it, since you have some many cards in hand and most of them would most likely be monsters.

Siding in Maxx "C" and this card instantly goes over 5000 most of the time.

Side decking :


Everyone knows how important side decking are, especially if your a top tier combo deck. Everyone's gonna have something for you.

I would like to suggest Debunk but the card isn't really what I say effective.

King Tiger Wang Hu, however, IS.

Imagine you place King Tiger on the board turn 1. The only Inzektor that your opponent can summon now would be centipede and the only Hiero that could come out is Tfeni, even so, your opponent can't continue with his tricks until they get rid of King Tiger. In the mean time, you could be gathering the cards for the 3-card-kill, all by placing 1 simple card on the field.

In my opinion, King Tiger is even deadlier to Inzektors and Hieros that Drago is. Sure, Drago is searchable and can be recycled, hence a staple in Hiero side decks. But no doubt Wang Hu is a huge addition to side decks.

I'm not sure if I could find space for it, but its definitely in my top consideration list. I'm already playing at least 2 copies of the card in non-Hiero sides, and they work good.

My Body as a Shield and Forbidden Lance. Maybe even Royal Decree. All these cards that stop the cards players side in against you would be good. I don't think I need to press on this too much. I'm also seeing an interesting side of Wingbeat of Giant Dragon.

Why is HERO beat good this META?

Currently, we see HERO beat as one of the top 3 decks in the OCG, why are they suddenly good again? They had been taking about 2 formats off.

Many will surely say Airman into Bubbleman then into Blade Heart is full of win.

True, that combo is one of the best OTK HERO beat obtained after years of evolution. But I beg to differ. Note that all the things I'm about to type are all based on my point of view.

Why Blade Heart isn't the main contributor? :


While we all agree the Blade Heart thing is good and effective, it is not what HEROs rely on to win, I firmly believe, to the very end, HEROs will win on their one-for-one trades.

Refering to this tournament :  3.3.2012 - 13th Kanto Championship - Metagameanalysis

We clearly see that Inzektors are the top deck. But, let us not forget that Inzektors can easily be stop by one-for-one's and with the consistency of a HERO beat deck, it con be sure that the player CAN make Blade Heart the next turn. Making HEROs the best counter to Inzektors.

To some degree, that is the truth. I feel like the only way to fight on an almost equal par to Inzektors without rushing for an OTK would be using HERO beat. But, statistics shows, the one-for-ones AND Blade Heart aren't enough to make this deck top tier.

So what had made them top deck again? Agents, or rather, the lack of them.

META game analysis showed us that HERO beat disappear off the radar about the same time Gachi Gachi Gantetsu is release into the game. The ability to take multiple meant-to-be one-for-one's is major problem for HEROs. That together with Hyperion, which can be drop at any point of the game and cost disruption to the overall strategy.

When Agents got less popular a few months ago due to Inzektors, HEROs found the opportunity to step up their league again. As compared to a match against Agents, a match against Inzektors are much more easier played, because they always have cards one the field Gemini Spark can hit. Or rather, One-for-one can work as one-for-ones.

When HERO's greatest threat, Agents, lost its popularity,  HEROs found this as a chance for reemergence.

...

I hope this makes sense, although I don't really think this as important to many. Because, all we really need to know is what deck tops and how they top. Not necessary why they top.

Again, most of the points I made are from the conclusion I myself deduced after much observation on the META trend, as any report, the results can be overthrown by an unseen factor.

I welcome inputs on your opinion on why HERO beat took top deck status again, and I enjoy reading them. Cause a conclusion from a network of infos and thoughts will always be better than something one person did.

E HERO deck update March 2012

I've receive a few comments and massages they want me to do a blog on my E HERO deck for the ban list. Here it is.

monster (8):

3 E HERO Neos Allius
2 E HERO Ocean
1 E HERO Forestman
1 E HERO Heat
1 E HERO Airman

spell (19):

3 Pot of Duality
3 E Emergency Call
3 Miracle Fusion
3 Gemini Spark
2 Polymerization
2 Super Polymerization
1 Mystic Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn

trap (12):

3 HERO Blast
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Fiendish Chain
2 Solemn Warning
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment

side (15):

2 Cyber Dragon
2 Snowman Eater
2 DD Crow
2 Mystic Space Typhoon
1 Dark Hole
3 Skill Drain
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
1 Starlight Road

The current top deck in Malaysia is without a doubt Inzektors and Dino Rabbit. With Wind-Ups(well, the Zenmighty hand drop loop to be exact), Dark World and Samurai being popular choices as well. And since this is OCG, BF will never die, so we will still see them doing something.

Hieroglyph's impact on the META is still unknown, but since I own the deck and basically know the deck inside out, its not that hard for me to counter their plays.

My current build is a HERO Fusion-Beat hybrid, why I don't have Skill Drain main'ed is purely because I don't wanna take out the Fusion elements of the deck, and I don't want it to be a pure HERO beat. If you don't mind playing HERO beat, I suggest you main the Skill Drains.

12 + 5 traps :


The deck runs a massive amount of "traps", Gemini Spark and Super Poly fits this as they are there to do what trap cards are meant to do, disruption. One for ones has always been how HERO decks are played, and in the current META, a timely activated one for one WILL stop your opponent in their tracks.

Unlike Hyperion, which can be drop from hand without notice, you can see Inzektors being played, Hieroglyphs need at least 1 of their dragons to be on the field, and Rabbit is a normal summon.

Fiendish Chain is important this format, no doubt, since Inzektors sometimes main Dimension Fissure, stopping Veilers. Chain also does something Veiler can't, an attack. Although some might argue a timely MST can take care of Fiendish Chain; the same MST can get rid of Dimension Fissure for your Veiler plays, yet people are still playing Fissure.

HERO Blast needs no introduction, its the main trap card of the deck, Pot of Duality and Emergency Call is there to set up your Gemini Spark plays. This card is very much alive in this deck, just like any other HERO beat variants.

Mirror Force is a card that is seeing lesser plays right now, but its one of those cards I would want to keep in my deck. Since its my all time favorite trap, I've kept it in my main deck, not because I need to, just because I want to. And, everyone would agree, getting hit by Mirror Force hurts.

Why the Fusion-Beat Hybrid :


This deck basically plays like a normal HERO beat until you start playing Polymerization. It has HERO beat's control element and also they power and speed of Fusion builds. Most HERO beat deck (aside that Bubbleman build, which I hate a lot) can't do OTK, this deck does it easily with the right cards, if you don't have the right cards, not to worry, just play it like HERO beat, it works exactly the same.

Polymerization isn't as dead as you imagine it to be, if your playing the deck right. Like I mentioned in one of my older post, you don't play the card unless you know you have game or there is no other way to get out of a situation.


Play wrong, its a minus 2; play it right, you win the game there.


You can always ditch them if you don't have a Fusion play for Super Poly, since you can always get it back with Forestman. And Forestman hangs around for a turn or 2 easily, with all the trap cards floating around. Making sure Super Poly is always alive when you draw into it.

Also, you wanna make sure you only play Miracle Fusion to get The Shining, unless you wanna go for an OTK or your gonna lose if you don't make another specific HERO (aka ZERO). You wanna make sure you keep getting your Allius and Airman back, since you only run 8 monsters in the main deck. With Compulse more frequently seen now, it might not matter as it used to, but hey, at least we won't be seeing Trishula any time soon.

Why no Bubbleman? :


Like I said, I hate Bubbleman into Blade Heart, sure, thats a good play, but I don't like to make my winning condition non-HERO based, its an ego thing.

I have No.39 Hope in my extra deck, but thats because unlike Armor Ninja Blade Heart, Hope is not a win condition, its just one of those cards that might save your ass for the turn or 2.

For those of you who actually like the Bubbleman shenanigans, play 2 Bubbleman replacing an Ocean and Heat. The deck will still work almost the same, and now you have an extra win condition. This might actually make running triple Absolute ZERO viable too, but again, I just don't like it.

Without Blade Heart, Bubbleman is useless, it serves no other purpose to the deck as oppose to Heat and Ocean, who can be a beater and beater/recycling agent for the deck respectively.

extra (15):


3 E HERO The Shining
2 E HERO Absolute ZERO
2 E HERO Escuridao
1 E HERO Gaia
1 E HERO Nova Master
1 E HERO The GREAT Tornado
1 E HERO The Earth (Terra Firma just sounds stupid, no matter how hard I try to accept it, like Utopia)
1 V HERO Trinity
1 Chimera Tech Fortress Dragon
1 NO39 Hope
1 Stardust Dragon

I play 2 Escuridao because there are tons of Inzektors running around and I don't want my second Super Poly to be dead. Besides, I can always play Miracle Fusion on the first one. Most importantly, I'm not lacking in extra deck space without the M HEROs I used to run. Blade Heart lovers can replace the second Escuridao for your beloved ninja, since most of the time, you would only need 1.

Stardust is obviously for Starlight Road, and there may be those random situation where you Reborn their Scrap Beast and decide to make a Stardust. Unlikely thou.

V HERO Trinity wins games. HERO Blast and Emergency Call gets you your 3 HEROs easily. If your opponent decides to swarm and failed to kill you, this card WILL kill them. Its not really that important to the overall playstyle of the deck, but its just something I like in here to be different from others. This card and The Earth would generate you most of your OTKs, try it and you might just get addicted to it.

Side deck choices :

I've decided to play double Compulse instead of double Chain Disappearance just because its more easily played. While Disappearance is good and devastating if you hit the right card, its not a card you would side in for every match up, whereas I can side in Compulse against Any deck. This might change depending on how the META grows into.

Chain targets : Damsel and Rabbit, thats it. Compulse targets : every monster card in the game, not as devastating but gets the job done (getting you pass your opponent's turn and messing with their plays). This card might even see main deck plays if the format is how I think its heading.

Cyber Dragon is good against those BF matchups and generally a good card. BUT, I'm still not sure whether I wanna side these or 2 Beast King Barboros. They generally serve the same function, a giant beat stick. I would definitely side them in with Skill Drain anyway.

Since pure Wind-Ups are not even a threat in the OCG and Karakuris are pretty much dead, I'm not sure how important Chimera Tech are in the side board anymore. The reasons I still play Cyber Dragon are, (1) they don't waste my normal summon and can bait BTH for me, (2) they are Light and can help me make Shining if I don't open with a lot of HEROs. BUT, that being said, Barboros is still a very good choice, and a 3000 beater is pretty hard to get pass if your not playing a lot of traps and removals.

I run double Fiendish Chain in the main and triple Skill Drain in side, so I don't need Veiler in the side making space for Crow. Crow is good as Dark World isn't dead, still quite popular in fact. Crow can also get rid of that lone Hornet in the grave, especially if they Foolish it. And since we have a Gold rare version of it now, it fits into the deck perfectly (I dislike non-foils in this deck, maybe thats why I don't have Bubbleman in here LOL)

...

Random picture that doesn't fit the title!!

That wraps it up! Thanks for reading that extremely long post. And most of the reasoning are based on MY point of view and my own preference, so it might not be really useful for you. But do leave a comment, I enjoy reading them.