Tele-Zombie-DAD

TeleDad is one of my favorite deck of all times, but its a deck that has been dead for a long long time. Today, I had my share of free time, so I went on DN and build this deck based on :

(1) How I picture TeleDAD worked.

(2) How some of the newer combos can be integrated into this deck.

(3) I want to feature something like Shi-En or Laggia, a boss monster I could sit on, and no, Stardust isn't one.

monster (20):

2 Destiny HERO Malicious

2 Destiny HERO Diamond Dude

1 Elemental HERO Airman

1 Dark Armed Dragon

3 Krebons

1 Plague Spreader Zombie

1 Goblin Zombie

1 Mezuki

1 Blue Blood Oni

1 Zombie Master

1Trap Eater

2 Summoner Monk

1 Sangan

1 Armageddon Knight

1 Divine Dragon Apocalypse

spell (12):

2 Destiny Draw

2 Emergency Teleport

2 Mystic Space Typhoon

1 Foolish Burial

1 Monster Reborn

1 Heavy Storm 

1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Mind Control
1 Allure of Darkness

trap (8):

2 Call of the Haunted
3 Fiendish Chain
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment

Extra (15):

1 Lavalval Chain
1 No39 Hope
1 No50 Black Corn
1 Invers Roach
1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn
1 AOJ Catastor
1 Brionac Ice Barrier Dragon
1 Gaia Knight, Force of the Earth
2 Void Orge Dragoon (MVP)
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Infernity Doom Dragon
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend

Now, aside from the obvious choices, I bet some of you would be confused by my unorthodox choice of card.

The main game plan of the deck is to get Void Orge Dragoon out on the field and sit behind it. Orge Dragoon ( the OCG name Dragoon sounds so much better than the TCG's Dragon, so I'll stick to that ) is a boss monster in itself. Like Shi-En with restrictions but very very much bigger.

The reason why I have a copy of Trap Eater teched into the deck is because it could make a quick Void Orge Dragoon at times. Also, getting rid of things like Fiendish Chains or Royal Decree would be fun, considering Dragoon is vulnerable to monster effects. The idea of playing Dragoon actually rises before I even thought of TeleDAD. This card is just too good a boss not play with. Also, because I don't want to have Veilers in the deck (as they contradict Dragoon), I play Chains. Trap Eater instantly fit in, and I could always discard it if I don't need it.

Divine Dragon Apocalypse is a card I main for the sake of reusing Dark Armed Dragon, also, it makes getting to DAD a lot easier. I could dump DAD into the grave and bring it back. Even if I don't need it, again, this deck discards a lot, so I could always use it as fodder. Summoner Monk into another Monk into Apocalypse; Monks into Lavalval Chain, dumping DAD and bringing it back with Apocalypse seems like a good move.

My remaining problem is getting rid of my hand (not without making a field of big monsters first). Zombie Master and Plague Spreader Zombie fits into this. Also, I took the liberty to include one-of's Mezuki, Blue Blood and Goblin to finish the zombie engine. Originally, my deck didn't have Blue Blood in it, but since my game plan was to flood the field and make Dragoon, it seems like a good choice. And yes, it is. Blue Blood and Lavalval Chain floods the field extremely fast, I could get my level 8 Dragons a lot easier with it.

The Teleport engine is there for the consistency purposes. I wanna make sure I could keep my stream of summons going before ending with Dragoon. Why 3 Krebons instead of 2 Krebons and a Commander? Actually, I'm not sure why. I just though that Krebons acts as a better wall if I drew into it. I'm not sure if the 3rd copy is necessary, but it has yet to be a dead draw. Maybe that and Sangan can come out for something better, but I can't think of anything I could played instead. Maybe go all anti-META and play 2 Doom Caliber Knights?

I haven't test this deck against any top tier decks yet, but the deck proves very consistent from the few games I played earlier. My only loss was to my own lack of experience with Zombies in general, as my opponent pointed out some of the better plays I've could have made (really nice and helpful guy, unlike 90% of the guys on DN).

I'm very interested in building this deck in real life, but I doubt I'll ever do that. Lavalval Chain is just too expensive and not playable in Asia format. I wouldn't mind building it for locals, I would really like that, but Chain is just way too expensive for that.

Top Shop TB Rep Tourney #1 Report

Deck played : Hieratic

Format : 3 rounds of swiss

Game 1 : vs Agent Angel - LCW

duel 1: Open double REDMD and bunch of traps, got killed after he cleared all of them a few turns later.

duel 2: Went for OTK and he doesn't have Herald

duel 3: He has 6 hands and I have a lone Focus Force, luckily, none of those are useful.

1-0

Game 2 : vs Inzektor - Fishtank

duel 1 : Somehow won, not sure how.

duel 2 : Open double Veiler, double Chalice, all I did was negating his stuff and lost.

duel 3 : Controlled the board and won.

2-0

My game 3 opponent was known as a cheater and a stacker. He cause quite a commotion to the cardfight!Vanguard community a few months ago, and my friends kept telling me to be extra attention when I duel him. Apparently, both his opponents were either stacked or rule sharked. Crowser told me, his opponent tribute LightPulsar for another Pulsar, and got REDMD back in the process.

Before that match, my opponent was playing with clear Sleeves, problem was, he was playing both OCG and TCG cards. His dragons are TCG while other cards were OCG, according to a friend who watched the match. Luckily I notice this beforehand, and asked for him to sleeve his deck with proper sleeves.

Game 3 : cs Chaos Dragon - I don't wanna name the guy

duel 1 : I open decent, set MST and Torrential. I was holding Su, Su, Tfenut and REDMD. He played Storm, Future Fusion for FGD, special DAD and Reborn on REDMD and got Pulsar back. I was stunted. The dude open 4 limited cards that magically works super well together. After the game, Mark told me the guy was shuffling his cards UPSIDE DOWN!!! Holy shit, never saw that one coming, guess I wasn't paying enough attention.

duel 2 : I open an extremely aggressive hand with Swift Scarecrow. I basically smirked and passed my turn. My opponent's OTK was stopped by Scarecrow. I topped deck a BLS to further demoralized him.

duel 3 : My opponent draws and asked for me to start the game, knowing he was somehow stacking cause he repeatedly try to draw for his turn while I was side decking. I disagree with that and ass pulled a random "The loser of the previous duel has to start the game" ruling out of nowhere, with the entire room agreeing. He sets a monster and passed. I open Aset, Su, Su, REDMD, Reckless and Torrential. Before the game, I piled shuffled his deck so that his deck would be randomized, he was trying to stacked me but I didn't suffle my deck beforehand, what he did was merely pile shuffling. Back to the duel, I just dropped everything and end the game right there cause I doubt a guy like him would play Veiler.

...

After the game, TB's locals were happy that we don't have to send a stacker//cheater as our rep, that would really be humiliating.

So, conclusion : I won my place as TB rep #1 (I was TB's rep last year as well) and a playmat.

Decklist :

monster (20):

3 Su
3 Aset
3 Tfenut
3 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal
3 CardCar - D
2 Effect Veiler
1 Black Luster Soldier - Envoy
1 Emerald Dragon
1 Watt Dragon

spell (13):

3 Pot of Duality
3 Seal of Convocation
3 Mystic Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Book of Moon
1 Forbidden Lance
1 Monster Reborn

trap (8):

3 Reckless Greed
2 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
2 Call of the Haunted
1 Solemn Judgment

side (15):

1 Gorz
1 Swift Scarecrow
1 Effect Veiler
2 Electric Virus
2 Maxx C
2 Forbidden Chalice
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Torrential Tribute
1 Trap Stun
1 Dust Tornado

extra (15):

2 Gaia Dragoon
2 Atum
2 No 25 Focus Force
1 Photon Streak Bounzer
1 Inzektor Exa-Beetle
1 Sword Breaker
1 Tiras Keeper of Genesis
1 Kachi Kochi Dragon
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Ancient Sacred Wyvern
1 AOJ Catastor
1 Scrap Dragon <--- Random tech since I have Gorz

* I didn't played Gustaph Max cause I don't have any.

Still Busy

Hey world, GQ here, long time no see. As you could guess from the title, yes, I'm still extremely busy, give me 2 more weeks and I'll be back in action.

Goods news is TB had received 4 slots for the topshop 2012 qualifers, bad news is, unlike last year, me and Fishtank were not selected by default, we need to play for the spots. Will be going to TB this weekend unless something urgent pops up, and hopefully, we have some update.

September 2012 Forbidden and Limited List prediction --- Part 1

Forbidden and limited list aka The Ban List discussions came real early this time. I wasn’t expecting it to start till end of next week, normally I want to be the first guy to discuss about it, but seems like I missed the chance this time. Curse you assignments!!

The list discussion is basically a tradition for us bloggers now. Everyone has a common hate, and a little bit of varying from individual to individual. It almost seems like it’s against the law to NOT post anything regarding discussion on the ban list. I say the common goal of the majority of us blogger is to show how good we understand the game and how well we can predict Konami, gaining credential in the process; but mostly, just for the “I called it!!” moment. Let us not part from the main topic.

Normally the September format would be a lot better than the March one, or at least at the start of the format. This list would normally put the game at a very healthy state for at least 2 or 3 months before the inevitable happens, aka new sets. The reason why the March list (where Asia, European, and Worlds are held) feature a less skill based format might be something among the lines of “people need power cards because there are bigger and more important events; as compare to the Sep format”. Don’t quote me!!

Forbidden :

Future Fusion – This card is on EVERYONE’s list, even for Chaos Dragon players. I think this is because we know that if this card doesn’t go, something bad is gonna happen to our precious Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon for sure, well, theres no guarantee Konami won’t outright hit both of them, but at least, there’s some chances. Foolish Burial x5 for Dragons + Random Zephyros//Brionac based OTK//FTKs are bad. The only 1 card FTK in the game should go away, don’t even try to hit the other guys, cause we all know this is the main catalyst. I know this card just got reprinted to UR in the most recent reprint set, BUT. Royal Oppression was banned 2 weeks after it was reprinted a SR, and it wasn’t a broken card to begin with (back then). I can go on all day with just this card alone, but I say we all know why this card gotta go.

Monster Reborn  –This card is the one top deck that would win you games by its own most of the time. I actually love MR a lot, its one of those cards that remind me how long I’ve played this game, witnessing it getting on and off the banlist a few times now, but I’ll have to agree, its time to put this card back into the banlist once and for all. Like all other cards from early in the game’s history, the card wasn’t well designed, there wasn’t a drawback to it and no limitations, and like such cards from back then, it should join them in the banlist. Overall, its just a card that adds too much luck into the game (not to say opening TGU and Rabbit takes a lot of skill to play).

Although I hate Mind Control and think of it as an evil, but I do think it should replace MR as the necessary evil in the game. Without Mind Control, I could make Photon Bounzer and look down on a bunch of Inzektors without fear. Or, I could just set Ryko, knowing you can never use it against me. While I do think that this card generates a lot of unnecessary advantages at times, but I do not think that’s enough to land it on the Forbidden zone yet.

Gustaph Max – Everyone reading this blog should know how much I hated this card. It takes a deck that needs skill and knowledge to play (my precious Hieratics of cause) and turns them into a no-brain 3 card combo. I would really like Konami to hit this card instead of putting REDMD to 1. REDMD to 1 will outright kill Hieratics, while killing Gustaph Max kills its ability to perform an easy OTK. While go that far considering Hieratics aren’t winning much anywhere, even with Gustaph Max. Also, the card has OTK spelled all over it, like all cards with such labels, please just hit it. (This is like my wish for this September list, do not kill Hieratics)

Pot of Avarice – This is the last card I wanna see banned. While not many decks can run this card now, for the decks that could, this card generates too much advantage, and most of the time, the plus 1 is just an added bonus. This card completes the Wind-Up Loop, it lets you use the 3^rd Rescue Rabbit, among others. While more could be discuss about this card, I feel we all could come into agreement on just how powerful this card can be mid to late game (for some decks, early deck even). I can no longer see this card as balance or situational anymore for what is does is nothing but generate loops.

Limited :

Unlike the forbidden, which you just throw in whatever card you think to be too broken to keep; you need to plan before making a limited list. I always think that the banned list should not kill a deck, but to make it less deadly. Some cards doesn’t require the limiting status, but there are some (ie Mezuki and DAD) who are too powerful to be anything more than 1, but seem to be useless at 1. Hence, its no easy task to make a limited list, I give you that.

Unlike what other people might do, I do not think any of the Inzektors deserves a place here, at all.

Dark Magician of Chaos, Magician of Faith – both of these can and should come off the list. This also helps Konami boost the sales of the Spell Book archtype in Abyss Rising. These 2 no longer have the use of being in the list and could possibly come back formats ago. Even with MR in the game, these 2 would be too slow to be splashable, the only decks I could see any of them being played would be Spellcaster variants, again, that is no bad for the game, and spellcasters do need the push, being 1 of the original big 3.

Goyo Guardian – Unlike the former 2, I do understand why this card is on the forbidden list. This card ranks with Trishula and Brionac (a card many people fear might get hit this list) as the most powerful syncro ever printed, DSF was just plain broken, it’s not powerful, just broken. Why do I see it coming back? Since syncros no longer do anything, that’s why. This card back at 1 instantly put BF back on the threat radar (not that high up, but still … ). Also, this is a great out to Bounzer, Tiras and Gaia Dragoon, or you could kamikaze this into Focus Force. It gives people a valid reason to synchro summon again, cause as of now, no Syncro monster other than maybe Scrap Dragon could walk over those 3 commonly played xyz walls.

Wind-Up Zenmighty – Its way too easy to summon; way too powerful and also does too many things for the deck. Some might say banned Hunter and this card is balanced. Yes, pulling a Wind-Up Rabbit from your deck to the field turn 1 is real balance, not to mention Magician and Rat. Hunter was never a problem before Zenmighty, sure your opponent could still ditch a card or 2 from your hand, but I doubt people would still play Hunter if Zenmighty is at 1. In case you didn’t notice, Wind-Ups took both WCQ North America and European Championships, they are good. One might think it fluked a win because no one was playing Maxx Cs in the main in WCQNA, that might be; but I see the majority of the players playing 2~3 copies of Maxx C in EC, and yet, the deck still topped. Wind-Ups needs to slow down.

Royal Oppression – This is on everyone of my list since it was banned, but now, I’m beginning to feel iffy bout bringing it back. I was thinking, what deck would love to see this card back. AntiMeta decks? Yes, that is true. But, I was thinking Inzektors. Yup, those insects that everyone wants to step on this banlist would definitely welcome this card into their arsenal. Rabbit needs to constantly put xyzs on the board, both Dragon decks can’t play this, HEROs now depend on Bubbleman way too much (they would still play it, no doubt). Only Gadgets and Inzektors can truly play this card with almost no drawback. Do I want it back, YES!! But I could do well without it.

I really really wanna put TGU here, but I feel TGU at one kills it, kinda like Tengu at 2. But I do not feel semi-limiting TGU is gonna change anything. I’ll leave Semi and unrestricted for another day.

[How to HERO] #2 - Mind Games

*I'm terribly bored at school right now, there is no Internet connection and class is in an hour (I'm typing this on Words), course mates all having their FYP meetings and I've met with my adviser earlier. *

I've decided to post something interesting for now and continue my HERO mind game strategies. I'll treat my Mask Change(from last year) post as the first post of the series, not gonna rename that for now. Also, note that I'll be using my deck as a standard and any other build I would treat as a variant to my deck. Some of these points I'll be covering might not work for every single build, do keep that in mind. For my decklist, please refer to last month (June 2012) archive, I've made some changes, but it doesn't change how the deck works so that list would be good as a reference.

I've emphasized quite a number of times, Gemini Spark is a card that would win you games, I'm gonna do that again. Now, I'm not gonna talk about how to maximize advantage with this card, well, in a way yes. Lets say you open with a hand of


Emergency Call, Emergency Call, monster (not Alius or Bubbleman), Trap, Trap, MST

Lets assume those traps are cards like Dark Bribe or Compulsory Evacuation Device, or any other card that won't instantly generate you good advantage. Now, assume that your opponent have say 2 cards set and a Centipede. Now, if your playing against Inzektors, your opponent would want to keep their on board insect as long as possible, right? What do you do now? Normally, you would E-call for Airman, grab an Alius or Bubbleman; attacks the Inzektor and hopes that gets through. You only have a single copy of removal (sorta) in your hand, if you can't get rid of the Inzektor, you would lose the game next turn, no doubt. To your opponent, keeping that Centipede might not be necessary since he had most probably already searched for Damsel the previous turn, BUT, if he keeps it, he would more likely than not win the game. Its the second turn of the game, so if Centipede played its effect last turn, the Inzektor he most likely used was Gruf, so it would be better for you to prepare for the worst and assume he has Hornet in hand, meaning if he has a Raigeki Break, he would use it.

Now, do you search for Airman? Sure, if your opponent doesn't have anything, it doesn't matter, but expecting the worst would be the way to go. If I were you, I would search for Alius instead. Why Alius? Because of Gemini Spark.

Playing mind games with a guy who doesn't know what are your possible plays doesn't mean anything, and it would put you in a bad position since your "traps" would more likely than not, never sprung. Also, if your playing HEROs, I doubt you would have any problems dealing with an opponent who don't know your tricks. So, we assume your opponent a veteran player.

Summoning that Alius onto the field instantly puts pressure on your opponent. Of cause, if your opponent has a Solemn Warning set, it won't matter which choice you've made. If your opponet don't have Warning, you're most likely safe (unless your opponent has some card to destroy Alius and a Forbidden Lance to protect Centipede set, then, your screwed anyway). The commonly played traps in Inzektors, Raigeki Break, Lair Wire and Torrential Tribute instantly became useless, Gemini Spark makes them minuses. If your opponent decides to play Torrential despite losing advantage, you don't just pick up your Alius. You put on a thinking face. Pretend that you have Spark, make your opponent think your easy to read, and you could try asking random things like "that wouldn't be a Lance, would it?"

Why is this move good? Its basic and downright written all over the text book, yes. But implementation wise, I've never seen anyone do it. Whenever I E-Call into Alius instead of Airman, people start asking questions and outright criticize the move, branding it as "misplay". I'm sorry, but this "misplay" won me games, more often than not. But, you should not play this move unless you have outs. You shouldn't grab Alius if you have no way to get Airman or you have no other monsters. This is a move to make your opponent play their resources wrongly, not a move to win you games. If you have no way to capitalize on the advantage, it means nothing. This is very important. Also, its is important to note that grabbing Alius from deck makes a much much deeper impression that you have Spark than to just summon an Alius. So, if you have the resource, grab an Alius despite already having 1 in hand.

Another move would be a very risky, but much rewarding one. Summon that monster, and attack, most likely, your monster is gonna get itself killed. Set everything, yes everything, and pray to god you opponent either don't have Storm or don't want to risk a potential Starlight Road. When he equips Hornet to Centipede, play MST on it, don't let it destroy anything. When your opponent summons for his turn, Compulse that away, now while your opponent is gonna have so much advantage, he can't kill you yet. So, go all out next turn and hope you take the game. And yes, I do not recommend this at all.

HERO Blast is another card that your opponent would be taking caution on. But, unlike Spark, it doesn't really generate as much advantage, and its not as versatile ( so your opponent might not have it on mind all the time ); nevertheless, there are ways to exploit this. One of the most obvious ways to make your opponent think you have Blast would be how you play Miracle Fusion. Leaving Alius in your grave and making Shining with Rai-Oh and Airman would results in a much smaller HERO. To your opponent, this is a misplay, cause not only you Shining didn't get pass 3000, you gave him an important tip that you have HERO Blast set, so he would just have to get around it before summoning a monster with 1900 atk or less.

But, you don't have HERO Blast. You don't need to have it, you just need to let your opponent think you have it. Much like summoning a Light monster, goes into battle phase, and pretend to hesitate for a bit and pass your turn, telegraphing to your opponent, an Honest, only its not there. There is only 1 thing a 2900 Shining can't take down this format, Grapha with Gates. If your playing against Dark World, HERO Blast don't mean shit to begin with and most likely he would have Skill Drain out. So, the extra 300 attack won't mean anything for most match ups. Also, having more monsters in hand mean harder Bubbleman plays, this is something you should always keep in mind. You need to think of an out if you Shining gets run over, and Bubbleman is a very good out to that.

Back to HERO Blast. How is it good? It can be chained to Forbidden Lance (outside damage step of cause). If your opponent have Lance, would playing Torrential when you summon Rai-Oh and then chaining Lance be a good idea. Answer is, if my opponent have Blast, that would be the last thing I do, since not only I lose all my cards, my opponent would lose virtually nothing but their normal summon this turn. Damsel got Warning'ed, he most probably won't play that Reborn or Call of the Haunted right away and would be waiting for an out first, an extra turn might just help you draw into something you can use to counter that. Hope this makes sense.

Faking a misplay would be the best way to lead your opponent with false information, the more experience and cautious your opponent is, the better the effect. The last card I have on my mind right now (that fits the "misplay" theme) would be Pot of Duality.

Duality is a card that gives your opponent a lot of info on your deck. Depending on the cards reviewed, the selection theory would differ, that is of cause, a given. But there are some combination of cards that you can fake a misplay with.

Say, if your holding a pair of E-calls and Duality showed you Spark. Normally you pick that, no doubt, but what if 1 of the cards you saw was Storm or Reborn. If I was playing, I would not pick the Spark by default, instead, I would be thinking of the Airman Reborn OTK. By not picking Spark, despite it being the obvious choice, leads your opponent into the Spark mindgame easily, maybe not if you pick Reborn, but the only good reason not to pick up a Spark would be you having a Spark in hand, or at least thats how most people comprehend stuffs. Like what I've repeated throughout the post, don't do any of these when you have no outs, unless absolutely necessary. How well a certain move works depends on how real you make its looks and also how well you understand your opponent. Making something he can't comprehend WILL lead you to some really really unwanted effects.

Like always, most of these are based on my playstyle and makes no sense at all for some. And I might not get much of what I intended to say across, but bear with me okay. Feel free to ask me questions and stuff.

No updates

As I mentioned before, I've moved up schedule so that I would be free by WC2012, but sadly I scrubbed. Now, I have to wake up 5 in the morning everyday to meet assignment deadlines, so, most probably I would have few to no post until August. BUT, there will still be tournament reports, since I would still be playing weekly, just that my mind is too stuff with school stuff that I couldn't think of anything to write.

I did not expect Wind-Ups to win WCQ

Its was a good meta call, but both the first and second place of the tourney playing Wind-Ups, a deck that most have already omitted out of the TCG big 3 months ago, was a huge surprise. Or maybe its because people not thinking that they are in the big 3 anymore that lead them to win the event.

No one in TCG main Maxx C's anymore, and also, because Veilers are bad against Dragons and mediocre at best against Rabbit; also, Inzektors are losing popularity there, people are cutting down on Veilers as well. Good meta call on bringing Wind-Up, cause without those handtraps, the deck is likely gonna take game 1.

Back to OCG, Top Shop tourney season started last weekend, and that is good to hear. Signing out now, very very busy with assignments and projects!