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!

Project HERO [Update]

I had not been updating my E HERO deck in months, and I'm currently very very busy to play test on DN due to assignments and stuff. But, I did found some time just now (I woke up at 2:30 am thinking it was 5, took my shower and coffee, waiting for my dad to wake up, went into his room, and saw the time, feeling fucked up) and updated my decklist to the current meta. My first thought was to have a card in main deck that would do good against Inzektor and Machina Gadget, one that would stop them in their tracks effectively, it didn't took long as that card is glued into my side deck since the beginning of time, naturally, that card is Skill Drain.

monster(8):

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

spell (18):

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

trap (14):

3 HERO Blast
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Compulsory Evacuation Device
2 Skill Drain
2 Dark Bribe
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment

extra (15):

3 E HERO The Shining
2 E HERO Absolute ZERO
1 E HERO The GREAT Tornado
1 E HERO Gaia
1 E HERO Escuridao
1 E HERO Nova Master
1 E HERO The Earth
2 Blade Armor Ninja
1 H-C Excalibur
1 No39 Hope
1 NoC39 Hope Ray

I've played a game with this build just now and found it fairly consistent, being the hybrid of my normal HERO build, Bubble Beat and HERO Beat. The one card I find iffy in here would be Future Fusion, its good for setting up HERO Blast plays but I find it dead without Blast in the opening hand, and even if I have Blast, its normally too obvious. Simply put, good players can easily play around it. Maybe I would replace it with a Book of Moon or something.

Forestman and Ocean are 2 cards people would never play in their deck, but those 2 are cards I would never take out of my deck. With Skill Drain out, Forest is still a 2000 wall; without Skill Drain, your opponent has to make sure they can get pass your backrow to them, since come standby phase, they will gain you massive advantages. Or maybe this is just my ego speaking, since I like these cards.

I would really like to find room for the 3rd MST, being my favorite card this format. I would want MST to be in my opening 6 every game (if my opponent is not Chaos Dragons), but now, I couldn't really fit a 3rd one in here. Also, I like to play a pair of Dark Bribe in here, ever since I saw Joe Giorlando's Long Beach Top 4 HERO beat deck. I do feel that it is still the best card there is in the game (next to Judgment) to keep Skill Drain on the board. Unlike cards like Fake Trap, it is NOT situation and can be chain to a Solemn and Lance, which are cards your opponent normally plays to stop your Gemini Sparks. Like I've said in my previous blog posts, HERO'ss greatest asset lies in Gemini Spark, play it right and you will win, if your opponent somehow stops it, your in a minus 1 all of a sudden, and in a control deck, thats bad.

Compulse is a card I never like to be in here, its good and I know this, but it feels so cheap, it feels like eating some food you bought at a road side stall in a fancy Spanish restaurant. But, I do realize that they're aren't many good traps at the moment due to Inzektor domination, those that can't be chained are instantly drop out of the selection list. Since the deck doesn't play Card-car D, I can't play Phoenix Wing Wind Blast without it being dead half of the time.

3 copies of HERO Blast may be overkill, but I tend to never pull into them when I play 2 copies. Player preference I guess, but I don't think anyone would deny the pure control HERO Blast lets you gain. Then again, I main deck a copy of Future Fusion, so that can help me get Allius into the grave fast enough. But, depending on the results of my testings, the Future Fusion may be my 3rd MST or Book of Moon, so by then, maybe I'll cut down on the HERO Blast.

For the extra deck, I'm not sure if I want to go with 2 Ninja; 2 Excalibur or one of them each and a Gemknight Pearl. Maybe I'll just go completely random and have a Stardust (for Road) or Chimeratech Fortress (for the gadget matchup). Maybe I'll take out the CNo39 for something else, but nothing crosses my mind at the moment. With the new Heroic Champions coming out and not to mention the all awesomeness Gagaga Gunman, the argument above might be completely irrelevant soon enough.

For the side deck, its not done yet, as I have yet to play test all the top tier with the current build, but there are some cards I would consider staples in here.

(1) Thunder King Rai-Oh - What HERO deck doesn't play Thunder King if your not running triple Bubbleman. Thunder King is extremely good against Dino Rabbit and Hieratics (all of its variants). Just putting this card on the board turn 1 against these 2 decks and your in an extremely good position. The Hieratic player's only out would be Dark Hole, or maybe a Tragoedia//Gorz. Rabbit might have more outs, like Forbidden Lance to push over the Thunder King, but your backrow is in no way inferior to theirs, so feel free to start a backrow war with them. I would at least have 2 copies of Thunder Kings in here, depending on the meta shift, the 3rd copy might even see some plays.

(2) Cyber Dragon - While most people would no longer consider CyDra as a side deck staple, I feel the card is still extremely viable in an E HERO side. Machina Gadget is a very very tough deck to beat if you couldn't establish field control very early in the game. Cyber Dragon solves this problem for you. Its also good against rogue decks as an additional beater. Some might prefer Barboros for its 3000 atk points, I would stick with CyDra for this format. The only time Barboros and CyDra would be good, is when you have Skill Drain up on the board (to a lesser extend on CyDra, but ideally), but the only deck that could get pass CyDra with a Skill Drain would be Dark World and a mirror match, none of the other decks could do so. If your going against a Mirror or Dark World, I doubt you would still side in your CyDra//Barbo, and I think you would side out the Skill Drains for something better. Also, CyDra is a better Torrential bait, as you still get your normal summon afterwards.

Conclusion for CyDra vs Barbo would be, while Barboros is bigger, it doesn't really matter in our META game. CyDra is very much better in the Machina Gadget matchup. Although its only 1 match up, I do think this would make an impact in the long run. Maybe you would consider Barbo for it is still bigger than REDMD in Chaos Dragons, but I do think there're better cards. As of now, I'm not sure how many copies of CyDra I would side (if I'm siding them at all), it all kinda depends on how big the Gadget population grow.

(3) DD Crow - The card kinda die out due to the preference towards Macro Cosmos, the only decks that would run this are those who can't play Cosmos. HEROs are a deck that can't really play Cosmos. They don't die to Cosmos, but they can't work with them either. Crow is a huge card against DWs, the deck's worst matchup. Crow can somewhat stop Inzektors early game, although I do feel the main deck is more than enough to guarantee a game 1 win most of the time. Crow also stops random matchups like Junk Doppel and Infernities. Its a simple one-for-one, which this deck enjoys, so I consider it a good contender for a side deck slot in here. Like CyDra, I'm not sure if I would be playing this, but if I do, I would only play this at 2; not any other number, its 0 or 2.

(4) Forbidden Lance - One of the more important cards in the format, especially useful in Mirror Matches. I can never find room for this card in a HERO's main deck, similarly, I can never find space for it in the side deck. But, that doesn't mean I do not acknowledge this card's power, its just that I can never find room for it. I'm not sure how many copies of this card I can play, but its one of those cards that would instantly be in the side when an empty slot pops out. Extremely good in a HEROs side against mirror and other slower match ups. Any one-for-ones that potentially becomes a plus 1 when played right is always welcome in my side deck.

(5) Bottomless Trap Hole and Dimension Prison - 2 extremely good cards that were forced out of the format by Inzektors. Both of these are good against any match up that isn't Inzektor. I can't think of anything else to say about these 2, and you shouldn't be unfamiliar with them either.

Hieratic deck [Update 23rd June]

This is gonna be one of my last blog post for this deck for a while, since Official Tourney season is over for the most of us, until Top Shop and Asian Plus in September or October. I'm gonna be building more random decks and focus more on my HERO (which I've mostly neglected since ACQ) till then. Looking forward to play the new Mermail and the updates to the Spell Book archtypes looks cool, from what I'm seeing now Abyss Rising is a much better set as compared to Return of Duelist.

monster (21):

3 Aset
3 Su
3 Tfenut
3 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
3 Effect Veiler
3 Cardcar D
1 Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
1 Emerald Dragon
1 Wattail Dragon

spell (14):

3 Hieratic Seal of Convocation
3 Pot of Duality
3 Mystic Space Typhoon
2 Forbidden Lance
1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn

trap (5):

2 Torrential Tribute
2 Raigeki Break
1 Solemn Judgment

I've looked into the problem with my decklist in WCQ, and concluded that I was playing the deck based too much on countering my opponent instead of trying to do what it suppose to do. Cards like Safe Zone may be great against Inzektors (in theory), but it didn't help me solve problems the majority of the time, and there were times I wished the card I was setting is Phoenix Wing Wind Blast.

Now, why I took out Wing Blast for Raigeki Break. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Wing Blast. But to me, Wing Blast is a card based around defense where Raigeki Break is the offensive part of the duo. A timely played Wing Blast can spell game, since it means your opponent is gonna waste his next turn on a dead card, and it also gives you time to prepare for it, no doubt there. But this is not where I wanna lead my deck into. Raigeki Break is a much simpler card, unlike Wing Blast, you could play it whenever it was targeted without much consideration (given you have hand advantage). While I do agree this to be player preference, I do feel Raigeki Break suits my deck better at the current format, since Machina Gadget is picking up in popularity. Why PWWB is mediocre against gadgets you say? Because of the Gadgets and Offering to the Doom, and sending Gearframe and Fortress for them doesn't solve your problems all to much from my point of view.



I've also played Trago, CyDra and Drago in my main deck during WCQ. These were bad mistakes, they were dead weight in my deck, Drago and Trago especially. The original reasoning for Tragoedia in the main was BLS. I wanted to play BLS no matter what, because this deck lacks a top deck, and I wanna give it a very good one. Experience and play testing showed me that 3 Red-Eyes are more than enough it seems, since I would only ever need BLS if my OTK fails, when that happens, I would most definitely have Red-Eyes in the grave. I do consider Cyber Dragon a better tech as compare to the other 2. It gives me access to Volcasaurus and Tiras much easily, and its a great top deck against Gadgets, but being nothing more than a beatstick for other match ups lead me away from it.





Another thing I notice was that I played far too many monsters for my comfort, and my trap line up was almost non-existence. I usually play no more than 20 monsters, 21 is already pushing it for me, but I played 24 monsters in WCQ. I would definitely do better if those 3 were Traps instead, having more traps suits my playstyle better. Well, I guess this means lesson learned.

Most of the deck stays the same, and I feel this is the best pure Hieratic build in the Asian format, player preference might differ, but I can't see another build, thats not tech to beat Hieratics, taking this down (unless my opponent is Malaysian-God level). I'm not trying to sound arrogant, but I'm extremely confident with this build, I've been building numerous builds and constantly test playing the deck for the past few months. My only regret was that I did not stick with this build, but instead trying to do too much in WCQ. "Try not to do too much and focus on a goal" is something I ALWAYS tell other Hieratic players when they ask me for advise, guess I should have followed my own advise.

Until new support or a new meta shift occurs, I would no longer update on this deck, as I feel this is the best build for the format (that suits myself). I'm now currently building both Dino Rabbit and Machina Gadgets, as well as updating my extremely obsolete HERO build. I may have lost my 2nd chance for a trip aboard for 2012, but theres still 2 chances left. Signing out.

Chaos Dragons Tops Malaysian WCQ//Nationals

Trying to introduce this deck sounds stupid, since its stampeding throughout the whole TCG since its debut months ago. Yes, this deck needs no introduction, a bunch of big bosses, a few monsters that easily make big bosses and also some guys to help you get those bosses out. The deck has incredible top deck abilities rendering any attempt to start a top deck war sounds foolish. No, I'm not here today to discuss what the deck does, everyone knows that and no one wants to here more, I'm here to discuss how this deck can win in the Asian Format without the Tourguides and stuff.

Weeks ago, the mere attempt to play this deck in WCQ Malaysia was like playing Final Coutdown or Chain  Burn to many. People think of it as a suicide bomber. Most people here don't read blogs or follow the TCG, and those who do mostly felt the deck is not gonna do good based on the META. TCG's top deck is Rabbit while our's is Inzektor, thats one of the most common reasoning I've received. I don't understand why Chaos Dragons have a bad match up against Inzektors, I really find the truth to be the opposite.

Some people say the deck is easily sided against, 3 Macro Cosmos and the deck is dead. I say same applies to Inzektors and Hieratics, 3 Macro or 3 Mask would kill the deck, if the card could stay on the board long enough. I don't understand why no one bought my point that this deck runs a lot more spell trap removal compare to the other decks, this deck has 7 cards in the main deck that could pop back row, and that's before MST gets boarded in. Also, people are thinking that this deck is a one-trick-pony, the only major combo is the Pulsar Red-Eyes loop. While that may be true, a deck doesn't really require that much of combo to begin with, if you have a very good one, just play that repetitively. This deck is not as linear as most people thinks.


Now, how did SungLee build the deck without access to Tourguide. I own a Tourguideless Chaos Dragons, I know the deck can still work without the loli from hell, but it is very apparent that the deck would never be at full power without it, for one, we lack of good generic Dark monsters in our deck, without Tourguide there isn't much of a reason to play even Sangan; not to mention the access to the versatile rank 3 xyzs. SungLee plays Zephyrus the Elite. Summoning Lyla, poping a facedown, return that to hand, ditch it together with a dark for LightPulsar is a very good move I've heard. It doesn't stops there, you could summon DarkFlare, plays it effect to send Wyvern to the grave, bounce DarkFlare back to hand and summoning it again, banishing Wyvern, claiming your Red-Eyes in the process. Theres just tons of plays this BF adds to the already combo heavy Chaos Dragons.




Another card that I found surprising in his main deck was Instant Fusion. In his extra, it features both a level 3 and 5 Dark Fusion monster. Chaos Dragons never really needed their extra that much to begin with, since you normally never even get anything out. With Instant Fusion, SungLee can now make Leviair and Zenmains easier, not to mention Tiras and Volcasaurus. Of cause, it doesn't stops there. Armory Arm and Brionac becomes within hands reach. Armory Arm and BLS is an OTK, and it helps Chaos Dragons gets pass the 3000 attack line which Grapha boasted. Brionac may be a good field clearer, but ditching too much hands is bad, even for Chaos Dragons, but thats not what Dato Tan wants Brionac for. He wants it because its a level 6, and 2 level 6 makes Exa-Beetle (the 1 rank 6 that spells OTK all over it). Exa-Beetle and Pulsar is an OTK, just making it when your opponent doesn't have outs to it already spells trouble, against inexperience opponents, he might even try to Veiler your Beetle to detached the Pulsar equipped to it, you've already won. While Zephyrus is a card that I've considered playing for a long time, Instant Fusion was one I would have never dreamed of, and when I saw it, all the combos just comes rushing in. It was an amazing tech, and maybe this was the temporary replacement for Tourguide we really really needed.


SungLee plays 28 monsters only, which is surprisingly low considering he mills all monsters most of the time; well, the man is good with decks that mill to begin with, he has always been playing decks that mill and ditch out big plays since who knows when. A tech choice where I still do not comprehend would be a single copy of Chain Disappearance in the main deck. Chain Disappearance is good against Inzektors, yes; but it only hits Damsel (since people hardly ever summons Hornet, and if they do, their hand is usually bullshit). For the Hieratic match up, it can hit Aset and Cardcar; for Rabbit, the rabbit; and for Machina Gadgets, well, nothing. Disappearance is a card that defines effectiveness vs efficiency; it hurts a lot when it goes off, but its target is too limited. Like many would say, why not Treacherous Traphole instead, since you don't play any other trap, and Inzektors will have 2 cards one the board, same goes to Rabbit and Hieratic, sometimes Machina. Well, SungLee is known for making weird deck choices, and some how works, thats not news. But I suspect the reason why he played it was because he totally forgot about Treacherous Traphole (LOL), since he can be really random as well.

Thats about it, kudos to SungLee for scoring another flight to World Championship (he was the 2010 Malaysian rep). And a really really solid way to proof that Chaos Dragons means business in the OCG.