Duelist Edition

The "new" reprint set coming out in about a week's time features Advance Dark and *drum roll* Miracle Contact as their feature cards. Being an E HERO fanboy, Miracle Contact's release after 4 years after GX's ending is a dream come true. I was on the impression that Konami would never make this card.

Another thing that most (if not all) Asia region players seems to forgot, is that Duelist Edition volume 1 has D-HERO Bloo-D (Plasma) as one of its secret rare. Granted, I don't want to pull that thing out of my box, since that would mean no Miracle Contact. But this means Bloo-D is now OFFICIALLY Asia format legal. It may be true that the age of Bloo-D has long pass and the D-HERO engine is nothing more than a relic of the pass as comparison to POD and Card-Car D. But, the ace of the D-HEROs finally legal for tournament play over here would be nice to see, although this came 5 years too late.

I know a lot of you guys are excited by Miracle Contact's announce, thinking Rainbow Neos would be beastly. And the newer scans showed that it can only bring out Elemental HEROs, which is quite the put down. Nevertheless, a great addition to the HERO archtype and a card that would add to the Neos collection very well. Although the Neos archtype can never be completed without the other 4 NEX Neospacian and the remaining 5 NEX Neos Fusions.

*Konami! Theres still a guy waiting for those cards here, please make them ...*

Now, how will this set affect the META, not even slightly would be the perfect answer. Because its nothing but a reprint set and the new cards only supports very very outdated archtypes. It can be said, the new cards are for collection purpose only.

If your wondering why didn't I post this a few weeks ago when the news first came out? Thats because I was busy with books and stuff.

So Priority is finally gone...

My exam's starts tomorrow, so I don't have much time to blog.

Just remember, there's no more priority, you can now hit Rescue Rabbit and his lot with TT, Veiler and stuff.  Don't do what Veiler did down there ...

Shout out!

Digital Mortal : http://digital-mortal.blogspot.com/

This is a fellow Malaysian blogger's blog, home to very very good quality post and also frequent updates. The dude started his blog about a month ago, and damn, theres so much to read I don't know where to start. Sadly, he only has 3 followers (as of 23rd of April) and only bout 2000 views. He didn't ask me for any shout outs, but I feel alot of readers are missing out on an amazing blog.

Since me, Mike and Scyu'Lee's blog aren't posting that frequently as of late, players from other countries might felt cut off from Malaysia. Kyde's blog helps solves this, and he also has interviews with successful players like Satoshi Kato, Wilson Tsang etc.

If you are one look like wall of text and enjoy reading them, head there, the guy puts up articles as though he is a reporter or something.

...

Kyde : Good job on the blog! Sorry for not getting your permission before doing this shout out post, but I feel most of the world is missing out your articles.

Update!!

My final exam starts next week and I'm been busy studying, since this is my final year and failing any subject would result in extending my studies (something I wanna avoid since I plan to get a Masters degree at my school right after I graduate) .... Why did I even bother explaining the reason of me studying? Don't expect a tournament report or much update for the coming 2~3 weeks, I'll be preparing for my final exams.

I've did a bit of modifications to my Hieratic deck (its Hanzo Hieratic now), and adjusted my side deck accordingly.

monster (22):

3 Hieratic Dragon of Shuu
3 Hieratic Dragon of Aset
3 Hieratic Dragon of Tfeni
2 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
3 Card-Car D
3 Ninja Grandmaster HANZO
3 Effect Veiler
1 Watt Dragon
1 Emerald Dragon (Luster Dragon)

spell (12):

3 Pot of Duality
3 Seal of Gathering
2 Mystic Space Typhoon
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Heavy Storm
1 Book of Moon
1 Monster Reborn

trap (6):

2 Ninjitsu Art of Super Transformation
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Solemn Warning

I did not play Jurrak Guaiba in my deck cause:

(1) Those are apparently hard to find in Malaysia
(2) I can't get a playset of them

So, basically the reason of me not playing them is because I don't have them. Go on, laugh at me.

I maxed out Veilers because they are the only hand trap I like this format. HEROs are pretty much MIA in Malaysia and the only deck that Veiler doesn't do good against that sees play would be Dark Worlds. Still, making Black Rose and Sacred Wyvern is good. The card is good against Inzektors (obviously), random wind-ups and especially Mirror matches.

The other cards shouldn't need introductions.

side (15):

2 Maxx "C"
2 Tragodia
2 Koaki Meiru Drago
2 Ryko Lightlord Hunter
1 Mystic Space Typhoon
3 Shadow Imprisoning Mirror
2 Dust Tornado
1 Mirror Force

When Dragons Collide

From the title, its easy to assume that I'm gonna talk about both the structure deck and the tops at both YCS Dallas and Toulouse. Oh yeah, so Jeff won another Asia Championship it seems, his second one back to back, does this makes him the Billy Brake of our Asian Region?

Back to Dragons. I was really shock/surprised when I read the top 8 feature where a Chaos Dragon variant made it there. And that feature match was one of the shortest one I've ever read. It was like, game 1 "I drop Dark Flare and two Pulsar, game!" game 2 "Slightly more challenging but I did piratically the same thing". When the deck got into finals, it dominated Dino Rabbit in a 2-0 manner.

So, right after that, I read the feature for Dallas, where a similar deck also made it to finals, this time it lost to Rabbit, but just slightly in a 1-2. However, the fact that Chaos Dragons or Twilight Dragons (because this build doesn't just run the Chaos, it has Judgment Dragoon in it) made it to the finals took the spotlight and no one really cared about the winner now. Another example of if your gonna die, die in style.

I was puzzled at how the deck won, sure I understand that the Lightlord engine is powerful, but sacky. So how luck help 2 guys thousand of miles away accomplish almost the same thing around the same time. Both run 30+ monsters and no traps (the Dallas one has one Treacherous Trap Hole, but thats not important). Both have no MSTs and Maxx Cs in deck. And both plays 3 Lylas backed with the Solar Recharge engine. As similar as they may be, these decks are different. The Dallas finalist played a full Lightlord Engine, Plague Spreader and Future Fusion. Toulouse's version of the deck spots 3 of each Tourguide, Thunder King and Dark Flare. We can easily see the products of these differences, the Dallas's version is more powerful in terms of raw strength and the Toulouse version has more precision and control.

I've build Chaos Dragon before, with some Lightlords, but never brought the monster count above 25. Also, my build always had 3 REDMDs and Apocalypse Dragons, along with a lone BLS. The result is a consistent, but not powerful deck that has minimal power plays outside of the REDMD and Pulsar wall. I revisited the deck yesterday and included a similar Lightlord Engine (including the 3 Recharges) and bumped the monster count to 32. I preferred the Toulouse version since I'm a more control oriented guy, but he plays 3 Tourguide and Thunder King (Promo for Asian championships), so I end up a boss rush deck with 3 of each Chaos Dragons, 3 Sorcerers, a BLS, a DAD and 2 REDMDs.

monster(32):

3 Lightpulsar Dragon
3 Darkflare Dragon
2 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
3 Eclipse Wyvern
3 Lyla Lightlord Magician
3 Ryko Lightlord Hunter
3 Effect Veiler

2 Tragodia (Asian format, switch one of them to Gorz if your not affected)

1 Dark Armed Dragon
3 Chaos Sorcerer
1 Black Luster Soldier
1 Honest
1 Card Trooper
1 Sangan
1 Mystic Tomato
1 Plague Spreader Zombie

spell (8):

3 Solar Recharge
1 Charge of the Light Brigade
1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Allure of Darkness

This is kinda like a hybrid of the 2 topping decks, as I play the partial Lightlord engine from Toulouse, together with the Plague, Tomato from Dallas. Reason why I have 3 Veiler main decked is because I have 4 sets that I wouldn't want to get poped by Hornet. Unlike the TCG, the OCG is swarmed with insects, so you can never be too safe from setting monsters with no backrow, unless its a Wyvern or Sangan, then it doesn't matter.

I've tested played with this deck for a bit and holy shit, this is good. It can keep its ground with Hieratics and  HEROs, and pull of wins ever so easily. The card that made all the difference is Solar Recharge. Recharge made this deck good, without it, the deck doesn't function properly and you get random hands. Recharge solves that while setting up your grave. Its definitely not tier 1 yet, close, I mean real close, but not there yet. My only concern is how did something like this stayed under the radar for so long. Why did no one build it till last weekend where 2 guys decide to play it and brought it to the final table.

Lastly, I don't see this deck stirring up the META game for OCG that much, since this and Hieratics are essentially the same deck (the reason why I did not put Card Car D in this deck is because I can't seem to fit all 3 in, and I don't like to play CCD in 1's or 2's). Both Hieratics and Chaos Dragon set up for a few turns and aims to end the game in 1 huge turn. Consider this a poor man's Hieratic if you want, as it's not as consistent due to the Lightlord mill engine being sacky to begin with.

People side 3 Macro Cosmos, every top tier deck except Inzektors does so. That card is gonna wreck Chaos Dragon's play far worst than Inzektors. Granted we have 3 Lylas and Rykos mained, together with 3 MST in the side, but one cannot be too sure of what the opposing player would side. Side decks against Hieratics (some of them) BTH, Maxx C and Trago would also affect this deck's plays, even those you side for Rabbit, Dimension Prison and Mirror Force would do damage to it. The reason I don't think Chaos Dragon would do anything in OCG is this : while preparing our side decks for the big 3, we would have at least 10 cards in our side for the deck. The only chance this deck has of winning would be taking game 1, but this deck isn't the most consistent of decks.

Well, I may be wrong, since I did not see Chaos Dragon topping, and I've always see the SD as slightly below mediocre. Leave a comment and responds please, I wanna know what you guys think bout this deck.

Asian Championship 2012

If I'm not mistaken, its tomorrow. Its none of my business since I didn't win my country's ACQ and did not became a rep. But good luck to all players participating tomorrow.

Prediction:

Inzektors are gonna win. I'm pretty confident with this. Although I secretly wish Hieratics to win, but the odds are extremely low.

Reasons why Inzektors are gonna win:

1. Being THE top deck of the META
2. Inexpensive = big number
3. Just about every rep (except for a few) are playing this.

Although decks like DW and Laggia may have a fighting chance, but the odds aren't in their favor ... at all!

I wish all players good luck, and good luck to the judges as well. Stay hydrated and don't stay up late tonight. Hope someone proves me wrong thou, as I certainly would like to see some rogue deck take the top spot.

I miss this deck ...

The upper part of the picture features a deck I know a lot of us miss a lot.