Thursday, November 8, 2012

Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis

Believe it or not, this was the card that got me interested in the Hieratic archtype 9 months or so ago. As of now, I like this guy better than all of the other Hieratic and possibly better than other XYZs. This card is dirt cheap in Malaysia because no one who plays Hieratic (if theres any left aside from me and Kyde) would play him. Often overlooked, I've always consider this to be the true boss of Hieratics, but a boss that could not fit into the Hieratic deck. Over the months, there's numerous attempts to play this card effectively, and some really succeeded in integrating this card into Barboros based decks and also as a tech for Dark Worlds. 



Since a few weeks ago, I started to look at this card at a different point of view. Not as a boss monster that you summon to sit on the field, but as a counter for HEROs. Kinda like how Chimeratech Fortress Dragon is a side deck option for Machine that resides in the extra deck. I've been intensively playing Lightsworns for the pass few weeks and while the deck has very very powerful beaters, sometimes I still wanna get rid of my opponent's field without triggering Shining and Zero.

Lets say your holding a Judgment Dragoon alone, you could very well special summon it and blow the field. That could get rid of the opposing HERO, but Zero will drag you down with it and Shining is gonna make sure Excalibur kills JD the next turn. Of cause, if you have 2 JDs, then that wouldn't be an issue, but lets stick with when you only have 1. Tragoedia is a card that has been a semi-staple in Lightsworns and even Chaos Agents. Why is Trago mentioned here? Cause it could make you a 3000 beater without losing your field or let your opponent access to more strategies.

Ditching JD to gain control of a Shining or Zero might sounds stupid at first, considering how powerful JD is. But look at it this way, Heliopolis is also a 3000 beater that ca take out your opponent's cards; not as convenient as JD, yes, but I wouldn't say that far off. You CAN summon JD and take out the field, but that JD is gonna get killed in the end (considering you don't have Honest or Necro Guardnas), Heliopolis however, could very well stay on the field. HEROs don't really have that many cards they could use to get over 3000 once their Miracle Fusion into Shining fails to net a profit. They could try to top deck something but thats just playing with luck.

My Lightsworn build plays copies of Herald of Creation, getting JD back into hand is no difficult task. Not to mention I could also get Tragoedia back if I want to. You could also always have Big Eye in your extra deck, ditching a Dark Armed or Gorz to get hold of the opposing Gorz or even Hyperion. Herald and Trago open the deck to a lot of options, espeacially in a deck where the graveyard could be viewed as a second hand.

Also, I would like to point out that Lightsworns and Agents have 1 thing in common, they tend to have a lot of useless monsters in hand. Maybe let me rephrase that, they tend to have a lot of monsters stuck in hand where you would rather have them in the Grave. Heliopolis helps solve that problem. If you could drop it early game, it could very well help you set up your grave for a Krystia or JD play. Trago ditching Krystia to capture Shining, making a Heliopolis and play Call of the Haunted on Krystia sounds like a game winning play to me. Also, spot removal cards (except for Compulsory Evacuation and BTH) aren't gonna do anything to Heliopolis.

Of cause, I'm not suggesting you try doing this every time you have the chance. A duel is not so simple, and a HERO deck isn't a deck with 1 trick only. But I really consider this as a devastating play against HEROs, I almost always win if I get Heliopolis out this way. I once saw this video on Yugitube, suggesting that we treat our extra deck like a secondary side deck, it was back in Frog Monarch format, where he would have Thought Ruler Archfiend in the side instead of something like a Colossal Fighter, why? Because Thought Ruler is immune to Enemy Controller and also Soul Exchange. By having Thought Ruler, he could afford to have lesser cards in his side deck against Frog Monarchs. I believe this theory applies here as well. HEROs are a very big deck in OCG, and there are tons of cards you need to side just to get rid of those pesky spells and traps. Having outs to the big monsters really helps, especially since Lightsworns and Agents (arguably) aren't tight in extra deck space.

I may just be pointing out the obvious here, but I feel like getting my massage across. I see Agents siding in cards like Leeching the Light to get over Shining. I'm not saying thats a bad card, with the right combination, that is an OTK in itself. But I wouldn't really wanna attack to get rid of a HERO, maybe its just me, but I don't like to risk a Dimension Prison. Also, Leeching the Light isn't really useful when Zero is the one standing across the field. Lightsworns are a deck that could do very well in Asia Plus and with the right build, I say, anywhere. I would like to suggest a copy of Heliopolis in the extra, just for those moments where dropping JD is awkward. I mean, even if Heliopolis got BTH'ed, at least you got rid of the opposing HERO without triggering anything right?

2 comments:

K'yde Ren said...

Grapha uses Puppet Plant to drug Heroes bosses and then kidnap them to use as offerings for Ennead. Good post and the theory works. :D

Anonymous said...

Interesting card.